The final stop of the 2011-2012 World Series of Poker Circuit kicked off on Friday at Harrah’s New Orleans with Day 1 of the $1,600 Main Event. The field was massive as players flocked to the Big Easy for their last shot at points toward this year’s National Championship. Combined, Days 1a and 1b brought in an impressive 640 entrants, 260 more players than last year’s field.

Day 1a began at noon with 434 runners, including all-time ring winner Mark “Pegasus” Smith and WSOP Circuit regular Seneca Easley. Each of these men met their demise early on, but both opted to use their re-entry option right away. It proved a wise decision for Smith, who survived to Day 2, but not Easley, who was eliminated for a second time.

Throughout the day, other players hit the rail including Becky Makar, Kenny Milam, John Land, David Clark, A.J. Jejelowo and Huy Nguyen, just to name a few; meanwhile, others like Aaron Massey, John Dolan, Matthew Chang, Tripp Kirk, Sam Barnhart, Darvin Moon, Kurt Jewell, Ryan Tepen and Matthew Hankins managed to finish among the 210 players who survived Day 1a.

Two other players who advanced were WSOP Circuit ring winners La Senphet and Abraham Araya, who both finished with healthy stacks despite tangling toward the end of the first starting flight. It happened on a board reading when Araya and Sengphet each got 11,000 in the middle, leading to the river. Araya quickly checked and Sengphet thought for a solid minute before checking behind.

“Two pairs,” Araya said aloud as he tabled . A disappointed look shot across Sengphet’s face, not because she lost, but because she didn’t bet her . Nonetheless, the pot put Sengphet up to 62,000 while Araya dropped to 100,000.

While it’s good to survive Day 1a, it’s even better to thrive, as chip leader Jay “queen10off” Kaplan found out when he bagged up a healthy 148,400. Other big stacks include Johnny Landreth (125,700), Bobby Toye (124,800), Shane Matthews (116,000) and Terry Kim (115,400).

On Day 1b, many of the eliminated players, including all of those listed above, returned for another shot at glory. They were joined by some new players including Kai Landry, Gene Dudek, Beverly Chaney and Will “Monkey” Souther. The re-entry proved a wise choice for half those mentioned above as Land, Milam and Nguyen managed to make Day 2 with their second bullet. Likewise, all of the aforementioned Day 1b newbies made it through.

In the last level of the night, a big hand developed that saw Jonathan Job become the beneficiary of a monster three-way hand despite not winning the main pot. You see, a short-stacked Mike Wolf was all-in with while Job, who held , and an unknown player, who had , created a massive side pot of around 100,000.

The board ran out with three hearts to give Wolf the triple, but it didn’t bother Job who was more than happy to lose the small pot and rake in the big. With that, he is the clear Day 1b chip leader with 137,000 and less than 30 minutes to go. He’d drop a bit from there, but still finished as the Day 1b chip leader with 114,600.

Here’s a look at some of the more notable stacks among the approximately 338 players who advanced to Day 2:

Various Day 1 Chip Counts

Registration is open until the start of Day 2, which kicks off at 2 p.m. on Saturday, so the final number of players, prize pool and first-place prize won’t be known until then. Of course the PokerNews Live Reporting Team will be providing coverage from the Harrah’s New Orleans, so be sure to follow all the action in our live blog.

Get all the latest PokerNews updates on your social media outlets. Follow us on Twitter and like us on Facebook today! In the meantime, see who qualifies for the National Championship this week by following our Live Reporting Team’s coverage from the Harrah’s New Orleans.

The 60,000-square-foot casino and 390-room four-star M Resort in Las Vegas, recently introduced Double Action Roulette. “It’s changing the way roulette is played,” said David Torres, director of table games.

The M Resort is the first gaming venue in the United States to use the new roulette technology. Unlike normal roulette, the new Double Action Roulette wheel features a second spinning number wheel on the outer edge, going the opposite direction of the main ring. The table has two identical betting areas, each for one of the two sets of numbers on the wheels. There is also a special side bet that pays out 1200–1 when the two winning numbers are the same.

“We’re always looking for opportunities to offer our guests something new,” said Jody L. Lake, general manager at M Resort. “The addition of this new roulette game offers something exciting while still providing a familiar game format that is easy for players and dealers to understand.”

The game was designed and patented by Richar Fitoussi, vice president of international marketing at the M Resort and is distributed by TCSJOHNHUXLEY. The new Double Action Roulette is the first significant change made to the original game since it was invented, said Roger Hawkins, TCSJOHNHUXLEY CEO.

The game is designed to maintain the same house edge, as well as the speed and feel of the original roulette game.

Check out a clip of the new Double Action Roulette wheel along with rules and instructions on how to play, and watch the video clip below.

Follow PokerNews on Twitter for up-to-the-minute news.

_{*Image courtesy of TCSJOHNHUXLEY.com}

For the past year, the 2011-2012 World Series of Poker Circuit has hosted 17 stops across the country and one in South Africa. Now, the final stop on the schedule is taking place at Harrah’s New Orleans, providing the last chance for players to qualify for the 2nd Annual $1 Million National Championship. This weekend, the stop culminates with a $1,600 Main Event where the winner will automatically earn a seat in July’s National Championship.

Prior to that, there have been a slew of preliminary events where players have been racking up points for the National Leaderboard. One of these events was Event #1: $355 No-Limit Hold’em, which attracted 945 players and became the largest poker tournament ever held in New Orleans by surpassing the previous record of 833 players set on May 18, 2005.

After four days of intense play, a stacked final table was set with Yung “Andy” Hwang, Charles “Woody” Moore, and Josh Evans eventually making it to three-handed play. Moore has proven himself time and again on the Circuit, having won last year’s WSOP Circuit Horseshoe Southern Indiana Main Event and making multiple final tables this year, but he came up short of his second gold ring. The good news is that in addition to his $23,853 payday, Moore’s third-place finish earned him enough points to qualify for the National Championship for the second year in a row.

That left Hwang and Evans to do battle heads up, which lasted about 45 minutes. In the final hand, Evans moved all-in with only to run into Hwang’s . The board ran out an uneventful , and Evans was dispatched in second place for $32,317 with enough points qualify him for a seat in the National Championship.

Meanwhile, Hwang collected the $52,249 first-place prize and his first WSOP Circuit gold ring. What’s more, he earned enough points to join Evans and Moore near the top of the National Leaderboard and essentially locked up a spot in the National Championship.

Here’s a look at the WSOP Circuit Harrah’s New Orleans events completed thus far:

Andy Hwang, winner of Event #1.

WSOP Circuit Harrah’s New Orleans Ring Event #1: No-Limit Hold’em Re-Entry

John Fagg, winner of Event #2.

WSOP Circuit Harrah’s New Orleans Event #2: No-Limit Hold’em

John Harris, winner of Event #3.

WSOP Circuit Harrah’s New Orleans Event #3: Pot-Limit Omaha

Loni Harwood, winner of Event #4.

WSOP Circuit Harrah’s New Orleans Event #4: No-Limit Hold’em

Jonathan Tamayo, winner of Event #5.

WSOP Circuit Harrah’s New Orleans Event #5: No-Limit Hold’em

William Foxen, winner of Event #6.

WSOP Circuit Harrah’s New Orleans Event #6: No-Limit Hold’em Six Handed

James Calcagno, winner of Event #7.

WSOP Circuit Harrah’s New Orleans Event #7: No-Limit Hold’em

Jacob Naquin, winner of Event #8.

WSOP Circuit Harrah’s New Orleans Event #8: No-Limit Hold’em

With several events yet to be determined, the race for the WSOP Circuit Harrah’s New Orleans Casino Champion is undetermined. Whoever captures that title, along with the eventual winner of the Main Event, will automatically qualify for the Second Annual $1 Million National Championship. Here’s a look at the players who have qualified:

National Championship Qualifiers

In addition to the qualifiers, players who earn enough points on the National Leaderboard will be able to buy-in to the National Championship:

WSOPC National Leaderboard Top Ten*

*Leading up to the WSOP Circuit Harrah’s New Orleans stop.

*Photos courtesy of Eric Harkins and ImageMasters.

Get all the latest PokerNews updates on your social media outlets. Follow us on Twitter and like us on Facebook today! In the meantime, see who qualifies for the National Championship this week by following our Live Reporting Team’s coverage from the Harrah’s New Orleans.

Whatever you do don’t miss your chance to win your way to this year’s World Series of Poker. Sign up for Betfair Poker through PokerNews and you could win a package worth $4,200.

Ask any poker player where their dream destination is to play poker and the vast majority will immediately answer “Las Vegas.” Well thanks to Betfair Poker, you could be fulfilling your dreams and heading out to Las Vegas to participate in the 2012 World Series of Poker and doing so armed with a $4,200 package to Event #59: $1,000 No Limit Hold’em.

Along with entry to Event #59 each package also includes spending money, accommodation, cash for flights and access to the legendary Betfair Poker welcome party. The full breakdown of the $4,200 package is shown below.

• $1,500 paid into your Betfair account for flights and spending money.
• Seven nights of luxury accommodation at the five-star Palazzo in Las Vegas.
• $1,000 buy-in to take your shot at glory in WSOP Event #59.
• Be part of the Legendary “Team Betfair does Vegas” experience.
• Team Betfair Exclusive Welcome Party and Events hosted by Betfair’s WSOP Crew, including John “kunku wap” Tabatabai and Hans “Birdie_BF” Vogl.

One package will be given away in a PokerNews exclusive freeroll that is to be held on June 10. The freeroll is open to new and existing Betfair Poker players who have signed up through PokerNews. Existing customers need to earn just 100 points between now and June 5, 2012, in order to receive their ticket and new players need to download Betfair Poker, enter the bonus code “PNE250″ then earn at least 100 Betfair Points before June 5 for the entry to the freeroll to be theirs!

In addition, Betfair is hosting 12 WSOP Trials, each offering a minimum of two chances to secure a package. All told, they’ll be giving away 28 packages to this year’s WSOP, though only half remain as a number of players have already became members of Team Betfair 2012 including Svilen Kondov, Sergej Krapivin, Lothar Wolz, Kuriakos Tsiatte, Svilen Kondov, Mykola Fenchenko and James Wollgrove.

Online finals for the previous week’s trial period will be played on Wednesday evenings at 21:00 CET, and will award two Las Vegas Experience packages worth $4,000 each plus a total of $13,000 in added cash! All you need to do to qualify is earn 25 Player Points in any given Trial period — that’s the equivalent of playing just one $11 tournament per day!

Sign up for Betfair Poker today through PokerNews and get started now!/I

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After nearly eight months, the Obama administration finally responded Friday to the American people’s online petition to license and regulate Internet poker.

Brian Deese, deputy director of the National Economic Council and a special assistant to the president on economic policy, issued a four-paragraph response on the issue. The first paragraph was introductory and the final paragraph a short conclusion, leaving two paragraphs with any meat to them.

The second paragraph acknowledged that many Americans play online poker and that there is no federal law preventing them from doing so. It goes on to say that it’s up to each state to determine whether it wishes to authorize online poker. That’s a confirmation of the green light given by the Justice Department in December for states to move ahead on the issue.

The third paragraph lists the typical areas of concern for online gambling, such as preventing minors from playing, fraud and money laundering. To that end, the response states:”The Administration will continue to examine this issue and is open to solutions that would help guard against the use of online gambling sites as tools for conducting illegal activities or preying on unsuspecting individuals to the extent that online gambling is permitted.”

To the petition’s actual message that regulation of online poker would allow the U.S. to safeguard against such issues while offering consumer protection, creating jobs and raising billions of dollars in revenue, the response said nothing.

Optimists had hoped that the long wait — nearly all other early petitions had received a response — was due to the administration crafting a thoughtful reply. After most of the initial set of responses to various petitions failed to address their content, a petition was created with the title “Actually take these petitions seriously instead of just using them as an excuse to pretend you are listening.”

The original poker petition was created by the Poker Players Alliance on Sept. 22 for the “We the People” promotion by the official White House website. Three days later, it crossed the threshold of 5,000 signatures needed for a response. It finished with nearly 10,000 signatures.

“Today’s petition response is promising in the respect that each of the issues raised by the White House can be and will be addressed by U.S. regulation of the industry,” said John Pappas, executive director of the PPA. “The best response is for Congress to put a bill on the president’s desk that protects consumers, restores personal freedom and raises much needed revenue.”

There is a web form where people can give feedback on if they found the response helpful, if they felt it adequately addressed the concerns raised in the petition and provide additional comments.

Below is the statement in full:

Thank you for taking the time to participate in the “We the People” petition process. We launched this online tool as a way of hearing directly from you, and are pleased to see that it has been effective in soliciting your feedback. We understand your interest in the petition to support the legalization of online poker, and appreciate the opportunity to share President Obama’s concerns about this issue.

The Administration understands that many Americans engage in paid online poker games for entertainment purposes. Online gambling on sporting events or contests violates federal law. The legality of other forms of online gambling is dependent upon the law of the states where the bettor or gambling business is located. It is left to each state to determine whether it wishes to permit such activity between its residents and an online poker business authorized by that state to accept such wagers, but online gambling that is not authorized by state law may also violate federal statutes.

The rapid and anonymous nature of the internet distinguishes online games from onsite games, such as those in casinos, and creates distinct challenges. For example, there are many means of technologically circumventing restrictions on online gambling that can allow individuals from countries where gambling is illegal — or even minors — to play using real currency. Online games also have greater potential for fraud because gambling websites are much cheaper and easier to establish than on-site locations, and like telemarketing scams, can appear and disappear overnight. Finally, online gambling can be used in money laundering schemes because of the volume, speed, anonymity, and international reach made possible by internet transactions. The Administration will continue to examine this issue and is open to solutions that would help guard against the use of online gambling sites as tools for conducting illegal activities or preying on unsuspecting individuals to the extent that online gambling is permitted.

Thank you once again for signing the online petition. We appreciate hearing your opinions and look forward to hearing from you again soon.

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The market has officially closed, so it’s time to take your eyes away from your Facebook stock and catch up on the latest poker news. In this edition of the Nightly Turbo, we’re bringing you the new-look World Series of Poker bracelets, updates from the UKIPT Dublin Main Event, and more.

In Case You Missed It

Dan “djk123″ Kelly was among the winners in the PokerStars SCOOP on Thursday. Martin Harris and Mickey Doft have all the details in the Day 12 SCOOP recap.

How was the high-stakes action at the PokerStars tables this week? Read the Online Railbird Report to find out the week’s biggest winners and losers.

@AsianSpa was back with his latest blog on Friday. This week he talks about the Women in Poker Hall of Fame, mending fences with Jon Friedberg, and more.

Several first-timers will be heading to the World Series of Poker this summer. Which ones should you be watching? We tell in you in the latest edition of the 2012 WSOP Rookie Roundup.

Are you drafting a fantasy poker team for the WSOP this summer? Rich Ryan has some tips about how to put together the most productive group of players.

Did you miss anything from the past week? Don’t worry, we’ve got you covered. Kristy Arnett and Sarah Grant break down all the big stories in the PokerNews Weekly.

New WSOP Bling

The World Series of Poker has unveiled the new gold bracelets that will be awarded to each winner at this year’s WSOP and WSOP Europe.

Celebrity jeweler Jason Arasheben, also known as “Jason of Beverly Hills,” was selected to design this year’s gold bracelets. Each piece features a collection of round cut diamonds, while the four card suits will feature rubies and black diamonds. The bracelet features over 160 grams of 14 karat gold and over 35 carats of flawless diamonds.

Arasheben has designed championship rings for the Los Angeles Lakers, plus custom jewelry for celebs like Rihanna, Justin Bieber, LeBron James, Dwyane Wade and Matt Kemp.

“Blinger is Better,” said WSOP Executive Director Ty Stewart. “Jason grasped the heritage of WSOP bracelets, but was only interested if he could take it up several notches. This is a trophy that truly embodies the promise of today’s WSOP — seemingly unthinkable dreams are dealt each year. I challenge anyone to keep a poker face when they see this bracelet in person.”

Photo courtesy of Jason of Beverly Hills

Do you like the new bracelet? Leave your thoughts in the comments section below.

Playing Like a Champion

Day 1a of the €770 UKIPT Dublin Main Event saw 199 players take to the felts at the CityWest Hotel in Dublin, Ireland. At the end of the day only 91 were left standing, and amateur player named Champion was on top of the leaderboard.

William Champion, a data storage engineer from the U.K., bagged the most chips after the first day of play. Champion finished with 129,700, many of which came from Barny Boatman when Champion turned top set and got value on all three streets. Boatman, meanwhile failed to survive the day.

Among the notables that advanced to Day 2 were Sam Razavi (20,800), Max Silver (21,100) and Dara O’Kearney (20,700). Team PokerStars Pro Jude Ainsworth, Surinder Sunar, Simon Trumper, Ross Boatman, and two-time UKIPT winner Nick Abou Risk busted on Day 1a and will not be joining the aforementioned players when the Day 1 flights combine on Saturday.

Here’s a look at the top 10 stacks from Day 1a:

We’ll be providing results of the UKIPT Dublin Main Event in the Nightly Turbo next week.

For live updates from the Main Event, visit the PokerStars Blog.

Bwin.Party Gets Social

Social media is becoming the way of the Internet, and bwin.party isn’t far away from getting in on the action. The company says it is close to launching a social gaming platform that will see the worlds of real money gaming and social gaming converge.

“Our strategy to enter the social gaming market is almost complete and we plan to host an analyst briefing to present our strategy later this month when we will provide further details on how we will enter this exciting new business segment,” the company said in a statement this week.

“We believe that by leveraging our core assets, we can make a meaningful inroad into this fast growing and profitable market with relatively low levels of incremental investment.”

Bwin.party co-CEO Jim Ryan sees significant potential in the social gaming market. He told PokerNews earlier this year that the company’s main objective for growth is bringing more of a social appeal to the consumer base, which in turn would provide maximum entertainment value for customers.

“This represents a major opportunity for bwin.party and we have a number of initiatives already underway in this area that we expect to drive value for shareholders in the medium to long-term,” the company said.

Read more at bwinparty.com.

Live Poker in North Carolina?

North Carolina lawmakers have begun deliberating whether to allow live-dealer card games at the state’s only brick-and-mortar casino.

State legislators this week approved a bill that would sanction the Harrah’s Cherokee Casino to offer Las Vegas-style card games like poker and blackjack. The bill passed by a vote of 33-14 and will now be passed along to the House.

Per North Carolina law, live-dealer games are illegal everywhere in the state. Harrah’s Cherokee currently only offers video machines, but the new legislation could bring up to 400 additional jobs to the Harrah’s Cherokee Casino and Hotel. A percentage of the revenues from the casino would be sent to the North Carolina education department.

Read more at goerie.com.

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Each year when PokerNews compiles its World Series of Poker Rookie Roundup list, Harrison Gimbel’s name comes up. Since he stormed onto the scene in early 2010, it has always been a question of whether or not this kid would finally be of age to take to the WSOP felt. It’s now 2012 and it has finally time that Gimbel gets the chance to make a run at a coveted gold bracelet to add to his trophy case.

Gimbel’s name first came to be known when he made the final table of the 2010 PokerStars Caribbean Adventure. He entered the final table fourth in chips behind Ryan D’Angelo, Ty Reiman and Barry Shulman. When play got down to heads-up action, Gimbel was one of the two players remaining and pitted against Reiman for the title. After 46 hands of heads-up play, Gimbel’s defeated Reiman’s to give the 19-year-old the title and the whopping first-place prize of $2.2 million.

Before his massive splash onto the poker scene, Gimbel was already a winner. In June 2009, he took down the Florida State Poker Championships for over $67,000. Since the 2010 PCA, Gimbel has been crushing the Florida poker scene where he was of legal age to play in live tournaments.

In April 2010, Gimbel took his talents overseas to Italy where he placed 39th in the European Poker Tour San Remo Main Event for €22,000. Several months later he won the Fall Poker Open Championship held in November at the Seminole Hard Rock Hotel & Casino for $330,000, confirming he was no one-hit wonder.

From there, Gimbel went on to have earnings of $99,525 in 2011 and $72,811 already in 2012. Out of those two years, Gimbel’s largest score came in November 2011 when he took third in the Rock and Roll Poker Open in Hollywood, Florida, for just over $76,000. He also cashed in the PCA Main Event and the World Poker Tour Lucky Hearts Poker Open, both in 2012.

In total, Gimbel’s lifetime tournament earnings on the live felt total over $2.8 million and the youngster has the world at his fingertips when the 2012 WSOP rolls around.

Online, Gimbel used to play under the moniker “gibler321” on PokerStars and “this is punny” on Full Tilt Poker. Just from those two sites, Gimbel has won over $1.6 million in prize money. His largest online score came in December 2010 when he took second place in the Sunday Brawl for $88,107.31. He also has six other online scores over $40,000.

With his win at PCA, Gimbel became the youngest PCA Main Event champion, and though he may be young, Gimbel has put in the time playing millions of hands that will give him the experience he’ll need to thrive on the WSOP felt. The only question now is, how many final tables are we going to be covering him at?

PokerNews will be keeping a close eye on Gimbel in the coming months, so be sure to check our Live Reporting Page for the duration of the 2012 WSOP. Stay tuned for more rookies to look out for, as well.

Follow PokerNews on Twitter for up-to-the-minute news.

With PokerStars’ 2012 Spring Championship of Online Poker well under way and the World Series of Poker right around the corner, one might expect the online high-stakes cash games to take a back seat. Although that may be the case in a couple of weeks, nothing was further from the truth this week as hundreds of thousands of dollars changed hands.

The week’s biggest beneficiary was a man we haven’t written too much about this year — Brian “$tinger 88” Hastings, who won $379,976 in a modest 3,844 hands spread across 55 sessions. That was more than $100,000 more than the next two biggest winners, “patpatman” and Chris “Genius28” Lee, who won $257,662 (26 sessions/2,076 hands) and $241,245 (99 sessions/8,764 hands) respectively.

Of course, where there are winners there are also losers, as “doncarignano” can attest. He was the week’s biggest loser dropping $208,081 in 3,392 hands across 94 sessions. Not far behind was “!P0krparty¡,” whose hot streak we told you about last week came to end as he lost $198,110 (152 sessions.13,452 hands), and Andrew “Kanu7” Millar, who gave away $133,954 in just 1,400 hands over 25 sessions.

Lee Wins Big on Monday While Sahamies Loses Two Big Pots

On Monday, WSOP bracelet winner Chris “Genius28” Lee played an early morning session at the $50/$100 pot-limit Omaha tables and pretty much won against every opponent he played. In less than five hours, he won $155,000 and became the day’s biggest winner.

In one of Lee’s ($46,613.90) most notable hands, action was six handed at a $50/$100 PLO table when “LUFCBas” ($78,566.36) opened for $300 under the gun and cleared the field all the way to “YoussefAhmed” ($11,725) in the small blind. After he made the call, Lee decided to three-bet to $1,320 from the big, prompting a call from “LUFCBas.” After “YoussefAhmed” got out of the way, the flop fell and Lee fired out $2,000.

“LUFCBas” wasted little time in bumping it up to $5,450, Lee called, and then the latter then check-called a bet of $7,775 on the turn before leading out for $24,000 on the river. “LUFCBas” made the call but mucked when Lee rolled over for tens full and the $77,505 pot was sent in Lee’s direction.

Lee’s profit was more than twice the amount of the day’s second and third biggest winners, Gabriel “verve.oasis” Goffi (+$77,000) and Ilari “Ilari FIN” Sahamies (+$75,000). Sahamies was mixing it up at the $100/$200 and $200/$400 PLO tables and became entangled in two of the biggest pots we’ve seen as of late.

In the first, which happened at a heads-up $100/$200 table, Sahamies ($228,876.30) opened for $680 on the button and “Phisherman36” ($151,956) three-bet to $2,120 from the big blind. After a call, the flop came out and “Phisherman36” fired out $3,600, which Sahamies also called.

When the peeled off on the turn, “Phisherman36” bet $7,400, Sahamies raised to $33,718 and the former called, bringing about the on the river. “Phisherman36” ended up check-calling a bet of $65,100 with for sixes full of sevens, which was good enough to take down the $209,154 pot after Sahamies revealed the mediocre .

In the other hand, which was played at the same stakes and between the same players, Sahamies ($309,070.29) once again opened for $680 on the button and “Phisherman36” ($71,814) three-bet to $2,120; however, instead of just calling this time Sahamies put in a four-bet to $3,560. “Phisherman36” made the call and then proceeded to check-call a bet of $5,400 on the flop. The turn saw “Phisherman36” check again, opening the door for Sahamies to fire out $11,800. This time “Phisherman36” opted for a check-raise to $53,398, Sahamies three-bet and “Phisherman36” called off his remaining $9,456.

Showdown

Sahamies
“Phisherman36”

The turn had given Sahamies the lead with a set of fives, but in order to win he needed to dodge “Phisherman36’s” outs on the river, which included both straight and flush draws. Much to Sahamies’ dismay, he couldn’t do it as the spiked to give “Phisherman36” the king-high flush and the $143,626 pot.

Tuesday Belongs to Hastings and “patpatman”

On Monday, Brian “$tinger 88” Hastings lost $83,000. On Tuesday, Hastings returned to the virtual felt and erased that loss by banking an impressive $292,000 — enough to make him the day’s biggest winner. Much of that came at the $50/$100 PLO tables at the expense of “Phisherman36,” who finished as the biggest loser after dropping $186,000.

Also in action was “patpatman,” who finished as the day’s second biggest winner with $229,000 in profit. That came in some no-limit hold’em action against Alex “Kanu7” Millar and Daniel “w00ki3z” Cates, who dropped $136,000 and $84,000 respectively.

In one hand, action was three-handed when “patpatman” ($254,093.06) opened for $800 on the button and Cates ($92,940.63) three-bet $3,200 from the small blind. After Millar folded from the big, “patpatman” called and the flop came down . Cates led out for $4,800, “patpatman” raised to $11,800, Cates called and the turned.

At that point, Cates ended up check-raising all-in over “patpatman’s” $18,800 bet, and the latter called.

Showdown

“patpatman”
Cates

Cates turned top set only to find himself behind the flopped straight of “patpatman.” The river was of no consequence and “patpatman” took down the $186,276 pot.

Not long after, “patpatman” took down another sizable pot. It happened when Cates ($77,952.50) opened for $800 on the button, Millar ($84,980) called from the small blind, and “patpatman” ($91,340.19) three-bet to $3,600 from the big. Both his opponents made the call and then Millar checked the flop, opening the door for “patpatman” to bet $4,000. From there, Cates decided on a raise to $10,400, Millar folded and “patpatman” made it $17,800 to go. Cates made the call and then fired out $14,800 when “patpatman” checked the turn. The latter quickly check-raised all in and Cates called off his remaining $41,752.50.

Showdown

“patpatman”
Cates

Cates had flopped trips and was well out in front, but that changed when the spiked on the river to give “patpatman” a straight and the $159,500 pot.

Feel the $ting of Hastings

Brian “$tinger 88” Hastings returned to action on Wednesday and picked up right where he left off the day prior, winning $145,000 and becoming the biggest winner for the second day in a row. He did so in a short session of $100/$200 PLO, which happened to include Ben “Sauce123” Sulsky. Surprisingly, the year’s biggest winner didn’t add to his total but reduced it by $169,000, enough to make him the day’s biggest loser.

Even though he lost, Sulsky managed to win one of the day’s most interesting hands. It happened when action was three-handed and Hastings ($80,242.24) opened for $500 on the button. The small blind got out of the way and Sulsky ($58,326.50) exercised his option in the big blind by three-betting $1,720. Hastings made the call and then bet $2,000 after Sulsky checked the flop. The latter woke up with a check-raise to $7,358.50, Hastings called and the appeared on the turn. Again Sulsky opted for a check-raise, making Hastings’ $6,800 bet $17,600 to go. Instead of just calling, Hastings pushed back to the tune of $35,200, which inspired Sulsky to four-bet $56,800. Another raise and call saw Sulsky’s stack in the middle and the cards on their back:

Showdown

Sulsky
Hastings

Sulsky had flopped top set and improved to quads on the turn, which meant Hastings was drawing dead headed into the river. Sulsky raked in the $116,788 pot.

Interestingly, Hastings lost another big pot a short time later. In that hand, Hastings ($134,313.25) opened for $600, Sulsky ($50,500) called from the small blind, and “patpatman” ($57,883.58) three-bet to $2,520 from the big. Hastings then four-bet $8,880, Sulsky folded and “patpatman” made the call, bringing about a flop of .

“patpatman” was first to act and didn’t hesitate to lead out for $10,200, which Hastings quickly raised to $47,875. “patpatman” responded by moving all-in for $49,563.58 and Hastings called the additional $1,128.57.

Showdown

”patpatman”
Hastings

Hastings held a flush draw and an open-ended straight draw, and needed to hit in order to overcome ”patpatman’s” bottom set. The turn put an end to any suspense as it improved ”patpatman” to a full house and left Hastings drawing dead. After the meaningless was put out on the river, ”patpatman” was pushed the $116,402 pot.

Despite losing the two aforementioned hands, Hastings finished atop the day’s leaderboard and went on to become the week’s biggest winner.

Biggest Weekly PokerStars Winners/Losers

Week’s biggest winners (5/11-5/17): Brian “$tinger 88” Hastings (+$379,976), “patpatman” (+$257,662), Chris “Genius28” Lee (+$241,245), Gabriel “verve.oasis” Goffi (+$193,904), Ignat “0Human0” Liviu (+$169,488), Terje “Terken89” Augdal (+$147,747)

Week’s biggest losers: “doncarignano” (-$208,081), “!P0krparty¡” (-$198,110), “Phisherman36” (-$167,059), Andrew “Kanu7” Millar (-$133,954), “YoussefAhmed” (-$125,371), Viktor “Isildur1” Blom (-$120,828)

Ben “Ben86” Tollerene (-$336,031), “Tsubi87” (-$250,516), Benny “toweliestar” Spindler (-$220,829), Randy “nanonoko” Lew (-$192,339), Viktor “Isildur1” Blom (-$181,068)

Year-to-date winners: Ben “Sauce123” Sulsky (+$1,714,587), Andrew “EireAbu” Grimason (+$1,680,930), “bernard-bb” (+$1,249,368), Jens “Jeans89” Kyllönen (+$1,123,713), Phil “MrSweets” Galfond (+$1,029,005)

Year-to-date losers: “Zypherin” (-$1,869,000), Viktor “Isildur1” Blom (-$1,125,871), Ilari “Ilari FIN” Sahamies (-$839,722), “1Il|1Il|1il|” (-$754,060), Benny” toweliestar” Spindler (-$704,534)

_{Data and hands obtained from HighStakesDB.com}

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