Play ended in the Main Event earlier today after 5 full levels of play, the first time that’s happened since Friday, leaving just 64 players remaining when play resumes at noon today. Here’s how the field will look (first by chip count, then by table):

As a note, the average chip stack is now about 3,044,000 with the blinds starting at 25,000/50,000 with a 5,000 ante. Leo Margets will earn the last woman standing title as Nichoel Peppe finished in 75th place, good for $68,979. Other notables eliminated after the dinner break: Peter Eastgate (78th), Kenny Tran (86th), Noah Boeken (96th).

Follow the live updates over at wsop.com and check out Pauly for his own version of the action.

To wrap up the Dream Team Poker event, Kenna James did take down the individual title.

Page 2 contains excerpts from Nolan Dalla’s tournament report:

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While the 2009 WSOP Main Event pushes forward, the Dream Team Poker tournament rages on in the Brasilia Room at the Rio with three tables in play. It is an exciting event to watch, especially when friends capture the team prize!

Big congrats to Team Tao of Pokerati, which just found out that their team took down the first place team honors! Lana, Pauly, and Dan will split the $33,017 cashola for outperforming every other team in the tournament (there were 122 of them), and the guys are still in it to win it individually as well. About 20 players remain…

UPDATE: Looks like Dan cashed in 17th place for double his individual buy-in. Congrats! @Pokerati just twittered… “17th place individual. 1st place team. This cashout cage area is pretty cool!”

UPDATE 2: Pauly finished in 13th place for nearly three times his buy-in. Per his twitter… “out in 13th place. my A7 lost to kenna james’ 6-6. boooooo!”

Congrats to the team on a great showing!

Day 1d ended play this morning with 1,816 players remaining and Troy Weber the overall chip leader with a whopping 353,000 in chips. Other notables with chips: Carter King (170,000), J.C. Tran (139,975), Josh Arieh (135,700), Bertrand “ElkY” Grospellier (127,475), Dutch Boyd (121,050), Kirk Morrison (96,000) and Tony Hachem (89,400). To see everyone’s chip counts, click here. To see all 2,809 entrants to day 1d, click here.

Day 2a will start at noon today, as they play five two-hour levels at nine-handed tables in a field of 1,476 (half the size of the day 2b field Wednesday). A list of those players is here. The over 2,900 strong field for day 2b will have over 120 tables start 10-handed when play resumes for them on Wednesday. It could be another logistical nightmare if the day 2a field has too many eliminations, and play is forced to be suspended sooner than expected. The Day 2b field only has four two-hour levels of play on their agenda so that when the field is combined on Friday, expect a field of at least 2,000 starting for Day 3.

As usual, check out Pokerati or Pauly for more details, and www.wsop.com for updates during the day.

It was a moment for those of us who believed it to be. Surely, it was a moment for 24-year old Bahador Ahmadi, who was celebrating a WSOP victory that came with $278,104 and a gold bracelet, but it was a bit more than that to him. At the Saturday bracelet ceremony, the Iranian-born Canadian resident requested that the anthem played on his behalf be that of his native Iran. He told Nolan Dalla after his win:

In a post-tournament interview, Ahamdi wanted to point out that he is proud of his heritage and supports change in his native country. He believes that playing the Iranian anthem at the WSOP will enable many poker players and the public to better understand the pro-Western attitudes held by many Iranians, both who live within Iran and abroad.

With all of the unrest going on in Iran surrounding the recent election, it was a thought that the people in the Amazon Room would stand with extra pride, exert some sort of extra support for the people of Iran, and it would be a grand moment representing the state of the world (or something like that). In fact, the moment was like any other bracelet ceremony, as the majority of the room stood to respect the anthem of the winner’s country, the winner seemed consumed in his own private moment of silence, and it was over.

Perhaps, however, that is what is notable about the World Series of Poker…and poker tournaments in general. Conflicts that may arise between groups of people or warring countries are not apparent at the poker tables. It’s the demeanor of the person at the table, along with playing style and respect for others that gets the attention rather than their ethnicity or skin color. Others like Dr. Pauly contend that the WSOP is simply so all-consuming that no one responds to news unless it hits them in the face like the death of Michael Jackson. Iran? Never heard any of their music so… Read the Tao of Poker take on the mindset of the players here.

As you may or may not know, Dr. Pauly skipped town for a few days to go “see a band” (WTF?) … That left Benjo and me to report on the final table of the Champions Invitational: Tom McEvoy beats Dan Harrington and Robert Varkonyi to win himself a Corvette and, of course, the plausibly coveted Binion Cup … providing him sellable items should he ever need a little bankroll stimulus. And we hear about Phil Hellmuth’s oddly graceful 10:1 hands-shaken to hands-played ratio as he, like Pauly, makes an early but not-so-unexpected exit at the WSOP … temporarily derailing an Angry Frenchman’s plans to stage a potentially violent coup.

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

Episode 11.14: Early Exits
5:00

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Brought to you by Phish Coventry and psilocybin.

Our Tao of Pokerati mobile studio made BJ’s PokerRoad Nation photoblog … which clearly, you can now see, totally ups the quality of poker photography:

Says BJ:

Two of poker’s most experienced WSOP reporters, Dan Michalski (left) and Dr. Pauly McGuire, record an episode of their joint podcast, The Tao of Pokerati, from media row on Sunday night. Michalski has been blogging from the WSOP at Pokerati.com since 2004, and McGuire at TaoOfPoker.com since 2005. While some media outlets see the others as competition, bloggers like Michalski and McGuire see themselves more as coworkers and peers — working together improves everyone’s coverage.

Meanwhile, a Tao photographer using a hidden camera smuggled into Pokerati headquarters reveals our secret to podcasting success:

view on flickr

There’s a lot of interesting action going on tonight. The $40k NLH seems to have quite the storylines developing … Chris Moneymaker (@cmoneymaker) is still alive and strong, but the chip leader is now his new-poker-era successor, Greg Raymer. Justin Bonomo (@JustinBonomo) is still proving to be a big threat … all these boomtime champions, yet plenty of old dogs there, too — Steven Zolotow, David Chiu, Ted Forrest, e.g. — representin’ those pre-boom big-time days.

There are currently 38 players remaining, with 27 making the money. Click here to follow the official chip counts – and Dr. Pauly is all over this one, too.

UPDATE: Moneymaker just took a huge hit, losing 2/3 of his stack.

RE-UPDATE: Pauly is ahead of the official counters — Moneymaker is out. So is Zolotow.

There’s also some potential excitement brewing in the ESPN Fantasy Pool, with Matt Glantz (@MattGlantz, one of my guys) way up near the top of the chip counts; and Mathers has Neil Channing hanging on for his team of fantasy scabs.

Vanessa Rousso (@VanessaRousso) is also still alive, though barely. Wouldn’t it be something …

Last but definitely not least, Dallas/Shreveport baller Keith Lehr (pictured) is currently 5th in chips.

The WSOP unofficially starts at 9am today as the Amazon Room at the Rio opens for registration, cash games and satellites before the tournaments begin Wednesday with Event #1, the $500 Casino Employees tournament. That’s as good a reason as any to do the preview for this year’s World Series of Poker, so here’s some things to look out for during the Series:

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A slightly different take from Pauly. I intellectually don’t agree with his boisterously pessimistic outlook, yet he seems to have a read on many in the poker world’s gut … from Tao of Poker:

God bless Ty Stewart for saving the WSOP. I mean, this guy should get Salesman of the Century Award for finding someone stupid enough to shell out millions of dollars to sponsor a stagnant product in an industry with a murky future.

Pope Benedict should make Ty a saint for providing the WSOP a secure financial future and also giving me and the rest of the derelicts in the poker media an endless amount of material to work with this year. As one of my Canadian colleagues noted, “Premium meat snacks at this year’s WSOP. The jokes, they write themselves.”

I haven’t seen a deal that bad since the Ruskies signed away Alaska in 1867 to Secretary of State William Seward for $7.2 million. If that Seward’s deal never happened, Sarah Palin would be speaking Russian.

Everybody and their dogma seems to be jumping on the Twitter bandwagon these days. Whether texting your whereabouts will prove to be fad or societal fabric a few years from now remains to be seen. In the meantime …

Doyle Brunson’s loving it as a way to share what’s going on in Bobby’s Room.
Annie Duke will let you eavesdrop on semi-private convos with her boyfriend and her catfight with Joan Rivers.
And now Jeffrey Pollack says Twitter is the way he’ll remain accessible to the people during his ever-hectic WSOP.

UPDATE: Interesting … Pollack is with Joan Rivers today in BH (Beverly Hills) … funny coincidence or evil WSOP ratings plot being hatched?

Right now you can follow the final table of the WPT Championship via Twitter, and the activities of their lead reporter, BJ, for a little unintentional real-life behind-the-scenes.

UPDATE: Bertrand ‘Elky’ Grospellier just locked up WPT Player of the Year.

Pauly’s a little bummed I think … because last year Twitter was his semi-secret cybernook where he could relay the real WSOP dirty for his loyalist, most technologically advanced fans … but now this space is anything but “under the radar”.

UPDATE: @Pauly openfaced jerkchicken sandwich w/ jack cheese & dijonaise mustard …

Pokerati’s on the Twitter train now, too. Still trying to figure it all out — but so far definitely not “good for my poker”.

Feel free to add any peeps in the comments that you think we might-should pay attention to; and/or weigh in on whether or not you think this internet-texting convergence thing is “good for poker” will stick around.

Dr. Pauly joins the mix today … and he and I will be talking about the all-important topic of Celebrity Apprentice. Gary and BJ will be talking about the less important 38 percent drop in field size for the WPT Championship:

http://www.pokerroad.com/radio/the-poker-beat/

Another fine tribute — from Pauly … with links to other fine tributes, and a video of Shronk taking on a Vegemite prop-bet at the Aussie Millions:

Pauly, btw, has been in Argentina for the LAPT, where he’s been huffing paint and engaging in bar fights. True story — at least half of it.

Once upon a time, poker books were everywhere and everything. Then we found that saturation point, right around the time the poker boom was coming to an end … and it became harder and harder to really care about the latest poker tome … poker books stopped selling, the bookstores took down their dedicated poker racks, and uber-poker geeks like yours truly built up a pile of literature still collecting dust while waiting to be read. I swear I’ll move beyond page 26 of Bill Chen’s The Mathematics of Poker one of these days!

But probably not before reading two books that we can expect later this year: Lost Vegas, by Dr. Pauly … and Check-Raising the Devil, by Mike Matusow (with Tim Lavalli and Amy Calistri). Lost Vegas will be based on much of what we’ve been reading over the years on Tao of Poker, though I personally know the book is what Pauly’s been saving his best, so-far untold stuff for … so I’m confident every poker-industry douche insider will be eager to read what he’s been holding back.

Likewise, Matusow’s tale promises to be the kind of interesting auto-bio that even my grandmother could enjoy — lots of sex, drugs, and crime that just so happens to be set in the world of high-stakes casino gambling and/or prison — by a guy who has seen up-close-and-personal the good, the bad, and the really bad side of it all. Judging both these books by their recently completed covers (click to enlarge), I gotta think there might be something to these pokery stories, even though neither promise to tell you anything about how to play Ace-King.

For those that like to follow the live updates at poker tournaments, it can be frustrating waiting for your favorite player’s status in a tournament. You could be someone who’s upset that some kid hired off Craig’’s List who can’t tell the difference between a straight and a flush messing up your bustout hand and making you look like stupid. The best way to combat this would be to be your own live updates reporter to get your side of the story out there. During last year’s WSOP, there was a site called FT Sweat was available for those who wanted to provide updates, but it was rarely utilized. Pokerati has it’s own CSR which works within the Pokerati community, whenever it gets updated. The hot application these days is Twitter, and the poker community is following the millions who’ve discovered Twitter.

Want to follow the shortened ramblings of an egomaniac, your favorite poker tournament reporter or blogger, or follow Pokerati (just don’t expect any updates).

Team Tao of Pokerati hits Caesar’s Palace (and Bellagio) for the first open-field running (second overall) of Dream Team Poker. Have a listen to join Pauly and Dan + Shaniac on our ventures to the registration and jersey-issue cocktail party … a pregame breakfast at Cafe Bellagio (where we declare ourselves the favorites, or at least a Top 10 team) … and then back to Caesar’s for the tournament itself. Along the way we analyze the intricacies of team play, formulate an alliance against TJ Cloutier, negotiate a deal to off Jerry Yang, and show you how big bets on March Madness might be the secret antidote to tilt. Intense strategy talk and hand breakdowns to boot …

Chapter 10: Go Team

Episode 10.1: Gel Time

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Episode 10.2: Shirts vs. Skins

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Episode 10.3: Spam and Eggs

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Episode 10.4: Karma, Villanova, and Thor

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Episode 10.5: Bustout Strategy

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Episode 10.6: Better Luck Next Time

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Pauly is a better faster writer than I am — so it’s always good to have him in town to make me work less. Read his detailed recap of Dream Team Poker weekend here and his less-detailed first impressions here.

Likewise, over at Wicked Chops, they’ve got the Hottie Beat covered … and PokerListings has manhandled the actual tournament action.

Tao of Pokerati Dream Team teammate Shaniac has some great music to listen to while you’re waiting for more.

Meanwhile, Team Aced did their thing to keep Aced.com in the public eye as a potentially legitimate newfangled online poker room with celeb-pro representative Jamie Gold, LV poker-room man Houston Waldie, and Gold-girlfriend Ashley Nataupsky — who is still alive for the individual championship — locking up the team title earlier today.

The vibe on Day 2 (final three tables) was quite distinct from Day 1 (field of 444 playing down to 27). From an informed source on the ground at Caesar’s:

It was great. People really had to watch the standings when making plays. They might have had pot odds on a few calls, but people were laying down hands to hold. It turned into one big last longer prop bet.

While I get some work done from home in sunny, springy Southern Cali, my Pokerati pals are actually looking for fortune and fame on the felt playing some tournament poker.

Dan is playing the much-hyped Dream Team Poker event at Caesars Palace. On his team? Shane “Shaniac” Schleger and Dr. Pauly, playing as the Team Tao of Pokerati, also known as Tao of Pokerati’s 420 All Stars. Look for some Tao of Pokerati episodes to come as they record some of their intense strategy sessions and gossip about the other players. Sure, these three may be taking more breaks (certainly at 4:20pm today) than other players in the room, but that doesn’t mean they won’t be inspired to take it down.

Karridy is competing in the Texas Amateur Poker Championship. At last post, he was the chipleader with 50,000 chips in Level 4. After his recent visit to the WSOP Academy at Winstar, he might just have that extra insight that will take him all the way.

Go Guys!

Keep up with them both via CSR reports as the day progresses.

UPDATE: Karridy finished 12th in his event. 300something entries, so almost definitely in the money, but probably just short of the big money. –DanM

UPDATE: $1,190.

Pokerati’s own Dan Michalski took part in an “expert panel” for ESPN with Dr. Pauly, Chops of Wicked Chops Poker, Gary Wise, Bernard Lee, Lance Bradley of Bluff Magazine, and ESPN.com’s Andrew Feldman ranking the field of the NBC National Headsup Poker Championship, starting on Friday. Since I’m only able to write an article at one of these sites, let’s take a look at how Dan ranked the field:

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This has been out for a few weeks now, but I’m reading it for the first time … found via Pauly, who also let us know about John Caldwell’s unexpected-at-this-moment-in-time-but-not-surprising departure as editor in chief of PokerNews. I know most of you don’t really care about “Shecky’s” business, but you should, because he has been instrumental in shaping how you get to follow tournaments on the internet … and though I’ve had my beefs with PN’s claims of being the “independent” source of poker news (they recently changed that to “#1″), overall, PokerNews, under Caldwell’s leadership, developed into something that arguably made the game far more enjoyable for players and their friends … and isn’t that what all of this is about — the pursuit of better poker?

Before he left, Caldwell assembled a panel of informed and influential peeps in the poker world to hear their thoughts on key poker issues. The panel included Bluff editor-in-chief Matt Parvis, big-name agent Brian Balsbaugh, WSOP Commish Jeffrey Pollack, Pauly, PokerDB founder and AP/UB scandal-solver Nat Arem, top-notch tourney director and Commerce Casino poker room honcho Matt Savage, and high-stakes pro and Team PokerStars guy Barry Greenstein and asked them all the following questions:

1. You’ve been sent back in time to Jan 1, 2003. If you could, what one thing that could be attributed to poker’s “boom” would you prevent or change?
2. Will we ever again see a regularly occurring, brick-and-mortar cash game that is bigger than the biggest games found online?
3. Will 2009 bring a formal regulation of online poker at the United States federal level?
4. What group within the poker world do you believe to be most affected by the global financial crisis?
5. If you could enact one change to the 2009 WSOP – what would it be?
6. Compared to the 2008 WSOP Main Event, will there be more or fewer participants in this year’s Main Event, and why?
7. Will poker grow overall in 2009? If so, what area is likely to show the greatest growth?
8. If there was one change that you would like to see specifically made to the online game or by major online sites in the coming year, what would it be?
   
9. Could a brand new online poker room storm to life in 2009 and somehow capture a major share of that market?
10. Can you think of something that doesn’t really exist in the poker world today that will be a given five years from now?

Pauly and Benjo escape from the bitter gray snow of NYC to report from the high-70s breezes and clear ocean skies of Paradise Island at the Atlantis Resort, where what looks to be the biggest poker tournament outside of the United States in all of history — the 2009 PCA — is getting underway. If poker is dying, that word clearly hasn’t made it yet to the Bahamas.

Follow the on-table action at PokerStarsBlog, and the off-table adventures at Tao of Poker and LV-OTR. Or just listen to Pauly’s report for a conchilicious taste of all the pokery gayness goodness going down right now in the Bermuda Triangle as the ever-French Benjo threatens to disappear sans a contract for podcast big-bucks:

Book 8: The Islanders
Episode 8.1: International Hotspot 3:25

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Inspiring shit over at Tao of Poker — with reports from the LAPT’s ill-fated venture into Nuevo Vallarta. Shame on me for not considering the imminent dangers … as I forgot whom we’re dealing with here:

Someone suggested that we remove our badges. For a couple of moments, I was on edge and extremely concerned at the safety of Change100 and myself and my fellow media reps like Owen, Otis, Joe, Alex, and everyone else. I never thought that I’d get tossed into prison in Mexico for a non-drug charge. Then I got really freaked out. The federalies wouldn’t throw me in jail. They’d whack me. Journalists are the enemy in third world countries and forty-five journalists were killed in Mexico since 2000. According to Reporters without Borders, Mexico is considered the most dangerous country for journalists with the exception of Iraq.

In the end there would be no gunfire, but a tense standoff between an international poker company and a shady second-world gov creates a pretty dramatic look at the sociopoliticonomic world we live in — with nearly a million dollars in play, one side walks into a trap, while the other shoots itself in the foot … everyone else scrambles in the crossfire.

Click here to get the full story of Otis’ Amazing 35th Birthday Party.

It’s now official, the LAPT tournament at the Marival Resorts and Suites in Nuevo Vallerta, Mexico has now been canceled according to Dr. Pauly over at Pokernews.

How it’s being resolved is that the remaining 89 players (among them Greg Raymer and Victor Ramdin) will evenly chop the prize pool, meaning they’ll each take home about $7,000 got $5,000 from the prize pool, with the remaining prize pool given to the players based on their chip count, plus an additional $500 from Pokerstars for their troubles. Expect a more official statement at Pokerstars.com in the very near future.

Update: Pokerstars released the following statement on their LAPT site:

The Latin American Poker Tour (LAPT) confirms that it is cancelling the poker tournament in Nuevo Vallarta, Mexico, due to an indefinite suspension served on one of its local partners.

The LAPT states it has cooperated fully and in good faith with the requirements outlined by the Mexican government. The LAPT respects and abides by local regulations in each market.

LAPT’s partner in Mexico obtained a formal ruling from the Mexican Ministry of the Interior (SEGOB) allowing the event to take place. As the LAPT compiled with every rule stipulated by the Code of the Mexican Federal Law of Games and Raffles, the reasons for suspension are being reviewed by lawyers of all parties.

Pokerstars’ Latin American Poker Tour’s first visit to Mexico may be its last. Play started on Friday with 242 players paying $2,500+200 to play at the Marival Resort in Nuevo Vallarta, Mexico. It appears that corrupt government officials weren’t paid off there were some sort of procedural issues that weren’t completed (there are no casinos in Mexico, so Pokerstars apparently had to get a waiver for this tournament). Play was suspended late Friday with 89 players remaining in the tournament with the hope that play will resume at noon local time Saturday. Pauly is down there right now, doing live updates and reporting for Pokernews, so expect more on this developing story throughout the day.

I caught a glimpse of the economic crunch on the streets of Las Vegas. Construction projects halted. Rusted steel beams shot out of concrete blocks on unfinished architectural superstructures. The vertical ghost towns cluttered the Las Vegas skyline. The illumination of Sin City, once glorious and majestic as the morning light at the dawn of the new day, has been dulled by a morass of financial gloom, so much so that even the languorous hookers were bitching. Shit, everyone was bitching. Cocktail waitresses. Poker dealers. Cab drivers. Valets. And even the crackling snaps of pamphlets from the porn slappers seem a little sullen these days.

– Tao of Poker

You know what, fuck this “Pauly’s the Hunter Thompson of Poker” shit. Woo-woo, I’m a tortured writer who does lots of drugs to share my twisted vision of the world with the world [/whine] … all so you’ll play $10 tournaments on PokerStars … Saturday’s with Dr. Pauly! — and then we can bet more on FantasySportsLive! [/excitement] It’s seems to me like a pathetic cover for life as a (balding) professional shill.

OK, maybe I’m just bitter — because one of my best pals called me a “cooler”. Do you realize how damaging that can be to a guy who scratches out his living as “The Ernest Hemingway of Gambling” a casino hanger-on? Granted, it really did happen for like 6 hands in a row that whomever I stood behind was guaranteed to lose at pai gow — and when I courteously left to play craps for the first time in two years, not only did I blow $93 in about 7 minutes, but also I literally killed the table … messed up a “hot roller” by improperly placing a bet and impeding a flying die with my hand … re-roll … and from there it was craps, craps, craps — seven out — until all the other players left the table rolling their eyes in gambler’s disgust. Ha-ha, luck is funny.

But all is not fun and games here in Vegas these days — in America, really; but the morale-shift seems accentuated in Sin City, where just about every hooker has lost at least one home in the desert suburbs to foreclosure. So it’s not all about me, but I get to be the Set-up Guy (nice) … and it’s definitely not all about poker: DPauly just happens to be journaling life on a road speckled with tables, where he sees the American lives in the face of severe economic downturn — the human condition amid stormy weather — as revealed ever clearly through the teats and mouths of an aggressive pack of 3rd Millineium Mary Magdalenes.

An especially worthwhile two-part read this week on Tao of Poker.

And, of course, though not as good (my appearance didn’t make the cut), you can get the audiobook version here.

Mr. Peanut demanded too much money to call the opening cards in the air, so the WSOP got Michael Buffer instead.

As the 2008 WSOP was coming to a close a few days ago, Pauly and I couldn’t help but notice that there seemed to be no new sponsors that weren’t already around for in the summer. Disappointing, sure — but maybe it’s just the general economy?

I began to speculate that WSOP marketing honcho Tye Stewart must be in BIG trouble, dude! couldn’t have been too happy that the most celebrated deal inked between July and November was an extended contract with Johnny Chan’s All In Energy Drink. About 10 minutes later, though, Jeffrey Pollack was speaking to the crowd, giving specific thanks and extreme kudos to Stewart as the successful, hard-working architect of the The November Nine vision. And indeed, we now know the broadcast returned some admirable TV numbers; and even as players got eliminated, there were lines of people in the Rio hallways to fill the Penn & Teller Theater’s 1,200 seats. So maybe now, with something definitive to sell potential backers in the future, what looked a little disappointing while riding up and down the escalators is actually a sign of better things to come?

Below is a pictorial look at some added value for official WSOP banners (and inflatables) in action:

More…

Keep Floppin’ Aces, on RoundersRadio. Lou Krieger’s guest will be none other than my own podcast co-homie, Dr. P. He tells me:

Our topics will be the WSOP final table and November Nine in Las Vegas and if we have time, we’ll chat about my experiences in London and Budapest.

There’s also a call in number if you want to ask any questions…. 810-496-3428.

Usually I don’t listen to these things live — I generally let Shamus direct me to the best episodes and download the podcast. But I happen to be in front of the computer right now, and the Chicago-Columbus MLS Cup playoff game is plenty exciting with just the video, little sound. (Currently 1-0 Chicago in the 40th minute; great uniform match-up, too — bright red vs. bright yellow.)

If you are seeing this after the fact, you’ll be able to find the full episode for your podcast pleasure here a couple days from now.

UPDATE: Chicago 1 – 2 Columbus in stoppage time. Great game — so many beautiful shots and tackles — but doh!

Pauly and I have some side-action … on which dealer is going to deal the final hand.

I’ve got homegirl Linda Tran, of course (who goes on in the third down) and Lou the old white guy.

He’s got Jena Phillips (2008 WSOP Dealer of the Year, who’s on now, in the first level), and Anthony Shawn the black guy.

All bets are off if the young white guy ends up pitching the winner/loser.

We’re thinking of additional side action based on whether or not the last hand is a bad beat, bad call, or a straight-up winner with cards falling the way they’re supposed to.

UPDATE: We’ve learned only three dealers are in play — Jenna, Linda, and Lou. Advantage Michalski.

ALSO UPDATE: Pauly and Otis have way more prop bets going on the types of hands that will win and lose the money, whether or not the opening hands of levels will be walks, etc. This prop bet is merely a little extra action for Dr. Baller — but hey, I don’t mind competing on a JV level in this world! (This world of final table heads-up action prop bets; not this world Earth.)

Either that or Peter Hellmuth. As we wind down the day yesterday and look forward to tonight’s action, that’s what’s at stake — either we’ll have a new youngest main event champion ever, or the Ruskies will have a new national hero. Meanwhile, Dan gets his facts wrong, but does Pauly even care when he can’t see the final f-in table?

Book 4: WSOP Final Table
Episode 4.10: Ivan Moneymaker 3:29

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I go rogue to bring you the bustout of David “Chino” Rheem — supposedly the most serious pro at the table, but also the guy with the most serious criminal record. Dude knows how to play hardball, though, as we’ve all seen him on ESPN get hella lucky to get here, and the (unconfirmed) word buzzing around the room is that he was a contract holdout with PokerStars, reportedly threatening not to wear his gear without more money attached to it. To be sure, much of this is just rumor second-hand from quasi-reliable sources, but on Tao of Pokerati — especially without Pauly to keep me in check and Benjo to keep it funny — does that really matter?

Book 4: WSOP Final Table
Episode 4.6: Poker Rogue 1:05

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5 am: The prop-betting evolves … as Pauly discovers (much to Benjo’s dismay) the Hungarian offshoot of lime tossing: trying to hit bums with apple cores. The ethically questionable game of skill comes up as Pauly is on prop-bet tilt after losing a scaled down apple bet. From there, the good doctor and his Euro-conscience debate what games of bum abuse may or may not be acceptable.

Book 3: Budapest (w/ Benjo)
Episode 3.4: Euro Core-tossing 3:17

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Prop bets among the international press break out at the EPT afterparty, and, of course, Benjo and Pauly are there to moderate/get in on the action. The big bet comes when Matt Showell challenges his PokerListings colleague Rod Stirzaker’s claim that he can eat 50 apples in 90 minutes. Legal concerns emerge (what’s the rule on a prop bet that leads to death?) before it turns into a scavenger hunt to find 50 edible Granny Smiths at 3:30am in Budapest.

Book 3: Budapest (w/ Benjo)
Episode 3.3: Competitive Apple Eating 4:08

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The post-EPT-Budapest shenanigans continue as Benjo and Pauly discuss whorehouses and the Tarantino-esque experiences of French and Scandi bustouts with Hungarian women-for-hire. A tad of religious guilt kicks in as the poker media duo contemplates the Day of the Dead on the Danube.

Book 3: Budapest (w/ Benjo)
Episode 3.2: Hungarian Hooker Halloween 4:14

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If you’re like me and scrambling for more action on the election before results start coming in … (Pauly’s not returning my emails/phone calls right now; he gets this way with friends on meth binges, too) … check out this site, which takes a sports online-poker-geek’s look at handicapping political races and making electoral projections. (via Thrillist Chicago)

Though it might be hard to get action on the presidential election this late in the game, there are still plenty of Senate races in play … and 538 breaks those down, too.

Pauly heads to Hungary for EPT Budapest with Benjo, and unexpectedly hosts Johnny Lodden, winner Will Fry, and other final tableists in his flat for some celebratory 420 and beer — giving insight into the much heralded EPT circuit experience, the value of Hungarian forints, and “dodgy” Euro strip clubs.

Book 3: Budapest (w/ Benjo)
Episode 3.1: EPT Afterparty 3:39

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Happy Birthday, Benjo
20,000 forints

It only took 22 hours, but the final table of the WSOP Europe at the Empire Casino in London finally has a result. After 484 hands, exactly half of which were headsup, saw John Juanda take down the title along with £ 868,800 ($1,543,395 US). Russians finished 2-3 at the final table as Stanislav Alekhin finished 2nd, and November Nine participant Ivan Demidov took down 3rd. Here’s how the entire final table came out:

1 £ 868,800 John Juanda
2 £ 533,950 Stanislav Alekhin
3 £ 334,850 Ivan Demidov
4 £ 271,500 Bengt Sonnert
5 £ 217,200 Daniel Negreanu
6 £ 171,950 Scott Fischman
7 £ 135,750 Robin Keston
8 £ 108,600 Toni Hiltunen
9 £ 81,450 Chris Elliott

Focus now turns toward the EPT London event, which drew an overflow field of 596 ponying up £5,200 with a guaranteed £1,000,000 to first. Over 100 remain as play continues on day 2, with the final table being held this Sunday. An interesting no-show turns out to be Dennis Phillips, chip leader at that other WSOP Main Event back in Las Vegas. He and his coach, Roy Winston(?), were planning on being in London, but it looks like Dennis showed up and then went back home.

More updates possible…

UPDATE: A commenter mentioned that Dennis’ mother passed away, explaining his leaving London. Apologies and condolences to Dennis and his family.

While Jen was slaving away covering the WCOOP on the PokerStarsBlog this weekend, I was extremely busy playing in a $1,000 freeroll on PokerStars (12 players max). I’m sure it won’t make her extra-happy to know that I overslept for this special-invite tourney and logged in with an M < 1. But that's what it took to make the final table -- playing tighter than ever. My stats en route to finishing 9th: