DragTheBar News Round-Up

David Williams Wins World Poker Tour Finale

The World Poker Tour season ended in a big way, with David Williams taking down the championship at the Bellagio. With 18 remaining it seemed Faraz “The Toilet” Jaka was on his way to at least making his 3rd final table of the season, as he was a big chip leader down the stretch. However it was Williams who ended any thoughts of that when his K-Q was able to beat the un-Jaka like hand of pocket aces.

Williams climbed up the Leaderboard with that elimination, but it was David Benyamine who had the lead going into final table play with just six remaining. Benyamine was eliminated in fourth place, when Shawn Buchanan eliminated him in fourth place. Buchanan, who was the massive chip leader after day one, was able to parlay that into a third place finish, leaving Williams and Eric Baldwin to do battle for the championship.

Williams entered heads up play with close to a 4-to-1 chip advantage, and never looked back. In just over 20 hands Williams came out on top, claiming the $1,530,537 first place prize. In addition to the cash, Williams earned a WPT bracelet, Bellagio watch, and bragging rights as champion of one of the more prestigious events on the tournament circuit.

Jaka, despite having an early finish, didn’t go away empty handed, as his performance through the entire course of this season on the WPT earned him honors as Player of the Year.

http://sports.espn.go.com/espn/poker/columns/story?columnist=wise_gary&id=5137363

Big Names Among Chip Leaders Early at EPT Grand Finale

As of this writing there are still 314 players remaining at the European Poker Tour’s Monte Carlo Grand Finale, but among that large group are lots of big names in the poker world. One semi-surprising name near the top of the list is Shaun Deeb. Deeb, who announced his “retirement” in November of last year, hasn’t quite retired but has certainly stopped playing as many tournaments (both live and online) than he was before.

The 2009 World Series of Poker Main Event champion also seems to be heating up again, just a few months prior to defending his title. Joe Cada is currently in third place of the Day 1b group – the first “day” of the tournament was broken down into two days. Other big names near the top of the chip count are Erica Schoenberg, Yevgeniy Timoshenko, Neil Channing, and Men “The Master” Nguyen.

The official prize pool and payouts are still being tallied, but with a € 10,000 buy-in, it’s sure to make the winner of the last event of the season quite happy.

http://www.pokernews.com/live-reporting/2010-pokerstars-ept-grand-final-monte-carlo/main-event/day1a/

Big Online Weekend = Big Winners

With FTOPS in the full swing of things, on top of the regular big Sunday tournaments, plenty of money was on the line. By early Monday morning there were a total of ten people who had made over $100,000.

The top winner of the weekend was Paul “147_stars” Williams, who claimed the first place prize of $258,194.60 in the PokerStars Sunday Millions. Finishing second was “Benjamin89” for $188,684 and “the_blues57” finished third for $131,640.

The two $100,000 plus winners in the PokerStars Sunday Warm-up were first place finisher Timvd19 for $141,192 and “z 0 0 t s” for $104,850 for his runner-up finish.

Winning event #9 at FTOPS XVI was “betrthanphil,” earning $193,803.85 after a four way chop. Those who joined him in the $100k plus plateau were Igor “MagicGog” Bakay earning $141,791.90 for second, “jotslexx” earning $119,660.08 for third, and “woj422” earning $120,473.45.

The other big winner this week was “LuvYouLongTime,” collecting $137,376 for winning Event #7 in FTOPS.

Grand Opening of the Ivey Room May 22

Phil Ivey will earn one of the biggest honors in poker when the “Ivey Room” will be opened in his honor at the Aria Resort and Casino on May 22. It had long been speculated that Ivey was trying to bring the “Big Game” now played in “Bobby’s Room” at the Bellagio, to the Aria, and with this news, it’s all but confirmed.

The room will open with a $1 Million Guaranteed Freeroll, with a $100,000 bounty on Ivey. Additionally, the winner of the freeroll, assuming it’s not Ivey himself, will earn a heads-up match with Ivey. If that lucky player is able to beat Ivey, he or she will win an additional $250,000.

http://pokerati.com/2010/04/19/coming-soon-the-ivey-room-at-aria-opening-may-22-with-1-million-invitational-freeroll/