As noted in the previous post, Phil Hellmuth was able to have his penalty reversed. The penalty was initial imposed when he consistently berated an opponent during last night’s play, and he was supposed to sit out the first orbit of play today. Not anymore. The official statement on the special exception change was released by the World Series of Poker as follows:

This morning Phil Hellmuth met with Jack Effel, WSOP Tournament Director, Howard Greenbaum, Harrah’s Regional Vice President for Specialty Gaming, and Jeffrey Pollack, Commissioner of the WSOP. Based on that meeting and an official review of the situation, it was decided that the penalty imposed on Mr. Hellmuth at the conclusion of play last night was excessive.

“Warnings and penalties are intended to correct inappropriate behavior and our rulings should be as fair as possible, given the circumstances,” said Pollack. “In this instance, the punishment did not fit the crime.”

“Phil has now been warned and put on notice in a way that he never has been,” Pollack added.

photo: Michele Lewis

WSOP Commissioner Jeffrey Pollack and WPT CEO Steve Lipscomb taking in the spectacle of the main event and whatever it may suggest about what’s ahead on the poker horizon.

All WSOP-long I’ve been seeing Lyle Berman and feeling torn between my journalistic ethos and respect for poker etiquette. Here, the guy who has answers to everything everyone wants to know about the future of the World Poker Tour has been anywhere from 10-feet to 100 yards away from me, but I can’t bring myself to approach him mid-tourney or just after a painful bustout to pepper him with questions about whether or not the business he helped build is crumbling. Call me a wussy journo or poker fanboy, but could I really take a chance of putting Mr. Berman on tilt, especially when WPTE stock is trading for less than a dollar a share and he might really need the prize money?

But lo and behold, WPT CEO Steve Lipscomb showed up at the Rio yesterday, and he wasn’t playing! He was just taking his annual tour of the WSOP main event with buddy Jeffrey Pollack … which seemed like a great time to trip him by the shoelaces, pin him down on the ground and shove a recorder in his face while threatening to pop him with a loogie. Alas, no one had a concealed watergun in the pressbox and he was wearing loafers, but still … Lipscomb did sit down with Pokerati for almost a half hour during the main event and give some frank(ish) answers to whatever softballs I could hurl at him.

(NOTE: I didn’t know at the time that the WPT had laid off about 10 people last week and was about to give a few more their walking papers today — but now his comments about hating that part of the job make a little more sense.)

Steve Lipscomb (at the WSOP) on the future of poker and the WPT
June 6, 2008 — Las Vegas

What you don’t hear below …
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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.

Argh, it’s getting frustrating … so much stuff going on that it’s hard to keep up, let alone post about it. So here’s a bit of everything:

6,844 entrants in the 2008 WSOP main event.

I jut had a wonderful discussion with WPT honcho Steve Lipscomb. He didn’t laugh when I asked him if he was looking for a job with the WSOP.

Team Pokerati updates:

Tom Schneider is hurting. Like 7k in chips last we checked.

Donkey texts in (we’re still getting his CSR set up) — “Back down to 20k after 2nd level.. Thought Micon was playing AK. he had 77. I had 66. Cost 4k to see river”

Damn, that sucks. And oh yeah, Donkey is playing with Micon from Neverwin two or three seats to his left, and Beth Shak on the other end of the table. (Donkey doesn’t know who she is — but he is aware that she is all patched up.

Jerry Randack was doing fine last I checked. Saw him skillfully (albeit a bit cautiously) play Ace-rag with an ace on the flop, and build a nice pot to the point that he got a really nice call by the time he rivered the nut flush.

No report on Robert Goldfarb. Serves him right for not wearing his patch. But he is texting in his status on breaks.

The Big Randy looks to be playing very comfortably … with about 26k in chips.

More TK, of course. The big buzz of the day wasn’t about Phil Hellmuth’s pro wrestling-esque army-tank entrance … it was about the presence of Ultimate Fighters, including Chuck Liddell and Forest Griffin, who won a big fight just last night.

Um, go poker!

UPDATE: There was a rumor about some smaller agents being shaken down by a bigger one. It didn’t check out, however, on first call … but there’s gotta be something to it — the agent battles are getting harsh as all compete for a piece of nine heretofore unknown needles in a a haystack of 6,844.

We’ve got a new poll up on the right — go ahead and start your ballot-stuffing as we try speculate wildly on who is most likely to win the WSOP main event. Should be fun, albeit different than our last one, which was actually useful.

For the past week we’ve been unscientifically asking Pokerati readers which site — other than Pokerati, of course — was most essential to their understanding of the summertime poker fun that gives them so much jolly. You can see the complete results here. Nearly 200 of you went through the effort of actually clicking an extra button, and to that extent, amongst the geekiest most intelligent of poker geeks, the sites that matter most, in order of their finish:

Tao of Poker
Pauly’s whole purpose in life is to make me look bad, and hey, it seems to be a worthy pursuit. He wins this poll by a landslide.

Hold’em Radio
I’m scratching my head, too, as I haven’t really seen the folks based at Binion’s paying much attention to the WSOP, but hey, they apparently know how to motivate a portion of the “pirate” web community to outvote PokerRoad, so we’ll give them the props.

PokerNews
They paid a hefty price for the privilege of hiring bloggers to slave away write up hands and keep official chip counts, and it’s clearly worth something to people who care about big-tourney action.

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The 2008 World Series of Poker main event - $10,000 World Championship No-Limit Hold’em - is underway!

Just a minute or so after noon, the players were allowed in the Amazon Room to find their seats. After a bit of confusion over table numbers and section colors, everyone was in place and the intros began.

Tournament Director Jack Effel said a few words, and Commissioner Jeffrey Pollack introduced Wayne Newton. Yes, the Wayne Newton! Maybe I’m old school (no jokes on my birthday, please!), but Wayne is a classic. And from my close-up view, despite the heavy make-up, his skin was flawless and he was full of energy and smiles. It didn’t hurt his look to be surrounded by about 10 dancers from the Jubilee show at Bally’s, either. There was also an appearance by the UNLV marching band, but to be honest, I was a little too mesmerized by Mr. Las Vegas to know what song they played.

After Wayne did the “Shuffle up and deal!” honors, the cards were in play.

Numbers? We certainly won’t have anything official until after the first break, but initial rumblings have the number at only 1400. The cap would have been 2700. E-gads. With that said, most players I know have signed up for Day 1C or 1D, so the numbers could definitely pick up as the days go by. But right now, the final number is anyone’s guess.

We’ll keep you updated as the day progresses and as I irritate myself by humming “Danke Schoen” over and over…

Also from the barbecue/Phil Ivey charity thingy at Golden Nugget …

Ran into fellow blogger and WSOP commish Jeffrey Pollack. His stylish pink enticed me to move in for a kiss, but like a 7th grader at a bar mitzvah party I could only bring myself to whistle in his ear.

Hmm, as much sense as it makes to award bracelets only in open events, this sorta change apparently isn’t up for review, according to Michele (who played yesterday under the Queen of Hearts charity banner):

Last night at the Queens of Heart dinner, Jeffrey Pollack made two announcements:

1. As long as he is WSOP Commissioner there will be a Ladies Event awarding a bracelet
2. No man would be allowed to register for the Ladies Event today

The WSOP got underway with a bang and a band. The UNLV marching band entered the Amazon Room with a rendition of “Viva, Las Vegas,” followed by a bit of an uncomfortable silence that was broken by welcome announcements from Jeffrey Pollack and Jack Effel.

Pollack told the crowd of gathering players and media that bracelet winners from years past and going forward will be given Diamond status at all Harrah’s properties around the world. Not a bad perk for the players. A few other welcoming comments and new rule advisories from the duo, and the cards were in the air.

And we’re off. Or we’re on. The $10,000 Pot Limit Hold’em World Championship has begun, and though we still await the final numbers, it looks like about 350 players signed up for Event #1. The cash games are buzzing, media is getting settled in, and players are excited to be here, with the exception of those who have already busted.

More updates to come!

A lot of us WSOP media veterans (this will be Pokerati’s 5th year in attendance, which I think is longer than any other blog) see the World Series as Christmas season for poker. Think about it … right now we’re at about Thanksgiving, and a month from now, the hardcore holidays begin — with the Gaming Expo and main event … and then time to celebrate a new poker year. (Will be a bit different this year, however, without a new champion to ring it in.) It really is pretty impressive when you realize that the WSOP is just another poker brand … and yet poker players all over the world get excited about it. The clicks and shuffles of chips begin this week, and that ever-pokery rattle and hum in the Amazon room won’t stop for nearly 1,100 hours.

What’s new for Pokerati this go-round is that we’re already here. Usually about this time, my personal scramble to get out of Dallas is just beginning, and I’m hoping to arrive before Event #10 while steering clear of the New Mexico and Arizona Highway 5-0. But having crossed the Hoover Dam nearly six months ago … I’m here … yippee. Not sure what to do with myself. I guess I’ll start by reading the official WSOP preview press release — which you can do, too, by clicking below:

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Danielle in New York writes in with a little more info about the film project they’ve got working:

Another thing you can add if people are being hesitant to being interviewed or showing us their room, we have filmed in underground poker rooms in NYC. I don’t know how familiar you are with the scene in NY but a couple years ago a big bust broke up a lot of the more well known poker rooms in the city. About 6 months before these busts we were able to film in one of the clubs and interview the owner. Unfortunately since the big bust, its been hard to come by more games in the NYC Area.

One angle I’d love to take while in Dallas, it to interview someone who could talk about all the raids either as someone who was at one of the raids or someone who ran a room that got raided. Of course, if there is an issue of not given out the name of a room or the name of the person we are interviewing, we will abide in any way possible to make everyone comfortable.

I’m not sure how much I got into the extensiveness of our project but our goal is to make the most definitive and comprehensive film about poker in America. We’ve gone everywhere from Vegas to New Orleans to Saratoga Springs to Oklahoma. We’ve interviewed people within the poker community including Annie Duke, Jeffrey Pollack (Commissioner of the WSOP), Phil Hellmuth, Steve Lipscomb (CEO of WPT), Greg Raymer, Chris Moneymaker, amateur poker players, tournament directors, and poker room mangers from casinos across the US.

So there you have it … I wonder if the poker-room people they end up talking to will be “good” or “bad” gamerunners representing the Dallas scene.

It’s a done deal.

The 2008 World Series of Poker main event will end on July 14 with nine final table players remaining. They will return to play on November 9, and the final two will play it out on November 10, and these two days will be condensed into two hours of programming to air on ESPN November 11 from 9pm - 11pm EST.

LAS VEGAS – May 1, 2008 – The World Series of Poker® (WSOP) Presented by Milwaukee’s Best Light today announced a groundbreaking change that will more closely align the televised presentation of the world’s largest, richest and most prestigious poker tournament with other premier sports broadcasts.

The last nine players of the $10,000 World Championship of No-Limit Texas Hold’em, known as the Main Event, will compete on November 9-10 instead of the originally scheduled date of July 16.

“Our intent is to provide an even bigger stage for our players,” said Jeffrey Pollack, Commissioner of the World Series of Poker. “Now fans and viewers will ask ‘who will win’ our coveted championship bracelet instead of seeing ‘who won.’ The excitement and interest surrounding our final nine players will be unprecedented.”

More…

I wrote this post right after the 2007 WSOP, but I hadn’t pressed publish yet. With all the talk about structural changes and travel plans for the upcoming WSOP, now seem’s a good time for us to think about our (poker players’) behavior for the upcoming WSOP:

I have a request for all poker players. Anyone that wants to complain at the WSOP 2008, please STAY HOME! I don’t care how much dead money you bring to the tables, I don’t want to hear the yakking when I’m taking a leak.

At the 2007 WSOP, bitching was the theme. Here are just a few of the complaints that I heard.

• Harrah’s is making too much money. Have you seen how much juice they are taking out?
• The food is horrible
• The dealers are making too many mistakes
• It’s cold
• It’s hot
• The lines are too long
• The structures are too fast, too slow, too medium
• The walk is too long to the tournament area
• There are too many tournaments
• The cocktail service is bad.

Is that enough or should I keep going?

More…

There’s a media conference call tomorrow with WSOP honchos Jeffrey Pollack and Jack Effel. According to the invite:

WHAT: A preview of the 39th Annual World Series of Poker, presented by Milwaukee’s Best Light to discuss what is new for 2008.

Hmm, I wonder what new stuff the WSOP commish and man charged with making sure the tournaments maintain their poker purity might want to tell us about.

The email came with one of those red exclamation points attached to it, so they obviously think it’s important. More hints:

BACKGROUND: Continuing the trailblazing efforts that have made the WSOP the richest and most prestigious poker tournament in the world, WSOP Commissioner Jeffrey Pollack will preview the 39th Annual World Series of Poker, presented by Milwaukee’s Best Light. The 2008 event begins on May 30th at the Rio All-Suite Hotel and Casino in Las Vegas, Nevada.

This is the first statement I remember receiving from the WSOP that didn’t mention the end date. So no promises, but I just have a feeling we’ll have some new and official details on a delayed main event final table in about 13.5 hours. And it’s probably a good bet that elections and poker will be the big winners during TV’s November sweeps.

Trailblazing, indeed.

Mark your calendars before the dollar goes even lower against European currencies … WSOP-Europe 2008 is set for September 19-October 1. Click below for further details and the full press release:

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Harrah’s writes in with the WSOP parent-company’s thoughts and condolences:

WSOP’s Statement on Passing of Poker Legend ‘Chip’ Reese

LAS VEGAS – December 4, 2007 – Harrah’s Entertainment, Inc. and the World Series of Poker® issued the following statement today to express condolences to the family, friends and fans of poker great David “Chip” Reese, who died today following a brief illness.

“Many consider Chip the greatest cash-game player who ever lived, but he was also a World Series of Poker legend,” said WSOP Commissioner Jeffrey Pollack. “His victory in the inaugural $50,000 buy-in HORSE championship in 2006 won him his third WSOP bracelet.and made him a part of WSOP lore forever.

“On behalf of the WSOP and Harrah’s Entertainment, I want to extend to his family our deepest sympathies,” Pollack said.

Harrah’s Entertainment, Inc. is the world’s largest provider of branded casino entertainment. Since its beginning in Reno, Nevada, nearly 70 years ago, Harrah’s has grown through development of new properties, expansions and acquisitions, and now owns or manages casinos on four continents. The Company’s properties operate primarily under the Harrah’s, Caesars and Horseshoe brand names; Harrah’s also owns the London Clubs International family of casinos. Harrah’s Entertainment is focused on building loyalty and value with its customers through a unique combination of great service, excellent products, unsurpassed distribution, operational excellence and technology leadership. For more information, please visit www.harrahs.com.

The second day of the conference began with an appearance by Jeffrey Pollack, Commissioner of the World Series of Poker. He gave some insight into the 2008 WSOP that hasn’t been released to the press officially, as follows:

• There will be no tent. (The audience applauded.)
• A concierge, possibly a team of people, will be available for those with questions throughout the series.
• There will be no more than 55 events.
• The exact list of events will be announced in December or January.
• He is in the process of trying to arrange a way for players to begin buying into the events at any Harrah’s property as soon as the events are announced.
• Since 2009 will be the 40th anniversary of the WSOP, 2008 will host some events to kick off a year of tributes and celebrations.
• New WSOP ads will air soon that feature the voice of Don Cheadle.
• Close to $1 million was raised for various charities at the 2007 WSOP. There will be affiliations with charities again in 2008, including Ante Up for Africa.

Mr. Pollack went on to say that they meet with members of the player’s council almost weekly in order to make the 2008 better than in years past. He admitted, “We are never going to get it exactly right,” but they will continue to do the best they can.

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As previously mentioned, the first annual CPPC will be taking place this weekend at Hollywood Park Casino in Los Angeles. Registration is still open, and the cost is $180 for both days of speakers and panel discussions. The schedule includes:

October 20th: Mike Caro, Lou Krieger, Susie Isaacs, Vince Burgio, Marsha Waggoner, George Epstein, Robert Turner, Stan Sludikoff, Russell Fox, and John Pappas

October 21st: Jeffrey Pollack, Barbara Enright, Charlie Shoten, Tony Guerrera, Jeffrey Sandman, and more from Lou Krieger, George Epstein, and Robert Turner

Much of the conference will focus on poker strategy and game insights, but John Pappas will discuss the current state of poker in politics, Jeffrey Sandman will talk about the Safe and Secure Gambling Initiative, and Jeffrey Pollack will give us a look at the 2008 WSOP. Should be quite interesting!

I’ll be there to loiter at the free snack tables cover it and post some of the highlights here.

From Boston to Cali to Las Vegas to Washington DC … it’s all about poker-poker-poker ’til the cows come home.

So wow, so much is going on right about now. A lot of smart people doing a little bit more than just geeking out about poker and the industry’s/game’s/lifestyle’s future. Wish I could be everywhere:

We’ve got the Global Poker Thinking Society getting together at Harvard — featuring Howard Lederer, Charles Nesson, and Crandall Addington.

And then this weekend is the California Poker Conference — where speakers include WSOP Commish Jeffrey Pollack, PPA Executive Director John Pappas, and some influential old-timers such as Mike Caro, Lou Kreiger, Barbara Enright, and many others.

And then on the next day, Pappas heads back to Washington DC, where he’ll be hosting the Poker Player’s Alliance DC Fly-in — a little Beltway lobbying fest on behalf of pro-poker legislation. This is the one I really want to be at — and we’ll try to stay on top of things from afar — because twisting Congressional arms enlightening our representatives is a lot of fun. I gotta say, it also kinda makes me proud to know that our success wooing Rep. Pete Sessions (R-TX) as a co-sponsor to HR 2610, the Skill Game Protection Act, kinda inspired it.

From CardPlayer:

JP: We had a really great meeting in August with Congressmen Pete Sessions in his Dallas, Texas, office. It was myself and a number of our local PPA members, including Clonie Gowen, who’s a Dallas, Texan, and Robert Williamson III, another Dallas, Texan. We went in and sat down with him and talked to him about the Wexler bill and why it just didn’t make sense that a game of skill is being outlawed on the Internet. And it really resonated and it really came through and what I saw was, wow, this is something we need to replicate, this is something we needed to do more of. Based on that meeting, I thought we needed to get people out to Washington. Whether we make 20 meetings or 200 meetings, I think it’s going to be a worthwhile event.

Very cool! (And well done, Pokeratizen politicos!) Good times, all around. And indeed, we should do more of that.

I’ll be in Vegas … assuming I make my flight, which leaves in — yeow! — four hours, to do the TV Co-hosting thing with Tom Schneider for the inaugural Poker Bowl. This should be a pro-studded affair … even Doyle Brunson will be playing, along with Greg Raymer, Scotty Nguyen, reformed self-colluder ZeeJustin … and Absolute spokesman Mark Seif. Like seriously, we have so much to talk about!

And so little of it to do with how to play in middle position.

They still don’t know when each event’s gonna be … but Harrah’s has released the general time frame for the 2008 World Series of Poker. So keep your calendars clear May 30-July 17, as Poker Christmas is right around the corner. Click below for official details.

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Check it out … Fresh Princess sits down with The Commish (he’s got a new post up on the official WSOP “blog,” btw) and tries to get the biggest suit in poker to loosen up his tie … only to find out he’s not wearing one! A sample of her tête-à-tête with Jeffrey Pollack:

ML: I liked the tent.
JP: You liked the tent. [Knowingly]
ML: I think it would be best for satellites or cash games where people are not there for long and or have the option to get up.
JP: [nodding in agreement] we may do that. Or maybe we’ll have some other temporary structure, a log cabin, I don’t know, an igloo.
[...]
ML: “Games, Girls and Gear,” will the Gaming Life Expo keep this name for next year and if so could we have some male strippers for the ladies…possibly, some of the Chippendale dancers?
JP: If the GLE comes back next year I suspect it would just be “Games and Gear” based on this year’s experience. Some elements of that show were not The Rio’s prouder moments.
[...]
ML: So no more strippers?
JP: No, they won’t be back.
ML: No Chippendales? [Disappointed]
JP: No. Not my style…not my….No.

Good stuff! (Except for maybe the no more strippers part, depending who asks.) Click here to read the full interview.

LAS VEGAS–This post woulda been much more timely and sensible had it appeared a week ago, but hey, sometimes what happens in Vegas takes a little while before it becomes public. Anyhow, the last day of the World Series is the point where all unofficial media outlets have to take a back seat in terms of coverage. Understandable considering that, for the first time in nearly seven weeks, all eyes are focussed on a single table … and it just won’t be possible for all interested parties to sit ringside until Brobdingnagian dominance forces Harrah’s to make structural changes to the TV stage.

So that left most of us doing what you were doing … following some rather exciting coverage of a relatively unexciting, straightforward final table on PokerNews while listening to play-by-play on Bluff Radio (which was being piped into the media room) while watching live-camera coverage on a flat-screen monitor.

The media room, anytime there was an all-in and a call. CardPlayer decides not to run with the hedline: ESPN blogger violates Rio chair-standing policy

Actually, large-scale LCD screens were sprinkled throughout the hallways and the Amazon itself, so we could watch the overhead cam pretty much anywhere we went. We just couldn’t camp out for more than a few minutes near the real action. But that was fine by me, because we’ll all get to see The Jerry Yang Show soon enough on TV, and the World Series really is about so much more than just poker. As it turned out, there was lots of fun stuff going on away from the table that provided a little insight into how the poker industry really works …

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Fellow blogger Crispin Glover Jeffrey Pollack (photo of Crispin Glover not Jeffrey Pollack) reported Friday night he would be addressing the temperature of the Amazon room here at the Rio as well as the limit structures, next day breaking order, space between players and railbirds, the infamous-tent comfort zone and visibility of the tournament clocks. All of us in the media room are shivering with frostbite anxiously awaiting the solutions.

And in other poker related news…Patrik Antonius is starting day two in the 10k PLO as a chip leader. Lance Bradley of “The Poker Biz” is salivating and not because Patrik is the sexiest poker player in the world (at least Lance’s wife hopes not) but because he’s on his Fantasy Poker Team.

Pokernews will have the live updates.

LAS VEGAS–The $50k HORSE event finished up this morning … and FREDDIE DEEB is officially crowned the best all-around poker player in the world for the time being.

You can only presume HARRAH’S OFFICIALS are breathing a sigh of relief — after having pimped the tourney as the biggest deal, it makes a much better story to give the title to an immigrant who came to America to save his family from war and turned to poker as a way to make good while AMERICAN IMMIGRATION BUREAUCRACY futzed around with his ability to earn a living.

Had JOHN HANSEN won, the story would’ve been about a relatively unknown bad-ass from the NEW YORK hardcore poker underground. Less savory.

Speaking of LEGALLY QUESTIONABLE poker players, did you know drug kingpin JIMMY CHAGRA — released from prison earlier this year — played in the SENIORS EVENT?

He was on “Talkin’ Trash” with BRIAN WILSON just a couple days ago. [via Gary Wise on 2+2.]

JEFFREY POLLACK did a little semi-live blogging from the HORSE final table. Maddest props to the Commish — not only for letting us know what he heard from the poker-players town hall, but also for providing his first-ever outbound link. Puts him on a short-list of people who just-might qualify for Pokerati posting privileges some day. We’ll be watching as he continues to cut his Wicked blogging chops.

In the meantime, The Jeffster tells us:

1. There is insufficient play in the middle levels of limit games and too much in the beginning.

2. There are some instances where the color-up process isn’t being handled correctly.

3. The tent is not a comfortable place to play.

4. There needs to be more room between the spectators on the ropes and the players.

5. The next day’s breaking order should be posted when an event ends for the night.

6. We need to improve media access to final tables.

7. The sequestered tables are tough to cover for the media and follow for the fans.

8. Tournament clocks should be more visible.

9. The Amazon Room is too cold.

10. We should continue and better publicize escort service to the parking lot late at night.

Yesterday’s “other” bracelet went to a guy named SAIF AHMAD, who won the $2,000 Limit Hold’em event with relative ease.

View from the rooftop of Pokerati’s VEGAS EDGE bureau:

ERIC ROSENBERG poses an interesting question on his new-ish blog — about why official poker “stats” don’t subtract known tournament buy-ins from “winnings.” The WSOP, of course, has records of every bracelet-bound buy-in … so it could be done. Likewise, they bar-code initial seat cards, so it’s theoretically possible to provide PokerNews or whoever with the basic info on every single player whose chips they try to track.

Maybe next year?

Rosie has also spurred further conversation about BACKING-DEAL DISCLOSURE — specifically as it pertained to BILL CHEN’S WSOP-approved chip-dumping agreement. It’s not about gratuitous rabble-rousing so much as it is about decisions that will affect the future of poker, regardless of what they are.

So the $1,000 7-Stud Hi Lo continues today. Pokerati’s own TOM SCHNEIDER sits down with 4,300 chips. We’ll find out if North Texas pokerer DAMON RAMIREZ is still alive. And DOYLE BRUNSON takes his second stab at bracelet #11 with 10,700 chips. Pokerati fantasy man STEVE WONG also ain’t too far behind.

Follow the 7-Stud Hi Lo action today here.

Today’s other tournament action:

Day 1 of $2,000 No Limit Hold’em
Day 2 of the $5,000 World Championship of Short-handed No-Limit Holde’m.

And the final table for $2,000 Omaha Hi Lo gets underway, with at least one familiar professional face, who will see if he can hold on to the chip lead.

Seat 1- Martin Corpuz, Jr. 292,000
Seat 2- Ming Lee 373,000
Seat 3- Mitch Maples 70,000
Seat 4- Thang Luu 238,000
Seat 5- Jess Robinson 255,000
Seat 6- Frankie O’Dell 318,000
Seat 7- Marcel Luske 427,000
Seat 8- Marvin Ryan 104,000
Seat 9- Stuart Paterson 58,000

LAS VEGAS–Here’s what’s going on today at the WSOP, and some of what’s recently gone down leading up to it all:

A Canadian Polack named LUKASZ DUMANSKI won the $1,500 Omaha Hi Lo event. Go non-American players!

The $50,000 HORSE final table has been set.

Interesting field and chip situations …
Amnon Filippi 4,015,000
Freddy Deeb 3,500,000
Kenny Tran 2,445,000
John Hanson 1,995,000
David Singer 1,330,000
Bruno Fitoussi 895,000
Barry Greenstein 750,000
Thor Hansen 40,000

(Pokerati fave GABE KAPLAN went out on the final table bubble, in 9th place.)

Click here to follow the coverage of today’s action, where they will continue to mix games and not play a final table of just no-limit hold’em. Any odds on what will be the final game?

You’ll notice that TOM SCHNEIDER is not there. He went out early in Day 2. He was in the Big-little-big one for $34,000. The rest went to a smattering of backers, to whom 9 percent was available for $5,000. Can Tom build on his early WSOP success and make that third final table without dropping below the six-figure mark? After paying taxes, BACKERS, and living expenses associated with moving to Las Vegas for two months, mixed with tournament buy-ins, cash-game losses, and fancy scotches for Dan … the money can go fast during the WSOP.

But busting out early did allow him to play the $2,000 Omaha Hi Lo, which, after a night of drowning his sorrows followed the next day by a cash-game all-nighter, he played with “no sleep”:

Tom went out toward the end of Day 1.

Lori from Carrollton was dealing — with new hair no less:

She seems to be having a pretty good time — seen here sweating Pokerati fantasy poker favorite STEVE WONG, as he plays $50-a-point Chinese:

Day 2 of Omaha Hi Lo gets underway at 2 pm pacific, 4 pm central.

Day 1 was a pretty relaxed, jovial affair … presumably because it was a relatively low buy-in for the big-time pros who had busted out of the $50k HORSE event. Very fun and chatty. On a break PHIL HELLMUTH and ROBERT WILLIAMSON III had a semi-private discussion about sponsorship deals and the logistics of autographing products en masse. (The easiest are things you can sign with one hand, and slide to the side with the other.)

Robert is selling pieces of himself in by-the-inch embroidered increments. I should probably get a better picture of his jacket …

Here are the patches Hellmuth will be wearing in the main event — 13 of them so far:

Many of these are companies selling Phil’s products, but still, let’s face it, the NASCARIZATION of poker is here. Now if only the non-online-poker companies will buy in.

At the 2007 WSOP, patches are the new body paint.

The other final table today is in the $2,000 Limit Hold’em event — no known pros in this one.

Getting underway at noon is the $5,000 World Championship of 6-handed No-Limit Hold’em.

And the 5 pm (Vegas time) tourney is $1,000 7-stud Hi Lo (aka Stud 8 aka Stud 8 OB aka Stud 8 or better).

JEFFREY POLLACK has a new post up on his “blog” (yo, dudes, they’re called “posts,” OK? Get with the program … a single memo ain’t no blog, but a collection of such theoretically could be)– where he informs the poker world (at 10:30 pm last night) that there will be a “players town hall” at 10:30 am today. I’m a bigger fan than most of the poker’s most corporate representative, but either he doesn’t realize that poker hours dictate that the vast majority of players won’t see this, which is pretty bad … or he does, which is worse. But still, we kinda like The Jeffster’s relative openness in his “blogs” .:

[STEVE ZOLOTOW] was so honest with me that he started our conversation by asking for my boss’s phone number so he could call to recommend that I – and every other key WSOP executive – be fired.

Pollack, of course, ain’t going nowhere — at least not for a while — but can you imagine if the “blogs” on worldseriesofpoker.com had comments?

UPDATE: Amy informs me that the players town hall was actually held yesterday … 11-and-a-half hours before Pollack’s post went up. Nice … Here ye, hear ye!

Don’t forget to follow my following the cash game action at the Rio. It’s a little awkward poking around these games with a notepad and camera, because a lot of people make their livings at these tables and don’t really want people to know that they are good.

One such player I am following is “TEDDY,” who has become a fixture at the $100/$200 Limit Hold’em table. He’s a trip. We’ll leave it at that for now.

I’ve had a decent run at the cash games myself — except for the two times I lost, which negate a big fat win, seen here:

My second-favorite hand was dealt by Linda the Dallas dealer … who flopped me a straight and said, “I knew you had Q-J when you said, ‘This is probably a pretty bad call,’” as she shipped me a $300 pot.

Favorite hand of the night would come a little later upon busting out the dude in the background for another $600.

By the way, if you like the photos, you can see more of what Pokerati sees by checking out our FLICKR gallery.

In other news, ERICK LINDGREN beat PHIL IVEY in a $340,000 golf course prop bet. RAM VASWANI chits presumably in the mail.

LAS VEGAS–Local Attorney Bob Nersesian submitted an interesting letter to the editor in today’s Las Vegas Review–Journal regarding “advantage gamblers” being banned from playing in the WSOP (as was the case with Richard Brodie before Jeffrey Pollack pulled some strings to allow him to play):

Advantage gamblers are professional gamblers who legally play games with an edge over the casino.

Think Dustin Hoffman in Rainman.

While it’s quite common for a Casino to bar these types of players from their table games, it is completely ridiculous that Harrah’s ostracizes them from the World Series of Poker as well. I’m thinking the same thing…how can a game, argued to be a sport of skill in western civilization, ban these players that possess the very craft that separates the amateurs from the pros? This is one of the many formulas that made Stu Ungar…Stu Ungar.

In poker when bad things happen we say “that’s poker” but in this case we’ll use the infamous line “that’s Harrah’s.”

FYI – Pokerati is having technical problems, feel free to send me an email here with your comment as I would love to hear some opinions on this matter. We’ll be sure to add them when our wounds are healed.

LAS VEGAS–The WSOP commish has entered the world of blogging.

Wonder if he’ll be able to play in tomorrow’s WPBT event at The Orleans. (I know a lot of the bloggers hustling in the Amazon trenches are wondering the same thing.)

LAS VEGAS–It wouldn’t be a large venue if everything ran smoothly. You know, more cooks in the kitchen spoil the broth. Did I just make another kitchen comment? I gotta get out there.

The line to register for today’s event ($1500 NL Holdem) snaked through the ropes, left the Amazon Room, turned the hallway and ended past the bathrooms way down the way for the twelve hours I was there. In other words…the line was much, much longer than the previous two years. So long in fact, that I and several other pros are not playing simply because we didn’t want to wait to register. The satellite lines were shorter but still quite a wait.

Yesterday’s hot topic was the new Bicycle playing cards. The nines and sixes looked the same. Not only did you need a monocle to read the tiny number on the top corner but you had to read the large numbers in the middle section of the card on the board simply because that’s what was visible. So it was like playing with two different decks of cards. Oh, and Jeffrey Pollack’s name on the back side of the card…was mispelled. Did that confuse you? That was the point because now you know how it truly felt to play with those cards.

I also had the chance to spend some time with the WCP boys. They are totally the guys you would want to bring home to mom a bunch of wild, rude, crude womanizers.

David Levi has made the final TV table for the Mandalay WPT main event.

Finally, I got a chance along with Tiffany Michelle to interview some players for PokerNews.com

That’s my story and I’m sticking to it … especially since the WSOP Commish (who was on a teleconference with about 30 other people, some of them posing as journalists) just promised that if anyone writes an inaccurate hedline similar to the above, they will be receiving a personal call from him, presumably so he can rough them up for a retraction.

Awesome. Jeffrey, my number is 214-729-1811. I look forward to hearing from you soon.