Time for some Friday recapping:

Casino Employees Cashing

The first bracelet event, $500 Casino Employees , finished play at the end of level 10 with 53 players remaining. The chip leader is Kent Washington, from Oakland, California with 168,300 in chips. Jonathan Kotula, who won this event in 2008, is in 2nd (108,700). The only other recognizable name remaining is Bellagio tournament director Jack McClleland (19,700). The tournament is scheduled to resume at 2:30pm today, although the 1k donkament may delay that start. The schedule notes they’re playing down to a winner today, but circumstances may prevent that. If they play down to a winner today, it may put a damper on the plans looking to take part in Bluff’s Streak 2 Seven contest to win a 2010 or 2011 WSOP me seat, as mentioned on this week’s episode of the award-winning Poker Beat.

Players’ Championship Moves to Day 2

Day 1 of the $50,000 Players’ Championship concluded earlier this morning with 105 of the 116 players remaining. Chip counts haven’t been finalized, but it appears Erik Sagstrom will be the chip leader at 329,100. Other notables in the top 10: David Oppenheim (313,800), “Miami John” Cernuto and Joe Serock (265,000), Justin Bonomo (255,000), Barry Greenstein (240,100), and early chip leader Daniel Kelly (223,000). Tom Dwan, Brian Townsend, and 2009 dual bracelet winner Greg Mueller started off down $50,000 at the WSOP, eliminated on Friday. The remaining field will return at 3pm today as the field is scheduled to play six 90-minute levels.

Saturday Night’s Alright for Fighting

For those who get eliminated early enough, you can watch guys trying to beat the shit out of each other at the MGM Grand Garden area for UFC 114 tonight. The highly anticipated main event features Rashad Evans v Quinton “Rampage” Jackson topping an 11-fight card. For those looking for a preview of the fights, or looking for some good betting tips, check out www.mmafix.com and www.rawvegas.tv.

More later today, but in the meantime be sure to check Pokerati, on Twitter and hit up the official WSOP site over at www.wsop.com

I’m hearing that 4 of the top 100 players to cash in the 6,012-player $1k Stimulus Special were WinStar regulars. While those numbers don’t suggest any super-mad poker power — 4 percent of the top 1.7 percent — they do confirm that WinStar is indeed a WSOP force to contend with. Names forthcoming … and help me out if you happen to already know whom I should be looking for. (I’m admittedly a tad out of the WinStar loop since, you know, I kinda fight every two years to put them out of business.)

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

Episode 11.11: Donkey Agents
5:05

Let’s start with the two final tables that are known at this time. The $1,000 NL Holdem final table decided to come back at 2pm today to get some exposure on ESPN360 (wsop.pkr.com for the non-US/non-ESPN360 viewer). Here’s how that final table will be seated with players who have earned at least $1,000,000 in tournament earnings occupying the first three seats (as always, tournament stats come courtesy of the Hendon Mob Tournament Database:

Seat 1: Dan Heimiller – 4,155,000
Seat 2: Jeff Oakes – 1,680,000
Seat 3: Nathan Mullen – 1,210,000
Seat 4: Phong Huynh – 1,310,000
Seat 5: James Matz III – 1,885,000
Seat 6: Steve Sung – 3,395,000
Seat 7: Panayote ‘Pete’ Vilandos – 1,940,000
Seat 8: Larry Sidebotham – 1,500,000
Seat 9: Danny Fuhs – 965,000

The other final table that is already known is the $1,500 Pot Limit Omaha final table, which also starts at 2pm today, will be made up of:

Seat 1 – An Tran (did not report)
Seat 2 – Jason Mercier (384,400)
Seat 3 – Chris Biondino (182,000)
Seat 4 – Matt Giannetti (311,000)
Seat 5 – Kevin Iacofano (770,000)
Seat 6 – Jonathan Tare (639,000)
Seat 7 – Dario Alioto (315,000)
Seat 8 – Vic Park (341,000)
Seat 9 – Steven Burkholder (263,000)

Day 3 of the $10,000 7 Card Stud World Championship returns for their final day today with 11 players remaining at 3am today. Poker veteran Eric Drache is the current chip leader (755,000), with Hasan Habib (593,000), Freddie Ellis (580,000), Jeff Lisandro (524,000) and Ville Wahlbeck (472,000) rounding out the top 5. Tim Phan, Daniel Negreanu, Max Pescatori and Greg “FBT” Mueller help round out the field that will return at 1pm today for the third bracelet that will be awarded today, which will create an extended bracelet ceremony on Thursday afternoon with all the jewelry being passed out.

Other tournament stuff on the next page:

The $1,500 NL Holdem event finished play today with about 340 players remaining, stopping just short of the money. Canadian Victor Greeley is the day 1 chip leader (195,300) with notables Jacobo Fernandez, Sorel Mizzi, Brandon Cantu, Grant Hinkle, and Alex Jacob returning at 2pm to play to their final table.

The $2,500 NL 2-7 Lowball Single Draw event finished play last night with 35 players remaining, of which 21 will make the money. Layne Flack (75,125) is the chip leader, with Phil Ivey, Phil Hellmuth, Mike Matusow, Tony G among the several well-known names remaining in the field. They also return to the tables at 2pm to play down to the final table of 7.

On to events that actually get started today:

The two bracelet events that get underway today are events popular with the Internet community. The 12 noon tournament will be $1,500 NL 6-max, which was won last year by Washington state pro Ralph “Rep” Porter besting a field of 1,236 to take down $372,843. The 5pm tournament will be $2,500 Pot Limit Holdem/Pot Limit Omaha known better as “HA”, as the games will switch every 9 hands. Last year, Max Pescatori, “The Italian Pirate” took down his first bracelet in a field of 457 for almost $250,000.

As for today’s projections, the $1,500 NL 6-max is projected at 1,360 (I expect the over, with a field of close to 1,500), while the $2,500 HA is listed at 503 (also going with over, with about 530 who’ll be having a chuckle). More updates during the day here at Pokerati and www.worldseriesofpoker.com.

The $1,500 Pot Limit Omaha event is working their way down to its final table tonight. They currently have 27 players remaining as they went on their dinner break. Jonathan Tare will have the chip lead when the players return, Greg Pappas is currently in 2nd, with day 1 chip leader Jason Mercier is 3rd in chips. Former bracelet winners Dario Alioto, Eric Froehlich and An Tran are some of the notables making up the final three tables.

The $10,000 7-Card Stud World Championship has 45 players remaining while they play down to their final table. The current leader is Fu Wong, followed by Greg “FBT” Mueller, Max Pescatori, Nick Frangos, Hoyt Corkins and Cory Zeidman. A recent elimination was Day 1 chip leader David Oppenheim, along with Phil Ivey, Joe Cassidy and Bruno Fitoussi being day 2 casualties, falling far short of the money that will be reached when 16 players remain.

The $1,500 NL Holdem event got underway today as a field of 2,791 entrants flooded the tournament area, causing delays in the starts of several other events. Returning on the dinner break will be 889 players, with the current chip leader is Jonathan Little, with “Minneapolis Jim” Meehan, Bertrand “Elky” Grospelier, Tiffany Michelle and Chau Giang among the notables off to a fast start. The money will be reached when 297 players remain, with the winner taking home $666,853.

The $2,500 NL 2-7 Lowball Single Draw event started as 148 players took their seats, as plenty of notables round out the field, including Greg Raymer, Erick Lindgren, John Juanda, Billy Baxter, Chino Rheem, Gavin Smith and Pokerati’s own Tom Schneider as they play eight one-hour levels tonight. Follow all the tournament’s progress at www.worldseriesofpoker.com and Pokerati for DonkeyBomber and other updates.

The final table of event #4 ($1,000 NL Holdem is taking much longer to reach than anticipated, the powers that be have asked us to cancel today’s broadcast.

we’ll be broadcasting tomorrow at 2pm Vegas time no matter what, the players who final table event #4 will have the option to return then

Should they decline, we’ll show the final table of the $1500 Pot Limit Omaha event. This also means we’ll be adding a bonus event soon.

So no need to stay up tonight to wait for a final table, if the players decide to end early. That causes a final table logjam as there’s the possibility of three final tables running tomorrow afternoon as the $10,000 7-Card Stud World Championship will also play to a conclusion on Wednesday. Stay tuned to Pokerati and www.worldseriesofpoker.com for further updates.

His twitter here.

Nice job, Clifford, and well done representin’ in your debut WSOP performance. You should feel really really good about how you played and what you did … and then after that subsides we can talk about that very questionable move you made with A-6 on the button (and then re-shoving on the flop of Q-6-x).

And with that experience in mind, Cliff will be playing in his second WSOP non-circuit event tomorrow, in the $1,500 NLH.

In games where you use two cards, the $1k Stimulus Special is on their dinner break, with play scheduled to end at 3am with the belief that a final table will be close at hand. Zach Melaney appears to be the chip leader (260,000). Notables near the top include J.C. Tran (200,000), Jonathan Aguiar (140,000), Steve Sung (90,000) and Will “The Thrill” Failla (76,000).

The WSOP Champions Invitational is currently three-handed as Tom McEvoy, Robert Varkonyi and Dan Harrington are playing for the Binion Cup and 1970 Corvette. Probably not the final three the ESPN cameras were hoping for, but that’s poker for you.

The $10,000 7 Card Stud World Championship drew a smaller than expected field of 142, down 16 from last year. However, plenty of poker’s elite still make up the field such as: Phil Ivey, Greg Raymer, Tony G, Barry Greenstein, David Singer, John Hennigan and Chau Giang. Updates on all of these events can be found at www.worldseriesofpoker.com all night.

That brought him to 39,300 chips (comfortably above average). Despite his personal efforts not to succumb to superstition, he credits his success to the Pokerati patch: “As soon as I put this thing on, I started running like ultimate Goodness,” Cliff said.

Though he did decide to change his shirt for Day 2, he did keep the patch on to start today, and sure enough, he’s up to 56,100 chips (avg. stack about 30,000) as they cross into the money.

Follow Cliff throughout the day on twitter.

CORRECTION: Cliff did not change his shirt.

Meanwhile, @shoegal5225 also began displaying her Pokerati patch in a way we’re plenty happy to see … and sure enough, upon doing so, she won her satellite:

As Dan mentioned in the post below, Thang Luu defended his title in the $1,500 Omaha 8 or Better event for $263,135. Ed Smith, the chip leader at the end of play on day 2, finished in 2nd for just over $162,000. Ming Reslock finished 3rd ($106,373).

More stuff on the next page:

Day 1b of the $1,000 NL Holdem Stimulus Special J.C. Tran (and his spectacular breasts) will return at 2pm as the overall chip leader with 130,800. J.C. will be part of the 760 entries who’ll be playing for the first prize $771,106. The rest of the final table will earn at least $114,000 each, with the payouts work their way down to 621st place for $1,894. More details will be in my report for Pokernews later in the morning. The plan today is to get down to a final table, when I posed that question to my Magic 8-Ball, it responded “No way!”. I have to agree, if they’re lucky they’ll stop play with 4 tables left. This event was scheduled to be the first table to be streamed this year on ESPN360.com, so who knows how far they’ll push the players’ endurance.

The final tournament that started on Sunday a 20-player SNG, better known as the Champions Invitational. When play was stopped after Joe Hachem’s elimination in 11th, the chip counts were as follows:

Carlos Mortensen — 42,375
Tom McEvoy — 31,000
Jim Bechtel — 30,475
Doyle Brunson — 20,250
Dan Harrington — 19,975
Peter Eastgate — 18,425
Huck Seed — 15,400
Robert Varkonyi — 13,450
Berry Johnston — 7,625
Phil Hellmuth — 1,125

The plan was to stop when they reached the final nine, but the possible lack of Phil Hellmuth may have changed that plan, so he gets a few moments of time on ESPN unless he makes a miracle comeback starting after 3pm today.

Today starts a week of two-a-day bracelet events, as the $1,500 PLO event starts at 12 noon while the $10,000 7 Card Stud World Championship starts at 5pm. The $1,500 PLO event was won last year by Vanessa Selbst, who topped the field of 759 to win $227,965. The projected field for this year is 835, and will go with the over, saying 884 will enter. The $10,000 7-Card Stud event was won last year by Eric Brooks, besting a field of 158 and donating his $415,856 winnings to the Decision Education Foundation, of which he is a member of their board. The projected field for the event this year is 166, and I’ll take the over again, saying they’ll wind up with 174. More stuff throughout the day on Pokerati, and follow the updates at www.worldseriesofpoker.com starting at noon today.

The 40th Annual $40,000 NL Holdem final table has 4 players remaining. Greg Raymer, Vitaly Lunkin, Isaac Haxton and Dani Stern make up the final four to take home nearly $2m and the first open gold bracelet of the WSOP. Ted Forrest, Noah Schwartz, Lex Veldhius, Alec Torelli and Justin Bonomo were eliminated earlier today from the final table.

Speaking of Raymer, the WSOP Champions Invitational got underway earlier this afternoon. 20 of the 25 surviving champions accepted their RSVPs to be filmed under the bright lights of the ESPN cameras. Within the first orbit, 2006 winner Jamie Gold was the first player eliminated, while 2003 winner Chris Moneymaker watched his 10,000 chip stack dwindle erode before he finally busted. Raymer was able to get a couple of hands in before returning to the $40k final table. Six more one-hour levels or until the final table of nine return Monday afternoon.

More recaps on the next page:

The $1,500 Omaha 8 or Better event came back today with 19 players, with 6 players remaining at their final table. To give them their due, here’s how the final 9 were situated:

Seat 1 – Ming Reslock
Seat 2 – Jordan Rich
Seat 3 – Pascal Leyo
Seat 4 – Ed Smith
Seat 5 – Freddy Deeb Out in 8th
Seat 6 – Senovio Ramirez Out in 9th
Seat 7 – Thang Luu
Seat 8 – Robert Price
Seat 9 – Jim Geary Out in 7th

Price will return with the chip lead, followed by Reslock, and Rich. Thang Luu is towards the back, but this is his third straight year with a WSOP final table in an Omaha 8 event. In 2007, he finished 2nd in a $2,000 OHL event, and last year took down this same event.

Finally, day 1b of the $1,000 NL Holdem Stimulus Special drew a field of 3,014 entries today. The 6,012 total creates the 4th largest sized field in live poker behind the 2006, 2007 and 2008 WSOP Main Events. Like Saturday’s field, over 2/3rd of the field weren’t able to make the dinner break. Among them: Phil Ivey, Jonathan Little, Thor Hansen, Roy Winston, Jeff Madsen, John Phan and Erick Lindgren. Some players who are sticking around: JC Tran, Lee Watkinson, Kathy Liebert, Jimmy “Gobbo” Fricke and Mike Wattel. You can follow the four tournaments in action during the overnight over at www.worldseriesofpoker.com and get more stuff here at Pokerati.

Day 1a of the $1,000 NL Holdem Stimulus Special drew a full field of entries today as the WSOP tournament staff issued a press release declaring the event a sellout at 6,000 entrants, although official numbers are slightly below the 6000 total. There have been rumors that a few spots are still available on Sunday to select individuals who wish to register. An earlier rumor that alternates were being allowed to enter the event turned out to be incorrect. The players will be returning from their dinner break shortly, with less than 1000 players remaining to play the final 2 to 4 levels today. Among the notables that have already came and went: Kevin Saul, Shannon Shorr, and PokerRoad’s Joe Sebok, Joe Stapleton and Barry Greenstein.

The 40th Annual $40,000 NL Holdem event almost has its final table in place, as they’re now 10-handed and return from their dinner break shortly. Alec Torelli leads a stacked table with 5,375,000 in chips. The remainder of the table features Greg Raymer, Tony G, Ted Forrest, Justin Bonomo, Dani Stern, Vitaly Lunkin, Isaac Haxton, Noah Schwartz and Lex Valdhuis (with his girlfriend, Evelyn Ng, sweating the action on the rail).

The size of the Stimulus Special caused a one-hour delay in the start of day 2 of the $1,500 Omaha 8 or Better event. The players reached the money just before their dinner break. Notables who won’t be heading to the pay window include Phil Hellmuth, Andy Bloch, “Hollywood” Dave Stann, Scott Clements and Tony Cousineau. Defending champion in this event Thang Luu is near the top of the leaderboard, with Layne Flack, Freddy Deeb, Todd Brunson and Pat Poels all still in the fight. Special congratulations goes to former WSOP TD Matt Savage for his first WSOP cash. With about 85 players left, the goal is to play down to a final table for Sunday, but don’t be too surprised if there’s a couple of tables who’ll get to return tomorrow afternoon. Check out www.worldseriesofpoker.com for more updates during the evening, and here for players to follow.

Soon after, Nelly went busto, and his crew escorted him out the back door. And yes, it took every ounce of restraint not to follow them, but I did not. The stalking stopped at the Rio doors for now.

Welcome to Cali Jen’s 2009 WSOP.

Players are already gathering in droves outside the Amazon Room for the first of two starting days of the $1,000 NLHE Stimulus Special. The madness will begin shortly!

See the official word after the jump.

40th Annual World Series of Poker® Posts Three Records In Its First Three Days Including 6,000 Entrants for ‘Stimulus Special’

WSOP Start Boasts Largest Non-Main Event Field, Largest Omaha Tournament and Largest Non-Main Event Prize Pool

LAS VEGAS (May 30, 2009) – Each of the first three open events of the 2009 World Series of Poker Presented By Jack Link’s Beef Jerky has broken a record.

First, it was Event #2, which set the record for largest prize pool for a non-Main Event field, when 201 players anted up $40,000 each to create a massive $7,718,400 prize pool. The previous record prize pool was $7,104,000 (2007) – a solid $614,000 behind the new record.

Then, Event #3, the $1,500 Omaha Hi-Low, had 918 entrants, besting the old record of 833 and becoming the largest live Omaha tournament ever played.

But the most impressive feat thus far has been the sellout of Event #4 – a $1,000 buy-in No-Limit Hold’em tournament. Billed as a “stimulus special,” it has blown away the then-record 3,929 entrants who participated in a $1,500 No-Limit Hold’em tournament at last year’s WSOP – by selling a capacity of approximately 6,000 entries.

The new mark means the $1,000 event, which features two start days (May 30 and 31), is the largest non-WSOP Main Event tournament ever played. Registration for Event #4 is now sold out, with a maximum capacity of approximately 3,000 players per start day – or 6,000 players total.

“The demand for the Stimulus Special could be felt the moment we announced it,” said World Series of Poker President and Commissioner Jeffrey Pollack. “We welcome all the first-time players to the World Series of Poker and wish everyone good luck in their pursuit of a gold bracelet.”

The total prize pool for Event #4 will exceed $5 million, with the winner guaranteed to earn more than 750 times the entry fee and the coveted gold bracelet. Each of the final table participants will receive at least six-figure paydays.

The 40th annual WSOP began May 26 at the Rio All-Suite Hotel & Casino in Las Vegas and will continue until July 15. For the second consecutive year, the final nine players in the WSOP Main Event will halt play this summer and return in November to compete for the most prized trophy in all of poker, the WSOP Main Event gold bracelet.