It took 36 hands … back and forth for 34 of them … then came hands #35 and #36 (#s 363 and 364 of the whole final table).

From PokerListings:

Cada Wins It All!
12 minutes ago

After falling into an almost 3:1 chip deficit, Joe Cada grabbed control once again.

He made it 3 million preflop and Moon called.

The flopped rolled out Tc 9h 5d and both players tapped the table.

The 10d would bring some fireworks, however, as Moon check-raised all-in after a 3 million chip bet from Cada.

Cada leaned back in his chair for a few minutes pondering a call that would be for his tournament life.

Suddenly and decisively, he laid it all on the line making that call.

Moon showed 8s 7s for the open-ender and Cada’s Jh 9d was ahead.

Moon would need a six or a jack to win the Main Event title, but it was not to be as the 3h river fell, handing Cada the double-up and the chip lead.

Following the hand, Cada was up to 108 million and Moon ground down to 86 million.

A few hands later, the two got into a preflop raising war that saw Cada push in with nines and Moon make the call for his tournament life with Qd Jd.

The flop came 8c 7s 2c and chants of “Joey” filled the theatre. The turn brought the Kh and Cada needed to fade just one more card.

As the crowd murmured in anticipation, the river came the 7c and the Main Event title and $8.5 million was suddenly Cada’s.

A roar of approval could be heard all the way to Freemont Street.

Darvin Moon will take home $5.1 million for his second-place finish, but the World Championship and all the glory that goes now belongs to Joe Cada.

Level: 40
Blinds: 600,000/1,200,000
Ante: 200,000
Average Stack: $194,820,000
Players Left: 1
Tables Left: 1

Not sure what to tell you off the bat … they’re about six hands in … and Darvin Moon has chipped up … he now has 90some million to Joe Cada’s 101ish million.

The WSOP&T Theater is packed-packed again … with plenty of folks lined up outside waiting to fill any empties.

So far I think I’ve seen the best ever rail-fan prop — about 10 rows from the stage, in Darvin Moon section of fans, a guy is holding up a toy chainsaw every time something positive for Moon occurs on the felt. Poker Loggers unite! Crap/LOL: domain name long taken/abandoned.

Lots of heckling, too … which gotta say, much to my surprise, Jack “Link’s” Effel is deflecting quite well.

MORE in this spot TK, at least for a while … keep refreshing.

– Everything intensified with such an audience watching. Even “checks” get gasps from the crowd … and mucks get “whoop whoop whoops!”

– Frat boy chants: “Let’s Go CA-DA! Let’s Go CA-DA!”

– Darvin now has the chip lead.

UPDATE: New level … and Linda “Tranwreck’ is the dealer … bad beats on the way?

NOTE: Blinds at 600k/1.2mm … exceeding the level where the 2008 WSOP main event came to a close.

STATING THE OBVIOUS: Barry Greenstein is a big fan of Linda Tran. @barrygreenstein tweets:

Linda Tran is the current dealer and she is beautiful and Asian. More incentive for me to final table next year.

via @WickedChops

–The gaming agents (not to be confused with gaming-agents) that Pauly loves to talk about are here … but either they have little business to attend to and are simply supporting their client Joe Cada … or they have learned how to prevent people like me from taking pictures of them looking devious by saying things like, “hey, how’s it goin’?” (Foiled!)

– Blinds are 600k/1.2mm … and with 195 million total chips in play, that means an average stack has roughly 81 BB

UPDATE CHIP COUNT:

Darvin Moon – 97,650,000
Joe Cada – 97,150,000

photo: WSOP.com

That’s what we wanna know … after Saturday/Sunday’s marathon 9->2 session … how long do you think the heads-up battle between Darvin Moon and Joe Cada will go?

They’re currently in Level 39, with blinds at 500k/1000k + 150k.

Moon has almost the same number of chips he started with, 58,850,000, while Cada, who started with just 13,215,000, now has all the rest — 135,950,000.

What they’re fighting for, essentially: $3.36 million in cash, and then everything else that goes with being WSOP champ.

NOTE: In our previous unscientific poll, Moon got the second-most votes … Cada fourth-most.

The record for WSOP heads-up battles is 7 hours 10 minutes, set by Chip Reese vs. Andy Bloch in 2006. Before that it was 7 hours, in the 1983 main event … where after Doyle Brunson busted out in 3rd on a semi-bluff, an unknown from Michigan, Tom McEvoy, beat Rod Peate for $580,000:

BTW, for a fun historical perspective, watch the start of the television coverage of the 1983 final table here.

101 players remain as the players return from their dinner break shortly. The current chip leader is Darvin Moon of Oakland, Maryland with 5,700,000 in chips. Some notables returning with chips: Eugene Katchalov (3,600,000), Fabrice Soulier (3,550,000), Jeff Shulman (3,200,000), Phil Ivey (2,680,000), James Akenhead (2,500,000), Antonio Esfandiari (2,300,000), Dennis Phillips (2,200,000), Tom Schneider (1,571,000), Prahlad Friedman (1,280,000), Peter Eastgate (940,000), Noah Boeken (481,000), Joe Sebok (300,000) and Kenny Tran (262,000). There are still two women left as well: Nichoel Peppe (1,300,000) and Leo Margets (1,195,000).

Notable eliminations: Joe Hachem, David Benyamine, J.C. Tran, Theo Tran, Bertrand Grospellier, Blair Hinkle and Joe Serock.

The Dream Team Poker event is down to Kenna James versus Judy Tejwani for the individual title. Congrats again goes to the Tao of Pokerati team for clinching the team title a few hours ago. Live updates now available for the Main Event at www.wsop.com and more stuff from the rest of the writing team during the evening.

The final table of the $50,000 HORSE finally concluded at 10am PT with David Bach defeating John Hanson in a marathon final table that lasted over 475 hands, making it the longest final table in the history of the World Series of Poker in the United States. Heads-up play between Bach and Hanson lasted for nearly seven hours total.

The final hand was in razz, with Bach starting out with 7-6-4-A, as Hanson was far behind with J-9-8-5. But for those that have played razz, it’s an intensely frustrating game, and it was for Bach when he went A-Q while Hanson went 6-5 to take the lead with his jack-low. The final card gave Hanson a deuce for 9-8-5-6-2, but Bach caught a nine to just edge him out 9-7-6-4-A to take down the bracelet, the Chip Reese trophy, and win $1,276,802, doubling his career tournament winnings. Hanson takes down $789,199 for the second place finish.

That’s what @JeffreyPollack wants to know — after today’s $1,500 NLH maxed out with 2,790 entrants (one of which is The Big Randy, fyi). Specifically, he twitters:

should WSOP events ever sell out? Do sell-outs conflict with our brand promise? Or, are they okay?

Though I’m not exactly sure what the “brand promise” of the WSOP is beyond free beef jerky for media (hey, can we get the strips instead of the nuggets? that’d be great … thanks … sesame please), I gotta think the answer is no.

If you let alternates run, then it ultimately becomes the players’ choice whether or not to buy-in.

There could obviously be exceptions for numerically dependent tournaments such as Shootouts and Heads-up events. But I’m not even so sure that those should ever close until X number of necessary logistical minutes before cards go in the air.

Send your thoughts to the Commish in 140 characters or less here.

Recapping the Monday evening tournament action…

$10k Heads-Up Going Overtime

The $10,000 NL Holdem Heads-Up World Championship is down to the final match as John Duthie takes on Leo Wolpert in a best of three match at 12pm (broadcast here and at wsop.pkr.com for international viewers to determine a winner. Duthie, the founder of the European Poker Tour, which announced the first half of its schedule yesterday, takes on Wolpert a professional poker player who went back to law school and is currently on a summer internship in Nevada, will attempt to pick up their first career bracelet and the $625,682 that goes with it.

Eise Uses the Force to Win a Bracelet

Mike “The Force” Eise made his first tournament cash worthy of a bracelet, taking down the $1,500 NL Holdem event defeating Jeff Chang heads-up for the title as well as picking up a hefty $639,331.

Boatman Leads the Mob in PLO

Ross Boatman, member of the Hendon Mob (the best place to find tournament results) leads the final table in the $2,500 Pot Limit Omaha final table, which is seated as follows when play resumes at 2pm :

Seat 1: Jeff Kimber – 525000
Seat 2: Rami Boukai – 325000
Seat 3: Dallas Flowers – 239000
Seat 4: Ross Boatman – 718000
Seat 5: J.C. Tran - 387000
Seat 6: John Juanda – 129000
Seat 7: Theo Jorgensen – 419000
Seat 8: Chad Layne – 206000
Seat 9: Jean-Philippe Leandri – 324000

Soulier Écouter en $1,500 Cheval

Fabrice Soulier is the chip leader (351,000) when day 3 of the $1,500 HORSE resumes at 2pm with 23 players remaining. Shannon Shorr (323,500), Joseph Serock (152,500), Chris Bjorin (143,000) Vanessa Rousso (131,000), James Van Alstyne (130,000), Kathy Raymond (111,000), and Bryan Micon (76,000) and Paul Darden (54,500) are some of the notables remaining when play resumes.

Shan Jing Rings Up Day 1 Chip Lead

Shan Jing holds the chip lead (137,400) when day 2 of the $2,000 NL Holdem event restarts at 2pm today with 220 players remaining, 171 of which make the money. Ken Lennaard (109,200), Alex Bolotin (100,700), Luke Staudenmaier (88,600), Neil Channing (65,900), and Chau Giang (57,600) are some of the notables in the top half of the leaderboard, which will try to make the final table by the 3am deadline.

Harman Leading Lady in World Championship Event

116 players will return at 2pm today to resume the $10,000 Limit Holdem World Championship with Jennifer Harman the day 1 chip leader (127,600). Maria Ho (113,400), Josh Arieh (112,100), Shaun Deeb (106,000), and Chino Rheem (87,400) are notables in the top 10. Ville Wahlbeck is trying for his 5th straight cash in a 10k buyin event, 44th with 54,400 in chips. Only 18 make the money with a goal of the final table a possibility.

Tuesday’s Tournament

Only one event on the calendar today, the fourth $1,500 NL Holdem donkament, this version was won last year by David Woo for over $630,000 in a field of 2,720. The WSOP Staff Guide projects a field of 2,569, so take the over with at least 2,700 signing up to try their hand at that game they saw on ESPN.

Plenty of action yet again today at the WSOP, follow the action at and other stuff on Pokerati during your Two for Tuesday.

Johnny F’ing Chan Going for Bracelet #11

The $10,000 NL Holdem Heads-Up World Championship has 8 players remaining who return at 2pm Monday to determine the winner. Here’s the matchups for the quarterfinals, which will also air on ESPN360 and wsop.pkr.com for those outside the US:

Leo Wolpert v Dustin Woolf
Jamin Stokes v Johnny Chan

Nathan Doudney v Bryan Pellegrino
John Duthie v Stephen O’Dwyer

Simmons Looking to be the Poker Guy

Joe Simmons starts day 3 of the $1,500 NL Holdem event as the chip leader (1,100,000) with 27 players playing down to a winner. You can take a look at who else is left at this link.

Tran Riding the PLO Train

J.C. Tran (176,900) is the chip leader at the start of Day 2 of the $2,500 Pot-Limit Omaha event, with 61 players remaining, only 45 get paid. Chad Layne (106,000), John Juanda (85,300), Ross Boatman (75,000) and Phil Ivey (56,600) are among the notables who return at 2pm today.

Sebastien Rings the Belle for Day 2 HORSE

Sabic Sebastien leads the field of 220 who return at 2pm today of the $1,500 HORSE event with 72,700 in chips. Marco Traniello (55,000) Andy Black (54,300), Jean Gaspard, (40,300), Ming Lee (32,500) Fabrice Soulier (32,200), and Vanessa Rousso (30,900) make up some of the notables returning to the baize.

Monday’s Tournaments and Projections

The noon tournament today is the $2,000 NL Holdem event which was won last year by Blair Hinkle in a field of 1,344 for just over $500,000. The 5pm tournament is another World Championship event, this time it’s $10,000 Limit Holdem, which was won last year by Rob Hollink in a field of 218 for almost $500,000.

The WSOP Staff Guide projects 1,344 for the $2,000 NL event (take the under for 1,275), while the $10,000 Limit Holdem event is projected for 229 (take the slightly under for 210).

Check back at Pokerati frequently for more updates during the day.

Covering the afternoon coverage of Sunday afternoon at the WSOP:

de Wolfe wins de Triple Crown

Roland de Wolfe became the second player (after Gavin Griffin) to win poker’s Triple Crown (Winning a WSOP bracelet, WPT main event and EPT main event) with his triumph in the $5,000 PLO 8 or Better event, defeating Brett Richey in heads-up play. Dual Omaha bracelet winner Scott Clemens finished in 3rd.

Obligatory Limit Holdem Winner Mention

Sweden’sTomas Alenius defeated Jason Tam heads-up in the $1,500 Limit Holdem event. Day 3 chip leader Al “Sugar Bear” Barbieri finished 3rd. Fortunately for the WSOP staff, they have Sweden’s national anthem already downloaded.

Heads-Up Down to Sweet 16

Round 5 of the $10,000 NL Holdem Heads Up World Championship is down to its final 16 competitors, with one more round of play before the winners return on Monday. Among the survivors: Jason Mercier, Mike Caro, Leo Wolpert, Roberto Romanello, Bryan Pellegrino, Yevgeniy Timoshenko, Dustin “Neverwin” Woolf, Johnny Chan and WSOP runner-up in 2008, Alec Torelli.

$2,500 PLO Debut a Success

A larger than expected field of 436 started the $2,500 Pot Limit Omaha event, with 153 returning after the dinner break. The unofficial chip leader is Jesse Rios, with another four levels of play to finish the day.

Late Night HORSE

The $1,500 HORSE event started about three hours ago and a field of 770 left the starting gate. No established chip leaders at this time, but they have eight levels of play to leader going into the first turn. Check out www.wsop.com and give Pokerati a visit during the rest of your Sunday evening/early Monday morning.

Recapping what else happened last night, besides Phil Ivey winning bracelet #7…

My Big Fat Pete the Greek Bracelet

“Pete the Greek” Vilandos took down his second career WSOP bracelet with a win last night in the $1,500 NL Holdem event last night, picking up $607,256 for defeating Andy “BKiCe” Seth headsup last night. Seth picks up $372,855 for the runner-up finish, with British actor Michael Greco collecting $248,855.

PLO 8 Final Table an International Affair

The final table of the $5,000 Pot-Limit Omaha 8 or Better final table was established and somehow, Phil Ivey’s not a part of it. During a break in the Omaha 8/Stud 8 event, with 22 players left, Ivey tried to rebuild his stack, but was eliminated in the first hand he played to finish 22nd, just off the bubble. Here’s who made the final table and how they’re situated when they return at 2pm on Sunday:

Seat 1: Anthony Lellouche – 533000
Seat 2: Roland de Wolfe – 386000
Seat 3: Alex Kravchenko – 267000
Seat 4: Andrew Black – 182000
Seat 5: Brett Richey – 238000
Seat 6: Scott Clements - 801000
Seat 7: Armando Ruiz II – 192000
Seat 8: John Racener – 214000
Seat 9: Robert Campbell – 152000

Obligatory Limit Holdem Mention

15 players remain in the $1,500 Limit Holdem event with Al “Sugar Bear” Barbieri the chip leader with 400,000 in chips. Rep Porter (196,000) and Richard Brodie (152,000) are among the remaining combatants.

They Shoot Donkeys, Don’t They?

Day 2 of the $1,500 NL Holdem event returns with a field of 327 players returning at 2pm, only 270 make the money. The chip leader is Holland’s own Van Dung Nguyen is the reported chip leader with 218,000 in chips. Other notables and people who have names that are better known on other people who return include: Marco Johnson (126,200), Eva Farha (57,300), Kelly Kim (55,500), Derek Tomko (49,100), Jason Potter (40,800), Thor Hansen (39,000), and Liv Boeree (24,200).

Mid-June Madness

Round 3 of the $10,000 NL Holdem Heads-Up World Championship return at 2pm with 64 players remaining, one more win is needed for the money to be reached. Brock Parker, Tom Dwan, Chris Ferguson, Erik Seidel, Dario Minieri, Vanessa Rousso, and Jason Mercier are among those returning to attempt at winning three more matchups today to move on to the final day on Monday.

Sunday’s Tournaments/Projections

The Heads-Up event means were now into the second half of the WSOP, so it’s all downhill from here! Another doubleheader today with the 12pm tournament with the debut of the $2,500 Pot-Limit Omaha event, which has a projected field size of 350 (take the over). The 5pm event will be $1,500 HORSE which was won last year by James Schaaf in a field of 803 to win over $250,000. The field size for this event is projected at 883 (take the slightly under with a field of about 850).

Check out www.wsop.com and Pokerati during Sunday for all the latest on still another busy day at the World Series of Poker.

Catching up on the goings on from a busy Saturday night:

Ivey Going for Bracelet #7…

Four players remain in the $2,500 Omaha 8/Stud 8 event, with Phil Ivey the current chip leader with over 1.1 million in chips. Ming Le, Carlos Mortensen, and Dutch Boyd round out the remaining players.

and #8?

Remarkably, Ivey is still in the field in the $5,000 PLO 8 or Better event with 23 players remaining, 18 make the money. He’s played very few hands in this event, but the ones he has played have given him a medium sized stack. The current chip leader is Anthony Lellouche with 357,000 in chips. Other notables include: Brett Richey (250,000), Scott Clements (155,000), Jeff Lisandro (124,000), and Ivey (92,000).

McCaffrey One to Beat in $1,500 NL

The final table of the $1,500 NL Holdem event now has six players remaining with Glenn McCaffrey the current chip leader with 2.64m in chips. Michael Greco battled back from a short stack to take second with 2m in chips, followed by Andy “BKiCe” Seth, “Pete the Greek” Vilandos, Dean Hamrick and Alan Jaffray, and round out the field.

Check-Raise FTW

The $1,500 Limit Holdem event is now down to 44 players with Glenn Englebert the leader with 144,000. Notables remaining include Rep Porter, Paul Darden, Noah Boeken, Justin Bonomo and Phil Tom.

Donking Around

The $1,500 NL Holdem donkament field has returned from their dinner break with 846 players remaining from a field of 2,641. Jason Potter is the unofficial chip leader at 28,000 and a cast of hundreds following behind him. Four more levels of play remain, unless they’re near the money and extend play for a few extra minutes.

Tete a Tete on the Felt

The $10,000 Heads-Up NL Holdem World Championship has concluded round 1, with the 2nd round starting at 10pm PT. Notables returning at that time include David Benefield, Dustin “Neverwin” Woolf, Tom Dwan, Greg Raymer, Brock Parker, and Chris Ferguson. Phil Hellmuth, Nam Le, Gus Hansen, Erick Lindgren, Vivek Rajkumar and Howard Lederer weren’t as lucky, as they were early eliminations.

A few more hours remain on Saturday, so check out www.wsop.com and Pokerati for more stuff.

Carris Outduels Somerville in Shootout

Jeffrey Carris was the last one standing in the $1,500 NL Holdem Shootout besting Jason Somerville in a brief heads-up battle as noted by Dan in the post below me. Carris collects over $300,000, while Somerville settles for nearly $200,000 in tournament winnings.

BKiCe BKiCe Baby, Too Cold

19 players return to the Rio at 1pm today in the $1,500 NL Holdem event, with Anirudh Seth or Seth Anirudh, listed in the chip counts as Andy Seth, better known as BKiCe online is the current chip leader with 1,407,000. Notables remaining include: Alan Jaffray (1,193,000), November Nine bubble boy Dean Hamrick (629,000), British actor Michael Greco (546,000) , and a triumvirate of Houstonians (Pete Vilandos – 325,000, Roberto Correa – 309,000 and Ali Davoudi – 254,000).
This final table of this event of this event is scheduled to appear at Bluff or wsop.pkr.com for international viewers, but that could change if the other final table for today gets there first.

Omaha 8/Stud 8 a real page “Turner”

Jon Turner will lead the 14 players back to complete the $2,500 Omaha 8/Stud 8 event, also resume at 1pm today. Turner will start with 465,000 in chips followed by notables Carlos Mortensen (328,000), Blair Rodman (290,000), Steve Wong (226,000), Phil Ivey (161,000) and Chad Brown (23,000).

Von Halle of Fame for Jon?

$1,500 Limit Holdem resumes at 2pm today with 124 players vying for the final nine seats, with Jon Von Halle the current chip leader at 68,300. Some of the notables looking to make some money back on their investment include: Bill Chen (60,600), Justin Bonomo (44,800), Richard Brodie (41,500), Nikki Harris (39,400), and Bryan Devonshire (34,100).

PLO 8 is Great for Newitt

Jason Newitt (185,900) is the chip leader at the end of Day 1 in the $5,000 PLO 8 or Better event. He’ll join 58 others at 2pm to play down to the final table with notables such as Andy Black (97,000), Jeff Lisandro (92,000), Daniel Negreanu (78,300), Barry Shulman (49,800), Phil Ivey (40,800) still in contention.

Return of the Donkament and Heads-Up!

Saturday brings two more events to the tournament roster starting with yet another version of the $1,500 NL Holdem event as another 2,500+ being put through the grinder to see which donks survive today. Last year’s version of this particular donkament was won by Jesper Hougaard in a field of 2,447. Hougaard also won a bracelet last year at the WSOP Europe, so could another double be in the offing for this year’s winner? The WSOP Staff Guide projected a field of 2,534, but expect closer to 2800 to enter when play starts at 12pm today.

The $10,000 NL Holdem Heads-Up World Championship also starts today with a capacity field of 256 expected when play starts at 5pm. Kenny Tran is the defending champion in this event, winning over $530,000 last year. Winners of the 5pm matches will return at 10pm for round 2.

More updates during the day at Pokerati, and for other live update coverage, check out www.wsop.com starting at 12pm PT.

This just in over the poker transom:

Nicole Sullivan’s Poker Skills Tested
HollywoodPoker Celebrity Player Nicole Sullivan Challenged to a Head’s Up Game by a German Fan

A german fan! I won’t waste your time with the rest of the press release, but it did make me lol while shaking my head, because I had no idea who Nicole Sullivan was … yet it does deserve more ink that Mike Sexton faux challenge to Paris Hilton that may or may not have something to do with charity … But in this case … Nicole Sullivan … we’re talking the girl who played Holly the dog walker on King of Queens.

Durrr challenge Durrr shmallenge!

UPDATE: OK, I have to give you a little more because it’s funny … and I think I kinda get it now:

A gracious Nicole had this to say about the bout, “HollywoodPoker is the fix that a poker-loving mother of two needs. I put the little ones to bed, pour a glass of wine and have a little fun. Low stakes, high entertainment!”

Nicole currently stars as Rita Clemens on Lifetime TV’s original sitcom Rita Rocks as an overworked wife and mother who forms a garage band in the middle of a full-blown identity crisis.

You can’t make this stuff up! Reminds me of the Chicken of the Sea ads on Celebrity Apprentice. And really, it’s hard to poo-poo any efforts to bring more wine-drinky moms into poker.

There’s quite a heads-up battle going on right now between Justin Bonomo and the Grinder, Michael Mizrachi. Blogger Jon Katkin is on the rail and sends along these iPhone pics of the action:

Most recently: Bonomo’s won a couple monster pots and it could be over soon.

Remember back in the poker-boom day when an $85,000 difference in payout seemed to mean so little? Me neither. Anyhow, we’re nearing 5 hours into heads-up, and the average stack is now about 50 big blinds. There’ve been many lead shifts, and for awhile it looked like Lee was getting delirious and about to bite it. But he just doubled up and, by his own report, is “back in the game!”

NOTE: I was gonna make a compare-and-contrast joke about heads-up blind structures with the WPT Championship going on tonight/yesterday … but apparently they had quite the heads-up battle there, too … with Yevgeniy Timoshenko requiring 79 hands to dispose of Ran Azor for the World Championship. (Seriously, is that a record for WPT heads-up battles?)

UPDATE: It’s over. Baldwin wins.

Watch the vid below to see why Pokerati is clearly no ESPN:

Heads up sit and goes provide a great opportunity for spinning up a bankroll to the beginner or play money player. The variance is very low in these games, as they combine many features which allow skill to shine through over the short term.

” …it is important to understand that heads up games will not give you that monster score of multi table tournaments, they will just give you a steady profit over the long run.”

The first point about these games is that heads up games require much more skill due to the massively increased number of decisions a player has to make. You can’t simply sit back and wait for big hands in this format – you have to be playing lots of hands in order to stop the blinds from eating you up, and this means that any edge you have is made significant much faster than in any other games, and your profits are made in a much more steady manner.

More…

You can’t’ tell from the groovin’ tunes in the background, but Pauly y yo are in the PT Theater as the heads-up battle is just one hand from completion — and I’m suffering from severe WSOP separation anxiety tech tilt as Pokerati goes offline at a fairly critical time, presumably at the hands of loyal Tao of Pokerati listeners. (Bastards.) From there we speculate on the future of the WSOP’s relationship with Milwaukee’s Best Light, particularly in light of a pretty major biz merger we missed during the start of the regular WSOP.

Book 4: WSOP Final Table
Episode 4.13: Web Player Down! 4:53

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Pauly and I discuss what goes into becoming a WSOP final-final table dealer, his crazy series of prop bets with Otis, Lou the Dealer’s up-close observations about the heads-up action (both were nervous, and Peter Eastgate kept messing up his bets in early hands), and the Linda Tran vs. Jena Phillips controversy, both of us unaware that Lou (my pick) would end up winning the side-action on who deals the final hand a few hours later.

Book 4: WSOP Final Table
Episode 4.12: Dealer or No Dealer? 3:31

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More than two hours into heads-up play, most of the crowd remains in their seats, despite discovering how slow and uneventful live poker can be at times. Some other points of interest:

~From the time the final table began yesterday, this just turned into the longest WSOP main event final table in history, beating out the 14-hour 2005 table which went to Joe Hachem.

~Dennis Phillips and Darus Suharto are in the audience to sweat their former opponents and see this thing come to a conclusion.

~Reportedly, Erick Lindgren’s name was misspelled on his engraved Harley.

~Demidov came on strong tonight by evening up the chip stacks, but within the last hour, Eastgate not only regained his lead but became the first player to leap over the 100 million chip mark. Demidov just dipped below the 30 million mark and can’t seem to find a spot to make a comeback…yet.

The famed ringside announcer did the “shuffle up and deal” at the start of today’s heads-up. It was pretty entertaining stuff, as you could tell that Jack Effel (who introduced him) has been practicing emulating him … and also amusing the way Buffer treated chips as if they were body mass.

In non-crazy-governor-attempts-to-take-over-online-gaming news, a poker player in the U.K. set an official world record, according to the World Records Academy.

Dave Cain set the record by playing poker for 72 hours and 12 minutes in September of 2008. He played heads-up deep stack poker at the Library Bar in Lincolnshire, England, and beat the previous record of 72 hours and 2 minutes held by Larry Olmsted. To make the record official, Cain had 1 steward, 1 practicing medical practitioner, and 2 official witnesses in attendance. And funds were raised during the event for two local hospices.

Cain is the manager of the Live Pub Poker League in the U.K.

Poker players around the world who play cash games for a living were said to have responded to the 72 hour session news with something like, “Whoopie.” (Not a direct quote.)

What’s happened tonight at the WSOP:

The two final tables for today are both heads-up. First, the $5,000 NL Holdem 6-handed event is down to Joe Commisso and Richard Lyndaker, having played over 130 hands of heads-up action so far. Commisso at one point had a 7-1 chip lead before Lyndaker clawed his way to having his own chip lead. At this time Joe has retaken the lead, but it’s still going to be hard for him to close the deal.

The $1,500 Seven Card Stud Eight or Better tournament is was down to Ryan Hughes and Ron Long. At the moment, Hughes has a 2-1 chip lead, but the chips have been going back and forth quite a bit during heads-up play. Hughes finally defeats Long, taking home the bracelet and $183,000, while Long takes home just over $113,000. This is Hughes’ second bracelet, as he took down the $2,000 Stud Eight or Better event last year. The only other notable name at this final table was 2+2 author David Sklansky, who was the first out at the final table again, finishing in 8th.

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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Tonight’s goings-on at the WSOP:

The one final table of today is down to heads-up play, as the $2,000 Pot Limit Holdem event is down to Chris Bell and Davidi Kitai. So far during heads-up play, there have been 10 lead changes as they’ve battled back and forth for over 3 hours, covering about 120 hands at this time. Follow along with the live updates at the WSOP website here.

Other action from today at the jump:

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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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Reviewing what happened last night…

In a final table that ESPN SHOULD be covering (instead of ESPN360), the final table of the $5,000 Pot Limit Omaha w/rebuys final table has been set for around 3pm.

Seat 1: John Juanda 694,800
Seat 2: Phil Hellmuth 119,000
Seat 3: David Benyamine 1,041,000
Seat 4: Kirill Gerasimov 558,000
Seat 5: Phil Galfond 1,393,000
Seat 6: Daniel Negreanu 460,000
Seat 7: Brian Rast 1,176,000
Seat 8: Adam Hourani 300,000
Seat 9: Johnny Chan 624,000

The three names that may not appear familiar to the poker fan, but those who follow the online scene know OMGClayAiken, tsarast and the_houdini very well.

Other action from last night after the jump:

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What’s happening this evening while watching Tiger Woods decide to wait until Monday to win his next major:

The $10,000 Heads-Up World Championship is down to the final 2, as Kenny Tran is taking on Eric Torelli in a best of 3 match for the bracelet. Vanessa Selbst would finish tied for 3rd in this event for the second straight year, but does move into 2nd place in the ESPN POY standings for the time being.

More at the jump:

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Happenings from last night and the Sunday preview at the WSOP:

The semifinals of the $10,000 Headsup World Championship have now been set, even if it appeared Lyle Berman didn’t want that to happen. His round of 16 match with David Williams would eventually take over 5 hours, before Berman eventually took it down. That match went so long that the tournament staff decided to start the quarterfinal matches unaffected by the outcome. Those winners were Vanessa Selbst, Jonathan Jaffe, and Kenny Tran. Lyle would face Alec Torelli in their quarterfinal match, and true to form, this match would take over 4 hours with Torelli triumphant in the end. So here’s the semifinals that meet the ESPN360 cameras:

Vanessa Selbst v Alec Torelli
Kenny Tran v Jonathan Jaffe

Other action from yesterday at the jump:

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Ya gotta love poker history – those great moments that are more than just statistics but interesting stories. Okay, you don’t have to love it, but can you at least be mildly amused?

Tonight, Blair Hinkle won Event 23 at the WSOP, the $2K NLHE tournament. Less than two weeks ago, Grant Hinkle won Event 2, the $1,500 NLHE. You guessed it – they are brothers. Their mother was in the audience for both victories. The only other brothers in the history of the WSOP to each win bracelets were Puggy Pearson and J.C. Pearson, but theirs were 21 years apart. The Hinkle bros were the first to ever do it in the same year.

In other brother news, Robert and Michael Mizrachi tried to both advance to the “elite eight” round tonight in the World Championship of Heads-Up NLHE, and though Robert defeated his opponent, Michael was unable to squash Vanessa Selbst and wasn’t able to move on. While ESPN and other media outlets were disappointed at the outcome, the focus of the night is now solely on the bracelet-winning Hinkle brothers.

Congratulations to the Hinkle family… Momma Hinkle, you’re next!

What’s happening at the WSOP while some people can’t wait to turn 21 to play in Vegas. For those unfamiliar with Ozzy87, his name is Aurangzeb Sheikh, he made a WPT final table at 18, and has had previous issues with the law.

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What’s happening tonight at the WSOP as I read a post that makes you want to take AP’s side for once:

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Happenings from yesterday with a preview of today’s action::

The two final tables yesterday have been covered enough here so on to the day 2 action. The $5,000 NL Holdem final table is now set for this afternoon under the ESPN360 cameras shortly after 2pm.

Seat 1: Anders Henriksson 311,000
Seat 2: Jacobo Fernandez 848,000
Seat 3: Rajesh Vohra 1,040,000
Seat 4: Ben Sprengers 441,000
Seat 5: Adam Geyer 645,000
Seat 6: Scott Freeman 423,000
Seat 7: Scott Seiver 2,512,000
Seat 8: Chuck Sklar 439,000
Seat 9: Dave Seidman 653,000

More after the jump:

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The Aces Club is the VIP room set up across from the Amazon Room. Players who paid $2,500 as a donation to the Nevada Cancer Institute were granted access throughout the World Series. The ability to pay the fee and gain access is also not publicized, so only those “in the know” are offered the opportunity to buy in.

I’ve heard about it. I even tried to get in one night with WSOP media guru Nolan Dalla, but players were on their break and hovering about the VIP room, so security denied us access. Yep, there is a 24-hour security guard at the door to keep the riff-raff out.

Today, I was conducting an interview with an unnamed poker pro. He just busted out of the $10K stud championship and suggested the VIP room as a quiet area to chat. I didn’t want to like the Aces Club, but I have to admit it was a sweet set-up – very comfortable leather couches, an enormous food spread, and video games. One was a PokerTek-ish flat table heads-up poker game.

Aforementioned unnamed pro told me that he witnessed a game earlier in the day between Phil Ivey and David Williams on the heads-up machine. Evidently, Phil didn’t look at his cards once and smoked David. Smoked like a fine cigar. Smoked like a dinner salmon. Smoked like a…well, you get it. Quite embarrassing.

I’d like to think we’re not missing anything by not having access to the Aces Club, but I’m not so sure. Next mission: Get back into the VIP and beat David Williams at heads-up poker roll around on those couches naked nab some of that free VIP food.