Le Monde du Poker.

19 Avril 2012, Mickey Doft

Chaque semaine, Global Poker Index publie une liste des joueurs de poker 300 tournament haut de la page dans le monde à l'aide d'une formule qui tient les résultats du joueur sur six périodes de semestre. Pour voir la liste complète des 300, visitez le site officiel de GPI.

RankPlayerTotal ScoreChange au rang de la semaine dernière

Absent du haut 10 (et même le top 20) sont Erik Seidel. 21-Place dans Main Event des WSOPE 2011 a chuté en période 2 tandis que son résultat 12-place dans l'événement mixte sans limite Hold de 10 000 € est ainsi tombé hors de la période 1. Ce dernier, cependant, n'est pas repris par période 2 Seidel a déjà quatre meilleurs résultats GPI comptage. En outre, il n'a aucun résultat de la période 1 à compter de maintenant.

Seidel tombe n° 23 sur le GPI, marquant la première fois depuis la création de la GPI qu'il n'a pas été dans le top 20.

Nouveaux ajouts

Les neuf joueurs qui est tombé de la GPI cette semaine étaient Antony Lellouche, Brent Hanks, Dylan Wilkerson, Jesse Alexis Cohen, Joao Barbosa, Jon Spinks, Liv Boeree, Mark fleurset Tyler Cornell.

Le plus grand lieu de la semaine appartenait à Kevin Vandersmissen pour sa victoire à l' Irish Open Main Event. Jason Wheeler (15), Byron Kaverman (16), Phil Hellmuth (33e), James Dempsey (34), et Mike Watson (37) également tous encaissement dans ce tournoi, qui a contribué à améliorer leur classement de GPI.

RankPlayerTotal ScoreChange au rang de la semaine dernière

Sean Getzwiller vu sa chute GPI stock le plus éloigné de cette semaine. Son 1 période est deux notes plus légers après que ses deux encaisse à la WSOPE 2011 âgé.

RankPlayerTotal ScoreChange au rang de la semaine dernière

La scène de tournoi est back in business comme l'EPT et WPT revient cette semaine. Alors que l'événement WPT à Hollywood, en Floride, n'envelopper jusqu'à lundi prochain (et ne compte vers le GPI pour deux semaines), EPT Berlin sera. Anton Wigg (116 sur le GPI) et Kevin MacPhee étaient encore dans le domaine du temps de la presse.

À regarder la liste entière des 300, visitez le site officiel de GPI. Pendant que vous y êtes, suivre la GPI sur Twitter et sa page Facebook.

Pour rester en haut de la GPI et autres événements dans le monde du poker, suivez nous sur Twitter et comme nous sur Facebook.

Suivez Mickey Doft

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February 21 2012, Brett Collson

Some of poker's most notable players made headlines on Tuesday. Doyle Brunson, Daniel Negreanu, Erik Seidel and Dan "Jungleman" Cates were all in the news, and we'll bring you all of their stories here in the Nightly Turbo.

In Case You Missed It

Daniel Negreanu lashed out against Full Tilt Poker's board member last week. Negreanu is one of the subjects of Rich Ryan's latest Five Thoughts.

Day 1b of the PokerStars.com European Poker Tour Copenhagen wrapped up on Tuesday. Mads Wissing finished on top, but he'll be chasing Day 1a leader Steven O'Dwyer when Day 2 begins.

Winners of the 2011 Montreal Open were left empty-handed after the event's sponsor, Full Tilt Poker, closed up shop. Chad Holloway examines the lingering issues surrounding the tournament.

Daniele Nestola won the 2012 PokerStars.net Latin American Poker Tour Grand Final on Monday. Get all the details in our final table recap.

Doyle Brunson Talks Full Tilt Poker

Aside from a controversial joke he made on Twitter last April, Doyle Brunson had been relatively quiet about Black Friday — especially regarding the severe financial situation at Full Tilt Poker. However, after Daniel Negreanu verbally attacked the FTP shareholders (again) in a video blog last week, Brunson defended his friends in his own blog on Monday.

"It looks like Bitar, Ferguson and Lederer are taking all the heat," Brunson wrote. "Ferguson had a lot of faith in his friend Bitar. It is widely perceived that Howard Lederer was still heavily involved in running the company even though he retired two or three years earlier. I've been in contact with Lederer the last few months. When someone I've known for years, trusted and respected looks me dead in the eye and says he didn't know about the financial problems, call me a big old Texas sucker because I will believe them.

"I have not talked to Ferguson but I understand he says what Lederer told me, that they didn't know. There are at least four stockholders that own more of FT than Lederer. Where were they? The guilt should be shared IF it's true Lederer and Ferguson didn't know of the financial mess."

Doyle's comments got a rise out of several members of the poker community, including Negreanu.

RealKidPoker Daniel Negreanu @TexDolly your buddy Howard knew FTP was accepting deposits POST BF. That is shady and unforgivable. No excuse whatsoever justifies that. February 21 2012

To read Doyle's full blog, check out doylebrunson.com.

Seidel Joins PartyPoker Premier League

The lineup for the fifth edition of the PartyPoker Premier League continues to get stronger. On Tuesday, poker's all-time money winner, Erik Seidel, added his name to the mix of players who will put up $125,000 to compete in the televised event in Vienna, Austria, from April 4 through 10.

Seidel joins Patrik Antonius, Tony G, Luke "Full Flush" Schwartz, Sam Trickett, Vanessa Selbst, Andy Frankenberger, and others for the PartyPoker.com Premier League Poker V. The 16-player event is part of the World Poker Tour Vienna festivities and will award the winner with a massive top prize plus entry into the $25,000 WPT World Championship at Bellagio.

"I am born to crush the Seiborg by the Danube," Tony G. said on Tuesday. "Forget Tony the Tiger I am Tony the Terminator!"

Visit Tony's blog for more information on the Premier League.

ISPT Planning Second Event

The International Stadiums Poker Tour (ISPT) still needs to get a gaming license in order to launch its inaugural €20,000,000 Guaranteed tournament at London’s Wembley Stadium. However, that's not stopping ISPT co-founder and president Laurent Tapie from eying future stops for the tour.

According to eGaming Review, Tapie has plans to follow up the event in London with second event in Paris or Monaco. The ISPT's goal is to attract up to 30,000 players to each event, so it would need to find a stadium with that capacity.

Groupe Bernard Tapie's original plan was to have most or all of the 30,000 players qualify online, presumably at Full Tilt Poker after the sale of the site went through. However, with that acquisition still on hold, there's no telling how the ISPT will bring that number of players to London.

You can find more on this story over at eGamingReview (if you have a subscription, of course).

Iowa Approves Online Poker Bill

An Iowa subcommittee has approved a bill that could pave the way for intrastate, interstate and international platforms for online poker. On Monday, a three-member Senate panel voted to send Senate Study Bill 3164 to the Senate State Government Committee, which may consider passage as soon as this week.

Iowa lawmakers feel that the state is missing out on up to $13 million in annual taxes from online gambling. For years, Iowa residents have placed bets at offshore operators that aren't regulated by the U.S. government.

“We have it out there. It needs to be controlled,” said Senator Wally Horn (D-Cedar Rapids).

Read the full story at PokerNews.com.

Another Challenge from Jungleman

Apparently, playing cash games for millions of dollars doesn't provide enough action for some high-stakes poker players. They need to pound each other's faces in, as well.

Last November, Team PokerStars Pros Lex Veldhuis and Bertrand "ElkY" Grospellier met in the ring for a kickboxing match, which Veldhuis won by knockout. Now, Dan "Jungleman" Cates has challenged Andrew Feldman to a fight during the 2012 World Series of Poker.

junglemandan Daniel Cates @Andrewfeldman1 so you still want to do the fight? Let's schedule for this WSOP perhaps? #Ringmatch February 20 2012

Andrewfeldman1 Andrew Feldman "@junglemandan: @Andrewfeldman1 so u still want to do the fight? Let's schedule for this WSOP perhaps? #Ringmatch" Sure lets do it! #hu4rolz February 20 2012

We hope they're actually talking about getting into the ring and not sitting in front of a TV screen playing Street Fighter on Xbox. If that's the case, Randy's Lew's got next.

Betfair Poker Signs Peter Eastgate

On Monday, 2008 World Series of Poker Main Event champion Peter Eastgate became the newest member of Team Betfair Poker. Eastgate will make his first appearance wearing a Betfair logo at the 2012 WSOP Main Event in July.

Eastgate left Team PokerStars in 2010, but made his return to poker at the 2011 NBC Heads-Up Championship. The London native has nearly $11 million in live tournament earnings, including $9,152,416 for his victory at the 2008 WSOP Main Event.

We have more on this story at PokerNews.com.

Online Poker Traffic Report

On Monday, PokerScout.com released its online poker traffic rankings for the previous week. The tracking site reported an overall drop of 3 percent, marking the second straight week of losses after a huge gain to start the month.

The biggest falloff in traffic was at the Everleaf Gaming Network, which withdrew from the U.S. after receiving a cease and desist order from the U.S. Department of Homeland Security. Traffic at Everleaf's 100-plus skins dropped 16 percent from the previous week. Time will tell if other offshore sites like Bovado, Cake and the Merge Gaming Network will follow Everleaf out of the States.

As for year-over-year numbers, online poker has seen a worldwide decline of 28 percent since this time last year. Along with the traffic extinction at Full Tilt Poker and the CEREUS Network, the International Poker Network (down 49 percent), PKR (down 25 percent) and the Ongame Network (down 21 percent) have seen a significant decline.

The biggest climbers over the past year are the Merge Gaming Network (up 85 percent), 888poker (up 77 percent) and Bodog (up 62 percent).

The full report can be found at PokerScout.com.

Carnival!

Today is Fat Tueday, so we thought it seemed fitting to show you some footage of Brazil's Carnival, which took place during the PokerStars LAPT Grand Final. Team PokerStars Pros and staff hit the streets of Sao Paulo to celebrate the country's biggest festival.

Get all the latest PokerNews updates on your social media outlets. Follow us on Twitter and like us on Facebook today!

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January 26 2012, Mickey Doft

Each week, the Global Poker Index releases a list of the top 300 tournament poker players in the world using a formula that takes a player's results over six half-year periods. The top of the GPI remains the same this week as Erik Seidel still holds a slight lead over Jason Mercier. For a look at the entire list of 300, visit the official GPI website.

RankPlayerTotal ScoreChange in Rank from Last Week

The only new face in the top ten this week is Jonathan Duhamel. His excellent performance at the 2012 PCA set the stage for his GPI rise over the last two weeks, and it was only a matter of time before an aging score would catch up to somebody else in the top ten. That misfortune went to Mike "Timex" McDonald because his third-place showing at the 2010 EPT Deauville fell into Period 5 and dropped him to No. 11.

Joe Hachem led four new GPIers this week following his third-place showing in the Aussie Millions $100,000 Challenge.

New Additions

The four who fell this week were Andrea Benelli, Mike Sowers, Ray Qartomy and Taylor von Kriegenbergh.

The biggest rise of the week belonged to Dan Smith. Thanks to his win in the Aussie Millions $100,000 Challenge, Smith rose 90 spots to No. 65.

RankPlayerTotal ScoreChange in Rank From Last Week

Tyler Bonkowski suffered the biggest hit this week. His 14th-place finish in the 2011 Aussie Millions Main Event dropped into Period 3. In addition, his 49th-place result in the 2010 Aussie Millions Main Event slipped into Period 5. That combination resulted in a drop of 71 spots.

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Down under at the Aussie Millions, the $250,000 Super High-Roller is set to begin on Saturday. While that result will certainly affect next week's rankings, last year's results in that very event will also play a role. Erik Seidel defeated Sam Trickett heads-up to win last year's event, and those results will fall into Period 3 in next week's rankings. As a result, they will both see their stock fall. Barring a big result from Seidel in the next few days, expect Jason Mercier to be back on top of the GPI.

Last September, Phil Ivey fell off of the GPI completely. He went all of 2011 without a tournament cash, albeit with a very light schedule. However, 2012 will be different because Ivey not only cashed in the 2012 Aussie Millions Main Event, but he is still in the hunt with 26 players remaining. With a solid showing, Ivey could make his return to the GPI.

To look at the entire list of 300, visit the official GPI website. While you're at it, follow the GPI on Twitter and its Facebook page.

To stay on top of the GPI and other happenings in the poker world, follow us on Twitter and like us on Facebook.

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20 Octobre 2011, Mickey Doft

Chaque semaine, l' Indice mondial de Poker publie une liste des meilleurs 300 tournoi joueurs de poker dans le monde, à l'aide d'une formule qui tient le résultat du joueur sur six périodes de semestre. Erik Seidel reste sur le dessus, Jason Mercier a glissé n° 4 et Shawn Buchanan va faire quelque bruit grave la semaine prochaine. Pour voir la liste complète des 300, visitez le site officiel de GPI.

RankPlayerTotal ScoreChange au rang de la semaine dernière

Nous savions qu'il arrivait. Pour les deux dernières semaines, nous a laissé entendre que Jason Mercier allait tomber de plus haut niveau en raison des scores dans les périodes précédentes et tomber par le GPI complètement. Avec ce qui se produisent, Eugene Katchalov a saisi le spot no 2 de la GPI. Alors que les deux avaient leur première et deuxième places de l'automne 2011 Mohegan Sun CSPT Bounty Shootout en période de 2, Katchalov a facilité la perte de la période 1 avec son fini huitième place pour l'épopée Poker quitter principal événement inaugural prenant sa place. Dans le même temps, cette arrivée deuxième place dans la fusillade de bounty amélioré ses résultats période 2.

Neuf nouveaux joueurs sont sur GPI de cette semaine. Michael Tureniec fait ses débuts avec le plus haut poste grâce à sa huitième place terminent à l' EPT Londres High Roller événement plus tôt ce mois-ci.

Nouveaux ajouts

Ceux qui ont oublié ce qu'est le GPI cette semaine sont Andrew Teng, Dragan Galic, Jason Koon, John Monnette, Mark fleurs, Micah Raskin, Ronny Kaiser, Stephane Albertini et Steve Gross.

Le susmentionné EPT Londres High Roller, ainsi que 2011 World Series of Poker Europe, sont les principales raisons pour les meilleurs dix gains de la semaine. Philipp Gruissem a bas l'EPT Londres High Roller et plutôt que de tomber le GPI (il fut no 299 la semaine dernière), Gruissem voûté place les rangs 225 taches n° 74. Grâce à leurs victoires respectives bracelet à le WSOPE, Steve Billirakis et Tristan Wade a sauté dans le top 100.

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Joseph Cheong avait la chute plus cette semaine. Combiné avec des 50 taches chutes la semaine dernière, Cheong glissé 162 places au cours des deux dernières semaines. Sa deuxième place terminer en 2010 EPT Londres High Roller et sa victoire au tournoi de Hold'em sans limite à la Festa 2010 Al Lago ont tous deux récemment chuté de sa période de 2 à 3 période, laissant sa période 2 avec zéro résultats GPI de 5 000 $.

RankPlayerTotal ScoreChange au rang de la semaine dernière

De la rédaction de cet article, le 2011 World Series of Poker Europe tire à sa fin. Huit joueurs restent dans le Main Event, et alors que plusieurs peuvent faire des vagues graves dans GPI la semaine prochaine, une en particulier va faire bouger les choses en haut. Shawn Buchanan va tirer sur pour le top ten. La question est, où il atterrira ?

Avec son finaliste montrant dans le championnat de cheval de 10 000 $ cet été dans le WSOP, sa deuxième place finish dans la Hold'em sans limite de 10 400 € (Split Format) et un fini sixième place dans l'événement principal de WSOPE vont faire période 1 de Buchanan résultats très Seidel-esque avec trois résultats monstre.

À regarder la liste entière des 300, visitez le site officiel de GPI. Pendant que vous y êtes, suivez le GPI sur Twitter et sa page Facebook.

Pour rester en haut de la GPI et autres événements dans le monde du poker, nous suivre sur Twitter et comme nous sur Facebook.

Suivez Mickey Doft sur Twitter — @ mrdoft

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AppId is over the quota
September 22 2011, Mickey Doft

Each week, the Global Poker Index releases a list of the top 300 tournament poker players in the world. There was little change in the top ten as Erik Seidel remains on top with a minuscule lead over Jason Mercier, though there is one new addition. For a look at the entire list of 300, visit the official GPI website.

RankPlayerTotal ScoreChange in Rank from Last Week

The only change to the top ten this week was Shawn Buchanan sneaking in at No. 10, taking John Juanda's place. Buchanan's last tournament cash was in August, so why did he jump eight spots? In March, Buchanan min-cashed in the WPT Bay 101 Shooting Star Championship. That result slipped from Period 1 to Period 2, leading to a slight decrease in Buchanan's Period 1 score because it was replaced by another result. However, that min-cash in the WPT Bay 101 Shooting Star Championship now gives Buchanan a full complement of Period 2 scores to be calculated by the GPI, therefore resulting in his top ten appearance.

It's a similar story for Juanda, but the opposite result. His 25th-place finish in the WPT Bay 101 Shooting Star Championship slipped to Period 2, as well, also giving him a full complement of Period 2 scores to be calculated. However, unlike Buchanan, Juanda doesn't have a fourth cash in Period 1 to replace it, resulting in his three-spot drop to No. 13 on the GPI.

Six players are new to this week's rankings, including a few familiar names from week's past.

New Additions

Who dropped from the top 300 on the GPI this week? A few very big names, that's who. No longer on the list are Jeff Madsen, Kathy Liebert, Ted Forrest, Michael Tureniec, Phillippe Ktorza, and Kent Lundmark.

The biggest jump of the week belongs to Frenchman Antony Lellouche. Davidi Kitai also saw a big jump in his rankings thanks to a first and second finish for the duo at the WPT Rendez-Vous à Paris in a pot-limit Omaha side event. Each earned more than $100,000 for their respective performances. Also rising in the GPI ranks this week was Alexander Kravchenko, who cracked the top 50 in the process. In a similar situation to Buchanan, Kravchenko had a score move from Period 1 to Period 2, thus giving him a full complement of Period 2 scores to be calculated, while a similar recent score just about made up the difference in Period 1.

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Suffering the steepest fall this week was Joe Serock. A second-place finish in the £5,000 Pot-Limit Omaha event at the 2010 WSOPE fell from Period 2 to Period 3, leaving Serock's Period 2 composed of three very minor results. Jeff Papola experienced a similar drop. His seventh-place showing at the 2010 WPT Borgata Poker Open Championship Event also slipped from Period 2 to Period 3.

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The World Poker Tour is in full swing right now with stops on both sides of globe running. The 2010 WPT Malta is just under way, while, at the time of writing, the 2011 WPT Borgata Poker Open Championship Event is down to 27 players. Will "The Thrill" Failla's heater continues as he sits atop the chip counts. Will his hot streak lead to a spot in the GPI top ten? Vanessa Selbst is also still in field. Might she make a return trip toward the top of the GPI?

On the other hand, there are those who are due for a fall. Dmitry Gromov, currently No. 72 on the GPI, will drop a bit next week since his win at the 2011 WPT Vienna Main Event in March will move from Period 1 to Period 2. McLean Karr will also slide next week because two of his GPI results will fall to other Periods. His 16th-place finish in the £10,000 No-Limit Hold'em High-Roller Heads-Up at the 2010 WSOPE will fall from Period 2 to Period 3. Also due to fall (though, it may occur in two weeks because of the cutoff date) from Period to Period 2 is Karr's victory in the 2011 WPT Vienna High-Roller.

To look at the entire list of 300, visit the official GPI website. While you're at it, follow the GPI on Twitter and its Facebook page.

To stay on top of the GPI and other happenings in the poker world, follow us on Twitter and like us on Facebook.

Follow Mickey Doft on Twitter — @mrdoft

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AppId is over the quota
September 15 2011, Mickey Doft

Each week, the Global Poker Index releases a list of the top 300 tournament poker players in the world. This week, there is a new No. 1. Overtaking Jason Mercier by the slimmest of margins, Erik Seidel now sits atop the GPI for the first time. There was some more movement in the top ten that we'll also delve into. For a look at the entire list of 300, visit the official GPI website.

RankPlayerTotal ScoreChange in Rank from Last Week

Thanks to his fourth-place finish in the Epic Poker League #2 Main Event, Seidel's Period 1 score improved. Why? This finish trumped his second-place finish in the 2011 World Poker Tour Hollywood Poker Open, leading to an ever-so-slight GPI-score gain of 6.06. That alone was was not enough to trump Mercier's score from last week, but don't forget that the GPI calculates a player's top three scores over six periods of six months.

Mercier's GPI score dropped by 14.19 because of a cash from 2008. His second-largest Period 6 score was a sixth-place finish at the 2008 European Poker Tour Barcelona Main Event. However, that score is now more than three years ago and not only does that finish drop from Mercier's Period 6 calculations, but it no longer counts in his GPI score at all.

Sorel Mizzi and Fabrice Soulier also increased their GPI scores in the past week thanks to impressive results. Mizzi took down the €15,000 High Roller event at the World Poker Tour in Paris last week, giving his Period 1 results a much-needed boost. Soulier, meanwhile, finished in third place at the Epic Poker League #2 Main Event to up his score, as well.

Thirteen players are new to the GPI this week. Among them are Adam Levy and David Steicke, thanks to their respective showings in the Epic Poker League #2 Main Event.

New Additions

With 13 new additions, there were also 13 people who fell off the list. Gone from the GPI this week are Alex Keating, Alex Wice, Brett Richey, Georges Yazbeck, Hasan Habib, James Mitchell, Joe Elpayaa, Morten Mortensen, Simon Ravnsbaek, Shawn Busse, Sebastian Ruthenberg, Ville Haavisto, and Yuval Bronshtein.

A win at the 2011 WPT Grand Prix de Paris vaulted Matt Waxman to the No. 16 ranking on the GPI. The biggest rise of the week belonged to Tyler Bonkowski. Although his only recent result was a 36th-place finish in the aforementioned 2011 WPT Grand Prix de Paris, that is Bonkowski's third cash in the last six months, giving him a full complement of Period 1 scores to be counted toward the GPI.

RankPlayerTotal ScoreChange in Rank From Last Week

On the other end of the spectrum, Nicolas Chouity suffered a very steep drop in the GPI. A fifth-place score in the 2011 Merit Spring Open Main Event slipped from Period 1 to 2, resulting in a 93-spot plummet. Sam Trickett also fell from his previous rank of No. 31 due to a result counting for a new period. In his case, his win in the PartyPoker.com World Open VI last September is now a part of his Period 3 calculations, rather than Period 2.

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Currently taking place is the 2011 Partouche Poker Tour Main Event. There is still a long way to go, but among the 101 players remaining (at the time of the writing of this article) are Juha Helppi, Will "The Thrill" Failla, John Eames, and Sam Trickett. Holding down the No. 21, No. 23, No. 47, and No. 88 spots respectively, will any of these players make a big leap up the GPI next week? Also, Christian Harder topped a field in a $3,000 Heads-Up event at the Borgata in Atlantic City on Wednesday. Might that result in a rise from his current No. 40 ranking?

Though he jumped into the top 20 this week, Matt Waxman may be due for a slide back down. His third-place finish in the 2011 Wynn Classic Main Event is due to slip from Period 1 to 2 either next week or the following (depending on the cutoff date), so his Period 1 results will dip a little bit.

To look at the entire list of 300, visit the official GPI website. While you're at it, follow the GPI on Twitter and its Facebook page.

To stay on top of the GPI and other happenings in the poker world, follow us on Twitter and like us on Facebook.

Follow Mickey Doft on Twitter — @mrdoft

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September 09 2011, Crystal Quibell

Day 3 of the Epic Poker League Main Event #2 came to a close on Thursday, and what an exciting day it was. The final table of eight is set and it definitely isn't lacking in talented and well-known players.

Heading into the final table at the top of the heap is David Steicke who slid into the chip lead at the end of play to finish with 1,059,000 in chips. Not far behind him is Event #1's second-place finisher and poker juggernaut Erik Seidel with 1,031,000. Seidel won a huge pot late in the day when ended up all-in against Mike McDonald. The board read when Seidel and McDonald got all chips in the middle. McDonald held for tens full of eights, but was bested by Seidel's for tens full of aces. That pot propelled Seidel's stack above the one-million mark and made him the first player in the tournament to reach that milestone.

Sean Getzwiller is the only "amateur," the only player who is not an EPL card holder, left in the field. He won his seat into the event via the Pro/Am Qualifier last weekend.

When the day began with 23 players remaining, the first few eliminations came fairly quickly. David "Bakes" Baker, who began play as the short stack, was the first to be eliminated. Jaime Kaplan, one of the Pro/Am qualifiers, was next to go. Dan O'Brien, who held the chip lead for much of Day 2, hit the rail next and was followed out the door by defending champion Chino Rheem.

After getting all the chips in preflop, Rheem's ran into McDonald's and he was unable to catch up when the board ran out .

Marco Johnson exited next when his was flushed by Mike Watson's on a board that ran out . Next to go was Matt Marafioti, who found himself in the classic cooler situation when his pocket kings ran into Watson's pocket aces. Marafioti failed to improve and his elimination got everyone to the bubble for the final two tables, but no one could have predicted what happened next.

Chris Moore and Christian Harder were both all-in and at risk against Steicke. Moore held ace-king, Harder had pocket threes, and Steicke was leading with pocket queens. As the dealer flipped over the flop, a was in the window, but any joy Harder felt was quickly dashed as the other two cards were revealed, a and a . The turn put out another giving Moore a little more hope, but the river was a and Steicke's queens full of kings sent the other two players to the rail and left a field of 15.

Jonathan Little and Watson were the next two players sent to the rail and with their exit, the tournament was on the money bubble. Fabrice Soulier came very close to being the bubble boy when he ended up all-in holding against Adam Levy's . Luckily for Soulier, the board ran out giving the players the same hand and a chopped pot.

Not long after that hand took place, Allen Bari ended up all-in holding against Isaac Baron's . The board of brought no help to Bari who was out the door the second the river card was revealed. His elimination meant the remaining players were all guaranteed at least $46,020.

Matt Glantz finished in 12th place. He also cashed in the inaugural EPL event, so he is now one of only four players to have cashed in both events. Tim West finished in 11th place after his was unable to fend off the of Baron on a board that read . The 10th-place finisher was Amit Makhija. He ended up all-in after a flop of but found that his was behind Steicke's . Makhija was unable to improve and hit the rail.

With only nine players remaining, each with their eyes on the eight-handed final table, Levy had his dream dashed when he moved all-in holding and was called by Nam Le who held . The flop brought even worse news when it came giving Le a set of eights. The turn left Levy drawing dead and he bubbled the final table. The ironic part is that Levy also bubbled the six-handed final table of the first EPL Main Event.

Two of the eight players at the final table cashed in the first EPL event, including Seidel who finished second to Rheem and Baron who finished in 10th. There's no doubt that Baron is happy to top his prior performance, and we're sure Seidel is looking to do the same and claim the $782,410 that will go to the eventual champion.

Final Table Seating Assignments

The final table will begin at 1500 PT (2300 BST) at Palms Resort Casino in Las Vegas. If you're in the area, feel free to come sit in the audience and watch the fun, otherwise keep your browser on PokerNews for all the coverage.

Don't forget to follow us on Twitter for all your up-to-the-minute poker news.

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