The market has officially closed, so it’s time to take your eyes away from your Facebook stock and catch up on the latest poker news. In this edition of the Nightly Turbo, we’re bringing you the new-look World Series of Poker bracelets, updates from the UKIPT Dublin Main Event, and more.

In Case You Missed It

Dan “djk123″ Kelly was among the winners in the PokerStars SCOOP on Thursday. Martin Harris and Mickey Doft have all the details in the Day 12 SCOOP recap.

How was the high-stakes action at the PokerStars tables this week? Read the Online Railbird Report to find out the week’s biggest winners and losers.

@AsianSpa was back with his latest blog on Friday. This week he talks about the Women in Poker Hall of Fame, mending fences with Jon Friedberg, and more.

Several first-timers will be heading to the World Series of Poker this summer. Which ones should you be watching? We tell in you in the latest edition of the 2012 WSOP Rookie Roundup.

Are you drafting a fantasy poker team for the WSOP this summer? Rich Ryan has some tips about how to put together the most productive group of players.

Did you miss anything from the past week? Don’t worry, we’ve got you covered. Kristy Arnett and Sarah Grant break down all the big stories in the PokerNews Weekly.

New WSOP Bling

The World Series of Poker has unveiled the new gold bracelets that will be awarded to each winner at this year’s WSOP and WSOP Europe.

Celebrity jeweler Jason Arasheben, also known as “Jason of Beverly Hills,” was selected to design this year’s gold bracelets. Each piece features a collection of round cut diamonds, while the four card suits will feature rubies and black diamonds. The bracelet features over 160 grams of 14 karat gold and over 35 carats of flawless diamonds.

Arasheben has designed championship rings for the Los Angeles Lakers, plus custom jewelry for celebs like Rihanna, Justin Bieber, LeBron James, Dwyane Wade and Matt Kemp.

“Blinger is Better,” said WSOP Executive Director Ty Stewart. “Jason grasped the heritage of WSOP bracelets, but was only interested if he could take it up several notches. This is a trophy that truly embodies the promise of today’s WSOP — seemingly unthinkable dreams are dealt each year. I challenge anyone to keep a poker face when they see this bracelet in person.”

Photo courtesy of Jason of Beverly Hills

Do you like the new bracelet? Leave your thoughts in the comments section below.

Playing Like a Champion

Day 1a of the €770 UKIPT Dublin Main Event saw 199 players take to the felts at the CityWest Hotel in Dublin, Ireland. At the end of the day only 91 were left standing, and amateur player named Champion was on top of the leaderboard.

William Champion, a data storage engineer from the U.K., bagged the most chips after the first day of play. Champion finished with 129,700, many of which came from Barny Boatman when Champion turned top set and got value on all three streets. Boatman, meanwhile failed to survive the day.

Among the notables that advanced to Day 2 were Sam Razavi (20,800), Max Silver (21,100) and Dara O’Kearney (20,700). Team PokerStars Pro Jude Ainsworth, Surinder Sunar, Simon Trumper, Ross Boatman, and two-time UKIPT winner Nick Abou Risk busted on Day 1a and will not be joining the aforementioned players when the Day 1 flights combine on Saturday.

Here’s a look at the top 10 stacks from Day 1a:

We’ll be providing results of the UKIPT Dublin Main Event in the Nightly Turbo next week.

For live updates from the Main Event, visit the PokerStars Blog.

Bwin.Party Gets Social

Social media is becoming the way of the Internet, and bwin.party isn’t far away from getting in on the action. The company says it is close to launching a social gaming platform that will see the worlds of real money gaming and social gaming converge.

“Our strategy to enter the social gaming market is almost complete and we plan to host an analyst briefing to present our strategy later this month when we will provide further details on how we will enter this exciting new business segment,” the company said in a statement this week.

“We believe that by leveraging our core assets, we can make a meaningful inroad into this fast growing and profitable market with relatively low levels of incremental investment.”

Bwin.party co-CEO Jim Ryan sees significant potential in the social gaming market. He told PokerNews earlier this year that the company’s main objective for growth is bringing more of a social appeal to the consumer base, which in turn would provide maximum entertainment value for customers.

“This represents a major opportunity for bwin.party and we have a number of initiatives already underway in this area that we expect to drive value for shareholders in the medium to long-term,” the company said.

Read more at bwinparty.com.

Live Poker in North Carolina?

North Carolina lawmakers have begun deliberating whether to allow live-dealer card games at the state’s only brick-and-mortar casino.

State legislators this week approved a bill that would sanction the Harrah’s Cherokee Casino to offer Las Vegas-style card games like poker and blackjack. The bill passed by a vote of 33-14 and will now be passed along to the House.

Per North Carolina law, live-dealer games are illegal everywhere in the state. Harrah’s Cherokee currently only offers video machines, but the new legislation could bring up to 400 additional jobs to the Harrah’s Cherokee Casino and Hotel. A percentage of the revenues from the casino would be sent to the North Carolina education department.

Read more at goerie.com.

Follow PokerNews on Twitter for up-to-the-minute news.

Each year when PokerNews compiles its World Series of Poker Rookie Roundup list, Harrison Gimbel’s name comes up. Since he stormed onto the scene in early 2010, it has always been a question of whether or not this kid would finally be of age to take to the WSOP felt. It’s now 2012 and it has finally time that Gimbel gets the chance to make a run at a coveted gold bracelet to add to his trophy case.

Gimbel’s name first came to be known when he made the final table of the 2010 PokerStars Caribbean Adventure. He entered the final table fourth in chips behind Ryan D’Angelo, Ty Reiman and Barry Shulman. When play got down to heads-up action, Gimbel was one of the two players remaining and pitted against Reiman for the title. After 46 hands of heads-up play, Gimbel’s defeated Reiman’s to give the 19-year-old the title and the whopping first-place prize of $2.2 million.

Before his massive splash onto the poker scene, Gimbel was already a winner. In June 2009, he took down the Florida State Poker Championships for over $67,000. Since the 2010 PCA, Gimbel has been crushing the Florida poker scene where he was of legal age to play in live tournaments.

In April 2010, Gimbel took his talents overseas to Italy where he placed 39th in the European Poker Tour San Remo Main Event for €22,000. Several months later he won the Fall Poker Open Championship held in November at the Seminole Hard Rock Hotel & Casino for $330,000, confirming he was no one-hit wonder.

From there, Gimbel went on to have earnings of $99,525 in 2011 and $72,811 already in 2012. Out of those two years, Gimbel’s largest score came in November 2011 when he took third in the Rock and Roll Poker Open in Hollywood, Florida, for just over $76,000. He also cashed in the PCA Main Event and the World Poker Tour Lucky Hearts Poker Open, both in 2012.

In total, Gimbel’s lifetime tournament earnings on the live felt total over $2.8 million and the youngster has the world at his fingertips when the 2012 WSOP rolls around.

Online, Gimbel used to play under the moniker “gibler321” on PokerStars and “this is punny” on Full Tilt Poker. Just from those two sites, Gimbel has won over $1.6 million in prize money. His largest online score came in December 2010 when he took second place in the Sunday Brawl for $88,107.31. He also has six other online scores over $40,000.

With his win at PCA, Gimbel became the youngest PCA Main Event champion, and though he may be young, Gimbel has put in the time playing millions of hands that will give him the experience he’ll need to thrive on the WSOP felt. The only question now is, how many final tables are we going to be covering him at?

PokerNews will be keeping a close eye on Gimbel in the coming months, so be sure to check our Live Reporting Page for the duration of the 2012 WSOP. Stay tuned for more rookies to look out for, as well.

Follow PokerNews on Twitter for up-to-the-minute news.

With PokerStars’ 2012 Spring Championship of Online Poker well under way and the World Series of Poker right around the corner, one might expect the online high-stakes cash games to take a back seat. Although that may be the case in a couple of weeks, nothing was further from the truth this week as hundreds of thousands of dollars changed hands.

The week’s biggest beneficiary was a man we haven’t written too much about this year — Brian “$tinger 88” Hastings, who won $379,976 in a modest 3,844 hands spread across 55 sessions. That was more than $100,000 more than the next two biggest winners, “patpatman” and Chris “Genius28” Lee, who won $257,662 (26 sessions/2,076 hands) and $241,245 (99 sessions/8,764 hands) respectively.

Of course, where there are winners there are also losers, as “doncarignano” can attest. He was the week’s biggest loser dropping $208,081 in 3,392 hands across 94 sessions. Not far behind was “!P0krparty¡,” whose hot streak we told you about last week came to end as he lost $198,110 (152 sessions.13,452 hands), and Andrew “Kanu7” Millar, who gave away $133,954 in just 1,400 hands over 25 sessions.

Lee Wins Big on Monday While Sahamies Loses Two Big Pots

On Monday, WSOP bracelet winner Chris “Genius28” Lee played an early morning session at the $50/$100 pot-limit Omaha tables and pretty much won against every opponent he played. In less than five hours, he won $155,000 and became the day’s biggest winner.

In one of Lee’s ($46,613.90) most notable hands, action was six handed at a $50/$100 PLO table when “LUFCBas” ($78,566.36) opened for $300 under the gun and cleared the field all the way to “YoussefAhmed” ($11,725) in the small blind. After he made the call, Lee decided to three-bet to $1,320 from the big, prompting a call from “LUFCBas.” After “YoussefAhmed” got out of the way, the flop fell and Lee fired out $2,000.

“LUFCBas” wasted little time in bumping it up to $5,450, Lee called, and then the latter then check-called a bet of $7,775 on the turn before leading out for $24,000 on the river. “LUFCBas” made the call but mucked when Lee rolled over for tens full and the $77,505 pot was sent in Lee’s direction.

Lee’s profit was more than twice the amount of the day’s second and third biggest winners, Gabriel “verve.oasis” Goffi (+$77,000) and Ilari “Ilari FIN” Sahamies (+$75,000). Sahamies was mixing it up at the $100/$200 and $200/$400 PLO tables and became entangled in two of the biggest pots we’ve seen as of late.

In the first, which happened at a heads-up $100/$200 table, Sahamies ($228,876.30) opened for $680 on the button and “Phisherman36” ($151,956) three-bet to $2,120 from the big blind. After a call, the flop came out and “Phisherman36” fired out $3,600, which Sahamies also called.

When the peeled off on the turn, “Phisherman36” bet $7,400, Sahamies raised to $33,718 and the former called, bringing about the on the river. “Phisherman36” ended up check-calling a bet of $65,100 with for sixes full of sevens, which was good enough to take down the $209,154 pot after Sahamies revealed the mediocre .

In the other hand, which was played at the same stakes and between the same players, Sahamies ($309,070.29) once again opened for $680 on the button and “Phisherman36” ($71,814) three-bet to $2,120; however, instead of just calling this time Sahamies put in a four-bet to $3,560. “Phisherman36” made the call and then proceeded to check-call a bet of $5,400 on the flop. The turn saw “Phisherman36” check again, opening the door for Sahamies to fire out $11,800. This time “Phisherman36” opted for a check-raise to $53,398, Sahamies three-bet and “Phisherman36” called off his remaining $9,456.

Showdown

Sahamies
“Phisherman36”

The turn had given Sahamies the lead with a set of fives, but in order to win he needed to dodge “Phisherman36’s” outs on the river, which included both straight and flush draws. Much to Sahamies’ dismay, he couldn’t do it as the spiked to give “Phisherman36” the king-high flush and the $143,626 pot.

Tuesday Belongs to Hastings and “patpatman”

On Monday, Brian “$tinger 88” Hastings lost $83,000. On Tuesday, Hastings returned to the virtual felt and erased that loss by banking an impressive $292,000 — enough to make him the day’s biggest winner. Much of that came at the $50/$100 PLO tables at the expense of “Phisherman36,” who finished as the biggest loser after dropping $186,000.

Also in action was “patpatman,” who finished as the day’s second biggest winner with $229,000 in profit. That came in some no-limit hold’em action against Alex “Kanu7” Millar and Daniel “w00ki3z” Cates, who dropped $136,000 and $84,000 respectively.

In one hand, action was three-handed when “patpatman” ($254,093.06) opened for $800 on the button and Cates ($92,940.63) three-bet $3,200 from the small blind. After Millar folded from the big, “patpatman” called and the flop came down . Cates led out for $4,800, “patpatman” raised to $11,800, Cates called and the turned.

At that point, Cates ended up check-raising all-in over “patpatman’s” $18,800 bet, and the latter called.

Showdown

“patpatman”
Cates

Cates turned top set only to find himself behind the flopped straight of “patpatman.” The river was of no consequence and “patpatman” took down the $186,276 pot.

Not long after, “patpatman” took down another sizable pot. It happened when Cates ($77,952.50) opened for $800 on the button, Millar ($84,980) called from the small blind, and “patpatman” ($91,340.19) three-bet to $3,600 from the big. Both his opponents made the call and then Millar checked the flop, opening the door for “patpatman” to bet $4,000. From there, Cates decided on a raise to $10,400, Millar folded and “patpatman” made it $17,800 to go. Cates made the call and then fired out $14,800 when “patpatman” checked the turn. The latter quickly check-raised all in and Cates called off his remaining $41,752.50.

Showdown

“patpatman”
Cates

Cates had flopped trips and was well out in front, but that changed when the spiked on the river to give “patpatman” a straight and the $159,500 pot.

Feel the $ting of Hastings

Brian “$tinger 88” Hastings returned to action on Wednesday and picked up right where he left off the day prior, winning $145,000 and becoming the biggest winner for the second day in a row. He did so in a short session of $100/$200 PLO, which happened to include Ben “Sauce123” Sulsky. Surprisingly, the year’s biggest winner didn’t add to his total but reduced it by $169,000, enough to make him the day’s biggest loser.

Even though he lost, Sulsky managed to win one of the day’s most interesting hands. It happened when action was three-handed and Hastings ($80,242.24) opened for $500 on the button. The small blind got out of the way and Sulsky ($58,326.50) exercised his option in the big blind by three-betting $1,720. Hastings made the call and then bet $2,000 after Sulsky checked the flop. The latter woke up with a check-raise to $7,358.50, Hastings called and the appeared on the turn. Again Sulsky opted for a check-raise, making Hastings’ $6,800 bet $17,600 to go. Instead of just calling, Hastings pushed back to the tune of $35,200, which inspired Sulsky to four-bet $56,800. Another raise and call saw Sulsky’s stack in the middle and the cards on their back:

Showdown

Sulsky
Hastings

Sulsky had flopped top set and improved to quads on the turn, which meant Hastings was drawing dead headed into the river. Sulsky raked in the $116,788 pot.

Interestingly, Hastings lost another big pot a short time later. In that hand, Hastings ($134,313.25) opened for $600, Sulsky ($50,500) called from the small blind, and “patpatman” ($57,883.58) three-bet to $2,520 from the big. Hastings then four-bet $8,880, Sulsky folded and “patpatman” made the call, bringing about a flop of .

“patpatman” was first to act and didn’t hesitate to lead out for $10,200, which Hastings quickly raised to $47,875. “patpatman” responded by moving all-in for $49,563.58 and Hastings called the additional $1,128.57.

Showdown

”patpatman”
Hastings

Hastings held a flush draw and an open-ended straight draw, and needed to hit in order to overcome ”patpatman’s” bottom set. The turn put an end to any suspense as it improved ”patpatman” to a full house and left Hastings drawing dead. After the meaningless was put out on the river, ”patpatman” was pushed the $116,402 pot.

Despite losing the two aforementioned hands, Hastings finished atop the day’s leaderboard and went on to become the week’s biggest winner.

Biggest Weekly PokerStars Winners/Losers

Week’s biggest winners (5/11-5/17): Brian “$tinger 88” Hastings (+$379,976), “patpatman” (+$257,662), Chris “Genius28” Lee (+$241,245), Gabriel “verve.oasis” Goffi (+$193,904), Ignat “0Human0” Liviu (+$169,488), Terje “Terken89” Augdal (+$147,747)

Week’s biggest losers: “doncarignano” (-$208,081), “!P0krparty¡” (-$198,110), “Phisherman36” (-$167,059), Andrew “Kanu7” Millar (-$133,954), “YoussefAhmed” (-$125,371), Viktor “Isildur1” Blom (-$120,828)

Ben “Ben86” Tollerene (-$336,031), “Tsubi87” (-$250,516), Benny “toweliestar” Spindler (-$220,829), Randy “nanonoko” Lew (-$192,339), Viktor “Isildur1” Blom (-$181,068)

Year-to-date winners: Ben “Sauce123” Sulsky (+$1,714,587), Andrew “EireAbu” Grimason (+$1,680,930), “bernard-bb” (+$1,249,368), Jens “Jeans89” Kyllönen (+$1,123,713), Phil “MrSweets” Galfond (+$1,029,005)

Year-to-date losers: “Zypherin” (-$1,869,000), Viktor “Isildur1” Blom (-$1,125,871), Ilari “Ilari FIN” Sahamies (-$839,722), “1Il|1Il|1il|” (-$754,060), Benny” toweliestar” Spindler (-$704,534)

_{Data and hands obtained from HighStakesDB.com}

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Every week, PokerNews Weekly brings you the latest happenings from the international tournament circuit, player news, and gossip.

This week Kristy Arnett and Sarah Grant discuss the upcoming World Poker Tour, the ongoing SCOOP, PokerStars’ Zoom Poker, the Micros and more.

Follow PokerNews on Twitter for up-to-the-minute news.

Poker770 has teamed up with PokerNews to offer our readers a fantastic deal. If you download Poker770 via our links, and use our exclusive bonus code, you will be eligible for a $50 bankroll — absolutely free. What’s more, Poker770 will return on Monday for even more exclusive promotions.

PokerNews’ exclusive promotion with Poker770 for a free $50 has proved one of our most popular offers of all time. Obviously the free money is an appeal, but it’s the ease of getting it that has impressed readers. How easy is it?

All you need to do is download Poker770 through PokerNews, enter the bonus code “news50en,” and fill in and submit the details on the form. Then you just need to get busy playing and we’ll get busy paying.

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If you live in one of those countries, your free $50 will be split into three chunks instead of two. The first $10 will be released into your Poker770 account immediately, and another $20 released once you have earned 500 Poker770 points within 120 days. Finally the last $20 will be released once you have earned another 500 Poker770 points within 120 days.

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Plus if you make a deposit now you will be able to take advantage of the Cash Machine promotion! Make a deposit to your Poker770 account and you will receive double the amount, up to $20, into your account immediately! $20 free on top of the $50 free bankroll; up to $70 free! Amazing value if we do say so ourselves!

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_{If you experience any problems with this or any of our promotions, please contact our Ticketed Promo Support System.}

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Continued here:
New Look for 2012 WSOP Championship Bracelet

Too busy to track the day’s biggest poker news stories? That’s what we’re here for. In this edition of the Nightly Turbo, we’re bringing you a major purchase by a top casino operator, the start of the PokerStars UKIPT Dublin Main Event, and more.

In Case You Missed It

Which young guns should you be looking out for at the 2012 World Series of Poker? We’re here to tell you. In the first edition of the 2012 WSOP Rookie Roundup, PokerNews showcases 21-year-old Ami Barer.

The high-stakes ring game action has been explosive on PokerStars this year. Chad Holloway takes a look at the 10 biggest hands since the start of the year.

Bertrand Grospellier maintained the top spot in the Global Poker Index this week. Which player crept into the top five? Mickey Doft breaks down the GPI rankings.

What should players be doing to prepare for the World Series of Poker? Poker pro Daryll Fish joined the Strategy with Kristy podcast to discuss his mindset going into each event.

Shawn “buck21″ Buchanan is the latest poker pro to join the list of 2012 SCOOP champions. Martin Harris and Mickey Doft break down Wednesday’s action in the Day 11 SCOOP recap.

The Micros returned in print form this week. Get the latest hilarious web comic over at The Muck.

Boyd Gaming Buys a Rival

On Wednesday, Boyd Gaming announced it entered into an agreement to acquire fellow casino operator Peninsula Gaming LLC for $745 million. The deal will also include a refinancing price of $700 million of Peninsula’s existing debt.

Boyd says it has obtained committed financing for the entire transaction. The company is taking out a $1.2 billion loan, part of which will be used to refinance Peninsula’s $700 million debt, as well as pay cash to Peninsula investors and for other transaction fees.

The deal will expand Boyd’s operations in the Midwest and Louisiana with five new casinos — Kansas Star, Diamond Jo, Diamond Jo Worth, Evangeline Downs and Amelia Belle. At present, the company owns 16 casinos across Nevada, Illinois, Louisiana, Mississippi, Indiana and New Jersey.

“Acquiring Peninsula Gaming is a transformative transaction that fits perfectly into our growth strategy by expanding our Company’s scale, diversifying our platform, strengthening our financial profile, and generating meaningful value for our shareholders,” said Keith Smith, president and CEO of Boyd Gaming.

“The Peninsula properties are a strong fit for us, as they are well-managed and operate in resilient markets in the Midwest and South. We anticipate this transaction will be immediately accretive to earnings and significantly increase our free cash flow.”

Read more at SacBee.com.

UKIPT Dublin Under Way

One of the most popular stops on the PokerStars UK & Ireland Poker Tour (UKIPT) kicked off on Thursday. The €700+€70 buy-in UKIPT Dublin Main Event got under way at the CityWest Hotel with the first of Day 1 flights on the schedule.

Last year’s event attracted 718 players to generate a prize pool of €348,230. Joeri Zandvliet collected €83,500 after besting final table that included Max Silver, who won the same event in 2010. Silver took fourth last year and is seeking his third straight final table in this year’s event.

Among the notables taking part in Thursday’s Day 1a were Silver, Ross and Barny Boatman, Jude Ainsworth, Surinder Sunar, Sam Razavi and Simon Trumper.

We’ll be providing daily updates of the UKIPT Dublin Main Event right here in the Nightly Turbo. For live updates from the Main Event, visit the PokerStars Blog.

PokerStars Macau Date Change

PokerStars Macau has made a slight change to the schedule for the upcoming quartet of events at the Grand Waldo Entertainment Complex. The Macau Poker Cup originally scheduled for July 28 through Aug. 6 will now take place from Aug. 11 through 20, so be sure to mark those dates on your calendars if you plan to participate.

The first Red Dragon series will kick off on June 9, highlighted by an HDK$11,000 Red Dragon Main Event. The Grand Waldo Entertainment Complex will also play host to the Macau Poker Cup Championship and the Asia Championship of Poker.

PokerStars Macau Schedule

For more information, check out PokerStarsMacau.com. http://www.pokerstarsmacau.com/tournaments/macau-cup/

New Social Gaming Experience on Facebook

Looking for a new game to play against your friends on Facebook? RocketFrog has introduced a series of multiplayer tournaments for poker, blackjack and slots in which you can compete against friends for prizes.

Users can participate in poker, blackjack and slot tournaments every day with small fields (80 to 300 players) and lightning fast levels (2 to 5 minutes). A different advertiser each day will guarantee players a variety of prizes ranging from movie tickets, music, food and more.

“We’ve created social tournaments where players can interact and compete to win real prizes against their friends; not just leaderboard points or status increases,” said RocketFrog co-founder and CEO Brett Calapp. “There’s no better place to do that than Facebook because that’s where your friends are at online. Who doesn’t like beating their friends and winning a prize?”

To learn more about the games visit rocket-frog.com.

“This is Sick!”

It’s no secret that Chris “ImDaNuts” Oliver is one of the more aggressive no-limit hold’em players around (remember his six-bet with at the 2011 PCA?). So when Oliver pulled another creative move from his arsenal during the final table of SCOOP Event 21-H this week, Denmark’s “ministerborg” fought back. Here’s a look at the insane preflop action, courtesy of PokerStars.tv.

As it turned out, “ministerborg” defeated Oliver heads-up for the title and more than $344,000. If you haven’t been watching any of these high-stakes SCOOP events, you’ve been missing out.

Follow PokerNews on Twitter for up-to-the-minute news.

If you’ve played multi-table tournaments on PokerStars or Full Tilt Poker since 2009, there’s a good chance you’ve played a pot with Ami Barer. The fresh-faced poker pro has been one of the game’s most determined grinders in recent years, playing in tournaments ranging from the $1 rebuy to the $5,200 PokerStars SCOOP Main Event — and virtually everything in between.

Barer, a 21-year-old from Vancouver, will be playing in his first World Series of Poker this summer. It will be the first taste of poker’s summer camp for Barer, who has made a living playing online tournaments since he was in high school.

Unlike many of his peers who were forced to pack up and find a new home in order to resume their poker career after Black Friday, Barer kept his grinding station intact and continued crushing online tournaments like he had been during his career. And while that career may seem brief, his list of accomplishments rivals many of the most talented online tournament players on the planet.

In just three years playing under the moniker “UhhMee” on PokerStars and Full Tilt Poker, Barer has accumulated more than $3.6 million in online tournament cashes. His best result came in the 18th Full Tilt Online Poker Series (FTOPS), where he claimed his first gold jersey and a top prize of $122,000. He also has a fourth place finish in another FTOPS event for $82,500, and a fifth place result in a recent SCOOP event on PokerStars. Not to mention dozens of five-figure scores that would take us hours to catalog.

Most of Barer’s exploits have come on the virtual felts, but the youngster made several appearances at live events around the globe. He burst onto the live scene in 2009 with a 25th place finish at the €10,000 European Poker Tour Grand Final for $59,168. Barer gained some early attention in that event by finishing Day 1b as the chip leader and was among the leaders heading into Day 3, but an unsuccessful face-off with Ludovic Lacay on Day 4 left Barer hitting the rail short of his first live final table.

Barer hasn’t cashed in a live tournament in 15 months, but there won’t be much rust to shake off when the WSOP kicks off later this month. Barer has been grinding online non-stop since the beginning of May; in fact, between May 3 and May 16, the hold’em specialist racked up 135 cashes on PokerStars alone, making 14 final tables. That amounts to a final table every day.

Obviously, those numbers aren’t attainable in the live realm. Multi-tabling WSOP events isn’t advised unless you’ve wagered millions in bracelet bets like Tom Dwan. Therefore, it will be interesting to see if Barer can translate his high-volume approach to the slow, daily grind inside the Rio Convention Center. But since endurance and work ethic play huge factors in success at the WSOP, we’re expecting big things from the Vancouver pro this summer.

PokerNews will be keeping a close eye on Barer in the coming months, so be sure to check our Live Reporting Page for the duration of the 2012 WSOP. Stay tuned for more rookies to look out for, as well.

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If past years are any indication, the high-stakes online action will slow down over the next two months as many grinders pay a visit to the World Series of Poker in Las Vegas. However, right now the action is in full swing as the 2012 SCOOP is under way. That means there are plenty of juicy cash games running alongside the tournament slate, and will no doubt result in some big winners and massive pots. According to our latest Online Railbird Report, there are five players who are up $1,000,000-plus this year: Ben “Sauce123” Sulsky (+$1,726,448), Andrew “EireAbu” Grimason (+$1,598,915), “bernard-bb” (+$1,249,688), Jens “Jeans89” Kyllönen (+$1,123,713) and Phil “MrSweets” Galfond (+$1,029,005).

Surprisingly, these players only account for winning three of the years top ten pots. Kyllönen won the second and fifth largest, and “bernard-bb” took down the seventh. What’s not so surprising is the fact that all 10 were won by recognizable names — Ilari “Ilari FIN” Sahamies, “Fake Love888,” and Viktor “Isildur1” Blom — with the latter taking down the year’s biggest pot thus far.

Here are the top ten hands, all of which took place on PokerStars, from the beginning of the year up until May 14.

Hand #10: $232,284 — $100/$200 Pot-Limit Omaha on January 12, 2012

This particular hand was played in January in a heads-up match between Sander “Berndsen12” Berndsen ($116,043) and Viktor “Isildur1” Blom ($178,913). It began when the former opened for $600 on the button only to have the latter three-bet to $1,880 from the big blind. Berndsen made the call and then raised Blom’s $3,838 bet up to $12,473 on the flop. Not to be outdone, Blom three-bet $23,600, Berndsen four-bet $51,673, Blom five-bet $141,200 and Berndsen called off his remaining $62,590.

Showdown

Berndsen
Blom

Blom had flopped the nut-flush draw, but was behind the bottom set of Berndsen. The turn was of no consequence, and neither was the river. With that, Berndsen was pushed the $232,284 pot.

Hand #9: $235,250 — $200/$400 Pot-Limit Omaha on March 30, 2012

Action was heads up when “Try__An__Hit” ($139,725.01) opened for $800, Ilari “Ilari FIN” Sahamies ($117,626) three-bet $2,560 and “Try__An__Hit” called, bringing about the flop. Sahamies was first to act and fired out $5,278, “Try__An__Hit” called, and the appeared on the turn.

Again Sahamies fired out, this time $15,834, but instead of calling “Try__An__Hit” popped it to $63,336. Sahamies responded by moving all-in for $109,788 and “Try__An__Hit” made the call.

Showdown

“Try__An__Hit”
Sahamies

Sahamies was ahead with two pair when the money went in, but “Try__An__Hit” had plenty of outs. Fortunately for Sahamies, the river wasn’t one of them and he took down the $235,250 pot.

Hand #8: $237,133 — $100/$200 Pot-Limit Omaha on January 24, 2012

In a four-handed $100/$200 PLO game, Davin “mTw-DaviN” Georgi ($39,954) opened for $800 only to have Viktor “Isildur1” Blom ($292,713) three-bet $2,160 from the small blind and “1Il|1Il|1il|” ($98,572) four-bet $7,240 from the big. Georgi responded by making it $24,640, Blom called and “1Il|1Il|1il|” six-bet $96,320. Georgi called off his remaining $15,314, Blom called and the flop fell . Blom led out and “1Il|1Il|1il|” called off his remaining $2,252.

Showdown

Blom:

“1Il|1Il|1il|”:

Georgi:

The pot stood at $237,133, but after the was put out on the turn followed by the on the river, it was split as “1Il|1Il|1il|” took down the side pot while Georgi took down the main.

Hand #7: $243,107 — $100/$200 Pot-Limit Omaha on January 24, 2012

In a full six-handed game, “patpatman” ($115,382) opened for $600 from the hijack and was met with a three-bet to $2,340 by “bernard-bb” ($12,128) on the button. Viktor “Isildur1” Blom ($210,225) made the call from the big blind, “patpatman” four-bet $5,200, “bernard-bb” moved all-in, Blom called and “bernard-bb” six-bet $53,892. Once again Blom called, and then turned right around and led out for $109,807 on the flop. “Bernard-bb” called off his remaining $61,490 and the cards were turned up:

Showdown

“bernard-bb”
Blom
“patpatman”

Blom was up against two pocket pairs of aces, but had to like his chances at the $243,107 pot as he held a big straight draw. Unfortunately for Blom, neither the turn nor river completed it and he watched “patpatman” take down the sizable side pot and then split the main with “bernard-bb.”

Hand #6: $247,140 — $200/$400 Pot-Limit Omaha on April 21, 2012

In another six-handed game, “Fake Love888” ($69,630.03) opened for $1,200 from the hijack and “bernard-bb” ($202,145.32) put in the three-bet to $4,680 from the button. “Zypherin” ($88,537.60) then four-bet $4,680 from the big blind, “Fake Love888” five-bet $20,600, “bernard-bb” six-bet $68,240 and “Zypherin” moved all-in for $88,537.60. “Fake Love888” called off $50,150.04 and “bernard-bb” put both at risk.

Showdown

“bernard-bb”
“Fake Love888”
“Zypherin”

With $247,140 in the middle, the board ran out and “Fake Love888” took down the main pot with a flopped flush; meanwhile, “bernard-bb” took down the side with aces and fours.

Hand #5: $252,049 — $100/$200 Pot-Limit Omaha on February 23, 2012

Six-handed action seems to generate big pots, and this hand was no different. It began when “Tsubi87” ($12,422.50) opened for $600 under the gun and was immediately met with a three-bet to $2,340 by Jens “Jeans89” Kyllönen ($151,610.20). Action folded around to Davin “mTw-DaviN” Georgi ($119,656.05) in the small blind and he called, prompting “Tsubi87” to do the same.

The flop saw Georgi led out for $4,800, “Tsubi87” moved all-in for $10,082.50 and Kyllönen three-bet $42,382.50. Georgi proceeded to move all-in for $117,316.05 and Kyllönen called.

Showdown

Kyllönen
Georgi
“Tsubi87”

“Tsubi87” flopped a king-high flush draw, but it was in bad shape against the ace-high flush draw and top two pair of Georgi. Unfortunately for the latter, his two pair was no good as Kyllönen flopped top set. The turn failed to change a thing, and so did the river. With that, Kyllönen took down the $252,050 hand.

Hand #4: $258,709 — $200/$400 Pot-Limit Omaha on April 21, 2012

With action five-handed at a $200/$400 PLO game, Chris “Genius28” Lee ($270,421.40) opened for $1,600 under the gun and was met with a three-bet to $4,800 by “Zypherin” ($128,937.02) on the button. Both blinds got out of the way and Lee made the call, leading to the flop. Lee proceeded to check-call a bet of $9,200 before leading out for $28,995 on the turn. Not intimidated, “Zypherin” moved all-in for $114,937.02 and Lee called. The was put out on the river and “Zypherin” rolled over for Broadway, which is what Lee held with his . With that, the $258,709 pot was chopped.

Hand #3: $267,785 — $200/$400 Pot-Limit Omaha on April 1, 2012

In a three-handed match, “RaiseOnce” folded the button and allowed Ronny “1-ronnyr3” Kaiser ($133,855) to opened for $800 from the small blind. Ilari “Ilari FIN” Sahamies ($201,915) was in the big and three-bet $2,640, Kaiser called and the flop came down . Kaiser proceeded to check-raise Sahamies’ $5,515 bet to $18,400, Sahamies called, and the peeled off on the turn. Kaiser fired out $28,800, Sahamies called, and the was put out on the river. Kaiser ended up check-calling off his $84,015 with , but it was no good against the of Sahamies, who took the $267,785 pot.

Hand #2: $297,470 — $100/$200 Pot-Limit Omaha on April 2, 2012

In a five-handed game, Viktor “Isildur1” Blom ($116,506.69) opened for $900 under the gun and Jens “Jeans89” Kyllönen ($119,038.65) three-bet to $3,200 from the button. From there, Ilari “Ilari FIN” Sahamies ($47,200) called from the small blind, Ronny “1-ronnyr3” Kaiser ($17,222.50) four-bet $13,900 from the big, Blom called and Kyllönen five-bet $62,200. Sahamies and Kaiser both called off, Blom came along for the ride, and the flop fell . Blom check-called Kyllönen’s all-in shove of $56,838.66 and all four players turned over their cards.

Showdown

Kyllönen
Kaiser
Blom
Sahamies

Both Sahamies and Blom had flopped flushes, with the latter’s being out in front. Meanwhile, both Kyllönen and Kaiser had flopped two pair and needed some help. The turn wasn’t all that exciting, but the that spiked on the river was because it gave Kyllönen a full house and the $297,471 pot.

Hand #1: $355,195 — $100/$200 Pot-Limit Omaha on January 24, 2012

In the biggest hand of the year thus far, action was four-handed at a $100/$200 PLO table when “patpatman” ($72,150) opened for $600 under the gun and was met with a three-bet to $2,260 by Viktor “Isildur1” Blom ($209,961) on the button. “1Il|1Il|1il|” ($158,480) made the call from the small blind, the big folded, and “patpatman” made it a smooth $10,000 to go. Blom just called, but “1Il|1Il|1il|” opted for a five-bet to $40,120, which both his opponents called.

When the appeared on the flop, “1Il|1Il|1il|” led out for $114,235, “patpatman” folded and Blom moved all in. “1Il|1Il|1il|” only had $4,125 behind and called off, creating a monster $355,195 pot.

Showdown

Blom:

“1Il|1Il|1il|”:

“1Il|1Il|1il|” held pocket aces and flopped an open-ended straight draw, but he needed to dodge the nut-flush draw of Blom. The spiked on the turn to fill the flush and put an end to any suspense as it left “1Il|1Il|1il|” drawing dead. The meaningless was put out on the river for good measure as Blom took down what is currently the biggest pot of the year.

_{Data and hands obtained from HighStakesDB.com}

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Each week, the Global Poker Index releases a list of the top 300 tournament poker players in the world using a formula that takes a player’s results over six half-year periods. Bertrand “ElkY” Grospellier maintained his slight hold on No. 1, just fending off Jason Mercier. For a look at the entire list of 300, visit the official GPI website.

The Top 10 as of May 14, 2012

Welcome to the GPI

New Additions

Falling from the GPI this week were Brandon Cantu, Danyel Boyaciyan, Kyle Bowker, Lucien Cohen, Markus Ristola, Michael Binger, and Tom McCormick.

Ups and Downs

The biggest rise of the week belonged to Kent Lundmark. The Swede finished in second place in the Main Event at the Unibet Open Paris for €98,051.

Biggest Gains

Rob Akery slipped the furthest this week on the GPI. His runner-up performance in a €2,000 side event at the EPT Grand Final in Madrid last year slipped into Period 3.

Biggest Drops

What’s In Store?

Like this week, next week won’t provide much change through the GPI. The WPT World Championship kicks off in a few days and at the end of the month will start to get the ball rolling again with the GPI.

To look at the entire list of 300, visit the official GPI website. While you’re at it, follow the GPI on Twitter and its Facebook page.

To stay on top of the GPI and other happenings in the poker world, follow us on Twitter and like us on Facebook.