The $1,000 NL Hold’em Stimulus Special looks to be a huge success, as day 1a appears to be sold out with at least 2,800 entered. There’s still some room for tomorrow’s day 1b, but it looks like that field will also be maxed out before play gets underway at 12 noon today. The WSOP Staff Guide projected 5,305 entrants and that has already been exceeded, so I’ll take the cheap win and take the over with a field of 5700 who will eventually play this weekend as the WSOP staff finds a few additional tables to put on the floor to accommodate the field.

The 40th Annual $40,000 NL Hold’em event returns for day 3 action today at 2pm with 23 players playing down to Sunday’s ESPN final table. Justin Bonomo will start action as the chip leader with 2,678,000 in chips, Ted Forrest in 2nd with 2,586,000, and David “WhoooKidd” Baker in 3rd with 2,367,000. Greg Raymer is the last remaining World Champion in the field, in 4th place with 2,287,000. Other notable names include Alec Torelli, Dani Stern, Matt Glantz, Isaac Haxton, David Chiu, Neil Channing, Andy Black, and Andrew Robl.

The $1,500 Omaha Eight or Better also comes back at 2pm today with 197 players remaining from their record field of 918. 2008 winner Thang Luu appears to have returned to his winning form, as he’ll start play today as the chip leader with 73,600 in chips. Other notable names remaining in the field include Phil Hellmuth, Annie Duke, Todd Brunson, and Brandon Cantu. Their final table is also scheduled for Sunday, although with much less exposure than what will be a mix of live and online stars of the 40k event or the WSOP Champions Invitational event, which also starts on Sunday. More to come today, with an update soon (?) if the Stimulus Special has sold out.

8am Update: Under 80 seats left for Sunday.
10:30am Update: 5,839 registered from Da Commish’s Twitter

(aka Omaha 8/B to most … bear with me as I belligerently try to simplify the game labels. )

A record (for Omaha Hi-Lo) field of 918 players started today … they’re about halfway through it, and a few Team Pokerati players are still alive.

DonkeyBomber just barely … but according to @donkeybomber, Mrs. DonkeyBomber is quite comfortable.

Robert Goldfarb (@robertgoldfarb) is likewise even more comfortable.

Also, in addition to the usual pros who happen to still be alive — Negreanu, Elezra, Hellmuth, Duke, Lindgren, et al — I’m following Matt Savage, Kristy Gazes, and early blog-adopter Shirley Rosario (who recently won a $1,000 HORSE Tourney at the California State Championships, hosted by Matt Savage).

There’s a lot of interesting action going on tonight. The $40k NLH seems to have quite the storylines developing … Chris Moneymaker (@cmoneymaker) is still alive and strong, but the chip leader is now his new-poker-era successor, Greg Raymer. Justin Bonomo (@JustinBonomo) is still proving to be a big threat … all these boomtime champions, yet plenty of old dogs there, too — Steven Zolotow, David Chiu, Ted Forrest, e.g. — representin’ those pre-boom big-time days.

There are currently 38 players remaining, with 27 making the money. Click here to follow the official chip counts – and Dr. Pauly is all over this one, too.

UPDATE: Moneymaker just took a huge hit, losing 2/3 of his stack.

RE-UPDATE: Pauly is ahead of the official counters — Moneymaker is out. So is Zolotow.

There’s also some potential excitement brewing in the ESPN Fantasy Pool, with Matt Glantz (@MattGlantz, one of my guys) way up near the top of the chip counts; and Mathers has Neil Channing hanging on for his team of fantasy scabs.

Vanessa Rousso (@VanessaRousso) is also still alive, though barely. Wouldn’t it be something …

Last but definitely not least, Dallas/Shreveport baller Keith Lehr (pictured) is currently 5th in chips.

Don’t forget that the WSOP isn’t the only big poker action going on in town right now. The Venetian has its own not-so-mini series of poker four times a year, the third of which kicked off today.

Event #1 ($300+30 NLH) of the 2009 Deep Stack Extravaganza III had a record 700 entrants — compared to 337 for the same event last year.

Total prize pool: $202,650. 1st Place: $56,743. Paying 63 spots.

(Not sure where the $1,650 overlay comes from.)

We actually had a Team Pokerati player in the field — Cliff Fisher, aka @brdpoker — but he made it only halfway through the field (and halfway through the first level in the second-chance tourney). Cliff plays in the WSOP $1,000 Stimulus tourney on Sunday, btw.

We’ll also see if we can’t find out how the other Little Big Tourneys are doing — specifically the Grand Series of Poker at the Golden Nugget, and the Caesar’s Megastacks.

Today’s $1,500 Omaha 8 or Better tournament drew a record (for Omaha 8 ) 918 participants, with the eventual winner taking home over $263,000. No clear chip leader has emerged from the field, but some notable players who won’t take home a bracelet include : Barry Shulman, Mike Matusow, Jerry Buss, and Allen Cunningham. As the players near their 90-minute dinner break, nearly 600 will be enjoying their meal.

The 40th Annual $40,000 NL Holdem tournament is now in their hour-long dinner break, with 44 players remaining. For those who were wondering if there’s injuries in poker, 2008 WPT Championship winner David Chiu was receiving treatment for an injured right wrist. How this injury came up is unknown, but an explanation may come out shortly. Justin Bonomo entered the break as chip leader with 1,350,000 in chips, with Lex “RaSZi” Veldhuis in 2nd with 1,335,000, and Greg Raymer 3rd at 1,326,000. Day 1 chip leader Bruno Fitoussi was eliminated shortly before the dinner break. When the players return, they have another four levels or 18 players remaining, whichever comes first.

For anyone looking to play in this weekend’s $1,000 Stimulus Special and hasn’t registered, there are over 4,400 who have done so, with over 2,200 registered for day 1a Saturday already. The expected cap for each day 1 is 2,800 and it looks like it’ll be at least one day could be sold out shortly unless more tables get added. Stay tuned for more stuff during the evening.

Not a big deal at all, I’m sure … just a little report about a new company coming to Canada — Harrah’s. The new CEO of Harrah’s Interactive Entertainment, Mitch Garber, will be setting up shop in his old hometown of Montreal … which, of course, is kinda like a suburb of the Kahnawake (Online Poker) Nation.

Furthermore, it seems to be less and less of a secret that the WSOP, which retakes control of its own website later this year and not too long ago successfully fought a court battle for control of WSOP.com, has plans to take its brand of poker tables online.

From the Montreal Gazette:

Harrah’s agreed that he could manage the World Series of Poker teams already in Las Vegas and England out of a Montreal office and still focus on growing the 40-year-old Vegas-based competition.

“There is a hunger for World Series of Poker events, like PGA golf, with events taking place everywhere, whether it is Moscow, Montreal, Rome. Our intent is to deal with government and licensing authorities in every jurisdiction to grow the World Series of Poker,” he said yesterday.

Garber already has a Montreal office in the core of the city and about 10 people, mostly business-development types, working there. Should all go according to plan, the office will expand to “hundreds” of people, mostly customer-service employees and a scattering of Web designers.

The business plan has two main goals, said Garber, who has invested “substantially” in the privately held Harrah’s.

The first is “to offer online gaming in the U.K. and potentially elsewhere in Europe where it is legal and government-licensed.”

Testing something … Hi LT.

Some poker players love to stand for national anthems. Others not so much, depending on how much they’ve got in the pot.

Today marked the first official coronation of a bracelet winner at this year’s WSOP, and the ceremony drew mixed reviews, especially from the heavyweights in the $40,000 No Limit tournament. I got a taste of some of the commentary as I watched the reactions from the players at Andy Black’s table as Jeffery Pollack came on the PA to crown the latest bracelet-winning dealer.

At first, they seemed to tolerate the rather loud intrusion, but once they announced that they will play the national anthem of the winner’s country each day for the rest of the WSOP, the words began to fly faster than the chips. As soon as the Star Spangled Banner started playing, several players at Black’s table began voicing their displeasure with having to hear the various anthems on  a daily basis.

The often outspoken Black became visibly frustrated by the WSOP’s decision to include the patriotic tunes. “This is not happening every bracelet. I would rather piss on the flag and burn it,” said the Irish pro with a laugh.

This prompted an interesting question from tablemate Greg Raymer who commented, “I want someone from some foreign island to win. What happens if a guy wins from Kazakhstan? Are they going to play the Borat theme?”

One interesting thing to note is that the announcers on the PA thanked the players in today’s Event #4 for being patriotic after they stood for the national anthem. Ironically, none of the $40K players at Black’s table batted an eyelash as they all kept playing as though nothing was happening. If there is anything to be learned here, it is that when there is over $1.8 million on the line for first place, don’t expect the game’s elite to sit out a hand in order to show their national pride.

Why has the well respected online casino, Intertops, parted company with the worlds largest online gaming software provider, Microgaming? Find out why, and see what Harrah’s Entertainment and the National Football League are up to!

Dan joins Pauly at the Rio, where everyone’s settin’ up shop and getting the lay of the Amazon-ish land. In doing so, the podcastic duo begin scratching at the complex corporate relationships between Harrah’s, the WSOP, the Rio, the Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Bureau, technology, and strip clubs … but abandon attempts for bathroom humor to explore over-under prop-betting lines on the anticipated field size for the 40k, along with the World Series of Divorce.

With special appearances by Devilfish (trying to position himself as the Zac Efron of Poker?) and Change100.

Tao of Pokerati at the 40th WSOP
Las Vegas, NV

Episode 11.3: High School Musical
2:50

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Episode 11.4: Getting Pissy
3:19

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For a more verbose explanation of any and all WSOP shenanigans, don’t forget to get your daily fill of Dr. Pauly at Tao of Poker.

I had been hearing murmurs … and now we get the word from @LaceyJones herself that the hostess of tomorrow night’s WSOP launch party is back with her former backers at Absolute Poker.

Though I haven’t had a chance to ask her about it yet, it’s a curious move … considering she was a disgruntled former face-person for AP with plenty of reasons to believe they may have been a shady operation even before the cheating scandal emerged. (It was the bogus charity popcorn sale at the 2006 WSOP, I think, that really chapped her hide.)

While I suppose it’s theoretically possible that Lacey is such a degenerate poker addict that returning to her former abusers was the only way to get her tournament fix, might it more so suggest that one of the purest poker hotties has re-evaluated the company and concluded that the new-and-improved operations at Absolute are clean and dandy?

We know Pokeratizens already know to get your official hand coverage and chip counts at PokerNews WSOP.com, while supplementing it with some sex Wicked Chops, drugs Tao of Poker, and rock-n-roll PokerRoad.

But a few other spots on the internet you may not want to forget about this 40th WSOP:

Hardboiled Poker — Shamus is covering the action on-the-felt for PokerNews, but he provides his real analysis of summer life at the Rio at HBP.

BJ’s Photo Blog — a higher level of poker photography.

Poker Shrink — Dr. Tim’s doing “The Poker Mind in Depth”, where he ignores the concept of doctor-patient privacy and takes his couch sessions with Daniel Negreanu, Mike Matusow, and Phil Hellmuth semi-public.

Benjo — If you speak French, you naturally will want your fix of les World Series of Poker from the Frenchiest French guy on media row.

Your favorite intrepid degen journos are back for the 40th WSOP — and what better way to get poker’s version of summer camp started than with some festive prop-betting over a friendly game of bowls at the South Point Casino? Of course it doesn’t take long for old grievances to re-emerge, and by the 9th frame of the second game, Pauly and Dan engage in a battle of dirty tactics that serves as perfect preparation for the world of excuse-making, tilt-induction, substance abuse, and repressed homosexuality that they’re about to step into.

Tao of Pokerati at the 40th WSOP
Las Vegas, NV

Episode 11.1: How We Roll
2:42

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Episode 11.2: Questionable Tactics
2:57

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See the video here.

Earlier this morning, Andrew Cohen became the first bracelet winner of the WSOP as he took down the $500 Casino Employees event. Cohen, a bartender at the N9ne Steakhouse at the Palms, took down $83,833 and will take part in the first bracelet ceremony of the Series at approximately 2:20pm in the Amazon room. Paul Peterson, a barback at the Mandalay Bay, finished 2nd.

At 2pm, the 40th Annual $40,000 NL Event will start their day 2 with 89 players remaining. Bruno Fitoussi will start play as chip leader with 812,500 in chips. Chris Moneymaker is close behind in 2nd with 805,000, with Justin Bonomo in 3rd with 738,000. With the final table scheduled for Sunday, it’s likely they’ll play down to the money today, which will be the final three tables.

The next bracelet event on the schedule will begin at 12 noon with Event #3, $1,500 Omaha Hi/Lo 8 or Better. Last year, Thang Luu won $243,342 in a field of 832. This year, the WSOP Staff Guide projects a field of 916 for today’s event. Taking into account that tomorrow will be day 1a of the $1,000 NL Holdem “Stimulus Special”, taking the under on this projection looks like the logical play here. I’ll suggest that the field size will be closer to 850. You can check out the WSOP site for updates during the day to follow the action and to see how right or wrong I guessed. More stuff from the rest of the team during the day.

Interesting article in today’s New York Times about the Pentagon’s plans to set up bases in cyberspace. Though you gotta think it might be pretty cool to follow the next #war via twitter (@evilgeneral firing missiles @TankGuy. boo-ya!) — deployment of a digital military might be quasi-related to online poker and current anti-UIGEA legislation. Why? Because in addition to militarizing the internet:

(emph. added)

Mr. Obama, officials said, will announce the creation of a White House office — reporting to both the National Security Council and the National Economic Council — that will coordinate a multibillion-dollar effort to restrict access to government computers and protect systems that run the stock exchanges, clear global banking transactions and manage the air traffic control system.

Clear global banking transactions? Seems to me like the USA is fixin’ to rake the internet … and the framework currently being set up to regulate online poker would put some of the necessary mechanisms in place.

Then all we’d need is for the Pentagon to get its act together and we could shoot colluders.