If you can’t listen to Scarlet live, you can catch her interview and plenty of other podcasts CEM at http://cemaudioedge.com/on-demand

Pius Heinz

Germany’s Pius Heinz eventually wore down the Czech Republic’s Martni Staszko after over 100 hands of heads-up play to win the 2011 World Series of Poker Main Event, earning a cool $8,715.638 and coveted gold and diamond bracelet. Staszko settles for runner-up money of $5,433,086 as Ben Lamb earns $4,021,138 after playing only four hands Tuesday night.

If you want to read about what happened Tuesday night, check out Pauly’s live blog from the Rio. Nolan Dalla also has a final table recap and a review of the 2011 WSOP chock full of information. Short-Stacked Shamus’ 15-minute delayed live blog gives a view of the action from the comfort of his home.  You can also catch a replay of the final table at ESPN3.com.

Finally, catch up on Pauly and Michalski’s Tao of Pokerati podcasts from Nov. 9 weekend here.

Here’s the chip counts when action kicks off again tonight with the blinds starting at 600,000/1,200,000 with an ante of 200,000:

Seat 1: Pius Heinz – 107,800,000
Seat 2: Ben Lamb – 55,400,000
Seat 3: Martin Staszko – 42,700,000

Hand for hand updates at PokerNews and WSOP.com. PokerNews also has a chat going off the ESPN broadcast here.

ESPN will start their 15-minutes delayed coverage at 6:00pm PT, 9:00 ET. Streaming will be available at www.watchespn.com as well as the WSOP.com site.

Some twitterers to follow tonight for live updating:

@taopauly, @oskargarcia @howardstutz @casekeefer @pokernews @jesswelman @bluffmagazine @pokerlistings @lance_bradley @eric_ramsey @donnie_peters @avpoker

Live blogging from Pauly while Shamus will be blogging a few minutes behind the coverage.

Expect Tao of Pokerati episodes throughout the night.

6:35pm UPDATE: Ben Lamb was eliminated on the 4th hand after Staszko doubled up on the first hand: 77 >KJ to become crippled. Lamb shoved with Q6 into Staszko’sJJ and didn’t improve to earn $4,021,138 as Staszko takes the chip lead.  Here’s what Lamb got shortly after being eliminated:

Ben Lamb gets punk'd (photo courtesy @BenbaLamb

6:50pm UPDATE: Heinz has dominated the early action heads-up to regain the lead with 132 million chips to Staszko’s 73 million.

7:40pm UPDATE: Staszko has gone on a rush as the blinds are now at 800,000/1,600,000/200,000 to retake the lead 110.65m – 95.25m

8:30pm UPDATE: Staszko gave up his lead, but turned up the aggression once again to hold a 113.6m – 92.3m chip lead. Heinz appears tired while Staszko has renewed confidence.

9:25pm UPDATE: The lead has now changed hands for a seventh time heads-up as Heinz wins several hands in a row to hold a 116.9m to 89m chip lead as the blinds go up to 1,000,000/2,000,000 with a 300,000 ante.

10:20 UPDATE: Now Staszko takes the lead once again as he wins several hands in a row as he now takes a commanding lead again: 146.6m to 59.3m.

11:30pm UPDATE: The poker media is getting restless as the heads-up battle rages on. Staszko had Heinz under 45m in chips, but the gap has been narrowed. Staszko leads 132.8m to 73.1m for Heinz.

12:00am UPDATE: Over 100 hands of heads-up play and not a single hand featured an all-in and call. That would change shortly after the blinds went up to 1,200,000/2,400,000 with an ante of 300,000. Heinz shoved with Ah Qh on a Ks Tc 7c flop. Staszko called with Qc 9c. The turn and river bricked out and Heinz now leads with 161.5m chips to Staszko’s 44.4m.

After an eventful level, three players in total were eliminated as Sam Holden, Anton Makiievsky and Bob Bounahra’s dreams of $8.7m and a WSOP bracelet were cut short. Meanwhile, Matt Giannetti nears the chip lead as Phil Collins and Ben Lamb each caught miracle cards on the river to double up.

The four remaining players are now on dinner break until 8:15pm PT, returning to blinds of 600,000/1,200,000 with an ante of 200,000.

Pius Heinz – 85,500,000
Matt Gianetti – 50,325,000
Ben Lamb – 46,300,000
Martin Staszko – 23,900,000

1st: $8,715,638
2nd: $5,433,086
3rd: $4,021,138
4th: $3,012,700

5th: Phil Collins -  $2,269,599
6th: Eoghan O’Dea – $1,720,831
7th: Bob Bounahra – $1,314,097
8th: Anton Makiievskyi – 1,010,015
9th: Sam Holden – $782,115

Some places to follow the action as it happens:

PokerNews:

Live updates

Live chat

ESPN:

Stream on 15-minute delay w/ hole cards revealed after the hand

Live blog with Andrew Feldman

Blogging:

Dr. Pauly including new Tao of Pokerati episodes

Jesse May from Amneville, France

Short-Stacked Shamus

LVRJ’s Howard Stutz

If you haven’t been railing on Twitter, you can follow these people who are live on the scene: @ESPN_Poker, @taopauly, @OskarGarcia, @CaseKeefer, @HowardStutz

6:15pm PT UPDATE: In consecutive hands,

Any deal still needs to be approved by 2/3 of Full Tilt ownership, expected to be a formality.

More perspective can be found at Wicked Chops Poker.

Fabrice Soulier finished third, Erik Seidel earned his ninth six-figure cash of 2011 with a fourth place finish. Nam Le finished fifth, followed by Isaac Baron, Pro/Am qualifier Sean Getzwiller and Dutch Boyd. The final table recap by AlCantHang can be read here.

The next Epic Poker League event is scheduled for December 9-18th at the Palms. First is the $1,500 Pro/Am with nine $20,000 Main Event seats guaranteed. At this moment, the Main Event is scheduled to be a heads-up no-limit hold’em tournament, but there’s rumblings that this will be changed. Stay tuned for further developments.

Final table results:

1. Mike McDonald – $782,410
2. David Steicke – $506,260
3. Fabrice Soulier – $299,160
4. Erik Seidel – $184,100
5. Nam Le – $126,570
6. Isaac Baron – $92,050
7. Sean Getzwiller – $69,040
8. Dutch Boyd – $57,530

Elsewhere, the World Poker Tour stop in Paris has reached their final table with Byron Kaverman leading the final six players. A live stream is available here.

Day 3 started with 23 players with a dozen making the money. Day 2 chip leader Fabrice Soulier was the short stack on the money bubble, but when Allen Bari shoved over Soulier’s raise with pocket jacks, Isaac Baron woke up with pocket aces to eliminate Bari in 13th place.

Matt Glantz, Tim West and Amit Makhija were eliminated after the dinner break, earning $46,020. Adam “Roothlus” Levy bubbled the televised final table for the second straight EPL event, also pocketing $46,020.

David Steicke, who earned most of his tournament winnings in high buy-in tournaments in Asia and Australia, starts the final table as chip leader with Seidel a close second, the only two with over 1,000,000 in chips. The winner will collect over $780,000 with the top five earning a six-figure payday.

The rest of the final table consists of 2011 WSOP bracelet winners Sean Getzwiller and Fabrice Soulier, “young guns” Isaac Baron and Mike McDonald, Nam Le, and Dutch Boyd. For the second straight event, a Pro/Am qualifier (Getzwiller) makes the final table.

Boyd’s appearance at the final table will cause consternation among some in the poker community after seeing Rheem placed on probation after the first EPL event for failure to pay back players he owed money.

Here’s how the final table is seated when play resumes Friday at 3pm with 18:05 left with the blinds at 5,000/10,000 with an ante of 1,000:

Seat 1: Fabrice Soulier – 537,000
Seat 2: Mike McDonald – 357,000
Seat 3: David Steicke – 1,059,000
Seat 4: Dutch Boyd – 359,000
Seat 5: Isaac Baron – 876,000
Seat 6: Sean Getzwiller – 235,000
Seat 7: Erik Seidel – 1,031,000
Seat 8: Nam Le – 362,000

Hand-for-hand updates of the final table at www.epicpoker.com.

Players sent to the rail on day 2 included EPL debuting players Tom Dwan and Mike Matusow. Michael Binger, Andrew Robl, Pro/Am winner Greg Mueller, Phil Hellmuth and November Niner Ben Lamb also had to leave the Key West room when they were left without chips.

Chasing Soulier among the top five in chips Soulier is David Steicke, Erik Seidel, Nam Le, and Matt Marafioti. Jaime Kaplan finishes the day 9th in chips as Matt Glantz, Christian Harder, Chino Rheem and Allen Bari also remain in contention make the money and take advantage of the season-ending $1,000,000 freeroll.

Here’s the top ten chip counts:

1. Fabrice Soulier – 453,500
2. David Steicke – 436,000
3. Erik Seidel – 353,500
4. Nam Le – 306,000
5. Matt Marafioti – 306,000
6. Dutch Boyd – 262,000
7. Adam Levy – 253,500
8. Chris Moore – 250,000
9. Jaime Kaplan – 245,000
10. Isaac Baron 217,500

Thursday also features a $2,000 turbo tournament open to all players, information available along with Day 3 updates at www.epicpoker.com.

When asked by the late-late night host (around the 1:30 mark) if poker was illegal, Duke responded: “Only online.”

Watch the entire interview here:

The first EPL Main Event winner, Chino Rheem, was put on probation shortly after winning $1,000,000. Rheem is obligated to pay back players he owes money to with any winnings or he’ll no longer participate in EPL events. He finished Day 1 in 6th place after six levels were played Tuesday afternoon. The smaller field means twelve players will cash, with the winner earning $782,410.

Here’s the top 10 in chip counts going into Day 2:

1. Jaime Kaplan – 324,600
2. Dan O’Brien – 321,400
3. Alec Torelli – 231,500
4. Mike McDonald – 199,600
5. Nam Le – 176,300
6. Chino Rheem – 173,300
7. Sean Getzwiller 165,400
8. Andrew Robl – 149,700
9. Adam Levy – 145,400
10. Marco Johnson – 145,200

Day 2 updates available starting from 12pm PT at www.epicpoker.com

EPL Preliminary Action

The $1,500 Pro/Am event featured an overlay of nearly $50,000, meaning only nine $20,000 Main Event seats were available when the field was down to 9 players. The event earned points towards the Global Poker Index, giving players incentive to play down to a winner. Greg Mueller defeated Nam Le heads-up to become the official winner with Phil Hellmuth finishing 3rd. Brandon Meyers and Sean Getzwiller each qualified for the Main Event for the second straight Pro/Am, but Meyers was eliminated on Day 1.

Jaime Kaplan was the 10th place finisher in the Pro/Am, but he earned a Main Event seat when qualifier Michael DiVita chose not to participate in the Main Event after information about his being a convicted child molester came to public light.

After the Pro/Am concluded the EPL held a charity event for Fallen Heroes USA, an organization dedicated to assisting families of law enforcement officers killed in the line of duty. Epic Poker’s own Michael Craig took down the bracelet, defeating Phil Hellmuth heads-up as $25,000 was raised for the charity.

Stated for the Record

Three state championships were up for grabs, starting with “Packy P.” collecting $202,703 in the Arizona State Poker Championship at Talking Stick Resort at Casino Niagara. Randy Pfeiffer cashed in for $157,819 in the Heartland Poker Tour Main Event at Turning Stone Resort in Verona, New York during the Empire State Hold’em Championships; while James Wright earned $71,195 at the Indiana State Poker Championship, a WPT Regional event in Lawrenceburg, Indiana.

Legends of Poker

More preliminary action from the Legends of Poker at the Bicycle Casino in Bell Gardens, California featured Brian Patrick earning $80,438 in a $300 preliminary event with a $300,000 guaranteed prize pool. David Funkhouser $53,002 in a $300 event with $200,000 guaranteed.

East Coast Results

Foxwoods Casino recently concluded their traditional Mega Stack Challenge Series with Eric Phan earning the top prize of $74,862 for their $1,200 Main Event.

McLean Karr (w/ Kelly Karr and Tatjana Pasalic - photo courtesy Parx Poker Blog

Delaware Park set a record for the longest documented uninterrupted poker tournament as their $500 Iron Man Poker Challenge lasted a grueling 31 hours and 58 minutes. Hieu Tran earned $43,761 and a good night’s rest after outlasting the field of 376 players.

Events Elsewhere

While EPT Barcelona comes to an end later this week, some other results from the other side of the pond. The third €1,500 Unibet Open event of the season went to Dublin for the first time. Paul Vas Nunes earned €105,300 to become the first player from the UK to win a Unibet Open title.

The latest stop on the Asia Pacific Poker Tour brought players to Auckland, New Zealand as German Marcel Schreiner collects a check for NZ $94,300 in a compact field of 127 runners.

For just £100, a field of 1,765 players participated in the GUKPT Goliath tournament held at Ricoh Arena in Coventry, England. Lee Rawson earned £32,705 in outlasting the largest field in European history.

Legends of Poker Final Table

Closing out the month, the WPT Legends of Poker Main Event will be held Tuesday afternoon at 4pm PT with the first US WPT final table streaming with hole cards (on a 30-minute delay). Tony Dunst will call all the action of these 6 players:

Seat 1: Joshua Pollock – 5,315,000
Seat 2: Owais Ahmed – 1,720,000
Seat 3: Will Failla – 6,775,000
Seat 4: Adam Aronson – 2,185,000
Seat 5: Ken Aldridge – 3,640,000
Seat 6: Jeff Vertes – 4,005,000

According to Ben Lamb, he was paid in full for money he was owed by Chino. Others, not so much. The forums were no different “congratulating” Rheem on his win.

Final table results:

1st: Chino Rheem – $1,000,000
2nd: Erik Seidel – $604,430
3rd: Jason Mercier – 360,970
4th: Hasan Habib – $237,560
5th: Gavin Smith – $154,260
6th: Huck Seed – $107,980

Play started with the remaining 18 players in the money, guaranteed over $43,000 and an early advantage in the EPL standings for the February 2012 $1,000,000 Epic Poker League Championship freeroll. Day 3 was a short day for Justin Bonomo and Hoyt Corkins, the first two to collect their EPL winnings. Pro/Am qualifiers Brandon Meyers (9th) and Dan Fleyshman (15th) will have another chance to qualify for the Main Event in the September Pro/Am. Day 2 chip leader Sam Trickett had a disappointing Day 3, finishing 11th.

The elimination of Eugene Katchalov in 8th place meant the remaining players gathered at one table to play down to the televised final table, airing on CBS and Velocity later this year. The final hand involved Adam “Roothlus” Levy going all-in with pocket queens against Chino Rheem’s pocket kings. The A-A-Q flop moved the DeepStacks-sponsored pro into the lead, but an ace on the river meant it was a ruthless end for Levy. Rheem knocked out another DeepStacks pro, Matt Graham, on the money bubble to end Day 2.

All players at the final table earns a six-figure payday, a boon to those players Chino owes money. Here’s how the final table will be seated when play resumes around 2pm with blinds at 8,000/16,000 with an ante of 2,000.

Seat 1: Hasan Habib – 1,655,000
Seat 2: Erik Seidel – 1,109,000
Seat 3: Chino Rheem – 1,432,000
Seat 4: Gavin Smith – 766,000
Seat 5: Jason Mercier – 1,495,000
Seat 6: Huck Seed – 396,000

What they’re playing for:

1st: $1,000,000
2nd: $604,330
3rd: $360,970
4th: $237,560
5th: $154,260
6th: $107,980

Hand-for-hand updates of the final table, videos and photos and more available at www.epicpoker.com

Day 2 started with 63 players as Eugene Katchalov, Ben Lamb and Brian Rast held the top three spots. Only Katchalov survived the day with chips as the early action was dominated with several eliminations as Vanessa Selbst, Dwyte Pilgrim, and Phil Laak were among the familiar faces hitting the felt.

Some players complained about the fast structure; leading Commissioner Annie Duke and Tournament Director Matt Savage agreeing to review the structure, among other aspects of the EPL, before their second tournament in September.

The remaining 29 players reached the dinner break with an average stack of about 80 big blinds, with the objective of finishing the day after bursting the money bubble. Antonio Esfandiari, Brandon Cantu, Nam Le, Tom Marchese and Frank Kassela all fell short of earning their first EPL cash when 19 players remained, one from the money. A prolonged bubble period gave Trickett the opportunity to add to his stack, becoming the first EPL player to hold over 1,000,000 in chips.

Two hours into hand-for-hand play, Matt Graham added his name to the long list of EPL firsts as his pocket jacks were cracked by Chino Rheem when he turned a flush to become the EPL’s first bubble boy.

The remaining 18 players return Thursday at 12pm to play down to the final table of six. The field consists of 20 WSOP bracelets, 3 WPT titles and almost $80,000,000 in tournament winnings. Two players who qualified through the Pro/Am over the weekend, Brandon Meyers and Dan Fleyshman, become EPL-eligible for the rest of the season if either player wins the tournament on Friday. Here’s how the Day 3 field will be seated with play resuming with blinds at 2,500/5,000 with a 500 ante (the average stack having ~76 big blinds):

Table 1:

Seat 1: Adam Levy – 587,000
Seat 2: Dan Fleyshman – 82,500
Seat 3: Hafiz Khan – 144,000
Seat 4: Hoyt Corkins – 252,500
Seat 5: Brandon Meyers – 109,500
Seat 6: Isaac Baron – 637,500

Table 2:

Seat 1: Noah Schwartz – 259,500
Seat 2: Matt Glantz – 453,000
Seat 3: Ted Lawson – 210,000
Seat 4: Huck Seed – 93,500
Seat 5: Chino Rheem – 408,000
Seat 6: Gavin Smith – 357,500

Table 3:

Seat 1: Hasan Habib – 646,000
Seat 2: Eugene Katchalov – 418,000
Seat 3: Sam Trickett – 1,032,000
Seat 4: Jason Mercier – 535,500
Seat 5: Justin Bonomo – 42,000
Seat 6: Erik Seidel – 609,000

Live updates and more available at www.epicpoker.com

The first EPL event featured plenty of notable names absent as Daniel Negreanu, most of Team Full Tilt, and Doyle Brunson deciding not to participate. Card-holding members need to enter at least one Main Event, Pro/Am and charity event each season to maintain their card.

In a radio interview last week, Phil Hellmuth wasn’t sure if he’d play in the first event. After making his “announcement” on Twitter Monday, he made his traditional late appearance, but was eliminated shortly after the dinner break.

The EPL will hold tournaments in a variety of no-limit hold’em formats, with the inaugural event played six-handed. Registration closed at the start of level 5, nearly 8 hours after play started. The tournament clock showed 137 players entered to create a $3,085,200 prize pool. The winner at the conclusion of play Friday will earn as the top 18 places make the money. The top 27 EPL money earners return February for the $1,000,000 League Championship freeroll.

Jason Mercier and Sean Getzwiller (a Pro/Am qualifier) are the other bracelet winners from this year’s WSOP among the 63 players returning Wednesday afternoon at 12pm PST to play another six levels.

Top ten chip counts:

Eugene Katchalov – 356,300
Ben Lamb – 287,200
Brian Rast – 260,500
Antonio Esfandiari – 248,100
Noah Schwartz – 220,200
McLean Karr – 191,800
Hoyt Corkins – 187,400
Isaac Baron – 167,700
Dan O’Brien – 163,300
Erik Seidel – 161,200

The full list of chip counts along with live updates, table draws, videos and more can be found at www.epicpoker.com

Pre-M.E. Festivities

Before the Main Event, the EPL kicked off over the weekend with The $1,500 Pro/Am tournament, offering nine Main Event seats, drew a combined field of 190 entrants as the final table was filmed for the Heartland Poker Tour. Steve O’Dwyer was the winner, earning $23,810 plus his EPL Main Event Seat. The only EPL-eligible player to snag a seat on the cheap was Andy Bloch, eventually finishing 3rd. Michael Craig recaps the final table.

While the Pro/Am final table was in action, 81 players put up $240 (plus a ton of $100 rebuys and add-ons) to raise over $50,000 for Operation USA, with the money earmarked for the victims of tornadoes in Joplin, Missouri. Plenty of goodies were given to all players with Zappos contributing $2,500 to the winner. Reigning World Poker Tour Player of the Year Andy Frankenberger won the title, donating the winnings to the charity.

Dan is more than capable to handle things here at Pokerati, and there’s several possible things in the coming months that may make me regret this decision. I know the site will continue to grow and I hope for the best, and I’ll still make my appearance in the comments as needed. I appreciate Dan giving me my break in May of 2008 after enduring my hundreds of comments to his posts. Thanks again, and hopefully I can do with Bluff what I’ve done for Pokerati over the coming months.

The winner of the £20,000 High Roller event was Team PokerStars pro Jose “Nacho” Barbero of Argentina, defeating Finland’s Jani Sointula heads-up, earning £556,000. This is the fourth PokerStars-sponsored tournament Barbero has won this year, after back-to-back LAPT Main Event wins and a France Poker Series win in May. The report for this event is also available at the PokerStars blog.

Elsewhere …

WSOP Circuit Southern Indiana, – Elizabeth, IN :: Samuel Serdard bested a field of 570 players in the $350 NL Holdem event, winning $47,171. The final table report is available at WSOP.com, with the full list of players who cashed listed here.

World Poker Tour :: Professional poker player Tony Dunst named “Raw Deal” host – WPT Press release

Seat 1: David Vamplew – 3,670,000
Seat 2: Tom Marchese – 1,480,000
Seat 3: Fernando Brito – 1,100,000
Seat 4: Per Ummer – 1,245,000
Seat 5: Artur Wasek – 2,250,000
Seat 6: Kayvan Payman – 1,295,000
Seat 7: Kyle Bowker – 7,165,000
Seat 8: John Juanda – 7,075,000

Here’s the final table for the High Roller event with £556,000 going to the winner (updates available at PokerStarsblog.com)

Seat 1: Matt Marafioti – 96.000
Seat 2: Pierre Neuville – 110,000
Seat 3: William Molson – 126,000
Seat 4: Andrew Robl – 835,000
Seat 5: Fabian Quoss – 605,000
Seat 6: Jani Sointula – 320,000
Seat 7: Jose Ignacio “Nacho” Barbero – 464,000
Seat 8: Vanessa Selbst – 1,262,000

Elsewhere …

WSOP Circuit – Southern Indiana, Elizabeth, IN :: Action got away Saturday for a month of WSOP-C action in Indiana with 570 players taking part in the first ring event, $350 NL holdem. Check out WSOP.com for results on Monday.

LA Poker Open, Commerce Casino :: The latest tournament series at the Commerce Casino runs Nov. 3-21, running against the NAPT at the Bike. The LAPO’s main event is a $2,085 NL event, w/ re-entry and a $500,000 guarantee LA Poker Open schedule

PokerStars statement on the blocking of players from Washington State

PokerStars today announced that it would cease providing real-money poker to residents of Washington State. To date, PokerStars has operated in Washington on the basis of legal opinions where the central advice was that the state could not constitutionally regulate Internet poker, or at least could not discriminate in favor of local cardrooms and against online sites. Last week, however, the Washington Supreme Court for the first time rejected that position and upheld the state’s Internet gaming prohibition.

In light of this decision, following extensive consultation with our legal advisors, we believe that the right course of action is to now block real money play by Washington residents on the PokerStars.com site. This policy will remain in effect until the law changes or subsequent legal challenges succeed. Our decision to block real money play in Washington does not affect the balance of funds in customer accounts, which remain completely safe. Our payment services team continues to be available to Washington State residents to assist with cashout requests.

We regret this decision, which will no doubt disappoint our customers in Washington State. However, in all of the jurisdictions where we operate, we are committed to making responsible decisions that are based on a full and considered understanding of the most up-to-date legal advice.

PokerStars remains supportive of passing sensible Internet poker regulation in the United States that will provide much-needed tax revenues and formalize consumer protections. PokerStars operates under those conditions, complying with rigorous licensing regimes, for its worldwide operations in the Isle of Man (UK), and for local operations in Italy, France and Estonia.

PokerStars has also created a FAQ for Washington state residents, at http://www.pokerstars.com/poker/news/washington/faq