Tony G Wins Moscow Millions

Tony Gouga (Tony G) won the inaugural Moscow Millions and donated the first prize of $205,000 to a local orphanage. The event had a field of 53 players who each put up $10,500 to enter.

Russian poker pro Alex Kravchenko who was very active in the World Series of Poker this year, finished third.

The 2007 Winter Bayou Poker Challenge main event is underway in New Orleans.  It is one of the stops on the World Series of Poker Circuit. The main event has a buy-in of $5,000 and has attracted some of the top players in the world. The preliminary events paid out over $1 million in prize money and the Championship event will pay out $247,860 to the winner.

A total of 160 players entered and 18 will make the money. The winner also gets a seat into the 2008 World Series of Poker championship, to be played in Las Vegas.

Three former WSOP bracelet winners are in the field, Josh Arieh, Brandon Cantu, and Dan Schmiech. The last two Harrah’s New Orleans poker champions, Walter Chambers and Louie Esposito are also entered. The WSOP Europe second place finisher John Tabatabai is also in the field.

“This is my first trip ever to New Orleans,” said Tabatabai. “I had never been to the (American) south before and I always wanted to come here. There is so much culture here and fun things to do in New Orleans. The poker action is incredible here, too. I’ve never seen such great poker action.”

Josh Arieh was in the lead with just 50 players remaining and he looks poised to make the final table. Some other notable pros were not as fortunate and headed home. They included Sabyl Cohen, Brandon Cantu, Kido Pham and John Tabatabai. Arieh had $157,700 in chips; nearly double any other player with 50 players remaining. The final table will be played on Wednesday.