Building on the momentum of his win that officially closed out the 2009 season, Troy Steffy eliminated Jason “JD” Deckard heads-up to capture the first win of 2010 and to come out of the gate leading the points race as the season officially opened on Tuesday night.

In a night riddled with comebacks and lost chip stacks, Mike Krisle built a large chip lead early on, but watched helplessly as his chip lead was slowly eroded, making him the first person eliminated for the evening, and the first of three people ousted by the eventual winner, Steffy.

Dan Martin was the 2nd person eliminated, jettisoned from the competition by long-time poker rival Deckard. The elimination gave Deckard enough chips to not only compete, but to go into heads-up competition as the chip leader, following Steffy’s elimination of the suddenly formidable Mark Herring.

Steffy and Deckard swapped chips on longshot catches on the river a few times, and ultimately, it was Steffy who withstood the attrition, finally finishing off the tournament by eliminating a chip-crippled Deckard after nearly an hour of heads up play.

Standings as of 1/05/2010;

1. Steffy 5pts
2. Deckard 4pts
3. Herring 3pts
4. Martin 2pts
5. Krisle 1pt
6. Phenegar 0pts
Hodge 0pts.

Hey Joe, It’s JD from average guy. We really appreciate you taking the time to answer a few questions for us. These are either very entertaining q’s or the worst you’ve ever seen!

Cool, man.

Tell us about pokerroad.com.

It sucks away all my time! (laughs) No, it’s something that so many people have put so much into, and something I couldn’t love more. I like to think of it as a community for people to come and celebrate poker together. They can come, interact, watch videos, listen to radio shows, and post in the forums there. I like to think of it as ESPN meets SNL meets Mtv, but with all of that wrapped up together and splattered with poker flavored frosting.

Who are your favorite/least favorite players to play against? Why?

Unfortunately I can’t answer this question. I wouldn’t want anyone to know I have a hard time playing against them and I wouldn’t want anyone that I think I can dominate pretty easily to know that either. (Laughs) They have too much to gain with this information!

Do you have poker groupies?

No, we just have people that love the game that like to talk to us about it. It’s the coolest thing in the world, being a sort of poker “celebrity”. Not enough people know you to ever get in your way and those who do happen to are just as passionate about what you love as you are. It’s the best.
Read more…

Markus Sippe sat down at the International Poker Open alongside a record-breaking number of players for an event outside of the US. He started out as 1 of 1,440 players, but ended as the sole survivor. The lone-remaining combatant. The Champion.

“The best of this all was the feeling holding the trophy in my hands and showing everybody that it was me holding it,” Sippe recently told averageguypoker.com. “I remember that a few guys in Luxembourg that I play with were saying to me a year or two ago that they think that I am the only one that was able to take down a tournament.”

He didn’t just take it down, he owned it. Heading into the heads-up play against Jay Renehan with a monumental 2 million dollar chip lead that he had ripped away from the fourteen hundred other participants.
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With ten players remaining out of the twelve present at the start of the game, Jeff “Buzzsaw” Phenegar was down to his last 18 dollars in chips and faced with the daunting task of not only surviving, but winning.

And that he did.

Outlasting the rest of the field, Phenegar completed his miraculous comeback and solidified his spot within the averageguypoker league.

Other noteable finishes include;

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In a letter written to Representative Spencer Bachus of Alabama, Assistant Director for the FBI’s Cyber Division, Shawn Henry, declared that online poker is easily subject to manipulation.

“There are seceral ways to cheat at online poker, none of which are legal,” Henry said. “Technology exists to manipulate online poker games in that it would only take two or three players working in unison to defeat the other players who are not part of the team. The online poker vendors could detect this activity and put in place safeguards to discourage cheating, although it is unclear what the incentive would be for the vendor.”

Following the declaration, technology and gambling industry executives stood by their abilities to protect against identity theft, money laundering, and blocking minors from playing.

This declaration of possible online poker cheating comes on the heels of a 2007 story in which Absolute Poker insider Scott Tom teamed up with former Read more…

All the casual fans know Bruce Buffer the UFC announcer, but they don’t know Bruce Buffer the poker player. How long have you been playing?

You know, I’ve been playing poker since I was a kid. My dad taught me how to play the game of poker when I was about seven or eight years old, and I started playing in my first cash games when I was fourteen. I didn’t play No Limit back then because that wasn’t the game people played. We played Five Card Stud, Seven Card Stud, and Draw. I’ve just always loved poker. He taught me Blackjack, poker, and he taught me about the horses, which was the only way to follow a horse is with a shovel, and I was very for that advice too, trust me. But I’ve just always had a real knack for cards. It’s always been real fun for me, and No Limit has created a whole new avenue because the adrenaline rush I get from playing No Limit poker is similar to the competitive aspects of things I’ve done in the past from fighting to surfing as far as the adrenaline rush of knocking someone off of the green felt.

Oh yeah, I did that last night until someone got the better of me.

That’s what happens. I was in a tournament last night. I paid three hundred dollars on Full Tilt that would give you a twelve thousand dollar package to the World Poker Tour, and out of 180 people, I was at the final table. I had Ace-Queen, and flopped a Queen. A pair of 9s called and rivered the 9, and I was out.

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Averageguypoker is scheduled to interview UFC veteran voice of the octagon and poker aficionado Bruce Buffer! Check back for more.

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So I’m sitting here in front of the computer trying to think of something to write about for this first blog. Of course, there are a million and one distractions. Firstly, Allen (of aroundtheoctagon.com fame) is trying to convince me to go to Alabama with him in two weeks to watch him in Jeremiah “Big Rig” Riggs’ corner at the Alabama Pride fight card and to fullfill my aroundtheoctagon.com senior writer duties. I’ve been promised to be able to meet Coolio (who is scheduled for a kick-boxing match?), or former UFC Heavyweight Jeff Monson.

It’s tempting, and I’d like to go, but probably won’t be able too. I have a new baby on the way, so there are things to do around the house. But for those of you interested, here is Riggs’ 2nd installment of his video blog leading up to the fight;

http://www.aroundtheoctagon.com/?p=2788

But listen to me jabbering on like a school girl. We are here to talk about poker, right?

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In a major victory for the online poker and gaming community, the US Treasury and Federal Reserve gave financial institutions 6 more months to comply with the Unlawful Internet Gaming Enforcement Act, extending the deadling for compliance to June 1st.

The delay opens to door for the House Financial Services Committee Chairman Barney Frank time to explore the possibilities of the legalization of internet gaming as well as adding regulations and taxes to add another additional line of revenue into an already weak economy.

Frank said that the two agencies “deserve a great deal of credit for suspending” the regulations, which would “pose unrealistic burdens on the entire financial community.”

Credit: Bloomberg

William Brindise outlasted 154 other players and defeated Men Nguyen heads-up Wednesday at the Taj Mahal in Atlantic City to grab the 2009 US Poker Championship and to claim the $261,800 winner’s purse.

Alongside Brindise and Nguyen at the final table was Brian Lemke, winner of a 2009 WSOP bracelet.

2009 US Poker Championship Final Table Payouts

1. William Brindise – $261,800
2. Men “the Master” Nguyen – $138,600
3. Eric Ladny – $77,000
4. Gordon Eng – $53,900
5. Brian Lemke – $46,200
6. Nick Binger – $30,800
7. Anton Smolyanskiy – $23,100

Credit: bluff magazine