Recapping some of the afternoon action on Sunday:

Negreanu looking for bracelet #5

The $2,500 Limit Holdem 6-max is down to the final three players, with Daniel Negreanu having a dominant chip lead. Brock Parker and Tommi Horkko are the other two left in the field. Finland now has its third top-3 finish in less than a week. You can still watch this final table at the Bluff website or for the international reader the PKR site.

Stammen Stampeding His Foes

The $2,500 NL Holdemevent just got to heads-up with Keven Stammen holding a 2-1 chip lead over Angel Gullen. This looks to be a very fast final table as it took just 70 hands to go from ten players down to two.

Ladies Event Attendance Showing Its Slip

The $1,000 Ladies NL Holdem World Championship drew a field of 1,088 this afternoon. That figure is down from last year’s 1,190, which was lower than 2007′s 1,286 total. 370 ladies remain in the field when they return from dinner break, with Ulrika Tangstrom the reported chip leader at 30,000. Defending champion Svetlana Gromenkova is third in chips (22,200), other notables include Maria Ho (22,100) Anna Wroblewski (14,100) and and Pam Brunson (8,200).

Seven Card Studs Wheeze into the Money

The Ladies’ field had at least one regular not in the field, as Barbara Enright ended a 23-year tradition of playing, as she was still in the field for the $1,500 Seven Card Stud event. The players made it into the money just before their dinner break, with 34 players currently remaining. Fabrice Soulier is the current leader with 120,000 in chips followed close behind by Dutch Boyd at 116,000. Defending champion Michael Rocco is 6th in chips at 75,000, with Enright listed in 7th in with 60,000. Other notables remaining include Thor Hansen (56,000), John Cernuto (40,000) and Pokerati blogger Robert Goldfarb (20,000. The players will now try to beat the 3am deadline to reach a final table, which does look like a possibility for this event.

5k Bubble Play

The $5,000 NL Holdem event has 65 players remaining, just two away from the money. Billy Kopp is the current chip leader at 350,000. Faraz Jaka is in 3rd place (334,000), with online phenoms Isaac Baron (326,000) and Mike Sowers (320,000) close behind. More experienced professionals Kathy Liebert (238,000) and Erik Seidel (225,000) are also in the chase. While Ivan Demidov hasn’t cashed at this year’s WSOP, his girlfriend Liya Gerasimova is on the cusp of doing just that with 215,000 in chips.

Omaha Will Get You Farha

The $10,000 Omaha 8 or Better World Championship brought a field of 179, including Sammy Farha, down 56 from last year. 30,000 in chips and a slow structure means low eliminations so far, but there’s bound to be a few when play ends today at the end of level 8.

To catch the updates for all of these events, head to www.worldseriesofpoker.com to follow all the exciting tournament action.

Here’s tonight’s action in brief:

Four left in $2k NL on ESPN360: 4 left, currently on dinner break until 9:40pm Anthony Harb and Peter Rho chip leaders.
Nine left in $10k Mixed Event: Doyle out 13th, Scott Dorin leader, Huck Seed 2nd, Todd Brunson 9th

81 left in $2.5k NL holdem, Alex Keating chip leader.
39 left in $2.5k Limit holdem 6-max, 36 get paid. Shawn Buchanan chip leader.

366 return from dinner break in $5k NL, starting field was 655, down about 80 from last year.
359 entries in 1.5k 7 Card Stud, Mark Seif and Tom Schneider among very early chip leaders.

More updates at www.worldseriesofpoker.com and Pokerati (maybe) during the evening.

The first of three final tables has reached its conclusion as Jason Mercier took down the $1,500 Pot Limit Omaha event as he went on a rush when it got to six-handed to take the chip lead, beating Steven Burkholder heads-up to take down a WSOP bracelet to go along with his two EPT titles he earned in 2008. The other two final tables the $1,000 NL Holdem “Stimulus Special” as the players are about to return from their dinner break, with Steve Sung the chip leader at 8,700,000 followed by “Pete the Greek” Vilandos (5,930,000) and James Matz III (3,650,000). You can watch the conclusion of this final table on ESPN360 or http://wsop.pkr.com for those without the ESPN service. The $10,000 7 Card Stud World Championship is also down to their final three with Freddie Ellis (2,330,000), followed by Eric Drache (1,435,000) and Ville Wahlbeck (495,000).

The two Day 2 events are moving towards their conclusions, one much more likely to reach a final table than the other. Twelve players remain in the $2,500 NL 2-7 Draw Lowball event, with John Monnette holding the chip leader. They’ll be playing down to a final table of 8 with Tony G, Layne Flack, Phil Ivey, David Grey and Freddy Deeb the players you’ve heard of remaining. The $1,500 NL Holdem event is currently down to about 110 players, trying to get to their final table for their Internet broadcast tomorrow at 2pm on bluffmagazine.com. People you’ve heard of remaining: Brandon Cantu, Jacobo Fernandez, Nancy Todd Tyner, Grant Hinkle, and Michael Martin.

The $1,500 NL Holdem 6-max event drew a field of 1,459 which was down to 318 after the dinner break, while the $2,500 PL Holdem/PLO event drew a field of 453 which has been whittled down to 261 as they take their dinner break. See who’s remaining in those fields over at www.worldseriesofpoker.com and I’ll be back with more stuff tomorrow.

From the Twitter of WSOPlive, who will be streaming over 20 final tables of this year’s WSOP:

The final table of event #4 ($1,000 NL Holdem is taking much longer to reach than anticipated, the powers that be have asked us to cancel today’s broadcast.

we’ll be broadcasting tomorrow at 2pm Vegas time no matter what, the players who final table event #4 will have the option to return then

Should they decline, we’ll show the final table of the $1500 Pot Limit Omaha event. This also means we’ll be adding a bonus event soon.

So no need to stay up tonight to wait for a final table, if the players decide to end early. That causes a final table logjam as there’s the possibility of three final tables running tomorrow afternoon as the $10,000 7-Card Stud World Championship will also play to a conclusion on Wednesday. Stay tuned to Pokerati and www.worldseriesofpoker.com for further updates.

Finishing up business from Monday night before moving on…

The $1,000 NL Holdem Stimulus Special finished at 3am today with 50 players returning at 1pm to play down to a winner. The chip leader is Robert Comegys from Grand Prairie, TX with nearly 1.2m million in chips. Danny Fuhs is close behind, with notables such as Eric Mizrachi, Lee Watkinson, Dan Heimiller, and Jonathan Aguiar far down the leaderboard. More details will be available in my PokerNews recap later today. Today’s event is scheduled to be the first of over 20 WSOP final tables to be streamed online this year. The scheduled 2pm final table will be pushed back at least a few hours, depending on how fast play is today. Updates on Pokerati during the day today.

The $1,500 Pot Limit Omaha event finished their Day 1 with 81 players remaining, the exact amount needed to reach the money. Jason Mercier, best known for his success on the European Poker Tour, is the chip leader with 227,000 in chips, over 60,000 more than second placed Matt Humphrey. Other notables who’ve made the money include Eric Froehlich,, Dario Alioto, Josh Arieh, An Tran, Warren Karp, Shannon Shorr, Robert Mizrachi, and Kirill Gerasimov. Those players and many more return at 2pm today to play down to a final table.

The $10,000 Seven Card Stud World Championship ended after eight levels with 101 of its remaining 142 entrants remaining. High-stakes cash game player David Oppenheim emerged as the chip leader, with veterans “Miami John” Cernuto, Nick Frangos, Danny Robison, and Steve Zolotow helping make up the top 10. Others who’ll be looking to work their way up include Eli Elezra, Todd Brunson, Eric Drache, Erick Lindgren, Andy Bloch, Cory Zeidman and Phil Ivey. They also return at 2pm to play down to their final table.

The one event that was able to conclude Monday was the WSOP Champions Invitational as Tom McEvoy, the 1983 Main Event winner, knocked off Robert Varkonyi, the 2002 Main Event champion to win the first Binion Cup along with a 1970 red Corvette.

The preview for today’s events:
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The $1,500 Pot Limit Omaha event started at noon today, and it appeared they were competing with the two Day 1′s of the $1,000 NL Holdem Stimulus Special in terms of winnowing the field in a hurry. As the players go on their dinner break, just 198 players remain from a starting field of 809. There’s a chance that the field will be able to make the money, as 81 players will get paid, with first place taking down just over $237,000. The 75% reduction of the field in the PLO event is greater than the 67% decimation that hit the $1k NL event this past weekend. The early leaders appear to be Jason Mercier and Jesse Rios, both over 70,000 in chips. Other notables still with a chance: Josh Arieh, Amnon Filippi, Shannon Shorr, David Sklansky and Andy Black.

In games where you use two cards, the $1k Stimulus Special is on their dinner break, with play scheduled to end at 3am with the belief that a final table will be close at hand. Zach Melaney appears to be the chip leader (260,000). Notables near the top include J.C. Tran (200,000), Jonathan Aguiar (140,000), Steve Sung (90,000) and Will “The Thrill” Failla (76,000).

The WSOP Champions Invitational is currently three-handed as Tom McEvoy, Robert Varkonyi and Dan Harrington are playing for the Binion Cup and 1970 Corvette. Probably not the final three the ESPN cameras were hoping for, but that’s poker for you.

The $10,000 7 Card Stud World Championship drew a smaller than expected field of 142, down 16 from last year. However, plenty of poker’s elite still make up the field such as: Phil Ivey, Greg Raymer, Tony G, Barry Greenstein, David Singer, John Hennigan and Chau Giang. Updates on all of these events can be found at www.worldseriesofpoker.com all night.

Two WSOP bracelets were awarded early in the morning on Monday, but the recipients were not new to earning some hardware. First, Vitaly Lunkin took down the 40th Annual $40,000 NL Holdem event, outlasting Isaac Haxton after a three-hour heads-up battle that will surely be boiled down to a few hands on ESPN when it airs in July. After Haxton had knocked out Greg Raymer in 3rd place (the former World Champion earning $774,927), he held a dominating chip lead over the Russian, who won a bracelet last year in a $1,500 NL event. A few hands later Lunkin would take the lead, only for Haxton to take control again. Eventually though, Lunkin’s AA would crush Haxton’s bottom pair on the final hand to earn $1,891,012. Haxton was also able to walk away with a 7-figure payday, earning $1,168,566.

As Dan mentioned in the post below, Thang Luu defended his title in the $1,500 Omaha 8 or Better event for $263,135. Ed Smith, the chip leader at the end of play on day 2, finished in 2nd for just over $162,000. Ming Reslock finished 3rd ($106,373).

More stuff on the next page:
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Wrapping up yesterday’s action, with a preview of today’s tournament (with a moment of silence for John Bonetti):

The $5,000 NL Holdem 6-handed event finally reached their final table at around 5:30am, now they have to attempt to get some rest before returning in front of the watchful eye of the ESPN360 cameras at 2pm with this sextet:

Seat 4: Richard Lyndaker 2,345,000
Seat 3: Joe Commisso 1,961,000
Seat 5: Tom Lutz 1,493,000
Seat 1: Samuel Trickett 1,045,000
Seat 6: Edward Ochana 928,000
Seat 2: Davidi Kitai 298,000

The $1,500 Stud Eight or Better stopped play with 13 players remaining as they play down to a winner starting at 3pm. Here’s the approximate chip counts of the baker’s dozen (chip counts and seats to be rearranged later):

(Table 14)
Seat 1: Ryan Hughes 73,000
Seat 4: Margaret Macre 173,000
Seat 5: James Richburg 274,000
Seat 6: Ron Long 33,000
Seat 7: David Brooker 45,000
Seat 8: Daniel Nicewander 41,000

(Table 15)
Seat 1: Mike Hefer 71,000
Seat 2: Tim D’Alessandro 82,000
Seat 3: David Sklansky 110,000
Seat 4: Thomas Hunt III 101,000
Seat 6: Alessio Isaia 172,000
Seat 7: Joshua Feldman 121,000
Seat 8: Jonas Klausen 346,000

Other tournament action (plus the final 24 in the $50k HORSE) on page 2:
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Recapping last night’s events with a preview of today’s action:

The $1,500 Pot Limit Omaha Eight or Better event was won last night by Martin Klaser, who was dominant in the brief heads-up battle with Casey Kastle to take down his first bracelet and just over $216,000. Kastle winds up with almost $138,000, the biggest cash in his career.

The $1,000 NL Holdem with Rebuys event got down to their final table, here’s how it’ll look like under the hot lights of the ESPN360 cameras at 2pm today:

Seat 1: Scott Freeman 675,000
Seat 2: Max Greenwood 728,000
Seat 3: Curtis Kohlberg 209,000
Seat 4: Rene Mouritsen 1,007,000
Seat 5: Alex Bolotin 308,000 – His 3rd final table of this Series
Seat 6: Albert Iversen 921,000
Seat 7: Aliaksandr Dzianisau 186,000
Seat 8: Phung Ngo 556,000
Seat 9: Jesse Chinni 2,160,000

Other action from yesterday on the next page:
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Recapping the Friday action and a preview for today:

The $1,500 7 Card Stud winner turned out to be Mike Rocco, who endured the barbs of Al Barbieri to take down his first bracelet and about $135,000.

The $10,000 Omaha Hi/Lo 8 or Better World Championship stopped play with 18 left, they get to return at 3pm to determine their winner. The final two tables have plenty of notable names remaining, which consist of:

Table 14

1 Danny Dang 257,000
2 Stuart Paterson 96,000
3 Eugene Katchalov 252,000
4 Chau Giang 384,000
5 Shun Uchida 134,000
6 Pat Pezzin 65,000
7 David Benyamine 378,000
8 Ram Vaswani 569,000
9 Toto Leonidas 269,000

Table 15

1 Brent Carter 114,000
2 Jason Gray 347,000
3 Berry Johnston 338,000
4 Mike Matusow 396,000
5 David Chiu 372,000
6 Greg Jamison 208,000
7 Hieu “Tony” Ma 319,000
8 Ray Dehkharghani 149,000
9 William McMahan 76,000

The ESPN360 final table for today on the next page…

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Finishing the recap from last night’s activities with a preview of today’s lone tournament:

The $5,000 Seven Card Stud Eight or Better World Championship concluded shortly after 2am, with German Sebastian Ruthenberg outlasting Chris “Jesus” Ferguson to win his first bracelet, along with just over $328,000 in a grueling 3 hour heads-up battle. Ferguson and Ruthenberg would trade the lead several times, each having a huge chip advantage. While some may say the structure went too fast at the end, I have the feeling he wouldn’t be as vocal if the other player won.

Final tables for today and other action from last night after the leap:

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Happenings for this evening as I found out from Jen I’ve become a member of the WPA all over again:

The $5,000 Stud 8 or Better World Championship is down to the final 3, with Team Full Tilt Pro Chris Ferguson the dominate chip leader. Marcel Luske finished in 4th, Annie Duke finished 5th, you can catch all the action at the WSOP site here.

The other final table for today already has its champion, to find out who it was, click on the jump:

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Events from last night at the WSOP, as I try in vain to come up with new ways to say the same old stuff:

As Dan mentioned in the post below, Dario Minieri took down the $2,500 NL Holdem 6-handed event in a final table that lasted almost 200 hands, surprising for a 6 handed final table. Seth Fischer finished in 2nd, putting a brutal beat on Justin Filtz to eliminate him in 3rd when the AK of Fischer ran down Filtz’ AA.

The $5,000 Stud Eight or Better final table was finally set after 7am this morning, and another first almost occurred as both Annie Duke and her brother Howard Lederer were among the final 9. However, Howard was eliminated in 9th, but the final table still has notable names such as Chris Ferguson, Steve Sung and Marcel Luske that will return at 5pm today to determine the winner. Here’s that final table:

Seat 1: Bob Lauria: 44,000
Seat 2: Marcel Luske: 308,000
Seat 3: Steve Sung: 207,000
Seat 4: Annie Duke: 277,000
Seat 5: Alessio Isaia: 398,000
Seat 6: Sebastian Ruthenberg: 663,000
Seat 7: Chris Ferguson: 434,000
Seat 8: Robert Beveridge: 288,000

The other final table today and other action after the thing you click to get to the next page:

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What’s happening tonight at the WSOP:

The only final table for today, the $2,500 NL Holdem 6-handed event, is down to the final 3.  Seth Fischer is the current chip leader, Team PokerStars Pro Dario Minieri is second, and Justin Filtz is in 3rd. Dario once had over half the chips 3-handed, but he’s doubled up both players and run into some bad luck to fall into 2nd. Their action can be followed at the World Series of Poker’s live updates here.

Other action after the thing that says More…

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Happenings from last night at the World Series of Poker:

Finishing up the final tables from last night, Full Tilt Pro Rob Hollink came back from the dinner break to make a rush and take down the $10,000 Limit Holdem World Championship, knocking out Jerrod Ankenmann in a short headsup match.

A heads-up match that took a bit long was the $3,000 NL Holdem final table. Even though a deal to chop the top two places took place, John Phan and Johnny Neckar still had a heads-up match that went for over 6 hours. There were several wild swings in the chip counts, and with both players allin, Neckar thought he had the title won when his KJ had outflopped Phan’s AJ when a K hit the flop. However, Phan’s entourage would erupt when the Ace hit the river keeping him alive. Later, they played three hands all-in blind. Neckar took the first to take the chip lead, then Phan won the second hand with 7 high to double up, then Neckar would double off Phan in the third hand. They returned to more conventional poker after that and a short time later Phan would take down his first bracelet.

More action from yesterday after the jump:

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