Yorky Pud

The Epic Poker League may have only run two Main Events since its created but both of them have been shrouded in controversy, which must be a first for any poker tour. The first event was won by David “Chino” Rheem who hit the headlines for all the wrong reasons when he won the inaugural Main Event, mainly due to the fact he allegedly owes various member of the poker community large sums of money.

Now a player from the second edition of the Epic Poker League is planning on suing the Epic Poker League after he claims he was forced to withdraw from the competition without being given the appropriate financial compensation. Michael DiVita won his seat to the $20,000 Main Event via the $1,500 buy-in Pro/Am tournament that awards nine seats. After winning his seat it came to light that DiVita is a registered sex offender after being convicted on a number of charges back in 1991.

Once this became public knowledge the Epic Poker League (EPL) Standards and Ethics committee chairman Stephen Martin met up with DiVita and suggested that he withdrew from the Main Event to save the EPL negative publicity and to stop DiVita's past being dragged up again. DiVita, speaking to QuadJacks Radio, said that is came as no surprise to him and he offered to voluntarily withdraw from the competition, as long as he was given back the $20,000 entry fee to the Main Event. The EPL refused his request and demanded he took just $1,500 (his Pro/Am buy-in). DiVita refused this and said he would no longer be withdrawing from the Main Event, at which point he alleges Martin threatened him by telling him the situation would “get very public,” and that it would “probably be very embarrassing” for him. At this point he took the $1,500 and was escorted from the Palms Casino Resort.

Now DiVita plans to sue the EPL for the $18,500 shortfall in his refund telling QuadJacks Radio, “As an ethical man, I will not ask for anything that I do not feel that I am due. What I was due was $20,000. What I was given was $1,500. I'd like the balance sent to me within ten day. If my money is not received by that date, I will file a lawsuit against Federated Sports & Gaming, the Epic Poker League, and all of its partners and principles, for not only my $18,500, but also additional damages for many other causes of action, including civil rights violations, against me.”

The EPL could really do without this negative publicity surrounding this situation after Chino Rheem winning the first event was badly received on poker forums around the world, the attendance of the second event dropped to 97 entrants from 137 in the inaugural event and the very fact that Annie Duke is heavily involved. For those wh are not aware Duke is the sister of Howard Lederer who is partly responsible for the Full Tilt Poker scandal and she was an ambassador for Ultimate Bet when their cheating scandal came to light. Maybe Daniel Negreanu was right when he said the Epic Poker League would not be around for long because at this rate it will be lucky to get through the first season.

The Partouche Poker Tour Main Event has reached the money payouts after the 100 players who stated Day 3 were whittled down to just 47 survivors. Amongst those still in with a realistic chance of winning the tournament and the €1,000,000 on offer for doing just that, are British duo Ben Vinson and Sam Trickett.

The bubble burst at around 1900 local time after almost two hours of playing hand-for-hand! The unfortunate bubble boy was Jean-Jacques Mars, a colourful character who is always dressed impeccably in a suit and sporting a huge, unlit cigar. Mars found himself all in with a pair of kings but they were ultimately cracked by the ace-ten of his opponent. Although he did not receive any prize money, Mars was given a free entry to the 2012 edition of this tournament, whilst the remaining players were all guaranteed to walk away with at least €12,000.

By the time the dust settled on Day 3 there were 47 players who bagged up their chips, one of which was the aforementioned Vinson, who bagged and tagged 450,500 chips, enough to put him in 16th place at the start of Day 4. Vinson has almost $560,000 in live tournament winnings but has had to endure a rather barren spell during 2010-2011 where he has only netted $70,000 in total. Maybe this tournament will be the booster he needs to get back into the form he produced in 2007 and 2009.

In tenth place going into Day 4 with 535,500 chips is Sam Trickett, a man who has won more than $3,000,000 in 2011 alone. The former professional footballer has the chance to win his third seven-figure score of the year in what would be his 10th career victory in the live tournament arena. Since Trickett's win in the $100,000 buy-in event at the Aussie Millions and his runner-up finish in the $250,000 Super High Roller, again at the Aussie Millions, he has come close to other major results but has fallen just short, including a sixth place finish in a WPT Regional Series in Paris, a 16th place in a $1,500 WSO event and more recently an 11th place in the inaugural Epic Poker League Main Event. He will be hoping to go the distance in Cannes.

Day 4 will see the 47 survivors, from a field of 579, be reduced further still so that only 18 of them will still be in the tournament. At this point each player will have locked up no less than €30,000 and will be only 17 opponents away from a cool €1,000,000 prize!

With the rescheduled hearing with the Alderney Gambling Control Commission (AGCC) due to take place on Monday 19 September, Full Tilt Poker have released yet another statement, which reveals that the company is in financial trouble, something that the poker community already guessed.

The statement opens with very similar text to all other correspondence released by the Full Tilt Poker Management team but the second paragraph makes quite interesting reading as the management admits they are having to adopt a cost optimisation program and part of this means they need to save €12,000,000. They then reveal they plan to save the majority of this money by making 250 staff redundant.

The statement, in full, reads as follows:

"On April 15th 2011 the United States Department of Justice unsealed a federal indictment against a number of individuals employed by major online poker operators. After the issuance of that indictment and a related civil case brought by the United States government, Full Tilt Poker withdrew from the US market. Then in a related action, on June 29th, 2011, Full Tilt Poker had its operating licenses suspended by the Alderney Gambling Control Commission.

As a result, Pocket Kings Ltd. (provider of marketing and technology services to Full Tilt Poker) has adopted a cost optimization program and estimates that they need to reduce their costs by approximately €12m. This program is intended to streamline the company’s operations in order to better position itself for future growth and profitability in Full Tilt Poker’s markets outside of the U.S.

If all of the required cost savings were to be achieved through redundancies, approximately 250 positions could be affected; however the exact number cannot be confirmed until the conclusion of a consultation process with its workforce.

Notwithstanding the foregoing, Pocket Kings firmly believes it has a very strong future in Full Tilt Poker’s Non-US Markets, and is fully committed to ensuring Full Tilt Poker restores the site and repay players in full. To this end, Full Tilt Poker has retained Sea Port Group Securities, LLC as its financial advisor with regard to raising capital and/or assisting in securing a strategic partner in order to fund continued operations of Full Tilt Poker's non-U.S. business. The Company is in active discussions with several parties and will provide a further statement in due course."

I myself was meant to travel to London and sit in on the meeting between the AGCC and Full Tilt Poker but the former emailed all attendees yesterday and informed us that the hearing is going to be entirely “in camera,” a legal term for completely private, so it would be a wasted journey. The very fact Full Tilt Poker does not want to be open with Joe Public, instead only allowing them to know what has been discussed via any press releases the AGCC chooses to send out speaks volumes. What do they have to hide? When people are kept in the dark like this they begin to think the worst and rumours start, which in turn causes more damage to the company's reputation, surely? We all know the management made huge mistakes and we all know they must be in a dire financial situation despite raking hundreds of millions of dollars but they just will not come out and say it. And regarding the redundancies, I would be willing to bet that Ray Bitar etc will not be the ones who receive their marching orders, instead it will be the men and women who have done their jobs to the letter whilst Bitar and the rest of his cronies drove and continue to drive the former stricken online poker giant into the ground.

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With the WPT Grand Prix de Paris Main Event over and done with and EPT London not starting until September 30, there are hundreds of poker players who have been left twiddling their thumbs and wanting to grind some live poker tournaments. Step in the Partouche Poker Tour Main Event at the Palm Beach Casino in beautiful Cannes, France.

Now in its fourth season, the Partouche Poker Tour is seen as one of the best value tournaments on the European circuit, mainly because of the huge numbers of French nationals who participate in it and the fact it pays out at least €1,000,000 to the eventual winner. Last year's Main Event was won by Vanessa Selbst but her victory was slightly overshadowed by the disqualification of Ali Tekintamgac before the final table got under way. Tekintamgac was disqualified and disgraced when it became apparent that he had hired a team of fake bloggers to watch out of his opponent's holecards and then signal to him their holdings. Tekintamgac has always denied the charges but there is solid video evidence and player anecdotes all over the web pointing towards him being a cheat.

Thankfully this year there has been no disgraces, poor dealer decisions or scandals and it should be remembered for the great poker tournament that it is. One player who looks certain to remember it for all the right reasons is Ukrainian Oleksii Kovalchuk who goes into Day 3 as a massive chip leader, armed with 892,500 chips. To put into perspective how many chips he has just look at the second placed Juan Maceiras who has 452,000 chips in his possession! Kovalchuk burst onto the live poker scene at the start of the year winning the Kiev leg of the Russian Poker Tour for $123,456 in February and he already has a World Series of Poker bracelet after taking down the $2,500 No Limit Hold'em Six Handed event this summer. Now he is chipped up, and with only 100 players remaining, Kovalchuk is certainly in pole position for even more glory.

There are a number of well-known faces and big names still left in the final 100 including Will “The Thrill” Failla (317,300), Arnaud Mattern (306,300), Freddy Deeb (179,000) and Michael Tureniec (176,600) but personally I will be looking out for progress updates on a trio of British players still in with a shout of not only making the money places but also taking down the €1,000,000 first place prize. They are John Eames (179,000), Sam Trickett (129,500) and David Vamplew (69,400).

Play resumes at 1200 UK time (1300 local time) and the 100 players will return to the Palm Beach Casino in Cannes knowing that only 63 of them will leave having made it to the money. A min-cash is worth €12,000 but none of the players will be happy taking that home, trust me on that front. Tune in tomorrow to discover who has made it to the money, who fell short and which unfortunate soul burst the bubble.

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Ever since April 15th, now known as “Black Friday,” rumours about Full Tilt Poker have been rife. Whilst PokerStars managed paid back more than $150,000,000 to its American customers, Full Tilt Poker have still not paid back one cent plus they have had their operating licence revoked by the Alderney Gaming Council, which means customers have not been able to even log onto the site for the past few months.

During this time, when rumours of Full Tilt Poker going out of business completely, the reality of Phil Ivey suing them and the meeting with the Alderney Gaming Council that never happened, the management team behind the stricken Full Tilt Poker site have remained notoriously silent. However, on Tuesday night Nathan Vardi from Forbes.com released an official statement that he had received from those behind Full Tilt Poker.

In the statement they reveal that the US government has seized approximately $115,000,000 of player's funds, not frozen them as initial reports first suggested. The statement also reveals that the management team behind Full Tilt Poker did not believe that offering peer-to-peer online poker violated any federal laws despite the fact the vast majority of the online poker world thought completely the opposite and stopped offering services to American players as far back as 2006 when the UIGEA came into force. They also reveal that a key payment processor stole around $42,000,000 from Full Tilt Poker before Black Friday, which goes to show what sort of underhand organisations and techniques they were having to use in order to continue with their own illegal activities.

The full statement reads in full:

"As is obvious from the events that have transpired since April 15th, Full Tilt Poker was not prepared for the far-reaching, US government enforcement effort of Black Friday."

"The events of Black Friday came on the heels of prior government enforcement activities and significant theft. Over the two years preceding Black Friday, the US government seized approximately $115M of player funds located in U.S. banks. While we believed that offering peer-to-peer online poker did not violate any federal laws — a belief supported by many solid and well-reasoned legal opinions — the DOJ took a different view. In addition, as was widely reported, a key payment processor stole approximately $42M from Full Tilt Poker. Until April 15th, Full Tilt Poker had always covered these losses so that no player was ever affected. Finally, during late 2010 and early 2011, Full Tilt Poker experienced unprecedented issues with some of its third-party processors that greatly contributed to its financial problems. While the company was on its way to addressing the problems caused by these processors, Full Tilt Poker never anticipated that the DOJ would proceed as it did by seizing our global domain name and shutting down the site worldwide."

"Over the last four months, Full Tilt Poker has been actively exploring opportunities with outside investors in order to stabilize the company and pay back our players. At least six of those groups, including hedge funds, operators of other internet businesses and individual investors, have visited Dublin to inspect the operation. We have recently engaged an additional financial adviser through an investment banking group to assist us in our search for an infusion of cash as well as a new management team to restore the site and repay players. While any deal of this nature is necessarily complex given the current regulatory environment, our players should know that Full Tilt Poker is fully committed to paying them back in full and restoring confidence in our operations."

I for one find it amazing that the funds seized by the US government were only the funds that belonged to the players but the likes of Ray Bitar and the other key management figures are still being paid a handsome salary, this despite the fact Full Tilt Poker has not generated a single cent in rake since June 29. How can this be the case? Of course, we have no official statement declaring this to be the absolute truth but there have been employees and former employees of Pocket Kings, the parent company of Full Tilt Poker, appearing on the Two Plus Two Forums suggesting Bitar and Co are living a lavish lifestyle and essentially bleeding the company dry of all liquid cash assets.

We will continue to bring you news and reports of the ongoing Full Tilt Poker scandal as we receive it. Until then why not join Betfair Poker now and have the peace of mind of knowing your funds are 100% safe and secure at all times.

The final table of the World Poker Tour Legends of Poker has been completed and it is Will “The Thrill” Failla who is the man who managed to win every single chip in play to be crowned as Champion. Failla started the day as the chipleader and although he let his chip advantage slip on a couple of occasions, he always looked like he would be there or thereabouts and at one point Ken Aldridge said Failla's victory was destined to happen.

It took an hour for the first player to be eliminated from the six-handed final tabloe at the Bicycle Casino, Bell Gardens, California and that dubious honour went to Owais Ahmed. The man who won his first World Series of Poker bracelet a couple of months ago started as the shortest stack and from the off was playing very aggressively in an attempt to chip up. However, his efforts backfired as he moved all in from the small blind with Js7s for 1,760,000 (blinds 60,000/120,000/20,000a) and Failla made the call in the big blind with Ac5h. The board ran out As-Kh-7h-Ad-Kc, gifting Failla an unneccessary full house and sending Ahmed to the cashier's cage to pick up $77,100.

Another two hours passed before the five players were reduced to the final four and it was Adam Aronson who was busted out in spectacular fashion. With blinds now 100,000/200,000/25,000a Aronson open-shoved from the button for 1,675,000 chips and was snapped off by Jeff Vertes in the big blind. Aronson flipped over 6c6s and was in a whole world of pain against the AdAh of Vertes but that all changed as the flop came down 8h-6h-3s. The turn was the 7h and brought a few “oohs and aahs” from the crowd as Vertes held the Ah meaning he could win by hitting an ace or heart on the river and it was the latter, the 9h, that made an appearance on the fifth community card sending a disappointed Aronson home for an early bath.

Joshua Pollock's elimination 30 minutes later was a little less exciting in terms of action but it did earn him $128,500. Pollock raised to 425,000 from the button and Aldridge called from the big blind. The dealer got busy putting out the Ad-Kc-4d flop. It was greeted with a check from Aldridge, a 500,000 continuation bet from Pollock and a check-raise to 1,200,000 from Aldridge. Pollock sat for almost a minute before moving all in, Aldridge made the call and showed As7h, which needed to avoid a diamond as Pollock held Jd7d. And avoid diamonds he did as the turn and river were the 7c and Th respectively to send the popular Pollock to the sidelines.

They played three-handed for almost three and a half hours before something finally gave and Vertes was sent packing. With blinds now really starting to bite at 200,000/400,000/50,000a the players were prepared to splash around in pots so it was only a matter of time before two big hands collided. Failla opened to 900,000 from the button and then shoved over the top of Vertes' three-bet of 1,750,000 from the big blind. Vertes made the call and his AhQd was nicely dominating the AdJc of Failla. This was not the case for long as the flop came down Ac-Jd-Tc but the hand was far from over as Vertes still had outs. The 9h was not really one of them and unfortunately for him neither was the As on the river and it sent him home, albeit with $186,400 in prize money.

Going into heads up Failla held a 13,075,000 to 10,650,000 chip lead over Aldridge but that would not last for very long. On just the fourth hand of play Failla min-raised to 800,000 and was called. A flop reading Ac-As-6s was met with a check from Aldridge, a bet of 1,000,000 from Failla and a quick check-raise to 2,500,000 from Aldridge. Failla paused before making the call. The turn was the 4d and again Aldridge checked, again Failla bet this time 1,500,000 but instantly folded as Aldridge made another check-raise, this one all in.

That completely turned the tie around and Aldridge was armed with 14,550,000 chips but in heads up No Limit Hold'em things can change instantly and change they did. Eight hands later and Failla doubled up and crippled Aldridge after some good fortune. Aldridge opened to 900,000 and Failla called, and the latter check-called Aldridge's 500,000 bet on a Jc-5d-2h flop. The 9h on the turn saw Failla check, Aldridge bet 2,000,000 and after a minute of deliberating, a call from Failla. The river was the 7h and now Failla came out betting to the tune of 4,000,000. Aldridge quickly moved all in but was not happy when Failla snap-called and turned over 8h6h for an unlikely straight, much stronger than the AdAs of Aldridge. When the players had stacked their chips Adridge said “It looks like destiny,” referring to a now very likely Failla win.

That win was confirmed just three hands later. Failla now with over 20,000,000 chips moved all in and Aldridge thought briefly before calling. Failla turned over Jh6c which was dominating the 6s4h of his opponent. The dealer put out the five community cards, which read Kc-Kh-7h-Qd-9s meaning Failla's jack-kicker came into play which sent “Teach” Aldridge to the rail as runner-up.

The World Poker Tour next stops off at the Aviation Club in Paris for the Grand Prix de Paris between September 4-12, where yours truly will be reporting live on the World Poker Tour website. Until then, a massive congratulations to Will Failla on his first World Poker Tour title!

Final table payouts

1st: Will Failla: $758,085
2nd: Ken Aldridge: $365,800
3rd: Jeff Vertes: $186,400
4th: Joshua Pollock: $128,500
5th: Adam Aronson: $102,800
6th: Owais Ahmed: $77,100

I seem to have made the Poker Gods (amen) angry for some reason and despite trying everything in my power to please them and get them back on my side I am failing badly.

In my last blog entry I mentioned that I had been playing some Pot Limit Omaha cash games and that I was finding myself in plenty of spots where I honestly did not know what the best course of action was. I don't like being in this situation so I dug out the only PLO book I own, Advanced Pot-Limit Omaha – Volume 1: Small Ball and Short-handed Play by Jeff Hwang and got reading that again. I blasted through it in no time when I first read it but as a result did not take it all in but this time around I am really soaking everything up and really enjoying the book, so much so that Volume II: LAG Play arrived on my doorstep just before the weekend.

As I am busy reading up on PLO I thought it would be best to stop playing it so that when I do sit down at the virtual felt with my four holecards I can put everything I have learned into practice, rather than my approach to the game being a little fragmented due to having not read up on everything, if that makes any sense. This is where the Poker Gods (amen) got a little pissed off at me, for chopping and changing again. Here's how the conversation would have gone down if the Poker Gods (amen) did indeed exist and I had indeed spoken to them.

Pudding: Hi mighty Poker Gods (amen), master of the green baize and virtual felt I have something to tell you.

Poker Gods (amen): Yes oh weak Pudding. What is it this time? Another new challenge? Surely not, bwahahaha.

Pudding: Well, it is funny you should say that actually, because....

Poker Gods: WTF? You f*&%ing fat, four-eyed fish! You've changed games again?

Pudding: Only temporarily might Poker Gods (amen). Just until I read and fully understand the books I am reading.

Poker Gods: Silence you imbecile. * lightening cracks, the ground rumbles * You will run like death until we decide otherwise, but in a  way that you will look like a bigger and fatter fish than you actual are. Be gong, fool.

And that was that. The Poker Gods (amen) went and true to their word they have made me run like crap ever since. I have played 3,839 hands of NL10 since the last time I updated this little piece of the internet and lost close to nine buy-ins, yep, NL10 is biting me on the ass. To make matters worse I have no statistical proof that I am being royally shafted because most of the money is going in preflop, on the flop and the turn so the Adjusted EV stat, which I have now deleted as I have realised it is a waste of time, is skewed somewhat and it doesn't take into consideration the times you get your money in dead or practically dead against complete fish running like bejesus on the river. If I filter my results so that it shows all hands except those making it to the river I am actually up almost four buyins, it's a joke at the moment! Hands like this, this and this are the norm right now and although the sample size is nothing at all it is still pretty frustrating. I was going to jump straight into the PLO games tomorrow as it is the start of a new month but I will not do so until I am at least showing profit of $0.01 in my HEM database for NL10 even if it takes me another month to do, I guess it'll get me grinding if anything.

Away from the stresses and strains of online poker I have been playing quite a bit of Xbox 360 after getting myself back online via Xbox Live. For the most part I have been playing Grand Theft Auto IV and have gotten further than I have done before and I recently bought Battlefield 2: Bad Company so that I can fight it out with the cool kids and get used to it before Battlefield 3 comes out! That said, any hopes of becoming more proficient at gaming have taken a blow as the youngest Pudding thought it would be a great idea to get mouthfuls of milk and spray it at our TV. Unfortunately the TV did not see it that way and has decided to stop working entirely. It was out of warranty so I can't lie to Samsung but thankfully it is covered by my home insurance for accidental damage so for the sake of my £50 excess some dude is going to come and have a gander at it, try to fix it or replace it for a new shiny one. The joys of children eh?

Only five sleeps until WPT Grand Prix de Paris, which I am pretty excited about, though will be less so if the penultimate day runs for 15 hours like the one at Legends of Poker. I'll try to update before I disappear to the land of garlic and frog legs munchers so until then, thanks for reading and good luck at the tables.!

* Late Edit * A massive congrats to Dave “No Cash” Garden who followed up his Palm Beach Big Game win by taking down the APAT World Championship Main Event! Also, a big shout out to Chuck Clarke for finishing as runner-up in the Fox Poker Club London's Calling Main Event. Sickos.

As a general rule the average poker player in today's game is much more skilled, or at least more knowledgeable, than they were as little as three years ago. There are a number of reasons for this, not limited to poker forums, training sites and the various strategy books that are available for everyone to purchase. But despite the standard of player being higher than ever before the concept of being positionally aware seems to be completely lost on some people.

Having position on an opponent, that is being seated closer to the button than them, is vitally important to consistent and continued success in any form of poker, yet time and time again players play weak hands out of position and fail to take advantage of being in position against their opponents. Having position on someone is such an advantage that Doyle Brunson once said he would be able to beat almost anyone in the world, even if they were dealt pocket aces every hand, as long as he had position on them. So why is it so important? Read on to find out.

One reason is that the strength of a player's hand in position is much stronger than someone who has to act first. Imagine you are in a pot being contested by three or even four players, you would certainly need a premium pair or maybe even a hand that was two-pair or better in order to bet into the field, but being in position you could bet with nothing but a single pair or even less if your opponents had checked to you as they are not likely to have a strong hand themselves.

Being in position also allows a player to take advantage of any possible scare cards that may appear on the turn or the river. Again, imagine you are in early position holding Tc9c against two opponents on a flop reading Ts-9s-6d. You bet into your opponents and both call. Now the turn is the 7s, completing a flush and a straight draw what do you do? If you bet 1/2 to 2/3 pot then you are giving either opponents the odds to draw to the flush if they do not have it but they could also raise any bet you make and represent the flush or straight and leaving you with a real dilemma. Also, simply checking and then calling a bet does not leave you with any idea of your opponent's holding so as you can see being out of position in this spot really sucks, as the American's would say!

Another area that having position really comes into its own is being able to control the size of the pot, a skill that is critical to making money from poker. Being in position allows the player, to some degree, to increase the size of the pot or to keep it small as they have the last say in what happens. For example, if a player in position calls a raise and flops second pair on a Jc-Ts-5h flop and their opponent continuation bets into them, then the player in position can opt to smooth call and see how the hand develops. If they are then checked to on the turn they can choose to check behind, thus keeping the pot small enough to call a bet on the river with a hand that has some showdown value or they can attempt to steal the pot on the turn or river by betting when checked to.

Finally, players who have position on their opponents control who receives a free card and if the hand will get to showdown. Being out of position means the player can only receive free cards if the player in position decides to allow them to have one and not give them, which in itself is a huge disadvantage, especially if the player is wanting to keep the pot small (see above also).

Having position on your opponents means that the decisions you will have to make are more straight-forward, that your time at the felt will be less stressful and you have more control over how the hand proceeds too. Positional play is vital to success in all forms of poker but it is magnified in a game such as Pot Limit Omaha where hand values run so closely to one another. Play tightly in early position and gradually open up your starting hand requirements so that you are playing like a loose-aggressive player when you have the button in your hand. Good luck!

The official six-handed final table of the World Poker Tour Legends of Poker has been reached and it is Will “The Thrilla” Failla who is the man they have to catch when play resumes at 1600 local time.

A bumper field of 757 descended on the Bicycle Casino, Bell Gardens, California over the two official starting days making this tournament one of the largest in WPT history. This was helped by the buy-in being reduced to just $3,500 +$200 and the organisers making this a re-entry tournament, meaning anyone who busted out during Day 1a could buy back in on Day 1b.

Of the 757 players who took part on the two Day 1s, 341 survived to play on Day 2 and these were whittled away to just 99 survivors for the start of Day 3. Early after the restart on Day 3 the money bubble had burst, the unfortunate soul being Joe Ressler. He had lost all but 1,500 chips when his AsKs was beaten by the AdQd of Brent Hanks when the latter hit a flush on the river, and these went all in the very next hand from the small blind with 9s7d and was up against the Qc3d of Hanks and when the board ran out 8c-5d-3h-2c-Ts everyone who still had chips in front of them was guaranteed to take home at least $7,000. By the time Day 3 drew to a close there were only 21 players remaining and the prize money was starting to get serious.

Within 10 minutes of Day 4 kicking off the tournament had lost a player, Zachary Fahmie going down in the record books as the 21st place finisher. Four hours later and Tyler Cornell was eliminated in 11th place, his three-bet shove with AcQd being ill-timed as Joshua Pollock was sat waiting with pocket kings to snap him off and bust him out. The surviving ten players were then all seated on an unofficial final table with them continuing play until only six of them remained.

It took two hours for the first player, Matt Kay, to be sent to the rail. He busted out when his ace-queen ran into the kings of Pollock in a mirror of the hand that sent 11th place finisher Cornell to the rail. A further two and a half hours for the next player, David Danesghar, to be eliminated and another three hours for James Carroll to bust out.

They played seven-handed for another 60 minutes before the 190th and final hand of the day took place. A short-stacked Ray Henson moved all in from early position and Jeff Vertes called in the cutoff. Henson turned over Ad6c and was in need of some help against the AsKd of Vertes. Both players paired an ace on the Ac-7s-2c flop but the turn and river were the 8h and Qs respectively, which eliminated Henson from the tournament and gave everyone a well deserved break until 1600 this afternoon (local time.)

Failla goes into the final table armed with 6,775,000 chips, more than 1,400,000 more than second placed Pollock. Failla has an impressive poker résumé that includes eight WPT cashes and 18 World Series of Poker cashes, including five at this year's festival. In January this year he won a $2,000 side event at the PCA but that was his first win for three years, can he make it two victories in the same year when play resumes later today? Tune in tomorrow to find out.

WPT Legends of Poker seat draw

Seat 1: Joshua Pollock: 5,315,000 chips
Seat 2: Owais Ahmed: 1,720,000
Seat 3: Will Failla: 6,775,000
Seat 4: Adam Aronson: 2,185,000
Seat 5: Ken Aldridge: 3,640,000
Sea 6: Jeff Vertes: 4,005,000

On June 14 Anthony Michael Carleo pleaded guilty to a number of charges in relation to the $1,500,000 armed robbery of the Bellagio in Las Vegas and the $18,945 armed robbery of the Suncoast casino during December 2010. Yesterday he was sentenced to a minimum of nine years imprisonment with his potential sentence being 27 years.

On Tuesday Judge Michelle Leavitt imposed a three-to-11 year jail sentence on Carleo for the Bellagio robbery. Carleo had originally been charged with seven felony counts in the Bellagio robbery but because he entered a guilty plea he was only charged with one count of robbery with a deadly weapon and assault with a deadly weapon. Judge Leavitt sentenced Carleo to 24-84 months in jail for the robbery charged and order he serve a consecutive 12-48 month sentence for the use of a deadly weapon. She also order him to serve a concurrent sentence of 12-36 months for the assault charge.

Then yesterday Carleo faced District Judge Michael Villani on charges of robbing $18,945 from the cashier's cage at the Suncoast Casino on December 9. Villani said he was “dumfounded” by the parole and probation department's recommendation that Carleo only be given a minimum two year sentence for the Suncoast robbery saying, “This isn't the same as grabbing a purse from someone in a parking lot. I can imagine how the cashier felt and the manager felt when he pointed a gun at them.”

He then went on to sentence Carleo to a minimum of 54 months and a maximum of 144 months for the Suncoast robbery and a further 18-48 months, to be served consecutively, for using a deadly weapon meaning he was sentenced to a jail term of six to 16 years. Carleo was also told he would be serving, concurrently, an 18-60 month term for a second felony charge.

Villani disregarded the appeal from Carlo's attorney, William Terry, to have the Bellagio and Suncoast robbery sentences run concurrently and ordered Carleo to serve both sentences consecutively, meaning he will have to serve a minimum of nine years in prison but as many as 27.

Carleo had very little to say during his sentencing informing Judge Leavitt, “I’m very sorry for everything I’ve done. I owe my mother and my father an apology,” on Tuesday and telling reporters before yesterday's court appearance, “I'm completely ashamed of myself. I'm not a lost cause, though. I know I can turn my life around.”

In addition to his jail sentence, Carleo has been instructed to pay the Suncoast casino $18,945 in restitution and he will eventually have to pay some restitution to the Bellagio but that amount has yet to be decided. It was initially argued that Carleo have to pay the full $1,500,000 but his attorney argued that the Bellagio had recovered $793,000 worth of the chips and had discontinued the use of the remaining chips. Neither Judge Leavitt of District Judge Villani could make a decision in court and will discuss the matter at a future date.