Earl Burton has an interesting post up wondering why the sponsorship dollars for the WSOP main event final tableists haven’t been rolling in. While he leaves room for the possibility that it’s just a matter of time — I agree, as the kinda deals we’re talking about here don’t take place over a matter of days or even weeks — he also highlights an example that has me simply shaking my head:

A recent blog [sic.] on CardPlayer by a former guest on my “The Tournament Trail” show at Hold ‘Em Radio (http://www.holdemradio.com/), WPT champion Roy Winston, indicated that no one has contacted him regarding his offer of coaching for the Main Event.

Sorry, Roy, but I’m laughing. Because no one has contacted me, either, about my offer to put a Pokerati patch on them in exchange for guaranteed internet coverage! No offense, but whothefugk are you? A WPT champion? Big deal! The final nine — whether by luck or skill or some combination thereof — have outlasted 6,400 players to get to where they are. Have you ever done that? I didn’t think so.* Why would someone want to potentially mess their game up by receiving “coaching” from someone other than Phil Hellmuth (who clearly knows how to win WSOP final tables with any starting chip ratio) or maybe Erik Seidel? If I were one of the Nueve de Noviembre, I gotta say, I’d be feeling pretty good about my poker skills in general … and would be having many talks with the poker friends who helped get me there (The Arizona Posse, Batfaces, et al.) and probably just about any other poker player I ran into between July and November. But hire an outside coach? That would be like an athlete qualifying for the Olympics and hiring someone in the interim who happened to win a similar event in the Pan-Am games.

The story here isn’t on whether or not the final table delay was a right idea for the sake of marketing … it’s about how the remaining WSOP main event players are somehow smart enough not to fall for sales pitches from interlopers trying to get in on their action.

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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:

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Recapping the rest of last night at the WSOP with the Thursday preview of tournaments:

The final table was set for the $1,500 Pot Limit Omaha Hi/ Lo Eight or Better tournament, and a familiar face makes the final table in search of his 9th WSOP bracelet, Erik Seidel. He joins the rest of these people under the bright lights of the ESPN360 cameras:

Seat 1: Joseph Haddad 135000
Seat 2: Tom Chambers 263,000
Seat 3: Larry Wright 117,000
Seat 4: Chad Burum 117,000
Seat 5: Michael Fetter 288,000
Seat 6: Casey Kastle 188,000
Seat 7: Jon Maren 377,000
Seat 8: Martin Klaser 337,000
Seat 9: Erik Seidel 340,000

In ESPN Milwaukee’s Best WSOP Player of the Year news, Jacobo Fernandez’s 30th place finish (his 6th cash of the Series) extended his lead over David Benyamine to 7 points (227-220).

Other action from yesterday on the next page:

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What’s happening tonight at the WSOP (besides the HORSE event):

The $1,000 Seniors NL Holdem World Championship final table is already over, as Dan Lacourse a retired firefighter from Dayton, OH took down the bracelet along with almost $370,000. Dale Eberle, a retired police officer from Akron, Ohio finished 2nd, for just over $235,000.

The $1,500 Pot Limit Omaha Eight or Better event is down to the final 16, as they make their way to a final table. Among the notable names: Erik Seidel, Casey Kastle, and WSOP runner-up Tom Chambers. Updates for this event can be found here.

The $1,000 NL Holdem w/rebuys event started with a field of 879 and 2,508 addons and rebuys. Only 320 are left at the present time, the notable names at the top of the leaderboard include Mark Seif, Brandon Cantu, JC Tran, Humberto Brenes, and Scott Clements. Follow their progress at the WSOP.com website here.

Dan and Jen will surely provide numerous posts about the HORSE event, but you can get further updates on the action here.

More throughout the evening…

Phan Phantastically wins 2nd bracelet of Series

Recapping last night, and a preview of today’s tournaments at the WSOP:

John Phan continued a tradition since 2000: A multiple bracelet winner at the World Series of Poker. Phan takes down the $2,500 Limit 2-7 Triple Draw Lowball title over Shun Uchida, earning just over $150,000 for his second bracelet of the Series.

The other final table yesterday, the $1,500 Mixed Holdem event, was suprisingly won by RV enthusiast Frank Gary over Jonathan Tamayo. After Michael Binger was eliminated in 3rd, it appeared to be Tamayo’s tournament to win. However, Gary took control during the limit holdem period; winning several large pots that gave him a big enough chip lead to put Tamayo away in the first hand of the NL holdem round to win the bracelet and $219,000, which should cover his gas costs for the rest of the year.

The final table for today, plus a preview of today’s tournaments on page 2:

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Happenings for this evening as I found out from Jen I’ve become a member of the WPA all over again:

The $5,000 Stud 8 or Better World Championship is down to the final 3, with Team Full Tilt Pro Chris Ferguson the dominate chip leader. Marcel Luske finished in 4th, Annie Duke finished 5th, you can catch all the action at the WSOP site here.

The other final table for today already has its champion, to find out who it was, click on the jump:

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All of the tables in the PLO w/rebuys tournament are sick. The field isn’t enormous, but it consists of so many notable players that it’s hard to look away.

One table in particular, Table 15 in the Orange section has an impressive line-up: Robert Williamson III, Phil Hellmuth, Erick Lindgren, Erik Seidel, Sirous Jamshidi, Daniel Negreanu, and Daniel Alaei. And as I’m typing, Alex Kravchenko was moved to that table as well.

The players are having a good time with the set-up, and it’s a couple tables away from the spectator rail, so railbirds aren’t hovering. Strange thing happened, though. A non-ESPN-credentialed person came up to the table with a video camera, which is typically good enough to get you and your media credential kicked out on your ass, and filmed some of the action, even commenting to the players and looking for reactions. Hellmuth started to get annoyed, and that’s when a certain Harrah’s big-wig came over and monitored the filming; by his mere presence, he sanctioned it.

As a few fans found their way through the tables and security to get closer to the table, they were shooed away and told to get out of the area. Yet, the rogue videographer was able to stay and continue filming for quite awhile before leaving upon obtaining the footage he desired. Interesting exception to the media rules. I’m sure there was a good reason…

In a final table filled with high-stakes players and bracelet winners, Eric Brooks ($0 in tournament cashes) beats Fu Wong ($110,000 in tournament cashes) in the $10,000 7 Card Stud World Championship. Alexander Kostritsyn, who at one point had a 1,000,000 chip lead over his nearest competitor, finished in 3rd. High stakes regulars Minh Ly and David Oppenheim finished in 4th and 8th respectively. 8-time bracelet winner Erik Seidel finishes in 5th.

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What’s happening today at the WSOP:

The $2,500 NL Holdem final table is already at heads-up, after a whirlwind of eliminations. Steve Merrifield currently has had a commanding lead over Duncan Bell. Bell then doubled up off of Merrifield with A9 v 55. The final hand was a cooler for Merrifield, on a flop of 8-6-2, Bell went allin, Merrifield would call with 10-10. Unfortunately for him, Bell had AA, Steve couldn’t catch another 10 and Bell gets to take home $666,777, Merrifield will have the consolation of taking $428,948 for 2nd.

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BREAKING NEWS: GSN does not exercise Season 7 option for GSN. Talks ongoing with GSN to possibly air “parts” of season 7. Press release from WPTE

Happenings from yesterday at the WSOP:

The other final table of yesterday concluded earlier this morning, as Jimmy Shultz took down Event #12 ($1,500 Limit Holdem), eventually beating Zac Flowers in a heads-up battle to win a bracelet along with just over $250,000. Upon his victory, he announced he was donating 25% of his win to the Charleston, SC Fire Department , who lost nine firefighters June 18, 2007. Vinny Vinh, along with his “associates” railing him, finished 3rd.

More info after the jump:
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Erik Seidel - Courtesy of World Poker Tour

The marathon that was the WPT Foxwoods Poker Classic started out with Seidel as the chip leader, Ted Forrest second in chips, an online pro, a semi-experienced tournament player, and two relative amateurs.

After nearly 12 hours of play, it was Seidel as the last player standing. He claimed his first WPT title to add to his already impressive resume that includes 8 WSOP bracelets and numerous prestigious accomplishments.

The final payouts were as follows:

1st: Erik Seidel - $992,890
2nd: Robert Richardson - $558,792
3rd: Andrew Barta - $281,011
4th: Frank Cieri - $200,261
5th: Adam Katz - $151,811
6th: Ted Forrest - $103,360

All of the details of the final table action - and hours of inaction - were chronicled by the WPT Live Updates team.