Oh yeah… I began to doubt my picks when many of their preliminary finishes were not as expected (or non-existent). But it seems that two of my favorites for the 2009 WSOP are heading to Day 5 of the Main Event!

Bertrand “ElkY” Grospellier came into Day 4 as the massive chip leader, and though he lost a little ground, he still finished the day with 1,253,000 chips.

And Kara Scott! She didn’t have a stellar day but ended it with 400K. After the flurry of bustouts after the money bubble today, she hung in there and posted a solid end-of-day result.

It’s when the pros use the fear of the bubble to their advantage. As the money bubble in the Main Event soars right past the 1.5 hour mark, still with 649 players, Tom Schneider seems to be using the tension at the tables to his advantage. He has chipped up quite significantly in the past two hours. Last tweet?

@DonkeyBomber 830k. Still hand for hand.

He’s prettttty much guaranteed to make the money here…

UPDATE: He did. Go Tom!

Seen on a coffee table in Pokerstarzistan’s WSOP embassy (aka Joe Hachem’s “Champion’s Lounge”) … a new edition of All In Magazine (where I got my poker-media start):

Huh. We kinda figured “the world’s leading poker magazine” had lost the All-In lasts-longest bet to the energy drink. I guess not. Expect some reverse payouts in a few dead-or-alive props, too.

Pat Poels went out yesterday. And TBR, relying on the scurrilous poker media’s “reporting” that I am a cooler and getting antsy about making the money today, requested, “Don’t come anywhere near my table today.”

So fine. I didn’t. And in returning the favor, The Big Randy gave me confirmation that people who are superstitious are measurably less likely to win the main event. He had one guy to be really careful of today, sitting to his left, and on the third hand he got it all-in on a race … and lost … QQ < AK.

OK, I swear I feel bad. But this really is what today's all about -- the crushing of hopes and dreams.

And unless Team Pokerati can sneak up on some remaining big stacks to slap a patch on them -- which I'm pretty sure is near impossible with all the Poker Royalty agents circling healthy-chipped unknowns -- that means it's up to Tom "1-for-20" Schneider to survive past the bubble, go really deep to re-save the family farm his 2009 WSOP, and hopefully make a final table for my personal branding benefit.

Go @DonkeyBomber!

UPDATE: What I meant to say was good game, Randy. You played very well and gave it a valiant effort. Sometimes you just get unlucky. Better luck next year. You always have our encouragement and support. lol.

Players can register for the event at the Dream Team Poker Registration booth in the Rio Convention Center Rotunda across from the jersey wall
Hours: 10am –9pm (Friday & Saturday) 9am – 12noon (Sunday)

A soon to be coveted Last Place media trophy, paying proper homage to The Hammer.

Pauly’s got a great write-up explaining YTF we all get so into this Dream Team Poker stuff … the accolades honestly aren’t just because we’re pimping partners. It’s more the other way around — we’re willing to do their bidding because they do such a fine job, which was evident in their dress-rehearsal for tomorrow’s event, which looks to be the biggest event ever (in terms of field size, at least) of its kind.

Mad from the Pokerstarsblog (aka the Pokerstarzistan state-run media), has taken part in some team poker events over in Europe but still saw this one as a bit of a gimmick — everyone’s skeptical at first — and yet by the time she was eliminated and her hopes left hanging on teammate Dennis Phillips, she described it as “the most fun I’ve ever had in the Rio — on this side of it at least.”

In footage that we like to think of as rawer than RawVegas, I took a bunch of pictures really really fast to give you a glimpse. Seriously, may well have been the first WSOP media event ever — at least in the 21st century — that had a sizable rail. And while the turbo format knocked people out quickly, it should come as little surprise that a bunch of media on their “day off” stuck around to behave like Japanese tourists:

More…

Elky: Chipleader at the end of yesterday, sure … but what has he done lately?

There’s so much good stuff in here it’s hardly even excerptible. Nolan’s Official Day 3 Report (with help from Alan Fowler) gives you not just insight about who stands where in chips, but also info on records in play, historical perspective on how far being a chip leader early can take you, a breakdown of what countries are performing admirablybeing broken, an interview with celebrity big-stack (and Lodge poker alum) Lou Diamond Phillips, and a reference to how far he has to go to pass Telly Savalas:

Click below for all the data fit to cut-and-paste:

2009 World Series of Poker Presented by Jack Link’s Beef Jerky
Rio All-Suite Hotel & Casino
Las Vegas, Nevada

Official Report
Event #57
World Championship
World Series of Poker Main Event
No-Limit Hold’em
Buy-In: $10,000
Number of Entries: 6,494
Players Remaining: 789
Total Net Prize Pool: $61,043,600
Number of Places Paid: 648
First Place Prize: $8,546,435
July 3–November 10, 2009

More…

This week we look at Representative Barney Frank’s visit to the World Series of Poker where he inspired the Main Event crowd! Plus we have industry news from 888.com and the iMega Group.

Phil Ivey, as we know, may be the most marketable player in poker, yet he seems to be settling in to his role as multi-bracelet, camera-dodging recluse. Thus far succeeding at keeping himself off the ESPN featured table until November — when really, he’ll have no say — he looks to be a real main event threat, sitting pretty going into Day 4 with 341,000 chips. That’s kinda what today’s all about — to see who’s really here to play, or more precisely, contend.

Tina from PokerRoad tracked him down in his private RV while he was on dinner break of Day 2b, when he had less than half that many chips, and got a minute with him where he explained why he played fewer tourneys in the latter stretch of the WSOP … and acknowledges that yes, he coughed back at least one of his big bracelet bets on the $50k HORSE:

Day 3 of the Main Event were able to play five full levels yesterday, with 789 players surviving to return at noon Saturday as they crawl their way to the money bubble at 648 players. The only player with a 7-figure chip stack is Bertrand “ElkY” Grospellier with 1,380,500. Other notables who are still hanging around: Blair Hinkle (542,000), Dennis Phillips (510,000), Phil Hellmuth (485,000), Kara Scott (456,500), Mike Sexton (414,000), David Benyamine (381,500), Lou Diamond Phillips (359,500), Kelly Kim (346,000), Joe Sebok (297,500), Joe Hachem (239,500), Tom Schneider (231,000), Bobby Baldwin (193,500) and The Big Randy (190,500). The entire list of survivors is available below:

Five more levels of play are scheduled for today, but a prolonged period of bubble play can play havoc, depending on when they start hand for hand play and how much time is added back after the money is reached. In any case, it’ll be a joyous occasion for most who make the money, while the more established players will be looking to abuse the bubble, and take chips off players looking to get out of Vegas with their $21k+ payday.

Follow all the action over at www.wsop.com here and Pokerati for other stuff going on during Saturday.

The first three levels of the Main Event have seen over 900 players already hit the rail, leaving around 1,100 players returning from dinner break. The unofficial chip leaders are Brian Hanson and James Akenhead with 625,000 in chips. Other notables with an above average stack (currently around 170,000): Owen Crowe (555,000), Bertrand Grospellier (520,000), Sorel Mizzi (445,000), David Benyamine (402,000), Phil Hellmuth (390,000), Phil Ivey (360,000), Lou Diamond Phillips (345,000), Mike Sexton (297,000), Dennis Phillips (240,000), Tom Schneider (230,000), 2009 WSOP Player of the Year Jeff Lisandro (211,000) and Jason Alexander (190,000).

Notables who hit the rail:

Erik Seidel, Raymond Rahme, Jimmy Fricke, Jean-Robert Bellande, Bill Edler, Darus Suharto, Ville Wahlbeck, “Miami John” Cernuto, Bryan Micon, Roland de Wolfe and Sam Farha.

More stuff from Pokerati later this evening as the money bubble may be reached tonight, depending on how fast the eliminations go after dinner.

Traction the commenter wonders:

Isn’t pat poels part of team pokerati? Show the love and get a chipcount

Fcuk-yeah, he is. (Especially when he’s got chips!) Not only does PP represent us well, but also Poels has provided a good subplot to the 2009 (Tom) Schneider collapse (and possible main event redemption). He’s faced a similar struggle this year, though he didn’t sink quite as deep hole-wise and has booked a few small cashes to yield thusfar better results climbing out of it.

Though his starting chip stack wasn’t too much bigger than Tom or Randy’s, Poels — a Day 2b guy — began the day at a table quite different from @TBR’s and DonkeyBomber’s:

1. Sykes, Mark 43,800
2. Poels, Pat 139,400
3. Feduniak, Bob 72,700
4. Beddaoui, Younan 25,800
5. Sliwinski, Nicholas 68,400
6. Gurevich, Max 61,700
7. Zeitlin, David 53,400
8. Tomko, Derek 19,000
9. Wilton, Ben 51,300

Honestly, I don’t think he could ask for anything better than Amazon-O72. Phil Ivey’s actually in a similar situation, only slightly more dominatingly, next door at O73. We’ll try to find out what happened, and for more immediate updates (not yet, but later), check in with @pokerati.

UPDATE: Pat has been moved. For now we’ll just assume/hope he ran over it, and that’s why it broke. For rapid-fire updates from around the Rio, follow the official action here. And for the best semi-live sense of what’s really happening on the tables as a whole, here. And of course here.

Cards have gone in the air, and two of our fellas are threatening to go deep. Today is the big day where they’re both starting in comfortable position but still will have to play to determine if they’ll be hanging on for dear ITM life, or making the big push for real money with a few hundred others.

Two tables we’ll be watching a little closer than others, live, on Twitter, and at WSOP.com:

Brasillia 223 — obviously there’re a couple mistakes on this semi-official list, and we (or WSOP floor staff) will correct accordingly … assuming Tom doesn’t get it all-in with Dario Tosin right from the git-go and come up short:

1. Rose, John 33,800
2. @DonkeyBomber123,700
3. Tosin, Dario 129,000
4. Mannino, Giuseppe 65,800
5. Patrick, Julie 31,100
6. Seiter, John 35,400
7. Phan, Tim 82,400
7. Chaplin, Joseph DNR
8. Jacobsen, Allen 60,800
9. Boudreau, Kevin 72,200
9. Brown, Chad 27,800

And Brasillia 219 — FYI to floor: they’ve got a couple empty seats over here if you don’t want to play BR 223 11-handed:

1. McGowan, Joe 96,800
3. DeGreef, Jeremiah 88,900
4. Fletcher, Todd 116,100
5. O’Malley, Patrick 41,200
6. Mueller, Greg 287,300
8. Lucha, Sven 160,800
9. @TheBigRandy 117,800

TBR starts the day with an M=33, Tom with M=34. Tom’s one of two big stacks amidst a bunch of short-ish-but-not-yet-desperate little guys, while TBR’s table has less of a rich-poor gap in the middle — just one guy close to short, and a 2009 bracelet winner as the biggest threat.

Not only did you, the everyday Joe pokerer, get to have your say on who gets considered for the Poker Hall of Fame, but now, coming up soon, via Wicked Chops, you can weigh in with Jason Alexander and Brad Garrett on the historically most significant WSOP railbirds:

Watch Girls on the Rail Hall of Fame with Jason Alexander, Brad Garrett and Gavin Smith on RawVegas.tv

The poker year doesn’t run from January-December … it starts at the end of July, with the Thanksgiving holiday season kicking off the first week of June, culminating with Poker Christmas, aka the main event:

2009-2010 WSOP CIRCUIT SCHEDULE
11 Stops Scheduled Including New Addition Harrah’s St. Louis

More…

While it in no way surprises me that a (Texas) priest would sneak off to Vegas to support his buddy in the WSOP main event … and I’m glad to hear it’s no sin to give gambling winnings to the Church … I can’t help but wonder what his Holiness would say about a man of the cloth wearing a PokerStars patch.

From WOAI:

Fr. Donald Kloster

“I say mass every day and we’ve been having mass up in our hotel room,” Father Kloster says. He admits, he prayed for his buddy to win the huge Texas Hold’em tournament, held in Las Vegas.

“I waited until it got pretty desperate in the second round to bless him, because I wanted to know what God’s will really was. It wasn’t him that was doing it. It was God.

[...]

“We got our answer. It wasn’t God’s will, and we’re fine with that.”

See, and who says there isn’t divine intervention on the river?