Kathy played yesterday, and Stacey takes her seat in just a couple hours — so get to the game @PalmsPokerRm ASAP! Today’s event is a $100 NLH with $50 rebuys. More Epic satellite details here.

(Also, by standing on such principles, I didn’t have to tell Tom he had a more promising future in selling pants than trying to qualify for the TOC.)

However, because the Maven Awards presumably isn’t looking to open an online poker room in the near future, and because, frankly, I was feeling bad for women in poker after the punk-bitch episodes in this year’s WSOP-Ladies event … I decided to give up my IP address to support the cause … somebody’s cause … in a way that seems like a good step toward someday negating the need for a separate Women in Poker Hall of Fame.

Much to my plausibly noble delight, it turns out The Maven Awards has an anonymous voting option that still does a decent job of preventing blatant ballot stuffing. (I tried; would require too much work for me to vote twice.)

I’m not sure when their voting deadline is, but it’s gotta be soon … so I encourage you to get your votes in, too, by voting here. Below are whom I voted for in each of the 14 categories and why:

Best Role Model for Women in Poker Award
Jennifer Harman
Kathy Liebert
Annie Duke

Ooh, tough one right off the top. There’s little not to like about Jen, but I’m not so sure I’d want my daughter aspiring to become such a high-stakes professional gambler — too many potential negatives that go with living in what can be a rather cold, hardcore world.

Kathy … she knows I have mad respect for her game and generally feel she deserves more props. But again to my imaginary offspring … I’d think my daughter some day should know a bit more about effectively shaking her moneymaker … not necessarily in a skanky ho-jiggle way, but to allow her to use whatever that moneymaker for her might be to her best advantage.

Annie … likewise, I think she’s a true and accomplished leader who wouldn’t be thought of as so bitchy if she were male. But hey, just as women have the advantages of sex appeal to work with, they also must bear the cross of maneuvering through a world where men often see strength from females as a negative … and sometimes not without reason.

So Jen Harman gets the nod here. If that theoretical daughter were going to choose a life of high-stakes Vegas poker — I’d prefer she not, but hey, it’s better than stripping — then indeed, I’d hope she could do it with both grace and prowess, to which Jen Harman serves as a fine role model.

Woman in the Poker Industry Who Has Excelled in Encouraging or Promoting Women in Poker Award
Linda Johnson
Kathy Raymond
Lupe Soto

Wordy category … But clear and easy winner here in Linda Johnson. Kathy has also done impressive stuff at the Venetian, but not with any specific female-empowering focus. Lupe maybe someday, but not yet.

Most Female Friendly Online Poker Room Award
Full Tilt Poker
PokerStars
Maria Poker

Maybe the cutthroat way Full Tilt looked to bury Clonie is just testament to their commitment to equal treatment for men and women alike. But regardless … have never heard of Maria Poker, and Stars has often promoted women as strong and viable players without resorting to hoochie-mama tactics.

Most Female Friendly Poker Room Award
The Venetian, Las Vegas
The Borgata, Atlantic City
The Bicycle, California

Clearly couldn’t be the Bike. Have never played at the Borgata. Easy vote for The Venetian, which isn’t just a great poker room, but one that never seems to have a shortage of female players, many of them plenty cute. Kathy Raymond must be doing something right to make sure these players like it there.

Overall Best Tournament Series Award
World Series of Poker
PokerStars Caribbean Adventure
The Borgata Open

Another easy one … women love the WSOP, and the WSOP loves its lady players.

Best Ladies Only Poker Tournament or Series Award
High Heels PokerTour
WSOP Ladies Tournament
Pokerstars EPT Ladies Events

Same as above. WSOP-Ladies … the House that Linda Johnson and Jennifer Tilly built?

High Heels might be a good one, but those Ladies-Only Tourney League/Series ops can be pretty cutthroat in their efforts to corner the Y-less chromosome sector of the poker market. Not really sure how HHPT plays. EPT-Ladies events are probably really good, but for all their action, don’t recall any EPT-Ladies-specific tourneys — whether via overall field size or impressive final table — resulting in something that made me take note.

Most Appealing Poker Marketing Campaign to Women Award
Australian Poker League
Vanessa Rousso Bootcamps
Pokerica Ladies Team

What, no Victory Poker here? Vanessa Rousso does really good work with her boot camps, I’ve seen from afar, and don’t know anything about the other two.

Most Encouraging Poker Forum Award
Twoplustwo.com
Cardrunners.com
LuvinPoker.com

Ack-gag-bleh! “Encouraging”? Why do you ladies even care about that kinda nonsense? You talk such a big sisterhood group-love game, but aren’t forums more a place for the claws-out back-stabbing realities of poker chickdom?

But OK, so you want encouraging … 2+2 obviously doesn’t belong — they don’t encourage anybody (which is probably why so many uber-poker-geeky dudes like the place). CardRunners is a current advertiser … and I’ve never seen anything disrespectful to women in their world.

LuvinPoker is a former advertiser (who presumably woulda been happy to continue on had Pokerati not made a recent decision to sever relationships with online poker sites). I’ve heard many stories specifically about how “supportive” their little group of players were in their forums, but it all sounded rather small and newbie.

Slight edge to CardRunners, for keeping a lady-friendly environ in a significant sector of the poker world.

Favorite Blogger or Author Award
Kate Dozier
Gary Wise
Jennifer Newell

Hmm, another potentially biased ballot, in a category featuring the lone male nominee. You can’t exactly consider Gary Wise a party-crasher akin to the shemale ladies-event players. They chose him … for some reason, so my pal and Poker Beat cohort must be a really standout good-for-women type of writer. But Jen is also a friend, and someone who’s helped this site a lot over the years as a blogger … AND who has turned into an admirable blogger in her own right.

Her gung-ho leftie politics may drive me to tilt, but I can’t let that get in the way of acknowledging that she deserves the nod for effectively pushing buttons on women-in-poker-related isues. Also snicker at the conflict of principles the mere existence of these awards would present for her (and Annie Duke) if Gary Wise weren’t a nominee.

Humanitarian Award
Liz Lieu
Annie Duke
Linda Johnson

Clear winner. Celebrity Apprentice and Ante-Up for Africa alone should be plenty by all measure. Inspiring women while shepherding the future of poker for everyone is nice (Linda) … and Liz doesn’t seem to be volunteering her time and resources on the ground for charitable efforts in Vietnam with accolades in mind. But making a needle-moving contribution to combatting genocide and oppression — on a scale noteworthy in a non-poker world … that’s gotta get the prize this go-round.

See conflict of principles bonus described above, too!

Most Notable Performance of 2009 Award
Annette Obrestad
Kathy Liebert
Vanessa Rousso

Another tough call. And though it may be my knowledge weakness not recalling the specifics of Annette’s or Kathy’s recent wins (think Kathy won a non-main event at Borgata?) … Vanessa’s win runner-up at the National Heads-Up Championship is what I insta-remember, which has to mean it is the most notable.

CORRECTION: Vanessa got 2nd, not first. Maybe a lucky ballot for her.

(And what about Daphne Turner, the woman who beat Allen Kessler heads-up to become the first two-ring woman on the WSOP-Circuit?)

Top Female Media Personality Award
Kara Scott
Michelle Orpe
Linda Johnson

A tweet from Kara is what prompted me to vote and do this post. I’ve met her a couple times and she seems nice, too. A heart-worthy media personality for the Web 2.0 generation, for sure.

Notable Upcoming Female Poker Player of 2009 Award
Annette Obrestad
Amanda de Cesare
Vanessa Selbst

NAPT-Mohegan Sun = notable by definition. Go Annette, but Selbst making moves on the table without the help of media and PR consultants. Seems appropriate, too, that poker should have a female bad-ass capable of appealing to fans of the WTA, LPGA, and WNBA. Hope Vanessa can get to that level of import in the world of power-fem competition.

Outstanding Professional Player of 2009 Award
Vanessa Rousso
Kathy Liebert
Liz Lieu

There we go … finally one that easily goes to Kathy. She’s an all-poker poker pro’s poker pro … putting up consistent and ongoing results year after year, including 2009 and 2010. So it doesn’t matter where the year this awards is honoring begins and ends … she should be the winner in this category for sure.

So there you have it … one Pokerati editor’s ballot that means no more no less than any other … with probably way too much explanation of why I believe some finalists are more deserving than others … of an honor that hasn’t yet proven itself of any real merits, but could play a relevant role in poker should these accolades go to the right winners over time.

Again, you can vote (anonymously if you wish) for the who’s who of poker females here.

Star Studded Final Table

Six players remain in the $10,000 Seven Card Stud event, with Men Nguyen the current chip leader with over 1,000,000 in chips. The rest of the final table consists of Nikolay Evdakov, Brandon Adams, Michael Mizrachi, Joe Cassidy and Steve Bilirakis. The first two to to cash from the final table are Vladimir Schmelev ($55,991) and Sirious Jamshidi ($46,206). Follow the final table activities, and other WSOP events over at PokerNews.

Dempsey Dominant at Pot-Limit

The final table of the $1,500 Pot-Limit Holdem event is down to heads-up, with James “Flushy” Dempsey holding the chip lead over Steve Chanthabouasy. JJ Liu fell short of triumph, finishing in 3rd for $86,512. Updates of the battle are ongoing over at PokerNews.

$1,500 NL in the money

Less than 100 remain in the $1,500 No-Limit Holdem, with chances appearing slim that a final table will be reached. Notables remaining: Blair Hinkle, Tom Dwan, Neil Channing, Roy Winston, and Alex Bolotin.

$1,500 Limit Day 2

The field in the $1,500 Limit Holdem event is down to 77 after their dinner break, with 63 making the money. Michael Miccio is the current chip leader at 85,000, followed close behind by Jameson Painter (82,000), Terrence Chan (81,000), Jason Potter (74,000), and David Plastik (56,000) in the top 10. Play continues until they reach the final table or around 3am, whichever comes first. More updates available at PokerNews.

Donkament #2 Numbers Down

1,922 handed over their money for day 1a of the $1,000 No-Limit Holdem event, a decrease from last week’s 2,600 day 1a. The remaining 450 players remain with play ending for the night when 15% of the field remains or 10 levels of play, whichever happens first. Some of the notable post-dinner break survivors: Phil Gordon, Kathy Liebert, John Cernuto, Tony Cousineau, Liv Boeree, and Vitaly Lunkin.

2-7 NL Lowball Draws a Crowd

A field of 250 players decided to give the $1,500 No-Limit 2-7 Lowball, Single Draw event a try, with notables such as Annette Obrestad and Eric Baldwin making their lowball debut. Players start with 1,500 in chips along with three $1,000 “rebuy” chips that can be used anytime within the first 4 hours. Nick Schulman appears to be the early chip leader with 25,000, but the volatile nature of the game means anything can happen over the eight levels of play this evening.

The Poker Beat
1/28/10

Here are the other winners:

Favorite Poker Personality: Mike Sexton
Top TV Poker Show for 2009: High Stakes Poker
Favorite Poker Podcast: The Poker Beat on PokerRoad.com
Top Poker Blog for 2009: WickedChopsPoker.com
Favorite Poker Forum: TwoPlusTwo.com
Best Poker Twitterer: Doyle Brunson
Favorite Las Vegas Poker Room: The Bellagio
Favorite Poker Room Outside of Las Vegas: The Commerce
Favorite Online Poker Site: Full Tilt Poker
Favorite Online Poker Resource: CardRunners.com
Top Story of 2009: Phil Ivey Makes WSOP Main Event Final Table
Best Online Poker Player: Tom “durrr” Dwan
Favorite Poker Villain: Phil Hellmuth
Favorite Player of 2009: Phil Ivey

From the WPT:

NOTE: Kathy Liebert still has a standing offer to play for Team Pokerati. We don’t pay your buy-ins, but we will put a patch on your chest and clap extra loud for you.

(BTW, semi-related but kinda an aside … Kathy Liebert, arguably the most successful on-the-tables female in history … is currently in strong chip position at a final table (5 remaining at time of press) in a $2,500 Foxwoods event. While reading the BJ guide, you can follow her ride as we are on Twitter here.)

BJ’s Guide to the History of Women in Poker

By BJ Nemeth

HOW MANY WOMEN PLAY

1.  In major tournament fields (WSOP, WPT, etc.) women usually comprise about 3% of the field. There are no official stats kept.

2.  The 2006 WSOP Main Event had the largest field in live tournament history with 8,773 players. It is estimated that only about 300 of them were women.

3.  This year there were 6,494 players, with an estimate of about 200 women in the field.

4.  Since 2006, the WSOP Ladies events have attracted between 1,060 and 1,286 women. A comparable $1,000 WSOP event attracted a field of 6,012, and only about 200 of them were women. Conclusion? Five to six times as many women will show up for a ladies event than will show up for a mixed event.

5.  In Jim McManus’s new book, “Cowboys Full: The Story of Poker,” he estimates that women make up nearly one-third of online poker players. Again, there are no official stats kept, but this shows that women are a much larger part of the game when they don’t have to sit down with men.

6.  Only one woman — Jennifer Harman — regularly plays in the biggest cash games in the world, playing against the likes of Doyle Brunson, Daniel Negreanu, and Phil Ivey. Harman not only plays with the big boys, but according to Doyle, she is a long-term winner in the game.

WOMEN WHO WENT DEEP IN THE MAIN EVENT

1.  The WSOP Main Event has been held every year since 1970, though there were no women at all in the earliest years. The first woman to ever cash in the WSOP Main Event was Wendeen Eolis in 1986. She finished 25th against a field of 141 players. (Side note: They paid 36 that year, and Eolis only cashed for $10,000, earning back her entry fee.)

2.  Only one woman has ever made the final table of the Main Event — Barbara Enright in 1995. She finished 5th in a field of 273 players, earning $114,180.

3.  Annie Duke came close to a final table, bubbling in 10th place ($52,160) in a field of 512 players in 2000 — while she was 8 months pregnant.

4.  The highest a woman has ever finished in the WSOP Main Event compared to the field size is Tiffany Michelle’s 17th-place finish ($334,534) in 2008 against a field of 6,844. Tiffany outlasted 99.75% of the field that year. (Annie Duke and Barbara Enright both outlasted about 98.1% of their fields.)

5.  Annette Obrestad won the WSOP Europe the day before her 19th birthday, earning $2 million against a field of 362 players. It is the biggest victory in history for a woman. This is completely separate from the WSOP Main Event, but worth noting.

SUCCESSFUL WOMEN IN WSOP HISTORY

1.  The first woman to win an open WSOP bracelet was Vera Richmond in 1982, when there were 14 events. Richmond outlasted about 80 players to win a bracelet in $1,000 Ace-to-Five Draw, earning $38,500.

2.  Another woman wouldn’t win a WSOP bracelet until 1996, when Barbara Enright (who final tabled the Main Event a year earlier) outlasted 180 players to win a bracelet in $2,500 Pot-Limit Hold’em, earning $180,000.

3.  Only 12 women have ever won WSOP bracelets in open events. (That number grows to 14 if you count the Seniors-only event and the casino employees-only event, both of which are still predominantly male.)

4.  The best year for women was 2004, when three women won WSOP bracelets — Annie Duke, Kathy Liebert, and Cyndy Violette.

5.  Since 2004: No women won bracelets in 2005, 2006, or 2009. Katja Thater won a Razz bracelet in 2007, and Vanessa Selbst won a Pot-Limit Omaha bracelet in 2008.

NOTABLE ACCOMPLISHMENTS BY FEMALE PLAYERS

1.  Jennifer Harman is widely regarded as the best female cash game player in history, and she is a regular player (and a regular winner) in the “Big Game” at Bellagio. Harman is also the only woman to have ever won two WSOP bracelets in open events.

2.  Kathy Liebert is the winningest female tournament poker player in history, with more than $5.5 million in earnings. Liebert was also the first women to earn $1 million in a single tournament, by winning the 2002 Party Poker Million cruise.

3.  Van Nguyen (wife of Men “The Master” Nguyen”) won the 2008 WPT Celebrity Invitational, earning $125,500. While it’s a mixed event, it is invitation only and the field includes a much-higher-than-normal percentage of female players.

4.  No woman has ever won a regular, open WPT tournament, though two have finished second (J.J. Liu and Kathy Liebert).

5.  Two women have won EPT events. Vicky Coren won EPT London ($941,000) in 2006, and Sandra Naujoks won EPT Germany ($1.16 million) in 2009. Both did it in their home countries.

6.  Annette “Annette15″ Obrestad won the WSOP Europe the day before her 19th birthday, earning $2 million against a field of 362 players. It is the biggest victory in history for a woman.

7.  As mentioned earlier, 12 women have won WSOP bracelets in open events: Vera Richmond (1982), Barbara Enright (1996), Linda Johnson (1997), Maria Stern (1997), Jennifer Harman (2000, 2002), Jerri Thomas (2000), Nani Dollison (2001), Annie Duke (2004), Kathy Liebert (2004), Cyndy Violette (2004), Katja Thater (2007), and Vanessa Selbst (2008).

8.  Two more women won WSOP bracelets in mixed events that were predominantly male: Sandy Stupak (1984, Casino Employees event) and Clare Miller (2006, Seniors event).

HIGHEST-EARNING WOMEN

1.  We only have data on tournaments (not cash games), but only two women are among the Top 100 of the all-time money list — Kathy Liebert (38th, $5.5 million) and Annie Duke (81st, $3.7 million). Daniel Negreanu is #1 on that list with $12.4 million, closely followed by Jamie Gold, Phil Ivey, and Phil Hellmuth.

2.  Three more women are in the Top 200 of the all-time money list:  Annette Obrestad (133rd, $2.76 million), Vanessa Rousso (176th, $2.38 million), and Jennifer Harman (177th, $2.37 million). That’s just five women among the Top 200 tournament players of all time, based on earnings.

AlCantHang fills in for yours truly to record the first ever Tao of Pokerati episode mid-lapdance — an “event” joined by DrizzTDJ and (briefly) Calfornia Jen. Change100 gives the (awesome) play-by-play. Plus Kathy Liebert … and is that Tom McEvoy?

Tao of Pokerati at the 40th WSOP
Las Vegas, NV

Episode 11.27: The Best Party of the Year (feat. AlCantHang)
1:27

Episode 11.28: Grindcore Poker (feat. Change100)
2:51

(Interlude …)
0:05

Negreanu looking for bracelet #5

The $2,500 Limit Holdem 6-max is down to the final three players, with Daniel Negreanu having a dominant chip lead. Brock Parker and Tommi Horkko are the other two left in the field. Finland now has its third top-3 finish in less than a week. You can still watch this final table at the Bluff website or for the international reader the PKR site.

Stammen Stampeding His Foes

The $2,500 NL Holdemevent just got to heads-up with Keven Stammen holding a 2-1 chip lead over Angel Gullen. This looks to be a very fast final table as it took just 70 hands to go from ten players down to two.

Ladies Event Attendance Showing Its Slip

The $1,000 Ladies NL Holdem World Championship drew a field of 1,088 this afternoon. That figure is down from last year’s 1,190, which was lower than 2007′s 1,286 total. 370 ladies remain in the field when they return from dinner break, with Ulrika Tangstrom the reported chip leader at 30,000. Defending champion Svetlana Gromenkova is third in chips (22,200), other notables include Maria Ho (22,100) Anna Wroblewski (14,100) and and Pam Brunson (8,200).

Seven Card Studs Wheeze into the Money

The Ladies’ field had at least one regular not in the field, as Barbara Enright ended a 23-year tradition of playing, as she was still in the field for the $1,500 Seven Card Stud event. The players made it into the money just before their dinner break, with 34 players currently remaining. Fabrice Soulier is the current leader with 120,000 in chips followed close behind by Dutch Boyd at 116,000. Defending champion Michael Rocco is 6th in chips at 75,000, with Enright listed in 7th in with 60,000. Other notables remaining include Thor Hansen (56,000), John Cernuto (40,000) and Pokerati blogger Robert Goldfarb (20,000. The players will now try to beat the 3am deadline to reach a final table, which does look like a possibility for this event.

5k Bubble Play

The $5,000 NL Holdem event has 65 players remaining, just two away from the money. Billy Kopp is the current chip leader at 350,000. Faraz Jaka is in 3rd place (334,000), with online phenoms Isaac Baron (326,000) and Mike Sowers (320,000) close behind. More experienced professionals Kathy Liebert (238,000) and Erik Seidel (225,000) are also in the chase. While Ivan Demidov hasn’t cashed at this year’s WSOP, his girlfriend Liya Gerasimova is on the cusp of doing just that with 215,000 in chips.

Omaha Will Get You Farha

The $10,000 Omaha 8 or Better World Championship brought a field of 179, including Sammy Farha, down 56 from last year. 30,000 in chips and a slow structure means low eliminations so far, but there’s bound to be a few when play ends today at the end of level 8.

To catch the updates for all of these events, head to www.worldseriesofpoker.com to follow all the exciting tournament action.

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.

The $1,500 Mixed Holdem event is down to its final 3 competitors with Jonathan Tamayo, Frank Gary and Nick Binger went on their dinner break. Binger, who at one point had over 1.6m in chips and had eliminated the first 6 players, lost his chip lead to Tamayo while Gray has been playing just enough to try and get into 2nd place. Follow their progress on the WSOP website here.

The $2,500 Limit 2-7 Triple Draw Lowball event is also on dinner break 3 handed. Shun Uchida, John Phan and Gioi Luong are remaining in what has been a very contentious final table. Luong and Phan had a verbal altercation after Luong attempted to change his discard, while Phan angrily accused him of angle shooting. Things have appeared to calm down, but in all the tension, Uchida has a commanding lead at this time. To see how that turns out, check the updates over at worldseriesofpoker.com here.

The other updates appear on the next page:

The $1,000 Seniors NL Holdem World Championship is down to about 70 with their chances of reaching the final table expected to take place early in the morning. Names that you’ve heard of remaining in the field: Tom McEvoy, Men Nguyen, Tom Franklin, and Avery Cardoza.

The $1,500 Pot Limit Omaha Eight or Better started with about 720, of which about 150 are remaining at this time. Notable names at the top include Joe Hachem, Layne Flack, Kathy Liebert, Chris Ferguson, Chip Jett, and Jeff Bryan, who allegedly left with $3,000 more than he should have after a 6-way chop was negotiated in one of the nightly $340 tournaments at the Rio last week. It appears that the tournament staff won’t honor chops and that the players have to settle it amongst themselves. See this post for more details.

Update: The thread has been updated with Jeff Bryan’s side of the deal.

More tomorrow, as we get the $50,000 HORSE underway at 5pm…

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:

The pros continued their domination of the World Series of Poker last night, taking down both bracelets awarded. First, Full Tilt Pro Kenny Tran beat Alec Torelli 2-0 to take down the $10,000 Heads-Up World Championship, taking down almost $540,000 and an invite into the 2009 NBC National Heads-Up Poker Championship. In the $1,500 Razz event, Team Poker Stars Pro Barry Greenstein won his 3rd career bracelet, eliminating Chris Klodnicki in an almost 3 hour headsup match. All three of Barry’s bracelets have been won in non-holdem events (PLO and NL KC Lowball being the other two).

The $1,500 NL donkament couldn’t get to a final table, so they return this afternoon with 17 remaining. Here’s the lineups for those two tables, filled with mostly unrecognizable names:

Seat 2: Trevor Donaldson (Phoenix, Arizona) — 470,000
Seat 3: Vitaly Lunkin (Moscow, Russia) — 912,000
Seat 4: Frank Simpson (Novi, Michigan) — 199,000
Seat 5: Deb Blair (Tucson , Arizona) — 310,000
Seat 6: Philip Yeh (Stenungsund, Sweden) — 819,000
Seat 7: Carl Jerome (Ellston, Iowa) — 495,000
Seat 8: Barry Schultz (Cordova, Tennessee) — 858,000
Seat 9: Richard Alm (Los Angeles , California) — 322,000

(Table 15)
Seat 1: Jordan Smith (College Station , Texas) — 789,000
Seat 2: Bashar Ramahi (Edmonton, Alabama) — 204,000
Seat 3: Jeffrey Brown (Hollywood, Florida) — 337,000
Seat 4: Tony Gargano (Sterling Heights, Michigan) — 284,000
Seat 5: Deric Fitzgerald (Huntington Beach, California) — 175,000
Seat 6: Brett Kimes (San Antonio, Texas) — 208,000
Seat 7: Bobby Firestone (Santa Barbara, California) — 544,000
Seat 8: Kenneth Terrell (Lawrenceville, Georgia) — 888,000
Seat 9: Robert Brown (Roseville, California) — 300,000

The $3,000 NL Holdem field is down to 81, but only 72 will get paid. Alex Zaslavsky is chip leader, other notable names remaining include John Phan, David Singer, Tony “Bond18″ Dunst, Jimmy Fricke and Kathy Liebert.

The $10,000 Limit Holdem World Championship is down to 98 on day 2, with Patrick Bueno the current chip leader. Other notable names include Justin Bonomo, JC Tran, Terrence Chan, Michael Mizrachi, and Alex Kravchenko.

Today, there’s only one tournament, the $2,500 NL Holdem 6-handed event that will start at noon. Last year, Hoyt Corkins won the bracelet in an 837 entrant field.

More updates later in the day…

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

More at the jump:

The $1,500 Razz event is down to 3 handed, with Barry Greenstein currently in the lead over Chris Viox and Chris Klodnicki. Archie Karas finished 7th at this final table with $19,000 to attempt to build up the bankroll again.

The $1,500 NL donkament is about to return from dinner break with 66 remaining to play down to the final 9. Among the names remaining, Jean-Robert Bellande, Humberto Brenes, and Bernard Lee.

The $5,000 PLO w/rebuys event is down to the final 27, with only 18 to be paid. Among the notables: Phil Hellmuth, Daniel Negreanu, Nikolay Evdakov (trying for his 6th cash), and David Williams,

The $3,000 NL Holdem event drew a field of 716, with just over 200 to return from dinner break. Early chip leaders: John Phan, Mike Sowers, David Singer, and Kathy Liebert.

The $10,000 Limit Holdem World Championship drew a field of just over 200 with Michael Mizrachi the early chip leader.

I get to come back in the morning, while Dan and Jen get to add stuff the rest of the evening…

Happenings from yesterday at the WSOP:

The other final table of yesterday concluded earlier this morning, as Jimmy Shultz took down Event #12 ($1,500 Limit Holdem), eventually beating Zac Flowers in a heads-up battle to win a bracelet along with just over $250,000. Upon his victory, he announced he was donating 25% of his win to the Charleston, SC Fire Department , who lost nine firefighters June 18, 2007. Vinny Vinh, along with his “associates” railing him, finished 3rd.

More info after the jump:

Two more final tables were established on Sunday, first in event #14 ($10,000 7 Card Stud World Championship, will feature this final table (Phil Ivey eliminated on the final table bubble in 9th), starting at 3pm today:

Seat 1: David Oppenheim 508,000
Seat 2: Alexander Kostritsyn 495,000
Seat 3: Jim Paluszek 413,000
Seat 4: Erik Seidel 273,000
Seat 5: Vassilios Lazarou 259,000
Seat 6: Minh Ly 424,000
Seat 7: Fu Wong 429,000
Seat 8: Eric Brooks 359,000

The other final table today is Event #13 ($2,500 NL Holdem). They will appear under the bright lights of the cameras for ESPN360.com (audio coverage may be available at worldseriesofpoker.com). Here’s that lineup:

Seat 1: Brent Hanks: 625,000
Seat 2: Steven Merrifield
Seat 3: Shawn Buchanan: 775,000
Seat 4: Duncan Bell: 1,966,000
Seat 5: Jason Sanders: 920,000
Seat 6: Nathan Doudney: 175,000
Seat 7: Brent Ditzik: 250,000
Seat 8: Nicolas Levi: 320,000
Seat 9: Ariel Soffer: 350,000

Tournament action began on Sunday at noon with event #15 ($1,000 Ladies NL Holdem World Championship). Action concluded shortly after 1am with 62 out of of the 1,190 participants remaining. Among the familiar names: Olga Varkonyi, Evelyn Ng, Linda Johnson and Kathy Liebert. Action begins again for the ladies at 2pm.

The 5pm tournament, Event #16 ($2,000 Omaha finished with 178 remaining from a field of 553. They get to return at 3pm today to try and get to their final table. Current chip leader is Mark Goodwin, other notables in the field include Jimmy “Gobboboy” Fricke, Barry Greenstein, Dutch Boyd, Men Nguyen and David Williams.

Monday’s tournament lineup features another pair of events to those with varying bankrolls. The noon tournament today is Event #17 ($1,500 NL Holdem Shootout). This one may sell out early (it appears registration would be capped at either 900 or 1000) so getting there early would be strongly encouraged to avoid being shutout.

The 5pm tournament is Event #18 ($5,000 NL 2-7 Draw w/rebuys, aka Kansas City Lowball). Only the biggest names (or those with a deep bankroll) enter this field. Erik Seidel took it down last year in a field of only 78 (with 226 rebuys).

More from me later today, other great stuff as always from Dan, Jen and the rest throughout your Monday.

Tom is was the chip leader in the $2k Omaha Hi-Lo. That’s pretty cool.

UPDATE: Tom is out. Not cool.

And that limit event he busted out of yesterday … Erick Lindgren just missed the final table, which is now set with some interesting players, including Teddy Munroe, Ali Eslami, and Vinny Vinh. (Teddy and I go way back — last year I’d be typing outside and “The Iceman” would fill me in on the $100-$200 cash action while taking a piss on the tournament tent air conditioners. “Makin’ money, baby!” he’d say before shaking himself dry and heading back to the table.)

Even the $10k 7-Stud World Championship is getting interesting … with Doyle still alive and both Bob and Maureen Feduniak with the potential to become the first ever husband-wife presumably non-collusive team at the final table. Never mind. Since typing this, all the above-mentioned have been eliminated.

I learned about this 7-Stud shape-up from the a WSOP-TV vid. And though I tend to detest any lack of imbeddability, I gotta say I like a lot of what this ESPN/WSOP/Bluff (?) crew has got going here. For example, Harmonie Krieger does a basic feature video interview set on the different jobs people come to the WSOP from. Nice enough, right? — but very real when one of the guys she talks with is Jay Columbo, who ran the legendary Mayfair and Playstation poker clubs in New York City, legally questionable status notwithstanding.

And then, perhaps most shocking to me, I enjoyed Jean-Robert Bellande’s “Surviving the WSOP” — where the young, aspiring Eskimo Clark chronicles his ups and downs at the World Series while his video-podcast editors comment Pop-up Video-style — follow along as he hustles high-rollers for buy-ins.

Even learned something from Phil Ivey’s less exciting V-log … and that is that he’s playing so many big-field, low-buy-in donkfests because he has a lot of side action pending on whether or not he’ll win a bracelet this year. We’ll see if we can’t find out more about this.

Speaking of donkfests, the Ladies Event has already lost 2/3 of its starting field, and of those still remaining, at least three of them are Pokerati MySpace friends: Lacey Jones, Kathy Liebert, and Mandy Baker are looking strong and pretty much representing the spectrum of all that is good about women. Go girls! I mean chicks … er babes .. uh bitches?

UPDATE: Lacey is nursing a short stack. Poker Roadie Amanda Leatherman has come on strong, however, and picked up the aggressive pace. Michele Lewis, Tiffany Michele, and PokerNews editrix Haley Hintze are all out.

In the meantime, primarily because it is awesomely embeddable, check out the debut episode of The Degenerate Report, from Neverwin Poker:

Regardless, who knew such amazing action was going on? I think ESPN gets a hit with their first episode … and I gotta say, even though it was apparently all going down a tequila-bottle’s throw from the press box, I am looking forward to seeing how Nenad beat such an impressive field:

Official Report
Event # 1
Pot-Limit Hold’em
Buy-In: $ 10,000
Number of Entries: 352
Total Net Prize Pool: $ 3,308,800
May 30-June 1, 2008

Final Results:

1 Nenad Medic $794,112.00 Niagara Falls Canada
2 Andy Bloch $488,048.00 Las Vegas Nevada
3 Kathy Liebert $306,064.00 Las Vegas Nevada
4 Mike Sexton $248,160.00 Las Vegas Nevada
5 Amit Makhija $198,528.00 Brookfield Wisconsin
6 Chris Bell $157,168.00 Raleigh North Carolina
7 Patrik Antonius $124,080.00 Helsinki Finland
8 Mike Sowers $99,264.00 Thomasville North Carolina
9 Phil Laak $74,448.00 Dublin Ireland

Nolan Dalla’s official report below:

10. John Kabbaj $49,632.00 London England
11. Ryan Young $49,632.00 Torrance California
12. Nikolay Evdakov $49,632.00 Moscow Russia
13. David Benefield $41,360.00 Fort Worth Texas
14. Chris Gildone $41,360.00 Cleveland Ohio
15. Justin Newton $41,360.00 Tucson Arizona
16. Andreas Krause $33,088.00 Stuttgart Germany
17. Alexander Kostritsyn $33,088.00 Moscow Russia
18. Michael Pesek $33,088.00 Carol Stream Illinois
19. Eli Elezra $26,470.00 Henderson Nevada
20. Rolf Slotboom $26,470.00 Amsterdam Netherlands
21. Anthony Licastro $26,470.00 Long Valley New Jersey
22. Dustin Woolf $26,470.00 Los Angeles California
23. David Stroj $26,470.00 Tijuana Mexico
24. Vivek Rajkumar $26,470.00 Seattle Washington
25. Ted Lawson $26,470.00 Plantation Florida
26. Joseph Sanders $26,470.00 Lima Peru
27. Jerri Thomas $26,470.00 Hamilton Ohio
28. Ben Sprengers $23,162.00 Plantation Florida
29. Raphael Zimmerman $23,162.00 Omaha Nebraska
30. Mark Newhouse $23,162.00 Chapel Hill North Carolina
31. Matthew Graham $23,162.00 Las Vegas Nevada
32. Chuck Pacheco $23,162.00 Los Angeles California
33. David Bach $23,162.00 Athens Georgia
34. Marco Johnson $23,162.00 Walnut Creek California
35. Tommy Vinas $23,162.00 Houston Texas
36. Kazuki Ikeuchi $23,162.00 Tokyo Japan

Tournament Notes:

• This event attracted one of the most accomplished fields in history. Of the 352 entrants, 84 were former WSOP gold bracelet winners – amounting to about 24 percent of the field. The 84 former winners hold a combined 143 gold bracelets between them – which amounts of about 20 percent of all the gold bracelets won in the 39-year history of the WSOP.

• All four of the former WSOP “Player of the Year” winners – Daniel Negreanu, Allen Cunningham, Jeff Madsen, and Tom Schneider – entered this event.

• Eight former WSOP champions played in this event. They included Jamie Gold, Greg Raymer, Chris Moneymaker, Chris “Jesus” Ferguson, Jim Bechtel, Berry Johnston, Tom McEvoy, and Doyle Brunson.

• The tournament began with a short opening ceremony, which included a recital of “Viva Las Vegas” by the University of Nevada-Las Vegas marching band. The ceremony also included welcoming remarks by Jeffrey Pollack, WSOP Commissioner. Pollack stated that all WSOP gold bracelet winners will be awarded “Diamond Status” at Harrahs Entertainment properties, entitling many special rewards and privileges.

• The customary “Shuffle Up and Deal” announcement was made by ten-time gold bracelet winner and two-time world champion Doyle Brunson.

• No question, the World Series of Poker (emphasis added) is truly global. Of the 36 players who finished in-the-money, 11 different nations were represented – including Canada, England, Finland, Germany, Holland, Ireland, Japan, Mexico, Peru, Russia, and the United States.

• Four different nations were represented at the final table – including Canada, Finland, Ireland, and the United States.

• This was the first WSOP event of the year to be televised by ESPN. The final table was played on the ESPN stage, surrounded by the Milwaukee’s Best Light All-In Lounge. Seating for WSOP final tables remains free and open to the public.

• Prior to the final table start, Mike Sexton made the astute observation that this might have been the only final table in poker history which included five (or more) players who each won a million dollars-plus in a single tournament, not including the WSOP Main Event. Sexton, Bloch, Medic, Antonius, and Liebert have all accomplished that feat.

• Another interesting side note was that Mike Sexton had more career WSOP final table appearances (20) than the rest of the eight-handed final table combined.

• Mike Sexton also currently ranks ninth on the all-time number of cashes list in WSOP history, with 45.

• If the very first hand of the first final table is any indication of what’s to come at this year’s WSOP, things should be exhilarating. On the first hand of play, Phil “the Unibomber” Laak moved all-in with pocket jacks. High-stakes poker shark and heartthrob Patrik Antonius called his raise and showed pocket kings. A jack on the flop brought wild cheers from the crowd and a dance from Laak. But a king on the river gave Antonius the pot, leaving Laak low on chips. He busted out only a few hands later holding the same dreaded hand – pocket jacks (Nenad Medic’s pocket aces won the pot).

• Laak’s final table appearance was short, but highly memorable. Known for his unpredictable antics, Laak brought along a stack of “Post It” notes to the table. When he moved all-in (three times), Laak wrote private notes and then approached ESPN’s rolling TV cameras. While his opponent was contemplating a decision, Laak wrote “Please Fold!” and other whimsical comments.

• Phil Laak was joined by poker aficionado and former Oscar-nominated actress Jennifer Tilly, who sat among the capacity crowd.

• The 2008 Pot-Limit Hold’em world champion is Nenad Medic. He is a 25-year-old professional poker player from Niagara Falls, Ontario (Canada). Medic was born in Serbia. He is single, but has a devoted girlfriend who was following the final table action back in Canada.

• At a final table filled with thrilling moments, perhaps the most exciting hand took place when play was three-handed. Kathy Liebert moved all-in with her pocket sixes. Andy Bloch moved all-in over the top with his pocket nines. Nenad Medic called with pocket queens. Medic’s higher pair held up, and he maintained the chip lead for the remainder of the tournament.

• The winning hand was Medic’s 7h-5h against Bloch’s 9h-9d. After the flop came 8h-5s-4h, Medic re-raised all-in with his combination straight and flush draw. Bloch called with his overpair (nines). The Jh on the turn gave Medic his heart flush, which scooped the final pot of the night.

• Today (June 1st) marked Andy Bloch’s 39th birthday. He started play at the final table with the chip lead. It was a mixed blessing for Bloch to win $488,048 in second-place prize money, but not win his most-justified first WSOP gold bracelet. Bloch is perhaps best known in poker for his near heroic second-place finish to poker legend Chip Reese in the 2006 $50,000 buy-in HORSE championship, which included an all-time record eight hours of heads-up play.

• Afterward, Bloch commented: “Obviously, there are more important things in life than winning poker tournaments. I know its sacrilege for a poker player to say that. But all you can do in poker and life, in general, is do your best, and play your best – and hopefully the best thing will happen. That’s all I do when I sit down at a poker table. I try to play my best.”

• When play was at four-handed during a break, Mike Sexton (who was till alive in the tournament) remarked that he thought eventual winner Nenad Medic is “one of the toughest No-Limit Hold’em players (he) has ever seen.” Sexton’s high praise proved to be well-deserved as Medic ended up as the champion.

• The seventh place finisher was Patrik Antonius. The Finnish-born poker star, who now lives in Las Vegas, has become one of the top high-stakes players in the world. He regularly plays in (and often dominates) cash games with seven-figure swings. However, Antonius has yet to achieve every poker player’s dream – winning a WSOP gold bracelet.

• James Gorham was the unfortunate bubble victim. He finished in 37th place. Only the top 36 players were paid.

• Jerri Thomas became the first woman to cash at the 2008 WSOP. The former gold bracelet winner (2000 – Seven-Card Stud) took 27th place, worth $26,470. This marked her 11th career WSOP cash.

• Not to be outdone, another former WSOP gold bracelet winner Kathy Liebert became the first female to make it to a final table at the 2008 WSOP. She finished in third place and collected $306,064.

• Former major league baseball star Orel Hershiser played in this event. The former National League MVP and World Series (of baseball) MVP played most of his career with the Los Angeles Dodgers. Hershiser has become an avid poker player in recent years.

• The tournament was played over three days. The first day included ten levels and was played from 12 noon until 12:45 am (352 players played down to 70). Day Two was played from 2 pm until 4:45 am (70 players played down to nine). The final table of nine players was played on Day Three and started at 3 pm and ended at 11:45 pm.

• While all 55 WSOP tournaments on the 2008 schedule are categorized as “gold bracelet” events, this is also known as a “world championship” event. This means the winner of this event is the “Pot-Limit Hold’em world champion.” Beginning this year, all $10,000+ buy-in tournaments are designated as official “world championships.” This means a total of ten WSOP tournaments are world championships. This includes eight preliminary tournaments with $10,000 buy-ins, the $50,000 buy-in HORSE event, and the main event.

• This was the first time that a $10,000 Pot-Limit Hold’em event has ever been included on the WSOP schedule. The previous highest buy-in Pot-Limit Hold’em tournament in history was $5,000. Last year’s $5,000 buy-in tournament (Event #13) attracted 398 players. Given the doubling of the entry fee in 2008, there were some concerns about the number of players this event would attract. However, 352 players entered Event #1, creating the largest Pot-Limit Hold’em prize pool in poker history. The total prize pool for this tournament amounted to a record $3,308,800. The top 36 players collected prize money.

• 2008 Pot-Limit Hold’em world champion Nenad Medic received $794,112. This now stands as a record amount of prize money paid to the winner of a Pot-Limit Hold’em tournament.

• ESPN will air the telecast of this event on July 22, 2008.

Note: All results are official and may be reprinted by media.

The first final table is taking place right now, as Andy Bloch is dominating the final table at this time. Patrik Antonius (named a Team Full Tilt Pro in a press conference today) was an early casualty, while Kathy Liebert (on a final table deal with PokerStars) was hanging in there with 4 left.

Monday will be the first day with two tournaments starting the same day. Noon brings the $1,500 Pot-limit holdem event, while at 5, the $5,000 Mixed Holdem (half limit, half no-limit) will get started. Many pros surely will be double-dipping tomorrow if they get eliminated early in the day, as always Pokerati will be there to blog their little hearts out, God bless them.

Though I can’t quite tell if this is a temporary final table deal or a long-term investment based on future success, Kathy Liebert, oft-overlooked despite being arguably the most successful woman player in the history of poker, just signed with PokerStars as she makes her run for a bracelet in the $10k PLH Event. Am interested to know if this suggests online poker sites are looking for longevity over one-hit wonders in their sponsorship deals this year, or if it is simply a matter of still plastering televised final tables with logos on whatever body space is still available.

UPDATE: Just got confirmation that this is just a final table deal — she’s not Greg Rayer/Chris Moneymaker/Joe Hachem/Isabelle Mercier yet. So it seems winning the main event/being hot-and-young in France is still key when it comes to booking long-term sponsorship deals.

So new question: Will all these new “World Championships” really be perceived as such by the masses, and perhaps more important, the online-poker room payhandlers?

Click below to read the info sent from a Stars representative:

Kathy Liebert will be looking to earn her second WSOP bracelet under the PokerStars brand. Liebert enters today’s $10k Pot-Limit Hold’em WSOP final table with 285k in chips, as the only woman on the table.

PokerStars is excited about working with Liebert again is and is confident that she will add to the PokerStars gold bracelet count when the final card hits tonight.

Kathy Liebert is first on the Women’s All Time Money List with over $4 million in tournament winnings to-date. She won the $1,500 Hold ‘Em Shoot Event at the 2004 World Series of Poker. She was one of three women to win an open event in that year’s WSOP and is looking to be the first player to win a bracelet in 2008.

Although Liebert has made a career out of poker, she still uses her financial acumen to invest in the stock market. She also holds a blue belt in karate.

Liebert can be found playing at PokerStars under the name “Luckat.”

Today will also have the first final table, as the $10,000 PL Holdem event finished up just before 5:00am, setting up a fantastic final table under the ESPN cameras. This final table has something for every section of the poker community. You have the young Internet stars (Mike Sowers and Amit Makhija), players wel-known to the mainstream audience (Phil Laak and Mike Sexton), a female player (Kathy Liebert), a math genius (Andy Bloch), international stars (Patrik Antonius and Nenad Medic) and a good ole boy from North Carolina (Chris Bell).

Here’s how the final table will be seated:

Seat 1: Mike Sowers 675,000
Seat 2: Chris Bell 455,000
Seat 3: Amit Makhija 525,000
Seat 4: Patrik Antonius 230,000
Seat 5: Andy Bloch 2,115,000
Seat 6: Mike Sexton 1,130,000
Seat 7: Phil Laak 425,000
Seat 8: Nenad Medic 1,200,000
Seat 9: Kathy Liebert 285,000

What happened yesterday:

An almost sold out field of 2,048 started play Saturday in the $1,500 NL event. The plan was to play ten 60-minute levels, but the eliminations went so quickly, that the tournament staff decided to stop play when the field was down to 224 players. They’ll get to relax on Sunday, waiting to see they’ll be playing Monday afternoon, starting around 5:00pm PT.

The $10,000 Pot-Limit Holdem field of 70 started at 2pm, playing about 15 hours (with a 3 hour long bubble for the televised final table). Payouts for the other 27 money earners (which included Eli Elezra, Mark Newhouse, Rolf Slotboom) can be found at Pokernews, Card Player, or your favorite outlet for poker results.

More later today…

The player was issued a warning, because at the WSOP it’s against the rules to check the nuts when you’re last to act on the river.

(This rule is new to me … makes sense-ish. But am curious what happens if, say, I have the nuts, am first to act, bet, the next guy raises, and I just call. Will see if I can find out the answer to this in the next half hour month.)

6:40 pm: Down to 3 medium stak
7:59 pm: Out3rd qq vs a5 4 a lot of money

Kathy Liebert would go on to win this event, and the $55k first prize. Still, not a bad warm-up for the main event, which starts this coming Monday. It’s a $15,000 buy-in and should be a doozy.

Tom is making his desperate last-ditch effort to win CardPlayer’s Player of the Year, where he currently is ranked 6th. Though he has not been mathematically eliminated from contention, he basically needs to kick major ass while relying on Bill Edler, JC Tran, David Pham to seriously falter.