Meanwhile, this shirt is not for sale in the WSOP store, but is still pretty awesome, and doesn’t technically violate Rule #36, though I’m sure it insults somebody!

Thanks, Ed, for the link!

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Mostly SFW pics of women wearing togas and male gladiators below. The Phil Hellmuth marketing machine is still working on getting real horses into the Rio, and they’ve got a plan B ready to go if that can’t work:

General

• The entire entrance should take no more than 15 minutes
• Entrance timing will be approximately 12:45 to coincide with first break of the Main Event
• Exact location of Phil’s start for entrance is tbd by the Rio
• Entry point in the map is between room 45 and the restrooms
• Poker main event is in rooms 37, 44, and 45

Prep Stage

• Phil rests in the air-conditioned UB van in Rio parking lot
• Roman Guards/Gladiators stand guarding the UB van in Rio parking lot
• Muses roam the parking lot area near the convention center entrance
• Female gladiators with a toga over their bodies roam the parking lot area near the convention center entrance
• Trumpeteers setup at Convention Center Entrance, not moving
• Announcer is not visible

• Trumpeteers blow first sounds to initiate his entrance
• Phil exits the UB van and heads toward Rio Entrance (tbd whether on horse-driven chariot or without horses.  If with horses, then roman guards, if no horses, then gladiators pull him in)
• Roman guards fall in near Phil but at a distance
• Muses head towards the convention center entrance and form a path for Phil’s entry
• Female gladiators start falling in behind Phil.  Each one takes off the toga as she stands behind Phil.
• Announcer is seen running towards the convention center entrance and begins reading off scroll announcing the Caesar: Phil

• Trumpeteers blow second sounds as Phil reaches the convention center
• Phil is now 2/3 surrounded by female gladiators and the four Roman Guards.
• All muses are now immediately following the inner circle and provide the background for Phil’s entrance.
• Announcer wraps up his speech

• Trumpeteers stay back outside of Rio entrance
• Phil has 11 female gladiators immediately next to him and is preceded by the roman guards into the Main Event room
• Roman guards walk inside the room but stay immediately next to the entrance
• Muses walk up to the entrance but don’t actually go into the main event room

• Female gladiators each give Phil a kiss and walk out one-by-one after doing so.  With each kiss each of the other girls and the muses outside the door all make a loud sound of “oooooohhhhhhh”.
• Last female gladiator gives Phil his UB hockey jersey to wear over the entry costume
• Guards walk out with the last female gladiator
• Muses, Guards, and female gladiators exit the Rio.

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Day 1b gets underway at noon today, and will surely be the smallest field of the four day 1’s, with a chance the field will be under 1,000 when the registrations are calculated sometime after the dinner break after level 2 this afternoon. To see if that happens, follow the live updates over at www.wsop.com and more stuff from Pokerati during the day.

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(my backers) Spent about 3k, but I finally won my main event seat.

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Until I can get back to the Rio (tomorrow hopefully) — and since honestly, I hardly care about Day 1 chip counts ever — I’m following the action of course here, and mostly here, and then a little bit here. Not saying you shouldn’t also be looking elsewhere, but at the moment I have to really limit my computer screen time, so before I can catch up with everything more in depth online and in real life, I’m sticking with the clicks that I know will give me the most in a few seconds of skim. I’d include Wicked Chops, but I get their goods daily via email … and you know, trying to cut back on the screen-stare.

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At the moment, there’s about 4,000 registrants already signed up, most of which are on days 1c and 1d, so don’t be surprised if you hear rumors about Monday’s day 1d being “closed” for registrations to add some entrants to days 1b and 1c. Notables who have already been eliminated today include: Jerry Yang, Freddy Deeb, Orel Hershiser, John Phan, Gabe Kaplan, Davidi Kitai and 2009 EPT Grand Final winner Pieter de Korver. The unofficial chip leader is Dragan Galac at 110,000 in chips, followed by by 2006 EPT Grand Final winner Jeff Williams at 106,000.

Other notables with chips: Jason Alexander (84,500), Eli Elezra (84,300), Tom Schneider (57,000), Phil Laak (46,000) and Jimmy Fricke (45,000). Follow the last level of play at the WSOP site here. Chip counts should be available in the early morning hours, but if you want to see who decided to pay their $10,000 today, a list of Day 1a entrants can be found here. More stuff this weekend, so come back to Pokerati often.

Watch Jeffrey Pollack Vlog on Day 1A of the 2009 WSOP Main Event on RawVegas.tv

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Internet filtering software specifically targeting online gambling sites is here! Plus, why is the Barney Frank Bill about to be delayed up to two months?

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Special pass-bys by Charles Barkley, Mike Tyson, and Oliver Tse … plus the Insider and the Tight Laydown. Dr. Pauly sits in with the crew … and gotta say, as the first episode I’ve ever heard just as a listener, this Poker Beat thing is a pretty good show!

on PokerRoad

The Poker Beat
Caldwell, McGwire, Wise, Nemeth, Stapleton
7/2/09

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So much sayable about this, lol … and we can use the phrase “lol” because twitter comes into play. More Phil Hellmuth making a mockery of a few orbits before being pulled from the 2-7 Triple Draw … Tiffany Michelle talking about experimenting with UB and her breasts … Layne Flack being Layne Flack … Shawn Rice and Debo sitting … and just about everything else you might expect from a celebration of, by, and for “anyone who is anyone” in the UB poker world:

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Meanwhile, Team Pokerati final tableist Gregg Merkow won his main event seat last night … and now is trying to figure out the differences between Day 1A-1D:
via Facebook

Winner winner chicken dinner won my seat to the main event in mega sat. today but can’t decide what day to play fri,sat,sun or mon.

Good question. Though as Kevin points out the numbers will likely differ noticeably as the 96 hours that constitute Day 1 progress, is there really a difference in the types of fields you can expect on each day? One more donkey-filled than another, for example (and is that a good or bad thing, lol).

Choosing when to play, of course, is the first of many decisions that will be part of someone’s journey toward becoming the winner. But it may also be the least relevant and simply depend on the player and his or her life schedule.

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• 138 entries. Up from 88 last year, which was way down from 167 in 2007. Wonder what’s up with that — The economy? Celebrity Apprentice?
• The Scheinbergs played? I was under the impression that the family atop the PokerStars pyramid was taking a long vacation from the United States, particularly in light of the payment processor crackdown … but maybe not? Different Scheinberg family from New York?
• Philip Tom, dad of accused online-poker bad guy, cashed, finishing in 10th place. Charity makes everything good.
• Belorussian wins. (Should this event be included in the Pokerati World Standings?)
• Who was the one player who didn’t play ball with the donation process?

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

Official Report

Third Annual Ante Up For Africa
No-Limit Hold’em
Buy-In: $5,000
Number of Entries: 138
Total Net Prize Pool: $670,680
Number of Places Paid: 18
First Place Prize: $177,730

July 2, 2009

Tournament Highlights:

Event Headlines –

1. Alex Bolotin Wins Third Annual “Ante-Up for Africa” Charity Tournament at World Series of Poker
2. Celebrities and Poker Players Ante-Up For Africa and Raise $362,000 for Crisis in Darfur
3. Alex Bolotin Dedicates Half of his Winnings to ENOUGH Project and International Rescue Committee

What is “Ante-Up for Africa?” –

· “Ante-Up for Africa” is a charity-motivated poker tournament which attracts celebrities, poker pros, and concerned citizens alike who want to make a positive change in the world. The first “Ante-Up for Africa” tournament was held at the 2007 World Series of Poker. Through this year, the charity has raised nearly $2.5 million for the ongoing crisis in Darfur (Africa).

· All donations go directly to ENOUGH and the International Rescue Committee, which are dedicated to stopping mass genocide and crimes against humanity. ENOUGH primarily focuses its efforts on the crisis in Darfur, as well as other troubled regions in Africa. The International Rescue Committee is instrumental in providing relief and resettlement to innocent victims and refugees who are affected by war and oppression. For more information, please visit: www.enoughproject.org and www.theirc.org

· The “Ante-Up for Africa” tournament is played on the main floor of the World Series of Poker and costs $5,000 to enter. No monies are withheld from the prize pool, nor are players required to donate their winnings. However, the overwhelming majority of players who participate and finish in-the-money donate between half to the full amount of their winnings to the charity.

· “Ante-Up for Africa” was jointly organized by actor Don Cheadle and poker pro Annie Duke. Cheadle first became involved in charity work in Darfur following his Academy-Award nominated performance in “Hotel Rwanda.” He later authored a book titled, “Not on Our Watch,” which has helped to raise awareness about the conflict and other humanitarian projects dedicated to helping those less fortunate. Annie Duke is one of the world’s most well-known poker players. She recently finished as the runner up in NBC’s “Celebrity Apprentice” and was responsible from the start of Ante-Up For Africa to bringing it to the WSOP and the poker community.

· ESPN filmed the tournament for later broadcast. Given the high number of celebrities and poker pros in the field – all playing for a good cause – the event is sure to be watched by millions on television.

· In 2007, “Ante-Up for Africa” attracted 167 players. The joint winners were Dan Shak and Brandon Moran, who in an unprecedented display of unity agreed to share the championship title and dedicate all of their winnings (both 1^st and 2^nd place) to the charity.

· In 2008, “Ante-Up for Africa” attracted 88 players. The winner was poker pro Johnny “World” Hennigan. He dedicated his entire cash prize to the charity.

· This year’s tournament began with WSOP President and Commissioner Jeffrey Pollack welcoming the players and hundreds of fans in attendance. He noted that U.S. Senator Robert Menendez (D-NJ), who works on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, has been a true friend to poker and the WSOP. Pollack also emphasized that all donations collected from the tournament go directly to the ENOUGH project and the International Rescue Committee. He then started play with the ceremonial “Shuffle-Up and Deal” announcement.

· WSOP Tournament Director Jack Effel and his staff ran the tournament from start to finish, which lasted about ten hours.

· The Rio Pavilion Amazon tournament room was packed with hundreds of spectators, who in many cases were just feet away from many famous celebrities and poker superstars.

· “Ante-Up for Africa” attracted a mix of celebrities from the worlds of film, television, and sports. In addition, several CEOs and other business leaders “anted-up” for the cause. About one-third of the total field was comprised of professional poker players.

List of Participants –

· The fourth annual “Ante Up For Africa” Charity Poker Tournament attracted the following participants (with hometowns listed):

Celebrity Quotes –

· As they entered the tournament arena, several well-known celebrities were interviewed. Here are a few quotes from those in attendance:

“The big thing that is different this year is the ESPN coverage. This year, there will be a full episode of coverage. That’s incredible for two reasons. First, it’s going to boost participation in the vent which is important because that translates to real dollars. But the thing I think is more important is that it creates awareness. And that is what we need, for people to care about Darfur and develop some passion for….and so they might write to their congressman, or dedicate a little money or their time to create some changes.”

– Annie Duke (Poker Professional and Ante-Up for Africa Co-Founder)

“What is great about this charity is that all the money goes to Darfur and the victims.  It’s a great thing to be involved with and I am honored to be here….(and) having it at the World Series of Poker is a huge thing.”

– Brad Garrett (Actor and Comedian)

“You have the best poker players in the world here, and also a lot of poker enthusiasts. I’m going to Africa next week to (work in a documentary), so this is an event I really believe in. I think this is a way to show the good side of poker along with the other good side, which is the World Series of Poker.” 

– Montel Willliams (Television Host)

“I know there is a real need to help people in Africa, and I want to help.  I also think it is a fun way to get involved and play with a lot of celebrities.  It’s a cool thing and a good thing, too.”

– Jason Mercier (Poker Professional)

“It’s a great event.  You have all these great poker players here, the media, and all the stars.  It’s a great combination. Don (Cheadle) talked to all his friends to come in, and we did….Everybody’s charity is important.  But you have to pick and chose the charities you want to do.  And, I am here for one reason – Don Cheadle.”

– Charles Barkley (Former Basketball Star and TV Commentator)

“I think you get a lot of people enjoy playing poker.  With all that is going on in Africa, and attaching the celebrities to it draws attention to what’s going on….As a human being, you don’t want to watch anyone suffer. And that’s why I am here and why a lot of people came out to be a part of this event….the World Series attracts people from everywhere and to have part of it not be about yourself winning but rather to show that you want to give and you care about those who are suffering is important.”

– Cedric the Entertainer (Actor and Comedian)

“I’m here for Ante-Up for Africa and it’s all about Darfur.  Genocide is happening and we always hear about the Holocaust in school and we say that will never happen now, we would never let that happen again, but it’s happening right now.  And I’ll tell you something else.  I think if this was happening in France or England, that (expletive deleted) would be taken care of!”

– Sarah Silverman (Actor and Comedian)

“I think there needs to be a great amount of awareness over what is happening in Darfur…It’s a form of annihilation and slavery, something that we should have taken notice of earlier.”

– Mike Tyson (Former Heavyweight World Champion Boxer)

“I am here to try and help my people. I come from Africa (Congo), and I wanted to be here.”

D.J. Mbenga (NBA Player — Los Angeles Lakers)

“The people this money is going to go to in Africa are some of the most troubled people in the world.  They are facing the greatest difficulties, more than anyone can even imagine who live in this country.  For us to put in some time and effort and money to help these people is a demonstration of the kindheartedness and dedication of people in the poker community.”

– Greg “Fossilman” Raymer (2004 WSOP Main Event Champion)

“This is my second year to come to the event.  I think it is a great cause.  Anything we can do as a family, we come to support Don and this charity.  I think this brings awareness to another culture that some people really don’t follow, and that’s important.”

– Kenny Smith (NBA Commentator)

“Last year, I went with a charity to Kenya for 14 or 15 days.  I witnessed firsthand some of the stuff going on over there.  Whether it was the poverty in Kenya, or the AIDS pandemic, or the genocide occurring in Darfur – it’s amazing. We hear about it.  But we don’t see it. When you see it, it breaks your heart. As a father and as a concerned citizen of the world I want to try and give back and draw attention to the cause….Poker players play cards for huge amounts amount money. But they are truly generous people. That was in evidence the last few years when all the winners donated their winnings to the cause.”

– Dean Cain (Actor)

“I think this is way to raise awareness about something important.  It is a way for people at home to watch and become informed, because it is fun to watch people play poker.  I sit and watch poker on television, and sometimes I have no idea who they are.  So, to see a celebrity play a hand in a particularly stupid way or maybe in a good way will be interesting.  And if we are messaging along with that, rather than having someone watch a program about how much suffering there is in this region in Africa, they might turn the channel.  But sprinkle it in with a nice and fun poker event and it might do a better job of getting the message across.”

– Matt Damon (Actor)

“The situation is obviously still urgent.  In Western Sudan, there are still countless thousands of refugees. 300,000 people have died, and people continue to die. In fact, the National Congress Party in Khartoum (Sudan) has thrown out a lot of the relief organizations doing work. The situation is even more urgent than it was. The hope here is to raise money for those organizations still there doing work, offering relief to those people who are still suffering.”

– Ben Affleck (Actor)

“Why am I here?  Well, we haven’t fixed it yet.  It’s still a mess. I believe when you start something you keep at it. I sometimes worry that good causes like this are overshadowed by celebrities and by poker.  The trick when you do something like this is to stay informed about what you are playing for.  This is for people who are literally starving. They are homeless.  They are refugees.  There is no education.  There are no social services. And they have no voice. This is a real coup to have such a great cause right next to the greatest poker event in the world.”

– Jason Alexander (Actor and Comedian)

“I think it is an amazing thing what Annie and Don have done.  It goes to show you what one or two people can do in making a difference.  They saw what was going on in Darfur and said they have to do something about it.  I think this event raises awareness for the atrocities in Darfur and raises a lot of money.  It also gives poker players to show they are generous and really do care. This is a way for us to come together for a great cause.”

– Jennifer Tilly (Actor and Poker Player)

“I love doing charity tournaments and helping out.  It’s important also to give something back, especially if you had some success.  And this is a lot of fun. I just think it is so great how poker is helping people out.”

– Brandon Cantu (Professional Poker Player)

“I love poker and I love the idea of poker doing something for charity.  There is a lot of money in this business and it is good to see people redistribute it and do good things.”

– Patrick Bruel (French Actor and Singer, and former WSOP gold bracelet winner)

“This is a fantastic opportunity to shed some light on e very serious issue.  Annie Duke and Don Cheadle have been extremely supportive about getting their friends together and to come out for a very worthy cause. I think this highlights that so many people from so many different walks of life come together and play poker at a high level.”

– Phil Gordon (Professional Poker Player)

“This is very inspirational. I want to be a part of that.  If I can play poker here for a few hours and hopefully make someone’s life better, I think it is well worth it.”

– Nelly (Singer)

“It’s a great tournament. It’s a way to meet a lot of different people, which is all for a great cause.  I have some of my own charities and we raise money so I always like to help people when they ask.  I am happy to be here in America.”

– Shane Warne (World-Famous Cricket Player from Australia)

“I wanted to come and help when I heard about it from Annie (Duke).  I think it is such a great cause.  I used to come to the World Series before it became so popular. I think it’s crazy. I played in a few years before it really took off. It’s nice to be back now and support something that is really important to a lot of people.”

– Tony Hseih (CEO of Zappos.com)

“I think the money is very much needed in Africa.  It is a very good cause.  I am very happy that many people have turned out.  It is not even an option for me after I had so many good things happen.  How could I say ‘no?”

– Peter Eastgate (2008 World Series of Poker Main Event Champion)

The Winner –

· The fourth annual “Ante Up For Africa” Charity Poker Tournament champion is Aleksandr Bolotin, from Brooklyn, NY. He is originally from Minsk, Belarus. (NOTE: The spelling is his first name is ALEKSANDR)

· Bolotin is a professional poker player.

· Bolotin collected $177,730 for first place. He donated half of his cash winnings — $88,865 to Ante Up for Africa.

Winner Quotes (Aleksandr Bolotin) –

· On becoming a professional poker player: “I worked like 50 dead-end jobs before I discovered poker. Poker is my calling, and I am glad I found it.”

· On his experience at Ante-Up for Africa: “It’s was great to meet all the celebrities and athletes and poker stars.  It was a great experience.”

Official Results –

· The top 18 finishers were as follows:

Note: 17of the 18 in-the-money finishers donated a portion of their winnings to the “Ante-Up for Africa” charity.

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The big day has finally arrived, the final bracelet event of this year’s World Series of Poker, the $10,000 NL Holdem World Championship starts shortly after 12pm today, after the various festivities that kick off the event conclude (marching bands, Wayne Newton, or whatever they decide to do this year).

Each Day 1 will play 5 two-hour levels of poker, with a 20-minute break after each level and a two-hour dinner break. Thousands will swarm the various tournament rooms of the Rio to either play or spectate, some hopefully catching the eye of the ESPN cameras that will be around to film all the action. Expect a return of the mysterious Post-It note covering the total number of registrants on the tournament clock, which eventually revealed 6844 entrants. This year’s WSOP Staff Guide projects a field of 7323, and if last year is an indicator, Days 1a and 1b (being the 4th of July) will have the smaller fields, while Sunday and Monday’s days 1c and 1d will be much larger as people decide to enjoy their weekend before plunking $10,000.

As always, plenty of updates will be available at www.wsop.com and Dan, Jen and the rest of Team Pokerati will do their part to describe the action over the next two weeks.

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AlCantHang fills in for yours truly to record the first ever Tao of Pokerati episode mid-lapdance — an “event” joined by DrizzTDJ and (briefly) Calfornia Jen. Change100 gives the (awesome) play-by-play. Plus Kathy Liebert … and is that Tom McEvoy?

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

Episode 11.27: The Best Party of the Year (feat. AlCantHang)
1:27

Episode 11.28: Grindcore Poker (feat. Change100)
2:51

(Interlude …)
0:05

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• Ante-Up for Africa Stiffed by 2nd Place Finisher? (34)

Kinda bummed I missed Ante-Up for Africa yesterday … Hollywood A-list celebrity-related traffic aside (and pictures of Ben Affleck, Matt Damon, Charles Barkley, Don Cheadle, Jason Alexander, Dean Cain, Brad Garret, Herschel Walker, and Sarah Silverman playing poker) … this is arguably the biggest charity poker tournament of the year (in the world) … and I was curious how the money worked. It was my understanding that originally, 50 percent of the prize pool went to Refugees International a charity* … and the big winners, being already-rich folks moved by the excitement of no-limit hold’em and thoughts of a tax-deductible feel-good gesture, often chose to give their cash prize over to the honorary good cause as well.

But this year people were telling me it was a mere request for generosity — that winners give at least 50 percent of their prize payout to AUFA, which would be shipping the money to the Sudanese cause via the Enough Project (and the IRC?). That seemed a little odd to me, because hey, if the wrong person wins, there could be a problem. Sure enough, an email just came in over the transom — skewering a player named Adam Richardson, who most recently finished in 143rd place in a $1,500 NLH at this year’s WSOP, and 624th in last year’s main event — with the subject line, “What a Prick!”:

Not sure if you got this news. But the prick who won second place in the World Series of Poker charity event which is Ante Up For Africa, completely stiffed the charity.

Players do not have to give any money, according to the rules. But all the players know this is an important event set up to help a very good cause.

Many witnesses said the player was approached afterward by some of the organizers. He was asked politely if he cared to leave a donation, and replied that no one could do anything to stop him and that he was leaving with all the prize money. He walked out the door with like over $100,000.

The player was rude during the tournament and obviously had his own agenda, which was not in the spirit of helping the Ante Up for Africa cause. He likely saw a softer than usual field and took advantage. He had every intention of enriching himself at the expense of the charity.

The player’s name is Adam Richardson, from Poway, California.

He is bad for poker and needs to be called out for taking an angle shot in this event. I hope you will agree this is despicable behavior. The guy is a total prick. Roast his fucking ass.

Hunter

Hmm, if this is true, indeed, arguably poor form. We have not confirmed any of this (and I wasn’t there for the actual event), but the above is the email that’s circulating, and it at least raises the question why a certain chunk of the prize pool isn’t automatically taken out for the charity itself (as it is with most charity poker events).

* Ante Up for Africa “designated charities” have included the Enough Project, Not on Our Watch, and the International Rescue Committee. Refugees International was the recipient of Annie Duke’s Celebrity Apprentice fundraisers.

NOTE: Adam Richardson (unconfirmed) responds to “Hunter’s” accusations in the comments below.

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Ante Up for Africa is being filmed now for ESPN, and it has plenty of Full Tilt Poker pros with Rafe Furst, Chris “Jesus” Ferguson, Phil Gordon, Erik Seidel, Jennifer Harman and John Hennigan appearing at the final table. Hopefully Dan and/or Jen will have more updates when there’s a result.

Friday afternoon starts the Main Event, and all the fun and chaos that brings to the Rio. Pokerati will be there to catch the action, so come back, please.

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Ante Up for Africa

The big charity event of the WSOP is this afternoon’s Ante Up for Africa, a star-studded affair with a $5,000 buy-in, with a request that those who make the money donate 50% of their proceeds to Refugees International and The Enough Project to attempt to end the crisis in Darfur. It’s also the shortest tournament of the WSOP, with it’s 20-minute blind levels in the first hour followed by increases every 15 minutes, the tournament is projected to finish in just five hours. ESPN’s cameras will be following the action as it’s scheduled to dedicate two hours of their WSOP coverage to this event.

Finishing up the Wednesday night tournaments:

Veckey Victorius in $1,500 NL

Tony Veckey makes his first career cash a WSOP bracelet in the $1,500 NL Holdem, good for $673,276 defeating Jason Wheeler heads-up. Nolan Dalla’s tournament report notes that Veckey is a software engineer with Motorola and a graduate of the DeVry Institute. He was hoping to play in Saturday’s $1,500 NL Holdem event, but it was sold out, leaving him to make this his first WSOP tournament. He’s returning back to work and has decided not to parlay this success into this year’s Main Event, choosing to wait until 2010’s Main Event.

Abe’s Awesome in Triple Draw

As noted in the post below, Julie Schneider finished 3rd in the $2,500 2-7 Triple Draw Lowball with high stakes veteran Abe Mosseri picking up his first career WSOP bracelet, along with $165,513. Masayoshi Tanaka finished in second, denied Japan’s first WSOP bracelet, picking up $102,313.

Sweet Sixteen Survive in Six-Max

Sixteen players remain in the final preliminary event of the WSOP $5,000 NL Holdem 6-Handed . They resume this afternoon at 1pm to play down to a winner and this is how they will be seated when play resumes:

(Table 58)
Seat 1: Peter Feldman - 1328000
Seat 2: Aurelien Guiglini - 549000
Seat 3: Josh Brikis - 294000
Seat 4: Thorsten Schaefer - 1094000
Seat 5: Matthew Waxman - 1132000
Seat 6: Alex Venovski - 684000

(Table 59)
Seat 1: James St Hilaire - 876000
Seat 2: John Conkright - 749000
Seat 4: Rory Mathews - 1358000
Seat 5: Jonas Wexler - 848000
Seat 6: Eugene Katchalov - 356000

(Table 60)
Seat 1: Robert Kay - 1213000
Seat 3: Frank Calo - 569000
Seat 4: Sean Keeton - 641000
Seat 5: Matt Hawrilenko - 1327000
Seat 6: Faraz Jaka - 778000

Phil Hellmuth finished in 24th place, if he remained it probably would have given ESPN’s production team quite the difficulty in covering his run for bracelet number twelve and the Ante Up for Africa event.

Follow the updates of today’s activity at www.wsop.com and Pokerati will surely be there covering all the high-profile celebrities in action.

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Julie Schneider played a remarkably clean tournament right from the start of play on Day 1. She quickly proved to her male competitors that she was more than just a pretty face at the table, picking off one opponent after another with her well-timed bets (and a few favorable draws). Her deep run comes to an end in third place, good for $66,285 and a big hug from husband Tom

Though we still need to run the calculations and wait for the main event to finalize, as of now, it looks like Mrs. @DonkeyBomber will win the Team Pokerati Net Results Challenge — and though not quite enough for Tom to quit his job and become a stay-at-home dad, it should be enough to keep the Schneiders out of indentured servitude. (Phew!)

What? You didn’t know the Team Pokerati Net Results Challenge existed? Either did we, but hey we swear it might be disastrous cool … tallying up not just winnings, but winnings-minus-buy-ins to see who’s really tearing it up at the WSOP.

Unofficial standings in that department:

1. Julie Schneider
2. Pat Poels
3. Gregg Merkow
4. Cliff Fisher
5. John Harris
6. Robert Goldfarb
7. Shoegal
8. Karridy Askenasy
9. Whit Blanton
10. Tom Schneider

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Rui Ruling 5k NL Day Two

Rui Cao leads with ~60 players remaining in the $5,000 NL Holdem 6-max, as they play down to 6 players or 3am, whichever comes first. Others in contention include Shaun Deeb, Phil Hellmuth, Blair Hinkle, Darrell Dicken, Faraz Jaka, Yevgeniy Timoshenko, Bill Edler, Raymond Davis and Shannon Shorr.

$1,500 NL Final Table

Nine players remain in the $1,500 NL Holdem event, Jason Wheeler is the chip leader, followed by Christopher Bonita, Christopher De Maci, Joseph Chaplin, Tony Veckey, Andrew Malott, David Jaoui, Miha Remic and Sergey Konkin.

Short update tonight, check out www.wsop.com for updates, and good luck to Julie Schneider, who just won a key double up in the $2,500 2-7 Triple Draw Lowball.

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Follow his self-twittering action here.

UPDATE: Never mind.

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A lot’s on the line with this, of course … not only is this the second-to-last non-main-event chance for a woman to win, but also it may make the difference on whether or not the Schneiders can save the family farm.

They’re on dinner break now … and she’s got some work to do.

Abe Mosseri - 1,012,000
Masayoshi Tanaka - 399,000
John Juanda - 366,000
Julie Schneider - 163,000

You can follow the event here, and Julie-centric coverage via @DonkeyBomber.

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Oh, my, and I almost forgot about Ante Up for Africa … plausibly the biggest charity event in all of poker for the entire year — with tons of Hollywood celebs and presumably real bona-fide non-poker paparazzi and an after-party that lots of people want to get into.

We’ll be sure to bring you coverage of something, in some way … but what, I’m not so sure. As you may or may not have heard, I’ve suffered an injury, which you can see below (watch the guy on the right):

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Brad Libson - 432,000 6th place
Blair Rodman - 418,000 5th place
Abe Mosseri - 342,000
Masayoshi Tanaka - 325,000
John Juanda - 220,000
Julie Schneider - 207,000

Follow the updates at www.wsop.com here.

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The final hand was in razz, with Bach starting out with 7-6-4-A, as Hanson was far behind with J-9-8-5. But for those that have played razz, it’s an intensely frustrating game, and it was for Bach when he went A-Q while Hanson went 6-5 to take the lead with his jack-low. The final card gave Hanson a deuce for 9-8-5-6-2, but Bach caught a nine to just edge him out 9-7-6-4-A to take down the bracelet, the Chip Reese trophy, and win $1,276,802, doubling his career tournament winnings. Hanson takes down $789,199 for the second place finish.

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$50k HORSE Final Table, It Keeps Going, and Going, and Going…

It’s 9:15am PT, but the final table of the $50,000 HORSE is still going with David Bach and John Hanson playing heads-up with Bach holding a slim chip lead. Erik Sagstrom finished in 3rd, Vitaly Lunkin was eliminated in 4th, Huck Seed finished in 5th and Ville Wahlbeck finished in 6th place. Unless Wahlbeck makes a deep run in the Main Event, Jeff Lisandro appears to have locked up the WSOP Player of the Year with Wahlbeck a close second. For those of you who have followed the nearly 17-hour final table from beginning to end, God bless you.

“Whackjob Surprise” Goes Deep in $2,500 2-7 Triple Draw

Nine players remain in the $2,500 2-7 Triple Draw Lowball when play resumes at 2pm. Here’s how the remaining players will be seated:

Seat 1: Hertzel Zalewski - 111000
Seat 2: Nam Le - 95000
Seat 3: Masayoshi Tanaka - 345000
Seat 5: Brad Libson - 146000

Seat 1: Kris Lord - 87000
Seat 2: Julie Schneider - 163000
Seat 3: John Juanda - 182000
Seat 4: Blair Rodman - 358000
Seat 6: Abe Mosseri - 447000

The reason for the title of this section is that it was a comment made regarding Julie Schneider by Daniel Negreanu on his Twitter. He would later add the following upon finding out she read his Twitter: “Apparently the lady reads my twitter. Oops lol. Oh well, when I sat down I swore she was a little off or slow. My bad!”. Negreanu eventually finished in 16th.

Halpern Lawyers Up in Stud 8

New Orleans attorney David Halpern defeated William Kohler heads-up to take down the $1,500 Stud Hi/Lo 8 or Better picking up his first WSOP bracelet along with $159,048.

Piesert Gets Bracelet for Dessert

The country of Germany gets its second WSOP bracelet winner with Jorg Piesert taking down the $3,000 Triple Chance NL Holdem title along with $506,800, defeating Jason DeWitt in heads-up play. After going 50 events without a win, Germany wins on consecutive days, following Carsten Joh’s win in the $1,500 NL event Monday night.

Final Day of Final $1,500 NL

Sergey Konkin, who may also be Sergey Pomerantsev as Konkin’s name didn’t appear on the Day 1 chip counts, is the chip leader (1,400,000) with 28 players remaining in the $1,500 NL Holdem Spectacular when play resumes at 1pm. The most notable name of the remaining 28 is Vivek Rajkumar at just 216,000.

$5,000 NL 6-max

Day 2 of the $5,000 NL Holdem 6-max event begins at 2pm with 160 players remaining, with 90 players making the money. Rory Mathews leads with 369,800 in chips. Others with chips: Faraz Jaka (294,500) , Davidi Kitai (166,300), Justin Bonomo (138,600), Raymond Davis (131,400), Shaun Deeb (114,800), Yevgeniy Timoshenko (107,100), Phil Hellmuth (101,200) and Kenna James (85,500).

More stuff from Pokerati during the day, and follow the live updates this morning for the HORSE event, as long as it’s still ongoing at www.wsop.com

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“Miami” John Cernuto was spotted at the Rio today after being released from the hospital just days ago. When I finally caught up to him tonight, he said that he’s been playing cash games today but is not in tournament shape yet. He still holds out hope that he’ll feel well enough to play the main event, but he’s not sure.

As a side note, John appreciated the concern for his health in our Pokerati posts. Our message to John? Don’t collapse anymore, please! The controversy that ensues is interesting but…

In other news, a random walk down the hallway of the Rio found my favorite stalkee Nelly and friends leaving the cash games and being confronted by a group of drunk? people that struck up a conversation with the rap star. Someone challenged someone to a foot race, but after Nelly threw out betting numbers in the $20K range, talks quickly fell apart as Nelly got annoyed with the ridiculousness of the bet. With that, Nelly and his crew left the building through the back door.

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Lunkin Leads Six Pack of HORSE Finalists

Six players remain in the 50k HORSE, when they return from their dinner break at around 9pm PT, with the players returning to limits of 80k/160k:

Vitaly Lunkin 3,760,000
Erik Sagstrom 3,395,000
John Hanson 3,075,000
Huck Seed 1,730,000
David Bach 1,185,000
Ville Wahlbeck 955,000

The final table is available on ESPN360, www.bluffmagazine.com/live and wsop.pkr.com

Peisert Looking to Give Germany Bracelet #2

Jorg Peisert leads the final six players at the final table of the $3,000 Triple Chance NL Holdem. Michael Katz, Jason DeWitt, Benjamin Gilbert, Michael Noda and Jason Somerville make up the remaining field.

Kohler Looking to Sink Halpern in Stud 8

William Kohler and David Halpernare headsup for a bracelet in the $1,500 Stud Hi/Lo 8 or Better with Halpern currently holding the lead. Congrats go to Matt Savage, who finished in 5th, and a belated congrats to Norman Chad, for his 32nd place finish earlier today.

Boivin Buoyant in $1,500 NL

Day 2 of the $1,500 NL Holdem has about 130 players remaining, trying to whittle the field down as much as they can before the 3am deadline, which will certainly create a long day 3 tomorrow. Don Boivin (401,000) appears to be the chip leader at this time, with Vivek Rajkumar (115,000), Alex Bolotin (88,000), Richard Lee (64,000), Raymond Rahme (54,000), some of the notables remaining.

Libson Looking Live in Triple Draw

Brad Libson (164,000) leads the remaining 33 players in the $2,500 2-7 Triple Draw Lowball, of which 24 will make the money. Notables remaining include: Abe Mosseri, John Juanda, Jerrod Ankenman, Hasan Habib, Allen Kessler and Julie Schneider. They’ll be playing down to the final 7 players or the 3am deadline, whichever comes first.

$5k NL Six-Handed

The final prelim of this year’s WSOP, the $5,000 NL Holdem Six-Handed event drew a field of 928 entries, of which 384 return from the dinner break. The winner will take down just over $1,000,000, which is the third largest first place prize of this year’s WSOP, following only the 40k NL and $50k HORSE.

Unfortunately, there’s no established chip leader, but if you head to www.wsop.com one may be better established during the evening. Also check out Pokerati to see if Dan will have some exciting news, like the Jack Link’s Stacked Jacks promotion.

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Annette Obrestad is heading up the European team, and today at the Rio she made her first pick. Peter Eastgate will be joining her on the team, along with several other players to be announced, one of whom will win his/her way onto the team through a Betfair online poker leaderboard competition. Daniel Negreanu is the team leader for the Americas, and his first pick was announced by Jeffrey Pollack as Phil Ivey.

Annette Obrestad & Peter Eastgate v. Daniel Negreanu & Phil Ivey

Hard to place any bets at this point, considering many picks have yet to be made.

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presented by:

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

Episode 11.26: DonkTwit Conspiracy
4:54

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@Phil_Hellmuth

UB party starting at Studio 54 at MGM! On my way, i am making my entrance on a trapeze!! also i signed up for 2-7 tourney, c em a 11 pm
about 13 hours ago from txt

Sunday July 5 i show up to WSOP as ‘Caesar: with 100 models, 11 muses w body paint, a chariot w 2 horses, and a drummer dropping rose petals
about 8 hours ago from txt

15,200 extra chips are in play going into Day 2 of the $2,500 2-7 Triple Draw — roughly a third of which belonged to no-show Phil Hellmuth before tournament officials removed his remaining stack (in level 5) and refunded his late buy-in.

Plenty of grumblings about this situation from the rail …

Hellmuth bought into WSOP Event #55 by proxy — presumably near the last possible minute — with his 7,500 starting stack brought to the felt shortly before the end of the break between levels 2 and 3. His seat in the Brasilia Room remained empty for hours as he attended a much-ballyhooed Ultimate Bet party at Studio 54 in the MGM.

Hellmuth’s stack had been blinded down to about 2,500 when the event TD approached Chris Ferguson, who was playing, and asked if he had Hellmuth’s phone number. Ferguson did, and the TD called but got no answer. So he then called his supervisor, who apparently instructed him to remove Hellmuth’s chips from play.

Shortly thereafter — in Level 5 still — the number of entrants on the screen was reduced from 258 to 257, and prize payouts were downgraded accordingly.

At the end of Day 1, the 73 remaining players bagged a total 1,942,700 chips, even though the appropriate number for 257 players in a $2,500 event would be 1,927,500. No word yet on where the 10,000 chips that didn’t belong to Phil Hellmuth came from.

Click here to follow the action in $2,500 2-7 Triple-Draw when play resumes at 2 pm pacific. Plenty of interesting big-name pros and 2009 bracelet winners still in the hunt — Negreanu, Ankenman, Sung, Mueller, among them — along with a few dozen lesser known mixed-games grinders … all competing for a $166k $165k bracelet.

Tom Schneider is long gone (of course), but Team Pokerati’s more successful Schneider, Julie, is still alive and in the middle of the pack with 25,700 chips. Pat Poels is hanging at the middle-bottom with 21,900. And Pokerati pal/TP-rushee Rick Fuller is near the chip lead.

Thanks @haribo22 for the twitpic of Phil from Studio 54.

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The bracelet ceremony for Kabbaj was somewhat marred during the playing of the national anthem. Organisers decided to play the Sex Pistol’s version of God Save the Queen instead of the normal British national anthem. Following complaints, Jeffery Pollack apologised to Kabbaj and a new ceremony, with the correct anthem, was hastily arranged.

One player who has caught the eye in the WSOP side events this year is Jeff Lisandro. The Italian, with a suspiciously Australian sounding accent, has won three bracelets already in this Series and chalked up a total of six cashes. Lisandro’s latest success came in the $2,500 Razz event. The big Aussie-Italian banked $188,390 for that success and looks likely to be The Player of the Series at this rate. So for the purposes of the WSOP Standings Table is he Australian or Italian? Asia Pacific or European? Over to you, Dan!

Elsewhere Fabio Coppola kept the Italians in high spirits with a 4th place finish in the $2,500 Omaha Hi/Lo event for $65,094. Britain’s James Dempsey took a respectable 14th for $12,667.

The $1,500 Limit Hold’em Shootout event has just been completed and it was Canada’s Greg Mueller who once again took the honours. Mueller appears to be a Limit Hold’em specialist, having won the $10,000 Limit Hold’em event only two weeks previously. In 2nd place in the $1,500 tournament was Holland’s Marcus Naalden. Naalden almost added a second bracelet to his $2,000 Limit Hold’em victory from earlier in the Series. The professional from Antwerp had to settle for a $120,614 consolation prize this time around.

The $50,000 H.O.R.S.E event is currently in full swing. John Kabbaj could win Britain’s 4th bracelet of the Series in that event. “Large” is currently in 9th place with just 19 players remaining. Finland’s Ville Wahlbeck has gone deep once again and he is also in the last 19. A frightening list of the world’s top professional players are currently fighting it out for the H.O.R.S.E bracelet. Some of the players remaining include; Tony G, Gus Hansen, Freddy Deeb, Vitaly Lunkin, Todd Brunson, Huck Seed and Erik Seidel. Sweden’s Erik Sagstrom is also well positioned in what looks like a fascinating conclusion to what many consider the truest test of a poker player’s tournament abilities.

With such great European success Annette Obrestad is going to have a tough time picking her team for the inaugural Caesars Cup at the WSOPE in September.

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