2009-07-06

The sixth and final round of Prize Fighter has drawn to a close and the weary, battle-hardened fighters have retired to their corners but the question on everyone's lips is who were the finale's big hitters and who fell by the wayside?  

SNG Leaderboard:  

One player has done consistently well, not only in this SNG category, but in each and every discipline in all six rounds. Let me introduce you to Round 6 SNG Leaderboard winner, none other than gnasher8. Congratulations to that man. He was sitting in second place, behind Cucumber1 at the half way stage but managed to put in some great performances to edge out his opponents. By close of play he had amassed over 3,000 points more than 5LEEPWALKER, 5,500 more than Cuculmber1 and an astonishing 10,500 more than fourth place finisher and leaderboard regular premliga.  

MTT Leaderboard:  

He was leading at the half way stage and managed to stay there until the finish line, we are of course talking about The Klup. The MTT leaderboard is a difficult one to win due to the nature of the beast but his consistent results during Round 6 were enough to see off his nearest rivals moreyman, and manleymatt and were enough to award him the $200 first prize.  

NL/PL Cash Leaderboard:  

There are rarely any shocks in the cash discipline but shocked we were when MrFancyPant arrived from way outside the top five to clinch top spot and the $200 prize. His points total of 265,613 was one of the largest recorded and eclipsed premliga's 192,295, itself a massive points tally. Also worth a mention is third, fourth and fifth placed finishers Da ReefaMan, leo VII and icon all of who weren't in the top five places but put on a late charge to secure cash prizes totalling $180.  

Mixed Leaderboard:  

Round 6's best all-round performer won Round 5, came second in Round 4 and must therefore be in contention for being the best pund for pound Prize Fighter, and it's none other than premliga. A consistent performer, premliga has proven himself time and time again to be a worthy adversary to anyone who faced him and will now have a solid reputation if he didn't already. Special mentions must go out to gnasher8 and Cucumber1 who came second and third respectively and have been regulars in all leaderboards from the start of Prize Fighter.

Well that is the end of this epic contest. We'd like to thank all worthy participants out there. The fighters have come and gone but a bloody-nosed, black-eyed few remained until the end. Look out for interviews and reviews in Poker Player magazine and on the Betfair site in the coming weeks and until next time get yourself in training to see if you can become the next Prize Fighter.


 
2009-06-17

The sixth and final round of the Poker Player and Betfair Poker promotion, Prize Fighter gets under way on Friday 19 June with another $2,400 up for grabs in prize money.

You can earn points from 00:01GMT on June 19 and continue to pick them up for a fortnight until 23:59 on July 2 by playing sit and goes (SNG), multi-table tournaments (MTT) or cash games on Betfair Poker. In order to keep the promotion accessible to players of all skills and experience, only SNG and MTT with a buy-in of $25 or lower (not including house fee) and cash games wit blinds $0.50/$1 and lower will count towards the standings.

The true greats all want to win the mixed discipline category to prove they are the best all round players on Betfair Poker, a title won by premliga in Round 5, and three time winner gnasher8. Not only do the winners receive up to $200 for each leader board they win, they also have a chance to feature in the following month's Poker Player Magazine, an honour bestowed on  Peter “Hugeplums” Bradshaw who topped the mixed discipline chart in Round 4 after coming third in the cash category, fourth in the MTT field, and seventh for SNG.

Entering the ring for the first time in Prize Fighter is popular Betfair blogger Matthew Pitt aka YorkyPuds. An experienced online player, he certainly won't be fighting above his weight and can slug it out with the best of them when there is a decent purse on offer.

Make your entrance, spring into the ring and slog it out for two hard-fought weeks to be crowned Prize Fighter Round 6 Champion. Seconds out.....Round 6

 


 
2009-06-07
Round 5 of the Prize Fighter series is now over and once again there are some familiar names at the top of the leaderboards. There has been some serious ducking, diving and weaving over the past fortnight and here are the final standings of what was an epic battle. 
 
SNG Leaderboard: 
 
He was leading at the halfway stage and continued to be the one dominating the SNG field all the way until the end, we are of course talking about Cucumber1. His points total of 21,550 was an astonishing 6,670 more than his nearest rival, the leaderboard regular gnasher8 and 8,050 in front of premliga. Anyone who wants to challenge for Round 6's SNG field better be prepared to fight it out with a formidable opponent. 
 
MTT Leaderboard: 
 
The MTT leaderboard is one of the most difficult disciplines to win due to the nature of the games and one large win can change everything. One player who knows that all too well is HOWandWHY who managed to top this round's league with an impressive 9,083 points. premliga made his second top three finish from two disciplines whilst little separated third and fourth place finishers antony94 and why do that.
 
Cash Leaderboard:
 
Despite not even being in the top five at the halfway stage, premliga made a late surge to claim the title of cash king with an impressive total of 134,302 points. Smooth C managed to out-box gnasher8 to claim second place by just 1,409 points with wsopted making the top five to add to his money placing in the MTT category. Cash game regular and Dennis staff member, Dicey missed out on some free cash this time around, finishing in 43rd place. It seems the cash discipline has itself a couple of newcomers who can slog it out with the big boys. 
 
Mixed-discipline Leaderboard: 
 
It should not come as any surprise to anyone who has read the above to know that premliga is this round's winner of the Mixed discipline and a worthy winner he is too. A third place finish in the SNG field, a runners-up spot in the MTT category was topped by him winning the cash event in emphatic style. A big mention must still go to gnasher8 who seems to always finish in the top three and is a worthy adversary to anyone taking part in the Prize Fighter promotion. why do that showed he could grind out more than MTTs to claim third place whilst Johnnielove and chipfire227 made up the rest of the top five. 
 
The bell will sound for the sixth and final round of Prize Fighter at one minute past midnight on Friday 19 June and will run until 23:59GMT on Thursday 2 July. Have you what it takes to become a Prize Fighter? If you think you have then buy a copy of Poker Player Magazine, take the password and register here and prove you have the skills to win a share of $2,400 in cold, hard cash.


 
2009-05-29
We have reached the halfway point of Round 5 and the competition is as fierce as it has ever been and with $2,400 up for grabs it is easy to see why. At this point in the competition we have some big hitting newcomers trying to sucker-punch the regulars but they are as resilient as Rocky Balboa and are not giving up without a fight. 
 
SNG Leaderboard 
 
Cucumber1 has burst onto the scene and sits proudly at the top of the SNG table at the halfway point of Round 5 with an impressive 10,310 points. Named after the popular salad food, Cucumber1 has already played close to 14k SNG's during his time at Betfair so is used to logging a ton of volume. Pushing him all the way are premliga and gnasher8, the latter a regular name in the SNG, Cash and Mixed Discipline fields. Betfair staff member bantMAN finds himself in 11thspot at present with 5LEEPWALKER currently on the ropes in 13th place 8.5k points behind the leader. Anything can and does happen in poker and with a week to go I'd expect the top three to be pushed all the way. 
 
MTT Leaderboard 
 
Two heavyweights slugging it out at the top of the MTT table are craftydigs2 and wsopted. Matters could not be closer and it looks like we will need a judges decision as there is currently just a single point separating them. Hoping to spoil the party and knock them off their perch is third placed why do that who has amassed 2,870 points so far. The MTT table can change instantly with just a single win, who is going to deliver the killer uppercut and take the lead? 
 
NL Cash Leaderboard 
 
You cannot mention the NL Cash leaderboard without the name gnasher8 appearing, and this update is no different as he currently finds himself in second place with an impressive 93,019 points. However, knocking everyone to the canvas so far is portugeezer with over 125k points at the halfway stage, has he got the stamina to outlast the veteran gnasher8 though? Only time will tell. Also wanting to be involved in this fight is wsopted who is also in line for the MTT gong. Poker Player magazine's Dacey needs to ramp up the volume and aggression if he is to move up from 21st place and be in line for a cash reward. The cut man is on standby to patch up the walking wounded in this epic battle. 
 
Mixed Discipline Leaderboard 
 
The title every Prize Fighter wants to win is the Mixed Discipline field as it shows they are accomplished in several fields. It comes as no surprise that gnasher8 finds himself at the top of the table with 86 points but it looks like this could be the most hotly contested battle so far with the top three players being separated by a mere 13 points. Also up there trading hooks and jabs are SNG specialists premliga and chipfire227 whilst cash regular Johhnn123 is also within touching distance of the leaders. 
 
With almost a week to go anything can happen but some players are going to have to find some extra strength from somewhere and be prepared to fight until the death.  
 
Make sure you have your gum shield in and get back out into the squared circle.

 
2009-05-23

The penultimate round of the inaugural Prize Fighter Championships is now under way with another $2,400 up for grabs across four league tables simply by playing your usual game of SNG, MTT or Cash games. 

Unlike most promotions that are geared towards high stakes players, Round 5, like all previous rounds, has been designed to cater for all players and therefore only SNG or MTT with an entry fee of  $25 and under or any NL/PL cash games with blinds higher than $0.50/$1 will count towards the leaderboards. This means a prize of up to $200 is within reach for anyone regardless of the size of your bankroll. 

The big hitters of the Championships so far have been 5LEEPWALKER, gnasher8 and the splendidly named Hugeplums who have cashed regularly in each of the SNG, Cash and Mixed-discipline leaderboards. These are the fighters who can duck and weave with the best of them. Look out for them at a table near you. 

Round 5 runs until 23.59GMT on June 4, check in at the halfway stage for any news, views and gossip from ringside for the previous week's play.  

Keep your guard up and fight! 


 
2009-05-08

Apologies for the lack of updates recently. Rounds 3 and 4 have come and gone quicker than a spar with the Hitman Hatton, and like the Mancunian Blue, we're all still in a daze. So here's the round-up for Round 4.

On the recap front, it's been a hectic time on the leaderboards which have been changing every day. When the dust settled at midnight last night however, the top spots were taken, once again, by some very familiar faces but also a surprising sprinkling of new ones!

SnG Leaderboard:

No place in the top 10 for the featured player in this month's Poker Player, cgls1979. Following her 2 storming SnG victories, she may well have taken to staying in her corner for a round - and who can blame her. So, slugging it out on the SnG canvass in Round 4, there were two contenders far out in front in Round 4. They came in the form of 5LEEPWALKER (Round 1 SnG winner), and gnasher8 (of Mixed Discipline leaderboard pedigree). However, pipping at the post with a margin of 1,570 points was gnasher8. This was surprisingly his first win of the SnG leaderboard (having previously come 2nd twice and 4th once). Well done, once again, to gnasher8.

MTT Leaderboard:

This is the most volatile of all the leaderboards, as once again in Round 4 we celebrate another new winner who has never touched the top 10 previously - SandraLay. Sandra's win must come with commiserations to C8_KRW, 2nd in the MTT Learderboard twice in a row and yet to take down a Prize Fighter leaderboard belt. Well down Sandra, good to have another newbie on board!

Cash Leaderboard:

We don't expect this leaderboard to throw up surprises in the top 10, and yet it always does. You'd think the grinding players grind day in, day out? Perhaps they do, but we have still seen a raft of new faces show themselves in Round 4. So, in 5th and new to the Prize Fighter leaderboards is fadrus on 50,187 points. 4th, another newbie, icon with 57,776 points. 3rd, Prize Fighter old-timer and winner of Round 1 MTT leaderboard, Hugeplums on 65,212. Big step up then to 2nd, filled by another debutant, isadore with 79,679 points. And finally, in 1st place, with a MASSIVE 93,300, is our old friend, gnasher8 taking down his second belt in the same month and 4th overall. He is a beast of a poker player.

Mixed Discipline Leaderboard:

And so to the big one. With no cgls1979 to contend with, the money had to be on Round 1 and Round 2 winner gnasher8. With a 4 way joint 4th, were C8_KRW, glenman, moreyman and safc 1. Bagging a top 5 finish for the second consecutive round is 5LEEPWALKER in 3rd spot (6th Cash, 2nd SnG, 39th MTT). In 2nd place, and surprising us all by not taking the top spot in this round is gnasher8 (1st Cash, 1st SnG, 16th MTT). However, this round's number 1 all-rounder is Hugeplums (4th MTT, 3rd Cash, 7th SnG). Great name, great result.

So, well done to all Round 4 winners. Round 5 kicks off on 22nd May when the fighters will emerge for their share of $2,400.


 
2009-04-03

And we’re back and underway in Round 3 of Prize Fighter, which started at 12pm last night. 

It means that the scores have been reset, there's another four belts on offer in our SnG, Cash, MTT, and Mixed-discipline leaderboards, and most-importantly there's $2,400 to be won over the next 13 days (bell rings at midnight on 16th April). So lace up and get in the ring.

We'll see you all at the tables!


 
2009-03-17

Well, Round 2 is over and the judges verdict is in. The $2,400 winnings will be sent first class, direct to our players accounts shortly. Catch up on our round-up below or search for aliases to see who won, who lost, and who just slugged it out for fun.

SnG Leaderboard:
Was there ever any doubt? The SnG leaderboard saw a titanic battle throughout Round 2, but more for second, third, and fourth places rather than the top spot which was dominated by new Round 2 champ, cgls1979. The player, who had sat calmly throughout Round 1 in 3rd place, hit Round 2 at a blistering pace, and ended over 11k points above Round 1 champ 5LEEPWALKER in second place. Also picking up the pace in the final throws was Round 2 newcomer R S, who overtook Round 1 Mixed Discipline champ, gnasher8 in the final 2 days to clinch 3rd spot. Congratulations to all.

MTT Leaderboard:
Another big encounter throughout Round 2 saw just one Top 10 finisher from Round 1 make it into the Top 10 for Round 2, but this time clinching first place! The heavyweight MTT Leaderboard champions belt for Round 2 goes to fivewood77, 4th in Round 1, now 1st in Round 2. There’s some record being set here in arguably the hardest leaderboard to place in consecutively. How it continues into Round 3 is anyone’s guess. Back behind in second and third were Round 2 newcomers ceda and sharky 123, separated from each other by a hair’s breadth (or more precisely, 600 points).

Cash Leaderboard:
No exhibition match here in Round 2 as Round 1 supremo leo VII failed to show the same form and in Round 2. Instead, the belt is picked up by another Round 2 newcomer, BrewShark. BrewShark has been another in-form contender to stake his claim to the title with a crushing final few days play which saw him overtake nivek987. In fact, the last few days saw the leaderboard turn on its head as cgls1979, tilterud and judges favourite alias, Hugeplums, picked up second, third and fourth respectively, and pushed gnasher8, macca2741 and the cloud down the rankings. Lesson learned - it’s not over until the final bell!

Mized Discipline Leaderboard:
The number of newcomers in Round 2 has led to a great deal of movement in the Mixed Discipline leaderboard, so we’ll start from bottom up in our round-up. A 3-way tie for 4th spot has sneaked in a bit more cash out of this leaderboard in Round 2. Those lucky few are RazOR2, Mollymarie, and cgls1979 who all tie on 73 points overall. 3 points ahead of this motley crew stands thekiid on 76 points, while going one better on 83 points is our MTT leaderboard winner, fivewood77. However, once again confirming superiority over the art of Mixed-discipline Poker, having topped the chart on Round 1,  is gnasher8 who’s steady performance throughout all 3 leaderboards has nailed him top spot once again. Well done gnasher8 – we look forward to reading about you in the next edition of PokerPlayer magazine!

So that’s it for another round of Prize Fighter Poker. Let’s all take a little breather to hone those under-developed MTT skills. We’ll be back, harder, better, faster, stronger for Round 3 – kicking off on April 3rd. Phew!!


 
2009-03-08

Halfway through Round 2 and it's been a bruising encounter so far. We've seen Round 1 victors get themselves into the thick of it once again and a whole host of new up-and-comers battling it out in the ring. Check out the latest below:

SnG leaderboard:

It's hot at the top. Round 1 winner 5LEEPWALKER is right up there once again with mixed-discipline Round 1 champ, gnasher8. However, keeping these two pinned to their corners is new contender and current leader, cgls1979. With 4 more days to go, it's all to play for.

MTT leaderboard:

Round 1 4th placed MTT player, fivewood77, has gone 4 places better so far this round leading the MTT leaderboard by a sizeable margin of 6,333 points. However, one decent placing can turn this right around and new comers ceda and sharky123, currently in second and thrid place, will look to push fivewood77 all the way.

Cash leaderboard:

nivek987 has etched himself a slender lead in this keenly fought leaderboard where just 600 points separate 2nd to 5th place. Brewshark, gnasher8, macca2741, and the cloud will be looking to go toe-to-toe for top spot.

Mixed-discipline leaderboard:

MTT supremo fivewood77 tops the mixed-discipline charts (1st MTT, 5th SnG, 43rd Cash) by a slender margin of just 8 points. However, fivewood77 has been closely shadowed throughout Round 2 by thekiid (9th MTT, 7th SnG), Round 1 champ gnasher8 (3rd Cash, 3rd SnG) and cgls1979 (1st SnG, 20th Cash). So 4 days to go, can gnasher8 pull out the stops to make it 2 out of 2? 4 days left and the clock's ticking...


 
2009-02-27

It's mitts-on time again - midnight last night heralded the start of Round 2 of Prize Fighter Poker, and we'll be scrapping it out until midnight on March 12th.

Don King once said "if you cast your bread on the water, and you have faith, you'll get back the cash. If you don't have faith, you'll get soggy bread". But then Don King didn't know about bad beats...

Good luck at the tables to all. We'll have an update for you on the early leaders next week. 


 
2009-02-17

After a keenly fought first round of Prize Fighter Poker 2009, we now have our kings of the ring! The $2,400 spoils have been distributed amongst the inaugural Prize Fighters for Round 1 - see you all for Round 2 on the 27th!

SNG Leaderboard:

Perhaps the most hotly contested leaderboard, but only in the middle. There were never any doubts about the eventual winner, 5LEEPWALKER, who dominated from the first weekend and ended up with over double the points of his nearest rival gnasher8. Perhaps one to avoid at the tables in future then! Elsewhere, and with a strong surge in the last few days, Betfair staff member Linzi managed to break into the top 20 and was the top 'Selected Other' while Mark Shafty78 Stuart, always a strong contender in any Betfair promotion, was PokerPlayer's top dog. (Betfair 1- PokerPlayer 0)

MTT Leaderboard:

Any good showing in an MTT on Betfair gives all Prize Fighters a great chance to feature on the leaderboard - however there was only one winner here, MTT supremo Hugeplums. While the winning margin was not as great as 5LEEPWALKER's, with guilty and HOWandWHY keeping up with the pace set, Hugeplums maintained his lead throughout. Our 'Selected Others' list shows only one alias of note here - Rick Dicey Dacey of PokerPlayer magazine. The rest of us tried and failed, and now lie whimpering in the corner hoping never to run into anyone (or anything) named Hugeplums. (Betfair 1 - PokerPlayer 1)

NL/PL Cash Leaderboard:

All about two names here; leo VII and JJ Dynamite who came out swinging hard and fast at the cash tables with leo VII pipping JJ at the finishing post. There was little separating 3rd from 5th though with another strong showing from gnasher8 in 5th place. Rick Dicey Dacey led the 'Select Others', reinforcing the fact that PokerPlayer know something or two about, well, poker! (Betfair 1 - PokerPlayer 2)

Mixed Discipline Leaderboard:

Arguably the hardest to win and therefore the most prized title. This leaderboard requires a consistent poker performance over a long period of time in several disciplines in order to rank highly, let alone win it. The winner should therefore be given the credit he deserves for a sterling performance... gnasher8, 2nd in the SNG leaderboard, 5th in the Cash and 9th in the MTT should be lauded for a fantastic showing taking the Mixed Discipline title over leo VII (1st Cash and 8th MTT) and guilty (2nd MTT, 29th Cash and 45th SNG). Betfair staff member Linzi walked away from Round 1 with the esteem of being top of the Selected Others list (ranked 32nd overall), but with the PokerPlayer staff just getting fired up, we will see if he can keep that crown in Round 2! (Betfair 2 - PokerPlayer 2)

We'll be back again to fight it out at the tables from the 27th February onwards. Don't forget to catch the write up of Prize Fighter in March's edition of PokerPlayer magazine!


 
2009-02-03

With the launch of the Betfair Poker Prize Fighter championships this week, some of its players have come out all guns blazing. In contrast, the writers of PokerPlayer Magazine and Betfair Poker Staff may have failed to hear the bell as they languish behind in the league tables.


Although only early on in the rounds 5LEEPWALKER currently has just under a 6,000 point lead over his nearest rival in the SnG category (and is 6th overall in the multi-discipline league) whilst leo VII has an equally impressive lead in the NL Cash league table (4th overall). The early start to the MTT league table has proven to be a more contested affair. Proudly nipping to the front is Hugeplums (who is 7th overall). Finally, following strong performances in the Cash and SnG leagues and therefore heading the multi-discipline table is PokerWilly.


Congratulations to all the early leaders (some memorable aliases there guys), but remember it’s a marathon not a sprint!


 
2009-01-30
We’re off and underway in the inaugural Prize Fighter championships! Start playing in Cash games, SnGs or MTTs today and over the next two weeks we will be tracking your performance and seeing who are the bums, who are the real contenders and who are the ultimate Prize Fighters. We have some huge cash prizes on hand for those who climb up the rankings, so knuckle up and get on those tables. Scores will update overnight, so keep your eyes on the leaderboard tomorrow to see who has taken the early lead. See you at the tables!

 
2008-12-19

The PokerPlayer staff have been in intense training for the big showdown and are confident of taking on the best that Betfair's players can offer. You'll be able to find the hard-hitting editor Dave 'kidunknown' Woods and his bunch of merry men on the Betfair tables at any time for the chance to test your might against the finest that the PokerPlayer stable has to offer. You can check out who is top of the PokerPlayer leaderboard by clicking on the Top PokerPlayer tab on the left of this page.