This one tells us how Erick Lindgren and “Phillip” Ivey celebrated something — presumably Ivey’s 8th bracelet — over high-end Italian food. Though it’s not clear if this meal made for a coincidental encounter between Full Tilt buddies or if Lindgren just showed up late … apparently @ChefGeno knows Ivey well enough, while others may not be quite so clued in to the star-power associated with $2,500 2-7 Lowball, $2,500 Omaha/7-stud Hi-Lo, and $3,000 HORSE:

**9 Group Sightings**

Professional poker player, Eric Lindgren dined at Nove Italiano inside Palms Casino Resort on Thursday night (6.24.10).

He came in with one guest around 7 p.m. Also at the restaurant was, professional poker player, Phillip Ivey who has won five World Series of Poker bracelets and has a World Poker Tour title. He came in with a group of eight friends at 6 :30 p.m. Executive Chef, Geno Bernardo prepared a special salad that Ivey likes and the rest of the group ordered ala carte from the menu. The group enjoyed a champagne toast, espresso shots and desserts.

***No photos are available

Unconfirmed sources say that both Ivey and Lindgren are good tippers, though “not ridiculous” about it.

Lindgren and Nguyen highlight 5k 6-max FT

Six players remain at the $5,000 No-Limit Holdem 6-max final table with Jeffrey Papola (2,340,000) leading when play resumed at 9pm. The rest of the final table is made up of Erick Lindgren (1,670,000), Men Nguyen (1,505,000), Orlando Delacruz (1,100,000), Bruno Launais (1,003,000) and Mark Radoja (480,000). Follow the action at PokerNews.

Velador vibrant at PLO/PLH FT

Eight players remain in the $2,500 Pot-Limit Omaha/Pot-Limit Holdem final table with Jose Luis Velador (985,000) holding the chip lead. Kevin MacPhee (631,000), David Chiu (437,000), Rob Hollink (323,000), and Victor Ramdin (200,000) are the notable names remaining, follow the action at PokerNews.

10k NL HU at Round 4

The $10,000 No-Limit Holdem Heads-Up Championship is currently at round 4 with players now in the money. Among the round 4 winners: Faraz Jaka, Bertrand “ElkY” Grospellier, Brian Rast, Kido Pham, Ludovic Lacay and Jason Somerville. One more round is scheduled for 11pm tonight, with the 8 survivors playing to a winner Sunday afternoon. See who else moves on at wsop.com.

Seniors’ sauntering along at day 2

Less than 150 players remain as play continues on day 2 of the $1,000 Seniors’ No-Limit Holdem Championship with Duane Gerleman (210,000) reported as the chip leader. Other notables in the hunt: Team Pokerati/Loudmouth Poker pro Tom Schneider (181,000), Berry Johnston (110,000), Susie Isaacs (60,000) and John Spadavecchia (55,000). Find more info over at wsop.com.

Day 1a of 1k NL underway

A field of 2,485 1,987 started day 1a of the $1,000 No-Limit Holdem with around 550 players remaining, scheduled to play 10 levels or down to about 360 players, whichever comes first. Notables who’ve grown their 3,000-chip stack: Scott Montgomery (25,000), Liv Boeree (24,700), Neil Channing (18,000) and Lee Childs (11,000). More updates and chip counts can be found at PokerNews.

3k HORSE field saddles up

The 5pm tournament today, $3,000 HORSE, drew a field of 478 entrants with the top 48 making the money, with the winner earning $329,840. The early leader is Robert Willamson III with 16,000 in chips, followed by Andre Akkari (13,000), Shaun Deeb (12,500), Matt Savage (11,700) and Scotty Nguyen (10,500). More updates as eight levels of play is scheduled at PokerNews.

DonkeyBomber leads 1k Seniors’ field

Day 1 of the $1,000 Seniors’ No-Limit Holdem Championship concluded with 427 players remaining at the end of 10 levels of play. The reported chip leader is Team Pokerati/Loudmouth Poker pro Tom Schneider in front with 94,000 in chips. Other notables with chips when play resumes at 2:30pm: Berry Johnston (62,900), Lon McEachern (27,200) and Sam Simon (23,100). A full list of chip counts is now available at PokerNews.

Ellis wins bracelet #4 for the UK

The $1,500 No-Limit Holdem event reached a conclusion first as Mike Ellis overcame a large chip deficit heads-up against Christopher Gonzales to win the bracelet along with $581,851 as the Briton wins the fourth bracelet this year for the UK, moving them into second in the WSOP world standings. Gonzales earned $360,906 for the runner-up finish. Full results and Nolan Dalla’s tournament report are available at wsop.com.

Puchkov punches his way to HORSE victory

The $1,500 HORSE event finally concluded in the wee hours of the morning as Konstantin Puchkov defeated Al “Sugar Bear” Barbieri to earn $256,820 and a WSOP bracelet. Barbieri earned $158,647 for the second place finish. Full results and Dalla’s tournament report will be available at wsop.com shortly.

Lindgren, Nguyen feature final day of 5k NL 6-max

The final day of the $5,000 No-Limit Holdem 6-max event gets underway with 12 players remaining. Here’s how the field will be seated when play resumes at 3pm:

Seat 1: Orlando Delacruz – 301,000
Seat 2: Anthony Roux – 668,000
Seat 3: Evan Panesis – 299,000
Seat 4: Jeffrey “jpapola” Papola – 598,000
Seat 5: Mark Radoja – 1,493,000
Seat 6: Darren Elias – 841,000

Seat 1: Bruno Launais – 875,000
Seat 2: Men Nguyen – 264,000
Seat 3: Erick Lindgren – 1,165,000
Seat 4: Taylor Mcfarland – 848,000
Seat 5: Paul Sheng – 712,000
Seat 6: Lucas Greenwood – 425,000

Follow the updates of this event at PokerNews.

Velador and Chiu top two in 2500 PLO/PLH

Day 3 of the $2,500 Pot-Limit Omaha/Pot-Limit Holdem resumes at 3pm with 14 players remaining. Jose-Luis Velador (455,000) and David Chiu (451,000) are the leaders, while Rob Hollink (423,000), Victor Ramdin (262,000) and Phil Ivey (207,000) also return. PokerNews will be there until a bracelet winner is determined.

10k NL Heads-Up down to final 64

Two rounds of play have finished in the $10,000 No-Limit Holdem Heads-Up Championship with 64 players remaining when the field returns at 3pm. The 32 round three winners will make the money, with some of the notables returning include: Phil Ivey, Gavin Smith, Phil Gordon, Antonio Esfandiari, Sorel Mizzi, Jonathan Little, Josh Arieh, Vanessa Rousso and Vivek Rajkumar. The full bracket for this event is now online at wsop.com.

Saturday’s tournaments

The 12pm tournament is day 1a of the fourth $1,000 No-Limit Holdem event of the WSOP, with a field of at least 3,000 expected over the weekend. The 5pm tournament is the $3,000 HORSE event, which drew a field of 452 players last year with Zac Fellows coming out on top for $311,899.

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.

Québécois LeFrancois wins $1,500 NL

Pascal LeFrancois, a 23-year old student from Quebec, won the $1,500 NL Holdem event, winning $568,974 along with the coveted WSOP bracelet. LeFrancois defeated Max Steinberg in heads-up play, with Steinberg collecting $352,916 for his runner-up finish. The full list of results, Nolan Dalla’s tournament report, and a first for the official winner’s photo, can be found over at wsop.com.

Schmelev and Mizrachi at it Again in 10k Stud

Twelve players remain for day three of the $10,000 Seven Card Stud World Championship with Vladimir Schmelev and Michael Mizrachi looking to renew their rivalry from the $50,000 Players’ Championship won by Mizrachi earlier this week. Schmelev is the current chip leader (921,000), with Mizrachi in third (544,000). Other notables: Nikolay Evdakov (543,000), Steve Bilirakis (448,000) and Men Nguyen (302,000). The full list of chip counts is now available at PokerNews.

Chanthabousay Leads Pot-Limit Final Table

The final table of the $1,500 Pot-Limit Holdem gets underway at 2:30 this afternoon. JJ Liu is the first woman to make a final table at this year’s, starting third in chips with 479,000. Here’s how the entire final table will look:

Armen Kara 220,000
Gregg Wilkerson 230,000
Mark Babekov 246,000
JJ Liu 479,000
Edward Brogdon 89,000
Scott Haraden 224,000
Steve Chanthabouasy 533,000
Joseph Williams 385,000
James Dempsey 528,000

Gupta Going Great in $1,500 NL

Day 2 of the third $1,500 No-Limit Holdem event resumes at 2:30 this afternoon with 291 players returning, 270 making the money. Venkatesch Gupta will be the leader with 199,100 in chips. Among the notables: Blair Hinkle (112,400), Shannon Shorr (64,300), Erick Lindgren (57,600), Jerry Yang (49,100), Tom Dwan (44,500) and Neil Channing (42,000). Team Pokerati’s Pat Poels finished the day in 288th place with 3300 chips. The full list can be found over at PokerNews.

Taking it to the Limit for Day 2

The $1,500 Limit Holdem event returns with 177 players returning at 3:00pm to attempt to play down to a final table. Jameson Painter, who finished 5th at the $2,500 2-7 Triple Draw event earlier this week, starts play today as the chip leader with 47,600. David Williams is 3rd in chips (41,800) with Jason Potter (32,800), Jeff Madsen (28,700) and Matt Hawrilenko (23,900) among the notables near the top of the standings. The full list of players returning can be found at wsop.com.

Saturday Tournaments

Saturday brings Day 1a of the second $1,000 NL Donkament to the WSOP at 12pm today, with about 4,000 runners expected over the next two days. The plan is to play ten one-hour levels today per usual, but if the pace of eliminations is as rapid as it was last Saturday, there could be a change in plans. The 5pm tournament is the $1,500 NL 2-7 Lowball Single Draw event, won last year by Phil Ivey when it had a $2,500 buy-in with a field of 147.

Still, before golf officially decided to go the degen route — or perhaps in preparation for it? — Golf Magazine ran a feature in their November issue about Phil Hellmuth, Layne Flack, Erick Lindgren, and Gavin Smith hitting the Las Vegas links, apparently foreshadowing the concept of risking big-big bucks on every hole:

Golf Magazine feature on High Stakes Poker Players Golfing

Believe it or not, there are some hot boys in poker who, with just a glance across the table, can make us drop our, ummm, chips. It is true that many of them, while looking good with their rock-hard abs and chiseled upper arms, do have poker “performance issues” (most of my hot boy picks didn’t exactly show positive results at the WSOP), but sometimes poker is hard! Even without final tables or gold bracelets, they still to stand out from the masses – at least 6 to 8 inches, I assume. Here are a few:

Chad Brown
Now that is what the gym is for. Not only is he in shape but he shows it off with his tight-fitting shirts. And he’s well-spoken and intelligent. Go on witcha bad self. Turn-ons: playing poker and traveling the world with wife Vanessa Rousso, donating to various charities, and working out.

Erick Lindgren
Not sure if he has rock-hard abs because his shirts aren’t tight enough, but he is athletic and good-looking. Best of all, he’s got a fantastic dry sense of humor. Turn-ons: playing poker tournaments, engaging in a little one-on-one on his home (basketball) court, and remembering reporters’ names (hi, Erick!).

Patrik Antonius
A list of hot boys would not be complete without Patrik, who likely was just born looking so amazing. His model good looks make everyone’s heads turn when he enters a room. Turn-ons: playing the highest stakes poker games in the world, living in Monte Carlo with wife Maya, and being a hot dad to his baby.

Luca Pagano & Marco Traniello
This one is a tie of the Italian kind. Luca knows how to dress like he’s straight out of a Euro fashion magazine, and Marco has more muscle, not to mention an adorable family, but the two are equally Italian and deserve a spot on this list. Turn-ons: playing poker in far-off lands, speaking English with a heavy Italian accent, and enjoying soccer games.

Nelly
Like this one is a surprise? He raps, dances, works out, and knows how to rock a concert and rock those diamond earrings. And he’s from my hometown of St. Louis. E.I., E.I. – uh-oh! Turn-ons: learning to play poker, reppin’ his hometown, and wearing a wifebeater like nobody’s business.

Honorable mentions: Paul Wasicka, Phil Ivey, Nenad Medic, Brian Townsend, Gus Hansen, Joe Sebok, David Singer, Scott Clements, and most men who know how to use their, er, thick wallets. No matter what men like to think, the size of the roll really does matter; am I right ladies?

(This post was more fun to write than I thought! I’m starting to see why my adorably beastly male colleagues spend so much time championing the lowest common denominator.)

The concept is that Shaq takes on the best in the world at their own game(s). He’s got some sort of swimming contest set up with Michael Phelps, a tennis match vs. Serena Williams, boxing vs. Oscar de la Hoya, and he’s been taunting David Beckham on twitter claiming the (once) great soccerer can’t bend one past him in goal.

While the entire show seems to be athletic-based — there’s no challenge to Elton John for some dueling pianos, e.g. — poker seems to have slipped in there. (Props to Disney sibling ESPN?) According to @Phil_Hellmuth, he, Mike Matusow, Chris Ferguson, and Erick Lindgren are on set right now filming an episode that we can only presume is Shaq trying to beat the best at Texas Hold’em.

Not sure about the format, but gotta think Lindgren’s got the edge after all his experience on Face the Ace.

on PokerRoad

The Poker Beat
Huff, Nemeth, Wise, Michalski, Stapleton
6/25/09

I’m not sure what to make of this. Does it feel like 2005 again? The game is called Excitebots: Trick Racing, for the Nintendo Wii … and there’s a poker mode where kids can learn how to make good poker hands and focus on their cards amid distraction. Mmm, tastes good with some Jack’s Links Beef Jerky. Now if only there were a way you could play online for money …

Starring Daniel Negreanu, Evelyn Ng, Gavin Smith, and Erick Lindgren; hosted by Dave Farrah (from RawVegas).

Naalden in Dutch for Bracelet

Marc Naalden went nearly wire-to-wire to victory in the $2,000 Limit Holdem event, as he held a large chip lead over the field, handing it over to Steve Cowley for a few hands when play got to heads-up, but then going on a rush at the end to take a bracelet home to the Netherlands, as well as $190,770.

Can Cantu Can Do?

The $1,500 NL Holdem event is down to ~80 players, and Brandon Cantu is the current chip leader with 530,000 in chips. Other notables remaining include Joe Bartholdi (390,000), Raymond Davis (342,000), Nam Le (125,000) and Alex Jacob (78,000). Play will end at the 3am deadline well short of the final table, so the remaining field gets to return at 1pm to play down to a winner.

May the Schwartz Be With Him

Noah Schwartz is the current chip leader (674,000) in the $10,000 Pot-Limit Omaha World Championship with 42 players remaining, only 27 getting paid. Jonas Entin (434,000), David Williams (359,500), Erick Lindgren (270,000), Nenad Medic (216,500), Padraig Parkinson (173,000), and Barry Greenstein (111,000) are some of the other notables who’ll be happy to reach the 3am deadline with chips.

Shootout at the Rio, 5k NL Version

A field of 280 is down to 30 in the $5,000 NL Holdem Shootout with the remaining players meeting at five tables of six players each to create a five player final table on Tuesday. Phil Ivey, Jean Gaspard, Joe Serock, Jennifer Harman, Neil Channing, Peter Feldman, John Monnette and Mark Teltscher are some of the returnees for day 2 at 2pm Monday.

All Mixed Up

The debuting $2,500 Mixed Event drew a field of 412 to play eight different games (HORSE, PLO, NL Holdem, 2-7 Triple Draw) with 335 players remaining. JC Tran appears to be the unofficial chip leader at 27,000, followed by Steve Billirakis at 26,000 and Sabyl Cohen-Landrum at 19,000. The players just returned from their dinner break to play another four levels before they do it all over again at 2pm Monday. More coming from me in the morning update, and check out Pokerati for other accusations of cheating, while www.wsop.com will cover the updates and other exciting stuff that’s not as controversial at the World Series of Poker.

Lisandro Pulls the Triple Double at the Rio

Jeff Lisandro became the third double bracelet winner of this year’s 2009 WSOP when he took down the $10,000 7 Card Stud Hi/Lo 8 or Better World Championship a couple hours ago defeated Farzad Rouhani at about 4am Vegas time. Lisandro pockets over $430,000 for his victory as well as several hours sleep before he comes back to the Rio Sunday to hear Italy’s national anthem this afternoon. When he won his first bracelet two weeks ago in the $1,500 7 Card Stud event, the Australian national anthem was played, making him the first to have two anthems played. This is also the first time more than two players have won multiple bracelets since when six players (Chan, Ferguson, Juanda, Hellmuth, Flack, and Men Nguyen) won bracelets in 2003. His second bracelet also moves him into a tie for first in the red-hot WSOP Player of the Year Race.

Texan Tops in NL Holdem

Jordan Smith from College Station, Texas took down the $2,000 NL Holdem event, pocketing $586,212 after defeating Ken Lennaard heads-up to take home a bracelet. From Nolan Dalla’s tournament report, Smith had this to add about legalizing poker in Texas:

“I think poker definitely needs to be legalized and regulated. Legalize it. Tax it. Regulate it. I don’t think it’s the government’s job to tell me what to do or how to spend my money – even though they sure want a cut of this (taxes) whenever I win it.”

This was event #36 of the WSOP, and after only one woman (Annie Duke) had made a previous final table, there were two at this one. Almira Skripchenko who is more well known for her successes in chess, being an FIDE Woman Grandmaster, finished in 7th place, good for $78,644. Laurence Grondin from Montreal, Quebec, Canada finished in 3rd for $237,537.

Obligatory Limit Holdem Final Table Mention

The final table of the $2,000 Limit Holdem consists of:

Seat 1: Jared O’Dell 189,000
Seat 2: Danny Qutami 323,000
Seat 3: Ian Johns 113,000
Seat 4: Marc Naalden 755,000
Seat 5: Tommy Hang 202,000
Seat 6: Steven Cowley 322,000
Seat 7: Rep Porter 287,000
Seat 8: Jameson Painter 205,000
Seat 9: Alex Keating 284,000

O’Dell, Johns, Hang and Porter list Washington state on their bio sheet, which may be the first time Washington state has represented so strongly at a WSOP final table.

Charania in Charge

Moshin Charania finished day 1 of the $1,500 NL Holdem event the leader with 144,100 in chips with 327 players remaining, of which 270 make the money. Brandon Cantu (86,600), Grant Hinkle (85,800), Jeff Williams (66,200), Eric Baldwin (63,400) and Shane Schleger (63,000) are some of the players who won’t be playing the Sunday tournaments online, as they’ll be returning to the Amazon room at 2pm.

Nate is Great in PLO

Nate Lindsay from San Francisco is the chip leader (482,200) at the end of day 1 in the $10,000 Pot-Limit Omaha World Championship with 116 players remaining, only 27 getting paid. Noah Schwartz (292,600), Ilari “Ziigmund” Saharies (229,400), David Williams (223,000), and Josh Arieh (220,600) round out the top five. Steve Zolotow (220,200), Ben Grundy (191,000), Tom McEvoy (142,800), Erick Lindgren (120,900) and Jimmy “Gobbo” Fricke (108,000) are just some other notables back for more action at 2pm as they attempt to make the final table.

Sunday’s Tournaments

The 12pm tournament day is the $5,000 NL Holdem Shootout which was won by Phillip Tom in a field of 360 for over $475,000. The WSOP Staff Guide projects a field of 396 for this event, but if it’s slightly above that, it could cause a bit of a problem for tournament staff. The payout structure for the shootout event pays 40 spots if the field is between 378 and 420, which would create 11-player tables for the first round if the field size is in the 401-420 range. The 5pm tournament is the debut of the $2,500 8-Game event which consists of HORSE, NL holdem, PLO and 2-7 triple draw, with a projected field size of 250.

More updates during the day at Pokerati and follow the WSOP at WSOP.com

The $1,500 Pot Limit Omaha event is working their way down to its final table tonight. They currently have 27 players remaining as they went on their dinner break. Jonathan Tare will have the chip lead when the players return, Greg Pappas is currently in 2nd, with day 1 chip leader Jason Mercier is 3rd in chips. Former bracelet winners Dario Alioto, Eric Froehlich and An Tran are some of the notables making up the final three tables.

The $10,000 7-Card Stud World Championship has 45 players remaining while they play down to their final table. The current leader is Fu Wong, followed by Greg “FBT” Mueller, Max Pescatori, Nick Frangos, Hoyt Corkins and Cory Zeidman. A recent elimination was Day 1 chip leader David Oppenheim, along with Phil Ivey, Joe Cassidy and Bruno Fitoussi being day 2 casualties, falling far short of the money that will be reached when 16 players remain.

The $1,500 NL Holdem event got underway today as a field of 2,791 entrants flooded the tournament area, causing delays in the starts of several other events. Returning on the dinner break will be 889 players, with the current chip leader is Jonathan Little, with “Minneapolis Jim” Meehan, Bertrand “Elky” Grospelier, Tiffany Michelle and Chau Giang among the notables off to a fast start. The money will be reached when 297 players remain, with the winner taking home $666,853.

The $2,500 NL 2-7 Lowball Single Draw event started as 148 players took their seats, as plenty of notables round out the field, including Greg Raymer, Erick Lindgren, John Juanda, Billy Baxter, Chino Rheem, Gavin Smith and Pokerati’s own Tom Schneider as they play eight one-hour levels tonight. Follow all the tournament’s progress at www.worldseriesofpoker.com and Pokerati for DonkeyBomber and other updates.

1. How much the world economy affects the poker economy. Big buy-in tournaments in the US have fallen by double digits, while season 5 of the European Poker Tour has experienced large fields and prize pools. The $40,000 40th anniversary WSOP tournament is event #2 on the schedule, which some believe is the best way to decimate field size as ~90% of the field will be out $40,000. This is also the first tournament where people are making over/under bets on the size of the field. The extremely useful WSOP Staff Resource Guide expects a field of 150, while many are expecting somewhere between 200-250. For those with much smaller bankrolls, Saturday’s $1,000 “Stimulus Special” starts with a field of over 5,000 over two day 1′s playing down to a winner on Tuesday. Another change that will help the players’ rolls is the elimination of rebuy tournaments this year. Why this was done depends on who you talk to (prevents people from buying a bracelet, more fair to players who don’t have deep pockets, preventing tournament staff from taking rebuy money, etc)

2. More tournaments! More chips! More levels! More Pros win!? The 2009 WSOP will have plenty of opportunity for players to win bracelets, with 57 bracelets up for grabs in Vegas (up from 55). It has also been called the year of value by tournament staff; giving its players triple the buy-in starting chips, and adding levels to several tournaments. Last year several well known players won their first bracelets (Nenad Medic, Erick Lindgren, Kenny Tran, Dario Minieri and John Phan among them), so it’s expected that players such as Patrik Antonius, Gavin Smith, Tom Dwan and Andy Bloch could take down some fine gold jewelry of their own.

3. A kindler, gentler WSOP? Last year’s antics by Scotty Nguyen and Phil Hellmuth, and the lack of enforcement of the rules against them, caused much controversy. Part of this year’s staff this past weekend included something called “Handling Challenging Situations” so the hope is they’ll be better suited to handle any problems over the next 7+ weeks. This year’s WSOP has also put their Code of Conduct directly into the tournament rules along with promises of a written log of all penalties and warnings and more even enforcement of the rules. The rules on profanity have been changed yet again, this time all profanity is not allowed in the poker room. It’ll be interesting to see how stringent this particular rule gets enforced.

4. Will Twitter rule over the WSOP? Twitter has really exploded over the past few months, while some were all over Twitter last year, it took a while for the rest of us to get into the game.

That’s plenty of preview from me, so be sure to make Pokerati one of your places to go to follow during the WSOP. Dan, California Jen and the rest of Team Pokerati will be sure to have all sorts of good stuff to write about while at the Rio, while I’ll be hopefully be writing from a remote location each morning and afternoon with a review and preview of each day’s action.

Otherwise, all is well in my bracket. Got the 4 3 other matches right — Farha d. Cunningham, Eastgate d. Bloch, Lindgren d. Lederer, Elezra d. Chan. Alas, we will not be seeing Gowen vs. Lederer deep, which Ali Nejad reminded us yesterday woulda been great for poker, because it probably woulda been followed on Court TV.

CORRECTION: I guess I changed my pick on Chan vs. Elezra / didn’t go with my gut. Of course Eli was gonna win.

If you wanna follow a little more play-by-play, take your pick:
CardPlayer.com
PokerNews.com
PokerListings.com

Flipchip for really good photos.
Audio stuff TK at PokerRoad.

And it’s still not too late to get in on the bracket-picking action … though points scored on matches already started won’t count in the end. We’re doing this with our forum friends at PokerRoad. Show who’s boss.

UPDATE: Yang defeats Gowen! Boo Jerry Yang! Makin’ us rankers eat it!

We all knew something fishy was going on with Clonie and Full Tilt, right? And we’ve always wondered how exactly Full Tilt operates — seriously it’s kinda a mystery, even to people who work for them — and now, with Clonie Gowen suing four different companies connected to the game so many play with the pros, we should find out quite a bit of interesting info.

As far as I know, this is the first time any online poker biz that operates in the grayish world of processing money from American players (really really light gray, but still … ) will have to show its stuff publicly. Even Ultimate Bet/Absolute, with all the audits and investigations hasn’t really had to show anything it doesn’t want to to anyone outside its own semi-corporate family.

Um, hole-card cameras in the courtroom?

Official court docs here.

Gowen v. Tiltware LLC, et al.,
Plaintiff: Cycalona Gowen
Defendant: Full Tilt Poker, Tiltware LLC, Pocket Kings Ltd., Kolyma Corporation, A.V.V., Raymond J. Bitar, Howard Lederer, Andrew Bloch, Phillip Ivey, Christopher Ferguson, John Juanda, Phillip Gordon, Erick Lindgren, Erik Seidel, Jennifer Harman-Traniello, Michael Matusow, Allen Cunningham, Gus Hansen and Patrick Antonious

Case Number: 2:2008cv01581
Filed: November 14, 2008

Court: Nevada District Court
Office: Las Vegas Office [ Court Info ]
County: Clark
Presiding Judge: Judge Robert C. Jones
Referring Judge: Magistrate Judge Robert J. Johnston

Nature of Suit: Contract – Other Contract
Cause: 28:1332 Diversity-Other Contract
Jurisdiction: Diversity
Jury Demanded By: Plaintiff

They’re talking about it on 2+2, and the summary of her allegations below comes from the Hendon Mob:

In the complaint, she alleges the following —

In 2004, Clonie was offered (and accepted) 1% ownership of Tiltware and FTP in exchange for being a celebrity representative…

Has worn FTP merchandise and promoted FTP in exchange for that ownership interest (no other compensation)…

In May 2007, all Team FTP members received distribution checks but her…she demanded distribution owed to her, refused…

Nov 6, 2007, Lederer offered to pay her $250k for her past performance on behalf of company, she refused cuz only fraction of what was owed to her…

Clonie estimates company worth $4 billion…

Despite not being paid, continued to work and promote company until November 11, 2008, when she was informed that FTP would issue a press statement informing public she was no longer a Team FT Pro…

Still has not been given reason all other Team FT pros given distribution but her…

Claims against all defendants:

1. Breach of Contract — claiming damages of $40 million…
2. Breach of Fiduciary Duties
3. Breach of Covenant of Good Faith and Fair Dealing
4. Unjust Enrichment

5. Fraud/Intentional Misrepresentation (alleges Bitar contacted her in 2004 and told her they wanted her to be “the FTP female pro”…then in May 2004, attended meeting at Golden Nugget in Ivey’s Suite…majority of Team FT was there, and Lederer led the meeting…He informed group that their ownership interests were not only in FTP but also in Tiltware, and Tiltware would charge FTP a high leasing fee.

Go Batfaces!

In a very brief ceremony, Jeffrey Pollack recognized Erick Lindgren for winning his first World Series bracelet this year, which he did in the $5K Mixed Hold’em event, and a total of four cashes in various events, two being final tables (4th place in the $5K NL 2-7 Draw Lowball and 3rd in the $50K H.O.R.S.E. event). It was a stellar summer for Erick, and he certainly earned the POY award.

While there are likely tournament entries to various WSOP events included in his prize, Erick was also presented with a new custom-engraved Harley-Davidson motorcycle. He spoke very briefly to say that he was honored to receive the award, being in the company of many great past winners, and was happy to see the theater packed with poker fans tonight.

Congrats, Erick!

The Penn & Teller Theater is packed tonight. Sure, there are a handful of friends and family members of the Demidov and Eastgate in the building, along with a smattering of poker pros like Chris Ferguson, Jamie Gold, Jeff Madsen, Chris Moneymaker, “Miami” John Cernuto, Cyndy Violette, and Erick Lindgren, but the vast majority of this crowd filling the place to (or dang close to) capacity are simply fans of the game. They’ve come here to see history on giant plasma screens, and despite not being able to actually see the table with their own eyes, they seem happy enough to simply be here.

Even Erick Lindgren, upon accepting his Player of the Year award before play began, noted that he was happy to see the theater filled with fans, though he sarcastically wondered aloud why they all came to see poker.

I’m going to go out on a short limb here and say that this delayed WSOP final table is a success. Consider this eating my words for being so quick to dismiss the idea many months ago.

From the always clickworthy good folks at RawVegas.TV

UPDATE: Erick Lindgren says Bonomo is “the future of poker.”