Monthly Archives: August 2019

Following Molly — EPT Barcelona Day 3

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https://twitter.com/MollyAnneMossey/status/1164346969608769537

I worked briefly with Molly Anne Mossey during my stint as a poker reporter at the Word Series of Poker back in 2016, and following her career arc—mostly via Twitter, but every now and then in a news article with Jacki Burkhart—since then, I was impressed enough to consider something I have only done three times in the past: buying action. So I sent a couple of quick messages and shipped her enough to cover the 5% she was offering on her part of the EPT Barcelona Main Event.

I’ve had pretty good luck with my stakes in the past. Years ago, I bought a friend into a game at Encore Club just after he’d been laid off because I could sympathize. That didn’t pay off, but the next time he was selling action, I took a 10% piece of a Muckleshoot main event and got a min-return out of it. Then I had a bit of Jacki’s Poker Night in America cash game winnings, which made my overall action profit about even.

It was all dwarfed by buying 5% (with markup) of Molly’s €5,300  ($5,875) EPT buyin. But by 1pm our time today, it had panned out. Molly had a tough start on Day 1B, but she had a couple of doubles—including one just before the end of the day—that put her back over starting stack. So I’m stoked! There are 191 players left from the field of 1,988, Molly’s already made a couple of pay jumps, and despite a rough last level of Day 2, she’s bank on chip average going into Day 3.

Here’s her table draw for the start of the day, in case you would like to follow along with Molly today (watch live on YouTube or Twitch):

Table Seat Name Country Chips BB
5 1 Timur Margolin Israel 72,000 12
Margolin has nearly $2M in tournament earnings on Hendon Mob, and is the holder of a WSOP bracelet from 2018 in a $2,500 NLHE tournament. He has another from the 2018 WSOPE Monster Stack, and took 2nd in the WSOP International Circuit Main Event in 2017.
5 2 Stefan Fabian Romania 810,000 135
About $250K in lifetime earnings. Fabian’s biggest success was in 2016 at the Master Classics of Poker, where he took 5th place. He placed 14th in the 2016 EPT Prague Main Event.
5 3 Dengdong Huang China 220,000 37
Only $25K in reported live earnings, Huang has already had two small cashes at EPT Barcelona (and one last year).
5 4 Jussi Hakkanen Finland 143,000 24
Hakkanen has $39K in reported live earnings, including three from the current EPT Barcelona. His biggest live cash so far was in the €2,200 High Roller a couple of days ago.
5 5 Gaelle Baumann France 386,000 64
Famous for being one of two women who almost made the final table of the WSOP Main Event in 2012, Baumann has $1.1M in tournament earnings. She’s has a long record of cashes in four and five figures since then, but nothing on the same scale.
5 6 Molly Mossey United States 309,000 52
$98K in tournament earnings, with the biggest one being the first: a 3rd place at MSPT Iowa in 2012. Her most recent was a min-cash in the WSOP Main Event this summer.
5 7 Benjamin Saada France 151,000 25
Saada has just under $200K on Hendon Mob, including a 3rd place in a €1,100 side event at EPT Barcelona last year. He had a deep run at the 2012 EPT Deauville (32nd).
5 8 Ramandeep Singh Gujral India 173,000 29
Most of Gujral’s $117K in reported earnings was from a win at this year’s PCA, in a $1,100 side event. He has cashes dating back to 2007, mostly in India and Macau.

I know I’m crossing my fingers! 5% of 9th place would just about buy a seat at EPT Prague, which has been my goal since 2011. 6th place would be more than I’ve ever won in a poker tournament. 3rd place would be more than I’ve got in reported earnings on Hendon Mob. I would have no problem being shown up on that scale!

PNW Poker Leaderboard — 20 August 2019

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Just a smattering of content this past couple of weeks, but it’s from all across the country! Not a huge amount of movement, though. (picture above from livingwithagolden.com)

Appearing for the first time on the leaderboard at #1556 is Duc Dinh of Oregon, who got to an impressive 13th place in a field of 1,800 for his first Hendon Mob recorded cash, at Talking Stick Resort’s Arizona State Championship NLHE.

Auburn’s Thomas Kornechuk qualified for the WSOP $1M GTD Global Casino Championship NLHE by winning the WSOPC Thunder Valley NLHE Main Event back in January. He came in 18th in the 129-entry field. He rises 3 places to #102.

Darren Rabinowitz was in Florida for the Seminole Hard Rock Poker Open #21 $1M GTD NLHE. He placed 13th of 385, and holds at #15 on the Leaderboard.

And it’s another big-buyin-big-win for James Romero, getting 2nd place in a deal with Stephen Song at the SHRPO #27 $500K GTD NLHE. He remains #10 after taking in his share of the 117-entry tournament.

PNW Poker Leaderboard — 07 August 2019

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Not a lot of poker action over the past couple of weeks, but a conversation during last weekend’s Portland Meadows $40K GTD NLHE prompted me to take a look at the Hendon Mob Oregon, USA All-Time Money List, and I am insanely happy to announce that Annie “Hasn’t Actually Lived Here For Over a Decade” Duke is no longer the top player on the list.

That honor belongs—and will likely remain with for a long time—to Seth Davies, whose 8th-place finish in the WSOP #90 NLHE High Roller pushed him into the top slot by about the amount of his  profit in the $50K buyin event. He should retain that position for a while, considering how active he is in high roller events. The next player likely to surpass Duke is the Oregon #3 player, James Romero, but he’s still about $700K back. He hasn’t been as active in high roller events (at least not cashing in them), so it could be a little while. His WSOP bio lists his residence as Las Vegas, unlike Davies, who claims Bend on Hendon Mob and WSOP.

Fourth place is held by Esther Taylor, who hasn’t been here since at least 2011. Her Hendon Mob profile list residence in Pennsylvania but born in Portland.

Climbing on her spot are Max Young and Carter Gill. Young has been out on the circuit; all of Gill’s cashes this year were in events at Chinook Winds and Wildhorse, and he was at my table on Saturday at Portland Meadows.

So the future for the actual Oregon players—the ones who might bring some of their winnings back to the state to play—taking over the top spots on the leaderboard is looking brisht.

We’ve seen some late results come in from months-old events the past few episodes, this time there’s a result that looks like it might be because of a change of residence. Jason Cohen is from somewhere in Washington, his bio doesn’t specify, but back in April, he took 2nd place in the Card Player Poker Tour NLHE Quantum with 728 entries, at Ocean’s Eleven Casino outside San Diego. It’s his second recorded cash, and he bumps up to #858 on the PNW Poler Leaderboard.

Dylan Wilkerson also picked up a 2nd place in the 442-entry WSOPC Cherokee #4 $100K GTD NLHE. He’s staying at #11 on the Leaderboard.