Dude, how bad does this suck … Patricia Clark, a 51-year-old preacher from Chicago’s South Side, was supposedly a pretty good poker player. She went to a home game on Thursday to collect a $300 debt from “an old friend of 20 years”, according to her husband. The other players convinced her to stick around and play a bit. Four hours later, from the best we can tell from the Sun Times report of her death, she found herself involved in a four-way all-in, and took down an $800 pot.

At that point Rosie Morris, 46, got pretty pissed and accused Clark of cheating. She flat-out denied any impropriety, and demanded to be paid. Morris retreated to a bedroom, not to get her checkbook, but rather a gun. She then allegedly shot Clark in the back, and then unloaded three more rounds into her head and chest.

Clark died this weekend from her injuries, and Morris has been charged with murder.

Morris joins Joran van der Sloot and a few other poker players who have made the game at least part of their homicidal ways in recent years.

Second place, not first. That other guy won. I’m sure we’ll remember his name eventually …

“This was a huge shot in the arm for the gambling community,” said Mike Matusow to his table in the $10k Stud-8 World Championship, referring to a couple-million+ of anti-durrrr-bracelet sidebets.

@howardhlederer tweeted:

……..exhale

Frankly I was kinda surprised to see Lederer so nervous. Would seem that he was the one guy who couldn’t lose … you know, having the newest pro added to his team taking down an early WSOP donkament, for the first of what will likely be multiple bracelets.

@realkidpoker:

Congrats to Tom Dwan! We were all rooting for you… To come second! Wow I escaped. What a sweat that was.

Durr just doubled up and the rail cheered while most of the people in the stud 8 moaned and cried.

The atmosphere in the room is electric. So many of us have bets against Durrr winning. 3 left and we are sweating hard!

@realannieduke:

Players in the Stud 8 or better championship breathe a sigh of relief as Tom Dwan finishes second. Never a bigger swing in a $1500 than 2day

I’m enjoying sweating the Durrr match mainly because I have no money on it:) Big swing for a bunch of my friends and relatives though.

Meanwhile, Huck Seed is apparently owed a refund. Though I suspect he might just let Dwan hold on to the $325k, figuring that a 2010 bracelet may be inevitable.

The BIG event of the summer is about to get underway. No, not the Omaha Hi-Lo Split 8-or-Better World Championship … we’re talking about the World Cup. I’ll just betcha a few poker players are kinda into soccer, or football, or fútbol … whatever you wanna call it (just please not “footie”).

With South Africa 2010 just days away — our sister-site Soccerati has partnered with our poker allies at Wicked Chops for some World Cup bracketology. Together we’ve got “awesome” prizes in store for the winners. What exactly they’ll be … well, just play along, and we’ll tell you what you need to know when you need to know it. (Hint: I still have a few red and yellow cut cards left, which theoretically could work for soccer, too.)

Here’s how you can join in the fun while showing your Euro-friends that, believe it or not, you know your Totti from your Eto’o, and really are a bit more than just an American wanker:

First select which two teams will advance out of each the eight groups. The order you select them – 1st or 2nd – determines where they are placed in the 16-team bracket. Then predict the winner of the 15 bracket matches throughout the Finals. All picks lock with the first kickoff on Friday, June 11, 2010. Good luck!

Get in the action now:
http://games.espn.go.com/bpredictor/en-us/group?groupID=19078

Group: Wicked Chops FC
Password: wickedchops

The $1,500 NL Holdem final table went on their dinner break, except for Dwan, who decided to play in the $10,000 Seven Card Stud Hi/Lo World Championship instead. Play has resumed, so here’s the chip counts after dinner, with blinds at 20,000/40,000 with a 5,000 ante:

10:10PM update: Now 5-handed with the blinds at 25,000/50,000/5,000

Tom Dwan 2,415,000
David Randall 2,085,000
Austin McCormick 3,000,000
Tom Dwan 2,850,000
Simon Watt 2,500,000
David Randall 2,200,000
Jason Young 1,695,000
Michael Smith 6th ($105,185)
Marvin Rettenmaier – 7th ($78,681)
Kyle Winter – 8th ($59,407)
Eric Ladny – 9th ($45,603)

Concerning the prop bets, one person has already paid $325,000 to Dwan. To find out who that was, check out Pokerlistings.

Just a brief update for now, but in what could be Tom Dwan’s biggest winning day, he’s the current chip leader with 9 players left at the $1,500 No-Limit Holdem final table. First place would officially pay Dwan more than $600,000, but he has plenty of bracelet bets with pros, leading to this tweet from Benjo, along with a brand-new Tao of Pokerati episode bringing you to the floor where this major side-action is happening. :

Surreal. A congregation of Big Game players are currently having a sit-down, most likely discussing offering Dwan to buy out of their bets.

Here’s the final table when play resumed:

Seat 1: Jason Young – 1,304,000
Seat 2: Michael Smith – 622,000
Seat 3: Marvin Rettenmaier – 525,000
Seat 4: Tom “durrrr” Dwan – 2,412,000
Seat 5: Austin McCormick – 1,939,000
Seat 6: Kyle Winter – 502,000
Seat 7: Eric “AvrilSharapova” Ladny – 969,000
Seat 8: David “ghettofabulous” Randall – 1,803,000
Seat 9: Simon Watt – 1,466,000

Catch all the live updates over at PokerNews, along with tweets from Pauly, Matt Waldron and AlCantHang

We swear we’re not gonna get totally self-indulgent here at Pokerati … just maybe on weekends a little bit. After all, you really do care about the people who bring the WSOP to you, or you to the WSOP. If not, all of us shoulda probably found new lines of work long before Moneymaker gave up his title as defending champion.

More tales from Rio in the summertime … where 90 percent of all who enter are inherently destined to lose … making for an environ of compelling pathos and magnetic despair speckled with moments of joy, happiness, exuberance, and occasionally even redemption-via-bling … which is all it takes to keep people coming back despite the mathematical obstacles to anything more than flitting thrills, let alone life-long success. Oops, I think I mighta just given away the beginning, middle, and end of Pauly’s soon-to-be-released book, Lost Vegas. Meant to be writing about a mystery on-air kiss:

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While recording an episode of his other podcast, The Poker Beat, in the Amazon hallway, Dan was interrupted by a phantom beauty kissing him on the forehead before she slipped into the Amazon poker fray. Dan’s not-so-good peripheral vision prevented him from properly IDing his fawning female admirer. During this episode of Tao of Pokerati, Pauly gives him advice on finding out the identity of the kissing bandit, who gave him false brief hope that he may some day find love and meaning — or at least quick-n-hot nookie — at the WSOP.

Here’s a look at Saturday evening’s WSOP action, starting with the two bracelet winners:

Men Master’s Stud for Bracelet #7

The $10,000 Seven Card Stud World Championship was won by Men “The Master” Nguyen defeating Brandon Adams heads-up to win his 7th WSOP bracelet and $394,807, moving him into a tie for 5th place with Phil Ivey and Billy Baxter. The full results and Nolan Dalla’s tournament report are now online at wsop.com.

Dempsey Flush with a Bracelet

James “Flushy” Dempsey wins his first WSOP bracelet, in the $1,500 Pot-Limit Holdem event, defeating Steve Chanthabousay heads-up to win $197,470. A complete list of results plus Nolan Dalla’s report is at wsop.com.

Dwan Durrrrable in $1,500 NL

Day 3 of the $1,500 No-Limit Holdem has Tom “Durrrr” Dwan the chip leader (1,068,000) with 21 players remaining. Play resumes at 2:30pm to play down to a winner and PokerNews will be following all the action.

Lucky Thirteen Going for Limit Bracelet

Day 3 of the $1,500 Limit Holdem event has 13 players returning at 3pm to play down to a winner. Jason Potter moves into the chip lead (371,000) followed by day 1 chip leader Jameson Painter (307,000) in second. Terrence Chan (288,000), Matt Matros (272,000) and Frank Kassela (162,000) are the other notables returning this afternoon. Find all chip counts and live updates this afternoon over at PokerNews.

The 15% Solution

Day 1a of the second$1,000 No-Limit Holdem played about halfway into level 9 this morning, with 278 players, about 15% of the field, returning Monday at 2:30pm. This decision was made after last weekend’s $1,000 event had players getting eliminated too quickly, a problem Tao of Pokerati discussed with Ty Stewart. The current chip leader is Andy Black (90,275), with Phil Gordon (44,225), Jena Delk (34,300), Shaun Deeb (26,850), Victor Ramdin (23,350) and An Tran (20,350) are some of the recognizable names returning Monday at 2:30pm. The full list of players and their chip counts is now available over at PokerNews.

Binger Best in 2-7 Lowball

A field of 67 returns Sunday afternoon at 3pm for day 2 of the $1,500 No-Limit 2-7 Lowball, Single Draw with Nick Binger the leader with 54,300 in chips. Scott Seiver is in 2nd with 46,875, with Chino Rheem in 3rd with 42,725. Other notables include Dario Minieri (31,725), 2-7 Triple Draw Lowball winner Peter Gelenscer (21,925), Michael Binger (17,350) and Erick Lindgren (16,600). Only 28 make the money, with the winner earning $92,817. The full list of players counts is at PokerNews.

Sunday’s Bracelet Action

Starting at 12pm is day 1b of the $1,000 No-Limit Holdem event, will there be a smaller field like last week? The 5pm tournament starts the $10,000 Seven Card Stud Hi/Lo World Championship. Jeff Lisandro won this event last year in a field of 164, one of the three he won in 2009. Plenty of big names are expected to turn out for their chance to win a bracelet without so many donks in the field.

I like to tell any newbie interested in working the WSOP that the key is simply to show up. As for how to survive the WSOP, on certain days the key is to not show up. One of these days, both Pauly and Benjo will get it. Until then, they’re both consistently hanging around the action, to keep me you within earshot of all that is important going down. You’ll also see why, all things considered, I’m clearly getting the best of any three-way deals.

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Rare Michalski sighting at the WSOP, so Benjo and Pauly ambush Dan the moment that he steps into the press box. Benjo gets compliments for filling in during for Michalski during the important 50K final table. He also reveals how you certain qualified people can win a piece of Pokerati.com.

Episode 11: Laser Show Promotions (w Benjo)

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After two years of cameos and being a special guest, Benjo finally convinces Michalski and Pauly to give him his own key to the castle. Well, not exactly to the entire castle, just a couple of rooms. In this episode, we discuss Benjo’s new and lucrative deal as a partner in Tao of Pokerati, Inc.

Have fallen behind on The (Award-Winning) Poker Beat … So to get you caught up, here are 4.5 hours of the latest in Poker Beat power — enough for any WSOP-wonk to step into Week 2 fully prepared to understand what they’ll really be getting into.

The Poker Beat
6/3/10
TPB (and skilled technician John V) won’t let interstate technical snafus get in the way of award-winning deliverables. With BJ at the helm and Huff watching from the booth in LA, Jess and Wolfman discuss what may or may not be going on as the WSOP and the post-hardened UIGEA era get underway almost simultaneously … all while Michael Mizrachi takes down the first big bracelet of the Series, the Nevada Gaming Control Board clamps down on dot-net poker relationships, a thieving player tries to palm a stack of chips, and Joran van der Sloot allegedly kills again while hitting the Latin American poker circuit.

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More…

There’re lots of WSOP-videos out there … enjoyed the Degen Report on RawVegas, you know … we’ll continue to show you the best ones we stumble across. (And feel free to tip us off if you see something you particularly like.)

One that seems totally click-worthy for those looking to digest a full WSOP-day before the boss peaks over the cube wall is PokerListings’ WSOP Live! — a daily video wrap-up of hedlines and surrounding personalities covering the annual poker period where all of Las Vegas, not just the Rio, caters to our ilk:

In totally absolutely not-not-related news, the dudes at Listings have an awesome house not too far from Pokerati headquarters (and the Rio) with a pool, a huge yard for a dog to run/roll/sniff around in, a solid wi-fi connection, and an unlocked back gate. (Thanks guys! Sorry about the poop.)

A recap of Saturday’s sextet of bracelet events this afternoon:

Star Studded Final Table

Six players remain in the $10,000 Seven Card Stud event, with Men Nguyen the current chip leader with over 1,000,000 in chips. The rest of the final table consists of Nikolay Evdakov, Brandon Adams, Michael Mizrachi, Joe Cassidy and Steve Bilirakis. The first two to to cash from the final table are Vladimir Schmelev ($55,991) and Sirious Jamshidi ($46,206). Follow the final table activities, and other WSOP events over at PokerNews.

Dempsey Dominant at Pot-Limit

The final table of the $1,500 Pot-Limit Holdem event is down to heads-up, with James “Flushy” Dempsey holding the chip lead over Steve Chanthabouasy. JJ Liu fell short of triumph, finishing in 3rd for $86,512. Updates of the battle are ongoing over at PokerNews.

$1,500 NL in the money

Less than 100 remain in the $1,500 No-Limit Holdem, with chances appearing slim that a final table will be reached. Notables remaining: Blair Hinkle, Tom Dwan, Neil Channing, Roy Winston, and Alex Bolotin.

$1,500 Limit Day 2

The field in the $1,500 Limit Holdem event is down to 77 after their dinner break, with 63 making the money. Michael Miccio is the current chip leader at 85,000, followed close behind by Jameson Painter (82,000), Terrence Chan (81,000), Jason Potter (74,000), and David Plastik (56,000) in the top 10. Play continues until they reach the final table or around 3am, whichever comes first. More updates available at PokerNews.

Donkament #2 Numbers Down

1,922 handed over their money for day 1a of the $1,000 No-Limit Holdem event, a decrease from last week’s 2,600 day 1a. The remaining 450 players remain with play ending for the night when 15% of the field remains or 10 levels of play, whichever happens first. Some of the notable post-dinner break survivors: Phil Gordon, Kathy Liebert, John Cernuto, Tony Cousineau, Liv Boeree, and Vitaly Lunkin.

2-7 NL Lowball Draws a Crowd

A field of 250 players decided to give the $1,500 No-Limit 2-7 Lowball, Single Draw event a try, with notables such as Annette Obrestad and Eric Baldwin making their lowball debut. Players start with 1,500 in chips along with three $1,000 “rebuy” chips that can be used anytime within the first 4 hours. Nick Schulman appears to be the early chip leader with 25,000, but the volatile nature of the game means anything can happen over the eight levels of play this evening.

A few updates … team captain Tom Schneider is off to a solid start, with a mid-cash and a min cash after four events … playing now in NL 2-7. Still tabulating results from Goldfarb, Ms. Schneider, Noam the Enforcer and a few yet-to-be introduced’s. Harris gives the $1k a second go tomorrow. And even Toothless Bob, bankroll-fortified by his B-squad Vegas alt-tourney wins, played his first ever hands of live PLO in Thursday’s Hard Rock game … and cashed out a small winner.

Fans swarmed all around as the 2-7 triple-draw got to its final two tables, and Pat Poels began to think about his first bracelet in a non-split event.

But so far, getting closest to the WSOP hardware has been Pat Poels, the other 2-bracelet holder on Team Pokerati … who finished 10th in Event #7, $2,500 2-7 Triple-draw for a $13k+ payday. The Casino Arizona host knows he can play, but comes to the 2010 WSOP with cashouts meaning more than they have in previous years and a desire to prove to himself that there’s still room for a player like him to earn a respectable living by outplaying the competition in a wide variety of games.

He says to his Pokerati fans and manager:

My plans are to induce pain, and to collect buy-ins. Bio? Well, I like warm bubble baths and long walks on the beach, and mean people and taxes turn me off. And I’ve had a 3-year gap since my last bracelet. Time to fix that.

Shirt size XL.

Wrapping up the Friday tournament action, with another bracelet winner determined:

Québécois LeFrancois wins $1,500 NL

Pascal LeFrancois, a 23-year old student from Quebec, won the $1,500 NL Holdem event, winning $568,974 along with the coveted WSOP bracelet. LeFrancois defeated Max Steinberg in heads-up play, with Steinberg collecting $352,916 for his runner-up finish. The full list of results, Nolan Dalla’s tournament report, and a first for the official winner’s photo, can be found over at wsop.com.

Schmelev and Mizrachi at it Again in 10k Stud

Twelve players remain for day three of the $10,000 Seven Card Stud World Championship with Vladimir Schmelev and Michael Mizrachi looking to renew their rivalry from the $50,000 Players’ Championship won by Mizrachi earlier this week. Schmelev is the current chip leader (921,000), with Mizrachi in third (544,000). Other notables: Nikolay Evdakov (543,000), Steve Bilirakis (448,000) and Men Nguyen (302,000). The full list of chip counts is now available at PokerNews.

Chanthabousay Leads Pot-Limit Final Table

The final table of the $1,500 Pot-Limit Holdem gets underway at 2:30 this afternoon. JJ Liu is the first woman to make a final table at this year’s, starting third in chips with 479,000. Here’s how the entire final table will look:

Armen Kara 220,000
Gregg Wilkerson 230,000
Mark Babekov 246,000
JJ Liu 479,000
Edward Brogdon 89,000
Scott Haraden 224,000
Steve Chanthabouasy 533,000
Joseph Williams 385,000
James Dempsey 528,000

Gupta Going Great in $1,500 NL

Day 2 of the third $1,500 No-Limit Holdem event resumes at 2:30 this afternoon with 291 players returning, 270 making the money. Venkatesch Gupta will be the leader with 199,100 in chips. Among the notables: Blair Hinkle (112,400), Shannon Shorr (64,300), Erick Lindgren (57,600), Jerry Yang (49,100), Tom Dwan (44,500) and Neil Channing (42,000). Team Pokerati’s Pat Poels finished the day in 288th place with 3300 chips. The full list can be found over at PokerNews.

Taking it to the Limit for Day 2

The $1,500 Limit Holdem event returns with 177 players returning at 3:00pm to attempt to play down to a final table. Jameson Painter, who finished 5th at the $2,500 2-7 Triple Draw event earlier this week, starts play today as the chip leader with 47,600. David Williams is 3rd in chips (41,800) with Jason Potter (32,800), Jeff Madsen (28,700) and Matt Hawrilenko (23,900) among the notables near the top of the standings. The full list of players returning can be found at wsop.com.

Saturday Tournaments

Saturday brings Day 1a of the second $1,000 NL Donkament to the WSOP at 12pm today, with about 4,000 runners expected over the next two days. The plan is to play ten one-hour levels today per usual, but if the pace of eliminations is as rapid as it was last Saturday, there could be a change in plans. The 5pm tournament is the $1,500 NL 2-7 Lowball Single Draw event, won last year by Phil Ivey when it had a $2,500 buy-in with a field of 147.

As you may or may not have realized, I took it extra easy today (yesterday) … left KevMath in charge.

More…

Breaking down the Friday afternoon WSOP action:

Hellmuth falls short in quest 12th bracelet

The $1,500 NL Holdem event that started on Wednesday is down to the final table of ten, but Phil Hellmuth is not among them, finishing in 15th for $25,472. The final 10 when they return from their dinner break are:

Pascal LeFrancois – 4,000,000
Kevin Howe – 1,780,000
David Aue- 1,300,000
Max Steinberg – 900,000
Saar Wilf – 855,000
James Andersen – 665,000
Kurt Disessa – 651,000
Jose Gatmaitan – 640,000
Josh Brikis – 375,000
Daniel Wjuniski – 350,000

Follow all the final table action over at PokerNews.

Day 2 of 10k Stud W.C.

Less than 50 remain in the $10,000 Seven Card Stud World Championship with Ray Dehkharghani the current chip leader at 275,000. 2009 November Niner Eric Buchman holds down 2nd place with 270,000, while 50k Players’ Championship runner up Vladimir Schmelev is in 3rd with 230,000. Other notables: 50k Players’ Championship winner Michael Mizrachi (165,000), Men Nguyen (155,000), and Brandon Adams (120,000). Six more levels of play awaits the field or the final table of eight, whichever comes first. You can follow the progress of this event over at wsop.com.

Pot-Limit Bubble Pops

The $1,500 Pot-Limit Holdem event burst its bubble early on day 2, with the field now down to just 25 players. James “Flushy” Dempsey is the current chip leader at 290,000. Other notables: Joe Serock (140,000), JJ Liu (100,000), Melissa Hayden (95,000), and Christian Harder (75,000). Play will end when the final table of nine is established or at the end of ten levels of play. Team Pokerati’s Tom Schneider earned $3,352 for his 52nd place finish, his second cash (in three tries) at the WSOP.

$1,500 NL Day 1

A field of 2,563 started at noon in the third $1,500 No-Limit Holdem bracelet event. Less than 800 remain in action at the moment, with Tom Dwan the unofficial chip leader with 56,000. Other notables with healthy stacks include Blair Hinkle (43,000), Shaun Deeb (36,000), Annette Obrestad (25,000), and Liv Boeree (23,000). Less than four levels of play remain for day 1, with the top 270 players cashing, with the winner taking down an impressive $614,248. For the Team Pokerati fanbase, Pat Poels was the lone entry for this event.

$1,500 Limit Holdem Day 1

A field of 625 took to the felt for the $1,500 Limit Holdem event, and around 550 remain as the field takes their dinner break shortly. The duo of Vanessa Rousso and Chad Brown are the unofficial top two with Rousso (10,800) holding a slight lead over brown (10,100). For the online poker community, Jimmy “Gobboboy” Fricke is third with 8,500 and other notables such as Jeff Madsen (6,250), Team Pokerati’s Tom Schneider (5,600), and Chris Ferguson (5,400). Team Pokerati also has Julie Schneider, Danny Noam, Robert Goldfarb entered in this event. The top 63 players make the money, with first place $189,870 along with a coveted bracelet, follow wsop.com for further updates and chip counts.