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.

Men Master’s Stud for Bracelet #7

The $10,000 Seven Card Stud World Championship was won by Men “The Master” Nguyen defeating Brandon Adams heads-up to win his 7th WSOP bracelet and $394,807, moving him into a tie for 5th place with Phil Ivey and Billy Baxter. The full results and Nolan Dalla’s tournament report are now online at wsop.com.

Dempsey Flush with a Bracelet

James “Flushy” Dempsey wins his first WSOP bracelet, in the $1,500 Pot-Limit Holdem event, defeating Steve Chanthabousay heads-up to win $197,470. A complete list of results plus Nolan Dalla’s report is at wsop.com.

Dwan Durrrrable in $1,500 NL

Day 3 of the $1,500 No-Limit Holdem has Tom “Durrrr” Dwan the chip leader (1,068,000) with 21 players remaining. Play resumes at 2:30pm to play down to a winner and PokerNews will be following all the action.

Lucky Thirteen Going for Limit Bracelet

Day 3 of the $1,500 Limit Holdem event has 13 players returning at 3pm to play down to a winner. Jason Potter moves into the chip lead (371,000) followed by day 1 chip leader Jameson Painter (307,000) in second. Terrence Chan (288,000), Matt Matros (272,000) and Frank Kassela (162,000) are the other notables returning this afternoon. Find all chip counts and live updates this afternoon over at PokerNews.

The 15% Solution

Day 1a of the second$1,000 No-Limit Holdem played about halfway into level 9 this morning, with 278 players, about 15% of the field, returning Monday at 2:30pm. This decision was made after last weekend’s $1,000 event had players getting eliminated too quickly, a problem Tao of Pokerati discussed with Ty Stewart. The current chip leader is Andy Black (90,275), with Phil Gordon (44,225), Jena Delk (34,300), Shaun Deeb (26,850), Victor Ramdin (23,350) and An Tran (20,350) are some of the recognizable names returning Monday at 2:30pm. The full list of players and their chip counts is now available over at PokerNews.

Binger Best in 2-7 Lowball

A field of 67 returns Sunday afternoon at 3pm for day 2 of the $1,500 No-Limit 2-7 Lowball, Single Draw with Nick Binger the leader with 54,300 in chips. Scott Seiver is in 2nd with 46,875, with Chino Rheem in 3rd with 42,725. Other notables include Dario Minieri (31,725), 2-7 Triple Draw Lowball winner Peter Gelenscer (21,925), Michael Binger (17,350) and Erick Lindgren (16,600). Only 28 make the money, with the winner earning $92,817. The full list of players counts is at PokerNews.

Sunday’s Bracelet Action

Starting at 12pm is day 1b of the $1,000 No-Limit Holdem event, will there be a smaller field like last week? The 5pm tournament starts the $10,000 Seven Card Stud Hi/Lo World Championship. Jeff Lisandro won this event last year in a field of 164, one of the three he won in 2009. Plenty of big names are expected to turn out for their chance to win a bracelet without so many donks in the field.

Team Americas: Daniel Negreanu (captain), Phil Ivey, Phil Hellmuth and John Juanda

Team Europe: Annette Obrestad (captain), Peter Eastgate, Dario Minieri, Bertrand Grospellier

I still don’t quite have a grasp on the format, or how the other four slots will be selected. But I do know Euros can qualify for a seat on their team via our good mates at Betfair Poker.

Baldwin Hits a Grand Slam with Bracelet

Eric “basebaldy” Baldwin a member of the 2005 NCAA Division III University of Wisconsin-Whitewater baseball team, took down the $2,000 NL Holdem event early Friday morning, besting Dane Jonas Klausen in heads-up play to take home over $520,000 in winnings and his first career bracelet. Baldwin picks up his second major tournament victory of the year, he won the $2,500 NL Holdem main event at the Venetian Deep Stacks Extravaganza II in April.

Mizzi Mastering PLO

Sorel Mizzi leads the final 11 when day 3 of the $5,000 Pot-Limit Omaha event when play resumes at 1pm today, with the hope of having a final table of nine ready for the 2pm internet broadcast on ESPN360 and wsop.pkr.com. Here’s how the remaining players are currently seated:

Seat 1: Rifat Palevic (949,000)
Seat 3: Samuel Ngai (207,000)
Seat 4: Dan Hindin (342,000)
Seat 5: Felipe Ramos (323,000)
Seat 7: Richard Austin (537,000)

Seat 1: Van Marcus (482,000)
Seat 2: Peter Jetten (370,000)
Seat 3: Jeppe Nielsen (242,000)
Seat 5: Sorel Mizzi (969,000)
Seat 7: Cliff Josephy (805,000)
Seat 8: Isaac Baron (170,000)

Corwin Cole Claims Cardinal Condition

Corwin Cole is the chip leader at 185,700 when day 2 of the $2,000 NL Holdem event resumes at 2pm today with 213 players remaining, 171 making the money. Other notables returning include: Dustin Dirksen (145,000), Shaun Deeb (88,500), Chino Rheem (74,600), Rob Hollink (53,500), and Eugene Todd (48,500).

Tuan Top Stud

Tuan Le is the reported chip leader of the $10,000 Stud 8 or Better World Championship when play resumes at 2pm today with 110 players remaining, 16 getting paid. Le has 234,000, with Los Angeles Lakers CEO Frank Mariani in second place with 111,300. Tom Schneider is among the returnees with 83,300, good for 8th place. Dario Minieri (81,500), Nick Schulman (73,000), Jerry Buss (67,800), David Benyamine (65,400), and Mike Sexton (53,400) are some of the other notables hoping to play on Saturday’s final table.

Friday’s Tournament

Only one tournament kicks off today, the $2,000 Limit Holdem event, which was won last year by Daniel Negreanu in a field of 479, good for just over $200,000. The WSOP Staff Guide projection for this event is 480, but don’t be surprised if just over 500 take to the felt today.

More stuff during the day at Pokerati, and catch the live updates over at www.wsop.com

Brock Parker, a former Magic the Gathering player, knocked off Daniel Negreanu heads-up to take down his first bracelet in the $2,500 Limit Holdem 6-max event last night.

“Stamdogg” Top Dog in $2,500 NL

Keven “Stamdogg” Stammen bested Angel Guillen to collect over $500,000 and his first bracelet in the $2,500 NL Holdem event.

WSOP, Where Final Tables Actually Happen on Time, Sometimes

The $1,500 7 Card Stud event reached their final table earlier this morning, with action starting at 2pm today. The participants are:

Seat 1: Jeff Lisandro (334,000)
Seat 2: Eric Pardey (217,000)
Seat 3: Nick Frangos (84,000)
Seat 4: John Juanda (287,000)
Seat 5: Mitch Schock (83,000)
Seat 6: Steven Stencil (323,000)
Seat 7: Rod Pardey (245,000)
Seat 8: Daniel Studer (43,000)

Our Pokerati cohort Robert Goldfarb finished 29th for $2,945.

Monday’s other final table will take place later this afternoon in the $5,000 NL Holdem event. Faraz Jaka was the last player eliminated when the clock struck 3am, and with 17 players remaining, Isaac Baron is the chip leader (1,101,000). Other notables remaining: David Pham (880,000), Mike Sowers (583,000), Liya Gerasmova (527,000), Lars Bonding (365,000), Thomas Keller (314,000) and David Benefield (239,000). The players will be returning at 12 noon tomorrow, which didn’t make Bonding or Keller too happy about hearing that news, as this will be streamed on ESPN360 and PKR later this afternoon.

Ladies and Omaha Returnees

The $1,000 Ladles NL Holdem World Championship returns with 146 remaining, of which 117 get paid. The reported chip leader is Tammy Tibbles, with 129,700 in chips. Defending champion Svetlana Gromenkova is in 2nd (62,200). Other notable ladies returning at 2pm today include: Lisa Parsons (46,300), JJ Liu (38,300), Susie Isaacs (32,600), and Maria Ho (24,800).

The $10,000 Omaha 8 or Better World Championship returns with 129 players remaining, 111 of which will leave with nothing. Chris Bjorin is the day 1 chip leader at (134,400) with Scott Clements (130,800), defending champion David Benyamine (94,800) and Phil Hellmuth (83,700) in the top 10. Selected notables include: Phil Ivey, (80,000) Thang Luu (63,400), and Matt Savage (60,100) among the returnees at 2pm today.

Monday: Only One Today

Only one tournament today, the $2,500 NL Holdem 6-max event. Last year, it was won by Dario Minieri in a field of 1,012 for over $528,000. The WSOP Staff Guide projection for this event was set at 1,113. With the recent downward trend in tournament entries, take the under expecting just over 1,000 to take to the felt.

That’s all for me, but more stuff can be found at Pokerati during the day.

For the entire WSOP season click here.

The heretofore unheard old-new episodes, salvaged from the cut-and-pasting room floor:

Episode 30: The Cost of Donuts
Grubby joins the media to talk main event numbers and the price of trendy donuts in today’s oil economy. (3:19)

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Episode 31: Scotchy Poker
Dan+scotch early in the WSOP day=talk of Dario Minieri and Isabelle Mercier. (4:02)

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Episode 32: French Warfare
Benjo takes over the mic when Dan calls in drunk, and he and Pauly talk more about Isabelle Mercier live from the Day 2 killing fields. (5:14)

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Episode 33: New York & Texas
Michele Lewis joins in as Dan and Pauly break down the difference between Texas and New York humor, or at least the difference between Pauly and Dan. (2:40)

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Episode 34: Go Team!
Dallas’ Raj Kattamuri is going deep, and Pauly tracks down Dan in the poker kitchen to find out what it takes to be patched up on Team Pokerati. (2:37)

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Episode 35: No Wiener
Benjo is not his usual jovial self as the main event comes to a close and he bids farewell to his American friends in the penultimate WSOP episode of Tao of Pokerati. (4:41)

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Episode 36: Unhookered
The traditional late-late night poker-blogger farewell binge drinking at the Rio’s Hooker Bar, with guest appearances by Otis and Mean Gene. (3:29)

Matt from the PokerStars PR company told me that the party was filled to capacity with 1300 people, and there were still lines of people trying to get in. Makes sense…it was wall-to-wall people in there. Oh, and there were free drinks.

The big story of the night was the locked lips of Isabelle Mercier and Dario Minieri. Evidently, there was no shame and no realization that despite a ban on cameras in the joint, everyone has cell phones with photo capability. Those pics will surely surface sometime today.

All I can remember say about the evening is that I’m really starting to like the Germans, and I think there were free drinks at the party.

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…

Yet another $1,500 NL Holdem event has their final table at 2pm that gets to be seen on ESPN360. Their final table consists of (chip counts and seat assignments to be added later):

Cody Slaubaugh 1,419,000
Jesper Hougaard 1,582,000
Danny Wong 1,105,000
Owen Crowe 674,000
Justin Wald 873,000
Rick Solis 900,000
Doug Middleton 356,000
John Shipley 269,000
Aaron Kanter 165,000

Shipley and Kanter have both made the WSOP Main Event final table: (Shipley 7th in 2002, Kanter 4th in 2005).

The only tournament on today’s calendar is yet another $1,500 NL Holdem donkament. This particular version last year drew a field of 2,778 with Robert Cheung getting a bracelet of his very own.

Instead of making a 2nd post, might as well do the leaders after Week 3 (counting Friday’s tournaments):

Number of entrants: 32,208
Number of bracelets awarded:35
Most cashes: Nikolay Evdakov – 7
Most final tables: Jacobo Fernandez – 3
ESPN POY: Fernandez – 187 points
Leading money earner: Phil Galfond – $832,219

Week 3 winners:

Scott Seiver – $5k NL Holdem
Jens Voertman – $3k HORSE
Blair Hinkle – $2k NL Holdem
Max Pescatori – $2.5k PL Holdem/PLO
Kenny Tran – $10k NL Holdem Heads-Up
Barry Greenstein – $1.5k Razz
Vitaly Lunkin – $1.5k NL Holdem
Phil Galfond – $5k PLO w/rebuys
John Phan – $3k NL Holdem
Rob Hollink – $10k Limit Holdem
Dario Minieri – $2.5k NL Holdem 6-handed
Luis Velador – $1.5k NL Holdem
Sebastian Ruthenberg – $5k Stud 8 or Better
Layne Flack – $1.5k PLO w/rebuys
Mike Rocco – $1.5k Seven Card Stud

More stuff later today…

Maximillian Pescatori, il pirata italiano, ha 37 anni e grandina da Milano. Ha vinto il suo secondo braccialetto di WSOP questo anno. Ha vinto lo stesso giorno quello primo di 2006 mentre l’Italia ha vinto la tazza di mondo.

Dario Minieri è 23 anni e vite a Roma. Ha vinto il suo primo braccialetto di WSOP questo anno. È stato conosciuto per la conquista della Porsche su PokerStars ma è inoltre un riuscito giocatore in tensione.

Congratulazioni a massimo ed a Dario! Gli italiani intorno al mondo sono fieri di voi!

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:

The $1,500 NL Holdem final table starts at 2pm today under the glaring ESPN360 camera, which will feature the following:

Seat 1: Dean Bui 211,000
Seat 2: Justin Hoffman 138,000
Seat 3: Jose Luis Velador 1,898,000
Seat 4: Joseph Georges 1,086,000
Seat 5: Utsab Saha 961,000
Seat 6: Jae Chung 716,000
Seat 7: Shane Stacey 640,000 (The first Vermont cash of the Series, thanks to Change100 in the comments)
Seat 8: Osmin Dardon 660,000
Seat 9: Anthony Signore 636,000

So if you’re friends and/or family of this group, tune in!

In tournaments that started yesterday, the $1,500 Pot Limit Omaha w/rebuys event is down to 49, and notables remaining include Erik Seidel, Barny Boatman, Clonie Gowen, Scott Clements, and Jared Hamby. All five have all been represented by Full Tilt Poker, but it appears one of them may have recently lost their sponsorship, I wonder who could it be.

The other tournament yesterday was the $1,500 Seven Card Stud event that is down to its final 70 ready to ante up for day 2. Among the well-known: Al “Sugar Bear” Barbieri, Chip Jett, Sam Grizzle, and Chad Brown.

Two more tournaments get underway today, with yet another $1,500 NL donkament starting at noon with the usual 2,000+ entrants (hopefully without the registration issues that came up Tuesday). Last year’s version if this particular $1,500 event was won by Ryan Young in a field of over 2,500.

The 5pm tournament is another $10,000 World Championship, this time it’s for Omaha Hi/Lo 8 or better. The $5,000 version of this event was won by John Guth in a field of 280, expect a slightly higher prize pool with a small field this year.

Things slow down a bit the following three days as there’s only one tournament starting each of those days, but the Pokerati team will plow through it with you with more news during the day…

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…

The $1,500 NL Holdem event is now under 50 entrants as they play down to their final table. All of the well known names have appeared to have gone away, but you can following along here.

The $5,000 Stud Eight or Better World Championship just went on its dinner break with 56 left, only 24 will get paid. They may still be going at it deep into the night tonight to reach their final table. David Benyamine is 2nd in chips, Chris Ferguson, Marcel Luske, and Robert Mizrachi are other notable names left in the field. Their updates can be found here.

Tournaments that started today:

The $1,500 Pot Limit Omaha w/rebuys event drew a field of 320, with 1,350 rebuys and addons to bring the prize pool to over $2.4 million. The winner takes down just over $577,000. Gavin Griffin is the current chip leader at the dinner break with about 150 remaining. Layne Flack (who rebought about 20 times), Clonie Gowen and Thomas Wahlroos are other notables in the top 10. You can track their action here.

The afternoon tournament, $1,500 7 Card Stud, drew a field of 382 people of varying ages to attempt to win a bracelet and the $136,000 that will go with it. It’s still early in action, but Amnon Fillippi and Men “The Master” Nguyen are the early chip leaders. Chip counts and updates for this tournament can be found here.

More from me tomorrow, all sorts of good stuff from Dan and Jen the rest of the evening…

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:

Today there’s only one final table that will appear on ESPN360, the $2,500 NL Holdem 6-handed Event:

Seat 3: Dario Minieri 1,721,000
Seat 1: Kevin Song 1,173,000
Seat 2: Justin Filtz 891,000
Seat 5: John O’Shea 589,000
Seat 6: Seth Fischer 508,000
Seat 4: Stuart Marshak 183,000

Yesterday’s tournament debuts:

The $1,500 NL Holdem event made the money last night, and 166 remain to fight it out on Day 2. Alan Garcia is the chip leader, and friends and family of the others can find the chip counts here.

The $5,000 Seven Card Stud Eight or Better World Championship is down to 120 out of a starting field of 261. Michael Grapenthein is the current chip leader, other chip counts (sorry Tom) can be found here.

Today’s tournaments are both non-holdem events. At noon it’s the $1,500 Pot Limit Omaha w/rebuys event, which last year Irish businessman Alan Smurfit won the bracelet in a field of 293, plus 880 rebuys. The 5pm tournament is the $1,500 Seven Card Stud event, last year won by German pro Michael Keiner in a field of 385.

More later today…

The $3,000 NL Holdem event is down to headsup play with John Phan and Johnny Neckar. There’s been some controversy over where the action has taken place. First, David Singer had an issue with the lighting in the area and requested to be moved to another location. The table they were moved to was in the center of the tournament floor, and the crowd of players in other tournaments, fans, and media were too much for the players. The floor staff would eventually rope off the area to give the combatants some breathing room. Singer eventually finished in 5th place, chip leader Matthew Vengrin would be eliminated in 3rd.

More after the leap:

The $10,000 Limit Holdem World Championship is down to the final 5 3 players. Team FTP Pro Andy Bloch would be out in 7th, while FTP Pro Rob Hollink is the current chip leader. Jerrod Ankenmann, JC Tran, Adam Katz and Tommy Hang are the others remaining.

The $2,500 NL 6-max event just went on the dinner break with 19 left. Alon Shahar appears to be the chip leader, but Dario Minieri, Scotty Nguyen, Bruno Fitoussi and Bill Chen are still among the remaining.

The $1,500 NL Holdem event started with a registration issue that caused an early first break, but eventually over 2,300 started play today. About 500 will come back from the dinner break with Eugene Todd, Beth Shak, David Plastik, Phil Hellmuth and Jean-Robert Bellande among the notable names near the top of the leaderboard.

The $5,000 Stud Hi/Lo World Championship drew a field of over 200, including Pokerati’s own Tom Schneider (in his “favorite” game) and ESPN’s own Norman Chad.

More from me tomorrow, thanks for reading along or for skipping to the good parts…

In a table full of well known names, it was online regular Phil Galfond who took down the $5,000 Pot Limit Omaha w/rebuys event, beating Adam Hourani in a heads-up match that lasted over 100 hands. David Benyamine would finish 3rd. Galfond gets to take down over $817,000 and take the WSOP earnings lead over Grant Hinkle by less than $1,000.

The $1,500 NL event winner last night was Vitaly Lunkin, who beat Brett Kimes headsup to win just over $628,000 and the coveted bracelet. Other results from that event can be found here.

Two more final tables were established last night, they can be found on the next page:

The $10,000 Limit Holdem World Championship will be on ESPN360 tonight, here’s their lineup, which starts around 2pm:

Seat 1: Andy Bloch 370,000
Seat 2: Rob Hollink 893,000
Seat 3: Tommy Hang 578,000
Seat 4: Cy Jassinowsky 231,000
Seat 5: Jerrod Ankenman 441,000
Seat 6: Chris Vitch 201,000
Seat 7: Brock Parker 166,000
Seat 8: JC Tran 247,000
Seat 9: Aaron Katz 1,232,000

Also at 2pm, the $3,000 NL Holdem event will have their final table, consisting of:

Seat 1: Sebastian Segovia 128,500
Seat 2: Alex Bolotin 534,000
Seat 3: David Singer 334,000
Seat 4: Thuy Doan 369,500
Seat 5: John Phan 396,500
Seat 6: Matt Vengrin 1,007,500
Seat 7: Stewart Newman 398,000
Seat 8: Johnny Neckar 796,000
Seat 9: Tony Dunst 333,000

The only tournament that started yesterday, $2,500 NL Holdem 6-handed returns with 73 returning for day 2. Alon Shahar is chip leader, Dario Minieri is 2nd, others can be found at the Hendon Mob forum.

It’s two for Tuesday (just like almost every day), starting at noon today is yet another $1,500 NL Holdem event. Last year’s edition drew a field of “only” 2,315 with David Stucke taking down the bracelet. The 5pm tournament today is the $5,000 Stud Hi/Lo 8 or better World Championship. Last year, Eli Elezra won the title (and several large prop bets) over Scotty Nguyen in a drunken heads-up duel in a field of 236.

More from me this evening…

The $10,000 Limit Holdem World Championship is closing in on the money with about 45 left. Current chip leader is two-time bracelet winner Eric Froehlich. Others near the top include Hoyt Corkins, Michael Mizrachi, and JC Tran. The $3,000 NL event is currently on dinner break with 30 left. Alex Zaslavsky is chip leader, with new father David Singer in 2nd.

The only tournament to start today was the $2,500 NL 6-handed event, which started with a field of 1,012 already down to 190 at the dinner break. Notables in the top 10 include “Devilfish” Ulliot, Max Pescatori, Kenna James and Dario Minieri.

More from me tomorrow with final results, and the Tuesday preview.

UPDATE: Oops, Dario is out in 96th place — for $67,535. He’ll be back, of course. Hevad “Rain” Kahn (not to be confused with Jeff “Mr. Rain” Banghart) is still alive and well, slightly above the middle of the pack.

LAS VEGAS–Loyal readers have heard me yammer on and on for the better part of 2007 about how this is going to be the Year of the Europeans. So far I’ve been kinda right … while they haven’t dominated this WSOP, they have been a ubiquitous presence deep in just about every event. But the real “Year of” players this year have been the internet kids. Not internet people like Chris Moneymaker … but internet kids. Think about it. The poker boom exploded in 2003. And thus, in 2007, a lot of guys who got their start right around then have just turned 21 — making quite the impression on players at the tables and poker insiders off.

Throughout this World Series, friends and colleagues have been coming up to me saying things like, “You mean you don’t know who RamSquad64 is? Dude.” Or, “JohnnyVoltron, man, JohnnyVoltron!” OK, he sounds familiar. What has he done? But otherwise, sorry, I haven’t really been following the shenanigans on PocketFives. But it seems like soon we might have to. One of the most fascinating stories — Pokerati’s correspondent-on-loan Chris Hanel is all over this one — is a guy named Hevad “Rain” Kahn. This upstate New Yorker was supposedly banned from PokerStars because they thought he was a bot, playing up to 40 sit-n-gos at a time. Kahn then shot a YouTube video to show him playing 26 tables at a time and had his account re-opened. Wow, no? (For some reason I can’t find the vid on YouTube. If anyone else can, please post a link!)

But the kid everyone is really talking about is Dario Minieri (pictured).

It’s hard not to love hate notice this uber-aggressive Harry Potter lookalike, even though the brash, thinks-he-knows-it-all 21-year-old needs a serious ass-kicking. He’s both internet poker millionaire — best known for buying a Porsche with his PokerStars points — and Euro, hailing from Italy. He’s he had an up-and-down rollercoaster ride — apparently fun, not nerve-wracking — and dabbled with the chip lead. But today, seasoned pros are playing back at him as well they should. So far, both Huck Seed and Scotty Nguyen have re-raised all-in against him (I can almost guarantee you with nothing) to whittle away at his chip stack.

Off the table, there’s been a little mini-battle to brand this poker tyke. Apparently he started off as a PokerStars guy who hadn’t signed the paperwork requiring him to get all logoed up. And then somewhere around the time he looked to be a real force, he defected to Full Tilt. Then he supposedly felt bad and was headed back over to Stars … according to semi-verifiable rumors and reports … and yesterday it was hard to tell who’s team he was on, because he spent most of the day getting a massage with his chest pressed into the back of a chair. I’m tellin’ ya … kids these days … they are so smart.

Shortly before play ended last night, Max Pescatori — the Italian Pirate — came around to handle things and had a lengthy and jovial meeting with the Full Tilt bro who hooks up televisable players with patch deals. (Right outside the media room, under the dome at “the crossroads” that echoes clearly.) By the time Minieri would finish play for the night, a posse of Dario fans would gather, presumably to celebrate how he would be starting day 5:

No doubt about it, he’s a true made-for-TV character at the tables — a prototype for future millionaire professional video-gamers in fact. Pokerati’s prediction: Assuming he can adjust to the wiser-player beatdown he ran into at the start of today and/or get lucky, he’ll finish between 8th place and 21st.

UPDATE: Oops, Dario is out in 96th place — for $67,535. He’ll be back, of course. Hevad “Rain” Kahn (not to be confused with Jeff “Mr. Rain” Banghart) is still alive and well, slightly above the middle of the pack.