Official Skatz 10 Million Views Thread

[PokerNewsDaily]

Day 1 of the $25,000 World Poker Tour (WPT) World Poker Championship got underway on Saturday with 188 players taking to the tables at Bellagio in Las Vegas. Christian “charder30″ Harder sat atop the leaderboard at the end of five levels of play, with Ali Eslami, Kyle “KJulius10″ Julius, Justin Young and Doyle Brunson all close on his heels. Registration will remain open for three levels on Sunday, which should easily boost the entrant total above last year’s number of 195.

Harder, who finished fourth in the 2009 WPT Championship for $571,965, bagged 249,975 chips Saturday evening after claiming the chip lead late in the day. Eslami is making a run at his second victory of 2011 after winning the World Series of Poker (WSOP) Circuit Regional Championship at Harrah’s Rincon for $282,242 in March. He’ll enter Day 2 with 240,475. Julius (237,675), Young (234,575) and Alan Sternberg (233,675) rounded out the top five stacks, with Brunson lurking in sixth (230,000). Players began the tournament with 100,000 chips.

Kevin “BeL0WaB0Ve” Saul won the biggest pot of the day and enters Day 2 seventh in chips. According to the WPT Live Updates team, Saul called a six-bet preflop shove by Justin Bonomo to create a pot worth more than 270,000. Saul’s kings were in rough shape against Bonomo’s aces, but the board ran out Jd-5s-4d-3c-Ks to give Saul a set on the river and leave Bonomo with just 73,000. Saul finished the day with 229,975.

Also surviving the day was Todd Terry, who made a royal flush late on Day 1. Terry posted via Twitter that he had Ac-Jc on a board of Ax-Qc-Tc-Kc to win the pot and increase his stack to 141,000. He finished play with 140,275.

Other notables advancing to Day 2 with healthy stacks were John Juanda, Michael Mizrachi, Jonathan Little, Phil Laak, Barry Greenstein, Shannon Shorr, Erik Seidel, Sam Trickett, and Eric Baldwin, who finished second in last year’s event. Defending champion David Williams did not play on Saturday but is expected to register on Sunday. He registered late last year and went on to take title and $1,530,537.

Former WPT Championship winners Martin de Kniff, Carlos Mortensen, David Chiu and Yevgeniy Timoshenko were also in the field on Day 1. All but Mortensen advanced, as “El Matador” was eliminated by the flopped full house of Jason Somerville. Others eliminated on Day 1 were Antonio Esfandiari, David Benyamine, Jennifer Tilly, Eric Froelich, Frank Kassela, and Somerville, who was taken out at the hands of Shannon Shorr in the final level.

Play resumes at Noon local time on Sunday and the remaining 170 players are likely to be joined by the defending champ Williams, along with a few more of the game’s biggest names before registration closes at around 5 p.m. Here’s a look at the top 10 stacks heading into the day:

1. Christian Harder — 249,975
2. Ali Eslami — 240,475
3. Kyle Julius — 237,675
4. Justin Young — 234,575
5. Alan Sternberg — 233,675
6. Doyle Brunson — 230,000
7. Kevin Saul — 229,975
8. Masa Kagawa — 229,500
9. Robert Mercer — 222,850
10. Curt Kohlberg — 216,925



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[PokerNews]

If you missed any of the Nightly Turbos this week, then you missed Tony G's appearance on the Poker Edge, the 2011 WSOP Europe schedule, and more.

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[BluffMagazine]

Harder is used to thriving in the WPT Championship field The price tag for the World Poker Tour Championship event has always been steep one, but in the wake of Black Friday, that $25,000 price tag looks even steeper. With such a high price tag, many predicted a drop in field size from the 195 [...]

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[Carl Culture]

Good Sunday Morning to you all. Atomic Week is being extended for another week. It is a topic I am really interested in, and one with a lot of good pictures.


Last week we looked at pictures from the Manhattan project, and pictures through the explosion of the "Gadget" at the trinity site. With the successful test of the first atomic bomb, they were ready to use one for real, in an attempt to end the war in the pacific, and avoid an invasion of the Japanese Mainland.


A crew was chosen to drop the first bomb on Hiroshima. The crew is pictured above in front of the mission plane . . . the Enola Gay, which was named after the pilot's mom.


In the late 90's, I had a chance to meet Paul Tibbets and the other living members of the crew. It was a great experience. They appeared to have all come to grips with their unique role in history. In talking to them, none appeared to doubt the importance or necessity of the job they had done. They did not appear to be haunted by the lives lost in that expedition. At the same time, they did appear to be tired. I got the impression that they were tired of being known for that one event in their lives.


DOMESTIC UPDATE:


OK, I know I have been delinquent in posting Domestic Updates, and don't even know if Roger still reads the blog, out of frustration over lack of updates. The truth is that I have been really busy over the last three months. This will be the last full week of school, then finals, and then I will be out for the summer. I promise to do a better job keeping you informed on events in Chickie Town with school letting out.


For today, I have an update on the Lovely EAM.

I am pleased to announce that EAM has just completed her Nursing degree, and has been pinned as an RN. She was at the top of her class, and will make an excellent nurse. While most of her classmates are out landing lucrative jobs, EAM wants to work for a year or so on the Mission Field. Her primary interest right now is either Nepal or East Africa.


I am learning that when you are a missionary you do not get paid, and at best get your nominal living expenses covered. I had sort of hoped that she would go out and get a high paying job, and perhaps purchase a fine Breitling Limited Edition SR71 Blackbird Chronograph Watch for her father as a token of her appreciation for the countless tuition checks, books, gas, food, insurance, and various other fees paid during her education. I am watching my dreams of the Blackbird crumble, as she apparently places a higher priority on caring for dying orphans in Africa. So, my dreams of the Breitling Blackbird must be put on hold for now.






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[Carl Culture]

Sunset view from Mount Rocciamelone summit (3,538 m - 11,603 ft) On the left you can easily see the huge shadow of the mountain's conical shape projected to the infinite. (This photo and caption were submitted to Your Shot.)





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[Khalid El-Amin]

Several killed and scores wounded in Gaza, Golan Heights, Ras Maroun and West Bank, as Palestinians mark Nakba Day.

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[Adolf Hitler]

Forum: Ideology and Philosophy Posted By: elroy21 Post Time: 05-15-2011 at 03:19 PM

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[Georgie Thompson]

Korean KJ Choi edged out David Toms in a play-off to win the richest event in golf - the Players Championship in Florida.

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[NASA]

Aureum Chaos, located in the eastern part of Valles Marineris, is a complex area with light-toned material. Pits in this region are visible in MOC (Mars Orbital Camera) data. Does layering in the pits relate to the light-toned material at all?This region is southwest of Aram Chaos, and like the name "chaos" suggests, the terrain is characterized by randomly oriented, large-scale mesas and knobs that are heavily eroded and dominate the area. (You might also see the phrase "chaotic terrain" used to describe such areas.)The OMEGA experiment on Mars Express discovered clay minerals (phyllosilicates) in a variety places in Aureum Chaos. Since these minerals require water to form, it's possible large amounts were once here. The removal of that water is one of the ways the terrain was formed.This caption is based on the original science rationale.Written by: HiRISE Science Team

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[NASA]

Pancake-like mound in Stevinus crater cavity (33.03°S, 54.07°N). Image number M104162457R, incidence angle 62°, image width is about 870 meters.

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