As you probably know, the PPA is collecting short videos at MyPokerStory.com. The purpose, as far as I can tell, is to put something together for the coming legislative push that (quickly) shows on-the-fence Congresspeople that poker players are a diverse group of citizens, who care about the game for more than degenerate reasons, and ultimately that the our bills tap into a motivate-able mass spread across a wide spectrum of the American populace. Here’s PPA Chairman Al D’Amato’s poker story:

LOL, you can see why the PPA needs your help. (No offense, retired Senator … just saying they probably need more than just you to convey their message.) All it takes is a minute or two in front of your computer cam and a few clicks. I tried to submit mine, but it apparently violated YouTube TOS. (Hey, I can’t help that I learned so much at The Lodge. So she was naked … it’s still a bad beat.) So in the meantime, as a placeholder for Dan’s poker story, I’ve submitted this:

For a bunch of really good ones (and some humorously not so good) check ‘em out the poker stories here. On a serious side, OK, I’m making a little light, but these really are a good reminder of why the fate of a silly little computer game matters to so many.

Well, this just didn’t go as planned. The idea was to make some solid picks mixed with some off-the-wall choices for 2009 World Series performances, with the results proving me to be somewhat of a genius. Whoops.

Some of my players have done well and could very well tear up the Main Event, but I could have possibly done better than, for example, picking my dentist’s nephew. Here’s a little rundown of my eight players through the end of the preliminary events:

Daniel Negreanu – Clearly the best of the picks, Daniel had an excellent series, though possibly not by his own high standards. With eight cashes, two of which were in world championship events and two of which were final tables, he cashed for more than $330K in the series.

Bertrand “ElkY” Grospellier – One of the favorites in many player pools this year, ElkY cashed twice during the series but could not quite pull a final table. He did make the cover of Bluff Magazine, though, with the article written by fellow Frenchman Benjo.

Terrence Chan – He came into the WSOP with a hot online poker streak that simply didn’t translate into WSOP bracelets, only walking away with one cash in the preliminary events.

Kara Scott – Besides being a talented and professional EPT hostess, the woman can play some poker as well. She played one preliminary event – a $1,500 NLHE – prior to the Main Event and cashed in 58th place.

Luca Pagano – My favorite Italian player did not cash. Viva Italia next year and all that.

Jonathan Dull – My dentist’s nephew had one cash in a $1,500 NLHE event, but, well, I won’t have much to report to my dentist in July.

Dwyte Pilgrim – After 13 cashes in WSOP Circuit events over the past year, Dwyte ran cold at the WSOP in Vegas and wasn’t able to cash in the prelims. But his record over the past year doesn’t lie, so it’s just a matter of time, guy I’ve never met buddy.

Whit Blanton – Pokerati player Whit made a run at one event and didn’t find his way to the money. But he still loves Pokerati, and isn’t that what matters?

Bonus pick Mekhi Phifer – Ummm, where was he?

The Main Event is just kicking into gear, so at least one of my picks still has a chance to go deep. (Go Kara!)

The day 2a field has returned from dinner break with less than 900 players remaining from the starting field of 1,476. Notable eliminations include: Gus Hansen, Johnny Chan, Mike Caro, Tony G, Jennifer Tilly, Shaun Deeb, Todd Brunson, Barry Greenstein and Mel Judah.

The current chip leader is Samer Rahman with 325,000 in chips. Other notables: Greg Mueller (223,000), Andy Black (164,000), Tom Schneider (140,000), Vitaly Lunkin (120,500), Jimmy Fricke (105,000), Joe Sebok (94,000), Sam Farha (70,000) and Amarillo Slim (48,000). More chip counts and updates can be found at www.wsop.com here.

Sorry for the delay in getting these updated — I blame blindness, which isn’t very conducive to intense spreadsheet staring and clicking. We’ll have some analysis soon … But in the meantime, check’em out. In a nutshell, America wins! But the rest of the world has done pretty well, too. And really, since only 2/3 of the overall WSOP prize money has been awarded through 56 of 57 events (does that tell you how big a deal the main event really is?) no one has yet to be mathematically eliminated from contention for ending up at the top of the leaderboard. So all Cameroon has to do is get about 400 of the top 600 spots, and they should be good to go.

Click here to view the Pokerati World Standings (presented by Betfair) to see how 56 bracelets, 465 final tables, and 5,608 ITM finishes have spread $112,970,324 around the poker planet.

Day 1d ended play this morning with 1,816 players remaining and Troy Weber the overall chip leader with a whopping 353,000 in chips. Other notables with chips: Carter King (170,000), J.C. Tran (139,975), Josh Arieh (135,700), Bertrand “ElkY” Grospellier (127,475), Dutch Boyd (121,050), Kirk Morrison (96,000) and Tony Hachem (89,400). To see everyone’s chip counts, click here. To see all 2,809 entrants to day 1d, click here.

Day 2a will start at noon today, as they play five two-hour levels at nine-handed tables in a field of 1,476 (half the size of the day 2b field Wednesday). A list of those players is here. The over 2,900 strong field for day 2b will have over 120 tables start 10-handed when play resumes for them on Wednesday. It could be another logistical nightmare if the day 2a field has too many eliminations, and play is forced to be suspended sooner than expected. The Day 2b field only has four two-hour levels of play on their agenda so that when the field is combined on Friday, expect a field of at least 2,000 starting for Day 3.

As usual, check out Pokerati or Pauly for more details, and www.wsop.com for updates during the day.

Though I absolutely understand that there are a lot of factors to consider when it comes to installing, revamping, and enforcing late registration policies (which have been problematic for the Series even pre-main event Day 1d) … the Dream Team Poker event is filling up with little clue how big it might ultimately end up being, and they are keeping it simple and clear so even a guy who often tempts time and knows how to occasionally get a string pulled can understand: you’ve got a built-in two-hour window to call in favors if you think you’re enough of a VIP interested players very well may be shut out even before cards go in the air.

(emphasis added)

DREAM TEAM POKER
WSOP Event July 12-13th
THE RIO

Thank you for entering our Dream Team Poker at the 2009 WSOP Tournament!

Completing your registration is a 2 step process:

· Purchase your 3 table & seat assignments at the Rio Cage
· Present these 3 receipts at our DTP Registration desk to pick up your customized team jerseys & player scorecards.

Yes, it’s that simple!

We have customized all of your team jerseys and they are waiting for you to pick them up!

We are located in the Rotunda Area next to our jersey wall where the WSOP is being played.

Keep in mind that player registration closes at 12:00pm (Noon) on July 12th. There will be no exceptions.

The tournament will begin at 2:00PM on July 12th in the Brasilia Room at the Rio All Suite Hotel and Casino.

May the best team win! See you at the Tournament!

www.DreamTeamPoker.com

Pauly and Benjo are on site in the Amazon room to discuss what really may or may not have gone down on Day 1d. It wasn’t pretty, but at the same time, kinda a beautiful thing, no? On to Day 2a (and 2b), where the real carnage begins.

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

Episode 11.30: The Day 1d Debacle (feat. Benjo)
5:51

Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.

That hedline makes me giggle, because really, there’s a lot to these numbers:

Day 1a – 1,116
Day 1b – 873
Day 1c -1,696
Day 1d – 2,809

63rd place is the six-figure line. Beyond that:

1st $8,546,435
2nd $5,182,601
3rd $3,479,485
4th $2,502,787
5th $1,953,395
6th $1,587,133
7th $1,404,002
8th $1,300,228
9th $1,263,602

@TheBigRandy:

Baggin chips for the night. 86,625. Avg around 45 or so.

@RobertGoldfarb not so much.

An eventful Day 1d field is off to their dinner break with a record field of 2,808 for a starting day of the Main Event (with several hundred left out) starting around 12 this afternoon. About 2350 returned from dinner break (as about 15% of the field has already been eliminated today). Some notable eliminations: Lyle Berman, Huck Seed, John Salley, Scott Montgomery, Dario Minieri, Eric Baldwin, Roy Winston and Peter Feldman. The early leader is Blair Hinkle with 120,000 in chips. Other notables with an above average stack: Chad Brown (105,000), Dutch Boyd (85,000), Shannon Shorr (65,000), Vanessa Rousso (64,000), Tom “Durrr” Dwan (55,000), Ron Kluber (53,000) and Phil Ivey (52,000). More chip counts and updates can be found at the wsop.com site here. More reactions to the Refusal at the Rio can be expected on Pokerati and various other places to discuss poker on the Internet in the late night hours.

via @WriterJen:

6,494 players
$61,043,600 prize pool
648 paid
$21,365 minimum payout
$8,548,435 first place

Some people you may recognize not playing in the main event, much to their own surprise after showing up in some cases a good 15 minutes before cards went in the air! (mostly from Feldman at ESPN.com):

Tom Franklin (head of WPA)
TJ Cloutier (legendary+PAC member+craps)
Mickey Appleman (breaking 30-year streak of main events)
Minh Ly (Doyle pal)
Brandon Adams (Full Tilt Red Pro)
Melissa Hayden
Random Australian guy screaming about desire to sue

(Let me know if there are others to add to the list.)

I’m not saying this is an example of favoritism … though as a former tourney director, I absolutely used to do favors for regulars and VIPs, and saw it as an important part of customer service … for all the greatness of twitter, it sure must make it difficult to “control the message” at times, or at least prevent plausible misinterpretations of it.

Joe Reitman’s time-logged WSOP main event Day 1d activities (as of 4:30ish):

Lots of action and loose play. 3 Europeans at my table…
39 minutes ago from Twittelator

Just got seated for main event.complete insanity today…..
about 1 hour ago from Twittelator

Signing up for the WSOP main event in the AM…..heeeeeeere we go……
about 16 hours ago from web

Looks like I might being playing the main event of the WSOP on Monday…..oooh…..it is getting exciting
1:02 AM Jul 5th from web

via @melissalvla and @change100

The room was packed with players, who gathered on short notice to find out what Harrah’s would do with the hundreds (conservative number) of irate/disappointed/confused players who were denied entry to the 2009 WSOP Main Event because of their late arrivals to the sell-out event. Notables in the room included Mike Sexton, Mickey Appelman, and Melissa Hayden.

twitpic: @melissalvla

Between the tournament staff, Harrah’s staff, and security contingent, there were approximately 20 suits, lined in front of the room. Commissioner Jeffrey Pollack addressed the crowd with a prepared statement that began, “We are sorry and I am sorry.” He went on to say that the players would not be allowed to play, and that he understands that it is disappointing. “We wish we could accommodate you,” he said and added that he wished they would have played other starting days.

Questions were beamed at Pollack, many players talking over each other at times. Allegations of special treatment were aimed at Harrah’s, with some players asserting that well-known players were granted entry after others were shut out. Pollack’s response? “Absolutely not.”

Most questions revolved around the option of allowing players to begin play this evening and play through the night or somehow incorporating a Day 1E into the mix, but Pollack insisted that it would be logistically and operationally impossible to do. When someone pushed the subject, WSOP Communications Director Seth Palansky jumped in with a question of his own directed at the player. “Why didn’t you show up earlier?” A collective “oooh” let Palansky know that he may have gone too far with the comment.

Pollack tried to cool the crowd with comments like, “We are not doing this happily today,” but it was clear that the players were not becoming any more satisfied with the comments. With Pollack promising that sell-out tournaments will be the number one topic to be discussed when planning the 2010 WSOP, he eventually ended the meeting with parting words “I’m sorry, I’m sorry.”

Pollack, Palansky, and other executives went out a private side entrance protected by security.