Posted by CarbonPoker on 9th February 2010

Pro poker player/songwriter Jason Mershon is offering half of his WSOP final table winnings to the first 15,000 fans who download his new song “Playin Poker for a Livin”.  The deal, which was offered through Mershon’s website www.playinpokerforalivin.com, covers the 2010 WSOP.

Mershon spoke about his new song by saying, “It’s just my way of saying ‘thank you’ to those fans who like my new song.”  Mershon continued by saying, “I wrote the song to humorously tell what it’s really like being a professional poker player, the sarcastic attitudes of many professional poker players, and the monotony of actually playing poker for a living and grinding out the long hours in a casino card room.”

And while the tone of Jason Mershon’s song may not be serious, the actual song itself is definitely getting some good praise from players and poker insiders who say it’s the best poker song in years.  Mershon has spent most of his working career in the entertainment industry, and he has already put out a hit song called “Rock and Roll Heaven”, which won two awards at the 2006 Los Angeles Music Awards.

Since winning the awards for Rock and Roll Heaven, Mershon has put much of his focus towards his professional poker career.  Jason commented on his poker abilities by saying, “I probably spend 90% of my time playing in cash games, but I’m also considered a pretty good tournament player as well.  So, I don’t want people to think I’m dead money in the World Series of Poker.”

Mershon finished summing up his chances at making a run in the 2010 WSOP by saying, “I think I’ve got as good a chance as any in making the Final Table.  I used to play with World Series of Poker champ Jerry Yang on a regular basis in California before he won the Main Event in 2006, and I’ve also held my own with many of the other well-known pros in tournaments and cash games alike.  I think the past few years have proven that almost anyone has a chance in The Main Event.”

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Posted by Ray Finkle on 2nd February 2010

scrooge-mcduckWith his second place finish in the Aussie Millions $100,000 AUD  buy-in event over the weekend, Phil Ivey surpassed Mr. Peanut, the Monopoly man, Mr. Burns, and God as poker’s all-time tournament winnings leader, with over $12.6 million highlighting his illustrious career. The title was previously held by Daniel “Kid Poker” Negreanu, who relinquished the title back to the pro poker community from 2006 World Series of Poker champ Jamie Gold before he fell into obscurity.

“It’s a great accomplishment, for shizzle. Mo cheddah tha beddah, am I right!?! I’m an awesome poker player and you’re an awesome writer. High five!”

While this interview didn’t take place outside of my head, what is real is the tremendous force Phil Ivey has evolved into.  The poker juggernaut finished 7th last year in the 2009 World Series of Poker Main Event AFTER winning bracelets in both the $2,500 No-Limit 2-7 Draw Lowball and $2,500 Omaha Hi/Lo / 7 Card Stud Hi/Lo events. All of these accomplishments can be added to a long laundry list of tourney clinics he has run, including:

•         2005 – 1st – $5,000 Pot Limit Omaha for $635,603
•         2005 – 1st – Monte Carlo Millions for $1 million
•         2002 – 1st – $1,500 7 Card Stud for $132,000
•         2002 – 1st – $2,000 S.H.O.E. for $107,540
•         2002 – 1st – $2,500 7 Card Stud Hi/Lo for $118,440
•         2000 – 1st – $2,500 Pot Limit Omaha for $195,000
•         A record eight World Poker Tour final tables

While the bracelets and their prestige are certainly part of any man’s motivation, the more substantial force propelling Ivey to compete at his highest level are the prop bets he places on himself.  As some sort of sick degen’s placeholder on one’s own confidence and ability, prop bets stand to lose the average Joe more money than he’s worth when their pride fails them. When you’re Ivey good, it’s just another day at the office.

Depending on which story you choose to believe, it is estimated that his win last year in the No-Limit 2-7 Draw Lowball event has made him somewhere between $3  to $12 million, making his $96,367 cash look like a spot on the moon. Major implications were also in place if he finished first in the Main Event, where he stood to win millions more from the likes of pros Andy Bloch, Phil Gordan, and Tom “durrr” Dwan.

They say the sky is the limit, but at this rate, Ivey is on course to shoot straight into the sun. Years behind Helmuth and Brunson and Chan in age, he’s well on course to be the all-time leading bracelet winner atop the Mt. Olympus of the poker who’s who. What’s next for the world’s greatest poker player? Only time will tell.

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Posted by Comb Over-Under on 1st February 2010

Picture 1That headline makes sense, right?

Tyron Krost, a Bondi, Australia resident, took down the Main Event of the Aussie Millions after a week of intensely played poker.

Krost is 23 years old and beat a field of 746 players en route to the $2Million AUD victory Down Under. He qualified for the event through online satellites (that could be you!) and spent about $700 in the process – by my math, that’s a pretty solid investment.

That was Krost’s first major tournament victory; he previously cashed in two events at the 2008 WSOP. This showing at the Crown Casino was certainly the highlight of his growing career.

Tyron likened the win to a dream that he didn’t want to wake up from. He went on to say that he’s more interested in poker than the family furniture business… I think that’s a no brainer.

Krost’s play turned dominant in the final day of competition as he knocked out 5 players, including second place Frederik Jensen.

Aussie Million Main Event Final Table Results:

1st: Tyron Krost – $2,000,000
2nd: Frederik Jensen – $1,100,000
3rd: Sorel Mizzi – $715,000
4th: Kosta Varoxis – $450,000
5th: Peter Jetten – $350,000
6th: Steve Friedlander – $250,000
7th: Annette Obrestad – $175,000
8th: Stephen Shelly – $125,000

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Posted by Comb Over-Under on 7th December 2009

Turkey Grand SlamThe top 128 players in the Thanksgiving Leaderboard faced off on Saturday to play for $21,713 in real cash prizes at CarbonPoker.

In a heads-up Grand Slam format, they duked it out for 5 hours, 6minutes and 21 seconds on the No Limit Hold’em tables. This capped of our successful 2009 Thanksgiving promo. It was banner month for SitNGos and players.

Each player came into the tourney with a unique starting stack, based on how they placed in the Leaderboard. As you will see below, whether you started with a big stack or a smaller one the most important part is getting into the event. Second place only started out with 5,731 chips — which was 42nd to begin with.

Congrats to the Top 8 players, who all pulled down $1K+ for their effort. Here is the list:

Top Finishers

yoyojen – $3,691.35 (24,416 Starting Chips)

Pius35 – $2,605. 59 (5,731 Starting Chips)

desertkitty – $1,628.49 (17,729 Starting Chips)

tlopeztlopez – $1,628.49 (3,562 Starting Chips)

buschmaqb – $1,085.66 (7,453 Starting Chips)

Jestersgirl – $1,085.66 (3,899 Starting Chips)

mazokie – $1,085.66 (42,445 Starting Chips)

vader46 – $1,085.66 (10,631 Starting Chips)

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Posted by CarbonPoker on 16th November 2009

doubtfireEvery year more and more women are taking up the game of poker in an effort to win money.  And many of them choose to use ladies-only events as a good starting place for their career.  But recently, a lot of these women are finding out that ladies-only events aren’t just for the ladies anymore.  That’s because some men have been making their way into these poker tournaments that are only supposed to be held for female players.

Greg Sessler was the latest man to benefit from such a move as he took down a WSOP Circuit Event in Lake Tahoe.  The tournament was called the “Lake Tahoe Ladies Championship” and it was a $340 event.  96 players entered the tourney, and Sessler was one of them after he claimed he wanted to participate because he had the day off, and was looking for somewhere to play poker.

Sessler definitely picked a good time to take the day off since he ended up winning the Ladies Championship, and he earned a $9,900 payday for doing so.  The crowd was definitely against Sessler as they were cheering every time a male was eliminated from the supposed ladies-only tournament.  However, he was able to come through and take the victory despite the crowd being against him.

With Sessler’s victory, and Abraham Korotki winning a Ladies No-Limit Hold’em event in September, many people are starting to question the appearance of men in women’s events.  The WSOP covered themselves on this issue by saying, “The WSOP isn’t a political organization and can’t be expected to get involved in debates about sexism, discrimination, or other polarizing issues which may be applicable to poker tournaments.”  Even with this statement, many will still be questioning why Korotki, Sessler, and others are allowed to play in these female tournaments.

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Posted by Comb Over-Under on 10th November 2009

wsop chipsThe 2009 WSOP Main Event is in the bag. It’s time to look at the important stuff. The field of 6,494 competitors fought it out for a little over $61Million in prize money.

The Final Table was the longest in the event’s history – logging over 17.5 hours of play until only two remained.

Joe Cada was the eventual winner – beating out Darvin Moon in heads up action last night.

Here’s the breakdown of the Final Table Winners:

Joe Cada – $8.55Million

Darvin Moon – $5.18Million

Antoine Saout – $3.48Million

Eric Buchman – $2.5Million

Jeff Shulman – $1.95Million

Steven Begleiter – $1.59Million

Phil Ivey – $1.4Million

Kevin Schaffel – $1.3Million

James Akenhead – $1.2Million

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Posted by Comb Over-Under on 10th November 2009

cada joe champ wsopIt’s finally happened. After months of play/hype the 2009 Main Event of the World Series of Poker is over.

Joe Cada is the youngest WSOP Main Event winner, surpassing Peter Eastgate. Cada is only 21 years old.

The heads up portion of the Main Event lasted 88 hands as Cada bested Darvin Moon. Cada’s winning hand was pocket 9s over Moon’s suited Q-J. The board didn’t help Moon out and Cada walked away with the biggest pay day of his poker career.

Moon started out the heads up play quite aggressively, as he was down by more than 2-1. It was effective early, but Joe Cada hung on for the eventual win.

Moon took home $5.18Million for his troubles and will probably be glad to move out of poker’s biggest spotlight. The unsigned amateur never relished the promotional side of poker, but I’m sure he’s alright with the financial aspect.

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Posted by CarbonPoker on 9th November 2009

darvin-moonThe last day of the WSOP Main Event ended nearly 4 months ago when the final table was set.  This past Saturday, Main Event play finally picked up again with final table play continuing all weekend as the field was whittled down to two players.

And for all of the talk about how Phil Ivey could find his way to the title despite sitting 7th in chips or how Darvin Moon would choke his big lead away because he wasn’t a veteran players, the final showdown is set: Darvin Moon versus Joe Cada.

Much was made about Darvin Moon coming into the Main Event final table because he held 30% of the chips in play and was simply known as the logger from Maryland.  He had no flashy tournament resume or heroic online feats to back up his journey to the final table.  Instead, Moon’s prior poker experience was relegated to playing in small tourneys around his area.

One of the small tournaments Moon played in (a $130 satellite in Wheeling, West Virginia) would change his life since it earned him a spot in the WSOP Main Event.  After grabbing his spot in the Main Event, Moon was able to gather 58,930,000 chips before the final table – 24,130,000 more than the next closest competitor. Joseph_Cada

Moon’s opponent, Joseph Cada, had a much different road to the WSOP.  He definitely fits into the college-dropout-turned-poker-pro class of players that have been popping up in recent years.  However, unlike a lot of these players, Cada didn’t earn his success on the Internet but rather through live play at Casino Windsor and later in bigger tournaments.  Cada already has 11 WSOP cashes to his credit which is astounding for a 21 year-old, and he is guaranteed to add a big one when his duel with Darvin Moon concludes.

If you had to give one player the experience advantage then it would definitely be Cada, but Joseph is also at about a 2-to-1 chip disadvantage going against Moon.  The odds are definitely on Moon to come out on top, but don’t count out Cada since he survived elimination several times to make it this far.

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Posted by Comb Over-Under on 9th November 2009

wsop_bracelet_newDarvin Moon and Joe Cada.

Those are the final two players remaining in the Main Event of the 2009 World Series of Poker. After prelim rounds, winners, losers, months of promotion and the longest final table in WSOP history, these two have outlasted over 6K worth of players.

Heads up action goes off tonight at 10pm PST — so you East Coasters better get in a nap now, or prepare for a long night of poker.

Cada entered the final 9 in 5th place and now holds over a 2-1 chip advantage of Moon.

Think you know who’ll win? Hit the comments and let us know!

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Posted by CarbonPoker on 8th November 2009

wsop chipsThe field of 6,494 players is now down to two.

17.5 hours into the November Nine, Joe Cada and Darvin Moon are the only ones left. In an action packed session of playing, these guys got their in drastically different ways.

Cada needed to make many key double ups to keep his tournament life. Moon started with 60million, dropped to 30, and then roared back.

Final Count going into the WSOP Final – Heads up:

136, 925 , 000 – Joe Cada

58 , 875 – Darvin Moon.

You’ll get more updates from me after I’ve slept.

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