Previewing Day 9, reviewing Day 8 at the WSOP, as I wonder why the EUROPEAN Poker Tour allows worldwide airing of final tables live, while the WORLD Series of Poker decides to restrict airing of final tables to a select few in the United States.

The second Saturday of the Series gets underway at noon with event #13 ($2,500 NL Holdem). Being a NL tournament held on the weekend, expect another large field to lay their money down. At 5pm, the latest round of $10,000 buyin World Championships takes place, this time it’s 7 Card Stud. Expect a small but elite field to try their hand at winning a bracelet.

Earlier today:
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Happening today at the WSOP, while plotting against my cable provider for not having ESPN360.

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A review of the action from the first week of the World Series of Poker:

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There’s a lot of hootin’ and hollerin’ going on in the Amazon room … The cash-game quadrant is absolutely packed, and the feature-table stadium is going arbusto about something … what I have no clue (kinda weird how the media is prohibited from going places where the general public can; story for later perhaps) … but apparently there’re three righteous internet kids poppin’ for a bracelet in the $1k NLH+R … so lots of excitement and buzz as we kick into the graveyard shift. Only downside: the ATM in the hallway is out of cash.

Meanwhile, on Court 2, I just watched an exciting Razz hand … Tom had supposedly been hemorrhaging chips, and he was in a hand with a total Ginger, who had a very strong 3-5 in the hole, against Tom’s 6 then 4 showing. Robert Goldfarb and another Schneider sweater were going pop-out-of-their-chair nuts when there was all sorts of raising and calling and Tom didn’t even have a made hand yet! By the time he got a 3 on 6th street Goldfarb practically Panteragraphed Tom’s hand to everyone in the small $10,000 World Championship of Crazy Mixed Games quadrant — “RrrrII know he’s GOT an 8 higggghhhh!!!”

Sure enough, Tom check-raised on the river, and the little Ginger called … Tom’s stack was suddenly close to healthy again, and the table broke, as they were now down to 16 players.

UPDATE: They’re down to 14, and Tom’s pretty short-stacked … about 68,000 chips … avg. stack is 280k. He just put a brand-new black hoodie on — I suppose it’s time to get serious. I hope I’m wrong, but I’m feelin’ like 12th, maybe 11th place. Either that or 4th.

What’s going on at the WSOP this afternoon while waiting for Tom updates from Michalski:

For the first time at the Series this year, an event sold out as the $1,500 NL 6-handed tournament drew a full field of 1,236. Reports from elsewhere said that at least 200 were shutout of the event. The Brasilia room still won’t be available for another week, costing those players (and Caesars/Harrah’s getting their 9%) the chance to participate. Less than 3 hours into the tournament and already the field is down by half. Maybe some of them will try their hand at the next tournament at 5pm, $2,500 Omaha 8/Stud 8. Other action after the jump.
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What’s happening at this moment while reading Gary Wise’s latest entry about what’s “good for poker” is really good for poker.

Today brings another two tournaments to the starting line, first at noon is the $2,000 NL holdem event and another large field is expected. The event the pros may be swooning over is the $10,000 Mixed Event “World Championship”. This tournament will have it all for the big cash game specialists as they throw eight games into the mix. This grouping of players will play Triple Draw lowball Deuce to Seven, Limit Holdem, Omaha 8, Razz, Stud, Stud 8, No Limit Holdem and Pot Limit Omaha; playing each game for 8 hands before moving on to the next game in the rotation. Hopefully there won’t be many mixups between the players, dealers, and floor and this becomes a staple of the WSOP schedule.

Play finally finished earlier this morning in the marathon that was event #2, $1,500 NL Holdem. After over two hours of headsup play, Grant Hinkle made an aggressive move, raising and eventually going all in with 10d-4d against James Akenhead’s Ac-Kh. Things were looking good for James, but his was truly aching after the flop came down 10-4-10. A fourth 10 hit the turn and it was over, as Hinkle took the bracelet and over $800,000 in victory. Chris Ferguson finished 3rd, the full results can be found over at Pokernews.

What else happened yesterday:
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What’s happening around the WSOP while I consider a new career.

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:
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What’s happening around the WSOP while the world’s #1 Limit Holdem player is waiting for you.

It’s almost 6:00am and play finished at 18 in the $1,500 NL event. They’ll be coming back at 1:30pm today to eventually get to a final table, broadcast for ESPN. Theo Tran appears to be the chip leader, while Chris Ferguson, Minh Nguyen, David Bach, and Perry Friedman are still in the mix.

Two new events go underway today, but expect more attention being paid to the $1,000 NL holdem w/rebuys event, starting at 12 noon. The two NL w/rebuys events averaged a combined 3,000 entries/rebuys, expect more of the same today. Daniel Negreanu has not had a good Series so far, expect him to be rebuying heavily today. For the non-holdem fan, the $1,500 Limit Omaha Hi/Lo 8 or better tournament will start at 5:00pm.

What happened yesterday:
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Quite possibly, I’m exaggerating.

However, at 11:10pm, there are 95 players remaining. WSOP officials just announced that the tournament will stay true to the structure in that they will play down to the final nine tonight. And I use the term “tonight” loosely. It will likely be well into the morning hours tomorrow, generously speaking, when they hit that magic number. They will then give the final table players the mandatory 10 hours of rest, ask that they come back to the Rio for the two-hour block of ESPN interviews, and then play the final table.

It was ESPN’s decision, and since they will film the final table, it was their decision against breaking at a decent time tonight, playing to nine tomorrow, and pushing the final table out one day. Instead, they have chosen to drain the players of all earthly stamina and patience in the hope against all hope that play will suddenly speed up and merge with their intended schedule. In the meantime, the media members required to cover the tournament are being forced into a special kind of hell.

Hopefully, play won’t last beyond 5am or 6am, but I’ll take the over on that one.

I can already tell one of the top-quality media sources during the WSOP will be RawVegas.TV.

Check out how their red-carpet vid of a Bluff Magazine pre-WSOP kickoff party at Tao (the nightclub, not “of Poker“) gets a better interview about poker and the fun side of poker lifestyles than anything you see shot in the Amazon room hallways, and even probably what will end up on ESPN:

In this vid not only will guys like Ed get to see a boppity, cleavacious Jennifer Tilly talk about how and why poker players talk about quitting but don’t really mean it, but also they get to hear about Phil Laak’s freak-of-naturely impressive sperm count and how that may or may not lead to strategy-based pillow talk with a cougar.

I’ll also be interested in following RV’s WSOP video blogs from Patrik Antonius, David Williams, Phil Hellmuth, and Daniel Negreanu. These sorts of things have been tried before with moderate success (Negreanu’s were always good), and now that there’s one place where you can find a handful of them regularly with a little party-hearty mixed in — in high-quality video that always seems to work — how could this channel not become Must-See Internet for any serious poker geek following the World Series every summer? [via Wicked Chops]

Another day, another 2,000 players will be expected to start play in the first $1,500 NL event of the 2008 WSOP. When play starts shortly after 12pm PT today, the record for the largest field in WSOP preliminary event history will have been set, all that’s left to be answered is if it can break the magical 4,000 figure. Today’s field will match the progress of day 1a, playing eight 60-minute levels plus the first 16 minutes, 13 seconds of level 9.

Today will also have the first final table, as the $10,000 PL Holdem event finished up just before 5:00am, setting up a fantastic final table under the ESPN cameras. This final table has something for every section of the poker community. You have the young Internet stars (Mike Sowers and Amit Makhija), players wel-known to the mainstream audience (Phil Laak and Mike Sexton), a female player (Kathy Liebert), a math genius (Andy Bloch), international stars (Patrik Antonius and Nenad Medic) and a good ole boy from North Carolina (Chris Bell).

Here’s how the final table will be seated:
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Before we make 2008 The Year of Bitching about Tom’s Lack of Coverage (Again) — because really, if it weren’t for that, what would Angry Julie have to scream about? — I do want to point out that ESPN Correspondo Gary Wise did pick the Donkey Bomber to be on his WSOP fantasy team. Looks like he was a 5th-rounder.

Took a little trip over to the Rio today to check out the set up. Good things so far.

The Amazon Room was empty except for the ESPN crew setting up the stage, Harrah’s employees finalizing the set-up of the room, and a few cash game players wandering in. The Rio seemed to be trying to get the cash game players to the Amazon Room before they close the casino poker room for the WSOP.

The satellites were getting going around noon in their separate room (where the poker kitchen and media room were in 2007), and a handful of players were sauntering in. Greg Raymer was roaming around the hallways, already being stopped by the few tourists who walked down to see if the WSOP had begun.

While the poker kitchen itself wasn’t open for business, I could see that it is in a building where the poker tent was in 2007. It seems like a much sturdier structure than that tent - more like a shed, a really large shed. Don’t know what’s on the menu, though, since it was closed. BUT, there are numerous other food options set up at different points in the hallways. Besides the full bar (yum!), there was a Pizza Hut stand that offered its signature pizzas, along with salads, sandwiches, and fruit bowls. Directly across was a Java Coast coffee stand with a Krispy Kreme donut oven ($2 per donut!).

Best of all, there was a huge sign for a sushi and noodle kitchen! Set-up is not complete, but the thought of having some great sushi available makes this Cali girl quite happy.

It seems that the Harrah’s/WSOP folks have listened to space and food complaints and made some very positive steps in the right direction. Good times and food ahead!

(On the way to the car, Eskimo Clark was on his way in - alive and kickin’ and presumably lookin’ for backers! Some things never change…)

A lot of us WSOP media veterans (this will be Pokerati’s 5th year in attendance, which I think is longer than any other blog) see the World Series as Christmas season for poker. Think about it … right now we’re at about Thanksgiving, and a month from now, the hardcore holidays begin — with the Gaming Expo and main event … and then time to celebrate a new poker year. (Will be a bit different this year, however, without a new champion to ring it in.) It really is pretty impressive when you realize that the WSOP is just another poker brand … and yet poker players all over the world get excited about it. The clicks and shuffles of chips begin this week, and that ever-pokery rattle and hum in the Amazon room won’t stop for nearly 1,100 hours.

What’s new for Pokerati this go-round is that we’re already here. Usually about this time, my personal scramble to get out of Dallas is just beginning, and I’m hoping to arrive before Event #10 while steering clear of the New Mexico and Arizona Highway 5-0. But having crossed the Hoover Dam nearly six months ago … I’m here … yippee. Not sure what to do with myself. I guess I’ll start by reading the official WSOP preview press release — which you can do, too, by clicking below:

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This is a little bit of old news, but I just watched it for the first time, and thought some of you who also might not have seen it yet would be interested in Daniel Negreanu’s very thorough and sober analysis of the WSOP’s delayed main event final table:

In it he reminds even yours truly about how close the World Series was to going out of business in 2004. He’s right, of course, even though I had completely forgotten about that.

At the moment my background music is Star Wars: Episode III - Revenge of the Sith on Spike the main event of the 2007 WSOP (Episode 4, part 2 of 5 according to YouTube):

It’s actually the first time I’ve seen this episode — if that tells you anything about the immediacy or lack thereof attached to current WSOP broadcasts … and it prominently features/follows Jamie Gold. Pretty impressed with how ESPN handled his storyline, and Gold does a pretty good job explaining the Crispin Leyser lawsuit … well enough that I start empathize for just a moment until Norman Chad follows up with a reminder of why he may not have had many supporters regardless.

(About 2:00 in.)

That’s the first real news I’ve heard so far on the WSOP conference call.

More room between tables than ever before, too.

UPDATE: No Pay-Per-View online … but some bracelet events might be broadcast on ESPN-360, whatever that is.

It’s a done deal.

The 2008 World Series of Poker main event will end on July 14 with nine final table players remaining. They will return to play on November 9, and the final two will play it out on November 10, and these two days will be condensed into two hours of programming to air on ESPN November 11 from 9pm - 11pm EST.

LAS VEGAS – May 1, 2008 – The World Series of Poker® (WSOP) Presented by Milwaukee’s Best Light today announced a groundbreaking change that will more closely align the televised presentation of the world’s largest, richest and most prestigious poker tournament with other premier sports broadcasts.

The last nine players of the $10,000 World Championship of No-Limit Texas Hold’em, known as the Main Event, will compete on November 9-10 instead of the originally scheduled date of July 16.

“Our intent is to provide an even bigger stage for our players,” said Jeffrey Pollack, Commissioner of the World Series of Poker. “Now fans and viewers will ask ‘who will win’ our coveted championship bracelet instead of seeing ‘who won.’ The excitement and interest surrounding our final nine players will be unprecedented.”

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There’s a media conference call tomorrow with WSOP honchos Jeffrey Pollack and Jack Effel. According to the invite:

WHAT: A preview of the 39th Annual World Series of Poker, presented by Milwaukee’s Best Light to discuss what is new for 2008.

Hmm, I wonder what new stuff the WSOP commish and man charged with making sure the tournaments maintain their poker purity might want to tell us about.

The email came with one of those red exclamation points attached to it, so they obviously think it’s important. More hints:

BACKGROUND: Continuing the trailblazing efforts that have made the WSOP the richest and most prestigious poker tournament in the world, WSOP Commissioner Jeffrey Pollack will preview the 39th Annual World Series of Poker, presented by Milwaukee’s Best Light. The 2008 event begins on May 30th at the Rio All-Suite Hotel and Casino in Las Vegas, Nevada.

This is the first statement I remember receiving from the WSOP that didn’t mention the end date. So no promises, but I just have a feeling we’ll have some new and official details on a delayed main event final table in about 13.5 hours. And it’s probably a good bet that elections and poker will be the big winners during TV’s November sweeps.

Trailblazing, indeed.

With a WSOP conference call on the schedule for tomorrow at 11am PST, I didn’t think much of it. I thought we might discuss media restrictions for the 2008 WSOP, other changes put into place since last year, etc.

Then a scoop came my way that Pollack will announce that delayed main event final table. If you recall, I was vehemently opposed willing to listen to both sides of the discussions here and here and here and… you get the picture.

It seems ESPN leaked the info before Harrah’s could have the conference call. USA Today has a story on it today.

Please excuse me while I figure out how to adjust to change and embrace this idea. Don’t wait up.

Have done a little semi-investigative drinking digging, and here are a few more quasi-confirmed “facts” regarding a major potential schedule change mid-main event:

• No decision is final yet, but on the big pro-con list, the left side of the board has it all but locked up.
• Television ratings are the driving force behind this idea.
• It was essential, however, that the integrity of the game be protected and blind structures unaltered, no matter what ESPN says.
• “Plausibly live” is the buzzphrase for what they’re trying to create. (Pokerati applauds the linguistic choice, btw, and would like to suggest “presumably non-rigged” as well.)
• The final table will be played over two days — from the final 9 to 2, and then heads-up the next day. Very Sangy.
• Timing will be carefully coordinated so most people will be watching to see who will win, not how one wins (the Olympics broadcast model)
• All final tableists will be paid 9th place money in July and will have their return trips to Vegas comped.

In what could well be the biggest change to the main event since playing outside on Fremont Street with a sheet of heavy plastic to hold down the flop … the WSOP reportedly has serious intention of playing the 2008 $10k NLH Championship down to a final table in July, then reconvening three months later as these nine new millionaires play down to a winner. The intent being lots of build-up to a near-live final table on ESPN.

This unconfirmed decision came with careful consideration from what I can tell — many months of discussion, multitable input, and committeeizing. Harrah’s/WSOP authorities were well aware of potential grumbling as they sorted through the logistical details. More TK on this, you can be sure. Reliable sources tell Pokerati that one hold-up was what to do if someone dies or becomes incapacitated/incarcerated in the off-tourney interim … and though this, too, isn’t confirmed, I think they decided to go with blinding off the stack instead of letting poker players designate a substitute in their wills.

Scoop props: Wicked Chops

Well shoot, got scooped by my own peeps. I was-gonna surreptitiously pimp my own pimping by talking about the actual substance of the article by Gary Wise, and his suggestions for improving the selection process in the National Heads-Up Poker Championship, which could be an even bigger deal for NBC if they want it to be:

• Pick some of the players through pre-established criteria: WSOP champion, WSOP Champion one year removed, HORSE Champion, WSOP heads-up champion, WPT World Champion, WPT Player of the Year, Card Player Player of the Year, Bluff Magazine Player of the Year, European Poker Awards Player of the Year, EPT Grand Finale Champion, NHUPC Champion, NHUPC Champion one year removed. That should do it. Make these criteria available to the public.
• Continue to allow sponsors to fill some slots, but do so by having them submit a list of representatives with the understanding that the producers get to choose from that list. The producers could hand select, appoint a committee of poker people from across the industry or…
• Pick some of the players through fan vote: Want an old-schooler who reminds us of days of yore? Hey fans, come to our Web site and participate in the “rounders” vote for one of T.J. Cloutier, Billy Baxter, Jay Heimowitz or Berry Johnston. Pick two players from our “Big Game” election, two from our “online stars” election and one from our “divas of poker” election. At least this way, you’re getting representatives of each archetype the people actually want to see.
• Get rid of some of the personalities who haven’t done anything in years. Guys like Ferguson, Ivey, Daniel Negreanu, Phil Hellmuth and Doyle Brunson will give you an entertaining broadcast anyway.

There’ve been some slight adjustments to the WSOP sked — not removing any tourneys, just shuffling a few around the $50k HORSE event and the $2,500 2-7 Triple Draw to accommodate TV/filming issues.

World Series of Poker® Announces Changes in 2008 Schedule

LAS VEGAS – February 18, 2008 – Harrah’s Entertainment, Inc. (NYSE:HET) said today it is swapping dates for two events at the 2008 World Series of Poker Presented by Milwaukee’s Best Light.

The $50,000 buy-in World Championship HORSE event, originally scheduled to start at noon on Sunday, June 22, is now set to begin at 5 p.m. Wednesday, June 25. The $2,500 buy-in 2-7 Triple Draw Lowball contest originally scheduled to begin at 5 p.m. June 25 is now set to start at noon on June 22.

The changes were made to enable ESPN to film extensive coverage of the HORSE World Championship. ESPN is expected to begin airing of its coverage of 2008 WSOP action in July.

The 39th edition of the WSOP will run from May 30 through July 16, 2008, and will include 55 bracelet tournaments. Buy-ins for open events will range from $1,000 to $50,000. The buy-in for the Main Event – the No-Limit Hold’Em World Championship – will remain at $10,000. The full event schedule is at www.worldseriesofpoker.com.

Radley Balko, one of my favorite poker-friendly non-poker provocateurs, is on the radio right now — ESPN 970 am in Las Vegas — talking about poker, online poker, internet gambling, the UIGEA, and presumably how it all ties into other pressing issues that will (or should) be on voters’ minds in 2008.

NOTE: I can’t seem to listen to the station online. “New-to-Vegas,” I claim. Can anyone help? I thought all radio stations were online these days.

Tom Schneider’s memorable 2007 is coming to an end — WSOP Player of the Year, 7th in CardPlayer’s POY, 96th in Bluff’s — oy, now he gets to start all over. But before he does, we get a sense of where this semi-regular blogger’s accomplishments fit into the bigger word beyond poker (or, as Scotty Nguyen says, “Poker Beyond!”) … as Tom has been chosen as a finalist — and poker’s only representative — for ESPN’s 2007 All-SportsNation Team.

Click here to vote, preferably for Tom.

The Top 5 get the Espy honors. Currently the leaders are Randy Couture, Floyd Mayweather, Jr., Tom Brady, Alex Rodriguez, and Brett Favre … with Tiger Woods following just a single percentage point behind. Yikes, tough competition for Tom — dare I say tougher than any he has seen at the poker table? — but kinda cool that he’s (at the time of this posting) right ahead of Dirk Nowitzki and tied with Kaká.

Seriously, click on over … for the sake of poker players everywhere to further boost the ego of everyone’s second-favorite Beyond the Table cohost.

CORRECTION: Tom is ranked 96th overall for the past two years by Bluff. For 2007 he finished 158th, compared to 76th in 2006.

That’s right folks, there will be two episodes on ESPN tonight starting at 8pm Eastern. Tonight’s episodes will be airing the 2007 WSOP’s $3,000 no-limit hold ‘em (Event 28).

I won’t spoil the show by telling you who won but for those of you that need to know check out the results here from Pokernews.com. This episode should offer some good drama if you know what I mean.
More from the ESPN Poker Club here.

Mark Cuban has long contended that YouTube is going to run into all sorts of copyright problems, akin to Napster. I hope not, because I love being able to embed YouTube vids and watch them on whatever site I happen to be visiting at the time. But I recently ran across this new-ish site — PokerTube.com — and based on the bulk of their content that provides no benefit to ESPN … I have a hard time seeing how this sorta thing is legal:

NOTE: There seems to be some trouble embedding from Pokertube. Not sure if this is a technical guffaw or related to what we are talking about here.

Don’t get me wrong … I philosophically think it should be legal, or at least appreciate the viewing ease embeddable players provide. But beyond brand recognition, I’m not sure ESPN will see enough value in this form of distribution to stand idly by. I mean heck, what’s to stop a site like, say, Pokerati, from becoming the unofficial home of 12-minute clips of the WSOP, and then profit off the fruits of ESPN’s labor? But PokerTube is based out of Sweden, so how ESPN would be able to enforce their copyright remains to be seen. Interesting international internet economics issues for the 21st century, to be sure.

One short-term solution, of course, would be for ESPN (and any others who have copyrighted video content they are looking to protect) to embrace the embedding — the always cheaper “if you can’t beat’em, join’em” concept — and offer up virtually the same stuff on their own site. They could get the benefit of brand exposure if they made their own RawVegas-style player … and figure out the best way to include their own commercials, which may or may not be different from what airs on TV. So long as they made it easiest for other sites to find (and embed), then there would be no need for internet traffic middlemen to go elsewhere for that content … and they would therefore maintain control of a hypermajority of all the viewings out there.

UPDATE:Click here to watch the episode of the WSOP I was trying to embed, on which Tom makes his first appearance.

And click here to see a really cool interview of Phil Hellmuth auditioning for a role on European TV as a caped Superhero/villain … which would look cooler and get more viewings if folks could watch it right here, instead of one page away.

Today is Day 2a, tomorrow will be Day 2b and Thursday will combine the two of two’s to make day 3, huh? Does it really matter? Just check the live updates here and watch ESPN tonight (schedule here) as they start airing two episodes of the 2007 WSOP. Yes, this year’s World Series of Poker will start tonight at 8pm ET on ESPN. Find more on ESPN’s Poker Club.

ESPN is kicking off this years 2007 WSOP this Tuesday at 8pm ET for their earliest airing ever. Viewers will get a taste of what’s been going on over here while it’s still going on over here. Even better news is the variation of games they’ve added to the line up…omaha, pot limit hold’em, mixed hold’em and heads up have spiced up the life of this years series and kudos to ESPN for keeping with the flow.

The main event will be broadcast live on July 17th on PPV.

Now sit back and enjoy the show(s).