Poker Room Hustle

David Benyamine is a well renowned and feared cash game player in all parts of the world, the native Frenchman used to be a professional tennis player however he had to retire due to back injuries. Since his unfortunate injury Benyamine has swarmed the tables of Cash Games all around the world and has also made a killing online at Full Tilt Poker in the past year, remarkably he was up $1.8 in May 2008 alone. With all this major stacks of dough coming in from playing cash games Benyamine proclaims that it is a waste of his time playing in tournaments, he says that he could win more money in one night in a cash game than he could win in a 3 day tournament if he finished first, so naturally he chooses to focus most of his time on cash games.

Well the critics seem to disagree with Benyamine, and they reckon that the professional French player doesn’t have what it takes to win in a huge tournament. With two WPT titles under his belt and an impressive record of final table finishes in other major tournaments over the years, I believe it is fairly clear that David Benyamine is no rookie when it comes down to tournament poker. And when Benyamine made this statement “They said ‘I don’t think you can play tournaments, you can only play cash games, that’s all you can do.’ So I said, okay, I’m going to try for one year and then let’s see at the end of the year what I will do.”, I think he was on a mission to silence his critics once and for all. His achievements this year speak for themselves with: Three deep finishes in three different varieties of poker, consisting of two final tables and one 10th place near-miss in the World Championship of Seven Card Stud Eight-or-better.

Although Now, David Benyamine has puts his critics to rest for good and got a huge monkey of his back, by winning his first WSOP bracelet in the 2008 $10K Omaha Hi/Lo Split event. This may be his first bracelet but David is no stranger to the WSOP, he has made three WSOP final tables and collected two top 15 finishes in the past.

On the final hand of the tournament, Benyamine raised from the button pre-flop and Jamison countered with an all-in which Benyamine called. Benyamine flopped a set but Jamison flopped the nut straight. It was clearly Benyamine’s night when he hit a full house on the turn and captured his first Gold Bracelet and over $500K in cold hard cash.

‘’Short-handed I was just hitting too many cards,’’ Benyamine stated after taking down the win. ‘’They had no chance today. I was really motivated and I really tried hard.’’

Benyamine was clearly overjoyed with his win. Nonetheless he played it very cool by mentioning that although winning the bracelet was sweet, he really had nothing left to prove.

For someone already considered as one of the greatest cash game players of all time, this may just be a very true statement. This win has also edged David Benyamine in second place at the 2008 WSOP Player of the Year standings, I guess it just keeps getting better for the 35 year old French Poker Pro.

To wrap up the proceedings from Event # 37, World Championship of Omaha Eight-or-better, David Benyamine collected $535,687 and Greg Jamison picked up $331,350 for his runner up performance. For a full listing of payouts visit Bluff Magazines official WSOP Results Page.

Here’s an Interview With Benyamine From PokerNews.com Check It Out

The Absolute Poker Bad Beat Jackpot has gone off and they have set a new record for the largest jackpot ever awarded in the industry. They have smashed their previous record, which was around the $800k mark, by a mile as the new record stands at $996,115. The unlucky player who received the lucky bad beat was RIVERMAN1969, who lost a hand with quad tens against BFOXY’s quad queens. RIVERMAN1969 picked up 32.5% of the jackpot, which was $325K, BFOXY collected 16.25% ($163K) and the rest of the players at the table won a $1000 each. The remaining money, minus the house fee of 10%, was divided among the 88 players playing the same game type and limit at the time.

Here is what Absolute poker has to say about the Jackpot “We’re hitting milestones, breaking records and making ordinary poker players extraordinarily rich. Bad Beat Jackpot continues to attract an enormous number of poker players to Absolute Poker and we can’t wait to beat the industry record we just set once again.”

For more info on the Bad Beat Jackpot and for your chance to cash in on their next Milestone visit AbsolutePoker.com

A few weeks ago a 27 year old high tech marketing industry worker from Kansas, better known as Grant Hinkle, went down in the history books as he took out the largest field ever in a non main event WSOP tournament to win his first ever Gold Bracelet. Well his younger brother, Blair Hinkle, has added an extra addition to their family’s history at the WSOP by capturing a gold bracelet of his own. By winning event # 23 and $507,563 in first place prize money, he has put the brothers in the WSOP history books as the first siblings ever to win gold bracelets in the same year.

Hinkle, who has been doing very well on the tournament circuit recently, is a 22 year old poker pro who usually plays online at Full Tilt Poker under the screen name blur5f6. Well his hard work has paid off and he is now living his dream of winning a WSOP gold bracelet, as he took down a field of 1,344 players in the $2,000 No Limit Hold ‘em event to claim the bracelet and $507,563 in cold hard cash.

Hinkle began the final table as one of the chip leaders, ahead of multiple bracelet winner Chris Bjorn, feared high stakes online player Dustin Dirksen, and five other players who all, except one, consider themselves poker professionals. Hinkle stated that he was most worried about Dustin Dirksen, although he did manage to take him out and was very relieved to do so, he mentioned “The one player I was worried about the most coming into today was Dustin Dirksen and taking him out was a huge jump for me, I was able to really pick up my game after that”

In the end it came down to a heads up battle against Mark Brockington, and Hinkle was completely dominating as he took down the first seven pots of heads up action. On the 8^th and final hand all the money went in pre-flop as Brockington held AK (amazingly the same hand Grant Hinkle beat to claim his bracelet) against Hinkle’s Pocket Sixes. Once again it was another unbelievable flop for the Hinkle family as it dropped 6-A-2, leaving Brockington with very grim hopes. The turn and river didn’t do much for Brockington and Blair Hinkle celebrated his victory by hugging his mother, who had witnessed the entire final table. He took home his first WSOP gold bracelet and has continued the fairytale for the Hinkle family.

Here is an interview with Blair Hinkle from PokerNews.com

Brockington collected $326,552 for his second place performance, and here are the full payouts from the final table. For full list of payouts Check Out 2008 WSOP Results

1. Blair Hinkle – $507,563

2. Mark Brockington – $326,552

3. Daniel O’Brien – $198,132

4. David Paul Steicke -$166,333

5. Dustin Dirksen – $135,757

6. Chris Bjorin – $106,404

7. Dominick Kulicki – $81,944

8. Andrew Jeffreys – $63,598

9. Stephane Tayar – $45,252

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Daniel Negreanu has joined the likes of Poker Greats Such as Scotty Nguyen and Allen Cunningham by winning his fourth WSOP Gold Bracelet in the $2,000 Limit Hold’em event. Mike “The Mouth” Matusow, who won his 3^rd WSOP Gold Bracelet just a few days before Negrenu’s win, was apparently a crucial factor in the victory. Negreanu, Mentioned in an interview, Half Jokingly that he could not stand for Matusow to be in the same gold bracelet category and promptly “went out tonight and did something about it.” Well he took matters into his own hands alright, and ended up conquering a field of 480 players to take home $204,863 in cold hard cash and the prestigious gold bracelet.

In the end, infront of a full house watching a classic ESPN Final table, it came down to a heads up clash between Turkish-born poker player, Ugur Marangoz, and the Team Pokerstars Pro. On the final hand of the tournament, Negreanu limped in on the button and got a check from Marangoz in the big blind. The flop came Kd, 5d, 5s, and both players checked. The turn brought a Qh and two more checks, and the 2h hit on the river. Marangoz bet it, Negreanu raised and Marangoz called all-in. Negreanu showed 9s 5h, and Marangoz quickly mucked his hand, leading Negreanu to win a shiny new bracelet and more than $200,000 in cash.

Check Out This Interview with Negreanu From PokerListings.com

Here are The Results From The Final Table

1. Daniel Negreanu – $204,863

2. Ugur Marangoz – $126,672

3. David Baker – $78,624

4. Richard Li – $63,336

5. Fu Wong – $51,542

6. Jeremy Kottler – $40,622

7. Greg Wohletz – $31,886

8. Derek Lerner – $25,334

9. Hien Tran – $18,782

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Duncan “Pumper” Bell, a well known poker pro from Vancouver, has taken home his first ever WSOP Bracelet after winning a final table that amazingly, only lasted a mere 73 hands. The 32 year old veteran started the final table with the chip lead and alongside his close friend, Shawn Buchanan, he managed to eliminate 3 players in very quick succession. Steve Merrifield followed his lead and sent another three players to the rail in very little time, in order to set up a heads up battle against the two assassins of the table.

The heads-up match started with Bell and Merrifield almost dead even in chips, however Bell took down the first four pots to break the tie and take the lead. Although, Merrifield fired right back, and took down two big pots in succession, including one that could have been the defining hand of the tournament and took the chip lead.

Anyhow Bell regained his composure and made a quick comeback when he was holding A9 and Merrifield put him all-in on a 9,4,7,4 board when he held pocket 5s. The river was an insignificant card and Bell had doubled up to take the two to almost dead even again.

The final hand came just a few minutes later, and Bell couldn’t ask for much more as he was dealt pocket aces when his opponent held pocket 10s. All the money went in a flop that showed 6,8,2 and when Bell exposed his aces the crowd went wild. The turn and river could not help Merrifield out of his huge mess, and Bell claimed his first ever WSOP Title.

Merrifield for his runner up performance, collected $428,948, it was his second cash of the 2008 WSOP.

Bell will take home the prestigious bracelet and an amazing $666,777 in prize money when he returns home to his lovely wife and child in Vancouver.

“It means a lot to me. Every poker players dream is to win a bracelet,” Bell said in a post-tournament interview.

For complete results from Event #13, visit the WSOP Results page.

Ralph “Rep” Porter outlasted a field of 1,236 players to win Event #9 ($1,500 No Limit Hold’em’/Six Handed) and capture his first World Series of Poker bracelet, something he’s been chasing for a very long time now.

The Washington state based poker pro began the final table third in chips; however he managed to hustle his way to first place after winning two crucial pots against Michiel Brummelhuis. Brummelhuis was at one point the chip leader at the final table however he was sent packing in 6^th place, courtesy of Porter.

Porter on his way to the victory quietly maintained his chip-lead until he was three handed with two fellow pros, 30-year-old Nathan Templeton and 24-year-old Devin Porter (no relation). The younger Porter briefly took over the chip lead but returned the goods with interest when his A-J failed to overtake Rep’s pocket tens in a crucial pre-flop race. The pot left Devin with less than two big blinds and he was eliminated on the very next hand, leaving Rep a 2.7 to 1 chip lead as he began the heads-up match against Templeton.

The heads up battle didn’t last very long as Rep Called Templetons all-in raise on just the fourth hand of heads up action. Rep was delighted to see his KQ had Templeton’s K9 dominated, and was glad to be in great shape to take home the title. The board was no help to Templeton as it failed to improve his hand, and Porter claimed his first victory in a WSOP event, to pocket $372,929.

“It’s great. I’ve been trying to win one of these for a little while,” Rep said, noting that over the past few years he’s cashed ten times in WSOP events, including a runner-up finish in a WSOP Circuit event, a final table finish in 2006 and a 39th place finish in the 2007 Main Event.

Templeton’s for his runner up performance received $231,981.

For complete payouts visit the WSOP results page. 

Erick Lindgren can now finally say he has won a WSOP Gold Bracelet, after he took out event #4 in The 2008 WSOP. For many years Lindgren has been regarded as one the best poker pros without a gold bracelet, well he is no longer eligible for that category as he defeated Justin Bonomo in the $5,000 Mixed Holdem event on Thursday morning to pocket $374,505 and the prized bracelet. Lindgren stated “I hate to use such a terrible cliché, but it really is a monkey off my back, I don’t know how to describe it; it was certainly an emotional moment. I even started to tear up a bit. I didn’t think I had the waterworks in me.”

The final Table featured some of the biggest names in poker and included the likes of Howard Lederer, Roland de Wolfe, David Williams, Isaac Haxton, Pat Pezzin and online poker pro Andrew “Good2CU” Robl. Lindgren On his way to the heads up battle against Bonomo, outlasted a field of 331 players in an event which players played both limit and no limit hold em in rotation. Bonomo received $230,159 for his runner up performance on a thrilling final table, which is set to be aired for TV on ESPN later on this year. Here are the results from the final table.

1. Erick Lindgren – $374,505

2. Justin Bonomo – $230,159

3. Andrew Robl – $144,337

4. Roland de Wolfe – $117,030

5. David Rheem – $93,624

6. Howard Lederer – $74,119

7. David Williams – $58,515

8. Pat Pezzin – $46,812

9. Isaac Haxton – $35,109

David Singer, who just recently won the biggest buy-in online poker tournament in history, has claimed his first ever WSOP Bracelet by taking out the $1,500 pot limit Hold’em event. Either way Singer was expecting a great new addition to his life when he was playing on Wednesday, as his fiancé who was watching from the rail, was ready to give birth at any minute. Singer personally stated that “The moment she goes into labor, I am quitting the tournament, I don’t care even if I am playing heads-up for the (gold bracelet).” Luckily for him she held on a little bit longer and after a grueling heads up battle, which lasted for over 5 hours, Singer eventually managed to snare his first ever WSOP Bracelet and $214,122 in prize money.

Even on the final hand of the tournament both players had very strong hands and they wouldn’t go down without a fight, however Singer came out on top as he re-raised Fernandez all-in On a board showing 7d,5s,3d,6c when he was holding a straight, Q,4. Fernandez who had two pair 7,3 made the call and the tournament finally came to an end when the river brought an insignificant card. David Singer, who has reached eight WSOP final tables in the past, has got his own piece of a treasured WSOP Gold bracelet at last.

Remarkably singer managed to cash in twice on the same day; after the Full Tilt Pro had busted out of Event # 2 in 353^rd place, he immediately switched to the opposite floor and proceeded to battle it out in Event # 3.

The total field for the event was 714 players which generated a prize pool of $973,245. Fernandez-Hernandez took home $136,644 for finishing second. Below are the final table results and payouts. For a full list of payouts visit Bluff Magazines WSOP 2008 Event 3 Results

1. David Singer – $214,122
2. Jacobo Fernandez-Hernandez – $136,644
3. Gregory Alston – $82,726
4. Robert Lipkin – $67,641
5. Russel Harriman – $55,475
6. Joe Tehan – $43,796
7. Zachary King – $34,064
8. Al Barbieri – $26,764
9. Glen Bean – $19,465

Here is an interview with David Singer From Pokernews.com