Neil Channing joins presenter Anna Fowler for this brand new magazine show.

Angus Gairdner, Executive Producer of The PokerPlayer Show said, “With the eyes of the poker world firmly fixed on London this Autumn, what better way to kick off this exciting new series than by taking our cameras along to such prestigious events as the first ever WPT London, English Poker Open and the now well established WSOP Europe. We’re delighted to have teamed up with PokerPlayer to bring this unique new programme to the poker fans”

Matthew Balch, Associate Publisher for the magazine commented, “PokerPlayer attracts many of the world’s biggest names to its cover each issue and we thought the idea of a magazine show for TV could help us bring to life our content. Moving forward, we would like all of our feature interviews to be conducted using video so that we can bring readers closer to their heroes. Working with The Poker Channel with its extensive reach and experience in poker programming around the globe makes sense, as we already market PokerPlayer across Europe and to Australasia via the news stand and subscription. We are continually looking at ways to build the brand and hopefully a venture like this can achieve that both in the UK and overseas”.

The PokerPlayer Show on Thursday 23rd September at 2230 CET across continental Europe and at 1030pm BST in the UK and Eire.

Broadcast Times of The PokerPlayer Show

Continental Europe (times in CET)
Thursday 23rd September 2230
Saturday 25th September 1500
Sunday 26th September 2130
Tuesday 28th September 2130
Wednesday 29th September 0000
Thursday 30th September 1100 & 1500

UK & Eire (times in BST/GMT+1)
Thursday 23rd September 1030pm
Friday 24th September 1am
Saturday 25th September 11pm
Wednesday September 29th 1130pm

We started out today with nine talented players who had safely navigated their way through a field of 218 entrants to earn a coveted seat at the PokerStars.net APPT Auckland final table. It was an international affair with five different countries represented and six PokerStars qualifiers flying the flag, but in the end the title remained on home soil as 40-year-old music mogul Danny “Brotha D” Leaoasavaii carried his overnight chip lead all the way to claim a memorable victory. Father, husband, entrepreneur, artist, activist, businessman, pioneer; New Zealand hip-hop icon, Brotha D can now add APPT Champion to his list of accomplishments.

The day started out with a flurry of action, with Noah Vogelman picking up A♠A♣ on the very first hand of the day and Leo Boxell busting out of the tournament moments later with the very same hand. Boxell has a habit of getting his money in good, but in poker that’s only half the battle, as the poker Gods favoured the A♠K♠ of Danny Silk when the board ran out K♦6♠5♠K♣3♣ to eliminate an unlucky Boxell in 9th place.

Tournament veteran Leo Boxell copped a horrible bad beat to be the first casualty of the day

PokerStars qualifier Noah Vogelman had put his Day 1 chip lead to good use to reach the final table, but he was next to go when he went with A♦5♦ on an ace-high board in a battle of the blinds with Tom Grigg. It proved to be a key hand on the final table, as Grigg’s A♣Q♥ held up to take the pot. Grigg jumped out to a significant chip lead, sending the dangerous Vogelman to the rail in 8th place.

The locals were catching some cards and with the support of their huge crew on the rail, it was always going to be a tough ask for an international to take the title overseas.

Australian Danny Silk was doing his best as he got lucky again to cripple Spaniard Santi Soriano Ramos. It was Silk’s A♠9♠ up against the K♦K♥ of Soriano Ramos, but the board ran out Q♠J♦A♦6♠9♥ to give Silk two pair and the pot.

“Could I get it in any worse?” sighed Silk with a touch of relief. “I should be home!”

But he’d have to stick around a little longer to see Soriano Ramos depart in 7th place, before Kiwi Ropati Toleafoa followed in 6th. Toleafoa made a move with a flush draw against Srdjan Mitrovic who made a big call with his pocket jacks. The river bricked and Mitrovic surged into contention with five players remaining. However it was Brotha D out in front after he took big pots off Tom Grigg and Tamas Lendvai.

It would be Grigg and Lendvai who would clash in the next major pot of the final table. It was Lendvai’s pocket nines against the K♥Q♦ of Grigg and when a king hit the flop, Grigg thought he was set to eliminate his opponent, but a nine on the river gave Lendvai the double up. It was another devastating two-outer blow for the young Aussie after Brotha D had done the same to him late on Day 3.

However Grigg got his revenge when Lendvai shoved from the small blind with K♥3♣ and Grigg made the call with A♣8♥. The board fell 2♦T♦6♦Q♣A♦ to give Grigg a virtual double up and eliminate the Hungarian in 5th place.

Tamas Lendvai couldn’t get much going on today’s final table

Brotha D remained in the lead as he successfully three and four-bet preflop, and then flopped a set to take control of the contest four-handed. Brotha D was then responsible for the elimination of Danny Silk who made a move preflop with K♦6♣ as Brotha D called with A♣7♣. A king in the window was followed by an ace behind it as Silk fell in 4th place.

Danny Silk’s good luck ran out in fourth place

One of the key flips of the tournament came when Tom Grigg was all in preflop with Q♦Q♠ against Brotha D’s A♣K♦. If Brotha D could spike an ace or king then he would take a commanding lead into heads-up play, but it wasn’t to be as Grigg’s queens held and he doubled up.

Grigg then put his new chips to good use as he caught Srdjan Mitrovic making a move from the small blind. Mitrovic had shoved with 9♠8♣ but Grigg called with a dominant A♥8♠ which held up to eliminate Mitrovic in 3rd place and give Grigg the narrowest of chip leads entering heads-up play.

Srdjan Mitrovic held on amongst the carnage to reach third place

By 7:00pm when heads-up play began we thought we were going to be able to wrap things up and go and enjoy a nice dinner in Auckland, but Grigg and Brotha D had different ideas as an epic four-hour heads-up battle ensued.

It was a trans-Tasman battle of New Zealand versus Australia as the room was divided in two like the middle of a rugby scrum. The railbirds certainly got their fix of entertainment with every pot cheered for like it was worth its weight in gold.

The locals were out in force to rail their man, Brotha D

The lead was exchanged back and forth with regularity, with Brotha D managing to survive to come back from the brink of elimination on several occasions.

Brotha D found two key double ups that Grigg will be having nightmares over. The first was on a 5♦J♥4♦ flop when Grigg’s A♣J♠ was outflopped by Brotha D’s J♣5♣. The second saw Brotha D make a gambling call preflop with 7♦6♥ against Grigg’s A♦5♠ with the board running out 3♥T♥9♥5♥8♥. Twice Grigg had chances to win it, and twice Brotha D survived.

Tom Grigg ‘whacked’ his way through the field and always looked dangerous

As the night wore on fatigue started to set in and it became a battle of physical and emotional endurance. Grigg started to fade, and when his all-in shove was snap-called by Brotha D, Grigg knew he was in trouble. Grigg tabled J♥T♠ for live cards against Brotha D’s A♠K♠ but the board bricked out 3♣4♦9♦6♠Q♠ to give Brotha D the pot and the title.

For PokerStars qualifier Tom Grigg it was a bitter-sweet moment. After being very short on day one, Grigg turned things around in remarkable fashion on day two to grab a huge chip lead which he carried all the way to the final table. Grigg will be disappointed to miss out on the elusive trophy but he’ll be comforted by the thought of turning his $22 rebuy online satellite win into NZ$107,900 in prize money.

“He (Brotha D) played really, really well I think,” commented Grigg following the final table. “I kind of felt like I could wait for spots and get it in. I didn’t have to bluff, really, to win. That was my thought process. In the end, obviously it didn’t work out, but he played really well.”

For Brotha D, his win capped off a remarkable week in the SKYCITY Auckland Poker Room. Brotha D had qualified for this event for the second year in a row via the SKYCITY Celebrity Challenge, and after four days of intense poker he’d pocketed the title and NZ$170,000 in prize money.

“This is awesome, you know,” said Brotha D following his victory. “This is the ultimate competition for us in New Zealand. We look forward to this every year. SKYCITY is an awesome place, you know. We come here regularly just to play and work on our craft.”

For the third year in a row the APPT Auckland title remains on home soil as New Zealand once again proves that it can match it with the best in the world on the poker felt.

Final Table Payouts

1st: Danny ‘Brotha D’ Leaoasavaii (New Zealand) – NZ$170,000
2nd: Tom Grigg, PokerStars Qualifier (Australia) – NZ$107,900
3rd: Srdjan Mitrovic, PokerStars Qualifier (New Zealand) – NZ$60,500
4th: Danny Silk, PokerStars Qualifier (Australia) – NZ$49,050
5th: Tamas Lendvai, PokerStars Qualifier (Hungary) – NZ$40,900
6th: Ropati Toleafoa (New Zealand) – NZ$34,300
7th: Santi Soriano Ramos, PokerStars Qualifier (Spain) – NZ$27,800
8th: Noah Vogelman, PokerStars Qualifier (United States) – NZ$21,250
9th: Leo Boxell (Australia) – NZ$16,350

The next stop on the PokerStars.net Asia Pacific Poker Tour takes us to the five-star resort facilities of the Shangri-La Mactan Resort & Spa in Cebu in the Philippines from November 12-16.

On home turf and in front of a large and vociferous support ,the 24 year old Londoner won his first World Series of Poker title after beating defending champion and double bracelet winner JP Kelley heads up. The final hand saw both players move in all pre-flop with Shelley holding pocket threes against Kelly’s Queen-Jack. The race was all but over when Shelley hit a set on the flop.

A clearly stunned Shelley said “I think I’ll wake up soon. I can’t believe that I’ve won a bracelet and a six figure cheque!” As well as the coveted gold bracelet, Shelley also takes home £133,857 – which represents an impressive return on the £100 he spent to win his seat in a special PKR staff satellite that took place at the PKR offices the previous week.

Shelly’s win was all the more remarkable given his heads up opponent. Widely recognised as one of the game’s premier young talents, Kelly was aiming for a place in the poker history books on several levels. A win would have made him one of the select few to win back-to-back World Series events, the first person to win two WSOPE bracelets and would also have seen him overtake the legendary Phil Ivey in becoming the youngest player to win three WSOP titles.

The third of five gold bracelet events at this year’s World Series of Poker Europe is winding down to an exciting conclusion.

A starting field size of 582 entrants in the £1,000 buy-in No-Limit Hold’em event has been whittled down to just nine players. Survivors will return Tuesday, September 21st at 2 PM to London’s luxurious Casino at the Empire, where they will take their seats at the final table. At stake is £133,857 in first place prize money plus the most coveted prize in poker – a WSOP gold bracelet.
Coming into the final table, the chip leader is Kevah Payman, from Vancouver, BC (Canada). He previously cashed in the first event held at WSOP Europe. Payman took 23th place in the Six-Handed No-Limit Hold’em championship. Payman is in great position to earn what would be a first-ever WSOP victory. He works as a home theatre installer, but plays poker seriously part-time.

Ranked second in chips is Mehdi Senhaji, from Casablanca, Morocco. He is a student who is playing in his first WSOP tournament ever. He entered this event by winning a single-table satellite. Should Senhaji win, he would become the first Moroccan champion in history. In fact, he would become the first WSOP winner ever from the continent of Africa.

However, much attention will be focused on J.P. Kelly, from Aylesbury, UK. The two-time WSOP gold bracelet champion won this same event last year, held in London. Should he win tomorrow, he would become the first player to successfully defend a WSOP title since Thang Luu won back-to-back Omaha High-Low Split gold bracelets in 2007 and 2008. The last player to accomplish consecutive wins in the game Hold’em was Phil Hellmuth, who won back-to-back titles in 1992 and 1993 ($5,000 buy-in Limit Hold’em). In fact, the list of Hold’em back-to-back winners is a short one indeed, consisting of Hellmuth, Johnny Chan, Stu Ungar, and Doyle Brunson. One expects that Kelly would be quite pleased to add his name to that illustrious list.

Furthermore, Kelly could set additional marks of distinction. Should he win, he would become the first British player ever to win three WSOP gold bracelets. He is currently tied with Chris Bjorin and Praz Bansi in wins with two. He could also become the youngest three-time gold bracelet winner in WSOP history, at 24 years, 7 months, and 11 days. That would eclipse the mark set by Phil Ivey in 1993.

Here are the nine players and starting chip counts when final table play begins at 2 pm on Tuesday:

SEAT 1: Karim Jomeen (London, UK) — 109,000 in chips
SEAT 2: Scott Shelley (London, UK) — 148,000 in chips
SEAT 3: Nickey Katz (London, UK) — 150,000 in chips
SEAT 4: Paul Pitchford (Sutton-on-Ashfield, UK) — 77,000 in chips
SEAT 5: Jeppe Bisgaard (Copenhagen, Denmark) — 171,000 in chips
SEAT 6: Mehdi Senhaji (Casablanca, Morocco) — 369,000 in chips
SEAT 7: Kevah Payman (Vancouver, BC Canada) — 434,000 in chips
SEAT 8: J.P. Kelly (Aylesbury, UK) — 242,000 in chips
SEAT 9: Jack Lyman (London, UK) — 55,000 in chips

Turnout for the £1,000 buy-in tournament was so large that three starting days were necessary to accommodate the field of 582 players. Day 1-A was played on Friday. Day 1-B was played on Saturday. Day 1-C was completed on Sunday. Today, the 80 survivors from the three starting days combined into a single field for the first time and played down to the final nine.

Among those who did not survive this day was Allen “Chainsaw” Kessler (Las Vegas, NV). He was eliminated in 38th place, but did manage to cash. When combined with his eight cashes earlier in Las Vegas, this marked his ninth overall in-the-money finish at this year’s WSOP. Kessler now has a chance to tie (or break) the all-time record for most WSOP cashes in a single year set by Nikolay Evdakov in 2008. Two more gold bracelet events remain.

The schedule closes out with the £10,000 buy-in Heads-Up High Roller No-Limit Hold’em championship to be played on Tuesday, starting at 5 pm. The £10,000 buy-in Main Event championship begins on Thursday, starting at noon.

The first event winner at this year’s London series was Phil Laak (Las Vegas, NV USA). Jeffrey Lisandro (Salerno, Italy) was the winner of the second event.

Through the first three events of WSOP Europe, overall attendance is up slightly over last year. The 2010 edition of WSOP Europe continues through September 28th.

The Day 1-C chip leader is Leonard Truche from France. He currently has 42,400 in chips, which is about twice the average stack size at this point. Truche, who has recorded several min-cashes in tournaments played throughout Europe, is in his best position yet to make a deep run in a WSOP competition. Truche accummulated most of his chips on a huge confrontation late in the day versus another big stack when his pocket jacks won a critical race versus ace-king.

However, the overall chip leader from all three combined starting days is Wes Pantling, from Canada. He has three previous WSOP cashes, two of which took place earlier this year in Las Vegas. His brother Andrew Pantling final tabled the first event and ended up finishing second. Pantling has 56,200 in his stack.

Other notable names up on the leader board include Matthew Jarvis (Canada) who is one of this year’s famed “November Nine.” Jarvis is hoping to become the second WSOP Main Event finalist to final table an event here in London. The previous day, John Racener came in fifth in the Pot-Limit Omaha championship. Former gold bracelet winners who remain alive include J.P. Kelly (UK) and Scott Fischman (USA).

Things did not go nearly as well for some other notable names at this year’s London series. Two-time gold bracelet winner Chris Bjorin’s unprecedented bid to make a fourth consecutive WSOP Europe final table came up far short as he was eliminated early on the first day of play. Willie Tann was also shooting for the third final table this year, but was eliminated. More than three dozen former gold bracelet winners also hit the rail during the first day of play.

Another player who did not survive was named Habib Paracha. He participated in his first WSOP event ever in this tournament. Paracha flew all the way to London from his home in Karachi, Pakistan in order to play in the world’s most prestigious poker series. While he did not finish in-the-money, Paracha hopes to play in more events in the future. He was thrilled to enter and collected several autographs from poker celebrities who were present as a nice consolation prize. Indeed, Paracha illustrates the tremendous appeal of the WSOP in attracting players from many different nations and backgrounds.

Turnout for the £1,000 buy-in tournament was so large that three starting days were necessary to accommodate the field of 582 players. Day 1-A was played on Friday. Day 1-B was played on Saturday. Day 1-C was completed on Sunday. The 80 survivors from the three starting days return to Casino at the Empire on Monday afternoon for a 2 pm restart. Players will continue until the final table of nine players has been determined. The final table will be played on Tuesday afternoon, scheduled for a 2 pm start.

Through the first three events of WSOP Europe, overall attendance is up slightly over last year. Two more gold bracelet events remain on this year’s schedule, including the £10,000 buy-in Heads-Up High Roller No-Limit Hold’em championship to be played on Tuesday, which starts at 5 pm. The £10,000 buy-in Main Event championship will begin on Thursday, starting at noon.

The first event winner at this year’s London series was Phil Laak (Las Vegas, NV USA). Jeffrey Lisandro (Salerno, Italy) was the winner of the second event. However, neither player is still alive in this tournament. The 2010 edition of WSOP Europe continues through September 28th.

The victory gives Lisandro exalted status within the poker world, as he continues to acquire victories and achieve quasi-immortal status. Gold bracelet number five won in London places him in a tie for 12th place on the all-time WSOP wins list — along with such luminaries as Stu Ungar, Berry Johnston, Chris “Jesus” Ferguson, Allen Cunningham, Scotty Nguyen, Ted Forrest and Gary “Bones” Berland. Not a bad group to be included in, when it comes to poker.

Joseph Serock, a 22-year-old poker pro from Albuquerque, New Mexico (USA) took second place, worth £98,262 (approximately $165,000 USD) and some valuable final table and short-handed experience against several of the best poker players in the game today. This is Serock’s second runner-up finish at the WSOP. In 2009, he won $341,783 in a Six-Handed No-Limit Hold’em event at the 40th Annual WSOP. In just two short years of play, Serock has amassed more than $650,000 in WSOP winnings and now has ten in-the-money finishes. Not many players can claim such impressive results.

The three-day tournament concluded early Sunday morning at Casino at the Empire in London. This was the second of five events scheduled this year at World Series of Poker Europe.

The Pot-Limit Omaha championship has been part of the WSOP Europe schedule each and every year since inception. Previous PLO champions include Dario Alioto (Italy) in 2007, Theo Jorgensen (Denmark) in 2008 and Jani Vilmunen (Finland) in 2009.

This was one of the most star-studded Pot-Limit Omaha tournaments in recent memory. Of the 120 entrants, more than two dozen players were former WSOP gold bracelet winners. Many more were among the top PLO specialists in Europe.

Lisandro overcame a valiant effort from the 22-year-old Serock, who despite a lack of live tournament experience proved his mettle throughout. But ultimately Lisandro was too much for the young lion, en route to a thrilling gold bracelet victory — his fourth WSOP gold bracelet within the last 15 months. No other player has won so many titles within that period.

The final table included four former WSOP gold bracelet winners – including Chris Bjorin (London, UK), Willie Tann (London, UK) and Jeff Madsen (Los Angeles, CA USA). Two of the finalists were former WSOP “Player of the Year” winners – including Madsen (2006) and Lisandro (2009). Furthermore, Bjorin and Tann each made their second consecutive final table at this year’s London series.

In addition, this table included John Racener, a member of the 2010 WSOP Main Event Final Table. Racener, a “November Niner,” could certainly be proud of a fine effort and a confidence-builder in preparation for the biggest game of his life which will take place during November’s restart in Las Vegas. He finished fifth place in this event, worth another £39,486 to his burgeoning bankroll.

The total prize pool amounted to ₤600,000. The top 18 finishers collected prize money. Day Two ran nearly 14 hours due to an unusually long hand-for-hand sequence, when play remained locked at 19-handed. With players one spot away from the money, hands were dealt out one at a time per table in order to reach the 18th payout position. Normally, hand-for-hand takes no more than 30 minutes to an hour to complete. However, hand-for-hand took more than three hours in this tournament, leaving just about everyone exhausted at the end of a very long night.

Also of note — with yet another impressive in-the-money showing, two-time gold bracelet winner Chris Bjorin now has six WSOP Europe cashes and four final table appearances — the most by any player. Since this was only the 13th gold bracelet presented in Europe, this means Bjorin has cashed in almost half of all events and final-tabled nearly one-third of all tournaments played in London, so far.