What’s doing tonight at the WSOP while I welcome Tuscaloosa Johnny to the Pokerati fold:

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:

More…

Leftover example of a prop-bet loss — PokerStars EPT annoncetrix Kara Scott getting her bunny on in San Remo, Italy:

Found this vid, shot at the EPT Championship last month in Monte Carlo … where Daniel Negreanu pwns a Scandi reporter (new word for me!), or maybe it’s the other way around:

There’s question whether or not it was staged. In Las Vegas I am pretty sure his shove would be considered assault, but maybe not so in Monaco? Either way, my experience at the tables tells me that 2 in 12 to 14 Scandis are slowrollers … so that suggests it’s statistically possible it was an authentic provocation.

The EPT Grand Final came to a long drawn-out end yesterday in Monte Carlo, and after nearly 13 hours of play, Canadian Glen Chorny took it down. Ho hum. It may be the least exciting victory in recent tournament times, as Chorny couldn’t even manage a smile in the victory interview and didn’t seem to care that he just won $3.2 million. Reportedly, he smiled later, long after I lost interest.

Antonio Esfandiari made himself disappear in 8th place, with a little help from Luca Pagano, but received $266,004 for a grand showing. Luca then went out in 6th for $533,601 and his ninth EPT cash. And Isaac Baron left in fourth place for $932,692.

All of the final ten payouts, courtesy of PokerNews, are as follows:

1 $ 3,198,500 Glen Chorny
2 $ 1,866,790 Denes Kalo
3 $ 1,132,107 Maxime Villemure
4 $ 932,692 Isaac Baron
5 $ 666,606 Michael Martin
6 $ 533,601 Luca Pagano
7 $ 400,590 Valeriy Ilikyan
8 $ 266,004 Antonio Esfandiari
9 $ 199,533 Henrik Gwinner
10 $ 199,533 Stig Top Rasmussen

In other EPT news, Kara Scott may be the best hostess/interviewer on any poker tour. I took some time to listen to some of the EPT final table broadcast, and when she sat in, I was so impressed with the intelligent and witty commentary. Most of all, she seems to truly understand how to interview poker players without being insensitive or oblivious to their experiences. Here is her interview with Isaac Baron upon his exit yesterday:

The European Poker Tour (EPT) Grand Final just concluded its fourth day of action, and out of an amazing 842 players, only 10 remain.

Glen Chorny - 3,370,000
Isaac ‘westmenloAA’ Baron - 2,365,000
Michael Martin - 1,579,000
Maxime Villemure - 1,220,000
Denes Kalo - 957,000
Antonio Esfandiari - 735,000
Luca Pagano - 705,000
Valeriy Ilikyan - 650,000
Stig Top Rasmussen - 590,000
Henrik Gwinner - 466,000

Antonio “The Magician” Esfandiari is doing quite well, and this comes on the heels of his recent sponsorship deal with the World Poker Tour. The WPT Poker-Made Millionaire is representin’ over in Europe!

Isaac Baron is reportedly one of the most respected online players in the game and has been doing relatively well on the live tournament circuit.

The only other name I recognize is Luca Pagano - PokerStars player and Italian guy. Be still my part-Italian heart.

First place will get nearly $3.2 million. Wheee! (Note to the eventual winner: Can I borrow a few bucks?) Live updates can be found at PokerNews and PokerListings.

Gavin & Kristen

In Atlantic City, New Jersey, tonight, Gavin Griffin won the WPT Borgata Poker Classic, making him the first player to win a WPT title, EPT title, and WSOP bracelet.

The final table set out to be a good one with names like Lee Watkinson, David Tran, Noah Schwartz, and Griffin. When it was all said and done, Griffin won a tough heads-up battle against Tran (the final hand detailed here by WPT Live Updates) to win the title, along with the $1,401,109 prize, a Tag Heuer watch, and a customized Harley-Davidson motorcycle.

Griffin won his first major title in 2004 by capturing a WSOP bracelet in the $3000 Pot Limit Hold’em event, then took the poker world by storm with the 2007 EPT Grand Final win at Monte Carlo less than a year ago. Tonight, he took his first WPT title and solidified his place in the game’s history.

On a personal note, I had the pleasure of meeting Gavin and his girlfriend Kristen several months ago in L.A., and I had drinks with Kristen just a few days ago in Las Vegas. They are both incredibly kind, charitable, and fun people. And today is Kristen’s birthday - I can confirm that a major celebration of many sorts is going on at the Borgata tonight.

Congrats, Gavin!

Love is not often found in the poker community. Players are looking for money, tournament titles, and maybe a little fame. But sometimes a connection is made that just works. Enter Vanessa Rousso and Chad Brown.

They’ve been dating for awhile, and Chad proposed to Vanessa at Christmas. They made the engagement announcement for the first time yesterday on PokerRoad Radio during the EPT PokerStars Caribbean Adventure in the Bahamas.

Do I hear an “Awww” somewhere in Pokerati land?

Congratulations to Vanessa and Chad!