Ronaldo challenging Raphael Nadal in a $50,000 charity match
The poker world has this week seen several noteworthy results, from a charity heads up match to live tournaments, and the latest exchanges in the unforgiving high stakes games online.
Rafa Nadal and footballing legend Ronaldo took to the felt recently for a second heads up match in front of the watching media, with Ronaldo looking to avenge his loss in the first match. Both sports stars work with Pokerstars who arranged the match, with the winner receiving $50,000 towards his charity of choice.
Despite the efforts of Ronaldo it was once again Rafa who emerged as the winner, earning $50,000 for the Rafa Nadal Foundation. Ronaldo was left with the runner up prize of having to wash up a pile of dishes by hand, in front of the watching cameras.
Online Highstakes : Phil Ivey on top again in november
In the online world, Phil Ivey has been very active through November under his screen name ‘Polarizing.’ He experienced sizeable swings earlier in the month against regulars such as Alex ‘PostFlopAction’ Kostritsyn and ‘Kagome Kagome,’ eventually finishing up over $120,000 in profit for the first week. He started the following week badly, dropping $254,000 at mixed game tables, before coming back the following day to win over $300,000 in a session, which came mostly from ‘PostFlopAction’ and ‘thecortster,’ primarily at 2-7 Draw.
After a short break Ivey once again took a seat against the same opponents and continued fighting it out at the 2-7 tables, inflicting yet more damage as he won a further $390,000. This fantastic upswing put him almost $700,000 ahead over those two big sessions in mid November. He then quickly added $160,000 more over the next two days, before enduring a $280,000 losing day, much of which went to ‘Kagome Kagome.’ Ivey remained a huge winner for the month however, and it wasn’t long before he returned.
On November 17th ‘Polarizing‘ once again showed up at the tables, but suffered a huge early setback, at one point being $440,000 down for the day. After a short break he then got back in the action and put in a 2-7 Draw session of over 7 hours against the likes of Alex ‘Alexonmoon’ Luneau and others who sat at various points in the session. It was all one way traffic for ‘Polarizing’ as he won several large pots to overturn his huge deficit, and end the day almost $200,000 in profit.
He went on to book a comparatively small $88,000 win followed by a further $210,000 the following day, before dropping almost $280,000 to ‘Carloooo13’ at OmahaO8 the day after. There has been little rest for Phil ‘Polarizing’ Ivey this month, and the pattern continued into the 21st and 22nd of November where he added almost $70,000 before returning the next day and dominating once again, with a further $290,000 winning day.
Ivey has been relentless at the online tables all month, across 2-7 Draw, Omaha O8, and 8 game. Despite the huge upward and downward swings sustained, his performances in the middle and latter part of the month ensure he is currently up by over $900,000 with every chance of breaking the $1 million barrier in the final 7 days of November. He remains at minus figures of $1.6 million for the entire year, but if he keeps putting in the sessions as he has this month, that figure is likely to be back into positive figures very soon.
Phil Hellmuth wins Pittsburgh Poker Open
Aside from Phil Ivey lighting up the online cash games, there have been major live tournaments taking place this week, with a familiar face reminding us that he hasn’t gone anywhere. The $1,000 Pittsburgh poker open main event attracted 254 entrants, including Phil Hellmuth jr who was perhaps getting some tournament practice in, having no victory of note since 2012. He bested a field of players which included Shaun Deeb, Matt Glantz, and other notable names, picking up $54,000 for his win, after defeating another well known player in David ‘ODB’ Baker, heads up.
Minh Nguyen wins APPT Auckland Main Event
Meanwhile in the southern hemisphere, season 8 of the Asia-Pacific Poker Tour was making its latest stop in Auckland. 225 players participated in the event, with $111,600 going to eventual winner Minh Nguyen. An Australian professional player with plenty of experience, he bullied his way to the chip lead as the tournament entered its closing stages and took a big stack to the final table, which he duly converted into victory. His result is all the more remarkable when you consider that his brother, Edison Nguyen, won a major live event on the Australia New Zealand Poker Tour at the end of the summer.
Louis Hartwell
Graduated in Media Communication at the University of Lausanne, Louis Hartman is a co-founder of somuchpoker.com. He began his career in Cambodia as freelance journalist. In same time he was making his living by playing poker every night at that time. Intense learner, he read dozens of poker strategy books to improve his skills during many years. With a strong interest about poker "behind the scene" in Asia and his communication skills, Louis launched Somuchpoker in 2014.
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