Overheard and confirmed. Political geeks are in luck. Not only is it rumored – and close to being 100% confirmed – that Rep. Barney Frank will be visiting the 2009 WSOP on July 5 to do a little “shuffle up and deal” business, but other political figures and friends of poker will be arriving on Monday, June 22.

PPA Chairman and former NY Senator Alfonse D’Amato will be gracing the Rio on Monday for a yet-to-be-announced morning press conference. After, he is scheduled to join Nevada Rep. Shelley Berkley for Monday’s “shuffle up and deal” honors. D’Amato will then look for his seat, as he will be playing in Event 43, the $1K Seniors NLHE tournament, starting at noon.

Fully understanding that the likelihood of D’Amato going deep in this tournament is slim, can we not agree that seeing him at a WSOP final table would rock our worlds?

Go Al!

http://www.pokerroad.com/the_poker_beat/live/

Roland deWolfe, the most recent WSOP bracelet winner, representin’ the GBR Joe Elliot-style.

One of today’s bracelets goes to Sweden. Any chance Tomas Alenius will request the Finnish national anthem be played — you know, to make things right in Scandiland? Doubt it …

In addition to Alenius’ bracelet, the UK picked up two in recent days, and Canada one — making things start to look a bit more normal … it’s not all about the Russians this year. In fact, are they still here?

And though Europe has caught up with the two US powerhouses (Nevada and California), they actually lost a bracelet (and some other cashes), as we’ve corrected Jeff Lisandro’s results to show up on behalf of his new homeland, Australia. (This way this data is collected, player info comes from whatever’s attached to their Harrah’s Total Rewards card … so if they haven’t updated their info in, say, several years … the old address is what’s on record.)

Lisandro’s defection from Italy to a land down under also altered the tertiary emerging market standings — with Asia-Pacific re-taking a slight lead over Latin America — despite Chile and Bolivia getting their first cashes of the year.

Texas has finally taken down a bracelet, btw.

And a player from Wasilla, Alaska, finished in the money — there’s a town we wouldn’t have taken note of in last year’s WSOP. It’s Canadian neighbors in the Yukon Territory also got on the board.

Hong Kong also made some money.

And though we don’t really track by cities, apparently Chicago is really good at sit-n-gos, as the Windy City sat three players at the final table in the $1,500 NLH-Shootout. Could just be variance, of course, but for now we’ll pretend it’s not.

DealerZach, pitchin’ to the Ladies … $1k NLH:

Johnny F’ing Chan Going for Bracelet #11

The $10,000 NL Holdem Heads-Up World Championship has 8 players remaining who return at 2pm Monday to determine the winner. Here’s the matchups for the quarterfinals, which will also air on ESPN360 and wsop.pkr.com for those outside the US:

Leo Wolpert v Dustin Woolf
Jamin Stokes v Johnny Chan

Nathan Doudney v Bryan Pellegrino
John Duthie v Stephen O’Dwyer

Simmons Looking to be the Poker Guy

Joe Simmons starts day 3 of the $1,500 NL Holdem event as the chip leader (1,100,000) with 27 players playing down to a winner. You can take a look at who else is left at this link.

Tran Riding the PLO Train

J.C. Tran (176,900) is the chip leader at the start of Day 2 of the $2,500 Pot-Limit Omaha event, with 61 players remaining, only 45 get paid. Chad Layne (106,000), John Juanda (85,300), Ross Boatman (75,000) and Phil Ivey (56,600) are among the notables who return at 2pm today.

Sebastien Rings the Belle for Day 2 HORSE

Sabic Sebastien leads the field of 220 who return at 2pm today of the $1,500 HORSE event with 72,700 in chips. Marco Traniello (55,000) Andy Black (54,300), Jean Gaspard, (40,300), Ming Lee (32,500) Fabrice Soulier (32,200), and Vanessa Rousso (30,900) make up some of the notables returning to the baize.

Monday’s Tournaments and Projections

The noon tournament today is the $2,000 NL Holdem event which was won last year by Blair Hinkle in a field of 1,344 for just over $500,000. The 5pm tournament is another World Championship event, this time it’s $10,000 Limit Holdem, which was won last year by Rob Hollink in a field of 218 for almost $500,000.

The WSOP Staff Guide projects 1,344 for the $2,000 NL event (take the under for 1,275), while the $10,000 Limit Holdem event is projected for 229 (take the slightly under for 210).

Check back at Pokerati frequently for more updates during the day.

[tab: News]All In: The Poker Movie won the jury prize for Best Documentary at the CineVegas Film Festival last week — which knowledgeable movie people tell me is known as a respected minor league version of Sundance. It supposedly won’t be announced until tomorrow afternoon, but Variety already has the results.

Chris Moneymaker is a hero again.

Even not-so-pokery people are saying this 98-minute history of the game is a sleepy sleeper hit. Indie Film Examiner says:

This film claims that poker is a “microcosm of the American dream”. After viewing it I completely agree.

And VegasHappensHere:

But “All In” tonight really taught me something else: The poker boom is about as American as anything ever was. The variation on the game itself — Texas Hold ‘Em — is an American invention. Risk-taking is the foundation of our capitalist society. And the ingredients that turned it into what it is today include new technology (hole-card cams, Web poker) and anyone-can-succeed chutzpah (Moneymaker) that have deep roots in our national traditions.

[tab: Video from premiere]
PokerListings was at the premiere, at the Palms:

All In: The Poker Movie Premiere from PokerListings.com

From official WSOP reports … (with a WSOP historical info, Phil Ivey bio stuff, and post-game interview):

The Winner –

· The 2009 World Series of Poker $2,500 buy-in Omaha High-Low Split / Seven-Card Stud High-Low Split champion is Phil Ivey, from Las Vegas, NV.

· Ivey collected $220,538 for first place. He was also awarded his seventh WSOP gold bracelet.

· With this victory, Ivey joins Billy Baxter with seven WSOP titles, which ranks sixth on the all-time wins list. Remaining ahead of Ivey are Phil Hellmuth (11 wins), Doyle Brunson (10 wins), Johnny Chan (10 wins), Johnny Moss (9 wins), and Erik Seidel (8 wins).

· According to the official records, Ivey now has 7 wins, 19 final table appearances, and 33 in-the-money finishes at the WSOP.

· Ivey currently has $3,439,386 in WSOP winnings.

· Ivey won three of his WSOP gold bracelets at the 2002 WSOP.

· Ivey has never won a WSOP gold bracelet in Hold’em.

More…

Covering the afternoon coverage of Sunday afternoon at the WSOP:

de Wolfe wins de Triple Crown

Roland de Wolfe became the second player (after Gavin Griffin) to win poker’s Triple Crown (Winning a WSOP bracelet, WPT main event and EPT main event) with his triumph in the $5,000 PLO 8 or Better event, defeating Brett Richey in heads-up play. Dual Omaha bracelet winner Scott Clemens finished in 3rd.

Obligatory Limit Holdem Winner Mention

Sweden’sTomas Alenius defeated Jason Tam heads-up in the $1,500 Limit Holdem event. Day 3 chip leader Al “Sugar Bear” Barbieri finished 3rd. Fortunately for the WSOP staff, they have Sweden’s national anthem already downloaded.

Heads-Up Down to Sweet 16

Round 5 of the $10,000 NL Holdem Heads Up World Championship is down to its final 16 competitors, with one more round of play before the winners return on Monday. Among the survivors: Jason Mercier, Mike Caro, Leo Wolpert, Roberto Romanello, Bryan Pellegrino, Yevgeniy Timoshenko, Dustin “Neverwin” Woolf, Johnny Chan and WSOP runner-up in 2008, Alec Torelli.

$2,500 PLO Debut a Success

A larger than expected field of 436 started the $2,500 Pot Limit Omaha event, with 153 returning after the dinner break. The unofficial chip leader is Jesse Rios, with another four levels of play to finish the day.

Late Night HORSE

The $1,500 HORSE event started about three hours ago and a field of 770 left the starting gate. No established chip leaders at this time, but they have eight levels of play to leader going into the first turn. Check out www.wsop.com and give Pokerati a visit during the rest of your Sunday evening/early Monday morning.

As seen on wsop.pkr.com

Enjoy it while it lasts … here’re the last few hands of Phil Ivey’s winning his bracelet (and more prop bets) last night. I really just wanted to share with you all Micon and Jimmy Fricke’s winner’s interview (the last couple minutes of the above vid), but the video portion isn’t showing on WSOP.com, and the Bluff site doesn’t have their embed options turned on, so you know … we figured we’d do them a favor and help spread this example of fine work covering what some consider too-boring-for-TV, lol.

Micon and Fricke do a pretty good job of explaining the game, and after it’s all over of talking to someone who doesn’t really like to talk with those who can’t gamble with him. They even get a little clarity on the Phil Ivey prop bets, confirming that indeed, as The Insider revealed on The Poker Beat, Ivey did accept a buyout when they were down to 3-handed in the 2-7 Lowball that required him to win a second bracelet to make good on the original bet.

UPDATE: Ah, Pokernews also got a minute with Ivey, too … and though he doesn’t give any clue to how much he really won yesterday, he does tell Melissa Castello that the price he was laying was 2.5 : 1.

Bill Smith: Finding a pic of the 1985 main event champ has proved near impossible without Google image search.

We love spreading rumors based on limited information and wild speculation here at Pokerati … but sometimes we can’t help ourselves from setting the record straight …

Padraig Parkinson was on the Poker Show earlier today (www.pokershowlive.com) telling a story about the disappearance of Bill Smith’s picture from the Amazon Room. The rumor supposedly was that lawyers for the deceased 1985 main event winner’s estate wanted Harrah’s to pay a bunch of money for the right to put up his image.

NOT TRUE!

The “real story” is that Harrah’s simply can’t find any pictures of Bill Smith ’85. He’s not alive, of course, and has no known living relatives, according to WSOP officials who have tried to find them. In fact, they would love to locate a picture of him so they can have a banner of him for the historical record next year and beyond. In fact, they’re so eager to find said image, that the WSOP has partnered with Pokerati to offer a reward for any assistance.

So if you can find such a picture — any picture! — you will get a Pokerati T-shirt and $30 worth of food comps in the Poker Kitchen.

(Nice!)

Smith, who died in 1997, was originally from Dallas and spent his last years playing private games around Texas.

UPDATE: We found one. Blow up and pay up, WSOP!
RE-UPDATE: WSOP says no dice, they need higher “quality”. Pfft, whatever.

We’re more than a third of the way through the Series, and here are some interesting stats through 20 events:

1. Most Events Entered – Individuals
2. Money Leaderboard – Individuals
3. Money Leaderboard – By Location
4. Highest Cash Percentage to Entries – Individuals
5. Lowest Cash Percentage to Entries – Individuals
6. Highest Cash Percentage to Entries – By Location
7. Lowest Cash Percentage to Entries – By Location

Total Entrants thru 20 events – 21,047
Total Prize Money Awarded – $42,094,034

More…

Seen playing late-night cash games (2/5 NLH) in the Amazon Room:

Recapping what else happened last night, besides Phil Ivey winning bracelet #7…

My Big Fat Pete the Greek Bracelet

“Pete the Greek” Vilandos took down his second career WSOP bracelet with a win last night in the $1,500 NL Holdem event last night, picking up $607,256 for defeating Andy “BKiCe” Seth headsup last night. Seth picks up $372,855 for the runner-up finish, with British actor Michael Greco collecting $248,855.

PLO 8 Final Table an International Affair

The final table of the $5,000 Pot-Limit Omaha 8 or Better final table was established and somehow, Phil Ivey’s not a part of it. During a break in the Omaha 8/Stud 8 event, with 22 players left, Ivey tried to rebuild his stack, but was eliminated in the first hand he played to finish 22nd, just off the bubble. Here’s who made the final table and how they’re situated when they return at 2pm on Sunday:

Seat 1: Anthony Lellouche – 533000
Seat 2: Roland de Wolfe – 386000
Seat 3: Alex Kravchenko – 267000
Seat 4: Andrew Black – 182000
Seat 5: Brett Richey – 238000
Seat 6: Scott Clements - 801000
Seat 7: Armando Ruiz II – 192000
Seat 8: John Racener – 214000
Seat 9: Robert Campbell – 152000

Obligatory Limit Holdem Mention

15 players remain in the $1,500 Limit Holdem event with Al “Sugar Bear” Barbieri the chip leader with 400,000 in chips. Rep Porter (196,000) and Richard Brodie (152,000) are among the remaining combatants.

They Shoot Donkeys, Don’t They?

Day 2 of the $1,500 NL Holdem event returns with a field of 327 players returning at 2pm, only 270 make the money. The chip leader is Holland’s own Van Dung Nguyen is the reported chip leader with 218,000 in chips. Other notables and people who have names that are better known on other people who return include: Marco Johnson (126,200), Eva Farha (57,300), Kelly Kim (55,500), Derek Tomko (49,100), Jason Potter (40,800), Thor Hansen (39,000), and Liv Boeree (24,200).

Mid-June Madness

Round 3 of the $10,000 NL Holdem Heads-Up World Championship return at 2pm with 64 players remaining, one more win is needed for the money to be reached. Brock Parker, Tom Dwan, Chris Ferguson, Erik Seidel, Dario Minieri, Vanessa Rousso, and Jason Mercier are among those returning to attempt at winning three more matchups today to move on to the final day on Monday.

Sunday’s Tournaments/Projections

The Heads-Up event means were now into the second half of the WSOP, so it’s all downhill from here! Another doubleheader today with the 12pm tournament with the debut of the $2,500 Pot-Limit Omaha event, which has a projected field size of 350 (take the over). The 5pm event will be $1,500 HORSE which was won last year by James Schaaf in a field of 803 to win over $250,000. The field size for this event is projected at 883 (take the slightly under with a field of about 850).

Check out www.wsop.com and Pokerati during Sunday for all the latest on still another busy day at the World Series of Poker.

Just happened … more TK.

Photo: BJ Nemeth (via iPhone?)

UPDATE:
Not so fast Ville Wahlbeck and Brock Parker … Player of the Year race ain’t over yet!

And prop bets? Oyy, the prop bets. One of the good things about poker is that betting on yourself won’t keep you out of the Hall of Fame. But it will keep your friends, cronies, and fans wildly speculating on your side action … which Pokerati, btw, puts at anywhere from $2 million to $12 million for Phil Ivey this summer. (We stand behind our numbers.)

Oh, right … the event: $2,500 Omaha/Seven Card Stud Hi/Lo 8-or-better … or as I like to call it, OHL/7CSHL. (LOL.) The guy he beat was Ming Lee (not to be confused with Minh Ly).

ALT HED: Black Guy Beats Asian (of course) in Yet Another Event Involving 7-Stud

ALSO UPDATE: I think this pretty much gives Daniel Negreanu the lock on the ESPN Fantasy WSOP pool. We all picked eight players … and Negreanu’s squad has four bracelets less than halfway through the Series. (Lisandro, Alaei, Ivey, Ivey.)

Catching up on the goings on from a busy Saturday night:

Ivey Going for Bracelet #7…

Four players remain in the $2,500 Omaha 8/Stud 8 event, with Phil Ivey the current chip leader with over 1.1 million in chips. Ming Le, Carlos Mortensen, and Dutch Boyd round out the remaining players.

and #8?

Remarkably, Ivey is still in the field in the $5,000 PLO 8 or Better event with 23 players remaining, 18 make the money. He’s played very few hands in this event, but the ones he has played have given him a medium sized stack. The current chip leader is Anthony Lellouche with 357,000 in chips. Other notables include: Brett Richey (250,000), Scott Clements (155,000), Jeff Lisandro (124,000), and Ivey (92,000).

McCaffrey One to Beat in $1,500 NL

The final table of the $1,500 NL Holdem event now has six players remaining with Glenn McCaffrey the current chip leader with 2.64m in chips. Michael Greco battled back from a short stack to take second with 2m in chips, followed by Andy “BKiCe” Seth, “Pete the Greek” Vilandos, Dean Hamrick and Alan Jaffray, and round out the field.

Check-Raise FTW

The $1,500 Limit Holdem event is now down to 44 players with Glenn Englebert the leader with 144,000. Notables remaining include Rep Porter, Paul Darden, Noah Boeken, Justin Bonomo and Phil Tom.

Donking Around

The $1,500 NL Holdem donkament field has returned from their dinner break with 846 players remaining from a field of 2,641. Jason Potter is the unofficial chip leader at 28,000 and a cast of hundreds following behind him. Four more levels of play remain, unless they’re near the money and extend play for a few extra minutes.

Tete a Tete on the Felt

The $10,000 Heads-Up NL Holdem World Championship has concluded round 1, with the 2nd round starting at 10pm PT. Notables returning at that time include David Benefield, Dustin “Neverwin” Woolf, Tom Dwan, Greg Raymer, Brock Parker, and Chris Ferguson. Phil Hellmuth, Nam Le, Gus Hansen, Erick Lindgren, Vivek Rajkumar and Howard Lederer weren’t as lucky, as they were early eliminations.

A few more hours remain on Saturday, so check out www.wsop.com and Pokerati for more stuff.