SOREL "Imper1um" MIZZI

Sorel Mizzi One River Card Away From Winning WSOPE Bracelet

2008-09-29T14:35:00.000-04:00

Sorel "Zangbezan24" Mizzi was one card away from winning a World Series of Poker Europe bracelet in the 5k Pot Limit Omaha event. In the end though, it just wasn't meant to be, as Theo Jorgensen walked away with the title and the bracelet.

The World Series of Poker bracelet was within Mizzi's grasp. The tournament was down to heads-up play, and Mizzi had the chip lead. The flop came A-J-4, and both of the players soon had their remaining chips in the middle of the table.

Mizzi showed 2-5-4-3 for a couple of straight draws and a backdoor flush draw, while Jorgensen held top two pair and a backdoor flush draw. Mizzi would win with a 2, 3, 5 or running clubs, while Jorgensen would win with an Ace, a Jack or running diamonds.

The turn was the 3 of spades, and Mizzi now had the five-high straight. All he had to do was avoid the four-outer and he would join Betfair teammate Annette Obrestad as a WSOPE bracelet holder.

The river was a dagger through his heart, as the Ace of spades hit. Just like that, Jorgensen had snatched victory from the jaws of defeat and was now chipleader once again.

The end for Mizzi came a short while later when the two players got their chips into the middle after a flop of K-8-J with two hearts. Jorgensen held K-3-K-A for top set, and Mizzi held 6-A-Q-5 for the nut flush draw and gutshot straight draw. The turn was the 2 of spades and the river was the 7 of diamonds, and Jorgensen took down the tournament.

Theo Jorgensen overcame a loaded final table that included the likes of Mizzi, Erik Friberg and Chris "Jesus" Ferguson to take down his first ever World Series of Poker bracelet. For his victory, Jorgensen took down 218k pounds and the WSOPE bracelet. Mizzi collected 132k pounds for finishing in second place.

2008-09-24T12:09:00.001-04:00

Tournament Indicator Free for 48hours

2008-08-31T11:23:00.001-04:00

FREE DOWNLOAD
Got a tournament coming up? Just download and install now, then browse the Video Guide. You can try Tournament Indicator for FREE for 48 hours.

Tournament Indicator is unlike any other poker calculator because it is specifically designed for Texas Holdem online tournament play. The indicators used in the software are the same you would use in a real tournament situation, but are quite different from a ring or cash game.

Poker calculator designed for ring games simply cannot offer the critical information used to make correct decisions in tournaments. Correct decision making at game critical intersects is what makes a tournament player successful.

Here are some of the features Tournament Indicator offers an online tournament player:

Instant MZone Calculations
Now you will know what MZone you are in as well as every other players' at your table. Depending on which MZone you are in can drastically alter your strategy, and the same is for your opponents. Only now, you are the only one with ALL the critical information at the table.

Player Profiling
In early tournament play you can learn a lot about your opponents by watching everything they do. Harder said than done, but Tournament Indicator does it all for you tracking VPIP%, Aggression, PFR%, showdown wins, and more. All these combined make for real-time player classifications that you can use against your opponents at the right time.

Tilt Factor Monitoring
New to poker calculator also is Tournament Indicator's ability to provide you with insight as to your opponent's tilt potential. By tracking hand streak in wins and losses and a tally on the player's stack over the last 10 hands gives you even more insight into that players current psyche.

MatchCard Showdown
Different criteria enter into the decision making process as a tournament winds down. Whether you are short stack, big stack or other, in the money or on the bubble, you will be faced with numerous all-in confrontations as part of the normal play of tournaments. What Tournament Indicator's MatchCard feature offers is a quick view of potential hands you might be up against.

Odds Calculations
Holdem Indicator set the standard for quick, easy to understand odds display while incorporating a visual display of comparing win odds to pot odds in each betting round. Tournament Indicator uses that same technology to give users the most relevant information with proven, reliable technology.

MiniView and Customized Settings
You won't feel squeezed on your computer screen as Tournament Indicator can be minimized on the game window. We like our profile settings but if you don't, just go ahead and adjust the profiling, and tilt factor settings to where they make more sense for you.

Video Tutorial Guide
Tournament Indicator introduces the Video Tutorial Guide compiled by Marty Smith. Watch these quick, informative videos and you will be using Tournament Indicator to it's full extent in your very first tournament.

Does Low Stake Grinding Beat a Day Job?

2008-08-30T11:17:00.000-04:00

Originally uploaded by HolyokeHangover

The saying goes that grinding low-stakes poker will suck the life out of you, but playing poker for a living has its obvious benefits. And it doesn't matter if you 17-table $25 NL 40 hours a week or you bust a couple chumps a week at Ivey deathmatch.

Drawbacks are pretty much guaranteed, true, but the positives so outweigh the negatives that it's really no contest. Let's go over the positives, as they are the most fun.

Best of all, you work for yourself. There's nobody breathing down your neck telling you to get stuff done. You are your own boss. You have nobody to answer to but yourself.

This freedom is easily the best benefit by far. If you don't feel like playing one day, guess what? You don't have to. Which brings me to my next point:

You can take time off whenever you want. Oh, your friends are going to be heading out of town for the week and want you to join them? No problem; you can just play more leading up to that week and take the whole week off. No holiday problems; no nothing. You want the time off, you take it. Simple as that.

You set your own hours. Sure, playing poker is a job just like any other. If you don't put the time in, you're not going to get ahead. However, when playing poker you get to decide when you put those hours in.

If the games are no good then you can go for a run and come back or try again in the evening when the games are better. If you are going out at night then get your hours in earlier in the day. Flexibility my friend: it's the spice of life.

You can get up whenever you want. Obviously a huge bonus. Who likes getting up early? Nobody, unless they are sick and twisted. When you bend cards for a living you can get up whenever you want. Sleeping in till 1 p.m. never felt so good. I mean what else are you going to do when you are taking flops till 5 a.m.?

You can work from home. If you don't want to make a trip to the casino, any number of online sites are only a click away. Online poker has brought poker into our living rooms. And me and my 42-inch LCD TV and wireless mouse and keyboard are more than happy to welcome it in from the couch.

You can make serious money. Rarely are you going to be able to make the money that is out there to be made doing anything else for yourself. There are supernovas on Stars making 100k+ a year grinding microstakes.

How sick is that? You need no schooling for poker. Just the will to put in time to get better. Anyone can beat this game; it's just whether or not you want it bad enough.

So there you have it - even if you are just playing microstakes, you get to reap the rewards of the poker lifestyle. Contrast that with working every day in a cubicle getting blinded by fluorescent lights.

(Source)

Omaha Hi-Lo Beginners Guide Part 1

2008-08-29T11:22:00.001-04:00

Omaha Hi-Lo, or O8 as it's commonly called, is growing in popularity both live and online thanks to its heavy action and the complexity of play compared to No-Limit Hold'em.

This article details basic beginner strategy for playing O8 in a loose-aggressive cash-game setting.

The majority of O8 games you will play - especially at the lower limits - will be very active and aggressive games, with upward of five players seeing a flop every hand. This is even common in many higher-limit games.

For the basic rules of how a Hi-Lo game works, refer to this article: More to Poker Than Hold'em Part 1: Omaha.

Key Skills for Winning at Limit Omaha Hi-Lo

>Seldom raise before the flop.
>Remember that your aim is to scoop the pot.
>Be able to fold on the flop very often.
>Play premium starting hands.
>Select your table carefully. Only play in loose games where five or more players see the flop on average.
>Hone your ability to quickly calculate accurate odds.
>All of this advice is very general, but will serve you well if you apply it judiciously. Seldom raising before the flop does not mean it's incorrect to ever raise before the flop.

In a game like O8, with almost-guaranteed high, loose action, raising before the flop with anything less than a premium hand does little more than increase the size of the pot.

Key Advice for Limit Omaha Hi-Lo

Much as Omaha Hi is, O8 is considered to be a nut game. Meaning that if you do not have the nut hand, there is a very good chance you will not win the pot. For this reason, you want to be very selective in the hands you play, only playing hands with "nut" potential.

The most important thing to remember is the scooping advice. Your main goal in O8 is to win both the high and the low. In reality, scooping (winning both the high and low) is a difficult thing to do and, for the most part, rather rare.

When playing Omaha, your goal is to play for the high, with a redraw to the low. If you have the nut high, you are guaranteed half the pot. Holding nothing but the nut low still puts you at risk for being quartered, or worse.

Common Mistakes in Limit Omaha Hi-Lo

>Playing too many starting hands.
>Calling all the way with only a low potential.
>Seeing flops with four middle cards, like 6-7-8-9.
>Raising with A-2 in early position and making players fold instead of seeing the flop cheaply with more players in.
>Starting Hand Guide for Limit Omaha Hi-Lo (full table, 8-10 players)

The best starting hands in Omaha Hi-Lo are A-A-2-3 double-suited, followed by A-A-2-4 double-suited. This kind of hand is very strong because it can be played for both high and low, which gives it great scoop potential. Of course, being suited or (even better) double-suited adds value to every hand.

Profitable starting hands
A-A-2-x
A-A-3-x
A-A-4-5
A-2-3-x
A-2-K-K
A-2-Q-Q
A-2-J-J
A-3-4-5
A-A-x-x
A-2-K-Q
A-2-K-J
A-2-x-x (suited ace)
A-3-K-K
A-3-4-x
2-3-4-5 (fold if there is no ace on the flop)
J-Q-K-A
T-J-Q-K
K-K-Q-J
Q-J-T-9
2-3-4-x (fold if there is no ace on the flop)

Beginners may find themselves getting overzealous with any hand containing an ace-deuce. Although A-2 will make the nut low more often than any other two-card combination, it's a losing-money proposition to be overly aggressive with weak hands containing strictly low possibilities.

You're also better off folding hands that hold two gaps (for example A-4-5-9). The chances of making a straight are under 1% and you seldom win the low.

Hands like 3-4-5-6, 4-5-6-7, 5-6-7-8 and 6-7-8-9 also have a negative expected value. Omaha variants being the nut games they are, these sorts of middle-connected hands are useless. They have a very low possibility of making the nuts and thus should not be played.

High pairs with two random cards like K-K-x-x or Q-Q-x-x are rarely, if ever, playable on a full table, although a high pair with two low cards that also make your hand suited or double-suited is playable in most games.

For example K-K-2-4 double-suited is a playable hand with decent scooping potential. Be sure not to over-value the hand when hitting second nuts.

Part two of the beginners guide to Omaha Hi-Lo will go into basic strategy and play on all five streets, plus how to put your starting hand selection into use.

(Source)

Brian Townsend a LIAR & CHEAT

2008-08-28T13:53:00.000-04:00

brian-townsend-03
Originally uploaded by fulltiltpoker

For the past 6 months I have been playing under the 2nd aliases Stellarnebula on FTP and makersmark66 on PokerStars. I have not used the aba20 account on Stars since I began playing on the Makersmark66 account. I have since gone back to using the aba20 account and will play only that account. During this time I played the 25/50 and 100/200 PLO games. I played under the Stellarnebula account from February until the end of June at which time Lee Jones and I had a discussion and we came to an agreement that I needed to close it.

During this time I was playing under the Brian Townsend account, never at the same table with the Stellarnebula. Under the Stellarnebula account I played 25/50, 50/100, and 100/200 PLO. During this time I played a very small amount of 50/100 PLO and primarily 200/400 PLO under the Brian Townsend account. I wanted to have come forward and make this public sooner, but unfortunately because of certain business relationships I could not do that. What I did was wrong and I am going to be punished by FullTilt poker by having my red pro status revoked for 6 months. I am unsure what action, if any, PokerStars will take. I have also hurt those that I work closely with primarily at CardRunners but also at FullTilt.

To compensate those that were hurt by my actions I am going to be donating $25,000 dollars to a charity to be determined in the future. This money will be removed from my CardRunners distributions. This is by no means me making my actions correct but I hope that it shows some good faith towards those that I work closely with. I am very proud of CardRunners; we are doing something very special. My first reaction when this occurred was to go hide under a rock. I am not going to do that and I will answer any questions that are asked of me. I feel that I have nothing to hide. Those are the pertinent facts. The reason why I created these accounts was because I enjoy anonymity when playing smaller and am very prideful in what I do.

The past two years I have made a lot of money playing poker. This year I have been breakeven. For me it’s correct to play smaller when things aren’t going well. I have never played poker for the money; it has always been a byproduct of my play. Whatever I do I want to be the best at it. For me playing the 200/400 PLO games was not the right thing to do because my results haven’t been good. I think I am a winner in those games and I intend to prove to myself that I am one of the best poker players in the world. I believe what it takes is an incredible amount of focus and work to accomplish this goal. I intend to work harder than anyone to prove this, because I have not been playing my best for the past year. I have something to prove to myself. I have removed what I have online and left myself with 100K. From here I am going to play 25/50 PLO until I have 200K then 50/100 until I have 400K online then 100/200 until I have 800K online. From there I will play 200/400. If things don’t go well when I first move up I will move back down and rinse and repeat until I am at the 200/400 PLO games. I used to think that playing 25/50, 50/100, and 100/200 was a failure because I wasn’t playing the largest limits. I am smart enough to move down when things aren’t going well; I was just too prideful to make it public.

Along with this I plan on continuing managing CardRunners and create the best poker instructional videos. I have put a lot of effort into my past videos and I want my partners to know that effort will continue, as well as the effort I put into running the company. I hope that people can look to me and not only learn about poker and bankroll management, but also how to do the right thing and be a good person.

Poker isn’t about luck or how you are running. It’s about the work and effort that you put into it. I have not had good results this year because of my poor play and lack of focus, not because I have run below expectation. I want to prove that to everyone. If you follow my play as I move up you will see the trials and tribulations that I face. There will be days of intense frustration and times when I will doubt my game. But I know that with hard work I can accomplish the goal I am setting. I hope that people can not only look to me for poker education but also for the way to live their lives. I made a mistake and I am willing to take responsibility for it. I am willing to stand up and face the music. I apologize to entire the online community. I will never partake in this type of activity in the future. This post should act as a full admission of my guilt, and I sincerely apologize to anyone that I've wronged.

(SOUCRE - My Apology)

Beating Low Limit No Limit Hold’em Cash Games

2008-08-28T13:20:00.001-04:00

Online Poker prep, originally uploaded by mojohouse.

For all you grinders just starting a bankroll, let’s discuss a few points on how to beat the low limit no limit cash games online. The games at this level are surprisingly mixed with new poker players who can and will draw out on you, and multi-tabling sharks that play 10 tables at a time and grind out $50 an hour while playing low limit poker and clearing bonuses.
There are few adjustments that need to made to your game, regardless of your level of experience.

Low Limit Poker Strategy: Don’t Bluff
Bluffing works, and it’s very profitable but not at this level. A key concept in using a bluff in no limit hold’em is relying on your opponent being good enough to fold his hand. When you’re grinding it out in the micro no limit games, you cannot do this profitably except for rare situations, very rare situations. The likeliness of your opponent folding a bad hand is not great.
Cash poker games are not like tournaments where you need to steal blinds and antes just to survive. In these games, we are looking to buy in with the maximum allowed stack and wait patiently for the nuts (the best possible poker hand) and someone who will pay it off. Thank you for your whole stack sir, fish again.

Low Limit Poker Strategy: Play Post Flop Poker
Keep in mind, you will run into a lot of people limping in with big hands. Ace King and high pocket pairs like Aces or Queens. All of these hands will be limped a lot both by beginners who are afraid to broadcast the strength of their hand, and more experienced players looking to trap you. While I don’t encourage limping with these hands myself, I definately don’t over commit to them pre-flop either.

Knowing the large range of hands I will be called with, I prefer to put in “value-raises” of 2.5 x the big blind with big hands and see where the cards fall before putting them on a hand to continue the action on later streets.
You can and should fold JJ and QQ, or AK AQ after missing a flop, it simply depends on the reads you make. The exception to this style of play is that if you hold KK or AA, you should raise AT LEAST 4 times the big blind. It is also okay to open shove all in with hands like this, you never know who will wake up and call behind you with a pocket pair of fives!

If you feel you have the best hand, but aren’t quite sure or know that your opponent will call to the river on a strong draw, don’t be afraid to use a small value bet or even check the flop to see if the draw hits. Using the turn to extract value instead of the flop helps insure you won’t be semi-bluff shoved all in by an opponent with a 30% draw that may or may not hit. After the turn, you can evaluate your odds to win much easier by seeing how it may or may not have improved your opponents hand.

These poker tables are a gind and you should treat them as such, for the most part you need to play very tight poker and wait for 80% or greater edges to get your money in with, this will help your bankroll grow at a steady pace without big risks and with the added benefit of clearing your first bonus. Players who can multi-table four or more of these low limit cash game tables find that it is easier to play tight poker as they don’t get “bored” as easy.

(Source)

When To Bluff In No Limit Hold’em

2008-08-27T20:06:00.000-04:00

Bluffed, originally uploaded by PotD.

A well timed and perfectly executed bluff in No Limit Hold’em is a relative work of art, but it is not as easy to do profitably as it may look on the television. Good poker players know that a successful bluff on the river or catching a bluffer in the act can add a lot to a winning players expected value over a players career. Picking your spots and knowing the other players at the tables tendencies (how they react based on similar situations in the past) are key skills, and bluffing is not to be attempted at low limit games with a large number of bad players.

When deciding to bluff, it helps to put your opponent on a range of hands first, starting pre-flop. This will allow you to set-up the bluff, by becoming what the player fears in a hand. I can and do successfully bluff Pocket Aces out of scary boards, but only when I deem the player good enough to be capable of folding (and this is simply not the case at low limit games for the most part). If you are confident in your play, and your read of the opponent – you can represent any hand that is possible on the board. A few tips:

Holdem Strategy: Don’t Bluff On The Turn:
Bluffing on the turn is the hardest to pull off, and I generally don’t recommend it. If a player stayed in after the flop the turn usually improves a hand or adds a draw, so players are simply more likely to call or even re-raise on a draw at the turn, because the potential to make their hand becomes great in their own eyes (straight and flush draw for example). Instead, the one time I highly recommend using this play as by semi-bluffing a big draw – that is, give yourself a lot of outs if you are bluffing on the turn, because it might just turn into a big pot. And when we are playing big pots, we want to have the maximum chance of scooping it as possible.

Holdem Strategy: Do Bluff The River
And do it often, especially versus tight/passive players. A player with pocket queens is susceptible to a river King or Ace, a flush card, or even a gutshot. Become the hand they fear most, and prey on their ability to “make a good fold”. Bluffing on the river can be risky of course, but I swear by it – it works well especially in heads up poker games. In multi-handed pots I only recommend attempting a stone cold bluff if you have position in the hand, thus ensuring you have the most information possible on what the other players might have – but in general a bluff works best in heads up poker situations.

If you haven’t been trying the occasional river bluff, you are losing a lot of pots that you don’t need to. Target players that check behind in showdown situations with hands like top pair weak kicker – just don’t over use the play as this style should fit solidly into your winning tight aggressive image to ensure the highest success rates, good luck!

Annette Obrestad winning a 180 person Sit&Go without looking at her cards

2008-08-27T20:05:00.001-04:00

This 2 part video shows how Annette Obrestad won a 180 person Sit&Go by playing position and the player and NEVER looking at her 2 hole cards. You will see her folding KK and great hands because SHE NEVER LOOKS AT THEM. Its an amazing accomplishment in poker. She played completely blind.

Part 2 of series of video that shows how Annette_15 wins a 180 SNG by playing position and player and NEVER looking at hole cards. BLIND PLAY!!

Poker Stars Sunday Million Ups Guarantee to $1.5 Million

2008-07-31T12:16:00.003-04:00

Sunday Warm-Up Guarantee Also Increases to $750,000

PokerStars, the largest poker site in the world, is staying ahead of the game as it recently announced that its flagship tournament, the Sunday Million, will now have a guarantee of $1.5 million, an increase of 50 percent.

The $215 buy-in Sunday Million runs weekly at 4:30 p.m. ET. Satellites run around the clock for as little as $3. This isn’t the only tournament getting increased guarantees, either. The Sunday Warm-Up is also offering an upped minimum prize pool of $750,000. That event also features a buy-in of $215 and is no-limit hold'em, but it runs just before the Sunday Million at 12:45 p.m. ET. The $1,050 buy-in Super Tuesday tournament's guarantee will now be $300,000 (up from $250,000).

Poker Stars Sunday Million Ups Guarantee to $1.5 Million

2008-07-31T12:16:00.001-04:00

David Benyamine up $910,984 WSOP 2008

2008-06-29T10:26:00.001-04:00

David Benyamine is having a great year!!

WSOP: Phil 'OMGClayAiken' Galfond Wins $817,781 Event No. 28

2008-06-17T14:43:00.001-04:00

2008 39th Annual World Series of Poker
Event 28 - Pot-Limit Omaha with Rebuys
06/16/2008 1 $817,781.00

Galfond Wins Marathon Heads-Up Match for His First Bracelet

In what has been regarded by some as the best final table ever formed at the World Series of Poker, two online players took out some of the game's best to match up in an epic battle. In the end, after nearly 120 grueling heads-up hands, Phil "OMGClayAiken" Galfond finally got the better of his fierce opponent, Adam Hourani.

Here were the chip counts heading into the star-studded final table:

Phil Galfond -- 1,393,000
Brian Rast -- 1,176,000
David Benyamine -- 1,041,000
John Juanda -- 694,000
Johnny Chan -- 624,000
Kirill Gerasimov -- 558,000
Daniel Negreanu -- 460,000
Adam Hourani -- 300,000
Phil Hellmuth -- 119,000

Here are highlights from all of the action, as featured in CardPlayer.com’s live coverage of the final table:

2008 39TH ANNUAL WORLD SERIES OF POKER

2008-06-10T12:15:00.000-04:00

2008 39TH ANNUAL WORLD SERIES OF POKER

05-30-2008 to 07-15-2008
Rio Suite Hotel & Casino
3700 W. Flamingo Road - Las Vegas, NV

LIST OF EVENTS - CLICK HERE

FOLDING POCKETS ACES

2008-06-10T12:10:00.001-04:00

TOURNAMENT: 2007 38th Annual World Series of Poker
EVENT: Event 55 - World Championship No-Limit Hold'em Day 4
EVENT DATE: July 13, 2007 12:00 PM

By Sorel Mizzi - I started the day with about $603,000 and was very happy with my table. No one other than Lurped was a very strong player there. I got into a few pots with him.

One hand I'm proud of is when I held 10d 6d, which is my favorite hand. I just couldn't resist playing it to a raise in position. So some guy raises - who hasn't raised a single pot - from mid-position. And I call from the cutoff with my favorite hand. Everyone else folds. On the flop is a Q 9 8 rainbow. He checks and I bet $32,000. He insta-called. The turn is a five. He bets $100,000 with $220,000 behind. I go all in and he folds. I put him on a underpair there. All I know is when people make those kinds of plays, they usually have something they are not calling an all in with. They are just betting to see where they're at. He told me he had jacks. And I believe it.

Another hand I had 8d 5d suited and I raised UTG. I got called in five spots. The flop came 9 7 3. I had 8 5. The 3 was a diamond. The bb checked and I bet $55,000 and Lurped raises to $180,000 and is committed to the pot. I fold. He had 8 10 suited.

In a hand right before the break I raised from late position with A A and got called by the button. The flop was A K 2 with two clubs. I bet $36,000 and he called. The turn was 3c. I bet $85,000 and he went all in for over $600,000. I know the player from online (WPT Hero) and he wouldn't make that play with anything less than the second nuts or the nuts. I probably fold a lower flush there as well.

I'm at $725,000.

- Imper1um

2008 LIVE PLAY OFFLINE WINNINGS

2008-06-05T11:46:00.000-04:00

Lindsay Lohan has a real nice rack!

2008-06-04T15:21:00.001-04:00

HANCOCK Trailer - extended version

2008-05-27T12:22:00.000-04:00

David Benyamine up $1.8 million dollars in May 2008

2008-05-23T11:55:00.001-04:00

David Benyamine is currently up over $1.8 million dollars in Pot Limit Omaha games on FullTilt Poker just in May. He just finished a session where he won over $700k, beating players such as "Durrrr" and "Alstonprice" out of six figures each.

David Benyamine in May has played 18,302 hands (in the PLO games) and is up $1.15 million dollars. This works out to an unbelievable $62.83 in profit for each hand that he has played so far in May.

Since the beginning of 2007, according to HighStakesDB, Benyamine's various aliases have dropped $3 million dollars on Full Tilt Poker playing No Limit Hold'em.

On the flip side, since the beginning of 2007, Benyamine has dominated the biggest PLO games on the site like no one else.

If you include his 700k the "David Benyamine" alias has won around $5.3 million in the PLO games on FTP since the beginning of 2007.

Another one of his old aliases, "ballsrider", generated $1.51 million in total profits over that same time period, before being shut down. Yet another one of his aliases, "magicpitch1", is up over $682k from the beginning of 2007 until now. Add those three aliases up, and Benyamine is up around $7.6 million playing PLO on Full Tilt Poker since the beginning of 2007. That makes him by far the biggest PLO winner on the site during that time.

Brandi Hawbaker Confirmed Dead @ 26

2008-05-21T17:08:00.000-04:00

The Real Truth About Brandi Hawbaker - Two Plus Two Poker Forum
The Real Truth About Brandi Hawbaker News, Views, and Gossip.

Tournament Titan Winner Sorel Mizzi Doesn't Know Pot Odds, but Knows Poker

2007-12-23T09:14:00.000-05:00

Canadian poker player Sorel Mizzi, captured first prize at the $1 Million Guaranteed Prize Tournament Titan staged this month by online poker room Titan Poker.

(PRWEB) December 23, 2007 -- Canadian player Sorel Mizzi, one of the most successful online poker players in the world, says he doesn't have a clue when it comes to math and doesn't even know what pot odds are.

Not knowing what pot odds are didn't stop Mizzi from capturing first place at The Tournament Titan, the $1,000,000 Guaranteed Prize Sit 'n' Go Tournament staged on December 9 by Titan Poker, the largest online poker room on the iPoker Network.

"I'm best at tournaments," Mizzi said, after defeating an exclusive field of nineteen other players from across the globe to take home a first prize package valued at $200,000, including cash and an entry to the upcoming 2008 World Series of Poker Main Event.

At his peak, Mizzi was playing online poker 16-18 hours a day, taking time off only on Thursdays and Fridays. "Lately I've been playing only on Sundays," Mizzi said. "High stakes heads-up sit 'n' go tournaments and high stakes cash games are my fave, but I'm best at tournaments," he added.

"I like the Titan Poker software, and especially the fact that there is live player support," Mizzi said. "If there's ever an issue, it can be resolved quickly by calling in, something they don't have at other poker rooms."

The Tournament Titan, with its Million Dollar guaranteed prize pool, was the richest sit 'n' go tournament ever staged online. In order to qualify, players had to make the final table at a select group of cash tournaments or win a Player Points race staged by the popular online poker room. The Tournament Titan promotion had attracted eager poker players for over a year at Titan Poker until the list of 20 skilled poker players was finalized.

Mizzi, who has achieved great success in high stakes poker action online with his Imper1um nickname, also had three cash finishes in the 2007 World Series of Poker in Las Vegas and has won more than half a million dollars in land-based poker tournaments.

The Tournament Titan is just the latest of a long string of innovative promotions run by Titan Poker. Titan Poker this month staged the European Championship of Online Poker 2007, a highly successful ten-day tournament series that awarded more than $2.5 Million in prizes. Titan Poker regularly awards its players with seats at the world's most well-known poker tournaments, such as the World Series of Poker in Las Vegas, various European Poker Tour events and the upcoming Aussie Millions and Irish Open Tournaments.

Sorel "Zangbezan24" Mizzi Takes Down Another High Stakes Showdown on Pokerstars

2007-12-18T11:32:00.000-05:00

Sorel "Zangbezan24" Mizzi took down yet another High Stakes Showdown on Pokerstars Sunday afternoon, besting "Dariominieri" to take down the $25k first prize. Other competitors in this week's High Stakes Showdown included "Bebop86" and "MrSweets28."

Mizzi has absolutely owned this event since it was launched. No one else has come even close to matching his success in the High Stakes Showdown.

According to thepokerdb.com, Mizzi has now taken down this event 6 times since it began on July 8th.

On December 16th, he took down the 4-man Showdown for $25k.

Last week, on December the 9th, he took down the 2-man Showdown for $20k.

On December 2nd, he placed second in the 8-man Showdown for $30k.

On September 23rd, he took down the 8-man Showdown for $50k.

On September 9th, he came in second in the Showdown for $15k.

On August 5th and August 12th, Mizzi took down 8-man fields both weeks for $50k cashes.

And finally, on July 15th, Mizzi took down the 16-man field for a total cash of $72k.

That's a ridiculous $312k in total cashes and six victories since the event started in July.

The next closest to Mizzi in terms of victories in this event is "$tinger 88", who currently has three victories.

Sorel Mizzi tops Tournament Titan

2007-12-13T11:53:00.000-05:00

It took more than a year to find the 20 players for the Tournament Titan, but in the end it was a familiar name who reigned supreme. Sorel Mizzi, aka "Imper1um," took home the top prize.

The first 18 players had to make three consecutive final-table finishes in participating tournaments to qualify for the Tournament Titan. The final two qualifiers participated in a points race for spots in the tournament.

Mizzi qualified for Titan Poker's Tournament Titan in December 2006 after he made the final table of the $7,500 GP twice and final-tabled once in a $7,000 GP tournament. He's had to wait a year since qualifying to actually play for a piece of the $1 million prize pool.

During that time, he came in fourth during the €1,000 No-Limit Hold'em event and first in the €200 No-Limit Hold'em event of the Vienna Spring Poker Festival in March.

He followed that up in April with a third-place finish in the Irish Open for €210,000, and a 15th-place finish in the World Poker Tour Championship for $154,705. At the 2007 World Series of Poker, he also cashed in three events, including the Main Event.

With his Tournament Titan win, he'll have his buy-in paid for the 2008 WSOP Main Event, as well as $188,000 in cash to add to his bankroll.

Second- and third-place finishers in the Tournament Titan also received 2008 Main Event prize packages with their cash prizes.

The tournament results are:

Place Name Prize
1st Imper1um $200,000*
2nd supakef $125,000*
3rd bioman $75,000*
4th backeast $65,000
5th Nuervitre $55,000
6th SirFlopsAlot $50,000
7th JAHAAA $45,000
8th WayneyG $40,000
9th simaar $35,000
10th dutcher777 $32,500
11th neooen2 $30,000
12th tyler345 $30,000
13th Catfang $30,000
14th asdfsmh $30,000
15th muuli $27,500
16th shahmat0 $27,500
17th feffou $27,500
18th hupp $25,000
19th cuspide $25,000
20th rubeo $25,000

*Total prize includes $12,000 prize package for 2008 Main Event seat.

SOREL MIZZI - ESPN POKER INTERVIEW

2007-12-13T11:52:00.000-05:00

If you strictly follow the live tournament circuit, Sorel Mizzi might be a name with which you are only vaguely familiar. Having just turned 21, Sorel has burst onto the circuit with over $500,000 in live tournament winnings, including deep finishes in both the WPT and WSOP main events in 2007.

If you follow Internet poker at all, Sorel Mizzi is a name you are undoubtedly very familiar with. One of the most popular and recognizable players in Internet poker's short history, Sorel plays as "zangbezan24" on PokerStars and "Imper1um" on Full Tilt, and has amassed well over $1 million in online tournament winnings in his lifetime, making him one of the most successful online tournament players of all time.

Bluff had the opportunity to sit down with Sorel and talk about live poker, Internet poker, and how his life has changed since turning 21 years old.

Bluff: How did your summer go at the World Series of Poker? Did you stay in Las Vegas the entire time?

Sorel Mizzi: Not the entire summer. I was actually in France for a good part of it. I played a tournament at the Aviation Club and tried to qualify for the Paris Open as well. I got to Vegas just before the WPT Mandalay Bay main event and I played that. During the WSOP, I played between 12-15 events.

Bluff: How did you do at the WSOP?

Mizzi: It went decently, but definitely not as well as I had expected. I cashed three times, one of which was in the main event. I did, however, put myself in a very good position to do well in a few tournaments by having a huge stack right on the bubble, but ended up being unlucky in key pots late in the tournament and always against the one stack on the table that could bust me. Bluff: What was it like playing the main event? We know you built one of the more imposing stacks very deep in the tournament and a lot of people in the poker world picked you as one of the favorites to win it all. Do you feel that you played as well as you could? Is there anything you would have changed?

Mizzi: I think that's one of the few tournaments I've ever played in that I felt I didn't make one mistake. The entire Day 1, I had been struggling and didn't get my stack above $24,000, and then the last level of Day 1, I found myself short-stacked with about $6,000 and the blinds at $300/$600. I took some necessary gambles, got lucky twice, and from then on, it was almost no-showdown poker. I'm so happy with myself for making some of the moves that I did. It was the first tournament that I felt almost 100 percent confident with my live reads and was able to play live poker almost the same as I play online. This is something that I've struggled with in the past: trusting my instincts and going with my initial read.

Bluff: That brings up something interesting: the difference between live and online play. Recently, Brian Townsend, regarded as perhaps the best online cash game player, mentioned in his blog a conversation he had with Barry Greenstein about the differences between live and online players in tournaments. They decided to make a bet, and Brian picked you as one of the online players to compete against Barry. What is your position on this?

Mizzi: I feel Brian is right. First of all, I think that a lot of the known older players are no longer as ambitious as they used to be, having already established themselves, and most of them have income from sources outside of poker, not to mention endorsements. I think the young online players are thirstier for blood. Not only that, but I'm convinced that most professional online players have played far more hands than live professionals and have seen far more situations. That is an incredible edge in itself. For online players, it's just a matter of getting used to the live setting and learning to be more patient when you're only playing one tournament at a time. That has been the biggest struggle for me, but I think I'm starting to get this live poker thing.

Bluff: When you say "get," are you referring to making live reads? Do you feel that you have to play much differently in live tournaments than you do in online tournaments? Has your overall style of play changed from playing online to playing live?

Mizzi: Yes, live reads and the ability to make decisions live as I would online, with minor adjustments. For example, those who have seen me play online know that I usually make very quick decisions when I'm involved in a pot. Even when it's for my entire stack, the most time I usually spend is 10-15 seconds on any one decision. But when I played live, I would take a lot longer. I started calling the clock on myself in live tournaments because I overthink situations and sometimes I convince myself off of my initial read, which often ends with me making the wrong decision. I made a bad decision after taking nearly three minutes in the $1,000 rebuy event at the WSOP. I believe that thinking about that decision for so long caused me to convince myself that my initial instinct was wrong.

Another thing, I think it's important to give a lot of credit to some players and very little credit to others; the big challenge is finding out which player deserves which. When you play live poker, it's so much easier to profile players and put them into a category just by talking to them or generalizing them by how they look and talk, then playing according to those generalizations until they prove otherwise. For example:

Young equals aggressive
Old equals conservative
University educated equals math-oriented
High school education equals more instinct-based.

These, of course, are not always true and are just examples, but you can pick up vital information on players from anything -- from the way they comb their hair to whether or not they have a wife and/or kids.

Bluff: Do you feel your notoriety and popularity have affected your game at all? Do you feel the "Hellmuth Effect" -- having people play hands differently against you than the way they might play against others?

Mizzi: Absolutely. Most online players know who I am and play against me in a certain way. Some people fear me, while others constantly try to outplay me. Again, the challenge is finding out which player fits into which category. I think that's part of the reason why I have had so much success online and Hellmuth has had so much success live. It has a lot to do with the fact that players are willing to put their entire stack in on a bluff, just to say they bluffed us out of a pot. This makes accumulating chips much easier. When I play live I usually know who knows me and who doesn't and for those who do, I will pay very careful attention to how they play against me in order to decipher if they're trying to stay away from me or get involved with me in spots they might not normally be in.

Bluff: We all know that your success and accomplishments are well-documented all over the Internet, because you had a pretty amazing year. How much did you profit in online tournaments this past year?

Mizzi: Somewhere around $600,000.

Bluff: Do you think this put you at the top of the list of online tournament earners?

Mizzi: I think I was near the top, but I'm pretty sure there are a few who are in the same league, if not higher.

Bluff: Which online players should we look for to make a big splash in the upcoming years on the live tournament scene?

Mizzi: Just to name a few, Chad Batista (lilholdem) is a gem when he's not on tilt. Josh "JJprodigy" Field and Annette "Annette_15" Obrestad will take all the money when they turn 21. Aditya "Intervention" Agarwal, Justin "ZeeJustin" Bonomo, and Isaac "westmenloAA" Baron are some others whose games I really respect.

Bluff: With all this money coming in from online and live play, did you buy yourself any cool presents?

Mizzi: Yes, I finally treated myself to a Porsche Boxster recently. It is pretty much my first car. I used to drive my brother's 1989 Toyota, but it wasn't mine. I promised myself at a young age that I'd buy my first house before I bought my first car and I kept that promise.

Bluff: Owning your own house and car at 21 is quite a feat. Do you plan to stay at your house in Canada or do you want to move out west toward Vegas?

Mizzi: I'm planning on living in Canada during the summer and then have a place in Costa Rica or somewhere hot/exotic during the winter. I definitely won't be living in Las Vegas though; there is no way I can handle that kind of lifestyle. Especially because I have so much gamble in my blood and there are so many bad gambling opportunities surrounding you at all times.

Bluff: A lot of online players and young players on the live circuit have backers who put them in tournaments in order to handle the big swings of being a professional poker player. Do you have a backer, or have you ever? How do you feel about staking in the poker world?

Mizzi: I have never had anyone put me in tournaments. There have been a few points in my career where I might have needed one, but I hung in there. I always seem to play my A game and come through with big wins when I really need the money. I do back a few players, however, so we will see how that goes.

Bluff: Do you have any specific poker goals for the upcoming year?

Mizzi: Nothing specific yet. With the WSOP over, I plan to write down a few goals. I just want to get to a point in my live game where I make zero mistakes and make live reads with the same accuracy and confidence that I do online.

Bluff: Is there anyone in the poker world you credit as a mentor or someone who specifically helped you mold your game?

Mizzi: Someone I mentioned earlier. Josh "JJprodigy" Field was the biggest influence on my game. He taught me all the basics and key concepts/fundamentals that I still use today. However, Josh and I play very differently and I've developed my own style just by playing a lot and by learning from trial and error, while constantly experimenting with new strategies.

Bluff: Those strategies have obviously worked, as your name has extended past the online community. This year at the WSOP, a Hollywood celebrity came to say "Hey" to you when he heard that you were playing in a tournament. Tell us about that.

Mizzi: Yeah! Norm Macdonald came up to my table while I was playing the main event and a friend introduced me to him. I was stunned that a real celebrity knew who I was and had actually watched me play online. I asked him for his online screen name, but he wouldn't tell me! We had actually met prior to this incident, when we played in a tournament together, but he hadn't recognized me at that time.

Sorel Mizzi/Chris Vaughn Update – Vaughn Out at Bluff

2007-12-11T08:33:00.000-05:00

As the developments of the recently revealed account purchase story between Sorel Mizzi and Bluff Managing Editor Chris Vaughn continues to unfold, Bluff Media released the following statement this morning regarding the status of Chris Vaughn.

Vaughn's win as 'BluffMagCV' in a major Full Tilt online tournament several weeks ago later drew scrutiny from that site, which led to the eventual disqualification of Vaughn's account from the event. Poker forums and the poker media were instantly on fire with the topic, with the issue of a member of the poker media being involved among the more active questions.

Bluff Statement:

Bluff Media, publisher of Bluff Magazine, has made the decision to terminate Chris Vaughn as Managing Editor. In light of Chris' involvement, recently admitted facts and the feedback obtained from industry professionals, it became apparent that the credibility required to perform the job functions of Managing Editor of Bluff Magazine at our company's level of standards have become severely diminished. While we regret having to make this decision, we believe that it is the best alternative for all parties involved, including Chris, Bluff Media and the poker playing community at large. We wish Chris the best of luck.

It was not announced yet as to who will assume Vaughn's duties at Bluff. PokerNews.com will continue to follow this developing story, and will update as needed.

$268,000 Big Weekend for Sorel Mizzi

2007-12-10T08:24:00.000-05:00

Sorel "Imper1um" Mizzi Big Weekend $268,000

2007-12-10T08:06:00.000-05:00

Sorel "Imper1um" Mizzi put on a show this weekend as he looked to put the recent Full Tilt Poker controversy behind him.

"Imper1um" started by taking down the "Tournament Titan" on Titan Poker for $200k ($188k in cash, $12k package to the 2008 World Series of Poker.) This was a 20 man SNG with a million dollar prize pool. This was a promotional tournament with no buy-in; most players qualified by making the final table of three consecutive tournaments, and the final two players qualified through a points race.

Then, to top it off, Mizzi had an extremely strong day on Pokerstars on Sunday. He took down a $100+$9 rebuy tournament for $45k; then he took down the High Stakes Poker Showdown against "p3achy_keen" for $20k; and then he went deep in the Sunday Million tournament, finishing 34th.

INTERESTING THREADS ON THE SOREL MIZZI CHEATING SCANDAL

2007-12-07T13:55:00.000-05:00

Imp interview Part 2

full tilt and Imperium

How do you draw the line between Multi-Accounting and getting disconnected and logging on through someone eles computer

Multi accounting and buying out players accounts

Ban Imper1um

Imperium Should NOT be banned from this site.

Imperium.... JJ..... Zeejustin.....

Annette, M8kingmoves, Bax opinion on the 'IMP Story' ?

Online Poker: Chris Vaughn and Sorel 'Imper1um' Mizzi Speak, Part 2

2007-12-06T08:17:00.000-05:00

In Part One of our interview with Sorel and Chris, we learned about the facts concerning the sale of Vaughn's account the night he won the Full Tilt $1 Million Guaranteed.

In Part Two of the interview, we discuss the reaction of Full Tilt and the poker community as a whole. In addition, we discuss Vaughn's subsequent PokerStars Sunday Million win, and where Mizzi and Vaughn go from here.

John Caldwell: So, now, let's talk about the process of Full Tilt discovering that this had gone on. What was the first piece of communication you received and when did you know it was going to be a real issue?

Chris Vaughn: I guess someone contacted them and asked for an investigation. I assume they did this to PokerStars and Full Tilt both. Full Tilt found reason to believe that we were in violation of their rules. They temporarily suspended our accounts to investigate and the correspondence began. They had questions, and they had to use their technology to investigate what they thought happened and it took a couple weeks of just going back and forth. Their questions were pretty cut and dried, as in: What happened? Did you disconnect? That kind of thing.

JC: And so in the meantime your account was frozen?

CV: Correct.

JC: The money – you couldn't cash out?

CV: Correct.

JC: And so that money is now on to Soren Kongsgaard? (Kongsgaard was the runner-up in the Full Tilt tournament in question.)

CV: Yes.

JC: Have you been officially told that your account has been closed at Full Tilt?

CV: Correct.

JC: So, is there any type of statement that says you're not welcome to open another account with them?

CV: Correct, yes there is.

JC: So, Sorel – On to you. As an Internet pro, I assume not being able to play at Full Tilt is like a baseball player being told he can't play in the American League. How has this, and the surrounding attention, affected you?

Sorel Mizzi: The attention that I've received has been astronomical, both positive and negative. On the extreme side, the physical threats that I've received have been tough on me mentally, even if I don't believe them to be credible. And my goal in 2007 was to win the online player of the year. I was locked in and I felt my chances were very good. However, the inability to accumulate the necessary points by eliminating a huge resource in Full Tilt Poker has thrown these strong chances away. I am now limited as an online pro. I have lost good friends and my credibility.

JC: So, what can you say about this experience?

SM: Well, first of all I'd like to come out with an apology, because I know that what I did was wrong. The more I think about it, the more I believe what I did was wrong and it's something that I want the poker community to know that I would never do again. And my primary focus, like I said, was to be a contender for the online player of the year and because of all these things that have happened, my resource from Full Tilt has been cut off and I can no longer play on there, so I think I'm more inclined to focus on the live tournament arena and sort of move more away from online as the year ends. Hopefully people can forgive me for what I've done and I can move forward with my life and not be known as someone who cheats or someone who multi-accounts, rather, known for my achievements online and my achievements live. That's kind of what I'm hoping from the situation.

JC: You brought up something I think is interesting. You said that there's good elements and bad that have been reacted to positively and negatively. Tell me a little bit about the positive reaction. I assume this is from people from the culture of online poker who don't see this as problematic?

SM: There have been a lot of people – and a lot of the PMs (personal messages) have been very positive, that I've gotten. There's a lot of people that don't think what I did was a huge issue and those people, instead of posting on the forums and getting lynched, they decided to PM me directly and tell me how they felt about the situation. And the truth of the matter is, the whole thing has been blown severely out of proportion and I think that I've suffered enough, to be honest. I mean, the fact that I can no longer make a run at the online player of the year, my account is closed on Full Tilt for good, I lost the good amount of money that would've been helpful and I've also lost a lot of people, or a lot of friends and a lot of fan base because of the issue. But the positive from it is like a lot of the players have come up to me personally and a lot of players have PM'ed me, like I said, and told me that they're still friends with me and they still believe in me and they still have trust for me and everything like that and I really appreciate those comments. Although there's a lot of people who seem to think that, this is not a big issue, the more and more I think about it, the more I realize that it is a big issue.

The support that I have received from both my family and close inner circle of friends has truly helped me cope with this disastrous situation. Even upon arriving to Las Vegas this week to play the Venetian and Five Diamond, having other big known pros pull me aside and offer support has helped me pick up a little bit. I have been advised as to my course of action and hope that everyone was able to see I felt a need to express myself in a professional and sincere manner. Most importantly, making light of the story in a setting that is both professional and appropriate. But, so yeah, I've received a lot of support from people that I know in the community and people who have said that they still think that I have a lot of potential for the future and that this situation shouldn't really affect me as much. A lot of people are optimistic that my reputation will be recovered and I'll have the credibility that I once did have and a lot of people have told me that this will all pass over – which I'm really looking forward to happening.

JC: Chris, do you feel it's fair that you be held to a different standard because you are a member of the poker media?

CV: Separately from working in poker, I think that anyone who enters a poker tournament should be held to all of the same standards. I feel that any random player that plays the Sunday Million should have the same ethical standards that a poker journalist should have. That's not to say that poker journalists should have more standards than the average player – or less. It's something that, maybe because of my opportunity to work in the poker media that I might understand better than some others, because I understand the history of online poker – stuff like this – and I understand the kind of trouble that can be gotten into by doing things like this, because I work for a major poker magazine. I obviously should've behaved myself in a much different manner, for sure.

JC: So, how have the people at Bluff reacted to you?

CV: They've treated this as a poor decision that I made, on my own, in my personal life. They've been very supportive of me. You know, the people I work with have been some of the people that have been most supportive through all this. I've had people that have had my back that have really helped me a lot – that have offered me continued and pretty unconditional support, so, I'm very proud to be working there. They, I think, have shown a lot of character throughout this, when, I put them in a spot where they didn't necessarily even need to be. [Editor's Note – Bluff Media sent us a statement when they heard we would be conducting this interview. Their statement runs at the end of this interview.]

JC: As Chris Vaughn, online poker player, how does it make you feel that there are going to be people out there, especially poker media people, who are going to say you're affiliated with something that was really, really bad for poker? How are you going to deal with that personally going forward and how do you deal with those people?

CV: I'm angry at myself and I expect other people to be angry at me. I wish there was something I could do. I can't. I think I just have to listen to their concerns and address them. I don't think there's any real response that I can give anyone at this point that's really going to change anything that we did. I can apologize, I apologize on behalf of myself, and on behalf of the magazine I work for. You know, it's embarrassing – I'm embarrassed of myself.

JC: Chris, Let's talk about the Sunday Million tournament you won on October 28th. You and I have spoken a few times throughout this process. You have always maintained that you sat at your own computer, and played that tournament with absolutely no assistance from any other player, is that correct?

CV: Correct.

JC: Ok, and every piece of evidence out there seems to indicate that that is exactly what happened. Anything to say about Stars? Has Stars been in touch with you at all?

CV: No, not at all.

JC: And your account is still open and active?

CV: Sure. I play on it all the time.

JC: Last question for you both, let's start with you, Chris. Who do you feel personally the worst for in this entire situation?

CV: We've both been through a lot in this. We've taken a lot of heat. We've taken a lot of heat in different ways. It's hard to say. You said "feel bad." The best way to put it is I feel sorry for myself. It's difficult to wake up and think about this everyday for sure. Do we deserve it? Probably. You know, it's a hard lesson learned. You deal with it everyday – you wake up, you try not to read the posts, you read them. It's ruined a lot of days, it's ruined a month, but you just have to deal with it one day at a time and yes, it's real easy to feel sorry for yourself. But I think you have to accept blame and as far as feeling bad, I think you have to feel bad for the players that were involved in the tournament where you cheated them out of their money. All of a sudden they're playing a world-class player. It was me and now all of a sudden, you were putting –

JC: A world-class player in your seat?

CV: Sure, right, and of course once you realize what's happened, you start to accept that and you really start to feel bad for everyone else that was involved. It's hard not to feel bad for Sorel too because he's gonna feel this a lot more than I will. It sucks for everyone.

JC: Sorel, same question for you. Who do you feel the worst for in this situation?

SM: I feel equally bad for me, as I do for Chris, as I do for the players involved in this. To be perfectly honest, at the time, I didn't think of how it would affect the players as much as the financial gain and playing the tournament. I think I had a really bad Sunday that time, so it was a new opportunity for me and I was excited about it. But, I think that we all have equally suffered from this. The poker sites have probably suffered a little bit, and we have suffered. To have that amount of money taken away from us, and the suspension of the accounts and Chris being a respected member of the media. It's just been a really terrible situation for everyone and it's something that should've never happened and I think that we all, equally, have suffered. I think that Chris and I have suffered the same amount as the players have suffered. I really hope that everyone can move forward and forget about the situation. I have had a clean track record online for over two years and nothing like this has ever happened and I hope that people will respect me like they once did and look at me as ambassador of the game, because that's what I want to be. I want to be an ambassador for the game because I love poker and I love everything about it and it's something I see myself doing for a very long time.

JC: Sorel, when someone sees you on the tournament floor – what do you want them to know?

SM: I want them to think of a young, naïve 21-year-old who made a mistake and is trying to put it all behind him and move forward. I think I've grown through this situation and I've realized that a lot of my morals and beliefs have changed about the situation and I want them to think that I am working on a better me and I'm trying. I want them to think that I've gained maturity throughout this whole situation and that it's something that I never see myself doing again and it's something that I look down upon.

[End of interview.]

Statement from Bluff Media on the Chris Vaughn situation:

"Bluff Media in no way, shape, or form condones the actions of Chris Vaughn. We were extremely unhappy, and disappointed. However we feel that Chris has always acted in a professional manner at BLUFF in the past, and we have no plans for terminating his employment with the company. He has been given a warning, and is on probation. We hope that we can all move past this, and learn from it."

ThePokerRoad.com Interview/Sorel Mizzi & Chris Vaughn

2007-12-05T11:38:00.000-05:00

Big Poker Sundays
... with Bob and Huff has arrived. Professional sports bettor and tournament poker player Haralabos Voulgaris, and pro poker radio host Scott Huff have infiltrated PokerRoad's radio studios with a singular agenda, to dissect the poker world, and beyond, from a purely subjective standpoint. It's poker talk stripped of the X's and O's. No one's right. No one's wrong. Except Bob and Huff, they're always right. Tune in every Sunday at 7pm PST *LIVE*, right here on PokerRoad.

Online Poker: Chris Vaughn and Sorel 'Imper1um' Mizzi Speak, Part 1

2007-12-05T10:45:00.000-05:00

Before Oct. 21st, Chris Vaughn was generally known in the poker world because of his work as Managing Editor for Bluff Magazine. On that night, Vaughn won the $1 Million Guaranteed on Full Tilt under his 'BluffMagCV' screen name. Not only had lightning struck, but it would soon seem to have struck twice, for a week later Vaughn virtually repeated the feat, capturing (as 'SlippyJacks') the Sunday Million on PokerStars. Other players dreamed about a similar breakthrough performance.

Except… rumors were quickly afoot that the first of the victories officially posted by Vaughn wasn't quite what it seemed, that in fact this might have been a case of 'account selling' --- the practice of turning over an account late in a major online tournament to a potent, star online player. The practice has come to light only in recent months, after several account-selling incidents were discussed on major poker forums. It was quickly recognized that a star player taking over one of these accounts was gaining a significant edge over his remaining players, who would have no idea that a new tough player, perhaps with a radically different style, had suddenly assumed a seat at the table.

Had that happened here? No one knew for sure, though speculation quickly focused on young online star Sorel 'Imper1um' Mizzi, a friend of Vaughn's. An investigation into the Oct. 21st Full Tilt tournament soon began, and unofficial word of Mizzi's role in the tourney began to spread.

However, it wasn't until the runner-up in the Oct. 21st event, Soren Kongsgaard, recently posted an e-mail he had received from Full Tilt that the rumored disqualification of Vaughn's account was confirmed. Kongsgaard had suffered a tough loss at that, being blinded out during heads-up play after a lengthy loss of his Internet connection. The letter, though, confirmed that Kongsgaard would be moved up to the winner's spot, with all other money finishers in the event bumped up one spot as well.

Faced with the evidence and growing outcry on poker forums, Vaughn and Mizzi contacted PokerNews about going public with the events of that night and related matters. Vaughn and Mizzi agreed to a lengthy interview which will be presented here in two parts, detailing the purchase of Vaughn's account and the practice of account selling in general.

John Caldwell: Chris, tell me a little bit about where you were during your Full Tilt win. At what stage you started receiving communications and how you reacted to them and basically what happened after that?

Chris Vaughn: Oh, I think there was something around... I think we were at three tables left. I want to say maybe there were 24 people. I was below average stack – I wasn't one of the shortest stacks – but definitely below average. I don't remember time, details like that. I just remember that I had definitely had - had just gotten to the point where I was starting to really look at first, second, third, like those big numbers, you know? Realistically, in a poker tournament, you have to get really deep to really start looking at those numbers and I guess I - I had gotten that deep, for sure. So, I was playing it... obviously the situation I was in financially as a 24-year-old journalist – the numbers got pretty big, you know? They were pretty effective, so this really led to – I guess me talking to Sorel about this.

JC: So Sorel called you at some stage ?

CV: No, no – no, what initially happened was – I guess everyone in the – half the field in the tournament had gotten disconnected at some point. I had started to lag, I guess is what they call it, a little bit. Which means, I wasn't timing out, but I was like freezing a little bit, and I work like five minutes, literally from where I live. And so I was considering driving down to work. I'm more comfortable playing there, I play at work a lot – most of the time, like, on Sundays, and I was considering playing there and you know, he [Sorel] was one of the people that I would trust to play while I did it. And uh, you know we were on instant messenger and I sent him a message and uh, it pretty quickly led to a discussion about selling the account rather than just letting him play for a few minutes. The reason I sold the account had nothing to do with my connection. The reason I initially contacted him probably more so had to do with connection, but selling the account was completely a financial decision and was in no way anything else.

JC: And so it was a financial thing, so you guys came to a deal on the spot for Sorel to buy the account.

CV: Correct.

JC: There were about 24 people left in the tournament, and at that point you, I assume, logged off.

CV: I gave him my password and he logged in.

PN: Right, so you logged off the account, and Sorel logged in. Sorel, is this something you do a lot and is it part of the gameplan? Is this the first time you've done this?

Sorel Mizzi: No, I'm not a – I'm not a cheater; I'm not a multi-accounter. I acted fast without malice and didn't intend to hurt Chris and myself, opponents, or the entire poker community. This is something that was a one-time – it was a one-time thing and I clearly didn't give it much thought, which is exactly why I got caught, because… because of actually logging into his account which would be traced. But, I want to make it clear that this is something that was an isolated incident and it's, it's not something that I've done in the past.

JC: So this is the first time you've ever done this – you've never bought an account before online, late in a tournament?

SM: Never.

JC: ... and then taken it over?

SM: Right.

JC: So, are you aware though, the message boards and such would lead you to believe that there's sort of these 'associations,' for lack of a better word, of online players who do seek out players who are still in late in big Sunday tournaments and do buy the accounts or maybe ghost for a piece or something like that. And is that a common practice – have you ever participated in that sort of thing?

SM: Well, there's a lot of speculation happening on the forums – people want to believe what – want to believe the worst. The fact of the matter is that – yes, there's a lot of things going on where players are being ghosted in the middle or late – in the late stages of the tournament by a better player and this is – this is something that can never be regulated. And the fact that there is no one player per hand rule online really gives those people justification for doing this kind of thing. But, I know – I know that it goes on in the high limits and in the low limits and there's absolutely nothing that can be done.

JC: So given that fact, which is something we hear a lot, that "there is no 'one player per hand' rule online and it's simply unenforceable," is this the kind of thing where you've done that type of stuff before, where you may have a guy who's down to eight players in a big tournament, and you'll sit behind him on Messenger and something and do that, or is that not your style?

SM: No, this isn't something – like I said – I mean, this isn't something I regularly do. You know, sometimes people ask me after the hand what they should've done in a situation and I – I gladly respond to that, but this isn't something I regularly do. You know, a lot of the reason I did what I did is because, you know – not, not just because of the obvious monetary reward, but also because, you know, of the thrill of - of being deep in a tournament and, you know I still get that – that... {pauses}. I don't get deep in Sunday majors often and, when I have the opportunity to actually play deep in a tournament - it's a very... exciting thing for me, because and it, there's a lot of – {pauses} it's not just because of the money, it's because I love playing deep in a tournament. It's just a passion for - for playing poker, basically. But, to get back to your question, I haven't done this before in the past and I know that there are people who do this regularly and you know, like that's – I mean I know it's not against the rules – whether or not it's ethical or unethical is another question and that's for each individual person to decide for themselves, but, I mean....

JC: But let's specify that you're talking about ghosting here, as opposed to buying accounts.

SM: Right.

JC: It is against the rules if you buy an account.

SM: It is against the rules if you log into the computer, but as far as I know, I mean out of the five or six years that online poker has been – has been going, no one's been penalized for this kind of activity. So, I mean, with that in mind, I never – I didn't give it much thought and I didn't think what I was doing would cause this kind of – the kind of uproar and the kind of, umm....

JC: Drama?

SM: Yeah, that - that exact, that happened and it – it was just all a shock to me, but, you know, with that being said I – I still think what I did was wrong and I – I feel disgusted at myself and I – I really… I don't like the fact that, I mean, it's been really hard for me to, to cope with it.

JC: When the scuttlebutt started coming out, obviously you spend a lot of time on message boards as well, so you're very familiar with that culture. But when the scuttlebutt on the message boards came out, hey "I hear this," "I hear that," whatever, were you concerned at that point that this would become an issue and if so, why didn't you take action then?

SM: So you're saying, when the first forum thread came out?

JC: Right, when the first forum thread came out, "We hear that CVBluffMag {Vaughn's Full Tilt account} was taken over by Sorel," or someone - anyone for that matter, and you knew it was yourself obviously, how did that make you feel and what did you do at that time and how do you feel about what you did?

SM: Well, I didn't really do anything. I kind of, I actually remember the night that I saw the post and the point that I was actually leaving to go on a flight the next morning to Vegas and I think I left looking at the post with like 70 or 80 responses and I, you know, I kind of just let it evolve – I kind of just let people speak about the issue rather than me talk about what I did or what happened. And I think it's not a very good environment, you know, the public forums – to basically talk about this kind of issue because there's just way too much, {pauses} – I mean, you've seen it – there's just way too much hatred and you know, like, it's just not pretty, so this is why I wanted to do this with PokerNews to basically address everyone's concerns in a professional manner in a professional atmosphere and I... I think that my initial reaction was just not to make a comment. I had planned on making a comment the very night after, but, I actually was scheduled to come to Vegas at twelve o'clock and my flight got overbooked, so I ended up coming late at night because I had to go to Phoenix first, so I actually saw the thread progress a day after – a day after all the – all the posts were made, so I didn't actually see what was going on until after. So I had decided initially not to make a response and then once I saw all the threads being made about it, I basically… I didn't really know what to say – I wanted to come out with an apology and basically tell the truth, but I was advised that I should do it in a more professional manner and not – not resort to the forums, so….

JC: Chris, you did respond, online. The perception I got from reading the threads was that you had responded at some point.

CV: Yeah, I think the one response I remember making was – I responded once on TwoPlusTwo saying that someone else had no involvement in this and my other post was to say that the interview would not be done with Bluff Magazine – I think those are the only two times I ever posted on it.

JC: And you went on the 'BigPokerSundays' internet radio show on ThePokerRoad.com, and responded. I re-listened to that interview again last night.

CV: OK

PN: Do you regret what you said on there – do you think Haralabos and Huff's assessment of what you said on there is fair?

CV: The question – for one – the question threw me off guard. I absolutely knew what they were talking about - I mean, obviously, I'm not stupid. It caught me off guard – I didn't think they would ask it. I probably wouldn't have done the show, you know. It was… I wasn't ready to be asked a question about this. You have to understand anytime either of us got asked anything about this, like, we're not talking about other people that have been in solo incidents. We're both involved in this and it's really difficult to answer questions like this when someone else is directly affected by what you say. But that being said, it threw me off guard and I just lied.

PN: And do you now regret that?

CV: Oh yeah, of course I do. I mean, it's – I regretted it the second I got off the air, I was like – oh, that's bad, that was – that was bad what I just did – I knew it was bad when I was saying it, I knew it was – I mean it was just, it was my instinct to lie, I got caught off guard, I – it, it's just like when you, when this happened with the account, it was like – is what I'm doing wrong? I know it's wrong, I absolutely know it's wrong. Even if I don't think I can get in trouble for it. Even if I'm not sure if it's against the rules. I know what I'm doing is wrong. I know it's unfair. It's just like when they asked me the question on the show, it's just like, I panicked and I lied. You know, I – I had the chance to apologize to Scott Huff – one of the hosts of the show who's, who's really nice about all this. I just, I'd love to go back on the show and apologize. I hate that I lied about it. I wish that I could take it back and I wish I could go back right now and at least say no comment and wait for a better spot, you know, but – yeah, I mean, absolutely I lied. I think everyone knows that now.

Join us tomorrow for Part II of the interview with Sorel and Chris as they discuss the ramifications of their decisions, Vaughn's PokerStars win the next week, and where they hope to go from here.

Law and Order, P5’s Division, The Imper1um Investigation

2007-12-04T11:30:00.000-05:00

(Written by Bond18)
In the Pocketfives justice system all defendants are extremely guilty upon the moment of accusation, either by coming to their own defense immediately, or waiting for the storm to blow over. These are their stories.

*Cue scenes of people in boring suits walking in an intense manner and staring into the camera*

November 28th, 8:43pm, Pocketfives Courtroom

READ MORE>>>

Andy Mcloed wins $200k on $50/100

2007-12-04T10:17:00.001-05:00

Andy Mcloed wins $200k on $50/100

A very nice end of the month for this player. He have played alot of $50/100 the two latest days and have been running very good. He quit one table with a $100k stack and two other tables with $60k stacks.

Andy Mcloed hits a perfect flop and reach a $100k stack, $30k pot

Andy Mcloed found a nice river on this hand, $26k pot

Andy Mcloed pair of aces holds up, $30k pot

THREADS ON THE SOREL MIZZI CHEATING SITUATION

2007-12-01T16:27:00.000-05:00

The 2+2 Forums

I do not know where to begin, but here it goes....

My opinion on the Imper1um issue

Hypocrisy with Imp and Andy

Sorel “Imper1um” Mizzi responds to Full Tilt Poker cheating charges

2007-11-30T16:38:00.000-05:00

Well-known online poker tournament player Sorel “Imper1um” Mizzi responded today to charges that he has been banned from Full Tilt Poker for taking over another user’s account during the end stages of the Full Tilt Million Dollar Guarantee on October 21st, 2007.

The account in question: BluffMagCV, the FTP name of Chris Vaughn, who won the Full Tilt Million Guaranteed. Vaughn went on to win the Sunday Million on PokerStars the following weekend. Full story on that here. The prevailing opinion at the moment is that Vaughn played his own account for the entirety of the Sunday Million win.

Mizzi posted his response in a thread this morning on the Pocket Fives forum. Nowhere in the thread does he directly refute or confirm the charges. Instead, he states that a full clarification is coming soon:

As far as the situation with FTP goes I hope that everyone can understand the intense scrutiny that I am under and be respectful and patient at this time. I currently am in the process of finalizing a formal interview with a major media outlet to explain the situation that has been discussed. Please understand that it would be impossible to address everyone’s questions/comments by responding to each one individually. Obviously, I am doing this interview so that I can hopefully answer all of your collective questions and concerns.

I am hopeful the interview will take place this weekend, but it will certainly be as soon as possible. I promise to be fully open and honest about the situation.

Discussion on the issue in the 2+2 MTT community is happening largely in this thread. Read the reaction of the Pocket Fives community to the situation here.

Emails to Full Tilt Poker and Poker Stars support requesting comment on this story had not been returned as of the writing of this article.

ANOTHER STORY ON THE CONTROVERSY

2007-11-30T12:16:00.001-05:00

Once again in the online poker world we have allegations of cheating. It would seem that here real soon, online poker is going to be the cleanest industry out there, though we do wonder just a bit if we will see the same big names still offering their up online poker tables to the masses. Will these online poker rooms where cheaters have run rampant, security leaks have been found, and poker players have been frankly - screwed - be able to grab hold of their tarnished reputations, wipe them clean and stay in business?

Just before the Absolute Poker Saga we read of quite a few poker rooms where online poker bots were present, for the most part, the bots can’t beat the people and are just there to generate rake on rake back deals, so they didn’t get a whole lot of press, they might have gotten a little more time, if it hadn’t been for the major online poker cheating explosion at Absolute Poker following the 2+2 fact finding mission that uncovered that whole thing.

Just before that saga broke out however, a little tiny tournament incident came up at PokerStars, the story involved theVOid finishing a tournament on his sisters account, after having already busted out with his own username. This wasn’t the OH MY GOD sort of cheating like we heard about with Absolute, more just a shame on him! He lost the money, I believe he got banned, maybe even just a suspension, but it was handled, it was timely, and the Absolute Poker news definitely out shined.

Now here we are just weeks later, the poker world is getting back to normal. Absolute Poker is cleaning up that mess they have going on over there, dealing with audits, and we’re all waiting to hear final outcomes, repayments, etc. When today, Pokerati a major online news source’s headline reads “Tiz the season for Cheating” following talk of cheating, in a big way, at Full Tilt Poker.

The current accusations involve Bluff Magazines managing editor Chris Vaughn and a couple of tournaments - high stakes poker tournaments, that played out about a month ago. The claim is that Vaughn won the Million Dollar Guaranteed tourney played at Full Tilt Poker, scooping $197,984.00. Then just one week later he took down the Poker Stars Sunday Million scraping in $240,633.00.

Now here’s where the story starts getting good… #2 in the final finishers of the Full Tilt Poker tournament “Soren ‘Kongsgaard’ Kongsgaard says he got a letter from Full Tilt via his email that said Bluff Magazines Managing Editor Chris Vaughn or “BluffMagCV” had been disqualified from the tournament. “Kongsgaard” was now the winner, and was awarded the prize money.

What happens next, or what Pokerati describes as unconfirmed seems to parallel a story brought to us by the PokerKing not to long ago, allegedly Chris was backed by “Imer1um” Mizzi who took control of the computer, and therefore the tournament somewhere during the tournament, finishing the game for Chris. As a result, but Sorel Mizzi (Imper1um) and Chris Vaughn (BluffMagCV) have been banned at least temporarily, pending investigation by Full Tilt.

There is someone’s side of the story posted on Sorel’s blog. Pokerati also brings up a valid point, Chris from Bluff Magazine was just interviewed back on November 18th by Scott Huff and Haralabos Voulgaris on Big Poker Sundays, a radio show that you can tune into on PokerRoad.com. Haralabos asked Chris if he’d ever been accused of ghosting, meaning the staked players backer steps in and finishes up a game. Chris’ response was yeah “I’ve been accused of that. I think it’s going to come with the territory when someone relatively unknown wins two in a row.” In response to the truth in the question Chris says “But as far as having someone take over for me, that’s ridiculous”

We don’t have any word yet on how the tag teaming came to Full Tilts attention, but this is an importannt event, people will always try to cheat, however, as online poker undergoes closer scrutiny, and in turn becomes more secure, they will get away with it less and less.

Kudos to Full Tilt for being on the ball.

I do not know where to begin, but here it goes....

2007-11-30T12:14:00.001-05:00

I do not know where to begin, but here it goes....
by Imper1um on 11/30/2007 00:13

Although, admittedly, I saw the first and second page of this post last night
when there were only 100 posts I decided to let this thread evolve till
I arrived in Vegas and now I'm definitley glad I made that decision
because it has given me a clear perspective on who my true friends are and
has caused me to re-evaluate the character of those who I thought were friends/
supporters...

I really don't know where to start, there are so many things
people think they know but in reality they have no clue of. I guess I'll start
off with MattG's claims:

The fact of the matter is that the situation took place over a year ago where I messaged MattG on pocketfives during the tournament telling him I am helping my friend in this satellite so he was
aware of it. I noticed afterwords he hadn't responded so I AIMed him to
see if he got it. I was literally astonished when I heard him
say I bragged or gloated since there is no shot I would EVER do that,
and anyone that knows me even a LITTLE knows that is SO absurd to say. I have no clue how he got the impression that I was bragging, but it is so wrong and I WISH I had the conversation to post on here because everyone would see that nothing I said was even CLOSE to bragging.

Andy McCleod, I'm almost speechless at your post. I guess I should not be surprised that you are so immature at 16 (yes Andy Mcleod is 16 for those of you who didn't know) . If you are going to lie about your age and say you are playing professionally, then you should be able to responsibly choose your games. That is the most basic prerequisite for even playing professionally. Furthermore, I have no idea why you are pretending that we were friends. I don't even think we've talked on MSN for more than 30 minutes collectively. How you can try to say with a straight face that I took advantage of you...one of the best players in the online world...is truly beyond me, and you should be ashamed of yourself for trying to suggest that. Were you planning on returning the money if you won, or are you entitled to take free shots on tilt and if u lose simply impose a moral dilemma on the person who beat you?

As far as the situation with FTP goes I hope that everyone can understand
the intense scrutiny that I am under and be respectful and patient at this
time. I currently am in the process of finalizing a formal interview with a
major media outlet to explain the situation that has been discussed.
Please understand that it would be impossible to address everyone's
questions/comments by responding to each one individually.
Obviously, I am doing this interview so that I can hopefully answer
all of your collective questions and concerns.

I am hopeful the interview will take place this weekend, but
it will certainly be as soon as possible. I promise to be fully open
and honest about the situation.

I would like everyone to know that I appreciate your thoughts and concern on this matter. The support is appreciated.
P.S. YTIU is posing as yellowsub and created the RIP Imper1um thread in case anyone did not figure that out.

Possible cheater caught at Full Tilt Poker

2007-11-30T12:13:00.001-05:00

In yet another online poker world scandal, the winner of one of the bigger monthly tournaments has been stripped of his championship title and winnings. And, it's rumored, a top online pro has been banned due to his association with the rescinded victory.

Approximately a month ago, "BluffMagCV," an alias allegedly used by a Bluff Magazine employee named Chris Vaughn, made a rare double win by taking down the Full Tilt Poker $1 Million Guaranteed tournament and, the next weekend, the PokerStars' Sunday $1 Million Guaranteed event as well.

The first victory, however, has engendered the most discussion.

After he received an e-mail from Full Tilt, European poker pro Soren Kongsgaard, who was the runner-up in the tournament in question, stated that he had been elevated to the first-place money because BluffMagCV had passed off the play of his account to another person.

The player who took over the BluffMagCV account is allegedly Sorel "Imper1um" Mizzi, who routinely terrorizes the online tournament world and has also enjoyed great success as a live tournament player in 2007 with approximately $500,000 in winnings.

Word on 2+2 and other online forums has it that both BluffMagCV and Mizzi have both been banned from further play at Full Tilt while security staff there conduct investigations. There have also been some rumblings in the forums about the win at PokerStars, but no action has been taken with regard to that outcome.

Playing in these large-field, high-dollar tournaments is grueling. On most occasions, a tournament can start in the afternoon East Coast time and in the early evening in Europe. Because of the size of the field, it can stretch well into the wee hours of the next day. This means players focused on a healthy win have no alternative but to remain chained to their computers for the better part of half a day.

To reduce the temptation for players to resort to tag-teaming in order to last into the late goings, online rooms could take the route of splitting these types of tournaments into two-day events. Nowhere in the live poker world are players subjected to playing in such an important tournament without the benefit of rest at some point.

Most of the time, events as important as these are scheduled as two-day tournaments at the minimum. Not only players but also the online rooms themselves would benefit from switching to such an arrangement.

That said, however, poker players are learning the hard way that the online poker rooms are now being extremely vigilant in enforcing the one-user, one-account principle. As "BluffMagCV" and Mizzi are now allegedly aware, trying to put one over on the online poker rooms has just become a lot harder.

Chris Vaughn should be fired from Bluff Magazine

2007-11-29T16:43:00.002-05:00

Assuming all of this is true where he had at least one of his accounts bought out ...

While ethics are a big deal in poker, they do not hold as much weight as they do in journalism. Ethics and credibility are supposed to be held in the highest of regard in the journalistic field. If you don't have credibility as a reporter you are nothing.

Chris Vaughn came onto this message board, bragged about his wins, went onto a radio station, gloated about his excellence and now has lost any and all respect anyone in the poker or journalistic community should have for him.

Here's a link to a radio interview he did last week:
http://www.pokerroad.com/_/big_poker_sundays/11-18-07/

In the interview I thought he was scum even before all of this buying out of accounts came into play. As a journalist you are not supposed to take gifts, rewards, money, etc. from the subjects you are writing about (ie Nat turning down Absolute Poker paying for his trip to investigate them.) In the interview he stated how he had a top player (likely Imper1um) who was backing him and helping him with his game. It is probably not uncommon for poker players to offer poker journalists favors as they want good things written about them. It is however the job of the journalist to practice proper ethics in turning down any solicited or unsolicited gifts, favors, etc.

Chris Vaughn has crossed the line in both journalism and poker.

SOREL MIZZI CHEATER - POSTING on 2p2 by kongsgaard

2007-11-29T16:43:00.001-05:00

xposted on 2p2 by kongsgaard - A few days ago I received the following e-mail from Full Tilt

Upon conclusion of a lengthy investigation into the $500 + $35, "$1Million Guarantee" tournament held on October 21st, we have determined that you were among the victims of one player using more than one Full Tilt account in the tournament. Late into the tournament, a player who had already been eliminated took over the account of a player who was still in, which is against our tournament rules.

This is the 1 mio gtd Chris "BluffMagCV" Vaughn won HU vs me when I got disconnected.

As Sorel hasn't played a tournament on the Full Tilt Poker for almost a month (as duly noted in a p5 thread earlier this week) it can be pretty much concluded that 'Imper1um' has been banned from dominating the full tilt poker online scene.

The highlights of his career include two FTOPS wins in a PL event and a rebuy event on a different name because he was hacked!

Gl Sorel in future ventures! and now whenever a random name is crushing a tourney on the full tilt poker playing a very lag style, several ITS ZANGBEZAN! threads can pop up!

Sorel "Imper1um" Mizzi Banned from Full Tilt Poker?

2007-11-29T14:15:00.001-05:00

The online poker world is buzzing about the revelation that there has been another cheater caught in a high profile online poker event.

Let's rewind about a month. Chris "BluffMagCV" Vaughn, an employee of Bluff Magazine, took down back to back Sunday Million tournaments. First he took down the Full Tilt $1 Million Guaranteed tournament, and then the very next week he took down the Sunday Millions tournament on Pokerstars playing as "SlippyJacks."

There were rumblings about possible shenanigans in the Full Tilt Poker tournament, but the story didn't really come to light until Soren "Kongsgaard" Kongsgaard posted that he had received an email from Full Tilt Poker stating that "BluffMagCV had been disqualified from the tournament and "Kongsgaard" would be awarded first place money.

The stated reason for the disqualification? Full Tilt Poker said that an already eliminated player had taken over "BluffMagCV"'s account late in the tournament. Apparently the player that took over the account was promised a % of the total profits in exchange for finishing out the tournament.

This player who took over the account is reportedly Sorel "Imper1um" Mizzi, and apparently he too has been banned from Full Tilt Poker.

If Mizzi did in fact participate in this scheme and he was in fact banned from Full Tilt Poker, it is obviously a huge deal, as Mizzi is one of the most popular and successful poker players online. Mizzi has been noticeably absent from Full Tilt Poker as of late, so it would certainly appear to be true.

Full Tilt has been tight-lipped on the matter. What we do know for sure is that "BluffMagCV" was 100% disqualified from that tournament and banned, and that a high profile player took over his account and was also banned. At this point, the evidence would certainly seem to point to Mizzi as the well-known player who took over the account, but we don't have 100% confirmation as of yet.

Was the "Slippyjacks" victory on Pokerstars tainted as well? Pokerstars closely scrutinizes every player who makes it to the final table of any major event on their site, so there is a good chance that they have already investigated and found nothing to be wrong with the victory on Pokerstars. The "SlippyJacks" account is currently not banned on Pokerstars.

You have to wonder how much of this stuff is going on that is never discovered. If the players who perpetrated this scam weren't so reckless, they probably never would have been caught.

This stuff is just horrible for online poker in general, and sites are going to have to come up with a better solution for dealing with this kind of cheating. I wish that the sites would band together, and if a person is caught cheating on one site, they are banned from them all.

Also, I believe that online poker sites need to stop shielding the identities of known cheaters, and start publicly naming people that have been caught cheating. Why shouldn't the public know about it? If you are caught trading stocks in the USA with insider knowledge, you are publicly named by the SEC. What's wrong with that? There has to be a stronger deterrent to cheating. Right now the reward is far greater than the risk of getting caught.

Irish Poker Open - Day 4

2007-11-28T09:57:00.000-05:00

Irish Poker Open - Day 4
Buy-In €3,300
Entrants 708
Total Prize Money €2,336,500
Date Apr 6, 2007
Final Day

Sorel Mizzi moves all-in for the last of his stack and both of his opponents make the call. The flop comes As-Ts-Tc and Roland De Wolfe and Marty Smyth both check. The turn is the 7s and Smyth bets out $400,000, which De Wolfe calls immediately. The river is the 9s and Smyth checks to De Wolfe, who shoots out $500,000. Smyth folds Ac-Qd face-up and De Wolfe shows Ks-5s for the flush. Mizzi mucks his hand and is thus eliminated, heading back to Canada EC 210,000 richer.

Blinds: $60,000/$120,000
Ante: n/a
Players Left: 2
Tables Left: 1

HAPPY THANKSGIVING

2007-11-22T09:26:00.000-05:00

FOLDING ACES - SOREL MIZZI

2007-11-12T15:12:00.000-05:00

Chad "lilholdem954" Batista & Sorel "zangbezan24" Mizzi at the same table

2007-11-10T16:02:00.000-05:00

Pokerstars $109 Rebuy - Sorel "zangbezan24" Mizzi

2007-11-10T10:09:00.000-05:00

WHAT IS YOUR POKER IQ? TAKE THE DONKEY TEST

2007-11-09T16:21:00.001-05:00

This poker skill test is the first and only of its kind. Our unique scoring system measures your overall poker skill level and assesses performance in 13 sub categories, revealing key strengths and weaknesses. Developed by poker professionals, this test is for no limit Hold'em cash games and tournaments (MTTs and SNGs).
Click here to take the test.

Sorel Mizzi Interviews

2007-11-08T15:05:00.000-05:00

An Interview with Sorel Mizzi - 2007 WSOP

Sorel Mizzi - Aggressive as Always - Pokernews.com

Sorel 'Imper1um' Mizzi - PokerNews' Tiffany Michelle talks to Sorlel 'Imper1um' Mizzi about playing in his first huge live tournament, and the advantage of his internet anonymity

Sorel Mizzi - Pokerwire Interview

CARDPLAYER - Online Poker: Interview With Steve 'Stevesbets' Jacobs

2007-11-08T14:32:00.001-05:00

Steve “stevesbets” Jacobs is known as one of the best heads-up no-limit hold'em players in the world. The 24-year-old Philadelphia native graduated from the University of Pennsylvania with a degree in economics. He had planned on becoming a teacher, and had even entered into Penn's graduate school of education, but apparently his degree kicked in and he realized that it made more economic sense to pursue a budding career in poker.

Jacobs said that the graduate school of education was “way too fluffy and not substantive.”

“I couldn’t take it. I dropped out after a week,” Jacobs said, laughing. “And then I started playing poker full time. I guess that was in the summer of 2005. I’ve been playing poker since then, although I’m constantly looking for a new opportunities, because I don’t want to do it forever.”

Jacobs won the first-ever High Stakes Showdown on PokerStars, a heads-up tournament with a whopping $10,000 buy-in. He has also done very well for himself in the heads-up sit-and-gos, earning the majority of his money through those since college.

Card Player caught up with Jacobs to find out what it takes to be regarded as a heads-up master. Jacobs also talks about just how much luck he thinks there is in poker and why he really dislikes live poker pros.

Shawn Patrick Green: You’ve become famous for playing high-stakes heads-up poker. What is it about heads up that you like so much?

Steve “stevesbets” Jacobs: When I first started playing heads up, it wasn’t too scientific of a thought process. I basically started playing because I figured if there are 10 people at a table, you have a 1-in-10 chance to win every pot, but if there are two people, you have a 1-in-2 chance. Obviously there’s way more to it than that. I think heads up requires more skill than other forms of poker just because there are more decisions. When you’re playing at a 10-handed table, someone is going to make something basically every hand. There’s not much to do aside from play your cards.

With heads up, there is so much more about analyzing tendencies, thinking about what your opponent is doing and what they’re going to do next; it’s more like a chess game. Whereas 10-handed poker is more like just betting with cards.

SPG: Well, a lot of people argue that heads-up poker involves a lot more luck because it can, and often does, hinge on big pots where the best hand wins.

SJ: I think that of all the young poker players that have made a living out of it, I’m one of the people who recognizes the luck factor more than just about anybody else. [Laughs] I read the forums, I hear about how a lot of young players who have run really hot over the course of their careers think that there’s honestly very little luck in poker. I promise you that that’s not the case. Poker, of all sorts, in all games, and all limits, has an immense amount of luck to it.

The edges are small, they’re very small. You can see that never more clearly than when you’re playing heads up. The best players of heads-up sit-and-gos aren’t going to win more than about 55 percent of their games. If they’re playing against the absolute worst players who have the absolute worst strategies, maybe they can win like 65 percent. But that’s only because the player is making some sort of glaring error, like folding almost every hand or something.

I guess what I’m saying is that in every form of poker there is luck, and it’s almost impossible to negate the luck, but you’ve just got to push the small edge and hope that in the long run you’ll make it out OK.

SPG: So, it sounds like you got into heads-up poker, specifically, simply because you thought that you had a better chance at making money? You figured it was a 1-in-2 rather than a 1-in-10 chance of winning, which is better odds, even if your reasoning was a little misguided?

SJ: Right. There were other reasons, too. I’m just generally an impatient person, and heads up provides an outlet for that, because you’re either going to win or you’re going to lose. I’ve always been a very swingy player, both financially and emotionally. I guess I wouldn’t have it any other way, as stupid as that sounds.

SPG: PokerStars launched its $10,000 buy-in High Stakes Showdown heads-up tournament earlier this year, and you took down the inaugural event. What did you think of the event and of your competition?

SJ: The competition was very tough, there’s no doubt about that. Although, I did find that some of the players were cash-game players, and they played the tournament more like a cash game. They certainly made some mistakes, but overall that tournament, especially as the weeks went on, had basically the toughest field online.

I have a great deal of respect, as you might imagine, for online players. I think that, in general, they are more thoughtful and better … not only better poker players, but better people, than most live professionals. I have a great deal of disrespect for most live poker players for various reasons. You see them cursing at dealers, throwing their cards around, acting like total morons who have never been beaten before in their lives. Online players just don’t act that way.

Anyway, back to my point. Those are the best online players in that tournament, so there’s not that much value there, anymore. That’s why I haven’t really been playing in it.

SPG: The High Stakes Showdown was really successful for the first month, it kept getting 16 entrants, which is pretty good for a weekly online tournament with a buy-in of that size. Since then, however, it’s been having trouble getting even the minimum of 4 entrants.

SJ: It’s pretty simple: It’s a lot of money, it’s hard to get money online, and the players that play it are some of the best in the world. So, overall, I think a lot of players seem to think that it’s basically gambling. It’s like they say, if you’re the 10th-best player in the world and you sit in a game with the nine best players, you’re almost always going to lose. So, there’s no player who can think that it’s a smart idea to be playing in that week after week after week; except, maybe, for Imper1um [Sorel Mizzi], who somehow seems to win it every week.

SPG: Do you think there will be a resurgence of interest?

SJ: I think a resurgence of interest would come once this crazy country of ours lifts its restrictions, because there’s just not enough money in the online poker economy right now to support something like that. If there is a resurgence, and you start getting lots of random players signing up — say you have like 32 players and a large number of them are not the best heads-up players online — then suddenly everyone will come running to it, and it will be the most prized weekly tournament. But I don’t know if that day is going to come, unfortunately.

SPG: Do you make the majority of your money playing in heads-up cash games?

SJ: For a while, I made all of my money in heads-up sit-and-gos. Recently, like over the last six months or a year, I’ve been playing a lot more Omaha high-low and other random games and have moved away from the heads-up sit-and-gos, because it’s my opinion that the competition in no-limit hold’em is at an all-time high online. It’s hard to get money on the sites, and it’s hard for players who go broke to continue playing. As a result of that, the games have gotten a lot tougher. Particularly in a game with as much literature and educational tools as no-limit hold’em has. So, I’ve tried to learn Omaha and to put whatever skills that I have to work there.

SPG: How do you play heads-up cash games differently compared to heads-up tournaments?

SJ: A lot of players are very patient during heads-up cash games, because the blinds aren’t going to escalate. If you fold blind after blind after blind, it’s not really going to make that much of a difference, because you can get it back with one medium-sized pot. So, it’s just way more important to be patient and to not make big moves in the cash games. In the sit-and-gos, you do need to make big moves, sometimes. If you think the other person will fold if you shove all in, you’ve really got to be willing to do it. I think players that make big moves in cash games are going to lose in the long run, because someone can patiently wait and pick them off. But in a sit-and-go, if you make some sort of big move in a big pot, you suddenly have a 2-to-1 chip lead, and that’s way harder to overcome than in a cash game, where you can buy in for more and keep plugging away.

SPG: What strategies carry across between the two?

SJ: Just standard things that make for good poker are good in both venues. Things like playing with correct pot odds, playing with position — playing in position is really important in both. If you see someone playing big pots from out of position, they’re mostly going to be a losing player, and I think that’s truer with heads up than with any other form of poker.

I think that patience is the only glaring difference. Aside from that, they are very similar. You want to notice their betting patterns, you want to notice their tendencies, and you want to take advantage. Some people have really clear tendencies in both cash games and tournaments. I’ve had a lot of success against grimstarr on Full Tilt, and the reason is that he has certain patterns that he uses in cash games. If he bets a certain amount — I really shouldn’t be saying this, but I think he’s not going to be playing me anymore, anyway — if he bets a certain amount, and you raise him, he folds. And it’s not even like 80 percent of the time, it’s like 100 percent of the time. He bets X, you raise, he folds. And a lot of players do that without even noticing it. So, that’s another little thing for both sit-and-gos and cash games. It’s just poker, so there are similarities, but with escalating blinds it definitely changes the whole ballgame.

SPG: So, what are most newbies doing wrong when playing heads up?

SJ: The two most common mistakes, and they’ll sound obvious once I say them, are that some people play too tight and some people play too loose. Some people have the mindset that, “All right, I’m playing heads up, now. That means that I have to play every hand aggressively, because otherwise I’m going to get run over, because it’s just one on one.” So, these people, they try to make moves every hand, and will never give you credit for a hand. If they do that, they’re going to get beaten, because you can afford to fold a couple times and wait until you get a middle pair and call them down. Those players, though, they’re scary; anybody that’s aggressive has a good chance to win at heads up.

But it’s not nearly as big of a mistake as playing too tight. Those are the players that I cherish. [Laughs] If you see someone that plays too tight, you play them as much as possible. They literally have as small a chance to win of anyone. The only way that they can win is if they get a ton of hands in a row. They’re calling raises preflop and then they’re folding on the flop in every hand. But those players are few and far between, because most players like that know not to play heads up. But when they are playing, they’re special.

SPG: You’ve also had some success in live heads-up tournaments. You finished in second place in the 2007 Mini Series Warmups at the Bicycle Casino. Are there any major advantages or disadvantages to playing heads-up live?

SJ: Oh, yeah. The players heads up live are way more clueless than the people who are playing the high-stakes heads up online. I was so disappointed in the World Series heads-up event this year when I lost in the first match on sort of a fluky hand. But those are the tournaments that I salivate over, because online players will be tough, but what do live players know about playing heads up? They’ve been playing 10-handed games their entire lives, because casinos don’t spread heads up. So, there are so many ways to take advantage of them, and I can’t wait for more of those tournaments.

SPG: Great, well, good luck with any live heads-up matches that you play in the future and good luck with all of your new ventures into Omaha and all of that.

Do you have the GUTS to win? (Restealing)

2007-11-08T09:57:00.000-05:00

The first thing that is important to note about restealing is that it takes guts. In order to use the resteal, you have to put it all on the line. You need to own the idea that your tournament life, in itself, has no value whatsoever. You need to own the idea that this could be the last hand that you play. You need to own the idea that you are attempting to win it all, and that nothing less than first place is acceptable, and you need to own the idea that you may end up looking like a fool if you are called.

Restealing (the act of reraising a probable steal-raise) can be a true difference-maker and vault you into contention, because you can potentially make three times as many chips than you can with a run-of-the-mill steal attempt. Using this tactic, you don't necessarily have to put yourself at risk as often as you do during a steal to stay ahead of the curve in a tournament. In fact, successfully restealing once in three orbits while playing no other hands is approximately a break-even proposition! This is especially important during those critical points in a tournament where you are getting no cards and no good steal opportunities. It is the ultimate chip accumulation tactic!

Sorel Mizzi High Stakes Master

2007-11-07T16:27:00.000-05:00

Sorel Mizzi, aka "Imper1um", aka "Zangbezan24", is the master at High Stakes Showdown on Pokerstars. There are not alot of players in the huge $10,000 buy high stakes showdown, and the level of competition was no joke, including the likes of Daniel Negreanu, Barry Greenstein and Sorel Mizzi.

Sorel Mizzi has absolutely owned these events so far. He took down the last event for $50k; he came in second on September 9th for $15k; he took down the event on August 12th for $50k; he took down the event the week before that for another $50k; and then to top it all off, he won on July 15th for a whopping $72k. To say that Mizzi owns these heads-up showdowns would be an extreme understatement. I can't think of too many people that I would take over Mizzi in this competition.

I think that Pokerstars needs to change the name of the "High Stakes Showdown" to the "Zangbezan24 Invitational." Whether it is live poker or online poker, Sorel Mizzi seems to leave a trail of bodies in his wake.

CARDPLAYER Interview with Matt "Ch0ppy" Kay

2007-10-31T20:10:00.000-04:00

Matt makes good mention of Sorel "Imper1um" Mizzi

http://www.cardplayer.com/tv/29263

PokerWire Radio Interview with Sorel Mizzi

2007-10-26T10:16:00.000-04:00

PokerWire Radio Interview with Sorel Mizzi

Greg "FBT" Mueller sits in as guest host, lots of hand discussions and Sorel Mizzi reveals his analysis of live tournament poker pros.

Bookie Makes Sorel Mizzi & Annette Obrestad Favorites for EPT Dublin Title

2007-10-26T09:46:00.000-04:00

Irish Bookie Launches Markets for PokerStars.Com EPT Dublin Starting Tuesday

paddypower.com today announces new betting markets on the European Poer Tour Dublin tournament taking place at the RDS, Ballsbridge, Dublin between Oct. 20 and Nov. 3.

The company is offering “Outright Winner” and “Top Irish” markets.

Defending champion Roland De Wolfe has enjoyed tremendous success in the Emerald Isle over past year, winning the 2006 Dublin EPT and finishing runner-up in the 2007 Irish Open. Unsurprisingly De Wolfe is joint favorite to win at 80/1. Joining him at 80/1 is online superstar Sorel "Imper1um" Mizzi.

Eighteen-year-old Norwegian sensation Annette “Annette_15” Obrestad made her name online before bursting on to the world stage with her recent success at the WSOPE.
She recently scored for $2,000,000 first place prize. She will be determined to prove that her success in London wasn’t a one-off and is quoted at 125/1.

Dublin EPT - Outright Betting* – selected odds
Roland De Wolfe 80/1
Sorrel Mizzi 80/1
Annette Obrestad 125/1
Greg Raymer 150/1
Chris Moneymaker 150/1

CEASARS 2007 No-Limit Hold'em Championship

2007-10-24T22:56:00.000-04:00

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EVENT: No-Limit Hold'em Championship

VIDEO - Sorel Mizzi attacks the final table bubble.

2007-10-24T22:54:00.000-04:00

Sorel Mizzi attacks the final table bubble.

VIDEO - Caesars Palace Classic: Day 1 Recap.

2007-10-24T22:52:00.001-04:00

Caesars Palace Classic: Day 1 Recap.
Card Player TV Recaps the action from Day 1 of the Caesars Palace Classic.

VIDEO - Online Zone: Sorel Mizzi

2007-10-24T22:51:00.001-04:00

Online Zone: Sorel Mizzi
Cardplayer TV's Online Specialist Shawn Green talks strategy in an interview with Sorel Mizzi.

VIDEo - Stacking Chips: Sorel Mizzi

2007-10-24T22:50:00.000-04:00

Stacking Chips: Sorel Mizzi
On this episode of Card Player TV's "Stacking Chips" Jon talks with special guest Sorel Mizzi.

VIDEO - Five Star Poker Classic: Day 3

2007-10-24T22:49:00.000-04:00

Five Star Poker Classic: Day 3
Card Player looks at some of the action on Day 3 and talks to chip leaders Roland De Wolfe and Sorel Mizzi.

Pokerstars MTT - Final Table Part 1 -lilholdem954 vs zangbezan24

2007-10-24T22:11:00.003-04:00

MTT - Final Table Part 1 -lilholdem954 vs zangbezan24

Chad lilholdem954 and Sorel zangbezan24 Mizzi both at the final table on Pokerstars MTT - Parts 1- 5

Pokerstars - MTT - Final Table Part 2 -lilholdem954 vs zangbezan24

2007-10-24T22:11:00.001-04:00

Pokerstars - MTT - Final Table Part 3 -lilholdem954 vs zangbezan24

2007-10-24T22:10:00.000-04:00

Pokerstars - MTT - Final Table Part 3 -lilholdem954 vs zangbezan24

WINNINGS ON POKERSTARS & FULLTILT POKER

2007-10-24T21:55:00.000-04:00

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OFFLINE WINNINGS

2007-10-24T21:50:00.000-04:00

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