Recapping the six-pack of WSOP events on Monday:

Graham Looking to Crack PLO Final Table

Matt Graham is the current chip leader at the $10,000 Pot-Limit Omaha World Championship final table which features several WSOP bracelet winners (including Graham). Here’s how the players are currently seated, currently streaming on ESPN360 and wsop.pkr.com:

Seat 1: Ferit Gabriellson
Seat 2: Matt Graham
Seat 3: Barry Greenstein
Seat 4: Josh Arieh
Seat 5: Stefan Mattsson
Seat 6: Richard Austin
Seat 7: Van Marcus
Seat 8: Vitaly Lunkin
Seat 9: Robin Keston

Can Cantu Can Do?

The $1,500 NL Holdem event is now on dinner break, returning with eight players remaining. Roy Foley is the current chip leader, with Brandon Cantu currently in second, with Alex Jacob in third.

Shootout Nears its OK Corral

The $5,000 NL Holdem Shootout has one table remaining before play concludes with the five winners of their six person table. Andrew Licthenberger, Danny Wong, Maxim Lykov and Peter Traply have already claimed their seat, while Nasr El Nasr and Barny Boatman are playing for the last seat. Phil Ivey was at the same table as El Nasr and Boatman, finishing 8th to move into the lead in the WSOP POY standings if the criteria doesn’t change.

Thang Doing his Thang in 8-Game

Thang Luu is trying to prove he’s not an Omaha-8 wonder, as he’s the current chip leader (150,000) in the $2,500 Mixed Event with 54 players remaining, 40 making the money. Other notables with chips: Michael Binger (115,300), Layne Flack (80,000), Blair Rodman (67,500), Jimmy Fricke (50,000) and Robert Williamson III (30,000). Play will continue until the 3am deadline or when 8 players remain, whichever comes first.

Seniors Sellout

A capacity field of 2,707 members of the over 50 set started the $1,000 Seniors NL Holdem World Championship with about 900 players returning after the dinner break with four levels remaining in the day.

Razz Draws Respectable Field

The $2,500 Razz event drew a field of approximately 300 (including Pokerati’s own Tom Schneider) to the Amazon room, with those sick enough to play razz playing eight levels before play ends for the evening.

No official chip leaders have been named in the above two events, but those who head to www.wsop.com should find updates during the evening hours.

Finishing the Sunday tournaments plus a preview of the Monday doubleheader and a reminder that Sen. Al D’Amato and Rep. Shelley Berkeley will be at the Rio to announce National Poker Week, also be sure to go to www.pokerpetition.com and add your name.

Iacavone In Control

Michael Iacavone is the reported chip leader (1,605,200) when play resumes in the $1,500 NL Holdem as the remaining 26 players come back at 2pm to play down to a winner. Joe Bartholdi (1,040,000), Nam Le (500,100), Mohsin Charania (471,000), Alex Jacob (433,000), and Raymond Davis (401,000) are the notable names also returning to capture a bracelet.

Schwartz Still Swinging a Big Stack

Another field with a long day on Monday will be the remaining 25 players left in the $10,000 Pot-Limit Omaha World Championship who return at 1pm today as they’ll eventually be streamed over the Internet on ESPN360 and wsop.pkr.com. Noah Schwartz (1,220,000) remains the chip leader, with Markus Golser (621,000) and Robin Keston (606,000) leading their respective tables. Recognizable names returning include: Matt Graham (586,000), Barry Greenstein (467,000), Josh Arieh (356,000), Richard Austin (331,000), Howard Lederer (326,000), Padraig Parkinson (259,000), and Vitaly Lunkin (220,000).

More Shooting at the Rio

Some more names that won their first table in the $5,000 NL Holdem Shootout: Danny Wong, Davidi Kitai, Amit Makhija, Roland Isra and David Pham. The remaining 30 players return at 2pm for the second round with the final five winners returning Tuesday for a five player final table.

Filippi 8-Game Leader

153 players return at 2pm Monday for day 2 of the $2,500 Mixed Game event with Amnon Filippi the chip leader with 90,000 in chips. Other notables with chips: Andy Black (58,000), Thayer Rasmussen (48,425), Jon Turner (41,725), Sorel Mizzi (39,525), and JC Tran (34,700).

Monday’s Tournaments

Today’s a pair of events for the 50+ crowd, with the $1,000 Senior’s NL Holdem World Championship, won last year by Dan Lacourse for $368,832 in a field of 2,218. The 5pm tournament is the debut of the $2,500 Razz event. The WSOP Staff Guide projects a field of 2,440 for the Seniors’ event, and a field of 300 projected for the Razz event.

More updates during the day at www.wsop.com and Pokerati should have some new stuff during the day, check back often.

A little late, but here’s the first half recap of Sunday’s action…

Naalden in Dutch for Bracelet

Marc Naalden went nearly wire-to-wire to victory in the $2,000 Limit Holdem event, as he held a large chip lead over the field, handing it over to Steve Cowley for a few hands when play got to heads-up, but then going on a rush at the end to take a bracelet home to the Netherlands, as well as $190,770.

Can Cantu Can Do?

The $1,500 NL Holdem event is down to ~80 players, and Brandon Cantu is the current chip leader with 530,000 in chips. Other notables remaining include Joe Bartholdi (390,000), Raymond Davis (342,000), Nam Le (125,000) and Alex Jacob (78,000). Play will end at the 3am deadline well short of the final table, so the remaining field gets to return at 1pm to play down to a winner.

May the Schwartz Be With Him

Noah Schwartz is the current chip leader (674,000) in the $10,000 Pot-Limit Omaha World Championship with 42 players remaining, only 27 getting paid. Jonas Entin (434,000), David Williams (359,500), Erick Lindgren (270,000), Nenad Medic (216,500), Padraig Parkinson (173,000), and Barry Greenstein (111,000) are some of the other notables who’ll be happy to reach the 3am deadline with chips.

Shootout at the Rio, 5k NL Version

A field of 280 is down to 30 in the $5,000 NL Holdem Shootout with the remaining players meeting at five tables of six players each to create a five player final table on Tuesday. Phil Ivey, Jean Gaspard, Joe Serock, Jennifer Harman, Neil Channing, Peter Feldman, John Monnette and Mark Teltscher are some of the returnees for day 2 at 2pm Monday.

All Mixed Up

The debuting $2,500 Mixed Event drew a field of 412 to play eight different games (HORSE, PLO, NL Holdem, 2-7 Triple Draw) with 335 players remaining. JC Tran appears to be the unofficial chip leader at 27,000, followed by Steve Billirakis at 26,000 and Sabyl Cohen-Landrum at 19,000. The players just returned from their dinner break to play another four levels before they do it all over again at 2pm Monday. More coming from me in the morning update, and check out Pokerati for other accusations of cheating, while www.wsop.com will cover the updates and other exciting stuff that’s not as controversial at the World Series of Poker.

The card pictured here, according to @Andy_Bloch, was actually in use and in play at his table during today’s $5,000 NLH-Shootout.

Hmm, despite what some Batfaces may contend after a particularly good home-game run in 2005-06, I don’t know enough about card-marking systems to tell if these scuffs are a matter of defective product or an overzealous cheater. I’d tend to think the former — when you use a bajillion decks, there’s gonna be a bad one in there — but this pic is not the first murmur of marked cards at the 2009 WSOP.

But usually it’s in the high buy-in mixed games where the dangers occur (and floormen are operating on high alert). For example, smudges and nail marks were reportedly found on decks in the $10k 2-7NL-1D (won by Phil Ivey), where at least one specific player was targeted for enhanced interrogations intensified scrutiny.

Finishing up Saturday’s action from the WSOP…

Lisandro Pulls the Triple Double at the Rio

Jeff Lisandro became the third double bracelet winner of this year’s 2009 WSOP when he took down the $10,000 7 Card Stud Hi/Lo 8 or Better World Championship a couple hours ago defeated Farzad Rouhani at about 4am Vegas time. Lisandro pockets over $430,000 for his victory as well as several hours sleep before he comes back to the Rio Sunday to hear Italy’s national anthem this afternoon. When he won his first bracelet two weeks ago in the $1,500 7 Card Stud event, the Australian national anthem was played, making him the first to have two anthems played. This is also the first time more than two players have won multiple bracelets since when six players (Chan, Ferguson, Juanda, Hellmuth, Flack, and Men Nguyen) won bracelets in 2003. His second bracelet also moves him into a tie for first in the red-hot WSOP Player of the Year Race.

Texan Tops in NL Holdem

Jordan Smith from College Station, Texas took down the $2,000 NL Holdem event, pocketing $586,212 after defeating Ken Lennaard heads-up to take home a bracelet. From Nolan Dalla’s tournament report, Smith had this to add about legalizing poker in Texas:

“I think poker definitely needs to be legalized and regulated. Legalize it. Tax it. Regulate it. I don’t think it’s the government’s job to tell me what to do or how to spend my money – even though they sure want a cut of this (taxes) whenever I win it.”

This was event #36 of the WSOP, and after only one woman (Annie Duke) had made a previous final table, there were two at this one. Almira Skripchenko who is more well known for her successes in chess, being an FIDE Woman Grandmaster, finished in 7th place, good for $78,644. Laurence Grondin from Montreal, Quebec, Canada finished in 3rd for $237,537.

Obligatory Limit Holdem Final Table Mention

The final table of the $2,000 Limit Holdem consists of:

Seat 1: Jared O’Dell 189,000
Seat 2: Danny Qutami 323,000
Seat 3: Ian Johns 113,000
Seat 4: Marc Naalden 755,000
Seat 5: Tommy Hang 202,000
Seat 6: Steven Cowley 322,000
Seat 7: Rep Porter 287,000
Seat 8: Jameson Painter 205,000
Seat 9: Alex Keating 284,000

O’Dell, Johns, Hang and Porter list Washington state on their bio sheet, which may be the first time Washington state has represented so strongly at a WSOP final table.

Charania in Charge

Moshin Charania finished day 1 of the $1,500 NL Holdem event the leader with 144,100 in chips with 327 players remaining, of which 270 make the money. Brandon Cantu (86,600), Grant Hinkle (85,800), Jeff Williams (66,200), Eric Baldwin (63,400) and Shane Schleger (63,000) are some of the players who won’t be playing the Sunday tournaments online, as they’ll be returning to the Amazon room at 2pm.

Nate is Great in PLO

Nate Lindsay from San Francisco is the chip leader (482,200) at the end of day 1 in the $10,000 Pot-Limit Omaha World Championship with 116 players remaining, only 27 getting paid. Noah Schwartz (292,600), Ilari “Ziigmund” Saharies (229,400), David Williams (223,000), and Josh Arieh (220,600) round out the top five. Steve Zolotow (220,200), Ben Grundy (191,000), Tom McEvoy (142,800), Erick Lindgren (120,900) and Jimmy “Gobbo” Fricke (108,000) are just some other notables back for more action at 2pm as they attempt to make the final table.

Sunday’s Tournaments

The 12pm tournament day is the $5,000 NL Holdem Shootout which was won by Phillip Tom in a field of 360 for over $475,000. The WSOP Staff Guide projects a field of 396 for this event, but if it’s slightly above that, it could cause a bit of a problem for tournament staff. The payout structure for the shootout event pays 40 spots if the field is between 378 and 420, which would create 11-player tables for the first round if the field size is in the 401-420 range. The 5pm tournament is the debut of the $2,500 8-Game event which consists of HORSE, NL holdem, PLO and 2-7 triple draw, with a projected field size of 250.

More updates during the day at Pokerati and follow the WSOP at WSOP.com

Here’s tonight’s action in brief:

Four left in $2k NL on ESPN360: 4 left, currently on dinner break until 9:40pm Anthony Harb and Peter Rho chip leaders.
Nine left in $10k Mixed Event: Doyle out 13th, Scott Dorin leader, Huck Seed 2nd, Todd Brunson 9th

81 left in $2.5k NL holdem, Alex Keating chip leader.
39 left in $2.5k Limit holdem 6-max, 36 get paid. Shawn Buchanan chip leader.

366 return from dinner break in $5k NL, starting field was 655, down about 80 from last year.
359 entries in 1.5k 7 Card Stud, Mark Seif and Tom Schneider among very early chip leaders.

More updates at www.worldseriesofpoker.com and Pokerati (maybe) during the evening.

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:

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Two final tables are underway, with the $1,500 NL Holdem 6-max event down to their final 3 players. Ken “Teach” Aldridge is the current chip leader in a big hand that went down just after the dinner break. You can follow the streaming final table coverage on the Bluff Magazine website or at wsop.pkr.com. The $2,500 PLH/PLO event is down to their final 6 players. Cornel Cimpan, WPT LA Poker Classic winner in February, is the current chip leader, with Ben Grundy and Paul Parker the other notables left at the table.

The $2,000 NL Holdem event is now in the money with about 100 players remaining. Phil Hellmuth added to his WSOP record with his 70th cash, and is still going strong as the players return to their dinner break soon. Jason Mercier, T.J. Cloutier, Tom McEvoy and Tom Franklin are some of the bracelet winners who are still in the field. When the players return, they’ll be playing beat the clock to get to a final table before the 3am deadline.

The $10,000 Mixed Event World Championship is down to about 55 players remaining, with Soheil Shamseddin the leader, with Robert Mizrachi, Steve Sung, Huck Seed and Hasan Habib remaining as they’ll also attempt to get to the final table of eight by the 3am deadline.

The 12pm tournament today, $2,500 NL holdem drew a smaller than expected field of 1,088, some possibly took the day off before the $5,000 NL Holdem event tomorrow at noon. The usual rapid decimation of the field still took place, as less than 450 players returning when the 90-minute dinner break began. Alan Goehring appears to be the chip leader, with the winner taking just over $500,000 and 116 others pick up some cash.

The 5pm tournament, $2,500 Limit Holdem 6-max, looks to have drawn a field of about 360. No clear leaders have been established, but check out www.worldseriesofpoker.com for updates from all six events this evening. Please.

Check it out … Phil Ivey’s chair is pulling a Vinnie Vinh, going solo $10k WSOP Mixed Games World Championship:

While some fear what has happened to poker’s anointed one — is it drugs, gangsters … perhaps he was arrested for UIGEA violations? — our crack research team at Pokerati has discovered his true whereabouts … he was hiding in the Amazon room, playing heads-up for his 6th bracelet.

UPDATE: He won that.

Six bracelet events are working towards different conclusions this evening. The one that most people are following is the $2,500 NL 2-7 Lowball final table, which is now heads-up between Phil Ivey and John Monette. Ivey stands to win about $100,000 in the tournament, plus $3,000,000 in bracelet bets. You can catch the action at wsop.pkr.com or bluffmagazine.com/live

The $1,500 NL Holdem event finally reached their final table this evening and the players went on a dinner break. That final table was supposed to be streamed, so apparently when the Lowball event ends, they’ll move whomever’s left in the Holdem event to this table. Here’s how that final table will begin:

Seat 1 – Steve Karp
Seat 2 – Brian McInnis
Seat 3 – Mark Salinaro
Seat 4 – James McClain
Seat 5 – Walter Wright
Seat 6 – Mike Ciotola
Seat 7 – Kam Low
Seat 8 – Travis Johnson
Seat 9 – Craig McConville

In the $1,500 NL 6-max event, 35 are currently remaining as they’ll play down to a 6-handed final table. Notables remaining include David Fox, David “Bakes” Baker, Manny Minaya, Peter Gould and Praz Bansi. The $2,500 Pot-Limit Holdem/Pot-Limit Omaha event finally reached the money after returning from dinner break. Greg Raymer and Michael “The Grinder” Mizrachi went out just short of the money. Amnon Filippi is the chip leader, with Hevad Khan, Surinder Sunar, Ben Grundy and Bertrand “Elky” Grospellier looking to be at the final table tomorrow afternoon.

A starting field of 1,646 entered the $2,000 NL Holdem event, and when the dinner break was over, just under 800 were returning, one of which will pick up nearly $570,000. The evening tournament, $10,000 Mixed Event World Championship drew a field of 194, and in the early hours, Vanessa Rousso is the current chip leader. Plenty of big names, including Scotty Nguyen, Ivan Demidov, Victor Ramdin and Barry Greenstein are in the top 10, with plenty of big names looking to take down the $492,000 top prize. For more updates during the evening, point your browser over to www.worldseriesofpoker.com often.

A WSOP record 7 bracelet events were underway on Wednesday afternoon, three of them eventually reaching their conclusions. As noted in my report last night, Jason Mercier got some success in the US, taking home a bracelet in the $1,500 Pot Limit Omaha event, my report is up on PokerNews now. The $1,000 NL Holdem Stimulus Special was won by Steve Sung, taking home over $770,000 and his first WSOP bracelet. The very occasional PokerRoad blogger was under 1m in chips when play was 7-handed but went on a rush to take the chip lead in just under a blind level. Final table chip leader and occasional web page designer Dan Heimiller would finish in 6th place, one of many to succumb to Sung’s success. “Pete the Greek” Valindos was the final victim denied a chance at this 2nd WSOP bracelet, when his pocket eights weren’t good enough for Sung’s pocket kings, but Vilandos does have over $470,000 to cushion that blow. More details on how that final table went down will be up on PokerNews later today.

The $10,000 7 Card Stud World Championship was a battle of the ages, literally. In what appears to be a record for a non-senior event, Freddie Ellis (74) bested Eric Drache (66) to take down the title as Ellis becomes the sixth African-American (Phil Ivey, David Williams, Walter Smiley and Carolyn Gardener being the other five) to win a WSOP bracelet. As Nolan Dalla noted in his tournament report, the distinction all six players have is that they each have won a bracelet in seven card stud. Here’s a bonus piece by Benjo on Eric Drache, from the Tao of Poker site.

The $1,500 NL Holdem event wasn’t able to reach their final table, as 33 players were left at 3am. They get to return at 1pm today to play down to a final table. This final table was scheduled to be streamed later this afternoon at bluffmagazine.com, but that’s definitely not happening at the scheduled 2pm start time. Follow them on Twitter for the latest updates on that situation. Notable names remaining: Michael Martin, Francois Safieddine, and Jeremy Joseph.

One final table that is known is the $2,500 NL 2-7 Lowball Single Draw event. When play began Tuesday afternoon, there were several big names among the 35 remaining. Those players all fell by the wayside, except for Phil Ivey, here’s how the final table will look when they come back at 2pm today.

Seat 1: Raphael Zimmerman – 238,000
Seat 2: Eric Kesselman – 119,400
Seat 3: John Monnette – 259,000
Seat 4: Rodeen Talebi – 94,500
Seat 5: Yan Chen – 159,000
Seat 6: Elia Ahmadian – 136,900
Seat 7: Phil Ivey – 106,300

Today’s other events on the next page:
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… at the LAPC drew almost 200 players. Jordan Rich is still in. Norman Chad is out.

A lot of poker people are in town for a lot of reasons — the big blogger tourney at Venetian, and the $15k pro event at Bellagio, to name two. Apparently Donkey Bomber is hitting the meth again, as the self-proclaimed bankroll management and mixed games expert calls in after a long-ass high-stakes session binge and seems happy to report how he turned $800 into a $48,000 loss.

Unstuck? (feat. Tom Schneider)
1:21

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No word on whom he was playing against, but either way … Well done, Tom. I’m sure Julie is proud of your amazing comeback. Keep at it.

It is common knowledge that poker players in Las Vegas flock to Bellagio for cash game action, primarily on the higher end of the buy-in scale. While there seem to be a plethora of cash games going on at the Rio around the clock during the WSOP, anyone looking for games higher than $10-$20 usually heads over to Bellagio. Since I am such a high-stakes player can always use a change of scenery from the Rio, I took a trip on over on Monday night around 10pm to see what was happenin’.

Craziness.

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Facts and Figures from the WSOP so far, at the end of play early Friday morning:

Number of entrants: 20,141
Bracelets awarded: 20
Most cashes: Nikolay Evdakov – 5
Most final tables: Theo Tran, Erick Lindgren – 2
Current ESPN POY: Erick Lindgren 175 points
Leading money earner: Grant Hinkle – $831,462

A review of the week 2 action at the World Series of Poker:

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