What happened at the WSOP last night while Phil Hellmuth was humble in defeat…

In a table full of well known names, it was online regular Phil Galfond who took down the $5,000 Pot Limit Omaha w/rebuys event, beating Adam Hourani in a heads-up match that lasted over 100 hands. David Benyamine would finish 3rd. Galfond gets to take down over $817,000 and take the WSOP earnings lead over Grant Hinkle by less than $1,000.

The $1,500 NL event winner last night was Vitaly Lunkin, who beat Brett Kimes headsup to win just over $628,000 and the coveted bracelet. Other results from that event can be found here.

Two more final tables were established last night, they can be found on the next page:

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The $5,000 PLO w/rebuy event is down to its final 3, with Phil Galfond the dominating chip leader, David Benyamine is a distant 2nd. Phil Hellmuth, Daniel Negreanu and John Juanda were eliminated in 8th, 7th and 6th respectively in a short period of time. Johnny Chan was later eliminated in 4th place. The $1,500 NL event finally reached its final table, with Vitaly Lunkin currently the chip leader with 7 left.

The $10,000 Limit Holdem World Championship is closing in on the money with about 45 left. Current chip leader is two-time bracelet winner Eric Froehlich. Others near the top include Hoyt Corkins, Michael Mizrachi, and JC Tran. The $3,000 NL event is currently on dinner break with 30 left. Alex Zaslavsky is chip leader, with new father David Singer in 2nd.

The only tournament to start today was the $2,500 NL 6-handed event, which started with a field of 1,012 already down to 190 at the dinner break. Notables in the top 10 include “Devilfish” Ulliot, Max Pescatori, Kenna James and Dario Minieri.

More from me tomorrow with final results, and the Tuesday preview.

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:

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What’s happening this evening while watching Tiger Woods decide to wait until Monday to win his next major:

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:

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Events from the evening part of day 16:

In what is certainly a first (at least I think so), two brothers have won a bracelet in the same World Series of Poker. Blair Hinkle, whose brother Grant won the $1,500 NL event last week, took down his own bracelet in the $2,000 NL event, knocking out Canadian Mark Brockington.

More after the jump:

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What’s happening at the WSOP while some people can’t wait to turn 21 to play in Vegas. For those unfamiliar with Ozzy87, his name is Aurangzeb Sheikh, he made a WPT final table at 18, and has had previous issues with the law.

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Happenings at the WSOP while waiting for Thrillist Syracuse to be created:

The $2,500 Pot Limit Holdem/Pot Limit Omaha final table was known shortly after 5:00am today. They get to be under the glare of the ESPN360 cameras today at 3pm with this set of 9:

Seat 1: Max Pescatori 212,000
Seat 2: Jonathan Depa 185,000
Seat 3: Kyle Hegeman 198,000
Seat 4: Kyle Kloeckner 494,000
Seat 5: John Paul Kelly 79,000
Seat 6: Greg Hurst 197,000
Seat 7: Lennart Holtkamp 253,000
Seat 8: Minh Ly 174,000
Seat 9: Allen Cunningham 484,000

The other final table, plus other tournament action after the jump:

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What’s happening tonight at the WSOP as I read a post that makes you want to take AP’s side for once:

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Happenings from yesterday with a preview of today’s action::

The two final tables yesterday have been covered enough here so on to the day 2 action. The $5,000 NL Holdem final table is now set for this afternoon under the ESPN360 cameras shortly after 2pm.

Seat 1: Anders Henriksson 311,000
Seat 2: Jacobo Fernandez 848,000
Seat 3: Rajesh Vohra 1,040,000
Seat 4: Ben Sprengers 441,000
Seat 5: Adam Geyer 645,000
Seat 6: Scott Freeman 423,000
Seat 7: Scott Seiver 2,512,000
Seat 8: Chuck Sklar 439,000
Seat 9: Dave Seidman 653,000

More after the jump:

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What a great night at the WSOP!

First, Vanessa Selbst wins the Pot Limit Omaha tournament, then Daniel Negreanu wins the Limit Hold’em event. Wheee! (Sorry for the poker geek moment, but this is kinda fun.)

Honestly, what an amazing 2008 WSOP this has been so far… How many of these winners’ names do you recognize? More than not, I would think.

Event #1: Nenad Medic
Event #2: Grant Hinkle
Event #3: David Singer
Event #4: Erick Lindgren
Event #5: Michael Banducci
Event #6: Thang Luu
Event #7: Matt Keikoan
Event #8: Anthony Rivera
Event #9: Rep Porter
Event #10: Farzad Rouhani
Event #11: Phillip Tom
Event #12: Jimmy Shultz
Event #13: Duncan Bell
Event #14: Eric Brooks
Event #15: Svetlana Gromenkova
Event #16: Andrew Brown
Event #17: Jason Young
Event #18: Mike Matusow
Event #19: Vanessa Selbst
Event #20: Daniel Negreanu

What’s happening at the WSOP while I wonder if the new boss is as same as the old boss…

The only final table yesterday concluded early Thursday, and we finally got a bracelet winner that had won one previously. The $5,000 NL 2-7 KC Lowball w/rebuys event saw Mike Matusow outlasted Jeff Lisandro and the rest of a talented final table, featuring Tom Schneider. Matusow was down to 405,000 in chips with Lisandro and Barry Greenstein had the other 3,100,000 in chips when the dinner break began. Returning from the break definitely appeared to rejuvenate him, as he was on the attack early and often. Eventually, Lisandro eliminated Greenstein, but headsup was mostly controlled by Matusow, until he eventually won when his Q-8 hand beat Lisandro’s Q-9 and Matusow wins his 3rd WSOP bracelet and the $537,000 that came with it.

Final tables for today and other action after the jump:

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Action today that’s not the $5k NL 2-7 KC Lowball tournament:

The $1,500 PLO Event is down to 14 players, Vanessa Selbst is currently the overwhelming chip leader, with over 450k in chips, which is double what 2nd place has. Eugene Todd Bro and Chris Bjorin are the only other recognizable names left.

The $2,000 Limit Holdem event is down to 61 players, with 45 getting paid. Richard Li is chip leader, Daniel Negreanu’s in the top 10. Other recognizable names include Phil Hellmuth, Matt Matros, Thor Hansen, and ESPN announcer Mike Patrick.

The $5,000 NL Holdem Event drew a field of 731 with just under 400 remaining. Michiel Brummelhuis, who had a final table earlier this week is current chip leader. John Hennigan, Eli Elezra, and Gavin Griffin are among those in the top 10.

The $3,000 HORSE event started at 5pm with a field drew a field of 414. Chau Giang appears as current chip leader, Marcel Luske, David Benyamine and Perry Friedman are notable names in the top 10.

More from me in the AM, great stuff from Dan and Jen throughout the evening.

I’ll make this one brief:

Svetlana Gromenkova wins Ladies’ Event.

Ted Forrest chip leader at $2,000 Omaha 8 final table (7 left).

Jason Young leader with 3 left in the $1,500 NL Shootout.

Tom Dwan chip leader with 570k in $5,000 2-7 KC Lowball Event, Tom Schneider 5th with 270K. 17 left, 14 get paid.

Carter Gill chip leader at $1,500 PLO Event, under 100 left.

480 signed up for the $2,000 Limit Holdem Event, Ayaz Mahmood chip leader, 400 left.

More from me tomorrow…

What’s happening at the WSOP while I go looking to buy some vurry expensive watches :
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One of today’s final tables just concluded, event #10 ($2,500 Omaha 8/Stud as Farzad Rouhani ran over the final table, eventually knocking out Tom Chambers in a brief heads-up battle. “Miami John” Cernuto took 3rd. The other final table, event #9 ($1,500 NL 6-max) currently is down to their final 3. Rep Porter is the current chip leader, Devin Porter (no relation) in 2nd, Nathan Templeton 3rd.

The $5,000 NL shootout has their final table, they’ll get underway Sunday at 2pm, and it will consist of:
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