Sunday June 26, 2011 : Online poker legaliser Joe Barton gives the shuffle up and deal call
It's congratulations to backgammon and poker ace Arkadiy Tsinis, who is one of the newest World Series of Poker bracelet winners after taking down event 38: $1,500 No-Limit Hold’em and collecting the first prize check for $540,136 Saturday.
This was another event that over-ran into a fourth day following high levels of skill and determination among the field, which started out with 2,192 registrations and was down to 23 players entering the third day. The survivors played down to a lively final table, which eventually produced a heads up between Tsinis and Michael Blanovsky, with the former holding the advantage on 5.9 million to Blanovsky's 3.96 million.
However, Blanovsky managed to hang in until level 10 and the end of the day's play, necessitating the return of the finalists on Saturday, by which stage Tsinis had increased his lead to around 7 million, whilst Blanovsky was holding around 2.76 million.
Saturday's midday start on the fourth day saw Blanovsky stage a remarkable comeback, doubling to take the lead and igniting the competition as Tsinis battled to take it back with a further double before eventually – at level 32 – turning the nut-straight in an all-in preflop clash to send Blanovsky to the cashier to collect his runner up's prize of $336,253.
The fourth day clash had lasted almost three hours, full of aggressive but disciplined poker.
Tsinis celebrated with the bracelet, the cash and the knowledge that he had bested a field that had contained many of the best players in the world.