Holy fugk, I can already tell … this summer in Las Vegas is going to be an absolute mosh pit of poker … where are my steel-tipped boots I never had?

I knew the Hard Rock’s High Stakes Cash Game was in the works but wasn’t sure what would come of it — as the first thing required for a game of this size is players! I’ve sent my overseers @HardRockPoker a message inquiring who they know will be there. Will pass on info when I find out.

This Friday
June 4th at 7PM

Hard Rock Poker Lounge
Las Vegas

Come play the high stakes cash game
on the first Friday of each month.
Buy-in is $20,000 to $50,000.
Blinds are $25 and $50.

Also wonder if this game will have $50 splash pots like we’ve got in our 1/2 NL/PLO to stimulate action, lol. (Remember, if The Maven makes a huge raise on a hold’em splash pot, you should probably call with J-10 or better … and if you don’t know the answer in the song game, your best bet is either Britney Spears or Cheap Trick.)

More…

Hey, check it out … former WSOP Commish Jeffrey Pollack has been elected to the Professional Bull Riders Board of Directors as Executive Chairman.

Will make some calls to find out if he’ll be in charge of running Mexican Sweat Poker, launching a new age for what has always been a favorite event for children and fans of rodeo clowns in general. Until then … the link above will take you to the business brief in USA Today. And click below for the full press release from the PBR:

More…

Bubble Burst in 50k

The $50,000 Players’ Championship reached the bubble earlier today with day 2 chip leader Kirk Morrison the unfortunate bubble boy, leaving 16 players guaranteed almost $100,000. At this time, Robert Mizrachi is the current chip lead with over 2.5m in chips, followed by John Juanda at 2.4m in 2nd. Michael Mizrachi is currently in 5th with nearly 1.7m while Nick Schulman, and Daniel Alaei have around 1m in chips with just 13 players remaining. The Mizrachi brothers are looking to be the first brothers to make the same final table since Ross and Barny Boatman performed the feat in 2002. (Thanks to a poster on 2+2 for that info).

1k Donkament Day 2

The $1,000 NL Holdem event reached the money within the first level this afternoon, and the pace has not slowed down, with under 200 players remaining at the end of level 14. The chip leader at the dinner break is Drew Crawford at 230,000. Play continues to the end of level 20 or the final table, whichever comes first.

Omaha 8 Day 2

Around 120 players remain in the $1,500 Omaha 8 or Better event as they head to their dinner break. Phil Ivey, Allen Kessler, David Bach, Brock Parker, Andrew Black and Team Pokerati’s own Tom Schneider are some of the familiar names looking to make the money bubble at 81 players and the eventual final table.

$1,500 NL Day 1

The $1,500 NL holdem event drew a field of 2,092, with 216 making the money and the winner getting over $500,000. 638 players will return after their 90-minute dinner break. The early leader appears to be online legend Shaun Deeb with 55,000 chips. Lauren Kling is unofficially in second with 45,000, while Antonio Esfandiari, Daniel Negreanu, Mark Seif and Joe Cada off to a fast start as well.

Be sure to check the links on the right to find more content, live updates, and other WSOP-related stuff.

Remember those crazy pants worn by the Norwegian curling team at the 2010 Winter Olympics? They were designed by Loudmouth Golf, a company whose intention was to liven up golf-wear … when a few Norwegians saw them and thought they might also work wonders on the often too-stoic ice. (Norway went on to win silver in Vancouver.)

Now the makers of “The First Argyle Pants for Men in the World!” are expanding into poker, looking to brighten a game where a typical player’s fashion proclivities lean toward drab hoodies, dark ball caps, and Vitamin D deficiencies. Representing the new Loudmouth Poker … none other than Team Pokerati captain Tom Schneider, who will be wearing his new 97 percent cotton, 3 percent spandex duds during the WSOP.

The occasional WSOP star joins Loudmouth’s team of representatives, which includes golfer John Daly, professional long driver Bobby Wilson, rock legend Alice Cooper, and NFL Super Bowl QB Jim McMahon.

“Loudmouth has been looking at a variety of expansion directions such as skiing, skating, tennis, kids, etc.,” says Larry Jackson, CEO of Loudmouth Golf. “With the opportunity to connect with poker players and fans through our Loudmouth friend Tom Schneider at the WSOP, we all saw the opportunity immediately. The WSOP and poker in general is filled with a variety of interesting characters and that is fertile ground for Loudmouth.”

It’s generally good to see new, non-poker entities getting into poker, especially when they’re snazzing up, not scuzzing up the WSOP. Where would we be, after all, without Jack Link’s Beef Jerky, Milwaukee’s Best Light, Mr. Peanut, or Levitra in our world?

Before and After: Loudmouth pants may spruce up Tom’s WSOP wardrobe, but will they spruce up his game?

Says Schneider of his newly sponsored style: “I’ve always dreamed of being a fashion model since I was a little girl. Now, thanks to Loudmouth, that dream has been realized. I just hope I can win a few more bracelets to go with my pants so I can serve as an inspiration to non-descript 50-year-old suburban men everywhere.”

Ha ha, nice, Tom. And while we like to give the 2007 WSOP Player of the Year a little guff for being the best player whose game no one respects as much as he does … at least now with his Loudmouth pants on, the DonkeyBomber can lay claim to being the Norwegian Curling Team of Poker.

Not sure what really happened yesterday, but I guess I started paying attention to the poker tournaments … or at least wandered near them. And it just so happened to be on a day when the 2010 WSOP faced its first brushes with meltdown.

First probs came with PokerNews’ suffering extended downtime … You’d expect the Lithuanians to have it all fixed by Day 1 Day 2 Day 3 … With hand reports and chip counts hard to find, the big story of the day was supposed to be the $50k Mix, whittling its way down toward the money. However, it was the first of six $1k NLs getting too close to the money too quickly that had Ty Stewart potentially facing his own Day 1-Donkulus. And it apparently came at a time when Nevada Gaming regulators were supposedly on premises breathing down necks while studying payout structures. Perhaps to his chagrin, Stewart had little choice but to give an unrehearsed, impromptu press conference in the face of a Tao/Pokerati ambush, complete with cussing and follow-up questions.

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It seems as those tech issues have been plaguing the poker media from Poker News to the Tao of Pokerati. Dan quizzes Pauly about what really goes on behind the scenes at Poker News.

Episode 7: Ty Sweat

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While “brainstorming” for future episodes of Tao of Pokerati, Dan and Pauly encounter WSOP VP Ty Stewart, who is returning to the Rio around Midnight to keep an eye on a potential disaster, as he sweats the thinning field in the last level of Day 1B of the $1k Donkulus.

Click below for the first thing that comes up, from Urban Dictionary, when you do a Google search for “donkulus”:

More…

After starting your day off right by reading Pauly’s link dump, here’s the recap of Sunday night at the WSOP:

Dilemma Diverted at Donkament

After all those Tweets, forum posts, and other whinging, Day 1b of the $1,000 NL Donkament were able to finish all ten levels of play with 205 players remaining. The day 1b chip leader is Braxton Dunaway, with 139,000 chips. The full list of survivors is now available over at PokerNews. They’ll join the 276 who survived day 1a at 2:30pm, first bursting the money bubble at 441 players, on their way to a scheduled ten levels of play.

Grinder in Gear at the 50k Players’

Michael “The Grinder” Mizrachi is the day 3 leader of the $50,000 Players’ Championship with just 21 players remaining when play resumes at 3pm as they play down to the final table, which will consist solely of no-limit holdem for ESPN to broadcast later this summer. Mizrachi, in the news for his issues with the IRS and other financial difficulties, will start day 4 with 1,483,000 in chips. Vladimir Schemelev will start in 2nd with 1,432,000, with David Oppenheim 3rd (1,340,000). The chips for the other 18 names not mentioned are now up over at PokerNews.

Omaha 8

Day 1 of the $1,500 Omaha 8 or Better finished with under 300 players remaining. As noted in the comments of the day 3 post, Thang Luu wasn’t able to attend after his incident with a dealer last year. Oleg Shamardin is the chip leader with 70,800 when play resumes at 2:30pm Monday. Top 10 notables: 2009 $50k HORSE winner David Bach (39,700), 2009 double bracelet winner Brock Parker (36,700), and Chau Giang (31,300). The entire list can be found at PokerNews here.

Can the $1,500 draw 1500?

Monday has one tournament starting today, the $1,500 No-Limit holdem at noon. With lower than expected numbers for the 1k over the weekend, will the trend continue? The first $1,500 event of the 2009 WSOP (held on a Tuesday) had a field of nearly 2800.

You can find updates during the day at PokerNews and www.wsop.com Make sure to check out Bluff Magazine, Wicked Chops Poker and PokerListings for more content from the WSOP.

Here’s a recap of the Sunday afternoon activities, with issues regarding the 1k NL event coming to a head early Monday morning.

Problems with Payouts?

Day 1b of the $1,000 No-Limit Holdem event drew a field of just 1,744 entrants for a total of 4,345 over the weekend. This means that 441 players will make the money, with first place taking down over $625,000. Day 1a ended with 276 making it through the end of level 10. Updates from the PokerNews and WSOP.com sites report that they will either play down to 170 players or to the end of level 10, whichever comes first. There were around 550 players remaining when the field returned from their 90-minute dinner break, so it’ll be intriguing to see how far they’re able to go tonight. In lieu of chip counts for today’s event, read Michael Craig’s blog for the story of a player banned for life for trying to steal an absent player’s chips during the 1k yesterday.

Kostritsyn in Control of Players’ Championship

Full Tilt pro Alexander Kostritsyn is the current chip leader of the $50,000 Players’ Championship as they head to their dinner break with approximately 35 players remaining. Kostritsyn, known online as “PostFlopAction”, is the only player with a seven-figure chip stack (1,430,000). Another Russian, Vladimir Schmelev, second with 830,000 in chips and Robert Mizrachi third with 810,000. Other notables: Erik Seidel (720,000), Erik Sagstrom (656,000) and Andy Bloch (604,000). Three more levels are scheduled, although that may change if they near the money, at 16 players.

Late Night Omaha 8

Play started this afternoon in the $1,500 Omaha 8 or Better missing it’s two-time defending champion Thang Luu. There had been talk during last year’s WSOP about Luu being banned for life for injuring a dealer’s hand in a cash game. Reports now indicate that he was banned for one year. A field of 818 signed up for some split-pot action, with eight levels of play scheduled tonight. 81 players will make the money, with the winner pocketing over $237,000. One very early casualty was Tom “Durrrr” Dwan, his third straight early elimination from a tournament.

Everybody’s favorite angry Frenchman arrives on site, so he and Pauly can express their heterosexual fondness for each other during the $50k Players Championship. In words lifted from Pauly himself, they kill time in the press box late on Day 2 by watching lesbian kissing videos on YouTube. The two offer up analysis and play-by-play while pondering a future as professional lesbian kissing video commentators. But there was a sudden and unexpected twist at the end of one of the videos that left everyone in the press box aghast.

Episode 5: Lesbian Kisses (feat. Benjo)

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With a big thanks to Pauly, here’s my recapping of the Saturday night action, which includes our first bracelet winner at the 2010 WSOP:

A-Hoai to Pham!

Hoai Pham

Hoai Pham, a dealer at the Village Club Card Room in Chula Vista, California, earned the first bracelet of this year’s WSOP in the $500 Casino Employees Event this morning. Pham’s pocket aces on the final hand was more than enough to best Arthur Vea’s pocket fours on the final hand of heads-up play, collecting $71,424 and a prized WSOP bracelet. Vea collected $44,079 for his 2nd place finish, with the rest of the field who made the money here. Pham will return to the Pavilion at 2:20pm today for the bracelet ceremony and to hear the Vietnam national anthem being played in his honor. You can read the tournament report from Nolan Dalla here.

Morrison Moves into First in 50k Players’

Kirk Morrison

Kirk Morrison ended day 2 of the $50,000 Players’ Championship as chip leader with 54 players remaining. Morrison started the day with just 124,800 in chips, below the 150,000 starting stack. Andy Bloch finished the day second in chips (716,500) while day 1 chip leader Erik Sagstron wound up in fifth (656,000). Other notables: Robert Mizrachi (625,500), Michael Mizrachi (439,000), Chris Ferguson (430,500) and David Singer (369,000). Among those without chips: Phil Hellmuth, Jennifer Harman, Howard Lederer, Erick Lindgren, Jason Mercier and Daniel Negreanu. Play resumes Sunday at 3pm with another six levels of play scheduled as the field gets even closer to the money. Click here to see all who remain.

Day 1a of Donkament Down

Amarillo Slim

Day 1b of the first $1,000 No-Limit Holdem gets underway at noon today, with what could be an intriguing situation for the WSOP staff towards the end of play. Day 1a concluded with 276 remaining from the initial field of 2601, slightly over 10 percent of the field. Poker gadfly Allen Kessler noted on 2+2 of possible problems if too many players get eliminated Sunday. The 2010 payout structures do not appear to be available on the WSOP site. Using the payout structure from 2009, if the numbers are similar for day 1b, they’ll be very close to the money for day 2 on Monday.

Getting back to the action on the table, Terry Fleischer appears to be the day 1a chip leader with 119,300. Nancy Todd Tyner is the only other player with a six-figure chip stack (103,000). Some recognizable names near the top: Lisa Parsons (61,400), Amarillo Slim (58,700), Tommy Vedes (55,700) and Chris Bjorn (39,800).

Trifecta for Thang?

Thang Luu

Besides day 1b of the 1k, the $1,500 Omaha 8 or better tournament gets underway at 5pm today. Thang Luu is the two-time defending champion of this event, finishing 2nd in the $2,000 Omaha 8 event in 2007. The late start may have an effect on the field, as 918 started this event when it started at noon last year. Check out PokerNews and www.wsop.com to follow the updates and other information about what’s happening.

Photos: Rob Gracie/WSOP and Flipchip/PokerNews

Pauly and I continue to get goin’ … venturing around the WSOP as men with or without plans … not to mention guns. Fortunately, it was only the Casino Employee event day, which doesn’t get the coverage it probably deserves.

Episode 3: Pooling Resources

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Episode 4: Late Fees and Gunfire

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I’m trying to get on the link-dump bandwagon … but for reasons of my own personal weakness, I have a problem giving Pokerati readers a quick directory to relevant content elsewhere on the internet without turning one-liners into a complex narrative that often looks pretty, but defeats the whole point of one-click simplicity for those wanting greater understanding of what’s crossing our radar.

So if you’re in a hurry for WSOP- and poker-related nutrition …

German authorities arrest the alleged mastermind behind the EPT-Berlin robbery. [CalvinAyre.com]

Wicked Chops says they’ve got their hands on the UB superuser account list. [Wicked Chops]

Former PokerNews editor Haley Hintze says this list may be loaded with fakes, confirming her investigative, fact-based conjectures that various scandals at AP and UB are turning out to be a much larger multimillion-dollar matter of Cereus conspiracy and coverup. [Haley's Poker Blog]

Wicked Chops is also on the trail of @AsianSpa … picking up where Donkdown, Pokerati, and Joe Sebok have come up short, failing to unearth the identity of poker’s self-proclaimed “righter of wrong-doers” who loves hating on UB-people and the Mizrachi family when not providing professional handjobs in Las Vegas. [Wicked Chops]

A 2010 WSOP Resource Guide that clearly overestimates gets the genius of Pokerati. [Part-Time Poker]

If soccer is not the new poker by the end of 2010 World Cup in South Africa, it darn-well should be. [Soccerati]

Here’s a pic of the new WSOP bracelets, by Joe Cada’s favourite DeltaBeta designer, Steve Soffa:

And speaking of DeltaBeta couture … Victory Poker is supposed to be making a big splash this WSOP, but so far all they’ve done is raise the sexism alert level for poker pundits thinking they may just be pissing in generally progressive WSOP waters. [PokerGrump and Pot Committed]

Meanwhile, speaking of chasing skirts bracelets, Team Pokerati’s 6x Weekend Warrior may have missed his first tourney, but he has made his twitter updates easier to follow by changing @JohnHarrisTTU to @85nutz.

There, that took me only a couple hours so you can keep up with the most important poker buzz with just a few minutes of well-focussed reading and everything else you need to know only a click away.

And we’re just getting rollin’, holy shit …

Here’s some of what’s been happening on Saturday:

Donkament Disappointing?

Day 1a of the Event #3 – $1,000 No-limit Holdem tournament drew a field of 2,601 entries today, a disappointment for those expecting a field of over 7,000 battling for this bracelet over the weekend. The 788 players who made it to the dinner break are returning shortly for another four levels of play. The unofficial chip leader is PokerRoad’s Joe Sebok with 27,000 chips. Other notable chip counts: Amarillo Slim (21,000), Chris Bjorin (20,000) and Bryan Devonshire, (17,500). Track the action for this event over at PokerNews.

First bracelet winner to be determined tonight

Just 18 players remain in the first WSOP bracelet event the $500 Casino Employees Event have returned from their dinner break, with Kent Washington maintaining the chip lead at 332,000 in chips. You can follow the action for this event over at PokerNews.com.

Players’ Championship Day 2

The $50,000 Players’ Championship field is currently on their one-hour dinner break at the conclusion of level eight with 90 players remaining. The current chip leader appears to be Steve Zolotow, with 420,000 in chips. Some of the fallen who may be looking to watch UFC 114 include: Phil Galfond, Tony G, and Todd Brunson. When play resumes, the field will play another three levels before the bag up their chips, sign their name, and hopefully don’t be recorded as busted when they decided not to report their chip counts. To catch the action of this event over at PokerNews, head here.

Saturday at noon is the first of six $1,000 No-limit holdem events, each having two day 1′s and fields of at least 5,000 expected. Last year’s “Stimulus Special”, won by Steve Sung for over $770,000, drew out all kinds of people, as Pauly noted in his Nostrum Donkulus post. After reading that, check out his morning link dump.

Time for some Friday recapping:

Casino Employees Cashing

The first bracelet event, $500 Casino Employees , finished play at the end of level 10 with 53 players remaining. The chip leader is Kent Washington, from Oakland, California with 168,300 in chips. Jonathan Kotula, who won this event in 2008, is in 2nd (108,700). The only other recognizable name remaining is Bellagio tournament director Jack McClleland (19,700). The tournament is scheduled to resume at 2:30pm today, although the 1k donkament may delay that start. The schedule notes they’re playing down to a winner today, but circumstances may prevent that. If they play down to a winner today, it may put a damper on the plans looking to take part in Bluff’s Streak 2 Seven contest to win a 2010 or 2011 WSOP me seat, as mentioned on this week’s episode of the award-winning Poker Beat.

Players’ Championship Moves to Day 2

Day 1 of the $50,000 Players’ Championship concluded earlier this morning with 105 of the 116 players remaining. Chip counts haven’t been finalized, but it appears Erik Sagstrom will be the chip leader at 329,100. Other notables in the top 10: David Oppenheim (313,800), “Miami John” Cernuto and Joe Serock (265,000), Justin Bonomo (255,000), Barry Greenstein (240,100), and early chip leader Daniel Kelly (223,000). Tom Dwan, Brian Townsend, and 2009 dual bracelet winner Greg Mueller started off down $50,000 at the WSOP, eliminated on Friday. The remaining field will return at 3pm today as the field is scheduled to play six 90-minute levels.

Saturday Night’s Alright for Fighting

For those who get eliminated early enough, you can watch guys trying to beat the shit out of each other at the MGM Grand Garden area for UFC 114 tonight. The highly anticipated main event features Rashad Evans v Quinton “Rampage” Jackson topping an 11-fight card. For those looking for a preview of the fights, or looking for some good betting tips, check out www.mmafix.com and www.rawvegas.tv.

More later today, but in the meantime be sure to check Pokerati, on Twitter and hit up the official WSOP site over at www.wsop.com

Dr. Pauly and I like to think of ourselves as WSOP vets. This is Pokerati’s 7th Series, and Tao’s 6th. (Though in terms of days at the WSOP he’s still got me trounced.) Combined so far we’ve got 11 years of experience. That’s really not all that impressive when you think about it …

Episode 1: Amazon Reunion

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Episode 2: The Big Room

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The first bracelet event, the $500 Casino Employees NL Holdem event drew a field of 721 entrants, with the final 72 hitting the pay window, the winner getting just over $70,000. Although Team Pokerati’s John Harris was unable to take part, Shaun Harris from Las Vegas is the current chip leader (105,200) with about 90 players remaining. At the time of posting, they’re currently at level 9 and play will conclude at the end of level 10 or the final table, whichever comes first.

The $50,000 Players’ Championship drew a smaller than expected field of 116 players. First place will get about $1,560,000. The early chip leader is Daniel “djk123″ Kelly (285,000) eliminated Dan Shak. You can follow the action in both events over at www.wsop.com, where the full entrant list should be online shortly.

I’ll be back in the morning with the preview of tomorrow’s first 1k NL event, with over 3,000 players registered already. And for those with Twitter, be sure to follow @pokerati, @taopauly, @wsop, and @pokernews_live for updates.