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.

Gold is currently selling for $1,390 an ounce, just short of what Eskimo would need for his next WSOP buy-in.

I’m back in action because I thought I was going to be up this morning spending my Pokerati paycheck on an Eskimo Clark bracelet — there’s one for sale on Ebay right now, in an auction that closes in about an hour. But holy meltdown, they’re up to 15 bids already, from six different bidders, and $4,050! That’s already more than TJ Cloutier got for his pawned-off WSOP hardware nearly a year ago, and puts Eskimo’s jewels way out of my league unless someone wants to give me a raise by infinity. Can you say, “Going once, going twice … going in your pants at the table?”

The auction closes today at 10 am PT.Get in before this “pre-owned” 1999 $1,500 Razz beauty is gone. (Replace the word Razz with “Dodge Neon” and that’s what my last boyfriend used to say to initiate foreplay.)

I knew I had no chance of scoring Peter Eastgate’s bracelet on eBay last week. His newer model fetched a whopping $147,500 after Interpoker got into a bidding war with Tony G, who made a play for the limelight by blog-bragging about plans to buy it for a collar for his dog. Inter stepped in to thwart him from making a “mockery” of the WSOP, but I’m not sure which is worse – seeing a WSOP bracelet on a dog or seeing it on eBay. But with the prize going to anonymous bidder “7***l”, it did raise a lot of money for UNICEF.

And check it out, Eastgate’s not done hawking his WSOP main event booty yet. Little Petey’s now got his “2008 WSOP Final Table Corum timepiece” for sale. The seller is “petereastgate” himself, making his first ever eBay posting. Asking price: $7,000. Money from that auction will go to UNICEF, too, but so far it has 0 bidders and closes on Friday.

Maybe I’ll use what I thought I’d spend on Eskimo to buy a couple Peter Eastgate 8x10s.

Four EPT winners walk into a bar …

Eastgate ups the ante for promising poker quitters like Carter Phillips, who says he’s 95 percent sure he’s done with poker after being robbed of €4,000 at EPT Barcelona. The defending champion claims he was attacked by Zorro … but this machete-wielding lunatic wasn’t like the one at EPT Berlin. Phillips was with three other up-and-coming big-money pros — Kevin Stani (winner EPT-Tallin), Kayvan Payman (final table EPT-London) and William Reynolds (winner PCA High Roller) — when they supposedly got pickpocketed at a “hookah bar” (that sounds Spanish for “hooker bar”) then ambushed by a man with a frying pan?

Phillips was the only one there with a WSOP bracelet (2010 $1,500 NLH 6-max) to pawn off if he’s serious about quitting. We all know he’s bluffing, but when the 21-year-old does decide to man up, drop balls, and get back in the game, it will be a long time before we hear him ask for a chopped pot.

So while I’m still here with nothing to bid on …

Happy-sappy crap

Bryan Micon posted on Facebook over the Thanksgiving holiday: “Let it be known: I have married my beloved Martha.” Inspiring, really. A guy who has made a career out of posting peens on the internet gets married for the SECOND time. Related: In an effort to improve my love life, I am now accepting pics of random wood.

Gavin Smith made himself a baby — with whom, I’ll find out, but right now I know he calls her “Moomy” and she’s not me. After the birth a couple weeks ago, proud poker papa tweeted, “7lbs 2oz, 20 inches long and quite well endowed if I may say so myself.” Let’s hope Micon doesn’t get a picture of that before the kid gets a million twitter followers.

Mike Matusow has a new girlfriend. Annie LePage, some Las Vegas PETA chick that Dan can’t shut up about. Let’s face it – Mike Matusow isn’t the sexiest player alive, but I’d take my chances with someone nicknamed “The Mouth”, too. It became official with giddy girltalk about meeting his parents and then a change in Facebook status that I know crushed our Pokerati in Chief. Hey, cheer up, toots. I’m sure Matusow will fuck this up before long. And you can do better with ME and my… um… yeah, nevermind.

No FAIR! I’ve got three!

And finally, once again proving that he’s constantly got male genitals on his mind, Daniel Negreanu paid some dude to get a ‘Loves Cock’ tattoo. Yup, $1,000 was the price happily paid by Kid Poker to see Dominic Mattucci declare his fondness for eating meat. Jeez… wish I’d have known about this before I got mine.

Listing the item under the “Jewelry & Watches >> Fashion Jewelry >> Bracelets >> Other” category, Peter Eastgate, who announced his retirement from poker during the series in July, put his 2008 World Series of Poker Main Event Bracelet for auction on eBay yesterday – donating 100% of the sale amount to UNICEF.

PartyPoker’s Tony G, who has pledged to win the bidding for the “pre-owned” item (a.k.a. bling for his German Shephard Zasko), can be assured that there is no wear and tear:  The Las Vegas Review Journal quotes Eastgate as saying that while he had great pride in the title, the bracelet was never worn.

While this sale hasn’t been met with a lot of support by poker media-types in Twitter this morning, at least the potential buyer(s) will be happy to know that it is ready for delivery (standard shipping free!) just after Dec 24th.  No returns accepted.

We never ever pick favorites. Never. Ever.

With that said, our interview with Matt Savage last Tuesday on This Week In Poker was our favorite so far. Lots of solid topics covered, and great questions submitted from our viewers, including one from Jay “WhoJedi” Newnum on whether WSOP bracelets should be awarded outside of Vegas.

“I don’t like it,” said Savage. “I don’t think it’s like a real bracelet.”

Savage continued, “World Series of Poker was founded in Las Vegas. That’s kinda what it’s about.”

Listen to his full response here and tell us what you think about bracelets awarded outside of Las Vegas in the comments below.

Other topics covered with Matt Savage included:
:: Whether Allen “Chainsaw” Kessler has ever suggested something he has agreed with [watch]

:: The rumor about the Rio being sold and where the WSOP may be moving to next [watch]

:: Streaming final tables online [watch]

:: The Commerce Casino’s controversial stance on HR 2267 [watch]

:: The Royal Flush Girls [watch]

:: Favorite change with the new season of the WPT [watch]

You can watch the full episode with Savage, Bill Parks, Michele Lewis and Jess Welman by clicking the image above.

Seat 1: Willie Tann 72,000
Seat 2: Chris Bjorin 368,500
Seat 3: Phil Laak 317,000
Seat 4: Andrew Pantling 627,500
Seat 5: Ilan Rouah 200,000
Seat 6: David Peters 251,500

Final table payouts:

1. £170,802
2. £105,506
3. £70,473
4. £48,202
5. £33,617
6. £23,900

The final table starts at 2pm London time, (6am Vegas time) with updates available at PokerNews and WSOP.com. At 5pm Thursday, the second WSOPE bracelet event gets underway, £5,000 + £250 Pot-Limit Omaha event, won last year by Jani Vilmunen, who bested a field of 154 players to earn over £200,000.

John Gottlieb 1,200,000
Ben Lamb 725,000
Michael Chappus 470,000
Ryan Karp 400,000
Phil Hellmuth 270,000
Anders Taylor 266,000
Mandy Thomas 266,000
Steve Jelinek 220,000

UPDATE: Hellmuth finished in 7th place for $30,000.

The rest of Thursday’s tournament action in brief:

The $1,500 No-Limit Holdem has about 100 players remaining when they resume from dinner break. Mike Sowers leads the field with 632,000 in chips, follow the action and updates at PokerNews.

The $10,000 HORSE World Championship has about 75 players remaining as they try to reach the money when 24 remain. The current chip leader is Steve Bilirakis (205,000) followed by Greg Raymer (170,000), Annie Duke (167,000), Robert Mizrachi (145,000) and Matt Glantz (105,000). More updates and chip counts at wsop.com.

Six levels of play have taken place in the $2,500 Mixed Holdem, with 169 of the 507 players who started remaining as they take their dinner break. John Phan is the early leader with 55,000 in chips, followed by Dwyte Pilgrim (46,000), Andy Bloch (36,000), Brandon Cantu (25,000) and Justin Bonomo (20,200). More details to come at wsop.com.

Angle corners Seniors’ bracelet

78-year old Harold Angle of Sun City Center, Florida defeated Michael Minetti heads-up to win the $1,000 Seniors’ No-Limit Holdem Championship and add $487,994 to his bank account. Minetti earned $301,389 for the runner-up finish. As Dan noted in the post below, Tom Schneider finished 14th in his WSOP Seniors’ debut. The full results and Nolan Dalla’s tournament report is available at wsop.com.

Mahmood leads 10k Heads-Up final 1-0

The finals of the $10,000 No-Limit Holdem Heads-Up Championship was expected to have finished earlier today, but the first match in the best-of-three final between Ayaz Mahmood and Ernst Schmejkal took over six hours to complete, with Mahmood eventually winning. Play will resume at 7pm tonight as they play to a finish, hopefully.

Juanda leads stacked 3k HORSE

25 players remain on day 3 of the $3,000 HORSE, with John Juanda (393,000) leading the way when play resumes at 3pm. The stacked field includes David “Not Bakes” Baker (373,000), Phil Ivey (205,000), Jeff Lisandro (193,000), Dan Heimiller (180,000), Bill Chen (158,000), David Benyamine (137,000), Chad Brown (108,000), Scott Seiver (105,000) and David Singer (93,000). The full list of chip counts are available at PokerNews.

Marchese leads 10k PL Holdem Day 2

A field of 268 players started Sunday afternoon in the $10,000 Pot-Limit Holdem Championship, after ten hours of play, Thomas Marchese emerged as the leader with 334,600 in chips when play resumes at 3pm today. Some of the notables returning include Dani Stern (200,500), John Duthie (171,400), Noah Boeken (136,400), Blair Rodman (92,900), Mike Matusow (77,300) and Shannon Shorr (72,700). The top 27 players get paid, with the winner pocketing $617,214. The full list of chip counts are available at PokerNews.

D’angelo leads 1k NL day 1b field

Day 1b of the $1,000 No-Limit Holdem tournament drew a field of 1,119 players, with 165 of them joining the 268 day 1a players when play resumes at 2:30pm. The top 324 players make the money, with the winner picking up $481,760 at the cashier. The full list of chip counts for both days is available at wsop.com.

Monday’s tournaments

Two tournaments on the schedule today, first is the $1,500 No-Limit Holdem Shootout at 12pm. This has a listed cap of 2,000 players, which appears to be a strange number to use for a shootout. If more than 1000 players are registered, 20 additional tables will be added, with some tables being 9-handed. The winners from round 1 will make the money and return on Tuesday, with the winners of those tables playing on Wednesday to determine a winner. With a 1,000 player cap last year, Jeffrey Carris won this event last year, good for $313,673. The 5pm tournament is the $2,500 Razz, won by Jeff Lisandro in a field of 315 for $188,390.

10k Stud 8 Final Table Set

The final table of the $10,000 Stud 8 or Better final table has been set, with plenty of big names looking to take down a bracelet this evening. Here’s how the final table will look when play resumed at 9pm:

Seat 1: Jennifer Harman – 861,000
Seat 2: Steve Zolotow – 684,000
Seat 3: Frank Kassela – 800,000
Seat 4: John Juanda – 787,000
Seat 5: Vladimir Schmelev – 304,000
Seat 6: Kirill Rabtsov – 882,000
Seat 7: Allen Kessler – 467,000
Seat 8: Dario Minieri – 316,000

Follow the split-pot action at PokerNews.

Vance Still Best in $1k NL

Matt Vance remains the chip leader (1,100,000) with 19 remaining on day 3 of the $1,000 No-Limit Holdem event. David Baker, no relation to 50k Player’s Championship final tablist David “Bakes” Baker, has 990,000. It was hoped that they would play down to a finish, but that looks unlikely at this time, so they’ll stop when they reach the final 9. See what does happen by following over at PokerNews.

$1,500 NL 6-max Day 2

The $1,500 No-Limit Holdem 6-max has under 50 players remaining, with Michael Myers the current chip leader with 385,000. Other notables include Ray Henson (329,000), Jordan Morgan (240,000), and Mark Seif (200,000). Follow the updates and results over at wsop.com.

$5,000 NL Day 1

The only tournament to start this afternoon, the $5,000 No-Limit Holdem event drew a field of 792 players, up over 100 from last year’s edition. Under 500 remain after the dinner break at the end of level 6 with Amit Makhija currently in front with 83,000 in chips. Other notables near the top: Chino Rheem (60,000), Perry Friedman (55,000), Scott Fischman (53,000) and defending champion Brian Lemke (48,900). More updates and chip counts are available at wsop.com.

Matros Wins Limit Holdem Bracelet

Matt Matros won the $1,500 Limit Holdem for $189,870, defeating Ahmad Abghari in heads-up play. The full results and Nolan Dalla’s tournament report is available at wsop.com.

Binger Highest at Lowball Final Table

The final table of the $1,500 No-Limit 2-7 Lowball, Single Draw final table resumes at 3pm with this lineup, you can follow all the tournament action over at PokerNews:

Seat 1: James Bord – 83,800
Seat 2: Alexander Kravchenko – 144,500
Seat 3: Mike Wattel – 146,000
Seat 4: Yan Chen – 182,500
Seat 5: Derric Haynie – 189,000
Seat 6: Nick Binger – 309,500
Seat 7: Todd Bui – 68,500

1k NL field combines for Day 2

Day 2 of the $1,000 No-Limit Holdem event drew a total field of 3,042 players, with 445 players remaining for a 2:30pm start. Andy Black is the current chip leader with 90,275 in chips. 324 players will make the money, with the winner pocketing $472,479. A full list of chip counts can be found at wsop.com.

Stud 8 World Championship

Marco Johnson will start day 2 of the $10,000 Seven Card Stud Hi/Lo World Championship as the chip leader (121,500) when play resumes at 3pm. Phil Ivey is currently in third place (109,800) with Jennifer Harman (93,500) and Barry Greenstein (88,700) towards the top of the leaderboard. The tournament drew a field of 170 entrants, with 112 remaining. 16 players make the money with a first place prize of $447,446. A full list of the remaining field is up at wsop.com.

First 6-max at this year’s WSOP

Monday’s only tournament is the $1,500 NL Holdem 6-Max event starting at noon. Last year’s winner was Ken “Teach” Aldridge, who defeated a field of 1,459 good for $428,259.

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.

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.

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.

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.

Hellmuth in Contention for Bracelet #12

Day 3 of the $1,500 No-Limit Holdem event has 25 players remaining when play resumes at 2:30pm this afternoon. The current chip leader is Saar Wilf with 1,207,000 followed by 2009 Casino Employees winner Andrew Cohen with 1,025,000. But the name that most will be following today is Phil Hellmuth, 5th with 567,000 in chips, going for his 12th WSOP bracelet. If he made the final table, would a decision be made to stop and hold the final table on Saturday in front of ESPN cameras?

Gelencser Tops in Lowball

Hungarian Peter Gelenscer bested Raphael Zimmerman in heads-up play to take down the $2,500 2-7 Triple Draw Lowball bracelet along with $180,730. Zimmerman pockets $111,686 for the runner-up finish, while Don McNamara finished third for $73,803. Full results and Nolan Dalla’s tournament report can be found at wsop.com.

Play Pauses Prior to Payouts in Pot-Limit

After much discussion, tournament directors decided to halt play with 65 players remaining, two players short of the money in the $1,500 Pot-Limit holdem event. James Dempsey ended the day as the leader with 205,900 in chips. Original November Niner Scott Montgomery is in 2nd with 193,300. Notables in contention: JJ Liu (123,900), Joe Serock (70,400), Melissa Hayden (64,800), and Christian Harder (45,200). Team Pokerati’s Tom Schneider is also hanging around with 20,100 in chips. The full list of chip counts is available over at wsop.com.

Mizrachi and Schmelev 1-2 in Stud

The $10,000 Seven Card Stud World Championship concluded play after eight levels with the top two finishers in the $50,000 Players’ Championship, Michael Mizrachi (191,900) and Vladimir Schmelev (180,000) 1st and 2nd in chips with 85 players remaining. Plenty of notables are remaining, the full list is at wsop.com. Just 16 will make the money when play resumes at 3:00 this afternoon.

Friday’s Festivities

The third $1,500 No-Limit Holdem event of the WSOP gets underway at 12 noon today with another 2000+ player field expected. For comparison purposes, Mike Eise is the defending champion of this event, besting a field of 2,638 for $639,331.

At 5pm is the $1,500 Limit Holdem event, won last year by Tomas Alenius in a field of 643.

Tieman Takes Down Title

The $5,000 No-Limit Shootout final table with Joshua Tieman eliminating the final four players to take down the coveted WSOP bracelet, along with $441,692. Tieman disposed of veteran British pro Neil Channing in heads-up play, earning $273,153 for Channing. Stuart Rutter ($179,617), Joseph Elpayaa ($125,387), Nicolas Levi ($92,543) and Brent Hanks ($71,998) rounded out the final table results.

2-7 Lowball Final Table

The $2,500 2-7 Triple Draw Lowball is down to three players with Raphael Zimmerman the chip leader (865,000), followed by Dan McNamara (675,000) and Peter Gelenscer (612,000). David Chiu ($50,517), Jameson Painter ($34,843). and Leonard Martin ($24,723) were the others at the final table. Follow the action over at PokerNews.

$1,500 NL Day 2

The $1,500 No-Limit Holdem event is down to under 80 players as the field is now at their one hour dinner break. The chip leader is Jose Gatmaitan at 350,000. Notables with chips: Josh Schlein (196,000), Matt Stout (150,000), Phil Hellmuth (145,000), and Steve Sung (85,000). The field returns to play five one-hour levels or reach the final table, whichever happens first. Follow PokerNews to get all the latest updates.

Taking it to the Pot-Limit

The first tournament to start on Thursday, $1,500 Pot-Limit Holdem starting with a field of 650, with under 200 remaining when they return from their 90-minute dinner break to play four more one-hour levels. The final 63 players in the field cash, with the winner earning $197,470. Chad Batista is the current chip leader (52,000), followed by notables Justin Bonomo (32,000), Liv Boeree (26,500), Team Pokerati’s Tom Schneider (22,000) Lex Veldhuis (17,000) and Eric Froehlich (15,000).

World Championship Stud Starts

The $10,000 Seven Card Stud World Championship got underway at 5pm this afternoon, with a field of about 148 when registration closed. Yuval Bronshtein has already doubled up his starting stack of 30,000 to take the early lead. He’s followed closely by Daniel Negreanu (51,800), Robert Mizrachi (49,000) and Scotty Nguyen (35,000). For updates and a full list of entrants, check out wsop.com for more information.

Daya Takes down $1,000 NL bracelet

The first $1,000 No-Limit Holdem bracelet of this year’s WSOP was awarded to Canadian Aadam Daya defeating Deepak Bhatti in heads-up play. Daya won the sixth-largest live poker tournament in history, besting a field of 4,345 players to earn $625,872. Bhatti picked up $385,106 for the runner-up finish. The full list of results and Nolan Dalla’s tournament report is available at WSOP.com.

Bansi’s Best for bracelet #2

Praz Bansi picked up his 2nd career WSOP bracelet, winning the $1,500 No-Limit Holdem bracelet, defeating Vincent Jacques heads-up to prevent a Canadian sweep of bracelets on Wednesday. Jacques earned $320,913 for falling just short of a bracelet, the full list of results and Dalla’s report are online here.

Channing, Levi headline Shootout Final Table

The final table of the $5,000 No-Limit Shootout gets underway at 2:30pm this afternoon with these six players, each with the same starting stack of 1,500,000:

Neil Channing
Stuart Rutter
Nicolas Levi
Brent Hanks
Joseph Elpayaa
Joshua Tieman

Triple Draw almost reaches their final table

Play at the $2,500 2-7 Triple Draw Lowball ended earlier this morning with its final table just out of reach, returning at 4pm this afternoon to determine a winner. Among those who made the money: Team Pokerati’s Pat Poels (10th for $12,232), Ted Forrest (12th for $9,972), Jordan Seigel and Allen Kessler (16th and 17th for $7,663 each). The rest of the results can be found here. Here’s the eight players looking for a bracelet:

David Chiu 436,000
Peter Gelencser 400,000
Don Mcnamara 370,000
Raphael Zimmerman 262,000
Tad Jurgens 223,000
Leonard Martin 195,000
Shunjiro Uchida 173,000
Jameson Painter 127,000

Schlein Leads $1,500 NL for Day 2

Josh Schlein leads the remaining 270 players returning at 2:30pm for day 2 of the $1,500 No-Limit Holdem with 127,300 in chips. Other notables on the leaderboard: Jean-Robert Bellande (89,200), Phil Hellmuth (84,700), and Amnon Filippi (55,800). The full list of chip counts can be found at PokerNews.

Thursday’s Tournaments

The $1,500 Pot-Limit Holdem event starts at 12pm today, won last year by John Paul Kelly for over $190,000 in besting a field of 633. A compact field is expected at 5pm today for the $10,000 Seven-Card Stud World Championship won by Freddie Ellis last year, winning over $370,000 as the last man standing in a field of 142.

50k Players’ Down to Five

David Oppenheim holds a commanding lead with five players remaining at the final table of the $50,000 Players’ Championship. Oppenheim currently has about 8,000,000 in chips with Vladimir Schemelev (3,000,000) John Juanda (2,000,000), Robert Mizrachi (1,400,000) and Michael Mizrachi (1,100,000) the remaining players as they go on dinner break. David “Bakes” Baker ($272.275), Daniel Alaei ($221,105) and Mikael Hurwitz ($182,463) were the first three eliminated at the final table. Follow the live reporting over at PokerNews.

Two Tables Left in 1k

The $1,000 NL Holdem event is down to 18 players as they return from their dinner break shortly. The current plan is for a winner to be determined tonight, although they will reevaluate when they get down to nine.. The current chip leader is Samuel Paolini at 1,600,000, followed by Cory Brown (1,360,000), Dash Dudley (1,345,000) and Aadam Daya (1,100,000). CardPlayer POY Eric Baldwin is among the final 18 (740,000) as well as Gabe Costner (500,000) and Jeremiah DeGreef (355,000).

Eleven Left in Omaha 8

Eleven players remain in the $1,500 Omaha 8 or Better event as the field returns from dinner break. Sasha Rosewood remains the chip leader (750,000), while Dan Heimiller (380,000) and Ylon Schwartz (120,000) the other recognized names in the field. The field will have a very late night as they play to a bracelet winner.

Under 100 in $1,500 NL

The $1,500 NL Holdem event is down to about 80 with ten levels or they reach the final table this evening. Praz Bansi is the leader with 300,000, with Chris Moorman (240,000), Adam Levy (165,000) and Dwyte Pilgrim (160,000) near the top of the leaderboard. Updates on the action can be found here.

NL Shootout Day 1

The $5,000 NL Holdem Shootout drew a field of 358 situated around 36 tables, each playing down to a winner. Those who win their table are guaranteed $16,607, and move on to meet the other winners Wednesday afternoon. Some who have already moved on: Faraz Jaka, Neil Channing, James Akenhead, Chris Ferguson, Chino Rheem and Dario Minieri. To see who else advances, those updates are available here.

Lowball on the Rise

The $2,500 2-7 Triple Draw Lowball event drew a field of at least 270, slightly higher then last year. It’s a little early for a clear leader to be established, but Andy Bloch, Sorel Mizzi and Team Pokerati’s own Julie Schneider are reported to have an above average 7,500 chip starting stack. The field will play eight levels tonight, more updates can be found here.

The seller is Plano Pawn Shop (“specializing in fine jewelry and firearms”), who has a 100 percent positive feedback rating after 314 eBay sales. Plano, of course, is the suburb next door to TJ’s home in Richardson … and on the way to the Choctaw Casino in Oklahoma, not to mention some of the bigger private games in the Dallas area.

UPDATE: His bracelet from the Scotty Nguyen Poker Challenge IV is also up for sale.

Via Bluff Magazine.

The WPT Festa al Lago final table gets underway this afternoon/eve (4pm PT). After all the early tourney hubbub about super-late registrations and related blind structures, the final table looks not unlike just about every other WPT final table — with one well-known pro, one kinda-sorta known pro (Vedes), and four other guys.

Freddy Deeb is the chip leader going into today’s action, but not by much. This is Deeb’s fifth WPT final table (out of 70 appearances) and stands to be his third win, which would tie the WPT bracelet record currently held by Gus Hansen. Deeb also has two WSOP bracelets to his name.

The Festa al Lago final table, by chip count, with seats yet to be drawn:

1. Freddy Deeb – 3,840,000
2. Shawn Cunix – 3,670,000
3. Tommy Vedes – 2,990,000
4. Craig Crivello – 2,570,000
5. Jason Lavallee – 2,045,000
6. Jason Burt – 1,375,000

You can follow the play-by-play at WorldPokerTour.com or via PokerListings here.

Check it out, he did a repeat performance of his Caesarian entrance … but this time with actual animals parading through the streets of London. Gag away:

But here’s the funny part … so he had all his tunic-clad ladies, each representing a bracelet … but when they got to the casino door, they couldn’t get in because they didn’t have their ID’s!

More details here:

Phil Hellmuth WSOPE Entrance FAIL