A round-up of the newsworthy stories of partypoker’s most significant POWERFEST to date including a double for Patrick Leonard, Steve O’Dwyer’s largest ever score, and much more.
Oh, the irony; sitting on my bony arse reading the article Why Sitting Too Much is Bad for Your Health learning why the greatest online poker players in the world had better don a trackie top and start running now September has come to a close.
There is a nip in the air.
Across the sanest parts of the world, hundreds of thousands of poker players breath a collective sigh of ‘something’ as the most significant online poker festivals of the year reach a climax.
The past 12-18 months have been incredible for partypoker. Their fight for the right to be called the #1 live tournament operator in the world is real. They have stood in that ring, and traded blows with PokerStars, World Poker Tour, et al., and they aren’t alone with blood falling out of nostrils.
However, partypoker’s real goal is to be the #1 online operator. That’s where they will make their sourdough and vegan butter.
The top online beasts.
New software.
Promises made and kept (most of the time).
Humongous online festivals.
And that’s today’s focus.
Green tea poured.
Max tunes engaged.
Let’s go.
POWERFEST Round-Up
partypoker’s riskiest POWERFEST to date is over, and it was a compelling chapter in the new look online poker company.
The team promised $60m in guaranteed prize money, and despite having to reduce a few in Week 3 (more on that later), the total prize money collected was $69,106,263, thanks to the financial input of 946,000 entrants through 669 events (They cancelled one due to a technical fault).
There was no POWERFEST Main Event. Instead, the team hosted 20 Championship Events.
The most momentous of these was the $25,500 buy-in, and Steve O’Dwyer piled $896,610 into his piggy bank with the win, days after winning his first World Championships of Online Poker (WCOOP) on PokerStars for $227,100.
Other notables winning Championship Events included WWWpartyCOM who beat 181 entrants in Event #3: $5,200 $1m GTD Championship Event on opening night, for $221,300. Anatoly Filatov was second, and Bertrand “ElkY” Grospellier was fourth. WWWpartyCOM also won the $25,500 buy-in High Roller in May’s POWERFEST earning $872,839.
Another man taking down multiple high buy-in online multi-table tournaments (MTT) was Andras “probirs” Nemeth who defeated 195-entrants in Event #29 $5,200 buy-in $1m GTD Championship for $177,934. In May, Nemeth took down the $25k High Roller at the PokerStars Spring Championship of Online Poker (SCOOP) earning $576,086. The Hungarian is also a dab hand in the live circuit winning the €25k Single Day High Roller at the PokerStars European Poker Tour (EPT) Barcelona in August banking €605,600.
Here are a few more big names taking down Championship events:
King’s Casino owner, Leon Tsoukernik, beat 204 entrants to win the $5,200 buy-in Event #16: $1m GTD Championship Event for $207,978. The PocketFives World #1, Niklas “Drulitooo” Astedt, beat 194 entrants in Event #62: $5,200 buy-in $1m GTD Championship Event for $203,900. And Ben “CowEyed” Tollerene won Event #95 $5,200 $1m GTD Championship event for $310,440 after beating a final table that included Jon Van Fleet, Astedt and Anatoly Filatov.
A player by the name of MysterioBrown prevented a whole host of superstars from winning Event #111: $10,300 buy-in $500k GTD Championship Event by winning the $303,421 first prize. Jason Koon finished second for $189,150, Ike Haxton was third for $116,400, and Astedt was fourth for $84,875. And Sami “LarzLuzak1” Kelopuro beat 327 entrants in Event #142: $1m GTDChampionship Event for $317,190 on the final day of POWERFEST action.
The Best of the Rest
The man who helped create the POWERFEST schedule, Patrick Leonard, won two titles, firstly beating 379-entrants in Event #42: $530 buy-in $200k GTD 6-Max PKO for $20,102, then defeating 305 entrants in Event #83 $300k GTD 6-Max PKO for a $34,796 payday.
Guillaume “nolet20” Nolet also won two titles, besting a 1,199 entrant field to win Event #97 $1,050 buy-in $1m GTD Championship Event PKO for $102,214 (+$88,328 in bounties), before battering 365 entrants to win Event #129: $530 buy-in PKO Mix-Max for $20,837.
Partypoker Ambassador, Kristen “Krissyb24” Bicknell, beat 671 entrants to take down Event #136: $215 buy-in PKO event for $14,379. Emma “cr3zyem34£ Fullarton bested a field of 280 entrants to win Event #117: $300k GTD Six-Max for $68,452. And Joshua “slayerv1fan” Hoesel took down Event #70: $1,050 buy-in $300k GTD 6-Max earning $74,000 for beating a 370-entrant field.
The man responsible for breaking Sam Trickett into poker, Chris “C12SLY” Sly, took down Event #36: $530 buy-in $200k GTD PKO Mix-Max for $20,260 after beating 376 entrants. And 888Poker Ambassador and the all-time online poker MTT winnings leader, Chris ‘therealmoorm’ Moorman, defeated 962 entrants to win Event #37: $215 buy-in $200k GTD 6-Max PKO for $16,420.
Was There a $60m Guarantee?
One area that the partypoker team has worked tirelessly on in the past 12-18 months is customer service, and it showed with hardy a yelp coming from the rail when the team reduced guarantees in Week 3.
David Huber covered the story in PartTimePoker after picking up a complaint from a partypoker player on 2+2 that the online giant had reduced a $1m Guarantee to $500,000 after registration and without warning.
partypoker gave the following response:
“Unfortunately, our final week’s GTEs were based on us running alongside the final week of WCOOP and rather than cancel the 3rd week we decided to run the full schedule with a relatively small amount of amended tournaments, the above being one such tournament. Apologies for any inconvenience caused. Website and other content should be updated accordingly today.”
And nobody batted an eyelid.
Can you imagine the thunder and lightning had PokerStars done the same thing?
Until the next time.
And so it’s all over.
It goes to show the relationship that partypoker has forged with its customers.
Too much sitting is bad for you because:
– It hurts your heart
– It shortens your life
– You are likelier to develop dementia
– You are more prone to becoming diabetic
– You could develop DVT
– You will get fatter
– You will become more anxious
– It screws with your back
– It leads to varicose veins
– You are likelier to develop cancer
Don that trackie and get outdoors.
Your life depends on it.
