Another good video from the LAPC … in this one Matt talks with Eric Baldwin (aka “Basebaldy), the 2009 CardPlayer Player of the Year. We, of course, got to know him as he was tearing through a Venetian Deep Stacks field prior to showing what he really was in town to do at the WSOP.

Anyhow, hate to make this all about the LAPC when tourneys are going on around the world — from Copenhagen to Tunica … but this gives a good glimpse at someone who is now a “big name” in poker though few have gotten to know him yet:

In the above video they talk about Baldwin’s efforts to snap his 0-fer history at the LAPC and where “taking it easy” fits in to the upcoming Ironman competition.

The first three levels of the Main Event have seen over 900 players already hit the rail, leaving around 1,100 players returning from dinner break. The unofficial chip leaders are Brian Hanson and James Akenhead with 625,000 in chips. Other notables with an above average stack (currently around 170,000): Owen Crowe (555,000), Bertrand Grospellier (520,000), Sorel Mizzi (445,000), David Benyamine (402,000), Phil Hellmuth (390,000), Phil Ivey (360,000), Lou Diamond Phillips (345,000), Mike Sexton (297,000), Dennis Phillips (240,000), Tom Schneider (230,000), 2009 WSOP Player of the Year Jeff Lisandro (211,000) and Jason Alexander (190,000).

Notables who hit the rail:

Erik Seidel, Raymond Rahme, Jimmy Fricke, Jean-Robert Bellande, Bill Edler, Darus Suharto, Ville Wahlbeck, “Miami John” Cernuto, Bryan Micon, Roland de Wolfe and Sam Farha.

More stuff from Pokerati later this evening as the money bubble may be reached tonight, depending on how fast the eliminations go after dinner.

Daniel Negreanu knows her as “whackjob surprise” … and though we have a feeling that might be what the Schneiders call Tom’s annual birthday present, well-informed, loyal Pokeratizens know her as “Angry Julie” (from back in the Beyond the Table days) … and as the main event nears the money bubble, she’s the frontrunner amongst the women for WSOP Player of the Year.

(Woot! Congrats, Julie!)

According to Julie, men don’t know what it’s like to have to dodge tilt at a final table on a heavy-flow day … but she didn’t let that get in the way of her finding success. With just the main event left to play — making it still anybody’s game, but statistically unlikely that anyone passes her — here’s the breakdown of the top women in the WSOP POY standings:

1. Julie Schneider – 65 pts
2. Vanessa Rousso – 60 pts
3. Millie Shiu – 60 pts
4. Annie Duke – 40 pts
5. Jennifer Harman – 37 pts

Recapping the still ongoing action from Tuesday night:

$50k HORSE Final Table, It Keeps Going, and Going, and Going…

It’s 9:15am PT, but the final table of the $50,000 HORSE is still going with David Bach and John Hanson playing heads-up with Bach holding a slim chip lead. Erik Sagstrom finished in 3rd, Vitaly Lunkin was eliminated in 4th, Huck Seed finished in 5th and Ville Wahlbeck finished in 6th place. Unless Wahlbeck makes a deep run in the Main Event, Jeff Lisandro appears to have locked up the WSOP Player of the Year with Wahlbeck a close second. For those of you who have followed the nearly 17-hour final table from beginning to end, God bless you.

“Whackjob Surprise” Goes Deep in $2,500 2-7 Triple Draw

Nine players remain in the $2,500 2-7 Triple Draw Lowball when play resumes at 2pm. Here’s how the remaining players will be seated:

Seat 1: Hertzel Zalewski – 111000
Seat 2: Nam Le – 95000
Seat 3: Masayoshi Tanaka – 345000
Seat 5: Brad Libson – 146000

Seat 1: Kris Lord – 87000
Seat 2: Julie Schneider – 163000
Seat 3: John Juanda – 182000
Seat 4: Blair Rodman – 358000
Seat 6: Abe Mosseri – 447000

The reason for the title of this section is that it was a comment made regarding Julie Schneider by Daniel Negreanu on his Twitter. He would later add the following upon finding out she read his Twitter: “Apparently the lady reads my twitter. Oops lol. Oh well, when I sat down I swore she was a little off or slow. My bad!”. Negreanu eventually finished in 16th.

Halpern Lawyers Up in Stud 8

New Orleans attorney David Halpern defeated William Kohler heads-up to take down the $1,500 Stud Hi/Lo 8 or Better picking up his first WSOP bracelet along with $159,048.

Piesert Gets Bracelet for Dessert

The country of Germany gets its second WSOP bracelet winner with Jorg Piesert taking down the $3,000 Triple Chance NL Holdem title along with $506,800, defeating Jason DeWitt in heads-up play. After going 50 events without a win, Germany wins on consecutive days, following Carsten Joh’s win in the $1,500 NL event Monday night.

Final Day of Final $1,500 NL

Sergey Konkin, who may also be Sergey Pomerantsev as Konkin’s name didn’t appear on the Day 1 chip counts, is the chip leader (1,400,000) with 28 players remaining in the $1,500 NL Holdem Spectacular when play resumes at 1pm. The most notable name of the remaining 28 is Vivek Rajkumar at just 216,000.

$5,000 NL 6-max

Day 2 of the $5,000 NL Holdem 6-max event begins at 2pm with 160 players remaining, with 90 players making the money. Rory Mathews leads with 369,800 in chips. Others with chips: Faraz Jaka (294,500) , Davidi Kitai (166,300), Justin Bonomo (138,600), Raymond Davis (131,400), Shaun Deeb (114,800), Yevgeniy Timoshenko (107,100), Phil Hellmuth (101,200) and Kenna James (85,500).

More stuff from Pokerati during the day, and follow the live updates this morning for the HORSE event, as long as it’s still ongoing at www.wsop.com

Recapping Monday night’s tournament action:

Final Table Set in 50k HORSE

The final table of the $50,000 HORSE was established early Tuesday morning, with Gus Hansen the unfortunate final table bubble boy. Here’s how the final table will be seated, with streaming coverage starting around 2pm PT at www.espn360.com and wsop.pkr.com:

Seat 1: Ville Wahlbeck – 645000
Seat 2: Erik Sagstrom – 3675000
Seat 3: John Hanson – 1700000
Seat 4: Huck Seed – 1380000
Seat 5: Vitaly Lunkin – 2490000
Seat 6: David Bach – 2345000
Seat 7: Erik Seidel – 965000
Seat 8: Chau Giang – 1075000

While Lunkin and Wahlbeck will be trying to win their 2nd WSOP bracelet this year, Wahlbeck will lead the WSOP Player of the Year race with just two tournaments remaining if he finishes first.

Carsten Joh Wins One for Germany

Carsten Joh took down the next to last $1,500 NL Holdemtournament picking up a WSOP bracelet and $664,426, besting Andrew Chen in heads-up play.

DeWitt DeLeader in Triple Chance

Jason Dewitt (1,599,000) leads the remaining field of 16 in the $3,000 Triple Chance as they play down to a winner starting at 1pm this afternoon. Among those trailing behind Dewitt: Alex Millar (1,006,000), Karga Holt (715,000), Jason Somerville (320,000), Max Greenwood (294,000), Eric “rizen” Lynch (230,000) and An Tran (216,000).

Swinford Stud Leader

Brian Swinford leads (292,000) the day 3 field of 14 in the $1,500 Stud Hi/Lo 8 or Better when play resumes at 1pm this afternoon. Notables remaining: Chad Brown (284,000), Max Stern (216,000), Allie Prescott (202,000), Richie Sklar (134,000), Matt Savage (106,000) and Vince Burgio (40,000).

Christensen Leads Final $1500 NL Event

Jon Christensen of Oslo, Norway leads the field when day 2 of the $1,500 NL Holdem returns Tuesday afternoon with 160,800 in chips with action resuming at 2pm. Among the notables among the 397 returning players: Alexandre Gomes (76,000), Raymond Rahme (51,800), Dean Hamrick (39,500), Richard Lee (and his San Antonio sweatshirt – 34,300) and Vivek Rajkumar (31,800). 297 players will get paid over the next two days as they get close to the final table by the 3am deadline.

2-7 Triple Draw

Adam Ewenstein (71,800) leads the returning 73 players for Day 2 of the $2,500 2-7 Triple Draw Lowball, with only 24 players making the money when play resumes at 2pm. Notables returning: Rick Fuller (55,200), Blair Rodman (46,500), Tuan Le (42,000), Justin “Boosted J” Smith (33,700), Shawn Sheikhan (31,100), Julie Schneider (25,700), David Sklansky (22,600), and Jimmy “Gobbo” Fricke (18,700).

Tuesday’s Tournament

The final preliminary tournament of this year’s WSOP starts at 12 noon with the $5,000 NL Holdem 6-max event, won last year by Joe Commisso in a field of 805 for over $900,000. The WSOP Staff Guide projects a field of 865 today, which could delay the start of Day 2 in the $1,500 NL and $2,500 Triple Draw Lowball events.

Live updates of the last day of six tournaments begins around noon at www.wsop.com and Pokerati will surely have all sorts of stuff during the other parts of Tuesday.

I’m posting this latest Nolan interview because it touches on some familiar laments we’ve heard around these parts before. Who woulda guessed there were others who wonder how the not-best players get some of the sweeter sponsorship deals:

QUESTION: What were your expectations coming into this year’s World Series of Poker?

LISANDRO: Before it all started this year, I was very disappointed. I could not get a sponsor. I made the usual rounds to find out if anyone needed a player. I could not get a response. I spoke about it with a few of my friends. Finally I said, you know what – never mind. I am going to blast them right out of the water. I think I have done a lot in poker. But I’ve always been a little bit short of doing something really great. So, there was this doubt and maybe an excuse that I had not done quite enough to deserve (being sponsored). This year, I asked around. There was no response. No one got back to me. I’m just going to go ahead and win three (gold bracelets). I said that to a few of my closest friends. And, now I have done it.

More…

Did we say it? We did … watch out for Jeff Lisandro to make a mad dash for that previously elusive Player of the Year title.

The back-to-must-read Dr. Pauly and special Tao of Pokerati guest BJ were there when it happened — seeing Lisandro beat author/writer/real-player Michael Craig heads-up in $2,500 Razz. And in analyzing his relatively quick victory, they declare him arguably one of the best international players in the game, and the best 7-stud player in the world. BJ also breaks down the WSOP Player of the Year race, which is not mathematically locked up so long as Phil Ivey is still alive in any event (like he is right now), and Ville Wahlbeck also has a chance but not really, they say. No word yet on which anthem the Aussie-Italian-semi-American will dedicate this gold bracelet to.

UPDATE: Australia.

presented by:

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

Episode 11.19: Lisandropalooza
3:49

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Recapping the Tuesday afternoon activities, with the hope that Miami John Cernuto has a speedy recovery.

Hungary Hungary Bracelets

Peter Traply captured the first WSOP bracelet for Hungary, taking down the $5,000 NL Holdem Shootout , winning $348,728. Andrew Lichtenbergerfinished in second, good for $215,403. Lichtenberger thought he had the tournament won when his A-K flopped another ace against Traply’s pocket sixes. Another six on the turn doubled Traply up, leaving Lichtenberger with just 250,000 in chips out of the 7.5 million in play. Lichtenberger would double up several times, eventually regaining the chip lead. But Traply would be too much, finally knocking out Lichtenberger when his A-K dominated Lichtenberger’s A-J to the delight of his Hungarian railbirds.

Jerrod Jamming in 8-Game

Jerrod Ankenman, co-author with Bill Chen of The Mathematics of Poker is the current chip leader (1,230,000) of the $2,500 8-Game event. Earlier eliminations included Players to Watch Layne Flack (7th) and Rami Boukai (13th) Online favorite Jimmy “Gobbo” Fricke finished in 9th place to bubble the official final table. Jon Turner (another Player to Watch) is currently in second place (822,000), as he continues to impress in mixed-game tournaments.

Sweating to the Seniors

The $1,000 Seniors NL Holdem World Championship has about 120 players remaining as they’ll try to get as close to a final table as possible before the 3 am deadline. The current leader is Tony Brenner (315,000). Barbara Enright (85,000) and Eric Hershler make up a couple of the notable names remaining. Meanwhile, Players to Watch Lloyd Shinn (130th) and Berry Johnston (185th) did make the money.

The Author, The Cowboy and a Guy Named Warwick

The $2,500 Razz event has author Michael Craig (126,000) the chip leader, followed by “Cowboy” Kenna James (125,000) right behind him, followed by Day 1 chip leader Warwick Mirzikinian (98,000) with 43 players remaining, only 32 getting paid. Other notables remaining include Jeff Lisandro (59,000), Player to Watch Ville Wahlbeck (47,000), and James Van Alstyne (45,000), all involved in the thrilling WSOP Player of the Year race.They will also attempt to have a final table established by the 3am deadline.

Pot-Limit Holdem Boiling Over

The $10,000 Pot-Limit Holdem World Championship drew a field of 275 entrants, 162 of which will return from their dinner break. The unofficial chip leader is David Singer (132,000), with David Stiecke (95,000), Vanessa Rousso (93,500), Bill Edler (67,500), Eric Baldwin (56,000), and Jason Mercier (51,000) just some of the notables remaining. Four more levels remain in their day before returning at 2pm tomorrow.

Omaha, Ha Ha!

The $2,500 Omaha 8 or Better event began with a field of close to 400 entries. No official chip leader has emerged, but the final Player to Watch that hasn’t been mentioned today, Daniel Negreanu is now working on his third tournament of the day, as he has already been eliminated from the Razz and Pot-Limit Holdem events. Could he go 0 for three? Check out the updates over at www.wsop.com or my morning update and find out.

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

As seen on WSOP.com:

255 – Ville Wahlbeck
225 – Phil Ivey
220 – Brock Parker
220 – James Van Alstyne
175 – Pete “the Greek” Vilandos
160 – Steve Sung
155 – Daniel Negreanu
150 – Jeffrey Lisandro
150 – Rami Boukai
147 – Jason Mercier

I would like to remind everybody that it’s just past halftime … so technically anyone can come out of nowhere and join this pack. But at the same time, enough events have passed that you can’t really say anyone’s just lucked their way onto the top of the POY leaderboard, as may have been the case a couple weeks ago. So this is mostly indicative of who’s really playing well.

A little smoking area convo with Dutch Boyd (after a heads-up from @robertgoldfarb) led to this little tidbit. Dutch Boyd and Roy Winston supposedly made a $5,000 prop bet at the 2008 WSOP regarding to Player of the Year points. Boyd supposedly won the bet, and when it came time to pay up at the start of the 2009 WSOP, Winston indicated that he would not pay.

Jen: “Did Winston specifically say he wasn’t going to pay you?”
Dutch: “Pretty much, yeah.”

And from his Twitter:

Feeling rather annoyed… A liitle short in the horse and Roy “the Oracle” Winston is welching on a 5k prop bet. Lame.

Methinks “The Oracle” didn’t anticipate Boyd would pursue this any further. Whoops.

As we get near the halfway point — through 27 events — here’s how the WSOP Player of the Year race is shaping up:

250 – Ville Wahlbeck
220 – Brock Parker
220 – Phil Ivey
175 – Pete “the Greek” Vilandos
160 – Steve Sung
155 – Daniel Negreanu
150 – Jeffrey Lisandro
147 – Jason Mercier
145 – Roland de Wolfe
135 – Scott Clements

Click here for the full list and point totals. Personally, I think the best bet is probably Lisandro, who has been in this spot multiple times before … and maybe Negreanu, who really wants to win … oh, and Phil Ivey, too!

It’s why we like the WSOP … they’re always fixin’ shit they fix more shit than they break, instead of holding on to bad or outdated efforts in futile attempts to justify them.

Now, all “open” events count toward the WSOP Player of the Year.

Click below for official details, and here for a full breakdown of the new point system.

More…

I know January Player of the Year rankings mean about as much as a WSOP main event Day 1 Level 3 chip lead, but still, a quick look at CardPlayer’s 2009 POY, and I can tell you that it looks different from any other year I’ve looked at it this early — with so many non-Americans high on the leaderboard.

We’ll see if this holds up and says anything about the level of skill worldwide … it may just be reflecting the growth of international tournaments. Still … it’s different, and noted.

E-Dog had the Player of the Year title locked up in July, but the honor and gift was officially bestowed upon him tonight, just prior to the start of the WSOP main event heads-up match.

In a very brief ceremony, Jeffrey Pollack recognized Erick Lindgren for winning his first World Series bracelet this year, which he did in the $5K Mixed Hold’em event, and a total of four cashes in various events, two being final tables (4th place in the $5K NL 2-7 Draw Lowball and 3rd in the $50K H.O.R.S.E. event). It was a stellar summer for Erick, and he certainly earned the POY award.

While there are likely tournament entries to various WSOP events included in his prize, Erick was also presented with a new custom-engraved Harley-Davidson motorcycle. He spoke very briefly to say that he was honored to receive the award, being in the company of many great past winners, and was happy to see the theater packed with poker fans tonight.

Congrats, Erick!

Click, and enjoy.™

From the always clickworthy good folks at RawVegas.TV

Erick Lindgren

When Event 53 came to an end with Matt Graham capturing the $1500 LHE Shootout bracelet on the morning of Thursday, July 3, the 2008 World Series of Poker Player of the Year race ended, as the main event doesn’t count for points. And out in front of the POY leader board was Erick Lindgren. He was ten points ahead of Barry Greenstein, and E-Dog’s five cashes (one of which was a bracelet) and $1,348,528 in winnings this summer added up to the win.

It was announced yesterday that Lindgren officially captured the title. Congratulations!

The entire list of players in contention for the 2008 WSOP POY race can be found here.

We take you into Tao of Pokerati studios on a random Sunday evening bustling with action. Pauly and I look at Kiddie Table HORSE and discuss how a new player-of-the-year point system — with Scotty Nguyen and Erick Lindgren at the Big Dog HORSE final table — presents real possibilities for a WSOP Triple Crown. Special appearances by Isabelle Mercier, David Benyamine, Donkey Bomber, Jerry Buss, Cyndy Violette, Richard Brodie, and Chris Ferguson.

Episode 18: Triple Crown-and-Coke

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What happened last night, as we finish the preliminary events of the Series today before the Main Event begins tomorrow:

Phil Hellmuth was unable to take down the $1,500 HORSE event for his 12th bracelet, as he finished in 3rd place. James Schaaf, from Torrance, California takes down the bracelet in what also appears to be his first tournament cash. Tommy Hang follows up on his 3rd in the $10,000 Limit Holdem World Championship by finishing in 2nd.

The $10,000 Pot Limit Omaha World Championship was won by Irishman Marty Smyth who eliminated Canadian Peter Jetten in one of the more exciting final hands of the Series. Both players flopped a straight when all the money went in, but Smyth was freerolling to a club flush. The turn was a brick, but when the 6 of clubs appeared on the river, the Irish part of the crowd exploded with delight while the Canadian contingent groaned in despair at Jetten’s turn of events. Smyth takes down almost $860,000 with the bracelet, while Jetten is consoled with the fact of winning $528,000 for second place. Michael “The Grinder” Mizrachi ground to a halt in 3rd.

The last two tournaments conclude today, the ESPN360 table and the WSOP POY on page 2:
More…

What’s happening at the WSOP in Vegas, while some may be planning their itinerary around the WSOP Europe (press release found on page 2).

The $1,500 HORSE event is down to their final table, and Phil Hellmuth is currently in 2nd place as he looks to take down his 12th bracelet. To see if Hellmuth gets that 12th bracelet, you can catch the live updates here. Here’s what the final table will look like as they’re now on their dinner break:

Seat 1: James Schaaf – 392,000
Seat 2: Matt Grapenthien – 46,000
Seat 3: Sam Silverman – 310,000
Seat 4: Phil Hellmuth – 400,000
Seat 5: Jason Dollinger - 346,000
Seat 6: Tommy Hang – 680,000
Seat 7: Victor Ramdin – 78,000
Seat 8: Esther Rossi – 166,000

The $10,000 Pot Limit Omaha World Championship is down to 5 players as they take their dinner break with Marty Smyth recently doubling through Michael “The Grinder” Mizrachi to take the chip lead. Kido Pham ran into Mizrachi at the wrong time and was eliminated in 6th place. Follow the action at the wsop.com website here.

Other tournament action, plus the 2008 WSOPE announcement, on page 2:

More…

What’s happened tonight at the WSOP:

The two final tables for today are both heads-up. First, the $5,000 NL Holdem 6-handed event is down to Joe Commisso and Richard Lyndaker, having played over 130 hands of heads-up action so far. Commisso at one point had a 7-1 chip lead before Lyndaker clawed his way to having his own chip lead. At this time Joe has retaken the lead, but it’s still going to be hard for him to close the deal.

The $1,500 Seven Card Stud Eight or Better tournament is was down to Ryan Hughes and Ron Long. At the moment, Hughes has a 2-1 chip lead, but the chips have been going back and forth quite a bit during heads-up play. Hughes finally defeats Long, taking home the bracelet and $183,000, while Long takes home just over $113,000. This is Hughes’ second bracelet, as he took down the $2,000 Stud Eight or Better event last year. The only other notable name at this final table was 2+2 author David Sklansky, who was the first out at the final table again, finishing in 8th.

Other tournament action on the next page:
More…

I use the phrase “last minute” loosely, because it’s possible this changed occurred back in 2007 and I just missed it … but Change100 points out there’s been a change in how the WSOP calculates its Player of the Year. It used to be that HORSE and the main event didn’t count — the intent being to create a “triple crown” for anyone who might manage to win all three in their lifetime … main event, POY, and $50k HORSE.

But now, according to the official WSOP website, POY points come from all open events (meaning seniors, ladies, and casino employees don’t count) except the main event. I suppose it’s not a bad change — maybe it is, who knows, will reserve judgment for now — but I know I heard some complaints about the old system before from Greg Raymer and others … the beef being that making the final table in HORSE hurts you a lot in the Player of the Year race because you missed out on so many other POY events in that five days.

Again, click here to see where the 2008 HORSE-friendly race stands, and thanks to Change100 for pointing out what I’ve been missing.

UPDATE: Change informs me that the change was made last week.

OPINION OF THE MOMENT: OK, I like it … why shouldn’t this big event count towards Player of the Year? Fuck, it probably should count double. And it doesn’t take away from the Triple Crown concept … in fact, facilitates it greatly, as winning the HORSE Championship and any other bracelet in the same year would take one a long way towards knocking out two of the three triple-crown prongs in one WSOP swoop. I wonder how much, if at all, the added excitement Harrah’s must’ve seen around the June 7 Belmont Stakes factored into a decision that makes a WSOP Triple Crown a slightly more realistic possibility.

Limiting POY points to only open events also seems right, so all contenders theoretically have the same chance.

What’s happening tonight at the WSOP:

The $1,000 NL Holdem with rebuys event has a winner, Canadian Max Greenwood took down the bracelet, making a remarkable comeback from being shortstacked 3-handed to take down the bracelet and almost $700,000. Rene Mouritsen of Aarhus, Denmark finished in 2nd (for the 3rd time at a WSOP event the past two years) to win just over $445,000. Fellow Aarhus resident Albert Iversen finished in 3rd. Greenwood was down to just over 400,000 when he went allin with a pair of 5’s against Mouritsen’s AJ. Another ace hit the flop, and a brick on the turn meant that Greenwood was down to two outs. Miraculously, Max hit that 5, doubling up twice more off Mouritsen to take the chip lead before Mouritsen would take it back when Iversen’s set of 5’s was run down by Mouritsen’s turned flush. After just over 30 hands of head-up play (and boisterous rooting from both player’s friends), all the money went in on a Jack high flop with Max’s AJ ahead of Mouritsen’s KJ. No help came and Greenwood completes the remarkable comeback.

The only tournament to start today, the $2,000 NL Holdem event, drew a field of 2,317, with just under 400 remaining with a couple more levels remaining in the day. Notable names at the top of the leaderboard: Erik Cajelais, Marco Johnson, Erica Schoenberg, Blair Rodman (who won this tournament last year), David Pham and Chau Giang.

Other tournament action today on the next page:
More…

Recapping the rest of last night at the WSOP with the Thursday preview of tournaments:

The final table was set for the $1,500 Pot Limit Omaha Hi/ Lo Eight or Better tournament, and a familiar face makes the final table in search of his 9th WSOP bracelet, Erik Seidel. He joins the rest of these people under the bright lights of the ESPN360 cameras:

Seat 1: Joseph Haddad 135000
Seat 2: Tom Chambers 263,000
Seat 3: Larry Wright 117,000
Seat 4: Chad Burum 117,000
Seat 5: Michael Fetter 288,000
Seat 6: Casey Kastle 188,000
Seat 7: Jon Maren 377,000
Seat 8: Martin Klaser 337,000
Seat 9: Erik Seidel 340,000

In ESPN Milwaukee’s Best WSOP Player of the Year news, Jacobo Fernandez’s 30th place finish (his 6th cash of the Series) extended his lead over David Benyamine to 7 points (227-220).

Other action from yesterday on the next page:

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Tonight’s goings-on at the WSOP:

The one final table of today is down to heads-up play, as the $2,000 Pot Limit Holdem event is down to Chris Bell and Davidi Kitai. So far during heads-up play, there have been 10 lead changes as they’ve battled back and forth for over 3 hours, covering about 120 hands at this time. Follow along with the live updates at the WSOP website here.

Other action from today at the jump:

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Recapping last night with a preview of Sunday activities:

In the $1,500 NL holdem event, Jesper Hougaard returned from the dinner break seemingly in better spirits, as he was able to recover from giving up a 6.5-1 chip lead to Cody Slaubaugh to get back to having a very slight chip lead. A single $25,000 chip separated the two when the final hand was played out as Jesper’s QQ (with a 3rd Q on the flop) crushed Cody’s A-10. Hougaard takes home the bracelet and $610,000, while Cody has the consolation of winning $389,128 for finishing 2nd.

The $10,000 Omaha 8 or Better World Championship led to another name being removed from the list of best players to never win a bracelet as David Benyamine won $535,687 and the coveted WSOP bracelet. Greg Jamison finished in 2nd, Mike Matusow finished in 5th, Eugene Katchalov was 6th, while David Chiu ended up in 8th. Benyamine’s win places him only 2 points behind Jacobo Hernandez in the ESPN WSOP Player of the Year race. The announcement that the $50,000 HORSE event later this week will count towards the standings means that plenty of big names are still in the hunt to take down that title.

The final table for today, and other stuff on page 2…

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Recapping the Friday action and a preview for today:

The $1,500 7 Card Stud winner turned out to be Mike Rocco, who endured the barbs of Al Barbieri to take down his first bracelet and about $135,000.

The $10,000 Omaha Hi/Lo 8 or Better World Championship stopped play with 18 left, they get to return at 3pm to determine their winner. The final two tables have plenty of notable names remaining, which consist of:

Table 14

1 Danny Dang 257,000
2 Stuart Paterson 96,000
3 Eugene Katchalov 252,000
4 Chau Giang 384,000
5 Shun Uchida 134,000
6 Pat Pezzin 65,000
7 David Benyamine 378,000
8 Ram Vaswani 569,000
9 Toto Leonidas 269,000

Table 15

1 Brent Carter 114,000
2 Jason Gray 347,000
3 Berry Johnston 338,000
4 Mike Matusow 396,000
5 David Chiu 372,000
6 Greg Jamison 208,000
7 Hieu “Tony” Ma 319,000
8 Ray Dehkharghani 149,000
9 William McMahan 76,000

The ESPN360 final table for today on the next page…

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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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Without having to calculate exact days or tournament numbers, let’s consider the WSOP to be at the halfway mark.

Taking a look at the WSOP Player of the Year overall points standings, Erick Lindgren is in a pretty solid first place spot right now. Jacobo Fernandez-Hernandez is in second place, followed by Scott Seiver, Daniel Negreanu, and Theo Tran. A certain Tom Schneider looks to be in 31st place, but the current standings do not include his 12th place razz finish last night; that addition might move him up 15-20 spots.

As far as the number of cashes, Tom just moved up to a three-way-tied first place with Nikolay Evdakov and Alex Jacob – all of them have five cashes thus far. The all-time record for cashes at the WSOP in a single year is eight, and with quite a few tournaments to go, the goal of beating that record is definitely attainable.

That’s two cashes so far for Schneider. This one paid a net $1,743. Congratulations-ish, Tom.. Nice to book another win, and this one should cover two or three of the many dozens of blinds you’ve defended poorly in the cash games! Don’t call it a comeback!

I ran into Angry Julie in the poker kitchen late last night shortly after Tom had busted out, and she was unusually happy. Giddy, I’d even say. She was buying herself a Krispy Kreme donut and Tom an ice cream using the $15 food voucher you get for playing in a WSOP event. Informed that she wouldn’t get back any change, she looked at the guy behind her in line and said, “How much is what he’s having? ($8) Great, his too!”

The dude was super-thankful, but before he could walk away with a smile, she stood there and wouldn’t let him leave until he tipped the cashier. “Not until you put at least a dollar in there,” she said, pointing to the tip basket in front of the register. I know what Tom would think if he saw this: “Leak.”

Meanwhile, Tom thinks Pokerati should be all over the continuing saga of the Donkey Bomber POY Banner. “My picture the only one without a light – rodney dangerfield,” said a text he sent to me yesterday. I checked, and it’s true — everyone else has a big beam accenting their mugs. But considering that I have to sit right below his banner and I don’t want any additional glare, I think we’ll stick to keeping you posted about his feats busting out of a tournament with only nine tables to go.

We’re still trying to figure out the best way to let you know what people are posting over on the Citizen Stack Reporter page … but in the meantime I’ll let you know that we just got word from Tom that his oversize head is now up, lording over the Amazon room, as if he’s actually somebody important. Visual confirmation TK.

UPDATE: Big picture of Tom=Yuck

From Tao:

There’s a new mural of the DOnkeyBomber right above my head.

“DonkeyBomber stinks,” said Lance.

I’m thinking… BO? Shitty poker player?

“Smell the banner. It’s brand new and has that chemically smell.”

I inspected the banner and took a huge whiff. Wow. talk about a buzz. My head is still spinning.

OK, too funny … a year-by-year, larger-than-life gallery of WSOP Players of the Year. Defending champ Tom Schneider (’07) is literally nothing next to Jeff Madsen (’06):

Photo: Jen Newell

Tom Schneider’s memorable 2007 is coming to an end — WSOP Player of the Year, 7th in CardPlayer’s POY, 96th in Bluff’s — oy, now he gets to start all over. But before he does, we get a sense of where this semi-regular blogger’s accomplishments fit into the bigger word beyond poker (or, as Scotty Nguyen says, “Poker Beyond!”) … as Tom has been chosen as a finalist — and poker’s only representative — for ESPN’s 2007 All-SportsNation Team.

Click here to vote, preferably for Tom.

The Top 5 get the Espy honors. Currently the leaders are Randy Couture, Floyd Mayweather, Jr., Tom Brady, Alex Rodriguez, and Brett Favre … with Tiger Woods following just a single percentage point behind. Yikes, tough competition for Tom — dare I say tougher than any he has seen at the poker table? — but kinda cool that he’s (at the time of this posting) right ahead of Dirk Nowitzki and tied with Kaká.

Seriously, click on over … for the sake of poker players everywhere to further boost the ego of everyone’s second-favorite Beyond the Table cohost.

CORRECTION: Tom is ranked 96th overall for the past two years by Bluff. For 2007 he finished 158th, compared to 76th in 2006.

Tom Schneider has snuck ahead of J.C. Tran in the CardPlayer Player of the Year race. Currently in 5th place, he’s only 7 points behind Bill Edler for 4th. With a lot of big action coming up — Bellagio 5-diamond and the Venetian NPL main event and probably some others — it could get pretty exciting down the December home stretch.

So while a few pros have convinced me I shouldn’t be poo-pooing Tom’s chances to win it all, I will go out on a limb and say he really needs a big payday to get those top honors, as he looks a little weak in at least one column:

RANK	PLAYER	POINTS	FINAL TABLES	WINNINGS
1	David Pham	5,410	10	$1,534,242
2	Jonathan Little	5,272	9	$2,503,145
3	Scott Clements	5,138	6	$2,206,981
4	Bill Edler	4,777	7	$2,757,042
5	Tom Schneider	4,470	7	$733,589
6	J.C. Tran	4,458	5	$2,364,097
7	David Fox	3,788	8	$566,152
8	James Van Alstyne	3,588	7	$731,158
9	Jared Hamby	3,573	5	$1,252,311
10	Danny Wong	3,406	7	$869,975

Donkey Bomber Pokerati Tom — my words, not his — is at another final table today. That’s about all we know. I think it’s in a $2,500 Venetian/NPL Vegas Open event — I know it’s not at one of the preliminary Bellagio 5-Diamond tourneys where most of the pros are playing — but can’t be sure because, frankly, Tom tends to slack off from his frontline tournament reporting duties whenever he’s playing well (or vice versa). Too bad Goldfarb’s not making more final tables, because even if he can’t post directly from the table, he loves to send me the suckout-by-suckout recaps.

Tom Schneider starts today third in chips … I do know that much. And yeah, looking again, it’s gotta be event #3, because that’s one that counts toward Player of the Year. He really wants to win it, and thinks he can. Personally, I don’t think he stands a chance — though I suppose technically it’s possible and the Arizona Cardinals could win the next Super Bowl, as neither have been mathematically eliminated from contention.

In the meantime, keep up the good work, Tom (6)! We’re rooting for you against David Pham, Jonathan Little, Scott Clements, Bill Edler, JC Tran, David Fox, James Van Alstyne, Jared Hamby, and Danny Wong! Actually, I’m kinda rooting for Danny Wong, too … because he’s on my fantasy team. And Travis Rice, who is Dallas Poker’s highest ranked player in the CardPlayer standings at #11 — 5 spots, and 680 points behind Tom.

UPDATE (from Tom):

Belagio 2500 started yesterday 247 players

Hmm, OK, so I guess it was not one of the Venetian tourneys … it was a 5-Diamonder. Oops! But can we say sic.?

CORRECTION: Despite his own reports to the contrary, Schneider starts the day second in chips, not third. Click below to see who’s at the final table …

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Meanwhile, Tom is currently playing in the main event of the WSOP-Circuit event at Caesar’s Indiana, where he has made yet another final table. He enters into tomorrow’s action as a short stack, so he’s got some of work to do and might need a little luck early on. (With blinds at 2000/4000 +500, he’s got 45,000 chips.) Click here to follow the action, which gets underway Friday at 2 pm.

Beyond competing for the $223,000 first-prize payout, Tom is trying to stay alive in the overall Player of the Year race as the 2007 poker “season” comes into the homestretch. His placement in the CardPlayer rankings certainly stands out, and in fact looks similar to his situation at tomorrow’s final table, which will be Tom’s fifth of the year:

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PokerNews has posted an interview for all you Tom Schneider fans. Very interesting read on what goes through a pro’s mind during a tournament he really did not want to play in the first place he was looking forward to playing so he could take home a bracelet.

Click here to read Part One.

UPDATE: And here for Part Two.