There always seems to be something going on in the poker world, and the last week or so is no exception. Below is some of the happening going on around the slot demo world:
Jeff Lisandro Wins 5th Bracelet
As many may remember, Jeff Lisandro won the 2009 WSOP Player of the Year for winning three bracelets and completing the lifetime stud triple crown. Well, now Lisandro has won his fifth career bracelet after taking Event #2 of the 2010 WSOP Europe, the £5,250 PL Omaha Event.
This event started with a start studded field of 210 players. After two days of play, 15 players returned for the last day. Lisandro made the final table, along with 2006 WSOP Player of the Year Jeff Madsen, Joe Serok, November Niner John Racener, and Chris Bjorin. This was Bjorin’s 6th career WSOP Europe cash, which is tops among WSOP-E participants. This was also Bjorin’s 2nd final table of this WSOP Europe.
Lisandro made heads-up play with Joe Serok and had to overcome a slight chip lead from Serok. Lisandro took a dominant lead when his K-K-2-5 flopped top against the A-A-J-10 of Serok. Serok was eliminated the next hand and Lisandro took home his 5th bracelet and £159,514.
Phil Laak Wins First Bracelet
The first event of the WSOP Europe was the £2,650 Six-Handed NL Holdem Event. 244 players took part in the event and after two days, we had a final table of six that included Phil Laak and Chris Bjorin. Laak had a severe ATV wreck last month and was playing one handed with his right arm in a cast.
Heads-up was between Laak and Andrew Pantling with Pantling leading . The battle between the two went back and forth for a while with both players holding the chip lead at one point or another. The turning point came when Laak flopped two pair with 6-7 against the 6-8 of Pantling. Pantling had both a straight and flush draw and could win if an eight hit. He missed all of his outs and Laak had a nearly insurmountable lead. The match was over with the next hand when Laak’s K-5 outdraw the A-9 of Pantling.
Phil Laak finally broke through to win his first bracelet. In addition, he took home £170,802.
Poker Hall of Fame Receives Ballots
The mixed panel that will vote on the nominees for the 2010 class of the Poker Hall of Fame have received their ballot. 33 members will vote on the panel with 16 living member of the Poker Hall of Fame and 17 members of the media receiving votes. The votes will be done on a 10 point must system with. Voters may not select more than 3 players and their point total must equal to ten.
The following players are being considered for enshrinement:
Phil Ivey
Barry Greenstein
Daniel Negreanu
Jennifer Harman
Chris Ferguson
Erik Seidel
Tom McEvoy
Dan Harrington
Linda Johnson
Scotty Nguyen
Ballots must be returned by October 1st and the Hall of Fame induction ceremony will take place on November 7th.
Shaun Deeb Wins 2nd WCOOP Bracelet
Shaun Deeb supposedly retired from poker earlier in the year, only to resurface at the WSOP and stir up controversy. Apparently, his retirement is over as he has now taken down his 2nd WCOOP bracelet after winning WCOOP event #28, the $1,000 NL 2-Day event. Deeb came out on top of a final table that included Greg “DuckU” Hobson and Shawn “buck21″ Buchanan. Deeb took home $243,610 for his win.
Plaza Hotel to Shut Down For Renovations and Name Change
A long time staple on Fremont Street in downtown Las Vegas is the Plaza Hotel and Casino. Well, the hotel portion of the property will be shut down in November for about a year as the hotel undergoes a complete renovation. Upon completion, the casino will be changing its name to Union Plaza. During the renovation, the casino will still operate, but the renovation will cost 400 employees their jobs.
Scotty Nguyen Skips WSOP Europe
Scotty Nguyen announced on his website that he was skipping this year’s World Series of Poker Europe to “tour for the fans.” He plans on going around the country and playing in smaller events to give the fans an opportunity to play with him.
Nguyen is not the only person to skip most or all of the WSOP Europe. Kathy Liebert is only planning on playing in the Main Event, and that is only if she does not do well in the WPT Borgata Main Event.
Borgata Poker Open Championship Underway
The WPT is in Atlantic City for the Borgata Poker Open. Preliminaries started on the 8th and continued through yesterday. The $3,500 Main Event kicked off today and will have two Day 1 starts. Saturday’s field included Steve Zolotow, Matt Stout, Mike Sexton, Will Failla, Bill Gazes, Adam Junglen, Maria Ho, and Roy Winston. This will be a televised event and cameras are on scene filming footage for use. For more about the event, follow Kaelaine Minton’s blog at
