Johan Verhagen

A Dutch player came out of nowhere and won the iPOPS #3 $150,000 GP tournament on his very first day of play at Titan Poker. “I will keep on doing this,” vowed Johan Verhagen, who plays under the nickname “ipopyouup”. His prize in the event was $25,890.

Two days later, Johan finished in 6th place in the iPOPS #4 High Roller $100,000 GP tournament for a prize of $4,600. We spoke to Johan after his super start at Titan Poker to hear about his playing experiences.

Speaking first about the iPOPS #3 $150,000 GP tournament Johan said:

For a “long time I was chipleader in the final table. I lost a few coin flips but stayed in the top 3. I won some flips and busted some players in the end to reach the last 2, heads up versus tomoukas666 with a 5:1 chip lead. He continued to battle but after half an hour he called my all-in (A7) and my A7 was good enough to win. At that point I was the winner of about $26,000, the biggest online cash I won ever. It was a great start for me at Titan.”

What was next for Johan?

“So I also tried iPOPS 4. With 40 players left I was in 3rd position with 100 big blinds. With 20 players left I was in first position with 200 big blinds and 20% of the total number of chips in my possession when it turned. I got a big blow when I went pre-flop all-in and got called with Q4 of hearts and the flop showed 2 fours. After I lost another flip with JJ versus AK I finally dropped out in place 6 at the final table through a blind battle giving me prize money of $4,600.”

Johan, who describes himself as an entrepreneur (he has his own business), says that poker is his hobby.

“It was a super start at your site and I immediately referred my friends to your site and I will keep on doing this,” he said.

WSOP Satellite Location

The first tournament of the 43rd annual World Series of Poker is just 19 days away. This year’s WSOP schedule includes 61 distinct tournaments in all variations of poker with buy-ins ranging from $500 to $1,000,000.

Titan Poker offers numerous ways to win seats at the 2012 WSOP No Limit Hold’em Main Event as well as packages to some of the most exciting Side Events. The world will soon focus on the poker action in Las Vegas and players representing Titan Poker will take their seats alongside the most well-known poker professionals.

Titan Poker is staging two WSOP Main Event Super Satellites every week. On Sunday and Tuesday nights at 21:30 GMT+1, players compete to win a $13,500 NL Hold’em Main Event Package, which includes the $10,000 buy-in to the Main Event (Event #61); $1,500 for 7 nights’ stay at the Wynn Hotel in Las Vegas, from July 7th – 14th; $250 for registration fees; and $1,750 for flights and spending.

On Saturday nights at 21:30 GMT+1, Titan Poker stages a WSOP Side Event Super Satellite. Players compete to win a $6,000 No Limit Hold’em Side Events’ Package, which includes the $1,500 buy in to Side Event #56; the $1,000 buy in to Side Event #59B; $1,935 for 9 nights’ stay at the Wynn Hotel in Las Vegas from June 30th – July 9th; $75 handling fees; and $1,490 for flights and spending.

Entry to the $1,000 buy-in No Limit Hold-em Side Event #59B is also awarded to the winners of the $3,700 WSOP Experience Package at the Monday night Super Satellites at 21:30 GMT+1.

The most lavish World Series of Poker experience will be awarded to any player skillful enough to win 6 consecutive $10 + $1.9 WSOP Executive “Jackpot Sit ‘n’ Go” tournaments. The $24,000 winner’s package includes the $1,000 buy-in to Side Event #59B; the $10,000 buy-in to the WSOP Main Event; $3,550 for 11 nights’ stay at the Wynn Hotel in a Parlor Suite, July 3rd – July 14th; $250 for registration fees; $2,200 for an Executive Perks package including two top notch tickets to the Cirque de Soleil show, a helicopter trip over the Grand Canyon, and more; and $7,000 for flights and spending.

A total of $100,000 in World Series of Poker seats and packages is up for grab in the WSOP Warrior League 2012. Players pay a one-time registration fee and compete in 6 league tournaments and a grand final event for position on a league leaderboard that ranks them based on their finishing position in the tournament. The overall league winner will receive a $16,300 package including entries to the Main Event and a Side Event. While the first Warrior League tournament took place already last night, players still can join the league in time for its next event on Wednesday night.

Las Vegas Chronicles

At the end of May, avid poker players from all over the world will descend on Las Vegas, Nevada, to compete for their place in the history books at the 43rd World Series of Poker. This year’s series at the Rio All-Suite Hotel & Casino will include 61 distinct tournaments in all variations of poker, with buy-ins ranging as high as $1,000,000 per event, the largest buy-in event ever.

You don’t have to be a poker player to enjoy what Las Vegas has to offer, as there’s something for everyone: world-class casinos, luxury resorts, prime-time entertainment, famous dancing fountains, theme parks and theme hotels, mouth-watering restaurants, thrilling adventures, and more.

As colorful and glitzy as Las Vegas is today, the tourist destination known fondly as “Sin City” has an even more colorful past. Conniving mobsters ran Vegas during its heyday while celebrity performers gave the place a lasting sense of legitimacy. The Las Vegas saga comes to life in The Las Vegas Chronicles, a recently published book by Andrew J. McLean.

Birth of the Las Vegas Strip

The story starts with the Flamingo Hotel, the hotel that evolved into the Las Vegas Strip, gaming and entertainment center of the world. If you believed everything you saw in the movies, you would think that mobster “Bugsy” Siegel, portrayed by Warren Beatty in the 1991 crime drama, was the visionary of “a place where gambling is allowed, where everything is allowed.” But, as McLean writes, this first Vegas all-purpose establishment was actually the dream of Hollywood nightclub owner William R. “Billy” Wilkerson, who bought the acreage where the Flamingo would be built. Bugsy Siegel and his mob would later muscle their way into control over the Flamingo and Vegas gambling.

The Las Vegas Chronicles tells the story of why the mob came to Las Vegas. Gangsters who had made their fortunes distributing illegal liquor during Prohibition saw even bigger promises of gold in the state where gambling was legal. Eventually the mafia was replaced by visionary entrepreneurs, like Howard Hughes and Steve Wynn, who bought, built, and rebuilt casino properties as if they were going out of style.

Located a relatively short distance from Hollywood, Las Vegas began to attract the top entertainers, from Frank Sinatra to Elvis Presley. The careers of Siegfried & Roy, Dean Martin, and Wayne Newton were made in Vegas. The city began to attract the richest gamblers from around the world, and casino owners reveled in the proceeds.

McLean knows Vegas like only an insider would know the city, as he dealt cards and rolled dice for the top gamblers and the biggest celebrities. While the texts of this book deserve a better job of editing, the story McLean tells is informative and full of trivial delights.

Poker does play a role in the story of Las Vegas, but actually it’s just a bit part. Vegas is so much more, and it’s a city that’s evolving all the time. This book tells the tale of how far Vegas has come, and hints at where it will go in the future.

High Roller

Marvin Rettenmaier scored two cashes at high roller poker tournaments this month, but his Team Titan teammate Sam Trickett busted out of the European Poker Tour’s highest buy-in tournament ever. The World Series of Poker announced a $1 million buy-in bracelet event this summer, while the Asian Poker Tour staged the Manila Millions.

What’s up with high roller and super high roller tournaments? Why are the top poker players attracted to play them at such high entry costs?

Marvin Rettenmaier finished in 5th place in the €9,700 No Limit Hold’em – High Roller Event at WPT Vienna for a payout of €25,670. This week he finished in 3rd place in the European Poker Tour (EPT) Berlin €10,000 High Roller event. Marvin didn’t cash in the Main Events staged in Vienna and Berlin.

Sam Trickett canceled his plans to travel to Manila to play the Manila Millions, the high roller event staged as part of the Asian Poker Tour (APT) Philippines 2012, and which was the highest buy-in tournament ever to take place in Asia. Instead, Sam traveled to Monte Carlo to play the Monte Carlo EPT Super High Roller a €100,000 buy-in event. Unfortunately, Sam busted out on the first day of the event, long before the money was reached.

Meanwhile, the World Series of Poker will stage a charity event called the BIG ONE for ONE DROP, this summer as part of the WSOP schedule. The event will feature a $1 million buy-in and has already attracted 30 committed participants. Even though the event will raise a significant amount for the ONE DROP charity organization, which fights poverty by promoting worldwide access to water, a huge prizepool will be available to the winning players. First prize is expected to take home well over $12,000,000, which will be the highest poker prize ever.

What attracts poker players to these high roller events, especially the super high roller events with exorbitant buy-ins?

The playing fields at high roller events are small, and even though the starting chip stack is high, the tournament lasts a more management length of time in comparison to a Main Event. The prizes are very lucrative, so even if a player must pay a high buy-in, his finish could result in a huge winning. And finally, although the high roller events attract some of the best-known poker professionals, in many cases, and certainly in the super high roller events, some of the participants are not good poker players at all, giving a huge advantage to a skilled professional.

Last year, Sam Trickett placed 2nd in the Aussie Millions $250,000 Super High Roller and took first place in the Aussie Millions $100,000 Challenge. The playing fields were small, but the huge cash prizes Sam won (nearly $3 million in total), propelled him into the ranks of the top poker players in the world.

Big One for One Drop

The World Series of Poker (WSOP) will this summer stage its largest buy-in event ever. BIG ONE for ONE DROP will feature a $1,000,000 entry fee and is slated to take place from July 1-3, 2012 at the Rio All-Suite Hotel & Casino in Las Vegas. The event will be televised on ESPN.

The event has been organized by Guy Laliberté, founder of Cirque du Soleil. ONE DROP is a non-governmental organization established in Montreal, Canada and active worldwide. The organization’s mission is to fight poverty by supporting worldwide access to water and raising awareness to water-related issues.

The historic WSOP bracelet event has 30 committed participants. Its prize pool is projected to exceed $26,000,000 with the winner to walk away with an estimated $12,266,668, the largest amount ever awarded in a poker tournament.

The first prize in the event will exceed the $12 million first prize won by Jamie Gold at the 2006 World Series of Poker Main Event.

From each entry fee, $111,111 will be donated to ONE DROP with “a goal of raising enough money for a legacy project that will help a country with access to clean water,” according to the organization. “With the commitment from 30 players already, more than $3.33 million is slated to go to ONE DROP.”

The confirmed players include poker professionals Erik Seidel, Patrik Antonius, Gus Hansen, Daniel Negreanu, Johnny Chan, Tom Dwan, Tony Guoga, Jonathan Duhamel, and Bertrand “ElkY” Grospellier. Also participating are Bob Bright, CEO of the stock trading firm Bright Trading LLC; Paul Newey, co-founder of London-based private investment firm New Wave Ventures; Phil Ruffin, owner of Treasure Island; and Laliberté.

“A million dollar buy-in seems crazy, and well, it is, but when you factor in a great cause like One Drop getting a percentage of the prize pool, all of a sudden it seems like a fantastic idea, and a great way to raise money for charity,” Negreanu said in a statement. “Count me in.”

The event is capped at 48 players. If that number of players is reached, first prize will likely be around $18 million.

Irish Open final tables

It’s the final day of Irish Open poker festivities here at the Burlington. Five players are in the pursuit of the Main Event Champion Title and the first prize of €420,000: Thomas Beer with 2,650,000 chips, Ian Simpson, David Dean, Kevin Vandersmissen and Steve Watts. Meanwhile cash tables and side events are still running.

Although our Titan Poker qualifiers did not cash in the Main Event, two of them finished in the money in the side events. Dan Murariu from Romania was 16th in the €500 6-handed Hold’em for €950 and another Titan Poker qualifier, Stefan Kolossow from Germany, was 2nd for €13,200.

Robin van den Heuvel, who eliminated Team Titan Pro Marvin Rettenmaier during Day 1 of the Main Event, and Leon Piso – the last surviving Titan player, gave some comments on their Irish Open 2012 experience:

1. How did you find the field at the Irish Open – were there any particularly tough opponents or spots you can tell us about?

Robin: The field of the Irish Open is all you need in a big event. There are a lot of well known pros and qualifiers. The variety of players makes it a tournament you really want to play. At my last table a well known player sat to my right “Andy Black” (he eventually finished in 5th place taking €32,700). It was very fun to sit on his table, because he was very present. Talking all the time, joking a lot and playing fast and freely. With his behavior he not only cheered up the table but was clearly fishing for information during his talk. As a short stack on that table I could survive longer,  because he was playing many hands and re-stealing was more easy on him.

Leon: I found the level of the players in the tournament not that good during Day 1 but as the tournament progressed there were only very good players left.

2. Were you happy with the structure?

Robin: The structure is very good in this tournament. The deep-stacked structure and the antes/blind levels are very well selected and makes it attractive to play. I think it is one of the reasons a lot of poker pros are playing this tournament.

Leon: The structure was great.

3. Are there any particular hands you played that you would like to share with us?

Robin: Well there was one hand at the last table I sat, I expected to go bust. I got it all in preflop against a guy with AQ vs AK, the flop came Ace high and 3 diamonds, we both didn’t have any diamonds. The turn was a diamond and luckily the river was the queen of diamonds and we split the pot. I was happy to be still in the tourney, but I really didn’t mind a flip here or to just win the hand, because I knew I had to double up and would otherwise be in trouble and short when I couldn’t find any playable hands or spots before the blinds go up.

Leon: I didn’t play that many big pots so there weren’t a lot of interesting hands. There was a guy named Andersson who played very well. I had pocket Aces twice against him but misplayed them by calling his 3-bet instead of raising.

4. What was your strategy going into Day 2?

Robin: I was on 2k below starting stack to start Day 2 with (starting stack was 20,000). In this tournament that is not a real problem. I just was going to play my game starting Day 2, but realized I shouldn’t lose big unnecessary pots early in the day. My tables were breaking up a lot, so on every table I had to get used to the table flow. At least I have seen the whole  card room changing seats

Leon: Strategy for Day 2 was just to play solid and aggressive but it didn’t work. While I was the most active player during Day 1, I couldn’t play that way the 2nd day. I busted with pocket sevens against pocket kings. Andy Black opened, I shoved all in with sevens (I was short) and the guy left to me woke up with kings.

5. Did you play any side games and if not – why?

Robin: I didn’t play any side events, because in the beginning my focus was on the main event. Side events had worse structures. I don’t know if it is good idea to go from the very good main structure to the turbo kind of tournaments. The only other I was interested in was the 1k event, a 2-day event. Could have played that, but decided to enjoy Dublin instead.

Leon: I didn’t play any side events because I was enjoying the city with a friend who I hadn’t seen for a long time.

6. How would you rate your overall experience at this tournament?

Robin: I would rate my overall experience in this tourney as an 8+. I have had a great time here. The tournament was well organized, there was a lot to do outside the tournament (there was a beer pong competition, free drinks for everyone wearing the free green knickers and a mini golf tournament), very entertaining and a lot of well known pros were present here. It would have been complete going deep in the money here.

Leon: The event was really great and I would rate it as an 8.

Robin van den Heuvel

Leon Piso on the featured table

Another Titan qualifier who was eliminated yesterday – Gabriel Vezina, has been playing the PLO side event today. He only lasted for 5 levels yesterday as his Aces got cracked and cost him all his remaining chips. His comment on that was “C’est la vie ”.

The only surviving Titan in the Main Event right now is Leon Piso from The Netherlands.

P.S. There is a great new addition to the poker area – the portable Paddy’s Bar where interviews are accompanied by free beer.

Irish Open 2012

This year’s Irish Open Main Event welcomed 502 players who created a prize pool of €1,606,400 with a €420,000 first prize.

The poker week kicked off on April 5^th before the start of the €3,500 Main Event, when the Burlington accommodated the inaugural tournament of a brand new series called ISeriesLive.

Our very own Marvin Rettenmaier was one of the 10 professional players to join this invitation-only event.

Marvin played against Devilfish, Maria Ho, Tobias Reinkemeir (winner of an EPT Grand Final High Roller event), Faraz Jaka (WPT Player of the Year in Season VIII), Carlos Mortensen (a WSOP Main Event Champion in 2001), James Dempsey, Daniel Negreanu, Eoghan O’Dea and Phil Hellmuth. Marvin’s final hand of pocket 5s was crushed by Negreanu’s AcQc when an Ace fell on the flop. Eventually the 1^st place was won by James Dempsey, who we also saw at the Main Event tables today (and who has previously won a WPT title – 2011 Doyle Brunson World Poker Classic, and a WSOP bracelet).

Back to the Irish Open Main Event: Titan Poker sent 9 online qualifiers and Team Pro’s Marvin. Our players: Dan Murariu from Romania; Stefan Kolossow and Mario Puccini from Germany; Robin van den Heuvel and Leon Piso from The Netherlands; Roch Cousineau, Gabriel Vezina and Griffin Benger from Canada; Lautaro Mayon from Argentina. Along with all participants in the iSeriesLive in the roster of prominent players are also winner of last year’s Main Event Irish native Niall Smyth, runner-up Sunar Surinder, Triple Crown Winner Jake Cody, Michael Tureniac, French pro Arnaud Mattern, Soccer Legend Teddy Sheringham and 5 WSOP Champions – Jonathan Duhamel, Noel Furlong, Carlos Mortensen, Phil Hellmuth and Dan Harrington.

Duhamel / Negreanu / Hellmuth

Some hands Marvin played as the day unfolded:

Level 3 – blinds 75/150

Marvin in seat 3, Kevin MacPhee in seat 5, fellow German Dominik Nietzsche in seat 2.

1. With KJo Marvin opened for 350 from MP and got called by the BB and one player from late position. The flop came 7d8c3h. Marvin bet 525 and BB raised to 950. Marvin reraised to 3725 and BB gave up the hand.
2. In UTG+1 position Marvin raised to 350, 4 players called and saw a flop of 10c6s5s. Marvin bet 1500 and UTG+2 called. The turn was Ks. Marvin bet 1850 and and UTG+2 raised to 3650. Marvin paid and saw a turn card 7s. He value bet for 2350 but UTG+2 raised to 10000 and Marvin chose to fold. He had Js10s and his opponent had As10d.

Level 4 – blinds 100/200

1. A Player opened for 500 from MP. Marvin reraised to 1275 – the cutoff and UTG called. The board was AcKs7h2h7s. UTG bet 3000 and got Marvin and the cutoff to fold.
2. From the SB Marvin bet 1950 on a 3c5c4c flop and showed a 9h after taking the pot
3. Marvin bet 450 from LP, the cutoff paid and they saw a flop of 4hKc10h. Marvin made a continuation bet of 425 and the cutoff limped again. The turn card was a 3h and Marvin bet 625. The river card was 2s. Marvin bet 1350 and took the pot.
4. Marvin in position UTG+2 opened for 450 and 5 players limped. The flop came 7s9h6h. Marvin bet 2K here and the guy on the button threw in 3500 on a turn card 3d. The river was a Qd. The button bet 5K and Marvin paid – he had A9o and lost a sizable portion of his stack here.

The last hand he played – Level 7 blinds 200/400 w. 25 ante:

Robin and Marvin

Titan Poker qualifier Robin van den Heuvel was on Marvin’s right. Marvin had only 6475 in chips and Robin had 7650. Robin opened for 900 from the button and after hesitating for a brief moment there Marvin shove all-in with 5s3d. The board was 2h10h8sQs7c and Robin eliminated Marvin with his AsJc. Poker deities were not on his side.

Another Titan qualifier – Griffin Benger, left during Day 1 with JJ vs 8s8 in a pre-flop all-in. On a board of Js5s4s2s Martins Adeniya’s 8 of spades was the winning card. Griffin gave the following commentary: ‘This is supposed to be a soft field but I had one of the toughest tables – a couple of online pros, Shane Gamble, Matt Perrins, Irish Open 2011 Main Event winner Niall Smyth, a WSOP bracelet winner..on my left was the guy who bubbled the PCA..’Argentinian qualifier Lautaro Mayon was doing ok during Level 5 (blinds 150-300 w. 25 ante, his stack – 53K) but it went downhill from there.

- He opened for 750 from LP and the cutoff paid. Flop: Ad3sKs. The cutoff bet and Lautaro limped. They checked the turn card 2h, the river card was a blank and the cutoff showed Ac7c, Lautaro mucked.

- The board was 4hJdKd2s5s. After he had bet on the flop, Lautaro (from BB) bet 1450 on the turn, 2400 on the river and SB paid all the way to eventually show QQ and take the pot. Lautaro had 25450 in chips left at this point.

- He later raised with KK pre-flop, was reraised and eventually shove all-in pre-flop but was up against AA and that was it for the Argentinian.

281 players are returning for the second day of the Main Event with chip leader Canadian Samuel Chartier who finished Day 1 with 136,800 in chips. The stacks of two Titan Poker qualifiers have lived to see another day at the Irish Open 2012 – Leon Piso and Robin van den Heuvel.

at the Irish Open

Griffin Benger

Sam Trickett

The National Heads-Up Poker Championships (NHUPC), an exciting televised one-on-one competition of the world’s best players that had been played annually since 2005, was canceled in October. Considered another victim of the Black Friday fallout, there is still hope that this format will return in 2013.

Not willing to wait until then, ESPN.com’s weekly poker columnist Bernard Lee decided to create his own, mock heads-up championship. “Let’s close our eyes, open up our imaginations and dream what may have happened,” he posted in mid-March as he went about selecting the top 64 poker pros to compete in his fictional competition.

Sam Trickett was chosen by Lee to participate as one of poker’s “young guns”.

Lee’s mock heads-up competition was devised very similar to the real thing, which was based on the format of the NCAA basketball championship. 64 players are divided into brackets for single elimination tournaments, and then advance to the final match-up, which is staged as a best of three series.

Sam Trickett was selected to participate in the Diamond Bracket, which included Huck Seed, Liv Boeree, Jason Mercier, Mike Matusow, Gus Hansen, Annette Obrestad, Jonathan Duhamel and Victor Blom.

In his first round match, and remember this is a fictional competition taking place only in Bernard Lee’s imagination, Sam Trickett “played extremely aggressively and eventually finished off” Mike Matusow. In the second round, Trickett was paired up with Gus Hansen. “Trickett came out aggressive and also had the cards to back up his play,” Lee wrote, and Sam advanced to the third round.

Sam Trickett versus Jonathan Duhamel

“Another entertaining battle was anticipated between the 2010 WSOP champion and the 2011 Partouche Poker Tour champion,” Lee wrote of the match. Here is how Lee described the fictional hand between the two poker players:

“Unfortunately, another anticlimactic match occurred, as fireworks exploded when both players flopped trip sixes. The ever-hot Duhamel’s As-6s outkicked Trickett’s 6h-5h on a Kd-6d-6c flop, and after all the chips were in the middle, the dealer turned the 9d and rivered the Qd, sending Duhamel into the fourth round of the Diamond Bracket.”

So, Sam was eliminated from this mock competition. Who went on to win? It the final pairing it was Duhamel versus Phil Ivey. Duhamel took the first match, and then Ivey took the second. In the final match, Duhamel made a flush and was declared the winner.

“I hope you enjoyed imagining the 2012 (mock) National Heads-Up Championship, and let’s hope that the real tournament returns to the felt in 2013,” Lee wrote, summing up his fictional competition.

iPOPS tournaments

After its huge success in November and December, iPOPs (iPoker Online Poker Series) returns with five online tournaments awarding $1,000,000 in guaranteed prizes and a live event to be staged at the Gran Casino de Barcelona in June.

Satellites are running now at Titan Poker to the five online iPOPS tournaments, which run from April 29th to May 6th, and in parallel to the iPOPS Live Main Event in Barcelona.

The online tournaments kick off with a $100+$9 No Limit Hold’em Freezeout on April 29th guaranteeing a prize pool of $200,000. Other events in the series include a $40+$4 Pot Limit Omaha 6-max re-buy tournament with a $50,000 guaranteed prize pool, and a $500+$30 No Limit Hold’em 6-max freezeout tournament with a $100,000 guaranteed prize pool.

Action at the $125+$10 iPOPS #5 $500,000 GP freezeout on May 6th will pause when only 27 players remain. Similar to the paused tournament last year, action will resume at the Gran Casino de Barcelona on June 1st. The iPoker Network provided live coverage of the continuation of this tournament in Prague in December.

In parallel to the online tournaments, players can already secure their seats to the iPOPS Live Barcelona Main Event, a €770 buy-in event offering participants a starting stack of 30,000 chips. The iPOPS Live Main is a two-day freezeout event that will play June 2nd – June 3rd, 2012.

Titan Poker is staging three weekly iPOPS Live Barcelona Super Satellites awarding winning players with €2,200 prize packages to the event in Barcelona. The prize packages include the €770 buy-in to the iPOPS Live Main Event; €1,000 for 3 nights’ accommodation at the Arts Hotel, June 1st -4th 2012; €30 for handling fees; and €400 for flights and spending. Participating players will be invited to an exclusive players’ party.