Boesen leads 1k Ladies’ Championship

Day 2 of the $1,000 NL Holdem Ladies Championship is down to 54 ladies, with newly signed member of Team Pokerati La Sengphet is the current chip leader with 296,000, busting Liv Boeree, who had been third in chips. Other notables in the field: Linda Johnson (104,000), Mimi Tran (67,000) and new Full Tilt pro Lacey Jones (32,000). Among those who’ve already made the money: Jess Welman, Maria Ho Jennifer Cox (Jan Brady in the Brady Bunch movies), and Bryce Daifuku, who has the “honor” of being last man standing. Former Pokerati writer Michele Lewis was knocked out just short of the money. Play will continue for six more levels or the final table is reached, whichever happens first.

“Tex” has Texas-sized lead in $1,500 PLO

2005 WSOP Main Event final tablist John “Tex” Barch leads the $1,500 Pot-Limit Omaha final table with four players remaining. Barch holds 2,025,000 in chips, while Trai Dang (830,000), Nenad Medic (765,000) and Klinghammer Thibaut (315,000) make up the remaining field returning from dinner break shortly.

Pietsch leading Stud final table

Christine Pietsch leads the remaining five players at the $1,500 Seven Card Stud final table with 610,000 in chips. Darren Shebell (471,000), Dan Heimiller (416,000), Owais Ahmed (216,000) and Richard Ashby (86,000) are looking to re-energize themselves on the dinner break in the hopes of overtaking the leader. Sorel Mizzi, who started as the chip leader at the final table, finished in 6th.

Meinders leading limit 6-max as bubble looms

The remaining 47 players in the $2,500 Limit Holdem 6-max event are returning from dinner break shortly, with the money reached with 36 players remaining. Brian Meinders currently holds the lead with 172,000 in chips. Notables looking to cash include: Chris Vitch (109,000), Rafe Furst (94,000), Michael Binger (85,000), Dutch Boyd (75,000) Phil Gordon (70,000), and Justin Bonomo (64,000). David “Bakes” Baker’s win in the 10k NL 2-7 Lowball event last night meant Bonomo won on his prop bets that a Panorama Towers resident would win a bracelet at this year’s WSOP.

Donkament #3 underway

Day 1a of the $1,000 No-Limit Holdem event drew a field of 1,931 this afternoon, with around 600 returning from their 90-minute dinner break. The reported chip leader is Alex Kamberis with 22,000, with notables Alex Jacob (15,000), David Sklansky (10,000) and Tom McEvoy (8,700) among the dinner break survivors. The field will either play ten levels or around 280 players left in today’s field.

10k Omaha 8 or Better Underway

The 5pm tournament today was the $10,000 Omaha Hi/Lo 8 or Better World Championship, which drew a field of 212 entrants. The top 27 make the money, with first place earning over $488,000. The early chip leader is Allen Kessler, taking his 30,000 starting stack to over 46,000 in early action. Among the numerous notables in the field, Scott Clements (41,800), Jennifer Harman (40,000), Mike Sexton (34,500), Matt Savage (33,000) and Tom Schneider, looking stunning in his Loudmouth Poker jacket (20,000). Eight levels await the field this evening.

Follow all the updates during the evening over at PokerNews and www.wsop.com

Notable eliminations: Bernard Lee, Robert Williamson III, Phil Tom, David Sklansky, Gavin Griffin, Howard Lederer, Scotty Nguyen, Todd “Dan Druff” Witteles (who was at the ESPN feature table with Hellmuth), Shannon Shorr and Erick Lindgren.

Check out the updates and chip counts at wsop.com here and more stuff from Pokerati during the late hours. WSOP Media tournament and media briefing tomorrow, I’ll be with Team Pokerati in spirit in the tournament. The Commish has quite a few announcements tomorrow, including the Poker Hall of Fame nominees so come back tomorrow.

Final Table Set in 50k HORSE

The final table of the $50,000 HORSE was established early Tuesday morning, with Gus Hansen the unfortunate final table bubble boy. Here’s how the final table will be seated, with streaming coverage starting around 2pm PT at www.espn360.com and wsop.pkr.com:

Seat 1: Ville Wahlbeck – 645000
Seat 2: Erik Sagstrom – 3675000
Seat 3: John Hanson – 1700000
Seat 4: Huck Seed – 1380000
Seat 5: Vitaly Lunkin – 2490000
Seat 6: David Bach – 2345000
Seat 7: Erik Seidel – 965000
Seat 8: Chau Giang – 1075000

While Lunkin and Wahlbeck will be trying to win their 2nd WSOP bracelet this year, Wahlbeck will lead the WSOP Player of the Year race with just two tournaments remaining if he finishes first.

Carsten Joh Wins One for Germany

Carsten Joh took down the next to last $1,500 NL Holdemtournament picking up a WSOP bracelet and $664,426, besting Andrew Chen in heads-up play.

DeWitt DeLeader in Triple Chance

Jason Dewitt (1,599,000) leads the remaining field of 16 in the $3,000 Triple Chance as they play down to a winner starting at 1pm this afternoon. Among those trailing behind Dewitt: Alex Millar (1,006,000), Karga Holt (715,000), Jason Somerville (320,000), Max Greenwood (294,000), Eric “rizen” Lynch (230,000) and An Tran (216,000).

Swinford Stud Leader

Brian Swinford leads (292,000) the day 3 field of 14 in the $1,500 Stud Hi/Lo 8 or Better when play resumes at 1pm this afternoon. Notables remaining: Chad Brown (284,000), Max Stern (216,000), Allie Prescott (202,000), Richie Sklar (134,000), Matt Savage (106,000) and Vince Burgio (40,000).

Christensen Leads Final $1500 NL Event

Jon Christensen of Oslo, Norway leads the field when day 2 of the $1,500 NL Holdem returns Tuesday afternoon with 160,800 in chips with action resuming at 2pm. Among the notables among the 397 returning players: Alexandre Gomes (76,000), Raymond Rahme (51,800), Dean Hamrick (39,500), Richard Lee (and his San Antonio sweatshirt – 34,300) and Vivek Rajkumar (31,800). 297 players will get paid over the next two days as they get close to the final table by the 3am deadline.

2-7 Triple Draw

Adam Ewenstein (71,800) leads the returning 73 players for Day 2 of the $2,500 2-7 Triple Draw Lowball, with only 24 players making the money when play resumes at 2pm. Notables returning: Rick Fuller (55,200), Blair Rodman (46,500), Tuan Le (42,000), Justin “Boosted J” Smith (33,700), Shawn Sheikhan (31,100), Julie Schneider (25,700), David Sklansky (22,600), and Jimmy “Gobbo” Fricke (18,700).

Tuesday’s Tournament

The final preliminary tournament of this year’s WSOP starts at 12 noon with the $5,000 NL Holdem 6-max event, won last year by Joe Commisso in a field of 805 for over $900,000. The WSOP Staff Guide projects a field of 865 today, which could delay the start of Day 2 in the $1,500 NL and $2,500 Triple Draw Lowball events.

Live updates of the last day of six tournaments begins around noon at www.wsop.com and Pokerati will surely have all sorts of stuff during the other parts of Tuesday.

Current Poker Sith Lords
Russ Hamilton — guilty til proven innocent, and with good cause.
Ernie Scherer III — he’s still innocent til proven guilty, but considering that he faces the death penalty for killing his parents to pay off poker debts — and the last 10 Google searches found on his computer were “countries that don’t extradite to the U.S.“, I think we can rest assured that he will not become a Full Tilt pro anytime soon.

Dishonorable Mentions
James McDaniel — this Dallas poker room operator was convicted of killing an ex-cop, engaged in collusion in Oklahoma (my personal observation and unproven accusation), and is currently on trial for supplying drugs to one of his railbirds who ended up OD’d-dead in a portable toilet.

Reformed Reputations
Jamie Gold
Justin Bonomo
Dutch Boyd

Jury Still Out
David Sklansky — technically crime-free, but young aspiring female players are hardly flocking to his tutelage.
Amarillo Slim — he says he’s not guilty, and his family and a lie detector now apparently agree, even though his criminal record implies otherwise.
Layne Flack — everybody seems to like Layne, but unless he’s working undercover a la Poker Brasco, hanging with Russ Hamilton surely won’t help him get sponsored by Ultimate Bet.

So who else? Really, I’m not looking for a bunch of potentially libelous name-calling … but I am looking to create a list of once and future poker bad-guys, and maybe a rating system for criminals and outcasts and offenses that may or may not attract the attention of law enforcement, but still result in scorn and contempt from fellow poker players.

One of the cool things about poker at Excalibur is that it’s the one place where you can find 50-cent/1-dollar action in Las Vegas … and being played on electronic tables, there’s no dealer tipping. Another cool thing … you can change the game being dealt with relative ease. And that’s what they did last night when Lyle Berman showed up (with David Sklansky and a few others) to play $1/$2 Pot Limit Omaha.

($100 min buy-in, $500 max)

Berman (left), if you recall, wrote the chapter in Super/System about PLO. He also happens to be Chairman of the Board of PokerTek — makers of the PokerPro electronic tables at Excalibur.

The two final tables for today are both heads-up. First, the $5,000 NL Holdem 6-handed event is down to Joe Commisso and Richard Lyndaker, having played over 130 hands of heads-up action so far. Commisso at one point had a 7-1 chip lead before Lyndaker clawed his way to having his own chip lead. At this time Joe has retaken the lead, but it’s still going to be hard for him to close the deal.

The $1,500 Seven Card Stud Eight or Better tournament is was down to Ryan Hughes and Ron Long. At the moment, Hughes has a 2-1 chip lead, but the chips have been going back and forth quite a bit during heads-up play. Hughes finally defeats Long, taking home the bracelet and $183,000, while Long takes home just over $113,000. This is Hughes’ second bracelet, as he took down the $2,000 Stud Eight or Better event last year. The only other notable name at this final table was 2+2 author David Sklansky, who was the first out at the final table again, finishing in 8th.

Other tournament action on the next page:

As noted below, the $50,000 HORSE event is now on dinner break as they go from 13 down to the final table of 8. Erick Lindgren is the current chip leader, with World Champions Huck Seed and Scotty Nguyen also in the top 5. Daniel Negreanu’s the current short stack, while Phil Ivey, Lyle Berman and Barry Greenstein are in the hunt as well.

The $2,000 NL Holdem event has under 50 remaining as they attempt to get down to a final table for tomorrow. Notable names remaining: Fu Wong, Kirill Gerasimov, Adam Katz, and Robyn Hood (not the most notable names, but I’m sure everyone’s familiar with Hood’s story). Nikolay Evdakov set a WSOP record with his 9th cash of the Series, while Jacobo Fernandez cashed for the 7th time this Series, adding another 5 points to his Milwaukee’s Best WSOP Player of the Year, now standing at 232 points. Lindgren, Greenstein and Negreanu are guaranteed at least 20 points from the HORSE event, making that race even more competitive with just 4 more tournaments to be counted.

The $1,500 NL Holdem event drew 2,718 entrants, and about 500 returned from the dinner break. Names that you might have heard of near the top of the leaderboard: Young Phan, Greg FBT Mueller, Men Nguyen, Andy Black, Jeff Madsen, and Hevad “Rain” Kahn.

More exciting stuff during the evening, I get to come back tomorrow morning…

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 $1,000 NL Holdem with rebuys event has a winner, Canadian Max Greenwood took down the bracelet, making a remarkable comeback from being shortstacked 3-handed to take down the bracelet and almost $700,000. Rene Mouritsen of Aarhus, Denmark finished in 2nd (for the 3rd time at a WSOP event the past two years) to win just over $445,000. Fellow Aarhus resident Albert Iversen finished in 3rd. Greenwood was down to just over 400,000 when he went allin with a pair of 5′s against Mouritsen’s AJ. Another ace hit the flop, and a brick on the turn meant that Greenwood was down to two outs. Miraculously, Max hit that 5, doubling up twice more off Mouritsen to take the chip lead before Mouritsen would take it back when Iversen’s set of 5′s was run down by Mouritsen’s turned flush. After just over 30 hands of head-up play (and boisterous rooting from both player’s friends), all the money went in on a Jack high flop with Max’s AJ ahead of Mouritsen’s KJ. No help came and Greenwood completes the remarkable comeback.

The only tournament to start today, the $2,000 NL Holdem event, drew a field of 2,317, with just under 400 remaining with a couple more levels remaining in the day. Notable names at the top of the leaderboard: Erik Cajelais, Marco Johnson, Erica Schoenberg, Blair Rodman (who won this tournament last year), David Pham and Chau Giang.

Other tournament action today on the next page:

The $50,000 HORSE event is currently on level 15 with 40 players remaining as they attempt to finish at the end of level 17 or with 24 players remaining, whichever comes first. Michael DeMichelle is the current chip leader, but Barry Greenstein, Huck Seed, Daniel Negreanu, Doyle Brunson and Erick Lindgren are some of the big names making their move.

The $5,000 NL Holdem 6-handed event is down to their final 30, as they’ll get down to 6 before play ends for the day. Currently the leader is Samuel Trickett, more familiar names: Bracelet winner Davidi Katai, Keith “The Camel” Hawkins, JJ Liu, Alex Jacob and Shannon Shorr. Nikolay Evdakov cashed in this event, tying the Series record with 8 cashes.

The $1,500 Stud Eight or Better event is down to its final 4 tables, they’ll be attempting to get down to 8 for tomorrow, but that doesn’t appear likely. Names you’ve heard of near the top: Chris Bjorin, David Sklansky, Men Nguyen, Vince Burgio, Marco Traniello and Phil Hellmuth (adding another cash to his WSOP career cashes record, now at 66). John Phan squeaked into the money to move into a tie for 2nd in the Milwaukee’s Best WSOP Player of the Year standings.

More updates during the late night from Team Pokerati…

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

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

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

Other action from yesterday on the next page:

The $50,000 HORSE event moves on to day 3 with 67 remaining when play starts at 3pm , of which Tom Schneider is unfortunately not one of them. The current chip leader is Lyle Berman, with “Big Game” regulars Barry Greenstein, Minh Ly, Daniel Negreanu and Doyle Brunson in the top 10. Another six 90-minute levels are on the schedule for today as they get closer to the money.

The $5,000 NL Holdem 6-handed event is down to its final 96, of which 78 will make the money. Jesper Petersen is the current chip leader at 204,000, other notable names: EPT winners Bertrand “Elky” Grospellier and Glen Chorny, recent bracelet winner Davidi Katai, Shannon Shorr, Dan Shak, Eugene Todd, and Nick Binger.

The $1,500 Stud Eight or Better event is down to 117, with the current chip leader being Ben Tang at 39,900. Other notable names remaining in the field: John Phan, David Sklansky, David Singer, Phil Hellmuth, rule breaker, and Tony G.

The only tournament today starts at noon as the $2,000 NL Holdem event, which was won last year by Blair Rodman in a field of 2,038, gets underway. With the final $1,500 NL Holdem event of the Series starting tomorrow, the field for the tournament today could be down a bit from last year.

The $1,500 Pot Limit Omaha Eight or Better event is down to it’s last 3 with Casey Kastle, Martin Klaser, and Michael Fetter remaining. Kastle currently holds the chip lead, Erik Seidel was eliminated in 4th in his attempt at winning his 9th bracelet.

The $5,000 NL Holdem 6-handed event have returned from their dinner break with 280 out of a starting field of 805 to return. Notable names near the top include Alex Jacob, Mark Vos, Gavin Griffin, and Hevad Khan.

Other tournament action is available by clicking on the more thingy:

The $50,000 HORSE event is moving along on Day 2, with 109 remaining as the eliminations are happening a bit quicker today. Notable names near the top include Doyle Brunson, Lyle Berman, Isabelle Mercier, Erick Lindgren and Tom Dwan. Tom Schneider’s still in the middle of the pack at 131,000 in chips

The $1,500 Stud Eight or Better event drew a field of approximately 544, of which 460 are remaining. Notables at the top of the leaderboard: Bryan Micon, David Sklansky, Annie Duke, EPT winner Tim Vance and John Phan.

The $1,000 NL Holdem w/rebuys even is down to 26, as they make their way to a final table tomorrow. Scott Freeman is the current chip leader, other names you may have heard of still in the field: Mark Seif, Joe Tehan, JC Tran, Gioi Luong and Eric Froehlich.

More updates later in the evening…

The final table for the $2,500 Limit 2-7 Triple Draw Lowball final table has been set, and a favorite of some forums David Sklansky is among those remaining:

Seat 1: Ben Ponzio 113,000
Seat 2: Shun Uchida 200,000
Seat 3: David Sklansky 78,000
Seat 4: Gioi Luong 291,000
Seat 5: Robert Mizrachi 215,000
Seat 6: John Phan 294,000

The other final table and other stuff on page 2:

The $1,500 Mixed Holdem final table was also established last night, and they get to appear on ESPN360 at 3pm. Here’s how this group stacks up:

Seat 1: Chris Rentes 132,000
Seat 2: Michael Chu 264,000
Seat 3: Alex Jalali 204,000
Seat 4: Nick Binger339,000
Seat 5: David Machowsky 147,500
Seat 6: Jonathan Tamayo 238,500
Seat 7: Mats Gavatin 405,000
Seat 8: Frank Gary 332,000
Seat 9: David Sorger 130,000

The Seniors’ $1,000 NL Holdem World Championship finished with about 220 remaining, only 198 of which will get paid. Tom Franklin, Men Nguyen, Avery Cardoza and Tom McEvoy are among the notables near the top of the leaderboard.

Today brings only one tournament again today, the $1,500 Pot Limit Omaha Eight or Better event. Last year’s winner was won by Lukasz Dumasnki who bested a field of 687.

More info throughout the day…

The $1,500 NL Holdem final table just completed and it was down to a Woo and a Wood for the bracelet (w00t!). David Woo from Atlanta, GA defeated Matt Wood from Whitby, Ontario, Canada to win just over $630,000 and a coveted bracelet. Wood has the consolation of taking home almost $390,000 US back to the Great White North. Woo was bolstered when he knocked out the 2nd and 3rd chip leaders (Thom Werthmann and Curtis Early) with 6 left on the same hand, when he flopped the nut straight against top two pair and an open ended straight draw.

Other tournament action on the next page:

The $2,500 Limit 2-7 Triple Draw Lowball event is down to 10, with 6 moving to the final table. Billy Baxter has won 7 bracelets, all in lowball events, and started today in 30th out of 30 remaining. Baxter showed his true greatness today, as he won pot after pot to at one point he was chip leader. At this time he has settled into 3rd place at the moment behind John Phan and Robert Mizrachi. Other notable names remaining: Steve Sung, David Sklansky and Mike Wattel.

The only tournament today, the $1,500 NL Holdem Seniors World Championship, set a record with 2,218 participants, of which about 500 are remaining. Among the leaders: Tom Franklin, Men Nguyen, Tom McEvoy and Bellagio tournament director Jack Mclelland.

The other tournament on the floor today, the $1,500 Mixed Holdem event, has 31 remaining in the field as they play down to their final table. Not many notable names remain, but you can go hereto follow the action.

More to come later tonight from Dan/Jen, and I come back tomorrow with more exciting stuff…

The $2,000 Pot Limit Holdem event was won last night by Belgian player Davidi Kitai as he finally eliminated Chris Bell after almost 200 hands of heads-up play. Kitai wins nearly $250,000 and his first WSOP bracelet, while Bell’s left with $155,000 to attempt and salve his wounds as to what could have been.

The only tournament being held today is the $1,000 Seniors NL Holdem World Championship, for those 50 and over (insert AARP jokes, GSN demo cracks or other old person humor here). Last year’s version drew 1,882 entrants with Ernest Bennett winning the bracelet and nearly $350,000.

Today’s final table and recapping other Sunday action on page 2:

ESPN360′s cameras will be focused on the $1,500 NL Holdem event as they finished play earlier this morning. There is a bracelet winner within the final nine (who just happens to be chip leader), here’s that final table:

Seat 1: Eric Beren 640,000
Seat 2: David Woo 1,090,000
Seat 3: Habib Khanis 645,000
Seat 4: Michael Glasser 495,000
Seat 5: Curtis Early 1,225,000
Seat 6: Jim Paras 535,000
Seat 7: Matthew Wood 675,000
Seat 8: Thom Werthmann 1,600,000 ($1,500 Pot Limit Holdem bracelet winner in 2005)
Seat 9: Thanhdat Tran 1,255,000

The $2,500 Limit 2-7 Triple Draw Lowball event is down to its final 30, with 24 to be paid, returning at 2pm. Veteran pro Gioi Luong is the chip leader, other notable names remaining include Greg Raymer, Bill Chen, Billy Baxter, David Sklansky, and bracelet winner Luis Velador.

The $1,500 Mixed Holdem event is down to 98, with 72 to be paid. Jonathan Tomayo appears to be chip leader, other notables in the field: David Plastik, Fabrice Soulier, and not much else it seems. They get to return at 3pm to play down to a final table for tomorrow.

More updates later…

In today’s episode, Dr. Pauly and I witness a well-known poker author/pro checking out some hot dealer ass, as Dan struggles to come to grips with his inner Sklansky.

Episode 2: Dirty Sklanchez

In event #2, the $1,500 NL, the final 18 staggered their way back to the Rio to reach the ESPN final table. So far they’ve made their way down to 10, which is where ESPN’s coverage may start. They’re currently on break for dinner/ESPN interviews, here’s the chip counts for the final table, which will restart shortly after 7pm:

Seat 1 – Jeff Wiedenhoeft 880,000
Seat 2 – David Bach 675,000
Seat 3 – Aaron Coulthard 1,510,000
Seat 4 – Mike Ngo 1,375,000
Seat 5 – Joe Rutledge 785,000
Seat 6 – Melvin Jones 1,280,000
Seat 7 – Theo Tran 1,420,000
Seat 8 – Chris Ferguson 1,235,000
Seat 9 – James Akenhead 1,995,000
Seat 10 – Grant Hinkle 680,000

Meanwhile, the $1,500 PL Holdem event is down to their final 2 tables with Brandon Schaefer, David Singer, Joe Tehan and Phillip Yeh still in action. Gregg Merkow was one of the very recently busted, out in 19th for $5,547. Play for them ends when they reach their final 9, this group will definitely be more rested for their ESPN final table.

Today’s new tournaments, after the jump:

First, the $1,000 NL w/rebuys tournament got underway shortly after 12n, and a deep-pocketed lineup of pros kept the chip runners actively as the shouts of “Rebuy!” filled the room. Later in the day, an older, more sedate crowd ponied up their $1,500 for the Omaha 8 or better tournament. 2007 WSOP POY Tom Schneider, David Sklansky, Amarillo Slim and noted Omaha 8 expert Shannon Elizabeth were among those in the field.

More stuff later…

Despite slightly lower numbers, the WPT World Championship will still likely end up being one of the five biggest tournaments in the Milky Way this year … and Day 2 has just gotten underway. Pokerati would love to beyotch about not having access to the makeshift WPT TV studio at Bellagio to do our brand of non-chip coverage, but we’ve been invited to a WPT Party tonight with free food and booze, so we’re obviously all good with the status quo.

421 of 545 starting players remain … A few names that I’ll be paying attention to for various reasons, and where they stand in relation to their starting 50k chipstack include Carlos Mortenson (defending champ – 172,075), Tom Schneider (25,400), Clonie Gowen (93,975), Gregg Merkow (40,075), Nenad Medic (12,425), Rodeen Talebi (18,000), Ray Henson (89,550), and David Sklansky (41,050).

Click below to see how the whole pro-studded field shaped up as of noon-Pacific today, and click here to follow the action throughout Day 2.

1. Jeff King – 211,575
2. Paul Chauderson – 200,900
3. Kenny Tran – 193,025
4. Robert Mizrachi – 173,375
5. Carlos Mortensen – 172,075
6. Jordan Morgan – 171,750
7. David Benyamine – 169,350
8. Billy Baxter – 167,150
9. Darrell “Gigabet” Dicken – 163,675
10. Steve Billirakis – 156,800
11. Tom “Durrrr” Dwan – 155,675
12. Nashaat Antonius – 153,375
13. Andrew Shack – 150,300
14. Scott Epstein – 147,800
15. Charles Kelley – 147,325
16. Brandon Cantu – 145,125
17. Joe Tehan – 143,275
18. Jonathan Kalmar – 140,325
19. Michael Katz – 138,500
20. J.C. Tran – 138,350
21. James Mordue – 137,500
22. Michael Sohayean – 134,275
23. Greg “FBT” Mueller – 132,675
24. Soheil Shamseddin – 131,300
25. Jayde Tran – 129,025
26. Thomas Wahlroos – 127,875
27. Jimmy Tran – 125,125
28. John Hillman – 124,550
29. Rock Cloutier – 124,025
30. Abe Mosseri – 123,400
31. Victor Ramdin – 122,675
32. Martin Hansen – 121,125
33. John Celii – 121,075
34. Josh Arieh – 120,250
35. Dario Minieri – 118,650
36. Marcel Luske – 117,225
37. Vanessa Selbst – 117,025
38. Will Wilkinson – 116,050
39. Eli Elezra – 115,000
39. Jim Bechtel – 115,000
41. John Hoang – 113,350
42. Anna Wroblewski – 112,450
43. Michael Gracz – 111,650
44. T.J. Cloutier – 110,525
45. Gus Hansen – 110,325
46. Brian Rast – 110,175
47. Eugene Katchalov – 109,900
48. Rhynie Campbell – 109,675
49. Tommy Hang – 108,000
50. Ron Levi – 106,775
51. Keith Tilston – 106,425
52. Thayer Rasmussen – 106,400
53. Steve Sung – 105,800
54. John Kincaid – 105,600
55. Peter Neff – 104,275
56. Jimmy Dowda – 103,925
57. Steven Koplow – 103,000
58. Steve Zolotow – 102,750
59. Joe Cassidy – 102,725
60. Karga Holt – 102,100
61. David Tran – 101,500
62. Mike Sexton – 101,325
63. Robert Wisiak – 101,000
63. Roy Winston – 101,000
63. Edwin Ting – 101,000
66. Dino French – 100,750
67. John Hennigan – 100,250
68. David “Devilfish” Ulliott – 100,000
69. Alex Melnikow – 99,775
70. James Van Alstyne – 98,350
71. Kathy Liebert – 98,250
72. Nadim Shabou – 97,850
73. Eric Kesselman – 97,325
74. Jordan Rich – 96,975
75. Shawn Lampman – 96,425
76. Rafael Perry – 96,325
77. Andrew Robl – 95,800
78. Zvi Shiff – 95,325
79. Jonathan Westra – 95,025
80. Weikai Chang – 94,675
81. Gary Kainer – 94,125
82. Clonie Gowen – 93,975
83. Freddy Deeb – 92,300
84. Paul Wasicka – 92,250
85. Erik Seidel – 92,025
86. Shawn Buchanan – 91,950
87. Jeff Madsen – 91,350
88. Yan Chen – 90,775
89. Bruce Corman – 90,500
90. Cristiano Blanco – 90,225
91. Burt Boutin – 90,025
92. Ray Henson – 89,550
93. Richard Fohrenbach – 89,250
94. Daniel Negreanu – 89,200
95. Lars Bonding – 88,750
96. Mario Silvestri – 88,225
97. Nicholas Binger – 87,975
98. Scott Fischman – 87,625
99. Eric Hershler – 87,075
100. Matthew Vengrin – 86,775
100. Vijayan Nagarajan – 86,775
102. Layne Flack – 86,325
103. Chris “Armenian Express” Grigorian – 85,850
104. Pat Madden – 85,700
105. Patrick Bruel – 85,175
106. Kwang Min Lee – 85,025
107. Phil Ivey – 85,000
108. Tim West – 84,925
109. Amir Vahedi – 84,475
110. James McCrink – 83,600
111. Martin de Knijff – 83,500
112. John Baarstom – 83,225
113. Alex Bolotin – 82,875
114. Gary Margadonna – 81,925
115. Todd Keikoan – 81,525
116. Mike Chow – 81,425
117. John Esposito – 81,275
118. Doyle Brunson – 80,850
119. David Grey – 80,350
120. Tony Hartman – 80,275
121. Francois Safieddine – 80,200
122. Tad Jurgens – 79,800
123. Will Failla – 79,500
124. Jonathan Depa – 79,475
125. Huckleberry Seed – 78,900
126. Steven O’Dwyer – 78,675
127. Surinder Sunar – 78,650
128. Gavin Smith – 78,400
129. Daniel Zogman – 78,200
130. Danny Fuhs – 77,875
131. Humberto Brenes – 77,650
132. Jared Okun – 77,375
133. Barry Greenstein – 76,950
134. Loi Phan – 76,625
135. Steve Dannenmann – 76,400
136. Philippe Rouas – 76,325
137. Jeff Bayles – 76,275
138. Larry Wright – 76,100
139. Tim Phan – 75,900
140. Art Duncan – 75,700
141. Herman Zango – 75,575
141. Eugene Todd – 75,575
143. James Mettler – 75,050
144. Narendra Banwari – 75,000
145. Ralph Rudd – 74,975
146. Cary Katz – 74,825
147. Steven Weinstein – 74,500
148. Art Peacock – 73,600
149. Keith Gipson – 73,225
150. Gary Horn – 73,000
151. Billy Pilossoph – 72,550
152. Padraig Parkinson – 72,075
153. Howard Lederer – 71,975
154. George Abdallah – 70,925
155. Isabelle Mercier – 70,750
156. Jared Hamby – 70,125
157. Chris McCormack – 70,000
158. Curt Kohlberg – 69,850
159. Nicolas Levi – 69,650
160. Jeff Shulman – 69,225
161. Alex Jacob – 68,750
162. Praz Bansi – 67,800
163. Hyon Kim – 67,750
164. Donnacha O’Dea – 67,725
165. Arnaud Mattern – 67,700
166. Cory Carroll – 67,625
167. David Goad – 67,500
168. Nikolay Losev – 67,450
169. Nam Le – 67,400
170. Vivek Rajkumar – 67,175
171. Emeline Boich – 67,100
172. Stan Jablonski – 66,950
173. Kevin Haeri – 66,750
174. Vanessa Rousso – 66,500
175. Hoyt Corkins – 66,400
176. Eric Cloutier – 66,125
177. Champie Douglas – 65,925
178. Saifuddin Ahmad – 65,850
179. Paul Smith – 65,600
180. Sean O’Donnell – 65,250
181. Jason Lester – 65,150
182. Vadim Trincher – 65,050
183. Arthur Azen – 65,000

AVERAGE – 64,727

184. Rich Salomon – 64,700
185. Mikael Thuritz – 64,650
186. Steve Wong – 64,600
187. Dewey Tomko – 64,500
188. Eric Richards – 64,400
189. Berry Johnston – 63,250
190. Bryan Devonshire – 62,650
191. Philip Galfond – 62,300
192. Balint Barta – 62,100
193. John Monnette – 62,100
194. Dan Shak – 62,000
195. Ted Forrest – 62,000
196. Mimi Tran – 61,800
197. Sylvester Geoghegan – 60,675
198. Brandon Adams – 60,550
199. Robert Cheung – 60,525
200. Stuart Fox – 60,500
201. Matthew Hyman – 60,350
202. Mike Matusow – 60,275
203. Bruno Fitoussi – 60,050
204. Ross Boatman – 59,925
205. Michael Hudson – 59,900
205. Kelly Kim – 59,900
207. Cliff “Johnny Bax” Josephy – 59,700
208. Benjamin Springer – 59,650
209. James Calderaro – 59,500
210. David Chiu – 59,100
211. David Redlin – 59,050
212. Karl Mahrenholz – 59,000
213. Thang Pham – 58,900
214. Ray Coburn – 58,775
215. Mark Appleman – 58,650
216. Michael Ellis – 58,125
217. Shawn Cunix – 57,750
218. Chau Giang – 57,650
219. Ted Kearly – 57,625
220. Mikiya Takitani – 57,625
221. Gary Gibbs – 56,975
222. Michael McKenna – 56,925
223. Noah Schwartz – 56,575
224. Mark Muchnik – 56,525
225. Hevad “Rain” Khan – 56,425
226. Scotty Nguyen – 56,175
227. Danny Shiff – 56,000
228. Jean Gaspard – 55,825
229. Antonio Salorio – 55,500
229. Kevin O’Donnell – 55,500
231. John Strzemp – 55,475
232. Robert Suer – 55,075
233. Nathan Doudney – 55,000
234. Noah Jefferson – 54,850
235. Mats Rahmn – 54,725
236. Terry Akins – 54,700
237. Alan Vinson – 54,325
238. Mark Teltscher – 54,000
239. David Peters – 53,650
240. Wayne Boich – 53,525
241. John Roveto – 53,500
242. Toto Leonidas – 53,275
243. Douglas Janney – 53,000
244. Andreas Krause – 52,775
245. Vincent Bartello – 52,350
246. Grant Lang – 52,175
247. Amit Makhija – 52,100
248. Joseph Fallows – 52,025
249. Robert Fitzpatrick – 51,875
250. Joe Awada – 51,575
251. Scott Seiver – 51,175
252. Dan Harrington – 51,000
253. Darren Kramer – 50,875
254. Larry Karambis – 50,700
255. Vincent Procopio – 49,950
256. Peter Jetten – 49,700
257. Scott Mayfield – 49,425
258. Shane Schleger – 49,400
259. Soren Jensen – 49,250
260. Chris “Jesus” Ferguson – 48,900
261. Marco Traniello – 48,850
262. Vincent Shaw – 48,750
263. Jerry Yang – 48,325
264. Uri Kadosh – 48,175
265. Tommy Legend – 48,000
266. Christopher Bush – 47,925
267. Tony Grappo – 47,750
268. Heather Sue Mercer – 47,550
269. Bob Stupak – 47,175
270. Tony Ma – 47,150
271. Bill Gazes – 46,900
272. Joseph Risi – 46,625
273. Steve Brecher – 45,875
274. Sudhakara Kattamuri – 45,875
275. Allie Prescott – 45,850
276. Mike McClain – 45,700
277. Jon Turner – 45,650
278. Kristy Gazes – 45,000
279. Alan Sass – 44,675
280. Jennifer Harman – 44,625
281. Jonathan Aguiar – 44,475
282. Alven Zeidenfeld – 44,275
283. John Murphy – 43,925
284. Glynn Beebe – 43,625
285. Daniel Moorman – 43,575
285. Dan Lu – 43,575
287. Antonio Esfandiari – 43,400
288. Eric “Rizen” Lynch – 42,850
289. Sam Farha – 42,800
290. Alan Goehring – 42,500
291. John Smith – 42,500
292. Danny Wong – 42,325
293. Shannon Shorr – 42,250
294. Corwin Cole – 42,250
295. Joe Beevers – 41,650
296. Haralabos Voulgaris – 41,600
297. Tim Chauser – 41,575
298. Cory Zeidman – 41,375
299. Barry Berger – 41,275
300. Thomas McCormick – 41,075
301. David Sklansky – 41,050
302. Dustin Dirksen – 41,000
303. John Myung – 40,850
304. Tuan Le – 40,800
305. Alan Smurfit – 40,700
306. Matt Brady – 40,650
307. Raffi King – 40,375
308. Gregg Merkow – 40,075
309. Mark Newhouse – 39,675
310. Samuel Hiatt – 39,350
311. Danilo Sahiune – 39,225
312. John Juanda – 39,225
313. Peter Feldman – 39,100
314. Roland DeWolfe – 38,975
315. Christian Pereira – 38,975
316. Phil Hellmuth – 38,075
317. Jon Friedberg – 38,025
318. Allen Kessler – 37,800
319. Michael “The Grinder” Mizrachi – 37,475
320. Sirous Jamshidi – 37,125
321. Eric Baldwin – 37,075
322. Louis Werman – 36,650
323. Minh Ly – 36,350
324. Quinn Do – 36,350
325. Gary Dolenga – 36,175
325. Ting Li – 36,175
327. Ryan Daut – 35,300
328. Joe Hachem – 35,300
329. Herb Montalbano – 35,125
330. Raymond Davis – 35,000
331. Abdo Lattouf – 34,900
332. Ira Mazie – 34,725
333. David Farber – 33,950
334. Dennis Waterman – 33,825
335. Lee Markholt – 33,600
336. Mike Wattel – 33,275
337. Jean-Robert Bellande – 33,250
338. Andrew Pierz – 33,200
339. Rhett Butler – 32,875
340. Matt Lefkowitz – 32,600
341. Elia Ahmadian – 32,175
342. Erik Sagstrom – 32,100
343. Roy Thung – 32,000
344. Amnon Filippi – 31,750
345. Mark Stubbs – 31,700
346. Marcus Gonsalves – 31,325
347. Barny Boatman – 31,325
348. Mark Dickstein – 30,775
349. Mark Seif – 30,625
350. Johan Storakers – 30,550
351. Thor Hansen – 30,475
352. Jyri-Petteri Linna – 30,450
353. Franco Brunetti – 30,000
354. Russell Rosenblum – 29,850
355. David Rheem – 29,600
355. Robert Zeps – 29,600
357. Parviz Razavian – 29,250
358. Fred Berger – 29,075
359. Adam Levy – 28,925
360. Aaron Been – 28,525
361. Markus Lehmann – 28,500
362. William Klein – 28,325
363. Florian Langmann – 28,250
364. Stuart Christerson – 28,000
365. Karl Tretter – 27,850
366. Erica Schoenberg – 27,250
367. Bill Kontaratos – 27,200
368. Dan Barry – 26,800
369. Matt Giannetti – 26,625
370. James Dawick – 26,500
371. Alexander Kravchenko – 26,225
372. Thomas Wolfinger – 26,125
373. Benedetto Bianco – 26,100
374. David Gregory – 25,975
375. Samuel Korkis – 25,475
376. Tom Schneider – 25,400
377. David Kim – 25,325
378. Gary Burrell – 25,150
379. Michael Graffo – 24,425
380. James Cornell – 23,775
381. Matt Russell – 23,500
382. Mark Cole – 23,475
383. Serena Liu – 23,100
384. Bertrand Grospellier – 22,725
385. David Rubin – 22,325
386. Kenna James – 21,975
387. Chad Brown – 21,850
388. Hooman Nikzad – 20,875
389. Simon Moussa – 20,675
390. Edwin Kim – 20,475
391. Tony Cousineau – 20,350
392. John Duthie – 19,625
393. Scott Ross – 19,500
394. Michael Binger – 19,275
395. Mark Gregorich – 18,550
396. Rodeen Talebi – 18,000
397. Christopher Bach – 17,700
398. Scott Paust – 17,125
399. Jeff Langdon – 16,950
400. Lance Oliver – 16,525
401. Jason Potter – 16,225
402. Erick Lindgren – 15,800
403. Adam Geyer – 15,675
404. Brian Haveson – 15,575
405. Sorel Mizzi – 15,475
406. Alexander Kostritsyn – 15,450
407. Andrew Rosskamm – 13,900
408. Joe Sebok – 13,300
409. Theodore Park – 13,250
410. Enrique Leigue – 13,100
411. Brian Powell – 12,850
412. Nenad Medic – 12,425
413. Andrew Black – 11,800
414. Bob Cole – 11,575
415. Men “The Master” Nguyen – 10,725
416. Dennis Burns – 10,625
417. Erik Haakenson – 10,375
418. Van Nguyen – 9,100
419. Nick Schulman – 8,400
420. Albert Huang – 7,875
421. David “The Dragon” Pham – 4,750

And thanks for the kudos but I have been eliminated from the limit $3k NLH event. My high pocket pairs were up against a higher pocket pair every time. Just down right cold decked. My table was less than exciting but all around me sat Joe Sebok, Amir Vahedi, Annie Duke, JC Tran, Phil Hellmuth, Eric Seidel and David Sklansky.

FYI – This would typically be a comment; however, the comment feature is still unavailable.

Hello? Is anyone out there?

For whatever reason, Clonie insisted it was not Sklansky but rather some random old guy — because surely Sklansky would never violate any terms of rules and etiquette, right? With all due respect to the original boom-era poker babe, I am willing to bet, oh, I dunno, how ’bout $250, that Clonie is so wrong. Not about the coaching, but about the identity of the bald and scruffy rail rooster, who looks very similar to this guy, shot by Shuttergyp last year wearing his lucky shirt:

I know the pros like to say they are always trying to win, but really … they are trying to get the max return on their investment of time and money. So if you have, say, an 80 percent chance of winning $100k and a 5 percent chance of winning $1 million, what’s the better prize to go for? This is simple Deal or No Deal math, even according to Sklansky. Making the payouts a little less top-heavy hass gotta change at least a few players’ near-bubble strategy, no?

Harrah’s explanation of how the new payout system would have applied to last year’s main event field:

Overall, 846 players last year would have won substantially more money – in some case, more than double – what they collected in 2006. The top 27 players would have received less, however.

For example, the 2006 Main Event would have paid $22,266 for 873rd through 775th places, up from $14,605 or $15,512. Places 82 through 73 would have paid $126,173, up from $66,010. First place would have paid $10,028,715, down from $12 million, while second place would have been worth $5,442,769, compared with $6,105,900.

By the way, semi-related … interesting to see all the PartyPoker ads all over the (new and improved) official WSOP website.