On to entities that are still functioning, as the EPT London Main Event concluded earlier today with American Michael Martin pulled off a miraculous comeback to take down the title along with £1,000,000. Down to 100,000 4-handed (and in the big blind for 80,000), Martin tripled up, then doubled up twice in 3 consecutive hands to move to a more manageable 1.45m in chips. Martin then continued his heater, eliminating the other 3 players to take down the title with his mother and girlfriend cheering him on from the rail. Here’s how the rest of the final table finished:

1 £ 1,000,000 Michael Martin
2 £ 525,314 Michael Tureniec
3 £ 303,439 Marcin Horecki
4 £ 234,920 Eric Liu
5 £ 195,766 Philippe D’Auteuil
6 £ 153,351 Alan Smurfit
7 £ 120,723 Johannes Strassmann
8 £ 81,569 Antony Lellouche

The £20,000 EPT High Rollers Million Pound Showdown is now underway as a field of 85 is playing down to a final table, which will be air live stream at www.pokerstars.tv Monday morning. 14 players remain, but only 9 players will be in the money (1st takes home £516,000) as play finishes for the evening. Among the remaining: David Benyamine, WSOP Europe ME winner John Juanda, and Scotty Nguyen. Of the November Nine who participated, only WSOP Vegas chip leader Dennis Phillips came close to the money, as he finished in 10th to be the bubble boy. Here’s the final table as play resumes at 11am ET:

Seat 1 - Peter Jetten - 347,000
Seat 2 - Michael Watson - 104,000
Seat 3 - Isaac Haxton - 293,000
Seat 4 - Isabelle Mercier - 86,000
Seat 5 - David Benyamine - 175,000
Seat 6 - Scotty Nguyen - 68,000
Seat 7 - Jason Mercier - 204,000
Seat 8 - Masaaki Kagawa - 142,000
Seat 9 - John Juanda - 302,000

Final update at the jump:
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It only took 22 hours, but the final table of the WSOP Europe at the Empire Casino in London finally has a result. After 484 hands, exactly half of which were headsup, saw John Juanda take down the title along with £ 868,800 ($1,543,395 US). Russians finished 2-3 at the final table as Stanislav Alekhin finished 2nd, and November Nine participant Ivan Demidov took down 3rd. Here’s how the entire final table came out:

1 £ 868,800 John Juanda
2 £ 533,950 Stanislav Alekhin
3 £ 334,850 Ivan Demidov
4 £ 271,500 Bengt Sonnert
5 £ 217,200 Daniel Negreanu
6 £ 171,950 Scott Fischman
7 £ 135,750 Robin Keston
8 £ 108,600 Toni Hiltunen
9 £ 81,450 Chris Elliott

Focus now turns toward the EPT London event, which drew an overflow field of 596 ponying up £5,200 with a guaranteed £1,000,000 to first. Over 100 remain as play continues on day 2, with the final table being held this Sunday. An interesting no-show turns out to be Dennis Phillips, chip leader at that other WSOP Main Event back in Las Vegas. He and his coach, Roy Winston(?), were planning on being in London, but it looks like Dennis showed up and then went back home.

More updates possible…

UPDATE: A commenter mentioned that Dennis’ mother passed away, explaining his leaving London. Apologies and condolences to Dennis and his family.

Hmm, so whaddya know … I was apparently wrong in declaring the final tableists “too smart” to get outside assistance (from poker people, at least) in preparation for their big-time November sit-n-go. My only defense is that I musta been really drunk at the time when I was saying that stuff, so it probably doesn’t count.

From an announcement just in over the transom:

Dennis Phillips is pleased to announce that he will be partnering with Roy Winston and Joe McGowan of Oracle Poker Consulting in preparation for the 2008 World Series of Poker (W.S.O.P) Main Event. Dennis Phillips is currently the chip leader at the final table, where more than $32 million will be divided among the final 9 players. The final table will be played on November 9th.

Not sure of the financial details — maybe they took Oliver’s advice and partnered for free? — but regardless, one thing does have me reconsidering my position that it would be stupid to hire any poker coaches if you were one of the final nine:

Dennis Phillips is currently employed by Broadway Truck Center in Saint Louis, Mo. An amateur player, he won a $200 satellite into the Main Event of the W.S.O.P, where 6,844 players began.

Hmm, right, we should remember that. And we all know how sketchy the poker world can get at times, so why wouldn’t he want some folks intimately familiar with it on his side to help him navigate the pre-showtime waters?

Says Phillips on the matter:

“I’m confident in my game and don’t intend to change it, but I’m also smart enough to know that you can always learn more.”

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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A few weeks back, a bunch of us got a press release from PokerStars boasting that six of The November Nine were Team PokerStars players. Now don’t get me wrong — I’ve got lots of friends at PokerStars and generally like what they do. But c’mon, who ya tryin’ to fool? Those guys aren’t really PokerStars players — at least not in the way Chris Moneymaker and Greg Raymer were!

So while I’m happy to share the official word on the Stars-heavy WSOP main event final table (even though none only one of their 2,000 true online qualifiers made it), I couldn’t help but try to get a little more info first on what goes into buying a temporary online team in an effort to increase the odds that the buyers will indeed get to be the site that crowns the next American (or non-American) Poker Idol:

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This might be the most thought you’ve given the “November Nine” thus far, that is, if you really take a look at the numbers in this post. And I hope you do and analyze it for me. Thanks.

Bodog has put up the odds for the 2008 WSOP final table, and it’s looking pretty good for my STL player, Dennis Phillips. Never mind that he’s the chip leader, but he’s a 3-1 favorite. Kelly Kim from Southern Cali isn’t looking too good with 25-1 odds, but he’s the short stack. As for the rest of the pack, I’m not sure how the odds were calculated, which makes it a good thing I’m not a sports bettor.

Here are the odds and chip counts as of July 25th:

Dennis Phillips (3-1) - 26,295,000 chips
Scott Montgomery (4-1) - 19,690,000 chips
Ivan Demidov (9-2) - 24,400,000 chips
Peter Eastgate (11-2) - 18,375,000 chips
David “Chino” Rheem (15/2) - 10,230,000 chips
Ylon Schwartz (8-1) - 12,525,000 chips
Darus Suharto (17-2) - 12,520,000 chips
Craig Marquis (10-1) - 10,210,000 chips
Kelly Kim (25-1) - 2,620,000 chips

And just for kicks, here is a picture of them all. You are welcome to copy and use it as your screen saver, or you can Photoshop them all into pretty dresses - your call.

My hometown favorite is getting lots of publicity in St. Louis. Though he is originally from a small Illinois town across the river from the Lou, Dennis Phillips reps the STL with pride. With Midwest USA newspapers and magazines suddenly interested in poker, Dennis has gotten a lot of media attention, and while he seems to be getting more comfortable with the journalists and TV cameras, humble remains the word of the day.

One of the articles is from the Telegraph and gives a good insight into the WSOP final table chip leader, and the following video from the local NBC sports program shows that Dennis is a good representative for the game of poker. Note that in the video, he discusses the Bad Beat on Cancer patch that he wears on his shirt. Evidently, he is the only one of the nine finalists in the main event who signed up early on to donate 1% of his winnings to the Phil-Gordon-promoted charity. Who says he wouldn’t make for a great 2008 champion?

Click below to see the video interview (sorry, we can’t stop the autoplay).

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What’s happening as the countdown is underway for the November Nine:

Now that we know who the November Nine are, who do people root for?

Is it the chip leader from St. Louis?
Is it the quiet Russian?
Will it be the grinder from Los Angeles?
Can it be the player with 10 BB’s, has two female first names, and is on a virtual freeroll from this point forward?
Will the Canadians have their first Main Event winner?
Will the FIDE Master from New York follow through on his threat to be invisible until November?
Can the only player from Texas bring the holdem title back to the Lone Star State?
Will the Danish player do what Gus Hansen was unable to do in the Series?

Only 117 days until we start finding out…

It might not be obvious by the name California Jen, but I’m actually a native St. Louisan - born and raised. Having lived there most of my life, I still have family in the Gateway to the West and visit several times a year. (Hi, Mom!)

Who am I going to root for at the final table when no pros are left and I couldn’t tell one player from the next? The guy wearing the STL hat! How could a die-hard Cardinals fan not root for the guy with the red STL logo?

As Johnny mentioned, St. Louis is ready to saunter rally behind their hometown hero, at least they will when they find out about this little thing called the World Series of Poker and the $9 million at stake. Even though the final table has not been set, as 11 player still remain, Dennis is the massive chipleader with over 24 million chips (second place has under 15 million). The 53-year old trucking company worker is making a solid run at going to the November final table as the top dog, and I’m jumping on the bandwagon.

GO STL!

What’s happening today at the WSOP while UB issues an update regarding the NioNio scandal (with more user names involved):

The complete Main Event payouts have finally been officially released, here’s what the November Nine will be looking forward to earning. (Note: The November Nine will each get 9th place money with the remaining prize pool, about $24.5m, to be placed in an interest bearing account):

1: $9,119,517
2: $5,790,024
3: $4,503,352
4: $3,763,515
5: $3,088,012
6: $2,412,510
7: $1,769,174
8: $1,286,672
9: $900,670

The rest of the payouts are on page 2:
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It was announced at the start of Day 1C that every player who made a final table in any of the events of the 2008 WSOP will receive a special jacket to commemorate the occasion. Not sure what players should do if they’re not here for the main event, but those who are still in Vegas can stop by a table set up in the hallway here at the Rio to get the jackets.

They’re pretty nice, actually. WSOP Commissioner Jeffrey Pollack wouldn’t exactly model it, as it doesn’t go well with a spiffy suit, but he held it up for me.

Catching up on the final two preliminary events of the Series before the Main Event.

The $1,500 NL Holdem event is down to three players: veteran Dan Heimiller, rising pro David Daneshgar, and relative unknown Scott Sitron. They just went on their one hour dinner break, so to see how this turns up, follow the updates on the WSOP site here.

The $1,500 Limit Holdem Shootout just created its final table and one of those who will be moving on is Jean-Robert Bellande, who may have a fellow pro railing him at the final table. You can follow the updates of their action here.

Here’s how the final table will look like, everyone starting with 300,000 in chips:

Andrew Prock
Brandon Wong
Danny Wong
Jean-Robert Bellande
Joe DeNiro
John Kranyak
Mike Kachan
Spencer Lawrence
Matt Graham

Graham was the last to make the final table, and was extremely upset that the levels leaped from the 6,000/12,000 level to 10,000/20,000 when the stacks were level at 150,000. It seems to have worked out for him to make the final table, we’ll see if it propels him to the bracelet.

I’ll return tomorrow to preview Day 1a of the Main Event and give the final winners…

What happened last night, as we finish the preliminary events of the Series today before the Main Event begins tomorrow:

Phil Hellmuth was unable to take down the $1,500 HORSE event for his 12th bracelet, as he finished in 3rd place. James Schaaf, from Torrance, California takes down the bracelet in what also appears to be his first tournament cash. Tommy Hang follows up on his 3rd in the $10,000 Limit Holdem World Championship by finishing in 2nd.

The $10,000 Pot Limit Omaha World Championship was won by Irishman Marty Smyth who eliminated Canadian Peter Jetten in one of the more exciting final hands of the Series. Both players flopped a straight when all the money went in, but Smyth was freerolling to a club flush. The turn was a brick, but when the 6 of clubs appeared on the river, the Irish part of the crowd exploded with delight while the Canadian contingent groaned in despair at Jetten’s turn of events. Smyth takes down almost $860,000 with the bracelet, while Jetten is consoled with the fact of winning $528,000 for second place. Michael “The Grinder” Mizrachi ground to a halt in 3rd.

The last two tournaments conclude today, the ESPN360 table and the WSOP POY on page 2:
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What’s happening at the WSOP in Vegas, while some may be planning their itinerary around the WSOP Europe (press release found on page 2).

The $1,500 HORSE event is down to their final table, and Phil Hellmuth is currently in 2nd place as he looks to take down his 12th bracelet. To see if Hellmuth gets that 12th bracelet, you can catch the live updates here. Here’s what the final table will look like as they’re now on their dinner break:

Seat 1: James Schaaf - 392,000
Seat 2: Matt Grapenthien - 46,000
Seat 3: Sam Silverman - 310,000
Seat 4: Phil Hellmuth - 400,000
Seat 5: Jason Dollinger - 346,000
Seat 6: Tommy Hang - 680,000
Seat 7: Victor Ramdin - 78,000
Seat 8: Esther Rossi - 166,000

The $10,000 Pot Limit Omaha World Championship is down to 5 players as they take their dinner break with Marty Smyth recently doubling through Michael “The Grinder” Mizrachi to take the chip lead. Kido Pham ran into Mizrachi at the wrong time and was eliminated in 6th place. Follow the action at the wsop.com website here.

Other tournament action, plus the 2008 WSOPE announcement, on page 2:

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What’s been happening at the WSOP since last night, while Dan Michalski anxiously awaits his attempt to make good on his $300 All-In “investment”:

The $10,000 Pot Limit Omaha final table has been set, this group of 9 faces the hot lights of the ESPN cameras:

Seat 1: Kido Pham 1,080,000
Seat 2: Brandon Moran 1,286,000
Seat 3: Peter Jetten 492,000
Seat 4: Michael Mizrachi 1,767,000
Seat 5: Billy Argyros 729,000
Seat 6: Greg Hurst 637,000
Seat 7: Tom Hanlon 192,000
Seat 8: Marty Smyth 1,068,000
Seat 9: Richard Harroch 372,000

The other final table scheduled for today and the other tournament action on the next page:
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Something interesting just came over the WSOP transom, with food for thought on when in a tournament you may or may not wanna get your chips:

• Eric Crain was the chip leader at the End of Day One in this event. He finished in 13th place. Through Event #48, the End of Day One chip leaders have gone on to cash 80 percent of the time — 36 of 45 occasions (the chip leader was not applicable on three events). Only twelve of these same 45 chip leaders (26 percent) made it to the final table. Only one chip leader went on to win the event. That lone wire-to-wire winner was Vanessa Selbst in Event #19.

• Marco Johnson was the chip leader at the start of this final table. He ended up as the runner-up. Through Event #48, eighteen of 43 chip leaders at the start of the final table (40 percent) went on to win the event. Twenty-six of 45 chip leaders (58 percent) went on to finish in the top three spots. Two events did not have a chip leader (Heads-Up and Shootout tournaments).

What’s happening tonight at the WSOP, while Wicked Chops Poker is celebrating the good news.

JC Tran takes his name off of the “Best player to never win a bracelet” list, taking down the $1,500 NL Holdem event against Danish pro Rasmus Nielsen. JC, at one point down 3-1 headsup, chipped away at Rasmus until he eventually took the chip lead, winning when his KQ nipped the Dane’s QJ on a Q-high flop. Tran takes home over $631,000 plus 100 WSOP POY points, moving him into 6th in the race with 1 event remaining. Nielsen will be consoled with almost $390,000 to take back to Denmark.

Other tournament happenings on the next page:
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Recapping last night’s action, with an eye on what’s going on today:

As noted below, Scotty Nguyen takes down the $50,000 HORSE event, taking down almost $2,000,000, his 5th bracelet, and the first to have won the WSOP Main Event and the $50k HORSE event. Erick Lindgren’s 3rd place moves him into first in the Milwaukee’s Best WSOP Player of the Year race with just 2 tournaments left.

The $1,500 NL Holdem final table has been set, scheduled to start at 3pm. The two most notable names are two WPT winners, JC Tran and Joe Pelton, here’s how the rest of the table will look like:

Seat 1: Christoph Kohnen 293,000
Seat 2: Joe Pelton 1,093,000
Seat 3: Jesper Hoog 320,000
Seat 4: John Conroy 501,000
Seat 5: Robert Kalb 456,000
Seat 6: J.C. Tran 1,438,000 (his 3rd final table of the Series)
Seat 7: Chad Siu 185,000
Seat 8: Peter Nguyen 870,000
Seat 9: Rasmus Nielsen 2,998,000

Other tournament stuff on the next page:
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What’s happening tonight at the WSOP:

Jen and Dan are taking care of the HORSE event, so I don’t need to duplicate their work, but they’re about to return from dinner break 5-handed.

The $2,000 NL Holdem event was won by Brazilian Alexandre Gomes, the first for that country, moving them up big time in the World Standings. Gomes takes home just over $770,000 while Marco Johnson won’t be feeling super with his 2nd place earnings of just over $491,000.

The $1,500 NL Holdem event is down to 40 as they play down to their final table. Among the notables remaining: JC Tran, Men Nguyen, Andy Black, Joe Pelton, Hevad Kahn. Follow their action on the World Series of Poker website here.

Other tournament action, following the leap:
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The air at the ESPN stage is electric.

In many people’s opinions, the $50K HORSE event is the true poker championship tournament. Media is everywhere, security is tight, and the public is clamoring to get in. As evidenced by the sheer numbers of people who attempted to make their way to the audience chairs and the Milwaukee’s Best Light lounge with a view from above the stage, this was the big one. Each player some sort of contingent in the audience, and the fans had their favorites as well, and the excitement from them was contagious.

The start of the tournament was prefaced by a short ceremony involving the unveiling of the Chip Reese trophy to be awarded to the winner, and Chip Reese’s daughter was here, along with Chip’s best friend Doyle Brunson, to get it going. And the cards were dealt to kick things off…

As a reminder of the amazing tournament at hand, here are the final table players and chip counts:

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Finishing the action from last night, with the Sunday preview that’s not really a preview:

The HORSE final table is now set for 3pm to be under the really hot lights of the ESPN cameras. Here’s how this stacked lineup will be seated at that table:

Seat 1: Matt Glantz (Philadelphia, Pennsylvania) — 1,445,000
Seat 2: Huck Seed (Las Vegas, Nevada) — 1,200,000
Seat 3: Patrick Bueno (Paris, France) — 695,000
Seat 4: Lyle Berman (Minneapolis, Minnesota) — 1,430,000
Seat 5: Scotty Nguyen (Las Vegas, Nevada) — 3,535,000
Seat 6: Barry Greenstein (Rancho Palos Verdes, California) — 1,955,000
Seat 7: Michael DeMichele (Las Vegas, Nevada) — 905,000
Seat 8: Erick Lindgren (Las Vegas, Nevada) — 3,680,000

The other final table for today the $2,000 NL Holdem event, will be held in some corner of the Amazon room at 3pm, but here’s what that final table will look like:

Seat 1: Dan Rome 650,000
Seat 2: Ryan D’Angelo 520,000
Seat 3: Marco Johnson 2,135,000
Seat 4: Kirill Gerasimov 1,145,000
Seat 5: Robert Brewer 1,050,000
Seat 6: Gabe Costner 1,475,000
Seat 7: Alan Cutter 535,000
Seat 8: Alexandre Gomes 1,075,000
Seat 9: Sverre Sundbo 685,000

The $5,000 NL Holdem 6-handed final table finally ended after 6 hours of heads up play when Joe Commisso finally eliminated Richard Lyndaker to take down the bracelet and just over $911,000. Commisso had to be wondering if he’d ever win after having Lyndaker dominated 7-1 on 3 separate occasions, only for Lyndaker to claw back into contention and take the chip lead. Between the two of them there was almost a dozen all in confrontations where the smaller stack would win, which turned out to be a one in 600-something possibility.

Other tournament action on the next page:
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Wrapping up yesterday’s action, with a preview of today’s tournament (with a moment of silence for John Bonetti):

The $5,000 NL Holdem 6-handed event finally reached their final table at around 5:30am, now they have to attempt to get some rest before returning in front of the watchful eye of the ESPN360 cameras at 2pm with this sextet:

Seat 4: Richard Lyndaker 2,345,000
Seat 3: Joe Commisso 1,961,000
Seat 5: Tom Lutz 1,493,000
Seat 1: Samuel Trickett 1,045,000
Seat 6: Edward Ochana 928,000
Seat 2: Davidi Kitai 298,000

The $1,500 Stud Eight or Better stopped play with 13 players remaining as they play down to a winner starting at 3pm. Here’s the approximate chip counts of the baker’s dozen (chip counts and seats to be rearranged later):

(Table 14)
Seat 1: Ryan Hughes 73,000
Seat 4: Margaret Macre 173,000
Seat 5: James Richburg 274,000
Seat 6: Ron Long 33,000
Seat 7: David Brooker 45,000
Seat 8: Daniel Nicewander 41,000

(Table 15)
Seat 1: Mike Hefer 71,000
Seat 2: Tim D’Alessandro 82,000
Seat 3: David Sklansky 110,000
Seat 4: Thomas Hunt III 101,000
Seat 6: Alessio Isaia 172,000
Seat 7: Joshua Feldman 121,000
Seat 8: Jonas Klausen 346,000

Other tournament action (plus the final 24 in the $50k HORSE) on page 2:
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What’s happening tonight at the WSOP:

The $1,000 NL Holdem with rebuys event has a winner, Canadian Max Greenwood took down the bracelet, making a remarkable comeback from being shortstacked 3-handed to take down the bracelet and almost $700,000. Rene Mouritsen of Aarhus, Denmark finished in 2nd (for the 3rd time at a WSOP event the past two years) to win just over $445,000. Fellow Aarhus resident Albert Iversen finished in 3rd. Greenwood was down to just over 400,000 when he went allin with a pair of 5’s against Mouritsen’s AJ. Another ace hit the flop, and a brick on the turn meant that Greenwood was down to two outs. Miraculously, Max hit that 5, doubling up twice more off Mouritsen to take the chip lead before Mouritsen would take it back when Iversen’s set of 5’s was run down by Mouritsen’s turned flush. After just over 30 hands of head-up play (and boisterous rooting from both player’s friends), all the money went in on a Jack high flop with Max’s AJ ahead of Mouritsen’s KJ. No help came and Greenwood completes the remarkable comeback.

The only tournament to start today, the $2,000 NL Holdem event, drew a field of 2,317, with just under 400 remaining with a couple more levels remaining in the day. Notable names at the top of the leaderboard: Erik Cajelais, Marco Johnson, Erica Schoenberg, Blair Rodman (who won this tournament last year), David Pham and Chau Giang.

Other tournament action today on the next page:
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Recapping last night’s events with a preview of today’s action:

The $1,500 Pot Limit Omaha Eight or Better event was won last night by Martin Klaser, who was dominant in the brief heads-up battle with Casey Kastle to take down his first bracelet and just over $216,000. Kastle winds up with almost $138,000, the biggest cash in his career.

The $1,000 NL Holdem with Rebuys event got down to their final table, here’s how it’ll look like under the hot lights of the ESPN360 cameras at 2pm today:

Seat 1: Scott Freeman 675,000
Seat 2: Max Greenwood 728,000
Seat 3: Curtis Kohlberg 209,000
Seat 4: Rene Mouritsen 1,007,000
Seat 5: Alex Bolotin 308,000 - His 3rd final table of this Series
Seat 6: Albert Iversen 921,000
Seat 7: Aliaksandr Dzianisau 186,000
Seat 8: Phung Ngo 556,000
Seat 9: Jesse Chinni 2,160,000

Other action from yesterday on the next page:
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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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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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What’s happened today at the WSOP while I finally figure out what day it is in the Series.

The $1,500 Mixed Holdem event is down to its final 3 competitors with Jonathan Tamayo, Frank Gary and Nick Binger went on their dinner break. Binger, who at one point had over 1.6m in chips and had eliminated the first 6 players, lost his chip lead to Tamayo while Gray has been playing just enough to try and get into 2nd place. Follow their progress on the WSOP website here.

The $2,500 Limit 2-7 Triple Draw Lowball event is also on dinner break 3 handed. Shun Uchida, John Phan and Gioi Luong are remaining in what has been a very contentious final table. Luong and Phan had a verbal altercation after Luong attempted to change his discard, while Phan angrily accused him of angle shooting. Things have appeared to calm down, but in all the tension, Uchida has a commanding lead at this time. To see how that turns out, check the updates over at worldseriesofpoker.com here.

The other updates appear on the next page:

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Recapping last night’s action and previewing today’s tournament while getting my tickets for the next poker related piece of nonsense musical to hit the mainstream audience. Thanks to Wicked Chops Poker for the link.

The final table for the $2,500 Limit 2-7 Triple Draw Lowball final table has been set, and a favorite of some forums David Sklansky is among those remaining:

Seat 1: Ben Ponzio 113,000
Seat 2: Shun Uchida 200,000
Seat 3: David Sklansky 78,000
Seat 4: Gioi Luong 291,000
Seat 5: Robert Mizrachi 215,000
Seat 6: John Phan 294,000

The other final table and other stuff on page 2:

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What’s going on tonight at the WSOP:

The $1,500 NL Holdem final table just completed and it was down to a Woo and a Wood for the bracelet (w00t!). David Woo from Atlanta, GA defeated Matt Wood from Whitby, Ontario, Canada to win just over $630,000 and a coveted bracelet. Wood has the consolation of taking home almost $390,000 US back to the Great White North. Woo was bolstered when he knocked out the 2nd and 3rd chip leaders (Thom Werthmann and Curtis Early) with 6 left on the same hand, when he flopped the nut straight against top two pair and an open ended straight draw.

Other tournament action on the next page:

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Recapping last night’s action and previewing today’s tournament at the World Series of Poker, hoping Dan avoids having a similar picture to this taken.

The $2,000 Pot Limit Holdem event was won last night by Belgian player Davidi Kitai as he finally eliminated Chris Bell after almost 200 hands of heads-up play. Kitai wins nearly $250,000 and his first WSOP bracelet, while Bell’s left with $155,000 to attempt and salve his wounds as to what could have been.

The only tournament being held today is the $1,000 Seniors NL Holdem World Championship, for those 50 and over (insert AARP jokes, GSN demo cracks or other old person humor here). Last year’s version drew 1,882 entrants with Ernest Bennett winning the bracelet and nearly $350,000.

Today’s final table and recapping other Sunday action on page 2:

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Recapping last night with a preview of Sunday activities:

In the $1,500 NL holdem event, Jesper Hougaard returned from the dinner break seemingly in better spirits, as he was able to recover from giving up a 6.5-1 chip lead to Cody Slaubaugh to get back to having a very slight chip lead. A single $25,000 chip separated the two when the final hand was played out as Jesper’s QQ (with a 3rd Q on the flop) crushed Cody’s A-10. Hougaard takes home the bracelet and $610,000, while Cody has the consolation of winning $389,128 for finishing 2nd.

The $10,000 Omaha 8 or Better World Championship led to another name being removed from the list of best players to never win a bracelet as David Benyamine won $535,687 and the coveted WSOP bracelet. Greg Jamison finished in 2nd, Mike Matusow finished in 5th, Eugene Katchalov was 6th, while David Chiu ended up in 8th. Benyamine’s win places him only 2 points behind Jacobo Hernandez in the ESPN WSOP Player of the Year race. The announcement that the $50,000 HORSE event later this week will count towards the standings means that plenty of big names are still in the hunt to take down that title.

The final table for today, and other stuff on page 2…

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Happenings tonight at the WSOP.

The $1,500 NL Holdem final table is now heads-up between Jesper Hougaard and Cody Slaubaugh. Jesper had been dominating the final table and started heads-up with $6,500,000 in chips to about 800,000 for Slaubaugh. Just 6 hands later, Slaubaugh had a nearly 2-1 chip lead as Hougaard decided it was now an opportune time to take the dinner break. They’ll return at about 9:30 PT to finish, the way it’s going it won’t take long either way. Follow along on the World Series of Poker’s update site here.

The other final table on Page 2.

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What’s happening at the WSOP tonight:

The $1,500 Pot Limit Omaha w/rebuys event just concluded with a winner, and it’s Layne Flack who put on a dominant performance at the final table, taking an overwhelming chip lead that no one would be able to catch him. Layne wins his 6th WSOP bracelet, putting him in some elite company as one of 10 poker players who have won at least 6 bracelets (Hellmuth, Chan, D. Brunson, Seidel, Cloutier, Moss, Baxter, Heimowitz, M. Nguyen are the others). Daniel Makowsky finished in 2nd, and Ted Forrest will have to try yet again to get his 6th bracelet, as he finished in 5th. Dario Alioto finished in 4th for those following the Italian contingency.

Other action from today after the jump:

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Finishing the recap from last night’s activities with a preview of today’s lone tournament:

The $5,000 Seven Card Stud Eight or Better World Championship concluded shortly after 2am, with German Sebastian Ruthenberg outlasting Chris “Jesus” Ferguson to win his first bracelet, along with just over $328,000 in a grueling 3 hour heads-up battle. Ferguson and Ruthenberg would trade the lead several times, each having a huge chip advantage. While some may say the structure went too fast at the end, I have the feeling he wouldn’t be as vocal if the other player won.

Final tables for today and other action from last night after the leap:

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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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