In what will be a battle for international bragging rights PokerStars has announced its 2009 Americas Cup of Poker. This inaugural Americas Cup of Poker (ACP) will bring together teams from 16 different nations to battle toward the live final, to be held at the Cerro Catedral Ski Resort in Argentina’s Patagonia region.

Up for grabs is $250,000 in prize money, with $100,000 to be split among the winning team’s players. Daily freerolls and online qualifiers priced as low as $0.20 assure that every PokerStars player has the chance to take part. These qualifiers have just begun at PokerStars.

The 16 teams who will participate in the ACP are split into four groups, consisting of 13 American continents nations and three “wild card” entries, comprised of players from the rest of the world. The four groups are as follows:

• Group A: USA, Mexico, Ecuador, Wildcard 1
• Group B: Canada, Columbia, Uruguay, Wildcard 2
• Group C: Chile, Venezuela, Peru, Costa Rica
• Group D: Brazil, Paraguay, Argentina, Wildcard 3

Over the next three weeks, each group’s teams will compete in a series of head-to-head, round-robin matchups. The top eight teams overall – the two teams with the best records from each group – will move on to the live final in Argentina. Each team in Argentina will be comprised of the top five players from each nation, based on points earned during the qualifiers, and each team in the final will also be joined by a live member of Team PokerStars Pros. Qualifying points are earned by placing in the top 100 during any of the ongoing first round’s qualifying events.

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We have experienced the frills of the World Series of Poker 2009, with 56 events and a punishing 13 days of play in the Amazon Room at the Rio All-Suite Hotel and Casino in Las Vegas, the final table of the 2009 World Series of Poker (WSOP) Main Event was been decided.

At the start of Day 8 we had a total of 27 players back to the Amazon Room at Noon on Wednesday with dreams of being at the final table of the most prestigious poker tournament in the world. Everyone remaining would receive a minimum of $352,832, but the true aim was on making the November Nine final table. Leading the pack was poker newbie Darvin Moon, a logger from Maryland, who held slightly over 20,160,000 chips as play began.

Leo Margets is the last female standing, who came to the start of play as one of the shorter stacks in the room, she was the first to depart in 27th place. She was shortly followed by notable players including Antonio Esfandiari (24th place for his largest WSOP cash ever) and Day Six leader Warren Zackey, who dropped from the tournament in 22nd place after his pocket deuces were out-floped by Ian Tavelli’s [Qs] [Js]

Tavelli’s aggressive play eventually caught up with him, the 21-year old was eliminated in 17th place ($500,557). Almost immediately after Tavelli’s departure, one of France’s top professional players, Ludovic Lacay, was defeated by Jeff Shulman in 16th place.

As the field continued to dwindle, both Darvin Moon and Steve Begleiter used their large stacks to climb to astronomical levels at the tables. Moon never seemed to be in any trouble during play on Wednesday and Begleiter, continued his march up the leaderboard. For all of their work, however, most of the eyes in the Amazon Room where following Top poker professional Phil Ivey.

Ivey has had one of his best World Series of Poker's ever with his skills at their highest level for some years. He has captured two bracelets during the six weeks of the WSOP tournament and had been at or around the top of the Main Event leaderboard since Day 1 started. Starting the day with over 11 million in chips, Ivey seemed happy to sit back and manage his stack, being aware of the 2 hour blind levels and plenty of chips in front of him. I am sure he is scouting potential opponents should they reach the November Nine final table.

After over 11 hours of battle, the final table of the Main Event was determined. The unlucky Bubble Boy was pro player Jordan Smith, who fell in tenth place ($896,730) at the hands of our November Nine Chip Leader Darvin Moon, his Pocket Ace's losing to pocket 8's with a [8c] [4d] [2d] flop.

World Series of Poker 2009 - November Nine

These are the nine players who will gather at the Rio in November to determine the next WSOP Main Event Champion:

• Darvin Moon (Oakland, Maryland) – 58,930,000
• Eric Buchman (Valley Stream, New York) – 34,800,000
• Steve Begleiter (Chappaqua, New York) – 29,885,000
• Jeff Shulman (Las Vegas, Nevada) – 19,580,000
• Joe Cada (Shelby Township, Michigan) – 13,215,000
• Kevin Schaffel (Coral Springs, Florida) – 12,390,000
• Phil Ivey (Las Vegas, Nevada) – 9,765,000
• Antione Saout (Paris, France) – 9,500,000
• James Ankenhead (London, England) – 6,800,000

With our some of the top poker professional players including Ivey, Shulman (Editor of CardPlayer Magazine), and Ankenhead in the mix, some are reporting that this will be one of the strongest Main Event final tables of the past few years.

Play will pause on the Las Vegas leg of this year’s WSOP, however focus is now turn to Europe in London, with four events to go. The 2009 WSOP Europe, beginning in September, will offer a chance for the survivors of the Main Event to tune up their games. The November Nine then will emerge from their respite. All are now dollar millionaires, but the eventual winner will take the $8.5 million first place prize.

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The Magic Moments of Poker continue with their tour of this year’s greatest events. The most recent stop was on PokerIsland, where special guest Luca Toni and a program packed full of excitement were waiting at the poker villa. Young Spaniard Ivan Garcia Garcia triumphed at the poker table and will now be playing for a $100,000 bwin Poker team membership.

Guest at the PokerIsland villa was Luca Toni, star player of FC Bayern Munich. The program included poker sessions on the sailing yacht and visits to the most exclusive clubs and beach parties. The highlight of the event: a visit to PokerIsland, where stars by the likes of the Pussycat Dolls or Lady Gaga have already been guests. “It was the best week of my life! This is how real poker superstars must feel”, said Ivan Garcia Garcia, who also scored a success at the poker table during his Magic Moment on PokerIsland.

More information on this event is available at www.magicmomentsofpoker.com.

Main prize: $100,000 bwin Poker team membership

One player will get to qualify for the Grand Final at each one of the Magic Moments of Poker events. There, the winner will walk away with a membership on the bwin Poker Team. This means all-inclusive packages (accommodation, participation fees, etc.) valued at $100,000 for the world’s most important international poker tournaments such as the WSOP and WPT.

The players also star in their very own Magic Moments of Poker show. The action at the televised poker tables is broadcast to millions of viewers tuning in around the world.

Next stop FC Bayern Munich

The next stop on the Magic Moments of Poker tour will take us to the recordbreaking champions FC Bayern Munich. Qualification via Freeroll tournaments is possible until 18.07.2009, at www.bwin.com/magicmomentsofpoker.

The bwin Magic Moments of Poker tour will be stopping off at some of the biggest football clubs and top sporting events in Europe: Real Madrid, AC Milan and FC Bayern Munich, EuroBasket 2009, a MotoGP racing weekend in Jerez or even an action-packed stay on PokerIsland. With the cameras rolling, the qualifiers will get to put their poker skills to the test.

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World Series of Poker WSOP Event 3 $1,500 Omaha Hi Low 8-or-better

It's been another year of records so far at the 2009 WSOP and only fitting that Event 3 $1,500 Omaha 8-or-Better, concluded with another history-making performance. Last year's defending champion, Thang Luu, eclipsed a record-breaking field of 918 entrants to capture his second World Seris of Poker bracelet! Not only is this Luu's second bracelet, it's his second in the same event in consectutive years.

Back in 2007, Luu took second place in this same event for $147,726. Last year, Luu topped that performance with a win in the same event for $243,342 in what was the largest Omaha tournament ever played. This year, Luu came out on top of a larger field than last year and earned himself $263,135. In total, Thang's earned over $650,000 for all three of those finishes!

Ming Reslock Eliminated in 3rd ($106,373)

In Round 27 the Blinds are 30000/60000, on a flop of [3h] [4h] [Kc], Reslock check calls Luu. The turn is the [6h] and Reslock check-raises all in she turns over [9c] [8s] [7c] [8h] with a gutsho straight draw. Luu shows [6h] [7d] [3s] [Tc] for two pair with a blank on the river. Ming Reslock earns $106,373 and a 3rd place finish

Thang Luu 2,300,000 and Ed Smith 1,800,000 are very closely stacked at the start of heads-up play.

Ed Smith Eliminated in 2nd ($162,110)

Ed Smith limps in from the button, he only has a little over one small bet left. Thang Luu tries to get Smith all in with a raise. Smith simply calls with only a few thousand chips behind.

The flop came down [Qd] [5s] [4h] and Luu bets to force Smith all in and he makes the call. Luu is holding [Qc] [9d] [8c] [7d] against Smith's [Jc] [9h] [9c] [3h]. The turn is the [5h] and the river the [Td] and that is the end of this historic event. Ed Smith is this year's runner up and earns $162,110.

Thang Luu wins back-to-back Bracklets in the same event

Winning 2 consectutive events in the WSOP equalled Johnny Chan performance back in the 1980s. Luu was the chip leader at the end of Day 1. He was never really the big stack at the final table, but commanded the action and picked his spots wisely. When play got down to three handed, Luu simply took over and began crushing the competition. From there, it was smooth sailing. Congratulations to Thang Luu for his win and amazing back-to-back performances.

We have the seating for the final table.

Seat 1 - Ming Reslock
Seat 2 - Jordan Rich
Seat 3 - Pascal Leyo
Seat 4 - Robert Price
Seat 5 - Freddy Deeb
Seat 6 - Senovio Ramirez
Seat 7 - Thang Luu
Seat 8 - Ed Smith
Seat 9 - Jim Geary

For a third straight year, Thang Luu has made the final table of this event.

WSOP 2009 Event 3 $1,500 Omaha Hi Lo 8-or-better Results

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