CAPT Bregenz Open

It is folk tradition that women may propose marriage only on leap years as, way back when, men could be fined if a marriage proposal was refused by the man. This made some men nervous (particularly as the fines included a kiss, £1 or some silk breeches) and thus the tradition was restricted to leap days.

For those males who still feel a tightening in the gut upon hearing anything beginning with ‘Will you *…..’, there is the option to retreat to an Austrian bolt-hole and spend this leap day skulking in the CAPT Bregenz Open.

The games began on Feb 24 at Casinos Austria and some players are richer, some are poorer. So far there are 3 players happy to have and to hold their cheques for 1st place.

Horst Riedlinger cut the cake by winning the opening event, a €200 NL rebuy, and danced away with €26,160. Swiss Rino Mathias was proved to be best man by winning €34,740 on day two and Eddy Scharf had his big day by catching a beautiful €28,560.
Today sees the Pot Limit players crashing the party and hoping their €200 buy in will eventually lead to a toast.

However, Saturday sees the start of an event that could make this week’s earlier winners feel like bridesmaids. Players are cordially invited to a €2,000 buy-in NL freeze-out. Plenty are expected and it’s the talk of the town. It’s also a better way to experience a ‘cards on the table’ moment.

*Successful poker players and long term commitment phobes both share this trait. Thus, The Eyebrows School of Popular Science validates the wisdom of another piece of barroom wisdom- ‘lucky at cards, unlucky at love.’

The Wynn Classic

Steady yourself for this announcement.
It may come as a bit of a shock.

Check your life assurance policy.
Remember your first kiss.
Pour yourself a scotch.

Ready?

OK, but don’t say you weren’t warned.

There is a poker tournament taking place in Las Vegas!!!!

Yes folks, it’s time to sing like ZZ TOP as the Wynn Casino competes with the Atomic Testing Museum for tourists’ dollars by hosting the Wynn Classic. Some readers may think the organisers are taking a risk hosting such an event in a city that has an economy based on the convergence of gaming and tourism, but after the success of last year’s inaugural competition, the casino will expect further footfall.

It started on Feb 26, runs until March 19 and offers plenty of scope for players. The tournaments include NL, PL, Omaha Hi/Lo and HOSE games but the biggie is the $10,000 buy in NL game starting on March 16. Last year winner Zachary Hyman snagged close to $750,000 and this year’s pool is expected to be even bigger. Eyebrows will keep you updated on this epoch starting event.

Olympic Hold 'em Series Vilnius

Carl Lewis, ex-athlete and sometime crystal collector, managed to win four gold medals at the 1984 Olympics. It was a feat that contributed to him being voted ‘Sportsman of the Century’ by the International Olympic Committee and ‘Olympian of the Century’ by Sports Illustrated.

Twenty-four years on, it’s a new century and there is a mounting campaign for poker to become an Olympic event. If the brains trust at the IOC ever fire the starting pistol for such a development, Lithuanian Andrius Grigaliunas has a great chance to attract the attention of excitable sub-editors after his recent exploits at the Olympic Hold’em Series in Vilnius. He won the €750 main event, a €220 ‘Terminator’ and placed second in a €165 No Limit Game, boosting his bank balance by a total of €10,448 - not bad for a schedule featuring only 4 events

If his blistering form continues he might attract the attention of advertisers, although he would not be wise to follow in the footsteps of Carl Lewis and promote car tyres dressed in red stilettos.

Final 5 of €750 Main Event Olympic Hold ‘em Series, Olympic Casino Vilnius

1. Andrius Grigaliunas - €6,909
2. Laurynas Kapocius - €4,727
3. Bronius Susko - €3,273
4. Igoris Kuklis - €2,181
5. Alexsej Kokin - €1,091

EPT Copenhagen

Tim Vance, a 46 year old construction company worker from St Louis, Missouri has become the latest online qualifier to enter the poker hall of fame by winning the EPT Copenhagen at the weekend. As he didn’t pay anything to enter the tournament, it was not surprising he was a little overwhelmed by the large cardboard cheque for DKK 6,220,488 (€834,964)

An extrovert with a tendency to stroll around the casino, singing Beatles’ numbers during the action, he had played the tournament with aggression, skill and a photo of his only daughter Nanzi pasted on the inside of his baseball cap. He defeated Dane Soren Jensen in an endurance-sapping, four hour heads up marathon, a record for the EPT and trial for the press room.

The play had followed a metronomic pattern of raise-call-flop-check until a key hand developed. Soren raised pre-flop to 200k. As expected, Tim called and looked at a bland 8-2-T flop, with two clubs. Tim tried a 200k lead out and Soren did a minimum raise, to 400k. Vance called. The turn card was the queen of spades and both checked, inviting the river card of Jc to the party. When The Beatles’ fan went all in, it was a hard day’s night for Soren, who needed some help when he called and saw his opponents’ rivered flush.

Jensen couldn’t get back and the end finally came when he pushed his stack in against the nut flush. He walks away with DKK 3,521,429 (€472,675) but the spotlights are on Vance, who can now afford to buy several karaoke machines.

Final Table of the EPT Copenhagen

1. Tim Vance - USA – 6,220 488DKK
2. Soren Jensen – Denmark – 3,521,429DKK
3. Magnus Hansen – Denmark – 2,045,381DKK
4. Rasmus Hede Nielsen – Denmark – 1,560,394DKK
5. Daniel Ryan – USA – 1,286,270DKK
6. Nicolas Dervaux – France – 1,012,147DKK
7. Simon Dorsland – Denmark – 801,283DKK
8. Patrik Andersson – Sweden – 569,333DKK

EPT Scandinavian Open

Sunday’s Oscar ceremony in Los Angeles will face stiff competition for the media’s attention this year as the EPT Scandinavian Open at the Casino Copenhagen climaxes at weekend. The poker tournament’s estimated €3 million prize pool is the largest seen in the region so there is a possibility of an emotional speech as the eventual winner accepts the honours.

Bored guests, sitting through four hours of Oscar related luvviness should consider the endurance levels of hold ‘em players, as anyone at the final table will have five days of solid poker under the belt.

The event began with an awards party but the real invitations were issued on Tuesday, when the sell out number of 460 players looked at their cards for the first time. By the close of play yesterday, 420 entrants had lost their €6,700 buy in and had been sent home with not even a goody bag for their efforts. The remaining guests can at least be assured of a €8,487 (approx) sweetener.

Current leader, with a 295,500 stack is Dane Rasmus Hede Nielsen but, in a close field, there are plenty of others with their eyes on the €834,590 award for performance in a leading role. As the tension and the bluffs increase, the best acting may be yet to come

Olympic Hold 'em Series 2008

Poker has many advantages over athletics: If players are competing in a national event they are not obliged to wear streamlined underwear, hum their country’s anthem or have embarrassing cock-ups dissected by a savage media. Moreover, drugs tend to be performance reducing: Any chemical enhancement usually happens after the event for those euphoric male players who need to celebrate victory with a capital V.

So it is in a state of unalloyed bliss that Eyebrows brings news of the Olympic Hold ‘em Series 2008, which is currently taking place at the Olympic Casino, Vilnius, Lithuania. At 6pm today some of the game’s finest competitors, whose training rituals we can only guess at, will sit down and try to outperform their rivals in the €750 main event. Forty-eight hours later we will see a true titan of poker. There may not be blood but there will almost certainly be sweat.

Paris Open of Poker - Final

Ironically for a tournament taking place at the Aviation Club De France, few players flew to the Paris Open of Poker. It could be that poker pros are concerned about their carbon footprint or maybe it’s just a sign of the explosion of big money tournaments – either way, the final table of the €2,000 buy in event saw just two Swiss players trying to bankrupt the French.

Chief trader of the stack exchange system was poker pro Roger Hairabedian, whose Gallic flair for Texas Hold ‘Em vanquished 124 opponents and boosted his bank balance by €74,000 at yesterday’s showdown. It is not known if he is interested in working for Societe Generale, but he would probably stumble at the recruitment stage, given that his skills seem to be based on making money.

Final Table of the Main Event at the Paris Open of Poker

1 Roger Hairabedian (France) €74,400
2 Olivier Salvini (France) €39,515
3 Thomas Fougeron AKA "Fougan" (France) €27,900
4 Philippe Ciampi (Switzerland) €18,600
5 Vivian Anseline (France) €13,950
6 Vincent Courtois (France) €11,625
7 Laurent Wisniec (Switzerland) €9,300
8 Fabien Bensaid (France) €6,975

Final Day of the 2nd Leg - GUKPT - Walsall

Jeff Kimber, a former sports journalist from Newcastle, is now £83,910 richer after winning the 2nd leg of the GUKPT yesterday. The full time pro also collects a seat in the tour’s Grand Final (equivalent to £3,000) and an iPod nano.

The final day had began as a very evenly matched affair with less than 300k separating chip leader Kimber from Craig Metcalfe in 9th place. However, the hand that precipitated Jeff’s eventual economic dominance was not far away. Aaron Barry, first to act, went all in for 120k on the sub-prime holding of K8. Jeff’s pocket queens demanded that he call but the most significant decision was supplied by another player.

Dharminder ‘D’ Buttar, a 21 year old, who qualified through a £25 satellite, had TT in the hole. After some deliberation and a rule query with the tournament director, ‘D’ decided, correctly, to fold, only to be smacked in the face by a ten on the flop. Had Aaron not decided to invest with K8, the tournament may have had a different winner as ‘D’ would have almost certainly tussled heads up with Jeff. Such is the beauty of poker. Maybe Aaron could use some of his 7th place prize money to buy ‘D’ a beer.

However, Jeff fully deserves his champagne moment as, throughout the day’s play, he made good reads and correct decisions. In a post game interview, 2nd place Peter Charalambous admitted he had been outplayed and struggled to find words to express himself. For some reason, he didn’t look to the ex-journalist for suggestions.

Final Standings of the 2nd Leg GUKPT – Walsall

1. Jeff Kimber £83,910
2. Peter Charalambous £48,790
3. Dharminder ‘D’ Buttar £35,160
4. Nikhil Persaud £23,680
5. Craig Metcalfe £17,940
6. Charles Denton £14,350
7. Aaron Barry £11,480
8. Terry Owens £8,610

9. Luke Patten £6,640

Day 1a of the GUKPT - Walsall

It seems like the poker community has its fair share of incurable romantics as only 121 players turned up for Day1a of the 2nd leg of the GUKPT in Walsall yesterday. A player, who shall remain nameless but whose jumper may explain his attendance at a tournament taking place on Valentine’s Day, said there were only ‘single guys, puffs, and guys whose wives are having affairs’. He declined to comment when asked to which group he belonged but his sweater could happily go all three ways.

The multi-handed action began at 3pm and by close of action, 92 players could have been popping anti-depressants as they had had their chip uptake inhibited by the surviving 29. Happiest of the lot is chip leader Yucel Eminoglu, a professional, who will be hoping his performance will help boost the sales of his ‘I Love Yucel Eminoglu’ T-Shirt, currently available on Amazon, a site that does not screen for stalkers.

Unless there is a sudden stampede for vanity based summer wear, Day1b begins at 3pm today.

GUKPT Leg 2 - Main Event Today

Opinion seems unclear as to the exact origin of the cliché ‘lucky at cards, unlucky in love’. Some say it’s a Danish proverb, others argue it stems from England, whilst one or two argue they heard it from the lips of a wistful grandparent after a game of gin rummy and one too many rum ‘n blacks.

Whatever its derivation, today may see a few poker players in Walsall testing its wisdom. The town is hosting the 2nd Leg of the GUKPT and what better way to cement a relationship with a loved one than to stump up the £1,060 buy-in for the tour’s main event?

Starting at 3pm, sad singletons may be hoping the proverb runs true and they find their lives enriched by an estimated £100,000 first prize.

For those who forgot it is Valentine’s Day, maybe the cards will dictate an early exit, giving them a chance to patch up matters by retiring to the casino’s bar and treating their significant other to a bowl of Chicken Dippers. They come with mayonnaise.

Leg 2 of the GUKPT

In 1874, the Walsall Arboretum was opened, partly because the locals needed ‘a healthy change from dogfights, bull-baiting and cockfights’. (Ironically, a 2d (old pence) admission charge caused much growling, prodding of flanks and high pitched shrieking)

In 2008, locals who have tired of snarling canines may want to unleash their poker skills at the Grosvenor Casino, which is currently home to some legal combat as it is hosting Leg 2 of the GUKPT. The main event starts at 3pm tomorrow and players will be hoping to sink their teeth into a treat that is expected to be worth over £100,000. The £1060 buy-in may be a tad more than 2d and the casino may not boast a bowling green, but if it means a few more pooches can avoid suspiciously converted basements, then it has to be a good thing.

Deep Stack Extravaganza

The Venetian Resort Hotel Casino, Las Vegas is, apparently, the world largest 5 diamond resort. (Film buffs may recall Pacino’s character in Ocean’s 13 claims that all of his hotels have won the award). Appropriate, then, that it is offering a sparkling ‘Deep Stack Extravaganza’ until February 24 to attract customers not swayed by the hotel’s ‘authentic gondola rides’. (UK children of the 70s, please note - Cornettos not included)

For those who are just interested in seeing diamonds on the flop, the resort’s ‘Tuscan style’ rooms are currently attracting poker players by offering tournaments with a wide range of buy-ins.

Although today’s event is a $540 Omaha 8 tournament, the extravaganza is heavily reliant on No Limit Hold ‘em, climaxing with a game demanding a $2,060 buy-in.

All of the tournaments are ‘deep stack’: they offer more starting chips and longer blind structures. In theory, this gives players with skill and experience a better chance of winning (although tables can be stuck with the same players for so long that when one finally lucks out it can feel like a death in the family) so it might just be worth taking a punt in Venice, Las Vegas style.

Paris Open of Poker

The Paris Open of Poker may not be the best title in the world but it is one of the biggest and most respected tournaments in France, so let the games begin! From today, players should mosey along the ‘Most Beautiful Avenue in the World’ (no, not Acacia, the Champs Elysees) to find the Aviation Club De France, a high class joint, promising ‘elegance, conviviality and sophistication’.

For those more focused on the merits of rolled up kings, it also offers a series of games to suit a variety of budgets, culminating on Saturday Feb 16 with the start of the showpiece €2,000 NL freezeout. With the number of entrants capped at 150 (presumably to keep out the riff-raff) expect the winner to slope away with about €130,000.

Self Diagnosed

This guy's title manages to convey many levels of unintentional humour:

http://www.neilchethik.com/writings-fatherhood.htm

Care in the Community

Pupils at the Dragon School in Oxford are being given philanthropy lessons. As its fees for a year’s education are more than £20,000 a year, the headmaster argues that many are likely to be in positions of leadership.

He wants to encourage ‘responsibility beyond their own self-interest’. If the lessons help his school pass the Charity Commission’s new ‘public benefit’ test, that is simply a handy, tax-deductible, by-product and one that won’t force the establishment to offer places to any students whose parents don’t have the required assets.

Final of Winter Fun

There were clear indications of a cross-boarder raiding party as Italians dominated the €550 NL Hold ‘em Freezout ‘Winter Fun’ tournament at the Hotel Casino Perla, Nova Gorica, Slovenia.

Whether they were attracted to the establishment’s Dolce Vita cafe, the country’s beautiful deciduous forests, or the €46,750 kitty, the Italians ambled to the casino and occupied 7 of the 9 seats at the final table this weekend.

84 competitors had had the ground removed from their feet (this is poker’s version of falling into the poverty trap – similar, but with better sunglasses and iPod Nanos) by the time pro Roberto Binelli emerged enriched by €16,363 and the cries of ‘ben fatto!’

Final Table of Winter Fun – Hotel Casino Perla, Nova Gorica, Slovenia


1st Roberto Binelli (Italy) €16,363
2nd Damir Alidzanovic (Slovenia) €9,350
3rd Roberto Pintore (Italy) €5,610
4th Paolo Compagnuci (Italy) €3,740
5th Luigi Piergianni (Italy) €3,272
6th Andrea Michelotto (Italy) €2,805
7th 747 Rainman (Slovenia) €2,338
8th Antonio Grimaldi (Italy) €1,870
9th Emanuele Lanni (Italy) €1,402

Final Day of the Borgata Winter Open

After two weeks of grueling tournaments, the Borgata Hotel Casino and Spa waved a fond New Jersey farewell to WPT poker players with the climax of Poker Classic Championship on Saturday. 507 people had dumped $10k into the pool but it was American pro Gavin Griffin who still had his head above water at the end. Griffin, who competed in the EPT Monte Carlo with pink hair to raise awareness of breast cancer, becomes the first player to win a WSOP bracelet, an EPT event and a WPT tournament.

He had started the day in second place of the six remaining players. In 1st place was David Tran and so it transpired that they would be the two players left standing. He won a few key races against Tran but the killer hand was one where the board was allowed to develop. Tran was on the button and simply completed – Griffin checked from the big blind and both players stared at a 10-6-2 board.

Griffin checked, allowing Tran to take a 150,000 stab but it was called. When the turn brought a 7, both players checked and allowed the dealer to place a snowman on the table. Griffin immediately bet out for 475,000 but Tran hit him with an uppercut of 1,125,000. After languishing on the ropes for about twenty seconds, Gavin found the inner reserve to land a 3,625,000 haymaker. By that point, Tran was not going to leave the ring without a declaration. He called and felt the force of a sucker punch as Gavin flipped J-9, the runner-runner giving him an unbeatable jack-high straight.

It left Tran with only 800,000 chips and it was only a matter of time before he was on the canvas. When the trap door finally opened, all of the money was in pre-flop and he was a marginal favourite holding K-8 against Griffin’s Q-J. The board offered no salvation – A-9-8-Q-10 rang the final bell on his tournament.

For his troubles he opens a $737,685 purse, almost enough to get Don King out of bed, but the true glory rests on the head of Gavin Griffin as he hoists $1,401,109, wins a customized Harley-Davidson and becomes the first man to wear poker’s Triple Crown.

Coastal Shelf

The Savages, written and directed by Tamara Jenkins, stars Philip Seymour Hoffman and Laura Linney as a pair of child-less siblings who are forced by circumstance to provide a semblance of parental care to their father who, through ageing, has traded delinquency for dementia.

It is clearly an autobiographical work from Jenkins and it is to her considerable credit that she managed to acquire funding for a project that does not feature washboard stomachs or sculptured cheekbones. Indeed, some of the most sharply observed scenes are the depictions of elderly living, from the garish colours of Sun City, Arizona to the frost bitten Valley View, a care home in Buffalo. Although the visuals contrast, the locations provide a piercing reminder of the west’s denial of death. The film also arrives at a time when every county in the developed world has an aging population but seems confused as to how to make the transition to an older society.

Daddy Savage begins the story struggling to enjoy his breakfast. When his girlfriend abruptly croaks (seemingly knocked out by the whiff of nail polish) her surviving descendents produce a blanket of legal documents to justify offloading him onto his offspring.

Having coped with the swings and roundabouts of childhood without a stabilising pair of fatherly hands to usher them into adulthood, Linney and Hoffman contend with a mix-bag of emotions as they adjust to the new presence in their lives. The narrative asks if the younger characters can heal their emotional wounds by providing care for the man that helped cause them. As Linney puts it, ‘Maybe dad didn't abandon us. Maybe he just forgot who we were.’

Both are excellent throughout and Linney deserves her Oscar nomination, building on a strong CV, which includes her role in Jindabyne. Hoffman probably would have snagged one too were he not also nominated for Charlie Wilson’s War.

The script occasionally has patchy moments and doesn’t quite provide the necessary exposition to explain the absence of the mother but it’s highly refreshing to see a deeply honest narrative that continually pushes the theme of responsibility. It is complex and unflinching, as a scene in which a tennis injury forces Hoffman to wear a contraption that looks like it was lifted from 18th century dentistry depicts: sometimes we look ridiculous when we need support but we usually feel better afterwards.

The journey to the inevitable climax is poignant and humourous but it doesn’t pull its emotional punches. Like the mentally enfeebled father, it may catch a few members of the audience off guard.

Final Day of the EPT German Open

Before becoming a global, one man ass-kicking machine in the Bourne movies, Matt Damon starred as a young legal student with a superhuman gift for poker and a sideline in irritating smirks. The film was Rounders and it has a key scene. Damon takes his teeth for a chin-wag with his legal mentor, played by Martin Landau, who solemnly issues the line:

‘We can’t run from who we are. Our destiny chooses us.’

From that point on, the audience knows Matt has a solid future as a card player and that his lapels will remain free of dust.

In an occurrence that must cause us to gasp, ‘Hollywood execs –is there anything they don’t know??’ on Saturday night Mike Mc Donald, an 18 yr old Canadian, became the youngest ever winner of an EPT event by embracing the €933,600 1st prize for the German Open in Dortmund.

‘Timex’ had studied for a year at the University of Waterloo, a top maths college, when his chess teacher told him poker was a good way of making a living. Selling his story to Hollywood might be another.

His is not a tale of battling against the odds. It is a story of character, of resolve and of class. He had started the day as chip leader and was constantly in contention. When the tournament reached the heads-up stage he had 2,900,000 chips to German Andreas Gulunay’s 1,200,000.

The final hand was a text-book example of how to induce the bluff. Andreas had checked to Timex on a K-7-J flop. The Canadian bet 120k. The German sensed weakness and raised 300k. It was called and the turn was another king. From that point, Andreas’ betting could baffle Nancy Drew.

He decided to lash another 300k at the youngster but there was nowhere to hide from McDonald’s presence: he called and the river added a deuce to the fun. Suffering from a massive loss of logic, Gulunay pushed and, when Mike calmly called, the German knew he had bequeathed his stack to poker youngest star. T-7 tends not to scare away AK.

Andreas Gulunay can console himself with 528,500, whilst Mike Mc Donald can toast his success and await his call from the Californian dream-weavers.

Final Standings at the EPT German Open, Dortmund

1st -- Mike McDonald – Canada -- €933,600

2nd -- Andreas Gulunay – Germany -- €528,500

3rd -- Torsten Haase – Germany -- €307,0004th --

Diego Perez – Spain -- €234,200

5th -- Claudio Rinaldi – Switzerland -- €193,000

6th -- Johannes Strassmann – Germany -- €152,000

7th -- Thibaut Durand – France -- €120,200

8th -- Christian Harder – United States – €85,500