WSOP 2015 November Nine Day One Reveals an Evening of Tanking and Passive Play

The 2015 nine kicked off with a whimper, not a bang november. On the first day of play Sunday evening, the focus had been on players tanking and acting as if they had little interest in really playing poker.
Patrick Chan came to the WSOP Main Event table that is final having a tiny stack that lasted precisely two fingers.
Federico Butteroni’s crowd looks in since the Italian found himself all in during the November Nine with a hand dominated by chip frontrunner Joe McKeehen. (Image: ESPN broadcast of WSOP)
Chan woke up with K♠Q♣ in the blind that is small facing an all-in bet by overwhelming chip leader Joe McKeehen. After careful consideration, Chan made the call with just 16 blinds that are big. In a near coin-flip situation, it was McKeehen securing to bust the brief stack.
The excitement at the table that is final and ended with that hand. More than five hours later, as soon as the session concluded, viewers were kept wondering whether all the players were just looking to move up the pay slots, or were really interested in winning the tournament.
Stern and Neuville Put Viewers on Tilt
36-year-old Ofer that is israeli Zvi and 72-year old Belgian Pierre Neuville received criticism from viewers for tanking, particularly Stern. Neuville took approximately 10 seconds to act almost every time after looking at his cards, despite the fact that he hardly ever played a hand.
In fact, Neuville was only involved with several hands the entire evening. He played so tight that he allowed their stack to dwindle down to miniscule proportions before being eliminated in 7th place to end the day.
But it had beenn’t Neuville’s lack of interest in playing arms that irritated most viewers. It was his incessant pre-flop tanking. For a player that rarely played any tactile hands, numerous found it disturbing to see him twiddle his thumb for 10 seconds before folding.
Happily, for the poker that is angry, Neuville is gone. Unfortunately for those exact same fans, Stern just isn’t. He has 32,400,000 potato chips, which is perfect for second spot. McKeehen remains the chip that is commanding with 91,450,000.
Stern ended up being a lot more aggressive and active than Neuville, but additionally seemed more interested in getting TV time than playing poker. He tanked just about any right time it had been their move to act. ESPN commentator Antonio Esfandiari even cracked jokes about Stern’s tanking.
Butteroni Busts in 8th
Federico Butteroni was not guilty of tanking, but was guilty of playing too tight. The Italian November Niner entered play with the smallest stack making no obvious efforts to increase it.
He relocated up the pay slot, earning a supplementary $96,000, when Chan busted, but which was the very best he could do. Nevertheless, he stuck around for the hours that are few thanks to only playing two hands.
With his stack blinded right down to approximately six big blinds, Butteroni picked up A ♥J♣, but McKeehen woke up with A♠K♠. The better hand held up and Butteroni was ‘whamboozled,’ as ESPN WSOP commentator Norm Chad likes to say.
Josh Beckley and Tom Cannuli both survived the very first day of the last table, but were additionally both noticeably absent from play most of the evening.
The WSOP Main Event began with 6,420 players. It’s now down to six. Real play picks up again at 4:30 pm today, with television coverage on ESPN resuming Monday night at 5:00 pm Pacific Time, due to the 30 delay that is minute real time play and air. They are going to play down to three tonight, with the showdown that is final on Tuesday evening.
Amaya Purchases BetStars, DFS Would Fold If Classified as Gambling, Analyst Claims
Amaya CEO David Baazov has successfully navigated their company via a tumultuous year, but plenty of challenges remain as the young executive leads the gaming conglomerate into 2016. (Image: Graham Hughes/National Post)
Amaya has been for a investing spree since last June when it launched its checkbook and stroke a $4.9 billion search for PokerStars and Full Tilt Poker, nevertheless the gaming conglomerate isn’t putting all of its chips in one single hand since the company that is canada-based to buy other assets to diversify.
The Rational Group, it had been revealed this week that Amaya has acquired the defunct online domains of sports betting platform BetStars including its .com through its subsidiary .co.uk, and .net properties.
BetStars was a worldwide sports betting network owned by Isle of Man operator WilsonBet.
Last June, WilsonBet took its online operations offline to focus on its telephone transactions, hence checking the domain names for purchase.
In March, Amaya CEO David Baazov revealed their corporation’s strategy would be to capture a larger share regarding the online gambling market by venturing into other verticals including ‘sportsbetting, casino, social gaming and daily fantasy activities.’
Star-Crossed Assets
The near future seems bright for Amaya as the business is scheduled to return its leading Internet poker brands to the United States in 2016 through its recent licensing approval in New Jersey.
Nevertheless the future is also a bit uncertain, and surely comes with an abundance of concerns for Baazov and his team.
Maybe the absolute most looming issue is compared to daily fantasy sports (DFS) and the questions of legality surrounding the maturing yet unregulated industry.
Amaya has made no secret it wishes to diversify and not solely rely on PokerStars and Full Tilt.
It acquired DFS operator Victiv in and rebranded the website StarsDraft august.
Sportsbetting is illegal in all but Nevada in america, though the practice is rather common in other countries especially in Europe.
DFS contests are legal in 44 for the 50 US states, Nevada lately taking measures to ban the online platforms without very first obtaining an interactive video gaming permit.
No topic in gambling has been more controversial than day-to-day fantasy in 2015. DraftKings and FanDuel have actually developed a market that is multibillion-dollar incessant advertising and routine overlays which have attracted pros and amateurs alike.
Nevertheless the two leading DFS operators have also attracted the eye of lawmakers and federal prosecutors, the main dilemma deciding whether daily fantasy is gambling or skill.
Eilers Research Managing Director Adam Krejcik says a reclassification of daily fantasy from contests of skill to simply games of chance could have dire effects regarding the market.
‘I think as gambling and you try to regulate it in the same fashion as online gambling, the industry ceases to exist,’ Krejcik told Gambling Insider if you classify it. ‘The model that exists today cannot exist under the sort of proposals that I’ve seen.’
Perhaps the discussion on DFS legal guidelines has led to a drop-off in involvement.
Per Eilers, 300,000 entries were submitted for week certainly one of DraftKings’ Millionaire Maker that costs $20 per roster. In week eight, total entries were just north of 150,000, a 46 per cent decline in lower than two months.
Amaya has taken right back on StarsDraft, limiting the platform to only four states with favorable opinions on DFS as other states and Congress mull the market’s future.
WSOP Nine Day Two Recap: Stern, Cannuli, Steinberg Out the Door november
The WSOP November Nine final table started off with a bang, and then became a bit dull for the second consecutive day.
WSOP November Nine short stack Tom Cannuli watches their fate unravel on Monday night. His all-in Rockets couldn’t survive a flopped set for Max Steinberg’s pocket tens, and he was eliminated. (Image: ESPN WSOP broadcast)
There were some fireworks throughout the three hours of otherwise mostly unexciting play. The bust that is first came in the second-hand of the day, yet again.
Tom Cannuli, the player that is youngest and smallest stack at the table, had the chance of getting Max Steinberg to shove all in prior to the flop when Cannuli ended up being keeping pocket aces.
The good fortune for the youngster stopped immediately. Steinberg had pocket tens and spiked a ten in the flop. Cannuli received no help in the turn or river and was sent house or apartment with a nice parting gift of $1,426,283 for his 6th place finish.
After Cannuli hit the rail, there had been nevertheless two more players left to bust before the second day’s the last table would conclude. A couple of hours later, the next two players busted, both of that have been a shock to many.
Ofer Zvi Stern Busts in 5th
Stern, a 36-year old Israeli, had a rough Day Two. He entered play Monday evening second in chips, but had been eliminated in 5th.
Many on the Web were ecstatic to see him bust. He received heavy critique on Sunday for tanking too much time before folding pre-flop nearly every hand. Even ESPN commentator Antonio Esfandiari gave him a time that is hard atmosphere.
Stern wasn’t therefore bad on Monday night, but. He picked up the pace, likely after hearing talking heads trash him the night prior to. Unfortunately for Stern and their fans, refraining from tanking didn’t bring him good karma.
Early on, the Israeli open-shoved into the small blind with 10♠9♠, which may have now been too aggressive, but he had been unlucky to discover Josh Beckley woke up with A♠A♥ into the blind that is big. Pocket aces organized for Beckley, increasing his stack to nearly 30 million, and dropping Stern to the stack that is short.
Right after, with just 11.5 million potato chips staying, Stern saw A♣J♥ and relocated all in, but again ran into misfortune when Neil Blumenfield saw A♠K♣ in the blind that is big. The best hand held up for the second consecutive time, eliminating Stern from the competition.
Steinberg A disappointing 4th place Exit
Perhaps the absolute most poker that is accomplished at the table, Max Steinberg was a popular pick to win the Main Event days gone by month or two. He spent most of the day that is first tight.
He increased his aggression a bit on Day Two. On the second hand, he got fortunate against Cannuli with pocket tens versus pocket aces. That has been about the thing that is only went well for him with this time.
On the hand that is final of day, in a 34,000,000 chip cooking pot, chip frontrunner Joe McKeehen got even richer whenever his A♦Q♣ bested Steinberg’s A♥J♦. For the former poker player turned daily fantasy sports pro, this ended up being his greatest accomplishment in either career for Steinberg.
A champion will be crowned night at the Rio tuesday. $7.6 million goes to place that is first. Joe McKeehen holds a massive chip lead, but Neil Blumenfield and Josh Beckley won’t go away without a fight. Play resumes at 6:00 PM Pacific Time in the Penn and Teller Theater at the Rio, airing on a 30-minute wait on ESPN starting at 6:30 PT.