Frankly, I’m starting to see the “value” in having a bitter, Harrah’s-hating heir to an unloved magazine at the final table (seriously, ripping on CardPlayer has been kinda our shtick from the get-go! If it weren’t for them and their incompetence unfriendliness back in the day, we honestly might not be here). And while everybody wants to see Phil Ivey make the final table for millions of reasons … really, do you see him charming the crowd on David Letterman if they’re not willing to wager a few months worth of normal-people income or more?

Here’re the final 10, and their chip positions

Darvin Moon 44.3m
Eric Buchman 36.78m
Steven Begleiter 26.495m
Jeff Shulman 17.9m
Jordan Smith 15.43m
Joseph Cada 13.4m
Kevin Schaffel 13.08m
Phil Ivey 10.21m
Antoine Saout 10.2m
James Akenhead 5.1m

UPDATE: Jordan Smith is out. November Nine is set. We’ll be learning more about them in coming hours/days/weeks/months, I am sure.

Southpaw WSOP dealers: We want a pitcher, not a belly itcher!

We’re down to 14 players in the main event — Phil Ivey’s the remaining good guy, Jeff Shulman’s the bad guy, and James Akenhead’s the Brit …

On a recent hand — being broadcast on screens set up outside the ESPN poker stadium — we saw a chopped pot: A-A-4-4-5 … where both players’ Ks played as a kicker. After the applause, Robbie the on-stage TD said over the PA, “How ’bout a round of applause for these dealers. They’re working hard for you today, and are some of the best in the business!”

That may be true — but only if you’re right handed.

When WSOP dealer supervisors sent their best of the best to ESPN for TV-table dealing this year, those who happened to be left-handed were sent back. Supposedly it has something to do with their laying out the flop “backwards” … but even lefties who had trained themselves to do it like a righty were still not welcome. ESPN decision … not one worth fighting for the tourney staff’s perspective, since they did have enough righties in the mix who could handle the job of pitching cards on the feature felt.

Wicked Chops reported today that Jeff Shulman, who is still in the top ten in chips on the final day of the summer WSOP, would throw away the WSOP Main Event bracelet if he happened to win it. Throw away…as in the trash…as in one of the most ridiculous stunts should he actually go through with it.

Shulman reportedly believes the selling of WSOP media rights is unfair and that the coverage now is unacceptable.

That is interesting. Let’s think back for a moment to the time, only two years ago, when the World Poker Tour sold the live tournament reporting rights to, ummm, CardPlayer! And didn’t CardPlayer provide its own mediocre coverage of the WSOP about three years ago? The Shulmans and their poker company seemed to have no aversion to buying exclusive media rights coverage until they were outbid and outdone by other companies.

Throw the bracelet in the trash can? Methinks that says more about the intended thrower than the WSOP.

As you know, Poker Shrink put together a little pool amongst a handful of media making our picks for the final table with 64 players left. Here’s the complete list of who picked whom, and who stands to win the $320 winner-take-all:

More…

The moment the poker world has been waiting for nearly two weeks comes to a climax this afternoon with the final 27 players in the Main Event playing down to the November Nine. Here’s how the final three tables will look when play kicks off around 12 noon (database results courtesy of The Hendon Mob):

(Table 1)
Seat 1: Jesse Haabak – 2,750,000
Seat 2: Ian Tavelli – 4,385,000
Seat 3: James Calderaro – 6,475,000
Seat 4: Jonathan Tamayo – 3,300,000
Seat 5: Warren Zackey – 5,485,000
Seat 6: Eric Buchman – 10,005,000
Seat 7: Leo Margets – 1,530,000
Seat 8: Tommy Vedes – 5,070,000
Seat 9: James Akenhead – 8,615,000

(Table 2)
Seat 1: Phil Ivey – 11,350,000
Seat 2: Jeff Shulman – 10,170,000
Seat 3: George Caragiorgas – 1,615,000
Seat 4: Nick Maimone – 1,545,000
Seat 5: Andrew Lichtenberger – 5,625,000
Seat 6: Marco Mattes – 5,285,000
Seat 7: Joseph Cada – 6,565,000
Seat 8: Darvin Moon – 20,160,000
Seat 9: Jordan Smith – 4,510,000

(Table 3)
Seat 1: Jamie Robbins – 9,795,000
Seat 2: Antonio Esfandiari – 4,470,000
Seat 3: Francois Balmigere – 1,440,000
Seat 4: Ludovic Lacay – 5,610,000
Seat 5: Steven Begleiter – 11,885,000
Seat 6: Ben Lamb – 9,410,000
Seat 7: Antoine Saout – 11,135,000
Seat 8: Kevin Schaffel – 11,245,000
Seat 9: Billy Kopp – 15,970,000

When play resumes, there will be 7:17 left in the 50,000/100,000/10,000 level, moving to 60,000/120,000/15,000. For Amy and The Shrink, there’s an extra 580,000 in chips spread out among the remaining field.

Here’s the chart of the players that made the money:

Updates resume starting at noon over at www.wsop.com and Pokerati will have other news during the day, so come back later, please.

Page 2 contains excerpts from Nolan Dalla’s tournament report:

More…

After the remaining 29 players in the Main Event returned from dinner break, it took nearly a full level to get down to 27 players. Darvin Moon will return Wednesday at noon the chip leader with over 20,000,000 in chips. Billy Kopp will be in 2nd with nearly 16,000,000 chips. Phil Ivey will be in 4th place with just over 11,000,000 in chips. The remaining notables: Jeff Shulman (10,170,000), James Akenhead (8,600,000), Ludovic Lacay (5,6100,000) and Antonio Esfandiari (4,400,000).

Chip counts and the table draw will be available later today, check out wsop.com or Pokerati for further news.

Today is finally the Big Money Day — where the remaining field is competing for the bankroll-relevant cash. (Save for maybe Phil Ivey, who needs to get pretty close to the final table for that.) Shamus has a good write-up of his day at work yesterday, and the relevance of the action today (particularly as it relates to the blinds).

The 64 Player Question

Good explanation of why it’s been kinda a bummer to see Tom Schneider, Joe Sebok, and Dennis Phillips go down early today, too. Media-friendly “good guys”.

So of course now we (as in everybody) still have Ivey — really, does anyone see him not making the final table at this point? — and Antonio Esfandiari (Go Iran!) … and a handful of non-American countries have their remaining players of choice to root for.

Kinda surprising kinda not that there seems to be no groundswell of support (from the media or online poker sites) for the 420-loving CardPlayer heir/editor Jeff “Happy” Shulman, who’s currently 11th in chips.

But beyond that, we don’t really know yet who’s who, and who will be remembered for anything more than just “going deep” or maybe “really deep”. That, of course, is what tomorrow will be all about.

Currently 29 players left. Playing down to 27. All the action, chip counts, and prize payouts at WSOP.com.

From WSOP.com:

Down to his last 1.12 million, the 2007 World Series of Poker Player of the Year Tom Schneider pushed all in from middle position, and got a caller in Marc Etienne McLaughlin from the small blind.

McLaughlin turned over [cards]9s 9d[/cards] and Schneider tabled [cards]Ah 7d[/cards] . The flop came [cards]5d 6s ks[/cards] and the turn the [cards]7c[/cards] . Schneider was down to his last card, looking for another seven or an ace.

The river brought the [cards]kc[/cards] , and Schneider is out in 52nd place. He gets $138,568, and a big hug from his supportive wife, Julie.

McLaughlin now has 3.6 million.

Nice run, Tommy-boy, and as testament to the significance of the main event, this score likely moves him from last to first in the unofficial Team Pokerati Net-Results Challenge.

From Tao:

3:15pm… B-52… DonkeyBomber Eliminated in 52nd Place

Chip Leaders: Billy Kopp, Darvin Moon. Phil Ivey, Ludovic Lacay
Recent Eliminations: DonkeyBomber
Players Remaining: 49

DonkeyBomber lost a couple of pots before the break. AngryJulie went to fetch him a pizza so he could snack on his break. The railbirds are an integral part of the team in some cases, like a Nascar pit crew.

Bomber was short and made a stand with A-7. A French-Canuck called with 9-9. AngryJulie stood on the rail with an obstructed view and could not see the hands. “Do you have the pair or A-7?” she shouted.

“I have the Ace,” mumbled DonkeyBomber.

“That’s OK. I like it.”

The flop missed DonkeyBomber but he turned a seven to pick up a few outs. His Main Event came to an official close when he whiffed on the river. The DonkeyBomber was nevermore. A dejected AngryJulie fought back cheers as she joined in with a shower of applause. DonkeyBomber somberly walked over to the payout desk as his named was announced over the PA system, “The 2007 Player of the Year Tom Schneider from Scottsdale, Arizona was eliminated in 52nd place.”

“I’m proud of you!” shouted AngryJulie.

The two were followed by a camera crew as they walked through the vast emptiness of the Amazon Ballroom. At one point, they stopped and embarced for several seconds amidst the dimly lit room as a delicate clattering of chips echoed in the background. He disappeared into the crowd $138,568 richer, but he’ll tell you that this is the worst day of his life.

The World Poker Tour seems to have gone from the leader in the industry to a company with teetering stock prices and an unknown future/direction. It’s no surprise that the past few years of declining tournaments on the schedule, players in the events, and television channels willing to pay for the shows, rumors will fly about a possible sale of the company.

And thus, we bring you the latest whisper, thanks to Bill Rini. Gaming Intelligence is suggesting that the WPT has been in talks with a company like bwin, which is the company that sponsored the WPT’s recent venture to Venice, Italy.

It’s been discussed for some time that PokerStars and Full Tilt Poker are interested in a purchase as well, both companies of which are sponsors of the WPT. Since numerous entities have good relationships with the World Poker Tour, it might simply be a matter of $$$.

How smart are we? Wait…That’s a loaded question. Rephrase: How close can we come to predicting the November Nine?

We shall see! The Poker Shrink is putting the poker media to the test by encouraging our degeneracy asking us to bet on our picks for the November Nine. With 64 players remaining, some media members are picking our favorites/randoms to go all the way over the next two days at the WSOP. Who are we to shy away from a challenge?

Jen’s Picks:

Dennis Phillips
Phil Ivey
Billy Kopp
Ben Lamb
Ludovic Lacay
Leo Margets
Tom Schneider
Nick Maimone
Andrew Lichtenberger

Dan’s Picks:

Phil Ivey
Tom Schneider
Tommy Vedes
Antonio Esfandiari (Go Iran!)
Ludovic Lacay
Eugene Katchalov
Ben Lamb
Andrew Lichtenberger
James Akenhead

Kevin’s picks:

Billy Kopp
Phil Ivey
Jeff Shulman
Eugene Katchalov
Tom Schneider
Andrew Lichtenberger
Jeff Duvall
Nick Maimone
Ludovic Lacay

Lisa in San Francisco, who may or may not be aware of the millions of hands just dealt in the Amazon room this summer, writes in:

I can’t find this anywhere—do you by chance know what the average number of poker hands dealt in Las Vegas on any given day is?

So difficult to find!

Yeesh, I’m not even sure where to begin. 50 poker rooms in Vegas (not counting the Amazon or Brasilia) … 365 days in a year …

I’m gonna say definitely more than 10,000 and less than 500 billion. We should be able to narrow that window of possibility down a little bit, I’d think.

UPDATE: Lisa gives us more info to work with, some of which comes from Harrah’s, even though their main event numbers seem to be slightly off … and we may or may not gotta presume by Amazon they mean Rio, with Brasilia, Miranda, Buzio’s, etc. factored in:

I do know that the number of hands dealt in this year’s WSOP Amazon room (Main Event only) was approximately 722,000 hands. That’s to get from 6,494 players to 9.

I also found another stat from UNLV Research Center: 10.9M is the max no. of hands that can be dealt in Nevada in a single day = 457,500 x 24 (not all tables are open that long)
(assuming all tables are working at full tilt 24 hours)

Watch Dream Team Poker at the 2009 WSOP on RawVegas.tv

Play ended in the Main Event earlier today after 5 full levels of play, the first time that’s happened since Friday, leaving just 64 players remaining when play resumes at noon today. Here’s how the field will look (first by chip count, then by table):

As a note, the average chip stack is now about 3,044,000 with the blinds starting at 25,000/50,000 with a 5,000 ante. Leo Margets will earn the last woman standing title as Nichoel Peppe finished in 75th place, good for $68,979. Other notables eliminated after the dinner break: Peter Eastgate (78th), Kenny Tran (86th), Noah Boeken (96th).

Follow the live updates over at wsop.com and check out Pauly for his own version of the action.

To wrap up the Dream Team Poker event, Kenna James did take down the individual title.

Page 2 contains excerpts from Nolan Dalla’s tournament report:

More…

101 players remain as the players return from their dinner break shortly. The current chip leader is Darvin Moon of Oakland, Maryland with 5,700,000 in chips. Some notables returning with chips: Eugene Katchalov (3,600,000), Fabrice Soulier (3,550,000), Jeff Shulman (3,200,000), Phil Ivey (2,680,000), James Akenhead (2,500,000), Antonio Esfandiari (2,300,000), Dennis Phillips (2,200,000), Tom Schneider (1,571,000), Prahlad Friedman (1,280,000), Peter Eastgate (940,000), Noah Boeken (481,000), Joe Sebok (300,000) and Kenny Tran (262,000). There are still two women left as well: Nichoel Peppe (1,300,000) and Leo Margets (1,195,000).

Notable eliminations: Joe Hachem, David Benyamine, J.C. Tran, Theo Tran, Bertrand Grospellier, Blair Hinkle and Joe Serock.

The Dream Team Poker event is down to Kenna James versus Judy Tejwani for the individual title. Congrats again goes to the Tao of Pokerati team for clinching the team title a few hours ago. Live updates now available for the Main Event at www.wsop.com and more stuff from the rest of the writing team during the evening.

While the 2009 WSOP Main Event pushes forward, the Dream Team Poker tournament rages on in the Brasilia Room at the Rio with three tables in play. It is an exciting event to watch, especially when friends capture the team prize!

Big congrats to Team Tao of Pokerati, which just found out that their team took down the first place team honors! Lana, Pauly, and Dan will split the $33,017 cashola for outperforming every other team in the tournament (there were 122 of them), and the guys are still in it to win it individually as well. About 20 players remain…

UPDATE: Looks like Dan cashed in 17th place for double his individual buy-in. Congrats! @Pokerati just twittered… “17th place individual. 1st place team. This cashout cage area is pretty cool!”

UPDATE 2: Pauly finished in 13th place for nearly three times his buy-in. Per his twitter… “out in 13th place. my A7 lost to kenna james’ 6-6. boooooo!”

Congrats to the team on a great showing!