Poker News

Marc Naalden spent 10 years in the business world before quitting his job in 2005 to become a professional poker player. Last night, he became a WSOP bracelet holder after dominating 2009 WSOP Event #38 from start to finish. With seven players left Naalden had more than half the chips in play, and other than a brief hiccup heads up he had the near wire to wire finish which yielded him $190,770 for his victory in this tournament.

With over two-thirds of the 2009 WSOP in the books, this year’s series has really driven home the point: tournament poker is a game of skill. Jeffery Lisandro was the latest player to exemplify this. Last night he took down 2009 WSOP Event #37, $10,000 buy-in 7 Card Stud Hi/Lo Championship to capture his second bracelet this series (third overall) Lisandro joins Brock Parker and Phil Ivey as players winning two bracelets in the 2009 World Series of Poker. The big question now on everyone’s minds is, will someone win three?

Jordan Smith (scarface_79) wasn’t sure he’d make it to this year’s World Series of Poker, as he was pretty much bust and looking for backers. After backers turned him down he relied on friends and family to help support him. Managing to get himself a seat in 2009 WSOP Event 36 paid off, as last night he picked up his first career WSOP bracelet and the $586,212 top place prize. Also in this event we seen the first multiple female final table in an open WSOP event so far this series.

Tom Dwan and Patrik Antonius played the longest session of the durrrr Challenge and it also became the most epic session to date. The two of them sat down for a 15 hour marathon and Dwan scooped up a massive win of $764,670.50 over 4,532 hands.

2009 WSOP Event #35, $5,000 Pot Limit Omaha ended in dramatic fashion last night with a double elimination on the tournaments final hand. The winner of the event was Richard Austin from Louisville, KY. At the end of the event he declined all comments from the media, and also declined to be part of the bracelet presentation ceremony, being the first player this summer to do so. With this being his first major tournament victory, little is know about this player, but you can read comments on 2+2 in the Richard Austin declines comment thread, to see how other poker players feel about him.

26-year old poker pro and Henderson, NV resident Eric Baldwin won his first career WSOP bracelet last night in 2009 WSOP Event #34, $1,500 buy-in No Limit Hold’em. This bracelet should fit nicely in his trophy case which already includes a NCAA Division III National championship in baseball, which came in 2005 while he was a senior and played center field for the Warhawks from University of Wisconsin-Whitewater. With multiple six figure cashes under his belt and a $521,932 payday last night, it’s safe to say his poker career is paying off.

Online poker site PokerStars.com has released a tentative schedule for the upcoming 2009 World Championship of Online Poker. The series is slated to begin on September 3rd and will run until the 20th with the last event being the $5,200 Main Event which carries a $10 million guarantee. The entire series has a guarantee of $40 million, which is $10 million more than the 2008 WCOOP.

Greg “FBT” Mueller’s name can now be scratched from the best player without a WSOP bracelet debate. Last night he completed a run through a very tough 2009 WSOP Event #30, $10,000 buy-in Fixed Limit Hold’em field to win his first career bracelet and $460,841 top place prize money. Now 37-year-old Greg Mueller retired from hockey in 1999, after 9 seasons with Germany and has been a fixture on the high stakes poker circuit since. Coming into this event he had 17 WSOP cashes, 6 final tables, two runner up finishes, but no WSOP bracelet. With his victory last night his career major tournament winnings now exceed $1.5 million.

2009 WSOP Event 32 is in the books, and it’s Mexico’s Angel Guillen who claimed the $530,548 top place prize money and his first career WSOP bracelet. Perhaps most remarkable about his victory is he became the second player in two nights to improve on a 2009 WSOP runner up finish. Guillen cashed second place for $312,800 in WSOP Event #13. His story is similar to James Van Alstyne who cashed runner up in Event #21 and also won his first career WSOP bracelet the night prior.

42-year-old Las Vegas poker pro James Van Alstyne came into 2009 WSOP Event 31, with quite and impressive poker resume. To his credit he had 9 career victories in major poker tournaments, a plethora of tournament-cashes, and over $3 million in career winnings, however he had yet to win a WSOP bracelet. Well after coming close in 2009 WSOP Event 21, $3,000 HORSE where he finished runner up, just a week later he got himself redemption by winning 2009 WSOP Event 31 $1,500 HORSE.