The Muck

Streaky

2009-11-09T14:35:00.000-08:00

The Muck has written before of its love for Lee Markholt. Lee NotWatkinson is not only good at poker he is remarkably steady as well. The 2009 Foxwoods World Poker Finals marks the sixth consecutive season Seattle Set has cashed in a WPT event. Twice he has cashed six times in a single season and now he is the all-time leader in WPT cashes with twenty. Going into his second WPT final table tomorrow severely shortstacked with only 6 times the big blind he will have his work cut out for him. But when Lee Markholt says "there is always next time" he is not blowing smoke.

Side note of mild interest: When researching Lee's cash record Stat Monkey discovered that Erik Seidel has cashed at least once in all eight seasons of the WPT. He is the only player out of the 3410 players who have made it to the cage over the last seven years to accomplish this feat. Apparently this Seidel character is also good at the poker.

Tommy Vedes Wins WPT Festa al Lago!

2009-10-27T09:48:00.000-07:00

Lavallee moves all in for 2,775,000, and Vedes quickly calls with K Q. Lavallee shows 8 6, and he'll need to improve to stay alive.

The flop comes A 9 5, and Lavallee picks up a gutshot straight draw. The turn card is the Q, and Vedes increases his lead with a pair of queens. Lavallee needs a seven on the river to stay alive.

The river card is the Q, and Tommy Vedes wins the pot -- and the tournament -- with trip queens.

Jason Lavallee finishes in second place, earning $795,150.

Tommy Vedes wins the 2009 WPT Festa al Lago tournament at Bellagio, earning $1,218,225, a WPT bracelet, a Bellagio bracelet, and a Rolex watch.

Here are the payouts for all six final tablists:

Tommy Vedes - $1,218,225

Jason Lavallee - $795,150

Craig Crivello - $477,090

Freddy Deeb - $278,300

Jason Burt - $208,725

Shawn Cunix - $168,970

Toughest

2009-10-26T12:27:00.000-07:00

Seeing Kido Pham make yet another deep run in a WPT event caused me to think anew of Erik Seidel's stance that this season's Bellagio Cup V was the "toughest WPT final table ever." Now it is an excellent final six and when the show premieres in mid January you'll see there truly isn't a soft spot at the table. The play was so good we even made the tourney a three part episode. But toughest ever? Out of 116 open tournaments over seven and a half years it's an open and possibly endless debate. But was it even even Erik Seidel's personal toughest WPT final table? In Season Three Erik made the TV Six alongside Carlos Mortensen, David "The Dragon" Pham, John Juanda and the aforementioned Kido Pham. Take a look at the lists and compare. I know which one Erik would pick. How about you?

Festa al Lago - October 2004
Erik Seidel
Carlos Mortensen
Kido Pham
David "The Dragon" Pham
John Juanda
Hung La

Bellagio Cup V - July 2009
Erik Seidel
Alex Gomes
Faraz Jaka
Justin Smith
Alec Torelli
Christoffer Sonensson

Going for Three

2009-10-26T10:31:00.000-07:00

It has been four years, ten months and two days since the World Poker Tour crowned its last and so far only three time winner. Gus Hansen hit the trifecta on January 24th, 2004 by outlasting Hoyt Corkins, Daniel Negreanu and John D'Agostino to take the title at the inaugural PokerStars Caribbean Poker Adventure. But today the drought may end and the Great Dane's mystique take its first hit.

Maybe.

If Freddy Deeb wins today the parallels between his career wins and Hansen's will resemble those between Lincoln and Kennedy. Both will have won tournaments at Commerce (LAPC for Hansen, Invitational for Deeb, tournaments in the Caribbean (Freddy's first bracelet came in Aruba) and now Bellagio (Hansen won the first WPT event ever at that jewel of the strip). Deeb is semi-famous for shell shocked trashing talking of the Dane after his knockout at Hansen's hands at the inaugural Five Diamond seven years ago. "He plays so bad. I wish I could play him everyday if he plays like that." Now another possible link and if history is any guide they may sit atop this particular leader board together for years to come.

Maybe.

Freddy Deeb Goes For a Record-Tying Third WPT Title

2009-10-26T09:27:00.000-07:00

By the end of the day, two-time WPT winner Freddy Deeb had moved into first place:

Freddy Deeb - 3,840,000

Shawn Cunix - 3,670,000

Tommy Vedes - 2,990,000

Craig Crivello - 2,570,000

Jason Lavallee - 2,045,000

Jason Burt - 1,375,000

The WPT Final Table begins today (Monday) at 4:00 pm PT, and chipleader Freddy Deeb is hoping to tie Gus Hansen as the only players with three WPT titles. (Deeb won WPT Aruba in 2005 and the WPT Celebrity Invitational earlier this year.)

Return to WorldPokerTour.com for complete live coverage of all the action, with hand-for-hand updates and constantly-updated chip counts after each hand.

Festa al Lago - Season 8 - Day 5

2009-10-26T09:24:00.000-07:00

Blue Diamond Almonds' Bold Player of the Day

Shawn Cunix is Day 5 Blue Diamond Almonds' Bold Player of the Day where he wins a year supply of almonds.

Festa al Lago - Season 8 - Day 4

2009-10-24T21:00:00.000-07:00

Blue Diamond Almonds' Bold Player of the Day

Freddy Deeb is Day 4 Blue Diamond Almonds' Bold Player of the Day where he wins a year supply of almonds.

2009 Festa al Lago - Day 4 Final Chipcount

2009-10-24T20:30:00.000-07:00

Official Chip Counts: Jason Lavallee & Freddy Deeb Lead the Final 11

Level 20: 12,000-24,000, 3,000 ante

Here are the official chip counts from the end of Day 4:

Jason Lavallee - 4,063,000

Freddy Deeb - 2,319,000

Shawn Cunix - 2,189,000

Kido Pham - 1,500,000

Tommy Vedes - 1,437,000

Jason Burt - 1,194,000

Larry Berg - 810,000

Chris Bjorin - 810,000

Richard Sciuto - 738,000

Aaron Jones - 679,000

Craig Crivello - 539,000

Play resumes tomorrow (Sunday) at 12:00 noon PT. Stay tuned for a recap of today's action, and return to WorldPokerTour.com for continuing live coverage as they play down to the final six for Monday's televised WPT Final Table.

Festa al Lago - Season 8 - Day 3

2009-10-23T21:00:00.000-07:00

Blue Diamond Almonds' Bold Player of the Day

Corwin Cole is Day 3 Blue Diamond Almonds' Bold Player of the Day where he wins a year supply of almonds.

Festa al Lago - Season 8 - Day 2

2009-10-23T09:06:00.000-07:00

Blue Diamond Almonds' Bold Player of the Day

Jason Somerville is Day 2 Blue Diamond Almonds' Bold Player of the Day where he wins a year supply of almonds.

Festa al Lago - Season 8 - Day 1

2009-10-22T09:42:00.000-07:00

Blue Diamond Almonds' Bold Player of the Day

Jennifer Tilly is Day 1 Blue Diamond Almonds' Bold Player of the Day where she wins a year supply of almonds.

Is it True?

2009-10-15T10:09:00.000-07:00

The Las Vegas Journal Review reports that Mike Sexton will be the lone inductee into the Poker Hall of Fame for 2009. Official announcement from the WSOP is scheduled for later today.

Borgata Poker Open - Season 8

2009-09-25T15:28:00.000-07:00

Olivier Busquet Wins

Greatest WPT Comeback Ever?

Online specialist Olivier Busquet comes back to win after a 20-to-1 chip deficit.

Legend of Poker - Season 8

2009-08-27T15:49:00.000-07:00

Prahlad Friedman is the Newest WPT Legend of Poker

Hand #127: Prahlad Friedman Wins the WPT Legends of Poker and collects $1,009,000

Living Legend Likes Sexton for HOF

2009-08-04T16:11:00.000-07:00

In his latest blog post, Doyle Brunson runs down all the viables for this year's Poker Hall of Fame and rates our own Mike Sexton as top of the heap. Says the Godfather:

Mike Sexton – In my opinion, here is the #1 choice. Mike paid his dues at the table for years, gambled as high as his bankroll allowed and meets all the requirements for induction. Mostly, go back and read #5 in the criteria. Nobody and I mean nobody has contributed more to the success of poker than Mike Sexton. If he isn't one of the people selected, something is wrong.

We couldn't agree more.

Back in Action

2009-08-03T09:53:00.001-07:00

World Poker Tour season 8 is underway and in full swing with stop number two at the Bicycle Casino hosting prelims leading up to the main event of the Legends of Poker at the end of August. In other news, Layla Kayleigh is still listing herself in press releases as the current host of the World Poker Tour and I guess as long as season six keeps running on GSN (I caught the Bellagio Cup III event last night on Game Show) she is technically correct. And it did give me the excuse to link to the photo above so everybody wins.

Full schedule for 2009 Legends of Poker is here. Find out more about Layla's relationship with animals at Peta2.com.

Bellagio Cup V - Season 8

2009-07-20T16:00:00.000-07:00

Alexandre Gomes Wins the Bellagio Cup V

Gomes Locks Up Another Bellagio Cup Victory for the Internet Pros.

Sunday Reading

2009-06-21T16:01:00.000-07:00

WPT Live Updates maven Jeff Holsey is featured in a story in the NY Times this Sunday about how Twitter is changing pro poker. Jeff and team are back on the WPT beat this July 13th at Bellagio for Day 1A of the Bellagio Cup V. S(t)weet!

POY wins PLO

2009-06-17T10:34:00.001-07:00

J.C. Tran, the 2007 WPT Player of the Year, won the $2,500 Pot Limit Omaha event at the WSOP last night earning his second bracelet and a $235,685 first place prize. Also scoring gold yesterday was the original Uncle Tilty, James Van Alstyne, who kept his cool all the way to a bracelet in the $1,500 HORSE event. Today all eyes are on the $10,000 Limit Hold'em Championship where Jennifer Harman, Chad Brown, Soheil Shamseddin, and Greg "Full Blown Tilt" Muller are still in contention for the hardware with twelve players left. Get all your updates throughout the day from Pokernews.

(Photo: Mike Sexton gives J.C. Tran his WPT Player of the Year watch. Last night Tran won his second bracelet in his never ending quest for more jewelry.)

Mr. and Mrs. Grinder

2009-06-16T15:18:00.000-07:00

Mark Seif tweets that Lilly Elviro is now Mrs. Michael Mizrachi as the long-time couple has apparently finally tied the knot. From Seif's 140 character limited message the Grinders seem to have taken their vows this morning in Las Vegas so that Michael could take part in the $1500 No Limit bracelet event. Family business, indeed. Congratulations to the newlyweds from everybody at the WPT.

Sharks in Space

2009-06-04T13:47:00.000-07:00

Confirmation came today that Cirque du Soleil founder and WPT finalist Guy Laliberte will get taken for a ride this September on a Russian Soyuz rocket into outer space. Laliberte, who finished fourth in the Season Five WPT World Championship won by Carlos Mortensen, will be the first WPT finalist to travel into outer space and, if all goes well, next year hopes to orbit Phil Hellmuth.

Laliberte, who according to Forbes magazine is worth over $2.5 billion dollars, is also the subject of my all time favorite WPT update. During the Championship the ticker at the bottom of the screen said that if Laliberte won the first place prize of nearly $4,000,000 his overall net worth would increase .16%. Refreshingly, it wasn't life changing money after all.

(Photo: At the WPT World Championship V Guy Laliberte, who is preparing to blast off from Earth, considers Kirk Morrison, who recently dropped off the face of the Earth.)

Yes He Did

2009-06-04T10:19:00.000-07:00

It's only fitting that a man who once wore a Yes We Can t-shirt to a final table won the $1,000 Stimulus Special at the WSOP, as three time WPT finalist Steve Sung finally broke through to the number one spot for his first gold bracelet. Our hearty congratulations to Muggylicious and how fitting that he won holding pocket Kings as that was the hand he busted out with in Barcelona in 2007 and at the Five Diamond in 2008.

The ninety-ninth WPT Millioniare added $771,106 to his bank account for winning the fourth largest live tournament in poker history besting 6,011 other entrants. Check out Steve's twitter feed to learn that, unsurprisingly, winning a title is "soooo sweet."

We Like Her

2009-05-29T14:23:00.000-07:00

Not just an excuse to post a photo of a beautiful woman, it's also a chance to congratulate Sabina Gadecki on making last two tables at the Poker4Life charity tournament in NYC last night. From Sabina's last tweet she was still in with twenty left. Not too shabby for a starting field of 270 with the first place prize a $10,000 entry into the WSOP main event. From the Poker4Life Facebook page it seems NY Knick forward David Lee made the final ten only to lose out to noted poker shark Loren Finklestein. Mr. Finkelstein, if you wear a bikini to the WSOP we will certainly consider posting that photo as well.

Sabina's success got me to thinking which WPT Hostess was the best poker player. Take it all with a grain of salt, of course, but at least I know my list is better than the ranking some whiz on twoplustwo created when he rated a table at the WSOP $40,000 event and put Nam Le as the soft spot. As another poster explained, "that's just dumb."

Best Poker Playing WPT Hostess
1. Kimberly Lansing
2. Sabina Gadecki
3. Shana Hiatt
4. Layla Kayleigh
5. Courtney Friel

Throw sideline reporter Amanda Leatherman into the mix and you have the makings of a pretty good WPT Ladies Night. First one out has to ask everyone else "how do you feel?"

NYC Poker

2009-05-28T11:45:00.000-07:00

Tonight in Manhattan is the annual Poker4Life charity tournament to benefit the Buoniconti Fund to Cure Paralysis. Top prize is a seat to the WPT Invitational, an event Poker4Life founder Ethan Ruby (above, left) almost won in season six. Sabina Gadecki will be in attendance and in fact is sharpening her skills at this very moment. Side note: The Buoniconti Fund is one of the many chairities supported by Mike Sexton. Somebody should put that guy in the Hall of Fame.

Watch (or not)

2009-05-28T10:59:00.000-07:00

I couldn't bend my mind around it enough to watch the whole thing but maybe you will enjoy the WPT's own Layla Kayleigh on the Hannity Great American Panel hosted by Fox News star Sean Hannity.