Video Poker: West Virginia casino revenue rises on Video Poker, Blackjack revenue

According to the West Virginia Lottery Commission, the Greenbrier resort that opened on July 2 has made more than $891,400 in revenue from gamblers.

The underground 102,000 square foot Casino took in $377,661 in revenue last week alone from table games with most being generated from blackjack tables.

According to a resort executive, casino revenue has risen rapidly since opening day and is doing great. Video poker is also preferred by many. Although revenue fluctuates each week the resort has made over $694,000 from games like Blackjack since the Greenbrier Resort opened in July. Last month many people came in and won, but this month things have gone the other way, according to the casino executive.

Last week’s slot machine revenue made $32,151, making it a weekly record for slot revenue according to the West Virginia Lottery report. The casino’s 320 slot machines revenue continues to hold steady with total revenue from video poker machines at $196,692 since early July.

With the resort getting to keep 65% of its gross revenue from table games and 42.3% of video poker revenue, the remainder goes to a capital investment fund, a hotel employee benefit fund and the state of West Virginia for the state’s debt reduction funds and general revenue. The resort’s share of its seven-week revenue totaled $891,400 with the state receiving $564,655.

The Sunday Scoop: Review

For another massive Sunday online, there was big money on the line all over the web making. With three events and a total of $4.75 million guaranteed, FTOPS XVII’s final day made things interesting over on Full Tilt.

With Drunk Spirit grabbing the title and $193,121.22 first prize, the Michael Craig hosted $240+$16 Knockout Six-Max saw 5,055 entrants. BgsaPnaples still walked away with $118k, although he lost heads-up.

With 1,589 entrants, 3,810 rebuys and 964 add-ons in the $150+$13 Rush Rebuy, the final Rush Poker event on the schedule also went off. In the end, hauling in $202,206.75 and an FTOPS Jersey while Davidp18 had to settle for second and $129,805.20, Dalbaiyob booked the win.

Finally to make up the rest of a $3 million guarantee, the $600+$40 FTOPS XVII main event drew 4,805 leaving Full Tilt on the hook for a bit of an overlay.

To grab the amazing $513k first prize, TyboVegas outlasted the entire field. He beat DQnk heads up, leaving him with $357k in second-place money; flagal43 took third for $255k, roo7227 grabbed third for $192,000 and for $143,000, Ship_the_dollar landed up in fourth.

Drawing 8,294 players, over on Poker Stars the Sunday Million made its $1.5 million guarantee with relative ease again.

After a chop at the top, four players earned six figures here, including eventual winner blumenkind53, who cashed for $160,781.86. To second place, finisher RAZZER777 went the lion’s share of the prize pool. YouHave2outs cashed $151,081.10 for third and The Pot SWE grabbed $149,101.66 for fourth.

WSOP Recap July 14 and July 15

Day 5 – July 14th

Day 5 of the 2010 WSOP Main Event was another exciting day at this year’s World Series of Poker. 574 players started the day and only 205 will be moving on to day 6. Johnny Chan is one of the more notable poker pros still alive in this year’s Main Event. Chan is hoping to earn his record-tying 11th bracelet to join Phil Hellmuth at the top of the bracelet leader board. Chan would also tie Stu Ungar and Johnny Moss as the only players to win 3 Main Event titles. It should be pretty exciting to see if Chan can keep up his current success.

The Mizrachi family is also having an exceptional Main Event. Two of the four brothers have survived day 5 and will be back for day 6. Eric and Danny were not as lucky however falling on days 4 and 5 respectively. Each member of the Mizrachi family was able to make the money though so it was an exceptional main event for the four poker players.

Other notables still alive after day 5 include Bryn Kenney, Josh Brikis, John Racener, Matt Affleck, Jesper Hougaard, Adam Levy, and Phil Galfond. Some players who were not as lucky and saw their tournament end on day 5 include Jason Mercier, Vanessa Selbst, Sam Farha, Jason Somerville, Alex Jacob, Allie Prescott, and Scotty Nguyen.

Day 6 – July 15th

Day 6 saw just as much action as day 5 did at the Main Event. With only 78 players remaining there is a great chance that some of poker’s biggest names will be at this year’s final table. Heading that list of potential poker stars is Michael Mizrachi who is in 2nd place overall with 7.535 Million chips. Other notables in the top 10 include Theo Jorgensen, John Racener, William Thorson, and Alexander Kostritsyn.

One famous poker name that will not be a part of the November Nine is Johnny Chan. Chan was eliminated on day 6 after running into pocket aces twice. First was with pocket kings and the second time was with a short stack and pocket jacks. Chan will have to wait until next year to earn his 11th World Series bracelet.

Poker: World Series of Poker Review, July 9

The second largest World Series of Poker field, Day 2 started with a bang, and continued to deliver exciting poker. Day 2A was started by 2,412 players, while only 1,295 made it through today 3. There is still a large number of well-known poker players remaining in this year’s Main Event, even with all of those players having been eliminated.

Chicago native Boulous Estanfanous is the current chip leader. Online poker sportsbook star, Estanfanous is poised to make a deep run in the 2010 WSOP Main Event, while he is not a household name. Estanfanous holds 344,000 chips currently, which is well above the chip average.

There are still plenty of well-known players alive in this year’s field, even with an unknown amateur holding the current chip lead. Johnny Chan is saving his best poker for the perfect time, and he has had a quiet World Series thus far only playing a handful of events. Among the chip leaders, Chan entered day 2, and that is where he still finds himself. Just over 281,000 chips were amassed by Chan, which is good enough for a top 10 position.

Chris Moneymaker, Scotty Nguyen, reigning champ Joe Cada, Robert Mizrachi, Sam Farha, Hoyt Corkins, Michael Mizrachi and David Williams are the other notable poker pros that are still alive and well included in this year’s Main Event.

Not all of the poker pros were able to escape day 2A, while there are still some popular players remaining in the field. Ted Forrest, Tom McEvoy, Daniel Alaei, Dennis Phillips, Dutch Boyd and Mike Sexton are included in the list of players who saw their Main Event dreams vanish.

For Monday, day 3 is scheduled and is sure to be another wild day at the 2010 World Series of Poker.

July 5 – WSOP Main Event Review

Yesterday at the World Series of Poker, the long anticipated Main Event got under way. A $10,000 No Limit Hold’em event is the biggest, most prestigious poker tournament in the world and it is expected to draw well over 4,000 players to play poker. This year’s main event is going to be broken down into four separate day 1s. 1,125 players were drawn to the first of these day 1s, which was whittled down to roughly 800 players, who will return on Friday for day 2A.

Amongst the chip leaders on the first day of competition, there were not too many notable poker pros. Michale Mizrachi is perhaps the most well known player among the chip leaders. Mizrachi is continuing a strong World Series of Poker with his fine performance on day 1 of the main event.

Day 1A has been known for the players that were eliminated, rather than having more notable players at the top of the leader board. Greg Raymer, former WSOP Main Event champ, busted out early when his pair of queens and flush draw lost to a flopped set of 10s. Raymer was not the only high profile victim today, other notable pros to make an early exit include Nick Shulman, Chino Rheem and Victor Ramdin.

For the rest of the week with day 1B through 1D, day 1 play will continue. on Friday, day 2A will commence and will consist of players from day 1A and 1C.

Poker: World Series of Poker Review, July 2

With a handful of tournaments on July 2nd, the 2010 World Series of Poker continues towards the Main Event. Poker room star, Brendan Taylor was able to emerge victorious in this event winning his first WSOP bracelet and $185,000, there one bracelet awarded today after the completion of event 53 ($1,500 No Limit Hold’em Shootout). Taylor was able to build a slight chip lead when the final table was down to four players, which he then used to knock out the last three remaining players to take down the title.

There was still a lot of other poker action, while there was only one bracelet awarded today. bringing the total field to just over 3500 players creating a $3.45 Million prize pool, Day 1b of event 54 ($1,00 No Limit Hold’em) saw another 1500 players sign up for the event. Day 2 will be held July 3 with the final table on July 4. A lot of high flying, crazy poker action was seen in event 55 ($10,000 Pot Limit Omaha Championship). Well known poker pro, Tom Dwan is the chip leader entering the final day of the tournament. With each player guaranteed a $19,000 payday, only 33 players remain. However, I am sure each one of them would love to win the $780,000 first place prize.

On July 2, only one event started, and that was event 56 ($2,500 No Limit Hold’em). With a several million dollar prize pool, this is expected to be another large field No Limit event. The final table for this event is set for July 4th.

Poker: World Series of Poker Review, June 28

At the World Series of Poker, June 28 was another exciting day. Two new poker players won their first WSOP titles and two events held their final table today.

A $1.33 Million prize pool, Chris Bell, online poker star, cashed for the 4th time in the World Series of Poker, and won his first bracelet along with $327,000 and in event #46, a $5,000 Pot Limit Omaha 8 or Better event that drew 284 players. Bell was last in chips when the field was down to the final 6 players but he managed to battle back and get heads up with Daniel Shak. Bell was able to knock out Shak, after several hours of play and take home the coveted WSOP bracelet.

For event #48 ($2,500 Mixed Event), was the other final table today. A $1.04 Million prize pool was seen by 453 entrants in this tournament. The eventual winner was Sigurd Eskeland who won $260,000 for his efforts as well as his first World Series bracelet. I
n a WSOP event, this was not the first time Eskeland has made the money. He has actually cashed two other times, but this was his first ever WSOP final table.

Where the number of notable poker pros Eskeland was able to defeat when 20 players returned for the final day of play, makes Eskeland’s victory even more impressive. Todd Brunson (10th), Alexander Kravchenko (11th), Dario Minieri (14th), Kirk Morrison (16th), John D’Agostino (17th) and Bill Chen (18th) are the top poker pros included.

World Series of Poker Review, June 24: Poker

At the World Series of Poker, June 24 was another exciting day. There was only one champion crowned today. Steve Jelinek, WSOP odds favorite was rewarded with $245,000 while beating 847 other players and she won the $1,500 Pot Limit Omaha Hi Low Split 8 or Better tournament.

For the possibilities that lied ahead, there was a lot of buzz surrounding this final table. While Mandy Thomas was trying to become the first woman to win a WSOP event this event, Phil Hellmuth had a chance to win yet another World Series of Poker title. Ultimately, both would fall short of their goal, and Steve Jelinek would walk away with his first tournament victory.

Events #43 ($10,000 HORSE Championship) and #42 ($1,500 No Limit Hold’em) continued with their tournaments today. Tomorrow on the 25th, both of these events are slated to hold their final table. Only one new tournament started today and that was a $2,500 Mixed Hold’em tournament. For a $1.186 Million prize pool, this event drew 507 players. This is one of the unique events at this year’s World Series of Poker, as both No Limit Hold’em and Limit Hold’em will be played during this event. With every increase in blinds, the game being played will switch.

In both the Limit and No Limit varieties, to win this type of event you need to be a seasoned poker player. To see who comes out victorious, it will be interesting and can lay claim to being the best in the world at both Limit Hold’em and No Limit Hold’em.

Poker: WSOP Recap June 22

June 22nd, 2010 at the World Series of Poker in Las Vegas, NV saw one of the games most notable players add to his growing reputation. In event #37, a $3,000 HORSE tourney, Phil Ivey outlasted the stiff competition, and took home his 8th World Series bracelet. By winning his 8th World Series tournament Ivey now trails only players such as Johnny Moss (9 bracelets), Doyle Brunson and Jonny Chan (10 bracelets), and Phil Hellmuth (11 bracelets) on the all time leader board. If Phil Ivey continues this level of play he will almost certainly become the all time leader during his career. In this $3,000 HORSE event Ivey took on a pretty tough final table, and was able to beat players such as Bill Chen, John Juanda, Jeffrey Lisandro and Chad Brown. Phil will take home $329,000 for his efforts.

Another world champion was crowned on the 22nd as well. In event #38 ($10,000 Pot Limit Hold’em Championship) Valdemar Kwaysser beat a field of 268 players for his first career bracelet, and third cash of this series. Kwaysser entered the final day 11th in chips but managed to beat notable players Amnon Filippi, Sandra Naujoks, Allen Kessler and Amit Makhija. Kwaysser will walk away with more than $617,000 for winning this tournament.

In addition to these final tables there was a ton of other action today at the WSOP. Events 39 and 40, a $1,500 No Limit Hold’em Shootout and $2,500 Seven Card Razz event respectively, are still being contested. The No limit Shootout has a staggering prize pool of $1.89 Million while the Seven Card Razz tourney has a more modest $839,000 prize pool. Both events are scheduled to finish on June 23rd. Event #41, a $1,500 Pot Limit Omaha 8 or Better, also got under way today. This event will pay $245,000 to the bracelet winner, and will run for 3 days.

2010 WSOP Review, June 19th

At the World Series of Poker, June 19th, 2010 was another action packed day. Event #32 and #33 crowned two more World Series of Poker champions and wrapped up their action. Event #32, a $5,000 buy-in No Limit Hold’em Six Handed tourney, was won by Jeffrey Papola. At a bracelet in just 4 days, this was Papola’s second chance.

Against online sportsbook poker favorite, Will Haydon in the $2,500 buy-in version of the same event, earlier in the week he was heads up. However, in a heads up match that lasted just over 4 hours, this time Papola was able to beat his opponent, Men Nguyen. Other notable poker pro Erick Lindgren was also at this final table, and finished 6th for $82,000. For beating a field of 568 players, Papola will take home $667,000.

Event #33 was the other event that held its final table on 19th June, which is a $2,500 Pot Limit Hold’em/Omaha tournament. This event was won by Jose Luis Velador and it drew a field of 482 poker players. This is actually Velador’s second WSOP bracelet. In 2008, he won one back in a no limit event. Velador will be taking home $260,000 for his efforts along with that second gold bracelet.

On the 19th as well, event #36, a $1,000 No Limit Hold’em event, and Event #37, a $3,000 HORSE event, got underway. Event #36 actually has two day 1’s and it is expected to be a huge field. Day 1A was on the 19th while Day 1B is on the 20th. On 22nd June, the final table will be held. This is one of the few $1,000 buy-in events making it possible for more recreational players to afford the buy-in. On June 21, event #37 will hold its final table.