Poker 2Nite crosses the halfway point of its first run of shows, and last show of 2009, with a segment with Justin Bonomo and an interview with PokerRoad Radio co-host Gavin Smith. Parts 2 and 3 appear on the following page.
I’m watching it, for the first time. ESPN just did the sidebar piece on Justin Bonomo’s prop bet on one of the 40something players living in Panorama Towers winning a bracelet. (Does anyone know if he won that bet? I’m sure Panorama Towers had at least as many final tables as Denmark.) Greg Raymer just busted out … Norman Chad’s same ole shtick seems fresh, not tired … and the poker itself is good.
I gotta say, like the way the 2009 season is starting … I could see a few people getting hooked during a weekend marathon. Go ESPN. I think my reluctance to give a shit about first airings might say more about an evolving desire to watch TV podcast-style, at one’s own convenience, than it does about non-excitement for what is clearly a great poker show. Well shot, well edited.
MORE: The cutover to the Champions Invitational … with Raymer coming over after busting out in third, to take a seat amongst a bunch of recognizable-to-grandma champions … nice! Seriously, semi-interested in that tourney now. (If only it had more money at stake.)
The final Day 1, as Dan noted is already over 2,500 entrants with players now being registered into Buzio’s. The first three days had players seated at nine-handed tables, but is it possible they’ll have to start today ten-handed to accommodate as many players as possible? There’s still six hours to find out the answer to that question.
Back to Day 1c, 1,106 players will return Wednesday afternoon to join the Day 1d survivors for Day 2b, playing 4 two-hour levels. The day 1c chip leader is Joseph Cada, with 187,225 in chips. Other notables with chips: Jeff Lisandro (146,950), Tuan Le (110,000), Justin Bonomo (103,425), Alex Bolotin (92,500), Pat Poels (87,200), Adam Junglen (80,475), Terrence Chan (67,075), Dennis Phillips (63,325) and Dan Shak (55,200). To see the complete list of chip counts, click on this link.
To see how they squeeze in all those players, check out Pokerati during the day, and be sure to follow the updates from www.wsop.com, Pauly, and Pokerati during the day.
The Day 1c field has returned from its dinner break a few minutes ago, with two more levels to play today. The difference between this field and the first two Day 1’s is that the field as well as tomorrow’s field will play 5 two-hour levels. When Day 2a commences Tuesday, they’ll also play 5 two-hour levels, while the Day 2b field will play 4 levels. A field of 1,697 were registered today, and there’s a possibility that Monday’s Day 1d field could be sold out. If not, it will certainly be the largest Day 1 field with well about 2,300 already registered.
Notable names already eliminated: Annie Duke, Daniel Negreanu, Evelyn Ng, John Caldwell, Lacey Jones, Chino Rheem, and Jamie Gold. The unofficial leader at this time is Jeff Lisandro, looking for his 4th bracelet this year, leading the field with 132,000 in chips. Other notables with stacks include Hevad Khan (94,000), Joe Hachem (88,000), David Singer (78,000), Justin Bonomo (56,800), Brett “gank” Jungblut (51,000), Scotty Nguyen (49,000), and Dan Harrington (47,500). Other chip counts and live updates can be found at the wsop.com site here.
More updates later this evening from Team Pokerati, and another update from me in the morning recapping who’s left at the end of the night.
It’s something that wasn’t written about in Super/System … yet everyone has to consider it. Barry Greenstein has a good vlog post up about what goes into making a decision about which day to start in the WSOP main event, where he gives his thoughts on why day 1c may be the toughest field to wade through — with input from Justin Bonomo, Roland deWolfe, and Sorrel Mizzi. Check it out here.
Recapping the still ongoing action from Tuesday night:
It’s 9:15am PT, but the final table of the $50,000 HORSE is still going with David Bach and John Hanson playing heads-up with Bach holding a slim chip lead. Erik Sagstrom finished in 3rd, Vitaly Lunkin was eliminated in 4th, Huck Seed finished in 5th and Ville Wahlbeck finished in 6th place. Unless Wahlbeck makes a deep run in the Main Event, Jeff Lisandro appears to have locked up the WSOP Player of the Year with Wahlbeck a close second. For those of you who have followed the nearly 17-hour final table from beginning to end, God bless you.
Nine players remain in the $2,500 2-7 Triple Draw Lowball when play resumes at 2pm. Here’s how the remaining players will be seated:
Seat 1: Hertzel Zalewski – 111000
Seat 2: Nam Le – 95000
Seat 3: Masayoshi Tanaka – 345000
Seat 5: Brad Libson – 146000
Seat 1: Kris Lord – 87000
Seat 2: Julie Schneider – 163000
Seat 3: John Juanda – 182000
Seat 4: Blair Rodman – 358000
Seat 6: Abe Mosseri – 447000
The reason for the title of this section is that it was a comment made regarding Julie Schneider by Daniel Negreanu on his Twitter. He would later add the following upon finding out she read his Twitter: “Apparently the lady reads my twitter. Oops lol. Oh well, when I sat down I swore she was a little off or slow. My bad!”. Negreanu eventually finished in 16th.
New Orleans attorney David Halpern defeated William Kohler heads-up to take down the $1,500 Stud Hi/Lo 8 or Better picking up his first WSOP bracelet along with $159,048.
The country of Germany gets its second WSOP bracelet winner with Jorg Piesert taking down the $3,000 Triple Chance NL Holdem title along with $506,800, defeating Jason DeWitt in heads-up play. After going 50 events without a win, Germany wins on consecutive days, following Carsten Joh’s win in the $1,500 NL event Monday night.
Sergey Konkin, who may also be Sergey Pomerantsev as Konkin’s name didn’t appear on the Day 1 chip counts, is the chip leader (1,400,000) with 28 players remaining in the $1,500 NL Holdem Spectacular when play resumes at 1pm. The most notable name of the remaining 28 is Vivek Rajkumar at just 216,000.
Day 2 of the $5,000 NL Holdem 6-max event begins at 2pm with 160 players remaining, with 90 players making the money. Rory Mathews leads with 369,800 in chips. Others with chips: Faraz Jaka (294,500) , Davidi Kitai (166,300), Justin Bonomo (138,600), Raymond Davis (131,400), Shaun Deeb (114,800), Yevgeniy Timoshenko (107,100), Phil Hellmuth (101,200) and Kenna James (85,500).
More stuff from Pokerati during the day, and follow the live updates this morning for the HORSE event, as long as it’s still ongoing at www.wsop.com
Recapping Monday’s six-pack of tournaments:
Monday’s $1,500 NL Holdem event drew a field of 2818 entrants for another sold-out event. Around 1,000 players will be left when the players come back to play four levels when play concludes for the evening. The unofficial chip leader is JC Tran (51,000) followed by Theo Tran (no relation) at 42,400.
12 players remain on Day 4 of the $50,000 HORSE, with the remaining players on their dinner break. Erik Sagstrom is the current chip leader (3,782,000) followed by David Bach (2,800,000), Vitaly Lunkin (2,060,000) and Erik Seidel (1,315,000). John Hanson, Huck Seed, Ville Wahlbeck, Gus Hansen, Ray Dehkharghani, Chau Giang, Mike Wattel and David Chiu make up the remaining field as they play down to the final 8.
The $1,500 NL Holdem event that started on Saturday finally reached their final table, now streaming at bluffmagazine.com/live and wsop.pkr.com with this lineup with Jason Helder the chip leader:
Seat 1: Owen Crowe
Seat 2: Carsten Joh
Seat 3: Steven Levy
Seat 4: Jason Helder
Seat 5: Thibaut Durand
Seat 6: David Walasinski
Seat 7: Georgios Kapalas
Seat 8: Nathan Page
Seat 9: Andrew Chen
The $3,000 NL Triple Chanceevent just eked their way into the money before taking their dinner break. Jeff Lisandro got knocked out just short of the money in his attempt to put the WSOP Player of the Race out of reach. Jason Dewitt (375,000) is the current chip leader, followed by notables Jason Somerville (245,000), Karga Holt (230,000), Shane Schleger (155,000), Eric Lynch (140,000), Joe McGowan (135,000) and Nick Binger (125,000). The remaining field will be playing until 3am, unless they get down to the final table of 9 before the deadline.
Al “Sugar Bear” Barbieri is the current chip leader (130,000) with 49 players (the money bubble) in the $1,500 Stud Hi/Lo 8 or Better event. Max Stern, Andy Bloch, Chad Brown, Barry Greenstein, Bryan Micon, Justin Bonomo, Norman Chad and Matt Savage make up some of the noted names remaining in the field as they play down to the 3am deadline.
A field of around 250 entrants signed up for the $2,500 2-7 Triple Draw Lowball event, with another five levels of play left on their day 1. Eli Elezra and Shannon Elizabeth are two very early eliminations, with several more to come during the wee small hours of the morning.
More live updates can be found over at www.wsop.com, and discussions on donkaments, entry fees, and all other things WSOP can be found on Pokerati during the evening.
Recapping the Saturday afternoon action:
Brandon Cantu and Lee Watkinson are the last two standing in the $1,500 Pot-Limit Omaha 8 or Better event, each going for their second career bracelet. At the moment, Watkinson holds a 2-1 chip lead over Cantu.
Hasan Habib remains the chip leader (453,000) with 77 players remaining in the $50,000 HORSE event as they return from a dinner break with three more levels remaining in today’s play. David Bach (426,000) and John Kabbaj (340,000) are the top 3 in chips at the moment. Among the eliminations today, Justin Bonomo, John Juanda, Eli Elezra and Jennifer Harman. More updates can be found over at www.wsop.com
The field of 64 that started round 2 of the $1,500 Limit Holdem Shootout on Saturday is down to 38 players spread over eight tables. Among the remaining players, David Williams, Tom Schneider, Humberto Brenes, Marc Naalden, and Jean-Robert Bellande.
A sold-out field of 2781 in the next to last $1,500 NL Holdem event is down to about 975 players as they return from dinner break. The unofficial chip leader is Thomas “titantom32″ Braband at 78,000 with another 4 levels before play ends for the day.
More updates available at www.wsop.com and Pokerati for other stuff during the evening.
Recapping the first half of Wednesday’s WSOP:
Jeff Lisandro becomes the first player to win three bracelets in one WSOP after Chris Moneymaker initiated the poker boom in 2003, takes down the $2,500 Razz event, good for $188,370. Lisandro has won all three of his bracelets in stud events in each of the three disciplines of stud (Stud high, Stud Hi/Lo and Razz). Lisandro held the chip lead at the beginning of the day and was never seriously threatened. Michael Craig finished in 2nd, good for $116,405. Other notable finishes: Kenna James (6th), Al “Sugar Bear” Barbieri (10th), Ville Wahlbeck (12th) and Nikolay Evdakov (13th).
Half a dozen players remain in the $1,000 Seniors NL Holdem World Championship, led by Scott Buller with over 2 million in chips. Michael Morusty, Charles Simon, Dan DeLatorre, Michael Davis and Barry Bounds make up the remaining players.
The $2,500 Omaha Hi-Lo 8 or Better has 70 players remaining, only 45 get paid. The unofficial chip leader is Frankie O’Dell (109,000), followed by day 1 chip leader Josh Schlien (85,000), Pat Poels (71,500), Marsha Waggoner (54,000), Mike Matusow (38,000), and Max Pescatori (28,000) among the familiar faces. Thang Luu unfortunately was eliminated before the dinner break earlier today.
The $10,000 Pot-Limit Holdem World Championship is down to 35 players, only 27 get to cash with day 1 chip leader Michiel Brummelhuis remaining chip leader (570,000). Isaac Haxton (450,000), Eric Baldwin (430,000), Darryll Fish (310,000), Vanessa Rousso (280,000), Sam Simon (173,000), and Eugene Todd (165,000) are among the remaining.
The $2,500 Mixed Holdem event drew a field of 527 players, of which just 184 remain. The unofficial chip leader is David Baker (unknown if that’s the one from Michigan or Texas) at 73,000. Eli Elezra (51,000), Marc Naalden (46,000) and Jean-Robert Bellande (42,000) are some well known folks with chips.
More updates during the evening over at www.wsop.com and Pokerati for more Lisandro stuff and other commentary about all things WSOP.
Wahlbeck
Johnston
Shinn
Turner
Flack
Boukai
Recapping the conclusion of Monday’s play… and looking forward at Tuesday’s action ready to get underway.
Ray Foley, a business manager for Chrysler Financial, bested Brandon Cantu headsup to take down the $1,500 NL Holdem event early Tuesday morning, collecting $657,969 along with his first WSOP bracelet. Cantu was hoping to pick up his second, starting heads-up play and had Foley drawing to two outs in what appeared to be the final hand, but Foley caught a third ten on the turn to pass Cantu’s flopped pair of kings to take the lead. Foley’s Q-J outkicked Cantu’s J-7 on a jack high board in the final hand to send Foley, a resident of Northville, Michigan home the winner. Alex Jacob was the only other notable at the final table, finishing third.
The $10,000 Pot-Limit Omaha World Championship was won by Matt Graham, coming back from a 9 to 1 chip deficit to win his second career WSOP bracelet. The other three previous WSOP bracelet winners finished 7th, 8th and 9th (Josh Arieh, Richard Austin and Barry Greenstein respectively).
The final table of the $5,000 NL Holdem Shootout is now set, and here’s how the players will be seated, each with 1,500,000 in chips when play resumes at 2pm PT:
Seat 1: Maxim Lykov – 900000
Seat 2: Danny Wong – 900000
Seat 3: Andrew Lichtenberger – 900000
Seat 4: Peter Traply – 900000
Seat 5: Nasr El Nasr – 900000
14 players remain in the $2,500 8-Game Mixed event with Jon Turner (469,200) the chip leader when play resumes at 2pm. Other notables returning: Adam Friedman (325,800), Layne Flack (283,400), former MMA fighter and bracelet winner Rami Boukai (137,700), and Jimmy Fricke (47,400).
Lloyd Shinn of Dallas (86,500) leads the 397 players returning for Day 2 of the $1,000 Seniors NL Holdem World Championship at 2pm. Former WPT winner Eric Hershler (82,500) is in second. A few names stand out among the remaining players, such as Jerry Reed (38,500), former WSOP Main Event winner Berry Johnston (29,400), “Minneapolis Jim” Meehan (27,400), and Hall of Famer Barbara Enright (24,600).
Day 2 of the $2,500 Razz has Warwick Mirzikinian the leader (59,400) of the 118 players returning at 2pm on Tuesday. The field started with 315 players, only 32 making the money. Notables also returning include: David Chiu (41,800), Kenna James (38,600), Ville Wahlbeck (35,300), Justin Bonomo (30,600), Daniel Negreanu (21,900), and Archie Karas (15,900).
Another two tournaments on Tuesday, starting with the $10,000 Pot-Limit Holdem World Championship, won last year by Nenad Medic for almost $800,000 in a field of 352. The 5pm tournament is the debut of the $2,500 Omaha 8 or Better event. The WSOP Staff Guide projects a field of 370 for the 10k PL Holdem event, while in the $2,500 OHL, a field of 525 is projected.
A few recaps while several tournaments are on their dinner breaks:
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:
More…
The first major final table of the 2009 WSOP takes place at 2pm today for the 40th Annual $40,000 NL Holdem. ESPN will be filming today, the only bracelet event besides the Main Event to bring out their cameras. Fortunately, they’ve made a wise choice as they have a final table with a World Champion, several bracelet winners and some of today’s best Internet players battling out for nearly $1.9 million for first and a gold WSOP bracelet. Here’s how the players will be seated when play resumes:
Seat 1 – Ted Forrest (560,000)
Seat 2 – Noah Schwartz (660,000)
Seat 3 – Alec Torelli (2,340,000)
Seat 4 – Isaac Haxton (5,955,000)
Seat 5 – Greg Raymer (3,345,000)
Seat 6 – Justin Bonomo (1,685,000)
Seat 7 – Lex Veldhuis (3,805,000)
Seat 8 – Dani Stern (1,300,000)
Seat 9 – Vitaly Lunkin (4,565,000)
The unfortunate (for both ESPN and himself) final table bubble boy was Tony G, outflopped by Lunkin on the final hand of play yesterday, but he should be able to console himself with the $172,000 he earned for the 10th place finish.
Day 1a of the $1,000 NL Holdem Stimulus Special is now in the books, with 2,998 entries for day 1a, and only 375 surviving the donkey slaughter to return on Monday afternoon to join the remnants of Sunday’s field of nearly 3,000 who start play at 12 noon. The day 1a chip leader is Jeremiah DeGreef with 132,200 in chips, the only other player who broke the 100k mark was Jonathan Tamayo (107,500). The average stack for the remaining day 1a players will be about 24 BBs (24,000). A more detailed recap of today’s events from me can be found on PokerNews. Today at 12 noon, another field of nearly 3,000 will be taking their seats for day 1b, playing ten levels of poker and then coming back on short rest tomorrow to first make the money, then the final table.
The ESPN cameras will also be focused on the Champions Invitational which will start at 4pm PT today. Somewhere between 20 and 25 players anticipate on being part of the lineup, although Greg Raymer could certainly be excused if he shows up a little later than the others. Russ Hamilton and Bobby Baldwin, as noted earlier, will not be in action today. Chris Ferguson surely has RSVP’d by now, but the remaining champions (Mansour Matloubi, Hamid Dastmalchi, and Noel Furlong) may not bother coming back to Vegas just to play for the Binion Cup trophy and 1970 Corvette that goes to the winner.
The $1,500 Omaha 8 or Better event will also come to a conclusion today starting at 2pm, as 19 players remain at the end of play on day 2. Ed Smith is the current chip leader at 433,000 in chips, defending champion Thang Luu is in 2nd (410,000). Other notables remaining: Robert Price, Jim Geary, Freddy Deeb, Sebastian Ruthenberg, Richard Toth, Ming Reslock, and Jordan Rich. Follow all the action over at www.worldseriesofpoker.com and throughout the day here on Pokerati.
The $1,000 NL Hold’em Stimulus Special looks to be a huge success, as day 1a appears to be sold out with at least 2,800 entered. There’s still some room for tomorrow’s day 1b, but it looks like that field will also be maxed out before play gets underway at 12 noon today. The WSOP Staff Guide projected 5,305 entrants and that has already been exceeded, so I’ll take the cheap win and take the over with a field of 5700 who will eventually play this weekend as the WSOP staff finds a few additional tables to put on the floor to accommodate the field.
The 40th Annual $40,000 NL Hold’em event returns for day 3 action today at 2pm with 23 players playing down to Sunday’s ESPN final table. Justin Bonomo will start action as the chip leader with 2,678,000 in chips, Ted Forrest in 2nd with 2,586,000, and David “WhoooKidd” Baker in 3rd with 2,367,000. Greg Raymer is the last remaining World Champion in the field, in 4th place with 2,287,000. Other notable names include Alec Torelli, Dani Stern, Matt Glantz, Isaac Haxton, David Chiu, Neil Channing, Andy Black, and Andrew Robl.
The $1,500 Omaha Eight or Better also comes back at 2pm today with 197 players remaining from their record field of 918. 2008 winner Thang Luu appears to have returned to his winning form, as he’ll start play today as the chip leader with 73,600 in chips. Other notable names remaining in the field include Phil Hellmuth, Annie Duke, Todd Brunson, and Brandon Cantu. Their final table is also scheduled for Sunday, although with much less exposure than what will be a mix of live and online stars of the 40k event or the WSOP Champions Invitational event, which also starts on Sunday. More to come today, with an update soon (?) if the Stimulus Special has sold out.
8am Update: Under 80 seats left for Sunday.
10:30am Update: 5,839 registered from Da Commish’s Twitter
There’s a lot of interesting action going on tonight. The $40k NLH seems to have quite the storylines developing … Chris Moneymaker (@cmoneymaker) is still alive and strong, but the chip leader is now his new-poker-era successor, Greg Raymer. Justin Bonomo (@JustinBonomo) is still proving to be a big threat … all these boomtime champions, yet plenty of old dogs there, too — Steven Zolotow, David Chiu, Ted Forrest, e.g. — representin’ those pre-boom big-time days.
There are currently 38 players remaining, with 27 making the money. Click here to follow the official chip counts – and Dr. Pauly is all over this one, too.
UPDATE: Moneymaker just took a huge hit, losing 2/3 of his stack.
RE-UPDATE: Pauly is ahead of the official counters — Moneymaker is out. So is Zolotow.
There’s also some potential excitement brewing in the ESPN Fantasy Pool, with Matt Glantz (@MattGlantz, one of my guys) way up near the top of the chip counts; and Mathers has Neil Channing hanging on for his team of fantasy scabs.
Vanessa Rousso (@VanessaRousso) is also still alive, though barely. Wouldn’t it be something …
Last but definitely not least, Dallas/Shreveport baller Keith Lehr (pictured) is currently 5th in chips.
Today’s $1,500 Omaha 8 or Better tournament drew a record (for Omaha 8 ) 918 participants, with the eventual winner taking home over $263,000. No clear chip leader has emerged from the field, but some notable players who won’t take home a bracelet include : Barry Shulman, Mike Matusow, Jerry Buss, and Allen Cunningham. As the players near their 90-minute dinner break, nearly 600 will be enjoying their meal.
The 40th Annual $40,000 NL Holdem tournament is now in their hour-long dinner break, with 44 players remaining. For those who were wondering if there’s injuries in poker, 2008 WPT Championship winner David Chiu was receiving treatment for an injured right wrist. How this injury came up is unknown, but an explanation may come out shortly. Justin Bonomo entered the break as chip leader with 1,350,000 in chips, with Lex “RaSZi” Veldhuis in 2nd with 1,335,000, and Greg Raymer 3rd at 1,326,000. Day 1 chip leader Bruno Fitoussi was eliminated shortly before the dinner break. When the players return, they have another four levels or 18 players remaining, whichever comes first.
For anyone looking to play in this weekend’s $1,000 Stimulus Special and hasn’t registered, there are over 4,400 who have done so, with over 2,200 registered for day 1a Saturday already. The expected cap for each day 1 is 2,800 and it looks like it’ll be at least one day could be sold out shortly unless more tables get added. Stay tuned for more stuff during the evening.
Earlier this morning, Andrew Cohen became the first bracelet winner of the WSOP as he took down the $500 Casino Employees event. Cohen, a bartender at the N9ne Steakhouse at the Palms, took down $83,833 and will take part in the first bracelet ceremony of the Series at approximately 2:20pm in the Amazon room. Paul Peterson, a barback at the Mandalay Bay, finished 2nd.
At 2pm, the 40th Annual $40,000 NL Event will start their day 2 with 89 players remaining. Bruno Fitoussi will start play as chip leader with 812,500 in chips. Chris Moneymaker is close behind in 2nd with 805,000, with Justin Bonomo in 3rd with 738,000. With the final table scheduled for Sunday, it’s likely they’ll play down to the money today, which will be the final three tables.
The next bracelet event on the schedule will begin at 12 noon with Event #3, $1,500 Omaha Hi/Lo 8 or Better. Last year, Thang Luu won $243,342 in a field of 832. This year, the WSOP Staff Guide projects a field of 916 for today’s event. Taking into account that tomorrow will be day 1a of the $1,000 NL Holdem “Stimulus Special”, taking the under on this projection looks like the logical play here. I’ll suggest that the field size will be closer to 850. You can check out the WSOP site for updates during the day to follow the action and to see how right or wrong I guessed. More stuff from the rest of the team during the day.
More from @JustinBonomo (who is one of 89 out of 201 players remaining in the $40k NLH):
Oh man. Same thing if you fold out of turn. Even if its an accident, automatic 1 hand penalty. Wsop always makes the craziest new rules.
The $40k NLH is movin’ along … 111 left out of 201. One of the guys near the top in chips, @JustinBonomo, says:
Just broke 500k, but can’t believe new rule. Any card ACCIDENTALLY exposed is a 1 hand penalty. Dealers are instructed to always enforce it.
I tend not to like the absoluteness in the hands of a dealer, but then again, it is just one hand.
Click below to see who’s still alive and who’s busted:
(Chris Moneymaker is winning.)
In a case of subtraction by addition, the last two players to register for the 40th Annual $40k NL holdem event cost the eventual winner almost $135,000. Going by the WSOP’s payout structure, the winner would have taken 26.5% of the prize pool, or $2,025,000. However, the last two entrants pushed the payout into another bracket, as the winner takes down 24.5% of the prize pool–$1,891,000. The players are currently on their dinner break, to return at 8:30pm to play a few more levels tonight. 150 players remain when play resumes, some known names who don’t have to worry about returning: Daniel Negreanu, David Benyamine, Annie Duke, David Williams and John Juanda. The top three on the leaderboard: Antonio Esfandiari, Justin Bonomo and Chris Moneymaker, who have increased their 120,000 starting stack to over 400,000 so far.
The other tournament taking place, the $500 Casino Employees event, is also on a dinner break with 17 players remaining, with a winner to be crowned tonight. Andrew Cohen is the current chip leader with over 360,000 in chips. Team Pokerati member John Harris was knocked out in 26th place to take home $2,475.
Follow the players progress at www.worldseriesofpoker.com, and I’ll be back in the morning with more discussion on what day it really is at the WSOP. a recap of today’s events.
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.
We try not to engage in too much schadenfreude here at Pokerati, but the last post about Amarillo Slim’s efforts to restore his stature in the poker world has me contriving a poll in my head about who are/were the most undesirable people in/from poker.
Current Poker Sith Lords
Russ Hamilton — guilty til proven innocent, and with good cause.
Ernie Scherer III — he’s still innocent til proven guilty, but considering that he faces the death penalty for killing his parents to pay off poker debts — and the last 10 Google searches found on his computer were “countries that don’t extradite to the U.S.“, I think we can rest assured that he will not become a Full Tilt pro anytime soon.
Dishonorable Mentions
James McDaniel — this Dallas poker room operator was convicted of killing an ex-cop, engaged in collusion in Oklahoma (my personal observation and unproven accusation), and is currently on trial for supplying drugs to one of his railbirds who ended up OD’d-dead in a portable toilet.
Reformed Reputations
Jamie Gold
Justin Bonomo
Dutch Boyd
Jury Still Out
David Sklansky — technically crime-free, but young aspiring female players are hardly flocking to his tutelage.
Amarillo Slim — he says he’s not guilty, and his family and a lie detector now apparently agree, even though his criminal record implies otherwise.
Layne Flack — everybody seems to like Layne, but unless he’s working undercover a la Poker Brasco, hanging with Russ Hamilton surely won’t help him get sponsored by Ultimate Bet.
So who else? Really, I’m not looking for a bunch of potentially libelous name-calling … but I am looking to create a list of once and future poker bad-guys, and maybe a rating system for criminals and outcasts and offenses that may or may not attract the attention of law enforcement, but still result in scorn and contempt from fellow poker players.
Just because my poker telecasting career the PokerBowl seems to have fizzled under a cloud of overt mishandlement (like the video’s gone and everything), don’t think the concept of organized semi-collusion has been simply tried and dismissed. A different operation — Dream Team Poker — pulled off a successful invitational at the Hard Rock in November, and sure enough, as is always the case with these team poker events … everyone had a great funky-slightly-different-poker time. And the winners (Bluff publisher Eric Morris, editor Matt Parvis, and tournament ringer ZeeJustin) actually got paid — $39k divvied up accordingly.
Dream Team Poker 2 is ready to go — Mar 27-29 at Caesar’s — and this one will be an open event … so any threesome with $1,650 ($500+50 per person) can get in on the action. Because the buy-in is both big enough and low enough, I wouldn’t be surprised to see this be something of a good-ole-fashioned pro-am event … especially if some of the pros who have been buying into similarly priced Venetian Deep Stacks lately feel they have an edge because they’ve played in a couple of these team tournaments already.
What starts out as background talk between Eli Elezra and Patrik Antonius during the Poker After Dark cash game last week ends up getting Howard Lederer’s panties in a severe wad … not just when Antonius extols the greatness of being able to play online anonymously, but even more uncomfortably when Elezra (wearing a Full Tilt patch) confesses: “I have 17 accounts on Full Tilt.”
About 2:10 is where the relevant discourse starts:
Seriously, this is such an issue that online poker will eventually have to deal with in some way. Get the feeling if one of the online rooms launched a multi-accounting crackdown, they might lose half their players/avatars? It’s a rule the online sites have in place for the sake of security and game integrity, or at least as a component of legal disclaimer. And yet it’s counter-intuitive to one of the things that makes doing anything online, let alone poker — semi-anonymity — desirable.
The same issue is relevant at PokerStars … and for now, because both these operations, FTP and Stars, operate outside the (American) law*, the fates of players in violation of this unpopular rule — and the money in their accounts — is left to the discretion of an unregulated company, in an anything but an open forum.
* Not saying these are illegal businesses … just noting that they operate off-shore, and therefore fall outside American jurisdiction in most legal and business matters.
Will be curious to see if Elezra faces any sort of patch suspension for his “breakthrough” during poker therapy. Lederer has been super-diligent about protecting the integrity of “Play with the Pros” ever since Phil Hellmuth got called out for letting an amateur friend play as “Phil Hellmuth” on UB. But then again, perhaps Elezra has a solid defense: “just kidding … trying to put Howard on tilt in a cash game setting.”
Also curious if we’ll ever see the likes of Justin Bonomo consulting online sites the way reformed shoplifters get hired to advise retail corps on how to limit their losses from grift.
Link props: Wicked Chops
One of the guys speaking last night in Denver (and so few seemed to be listening) was none other than Former Rep. Jim Leach (R-IO). We hate him! He’s pretty much the architect of the UIGEA, having written the defeated house bill that would be repackaged in the Senate and passed by Bill Frist.
But apparently, since being ousted, he’s had a change of political heart and is abandoning the Republican right wing in favor of the Obamawagon.
Here’s what the 2+2 kids have been saying about his transformation, and whether or not this makes him the Justin Bonomo of politics. And here’s what non-poker forums (do they really exist?) are saying.
I’m not so sure I trust this guy, but some of the things he said that caught my attention:
Yet what frustrates so many citizens is … the way today’s Republican Party has broken with its conservative heritage.
The party that once emphasized individual rights has gravitated in recent years toward regulating values. … And the party historically anchored in fiscal restraint has nearly doubled the national debt, squandering our precious resources in an undisciplined and unprecedented effort to finance a war with tax cuts.
Interestingly enough, Leach’s speech was followed by the commercial below, starring Matt Damon, the poker-friendly star of Rounders, for One.org:
Alas, no mention of poker on that site, either, as their special interest is apparently in ending global poverty. Hmmm … not sure how we can tailor the poker message to tie in with their worthy cause. But hey, we do know that Matt Damon is, um, “doing things” to Sarah Silverman, who will be playing in the PPA charity tourney tonight. So the connection between ending global poverty and allowing people all over the world to bet tens of thousands of dollars on a flush draw could be closer than we think!
I’m just askin’ … watchin’ a little WSOP, and after an hour-and-a-half of ZeeJustin, I see a dude who’s good — really good — and possibly due for an ass-kicking.
UPDATE: Erick Lindgren says Bonomo is “the future of poker.”
Today’s attendance at day 1c of the Main Event was a vast improvement over the past two days, as 1,928 laid their money down to participate in the Main Event. Rumors are circulating that Sunday will have a complete sellout of 2,700 which would take them near the 7,000 figure that seemed improbable on Thursday. Among those whose dream is already over, such notables as: Huck Seed, Larry Flynt, Sean Buchanan, Gavin Griffin, Mimi Tran, Justin Bonomo, David Chiu, Bart Hanson, and Marco Traniello.
The leader at the dinner break appears to be Michael Martin, who is just under 100,000 in chips. More familiar names near the top: Jeff Madsen, Chris Moneymaker, Mike Matusow, TJ Cloutier, and the lovely and talented Liz Lieu, Clonie Gowen, Evelyn Ng, Kara Scott, and Isabelle Mercier. More updates can be found at the WSOP update site here.
The returning horde of about 1,500 will return shortly to play two more two-hour levels, with those survivors returning to play on Wednesday, July 9.
More updates during the evening…
Even on Day 3, when the majority of the players in the $50K HORSE event have long been eliminated, the rail is two- and three-deep where the last few tables are being played. When fans see Brunson, Ivey, Negreanu, and the like, they want to see the TV personalities up close. In reality, the fans are being kept at a very safe distance from the tables, but that won’t stop them from trying to get closer. And as the picture below shows, they were already packed along the rail before most players returned from tonight’s dinner break.
At the very end of the rail, I ran into some interesting folks. First, Justin Bonomo’s mom, step-dad, and uncle were behind the rope but as close as they could get to Justin’s table. They knew that he was a short stack when he returned from dinner, but they were so hopeful and positive. “He’s going to get some good hands here,” said his step-dad. But alas, only a few hands later, Justin was eliminated, and his family was there for support. A player couldn’t ask for more…
I also ran into two gentlemen with European-ish accents. One of them asked me to identify a player in a hat and red shirt at the table furthest from them. He was getting a massage and had his head down, which made it difficult to see his face from our rail vantage point. “Daniel Negreanu,” I said. “That cannot be! He look like black guy from here.” I assured him, as did several others around us, that it was Daniel and he was, in fact, white. He finally accepted it, and his buddy told me why it was important. They had a $100 bet on it, and the racially-confused fan went ahead and paid up.
Just a little chunk of what goes on from the sidelines…
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:
What’s happening at this moment while reading Gary Wise’s latest entry about what’s “good for poker” is really good for poker.
Today brings another two tournaments to the starting line, first at noon is the $2,000 NL holdem event and another large field is expected. The event the pros may be swooning over is the $10,000 Mixed Event “World Championship”. This tournament will have it all for the big cash game specialists as they throw eight games into the mix. This grouping of players will play Triple Draw lowball Deuce to Seven, Limit Holdem, Omaha 8, Razz, Stud, Stud 8, No Limit Holdem and Pot Limit Omaha; playing each game for 8 hands before moving on to the next game in the rotation. Hopefully there won’t be many mixups between the players, dealers, and floor and this becomes a staple of the WSOP schedule.
Play finally finished earlier this morning in the marathon that was event #2, $1,500 NL Holdem. After over two hours of headsup play, Grant Hinkle made an aggressive move, raising and eventually going all in with 10d-4d against James Akenhead’s Ac-Kh. Things were looking good for James, but his was truly aching after the flop came down 10-4-10. A fourth 10 hit the turn and it was over, as Hinkle took the bracelet and over $800,000 in victory. Chris Ferguson finished 3rd, the full results can be found over at Pokernews.
What else happened yesterday:
More…
What’s happening around the WSOP while the world’s #1 Limit Holdem player is waiting for you.
It’s almost 6:00am and play finished at 18 in the $1,500 NL event. They’ll be coming back at 1:30pm today to eventually get to a final table, broadcast for ESPN. Theo Tran appears to be the chip leader, while Chris Ferguson, Minh Nguyen, David Bach, and Perry Friedman are still in the mix.
Two new events go underway today, but expect more attention being paid to the $1,000 NL holdem w/rebuys event, starting at 12 noon. The two NL w/rebuys events averaged a combined 3,000 entries/rebuys, expect more of the same today. Daniel Negreanu has not had a good Series so far, expect him to be rebuying heavily today. For the non-holdem fan, the $1,500 Limit Omaha Hi/Lo 8 or better tournament will start at 5:00pm.
What happened yesterday:
More…
Bodog Poker announced this week that Justin “ZeeJustin” Bonomo has been signed to its roster of pros that comprise Team Bodog. He joins David Williams, Evelyn Ng, and Jean-Robert Bellande.
Where is Josh Arieh? According to his stats, he’s doing well. His Hendon Mob stats show that he has over $4.5 million in lifetime tournament earnings thus far, including two WSOP bracelets. In 2007, he made close to $200k, and he stands at $71,682 for 2008 so far. But he has been dropped from the Bodog roster because the company wants to move in a “different direction.” Quite possibly, that direction is away from married guys with kids, which probably doesn’t fit the definition of living the so-called Bodog lifestyle.
In the meantime, Evelyn Ng stays on the team. Her lifetime tournament earnings are… wait for it… $301,957. And in 2008 alone, she has made nothing. Nada. Zip. In 2007, she made $17,457.
Bonomo is a good choice for Bodog. He’s taken his online poker successes to the live circuit and done well with over $1.1 million so far. Yes, he was embroiled in a bit of a scandal during his younger online days, but he has made a sincere effort to overcome that stigma and become a respected member of the poker community.
What leaves me shaking my head is the decision to drop Arieh and keep Ng. If anyone has an answer other than, “She’s pretty,” I’d love to hear it.
