The current is off, so I bend to my knees and place an ear onto the Third Rail.
Silence.
Vultures circle overhead, waiting for me to leave the dregs of high stakes tournaments that surround me.
The British Poker Open.
The World Championship of Online Poker (WCOOP).
It’s time to visit the Opera; find a restaurant that serves lion marrow, or wrap that Fabergé egg.
That’s ok for them.
I still have to write something.
We begin our rather scant look at the involvement of high stakes poker players in live-action with a look at the most recent World Poker Tour (WPT) Main Event in Maryland.
The $3,500 No-Limit Hold’em WPT Maryland Live! Main Event pulled 495 dogs off the street to fight over a bone worth $319,415. Nitis Udornpim won the event, but to do so, he had to defeat a man who is not afraid of dipping his toes into $25k+ games: Anthony Zinno. The triple WPT Main Event winner finished fourth, and the $111,415 he collected from the cashier is his second-best score of the year behind the £279,920 he received for winning his second bracelet in the summer. Other high rollers who made money in the event were Darren Elias (17th) and Joseph McKeehen (35th).
After the Maryland Live! Casino waved bye-bye to the WPT, the Dusk till Dawn (DTD) cardroom in Nottingham welcomed them for WPT UK. There are no high rollers planned for the series, but several showed up to honour the late, great Dave ‘Devilfish’ Ulliot by competing in the $5,300 No-Limit Hold’em Devilfish Cup. Online star, Richard Trigg topped the 209-entrant field to win the $250,000 first prize. On the high stakes front, Kahle Burns finished 9th, and Jack Salter finished 18th. Burns is enjoying the best live tournament career of his life, bagging $2.27m in gross live earnings. Salter, on the other hand, has not had the best of years, earning 869k.
Bits and Bobs
In August, Jason Mercier won the $50,000 No-Limit Hold’em Super High Roller at the Seminole Hard Rock Poker Open (SHRPO) before signing off to be at Natasha Mercier’s side while she has their second baby.
It’s popped out.
Rainer Kempe is preparing for the World Series of Poker Europe (WSOPE) by offering his fans an opportunity to win a 1% sweat of his action in the €10,000 Main Event. Kempe, who sits #2 on the Global Poker Index (GPI) Player of the Year rankings, is offering the deal through his ambassadorial relationship with the online poker room GreySnowPoker.
Finally, a magical moment from Garrett Adelstein has been doing the rounds. Adelstein was competing in a $50/$50/$100 cash game streamed Live at The Bike when he turned it on with an impressive fold on the river. The timing of Adelstein’s performance is perfect in the wake of the Stones Live Stream debacle currently doing the rounds.
Adelstein called a raise from the villain holding T7o and then check-called a 982 rainbow flop. The villain held QTdd, which gave him the nut straight when the Jd hit the turn. Unfortunately, for Adelstein, it gave him an inferior straight. Adelstein check-raised from $475 to $2,600 and then called when the villain raised to $8,000. The 5h hit the river, and villain bet $14,500, leading to this moment.