The buzz, the excitement, the pomp and circumstance - the WSOP Main Event is upon us as the poker world once again makes its now annual pilgrimage to the City of Sin to compete for the game's biggest prize. Among those hitting the Rio this year are a number of Black Belt Poker players, some of which qualified through the Black Belt Poker skin.
On Sunday, June 20, iPoker hosted a mega satellite into the Main Event with 688 players stumping up the $500+15 buy-in fee. Black Belt Poker boasted a plethora of players in the event, including Alan Vinson who managed to win one of 30 guaranteed seats worth $13,000 each. A veteran of the felt, Alan is well known on the circuit and is the father of fellow pros Adam and Ben. Alan is the reigning GBCPT Grand Final Champion and has finalled two GUKPT Finals. In total, he has in excess of $750,000 in live tournament winnings to his name.
Also representing Black Belt Poker at this year's World Series will be Mandy 'wondrwman' Card. A staple of the Black Belt Poker community, Mandy won her seat back in March when she triumphed in a $200+15 super satellite. This victory was a dream come true for Mandy who will be making her debut at the World Series. Mandy will commence her venture on Day 1D.
Black Belt Poker's ambush of the World Series doesn't stop there, as Black Belt Poker co-founder Neil Channing will be looking to better his previous best of 131st. With four cashes, Neil has experienced a mixed Series, but can boast a second place finish in the $5,000 shootout where he was a gnat's whisker away from winning his first WSOP bracelet to date. Despite this near miss, Neil took away a mouth-watering $273,153 for his troubles. Neil will be playing on Day 1C.
You may also have been reading the WSOP ventures of Robert Jarrett-Smith in our 'blogs' section. Thanks to the WSOP Warrior promotion on iPoker, Robert won a nine-night stay in Vegas with $5,500 in side event entries for his tenth place finish. Whether or not Robert will be playing the Main Event is still up in the air, but we do know that fellow Blue Belt Owen Robinson will be here. Fresh off his fourth place finish in the UKIPT in Nottingham, Owen will be eager to make his presence felt in what is undoubtedly the biggest spectacle of the poker calendar.
Joining Owen will be Brown Belts Jerome Bradpiece and Adam Latimer, as well as former Graders Sida Yuen, James Keys, David Tighe, Eoin Kennedy and Irish Open Champion James Mitchell. In fact, James is currently playing Day 1A along with a plethora of familiar faces from the UK scene. Already spotted are Jeff Kimber, Praz Bansi, Steve Jelinek, Nicky Evans, Tim Flanders, Richard Ashby, Chris Moorman and last year's WSOP hero and November Nine finalist James Akenhead.
The Main Event is an exciting time for everyone involved, and our collective fingers remain crossed that a Black Belt Poker player/member makes it to the final table. To keep up to date with all the news and gossip, check out our regular bulletins and Tweet feed, as well as blogs from myself, Neil and Blue Belt Robert Jarrett-Smith.
Previous Bulletins: Vegas Blog Entries: May 23: My Old School Teacher
Employee of the Month
Fairytale Endings
Must Be Nice
Make Mine a Double
Blonde on Blonde
Summer of Sam
Chuft to Bits
Under the Radar
Taking Notice
Better the Devilfish You Know
May 31: Welcome to America; Let the Institutionalising Begin
June 1: Pleasure & Pain
June 5: 100% British Beef
June 9: Alphabetti Spaghetti & Giant Meatballs
June 13: Colour Me Up
June 14: The Crying Game
June 20: Last Gasps
June 24: Dancing With the Devil
June 30: The End of a Streak
image courtesy of Anne Laymond
No comments:
Post a Comment