Thursday 31 May 2012

Day 1a: 68 at the close

Kamatakis looks the likely chip leader
Peter Csecsetka boasts the biggest stack we could find amongst our familiar ParadisePoker Tour faces but he won't be the chip leader when this half of the field returns, as Iliodoros Kamatakis boasts 137,000 chips.

That should make the cash game pro top dog for now, but until we get the official count, nothing is certain. Csecsetka can be pleased with his day's work, however, as he stayed around the 90,000 mark.

In contrast, David Pishvafar, Ronni Berg and Miguel Rato all met their demise before the day was done, joining Steffan Karlsson among the more popular Fantasy Poker picks not to survive.

Berg was sunk with QQ in a three-way all-in vs AQ and A5, with the former making a flush to end his tournament when he might have had a stack to work with.

We'll have the Day 1a chip count in full for you tomorrow, but in the meantime here's our selected few...

Rough Chip Count
Peter Csecsetka - 90,000
Pavlos Kasselouris - 64,000 
Rafal Lubczynski - 62,000
Bastian Bluem - 23,000
Peter Horvath - 22,000
Mark Jakab - 22,000
Mikkel Bergmann - 19,000
Christian Schulz - 10,000
Steffan Karlsson - Out
Miguel Rato - Out
Ronnie Espensen - Out
David Pishvafar - Out

Screams in the night

Just a few minutes remain to see out Day 1a but still bursting with energy is Maximos Pertsinidis after he trebled his stack with Aces in the final few hands.

The boisterous Greek as been one of the more vocal characters in the room all day and even the eight-hour stretch has failed to dull his mood.

On this occasion his screams were in delight after limping utg with pocket rockets and seeing a raise and all-in before it was next his turn to act.

Pertsinidis moved his chips into the centre and the pre-flop raiser also called, showing QQ to better the AQ of Paraskevas Pentagiotis.

The board ran - accompanied by full commentary from Pertsinidis - 776-6-4 and prompted further scenes of celebration from the loudest man in the room!

A Xanthopolous falls

Pavlos Xanthopolous may have been leading his brother Christos earlier in the night but it is the champion of Vienna who exited first in their home country.

Shorn to just 10 big blinds and less than an hour to play, Pavlos moved all-in on the button with 10s and was stunned to be called by A2 in the small blind.

Even more surprising were the pair of deuces that hit the flop and handed the rival trips to send our champ to the rail. 

Csecsetka seizes the chip lead

Hungarian Peter Csecsetka has quite the knack for the ParadisePoker Tour and he's at it again in the closing stages of Day 1a, building what is surely the biggest stack in the room.

Having finished third in London 2010 and gone close to

Typically he has done so without winning a pot over 10,000 chips and insisted he had no wild stories of dragging in tournament-defining pots, only sharing a hand he wasn't involved in!

Either way, Csecsetka has 92,000 to work with as we enter the final hour of play and is in command on his table and the Main Event itself with 77 players left in play.

The final straight

Day 1a has just two hours left to run and our 92 remaining players are pulling up their chairs for the final stretch and will face blinds of 250/500 with a 50 ante.

132 players entered the first day at the Hyatt Regency Casino and a similar field tomorrow would see our €125,000 Guaranteed prize pool grow further, but as things stand Sunday's champion can expect a cheque for €31,350.

Not too shabby!

Pavlos leads the brothers' battle

Pavlos leads the Xanthopolous charge so far
Vienna victor Pavlos Xanthopolous has inevitably joined us in his native Greece for the Main Event - just as he promised - and thus far he leads his brother Christos in the race for a second ParadisePoker Tour crown.

Christos Xanthopolous of course took down the London event back in 2010 and the family name was further ingrained in ParadisePoker history when Pavlos matched his achievement in April.

Pavlos has the added incentive of trying to overtake Andreas Zauner at the League summit but both men would dearly love to make another final table appearance and as the PP blog last passed their tables, they each took down a pot to keep that dream alive.

It is the more recent champion that holds the chip edge at this stage, boasting 32,000 to the 23,000 in Christos' possession and the latter built that chip tower by putting his tournament life at risk. 

The board read 6♥5♣2♦-K♣ when we saw the London winner lead out and unfazed by a check-raise, shipped his stack into the centre and forced the villain to fold.

Elsewhere the PP blog also caught up with Peter Csecsetka, who has a hefty 67,000 chips to work with yet insisted he had barely won a big pot all day but for one bluff. Fellow Hungarian Gabor Bank has hit the rail, though the PP blog is none the wiser on how it came about.

The luck of the Danes continued to run low, meanwhile, as Mikkel Bergmann lost to a river Queen in a 77 vs AQ race for 30,000 chips, and Ronni Borg was just keeping his head above water with 10,000.

Here's our latest chip count from around the room:

Peter Csecsetka - 67,000
Peter Horvath - 55,000
Paul Kasselouris - 52,000
Mikkel Bergmann - 35,000
Pavlos Xanthopolous - 32,000
Christian Schulz - 30,000
Miguel Rato - 25,000
Christos Xanthopolous - 23,000
David Pishvafar - 19,000
Bastian Bluem - 19,000
Ronni Borg - 10,000

Pics for dinner

We're on our one-hour dinner break right now so let's get a few pictures from the Hyatt Regency Casino to sample the Day 1a atmosphere.



Espensen busts before dinner

Ronnie Espensen hasn't enjoyed much luck on the ParadisePoker Tour Season 3 and despite the strong start we were keen to shout about, fortunes turned on the Dane just before dinner.

Having lost the previously reported monster pot with AA vs JJ, Ronnie had enjoyed a brief spell of hope having tripled up his 2,300 stack holding 45s. The comeback wasn't to be, however.

His remaining 6,000 chips magnetised to the middle when he picked up AK a few minutes ago, only to lose a race to the QQ of his opponent.

UPDATE - Even Peter Horvath suffered some last minute bad luck before the hour-long meal break, but as chip leader he can afford it at least!

Georgious Panagiotidis was the villain here, the pair arguing over a blind battle that had to be checked on the cardroom cameras to verify the outcome.

Horvath believed he had won the last pot, having raised from the big blind and seen one limper fold, but when small blind Panagiotidis insisted he had not folded the pair disagreed over whether the Czech's cards had crossed the line.

A ruling had to be made and Horvath was told he had passed. So Georgious has annoyed the chip leader - who is sat directly to his left! Hmmm...

Bullets fire Horvath among chip leaders

Peter Horvath looks to be one of the room's biggest stacks as we edge towards the dinner break after the Czech dragged in a monster pot care of Aces.

A rough count puts him well over 60,000 chips after eliminating one rival with pocket rockets, with the money going all-in on a soaking wet 9♣7&clubs7♠ flop.

Horvath had continuation bet, only for his rival to ship his stack, and our man made the call with A♠A♣ knowing there was every chance he held one of his opponent's outs. So it proved, as the villain flipped 3♣4♣ and failed to connect.

Lady Luck was feeling less kind to Ronnie Espensen however, as the Dane's strong start evapourated in one bad beat. He had three-bet Martin Svub once again and third player four-bet-called Ronnie's effective shove.

His rival threw down his J♥J♦ as if he knew it was beat - and it was indeed crushed by Espensen's Aces - but a Jack on the turn turned the hand on its head and left Ronnie with a rebuilding job.

Elsewhere Christian Schulz is up to 30,000 chips thanks to a set of fives - and it could have been even better for the German. He flopped top two pair on a K-Q-2 board but having got the money in, found his opponent had the same hand!

First break, first chip count

We've not long returned from our first break so the PP blog had a chance to count up some chip stacks after two hours of play.

Mikkel Bergmann fans rejoice, he was the biggest stack we found at 45,000, with Ronnie Espensen on 30,000 after adding another pot to his growing collection after flopping a set of deuces.

Things go less well for Jens Weigel, who is in "survival mode" on just 4,000 chips, while Borat-wannabe Christian Schulz has 23,000.

Schulz was involved in one hand he described as crazy, where having led out on an A♦J♦3♦ flop, he thought he was turning his hand into a bluff on the ♦ river by over-betting the pot.

As it happens, he was called by the A10 of his rival and took down a decent pot with just top pair. "Maniac table," said the man in the mankini, wig and sunglasses.

Here's our rough chip count for you:

Mikkel Bergmann - 45,000
Ronnie Espensen - 30,000
Steffan Karlsson - 28,000
Bastian Bluem - 23,000
Christian Schulz - 23,000
Christos Xanthopolous - 20,000
Pavlos Xanthopolous - 20,000
Peter Horvath - 19,000
David Pishvafar - 19,000
Miguel Rato - 18,000
Gabor Bank - 14,000
Jens Weigel - 4,000

FP update: Popular Ronnie

A quick review of our Fantasy Poker teams reveals that true to form, Ronnie Espensen our most popular selection of the ParadisePoker Tour Main Event - with 13 teams opting for the Dane.

Espensen earned himself a cult following in the blog game after grabbing the Season 2 League title, having been the most consistent performer over the six legs.

By his own admission, Season 3 has not been quite the success story but there is no doubting Ronnie's talent amongst the Fantasy Poker entrants!

The good news for those putting their trust in him is that he has made a strong start in the Hyatt Regency Casino, having won two decent sized pots on each occasion the PP blog passed by.

Having shown down Aces against Gabor Bank, the pair tangled again, only this time with Martin Svub caught in the middle. The former had raised to 225 pre-flop, the latter three-bet to 800 and Espensen made the call in position.

The trio went to a 4♦-A♠-10♥ flop and after Bank checked, Svub led out for 875. Ronnie made the call and their Hungarian rival exited the hand before the turn brought the A♦.

Svub showed a flash of nerves as he checked to the popular Fantasy Poker pick and the Dane led out for 1400 more, which eventually proved enough for the pre-flop aggressor to fold after a spell in the tank.

The Czech flipped KK and Espensen answered by showing K♥Jhearts; for a well-executed bluff.

Also popular among the 111 Fantasy Poker entrants was Daniel Thomsen with 11 backers, while Alex Madsen, Bank and Johnny Jensen were chosen 9 times. Jensen is set to ante up tomorrow.

Early exit (and re-entry) for Pishvafar

Before we get to our Fantasy Poker update, let's take a moment to commiserate with one of the blog's most frequently-featured, David Pishvafar.

The German is currently beating himself up after making an early exit to the Main Event, despite the hand bearing all the hallmarks of a cooler.

Pishvafar, who has been a ParadisePoker Tour regular throughout the first three seasons and was our best-placed player on the WSOP trip in 2011, called a pre-flop raise with 33 as the first blind level drew to a close.

Two other players joined him on his dream KK3 flop and after the initial raiser led out, both David and the other villain called to see the 8 drop in the turn. A similar pattern followed, with the aggressor betting the pot to put 8,000 in the middle, though this time only the victim of our tale called.

The river 2 completed a flush on board and when his rival shoved for his remaining stack, David called only to see him roll pocket 8s. A cruel end to the day... but then we are in Greece Mr. Pishvafar. The sun is shining!

UPDATE - After careful consideration, David decided to re-enter the tournament given we're within the first three levels so Fantasy Poker followers breathe again - he lives on!

Fantasy Poker door closes... 111 chase €1000

The time to submit your entry for Fantasy Poker has now passed and that €1000 prize pool will be contested by 111 entrants here on the ParadisePoker blog.

Although we don't have enough room to publish the full list of teams, we'll have an update on the most popular players and get you a chip count in these early stages.

Good luck to all those who entered!

Prop bets and mankinis

Schulz seems to be enjoying his prop bet punishment!
Making an entrance worthy of Phil Hellmuth himself, Christian Schulz has enters the ParadisePoker Tour Main Event arena... and he's dressed in a mankini.

The German regular was on the losing end of a prop bet with Jan-Peter Jachtmann - who sadly can't be here to enjoy his embarrassment - and Christian met the terms by 'dressing' in the Borat-inspired outfit for our €125,000 Guaranteed Main Event.

Ever the attention-seeker, Schulz had bet Jachtmann his beloved HSV Hamburg would be relegated from the Bundesliga this season, only to see them finish 15th. And with Jan-Peter the editor of PokerBlat magazine, Christian can expect to find himself splashed all over the pages of one of Germany's most popular poker mags!

"Never make a bet with a man in journalism," grinned Christian when speaking to the blog earlier, "The thing is Hamburg were really, really bad this season - it just so happens there were three teams that were even worse!"

The PP blog can only apologise if you've been mentally scarred by these images, but at least you didn't have to witness it in the flesh!

Painful stuff.

Season 3 finale - shuffle up and deal!

A little late in the offing but our players have pulled up their chairs and with the shoutout from our MC, the ParadisePoker Tour Season 3 Main Event is under way at the Hyatt Regency Casino.

We'll be bringing you news from all the familiar faces in the room - and there are plenty of them - once the Fantasy Poker deadline has passed, as it wouldn't be fair to give you a clue to who's made a hot start now would it?!

We'll also eagerly track down anyone you're interesting in following throughout the tournament so be sure to get in touch via the comments section or on Twitter (@ParadisePoker) if you have a request.

Talking of Twitter, we'll also be playing our just for fun game of Who Am I? at 15.00 BST if you need entertaining. The aim is to decipher our five picture clues and tell us which poker celebrity they are describing.

Sound easy? Come and prove you're a poker know-it-all!

The stage is set...

Curtains raised... Day 1a play starts soon
The ParadisePoker Tour has landed in Thessaloniki and the PP blog is settling into a comfy chair and mentally preparing for Day 1a, where the vast majority of online qualifiers will be competing for a seat in Saturday's Day 2.

The cardroom here at the Hyatt Regency Casino is in fact a theatre, so the view from the press area takes in 16  tables spread across the auditorium and the stage itself.

With dimmed lighting and background music building the atmosphere, we're readying ourselves for the usual mix of bad beat tales, hero calls and all out warfare at the baize! Let's hope Day 1a lives up to the pre-game hype.

Don't forget it's not too late for you to be part of this particular show, just login above to pick your three-man Fantasy Poker team from the My Team tab - then start praying to Lady Luck that this is their weekend!

All you need to know about Fantasy Poker is in the post below, so no excuses for not getting your team submitted before the 14.00 BST deadline. And remember if there's a name missing from the list you'd like to select, request it asap and we'll try and get it added. You can make unlimited changes up until the final deadline.

Then all you need do is sit back and read the blog as the four-day Main Event unfolds. Good luck blog readers!

Monday 28 May 2012

Fantasy Poker... but for €1000 cash!

The ParadisePoker Tour just wouldn't be the same without an army of Fantasy Poker entrants tracking every move in the €125,000 Guaranteed Main Event - so of course we'll be playing once again in Thessaloniki next week.

Being the season finale, we don't have an event lined up for the winner to take down a €1300 package, so we've resorted to good old-fashioned cash prizes! A €1,000 prize pool is set to pay out the top 3 performers.

Everything else remains the same from our Vienna competition, so you'll score points for picking players that finish in the Main Event cash. The three highest scoring teams will win a slice of the money, so be sure to select the players who can resist the lure of the sunshine in Greece!

The top scoring team will secure €500, 2nd-place will pay €300 and third €200 and if there is a tie for any positions, we'll pit the competitors against one another in a winner-takes-all game of online Hold'em. Here's the how to...

Fantasy Poker - How to Play

1. Log-in to your ParadisePoker account above (web only)
2. Click the My Team tab and pick 3 players by 15.00 CEST on Thursday, May 31st (Day 1a)
3. Players that cash in the Main Event score Fantasy Poker points
4. And the highest scoring fantasy teams win a share of the €1000 prize pool!

Once again, we will only be offering online qualifiers on the list of players to choose from. You may, however, request any other player in the Main Event to be added to the list via the comment section or on Twitter.

Remember you can change your team as many times as you wish before the final deadline, so it's worth picking a team even while you await an addition to the list. You can make requests up until midnight on Wednesday, May 30th.

PP blog gets practical

We're all abuzz with excitement as the prospect of our Season 3 finale looms but while it's the €125,000 Guaranteed poker, players' party and Greek sunshine we're eager to arrive for, there's always a few need-to-knows to be addressed.

That's why the PP blog is taking just a minute to take the trip to Thessaloniki seriously. During this minute we will provide all the information you'll need... before promptly getting back to child-like delerium! Here goes.

Welcome reception

There will be a welcome reception in the hotel Wednesday evening where players can come and meet ParadisePoker staff, have a drink and ask any questions. This will be at 9pm local time.

Hotel

Players will be booked into the hotel in advance and will just have to provide ID when they arrive
Check-in time is 14:00 but the hotel will more than likely be able to accommodate early check-ins
The hotel booking includes the following:
BREAKFAST: American buffet breakfast in Ambrosia restaurant. The breakfast in Room Service is not included.
CLUB OLYMPUS: free use of the fully equipped Fitness Center which included heated 17 meter-long indoor pool with whirlpool bath or 1,200 square meter free-form outdoor swimming pool with separate kids pool, Jacuzzi, Hamam, Steam room, gym, tennis and squash courts.
INTERNET: wireless internet connection (WiFi) is available in rooms, the public areas and the conference centre and Two-line telephone with voicemail & modem points  is free of charge for the hotel guests.
REGENCY CASINO THESSALONIKI: free entrance to our hotel guest and free transfer any time.
ASIAN SPA: 10% discount in Asian spa, for all body treatments that are booked from Monday to Friday.

Tournament registration

There will be a special desk at the casino lobby for online qualifiers and online buy-ins and players will receive instructions about their registration and check into the casino at this point.  The desk will be very easy to find.

Transport from the airport

Free airport transfers from Makedonia (Thessaloniki International Airport parking lot P5) to Hyatt Regency Hotel will be available, according to the local time schedule below:

Wed 30/5/2012: 10:00 | 12:00 | 17:00 | 19:00
Thu 31/5/2012:  10:00 | 12:00
Fri 1/6/2012: 10:00 | 12:00

Regency Casino buses will leave parking lot P5 at the above times. Parking lot P5 is located to the right of the arrivals area airport exit. In the event that players arrive at times that are not close to the times listed above then a taxi will cost no more than €15

Players’ Party

The players party will be on Saturday night at W Club Thessaloniki located within walking distance of the casino. Have a look at the pictures in the post below! There will be a VIP area with host and bottle service and all qualifiers are invited along with one guest. 

Transport from the hotel to the casino

The casino is around a 5 minute drive from the hotel. Players can speak to the concierge service to arrange a free taxi to the casino.  The hotel are very keen to send players to the casino so there should be no shortage.

Right, enough of that. Thessaloniki - here we come! Woo!

Friday 25 May 2012

Party in Paradise

The Players' Party became a popular fixture on the ParadisePoker Tour Season 3 but we think we might just have saved the best 'til last in 2011/12.

W Club Thessaloniki will be our stylish host on Saturday, June 2nd, and as usual we'll have all the VIP trimmings including queue jump, free entry, a reserved area and drinks on us! What else do you need?!


The swanky club is just a short saunter down the road from the casino, so even if you're still competing in the Main Event as Day 2 draws towards a close, it won't take you a minute to join the party.

Just bust out your best-dressed look in time for the midnight departure from the casino, as the club has a dress code in keeping with its image and get ready to sign-off Season 3 with night worthy of you ballers out there.

All online qualifiers and direct buy-ins are invited to the Players' Party and may bring one guest too, so don't leave the girlfriend at the hotel, bring her along!

Thursday 10 May 2012

Thessaloniki schedule announced

We're getting tingles of excitement about the ParadisePoker Tour Season 3 finale as our trip to Thessaloniki is now less than 3 weeks away!

With that in mind, we've released the final schedule for the six-day Greek extravaganza and you can find out the full when and where simply by clicking on the image below.

We should mention at this stage that there have been a few amendments to the schedule previously publicised, but you can always trust the ParadisePoker blog for up-to-date info!


Click to enlarge tournament schedule