So by now we all know the background story on the Full Tilt Affair right? Full Tilt Poker was one of the three online poker sites shut down on Black Friday aka April 15, 2011. The casino and its trustees were accused of fraud, embezzlement and breaking the Wire Act and were investigated by the U.S. Department of Justice. Full Tilt received its operating license from the British licensing authorities and in September of this year had that license revoked by the Alderney Gaming Control Commission (AGCC). The AGCC has now begun its own independent investigation of their actions in regards to Full Tilt Poker.
Because the Full Tilt Affair has been so public and because the company still owes its former customers somewhere in the region of $300 million, AGCC seems to be concerned about how it handled their case. Representatives of AGCC stated that their decision to commission an independent review was based on [...]
Born in Chicago in 1954 Brian Greenstein is the 42nd inductee into the Poker Hall of Fame. Greenstein is known as the Robin Hood of Poker and has donated over three million dollars to charity since he became a professional poker player.
Barry Greenstein has three WSOP bracelets, two WPT wins and 46 money finishes with over $7.5 million in earnings. Greenstein has been hitting six figures consistently for almost a decade and enjoys high stakes poker tournaments. He came in 22nd in his very first tournament back in 1992.
Greenstein is a bit of a smarty pants having a undergraduate degree in computer science and completing all but his dissertation defense for a doctorate in mathematics. He has six children and has authored a poker book called “Ace on the River” which was published in 2005.
Here’s a look at Greenstein’s bracelet wins:
2004—$5,000 No Limit Deuce to Seven Draw Earnings: $296,200
2005—$1,500 Pot Limit Omaha Earnings: $128,505
2008—$1,500 Razz Earnings: $157,619
Barry has [...]
Former postal worker and current poker teacher, Linda Johnson was once called the “first lady of poker.” By all accounts the name is appropriate for this year’s female Poker Hall of Fame inductee. The inductees often get lost in the news of the final WSOP table so I decided to give them a blog each.
Linda Johnson was born in 1953 in Long Island. She currently resides in Las Vegas. She began playing blackjack on vacation when she still worked for the post office. Discovering she was good at cards she quit her job in 1980 and has played professional poker ever since.
Johnson received her WSOP bracelet back in 1997 for winning the Seven Card Razz. She has enjoyed seven final tables during her career. With over $300,000 in poker earnings alone. Johnson has certainly done well. Besides playing poker Johnson has held a number of poker related roles.
For eight years, Linda Johnson published Card Player [...]
For those cyber savvy geeks out there the term “bitcoin” is very well known. This virtual currency has been around for a couple of years now and is used by computer and tech companies and their customers to conduct online transactions. There are no backings, banks or bankers involved in the process and this week groundbreaking poker site, SwitchPoker.com became the first online casino to accept the currency for withdrawals and deposits.
The Bitcoin is created through the use of CPU cycles on regular computers but it takes a lot of power to create a single Bitcoin which is why there aren’t as widely known as they might be. Users of the Bitcoin operate on a P2P platform in which clear and free exchange takes place. The Bitcoin is anonymous but general statistics on the use of the Bitcoin are available in online public space. The Bitcoin software is a freeshare item encouraging participation.
It seems only [...]
After a long long night of poker play, we finally have a winner for this year’s 2011 WSOP Main Event. Pius Heinz fought hard for the title but somewhere around 2 in the morning he got it. Eight million in the bank, a gold bracelet and only 22 years old. It was a great battle to watch.
After a few hands we lost Player of the Year Ben Lamb to aggressive play from Czech Republic’s own Martin Staszko who went for a hip lead as fast as he could. And for a long time he held onto it, making Heinz a dangerously low short stack on several occasions. Half way through the battle most would have predicted Staszko the winner.
But laid back Pius Heinz wasn’t giving up. A few well paced bets and his chip count began to rise until he was nearly level with Staszko. For the next few hours, Staszko and Heinz traded the [...]
After a lighting speed elimination at the beginning of the final three of the final table, we are down to Staszko and Heinz. The first few hands seem to be a matter of getting comfortable. The pair are pretty evenly matched with just about half the chips each. Its quite an interesting match up: two Europeans 22 year old German online player Heinz against 35 Trinik Stasko amateur. I wonder how long these final throes of poker battle will be?
After a few hands aggressive play by Staszko has created a $48,500,00 pot. The chip lead is on the line. Heinz is taking his time. The cards are 9-5-8-Q-10. Heinz is over three minutes of thinking time. Heinz goes all in!!! Pot is $122,900!
Stasko folds!!! Heinz is up to a whopping $122,900 with a hand of 9-8 A-8 for Staszko who is down to $83 million.
A few hands where Staszko folds follows. Heinz is [...]
Well ladies and gentleman here we go. We are down to the last three players in the poker event of the year. Pius Heinz, Martin Staszka and Ben Lamb. A crowd rousing introduction for the three players as they take their seats ready to make poker history.
We begin with action between Stasko and Lamb raising to a $85 milion pot Lamb raises to 42.5 knowing that was all Stasko had. Statsko calls him going all in the first hand! Stasko has a pair of sevens and Lamb has K-J. The flop is 3-9-2. The turn is a 3 and the river is 10! Stasko is still in it and Lamb is crippled with a major short stack of $12.7 million.
Stasko and Heinz go into heads up play for a pot of $31 million and no-one seems to be backing down. Staszko takes it with a pair of kings and becomes the chip [...]
Update: Stasko goes all in against Heinz with A-8. Heinz has a pair of sixes. The fop is 8-5-8 in Staszko’s favor. Turn is a 4. The river is a queen and Stasko survives. We all thought this was it for Staszko and play for the day but we are still going. Heinz has lost 20 million chips with Staszko. He drops Lamb back into fourth place. Time for a break.
After the break all goes well until Staszko goes up against Heinz once again. The pot sits at $40 million and its Heinz’s move. Everyone is waiting. We are over four minutes. Heinz folds. Staszko moves up to $58,400,00 chips. Is he making a comeback? Going for Heinz rather than short stacker Lamb?
After several hands Lamb goes all in against Giannetti who has pocket jacks. Lamb has A-7. Flop is K-5-9. Turn is 4 and the river is a 9. Lamb is still in [...]
Heinz, Giannetti and Saszko continue to trade chips as Lamb, Collins and O’Dea try to stay in the game. Heinz is confidently in the lead with over $65 million in chips. Ben Lamb has very few chips but he seems to be playing more and more aggressively hoping to move up the score board. It would be nice to see the WSOP player of the year in the final two. He had a lot of work to do very quickly.
Collins moves all-in to Lamb who folds giving Collins some much needed chips. Lamb then moves all-in against O’Dea. This could be an elimination hand. O’Dea is taking a long time to make a decision. His bracelet winning father is watching him from the audience. He calls! The flop is 6-J-J. Turn is a 4. River is8! Ben Lamb wins! O’Dea becomes the short short stack. Next level will end him without a major change [...]
Heinz continues to grow in confidence and chips as the final table craws towards evening. Giannetti plays aggressively against Heinz and wins $17 million and moves into second place. Collins goes all in against O’Dea trying to narrow the field by another player. Rather than go out O’Dea folds. Collins and O’Dea go in for a second time and O’Dea folds again. Players seem to be testing each other and adapting to the smaller table.
Giannetti plays a few good hands and ends up just three million chips behind first place Pius Heinz. Out of nowhere Bounahra goes all in against Staszko. The flop is 6-7-2. The turn is a King and the river is a 6. Bounahra needed a five. We say goodbye to the Belize cheering section and a small nation’s poker hero. This makes O’Dea the short stack with Phil Collins not too far behind.
O’Dea goes all in against Lamb and manages to [...]
