Third Week into the 2014 WSOP, Two Bracelets for Europe

As we go into the third week of #WSOP2014 , there are only two non-Americans among the bracelet winners and three on the Top 20 WSOP leaderboard:

We had to wat until day 13 since the start and Event 15 in #WSOP2014 to see the first European winner of a bracelet. The whole French-speaking poker community was overjoyed when Belgium's @Davidi Kitai took down the #wsop15 No-Limit Hold'em Six Handed. With his $508,640 first-place prize, Davidi Kitai ranks 9th on the WSOP 2014 leaderboard.

The winners:

Germany showed up in winners' statistics on June 8th, when @George Danzer became the 10K Razz champ, besting a field of 112 in #wsop18 . It was the second cash for George, who finished 5th in #wsop5 Limit 2-7 Triple Draw. His combined winnings place him 16th on the 2014 WSOP leaderboard, with $365,100. Most of the stars of German poker who are registered for The Big One for One Drop have yet to make an appearance but @Dominik Nitsche is doing great in #WSOP21.

Number 11 on the leaderboard is UK's @Andrew Teng who finished 4th out of 7,977 in #WSOP8 Millionare Maker for $465,972. The Brits are now counting on @Richard Ashby who, after a near-miss and a second place in #WSOP11 Omaha Hi/Lo, has been runing good in H.O.R.S.E. where he is currently third in chips.

Some of the hopefuls:

French poker fans are hopeful as three top players, with combined all-time WSOP earnings in excess of $ 5 million, are already ITM and going into Day 3 of H.O.R.S.E., #WSOP22  with comfortable stacks: @David Benyamine, @Bertrand Grospellier and @Bruno Fitoussi.

Italy also has a player among the 21 left in H.O.R.S.E. - @Max Pescatori, who cashed in #WSOP11 #where he finished 75th. Finally, @Sergey Altbregin represents Russian poker among the 21 survivors who will battle for the first place and bracelet in Event 22.

Three Legendary WSOP Moments from the Early 1980s - Steve Ungar, Seymour Leibowitz, Jack Straus

1980, The @Stu Ungar domination begins

It took a young man full of confidence in heads-up with one of the best poker players in the world and a hand of small suited connectors. A new legend of poker was born. The arrogant 26-year-old contender was Stu 'The Kid' Ungar, the veteran was two-time WSOP champion Doyle Brunson. and the hand: 4♣ 5♠ vs. Brunson's A♥ 7♥ 

Here is an account by Gary Wise:

The final hand of the tournament started with Doyle limping on the small blind to make the pot almost $13k. The A-7-2 flop gave Doyle top two pair, while Stuey had only an inside straight draw. Ungar checked and Brunson bet $17k. Against most players, he’d have taken the pot down there, but Ungar made the call.

The turn brought the Kid’s miracle three, giving him the straight. He immediately bet out for forty thousand, knowing that a check-raise was more likely to scare the Texan away. Brunson paused for a moment and declared himself all in, pushing $275k into the pot. He’d later call it “one of the worst plays of my career.” The straight held up, and Stu Ungar had his first world championship win.

Stuey thought he was so uncannily good, he called himself "a freak of nature."

1981, a unique personal award

@Seymour Leibowitz is known for having taken up poker late in his life. He was 67 years old when he quit his 9-to-5 job and moved to Vegas to play full-time. Despite this late start he managed to amass $1,370,112 in live tournament earnings. Yet, what he is mostly remembered and respected for is his kindness.  Leibowitz has been called 'the nicest person to ever sit down at a poker table'  and in 1981 WSOP created a special award for him - 'The Most Congenial Player of the Tournament'!

1982, A famous saying is coined

You've all heard it and probably used it - 'all you need is a chip and a chair'. One of the most popular inspirational sayings of poker is associated with a legendary figure in the history of the game - @Jack Straus (one of three Poker Hall of Famers to die while playing poker, along with Wild Bill Hickok and Tom Abdo).

Early on in the 1982 WSOP Main Event, Jack was about to leave the table thinking he had busted in the last hand when he discovered one last chip and was allowed to continue playing. That single chip eventually took him to the Main Event champion title, $520,000, and a place in poker history.

The lucky final hand:

Davidi Kitai at Final Table in WSOP Event 15

The Belgian triple crown winner (one of only five in the world) is the chip leader on the three-way final table in #wsop15 No-Limit Hold'em Six Handed. In one of those rare poker moments that always rekindle our passion for the game @Davidi Kitai made a crazy call with queen high:

It was an unbelievably good read that got his opponent @Anthony Ruberto  to half-jokingly accuse him of seeing his hand and to ask to move to another place :)

Action is still three-way (down from 810 entries), the third player being @Gordon Vayo. They are playing for $508,640, 2nd $314,535, and 3rd $200,476. 

 #PokerHand 

Davidi Kitai revient sur son hero call avec une simple hauteur Dame

Weekly RankingHero Highlights

Magic:The Gathering dream team at WSOP 2014 appears unstoppable, with two bracelets already for @Justin Bonomo and @Brock Parker, as well as a second and fifth place (again for Justin and Brock), and numerous ITM finishes! With these achievements of #MTGpoker we are all the happier to welcome to RankingHero this week Portugal's first Supernova Elite and MTG 2009 World Champion, @Andre Coimbra ! 

We honor the 2014 WSOP Week One Winners and the 2014 WSOP Runners-Up and have been watching the performance of Maria Ho and Daniel Negreanu. We also took a look at the profiles of two Hollywood guest stars at the 2014 WSOP - James Woods and Jennifer Tilly.

Elsewhere in the world - congrats to @Laurent Polito who won the PMU.fr WPT National Cannes Main Event and to France's Number One, Bertrand 'Elky' Grospellier on his new passport and long-awaited departure for Vegas!

Warm welcome to all of our new members - @Rafi Elarrar  @Jelger Wiegersma @Jonathan Therme @Eric Richer and @Marilisa Dionisio Jamolin to single out just a few.

Special thanks to @tony chopin   @nedellec mickael @Vincent Laforest   @Karl Q8 @Pokerman, and all of you who share photos, comments, results, useful links, and info! Our own @Ina has caught the WSOP #fantasy fever and has put together a formidable team of champions :) Use our great database and draft your own team for the exciting poker events yet to come!

And speaking of poker events, here is one at @ARIA Resort & Casino that is certain to attract many notables (including RankingHero co-founder @Pedro Canali !) in Vegas this summer - the @PartyPoker WPT500!

GL to all and don't forget to visit us on Facebook, too :)

Yours truly,

@Annie RKH 

#RKHweekly 

Daniel Negreanu Finished Runner-Up in WSOP Event 13

In 1998 a 23-year-old kid from Toronto made the poker headlines as the youngest ever WSOP bracelet winner. The 'Kid Poker' nickname was born and has stuck.

15 summers and SIX bracelets later, @Daniel Negreanu is 15th on the all-time WSOP earnings ranking and playing the 45th Annual World Series of Poker with the declared intention of adding THREE more pieces to his WSOP jewellery collection. So far he's played 8 events and has had one near-miss in his #braceletHunting (and a $156,674 consolation prize :).

Those who did take Daniel Negreanu up on the 5K bracelet bet proposition (against him or Phil Ivey winning a bracelet this summer) were on edge until a few hours ago. Negreanu had made the final 7 (third in chips) in #WSOP13 10K No Limit 2-7 Draw Lowball  and was sending out confident, (half-?) joking tweets about his likely first out of three planned wins in #WSOP2014 :

In the end it didn't turn out just the way he hoped and the bracelet went to @Paul Volpe while @Jason Mercier finished third and Negreanu was runner-up. In his characteristic generous and good-natured way, Negreanu immediately gave credit to his opponent and looked ahead with unwavering optimism:

2014 WSOP Runners-Up Have Won $2,963,260 Between Them

Everybody is talking about the winners, but they don’t take it all: in fact, the 11 runners up in #WSOP2014 events so far have won $2,963,260 between them! Some played their first final table or earned their first big cash in a live tournament and others are veterans with hardly any room for more bracelets in their trophy cases :)

 Here are the 11 runners-up and we wish them a good run in the coming WSOP events!

@Jeffrey Coburn                          $815,963         #WSOP8 

@Jason Mo                                  $538,308         #WSOP2 

@Justin Bonomo                          $219,565         #wsop5 

@Mike Sowers                             $278,518         #WSOP11

@Richard Ashby                          $274,019         #wsop10 

@Jason Paster                             $223,418         #WSOP4 

@Nghiahiep "Danny" Nguyen       $199,829        #WSOP9

@Dimitar Danchev                        $160,410        #WSOP6 

@Morgan Popham                        $127,245        #WSOP3 

@Phil Hellmuth                              $74,848           #WSOP7 

@Corey Emery                              $51,037            #wsop1 

Maria Ho Running Good in 2014 WSOP

@Maria Ho earned her biggest cash to date at the 2011 WSOP, when she finished second in the No-Limit Hold'em Event 4 for $540,020. Since 2005, she has earned slightly more than one million of her total $1,578,535 live winnings in WSOP events.

The 45th Annual World Series of Poker started off great for Maria, who cashed in two of the first five events she played - the #WSOP8 Millionaire Maker and the #WSOP3 Pot Limit Omaha!

Right now she is one of the 220 survivors in #wsop14 - Omaha Hi/Lo 8 or Better - where she ranks 40th in chips at the end of Day 1, so it's looking good for another cash (117 players will be paid in this event) and possibly the coveted 'bling' ;)

GL to Maria and all #womenINpoker !

Magic:The Gathering with a Dream Team at 2014 WSOP

Magic:The Gathering (MTG)  and poker go way back and ever since the early 2000s the MTG community has been supplying a steady stream of excellent online and live poker pros who are delighted to find a source of income without compromising on their lifestyle of choice.

This year's WSOP makes no exception and has attracted many notable members of both the MTG and the poker community. The players cheering for @Brock Parker right after he won his third WSOP bracelet in #wsop10 make up a veritable dream team for any fantasy poker manager:

@David Williams @Eric Froehlich @William 'Huey' Jensen @Christopher DeMaci @Kenny Hsiung @Brock Parker  and @Gabriel Nassif are just some of the MTG notables to watch out for at #WSOP2014!

Part of the MTG track record at 2014 WSOP so far (more than 700K in collective earnings):

Gabriel Nassif finished 24th and cashed in his very first WSOP event this summer - the #WSOP3 Pot Limit Omaha.

Christopher DeMaci has two ITM finishes already - 58th / 7977 in the #WSOP8 Millionaire Maker for $21,968 and 78th / 1128 in #WSOP3 Pot Limit Omaha.

@Adam Levy and Kenny Hsiung also finished ITM in  the Millionaire Maker.

@Justin Bonomo already added $219,565 to the collective MTG earnings by finishing 2nd in #wsop5 Limit 2-7 Triple Draw and he's been running good in the #WSOP11 No-limit Hold'em Six-handed where he is second in chips with only 10 players remaining!

Of course, the hero to date is Brock Parker, who finished 5th in #WSOP7 Razz for $25,717 AND won #WSOP11 Limit Omaha Hi/Lo for $443,407 and a third bracelet!

More great things are to be expected from this dream team in the coming weeks - all the more that @Isaac Haxton (with 24 ITM finishes and $1,767,210 in WSOP earnings) is likely to play the Big One for One Drop, judging by this tweet:

Meanwhile, if you are looking to draft more players for your fantasy WSOP/MTG team, here is a source of inspiration: 

The All-Time Live Poker Earnings Ranking of Magic:The Gathering Players

And more on MTG and poker on RankingHero: #MTGpoker #MTGTOP8 

The All-Time Live Poker Earnings Ranking of Magic:The Gathering Players

*This is a provisional ranking withh earnings as of June 4, 2014. Quite a few of these players are now in Vegas for the WSOP and we expect a lot of new cashes over the next month! 

Read on about poker&MTG with the #MTGpoker and #MTGTOP8 hashtags on RankingHero!

You can look up any of the players listed above in our database for more details about their performance in live tournament poker and please add any names we might be missing in the comments :)

The Hands that Made Jonathan Dimmig a Millionaire in the WSOP Millionaire Maker

"This is a dream come true," the #WSOP8 #MillionaireMaker winner said right after besting an incredible field of 7,977 entrants who had generated a prizepool of $10,768,950.

@Jonathan Dimmig said he had played the #WSOP  Main Events in the past three years but this is his first big cash and takes him from $35,712 in live earnings since 2010 to $1,355,299!!!

 "This is a dream come true!"

Jonathan Dimmig emerged as the chip leader at the end of Day 2 and came into the final table on Day 4 fifth in chips. He was initially 10 million short of the chip leader, @Steve Graner whom he eliminated in sixth place when his 8♣ 9♣ hit a higher straight than Graner's 5♣ 5♠.

Next big moment for Jonathan was hand 139, when he eliminated @Andrew Teng with a rivered set for his  2♠ 2♣.

In hand 184, Dimmig, with A♥ 10♠  took out @James Duke who went all in first with a short stack and Q♠ 8♦ :

Hand 185 was the first one of heads-up play and gave Dimmig a two-to-one chip advantage. Jeffrey Coburn raised to 1.5 million and was called. He made a continuation bet after the 9♦ 8♦ 5♦ flop and Jonathan Dimmig responded with a raise. Coburn moved all in and was called:

Hand 190 ended the heads up with @Jeffrey Coburn who raised to 1.5 million and Dimmig called. Dimmig moved all in after the flop came 3♦ 3♠ 2♣  and Coburn decided his K♦ Q♥ could hold up:

All the results are up on RankingHero:  Event 8 WSOP No Limit Hold'em Millionare Maker

Check the full #WSOP2014 schedule here