
His cheering part had good reason to celebrate their hero’s $10 million win: out of 6,683 players who began the WSOP, cash wheel quick hits slot machine Swede Martin Jacobson was final standing.
Martin Jacobson is the 2014 World number of Poker (WSOP) Main Event champion, which, if you didn’t know right now, our honest apologies for the spoiler. Before this present year’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 tournament that is biggest, but in the finish, it was the Swede holding the gold bracelet and using the ten dollars million prize.
So how did the man with all the second-shortest stack entering the November Nine make such a amazing run? While oddsmakers labeled him a long shot, Jacobson maybe should not have been. He had more career WSOP earnings than any other player at the table, and he had been close while he had never won a live event.
Improbable Feat?
Whenever you start in the eighth place out of nine, winning might be a far-fetched concept, but Jacobson’s application suggests otherwise. The now-champ discovered poker at 18 after watching it on television, and quickly began having fun with friends and online. After realizing he’d a knack for success with satellite qualifiers in 2008, he focused his attention on playing cheaper events that are live.
Within the next six years, Martin became a globetrotter, as he traveled to EPT and WSOP events, collecting $5.5 million along the way. Before winning on Tuesday, he ranked all-time that is second Sweden’s money list, behind only Chris Bjorin. A year ago at the Big One Drop $111,111 buy-in, Jacobson scored his largest payout for finishing 6th with $807,427. With momentum on his side, he somehow was able to largely fly under the radar going into poker’s signature tournament.
WSOP Main Event
Although he is a veteran when it comes to World Series of Poker tournaments, 2014 marked the Swede’s 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 within the 1A action, where he ended the session as the chip leader day. He remained in command throughout the July play until the final table, where he completed 8th heading into the break.
Fast-forward to November and Dutchman Jorryt van Hoof was dominating the field. Jacobson was never ever really in contention to overtake the leaders until belated night when he eliminated both Billy Pappas and William Tonking monday. Going to Tuesday, only three players remained, 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 seemed to lose his swagger and leaked fingers one after another. After a number of losses, Jacobson eliminated the first choice for the past two days and moved to head-to-head play with Stephensen. In the 328th hand associated with the final table, Jacobson took the name with pocket tens and another ten on the flop to give him a set while the hand that is winning.
Cool, Calm, Collected
While van Hoof attempted to away scare his opponents from the dining table, and Stephensen attempted to pay for any clues by sporting sunglasses and a hoody, Jacobson did neither. He folded quickly, called swiftly, and general seemed 100 percent relaxed. At times van Hoof could be seen sweating and even shaking. Stephensen had been aesthetically frustrated at times. Jacobson seemed refreshed, and in total control, which, plainly, he was.
Amaya and Playtech Named for Possible bwin.party Takeover
Bwin.party claims this has entered into ‘preliminary talks’ more than a feasible takeover. Amaya Gaming is rumored to be a likely contender, with Playtech also called. (Image: stoiximaonline.com)
Bwin.party is the belle associated with the ball this as rumors swirl that online monster Amaya Gaming is preparing a $1.2 billion takeover week. But there are simultaneous whispers of the Playtech bwin.party acquisition, keeping the online gaming community on pins and needles till the situation is put to sleep.
Amaya’s name was mentioned on Wednesday by analysts regarding the Markets real time real-time economic information service on the London Financial Times website.
FT Alphaville Editor Paul Murphy and Bryce Elder through the FT‘s London markets group dropped the bombshell, stating that market chatter was suggesting that the deal was ‘all but wrapped up,’ according to ‘usually dependable sources.’
‘We now think it’s real enough,’ said Murphy. ‘[There have actually 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 was flagged as being a ‘natural Alert,’ which means, in line with the accompanying FT boilerplate, that the details that ‘has not been formally tested through conventional journalistic stations (PRs, etc).’
The plot thickened with a report in London’s Evening Standard on Wednesday naming market-leading software company Playtech as being a possible buyer.
‘Online gambling software manufacturer Playtech today announced it was raising a $315 million war upper body, via a convertible bond issue, for acquisitions and ‘organic opportunities,’ ‘ it claimed. ‘a youthful edition of the Evening Standard reported down-on-its luck online gaming peer Bwin could be a takeover, and just a few hours later it confirmed it was ‘early’ talks with a number of potential suitors that could cause the company on the market.’
Reader Beware
‘The tale might be complete rubbish,’ continues the FT disclaimer, ‘but if we think there is some substance to it we will say so. In any event, Reader Beware.’
While bwin.party, along with Borgata, is the marketplace leader in the brand New Jersey online gaming space, it’s struggled in other areas recently.
The product of a merger between online sports betting bwin that is giant the once-mighty partypoker, (which in 2005 was worth over $12 billion, before UIGEA sent it retreating from the US market), bwin.party has received to fend down rumors of a sale of part or all of its assets since as far back as last June. However, following the new speculation in the press this week, the company confirmed that a purchase is certainly on the cards.
Bwin.party Statement
‘Further to current media conjecture regarding a possible bid for bwin.party, the Board of bwin.party confirms it has entered into preliminary conversations having a amount of interested parties regarding a variety of potential business combinations with a view to making additional value for bwin.party shareholders,’ it said. ‘Such discussions may or may perhaps not end in an offer being made for the Company. But, as all such conversations stay at a stage that is preliminary there can be no certainty as to if they will result in any form of transaction with any party.’
Stocks in bwiin.party, that have seen a rise that is steady November, raised by 13 percent within the aftermath of the company’s statement on Wednesday.
Should rumors end up being true, Amaya would increase its monopoly in the online that is global market and pull further away from its nearest competitors 888.com together with iPoker Network. PokerStars, which was acquired by Amaya this 12 months for $4.9 billion, currently has eight times the traffic of 888.com.
Legendary Gambler Archie Karas Sentenced as Blackjack Cheat
Archie Karas, whom proceeded the absolute most gambling that is famous and losing streak of all time, turning $50 into $40 million and then blowing the lot, was 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 36 months’ probation, having been found responsible of cheating at blackjack.
Karas, real name Anargyros Karabourniotis, 63, ended up being spotted by surveillance 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 unveiled hollowed out chips, which prosecutors think 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 somebody and pressing bets.
Karas won $8,000 at the Barona on July 16, 2013, and ended up being ordered by El Cajon Superior Court Judge Daniel Goldstein to cover $6,800 in restitution to your casino, which had been determined to be his benefit from the session where the cards were being marked. He initially spent 73 days in jail before being released on bail.
The Run
‘This defendant’s luck ran out thanks to cooperation that is extraordinary many different police force agencies who worked together to analyze and prosecute this case,’ stated District Attorney Bonnie Dumanis.
Karas’ famous winning streak, now merely known as ‘The Run,’ kicked off sometime in early 1993, when he found its way to Las Vegas with $50 in his pocket. He immediately 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 restriction Razz and returned $20,000 to his friend.
He took their winnings to a pool that is local where he began playing a ‘wealthy pool and poker player,’ whom Karas has always refused to name. The two men played pool for increasing stakes, until Karas had beaten his adversary for $1.2 million over a period of a couple of months. They then played poker together and he won $3 million.
As news distribute that Karas now had millions burning a hole in his pocket and was ready to play anybody for any stakes, the advantages formed an orderly queue. Stu Ungar, Chip Reece, and Doyle Brunson; all were dispatched. The only player to beat Karas during their winning streak was Johnny Chan, whom eventually overcome him for $900,000. Nevertheless, by the time the poker dried up, he was up $17 million.
The Downfall
Undeterred by the lack 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.
Then again, in a turn of occasions 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 days. Then a break was taken by him, went to Greece, returned and lost the rest.
‘Money means absolutely nothing to me, I don’t value it,’ he once told Cigar Aficionado magazine. ‘I’ve had all the product things i could want ever. Everything. The things we want cash can’t buy: health, freedom, love, happiness.’