2018 WSOP Fantasy poker league..

[MintTrav]

If you run into Chris Ferguson at the Rio, please don't be unkind.

Chris Ferguson  @ChrisFerg1963
I have had people approaching me at the Rio and saying unkind things. I have apologized and remember, I'm just a player, just like everyone here.  I am sorry that Black Friday was not prevented by me, and I would have done so if the circumstances were right.


Meanwhile, Chris' Main Event Champion banner is looking a bit different. Something seems to be missing, but I can't put my finger on it.

[MintTrav]

Day 2 has completed in the Millionaire Maker, with the field reduced from 7,361 starters to just 155 - and several big names are still involved. Europe's Number 1 female player, Aylar Lie, is sitting pretty in 25th place. Stanley Lee, currently fifth, has finished 24th, 9th and 39th in this tournament for the last three years and was 3rd in the Monster Stack last year for just over $500k. The official updates have this down as his fourth deep WSOP run, but they have missed one as it's actually his fifth.

Other names I recognised on a scan down the list:

3 Manig Loeser
33 Joe McKeehen
37 Steve Sung
40 Joseph Cheong
55 JC Tran
56 Barny Boatman
58 David Eldridge
60 Samad Razavi
68 Elio Fox
79 Jason Wheeler
87 Greg Merson
96 Thomas Taylor
106 Mark Radoja
147 James Dempsey

[MintTrav]

Which convicted criminal, who had over $6m of illegal earnings seized, as well as doing prison time, has cashed in this year's WSOP, just missing the final table by a few places?

[fandango]

All warming up nicely.. although Luca has a lead it can all change in a flash, Brian Rast winning the 2-7 low ball has scored max 25points for three of our players more importantly Craig who was err 25points behind.
27 events have been running of 78 and we are well on course for the highest individual score to beat Barrie's last year score of 332 albeit more events this year.

[MintTrav]

Event 23: $10,000 No-Limit 2-7 Lowball Championship

Winner	Brian Rast
Runners	95
Paid	15
Final Table	7

Player	Position	Points
Brian Rast	1	25
Dario Sammartino	3	15
John Hennigan	7	6
Robert Mizrachi	13	1
Paul Volpe	14	1
Ben Yu	15	1

Selector	Points		Selector	Points
Craig 1	32		Chris H 2	1
Glenn 1	26		Chris K	1
Joe	25		Dave	1
Carl 1	16		English Tom 1	1
Jake	16		Glenn 2	1
Nic 1	16		Jo 1	1
Paxo 1	16		Jo 2	1
Simon B	16		John 1	1
Suzanne	16		John 2	1
Paul	2		Jordan	1
Stephen 2	2		Karen	1
Adam	1		Luca 1	1
Aneurin	1		Paxo 2	1
Barrie 1	1		Simon L	1
Carl 2	1		Tommy	1
Chris B	1		Vince 1	1
Chris H 1	1

Only 95 runners, but every one was a heavyweight. Not many people enter a $10k 2-7 tournament unless they know what they are doing. By the time they reached the cash, 10 of the 15 players were bracelet-winners and everyone had a long list of WSOP cashes, with one exception - more of that later. This was Doyle Brunson's final appearance in the Series, and he reached the final table, finishing 6th.

Brian Rast won his fourth bracelet, lifting Craig up the points table, being the only person to also pick John Hennigan.



Billy Baxter and Phil Hellmuth pay their respects.
Todd Brunson and Doyle Brunson both reached the top ten.



Rast caused some comment with his method of showing his appreciation to the massage girls.

[MintTrav]

The one player to cash in the $10k 2-7, who didn't have a long WSOP pedigree, was Illya Trincher. That's not to say he doesn't know how to play - his father Vadim Trincher won a WPT Championship and Illya has played a lot at a high level, but mainly high-stakes cash.

The Trinchers' main activity was operating a multi-million dollar sports-betting book and high-stakes poker games for millionaires and billionaires, a lot of it being run from Vadim's apartment in Trump Tower. They are believed to have had the richest sportsbook in the world, as well as laundering over $100m of Russian crime money. Vadim also holds the distinction of having sued Donald Trump, claiming $6m over a leak from the apartment above, previously owned by Bruce Willis and Demi Moore until they divorced, and owned by Trump at the time of the leak.

Anyway, the whole thing was highly illegal and they all went down for it, with 29 people prosecuted (one of them being Molly Bloom). Vadim got five years and he and one other were ordered to forfeit $20m each. Illya was sentenced to six months prison and six months home confinement and had to cough up $6.4m. https://www.fbi.gov/contact-us/field-offices/newyork/news/press-releases/defendant-sentenced-in-manhattan-federal-court-to-six-months-in-prison-and-six-months-home-confinement-for-being-a-leader-of-an-international-multi-million-dollar-illegal-sports-gambling-business

Illya spent the week before he went inside playing $2k/$4k at Bobby's Room with Phil Ivey and two of the others involved (one of them being Abe Mosseri, who won a second bracelet last year) before flying to New York by private jet to begin his sentence. He has kept a low profile since then until he showed up for the $10k PLO last week. He was 12th in the $10k 2-7 (the Brunson tournament) and is currently 7th out of 52 remaining in the $10k HORSE (#27). It would be interesting to see how a Trincher win would be handled.

[MintTrav]

That 2-7 tournament was something of a rogues gallery. Another correct answer would have been Shawn Sheikhan, owner of a chain of tobacco shops / tattoo parlours round Vegas. I haven't heard of him for a couple of years, but he showed up for this event (looking a bit rough) and was another who reached the final table. Shawn did nine months in the clink, plus five years probation, for sexual battery.

[MintTrav]

The Millionaire Maker has finished, and Joe McKeehen was third, which means points for Jon, Tom F, Chris K, Nic and Derek.

#24 is down to 60 players, but we just have Jacobson and Moorman mid-pack. I also notice Scotty and Staszko are going, as are two of my favourite players, Zu Zhou and Yew Kan.

#25 and #26 are near their end, but we have no-one on the final table of either, and very few who cashed. Not many points coming here.

#27 is where the action is now - this one could be huge for Craig. There are 16 players going into Day 3. John Hennigan is third in chips, and he is only on one team, owned by Craig. Randy Ohel is on two teams - both of which belong to Craig. Barrie, Paxo, Jo, Richard, Karen, Stephen and Chris H will all be cheering for Zinno, currently 12th, while, Paxo, Stephen, Carl, Chris B and Chris K will be hoping that Robert Mizrachi will recover from last place of those still in. Others still in include Aylar Lie's husband Albert Daher, who crushed the recent EPT in Monte Carlo, winning both the High Roller and the Turbo, Carol Fuchs, Bakes and...........Illya Trincher. Don't take your eyes off this one!


Albert Daher's extra luggage from the Monte Carlo EPT

[MintTrav]

Event 25: $1,500 Seven Card Stud Hi-Lo 8 or Better

Winner	Benjamin Dobson
Runners	596
Paid	90
Final Table	8

Player	Position	Points
Barry Greenstein	18	1
Mike Matusow	30	1
Brian Hastings	39	1

Selector	Points
Adam	1
Carl 2	1
Dave	1

Yeah, great picking guys.

Although it's his first bracelet, Ben Dobson's win is no surprise and he's well-used to posing for winner's photos. He has also had his fair share of online success, including chopping the Sunday Million.

[MintTrav]

Event 21: $1,500 No Limit Hold'em Millionaire Maker

Winner	Arne Kern
Runners	7361
Paid	1105
Final Table	9

Player	Position	Points
Joe McKeehen	3	15
Joseph Cheong	23	1
JC Tran	42	1
Jonathan Tamayo	155	1
Chris Moorman	191	1
Jeff Gross	207	1
Ryan Riess	294	1
Andrey Zaichenko	344	1
Martin Jacobson	426	1
Conor Beresford	465	1
Marc MacDonnell	494	1
Ryan Laplante	575	1
Phil Hellmuth	715	1
Eddie Blumenthal	736	1
Reiner Kempe	751	1
Barry Greenstein	757	1
Shaun Deeb	965	1
Joe Cada	1001	1
Ismael Bojang	1022	1
Phil Ivey	1024	1
David Pham	1095	1

Selector	Points		Selector	Points
Chris K	16		Del	1
Derek	16		Gareth	1
English Tom 1	16		Glenn 1	1
Jon	16		Glenn 2	1
Nic 2	16		Irish Tom 1	1
Barrie 2	3		Jake	1
Debbie	3		James 1	1
English Tom 2	3		Jo 1	1
Jordan	3		John 1	1
Tommy	3		John 2	1
Aneurin	2		Justin	1
Brian	2		Luca 2	1
Carl 2	2		Nic 1	1
Chris H 2	2		Paul	1
Dave	2		Paxo 1	1
Irish Tom 2	2		Paxo 2	1
James 2	2		Richard	1
Jo 2	2		Rob	1
Karen	2		Simon B	1
Nathan	2		Simon L	1
Stuart	2		Stephen 1	1
Vince 2	2		Stephen 2	1
Adam	1		Suzanne	1
Barrie 1	1		Vince 1	1
Chris B	1

A rare bracelet for Germany, but what can you say about Joe McKeehen? On top of winning the Main Event, he has now final-tabled the Monster Stack, the High Roller One Drop and The Millionaire Maker. Before any of that, he was World Champion at Risk. What next? No-one picked him last year, and he won another bracelet. This year he has five supporters, who are very happy that he has already chalked up two third-places. I'm confident he will be on even more teams next year. Ralph Massey was 7th in the Colossus last year and his 8th place in this made him the first player to reach the final of both.  Barny Boatman also reached another final table.

[MintTrav]

Event 26: $1,000 Pot-Limit Omaha

Winner	Filippos Stavrakis
Runners	986
Paid	148
Final Table	9

Player	Position	Points
Joe Cada	75	1

Selector	Points
Debbie	1

In contrast to some other tournaments, well-known professionals were few in this. Felipe Ramos was the only big name on the final table, but he could only manage 4th.

Debbie is the only person with Cada on her team. If she had from the start she would be challenging for the lead, but I'm sure he still has more points to bring.

[MintTrav]

Scores After 26 Events (excl #6, #11 & #24)

Selector	Points		Selector	Points
Craig 1	141		Paxo 1	70
Luca 1	129		Richard	68
Glenn 1	125		Suzanne	67
Derek	108		Glenn 2	66
Vince 1	108		Justin	66
Jon	101		Barrie 2	65
Carl 2	99		Carl 1	65
Del	99		Gareth	64
Nathan	93		Jo 1	64
Debbie	91		Chris H 1	62
Luca 2	91		Dave	61
Simon B	91		Tommy	61
Stephen 1	89		Chris B	59
Stephen 2	88		Jo 2	59
Paul	86		James 2	58
Barrie 1	84		Simon L	55
Jake	84		English Tom 2	54
Stuart	83		James 1	53
English Tom 1	82		Nic 1	52
Joe	82		Karen	45
Rob	82		Paxo 2	45
Jordan	79		Craig 2	42
Vince 2	76		Aneurin	39
Adam	75		John 1	37
Chris K	75		John 2	35
Nic 2	74		Irish Tom 1	27
Brian	71		Irish Tom 2	15
Chris H 2	71

Rast's win has propelled Craig into the lead, his Dream Team now having picked up two bracelets and had a bunch of other final tables. Volpe and Rast's wins have been backed up by strong performances by Racener, Negreanu, Klodnicki, Chidwick, Hennigan and Peters. His only misclicks are Obst and Ohel. What's that - Ohel has finished 5th in the HORSE? And Hennigan has won it for a third team bracelet? Those points are still to be added, so Craig is heading for a monster lead. That just leaves Obst not weighing in for the team - that's Obst who had four top-eight finishes in his nine cashes last year, including a 1st and a 2nd. I have a feeling there will be points from him too before long.

[Zozzy]

I always enjoy these updates from John and Carl, keep up the good work lads.  And I hope my team keeps up the good work also. I have got off to a good start.

[MintTrav]

Event 27: $10,000 H.O.R.S.E. Championship

Winner	John Hennigan
Runners	166
Paid	25
Final Table	8

Player	Position	Points
John Hennigan	1	25
Randy Ohel	5	10
Robert Mizrachi	12	1
Anthony Zinno	13	1
Mike Gorodinsky	19	1
Stuart Rutter	21	1

Selector	Points		Selector	Points
Craig 1	35		Joe	1
Craig 2	10		Karen	1
Barrie 1	1		Nic 2	1
Carl 1	1		Paxo 1	1
Carl 2	1		Paxo 2	1
Chris B	1		Richard	1
Chris H 2	1		Stephen 1	1
Chris K	1		Stephen 2	1
Glenn 1	1		Vince 1	1
Glenn 2	1		Vince 2	1
Jo 1	1

Former professional pool player John Hennigan bested a star-studded field to take down the $10k HORSE, winning heads-up against David 'Bakes' Baker. Third-placed Laith Salem finished fifth in the Main Event way back when Scotty Nguyen won it.

Craig cleaned up, stretching his lead with the winner and fifth-placed Ohel giving him a total of 35 points. Is this the decisive break?

[MintTrav]

I always enjoy these updates from John and Carl, keep up the good work lads.  And I hope my team keeps up the good work also. I have got off to a good start.

I've always thought you have a lot in common with Prince Charles.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4_iLElHqv-w