Recapping the Tuesday night activities as we begin week four of the WSOP…

Van Alstyne Back in the Saddle with HORSE Triumph

James Van Alstyne, who finished second in the $3,000 HORSE event last week after holding the chip lead, came back in the $1,500 HORSE event to take down his first WSOP bracelet along with the $247,003 winnings. Tad Jurgens was runnerup, Mitch Schock finished third, and Bryan Micon, named one of poker’s “true anarchists” in Nolan Dalla’s final table report, finished fourth.

Boyes Buoyed by Chip Lead

The $2,000 NL Holdem event starts day 3 with 19 players remaining as they play down to a bracelet winner with Jason Boyes the current chip leader at 976,000. Finland’s Mika Paasonen is in 2nd place to try to be the 2nd Finn with a WSOP bracelet this year. Angel Guillen (496,000) and Peter “Nordberg” Feldma (486,000), and Daniel Makowsky (177,000) appear to be the most notable players remaining.

Limit Holdem Left with a Not So Dirty Dozen

The $10,000 Limit Holdem World Championship has twelve players remaining as they resume at 1pm today to reach the final table for a scheduled 2pm broadcast on ESPN360 and wsop.pkr.com. Here’s how the remaining players are seated with plenty of familiar names for the poker viewer:

Seat 1: Maria Ho – 228000
Seat 3: Greg ‘FBT’ Mueller – 485000
Seat 4: Pat Pezzin – 300000
Seat 5: Kenny Hsiung – 831000
Seat 6: Soheil Shamseddin – 385000
Seat 9: Jennifer Harman – 126000

Seat 1: Matt Glantz – 483000
Seat 4: Chad Brown – 545000
Seat 5: Matt Hawrilenko – 601000
Seat 7: Michiel Brummelhuis – 687000
Seat 8: Mark Klecan – 603000
Seat 9: Daniel Alaei – 330000

Unfortunately, Ville Wahlbeck finished outside the money, but maintains his WSOP Player of the Year lead.

The Pros Strike Back Against the Donks

The $1,500 NL Holdem event returns at 2pm with 240 players remaining, only 216 get paid. James Taylor, unfortunately not this James Taylor has the chip lead with 174,400. More notable names are near the top of the leaderboard include: Eugene Katchalov (90,600), Roberto Romanello (89,400), Phil Hellmuth (88,100), Pat Poels (84,500), Quinn Do (80,600), Roland de Wolfe (61,300), and Allen Cunningham (60,200).

Wednesday’s Tournament

Only one event again on the calendar today, with the debut of the $5,000 Pot Limit Omaha event. This event usually is played with rebuys, but their elimination this year makes this a new event. As usual, players will start with 5,000 in chips followed by two “free rebuy” chips to add to their stacks at any time in the first three levels. The WSOP Staff Guide projects a field of 250, but expect closer to 400 when play starts at noon this afternoon. Follow along with the action at www.wsop.com and return to Pokerati during the day for other stuff.

Here are some interesting numbers, from WSOP statisticians:

In Baseball Terms: A .300 hitter in baseball is considered special.  The below chart details those who are cashing at the WSOP at a similar clip:

NAME	CASHES	EVENTS ENTERED	CASH PERCENTAGE
Howard Boyd	4	12	0.333
Fabrice Soulier	4	12	0.333
Anthony Cousineau	4	12	0.333
Barry Greenstein	4	13	0.307
Roland DeWolfe	4	13	0.307
John Monnette	3	10	0.30

(Minimum 10 events; through Event #28)

Honorable Mentions: Ville Wahlbeck (cashes in 4 of 5 events entered; 80%), Darryl Fish (cashes in 5 of 8 events entered; 62.5%) and David Baker (cashes in 5 of 8 events entered; 62.5%) have all proven their mettle as well.

Click below to see who’s getting a lot of at-bats, but relatively few hits:

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We’re always doing a little technical clean-up around these parts — especially around this time of year, you know, when there’s not much to write/read about. Anyhow, in making some repairs recently, we I broke our RSS feed. Now we Scott and Ed have fixed it, but you may need to resubscribe if your Pokerati posts have not been showing up as regularly as usual in the RSS reader of your choice.

It’s a pretty fancy URL you need to click to make things right in the poker blogoverse once again:

http://pokerati.com/feed/

If that doesn’t work, try this: http://pokerati.com/feed/rss2

(I admittedly don’t understand the difference, but also get the same results when I click either, so …)

And if you like soccer and/or Sangyfarha, click this: http://soccerati.com/feed/

One of the rules changed at today’s (yesterday’s) TDA Summit (for the TDA, not the WSOP) … as per a tweet from @SavagePoker:

New TDA Rule….. All Hold’em Final Tables that start 9 or 10 handed will go to final table at 10 handed. 6 handed tournaments at 7…

Hmm, not sure how I feel about that one, or how it would work at a place like The Lodge, where an extra-big field meant starting with some fold-up outer tables that were only 6-handed, compared to the 8-9-handed tables elsewhere in the room.

As we all know, there’s far more to the World Series than just bracelet events. One of the alt-poker activities going on today and tomorrow and yesterday (Tuesday and Wednesday) is the TDA Summit. That’s where tourney directors from card rooms around the country get together with Matt Savage, Linda Johnson, Jan Fisher, and the other honchos in tournament operations to discuss, debate, and vote on various technicalities of poker rules — as well as to discuss handling new and old situations that inevitably arise.

They also had a specialty non-bracelet tourney today — a $125 buy-in with 60something players (Warren Karp was the “known” name who made the final table) — and I happened to stumble upon the semi-funny sitch captured above … where at a table full of floormen, someone called floor. Ha ha.

Though you can imagine the pressure on the floorguy should he make the wrong ruling, it frankly wasn’t that hard of a decision … But there were a lot of people interested in how it would turn out, particularly because these players, while being trained in TDA rules, where in a tourney being run by WSOP staff, which has its own rules, which are slightly different from the TDA’s.

Click below for a breakdown of the situation, and see for yourself if you woulda made the same decision.

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Recapping the early part of Tuesday action at the WSOP…

JC’s a Runaway Tran in PLO

JC Tran took down his 2nd career WSOP bracelet in the $2,500 Pot-Limit Omaha event defeating Jeff Kimber in heads-up play to also adds $235,685 to his tournament database. Ross Boatman finished in 4th, John Juanda finished in 9th place.

Wolpert Topples Duthie Heads Up

The $10,000 NL Holdem Heads Up World Championship just conclude with Leo Wolpert taking the final two matches to defeat John Duthie 2-1 and pick up $625,682. Duthie settles for the 2nd place winnings of $386,636. Duthie won the first match in about 90 hands, while Wolpert won the second match in just nine hands. The third match took 191 hands, ending when Wolpert flopped bottom two pair against Duthie’s top pair.

Micon Trying to Schock the World

The $1,500 HORSE now has six players remaining at the final table, as Mitch Schock is the current chip leader with Shannon Shorr, Tad Jurgens, Bryan Micon, Brian Malcolm, and James Van Alstyne round out the final table.

Lennaard, Part 7

Ken Lennaard, a veteran Swedish pro, is the current chip leader with 77 players remaining in the $2,000 NL Holdem event. Notables still in the field include: Michael Binger, Peter Feldman, Andre Akkari, Kelly Kim and Chau Giang.

Go, Ho, Go!

The $10,000 Limit Holdem World Championship is down to 48 players, only 18 get paid as they strive to reach a final table tomorrow. The current chip leader is online high stakes cash-game specialist Matt Hawrilenko with 272,000. Maria Ho is currently 3rd (225,000) with Ralph Perry (180,000), Josh Arieh (170,000), Steve Zolotow (150,000) and Jennifer Harman (142,000) among the notables still in contention. Ville Wahlbeck is still in the field, but towards the bottom of the field with just 54,000 in chips.

Donkament 4: Voyage to the Rio

The 4th $1,500 NL Holdem event started with a field of 2095, with only 669 players remaining. Unfortunately an early chip leader hasn’t been announced yet, but check out the morning update or wsop.com for an update later this evening.

photo: Brendan Sullivan / Deseret News

Not all over the place — but on its buses at least, and maybe at the airport.

The Utah Transit Authority, which polices Salt Lake City’s FrontRunner train system, has passed an ordinance prohibiting using its free wifi to surf porn, engage in online gambling, or view other “inappropriate” websites. Violators face a $300-$500 fine. The Salt Lake City airport will offer free wifi starting July 1 — and they are deciding whether or not to enact similar anti-poker online prohibitions.

Big Brother implications and presumptive poker outrage aside, I gotta say, this really ain’t so bad. There should be local option elections, as opposed to a federal (or even state) law prohibiting certain behaviors. And the UTA ordinance doesn’t prohibit playing online poker in other public places — just on their trains when using taxpayer-funded wi-fi systems. I’m not so sure I’d want my Mormon kids to see the results of a kid hopped up on Red Bull getting two-outered at the bubble of a WSOP main event qualifier.

In fact, I’d rather have this method — punishing violators — than pre-emptive filters — which I have found in some airports to block out legitimate news sites that happen to cover gambling, such as Pokerati CardPlayer.

The one technical question, however, is what happens if you happen to be using your own air card? Is the ordinance written in such a way that makes online wagers over the UTA’s service the misdemeanor, or is it the location? Will be an interesting case when some kid home for the summer from BYU finds himself going deep in a Sunday Millions and is running late to meet his parents at church.

Watch the local-news vid below for a decent exploration of the legal issues involved — mostly as they relate to porn but also for the online gambling that’s lumped in with it:

A little smoking area convo with Dutch Boyd (after a heads-up from @robertgoldfarb) led to this little tidbit. Dutch Boyd and Roy Winston supposedly made a $5,000 prop bet at the 2008 WSOP regarding to Player of the Year points. Boyd supposedly won the bet, and when it came time to pay up at the start of the 2009 WSOP, Winston indicated that he would not pay.

Jen: “Did Winston specifically say he wasn’t going to pay you?”
Dutch: “Pretty much, yeah.”

And from his Twitter:

Feeling rather annoyed… A liitle short in the horse and Roy “the Oracle” Winston is welching on a 5k prop bet. Lame.

Methinks “The Oracle” didn’t anticipate Boyd would pursue this any further. Whoops.

As we get near the halfway point — through 27 events — here’s how the WSOP Player of the Year race is shaping up:

250 – Ville Wahlbeck
220 – Brock Parker
220 – Phil Ivey
175 – Pete “the Greek” Vilandos
160 – Steve Sung
155 – Daniel Negreanu
150 – Jeffrey Lisandro
147 – Jason Mercier
145 – Roland de Wolfe
135 – Scott Clements

Click here for the full list and point totals. Personally, I think the best bet is probably Lisandro, who has been in this spot multiple times before … and maybe Negreanu, who really wants to win … oh, and Phil Ivey, too!

Twenty-seven events are already in the books at the 2009 World Series of Poker and, so far, European players are having one of their best Series’ to date. As you might expect, it is the Americans that are dominating the majority of events but we’ve seen some spectacular results from British and European players.

The 2009 WSOP started in earnest with the $40,000 buy in No Limit Hold’em Anniversary event back on May 28th. Vitaly Lunkin, from Russia, took the honours and a $1,891,018 pay day after fighting his way past a plethora of world famous poker players. Lunkin has been in red hot form in 2009 and his victory brings his WSOP bracelet tally up to two following his success in the $1,500 No Limit Hold’em event here last year.

UK players have been enjoying a great Series so far. According to the Pokerati 2009 WSOP Standings table players from the UK have made 72 cashes, 9 final tables and won 2 bracelets to date.

So who are the British bracelet winners? It was JP Kelly that was first to register on the WSOP bracelet radar. Kelly, despite his baby-face looks, has been a regular on the international poker circuit for a while now but he has been suffering a dry spell of late. With only two cashes in 2009, it was unlikely John Paul went into the $1,500 Pot Limit Hold’em event on June 9th brimming with confidence. What a difference a tournament can make! Kelly took command of the final table with a power-packed display of aggressive poker like a player who has a sock drawer full of WSOP bracelets at home. Despite Erik Seidel (7th) in menacing mood and, fellow Brit’, Aaron Virchis (5th) looking dangerous there was simply no way Kelly was going to be denied the title and a $194,343 win. Credit should also go to second place player Marc Tschirch, from Germany, who pressed Kelly all the way in the heads-up stages.

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The Internet Gambling Regulation Consumer Protection and Enforcement Act of 2009 (aka Leave No Pot Behind) is gearing up for its Congressional push … I’ll be honest, few sources I’ve spoken to give this legislation much chance — at least not until Sen Harry Reid (D-NV) gets on board, and a little Obama-attended fundraiser hosted by Harrah’s at the Caesar’s Palace Poker Room is hardly enough to guarantee that.* However, thanks in part to publicity brought on by the crackdown on online payment processors, the bill seems to be gaining more momentum than anyone expected.

Four more congresspeople signed on as co-sponsors Friday, bringing the total number to 30:

Rep. Steve Dreihaus (D-OH)
Rep. Steve Israel (D-NY)
Rep. Raul Grijalva (D-AZ)
Rep. Jared Polis (D-CO)

Now before my Libertarian and Conservative friends get on my case about this bill more Democratic socialism, just know that Rep. Ron Paul (R-TX) is a big backer of HR 2267, so if Dr. No can say yes, then so can I — regardless of my poker bias.

The bill was also sent on Friday to the House Judiciary subcommittee on Crime, Terrorism, and Homeland Security. Good thing — since one of the first arguments against it is that online poker funds terrorism, when we know full well that even if that were true, it’s all the more reason to regulate it. To follow the progress of HR 2267 as it moves through Congress, click here.

* MGM/Mirage is reportedly neutral on the bill, and Steve Wynn supposedly strongly against.

The creator of Cirque du Soleil took 4th place in the 2007 WPT Championship after winning his entry via super-satellite.

That’s the name of the day, today, June 16, in Las Vegas.

The town’s Partyer-in-Chief, Mayor Oscar Goodman, declared it such in celebration of the uber-bendy, adult-acid-trippy Cirque du Soleil’s 25th anniversary. To honor the day, the name of the Strip has been changed — with plausibly confusing street signs and everything — from Las Vegas Blvd. to Cirque du Soleil Blvd. And at 1 pm today, outside Bellagio, some 300 people will be walking around on stilts as part of the festivities and a six-city worldwide effort to break the Guinness record for stilt-walking.

More than 90 million people have seen Cirque shows, which explains why its creator, Guy Laliberte, is the 261st richest man in the world, with $2.5 billion in net worth. He is also, of course, a poker player … much to the delight of Bobby’s Room and the regulars on High Stakes Poker. Without a doubt, both directly and indirectly, he has been a valuable contributor to the poker economy.

Also this week, Laliberte’s lawyers are protesting the release of a new, unauthorized biography that details some of the ballerest Dionysian fests in Vegas that only the creator of Mystere could imagine — A-lister orgies with the finest food, booze, drugs, music … and hookers flown in from Montreal.

In September, Laliberte, 49, plans to take an arguably well-earned vacation by traveling to space via Russian rocket for 12 days.

Click below to read more about what Guy Laliberte was allegedly doing when he wasn’t playing poker:

(Or click here to see David Benyamine win a $1.2 million pot from Laliberte.)

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Recapping the Monday evening tournament action…

$10k Heads-Up Going Overtime

The $10,000 NL Holdem Heads-Up World Championship is down to the final match as John Duthie takes on Leo Wolpert in a best of three match at 12pm (broadcast here and at wsop.pkr.com for international viewers to determine a winner. Duthie, the founder of the European Poker Tour, which announced the first half of its schedule yesterday, takes on Wolpert a professional poker player who went back to law school and is currently on a summer internship in Nevada, will attempt to pick up their first career bracelet and the $625,682 that goes with it.

Eise Uses the Force to Win a Bracelet

Mike “The Force” Eise made his first tournament cash worthy of a bracelet, taking down the $1,500 NL Holdem event defeating Jeff Chang heads-up for the title as well as picking up a hefty $639,331.

Boatman Leads the Mob in PLO

Ross Boatman, member of the Hendon Mob (the best place to find tournament results) leads the final table in the $2,500 Pot Limit Omaha final table, which is seated as follows when play resumes at 2pm :

Seat 1: Jeff Kimber – 525000
Seat 2: Rami Boukai – 325000
Seat 3: Dallas Flowers – 239000
Seat 4: Ross Boatman – 718000
Seat 5: J.C. Tran - 387000
Seat 6: John Juanda – 129000
Seat 7: Theo Jorgensen – 419000
Seat 8: Chad Layne – 206000
Seat 9: Jean-Philippe Leandri – 324000

Soulier Écouter en $1,500 Cheval

Fabrice Soulier is the chip leader (351,000) when day 3 of the $1,500 HORSE resumes at 2pm with 23 players remaining. Shannon Shorr (323,500), Joseph Serock (152,500), Chris Bjorin (143,000) Vanessa Rousso (131,000), James Van Alstyne (130,000), Kathy Raymond (111,000), and Bryan Micon (76,000) and Paul Darden (54,500) are some of the notables remaining when play resumes.

Shan Jing Rings Up Day 1 Chip Lead

Shan Jing holds the chip lead (137,400) when day 2 of the $2,000 NL Holdem event restarts at 2pm today with 220 players remaining, 171 of which make the money. Ken Lennaard (109,200), Alex Bolotin (100,700), Luke Staudenmaier (88,600), Neil Channing (65,900), and Chau Giang (57,600) are some of the notables in the top half of the leaderboard, which will try to make the final table by the 3am deadline.

Harman Leading Lady in World Championship Event

116 players will return at 2pm today to resume the $10,000 Limit Holdem World Championship with Jennifer Harman the day 1 chip leader (127,600). Maria Ho (113,400), Josh Arieh (112,100), Shaun Deeb (106,000), and Chino Rheem (87,400) are notables in the top 10. Ville Wahlbeck is trying for his 5th straight cash in a 10k buyin event, 44th with 54,400 in chips. Only 18 make the money with a goal of the final table a possibility.

Tuesday’s Tournament

Only one event on the calendar today, the fourth $1,500 NL Holdem donkament, this version was won last year by David Woo for over $630,000 in a field of 2,720. The WSOP Staff Guide projects a field of 2,569, so take the over with at least 2,700 signing up to try their hand at that game they saw on ESPN.

Plenty of action yet again today at the WSOP, follow the action at and other stuff on Pokerati during your Two for Tuesday.

The Hollywood Reporter is, well, reporting from Hollywood that Leonardo DiCaprio is pegged to star in a film about online casinos based in Costa Rica. Not only does the star currently aligned with the film give us hope that it won’t be another Deal, but the writers – Brian Koppelman and David Levien – are the same ones who penned Rounders. And Paramount Pictures has picked up the script. (Note to self: Check in with former employer Paramount for possible consultant positions available. Cha-ching!)

Hmmm, Costa Rican-based online casinos…like UltimateBet and Absolute Poker? Scandals and cheaters and Russ Hamiltons, oh my.

Since the movie is yet untitled, let’s throw out a few gems for Paramount to consider:

Titanic (ooooh, sorry)
UB and Me
Rounders 2 (or Part Deux for my French friends)
Rounderaments
What’s Eating Russ Hamilton?
Gangs of Costa Rica
The 11th Hand

Okay, I’m done. Anyone else?

Johnny F’ing Chan Falls Well Short of Bracelet #11

Johnny Chan lost to Jamin Stokes in the quarterfinal round of the $10,000 NL Holdem Heads-Up World Championship. Currently, the semifinals are ongoing with Stokes playing Leo Wolpert and John Duthie taking on Nathan Doudney.

Rico, Suave

Rico Ramirez is the current chip leader with 6 players left in the $1,500 NL holdem donkament. Mike Eise, Jason Potter, Zack Fritz, Jeff Chang and Barry Berger round out the sextet.

Chad in the Fast Layne in $2,500 PLO

Chad Layne, JC Tran and Steve Sung are the top 3 players with 19 remaining in the $2,500 Pot-Limit Omaha event as they play down to a final table tonight. Phil Ivey scraped his way into the money, finishing in 44th.

HORSE is Rodney’s Pardey, and He’ll Cash if He Wants To

Rodney Pardey is the current chip leader in the $1,500 HORSE event with 87 players remaining, 72 of which will be paid. The chances of them getting to their final table appear extremely remote unless the money gets reached shortly.

Monday’s Tournaments in Very Brief

The $2,000 NL Holdem event has 600 players remaining from a starting field of 1,534. The $10,000 Limit Holdem World Championship started with a field of 185, 182 of which remain.

Apologies for the briefness of the update, check out www.wsop.com for further updates.