It’s been fun keeping track of the 2008 WSOP by city-nation-state … taught me a lot about something — what exactly, I’m not yet sure. But I did get a clearer picture of just how significant the main event really is compared to all other poker tourneys. Just a little more than a week ago, I wrote:

Unless something really funky happens in the main event, it looks like Nevada has the edge on California when it comes to home base for the best poker players in the world.

Well I guess something funky did happen, because even with the biggest prize-pool distributions TBD, California poker players absolutely dominated in the 2008 main event (93 cashes, 2 final tableists)… while the Nevadans (mostly Las Vegas-based, of course) seemed to be napping, or perhaps just resting on their laurels (49 cashes, 0 final tableists). Regardless, looking at the 55 events that comprised the 2008 WSOP, I think it’s clear that the visitors can stake their claim: California is the Poker Capitol of the World … at least for now.

GREAT DANES: Another big surprise (to me) — apparently the Scandis aren’t so overrated after all. Denmark in particular showed up at the main event ready to play, and not only did they get one of their own on the final table, but also they performed so well in the latter events that they scooched past a bunch of other supposed Europoker powerhouses in the money won. The best non-American players, according to these results, in order: Canadians, Brits, and then the Danes … who actually could move past the Brits come November … and if you add the Danish in with the rest of the Scandis, it’s clear that Scandinavia and the UK are like the California and Nevada of European poker.

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Mike Matusow and Player X, who has a thick accent from somewhere and a bracelet in something. Click to zoom in.

After much hemming and hawing, I decided to give the $1,500 HORSE a try, what I called “baby” HORSE when discussing it with Andy Bloch in the halls of the Rio. (I think he played it too. What must it be like to bust out of the $50K HORSE and then enter the $1,500 version?)

I had technically “won” the seat already through the Full Tilt Poker Battle of the Blogger tournaments, but I suppose I could throw that money towards anything I wanted (like a new stove that the wife really, really wants). But speaking of decorum, that wouldn’t seem like the right thing to do. So play I did.

My table included five guys I had no clue about, Mike Matusow and Mysterious European WSOP Bracelet Winner (otherwise known henceforth as Player X). Dan has pictures so maybe he will add them to this post. Hint, Hint.

When Matusow walked up to the table, he started counting the fish. He couldn’t find any until I raised my hand.

“Yeah, you look pretty fishy,” he said. “Just kidding, My name’s Mike. Nice to meet you.”

As per most WSOP events, the structure was fast. Either you catch some hands quick to double up and get some play or you go home. For the first two levels I wasn’t really doing either. I think I knew it was going to be a rough day when I raised from the BB in O8 with A-2-3-4 to see a flop of K-4-3, a turn of 7 that made my nut low and a 4 on the river that gave me a complementary full house. Of course, I got quartered by one player’s kings full and Matusow’s A-2.

Meanwhile, Matusow continued chatting up Player X every minute of every hour (they don’t call him “The Mouth” for nothing) with tales of 50K HORSE. He had invested in Mike Wattel, who was the $124K bubble boy in the event.

“He really needed that money,” Matusow said, adding that he saw Wattel in the hall after his bust out and he looked like he wanted to die. Apparently, Wattel had a few stacks shorter than his on the bubble and played a hand he shouldn’t have involved in, according to Matusow.

As for me, I wanted my $1,500 back after I got crippled in Stud. Sarting with split aces, I made aces up on fifth and got check raised by a player who started with a 10 showing and had added a K and Q to his upcards. Not sure if he had a straight, I called him down to try to fill up. I did not and he showed rolled up 10s.

I busted shortly later in Stud/8 when I missed both a low and flush draw. Matusow took the high with two pair and another played got the low (Mr. kings full).

We’re coming into the homestretch, and it will take some big finishes for any nation/state to make a big move. Looked like Cali might give Nevada a run for its money, but shortly after John Phan won his bracelet (and $151k) for the Golden State in Event #40, the Silver State more than caught up when Joe Commiso booked a $911k win in Event #46.

To keep up-to-date with the full list of WSOP results by country, state, and in some cases protectorate, bookmark this page here.

Just for the record, we ganked some prize dollars from the LV cashout base. Shannon Shorr is now a full-blooded Alabaman an David Benyamine a Frenchie. So far have not heard any Las Vegans protest the transfers — but Mayor Oscar Goodman could persuade us to reconsider. Hoyt Corkins is still split — with two cashes going toward Las Vegas, and one to Alabama — torn on what to do with him … will try to track him down and ask him directly. As things stand with 9 events and 10s of millions in prize money remaining, only about $1 million separates the two real contenders for Poker Capital of the World — and while both have about the same number of final tables, California has four fewer bracelets but about 200 more cashes than its eastern neighbor.

Texas, meanwhile, sits strongly atop as the best of the second-best — banking the most money of all the places without a bracelet under its 2008 belt.

The Euros have made really strong showings over the past few days … and seemingly going deep in any event that rewards aggression (like 6-handed NLH). Either the events cater to their playing style, simply more are arriving, they’re coming in fresh off the bench, or some combination of all of that.

Likewise, a Canadian may have won event #44, but the Danes dominated it — I suppose it shouldn’t surprise us that the Scandis know quite a bit about rebuys.

New appearances in the standings:
Czech Republic
Cayman Islands
Newfoundland, Canada

Lebanon also posts its first 2008 cash — not in anything recent, but we just figured out that Naji Hajjar, who finished 73rd in Event #6 ($1,500 Omaha Hi-Lo), was from there.

By the way, speaking of … if anyone knows the hometown locations of any of the players below, please let us know so we can better classify these unknowns:

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After much consideration and prospective gerrymandering, upon the next update of the WSOP World Standings, we’re gonna make some switches … regardless of what they put on their official WSOP registrations, David Benyamine is soon to become fully French and Shannon Shorr will be screamin’ “Roll Tide!”

With that said, is there anyone else we should be considering for statistical reclassification? For the most part, we’re gonna defer to the Hendon Mob db … but I can think of three that are close calls:

Gus Hansen — Denmark or Vegas?
Hoyt Corkins — Alabama or Vegas?
Patrik Antonius — Finland or Monaco?

After 33 of 55 events …

California is making a real run at Nevada as the most powerful poker region in the world.

In the second tier of American poker (below Canada), Texas can’t seem to keep up with Florida in terms of kizzash, nor New York when it comes to sealing the winning deal. It seems only a matter of time before the Russians catch up, as Nikolay Evdakov and his comrades keep going deep.

New countries in the WSOP money: Spain, Belarus, Greece, and New Zealand … Welcome! Spanish players (sorry Greece) take comfort in knowing at least a few TVs are showing the Euro Cup in the Amazon Room.

Also making its first appearance on the 2008 WSOP money list: Vermont! It’s official: All American states and territories that have petitioned to become one have cashed in the World Series. (And Vermont didn’t just eek past the bubble — Shane Stacey from Hyde Park made a final table … finishing 5th to bank a $166k payday.

Point of order … Shannon Shorr’s latest cash — 32nd Place in the $2,500 6-handed NLH — is credited under Alabama, not Nevada. (The Euros also cashed big in this event — go figure, they seem to like 6-handed action.) While we did decide to make Tony G’s Lithuania finish into an Australia (he moved Down Under at age 11), we couldn’t bring ourselves to put Shorr in potential tax trouble — at least not in a way that messed up all our other numbers on the spreadsheet — as he was the one who presumably declared himself residing in Nevada for his $350k bracelet in Event #7. Surely that won’t be relevant in our contrived little Cali vs. NV race, right?

Two homeless moneymakers: If anyone knows where Larry Jafee (sp?) or Larry Michaels is from, please let us know. And don’t go saying Hungary just so they can move past Wyoming and New Brunswick.

Speaking of the Hungarians … Richard Toth scored again for his proud Eastern Euro nation’s 4th ITM finish. Still not enough to move past Wyoming, but keeping pace …

Click below to see the full rundown of poker across political borders:

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In this installment:

Dan pursues diplomatic ties with the nation of Hungary, why Pauly is the David Hasselhoff of poker blogging, and how it’s so nice to see the French and Germans working the poker beat in Euroharmony.

Episode 10: Eurotarded

One of Pokerati’s goals for 2008 is to re-introduce the phrase “in your kitchen” to the poker lexicon. (Basically it means “having someone’s number” — and the ability to play head games to the point that you have a specific opponent making all the wrong moves against you.) While we haven’t yet heard it much at all around the various tables in Las Vegas, we are delighted to see the whole kitchen concept starting to rear its head in England, where our good friends at PartyPoker have introduced the idea of “bageling” Phil Hellmuth.

Click below to read all about how its been shaking down in the Party Premier League in Leyton, where on non-poker days the Party-sponsored Leyton Orient have been kicking arse and are looking strong as they seek promotion from League One to the Champions League. Though things aren’t going as well for my beloved Wigan, the likelihood that they could be relegated as my second-beloved Leyton gets promoted, thereby putting them in the same league is kinda exciting regardless of all the great poker that is getting played overseas.

I still find it funny that the currency used in the Party Premier League is dollars, not pounds.
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LAS VEGAS–OK, so maybe the Euros didn’t totally dominate this year as I predicted … and the internet young punks — much to the relief of non-ranting poker traditionalists — couldn’t quite hack it at the final table. Perhaps all the dancing and fist pumps were giving away tells. But what is notable is that of the final five players in the main event this year … not a single American passport.

John Kalmar (who went out in 5th place) hails from England.

Raymond Rahme (currently 2nd in chips) is a South African.

Tuan Lam (originally from Vietnam) is now a Canadian.

Alex Kravchenko, from Moscow, has been doing his part all Series long to establish himself as the Doyle Brunson of Russia.

And Jerry Yang (the chip leader) is from California-via-Laos. But as a refugee, he carries an American green card … not a passport. Apparently refugees have a special piece of paper for traveling internationally.

Interesting, no? I think it all means something.

UPDATE: Yang just busted out Kravchenko — seven hours passed between the 5th place finish and fourth — and the crowd began chanting, “U-S-A! U-S-A!”

LAS VEGAS–It’s been a multicultural international affair at the WSOP main event final table today. Here are the bios of the players in contention, courtesy of Nolan Dalla.

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LAS VEGAS–So I’m not sure what the Jew count is in the remaining field — theological-based bloodlines are such a hard thing to determine from the ropes — but there is one regional collective challenging the hoo-hawin’ Texans for No-Limit Hold’em supremacy. That would be the Scandinavians. They have long claimed they can play … and now they are proving that poker, to them, is like the next Winter Olympics.

Scandis that made it through to Day 5:

Dag Martin Mikkelsen — Norway — 5,700,000 (chip leader)
Stefan Mattsson – Sweden — 3,200,000
Mikkel Madsen — Denmark — 1,700,000
Philip Yeh — Sweden — 1,000,000
Christian Togsverd — Denmark — 900,000

Gus Hansen — Denmark — 61st — $154,194
Bjorn-Erik Glenne — Norway — 65th — $120,288

ALT HED: Fjord vs. Chevy

UPDATE: Oops, Dario is out in 96th place — for $67,535. He’ll be back, of course. Hevad “Rain” Kahn (not to be confused with Jeff “Mr. Rain” Banghart) is still alive and well, slightly above the middle of the pack.

LAS VEGAS–Loyal readers have heard me yammer on and on for the better part of 2007 about how this is going to be the Year of the Europeans. So far I’ve been kinda right … while they haven’t dominated this WSOP, they have been a ubiquitous presence deep in just about every event. But the real “Year of” players this year have been the internet kids. Not internet people like Chris Moneymaker … but internet kids. Think about it. The poker boom exploded in 2003. And thus, in 2007, a lot of guys who got their start right around then have just turned 21 — making quite the impression on players at the tables and poker insiders off.

Throughout this World Series, friends and colleagues have been coming up to me saying things like, “You mean you don’t know who RamSquad64 is? Dude.” Or, “JohnnyVoltron, man, JohnnyVoltron!” OK, he sounds familiar. What has he done? But otherwise, sorry, I haven’t really been following the shenanigans on PocketFives. But it seems like soon we might have to. One of the most fascinating stories — Pokerati’s correspondent-on-loan Chris Hanel is all over this one — is a guy named Hevad “Rain” Kahn. This upstate New Yorker was supposedly banned from PokerStars because they thought he was a bot, playing up to 40 sit-n-gos at a time. Kahn then shot a YouTube video to show him playing 26 tables at a time and had his account re-opened. Wow, no? (For some reason I can’t find the vid on YouTube. If anyone else can, please post a link!)

But the kid everyone is really talking about is Dario Minieri (pictured).

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LAS VEGAS–While cleaning out some computer files I came across a text document created on May 27, 2007:

Predictions for the World Series

2) Harrah’s will have done it right, oh yeah!

3) There will be some SNAFU

3) A lot of people will be going broke. (This could hurt attendance.)

Phil Hellmuth will win his 11th bracelet. Phil Ivey will win his 8th.

Year of the European.

Main Event over-under stands at 4001.

It will rain at least one day in Las Vegas this summer.

Hmm. Genius I know. Some right, some not, some nowhere to be found. No precipitation here yet — all in Texas apparently. But we did have a mini land hurricane.

ALT HED: The Nostradamus of Poker

Since this is a poker site I will not bring up non-poker things. I won’t talk about spring training nor mention the pitcher/catcher report. There will be no remarks of Brad Ausmus because my husband reads this blog.

However, I will acknowledge the last card on the PokerStars team has been filled. You know, the one on the bottom right that has been empty since September. Looks like Noah Boeken is the new addition to the troop. By the way, he’s from Amsterdam.

ED. NOTE: Inside scoop from Otis here.