2001 WSOP – Episode 37: Pseudo-Final Table (6:02) – Dan and Pauly are on the rail of the Mothership as action resumes for the pseudo-final table of ten, otherwise known as the November Nine bubble. Plenty of tension in the air because the final table will be set with just one more elimination.

For more episodes, visit the Tao of Pokerati archives.

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• The biggest money of the week was on the line at the Festa al Lago, the latest stop of Season 9 of the World Poker Tour. There were some heavy-hitting young guns that reached this final table, including Andy Frankenberger, who was coming off of a victory at the Legends of Poker. Randall Flowers managed to add “youngest two-time WPT winner” to an already impressive resume at the tender age of 22. Flowers, who banked $831,500 for his win, was also the youngest to win a WPT title, which he did in Barcelona before he even turned 21. [World Poker Tour]

• The $1,500 World Series of Poker Circuit at Horseshoe Hammond Main Event wrapped up early Monday morning, with the appropriately named Kurt Jewell snagging the circuit ring and $242,909. Amongst the notables at this final table were William Reynolds, who took third, and Bryan Devonshire taking seventh. The $10,000 Regional Championship, which will air on Versus, will get underway Monday. [WSOP]

• There are many different options for the members of the November Nine as they prepare for the WSOP final table. They could follow the major poker tours and play other big buy-in events, take a trip to clear their minds, or hire a coach to fine-tune their skills. Or, as in the case of Filippo Candio, they could get in amongst the grinders and play a $230 prelim event, in this case Event #1 at the Caesars Classic. Candio brought his A-Game in this one, reaching the final table in the 232 player field before falling just short in 3rd place, banking a cool$4,726. (The attached story is in Italian, so if you don’t have a knowledge of the language it might be time to crack out the Google translator, or maybe go old school and try Babelfish). [Tuttosport]

• Maybe Candio started a trend, as he wasn’t the only November Niner doing well in prelims. With the World Poker Finals Main Event (the next stop on the WPT) fast approaching, John Dolan made a deep run in a $1,500 event, eventually making a three-way deal and taking second place for $45,000. In a twist that might be more appropriate for Soccerati, ESPN Soccer commentator Adrian Healey took third place for $40,000. [Foxwoods Live]

• In the online world, Sorel Mizzi started things off early with a win in the PokerStars Sunday Warm-Up for $149,737.10. The biggest money of the day online was to be had in the $1.5 million guarantee, with “Bodog Ari” Engel making the final table and finishing seventh for $32,856; “ramondemon” won $246,424 for taking that one down. On the FullTilt side of things, “EatMyBluff8″ was the big winner in their $750,000 guarantee, winning $135,939.

• And just in time for Halloween, we have a tale from beyond the grave. The late, great Dean Martin made the final table in a recent Borgata $1,000 event. Although I always thought Atlantic City was more a Sinatra town. Oh well. [Cardplayer]

Full Tilt began offering these online a while back, but no clue how they worked out. According to the sign, these were the first ever in a land-based casino. I ventured over to see how it was playing, but they were down to three and it seemed at this point it was just straight poker. Mel Judah sat at the final table but wasn’t playing. I assumed he was sweating, or at least trying to woo, the lovely middle-age Asian lady still with chips. That may or may not have been true, but turns out primarily Judah was there because it was his game — supposedly his creation.

See for yourself what Mel is up to at CashoutPoker.com.

UPDATE: Oops, turns out the lovely lady was JJ Liu. One of these days I will learn actual players.

Hard Rock charity knocks

Upon his own early elimination, Gavin Smith took over as charity photog, no-flash rules be damned!

Also stopped by the Hard Rock this weekend … first time since Detox and the shuttering of their room (and operations) that made @hardrockpoker the Pokerati game’s home for most of 2010. No new-resto construct has begun — just a bunch of tables stuffed in the back of the old room, with their previously decorative orange-luxe highback leather chairs lined up in front of the TVs that used to entertain 1/2 players. With football on and one viewer lounging per screen, It was both awesome and sad.

Anyhow, the new smaller spot is still called the “Poker Lounge” … nice-ish, but looks unsettled in. And though it seemed clear from a matter of simple square footage that the Hard Rock’s days as a red-carpet poker venue are gone, none of that seemed to stop the good times at Gavin Smith’s Darius Goes West charity tourney (with Bryan Devonshire) … which was kinda a birthday party for the namesake beneficiary, Darius Weems, the kid with an extra-funky form of muscular dystrophy that Smith says inspired him to a WSOP bracelet this summer. Darius had just turned 21 (he wasn’t supposed to live past 16 I think?) … and really, can you think of a better host to welcome those coming of age into the glorious world of degenerate gambling?

Here’s video from the final table, with Layne Flack, David Plastik, and at least one semi-awkward kiss:

BTW, fwiw, the Hard Rock has changed their basic game to 1/3 NL, with a $500 max buy-in.

Elsewhere in Vegas …

Unvetted, unconfirmed word has it that Fiesta Henderson has closed their poker room. Supposedly they lost their players to the Club Fortune casino, which began holding a $40 bounty tourney ($10 for each knockout) and taking a better-for-locals high hand jackpot drop. (You’ll have to pardon Pokerati for not digging into this plausibly controversial game-shift.)

And here’s a globally funny poker picture … from power Vegas player Eric Baldwin at EPT-London:

Donkament Disappointing?

Day 1a of the Event #3 – $1,000 No-limit Holdem tournament drew a field of 2,601 entries today, a disappointment for those expecting a field of over 7,000 battling for this bracelet over the weekend. The 788 players who made it to the dinner break are returning shortly for another four levels of play. The unofficial chip leader is PokerRoad’s Joe Sebok with 27,000 chips. Other notable chip counts: Amarillo Slim (21,000), Chris Bjorin (20,000) and Bryan Devonshire, (17,500). Track the action for this event over at PokerNews.

First bracelet winner to be determined tonight

Just 18 players remain in the first WSOP bracelet event the $500 Casino Employees Event have returned from their dinner break, with Kent Washington maintaining the chip lead at 332,000 in chips. You can follow the action for this event over at PokerNews.com.

Players’ Championship Day 2

The $50,000 Players’ Championship field is currently on their one-hour dinner break at the conclusion of level eight with 90 players remaining. The current chip leader appears to be Steve Zolotow, with 420,000 in chips. Some of the fallen who may be looking to watch UFC 114 include: Phil Galfond, Tony G, and Todd Brunson. When play resumes, the field will play another three levels before the bag up their chips, sign their name, and hopefully don’t be recorded as busted when they decided not to report their chip counts. To catch the action of this event over at PokerNews, head here.

Also … in an April 1st treat (ha ha listeners), BJ steps outside his usual fact-stat box to sub for Joe Stapleton and deliver the Tight Laydown. What-the … manager mixing it up in preparation for the World Cup. Tune in next week as Gary pretends to be Huff by wearing a tie on the air and I reveal myself to be Isildur1 and/or The Insider outs himself as @AsianSpa!

The Poker Beat
4/1/10

Jeffrey Carris was the last one standing in the $1,500 NL Holdem Shootout besting Jason Somerville in a brief heads-up battle as noted by Dan in the post below me. Carris collects over $300,000, while Somerville settles for nearly $200,000 in tournament winnings.

BKiCe BKiCe Baby, Too Cold

19 players return to the Rio at 1pm today in the $1,500 NL Holdem event, with Anirudh Seth or Seth Anirudh, listed in the chip counts as Andy Seth, better known as BKiCe online is the current chip leader with 1,407,000. Notables remaining include: Alan Jaffray (1,193,000), November Nine bubble boy Dean Hamrick (629,000), British actor Michael Greco (546,000) , and a triumvirate of Houstonians (Pete Vilandos – 325,000, Roberto Correa – 309,000 and Ali Davoudi – 254,000).
This final table of this event of this event is scheduled to appear at Bluff or wsop.pkr.com for international viewers, but that could change if the other final table for today gets there first.

Omaha 8/Stud 8 a real page “Turner”

Jon Turner will lead the 14 players back to complete the $2,500 Omaha 8/Stud 8 event, also resume at 1pm today. Turner will start with 465,000 in chips followed by notables Carlos Mortensen (328,000), Blair Rodman (290,000), Steve Wong (226,000), Phil Ivey (161,000) and Chad Brown (23,000).

Von Halle of Fame for Jon?

$1,500 Limit Holdem resumes at 2pm today with 124 players vying for the final nine seats, with Jon Von Halle the current chip leader at 68,300. Some of the notables looking to make some money back on their investment include: Bill Chen (60,600), Justin Bonomo (44,800), Richard Brodie (41,500), Nikki Harris (39,400), and Bryan Devonshire (34,100).

PLO 8 is Great for Newitt

Jason Newitt (185,900) is the chip leader at the end of Day 1 in the $5,000 PLO 8 or Better event. He’ll join 58 others at 2pm to play down to the final table with notables such as Andy Black (97,000), Jeff Lisandro (92,000), Daniel Negreanu (78,300), Barry Shulman (49,800), Phil Ivey (40,800) still in contention.

Return of the Donkament and Heads-Up!

Saturday brings two more events to the tournament roster starting with yet another version of the $1,500 NL Holdem event as another 2,500+ being put through the grinder to see which donks survive today. Last year’s version of this particular donkament was won by Jesper Hougaard in a field of 2,447. Hougaard also won a bracelet last year at the WSOP Europe, so could another double be in the offing for this year’s winner? The WSOP Staff Guide projected a field of 2,534, but expect closer to 2800 to enter when play starts at 12pm today.

The $10,000 NL Holdem Heads-Up World Championship also starts today with a capacity field of 256 expected when play starts at 5pm. Kenny Tran is the defending champion in this event, winning over $530,000 last year. Winners of the 5pm matches will return at 10pm for round 2.

More updates during the day at Pokerati, and for other live update coverage, check out www.wsop.com starting at 12pm PT.

Some kidding aside, maybe a tournament with only 373 players is a bit of a downer from the massive tournaments at the WSOP this summer. And it should be noted that last year’s attendance at the WPT Legends main event was 485, which makes for a pretty significant drop-off in just one year. Sure, there were a few players who are on their way to Macau for the APT and APPT but not enough to make up the difference. Maybe people are just flat-ass broke from the WSOP.

The vibe at the Bicycle Casino was a positive one, though, as the big names rolled in and seemed genuinely happy to see each other. As Bryan Devonshire said, “It’s like a class reunion!” Most players seemed in good spirits, but more due to the juicy cash games going on at Commerce and possibly Hustler casinos. Freddy Deeb told me that the games were so good at Commerce that he’s been in L.A. for three weeks playing them and hesitated to even come over to the Bike for Legends. (He busted on Day 2 and was excited to get back to his deuce-to-seven single draw game.)

Going into Day 3 today, Adam Weinraub leads the pack of 79 players, after also leading after Day 1A. The name might sound familiar, as he took down the WPT Invitational two years ago at Commerce. He owns a company here in Orange County so doesn’t play on the circuit regularly, but he does like to get in a tournament in L.A. or Vegas when he can. And, I must say, that he is a fantastically friendly and humble guy. Go Adam!

Other big names in the top ten today include Matt Keikoan, Max Pescatori, Mark Seif, and Marco Johnson. Players will hit the money today – top 36 players get paid – and they should be down to 27 by the end of the night.

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:

The $50,000 HORSE event is down to their final 24, of which only 16 get paid. They’re also playing down to their final table to be taped in front of the real ESPN cameras. Here’s how the final 3 tables will start play today:

(Table 1)
James Mackey — 151,000
Farzad Bonyadi — 365,000
Ralph Perry — 1,043,000
Joseph Michael — 647,000
Lyle Berman — 939,000
Barry Greenstein — 1,311,000
Mike Wattel — 474,000
Phil Ivey — 145,000

(Table 2)
Michael DeMichele — 1,351,000
Andy Bloch — 421,000
Brandon Adams — 290,000
Huck Seed — 190,000
Chad Brown — 81,000
Patrick Bueno — 806,000
Gabe Kaplan — 360,000
Scotty Nguyen — 1,033,000

(Table 3)
Matt Glantz — 521,000
Raymond Davis — 438,000
Erick Lindgren — 485,000
Edwin Ting — 261,000
Daniel Negreanu — 1,226,000
David Bach — 801,000
Michael Mizrachi — 701,000
Doyle Brunson — 777,000

The $2,000 NL Holdem event ended play last night when the bubble burst, so the 198 who return for day 2 will be in the money. Eric Crain appears to be chip leader with around 210,000 in chips, other notables include Blair Rodman, Lou Esposito, Sarah Bilney, Bryan Devonshire, David Pham, Fu Wong, Kirill Gerasimov and Jason Lester.

The noon tournament today is the next to last version of the $1,500 NL donkament, won last year by some guy with a long name in a field of 3,151. This year’s field will again be down from last year, as another sellout at 2,720 is to be expected.

To make a long post even longer, here’s the winners from last week and other stats so far in the Series:

Number of entrants:
Number of bracelets awarded: 45
Multiple bracelet winners: John Phan (2)
Most cashes: Nikolay Evdakov – 8
Most final tables: Jacobo Fernandez, Alex Bolotin, David Benyamine – 3
Milwaukee’s Best WSOP POY: Fernandez – 227 points
Leading money earner: David Benyamine – $941,651

$1,500 NL Holdem – Jesper Hougaard
$10,000 Omaha Eight or Better World Championship – David Benyamine
$2,000 Pot Limit Holdem – Davidi Katai
$1,500 NL Holdem – David Woo
$2,500 Limit 2-7 Triple Draw Lowball – John Phan
$1,500 Mixed Holdem – David Gary
$1,000 Seniors NL Holdem World Championship – Dan Lacourse
$1,500 Pot Limit Omaha Eight or Better – Martin Klaser
$1,000 NL Holdem with Rebuys – Max Greenwood

The WPT World Poker Challenge wrapped up in Reno this evening.

David Pham attempted to claim his first WPT win after finishing third in the same event in 2007. Lee Markholt was at his first WPT final table in 15 cashes – six in the current WPT season alone – and tried to seize the moment. Bryan Devonshire was going for his first major tournament win after a second place finish at the 2007 WSOP.

In the end, Markholt beat Bryan Devonshire in heads-up action in only two hands. Not sure who wanted that title more, but Markholt clearly had the chip advantage that allowed him to take it so quickly.

The final results of the final table were:

1st place: Lee Markholt – $493,815
2nd place: Bryan Devonshire – $271,625
3rd place: Zachary Hyman – $149,862
4th place: Jason Potter – $103,030
5th place: David Pham – $93,664
6th place: Jeff DeWitt – $84,297

Congrats to Lee! And congrats to Devo for an admirable run at the title!

All of the details of the final table can be read over at WPT Live Updates.

Side note: Last year’s World Poker Challenge brought 425 players out for the $5k buy-in event. This year, the buy-in was raised to $7500, and only 261 players entered. Thus, the small prize pool and payouts. Coincidentally – or not – Reno was not on the recently-released Season VII WPT schedule.