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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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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Ed. Note: This post woulda been much more relevant and timely had it gone up yesterday, when it was written.

Despite slightly lower numbers, the WPT World Championship will still likely end up being one of the five biggest tournaments in the Milky Way this year … and Day 2 has just gotten underway. Pokerati would love to beyotch about not having access to the makeshift WPT TV studio at Bellagio to do our brand of non-chip coverage, but we’ve been invited to a WPT Party tonight with free food and booze, so we’re obviously all good with the status quo.

421 of 545 starting players remain … A few names that I’ll be paying attention to for various reasons, and where they stand in relation to their starting 50k chipstack include Carlos Mortenson (defending champ - 172,075), Tom Schneider (25,400), Clonie Gowen (93,975), Gregg Merkow (40,075), Nenad Medic (12,425), Rodeen Talebi (18,000), Ray Henson (89,550), and David Sklansky (41,050).

Click below to see how the whole pro-studded field shaped up as of noon-Pacific today, and click here to follow the action throughout Day 2.

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Just got word over the poker satellite that Gregg Merkow and Jamie Gold are currently engaged in some high stakes action — $50/$100 NLH with a $200 straddle. I can only presume in Tunica, where there’s a WSOP Circuit main event and a big WPT event going right next to each other. Don’t know who’s got what kinda stacks in front of them, but you know who we’re rooting for … 2008 baby, it feels good to run good!

THACKERVILLE, Okla.–Some chip counts from the Red River Roundup, Day 2-Day 1:

TBR - 10k
Gregg Merkow - 20k
Webber Kang - 3500
Robert “Sanbob” Sanchez - 3k
Jerry Randack - 2500

UPDATE: Webber is out. Now playing 5/10 nlh.

Spot-check of license plates on my walk from the parking lot:

Texas - 92
Oklahoma - 9
Kansas - 1

In the cash room:

Omaha games running - 2/5 and 5/10 PLO
Full 5/10 NLH tables - 4
Number of players in the smoke room playing for their very first time - 2
Amount one of these players is up playing 4/8 - $840

LAS VEGAS–Paul “Eskimo” Clark was playing in the $2,000 7-stud Hi Lo event today … Dallas pro Gregg Merkow was at his table, and it was two chips for Eskimo to call. He threw in one, and then sorta froze. After some seconds lapsed, players started trying to recapture his attention, letting him know he needed to throw another chip in the pot. That didn’t happen, and soon the other players at the table were helping him to the ground, where he lay as the tournament was stopped and medical help was summoned.

So not to be crass — because of course we hope he is recovering, as surely plenty of players who have fronted him do, too — but what happens to a player’s chips in this situation? Clark had about 4,275 when the apparent stroke happened. So when it was clear he would not be back anytime soon, floor staff removed his original 4,000 chips from play, and then anted off the remaining 275, so the table would not be at a disadvantage. Word is that the WSOP also refunded his buy-in.

One of my favorite restaurants in Dallas — Merkow’s — has closed. It will apparently re-open as the Greenville Bar & Grill. Bummer. I kinda dug the casual upscale culinary thing, especially when done by a guy with a very Vegasy palette.

Dear Dan,

I want to start by thanking you for your patronage and would like to inform you that Merkow’s has officially closed and will be reopening soon as Greenville Bar and Grill.

In the mean time, Chef Barry will be moving over to Hurricane Grill. We look forward to seeing you soon.

Sincerely,

Greg Merkow

I hear ya, Merk. But I thought your name was spelled with two g’s at the end, yo?

A little Pokerati behind-the-scenes …

My distinguished internet radio colleague, “Wolfman” Karridy, tipping us off to the developing Gregg Merkow-Tunica love story:

________________________________________
From: Karridy Askenasy
Sent: Tuesday, January 16, 2007 11:55 AM
To: danm
Subject: RE: Merkow

Same event he won last year. Tunica’s Main event. Maybe I’m wrong… I really thought you’d know more about this than me. I’d hate to slip, but I think he’s onto something huge.

From: dan michalski
Sent: Tuesday, January 16, 2007 11:43 AM
To: ‘Karridy Askenasy’
Subject: RE: Merkow

Which event? Is this the same event he won last year or something like that, or did he win won last week?

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Dallas tourney fave Gregg Merkow is kicking butt in the WSOP Circuit @ The Grand main event in Tunica — he’s second in chips the chip leader with 39 players left … three away from the money.

Gregg Merkow made it 10K from the small blind and Stan Weiss jacked him on up to 35K from the big. Gregg moved all-in and Stan called. Gregg held T9 suited and was trailing Stan’s A7. Board came 9 7 5 9 8 and Gregg made trips to bust Stan. “Boo-yah, Ship It!” said Gregg.

Ahh, the Suckout & Taunt … well-played! Dallas poker at its finest! Eat at Merkow’s!

photo: Jason Kirk / Spaceman

Merkow seems to do pretty well in Tunica. He won a $3,000 event at the Gold Strike World Poker Open one year ago tomorrow … which followed a 1st place across the parking lot in a $500/single-rebuy WSOP Circuit @ The Grand event 10 days earlier. And The Grand, of course, is where his career as a professional began in August 2005, after a half-million dollars payday.

Click here to follow his progress as Kaelaine tracks his chipstacks.

And here … for Spaceman’s coverage of his quest for another Mississippi ring.

Mmm, steak and seafood.

The first weekend of April will mark the beginning of new era in poker as team-play makes it’s Vegas/Television debut in the form of the US PokerBowl. The theory is that it’s supposed to add a completely new layer of strategy to our beloved game while bringing tournament poker bravado competition to a whole new level. Representing Dallas are TJ Cloutier, Tex Barch, Jeff Littlefield, and yours truly. Our team, the Dallas Kowboys, will fight it out in a televised, collusion-friendly free-for-all.

Opposing players include some of the best in the game, including hometown boys David Williams, Scott Levy, Gregg Merkow, and Webber Kang, who I hear have worked together to win a similarly structured local tournament in the recent past. Even Pokerati Invitational champ, Tom Schneider, has assembled a top tier posse for Phoenix. I’ll soon be tearing my own collusion hymen with my home game crew in Burleson when we adopt this intriguing format for our next regular home tournament. I actually predict that you will see a surge of local team tournaments over the next year. After all, where else can you win from the rail? Other than by fading me, of course.

LAS VEGAS–Phil Hellmuth is heads-up yet again for his 10th WSOP victory in a $1,000 NLH event. This time he’s not up against a no-name … he’s facing the anti-Phil in the form of the accomplished Juha Helppi.

(Get it? Helpy? Funny.)

I wonder how it’s going to turn out.

OK, I’m off to the Bodog party … at Tao in the Venetian. I have a bracelet and everything.
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LAS VEGAS–In yesterday’s $1,000 NLH with rebuys, Daniel Negreanu supposedly rebought 48 times. (How do you even have time to rebuy that often during the rebuy period?) Apparently, part of his strategy to put as many chips on his table as possible — without giving away any sorta tells in the process — entailed raising blind, and when reraised, moving all-in … still without looking at his cards.

With this strategy, Negreanu coulda made the final table and still lost money. But he did not make the final table. So instead of losing $2k, he loses the full $48/49k.

Gregg Merkow only had to rebuy six times. With 73 people left — out of 754 who started — he is in 11th chip position. And with the WSOP coming near its end … only three weeks left! … he is proving to be the Dallas player having the best Series. Four cashes so far, one final table, and a solid Bellagio tourney finish tossed in the mix.

UPDATE: Mike Matusow was in for 21 rebuys (which almost seems paltry now). He busted out just before the bubble. All this kinda makes you wonder who’s really the dead money in this game, no?