But what about the rest of ‘em?

You can currently find Jerry Yang, the 2007 WSOP’s biggest winner and #20 on the all-time poker tournament money list, bussing tables while commanding an otherwise lackadaisical staff (according to Yelp) at Pocket 8s Sushi & Grill in central California. Um, pass the yum-yum sauce?

Via Pokerati’s resident Vegas grinder-thug @AndrewNeeme:

Poker Fish: You wouldn’t believe how many of Jerry Yang’s relatives are always hitting him up for free sushi.

Québécois LeFrancois wins $1,500 NL

Pascal LeFrancois, a 23-year old student from Quebec, won the $1,500 NL Holdem event, winning $568,974 along with the coveted WSOP bracelet. LeFrancois defeated Max Steinberg in heads-up play, with Steinberg collecting $352,916 for his runner-up finish. The full list of results, Nolan Dalla’s tournament report, and a first for the official winner’s photo, can be found over at wsop.com.

Schmelev and Mizrachi at it Again in 10k Stud

Twelve players remain for day three of the $10,000 Seven Card Stud World Championship with Vladimir Schmelev and Michael Mizrachi looking to renew their rivalry from the $50,000 Players’ Championship won by Mizrachi earlier this week. Schmelev is the current chip leader (921,000), with Mizrachi in third (544,000). Other notables: Nikolay Evdakov (543,000), Steve Bilirakis (448,000) and Men Nguyen (302,000). The full list of chip counts is now available at PokerNews.

Chanthabousay Leads Pot-Limit Final Table

The final table of the $1,500 Pot-Limit Holdem gets underway at 2:30 this afternoon. JJ Liu is the first woman to make a final table at this year’s, starting third in chips with 479,000. Here’s how the entire final table will look:

Armen Kara 220,000
Gregg Wilkerson 230,000
Mark Babekov 246,000
JJ Liu 479,000
Edward Brogdon 89,000
Scott Haraden 224,000
Steve Chanthabouasy 533,000
Joseph Williams 385,000
James Dempsey 528,000

Gupta Going Great in $1,500 NL

Day 2 of the third $1,500 No-Limit Holdem event resumes at 2:30 this afternoon with 291 players returning, 270 making the money. Venkatesch Gupta will be the leader with 199,100 in chips. Among the notables: Blair Hinkle (112,400), Shannon Shorr (64,300), Erick Lindgren (57,600), Jerry Yang (49,100), Tom Dwan (44,500) and Neil Channing (42,000). Team Pokerati’s Pat Poels finished the day in 288th place with 3300 chips. The full list can be found over at PokerNews.

Taking it to the Limit for Day 2

The $1,500 Limit Holdem event returns with 177 players returning at 3:00pm to attempt to play down to a final table. Jameson Painter, who finished 5th at the $2,500 2-7 Triple Draw event earlier this week, starts play today as the chip leader with 47,600. David Williams is 3rd in chips (41,800) with Jason Potter (32,800), Jeff Madsen (28,700) and Matt Hawrilenko (23,900) among the notables near the top of the standings. The full list of players returning can be found at wsop.com.

Saturday Tournaments

Saturday brings Day 1a of the second $1,000 NL Donkament to the WSOP at 12pm today, with about 4,000 runners expected over the next two days. The plan is to play ten one-hour levels today per usual, but if the pace of eliminations is as rapid as it was last Saturday, there could be a change in plans. The 5pm tournament is the $1,500 NL 2-7 Lowball Single Draw event, won last year by Phil Ivey when it had a $2,500 buy-in with a field of 147.

Everyone left guaranteed at least $25k in pursuit of the $500k first prize.

The payout breakdown:

Champion $500,000
Runner-Up $250,000
3rd & 4th Place $125,000
5th – 8th Place $75,000
9th – 16th Place $25,000

Click here for how they got to this point. WSOP Main Event champs representing. Where’s Varkonyi!

Coming up:

Chris Moneymaker vs. Erik Seidel
Peter Eastgate vs. Jamie Gold

Phil Laak vs. Jason Mercier
Annie Duke vs. Paul Wasicka

By my count, that’s six Main Event champs, one Main Event-Europe champs, and one guy who thinks he was main event champ.

However, I also said: “Seriously, I’m predicting ratings boom.”

Oops …

For Immediate Release
November 12, 2009

World Series of Poker Finale Draws 2.1 Million Viewers on ESPN

With 21-year-old Joe Cada of Michigan setting a record as the youngest champion ever, more than 2.1 million viewers watched ESPN’s same-day coverage of the World Series of Poker, presented by Jack Link’s Beef Jerky, from Las Vegas on Tuesday, Nov. 10. The telecast earned a 1.8 household coverage rating in an average of 1,806,113 households, a slight decrease from the 1.9 rating earned for the 2008 finale.

ESPN’s 15-week schedule of World Series of Poker coverage in 2009 included 31 telecasts averaging a 1.0 rating, even with last year. However, averages for households (1,024,901) and viewership (1,228,008) increased nine and seven percent, respectively, from 2008, and the important Male 25-54 demographic saw a 13 percent jump from 2008.

It only took one year for the record for youngest winner to be broken. Denmark’s Peter Eastgate was 22 when he captured the 2008 crown.

-30-

Click below for a more detailed breakdown and recent-history comparison of the ratings, courtesy of a ganked Poker Beat email from BJ.

Speaking of … don’t forget to tune in today to The Poker Beat, as we will be getting all-WSOPy like all get-out!

Most of us probably got the email from ESPN that 2.1 million viewers watched the WSOP final table Tuesday night. I’ve compared it with the same email from a year ago (both press releases are attached below) to get solid year-over-year numbers from an identical source.

As Oliver Tse would eagerly point out, total numbers don’t tell the entire story — it’s about key demographics. This year’s press release touts the fact that 25-54 year-old male viewers increased by 13% (season average) compared to last year. It wasn’t mentioned in last year’s press release, but I have found data that says the 2008 numbers were up 2% compared to 2007 for men ages 18-34, and up 16% among men ages 25-54.

So while overall ratings are down slightly, we have increased some of our key demographics for three straight years, which should keep ESPN happy.

– BJ

2009 – Joe Cada’s Victory
Rating: 1.8
Households: 1,806,113
Average Viewers: 2,100,000

2008 – Peter Eastgate’s Victory
Rating: 1.9
Households: 1,905,000
Average Viewers: 2,364,000

2007 – Jerry Yang’s Victory (No November 9 Format)
Rating: 1.4
Households: 1,329,000
Average Viewers: 1,635,000

- – - – - – - – - –

The season averages listed below are for ESPN’s WSOP broadcasts leading up to the final table.

2009 – Season Average
Rating: 1.0
Households: 1,024,901
Average Viewers: 1,228,008

2008 – Season Average
Rating: 0.9
Households: 919,000
Average Viewers: 1,126,000

2007 – Season Average
Rating: ? (presumably 0.8)
Households: 815,000
Average Viewers: 981,000

At the moment, there’s about 4,000 registrants already signed up, most of which are on days 1c and 1d, so don’t be surprised if you hear rumors about Monday’s day 1d being “closed” for registrations to add some entrants to days 1b and 1c. Notables who have already been eliminated today include: Jerry Yang, Freddy Deeb, Orel Hershiser, John Phan, Gabe Kaplan, Davidi Kitai and 2009 EPT Grand Final winner Pieter de Korver. The unofficial chip leader is Dragan Galac at 110,000 in chips, followed by by 2006 EPT Grand Final winner Jeff Williams at 106,000.

Other notables with chips: Jason Alexander (84,500), Eli Elezra (84,300), Tom Schneider (57,000), Phil Laak (46,000) and Jimmy Fricke (45,000). Follow the last level of play at the WSOP site here. Chip counts should be available in the early morning hours, but if you want to see who decided to pay their $10,000 today, a list of Day 1a entrants can be found here. More stuff this weekend, so come back to Pokerati often.

Watch Jeffrey Pollack Vlog on Day 1A of the 2009 WSOP Main Event on RawVegas.tv

First off, some props to some Pokerati peeps scoring in the Venetian Deeps Stacks. Today, Team Pokerati player Jerry Randack made it to Day 2 in the $500+50 HORSE. We’re trying to follow him on twitter today, but, you know … some people don’t quite get how that works yet.

Also, big kudos to La Sengphet and Chui Kim from Dallas. La took part in a three-way chop in a $300+30 last week that paid her $24k. Chui followed that up the next day with a 4th place finish for $17k.

The Venetian tournaments are setting record numbers — with field sizes ranging from 500+ players to more than 800 in both $300 and $500 NLHs. Not sure yet on the HORSE event …

Meanwhile, the competing smaller buy-in skill-based tourneys across Las Vegas Blvd. at Caesar’s — the MegaStacks — are seeing very different results. According to one of our spies on the ground, answering the question of how it’s going over there:

Horrible. They canceled their $1k on Sunday because of lack of entrants. A player at Venetian said he went over their first, and they had 9 entries as of 11:30, one of whom was Jerry Yang. I saw Yang sit down in the Venetian tourney as a late entry at about 1:15.

NOTE: Bellagio has also affected the non-WSOP summer tourney landscape, re-upping their nightly tourney buy-in to $1,000.

The 40th Annual $40,000 NL Holdem final table has 4 players remaining. Greg Raymer, Vitaly Lunkin, Isaac Haxton and Dani Stern make up the final four to take home nearly $2m and the first open gold bracelet of the WSOP. Ted Forrest, Noah Schwartz, Lex Veldhius, Alec Torelli and Justin Bonomo were eliminated earlier today from the final table.

Speaking of Raymer, the WSOP Champions Invitational got underway earlier this afternoon. 20 of the 25 surviving champions accepted their RSVPs to be filmed under the bright lights of the ESPN cameras. Within the first orbit, 2006 winner Jamie Gold was the first player eliminated, while 2003 winner Chris Moneymaker watched his 10,000 chip stack dwindle erode before he finally busted. Raymer was able to get a couple of hands in before returning to the $40k final table. Six more one-hour levels or until the final table of nine return Monday afternoon.

More recaps on the next page:

The $1,500 Omaha 8 or Better event came back today with 19 players, with 6 players remaining at their final table. To give them their due, here’s how the final 9 were situated:

Seat 1 – Ming Reslock
Seat 2 – Jordan Rich
Seat 3 – Pascal Leyo
Seat 4 – Ed Smith
Seat 5 – Freddy Deeb Out in 8th
Seat 6 – Senovio Ramirez Out in 9th
Seat 7 – Thang Luu
Seat 8 – Robert Price
Seat 9 – Jim Geary Out in 7th

Price will return with the chip lead, followed by Reslock, and Rich. Thang Luu is towards the back, but this is his third straight year with a WSOP final table in an Omaha 8 event. In 2007, he finished 2nd in a $2,000 OHL event, and last year took down this same event.

Finally, day 1b of the $1,000 NL Holdem Stimulus Special drew a field of 3,014 entries today. The 6,012 total creates the 4th largest sized field in live poker behind the 2006, 2007 and 2008 WSOP Main Events. Like Saturday’s field, over 2/3rd of the field weren’t able to make the dinner break. Among them: Phil Ivey, Jonathan Little, Thor Hansen, Roy Winston, Jeff Madsen, John Phan and Erick Lindgren. Some players who are sticking around: JC Tran, Lee Watkinson, Kathy Liebert, Jimmy “Gobbo” Fricke and Mike Wattel. You can follow the four tournaments in action during the overnight over at www.worldseriesofpoker.com and get more stuff here at Pokerati.

27 players are eligible … and almost all have pre-registered. Bobby Baldwin ’78 has RSVP’d in the negative. But there’s one interesting name on the list of non-confirmeds* — well actually there’re five, but one of these is not like the others … in fact, as a member of the WSOP PAC, he’s probably on Jeffrey Pollack’s speed dial:

Mansour Maltoubi ’90
Hamid Dastmalchi ’92
Russ Hamilton ’94
Noel Furlong ’99
Chris Ferguson ’00

None of these are holdouts, from what we’re hearing … just MIA. (Though we’re not so sure the WSOP is looking that hard for Russ, because they could always give his invitation to Layne Flack.)

Wicked Chops is on the hunt for them here.

Otherwise, all is well in my bracket. Got the 4 3 other matches right — Farha d. Cunningham, Eastgate d. Bloch, Lindgren d. Lederer, Elezra d. Chan. Alas, we will not be seeing Gowen vs. Lederer deep, which Ali Nejad reminded us yesterday woulda been great for poker, because it probably woulda been followed on Court TV.

CORRECTION: I guess I changed my pick on Chan vs. Elezra / didn’t go with my gut. Of course Eli was gonna win.

If you wanna follow a little more play-by-play, take your pick:
CardPlayer.com
PokerNews.com
PokerListings.com

Flipchip for really good photos.
Audio stuff TK at PokerRoad.

And it’s still not too late to get in on the bracket-picking action … though points scored on matches already started won’t count in the end. We’re doing this with our forum friends at PokerRoad. Show who’s boss.

UPDATE: Yang defeats Gowen! Boo Jerry Yang! Makin’ us rankers eat it!

The generally spot-on Wicked Chops, for example, have been calling it a “hatchet job”. Well-informed poker-biz insiders have told me privately it’s going to be “terrible for poker”. I’ve even heard some say the WSOP’s cooperating with CBS will prove to be “Jeffrey Pollack’s downfall”.

I respectfully and wholeheartedly disagree.

The fear, of course, is that the piece will end up condemning the entire industry. But look, 60 Minutes doesn’t exactly have a history of botching stories in its 41 years on the air. They typically get pretty darn close to The Truth. There may be some short-term backlash to the not-so-pretty sides of online poker being revealed, but in the long run, we WANT the non-poker public to understand our dilemmas … and, assuming we really are on the right side of the UIGEA, some might argue we need them to.

Even though the 60 Minutes preview starts with “this $18 billion industry is illegal in the US”, Steve Kroft and his gang did talk with the PPA on and off camera about it all … so they’ve definitely been exposed to the storyline that recent politics severely hampers the ability to prevent AP/UB cheating. I suspect the story will end with something like … “but there’s no guarantee that regulation would be able to prevent [insert bad stuff here], and supporters of the UIGEA say those abuses are exactly the reason this seemingly harmless game needs to be prohibited in America.”

Such a fair and balanced take would leave it open for people like us to scream in favor of one side while plenty of right-wing conservative types would still be able to say, “See, gambling is evil! So are computers!”

But what really matters is where those non-committed folks in the middle stand — the bulk of those 12+ million viewers who never had a reason to care one way or the other about poker. We’re talking about just a few percentage points worth of the populace (and what they represent politically) being swayed to believe either online poker players got a screw job, or that the poker industry is filled with Russ Hamiltons and therefore shouldn’t be legitimized. While there’s a risk that they could come down on the side of gambling=bad, it’s kinda a risk we have to take.

Why?

Because right now they’re simply non-committed folks in the middle — they have no opinion on the issue, which therefore casts no weight in congressional halls. We already know that poker’s current weight in Congress — while noticeable — simply isn’t enough to get the change we pokerers are looking for.

So no story, it all stays the same.

But with a story … we have a chance of “registering new voters” (I’m speaking metaphorically here) on the issue — of 60 Minutes making what matters so much to both us and Focus on The Family types actually matter to those in the middle who currently don’t care one way or the other.

Hopefully, 2 out of every 3 new people aware of the complex situation will see things close to our way. (Again, using rough, unofficial numbers.) If they do, we win! If they don’t, we lose … or stay exactly where we are right now — same thing.

(I suppose it could get worse if 3 out of 3 fall on the side of the Religious Right, but i just don’t see that happening in the current political climate of America.)

But the online-poker-regulation issue simply cannot get to where we want it without the support of non-poker players. And because the uber-pro-poker media such as CardPlayer, Bluff, and dare I say Pokerati can’t be expected to make the issue matter to these “swing voters” any more than Darus Suharto on Ellen would, we have to take the risk of putting it in the hands of 60 Minutes (or the Wall Street Journal, New York Times, Washington Post, et al.)

It’s the only hope.

Kevin here to interrupt this post to add some additional content, a brief interview with Steve Kroft about the 60 Minutes story:

Watch CBS Videos Online

A related online auction will begin on Saturday, 25 October, on eBay, and will conclude on the day of the event. Items for bid may be viewed at http://donations.ebay.com/charity/charity.jsp?NP_ID=27688 and will include poker coaching sessions donated by 2007 World Series of Poker (WSOP) main event champion Jerry Yang, World Poker Tour (WPT) & WSOP bracelet winner J.C. Tran, WSOP bracelet winner and WPT’s first lady of poker Linda Johnson, WPT champion JJ Liu, and WPT Ladies Poker Party champion Kelli Griggs.

Donation products and services can be added to the eBay online auction with a portion of the proceeds benefiting the El Dorado County Habitat for Humanity.

OK, first thing to remember is that patience is important. And then when you find yourself way behind, the best strategy is to pray for runner-runner. Basically, you see, you want to get your chips in the middle when God is listening and rooting for you …

So here is a more accurate recount of who’s really left in the 2008 WSOP main event:

 

 

Interestingly enough, Pokerati readers picked a “middle aged white American male” as most likely to win the main event (we discounted a last-minute surge of Jerry Yang votes after he had been eliminated) — and yet 40somethings were completely shut out of the November Nine. (Ask Tom, Pokerati’s resident 40something, I tell him all the time: it’s a lot easier to win when you make the final table.) New era, it seems.

Given the same payout structure, would you rather make a final table last year or this year? If you say last year, STOP! PROCEED DIRECTLY TO THE BOTTOM OF THIS POST. Think about this. How many people outside of poker know Jerry Yang? Answer = 0. How many people outside of poker know the guy who finished 7th? 0! Did someone actually come in 7th? I don’t remember.

Can you imagine making the final table under this potential change? Many people outside of poker will recognize all the players that make the final table. Before the final table takes place, all players are the same. In essence, all of them are winners, and why shouldn’t they be? They beat 6,000 players. This is amazing. It really is too bad that we only have one winner out of 6,000. A final table at the main event is one of the most impressive accomplishments in poker.

Letterman and Leno might even have the whole final table on their show. Who knows? I might be able to make money from doing something other than sitting at a poker table 15 hours a day. Maybe I will be discovered by some Hollywood director needing a fat, bald guy to play a poker player. Hooray!

Some people have mentioned that the momentum that you have built up to make the final table might be lost. Did you happen to notice that 8 other people also might have had momentum built up to outlast 6,000 players? At the final table of the WPT at the Bicycle, I had the chip lead and major momentum going into the final table. What a difference just 12 hours makes. I went card dead and came in 4th. I wish they would have just kept playing and forgotten about the TV show. It’s all random.

Will I study up real hard in 3 months? I will be playing a lot of golf. I will probably want to spend every waking moment with Hellmuth…Not. If you make the final table outlasting 6,000 players, I’m guessing you feel pretty good about your play. I know I would feel unbeatable.

If this final table thing happens, I believe that it will elevate poker to a new level of awareness. I don’t like boxing, but when I was a kid, I remember the most famous boxing matches due to the huge buildup and hype that took place weeks/months before the match took place. This is the same thing.

Is Harrah’s greedy. I hope so, I own stock. If you are in business or a poker player and don’t have a little greed in your body, I hope your local pet store is hiring.

Let’s face it. Poker needs a boost and Harrah’s is sure trying. Several years ago we added hole cards and the internet. That spike is over, and we may never see another growth spurt in our industry again. To Harrah’s, I say thanks for thinking of new stuff and being willing to take risk for the benefit of poker and me if I make the final table.

Oh, and for those of you that decided that you would rather make a final table last year, I offer you a padded room with many locks to protect you against the “Change Boogy Man”. He’s so scary…

Evidently, unlike many tournaments on the circuit, Bay 101 didn’t take anything from the buy-ins to tip the staff, but Brandon was unaware of this. CardPlayer has done an interesting two-part article, which includes some words from Brandon and TD Matt Savage.

Click here for Part 1.
Click here for Part 2.

So many interesting questions arise from this discussion, as they did when Jerry Yang won the 2007 WSOP main event.

Should the players be told up-front about the tipping policy at that particular venue?
Is it the players’ responsibility to find out or that of the tournament director to inform everyone?
If a tip is taken from the buy-ins, should players still tip on top of that?
Do only the winners tip? Or should everyone at the final table tip?
What is the correct percentage to tip?

This is a subject that should be discussed in length. I’d love for some tournament pros to weigh in on this.

The 64-player field competing for $500,000 (on a $20k buy-in) this weekend has been set (up) — with pairings drawn last night at a kick-off party at Pure.

Click here to see the full bracket and make your picks. (This bracket-maker is kinda new to me, so not sure whether or not you can see my predictions here.)

Some of the more interesting pairings to me:

Tom Schneider vs. Gavin Smith
Clonie Gowen vs. Jennifer Tilly
Sammy Farha vs. Doyle Brunson
Hooman Nikzad vs. Greg Raymer
Chris Ferguson vs. John Juanda
Chris Moneymaker vs. Jerry Yang
Jean Robert Bellande vs. Sam Grizzle

Click below to see the full list … and while doing that, think how funny it is that this sorta poker ink comes from marijuana.com. (And Tom says I do nothing for him …)

Phil Ivey 25/1
Daniel Negreanu 25/1
Patrik Antoinus 25/1
Paul Wasicka 35/1
David Benyamine 35/1
Todd Brunson 35/1
Allen Cunninghman 35/1
Freddy Deeb 35/1
Chris Ferguson 35/1
Ted Forrest 35/1
Barry Greenstein 35/1
Gus Hansen 35/1
Phil Hellmuth 35/1
John Juanda 35/1
Erick Lindgren 35/1
David Pham 35/1
J.C. Tran 35/1
Doyle Brunson 35/1
Jennifer Harman 45/1
Erik Seidel 40/1
Brian Townsend 35/1
David Williams 45/1
Daniel Schreiber 50/1
Kenny Tran 55/1
Sam Farha 55/1
Joe Hachem 55/1
Howard Lederer 55/1
Mike Matusow 55/1
Greg Raymer 55/1
Eli Elezra 55/1
Tom Schneider 45/1
Tom Dwan 30/1
Antonio Esfandiari 60/1
Jamie Gold 60/1
Phil Laak 65/1
Michael Mizrachi 65/1
Gabe Kaplan 65/1
Johnny Chan 30/1
Scott Clements 30/1
Johnathan Little 20/1
David Singer 40/1
Gavin Smith 40/1
Jean-Robert Bellande 60/1
Chad Brown 65/1
Annie Duke 60/1
Scotty Nguyen 40/1
Huck Seed 45/1
Jerry Yang 60/1
Bill Edler 40/1
T.J. Cloutier 45/1
Scott Fischman 40/1
Jennifer Tilly 80/1
Clonie Gowen 80/1
Sam Grizzle 90/1
Vanessa Rousso 90/1
Jason Alexander 90/1
Don Cheadle 100/1
Shannon Elizabeth 100/1
Brad Garrett 100/1
Oriel Hershiser 100/1

Festivities will begin on February 28th at Pure Nightclub at Caesars in Vegas with the drawing party to determine the match-ups. The following day brings the first matches, and a winner will be determined and get his/her $500k on March 2.

Previous champs Paul Wasicka, Ted Forrest, and Phil Hellmuth will be playing, as well as numerous first-time players like David Singer, Bill Edler, Scott Clements, Jerry Yang, Brian Townsend, Tom Dwan, celebrities Jason Alexander and Brad Garrett, MLB player Orel Hershiser, and the 2007 CardPlayer favorite WSOP Player of the Year Tom Schneider.

Click below for the list of players:

1. Alexander, Jason
2. Antonius, Patrik
3. Bellande, Jean-Robert
4. Benyamine, David
5. Brown, Chad
6. Brunson, Doyle
7. Brunson, Todd
8. Chan, Johnny
9. Cheadle, Don
10. Clements, Scott
11. Cloutier, T.J.
12. Cunningham, Allen
13. Deeb, Freddy
14. Duke, Annie
15. Dwan, Tom
16. Edler, Bill
17. Elezra, Eli
18. Elizabeth, Shannon
19. Esfandiari, Antonio
20. Farha, Sam
21. Ferguson, Chris
22. Fischman, Scott
23. Forrest, Ted
24. Garrett, Brad
25. Gold, Jamie
26. Gowen, Clonie
27. Greenstein, Barry
28. Grizzle, Sam
29. Hachem, Joe
30. Hansen, Gus
31. Harman, Jennifer
32. Hellmuth, Phil
33. Hershiser, Orel
34. Ivey, Phil
35. Juanda, John
36. Kaplan, Gabe
37. Laak, Phil
38. Lederer, Howard
39. Lindgren, Erick
40. Little, Jonathan
41. Matusow, Mike
42. Mizrachi, Michael
43. Negreanu, Daniel
44. Nguyen, Scotty
45. Pham, David
46. Raymer, Greg
47. Rousso, Vanessa
48. Schneider, Tom
49. Schreiber, Daniel
50. Seed, Huck
51. Seidel, Erik
52. Singer, David
53. Smith, Gavin
54. Tilly, Jennifer
55. Townsend, Brian
56. Tran, J.C.
57. Tran, Kenny
58. Wasicka, Paul
59. Williams, David
60. Yang, Jerry

The major tournament action underway is the LEGENDS of POKER at the BIKE in CALIFORNIA. Perhaps we’ll swing by …

MIKE MATUSOW, with his second-place finish in the main event of the BELLAGIO CUP III, is no longer broke. Apparently his $670k payday left him with 50 grand all to himself. In the real world this means he now qualifies for a loan. In the poker world it means he no longer does, unless he goes broke again.

DANIEL NEGREANU’s got a pretty good skill column this week, talking about manipulating table image to better reap the rewards of shifting gears. Hmm, something to think about?

From the Dept. of: Awesome … PHIL HELLMUTH will appear on The Surreal Life. Might an ass-kicking be inevitable, as he moves into a house with RANDY “Macho Man” SAVAGE, MISS CLEO, NANCY MCKIBBEN (who?), DABNEY COLEMAN, and the uber-pumped CARROT TOP.

BILL RINI, whom I consider an expert in matters of online cheating, has up a video that I thought was informational warning about a new form of MARKED CARDS circulating. But upon closer look, turns out to be just an ad hawking the illicit poker gear (compliments of GOOGLE).

Interesting (biased?) article here on what Google supposedly does to keep online poker seekers away from the bad poker sites.

Speaking of cheating … has anyone heard word of who might have been the high-stakes players allegedly swindled in major cheating scam at the BORGATA? Famed cheating consultant STEVE FORTE, of course, was one of the guys busted, even though he uses the journalist’s beloved excuse of “I was just working on a story!” Suddenly scary: the notion of tapping into hole-card cams.

Suddenly needed: a big-time poker security accreditation system?

Check it out … DUGGLEBOGEY is back to his old tricks sticks:

Glad to see the return of some more friendly faces.

Here’s a great article on the rise and fall of an ONLINE PRO — how you can go from $10k to $1.5 million and back down again. It coincides with a semi-related story about KaiBuxxe / RealAndyBeal — a 22-year-old Austrian and former MAGIC player who is tearing up the world of POT-LIMIT OMAHA.

And BRIAN TOWNSEND (aka “sbrugby”) — an online superstar turning to live games — is in the midst of a $3 million downswing. This according to his own blog. [via PokerKingBlog]

Dude, tell me about it … I’ve been running similarly bad:

POKER IS HARD!

Looks kinda like a PARTYGAMING stock chart, no?

SHANNON ELIZABETH was unable to play in the Victoria Poker Championships in AUSTRALIA … because she got carded at the door and didn’t have her ID. The male contingent of Pokerati has always wondered why ladies go anywhere without their license/passport/prescription.

Speaking of Australia, it may have slipped under your radar that the AUSSIES, along with CANADA and MACAU, have joined the WTO dispute against the UNITED STATES over the UIGEA. The beef started by ANTIGUA and BARBUDA seems to be growing some teeth, as others fighting against the chief enemy of AL QAEDA include COSTA RICA, INDIA, and … the EUROPEAN UNION. Think this fight isn’t about the future of international online economies as much as it is about poker?

A group called IMEGA continues to challenge the controversial internet law in court, and have their fingers crossed that a federal judge in New Jersey will issue a TEMPORARY RESTRAINING ORDER in September.

Speaking of lawsuits and court actions in September, attorney and PPA representative LEE ROUSSO has a hearing set for his suit, which challenges the Constitutionality of WASHINGTON STATE’s law that makes playing online poker a felony on par with CHILD MOLESTATION.

A CARIBBEAN BUSINESS CONGLOMERATE will be entertaining a bunch of AMERICAN CONGRESSPEOPLE in November to explain Antigua’s WTO stance, among other things. In attendance will be CHARLIE RANGEL (D-NY-Taxes) and BENNIE THOMPSON (D-MS-Homeland Security),

AMERICA ONLINE wants in on online poker. Or at least online SPORTS BETTING, as AOL has entered into an internet bookmaking contract with a GERMAN company, FLUXX, which will target punters in the UK.

A good article from the BRITISH PRESS here — describing the UIGEA as a “TROJAN HORSE” given to the European gambling industry.

Meanwhile, British online gaming company WILLIAM HILL says they are having a hard time keeping poker players, because the EUROS really want to take on the AMERICANS (at Bodog, for example).

Over in the PHILLIPINES, they have (finally) opened up a bar-and-grille with amateur Texas Hold’em tourneys (scroll down near the bottom).

The nightly non-wager Hold ‘Em tournaments at the Player’s Den hope to further sharpen the skills of the Pinoys in this ultimate mind game where we can eventually excel worldwide.

Mabuhay!!! Be proud to be a Filipino.

You may notice a lot of linkage today from this PokerKing guy. He has a lot of good stuff to read, including this article on why JERRY YANG is bad for ONLINE poker. Maybe maybe not, but I tend to agree with the wisdom of LOU KRIEGER, who recognizes that poker is a long-term game, and Yang couldn’t have come at a better time.

Here’s one of the more balanced takes on the JERRY YANG FOR PRESIDENT campaign.