Longtime friend of Pokerati and poker pro Gregg Merkow took a rough beat early yesterday morning when fire engulfed two of his restaurants in Dallas. A four-alarm blaze destroyed The Hurricane Grill and the Greenville Bar & Grill, owned by Merkow, along with Mick’s bar and Terilli’s, the Italian restaurant where the fire reportedly started. It’s one of the most historic blocks of Dallas nightlife on Greenville Avenue — and thus citizens are concerned about saving what they can of the buildings even after they burnt virtually to the ground.

More on the fire and its aftermath here.

Because we care about poker players, and due diligence, we’d throw our friends under the bus in a second for a scandalous hedline + Google juice, we couldn’t help but ask whether or not perhaps he’d been running bad lately and this fire, started at a time when the structure was safely empty, might not have been a nefarious play for insurance dollars. Turns out that Merkow didn’t even have insurance on these legendary properties that may or may not have helped launch a poker career.

While non-poker people in Dallas debate how that could be (and who should ultimately be responsible), one of the players in his regular 10/25/50 NLH/PLO game explained, “It’s Merkow. He’s a gambler.”

Our sympathy for his loss … sucks, dude. Merkow speaks with the Associated Press shortly after the fire that had nothing to do with poker here:

Meanwhile, Team Pokerati final tableist Gregg Merkow won his main event seat last night … and now is trying to figure out the differences between Day 1A-1D:
via Facebook

Winner winner chicken dinner won my seat to the main event in mega sat. today but can’t decide what day to play fri,sat,sun or mon.

Good question. Though as Kevin points out the numbers will likely differ noticeably as the 96 hours that constitute Day 1 progress, is there really a difference in the types of fields you can expect on each day? One more donkey-filled than another, for example (and is that a good or bad thing, lol).

Choosing when to play, of course, is the first of many decisions that will be part of someone’s journey toward becoming the winner. But it may also be the least relevant and simply depend on the player and his or her life schedule.

Yeah. Uh-huh. That’s gotta be what it is … it’s clearly not possible that the deadest money on the table is someone who thinks they’re playing their A-game but isn’t compared to everyone else. In an effort to get a semi-retired Pokerati blogger and my best pro pal to consider shifting gears, I sent him the net-results rankings for everyone who has played in the 2009 WSOP under the Team Pokerati banner:

1. Gregg Merkow
2. Cliff Fisher
3. Robert Goldfarb
4. John Harris
5. Julie Schneider
6. Pat Poels
7. Shoegal
8. Tom Schneider

I then reminded him that the guy who picked him to be on his ESPN Fantasy Team (Gary Wise) is in dead last place. (Ha ha.)

You get the gist. The numbers don’t lie repeatedly. So while “playing some of the best poker of my life!” … not only is the DonkeyBomber something like 0-for-13 in cashing in tournaments, but also he hasn’t even made a Day 2. So before he finds himself trying to trade jewelry with Eskimo Clark for a satellite buy-in, he has decided to change his game says he will no longer be twittering until he bags chips for the first time in the 2009 WSOP. Good gameplan.

Click here to see the beginnings of a first-half WSOP fail regaled in increments of 140 characters or less. We’ll see if Tom returns with a vengeance or if his twitter account, along with his poker career, fades into oblivion.

So Pat Poels (aka “Patch” Poels) heads over to the press box — a long walk from the Brasilia Room — to let me know he’s in the money in $3,000 HORSE and to get a new patch for his presumed run to the final table …

A few minutes later, I walk over that way to buy Benjo a drink to grab a picture of our latest Team Pokerati money player, and I stumbled onto a hand that looks to be getting big. Sure enough, they’re playing 7cs-hi-lo, and Poels is about to be all-in with the nut-flush and nut-low draw, and two cards to come. His opponent has trips … Pat goes blank-blank … and just like that he’s out — in 47th place, for a $5,277 payday.

Just coincidence, for sure … but it did remind me of patching up Gregg Merkow the other day. Without a doubt, it was a thrill on my end to have a player representin’ at a final table. And by all means, with 9 left, and him in 4th or 5th chip position, I think we all were thinkin’ … yeah, bracelet. Actually, when I went to give him his patch, another player at the table asked for one, too. I denied him, saying we don’t work that way — being a Pokerati preferred player is too big an honor to just give away willy-nilly. In the $2,500 NLH, that player went on to take 3rd place. Merkow …

Gregg Merkow busted out in 9th place, fewer than five minutes after posing for a picture with his new Team Pokerati patch.

UPDATE: @donkeybomber just busted out of his second tournament of the day — $10k 2-7 NL-1D. He’s still 0-fer, and has yet to go deep enough to display his ‘ati affiliation.

Seriously, it was a strange prop bet offer … one deemed “unprofessional” by some, and made one other refer to Oliver as the Kim Jong Il of Poker. Though Oliver is Chinese, not Korean, the metaphor kinda sorta holds … because by all means he is sometimes an ostracized “player” in the industry, left to his own devices … and let’s face it: the guy would presumably love to get his hands on some nuclear weapons and wreak havoc on all who ever have tormented him since high school.

I’ll share with you more details of the wager itself as I learn to understand them. But basically – and these are the odds that just seemed too good to pass up on my end — if she’s still alive by the time I show up at the Rio, I’ll get my $10 back. If she makes it to the final table, I get $1,000. There are all sorts of other increased payment tiers along the way.

Though she probably doesn’t remember it, Gabriela Hill and I actually met last year — Oliver introduced us. At the time he told me (with extra emphasis on the rolled R’s) that she was a hot Latin American player. Good enough for me! This is her first ever WSOP bracelet event, apparently. Go Gabi Hill! You the girl!

(FYI, she has only like three followers on twitter, so click on over and become an “early adopter”.)

Meanwhile, as Gabriela’s working on building her stack in a way that makes Dan money! justifies her trip to another continent, we’ll also be following Gregg Merkow closely, as this longtime Pokerati fan — wielding a bankroll fueled at least in part by the high-roller contingent of Batfaces — has his best chance for a bracelet in as long as we can remember.

He’s the chip leader with 18 players left in $2,500 NLH. The short stack going in there, btw, is Phil Ivey … who hasn’t even showed up yet, but has already outlasted three players who started the day.

Click here to follow that action.

UPDATE: Merkow went out 9th. We swear his donning a Pokerati patch and the subsequent cooler effect was purely coincidental.

UPDATE: Supposedly Gabi is out, too. I hope you’re happy, Oliver!

Harb-oring a bracelet

Congratulations go out to Anthony Harb who took down the $2,000 NL Holdem event for $569,254 earlier this morning, outlasting Peter Rho and Jim Geary. All three players had cashed in earlier events in the WSOP as Harb and Rho cashed in the $1k NL Stimulus Special), while Geary finished 7th in the $1,500 OHL event.

Off to a Flying Finn-ish start

Onnittelu to the first Finn to win a WSOP bracelet, as Ville Wahlbeck, who had an earlier 3rd place finish in the $10,000 7 Card Stud World Championship bested David Chiu in heads-up play to take home the bracelet that eluded him earlier in the week, collecting nearly $500,000. He also moves into the lead in the WSOP Player of the Year race with 160 points, ahead of Phil Ivey and Vitaly Lunkin’s 110 points.

Another Finn looking for some glory of his own will be Tommi Horkko, who is the chip leader (509,000) with 11 left when the $2,500 Limit Holdem 6-max event gets underway at 1pm today. Daniel Negreanu (470,000) is close behind in 2nd place. Barry Shulman, Brock Parker, Shawn Buchanan and Nikolay Losev are the more notable names remaining in the compact field.

NAFTA: $2,500 NL version

The $2,500 NL Holdem event will also return at 1pm today with 20 players returning to play down to a winner. It”ll be like the Ross Perot v Al Gore debate all over again as Texan Gregg Merkow starts play as the chip leader (932,000), with Mexico’s Angel Guillen (860,000) and Canada’s Bahador Ahmadi (800,000) are the top three stacks fighting it out in the name of free trade and poker supremacy. Other international invaders who’ll be trying to take the bracelet to their own trade zone includes the UK’s Roland de Wolfe (400,000) and Russia’s Kirill Gerasimov (390,000).

Brazilian waxing 5k NL holdem

Brazilian Clemencau Calixto, not to be confused with the New Mexico band Calexico, is the chip leader (186,300) at the end of day 1, as 164 players will return at 2pm. Frere Jacques Faraz Jaka is 3rd in chips at 172,200. Other notables who are in the top half of the field: defending champion Scott Seiver (118,600), Jimmy “Gobbo” Fricke (112,200), Isaac Baron (101,300), David Benefield (85,200), Gavin Griffin (69,100), Erik Seidel (65,900), and Dan Heimiller (56,200).

$1,500 7 Card Studs

From a field of 359, only 97 will make their way back into the Rio at 2pm to attempt to reach a final table. The day 1 chip leader is David Levi (49,600). Among those in the top 10: Dutch Boyd (47,700), Jeff Lisandro (40,700), Jason Mercier (35,000), and Eli Elezra (31,100). Other notables include: Sam Grizzle, Nick Frangos, Pokerati’s own Robert Goldfarb, and Barbara Enright.

Hey Ladies!

Today’s event at 12 noon is the $1,000 NL Holdem Ladies’ World Championship, which was won last year by professional Svetlana Gromenskova in a field of 1,190 to collect just over $220,000 in cash. It remains to be seen if any guys will attempt to enter the field like last year, but it’ll surely make a great photo op for someone bold enough to give it a try.

Omaha, 8? You better!

The 5pm event today will be the $10,000 Omaha 8 or Better World Championship which was won last year by David Benyamine in a field of 235 to add over $535,000 to his tournament stats.

Projections

$1,000 Ladies World Championship – 1,190 (take the over, saying 1,254)
$10,000 OHL World Championship – 247 (take the under, guessing 231)

Follow the updates at www.worldseriesofpoker.com and Pokerati for the other stuff.

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:

The $1,500 NL Holdem event has 215 returning for their day 2 at 2pm to play down to a final table. Notable names near the top of the leaderboard include Gregg Merkow, JC Tran, Matt Matros, Tommy Vu, Eugene Todd and Kristy Gazes.

Today’s the last doubleheader of bracelet events this Series, with the noon tournament being the $10,000 Pot Limit Omaha World Championship. This is a “double chance” event, where players start with $10,000 in tournament chips, but everyone gets a free add-on of $10,000 in chips that can be used anytime in the first 3 hours if they get eliminated or fall below $10,000. For those that don’t do the add-on, it’s added automatically to their stack at the end of the 3rd hour. Last year’s winner was Robert Mizrachi who came out on top in a field of 314. This event is also scheduled to be an ESPN televised final table for those looking for some basic cable face time.

The 5pm tournament for today is the $1,500 HORSE event for those not sufficiently rolled for the $50k event, or those trying to get a bracelet this year to win their prop bet. Last year this was a $1,000 SHOE event won by Dao Bac a field of 730.

More updates during the day…

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:

First, the $1,000 NL w/rebuys tournament got underway shortly after 12n, and a deep-pocketed lineup of pros kept the chip runners actively as the shouts of “Rebuy!” filled the room. Later in the day, an older, more sedate crowd ponied up their $1,500 for the Omaha 8 or better tournament. 2007 WSOP POY Tom Schneider, David Sklansky, Amarillo Slim and noted Omaha 8 expert Shannon Elizabeth were among those in the field.

More stuff later…

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:

For pros who do like to double-dip, the $1,500 Pot Limit Holdem and $5,000 Mixed Holdem events went underway. 63 remain in the PL event, as they reached the money just before the end of play. Familiar names left in the field include David Singer, Gregg Merkow, Eugene Todd Bro, and Tom McEvoy.

The 91 left in the Mixed Holdem event still have a ways to go before they make the money. Jon “PearlJammer” Turner is the current leader, with Gavin Griffin, Justin Bonomo, Jimmy “Gobboboy” Fricke, Josh Arieh and Robert Williamson still in the hunt. Here’s their payouts from Pokernews:

1 $ 374,505
2 $ 230,159
3 $ 144,337
4 $ 117,030
5 $ 93,624
6 $ 74,119
7 $ 58,515
8 $ 46,812
9 $ 35,109
10-12 $ 23,406
13-15 $ 19,505
16-18 $ 15,604
19-27 $ 12,483
28-36 $ 10,922

More later today…

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.

1. Jeff King – 211,575
2. Paul Chauderson – 200,900
3. Kenny Tran – 193,025
4. Robert Mizrachi – 173,375
5. Carlos Mortensen – 172,075
6. Jordan Morgan – 171,750
7. David Benyamine – 169,350
8. Billy Baxter – 167,150
9. Darrell “Gigabet” Dicken – 163,675
10. Steve Billirakis – 156,800
11. Tom “Durrrr” Dwan – 155,675
12. Nashaat Antonius – 153,375
13. Andrew Shack – 150,300
14. Scott Epstein – 147,800
15. Charles Kelley – 147,325
16. Brandon Cantu – 145,125
17. Joe Tehan – 143,275
18. Jonathan Kalmar – 140,325
19. Michael Katz – 138,500
20. J.C. Tran – 138,350
21. James Mordue – 137,500
22. Michael Sohayean – 134,275
23. Greg “FBT” Mueller – 132,675
24. Soheil Shamseddin – 131,300
25. Jayde Tran – 129,025
26. Thomas Wahlroos – 127,875
27. Jimmy Tran – 125,125
28. John Hillman – 124,550
29. Rock Cloutier – 124,025
30. Abe Mosseri – 123,400
31. Victor Ramdin – 122,675
32. Martin Hansen – 121,125
33. John Celii – 121,075
34. Josh Arieh – 120,250
35. Dario Minieri – 118,650
36. Marcel Luske – 117,225
37. Vanessa Selbst – 117,025
38. Will Wilkinson – 116,050
39. Eli Elezra – 115,000
39. Jim Bechtel – 115,000
41. John Hoang – 113,350
42. Anna Wroblewski – 112,450
43. Michael Gracz – 111,650
44. T.J. Cloutier – 110,525
45. Gus Hansen – 110,325
46. Brian Rast – 110,175
47. Eugene Katchalov – 109,900
48. Rhynie Campbell – 109,675
49. Tommy Hang – 108,000
50. Ron Levi – 106,775
51. Keith Tilston – 106,425
52. Thayer Rasmussen – 106,400
53. Steve Sung – 105,800
54. John Kincaid – 105,600
55. Peter Neff – 104,275
56. Jimmy Dowda – 103,925
57. Steven Koplow – 103,000
58. Steve Zolotow – 102,750
59. Joe Cassidy – 102,725
60. Karga Holt – 102,100
61. David Tran – 101,500
62. Mike Sexton – 101,325
63. Robert Wisiak – 101,000
63. Roy Winston – 101,000
63. Edwin Ting – 101,000
66. Dino French – 100,750
67. John Hennigan – 100,250
68. David “Devilfish” Ulliott – 100,000
69. Alex Melnikow – 99,775
70. James Van Alstyne – 98,350
71. Kathy Liebert – 98,250
72. Nadim Shabou – 97,850
73. Eric Kesselman – 97,325
74. Jordan Rich – 96,975
75. Shawn Lampman – 96,425
76. Rafael Perry – 96,325
77. Andrew Robl – 95,800
78. Zvi Shiff – 95,325
79. Jonathan Westra – 95,025
80. Weikai Chang – 94,675
81. Gary Kainer – 94,125
82. Clonie Gowen – 93,975
83. Freddy Deeb – 92,300
84. Paul Wasicka – 92,250
85. Erik Seidel – 92,025
86. Shawn Buchanan – 91,950
87. Jeff Madsen – 91,350
88. Yan Chen – 90,775
89. Bruce Corman – 90,500
90. Cristiano Blanco – 90,225
91. Burt Boutin – 90,025
92. Ray Henson – 89,550
93. Richard Fohrenbach – 89,250
94. Daniel Negreanu – 89,200
95. Lars Bonding – 88,750
96. Mario Silvestri – 88,225
97. Nicholas Binger – 87,975
98. Scott Fischman – 87,625
99. Eric Hershler – 87,075
100. Matthew Vengrin – 86,775
100. Vijayan Nagarajan – 86,775
102. Layne Flack – 86,325
103. Chris “Armenian Express” Grigorian – 85,850
104. Pat Madden – 85,700
105. Patrick Bruel – 85,175
106. Kwang Min Lee – 85,025
107. Phil Ivey – 85,000
108. Tim West – 84,925
109. Amir Vahedi – 84,475
110. James McCrink – 83,600
111. Martin de Knijff – 83,500
112. John Baarstom – 83,225
113. Alex Bolotin – 82,875
114. Gary Margadonna – 81,925
115. Todd Keikoan – 81,525
116. Mike Chow – 81,425
117. John Esposito – 81,275
118. Doyle Brunson – 80,850
119. David Grey – 80,350
120. Tony Hartman – 80,275
121. Francois Safieddine – 80,200
122. Tad Jurgens – 79,800
123. Will Failla – 79,500
124. Jonathan Depa – 79,475
125. Huckleberry Seed – 78,900
126. Steven O’Dwyer – 78,675
127. Surinder Sunar – 78,650
128. Gavin Smith – 78,400
129. Daniel Zogman – 78,200
130. Danny Fuhs – 77,875
131. Humberto Brenes – 77,650
132. Jared Okun – 77,375
133. Barry Greenstein – 76,950
134. Loi Phan – 76,625
135. Steve Dannenmann – 76,400
136. Philippe Rouas – 76,325
137. Jeff Bayles – 76,275
138. Larry Wright – 76,100
139. Tim Phan – 75,900
140. Art Duncan – 75,700
141. Herman Zango – 75,575
141. Eugene Todd – 75,575
143. James Mettler – 75,050
144. Narendra Banwari – 75,000
145. Ralph Rudd – 74,975
146. Cary Katz – 74,825
147. Steven Weinstein – 74,500
148. Art Peacock – 73,600
149. Keith Gipson – 73,225
150. Gary Horn – 73,000
151. Billy Pilossoph – 72,550
152. Padraig Parkinson – 72,075
153. Howard Lederer – 71,975
154. George Abdallah – 70,925
155. Isabelle Mercier – 70,750
156. Jared Hamby – 70,125
157. Chris McCormack – 70,000
158. Curt Kohlberg – 69,850
159. Nicolas Levi – 69,650
160. Jeff Shulman – 69,225
161. Alex Jacob – 68,750
162. Praz Bansi – 67,800
163. Hyon Kim – 67,750
164. Donnacha O’Dea – 67,725
165. Arnaud Mattern – 67,700
166. Cory Carroll – 67,625
167. David Goad – 67,500
168. Nikolay Losev – 67,450
169. Nam Le – 67,400
170. Vivek Rajkumar – 67,175
171. Emeline Boich – 67,100
172. Stan Jablonski – 66,950
173. Kevin Haeri – 66,750
174. Vanessa Rousso – 66,500
175. Hoyt Corkins – 66,400
176. Eric Cloutier – 66,125
177. Champie Douglas – 65,925
178. Saifuddin Ahmad – 65,850
179. Paul Smith – 65,600
180. Sean O’Donnell – 65,250
181. Jason Lester – 65,150
182. Vadim Trincher – 65,050
183. Arthur Azen – 65,000

AVERAGE – 64,727

184. Rich Salomon – 64,700
185. Mikael Thuritz – 64,650
186. Steve Wong – 64,600
187. Dewey Tomko – 64,500
188. Eric Richards – 64,400
189. Berry Johnston – 63,250
190. Bryan Devonshire – 62,650
191. Philip Galfond – 62,300
192. Balint Barta – 62,100
193. John Monnette – 62,100
194. Dan Shak – 62,000
195. Ted Forrest – 62,000
196. Mimi Tran – 61,800
197. Sylvester Geoghegan – 60,675
198. Brandon Adams – 60,550
199. Robert Cheung – 60,525
200. Stuart Fox – 60,500
201. Matthew Hyman – 60,350
202. Mike Matusow – 60,275
203. Bruno Fitoussi – 60,050
204. Ross Boatman – 59,925
205. Michael Hudson – 59,900
205. Kelly Kim – 59,900
207. Cliff “Johnny Bax” Josephy – 59,700
208. Benjamin Springer – 59,650
209. James Calderaro – 59,500
210. David Chiu – 59,100
211. David Redlin – 59,050
212. Karl Mahrenholz – 59,000
213. Thang Pham – 58,900
214. Ray Coburn – 58,775
215. Mark Appleman – 58,650
216. Michael Ellis – 58,125
217. Shawn Cunix – 57,750
218. Chau Giang – 57,650
219. Ted Kearly – 57,625
220. Mikiya Takitani – 57,625
221. Gary Gibbs – 56,975
222. Michael McKenna – 56,925
223. Noah Schwartz – 56,575
224. Mark Muchnik – 56,525
225. Hevad “Rain” Khan – 56,425
226. Scotty Nguyen – 56,175
227. Danny Shiff – 56,000
228. Jean Gaspard – 55,825
229. Antonio Salorio – 55,500
229. Kevin O’Donnell – 55,500
231. John Strzemp – 55,475
232. Robert Suer – 55,075
233. Nathan Doudney – 55,000
234. Noah Jefferson – 54,850
235. Mats Rahmn – 54,725
236. Terry Akins – 54,700
237. Alan Vinson – 54,325
238. Mark Teltscher – 54,000
239. David Peters – 53,650
240. Wayne Boich – 53,525
241. John Roveto – 53,500
242. Toto Leonidas – 53,275
243. Douglas Janney – 53,000
244. Andreas Krause – 52,775
245. Vincent Bartello – 52,350
246. Grant Lang – 52,175
247. Amit Makhija – 52,100
248. Joseph Fallows – 52,025
249. Robert Fitzpatrick – 51,875
250. Joe Awada – 51,575
251. Scott Seiver – 51,175
252. Dan Harrington – 51,000
253. Darren Kramer – 50,875
254. Larry Karambis – 50,700
255. Vincent Procopio – 49,950
256. Peter Jetten – 49,700
257. Scott Mayfield – 49,425
258. Shane Schleger – 49,400
259. Soren Jensen – 49,250
260. Chris “Jesus” Ferguson – 48,900
261. Marco Traniello – 48,850
262. Vincent Shaw – 48,750
263. Jerry Yang – 48,325
264. Uri Kadosh – 48,175
265. Tommy Legend – 48,000
266. Christopher Bush – 47,925
267. Tony Grappo – 47,750
268. Heather Sue Mercer – 47,550
269. Bob Stupak – 47,175
270. Tony Ma – 47,150
271. Bill Gazes – 46,900
272. Joseph Risi – 46,625
273. Steve Brecher – 45,875
274. Sudhakara Kattamuri – 45,875
275. Allie Prescott – 45,850
276. Mike McClain – 45,700
277. Jon Turner – 45,650
278. Kristy Gazes – 45,000
279. Alan Sass – 44,675
280. Jennifer Harman – 44,625
281. Jonathan Aguiar – 44,475
282. Alven Zeidenfeld – 44,275
283. John Murphy – 43,925
284. Glynn Beebe – 43,625
285. Daniel Moorman – 43,575
285. Dan Lu – 43,575
287. Antonio Esfandiari – 43,400
288. Eric “Rizen” Lynch – 42,850
289. Sam Farha – 42,800
290. Alan Goehring – 42,500
291. John Smith – 42,500
292. Danny Wong – 42,325
293. Shannon Shorr – 42,250
294. Corwin Cole – 42,250
295. Joe Beevers – 41,650
296. Haralabos Voulgaris – 41,600
297. Tim Chauser – 41,575
298. Cory Zeidman – 41,375
299. Barry Berger – 41,275
300. Thomas McCormick – 41,075
301. David Sklansky – 41,050
302. Dustin Dirksen – 41,000
303. John Myung – 40,850
304. Tuan Le – 40,800
305. Alan Smurfit – 40,700
306. Matt Brady – 40,650
307. Raffi King – 40,375
308. Gregg Merkow – 40,075
309. Mark Newhouse – 39,675
310. Samuel Hiatt – 39,350
311. Danilo Sahiune – 39,225
312. John Juanda – 39,225
313. Peter Feldman – 39,100
314. Roland DeWolfe – 38,975
315. Christian Pereira – 38,975
316. Phil Hellmuth – 38,075
317. Jon Friedberg – 38,025
318. Allen Kessler – 37,800
319. Michael “The Grinder” Mizrachi – 37,475
320. Sirous Jamshidi – 37,125
321. Eric Baldwin – 37,075
322. Louis Werman – 36,650
323. Minh Ly – 36,350
324. Quinn Do – 36,350
325. Gary Dolenga – 36,175
325. Ting Li – 36,175
327. Ryan Daut – 35,300
328. Joe Hachem – 35,300
329. Herb Montalbano – 35,125
330. Raymond Davis – 35,000
331. Abdo Lattouf – 34,900
332. Ira Mazie – 34,725
333. David Farber – 33,950
334. Dennis Waterman – 33,825
335. Lee Markholt – 33,600
336. Mike Wattel – 33,275
337. Jean-Robert Bellande – 33,250
338. Andrew Pierz – 33,200
339. Rhett Butler – 32,875
340. Matt Lefkowitz – 32,600
341. Elia Ahmadian – 32,175
342. Erik Sagstrom – 32,100
343. Roy Thung – 32,000
344. Amnon Filippi – 31,750
345. Mark Stubbs – 31,700
346. Marcus Gonsalves – 31,325
347. Barny Boatman – 31,325
348. Mark Dickstein – 30,775
349. Mark Seif – 30,625
350. Johan Storakers – 30,550
351. Thor Hansen – 30,475
352. Jyri-Petteri Linna – 30,450
353. Franco Brunetti – 30,000
354. Russell Rosenblum – 29,850
355. David Rheem – 29,600
355. Robert Zeps – 29,600
357. Parviz Razavian – 29,250
358. Fred Berger – 29,075
359. Adam Levy – 28,925
360. Aaron Been – 28,525
361. Markus Lehmann – 28,500
362. William Klein – 28,325
363. Florian Langmann – 28,250
364. Stuart Christerson – 28,000
365. Karl Tretter – 27,850
366. Erica Schoenberg – 27,250
367. Bill Kontaratos – 27,200
368. Dan Barry – 26,800
369. Matt Giannetti – 26,625
370. James Dawick – 26,500
371. Alexander Kravchenko – 26,225
372. Thomas Wolfinger – 26,125
373. Benedetto Bianco – 26,100
374. David Gregory – 25,975
375. Samuel Korkis – 25,475
376. Tom Schneider – 25,400
377. David Kim – 25,325
378. Gary Burrell – 25,150
379. Michael Graffo – 24,425
380. James Cornell – 23,775
381. Matt Russell – 23,500
382. Mark Cole – 23,475
383. Serena Liu – 23,100
384. Bertrand Grospellier – 22,725
385. David Rubin – 22,325
386. Kenna James – 21,975
387. Chad Brown – 21,850
388. Hooman Nikzad – 20,875
389. Simon Moussa – 20,675
390. Edwin Kim – 20,475
391. Tony Cousineau – 20,350
392. John Duthie – 19,625
393. Scott Ross – 19,500
394. Michael Binger – 19,275
395. Mark Gregorich – 18,550
396. Rodeen Talebi – 18,000
397. Christopher Bach – 17,700
398. Scott Paust – 17,125
399. Jeff Langdon – 16,950
400. Lance Oliver – 16,525
401. Jason Potter – 16,225
402. Erick Lindgren – 15,800
403. Adam Geyer – 15,675
404. Brian Haveson – 15,575
405. Sorel Mizzi – 15,475
406. Alexander Kostritsyn – 15,450
407. Andrew Rosskamm – 13,900
408. Joe Sebok – 13,300
409. Theodore Park – 13,250
410. Enrique Leigue – 13,100
411. Brian Powell – 12,850
412. Nenad Medic – 12,425
413. Andrew Black – 11,800
414. Bob Cole – 11,575
415. Men “The Master” Nguyen – 10,725
416. Dennis Burns – 10,625
417. Erik Haakenson – 10,375
418. Van Nguyen – 9,100
419. Nick Schulman – 8,400
420. Albert Huang – 7,875
421. David “The Dragon” Pham – 4,750

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

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.

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?

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?

________________________________________
From: Karridy Askenasy
Sent: Tuesday, January 16, 2007 11:39 AM
To: danm
Subject: RE: Merkow

He’s going for back to back wins in a major, and looks well positioned to do so. You sure you don’t want to get the scoop on that?

Haven’t gotten to investigate recording.

From: dan michalski [mailto:danm@pokerati.com]
Sent: Tuesday, January 16, 2007 11:26 AM
To: ‘Karridy Askenasy’
Subject: RE: Merkow

In what event? In tunica?

I don’t think he’s necessarily great to have on for this case, but I like the idea of having on. What would it take for us to do a pre-recorded interview?

________________________________________
From: Karridy Askenasy
Sent: Tuesday, January 16, 2007 11:18 AM
To: danm
Subject: Merkow

I can’t find anyplace that is doing good coverage, but I believe Merkow is sitting pretty. I have his cell (As I’m sure you do). Should we try to line him up or do a pre-recorded interview?

OK, upon second thought, yeah, we probably should have him on the show. “Beyond the Table” — live on Hold’em Radio at 7 pm central. If we can get Gregg on, Tom can ask him what it’s like to be a successful pro.

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.

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.

Without going into too many details, Gregg Merkow — the most successful Dallas pro at the 2006 WSOP (save for maybe TJ Cloutier and expat David Williams) — at some point decided that he was gonna stick to trying to make his money on the table; and he was gonna hedge his bets by moving those TVs into a business with a less predictable but more reliable rake. And considering he already had found great success with the Hurricane Grill, why not just step that up a notch … next door, at the site of the old Greenville Bar & Grill?

All that begat Merkow’s — a casual upscale steak and seafood joint. Former Scrolldowner Mark Stuertz has a review in the current Observer. Kinda funny, because Mark says the place has great seafood, and only so-so steaks. I found it to be the opposite. I loved my steak … and the lamb I had on a second visit was also magnifique. The Bahamian conch fritters were a welcome addition to the appetizer menu … but not quite as good as what I remember nibbling in the seaside slums of Nassau. The lobster was, well, lobster — awesome — but the sideways cut made it hard to eat. But hey … the seared tuna sashimi appetizer … I challenge you to find one better anywhere within a 500-mile radius.

Perhaps we had different experiences because when Stuertz goes into a restaurant, he does so undercover and without bias. When I went to Merkow’s, I kept muttering “poker-poker- [cough]-Pokerati(!)-poker” under my breath whenever staff walked by. For a while I thought I was getting the special treatment I deserve crave. But later I would learn the half-price bottles of wine under $100 were merely a special offered to all customers on Tuesdays and Wednesdays. Likewise, when I dropped my fork and the waiter brought me a new one, I’m not sure if I was disapointed or pleased to learn that such premium service is simply standard at pretty much all three-dollar-sign ($$$) establishments.

But regardless, still a really good restaurant … and particularly loved the wine list, with so many high-quality but reasonably priced bottles — but not so many that a non-oenophile poker geek would be overwhelmed by the selection. Great place to take a date (I went twice — once with Jen, once with Sang) … and a generally impressive operation set up by a guy who regularly does Dallas poker proud.

Google Map

Pokerati Restaurant Ratings
Food: A-Q
Atmosphere: A-J suited
Price: $2/$5 NL
Service: Q-Q

(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.

NOTE: Dallas up-and-comer Gregg Merkow finished 35th — another cash for $8,191. Get the sense that he wants it as much as Phil? Both seem to be getting closer and closer.

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?