There is a lot to report from last week’s high stakes poker at the WSOP 2012. Here is an account of all the action, starting last Wednesday.
News from the WSOP high-stakes tables
Kanu7 and wilhasha battled it out for the top prize on Wednesday night, and though jokes were exchanged between the two, you could sense the intense competition! The usual 100/200 blinds were replaced by 50/100 blinds. A pre-flop cooler of $42,000 was the match’s biggest hand and this did not turn out so well for Kanu7. But wilhasha managed to make the most of it from his turn and river overbets.
Thursday night saw Berndsen12 recoup with other PLO 50/100 games and take home $24,314. Returning players like ChaoRen160, FiSHeYe1984 and PepperoniF could not manage any wins. A nine-hour nail-biter was witnessed between terryhsu and Terken89, with the latter winning $107,000. Another game to watch was the one between takechip and wilhasha, who are old rivals. In about four hours, takechip managed to win $11,200, after a 79,000 pre-flop confrontation, which was the match’s biggest hand.
All the action from the WSOP weekend
Ylon Schwartz won a bracelet in the $1,500 HORSE event, while the 4-handed No-Limit Hold’em (NLHE) $1.5k title was won by Timothy Adams. The weekend also saw wilhasha go up against patpatman and Kanu7 in two NHLE games, and come up trumps, pocketing $114,000 and triumphing over Flying Smile for the prize money of $28,000 to bring his total wins to $142,000. But things took a bad turn, when on Sunday night, wilhasha played Kanu7 for four and a half hours only to be taken for $299,000 over a total of 2707 hands.
Sunday’s Pot Luck Omaha (PLO) games saw glosik at the center of the action, putting in about 2500 hands against rivals like terryhsu and EireAbu, though finishing down with 31,000 after a day of ups and downs.
The lure of high stakes poker
A phenomenon that is about five to six years old, high stakes poker does away with capped pots and raised limits to give players the opportunity to enlarge their bankrolls. Full Tilt was the first to offer high stakes poker to patrons and after the buzz it managed to create, more poker sites began to offer raised limits. Players were drawn to it, knowing fully well that both the risks and the rewards are high in this form of the game. The size of the fields at WSOP events is a testament to the lure of high stakes poker.
Mac high-stakes poker sites
With Mac-compatible poker games being played by thousands of players, the money tables have never been more vibrant. Instant play or downloadable Mac poker sites offer players a gaming environment much like that on the Windows OS. Also, as the high stake offerings at Mac poker sites increase, well-heeled players are increasingly using their skill and devoting their time towards raking in big cash. While there is no saying when things look a bit out of ‘control’, it can be said that multi-million dollar swings in a span of few hours and pots worth over $800,000 show that players need to reign in a bit to avoid huge losses.
New online poker petition by an American lobbying group
All this high stakes poker action comes amidst the news last week of a new petition addressed to US lawmakers by American lobbying group Poker Players Alliance. The group wants a legislation regulating online poker to be passed. With its objective of earning 10,000 signatures, the group has already managed to get half that number. Instead of banning online poker sites, the government should be looking at licensing the game, the lobbying group feels. It says that adults should have the right to play the game and that lawmakers, should implement appropriate legislation targeted at problem gambling and under-age participation. The petition has requested that the Congress should revisit the applicability of the Wire Act to skill games like high stakes poker and casino games of chance.
Until then, there are many USA-friendly poker sites that American players can opt for. Many of these offer generous bonuses and a great playing atmosphere. And of course, you should not forget to stay in touch with all the high-stakes action from WSOP here!
