Wicked Chops Poker Insider

Now, Why Didn’t Full Tilt Poker Take the PokerStars Deal in Summer 2011?
With most of the legal jeopardy and fallout from the Department of Justice indictments waning, there has been an uptick of information coming out regarding the goat rodeo that was Full Tilt Poker operations post-Black Friday....

Jeffrey Pollack Isn’t Dead in Poker?
(alternate headline: It’s Time to Short William Hill Stock) After Federated Sports+Gaming crashed and burned more spectacularly than any company in poker history, many wondered if Jeffrey Pollack, Annie Duke, and others would...

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brandon cantu

Brandon Cantu Knows How to Vent

by Wicked Chops Entity on 10.5.2012 in Poker News | 3 comments

Ok, we realize we’re a couple of days off on this one, but that doesn’t mean it’s still not post-worthy.

During the 2012 WSOP Europe Mixed Max event, Brandon Cantu lost an epic (did Epic Poker forever ruin the use of that word in poker?) heads-up battle against Jon Aguiar. This would’ve marked Cantu’s third “modern era” bracelet, an impressive feat.

There was some controversy around the event. Cantu claims he was owning Aguiar heads-up, but as the match ran on to 5 in the a.m., WSOP officials called it a night. Aguiar then requested a full day off, and WSOP officials agreed (presumably to avoid any other conflict with him, given this summer’s Twittergate episode). Cantu wasn’t happy about this, and dramabomb ensued.

Poker News caught up with Cantu to get his opinion about the episode on camera. And Cantu went off.

Now…people are giving Cantu a lot of shit for this interview. However, isn’t it nice to see someone with a freaking emotional opinion for a change? Agree or disagree with him, but poker could use some more personality in the game. So well done, Brandon, ya crazy bastard.

Tagged as: brandon cantu

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Brandon Cantu Finally Got Tasered

by Wicked Chops Entity on 11.22.2009 in Poker News | 2 comments

About 27 years ago Clonie Gowen and Brandon Cantu made a prop bet where the loser was to get tasered. Brandon Cantu lost. He finally got tasered.

The omni-present poker party crowd was on hand (Jeff Madsen, Layne Flack, etc.). Hats off to Cantu for going through with the tasering, but let’s just say if Layne Flack’s teeth are “proud” of what you’re doing, you’re probably not doing the right thing.

Final note, was that Robin Leach with more hair and Kevin Smith in the background?

Thanks to pokerati for the find.

Tagged as: brandon cantu, Clonie Gowen

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2009 WSOP Round-Up: Cantu Wins Second Bracelet; Williams & FBT Go for Theirs

by Wicked Chops Entity on 6.28.2009 in Uncategorized | no comments

If there was only an obvious joke to make about this photo...if only...

Here’s the rundown of weekend WSOP action:

:: Event #48 ($1,500 PLO 8B): Brandon Cantu outlasted a field of 752 to capture his second bracelet. For the win, he banks $228,867. Cantu defeated Lee Watkinson-Markholt ($141,873) for the title. Get full final table payouts here.

:: Event #50 ($1,500 Limit Hold’em Shootout): Final table starts today at 2pm PT. Going for their second WSOP bracelets are David Williams and Greg ‘FBT’ Mueller. Joining them is the awesomely named Flaminio Malaguti. Pretty sure he was a Formula 1 race car driver at some point of his life. Or a gay Italian bar. One of the two. See the rest of the final table here.

Event #51 ($1,500 NLH): Another 2,781 entered the second-to-last $1,500 NLH event. Christopher Bonita is the overnight chip leader, stacked at 131,700. Get full chip counts here.

Tagged as: 2009 WSOP, brandon cantu, David Williams, Greg "FBT" Mueller, Poker News

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2009 WSOP Round-Up: $50k H.O.R.S.E. Off To the Races With 95 Entrants*

by Wicked Chops Entity on 6.27.2009 in Uncategorized | 2 comments

Bahador Ahmadi, seen in foreground on Day 2 of Event #47, captured his first WSOP bracelet last night.

As Jeffrey Pollack discussed in his latest vlog, it was an eventful day at the 2009 WSOP. Here’s the rundown:

:: Event #47 ($2,500 Mixed Hold’em): Bahador Ahmadi, a former college football player at Holy Cross, beat a solid final table that consisted of Ylon Schwartz (3rd), Barry Greenstein (5th), and Hasan Habib, who is still alive (8th), to capture his first bracelet. Ahmadi banks $278,804 for the win. Get full final table payouts here.

:: Event #48 ($1,500 PLO 8B): Brandon Cantu makes another attempt at bracelet #2, taking a large chip lead to the final table. Cantu is stacked at 1,025,000. He’s followed by frog-leg eating Jacquin Mathieu with 552,000. Lee Watkinson-Markholt is third with 412,000. Get full chip counts here.

:: Event #49 ($50,000 H.O.R.S.E.): Now matter how it’s spun, gotta be disappointed that only 95 entrants shelled out $50k for this year’s H.O.R.S.E. championship. Even more disappointed though are the four who were eliminated on Day 1 (Alexander Kostritsyn, Dan Shak, David Singer, and Steve Zolotow). Hasan Habib, who is surprisingly still alive, is chip leader, stacked at 387,000. David Benyamine, Andy Black, and Chris “Jesus” Ferguson are also among the top 10 stacks. Get full chip counts here.

:: Event #50 ($1,500 Limit Hold’em Shootout): The final event of the day had 572 entrants. Among the table winners were Jean-Robert Bellande, Greg ‘FBT’ Mueller, David Williams and Brock Parker. Get a full list of winners here.

* Fuck we just went there again. We need to put that joke down like Barbaro.

Tagged as: 2009 WSOP, brandon cantu, Poker News

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2009 WSOP Round-Up: Ivey, Cantu Come Up Short

by Wicked Chops Entity on 6.23.2009 in Uncategorized | no comments

Some top pros almost busted out big wins yesterday...

The big winner yesterday was Matt Graham, taking the $10k PLO Championship. We had a near-miss on an all-star final table for Event #41, as well as some decent Girls on the Rail (click thumbs below for more). Here’s the recap:

:: Event #39 ($1,500 NLH): Ray Foley, a 37 year-old business manager for Chrysler, couldn’t have possibly picked a better time to win his first bracelet, defeating Brandon Cantu heads-up for the Event #39 title. For the win, Foley banks $657,969. Cantu brings home $403,951 for second. Alex Jacob finished fourth for $190,847. Get full payouts here.

:: Event #41 ($5,000 NLH Shoot-Out): Making yet another deep tourney run, Phil Ivey just missed out on the final table, going home in eight place ($16,739). Also just missing out on the final table were Barney Boatman, Peter “Nordberg” Feldman, the completely-unfuckably-named Wilf Saar, and David “The Dragon” Pham*. That leaves us with a friends and family^TM final table that you probably aren’t too interested in. But if you are, see who’s in it here.

:: Event #42 ($2,500 Mixed): The 14 remaining entrants will play down to a winner today. Jon “Pearljammer” Turner will make another attempt to win his first bracelet, starting the day as chip leader with 469,200. In third overall is Layne Flack (283,400). Also remaining are bracelet winner Dario Alioto (225,600) and Jimmy Fricke (47,400). Get full chip counts here.

:: Event #43 ($1,000 Seniors NLH): A total of 2,707 played down to 402. If you really care who is left, go here.

:: Event #44 ($2,500 Razz): For the final event of the day, a field of 315 played down to 122. Warwick Mirzikinian is the chip leader, stacked at 59,400. Lots more Razz to be played, people, but David Chiu, Ville Walhbeck, Daniel Negreanu, and Annie Duke all have solid stacks. Get full chip counts here.

* Not a real dragon.