The Nightly Turbo: Jared Huggins Gets Big Game Spot, Tony G Challenge, and More
While we may enjoy seeing a bad beat every now and again (as long as it's not happening to us) we do have a soft side - especially when chocolates and little candy hearts are involved. So with that, we say Happy Valentine's Day! Now finish reading about Jared Huggins getting his spot on the PokerStars Big Game, Tony G's French Challenge and more. Then go get ready for your fancy dinner. You're going to be late!
In Case You Missed It
The halfway point of the World Series of Poker Circuit kicked off in Tunica, Mississippi, on Sunday. The 480 players who plunked down the $1,500 buy-in created a prize pool of $698,400. Just 111 players remained at the end of the night, and to find out who's leading the way, you're going to have to check out our WSOP-C recap.
Want to check out the grind stations of one of PokerStars' Super Nova Elite players?You can, in the latest edition of the Sunday Grind.
Last week kicked off the first of a two-week $150,000 Cash Game series on Poker After Dark. If you didn't catch it and your DVR didn't record it, you can read our PAD recap for all the action.
Viktor "Isildur1" Blom took on Eugene Katchalov in the fourth edition of the PokerStars SuperStar Showdown. Who won? You know better than to think we'd tell you here. The SuperStar Showdown recap has plenty of the action and who came out on top at the end of 2,500 hands of play.
Season nine of the World Poker Tour premiered Sunday night. If you missed it, you missed a completely revamped show. Luckily for you, we watched it, and decided to do a little write-up about the action from the Bellagio Cup VI.
Sunday was a record-breaking day regarding online poker tournaments. Check out the Sunday Briefing for all the results.
*Photo courtesy of the PartyPoker.fr
Jared Huggins Gets Loose
A year-and-a-half ago, Jared Huggins was down on his luck, losing his job and becoming homeless. He started a thread on TwoPlusTwo about his situation, and before you knew it, the TwoPlusTwo community stepped in and began helping him out. Soon, a petition was started to get Huggins on the PokerStars Big Game, as one of the Loose Cannons.
Initially, it seemed as though Huggins didn't make the cut for a Loose Cannon spot, but Sunday night, PokerStars Steve posted the Loose Cannon list for the 2011 taping of the Big Game, and Huggins was on the list. Filming for the Big Game begins in just a few weeks in Las Vegas.
If you want to find out more about Huggins' story you can check out the Sin City Series or listen to the PokerNews Podcast.
Tony G Challenge
Over the weekend, Tony G organized a six-person sit-n-go at the Aviation Club de Paris. He called it "Tony G versus France." The G believes that French players are the worst poker players in the world and he wanted to prove it. The winner would be given the buy-in for the €10,000 High Roller event at the World Poker Tour National Series in France.
Bruno Fitoussi, Guillaume Darcourt, Yann Courtet, Gabriel Nassif, and Leonard Martin were the five that would take on Tony. There were plenty of antics from the G including tipping a waiter €1,000 to bring him a drink.
The Frenchmen got the better of Tony, and he was eliminated in fifth place by Courtet. In the end, Nassif outlasted the field and won his seat to the High Roller event.
The PartyPoker Blog has more.
Year of Trickett?
Sam Trickett is on fire so far this year. In January, he won the $100,000 Challenge and finished second in the $250,000 Super High Roller event, both at the Aussie Millions, for a combined $2,892,889. He is now at the final table of the World Poker Tour Paris National Series.
A total of 188 players registered for the €5,000 Main Event, creating a prize pool of €870,852. After four days of play, a final table has been set and Benjamin Pollak is leading the way. Trickett, bagging 191,000 in chips, is going to have some work to do when play gets under way again on February 16 for the televised final table.
Final Table Chip Counts
| Player | Chips |
|---|---|
| Benjamin Pollak | 1,251,000 |
| Ingo Paulus | 983,000 |
| Tobias Wagner | 748,000 |
| Natalia Nikitina | 688,000 |
| Jean Tepper-Louis | 470,000 |
| Brivot Alexandre | 203,000 |
| Sam Trickett | 191,000 |
| Nicolo Calia | 176,000 |
IT.PokerNews.com has more. Yes, we already did the whole Google Translate thing for you. You're welcome.
European Poker Awards
The European Poker Awards were held over the weekend in Paris and our very own Gloria Balding was there to check it out. Before we get to the video, here are the results (and here they are in video format).
Rookie of the Year: Jake Cody
Europe's Leading Lady: Liv Boeree
Outstanding Tournament Performance: James Bord
Internet Player of the Year: Andreas Torbergsen
Poker Staff Person of the Year: Gerard Serra Retamero
Poker Personality of the Year: Tony G
Player of the Year: Jake Cody
Lifetime Achievement Award: Nic Szeremeta
Gloria caught up with some of the winners and got their reactions on taking home the trophy.
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