When the televised final table began play on Thursday, Phil Ivey was sitting pretty well in the lead with $4,100,000 in chips. His closest competitor was Scott Montgomery with $2,680,000, but not far behind him was Phil Hellmuth.
As Owen Laukkanen so succinctly put it in his blog:
"It was pretty well Steve Lipscomb's best-case scenario. Phil Ivey and Phil Hellmuth, together two of the most successful and recognizable poker players on the planet, both facing off under the mood lighting for a shot at their first WPT title ever."
However, Hellmuth would be the first person to exit the proceedings, leaving Ivey to battle Montgomery, Charles Moore, Quinn Do and Nam Le.
Hellmuth's slide toward the rail started when a short-stacked Le doubled through him. Hellmuth lost a chunk of his chips, and his cool, causing him to open-shove a few hands later with A-9 and get a call from Moore with A-Q.
The board came A-J-2-7-Q, leaving Hellmuth plenty of time to get back to Las Vegas for today's National Heads-Up Poker Championship start.
Despite coming in with the second-highest chip stack, Montgomery was the next to go. Meanwhile Ivey was building back his lead after donating a large portion of it to Moore soon after play began.
In the end it came down to Ivey and Do in heads-up action. There wasn't much action to watch though as it took only two hands for Ivey to finally get his WPT title.
The final-table results were:
| Place | Name | Prize |
| 1st | Phil Ivey | $1,596,100 |
| 2nd | Quinn Do | $909,400 |
| 3rd | Charles Moore | $625,630 |
| 4th | Nam Le | $411,770 |
| 5th | Scott Montgomery | $296,860 |
| 6th | Phil Hellmuth | $229,820 |
For more in-depth analysis of the L.A. Poker Classic and how the final table played out, check out our Live Tournaments section.
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eCOGRA: Decisions often favor customers
eCOGRA oversees the online gambling activities of some 120 tier-one online casinos and poker rooms. Some of the poker sites it has approved include Pacific Poker and PokerRoom.
As part of its operations, eCOGRA makes available a dispute resolution service for players at sites that have been awarded the eCOGRA Safe and Fair seal.
Tex Reese is the Fair Gaming Advocate who handles the dispute resolution service. According to her report, a total of 783 complaints were received during 2007.
"The number of valid disputes received increased over the past year, and I believe this is a result of players becoming more aware of our mediation service and our ability to respond quickly in achieving a fair outcome," Rees said.
However, not all of those complaints were eligible for eCOGRA to deal with. The report notes that 93 of those complaints involved sites not covered by eCOGRA, and a further 45 were invalid by reason of insufficient information or irrelevant enquiry.
Of the 645 valid and legitimate complaints left, 68% were settled in favor of the player. The main complaints made to the Fair Gaming Advocate involved:
- Payout problems (47%)
- Bonus issues (28%)
- Locked accounts (21%)
- Miscellaneous issues (4%)
"Resolutions in favor of the player reached 68%, and there appear to have been fewer chancers submitting questionable complaints in 2007," Rees said. "I suspect that this is because there is a greater awareness that complaints will be thoroughly investigated in pursuit of a fair and unbiased resolution."
Rees also said it was reassuring to note that the average number of valid disputes per site per month was less than one-half of 1%.
"This is a clear indication that the approved operators, together with eCOGRA, are being effective in meeting the need for fair gaming, player protection and responsible operator behavior," she said. "Operators have responded in a fast and cooperative manner to those cases where I have requested information and explanations and have been quick to respect my findings in each case."
To that end, the Fair Gaming Advocate maintained an average response time of less than 72 hours on complaints in 2007.
Related Articles:
- eCOGRA Finds Renewed Interest in Europe
- eCOGRA Approves of Gambling Commission's Testing
- eCOGRA Expands Services for Online Gambling Safety
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Israel MK seeks online gambling censorship
The bill, which was passed in its first reading Wednesday, would automatically block online casinos, online poker sites, online porn sites and more unless customers specifically ask to be allowed to visit those sites.
It will now be sent to the Economic Affairs Committee before returning to the Knesset plenum for second and third readings.
According to YNetNews.com, to implement the censorship, Internet service providers would be required to include filtering software for all new clients. That same software must also be offered free of charge to all clients and service providers may impose the filtering system on all clients.
Clients who don't want the filtering system will have to verify that they are of majority age and submit a personal request to disable the system.
Cohen initiated the bill, claiming that it will protect the 60% of Israeli children who come into contact with these sites.
He said in the YNetNews.com article that he doesn't think the legislation is the most appropriate tool to achieve his goal, but stagnating efforts to reach a settlement with the country's ISPs over the past three years have left him with no other choice.
According to a Haaretz.com article, the Economic Affairs Committee legal adviser said he would find it difficult to defend the bill in the High Court of Justice in light of the refusal of Communications Minister Ariel Atias to provide a list of sites to be blocked for the committee's approval.
Meanwhile, the Economic Affairs Committee has already rejected a bill submitted Tuesday by MK Alex Miller which would have forced ISPs to provide customers with a pamphlet instructing users on how to block Web sites.
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Pacific giving WPC seats to PL.com players
The freerolls will run weekly, and all that's required to qualify is to have signed up at Pacific Poker through PokerListings.com and then collect five points during the qualifying period each week.
The first qualifying period starts Sunday and will run through March 9. Players who collect five points during that time will be invited to play in the March 12 freeroll.
The full freeroll schedule is:
- March 12: Collect 5 points from March 2-9 to play
- March 19: Collect 5 points from March 9-16 to play
- March 26: Collect 5 points from March 16-23 to play
- April 2: Collect 5 points from March 23-30 to play
- April 9: Collect 5 points from March 30-April 6 to play
- April 16: Collect 5 points from April 6-13 to play
All the freerolls start at 8 p.m. (GMT).
The seat in the WPC is worth $1,000+$50, but it could potentially be worth much more than that. The WPC has a guaranteed $3 million prize pool, plus it could include a trip to Barcelona.
The main part of the WPC will play out online, but when play gets down to 10, those players will be flown to Barcelona to finish the game live.
The players, along with one guest each, will be given free transportation from anywhere in the world to Barcelona, as well as five-star hotel accommodation for the duration of the final event, which will take place May 6-10.
The event will also be filmed to air on Sky Sports 2 on May 12.
Related Articles:
- Here Comes the 888.com World Poker Crown
- 888 signs Shane Warne to play poker
- 888 Receives GamCare Certification
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#353 – NBC Heads-Up Championship #4 – Club Bracket Preview
Amazingly, I’m getting all these previews posted before the matches really get underway. I’m still not finished with WSOP Europe. I never finished “best of 2006.” Yet here is the last of the 4 preview posts....
More bounties today at DoylesRoom.com
The DoylesRoom.com Bounty plays every Wednesday and has a $27.50 buy-in. Normally there are three contestants in the game with bounties on their heads, and players win extra money for knocking them out.
In today's game, there will be six, giving players double the chances at the cash. They are:
- TEX_DOLLY: 10-time WSOP bracelet winner Doyle Brunson
- Nicky_Hilton: The Hilton heiress and fashion designer Nicky Hilton
- Jamie-Lynn: Jamie-Lynn Sigler, who played Meadow in The Sopranos
- Mike_Caro: "Mad Genius of Poker" and foremost poker authority Mike Caro
- POKERPRO33: Jim Campbell, a top-ranked online poker pro and longtime DoylesRoom.com player
- AJKHoosier1: Alex Kameris, the online poker champion with multiple big tournament wins
If a player can manage to knock out one of these players, she or he will receive $500. Knock out two for a $5,000 reward, and busting three of the bounty-carriers will net $25,000.
That means $50,000 in bounties could potentially be given out in today's tournament.
Sweetening the deal even more for players is that first-time Bounty Tournament competitors can play risk free. If you're a first-time player, all you have to do is request a refund at the end of the tournament and get your $27.50 buy-in back.
For more information about this and other promotions, visit DoylesRoom.com.
Related Articles:
- Celebs to Play DoylesRoom.com Bounty Tourney
- DoyleRoom.com Offering Easy $25,000
- DoylesRoom.com Opens for U.S. Players
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WSOP-C Council Bluffs, Final Table: Ben Hock Wins Ring
Michael Martin took the chip lead into the final table, and carried the lead all the way into heads-up play, but it was Ben Hock who walked away with the gold ring at the Horseshoe in Council Bluffs, Iowa at the World Series of Poker Circuit...
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