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Poker News Round-up: Week #05 The Boatmen We’ll begin this week where last week’s report left off – at the final table of the Aussie Millions main event where Barny Boatman was one of the final eight but looking to get an early double up for his short stack. Some good early progress saw Barny move up the leaderboard but after a couple of hits he pushed his last chips in under the gun with A That elimination sparked a flurry of further bust outs either side of the dinner break including Richard Ashby in seventh, then a prolonged three handed battle late into the night eventually led to home favourite Scott Stewart facing off against Peter Rho of the USA. It did not take long for the two to find hands that they were prepared to get it all in with and what would have looked like a decent hand at first for Rho soon proved to be a massive underdog when he flipped over his A  Alexander Kostritsyn 2008 champion Alexander Kostritsyn busted from this year’s main event early on but found success in the A$10,000 HORSE event. It was a small tournament of just 25 entrants but Kostritsyn had to battle through a tough field including Chris Ferguson heads up to win his A$95,000 first prize. Kostritsyn proved he was no one hit wonder after last year’s main event, posting a solid six money finishes at the WSOP in the summer and seems as though he could be one to look out for in the future. It would seem that the proceedings from down under have left European players itching for some action as the return of Deauville to the EPT circuit attracted the biggest field of season five so far with the exception of the Pokerstars Caribbean Adventure which was packed with Americans. After an absence of two years from the tour, the €5,000 main event attracted 645 players including Dave Ulliott who continued his fine form in 2009. After finishing day one as chip leader, Devilfish progressed to day three when he ran into aces but managed to finish 23rd for his third tournament cash of the year.  EPT Deauville winner Moritz Kranich After the elimination of Ulliott probably the most recognisable name left was not a poker player but former France international footballer Vikash Dhorasoo. He seems to be taking to the game of poker well and added a very respectable 15th place to his list of tournament results. There were plenty of Dhorasoo’s fellow Frenchmen in the hunt for first during the final stages but it was eventually German Moritz Kranich who captured the title. Having avoided big confrontations for most of the final table he got his money in good when it mattered to defeat Arnaud Esquevin and claim the €851,400 first prize. With the start of the WSOP just four months away the official schedule for the series has now been released, with only one real surprise which few saw coming. As expected rebuy tournaments have been scrapped following feedback that some players feel disadvantaged if they don’t have the means to shove $1,000 worth of chips in blind every hand for the first hour. WSOP communications director Seth Palansky says that rebuy tournaments will be hosted at the Rio over the summer but just not as bracelet events. The main talking point is the inclusion of a $40,000 buy in no limit hold’em tournament as the very first open event. Many top pros have been hankering after a bigger buy in hold’em event for some time but Palansky stated that this should be considered only a one-off to commemorate the 40th anniversary of the WSOP. For the most part the rest of the itinerary is similar to last year’s although there is also a $3,000 triple chance event for 2009 in which players will have the opportunity to take two top ups at any time within the first two levels. The biggest change in proceedings last year was the four month delay of the main event final table and organizers seem happy that it was a success as that feature will remain this year. Not everyone was in agreement that the delay was a good idea but it seems that tv ratings were up 50% on 2007 and that alone should be reason enough for Harrah’s to repeat it. Palansky also said that this year’s coverage would feature more poker after complaints that there was too much hype and too little card action during last year’s broadcasts. So there are the details for anyone looking to head over to Vegas in June or July but there could be further news to follow as Seth Palansky claims that this will be “the year of value, ” recognising that in the current financial climate Harrah’s might need to go the extra mile to attract punters this year. The strip has reportedly been pretty dead recently so various ideas are being discussed from simple value such as offering structures with more play in them to more tangible benefits such as reduced room rates for the duration of the WSOP. Satellites are beginning to appear on internet sites more frequently now, and whilst the exchange rate is a bit off putting for sterling users at the moment there are surely still plenty who would love the chance to play the main event, so get playing people.
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only to run into the A
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of Zac Gruneberg. No improvement for Barny meant that he was the first of the finalists to exit, but with 100,000 Australian dollars to his name – enough to just edge him ahead of brother Ross in 
