Poker players often use the start of a new year as a reason to make "resolutions" going forward, most of which concern finding ways to play better and improve their bankrolls.
Jim Dixon has a different set of resolutions to propose for the coming year in his list of "Rules to Play By" — a collection of eight different resolutions players can follow to become better citizens of the poker community.
Shyam "g's zee" Srinivasan is a beast of the online poker world and is looking for his first major final table since 2006. The Canadian, who has clocked up more than $7m in online tournaments, steps out of the shadows and into the Bahamian sun at the PCA 2014. Ten players remain in the PCA Main Event. Find out more about Srinivasan at the PokerStars Blog by clicking here.
On the first day of the High Roller event it seemed impossible to eliminate any players — those who departed simply re-entered to stay part of the fun. But now the reality of what’s at stake has changed the mood, as the serious business of cashing takes over — as the PokerStars Blog reports.
The European Poker Tour Season 10 Player of the Year race is on, and as you know players will be able to accumulate points in all events throughout Season 10, regardless of the buy-in level. In addition, all of the Festival Events (Estrellas, UKIPT, Eureka, FPS, IPT) that combine with an EPT tour stop will be eligible for Player of the Year points. The winner of this season’s award will walk away with €50,000 in Main Event buy-ins, good for any PokerStars or Full Tilt sponsored event.
The Global Poker Index (GPI) points formula, which will be used to determine the EPT10 POY, is a bit complicated, but you can read about all the details here.
Here are the current top ten on the EPT10 POY Leaderboard (last updated January 12, 2014):
Thomas Muhlocker
Place
Player
Points
1
Thomas Muhlocker
350.68 pts
2
David Benefield
321.18 pts
3
Ole Schemion
311.62 pts
4
Jeff Rossiter
258.92 pts
5
Joao Barbosa
257.14 pts
6
Kenny Hallaert
253.87 pts
7
Nicolau Pacheco Villa-Lobos
251.08 pts
8
Jonathan Duhamel
243.35 pts
9
Timothy Adams
222.31 pts
10
Frederik Brink Jensen
209.90 pts
We'll be bringing you daily updates on the Player of the Year race, so be sure to keep an eye out for those.
Tom Hall was all in before the flop for what was around his final 800,000. Hall held and was up against Madis Muur's .
Muur paired his top card on the flop and Hall needed to drastically improve in order to stay alive. The turn gave Muur three aces with the and Hall was drawing dead heading to the river. The finished off the board and Hall was eliminated from play.
Hall will collect $112,400 for his 10th place finish.
Max Silver raised to 80,000 in the cutoff, Isaac Baron called on the button, and Dominik Panka defended his big blind. The flop fell , Panka and Silver both checked, and Baron fired out 135,000. Panka got out of the way, and Silver called.
The turn was the , Silver check-called another bet of 260,000, and the completed the board. Silver checked a third time, Baron moved all in for effectively 720,000, and Silver went into the tank.
At this time, Tom Hall was all in and at risk on the feature table, so Silver smartly waited to see what happened. When Hall busted, Silver was guaranteed ninth-place money because he had more chips.
Still, he opted to fold his hand, and Baron took down the pot.
The players are now moving to the nine-handed, unofficial final table.
Análise de Mãos
This was a hand that demonstrated the value of being aware of what is happening elsewhere in the tournament. Read more about the situation faced by Silver here at Learn.PokerNews in "Lessons from the 2014 PCA: Be Mindful of Your Surroundings."
Pascal Lefrancois limp-called a raise from Dominik Panka in the big blind, and the flop came . Lefrancois slowed down, check-calling a bet of 105,000, and the turn brought the .
Both players checked, a third queen - the - completed the board. Lefrancois led out for 265,000, Panka called, and the Canadian showed for queens full of sixes. Panka had for the same, and the two chopped the pot.
![[user38338]](/img/avatars/avatar.svg){kind=avatar}
and was up against Madis Muur's 
.
flop and Hall needed to drastically improve in order to stay alive. The turn gave Muur three aces with the 
and Hall was drawing dead heading to the river. The 
finished off the board and Hall was eliminated from play.
, Panka and Silver both checked, and Baron fired out 135,000. Panka got out of the way, and Silver called.
, Silver check-called another bet of 260,000, and the 
completed the board. Silver checked a third time, Baron moved all in for effectively 720,000, and Silver went into the tank.
. Lefrancois slowed down, check-calling a bet of 105,000, and the turn brought the 
.
- completed the board. Lefrancois led out for 265,000, Panka called, and the Canadian showed 
for queens full of sixes. Panka had 
for the same, and the two chopped the pot.
