photo: @cgowen

Considering that Texas poker players helped build the third-largest friggin’ casino in the world (literally under a tent in Thackerville, OK) we can take some pleasure in knowing a bunch of Texans kicked butt in The River tourney this weekend and will be sending back home some riches made in El Norte.

WinStar reportedly threw in a $580,000 overlay to make their $3 million guarantee. Not sure about the buy-in details — I think they upped it to $2k? — nor overall results. The best “coverage” has come via 2+2 here, mixed in with some Facebook, Twitter, and direct txt msg buzz. (Thanks KevMath and Harris, as always, for the info!)

1,210 players overall.

The winner: Bobby Hempkins, aka “Shooter” in the Dallas poker boom days. (And now your source for residential real estate in the North Texas area.) $710k win. Nice!

5th place finisher Brian @ZBTHorton provided regular updates from the final table, such as:

8 left, these people suck (4pm)

Apparently tax issues may or may not have complicated chop discussions — though sounds to me that the Chickasaw nation is under similar corporate-legal restrictions as the WSOP.

7th place reportedly went to a guy named Lance. Paid $95k. Sounds like a nice prize distribution (at the final table, at least). Not too flat, not too steep.

Blind structure was supposedly relatively fast, however.

Pros who made the trek for this event included: Clonie Gowen, TJ Cloutier, Michael Mizrachi, Eric Mizrachi, Kido Pham, Terrence Chan, Michael Binger, Men the Master, Allen Kessler, and Dmitri Nobles. The real @EskimoClark was also supposedly milling around.

pic: @EWeE420

There’s an interesting little mini tourney taking shape right in front of the press box … it’s the $2,250 HORSE Mega-satellite (for tomorrow’s big $50k event).

It doesn’t look too different from many satellites or second-chance tourneys that get started in the eve, except there are a few more chips in play, and a lot more recognizable players.

27 entrants so far … cards are already in the air … 28. Alan Kessler showed up early. He’s wearing a Doyle’s Room patch. Mike Mizrachi is trying to get Bill Chen in a lasts-longest … there’s Michael Binger (wearing UB, No-Limit Management, and Deep Stacks University … a few other players that I kinda-sorta recognize, but not really. One guy hovering around who I can assume is a backer, but not sure who he’s behind …

29 entrants. Low-key, relaxed, but serious. Will find out if this is their only stab.

Recapping the early action from Thursday at the WSOP:

De Wolfe Lying Low at Final Table

As Dan mentioned below, Roland de Wolfe is trying to win his second bracelet at this year’s WSOP at the $1,500 NL Holdem final table. As the player’s just left for a dinner break, here’s the chip standings with seven players remaining:

Jonas Klausen – 3,315,000
Eric Baldwin – 2,505,000
James Taylor – 1,385,000
Andrew Youngblood – 1,118,000
Benjamin Scholl – 500,000
Roland de Wolfe – 305,000
Steven Bradbury – 240,000

Jesper Jumps to PLO Lead

About 30 players in the $5,000 Pot-Limit Omaha returned from their dinner break a few minutes ago, with Jesper Hougaard is the current leader. Sorel Mizzi, Isaac Baron, Ralph Perry, David “Devilfish” Ulliot and Fabrice Soulier are some of the notables remaining in the field as they try to make the final table of nine by the 3am deadline.

$2,000 NL Holdem Update

A smaller than expected field of 1,695 started the $2,000 NL Holdem event at noon today, with less than 700 who return after their 90-minute dinner break. Some notables who will get to return: Svetlana Gromenkova, Shaun Deeb, Joe Sebok, Roy Winston, Eugene Todd, Maria Ho and Michael Binger.

Stud 8 or Better Update

The $10,000 Stud 8 or Better World Championship drew a field of 164 that started shortly after 5pm, who will play eight levels tonight. Daniel Alaei is the early chip leader, with Scotty Nguyen, Tuan Le, Scott Clements and Frank Kassela among the notables near the top of the leaderboard. Tom Schneider is currently listed at 22,000 in chips (players started with 30,000).

More updates during the evening can be found at www.wsop.com and Pokerati during the evening hours

Recapping the early part of Tuesday action at the WSOP…

JC’s a Runaway Tran in PLO

JC Tran took down his 2nd career WSOP bracelet in the $2,500 Pot-Limit Omaha event defeating Jeff Kimber in heads-up play to also adds $235,685 to his tournament database. Ross Boatman finished in 4th, John Juanda finished in 9th place.

Wolpert Topples Duthie Heads Up

The $10,000 NL Holdem Heads Up World Championship just conclude with Leo Wolpert taking the final two matches to defeat John Duthie 2-1 and pick up $625,682. Duthie settles for the 2nd place winnings of $386,636. Duthie won the first match in about 90 hands, while Wolpert won the second match in just nine hands. The third match took 191 hands, ending when Wolpert flopped bottom two pair against Duthie’s top pair.

Micon Trying to Schock the World

The $1,500 HORSE now has six players remaining at the final table, as Mitch Schock is the current chip leader with Shannon Shorr, Tad Jurgens, Bryan Micon, Brian Malcolm, and James Van Alstyne round out the final table.

Lennaard, Part 7

Ken Lennaard, a veteran Swedish pro, is the current chip leader with 77 players remaining in the $2,000 NL Holdem event. Notables still in the field include: Michael Binger, Peter Feldman, Andre Akkari, Kelly Kim and Chau Giang.

Go, Ho, Go!

The $10,000 Limit Holdem World Championship is down to 48 players, only 18 get paid as they strive to reach a final table tomorrow. The current chip leader is online high stakes cash-game specialist Matt Hawrilenko with 272,000. Maria Ho is currently 3rd (225,000) with Ralph Perry (180,000), Josh Arieh (170,000), Steve Zolotow (150,000) and Jennifer Harman (142,000) among the notables still in contention. Ville Wahlbeck is still in the field, but towards the bottom of the field with just 54,000 in chips.

Donkament 4: Voyage to the Rio

The 4th $1,500 NL Holdem event started with a field of 2095, with only 669 players remaining. Unfortunately an early chip leader hasn’t been announced yet, but check out the morning update or wsop.com for an update later this evening.

The morning update for those that didn’t stay up all night to watch…

Zac Attac!

Zac Fellows took down the $3,000 HORSE event in a marathon final table just a couple hours ago, outlasting James Van Alstyne to take a bracelet home to Canada along with $311,899. With five players left, Van Alstyne had over half the chips in play, while Fellows was extremely short stacked. Eventually he worked his way to heads-up with Van Alstyne, the stacks nearly even. After nearly two hours of heads-up action, Fellows would finally finish off Van Alstyne, leaving him drawing dead in the holdem round to finish 2nd, good for nearly $200,000 and take him over the $3m mark in career tournament earnings.

Shootout at the Rio, Day 3

The final table is now set in the $1,500 NL Holdem Shootout with these 10 players left for a bracelet returning at 2pm to air on ESPN360 (wsop.pkr.com for those outside the US, and as always links courtesy of The Hendon Mob database:

Seat 1: Jason Somerville – 450000
Seat 2: Christopher Moore – 450000
Seat 3: Joseph Cutler – 450000
Seat 4: Jeffrey Carris – 450000
Seat 5: Michael McNeil – 450000
Seat 6: Joshua Tieman – 450000
Seat 7: Eugene Katchalov – 450000
Seat 8: Ralph Shannon – 450000
Seat 9: Andrew Margolis – 450000
Seat 10: Brandon Wong – 450000

2-7 NL Draw-ing to an End

The final table of the $10,000 NL 2-7 Single Draw World Championship finished with 10 players remaining when play ended earlier this morning. Here’s how these players are currently situated:

Seat 1: Justin ‘BoostedJ’ Smith – 122500
Seat 2: Steve Sung – 212500
Seat 3: Nick Schulman – 300000
Seat 5: Archie Karas – 264500
Seat 6: Vince Musso – 765500
Seat 7: David Benyamine – 139000

(Table 151)
Seat 2: Michael Binger – 108000
Seat 3: Ville Wahlbeck – 481000
Seat 5: Roland de Wolfe – 102000
Seat 6: John Juanda – 387000

Ville Wahlbeck continues his impressive run in World Championship events this WSOP, cashing in his fourth $10k buyin event. Steve Sung started play on Thursday 57th out of 57 players with just 6,100 in chips.

Donks Down!

The $1,500 NL Holdemevent finished exactly on the money as 270 players remain when play resumes at 2pm this afternoon. Glenn McCaffreywill start the day as chip leader at 187,800. Some of the notables who will also return on Friday: Dean Hamrick (134,700), Anthony Yeh (111,400), Kara Scott (81,700), Nam Le (57,000), and Thayer Rasmussen (50,200).

Half and Half

Day 2 of the $2,500 Omaha 8/Stud 8 resumes at 2pm with 153 players returning, 40 of which make the money. Veteran pro Can Kim Hua starts the day chip leader at 51,800. Notables trying to surpass him include: Jon Turner (43,300), Shirley Rosario (36,200), Phil Ivey (33,600), Chad Brown (31,200), and Shawn Sheikhan (29,500).

Friday’s Tournaments/Projections

The 12pm tournament will be the $1,500 Limit Holdem event, which was won last year by Jimmy Schultz for over $250,000 in a field of 883. The 5pm event makes its debut, $5,000 Pot-Limit Omaha 8 or Better. The WSOP Staff Guide projects the $1,500 Limit Holdem event field as 880 (taking the under, 804 is my guess), while the $5,000 PLO 8 event has a projected field of 150 (take the over, 168 being my estimate).

More news during the day here at Pokerati, so come back several times during the day.

Recapping the overnight action from Tuesday:

Alaei-ay-ay!

Daniel Alaei won his second career WSOP bracelet in the $10,000 Omaha 8 or Better World Championship, to win over $445,000. Alaei took the chip lead from Scott Clements as the final table progressed, as heads-up play with Clements lasted just two hands. Daniel Negreanu finished in 4th, John Monnette finished in 5th.

Brock to Brock for Parker?

The $2,500 NL 6-max event finished with 11 players at the 3am deadline, who get to return at 12 noon to reach the feature table, with final table coverage on ESPN360. Joseph Serock is the current chip leader, with Brock Parker in second place looking for another WSOP bracelet. Here’s how the final two tables will be situated when play resumes:

Seat 1: Alexander Ivarsson – 734000
Seat 2: Clayton Newman – 501000
Seat 3: Brian Meinders – 423000
Seat 4: Joseph Serock – 1745000
Seat 5: James Sudworth – 247000
Seat 6: Russell Crane – 672000

Seat 1: Alexander Wilson – 603000
Seat 2: Brian Friesen – 258000
Seat 3: Jay Kinkade – 542000
Seat 4: Jesse Rios – 745000
Seat 5: Brock Parker – 1603000

Is it Seif?

Day 2 of the $1,500 Pot-Limit Holdem event returns at 2pm today with 61 players remaining, all having made the money. Jason Dewitt is the chip leader at 184,700, with Mark Seif (83,000) and David “The Maven” Chicotsky (82,400) among the top 10. Selected notables: Glynn Beebe (62,700), Erik Seidel (61,400), Mike Sexton (35,000), and Joe Sebok (24,000).

HORSE for $3,000, Alex

Day 2 of the $3,000 HORSE event drew a field of 452, up nearly 40 from last year, with 197 players remaining. Rob Amereno is the leader at 96,800. Featured notables: Markus Golser (52,500), David Singer (48,700), David Levi (35,600), Doyle Brunson (32,800), Shirley Rosario (31,100) and Michael Binger (28,700).

Shootout at the Rio, High Noon

The 12pm tournament, as Dan noted in below, is the $1,500 NL Holdem Shootout event, which looks to be maxed out at 1,000 players already. 100 tables of 10 each play down to a winner, with the 100 players remaining coming back on Day 2. Last year, Jason Young won the bracelet in another maxed out field of 1,000 for over $330,000 in winnings.

Drawing to Conclusions

The 5pm event today is the debut of the $10,000 NL 2-7 Lowball, Single Draw World Championship event. Players start with 10,000 in chips along with two additional “rebuy” chips that can be used at any time in the first three levels. Phil Ivey won the $2,500 version of this event last week in a field of 147. The WSOP Staff Guide states that 85 players projected for today, so dead money will be hard to find. The projection appears a smidge high, so expect a field of 74 when registration is closed.

More stuff during the day at Pokerati and this afternoon at www.wsop.com

Another day, another two final tables delayed at the WSOP yesterday. Starting with the $2,000 No Limit Holdem event, 25 players return at noon on Saturday to play down to the winner. The reason for the early start is in the hopes that a final table will be reached around the scheduled 2pm time that the final table would air on ESPN360 (http://wsop.pkr.com for those outside the US). The chip leader when play resumes will be Mike Carlson with 858,000 in chips. Others people may have heard of include Jim Geary (511,000), and Jose Rosenkrantz (187,000).

The other event will definitely have a more intriguing final table, as the $10,000 Mixed Event World Championship is down to its final 20 players, all of whom are in the money. Huck Seed will be the chip leader at 645,500. In a father-son battle, it’s Todd Brunson (374,500) with a slight chip lead over Doyle Brunson (335,000). Other notables remaining include Mark Gregorich (266,000), Mike Wattel (210,000), Michael Binger (132,000), Eric Froehlich (102,000) and a mystery person who name and chip count wasn’t reported. They’ll get to return at 1pm, and with the average stack having just 10 big bets, a final table may not be that long in the offing.

In the two final tables that concluded earlier this morning, Ken “Teach” Aldridge schooled the final table to win the $1,500 NL Holdem 6-max event for $428,259, and Rami Boukai took down the $2,500 PLO/PLH (HA) event, which was worth $244,862.

More tournament news after the jump:

More…

Happenings tonight at the WSOP.

The $1,500 NL Holdem final table is now heads-up between Jesper Hougaard and Cody Slaubaugh. Jesper had been dominating the final table and started heads-up with $6,500,000 in chips to about 800,000 for Slaubaugh. Just 6 hands later, Slaubaugh had a nearly 2-1 chip lead as Hougaard decided it was now an opportune time to take the dinner break. They’ll return at about 9:30 PT to finish, the way it’s going it won’t take long either way. Follow along on the World Series of Poker’s update site here.

The other final table on Page 2.

More…

What’s happening at the WSOP tonight:

The $1,500 Pot Limit Omaha w/rebuys event just concluded with a winner, and it’s Layne Flack who put on a dominant performance at the final table, taking an overwhelming chip lead that no one would be able to catch him. Layne wins his 6th WSOP bracelet, putting him in some elite company as one of 10 poker players who have won at least 6 bracelets (Hellmuth, Chan, D. Brunson, Seidel, Cloutier, Moss, Baxter, Heimowitz, M. Nguyen are the others). Daniel Makowsky finished in 2nd, and Ted Forrest will have to try yet again to get his 6th bracelet, as he finished in 5th. Dario Alioto finished in 4th for those following the Italian contingency.

Other action from today after the jump:

More…

Tom’s continues to be on a tournament tear — having cashed for his 5th time in 2008 this weekend by finishing in 10th place in the $1,500 Razz event to bring him close to even for the WSOP so far! (He got busted by Archie Karas, holding the nuts.)

This cash ties him with some new Russian guy – sorry, haven’t yet figured out who’s who amongst the New Red Army (”Wolverines!”), but I know it’s not Alex Kravchenko – for most ITM (in the money) finishes … and puts him on pace to threaten the record of eight. From Nolan Dalla’s official updates (sent out before the conclusion of Razz):

Through the conclusion of Event #23, only one player has cashed five times to date – Nikolay Evdakov, from Moscow. Evdakov is in serious contention to challenge the record set for “Most WSOP Cashes in a Single Year,” shared by four players — Michael Binger (2007), Chad Brown (2007), Phil Hellmuth, Jr. (2006), and Humberto Brenes (2006), with eight in-the-money strikes.

That’s kinda fun, no? Because the most overblogged pro of the Series clearly knows his way around different events, he did a quick hallway interview with PokerNews while on break after busting out Doyle Brunson en route to crossing the money bubble in the $3k HORSE event:

Longtime Tom fans — Karridy and Angry Julie especially — will love the ending, and Tom’s face during it.