We’ve previously contended that just because mixed games don’t play well on TV, there should be an exception for PLO. It’s easy-enough for any Texas Hold’em player to follow … same winning hands (essentially) … with enough crazy beats, dramatic suck-and resuck, and occasional nut-folding to make things exciting … while opening a new realm of poker thinking that should keep viewers coming back, especially if they play the game, too.

Supposedly this rare televised high-stakes PLO cash game, played a couple days ago in Ivey’s Room @AriaPoker and airing some time next year, was 300/600 with a $100k minimum buy-in. Pretty sexy line-up, too:

While at least five of those names have inherent high-stakes appeal, and one of them is Durrrr, I particularly wanna tune in to see Farha. We always hear how Omaha is his game … but I dunno that I’ve ever seen him play PLO before with hole-card cams — and should be interesting to watch his old-school style match-up with the online generation in a game that isn’t Texas Hold’em.

Could be wrong, but If this episode plays well — which I think it will, relatively — don’t be surprised to see a little more PLO factor into other poker franchises’ TV decisions.

Farha outlasts Flushy in 10k Omaha 8

A lengthy day three in the $10,000 Omaha Hi/Lo 8 or Better World Championship finally concluded Tuesday morning when Sammy Farha defeated James “Flushy” Dempsey in heads-up play to earn Farha’s third WSOP bracelet along with $488,237. Dempsey earned $301,790 for the runner-up finish, passing David “Bakes” Baker and Dan Heimiller, who also cashed in this event, into the WSOP Player of the Year lead. Full results and Nolan Dalla’s tournament report are now online at wsop.com.

Grenon leads Day 3 of 1k NL

30 players remain when play resumes at 3pm for what may be the final day of the $1,000 No-Limit Holdem event with Joseph Grenon holding the chip lead with 857,000 in chips. To see the rest of the contenders, the chip counts are available at PokerNews.

Haydon leads 2500 NL 6-max

William Haydon (179,3000) leads the 156 players returning for day 2 of the $2,500 No-Limit Holdem 6-max event when play resumes at 2:30pm. 126 players will make the money, with the winner earning $630,031. To see the table draws, they’re online at PokerNews.

Tremblay leads $1500 Stud 8

Odette Tremblay (43,700) leads the 208 players returning for day two of the $1,500 Stud Hi/Lo 8 or Better event at 3pm. A field of 644 entered on Monday, with the final 64 making the money, with first taking down $208,862. The table draw is available at PokerNews.

Tuesday’s Tournaments

Already underway is the $2,500 Pot-Limit Omaha event, at 5pm it’s the $10,000 Limit Holdem World Championship. Follow the updates and other happenings at PokerNews and wsop.com.

Dutch doubles up on bracelets

Russ “Dutch” Boyd wins his second career WSOP bracelet, defeating Brian Meinders heads-up to win the $2,500 Limit Holdem 6-max event, collecting $234,065. Meinders earns $144,650 for the runner-up finish. A full list of results and Nolan Dalla’s tournament report is online at wsop.com.

Chow leads 10k Omaha 8

Day three of the $10,000 Omaha Hi/Lo 8 or Better World Championship will resume at 3pm with Michael Chow, winner of a Omaha 8 bracelet earlier in the WSOP, leading with 600,000 in chips with 23 players remaining. Among the returning players: Sammy Farha (512,000), Eugene Katchalov (463,000 after being down to a single 1,000 chip), Jean-Robert Bellande (314,000), David “Bakes” Baker (283,000) and “Miami John” Cernuto (269,000). The full list of chip counts is online at PokerNews.

Wilkerson leads 1k NL day 1b field

Day 1b of the $1,000 No-Limit Holdem tournament concluded with 222 players returning this afternoon at 2:30pm to join the 290 day 1a survivors, with 342 players making the money. The reported chip leader from last night is David Wilkerson with 66,400. Other notables: Eric Froehlich (47,325), Tom Dwan (36,250) and Chad Batista (34,000). A full list of chip counts is at PokerNews.

Monday’s Tournaments

It’s another doubleheader today, with the 12pm tournament the $2,500 No-Limit Holdem 6-max event, last year won by Brock Parker in a field of 1,068 for $552,745. The 5pm tournament is the $1,500 Seven Card Stud Hi/Lo 8 or Better event, won last year by David Halpern for $159,048 in a field of 466.

Hellebuyck wins Ladies’ Championship

The $1,000 Ladies’ Championship just finished as Vanessa Hellebuyckmade quick work of Sidsel Boesen in heads-up play. Hellebuyck wins the specially designed ladies’ WSOP bracelet along with $192,132, with Boesen earning $118,897 for her runner-up finish. Timmi Derosa, fiance of veteran pro Lee Watkinson finished third for $74,389. Team Pokerati Asia member La Sengphet finished in 7th for $22,278. Full results and Nolan Dalla’s tournament report will appear later over at wsop.com.

Dutch Boyd looking for second bracelet

The $2,500 Limit Holdem 6-max field is down to a final table of six as they take a one-hour dinner break. Russ “Dutch” Boyd is the current chip leader with 745,000. He’s followed by Albert Minnullin (696,000), Brian Meinders (635,000), Al “Sugar Bear” Barbieri (305,000), Domenico Denotaristefani (282,000) and Art (formerly known as Julian) Parmann (219,000).

Batista leads 1k NL day 1b field

A field of 1,358 registered for day 1b of the $1,000 No-Limit Holdem has completed six levels of play as the survivors are currently on dinner break. In total, 3289 signed up for this tournament with the top 342 making the money, with the winner earning a cool $503,389. Less than 600 players remain this evening, with the current reported chip leader being Chad Batista with 38,000. Notables with a healthy stack include Eric Froehlich (23,000), Brandon Cantu (15,500), Michael Binger (14,000), Isaac Haxton (9,500) and Robert Varkonyi (8,300). Play will end halfway through level nine, mirroring the day 1a field, with those still having chips combining at 2:30 Monday afternoon.

Dempsey flush with chips in 10k Omaha 8

James “Flushy” Dempsey is looking for his second bracelet of the WSOP as he leads the remaining 73 players with 224,000 in chips as the $10,000 Omaha Hi/Lo 8 or Better World Championship field returns from dinner break soon. Some of the notables with a decent stack include Sammy Farha (220,000), Chino Rheem (194,500), Eric Baldwin (130,000), Phil Hellmuth (98,000), and Matt Glantz (81,000). The field makes the money when 27 remain, as they’re scheduled to play ten levels or reach the final table.

Follow all the results and updates over at PokerNews or wsop.com.

Ashby chuffed to win Stud bracelet

Richard “Chufty” Ashby wins the third WSOP bracelet for the UK this year, taking down the $1,500 Seven Card title, denying Christine Pietsch in heads-up play. Ashby earns $140,467 for the win, with Pietsch pocketing $86,756. Full results and the Nolan Dalla tournament report are online at wsop.com.

Barch tops in Pot-Limit Omaha

John “Tex” Barch makes his third final table the charm, winning his first WSOP bracelet in the $1,500 Pot-Limit Omaha event, defeating Klinghammer Thibaut heads-up. Barch adds $256,919 to his tournament winnings, with Thibault earning $158,698. Results and Dalla’s tournament report is online over at wsop.com.

Ladies Championship Final Table

The final table of the $1,000 No-Limit Holdem Ladies’ Championship gets underway at 3pm with this lineup, featuring Team Pokerati’s newest member, La Sengphet:

Seat 1: Vanessa Hellebuyck – 277,000
Seat 2: Holly Hodge – 279,000
Seat 3: Allison Whalen – 344,000
Seat 4: Kami Chisholm – 529,000
Seat 5: Sidsel Boesen – 789,000
Seat 6: Bonnie Overfield – 226,000
Seat 7: Loren Watterworth – 75,000
Seat 8: Timmi Derosa – 437,000
Seat 9: La Sengphet – 206,000

“Sugar Bear” looking sweet for day 3 of Limit Holdem

Also starting at 3pm is the final day of the $2,500 Limit Holdem 6-max event, with Al “Sugar Bear” Barbieri holding the chip lead with 12 remaining. Here’s the full list of players and their chip counts:

Al Barbieri – 415,000
Albert Minnullin – 367,000
Christopher Vitch – 352,000
Russ “Dutch” Boyd – 349,000
Brian Meinders – 300,000
Anh Le - 289,000
Julian Parmann – 202,000
JJ Liu – 182,000
Dana Kellstrom – 151,000
Domenico Denotaristefani – 110,000
Jeff Norman – 102,000
Eduardo Miranda – 63,000

Tolbert leads Day 1a 1k NL field

The third $1,000 No-Limit Holdem event concluded about halfway through level 9 with 290 players remaining who return Monday afternoon. John Tolbert leads the day 1a field with 73,900 in chips. The full list of chip counts is now available over at PokerNews.

Katchalov catches cards to lead 10k Omaha 8

Day 2 of the $10,000 Omaha Hi/Lo 8 or Better World Championship gets underway at 3pm with Eugene Katchalov leading the remaining 144 players with 123,200 in chips. Other notables also coming back this afternoon: David Benyamine (102,500), Sammy Farha (98,500), Vladimir Shchemelev (88,300), Phil Hellmuth (84,300), Barry Shulman (76,200), Barry Greenstein (49,800), and Team Pokerati’s Tom Schneider (11,700).

Sunday’s Tournament

Only one tournament this afternoon, day 1b of the $1,000 No-Limit Holdem starting at 12pm. Don’t be surprised of today’s field is a great deal smaller than Saturday’s, as it has been in the first two $1,000 events. Follow all the action over at PokerNews and www.wsop.com.

Seven years ago today, the 2003 Main Event got underway …

After wading through a massive field of 839, Chris Moneymaker would end up facing off against Sam Farha, the quintessential Vegas gambler, and making the bluff that created an industry:

(Check out his hat. Think PokerStars got good ROI on their swag?)

The first PokerStars.net NAPT event in the US got off to a roaring start on Saturday, with 872 players putting up $5,000 at the Venetian as part of their Deep Stack Extravaganza. 149 players started day 3 a few minutes ago, with 128 making the money. Hand for hand play has just begun, and the tournament staff is hoping to play down to 24. You can follow the action over at PokerNews, PokerStarsblog.com, or PokerListings. The winner when play ends on Thursday will collect $827,648.

Reality show star Trishelle Canatella made the final table of the WPT Celebrity Invitational, part of the LA Poker Classic currently running at the Commerce Casino. The final table will resume on March 3rd with this lineup:

Seat 1: Steve Elliott – 1,520,000
Seat 2: Thor Hansen – 1,480,000
Seat 3: Trishelle Cannatella – 1,540,000
Seat 4: Sean Urban – 2,090,000
Seat 5: Neev Baram – 1,900,000
Seat 6: LeRon Washington – 1,790,000

In other LAPC news, Al “Sugar Bear” Barbieri took down his 3rd preliminary event of this year’s LAPC, winning the $2,100 Ironman event, a tournament with no scheduled breaks. Barbieri pocketed almost $60,000 for the win, plus a seat to the $10,000 Main Event, which starts February 26th.

The NBC National Heads-Up Championship is just a few days away, with the draw party on March 4th at Pure at Caesars’ Palace, followed by the tournament from March 5-7. The full list of 64 participants hasn’t been announced yet, but over 20 players already received their invite through a series of criteria, including last year’s winner, Huck Seed. Other automatic invites include: Phil Ivey, Joe Cada, Vanessa Rousso, Darvin Moon, Jason Mercier, Eric Baldwin, Sammy Farha, Bertrand “Elky” Grospellier, and Barry Shulman. One invitee who had to decline: Jeff Lisandro, who has a prior commitment in Australia which prevents him from attending.

The EPT Copenhagen event, which drew 423 entries, concluded Sunday evening with Sweden’s Anton Wigg outlasting Italy’s Francesco de Vivo in a four-hour heads-up duel to win 3,675,000 Danish kroner ($6782,918). Other notables who cashed: Roberto Romanello, Peter Eastgate, Juha Helppi, and Bertrand Grospellier.

Super-young but true online pro vs. the “Ultimate Everyman” … you know, if everyman happened to cut trees for a living.

As you know by now, I’m probably as much a Cada fan as I am an Aston Villan (I’ve got Fake$100 invested in his winning) … but the hubbub going on right now reminds me a bit of funny-in-retrospect conversation as WSOP things got down to heads-up in 2003 …

From my first poker magazine piece in the first issue of (the recently resurrected) ALL IN:

On the last day of the 2003 WSOP main event, a handful of eliminated pros gathered around the final table to watch the action. Moneymaker — the Tennessee accountant who had never before played a live tournament — had amassed a sizable chip lead when Mike Matusow turned to fellow professional Eric Siedel and said, “I can’t believe another donkey is going to win the World Series of Poker.”

“You better hope he wins,” Seidel responded. “If Moneymaker can pull this off, it’s going to be worth at least $5 million to you and me over the next two years.”

“Are you crazy?” Matusow said, dismissively.

The only difference this go-round, of course, is that the world has already been introduced to online poker, and the Sammy Farha pro character is being played by a 21-year-old who stands to be the youngest WSOP main event champ in history (for the second year in a row).

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.

Day 2a concluded with 607 players remaining and Andrew Gaw the chip leader with 386,800 in chips. In an interesting story, Eric Cloutier, who was reported chip leader at the end of day 1a with 150,750 in chips, turned out to have 15,075 to start the day. He ends today in 2nd place with 383,500 in chips. Other notables: Greg Mueller (287,300), Andy Black (215,700), Mike Sexton (169,000), Kara Scott (139,500), Jimmy Fricke (138,300), Tom Schneider (123,700), Greg Raymer (95,900), Jason Alexander (73,700), Sam Farha (67,500), Erik Seidel (55,600) and Roland de Wolfe (21,200). To view the entire list of day 2a survivors, follow this link.

The Mystery of Amazon Green 156

The day 2 situation brings up this interesting case, especially since it’s the very last table in the Amazon Room. As I mentioned to Pauly, there were 4 players on the day 1d entrants list who were seated in the 10 seat, all of them in the Amazon Green section:

Jeppe Nielsen – Amazon Green 143/10
Joe Reitman – Amazon Green 144/10
Marco Bertaccini – Amazon Green 145/10
Dale Poynter – Amazon Green 146/10

To be fair, only Poynter’s table was actually 10-handed, although in Reitman’s case, that table only seated 7 players (according to the list). Another interesting table is Amazon Green 156, which is seated as follows:

LANDAU, MICHAEL
ERNA, SALVATORE
GASPARD, JEAN
HACHEM, TONY
MICHNIK, MICHAEL
HARRISON, AUDLEY
SEED, HUCK
MORRISON, KIRK
ODONNELL, KEVIN

Gaspard and Seed both had been guaranteed a seat, for winning WSOP-C New Orleans and the NBC Heads-Up event respectively, as noted by the Commish in the above video. Audley Harrison is a known British boxer who has played a few events this year at the WSOP. Some of the rumors that were flying around the Rio yesterday were about some players getting preferential treatment. I’ll leave it to the reader to guess which names on the above list fit that role. Another name worth mentioning is Kevin O’Donnell, who apparently was shut out, according to Gary Wise’s article on ESPN.com:

Frustration was boiling over among those who felt their dreams of championship glory moving beyond reach, many feeling betrayed by what they saw as insufficient warning of what might be going down.

“I think that Harrah’s communications was awful,” said Kevin O’Donnell, a professional circuit regular who’d gone home to Arizona for Independence Day. “If they’d warned us better about this possibility, we’d have made the needed adjustments. There are a lot of things they’re going to say that are true, but ultimately the communications broke down. As a business person, I understand you can only fit in so many people, but they should have done a better job of letting people know they were going to have these space issues.”

Meanwhile, Palansky was sending out a follow up e-mail at 12:08 p.m. entitled “WSOP Main Event – Flight 1D is a SELLOUT.”

Yet O’Donnell did get a seat — at Amazon Green 156 — and returns today with more than 72,000 in chips.

Day 2b gets underway at noon today, playing 4 two-hour levels. A not exact list of chip counts and where they’ll be sitting can be found here. If you’re in the Amazon Room and poker room, you’ll be playing 9-handed. Buzio’s and any of the other tournament rooms will mostly start 10-handed, although they’ll be breaking tables as fast as they can to get to 9-handed as quickly as possible. One of the tables not in use at the moment, Amazon Green 156.

Follow the live updates at www.wsop.com and other updates from Pokerati about other goings on at the WSOP.

The current chip leader is Samer Rahman with 325,000 in chips. Other notables: Greg Mueller (223,000), Andy Black (164,000), Tom Schneider (140,000), Vitaly Lunkin (120,500), Jimmy Fricke (105,000), Joe Sebok (94,000), Sam Farha (70,000) and Amarillo Slim (48,000). More chip counts and updates can be found at www.wsop.com here.

(I’m keeping up with results on my own time at PokerNews, btw.)

I ranked her 55th. Overall, the ESPN panel put her 49th. But hey, just goes to show you, anyone can get an easy draw. The laughable field the newest GoDaddy spokesmodel had to beat, in order: Doyle Brunson, Phil Ivey, 2007 NHUPC champ Paul Wasicka, Daniel Negreanu, and online wunderkind Bertrand Grospellier, aka ‘Elky’. Hmm. Wow.

Meanwhile, my bracket’s turned to shit. Of the 96 players in on PokerRoad/Pokerati’s fun, eight people picked Vanessa Selbst to win it all, yet no one … as in ZERO! … picked Vanessa Rousso.

Of the final four, here’s how many people picked them to win it all:

Vanessa Rousso – 0
Sammy Farha – 0
Huck Seed – 5
Elky – 9

CORRECTION: Technically Mike Matusow is GoDaddy’s newest spokesboy. He went out in Round 1.

Otherwise, all is well in my bracket. Got the 4 3 other matches right — Farha d. Cunningham, Eastgate d. Bloch, Lindgren d. Lederer, Elezra d. Chan. Alas, we will not be seeing Gowen vs. Lederer deep, which Ali Nejad reminded us yesterday woulda been great for poker, because it probably woulda been followed on Court TV.

CORRECTION: I guess I changed my pick on Chan vs. Elezra / didn’t go with my gut. Of course Eli was gonna win.

If you wanna follow a little more play-by-play, take your pick:
CardPlayer.com
PokerNews.com
PokerListings.com

Flipchip for really good photos.
Audio stuff TK at PokerRoad.

And it’s still not too late to get in on the bracket-picking action … though points scored on matches already started won’t count in the end. We’re doing this with our forum friends at PokerRoad. Show who’s boss.

UPDATE: Yang defeats Gowen! Boo Jerry Yang! Makin’ us rankers eat it!

Perhaps if the music thing doesn’t work out for Billy Bob, he can take up professional poker as his next gig.

Billy Bob Thornton was spotted playing poker in the new Poker Lounge at the Hard Rock Hotel & Casino Thursday night. He was joined by friends and bandmates from The Boxmasters in the back room of the lounge that some are calling the Billy Bob Thornton room – an oversized image of the actor/musician hangs on the wall above the table. Thornton was back inside the Poker Lounge Friday morning signing the large picture of himself. Billy Bob Thornton and The Boxmasters performed yesterday night at The Joint.

ALT CAP: Billy Bob Thornton doing his best Sammy Farha at the Hard Rock.

Craziness.

First of all, the entire casino was packed, as was the Strip on the way over there. After plowing through the tourists and slot machines, I arrived at the poker room, which was just overflowing with players. At least 20-30 people were milling about near the front of the poker room, the majority of whom were waiting for seats to open up. Among them were David Pham and Padraig Parkinson. And Davood Merhmand was looking for a love connection was enjoying a glass of wine.

As I shuffled past and made my way into the upper level/back room, there wasn’t much room to move around, but I immediately saw Antonio Esfandiari, along with many unrecognizable faces. I was told that those tables were playing $600-$1200 and higher, but I didn’t see anyone I knew well enough to ask for specifics. The intensity of the players was obvious in their faces, though; these were some serious games at relatively high stakes.

And on to the Big Game in Bobby’s Room. There was a small crowd gathered around the door and windows to the room to catch a glimpse of some of poker’s biggest names. Sammy Farha and Minh Ly were at one table with several young internet-ish-looking players, and Sammy looked happy to have the fresh meat. The other table included such names as Eli Elezra, Jennifer Harman, Marco Traniello, David Oppenheim, and Johnny Chan. I was told they were playing $3000-$6000 mixed games. (What better way to prepare for the upcoming $50K H.O.R.S.E. event at the Bellagio in two days?)

According to one source who is a regular in the Bellagio $400-$800 mixed games, it has been a tough road this year. Since coming to Vegas for the WSOP, he has noticed a marked change in the caliber of player in all of the higher limit mixed games. The fields are very tough, much tougher than last year, as if the high stakes players made a concerted effort of late to step up their games. He said there are very few soft spots, and every game is a struggle. When asked about taking the limits down a notch to $200-$400 or lower, he said with certainty that it wouldn’t make a difference. He has friends at those levels, and it is the same story; there isn’t as much money to be made in cash games this year. Standard no-limit hold’em and other games might be different, but the mixed game players have brought, played, and mastered their A-games.

Nevertheless, those who crave the high-limit action go to Bellagio, despite the difficulty of the tables or the wait to get on one. There is no other casino in Vegas that spreads such a wide range of games at such a variety of limits, and Bellagio has a reputation for running one of the best poker rooms around. No matter the hard economic times or bad runs at the WSOP, the Bellagio poker room is bumpin’.

Play ended shortly after 5am in the $10k Mixed Event World Championship. A tournament that had its share of controversy, from confusion over the structure to players threatening to go to 2+2 to express their dislike of having table redraws start at triple draw instead of going through the eight-game rotation. Here’s the final table, starting at 4pm:

Seat 1: James “mig.com” Mackey 742,000
Seat 2: Matt Glantz 1,115,000
Seat 3: Sam Farha 374,000
Seat 4: Michael DeMichele 434,000
Seat 5: Tom “durrrr” Dwan 642,000
Seat 6: Eli Elezra 76,000
Seat 7: Anthony Rivera 274,000
Seat 8: Jeff Madsen 149,000

The other final table today will be the televised (on espn360.com) $2k NL Holdem, event #7, starting at 3pm. Their final nine will consist of:

Seat 1: Matt Keikoan 1,011,000
Seat 2: Theo Tran 1,884,000 (his 2nd FT this Series)
Seat 3: Shannon Shorr 620,000
Seat 4: Carter Gill 652,000
Seat 5: Mihai Manole 1,020,000
Seat 6: Chris Bjorin 205,000
Seat 7: Mike Lisanti 358,000
Seat 8: J.C. Tran 273,000
Seat 9: Alex Bolotin 345,000

Two more bracelets were given out early this morning, in the $1,000 NL w/rebuys (Event #5) Michael Banducci defeated former EPT Grand Final winner Jeff Williams. Meanwhile, Thang Luu bested Spencer Lawrence in the $1,500 Omaha 8 or better (Event #6)

Today starts two more events, at noon is the $5,000 NL Shootout (Event #11). For those unfamiliar, shootouts are a series of one table sit n go’s, win your table and you move on to the next round. Win three tables and the bracelet is yours. At 5pm will be the $1,500 Limit Holdem (Event #12).

Two tournaments move on to their day two, as the $1,500 6-max (Event #9) plays down to their final 6. What started as a sold-out field of 1,236 whittled themselves down to a compact field of 72. Matt Matros is the current chip leader, Thomas Fuller is a close 2nd. Other notable names in the field: Avery Cardoza, Ian Frazer, Neil Channing.

One hour later, the $2,500 Omaha 8/Stud 8 (Event #10) picks up where they left off. A starting field of 388 is down to 120, expect the journey to their final 8 to go well into the night. Bennett Greenstein is the current chip leader with Michael “The Grinder” Mizrachi close behind. Other notable names left include “Miami John” Cernuto, Todd Brunson, and Allen Cunningham.

5 minutes in — Dude’s in a pawn shop muttering … losing interest.
7 minutes in — Fontana Room, Sammy Farha saying “raisey daisey” … don’t care … ooh, wait, it’s the fat guy from Borat? At-the-table hand analysis and Andy Bloch’s hat … hmmm.
11 minutes in — Horatio Sanz as Robert Goldfarb?

18 minutes in — OK, tuning out for now. Got better things to do. Online poker joke, ha. Flush got there, damn.

Anyhow, this post isn’t about robberies in Dallas or police raids in Houston — everybody wants the poker money, don’t they? … it’s about the April ’08 issue of Bluff. Though these articles aren’t online yet, three of the four they highlight are about Texans:

One is about how to be like Houstonian Sammy Farha. Another is about poker politics and ledes with a certain group of Dallas players wooing Congressman Pete Sessions to get behind pending poker legislation. And a third is about Gavin Griffin, a former Dallas underground dealer who became poker’s first “triple crown” winner.

Not only do I think that is Texas neato, but also I think it says something about the state’s continued super-relevance in the game. But hey, maybe I’m biased.

The 64-player field competing for $500,000 (on a $20k buy-in) this weekend has been set (up) — with pairings drawn last night at a kick-off party at Pure.

Click here to see the full bracket and make your picks. (This bracket-maker is kinda new to me, so not sure whether or not you can see my predictions here.)

Some of the more interesting pairings to me:

Tom Schneider vs. Gavin Smith
Clonie Gowen vs. Jennifer Tilly
Sammy Farha vs. Doyle Brunson
Hooman Nikzad vs. Greg Raymer
Chris Ferguson vs. John Juanda
Chris Moneymaker vs. Jerry Yang
Jean Robert Bellande vs. Sam Grizzle