Papola denies the Master bracelet #8

Jeffrey Papola defeated Men Nguyen in the $5,000 No-Limit Holdem 6-max event, earning $667,443 and his first career bracelet. Nguyen earned $412,746 for the second-place finish, moving into a three-way tie for first in the WSOP Player of the Year race with Michael Mizrachi and James Dempsey. Erick Lindgren finished sixth for $82,303. Full results and Nolan Dalla’s tournament report are available at wsop.com.

Velador slams the door on his second bracelet

Luis Velador took down the $2,500 Pot-Limit Omaha/Pot-Limit Holdem title as he defeated David Chiu heads-up, good for $260,517 and his second career WSOP bracelet. Chiu earned $160,902 for the second place finish, moving into a tie for 6th in the WSOP Player of the Year race. Full results and Dalla’s tournament report can be found at wsop.com.

10k NL Heads-Up down to an Elite 8

The final day of the $10,000 Heads-Up No-Limit Holdem Championship resumes at 3pm with these matchups:

Jason Somerville vs. Kido Pham
Faraz Jaka vs. Ayaz Mahmood
Alexander Kostritsyn vs. Ludovic Lacay
Ernst Schmejkal vs. Vanessa Rousso

The matches will be single-elimination until the finals, a best of three match. Follow the action at PokerNews.

Minetti leads Seniors’ event, Schneider among final 23

Day 3 of the $1,000 Seniors’ No-Limit Holdem Championship resumes at 2:30pm with Michael Minetti leading the final 23 players with 1,038,000 in chips. Other notables returning include Michael Woo (523,000), Jack Ward (519,000), and Team Pokerati/Loudmouth Poker pro Tom Schneider (284,000). The full list of chip counts is at PokerNews.

Montgomery leads day 1a of 1k NL

Original November Niner Scott Montgomery (75,200) led the day 1a survivors in the $1,000 No-Limit Holdem event as the field played halfway through level 9 to get down to 286 players. Other notables: Neil Channing (64,500), Michael Gracz (52,700), Fabrice Soulier (39,125), Liv Boeree (24,275) and Leo Margets (22,875). The full list of chip counts is available at wsop.com.

Siegel super at day 1 of 3k HORSE

Day two of the $3,000 HORSE resumes at 3pm with Jordan Siegel leading the 207 players who remain with 66,900 in chips. Other recognizable names include: Darus Suharto (55,100), Dan Heimiller (52,100), Howard Lederer (44,400), Chau Giang (36,400) and Eugene Katchalov (29,900). The full list of chip counts is available at wsop.com.

Sunday’s tournaments

12pm is day 1b of the $1,000 No-Limit Holdem event, with a field of at least 1,000 expected. The 5pm tournament is the $10,000 Pot-Limit Holdem Championship, won last year by John Kabbaj in a field of 275 for $633,335.

The most recent hand came from the final table of the World Cup of Poker VI yesterday, as 2008 November Niner Darus Suharto is the victim of one of the worst slowrolls ever. Note: As this is a team competition, players are allowed to call a time-out in the middle of the hand.

The slowrolling came back to bite the Germans, as they were eventually eliminated by Canada, but it was the team from Taiwan Chinese Taipei who took down the title.

The PCA Main Event had the other controversial hand, as Daniel Negreanu calls the floor and the forums blow up, accusing him of shooting an angle:

Notables who hit the rail:

Erik Seidel, Raymond Rahme, Jimmy Fricke, Jean-Robert Bellande, Bill Edler, Darus Suharto, Ville Wahlbeck, “Miami John” Cernuto, Bryan Micon, Roland de Wolfe and Sam Farha.

More stuff from Pokerati later this evening as the money bubble may be reached tonight, depending on how fast the eliminations go after dinner.

The generally spot-on Wicked Chops, for example, have been calling it a “hatchet job”. Well-informed poker-biz insiders have told me privately it’s going to be “terrible for poker”. I’ve even heard some say the WSOP’s cooperating with CBS will prove to be “Jeffrey Pollack’s downfall”.

I respectfully and wholeheartedly disagree.

The fear, of course, is that the piece will end up condemning the entire industry. But look, 60 Minutes doesn’t exactly have a history of botching stories in its 41 years on the air. They typically get pretty darn close to The Truth. There may be some short-term backlash to the not-so-pretty sides of online poker being revealed, but in the long run, we WANT the non-poker public to understand our dilemmas … and, assuming we really are on the right side of the UIGEA, some might argue we need them to.

Even though the 60 Minutes preview starts with “this $18 billion industry is illegal in the US”, Steve Kroft and his gang did talk with the PPA on and off camera about it all … so they’ve definitely been exposed to the storyline that recent politics severely hampers the ability to prevent AP/UB cheating. I suspect the story will end with something like … “but there’s no guarantee that regulation would be able to prevent [insert bad stuff here], and supporters of the UIGEA say those abuses are exactly the reason this seemingly harmless game needs to be prohibited in America.”

Such a fair and balanced take would leave it open for people like us to scream in favor of one side while plenty of right-wing conservative types would still be able to say, “See, gambling is evil! So are computers!”

But what really matters is where those non-committed folks in the middle stand — the bulk of those 12+ million viewers who never had a reason to care one way or the other about poker. We’re talking about just a few percentage points worth of the populace (and what they represent politically) being swayed to believe either online poker players got a screw job, or that the poker industry is filled with Russ Hamiltons and therefore shouldn’t be legitimized. While there’s a risk that they could come down on the side of gambling=bad, it’s kinda a risk we have to take.

Why?

Because right now they’re simply non-committed folks in the middle — they have no opinion on the issue, which therefore casts no weight in congressional halls. We already know that poker’s current weight in Congress — while noticeable — simply isn’t enough to get the change we pokerers are looking for.

So no story, it all stays the same.

But with a story … we have a chance of “registering new voters” (I’m speaking metaphorically here) on the issue — of 60 Minutes making what matters so much to both us and Focus on The Family types actually matter to those in the middle who currently don’t care one way or the other.

Hopefully, 2 out of every 3 new people aware of the complex situation will see things close to our way. (Again, using rough, unofficial numbers.) If they do, we win! If they don’t, we lose … or stay exactly where we are right now — same thing.

(I suppose it could get worse if 3 out of 3 fall on the side of the Religious Right, but i just don’t see that happening in the current political climate of America.)

But the online-poker-regulation issue simply cannot get to where we want it without the support of non-poker players. And because the uber-pro-poker media such as CardPlayer, Bluff, and dare I say Pokerati can’t be expected to make the issue matter to these “swing voters” any more than Darus Suharto on Ellen would, we have to take the risk of putting it in the hands of 60 Minutes (or the Wall Street Journal, New York Times, Washington Post, et al.)

It’s the only hope.

Kevin here to interrupt this post to add some additional content, a brief interview with Steve Kroft about the 60 Minutes story:

Watch CBS Videos Online

Ivan Demidov: 30,725,000
Peter Eastgate: 27,175,000
Dennis Phillips: 26,950,000
Ylon Schwartz: 20,475,000
Scott Montgomery: 20,300,000
Darus Suharto: 10,600,000

Damn, that’s tight poker. And I don’t mean tight tight … I mean close-tight.

Before dinner break, btw, Phil Hellmuth introduced Johnny Chan, and Hellmuth got more boos than Tiffany Michelle. He said, that’s OK, boo all you want … and the crowd that is at this point tired-drinky (think post-football game tailgate in college) obliged.

They were announcing a multi-year deal between the WSOP and ALL IN energy drink. Oy, I guess all I can say for now is that after going through my bajillion cases … I didn’t rebuy.

So while I’m happy to share the official word on the Stars-heavy WSOP main event final table (even though none only one of their 2,000 true online qualifiers made it), I couldn’t help but try to get a little more info first on what goes into buying a temporary online team in an effort to increase the odds that the buyers will indeed get to be the site that crowns the next American (or non-American) Poker Idol:

________________________________________
From: Matt Clark
Sent: Wednesday, July 23, 2008 5:54 AM
To: Dan Michalski
Subject: Re: PokerStars Final Table Updates

Hey Dan,

How are you doing since the series? I hope your recovering. We are not prepared to do extensive media outreach around these individuals yet. We also do not make their screen names public unless we get the okay from the players. We will be sure to get this information to you once we are ready to go out with it.

Thanks,
Matt Clark

—— Forwarded Message
From: Dan Michalski
Date: Thu, 17 Jul 2008 13:40:12 -0700
To: Jessie Barrett
Subject: RE: PokerStars Final Table Updates

Hi Jessie, can you tell us the pokerstars players’ screen names? People will
be interested in that. Also, any information about any special results
they’ve had on PokerStars in the past. Have any won any big tournaments on
Stars, for example? Have any been players there for a long time, or are they
all brand new folks who signed up for PokerStars after making the final
table?

Thanks in advance!

—–Original Message—–
From: Jessie Barrett
Sent: Thursday, July 17, 2008 11:56 AM
To: danm
Subject: PokerStars Final Table Updates

Hi Dan,

My name is Jessie Barrett and I work with Lotus Public Relations. Please
find below some exciting updates from PokerStars. If you have any questions,
please don’t hesitate to contact me or Matt Clark.

All the best,
Jessie

POKERSTARS MILLION DOLLAR MEN DOMINATE
THE 2008 WSOP MAIN EVENT FINAL TABLE

LAS VEGAS – JULY 17, 2008 — Six PokerStars players have made it to the
final table of the 2008 World Series of Poker (WSOP) Main Event. Out of a
6,844-strong starting field, each of the nine final table players are
guaranteed a significant pay day when they return to Las Vegas on November 9
to conclude the Main Event.

The “PokerStars Million Dollar Men” consist of six PokerStars players who
will take part in the final-table battle as they vie for the top prize:

Dennis Phillips, 53 from Missouri, USA; has been one of the chip leaders
throughout the last few days of the Main Event. He is the current chip
leader with 26,295,000 chips.

Ivan Demidov, 27 from Moscow, Russia; has had a phenomenal event with this
year’s WSOP, his first major live tournament. He is in second position with
24,400,000 chips. If he walks away with the title, Ivan will become the
first Russian to win the WSOP Main Event.

Peter Eastgate, 22 from Odense, Denmark; a fearless and unpredictable
player, Peter ranks as one of the top five online pros in Denmark. He enters
the final table with 18,375,000 chips.

Ylon Schwarz, 38, New York, USA; no stranger to WSOP tournaments, Ylon has
had 11 cashes in WSOP events since 2005. He enters the final table with
12,525,000 chips.

Darus “Dennis_TO” Suharto, 39, Ontario, Canada; won a satellite tournament
on PokerStars and progressed through two levels of online tournaments to win
his seat in the WSOP. He enters the final table with 12,520,000 chips.

David “Chino” Rheem, 28 from Californian, USA; has had five WSOP cashes in
the last three years and has been among the chip leaders throughout the Main
Event. He enters “The Final Nine” with 10,230,000 chips.

In the 39-year history of the WSOP, this year marks a change as play at the
final table breaks until November’s conclusion. Joe Hachem, Team PokerStars
Pro and 2005 WSOP Champion said, “This is how poker should be, and the lives
of the PokerStars Million Dollar Men are about to change. It’s going to be
a great ride, as we now start a 117-day countdown to the conclusion of what
can only be described as an epic poker journey. I’m looking forward to
getting to know these six players better and helping PokerStars earn another
WSOP championship.”

“The break in play will make for a different dynamic at the final table,
build more excitement for the sport, and allow the public to better
understand the personalities of the players,” said Chris Moneymaker, Team
PokerStars Pro and 2003 WSOP Champion. “The benefit to the PokerStars
Million Dollar Men of being with us is that these 6 players have the
support, skill and knowledge of Team PokerStars behind them, a team already
featuring 3 World Series Main Event Champions. I think we have a great
chance to bring the WSOP title back to PokerStars for another year”

Over 1,000 PokerStars qualifiers competed in this year’s 39th World Series
Main Event and 123 of these PokerStars players have cashed at this year’s
event – winning more than $9 million between them. There is another $32.6
million up for grabs in November, and with six of the final nine playing for
PokerStars, and competing for the remaining $32.6 million in prize money,
that total is set to rise.

Among Team PokerStars Pro, Daniel ‘Kid Poker’ Negreanu won his fourth WSOP
bracelet in the Limit Hold’em Event, cashing $204,874. Poker legend Barry
Greenstein won his third WSOP bracelet in the Seven Card Razz Event, and
Italian poker pro Dario Minieri dubbed “Super Dario” recorded his first
major live poker win and took home the WSOP bracelet in the No-Limit Hold’em
Six-Handed event.

Daniel Negreanu said, “I would have loved to go further in the Main Event,
but regardless, it has been a very exciting WSOP – not just for me, but the
rest of Team PokerStars, and for thousands of players from around the world
who won their entry to the Main Event on PokerStars. As in previous years,
we’ve had an incredible series.”

In 2008 over 2000 players qualified through PokerStars satellites and
tournaments to win their $10,000 buy-in to the Main Event, plus spending
money and luxury hotel accommodation.

The final table will be broadcast on November 11th, from 9pm on ESPN

2008 World Series of Poker Main Event Final Table:

Finalist Name
Age
Hometown
Chip Count
Dennis Phillips
53
St Louis, Missouri
26,295,000
Ivan Demidov
27
Moscow, Russia
24,400,000
Scott Montgomery
26
Perth, Ontario, Canada
19,690,000
Peter Eastgate
22
Odense, Denmark
18,375,000

Ylon Schwartz
38
Brooklyn, New York
12,525,000
Darus Suharto
39
Toronto, Ontario, Canada
12,520,000
David Rheem
28
Los Angeles, California
10,230,000
Craig Marquis
23
Arlington, Texas
10,210,000
Kelly Kim
31
Whittier, California
2,620,000

For a full recap of PokerStars at the 2008 World Series of Poker, go to
www.pokerstarsblog.com or see incredible footage of all the events at
www.pokerstars.tv.