
His cheering part had good reason to celebrate their hero’s $10 million win: out of 6,683 players who began the WSOP, Swede Martin Jacobson was standing that is last.
Martin Jacobson is the 2014 World variety of Poker (WSOP) Main Event champ, which, if you didn’t know by now, our honest apologies for the spoiler. Before this season’s $10,000 No-Limit Hold’em Championship, few had been aware of the 27-year-old from Stockholm, Sweden.
Some 6,683 players from 87 countries entered poker’s biggest tournament, but in the end, it was the Swede holding the gold bracelet and using the $10 million reward.
So how did the man with the second-shortest stack entering the November Nine make such a amazing run? While oddsmakers labeled him a long shot, Jacobson possibly should not have now been. He had more career WSOP earnings than any other player at the dining table, and he had been close while he had never won a live event.
Improbable Feat?
When you start in the eighth position out of nine, winning may be a far-fetched concept, but Jacobson’s resume suggests otherwise. The now-champ discovered poker at 18 after watching it on television, and quickly began playing with friends and online. After realizing he’d a knack for success with satellite qualifiers in 2008, he focused their attention on playing cheaper live events.
On the next six years, Martin became a globetrotter, as he traveled to EPT and WSOP events, collecting $5.5 million in the act. Before winning on Tuesday, he ranked second all-time on Sweden’s money list, behind only Chris Bjorin. A year ago during the Big One Drop $111,111 buy-in, Jacobson scored their payout that is largest for finishing 6th with $807,427. With energy on his side, he somehow managed to largely fly under the radar heading into poker’s signature competition.
WSOP Main Event
Although he’s a seasoned pro whenever it comes down to World variety of Poker tournaments, 2014 marked the Swede’s very first entry into the Main Event. The $10,000 buy-in is something you work up to, and his game was without question willing to go. He took part into the 1A action, where he ended the session as the chip leader day. He remained in command during the July play before the table that is final where he finished 8th heading into the break.
Fast-forward to November and Dutchman Jorryt van Hoof was dominating the field. Jacobson was never really in contention to overtake the leaders until belated Monday night as he eliminated both Billy Pappas and William Tonking. Going to Tuesday, just three players stayed, all Europeans: van Hoof, Jacobson, and Norway’s Felix Stephensen.
With slightly below 90 million chips, van Hoof had nearly 25 million significantly more than Martin, but he did actually lose his swagger and leaked arms one after another. After a few losses, Jacobson eliminated the leader for the past two days and moved to head-to-head play with Stephensen. In the 328th hand associated with final dining table, Jacobson took the title with pocket tens and another ten on the flop to provide him a set therefore the winning hand.
Cool, Calm, Collected
While van Hoof attempted to away scare his opponents from the table, and Stephensen attempted to cover any clues by sporting sunglasses and a hoody, Jacobson did neither. He folded quickly, called swiftly, and overall seemed 100 percent relaxed. At times van Hoof could be seen sweating and also shaking. Stephensen was aesthetically frustrated often times. Jacobson seemed refreshed, and in total control, which, plainly, he was.
Amaya and Playtech Named for Possible bwin.party Takeover
Bwin.party says this has entered into ‘preliminary talks’ more than a takeover that is possible. Amaya Gaming is rumored to be always a likely contender, with Playtech additionally called. (Image: stoiximaonline.com)
Bwin.party is the belle associated with ball this week, as rumors swirl that online monster Amaya Gaming is preparing a $1.2 billion takeover. But there are simultaneous whispers of the Playtech bwin.party acquisition, keeping the online gaming community on pins and needles till the matter is put to sleep.
Amaya’s name was mentioned on Wednesday by analysts in the Markets Live real-time monetary information service on the London Financial Times website.
FT Alphaville Editor Paul Murphy and Bryce Elder from the FT‘s London markets team dropped the bombshell, stating that market chatter was suggesting that the deal had been ‘all but wrapped up,’ according to ‘usually reliable sources.’
‘We now think it’s real enough,’ said Murphy. ‘[There have been] lots of rumors of an approach, as duplicated a few times in the paper’s influential Bowler Hat column. Though we didn’t have a name. Amaya’s a good name.’
However, it must be noted that the announcement happens to be flagged as being a ‘Raw Alert,’ which means, according to the accompanying FT boilerplate, that the info that ‘has not been formally tested through old-fashioned journalistic channels (PRs, etc).’
The plot thickened having a report in London’s night Standard on Wednesday naming market-leading software company Playtech as a prospective buyer.
‘Online gambling software manufacturer Playtech today announced it absolutely was raising a $315 million war chest, via a convertible bond issue, for acquisitions and ‘organic opportunities,’ ‘ it reported. ‘An earlier edition of the night Standard reported down-on-its luck online gaming peer Bwin could be a takeover, and simply a couple of hours later it confirmed it was ‘early’ talks with lots of potential suitors that could result in the company on the market.’
Reader Beware
‘The tale might be complete trash,’ continues the FT disclaimer, ‘but if we think there is some substance to it we will say so. In either case, Reader Beware.’
While bwin.party, along side Borgata, is the market leader into the New Jersey on line gaming space, it’s struggled in other markets recently.
The product of a merger between online sports betting giant bwin and the once-mighty partypoker, (which in 2005 had been worth over $12 billion, before UIGEA sent it retreating from the US market), bwin.party has already established to fend off rumors of a sale of part or each of its assets since as far back as last June. However, following the new speculation in the press this week, the business confirmed that a sale is indeed on the cards.
Bwin.party Statement
‘Further to recent news conjecture regarding a feasible bid for bwin.party, the Board of bwin.party confirms that it has entered into initial discussions by having a quantity of interested parties regarding a variety of potential company combinations with a view to making additional value for bwin.party shareholders,’ it said. ‘Such talks may or may perhaps not bring about an offer being made for the Company. Nevertheless, as all such discussions stay at a stage that is preliminary there may be no certainty as to if they will result in any style of transaction with any party.’
Shares in bwiin.party, which may have seen a steady rise throughout November, increased by 13 percent within the aftermath associated with the business’s announcement on Wednesday.
Should rumors prove to be true, Amaya would increase its monopoly in the online that is global market and pull further away from the nearest competitors 888.com and the iPoker system. PokerStars, which was acquired by Amaya this for $4.9 billion, currently has eight times the traffic of 888.com year.
Legendary Gambler Archie Karas Sentenced as Blackjack Cheat
Archie Karas, whom continued probably the most famous gambling winning and losing streak of all time, turning $50 into $40 million after which blowing the lot, happens to be granted probation for cheating at blackjack. (Image: ESPN)
Archie Karas, the gambler and poker player whom in the 1990s went on perhaps the most famous winning streak of all time, has been sentenced to 3 years’ probation, having been found guilty of cheating at blackjack.
Karas, real name Anargyros Karabourniotis, 63, was spotted by surveillance digital cameras marking cards at a blackjack table at the Barona Casino in north park County in 2013. A search warrant executed on his house later revealed hollowed out chips, which prosecutors believe was in fact used to conceal ink.
The court heard that Karas had been arrested by Nevada Gaming Control Board four times since 1988 on suspicion of cheating by marking cards, secretly exchanging cards with a partner and bets that are pressing.
Karas won $8,000 at the Barona on July 16, 2013, and was ordered by El Cajon Superior Court Judge Daniel Goldstein to pay for $6,800 in restitution towards the casino, which ended up being determined to be their profit from the session where the cards had been being marked. He initially spent 73 days in jail before being released on bail.
The Run
‘This defendant’s luck ran out thanks to extraordinary cooperation between many different law enforcement agencies whom worked together to research and prosecute this case,’ said District Attorney Bonnie Dumanis.
Karas’ legendary winning streak, now merely known as ‘The Run,’ kicked down sometime in early 1993, when he found its way to Las Vegas with $50 in his pocket. He straight away began wining at the poker tables, and soon convinced an acquaintance to lend him $10,000 so that he could play greater. Karas promptly won $30,000 playing $200/$400 limit Razz and returned $20,000 to his friend.
He took their winnings up to a regional pool hallway where he began playing a ‘wealthy pool and poker player,’ whom Karas has always refused to name. Over a length of a couple of months, the 2 males played pool for increasing stakes, until Karas had beaten his adversary for $1.2 million. Then they played poker together and he won $3 million.
The pros formed an orderly queue as news spread that Karas now had millions burning a hole in his pocket and was willing to play anyone for any stakes. Stu Ungar, Chip Reece, and Doyle Brunson; all were sent. The player that is only beat Karas during their winning streak was Johnny Chan, who eventually beat him for $900,000. But, by the right time the slotsforfun-ca.com poker dried up, he had been up $17 million.
The Downfall
Undeterred by the dearth of action, he turned to the pit games at Binions Horseshoe, playing craps for $100,000 a roll. Two and a half years after he turned up in Vegas with $50 in his pocket, Karas had amassed a$40 million gambling fortune.
But then, in a turn of activities as unbelievable as how he racked up the fortune to begin with, Karas lost most of the money, some $30 million of it, in roughly three weeks. Then he took a rest, visited Greece, came back and lost the rest.
‘Money means absolutely nothing to me, I do not value it,’ he once told Cigar Aficionado magazine. ‘I’ve had all the product things we could ever wish. Every Thing. The things I want money can’t buy: health, freedom, love, happiness.’