Asia Pacific Poker Tour

2012 PokerStars.net Asia Pacfic Poker Tour Cebu Day 1b: Antonio Martins Takes Chip Lead

The 2012 PokerStars.net Asia Pacific Poker Tour Cebu held Day 1b on Thursday from the Waterfront Hotel and Casino in the Philippines. Seventy-six entrants were in action, bringing the total field to 128, so far. At the end of the day, 42 of those players remained Antonio Martins in the lead.

With his final stack of 119,000, Martins took the overall chip lead after surpassing Han Ruo Goh's 84,300 from Day 1a.

In Level 5, with the blinds at 200/400/50, Martins won a massive pot with pocket aces after an opponent five-bet-jammed into him with . An ace of the flop came to give Martins the winner and the chip lead. He didn't relinquish command from there and is currently the only player to bag up more than 100,000 in chips with one more starting day to go.

Julian Hasse came in behind Martins with 97,600, but then there was a significant drop off of around 30,000 in chips before Bobo Chen's third place 67,900-chip stack. Other notables advancing from Day 1b were Charles Lam (55,800), Kenneth Wong (40,600), Antoine Amourette (35,700) andDanny Chevalier (25,000).

Team PokerStars Pro had two players in action on Thursday: Celina Lin andVivian Im. Both still have chips but are toward the rear of the pack. Lin finished on 18,000 and Im on 9,400.

Of those to bust on Day 1b were Darren Judges, Ari Engel, Cathy Hong and Jay Tan. Hong went out after getting all of her chips in on the river but was unable to beat an opponent's straight.

Day 1b Top 10 Chip Counts

Place	Player	Chips
1	Antonio Martins	119,000
2	Julian Hasse	97,600
3	Bobo Chen	67,900
4	Daniel Ortmann	66,500
5	Petr Glasko	63,000
6	Daniel Nordstrom	61,700
7	Artyom Novikov	61,300
8	Charles Lam	55,800
9	Loo Junzhong	55,400
10	Sparrow Cheung	54,000

The last starting day, Day 1c, will kick off Friday at 1210 PHT (0510 BST) and PokerNews will be on hand for all of the updates. Be sure to follow along with our Live Reporting Team all tournament long.

PokerStars

PokerStars Reveals Season 9 Schedule for European Poker Tour

Season 8 of the European Poker Tour is still going strong at thePokerStars.com and Monte-Carlo® Casino European Poker Tour Grand Final this month, but the world's leading online poker site has wasted no time in gearing up for Season 9.

On Wednesday, PokerStars announced big changes to next season's EPT schedule as the number of tour stops was reduced from 13 to eight. However, each destination will offer more tournaments with nearly two weeks of poker at each stop. The first event will be held in Barcelona on Aug. 15, and the tour will then travel to San Remo, Prague, the Bahamas, Deauville, London, Berlin, and Monaco.

The EPT will also join forces with the Estrellas Poker Tour and the UK & Ireland Poker Tour (UKIPT) to give more players an opportunity to compete in Europe's biggest and most prestigious poker tour.

"We looked at every EPT season up until now and asked ourselves how we could make the tour even better for the players," said EPT President Edgar Stuchly. "In the end, every change comes down to making this a better tour for the people who make this tour what it is: our players."

In addition to the abundance of lower buy-in events, the EPT will host more High Roller tournaments in the upcoming season. The first high roller will be a televised €50,000 event in Barcelona, followed by €25,000 High Roller and €100,000 Super High Roller tournaments at the PCA in the Bahamas and Grand Final in Monte Carlo.

There will also be a €10,000 Championship Series event at every stop, giving players a chance to show off their skills in a variety of different formats, including heads-up, pot-limit Omaha and 8-game.

“We have had a lot of fun working with our players and our tournament staff to create some of the most exciting poker tournaments in the world," said EPT Live Poker Specialist Neil Johnson. "With all the incredible improvements coming to the tour, many of them created from player suggestions, EPT 9 will solidify us as the can’t-miss destination for European poker.”

Here's a look at the schedule for Season 9 of the EPT:

Event	Date	Main Event Buy-in
EPT Barcelona	Aug. 15-25, 2012	€5,300
EPT San Remo	Oct. 3-11, 2012	€5,300
EPT Prague	Dec. 5-15, 2012	€5,300
PokerStars Caribbean Adventure	Jan. 6-15, 2013	$10,300
EPT Deauville	Jan. 30-Feb. 9, 2013	€5,300
EPT London	March 6-16, 2013	£5,250
EPT Berlin	April 24-May 4, 2013	€5,300
EPT Monte Carlo	May 6-15, 2013	€10,600

WSOP Winners

Jason Mercier

Jason Mercier is a 24-year-old Team PokerStars Pro from Hollywood, Florida. He won his first big tournament in 2008 when he took down the European Poker Tour Season 4 San Remo Main Event. Just one year later, in 2009, he won his first World Series of Poker gold bracelet in the $1,500 Pot-Limit Omaha event outlasting 808 players. He has continued to dominate poker tournaments across the world, more recently winning the PokerStars North American Poker Tour No-Limit Hold’em Bounty Shootout in 2010 and successfully defending his title in 2011 at Mohegan Sun.

The 2011 WSOP has been his most profitable Series to date. He has made deep runs in six events and took home another bracelet after winning the $5,000 Pot-Limit Omaha - Six-Handed event. On the final hand of the night, Mercier raised to 160,000 from the button and his opponent Hans Winzeler reraised to 480,000. Mercier made the call and the flop came   . Mercier bet 960,000 after his opponent checked, Winzeler raised all in, and Mercier insta-called. Winzeler held    and Mercier held    . The  fell on the turn and the  hit on the river to give Mercier the straight for the victory. He took home his second coveted WSOP gold bracelet and $619,575 in prize money with the win.

Eugene Katchalov

Eugene Katchalov is a 30-year-old Team PokerStars Pro from Ukraine. Katchalov scored his first major victory in 2007 when he won the World Poker Tour Doyle Brunson Five Diamond World Poker Classic for $2,482,605. This last January he took down the PCA $100,000 Super High Roller event for $1,500,000. Continuing on his live tournament cashes, Katchalov won his first WSOP gold bracelet this year when he outlasted a field of 357 in the $1,500 Seven-Card Stud event.

Going into heads-up play, Katchalov was at a seven-to-one chip disadvantage. After two hours of play, Katchalov’s opponent, Alessio Isaia, was down to his last few chips. Isaia moved all his chips in on third street when he had king high and Katchalov called having ace high. Katchalov ended up winning the pot when he held   /     /  and his opponent held   /     / . Katchalov's first bracelet win netted him $122,909 in prize money.

Andre Akkari

Andre Akkari is a Team PokerStars Pro from San Paulo, Brazil. He has final tabled over 90 online tournaments and holds over $500,000 in online tournament winnings.

This year he won his first-ever WSOP gold bracelet when he shipped the $1,500 No-Limit Hold’em event and outlasted a field of 2,857 players. When the last hand came about, Akkari had over ten million in chips and his opponent, Nachman Berlin, had around two million in chips. Berlin moved all in from the button and Akkari made the call. Berlin held   and Akkari held  . The board ran out      and Akkari's trip kings earned him the gold and the glory. He took home $675,117 in prize money for the victory.

Bertrand Grospellier

Bertrand “ElkY” Grospellier is a 30-year-old Team PokerStars Pro from France. He has built up an impressive resume with a WPT title, an EPT title and now a WSOP title. Grospellier was known as one of the best professional gamers in the world and, for the past couple of years, has transitioned into a fierce professional poker player. His first notable cash was when he took second in the EPT Copenhagen Main Event in January 2007 for $399,953. He continued tear through live tournaments around the world and has accumulated over $8,000,000 in live winnings from 2005 to 2011.

This year, at the WSOP, Grospellier took home his first gold bracelet and earned himself poker's version of the Triple Crown when he won the $10,000 Seven-Card Stud Championship. Grospellier was heads up against Steve Landfish for the bracelet and held a huge chip advantage when the final hand was dealt. Landfish held   /     /  and Grospellier held   /     /  to make a full house and take home the gold. He outlasted 126 players for the bracelet and took home $331,639 for his first-place finish.

Maxim Lykov

Maxim Lykov is a Team PokerStars Pro from Russia. He started playing poker while studying engineering at a university in Moscow. His poker career started taking off in 2009 when he took first place in the Red Sea Poker Cup VIP No-limit Hold’em event. Just three months later he won the EPT Kiev Main Event for $468,504. His dominance in live tournaments continued for the past few years where he has accumulated over $2,500,000 in live tournament winnings.

This year, Lykov earned his first-ever WSOP gold bracelet when he took down the last $1,000 No-Limit Hold’em event in July. He outlasted a field of 4,576 players to take home $648,880 in prize money and the bracelet. The last hand of the night started when Lykov’s opponent, Dror Michaelo, raised to 250,000 on the button and Lykov reraised to 700,000. Michaelo pushed all in and Lykov called. Lykov held  and Michaelo held . The board ran out  and Lykov shipped the coveted gold bracelet.