The W.S.O.P.E has always been a great venue for poker players of all ages to test their skills in big buy in tournaments on the felt. It’s been especially popular with young internet superstars who are unable to compete in the World Series of Poker in Las Vegas due to a legal gambling age of 21. The event schedule is as follows.

Event 1: Sept. 21 € 2,700 six-handed no-limit hold ‘em (three day event)
Event 2: Sept. 22 € 1,100 no-limit hold ‘em (five day event)
Event 3: Sept. 24 € 5,300 pot-limit Omaha (three day event)
Event 4: Sept. 25 € 3,250 no-limit hold ‘em shootout (three day event)
Event 5: Sept. 26 € 10,450 mixed-max” championship (three day event games go from 9 handed to 6 handed to heads up )
Event 6: Sept. 27 € 1,650 six-handed pot-limit Omaha (three day event)
Event 7: Sept. 29 € 10,450 championship no-limit hold ‘em (main event)

Caesars, which owns the rights to the WSOP, had previously been running the tournament in London. After the partnership papers were signed, however, Barriere managed to swing the event across the English Channel and into the city of Cannes. The new venue proved to be a hit, strengthening the business relationship between the two parties.

But perhaps most importantly, the duo has announced plans to launch a French online poker site. Should this prove to be a success, they have hope of entering some of the world’s other regulated gaming markets.

“Having reached an initial agreement for the WSOP Europe,” said Caesars CEO Mitch Garber, “we are now happy to build with Lucien Barriere Poker an online strategy through long-term co-development of a proprietary poker platform… The potential for this French technology by Lucien Barriere Poker will help us accelerate our strategy of developing our brands in the online environment in all countries where poker is or will be legal.”

Should such a site see the light of day, it could prove to have interesting effects on the American poker market. With Caesars gaining more and more experience in the online world, they could be one of the prime candidates to offer legal online gaming once the US market becomes regulated.

While the development process is underway, plans also continue for the next installment of the Barriere Poker Tour. In its inaugural year, this tournament series covered seven locations across France, handing out prizes and seats at the WSOP Europe. Some of the previous stops included Toulouse, Nice, Trouville, and Bordeaux.

American players, of course, will now be rooting for Bord to be quite wrong, and cough up the now guaranteed $500 bets. Bord’s offer is to refund bets on an American winning the WSOPE Main Event, with a cap of $500, on sports betting site Matchbook.com. Bord won last year’s WSOPE Main Event, and cashed a healthy £830,401. Bord believes that Americans, once the best poker players in the world, have been clearly passed by Europeans in terms of skill and talent and stand no chance in this year’s event. The pro can certainly afford some spare change, but his public image is taking a serious hit with American players.

The WSOPE Main Event begins in just a few days. If there ever was a gauntlet in poker, it’s been thrown by Bord, and across the pond too. American professional poker player Kevin Iacofano (@icekevin) tweeted: “GL USA. Serious arrogance and comments from a guy who barring one miracle championship has a very pedestrian record in poker.”

Bord may wish to recall that two Americans won the WSOPE Main Event in 2008 (John Juanda) and 2009 (Barry Shulman). Bord may also wish to remember that these were successive wins, occurring only two years ago.

Kudos to Bord for having the guts to speak his mind. I will look forward to his $500 check.

In the meantime, we take a look forward to the next WSOP events coming up on the radar.

Next up for the WSOP will be two, Horseshoe hosted, WSOP circuit events. One in Bossier City, Louisiana September 8th-19th, and the second in Elizabeth, Indiana, September 29th-October 10th. Winners of circuit events will receive official WSOP rings.

Shortly after that, WSOP action moves to Europe! For the first time, a major WSOPE event will be hosted in Cannes, France! The 2011 World Series of Poker Europe Event will take place October 7-20 in Cannes, France. There will be 7 bracelets up for grabs. Events include:

Event #1: Six Handed No Limit Hold’em €2,680
Event #2: No Limit Hold’em €1,090
Event #3: Pot Limit Omaha €5,300
Event #4: No Limit Hold’em SHOOTOUT €3,200
Event #5: No Limit Hold’em (Split Format) €10,400
Event #6: Six-Handed Pot Limit Omaha €1,620
Event #7: WSOPE Main Event Championship €10,400

Also offered will be a €550 non-bracelet ladies event.

The World Series of Poker Europe will be set at the beach-side French village of Cannes, the same town where the world famous Cannes Film Festival takes place every year.

Rooms are available at beach-side hotels and resorts, such as the world famous Majestic and Gray d’Albion. Tons of side tournaments and high stakes cash games are expected to run on the side!

“Lucien Barrière Hôtels & Casinos is a well-run organization,” Mitch Garber of Caesars Interactive Entertainment said. “We are excited to work with them to access the French market with high-quality and reputable poker events both in their hotels and casinos, and online with BarrierePoker.fr.”

Announced at the same time, the World Series of Poker Europe will be making a move to France. Instead of London, Caesars Interactive Entertainment announced that it will take place in Barrier’s Cannes casinos: the Casino Barrière de Cannes Croisette and the Hôtel Majestic Barrière. This is the first location change in the event’s five year history. An added bonus will be the tournament’s new capacity for 75 tables, effectively doubling the tournament’s capacity. The 2011 tournament will feature seven bracelet events, instead of the former five.

Caesars and the World Series of Poker Europe will also be collaborating on a new Barriere Poker Tour. The tour will offer eight regional stops through the France, including Lille, Toulouse, Nice, Dinard, Enghien, Trouville, Bordeaux, and Cannes.

Both Ivey and Lederer, co-owners of FullTilt Poker, ended up making the Sweet 16 and found themselves inside the money. Unfortunately neither player could find their way to the next level as they both were bounced in the round of 16 earning £22,847 apiece. One of the best heads-up players in the world, former WSOP Main Event Champion Huck Seed, got one step closer than Ivey and Lederer but busted in 7th place in the quarterfinals. Joining Seed was Daniel “kidpoker” Negreanu who just missed out on the Final Four after being eliminated in 5th place. All of the quarterfinal losers took home £47,045 for their efforts.

Once the final four was set it was tough to tell who was the favorite.  Hansen was joined by a pair of strong professionals in Ram Vaswani and Andrew Feldman. Rounding out the semi-finalists was Jim Collopy who is well known online as “MrBigQueso” where he has taken down numerous championships including the Sunday $500k on PokerStars for more than $87,000. While he may not have been as established of a live professional all of the hours playing big buy-in MTTs proved to be great experience as he made the final against Hansen.

The final match-up was a great battle which saw Collopy finally succumb to Hansen’s relentless pressure.  After a raise from the button from Gus Hansen to 91,000 chips Collopy decided to bluff-shove all-in for more than 1,200,000 tournament chips. Unfortunately Gus had an actual hand and one that had Collopy’s K4 suited dominated. While Gus took some time to call he ultimately pulled the trigger and tabled pocket 4s leaving him as nearly a 2:1 favorite against his younger foe. The flop, Js 5c 6d, was no help and when the Ten of Spades hit the turn Collopy needed either a spade or King to stay alive. Luck was not on his side as the harmless Three of Diamonds fell on the river giving Hansen the pot, a £288,409 pay-day, and a WSOPE bracelet.

Congratulations goes to all 16 players who made the money in the WSOPE Event #4 High-Roller Championship!!

WSOPE Event #4 £10,000 High Roller Heads-Up
104 Entrants; 1,040,000 prize pool

1. Gus Hansen £288,409
2. Jim Collopy £178,211
3. Ram Vaswani £96,212
4. Andrew Feldman £96,212
5. Daniel Negreanu £47,045
6. Kevin Eyster £47,045
7. Huck Seed £47,045
8. Neil Channing £47,045

Danny Steinberg at WSOPE Main Event

As written by Mark in a previous article, FTR’s very own Danny Steinberg (forum name IowaSkinsFan) has had quite the showing thus far at the WSOPE Main Event. It was last reported that Steinberg was in 12th place with 69 runners left, but with some luck and skill, he is now sitting in 5th place with just 10 players remaining. Here are the official chip counts as the final table begins:

1 Ronald Lee - 1,864,000
2 Dan Fleyshman – 1,667,000
3 James Bord – 1,540,000
4 Roland de Wolfe - 1,138,000
5 Daniel Steinberg - 1,110,000
6 Fabrizio Baldassari – 1,076,000
7 Nicolas Levi – 693,000
8 David Peters – 596,000
9 Brian Powell – 440,000
10 Marc Inizan – 274,000

It isn’t an official WSOP final table until it is down to 9 players, but they have put the remaining 10 on one table. The payouts start increasing here from £69,754 for 9th and all the way up to a massive £830,401 prize for first. We’re hoping Steinberg can clinch a bracelet and the over $1 million first place money!

Daniel Steinberg is one of the top online pros, crushing the games on PokerStars under the name heybude and Mirttnur on Full Tilt Poker. He and his twin brother, Max Steinberg, run a popular poker blog where they talk about their poker life, and whatever else comes to mind. You can check it out at Suited-Aces.com. After the WSOPE Main Event is over, regardless of how Steinberg finishes, you can be sure he will write about it on his blog.

Everyone at FTR wishes Dan Steinberg the best of luck! You can follow his rail thread in the FTR commune, by clicking here.

Photo credit PokerNews.com.

UPDATE - Danny has made the final 9, and here are the official chip counts:

1 Dan Fleyshman 1,946,000
2 Ronald Lee 1,899,000
3 Danny Steinberg 1,520,000
4 Roland de Wolfe 1,377,000
5 James Bord 1,331,000
6 Brian Powell 842,000
7 Fabrizio Baldassari 677,000
8 Nicolas Levi 428,000
9 Marc Inizan 349,000

GL tomorrow!

UPDATE - Danny finished in 6th for £156,530! He busted when he couldn’t win a race, with his AJs v 44. Nice run, Danny, and congrats from everyone at FTR!

The World Series of Poker Europe is a much smaller affair than its Las Vegas counterpart, with a total of only six events being hosted. While short in numbers, these events by no means lack prestige, and official WSOP bracelets have been awarded to the winners since the inaugural series in 2007. The Main Event sports a £10,350 buy-in (approx. $16,400 USD), and this year 346 entrants made their way to the tournament, guaranteeing an impressive prize pool and a first place prize of £830,401 (approx. $1.3 Million USD).

Among those 346 entrants is Danny “IowaSkinsFan” Steinberg, a long-time member of and valued contributor to the forums here at FlopTurnRiver. He’s enjoyed a limited amount of success in live tournaments, with over $35,000 in career winnings to his name, but where he really excels is online play. IowaSkinsFan has amassed hundreds of thousands of dollars playing online cash games, where he is a force to be reckoned with in all forms of poker, but most notably Heads Up No Limit Hold’Em, where he crushes stakes as high as $25/$50.

His poker talent is serving him well once again, as he boasts a very deep stack at the close of Day Two of the WSOPE Main Event. Currently 69 players remain of the 346 who started, and Danny Steinberg is the 12th of those with an impressive 200,000 in chips. There are still a lot of other big names left in the tournament, including Phil Ivey in sixth place, so it won’t be a walk in the park for Steinberg but he certainly has the potential to surpass all expectations and we wish him the best of luck.

As well as being a player of incredible talent, Danny “IowaSkinsFan” Steinberg has also shown himself time and time again to have an ability to share his excellent understanding of the game in a way that players of all levels can easily follow. Many have benefited greatly from his advice, whether from his excellent strategy articles or from his presence in the Short Handed and Heads Up No Limit Hold’Em forums. Check out what he has to say and maybe in the coming years it will be you squaring off against the best in the world in London.

Betfair’s own Annette Obrestad came from nowhere to win the inaugural WSOPE in 2007. At the age of just 18, she set a record for the youngest ever bracelet winner that is unlikely to be broken. Since then, she has gone on to establish herself as one of poker’s top young talents. This was demonstrated recently by her success at the Aussie Millions, where she won a preliminary tournament and final tabled the main event. Given her prowess, it was no surprise to find her at the head of the Caesars Cup Team Europe. She picked a squad of top players from across the continent, opting mostly for pros who ply their trade online. Italian maestro Dario Minieri was joined by the Great Dane Gus Hansen and his fellow countryman, 2008 World Champion, Peter Eastgate. A pair of Finns, Patrik Antonius and Ilari “Ziigmund” Sahamies, were Annette’s final selections. Rounding out the team was John Harvey, a Scottish pipe inspector who won his place via a grueling set of Betfair qualifiers.

Team Americas’ lineup was in great contrast to Europe’s selection, with captain Daniel Negreanu opting for experience over youth. The most experienced of them all, Doyle Brunson, was a shoe-in for the team, as was heads up specialist Huck Seed and 2008 WSOPE Main Event Champion John Juanda. Big Game regulars Jennifer Harman and Barry Greenstein also made the cut, along the dominant Phil Ivey and the Poker Brat Phil Hellmuth.

The format was more than a simple heads up contest: In a best of 7 competition, play began with 4 doubles matches in which players alternated control of the action from hand to hand and sometimes round to round. As long as one team didn’t sweep all the doubles matches, the players would then move on to a maximum of 3 standard heads up games. Among the tantalizing matches on offer to viewers around the world are Phil Ivey & Huck Seed vs. Ziigmund & Patrik Antonius and Annette & Dario Minieri vs. Jennifer Harman & Doyle Brunson.

“I have fond memories of the WSOP after winning it in 2007,” said Annette Obrestad. “It is now a definite mainstay on the European poker calendar. The fields are small but extremely tough.” 2007 Main Event runner-up John Tabatabai is similarly fond of the WSOP’s regular European excursion.“The World Series of Poker Europe is my poker event of the year – small fields, tough opponents and the opportunity to win a bracelet – what more could you ask for? It’s a great excuse to socialise with my poker buddies and earn money playing poker at the same time.”

Away from the cameras, Betfair was hosting the very fist Free Million Dollar Game. This 18-man tourney was the culmination of a series of online heats that had been running since April 2009.

The bracelet tournaments were slightly altered, with a cut-price £1000 No Limit Hold ‘em event kicking off proceedings. 2008’s H.O.R.S.E event was the main casualty of the reshuffle, replaced by a £2500 split Pot Limit Hold ‘em/Pot Limit Omaha tournament. “Every year Harrah’s tweak the schedule to make improvements and this year saw the introduction of a few new and exciting events,” noted Obrestad. Returning unchanged are the £5000 Pot Limit Omaha tournament and the world renowned £10,000 WSOPE Main Event. The jewel in the crown of London poker attracted more top players than you could shake a stick at. In addition to the cadre of world class pros who competed in the Caesars Cup, Antonio Esfandiari, Chris “Jesus” Ferguson, James Akenhead, Barry Shulman, Jason Mercier and many more were all on hand to compete.

The series is currently being broadcast of TV stations around the world, with the new Caesars Cup a particularly attractive prospect for the legions of poker fans. Betfair’s Annette Obrestad reported that the event was “amazing,” adding, “I don’t want to spoil the program too much but it makes great viewing.” The Main Event also received widespread coverage and ended up with one of the most highly skilled and tense final tables in tournament history.

The Main Event felt very much like an embodiment of that ethos. Bracelet tournament #4 featured a who’s who of top poker talent. Almost every pro you could care to name was on hand to make their play at winning a bracelet abroad. There were practically no weak links in the 334 strong field, a world away from the amateur laden hordes who buy-in for the Vegas original.

Deep stacks and slow structure allowed the tightly packed maestros to fully demonstrate their expertise. And it wasn’t just the internet young guns who shone under the bright lights of the Empire Casino. Well known personality and UK circuit veteran Dave “Devilfish” Ulliott sneaked into the money in 35th place, Men “The Master” Nguyen finished in 26th and the big man himself, Doyle Brunson, ended a great run in 17th place.

Among the other notable finishers was ex-soccer player Teddy Sheringham, one of the most well known footballers in the UK during the 1990’s. He finished in 14th ahead of Liz Lieu in 22nd and Yevgeniy Timoshenko in 25th. The Ukranian born American added yet another success to his incredible year. As well as winning the $25k WPT Championship in April, he also came 3rd in WSOPE Event #1. Last month saw his biggest triumph to date, taking down the $1.7 million first place prize in the PokerStars World Championship of Online Poker Main Event.

Once play reached the final table there were still plenty of big names and big talent on show. There were 6 WSOP bracelet winners at the table, with Daniel Negreanu contributing four all by himself. Barry Schulman, CardPlayer Magazine CEO and father of November Nine member Jeff, had one of his own, as did Jason Mercier. HitSquad member Praz Bansi, Chris Bjorin, and Matt Hawrilenko rounded out the WSOP winners set. Last year, Ivan Demidov became the first player ever to reach to main event final tables in the same year – in both Las Vegas and London. This year, two players managed that incredible feat – James Akenhead and Antoine Saout. Taking the final seat was unknown Finnish player Markus Ristola.

With such a huge pedigree at the final table, it should come as no surprise to hear that it took 17 hours to crown a winner. Hours ticked by before the first elimination, James Akenhead eventually falling foul of Daniel Negreanu. The Canadian pro had started the final table as the shortstack, but demonstrated why he is considered on of the finest players in the world, brutally ripping through his opposition. On his way to a heads up confrontation with Barry Schulman, he was responsible for 6 of the 7 eliminations.

Daniel took both a slight chip lead and the support of 90% of the rail with him into the 1-on-1 contest. Negreanu is a popular figure at the best of times, but his opponent gave many poker fans extra impetus to side with the Canadian. Barry’s son Jeff has made the final table of the WSOP Main Event and infamously claimed he would throw away the bracelet if were to win. The motive behind his comments is not entirely clear, but seems to stem from some perceived injustice done to the Schulman’s CardPlayer publication and website.

The first big hand of the night came when Schulman pushed all in with A-5 suited and was quickly called by A-A. A turned flush put the ball firmly in Barry’s court, giving him a 5-1 chip lead over his beleaguered opponent. This was Negreanu’s second consecutive WSOPE Main Event final table and he wasn’t about to go down without a fight. Over the next few hours he showed tremendous resilience and skill to work his way back to the chip lead.

Then came the hand that had the whole casino in a state of shock. With the flop reading 5d-8d-Jc, Barry Schulman pushed all-in. After some lengthy deliberation, Daniel elected to call with Qc-Jd, but was way behind to Barry’s pocket Aces. A Jack on the turn had the crowd in a frenzy, with Negreanu only two outs away from his 5th bracelet. However, a miracle Ace on the river completed the double suckout and left Daniel reeling. It was all over a few minutes later, when Negreanu could do nothing to prevent his 4-4 being crushed by Barry Schulman’s 10-10.

Barry was understandably delighted with the victory. “When I moved to Vegas, I took up poker. I tried to prove that I could beat the best in the world. I got pretty good for a while, but then I started to focus more on my business at Card Player. Since then, I have not been playing as hard. Now, I’m back on the winning trail and feeling very good about it.” He picked up £801,603 ($1,278,110) for his efforts.

Negreanu can take some consolation from his £495,589 ($790,166) prize, as it makes him the most successful live tournament ever to have lived. By moving into 1st place, he leapfrogs Phil Ivey and former Main Event champ Jamie Gold. However, should Ivey finish higher than 7th place at the impending WSOP Main Event final table, he would become the most profitable player.

Full payouts for the WSOPE Main Event were as follows:

1. Barry Shulman (801,603 pounds)
2. Daniel Negreanu (495,589)
3. Praz Bansi (360,887)
4. Jason Mercier (267,267)
5. Markus Ristola (200,367)
6. Chris Bjorin (150,267)
7. Antoine Saout (114,228)
8. Matt Hawrilenko (87,074)
9. James Akenhead (66,533)
10. Eric Liu (51,536)
11. Keith Hawkins (51,536)
12. Thomas Bichon (51,536)
13. Tony Cousineau (40,481)
14. Teddy Sheringham (40,481)
15. Ram Vaswani (40,481)
16. Saar Wilf 32,198)
17. Doyle Brunson (32,198)
18. Sandor Demjan (32,198)
19. Craig Burgess (25,918)
20. Steven Fung (25,918)
21. Konstantin Bucherl (25,918)
22. Liz Lieu (25,918)
23. Arnaud Mattern (25,918)
24. Peter Gould (25,918)
25. Yevgeniy Timoshenko (25,918)
26. Men Nguyen (25,918)
27. Andre Akkari (25,918)
28. John Kabbaj (21,142)
29. Christian Harder (21,142)
30. Christian Kruel (21,142)
31. Tommy Pavlicek (21,142)
32. Steve Zolotow (21,142)
33. Michael Fosco (21,142)
34. Oyvind Riisem (21,142)
35. David Ulliott (21,142)
36. David Docherty (21,142)