The Poker Scene | Poker Blogs
Out and about at the local casinos and poker rooms
our photographer comes across many poker tournaments, no limit games, and other random poker situations.
His job is to seek out as many lady poker players as he can find at all the casinos across the United States.
His goal is to prove to the world that poker is not a game dominated by males.
Every now and then he also comes
across celebrities playing poker. And sometimes he can't find any new ladies to blog about so he posts about
the local fellas looking for attention.
All of those editorial shots will be featured in the poker blogs on this page. Posts are updated
on a regular basis, so come back often to check out all the hot new photos at all the great casinos and poker
rooms across the US.
Congratulations to Harrison Gimbel - Winner of the Isle Casino Pompano Park Florida State Championship.
In a record setting field of 319, Harrison took the bracelet and title with the classic Doyle Brunson, 10-2, and cashed in for over $67,000. I've listed the top 20 finishers below.
Congratulations to all who cashed.
1. Harrison Gimbel $67,860
2. Taylor Jon Stelfox $39,780
3. Claudioni Santos Barbosa $25,740
4. Glenn Fullone $16,380
5. Robert Blanchatte $11,700
6. Marc Bronstein $10,062
7. Daniel Vranich $7,772
8. Jerry Leong $5,616
9. Peter Han $5,382
10. Greg Rosen $5148
11. Adel Jo $4,914
12. Stuart Patterson $4,680
13. David Gerber $4,446
14. Michael Lipman $4,212
15. Fernando Halac $3,978
16. Nissin Vaknin $3,744
17. Robert Chusid $3,510
18. Howard Darnold $3,276
19. Mike Delgigante $3,042
20. Frank Andrews $2,808
This week I played in the $15000 guaranteed tournament at the Seminole Hard Rock Poker Room. With a little patience and a bit of luck I was able to cash in 7th position. The reason for this post is to let you know about two hands that luck prevailed and helped me to the final table. First hand I want to let you know about, I had pocket 7's under the gun. I had been playing next to an aggressive player who had been betting out preflop on a lot of hands and I figured he would do it again to me since this was the last hand before the first break. So I made a min raise under the gun with my 7's, every one except him and his buddy folded. His buddy called and he re raised, I instantly pushed thinking he was just being aggressive again. The other guy folded and then he makes the call. Well, he actually had a hand this time and turned over bullets to my 7's. I now stand up thinking that I am going home on the last hand before the break. Anyway, flop comes three low cards, turn- king, and on the river I hit my trips as the dealer turns over another 7. More than a double up just before the break with a lucky hand. The other hand happened much later in the tourney. I had built up my stack to about $110,000. I am dealt bullets and make a bet of 45,000 while the blinds were at 1000/2000 with 200 ante, and just about everyone ahead of me called. So I figured I would make a big bet steal the pot and move on without letting anyone crack my aces. Not how it went down though. I was in the 3rd seat; seats 4, 5, and 6 fold and seat seven pushes in for about 6 grand less than my bet. Seat 8 folds and seat 9 sits on it for a while and even asks me if I had the aces. After about 3 minutes he makes the call. On the flop comes 10C, 7S, and 4C. Seat 9 checks and I push for my remaining chips. I had him covered by about 5 thousand so he thinks about it a while and then reluctantly makes the call. At this point I show him the Aces, and the guy at seat seven moans and turns over Kings. The guy at seat nine screams as he as well turns over and shows kings. I am way ahead thinking that they are drawing dead, when the turn comes up 8C. Now the guy in seat 9 has the club draw. On the river I am not sure what it was, but all I know is that it was red. Whahoooooo. Ship it-My Pot!!!. This pot put me up to almost $300,000 and helped me to coast into the final table. So remember a little luck always helps. Till next time, "Play Tight Bet Right".
Yesterday, sixty dealers from around the state came together at the Isle Casino Pompano Park Poker Room for the Florida State Championships Dealer tournament. Here are the top ten finishers who had a ten way chop for $1,030 each.
Here are some of the other dealers that entered. See if your favorite dealer was in.
Here are some of the other dealers that entered. See if your favorite dealer was in.
Isle Casino Pompano
Florida State Poker Championship
Weekend Results
EVENT 1 – Friday, June 12 at 2:00pm
Buy in-$300 + $30
Starting Chips- 6,000
Blind Levels - 30 minutes
Format- Six handled NLH – $25,000 guarantee
Kevin McBride
Jeffrey Balsewich
Steven Senter
- Kevin McBride $11, 000
- Jeffrey Balsewich 9,500
- Steven Senter 8,500
- Ezekiel Eberly 3,690
- Alex Ripps 2,706
EVENT 2 – Friday, June 12 at 7:00pm
Buy In - $175 + $25
Starting Chips - 5,000
Blind Levels - 30 minutes
Format - Florida State Ladies Championship
Susan Tolson
- Susan Tolson $3,917
- Lisa Woodburn 2,398
- Christy Pham 1,562
- Georgia Felgev 1,085
- Sirima Hecht 792
EVENT 3 – Saturday, June 13 at 2:00pm
Buy In - $200 + $25
Starting Chips - 5,000
Blind Levels - 30 minutes
Format - No Limit Hold’em – $20,000 guarantee
Robert
Zelinjka
- Robert
Zelinjka $13,977
- Francisco
Regalado $8,194
- Jerome
Weinberg $5,302
- Scott
Debenidetto $3,374
- Johnathan
Gold $2,410
- Allen
Epstein $2,073
- Michael
Sarabjit $1,591
- Richard
Bratter $1,157
- Seth
Gregg Elovitz $1,109
- Max
Gesenhues $1,060
I'm not sure about you, but I love it when the bully gets busted. I was sitting at the table the other day when this young obnoxious punk sat down. From the very first hand, he came in raising and pushing with whatever two cards he was dealt. You gotta love it when you wake up with a decent hand against an idiot (sorry about my Phil type language) like this. First to act I checked my pocket Kings, he makes a preflop $25 bet. Everyone folds and it comes back to me when I reraise another $25. He insta calls. Flop comes 10, 6, 3 rainbow. I check, he being the bully pushes and now I insta call. As soon as I call, he realizes he just screwed up and shows a 9,3 offsuit. Thinking that he could push his stack around to buy pots instead of actually playing his cards he got busted. I was actually a bit upset that the max buyin here is only $100 because I probably could have gotten a lot more outta him if so. Anyway, til next time. "Play tight-bet right."
Yesterday I was involved on the better end of one of the craziest hands I’ve ever played. It was about 4am at the Seminole Hard Rock poker room in Hollywood, FL. I had been playing the 2/5 table for about 2 ½ hours and had built my $100 buy in up to $680. OK, not until the end of the hand did I know this but my pocket A’s was playing against, pocket K’s, pocket Q’s, and the hand that should not have been in this showdown, 10-J offsuit.
Ok, so here is how it went down. Like usual everyone before me calls the $5
big blind hoping to see a flop, but when it gets to my bullets in the small
blind, I make a $60 preflop bet hoping to pick up the blinds and move on, so not to have the best starting hand in poker
busted. Well, everyone folds until it
gets to the guy with the ladies, and then he reraises and doubles my bet. The 10-J offsuit calls the 120 (not sure
why), the cowboys sits on it a few and then calls, and when it gets to me I make
the call.
Now there’s almost $500 in the
pot preflop, and here’s how it went down.
Flop came Q diamonds, K clubs, 8 clubs.
Set over set flopped and I’m first to act, so I check the what I think
is the best hand to the set of queens and set of kings The guy with the queen
makes a $50 bet, the 10-J makes the call
on the open ended straight draw, and the cowboys easily makes the call, as well
do I.
Turn? Comes a 10 of clubs. Now I still feel that my Aces are the best hand so now I make the first to act bet of $100 and get calls from everyone. Now the river, 3 of clubs. I am sitting on the ace of clubs with four on the board so now I know my bullets are going to hold up. Again, I’m first to act and I push my remaining 410 dollars worth of reds into the pot. Thinking his set of queens was good all the way and then rivering the queen high flush, the guy playing his queens makes the call. The 10-J actually makes the call as he is holding the J of clubs and the set of Kings actually makes a great lay down and gets rid of his kings since they are both red, but shows them to the table as everyone as the rest of the players ohh and ahh about his high set misfortune.
As I was raking in my pot of just over two grand the buzz started spilling over to
the nearby tables about this crazy hand .
After seeing what I was up against, I was amazed of the outcome and was
so excited that the best hand going in was actually the best hand at the
end.
Until Next time, "Play tight-Bet Right"
Hayden Fortini Chad Brown Vanessa Rousso
BATTLES AT THE BEACH
$300K GUARANTEED
THE ISLE CASINO POMAPNO PARK
March 22-29, 2009
Congratulations to Hayden Fortini of Vero Beach, FL who cashed for over $100,000 during this weeks Battles at the Beach $300K Guaranteed Poker Tournaments at the Isle Casino Pompano Park. Hayden Managed to take the first place money in the First Event beating out two pros, (Chad Brown and Vanessa Rousso) and 255 other players. He then went on to cash in the third event, "Heads Up Championship"
where the buy in was $900 and Hayden beat out 110 players to cash out for another $50,000. Keep your eyes on this kid. I'm sure you will see him in the future at some of the bigger tournaments. Keep it up Hayden. Good Luck.
Here are the Results for the Events at The Isle Casino at Pompano Park
Battles at the Beach
Event 1
No Limit Hold'em
$900 Buy-in
258 Players
Name Home Town Amount
1 Hayden Fortini Vero Beach, FL $59,044.00
2 Brett Borgersen West Palm Beach $34,612.00
3 Tim Seidensticker Miami, FL $22,396.00
4 Dennis Grant Miramar, FL $14,252.00
5 Chad Brown Los Angels, Ca $10,180.00
6 Kevin Deng Port St Lucie, FL $8,755.00
7 Barrington White Davie, FL $6,719.00
8 Kevin Collins Miami, FL $4,886.00
9 Mikko Koskinen Lake Worth, FL $4,683.00
10 Scott Williams SW Ranches, FL $4,479.00
11 Steven Senter Plantation $4,276.00
12 Maurice Hawkins Tamarac, FL $4,072.00
13 Phillip Girian Boca Raton $3,868.00
14 Marcus E Gurley Lake Mary, FL $3,665.00
15 Dustin Pisani Ft Lauderdale $3,461.00
16 Keith Ingham Boca Raton $3,258.00
17 William Swiciciki Boca Raton $3,054.00
18 Tomas Cuce Boca Raton $2,850.00
19 Pat Madden Lexington, Ky $2,647.00
20 Vincent Spadavecchia Boca Raton $2,443.00
21 Larry Jean Salisbury, Ma $2,443.00
22 Brian Lindsey Coral Springs $1,620.00
23 Jeff Gross Ann Arbor, MI $1,620.00
24 Ory Hen Cooper City $1,620.00
25 Avi Indik Plantation $1,620.00
26 Don Todd Davie $1,350.00
27 James Deleo Light House Point $1,350.00
Battles at the Beach
Event 2
No Limit Hold'em
$550 Buy-in 1
84 Players
Name Home Town
1 Fred Goldberg Hollywood $20,646.00
2 Antuan Bunckly Riviera Beach $18,000.00
3 Samuel Mayer-Backer Boca Raton $15,000.00
4 Irving Rice Del Ray Beach $6,475.00
5 Sean Irvin Davie $4,625.00
6 Daniel Genachte Deerfield Beach $4,163.00
7 Gilbert George Desoto TX $3,053.00
8 Adam Berman Hollywood $2,220.00
9 Daren Stabinski Ft Lauderdale $2,128.00
10 Logan Richetti Pointe Verdra $2,035.00
11 Clark Brzozowski Ft Lauderdale $1,943.00
12 Sonia Sanchez Plantation $1,850.00
13 Marcus Gurley Lake Mary $1,758.00
14 Dolphy garricks Miramar $1,665.00
15 Timothy Morgan Pompano $1,573.00
16 David Sultan Boca Raton $1,480.00
17 Robert Cheney Plantation $1,388.00
18 Richard Gollin Boca Raton $1,295.00
19 Jason McCarty Cocnut Creek $1,203.00
Battels at the Beach
Event 3
Heads Up Championship
$900 Buy-In
111 Players
Name Home Town
1 Hayden Fortini Vero Beach $50,000
2 Jose Torres Cooper City $23,000
3 Stuart Newman Weston $7,300
4 James Reilly Boca Raton $5,000
Vanessa Rousso Alexandra Dumanosky Sonia Sanchez
Professional Poker Player Vanessa Rousso and a few other local women battled today during the $300,000 Guaranteed "Battles at the Beach" Poker Tournament, at the Isle Casino Pompano Park. These south Florida women fought hard against some of South Florida's best male players. Vanessa "Lady Maverick" Rousso was up and down throughout the day, but definitely held her own and took down some nice sized pots. Amateurs Alexandra Dumanowsky and Sonia Sanchez also proved worthy of the pack as they played tough and slowly built their chip stacks. There is lot of cards left to be played, and if these ladies can keep playing tough, they could walk with the money. Good Luck Ladies!!
Check back tomorrow to see how it winds up.
Ok, Ok, call me a slacker again. I know I’m just lame for not keeping up on my posts. Anyway, here is a little post about the High Heels Poker Tour that was held at the Isle Casino at Pompano Park last week.
Because of the looming hurricane off the coast of Florida, the turnout for the event was not stellar, but the field was still strong. The top four positions out of the thirty-eight entrants walked with cash, with the top position paying $3,370 to Hana Johnson who just edged out Dr. Janee who walked with $1,723 on a $250 buy-in. I’ll be back at Pompano this week to see if I can find these top finishers and ask them about their experience at this years HHPT.
Here are the final four results
1st Place Hana Johnson $3,370
2nd Place Dr. Janee $1,723
3rd Place Sue Molson $1,049
4th Place Connie Hernandez $824
Congratulations to all this years participants and the winners of this exciting and fun event.
Hey everyone. Sorry for being so slack about my posts. I just got back in from Texas where I was for the past few days and as we all know, NO Poker in Texas!!. Anyway, I went to the Isle Casino at Pompano Park when I got home to check and see if there were any ladies getting ready for this weekends High Heels Poker Tournament being held at the same casino in Pompano.
I met with Alex Doohen a thirty-eight year old landscape designer from Ft Lauderdale. Alex has made a name for herself in the local scene as a tough player, even though she has only been playing for the past four years. Alex told me that her neighbor introduced her to the Sport of Kings, and that her favorite place to play is at the Isle Casino at Pompano Park. She doesn't really have any bad gambling stories, and says that if you play your cards right any beat is a bad beat. Her most embarrassing poker moment was when she thought she had the nut straight and then realized she was one card short. I guess her superstition of chewing two pieces of gum while playing couldn't do anything for a four card straight. Well Alex, best of luck to you this weekend in the HHPT. Chew em up... The cards and the gum.
Ok, the other day I had such a good time at the free poker tables of Platinum Poker, I had to check it out again. This time they were playing at All Stars Sports Bar and Grill in Pompano Beach, FL. I had gotten there at the tail end of the first multi table tournament, where I found the final two players going at it for the first place certificate. The best thing about it was that the last two players were women, Melanie and Betsy. Melanie had a dominating chip lead when I showed up and Betsy was almost ready to push blind when she came across a hand that doubled her up. Over the next few hands she doubled up again to take the chip lead. It went back and forth a bit but in the end Betsy took the prize. I guess it’s true that you should never count yourself out at a table, a chip and a chair is all it takes, well in Betsy's case it was four chips. Anyway, Platinum Poker's free tournaments proved to be fun and exciting again. I definitely recommend hitting up one of these free tournaments if you get the chance, even if it’s just to get out and have a beer or cocktail and to meet some new players.
What's up everyone? Ralph checking in again. Last night I went to check out the poker scene in the local bars. I went to JD's in Coral Springs and met with Danny "POPS" Nocerino who operates Platinum Poker, a free poker tournament company that operates at various bars in South Florida. "Pops" introduced me to a few of the women who regularly play in the free tournaments he offers at the bars. I met Sandy, Barbara, and Beverly. After talking with them I found out that these ladies can play! Although its free the ladies that play at Platinum Poker take it seriously, mainly because there are opportunities to win big dollar sponsorships and gift certificates as well as opportunities to win seats at the WPT and WSOP. The ladies like the idea of going to the local bar where they can be with friends and have a good time playing poker. The possibility of winning bar tabs, gift certificates, or even main event seats is a total bonus for them. Sandy even told me that it is great practice for when she sits in on the paid tournaments at the casino. Hey, if you enjoy the game and don't want to take a chance on losing big money, then the bar leagues are a great place to be. Keep grinding it out and have a drink or two with your friends at Platinum Poker in the local watering hole near you. Til next time.
Last night I went to the Isle Casino at Pompano Park to check out the $120 multi table tournament. While I was there I met Lisa Teebagy, last years High Heels Poker Tournament first place winner, this years HHPT winner of a seat to the WSOP, and recent winner of a $550 winner take all multi-table tournament at the Isle Casino at Pompano Park in which she cashed for just over $10,000.
Lisa took a few minutes to talk to me about her play and how she feels the men in the rooms react to her at a table. Lisa's favorite poker room is at the Isle Casino at Pompano where she tells me that the room is beautiful, the dealers are great, and the poker room management team is terrific as well. (Especially John) Teebagy plays Holdem and prefers the tournaments over the cash game, and loves the bounty game. She plays there about 3-4 times a week because she enjoys the live game over the online game because of the people aspect.
When asked how she feels men react to her play while at at table, this is how she replied, "I think once you gain the respect of the men at the table they will treat you as one of the guys, but until you prove yourself you really never know if they are just being overly aggressive toward you because they are trying to intimidate you as a woman."
Lisa will attempt a second cash in this years HHPT being held at the Isle Casino at Pompano Park on September 6, 2008. Best of luck to Lisa and all the women participating in the event.
CLICK HERE TO SEE LISA
Last night my travels took me to the Isle Casino at Pompano Park. I arrived around 7pm and imediately headed to the upstairs poker room. Once inside I found a handful of local women enjoying the start to their weekend. Several of the ladies indicated that they would be participating in the High Heels Poker Tour event coming up on September 6th. I have personally played against a few of these ladies at Pompano. Some are aggressive, a few play tight, but one thing is for sure; these ladies are there to play seroius poker and are players not to be taken lightly.
Click Here to see the ladies who were playing.
I just went through my inventory and found a few celebs playing poker. Mostly, the photos come from the Hard Rock Hotel and Casino in Hollywood, Florida. They have been taken throughout the past few years.
Here's a link to the gallery I titled Celebs Playing Poker.
Here's a link to the gallery I titled Celebs Playing Poker.
