Devilfish roars into Poker Million semis - 28/07/08
Dave ‘Devilfish’ Ulliott ended his lean spell on TV with a fantastic victory in heat nine of the Ladbrokes Poker Million VII. Devilfish has played in every Poker Million and came second to Donnacha O’Dea in 2004, but in recent years he has not had the rub of the green in TV tournaments. But he put that right with a fine performance, accounting for three of the four players to leave the table before dominating Surinder Sunar heads-up – winning nine of the ten hands they played. The Fish will be back in December for the semi-finals which promise to be fiery affairs, with some big names through already. Jonus Danilsson, Barny and Ross Boatman, Ryan Fronda, Ciaran O’Leary, Liam Flood, Kenneth Sorensen, Anthony Hardy and Sammy George will be back at Christmas with two heats and a Turbo heat to decide the final line-up for the semis. Live reporting on the action is available via the forum link at the top right hand corner of the page, with heats 10 and 11 on Monday, and heat 12 and the final Turbo heat on Tuesday.
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Boatman's cruise into Poker Million semis - 25/07/08
Barny and Ross Boatman have both made it through to the semi-finals of the Ladbrokes Poker Million VII. The Hendon Mob brothers will be a real threat when the semis come around in December – Barny the first Boatman to get through in heat two on Wednesday. He was heads-up with Simon Zach who moved all-in with pocket sevens – Barny calling with KQ. The flop came 3A4, the turn was a 9, and the King came on the river to send Barny through – with Ross punching the air in the Green Room as Barny took the upper hand. Moments later, Barny picked up Aces and went for the kill with Zach holding J10. The flop was a killer for Boatman – 3JJ – but the Ace came on the turn and sent Barny through. Ross didn’t have to wait long for his turn, taking down heat three to make Wednesday’s Ladbrokes Poker Million VII heats a real family affair. Ross was in great form and went heads up with Kenneth Sorensen with 430,000 chips to 170,000 and made short work of the Dane, who moved in with Kc5c and Ross called with 2d2c. The board ran 10d8cJd10h7d and Ross joined his brother in the semis. There are some cracking heats to come with Dave Devilfish Ulliott taking to the table on Saturday afternoon, taking on Surinder Sunar and Nik Persaud. Before the Fish goes in heat nine, John Tabatabai and Jon ‘Skalie’ Kalmar battle it out in heat eight in the morning. Marty Smyth, Mike Matusow, Joe Beevers and John Duthie are all part of a mouthwatering heat ten on Monday morning, with Annette Obrestad, Tony G and John Magill hoping to stop Ram Vaswani joining his fellow Hendon Mobsters in the semis in heat 11 on Monday afternoon. Heat 12 finishes things off on Tuesday morning with Juha Helppi, Ian Frazer and Roy ‘The Boy’ Brindley facing off. There’s plenty of action still to come then, and you can follow it LIVE on MatchroomPoker.com via the forum link in the top right hand corner of the page.
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Jesse May's Ladbrokes Poker Million preview - 21/07/08
Here comes the Poker Million again. The tournament has kind of come full circle, hasn’t it? I mean, when the first Poker Million took place on the Isle of Man, there was nothing the world wanted more than to watch a live final table of an open tournament with a million pound first prize. Now, let’s be honest, open tournaments could make you yawn. The money has gotten so silly, so out of whack, that the money winners’ list is a list that has no meaning to history. History has been kind to the Poker Million because the Poker Million has got history, and what the world wants to watch now is an exclusive field of great poker players pitted against each other under difficult conditions. Poker Million VII suits, with what will likely be one of the best fields of the year. The field has the cream of European poker, as befits what is one of the longest running major tournaments in European poker, and what is the longest running televised poker tournament with a live final table full stop. Twelve heats, two turbo second chances, and a celebrity qualifier to lead things off. As for form, I’m still suffering from Las Vegas aftershock, and I didn’t even play. Can’t expect the rest of these to be too much different. Matchroom Poker will be blogging the heats live from Tuesday morning, with the celebrity heat kicking off around 10am
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Is Devilfish a mindreader? - 18/07/08
This week's Hand of the Week shows Dave "Devilfish" Ulliott at his very best in his Premier League Poker II Heads-Up battle with Annie Duke - how good is this guy at calling hands?! Click on Hand of the Week to see the action
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Rod Harrington's World Matchplay Darts tips - 17/07/08
The Stan James World Matchplay kicks off on Sunday July 20 in Blackpool - live on Sky Sports. James Wade is defending the title he won 12 months ago, hoping to retain his title and pocket the £60,000 prize money. Sky Sports Darts pundit, commentator and expert tipster Rod Harrington has been in great form on MatchroomBets.com with his predictions for the Premier League, the UK Open and the Las Vegas Desert Classic - his video preview for the fun and games in Blackpool is live on MatchroomBets.com now and you can watch it by clicking here: http://www.matchroombets.com/articleDetail.asp?articleID=727 Rod will also be providing regular updates from the event round-by-round.
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PartyPoker.com European Open IV final tonight! - 16/07/08
After twelve heats, two turbo heats and two semi finals we are ready for the final of the PartyPoker.com European Open IV. The top three from the two semi finals went through and they take their chips through with them. The six players battling for the $200,000 first prize and trophy will be: Ian Frazer 469,000 – looking to add a second European Open title to his trophy cabinet. Josh Tyler 351,000 – this is the young gun’s TV debut. Annette Obrestad 235,000 – can she add the European Open title to her WSOPE bracelet? Nick Slade 124,000 – hoping to win his first TV tournament. Juha Helppi 114,000 – can the inaugural Premier League Poker Champion take down another title? Craig Burgess 107,000 – this sports trader has down well at the Aussie Millions, he is also looking to win his first TV tournament. Tune into Channel 5 at 12.30am to find out.
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WSOP update - Tiffany Michelle on the brink - 14/07/08
In an industry where celebs and presenters are mocked for playing in high profile tournaments, PokerNews presenter Tiffany "HotChips" Michelle is on the verge of a major shock as we approach day seven of the 39th Annual World Series of Poker. With just 27 players remaining from the 6,844 starting field, Tiffany Michelle sits in 3rd place with more than 9 million in chips, less than 2 million behind chip leader Craig Marquis. Michelle isn't the only celebrity to perform well at the main event, with Partypoker.com Sportstars Challenge III winner and EPT presenter Kara Scott finishing in 104th place and six-times World Snooker Champion Steve Davis making his second main event cash. Stay locked to Matchroom Poker for all the latest news from the WSOP.
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