There are 50 poker rooms in Las Vegas, so we thought you might appreciate the assistance of fellow degenerates in narrowing down the possibilities of where to play when you come to town. The votes have been tallied … and four places stood out above the rest … In what may or may not become a recurring tradition around these parts, Pokeratizens say the Best Poker Rooms in Vegas are:

Gold Medal
The Venetian

Great regular tourneys, Deep Stack Extravaganzas, plenty of all-but-the-highest-stakes action, bottled Fiji water, and maybe the escalator that dumps off drunkenly clad party girls coming out of Tao right in front of The V’s poker room make it far and away the favorite of this website’s readers/players/dealers.

official site / TPA

The separate tournament room really is cool, if not the best in town, and the comfortable multi-tiered cash game area never seems short of action appealing to the masses of big little-stakes players. Great freerolls for regular cash players, too.

official site / TPA

Still home to the biggest games in Vegas (in terms of buy-ins), thereby drawing the most pros and the players who want to challenge/sit near them. Everything Bellagio is always luxe, of course, and their regular $500 and $1k tourneys makes the chance to play for baller money an in-town constant.

official site / TPA

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The 2008 World Series has come and gone and will most likely, in a little less than three months, will come again. In the meantime, while cleaning out the computer(s) we’ve come across these “lost” episodes … recorded in the tail days of the main event. But this is everything … there’s no more, OK? At least not for now. So if you’d like to step back into the WSOP for just a few minutes at a time to the vocal stylings of yours truly and Dr. Pauly, by all means, have a listen/download. Some of it actually seems a little extra interesting with the benefit of a month-or-so of hindsight.

For the entire WSOP season click here.

The heretofore unheard old-new episodes, salvaged from the cut-and-pasting room floor:

Episode 30: The Cost of Donuts
Grubby joins the media to talk main event numbers and the price of trendy donuts in today’s oil economy. (3:19)

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Episode 31: Scotchy Poker
Dan+scotch early in the WSOP day=talk of Dario Minieri and Isabelle Mercier. (4:02)

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Episode 32: French Warfare
Benjo takes over the mic when Dan calls in drunk, and he and Pauly talk more about Isabelle Mercier live from the Day 2 killing fields. (5:14)

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Episode 33: New York & Texas
Michele Lewis joins in as Dan and Pauly break down the difference between Texas and New York humor, or at least the difference between Pauly and Dan. (2:40)

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Episode 34: Go Team!
Dallas’ Raj Kattamuri is going deep, and Pauly tracks down Dan in the poker kitchen to find out what it takes to be patched up on Team Pokerati. (2:37)

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Episode 35: No Wiener
Benjo is not his usual jovial self as the main event comes to a close and he bids farewell to his American friends in the penultimate WSOP episode of Tao of Pokerati. (4:41)

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Episode 36: Unhookered
The traditional late-late night poker-blogger farewell binge drinking at the Rio’s Hooker Bar, with guest appearances by Otis and Mean Gene. (3:29)

Just outside the Amazon Room … seriously, this one makes little sense to me.  I suppose it’s a reminder that while you can take the World Series out of the trailer park, you can’t take the trailer park out of the World Series?

With 92 players remaining, Phil Hellmuth is in about dead-middle of the pack, with 1.28 million chips. He had climbed up from near the bottom of the pack some two hours earlier, where he had to fight off some major steam after some bad beats/21st century plays. On break, Hellmuth asked if he could stay in the Amazon Room just to pace, but tournament staff said sorry, they couldn’t make any special exceptions (even for him), which conceivably added to his steam factor … so he went outside into the hot Vegas sun (actually, it was a relatively cool, humid 94 degrees) and paced back and forth along a straight line for the full 20 minutes.

The remaining 600-something players are in the money, and the field is dwindling fast. Fewer poker fans are checking out the action, and cash game players are practically non-existent. It’s that time that the World Series begins to come to a close; only four days left after tonight, and everyone is outta here.

So, the production that is the WSOP begins to shrink as well. The Poker Kitchen closed its doors tonight for the final time. With chains on the doors, the staff can be seen through the glass tearing down tables and packing up packets of ranch dressing. The only place left to get food in this area of the Rio for the next four days will be a makeshift pizza stand in the hallway and the gift shop for snacks and boxed sandwiches.

The All In Energy Drink booth has transported the last of its products to the warehouse. The Poker Players Alliance information booth is no more. The Hertz rental car company is gone. And various other booths, like Gamma-O Testosterone Booster and NatureEnergy will likely be deconstructed in the next 24-48 hours.

As media access for non-official media begins to be restricted tonight and in the coming days, with fewer tables and less space to get around the ESPN cameras, many members of the media will be less visible here at the Rio because of the limited access. Granted, there will be much more coverage to come as the remaining hundreds of players vie for seats at the final table, but the light at the end of the WSOP/Rio tunnel is causing some inevitable shrinkage.

Not just for gamblers, of course … that wouldn’t be news. I’m sayin’ genuine free booze — specifically Stoli Bueberi, at iBar, just a few steps further yonder from the hooker bar, from 6-9 pm. It’s all part of a pretty cool traveling daily Las Vegas happy hour. Just thought some of you/Jamie Gold might wanna know.

What’s happening at the WSOP while waiting for the arrival of Phil Hellmuth and the UB Army at 2pm:

A little over half of the 1,928 that started play on Day 1c get to return on Wednesday to meet those who remained after five playing five levels on Sunday. Henning Granstad appears to be leader with about 228,000 in chips. Other notables near the top: David “Bakes” Baker, David Singer, Brad Booth, Evelyn Ng, Brian Townsend, Nenad Medic, and Jeff Madsen.

Today’s the final day for people to sign up for the Main Event, as registration closes at the end of Level 2, or at 2,700 entrants (whichever comes first). Over 2,000 have already signed up, and today’s attendance looks to be the highest for a Main Event in history (2,299 on day 1d in 2006 is the current record). At the moment, first place looks to take down about $9,000,000 when November rolls around, and about $850,000 would be given to each of the “November Nine”.

12:25 Update: Pauly is reporting almost 2,500 entered for today, pushing the total over 6,800 (2nd most in Main Event history). First place will pay over $9,600,000.

More updates during the day…

Drove up to my secret shaded, multi-convenient parking spot today … and I noticed something burning:

Hmm, Jen said it was hot out here, and we know flammables blow up in the heat. But the funny part was the one Rio junior suit running over with a single fire extinguisher to put it out. Nice read, dude. Naturally, of course, the fire department would eventually be called and successfully put out the blaze before it turned the 2008 WSOP into a major newsworthy disaster:

The Planters nut-mobile has been parked near the convention center entrance at the Rio since Day 1A. I tried to keep from taking a picture of it, but I gave in to the temptation. It’s a yellow nut car, only slightly less embarrassing than the Oscar Meyer wiener-mobile, which is nowhere near the Rio by the way. (But wouldn’t it be great if Oscar Meyer wieners sponsored the WSOP? Oh, so many jokes…)

I’m sure the nut-mobile is energy-efficient. And who wouldn’t want to drive a big nut down the freeway? I wonder if Mr. Peanut actually drives it. He’s been wandering the Rio hallways, so I may try to ask him. “Excuse me, Mr. Peanut, do you drive the nut-mobile?” I hope he would give a funny answer; he’s such a nut.

The smallest opening day field (1,158) since the WSOP was first held at the Rio in 2005 started play shortly after noon yesterday. The attendance for days 1c and 1d look to be much more encouraging, with at least 3,000 expected to play over the next two days. They’re going to need another 800 to sign up over the next couple of days to match last year’s total, and it looks to be a close call if that actually happens.

The 636 who made it through day 1a are now combined with the 615 who made it through the end of play earlier this morning to play July 8th at 12 noon. Ben Sarnoff is the day 1b leader with 177,500 in chips. Notable names near the top of the leaderboard: Robert Mizrachi, Erick Lindgren, Marc Karam, Thor Hansen, Hal Lubarsky, Hoyt Corkins, Patrik Antonius, John Duthie, and Victoria Cohen. You can see the other chip counts at the WSOP site here (or wait until later for some sort of list by seat assigment/alphabetical order).

Another 1,700+ souls descend on the Rio today to start their chance at WSOP glory shortly after 12, who knows what musical act/attraction will greet the nonplussed group.

More updates during the day…

Yesterday afternoon, 1,197 people started with $10,000 and a dream, to win the Main Event of the World Series of Poker. By the time play ended after 1am this morning, only 643 get to return on July 8th for day 2a. Mark Garner was the day 1a chip leader with 194,900. Other notable names near the top: Brandon Adams, Kido Pham, Chau Giang, Tim West, Darren “Gigabet” Dicken, Hasan Habib and Ray Romano. You can find chip counts of all the survivors of day 1a here.

The talk among those in the poker media appears to be Harrah’s concern on the number of entrants who’ve registered so far for the Main Event. They may have finally crawled over the 5,000 figure this morning, but with talk of day 1d being “sold out”, and the “green box conspiracy”, it may be doubtful that they reach last year’s 6,358 figure. Today’s figure will be interesting because of the 4th of July holiday if they can match the 1,545 that played on day 1b last year. If not, expect the discussion will begin anew on whether the final table delay played a part in the decrease, and what measures that Caesars’ will undertake for the 2009 Series (ie. raising the buyin, moving it overseas, etc.).

One thing for certain, I think the players won’t be tortured with the vocal stylings of Wayne Newton with the UNLV marching band. Expect other Harrah’s properties entertainers to kick off the festivities for the other day 1’s.

12:10pm UPDATE: Pauly reports that as of 11:00am, just over 1,100 signed up for day 1b.

More updates during the day, stay tuned…

Play started about 12:20 this afternoon for day 1a of the $10,000 NL Holdem Main Event, with the UNLV Marching Band and Wayne Newton kicking things off. I’m sure those who’ve chosen days 1b-1d are thankful that they didn’t have to experience that for their start as it will probably be a bit more low-key for them when play starts. It appears that the day 1a numbers will be around 1,297, which is very slightly above the day 1a figure from last year. The mysterious figure so far appears to be in the 4500-4900 range for now, as there are 468 spots currently showing for the prize pool (of course no $ figures as of yet) if you take a look at the picture on Pauly’s site.

Among those that won’t have to worry about making the November Nine: Raymond Rahme, Tuan Lam, Roy Winston, Tom “Durrr” Dwan, Vanessa Selbst, Eli Elezra, Katja Thater, Phil Galfond, Bob and Maureen Feduniak, Chad Brown, Lyle Berman, Dan Harrington, Jason Alexander, and plenty of other names (known and unknown). The current chip leader going into the dinner break is David “Chino” Rheem, who is currently at 103,000 in chips. Other recognizable names: Blair Hinkle, Svetlana Gromenkova, Kido Pham, Noah Boeken, Anna Wroblewski, Mekhi Phifer, Maya Antonius and plenty of others. Follow the updates during the evening at the WSOP.com site here. Play starts again shortly, as they play two more 2-hour levels, then the survivors get to return on July 8 for day 2a.

More updates during the rest of the evening…

Finishing up the last two prelim events (eventually) while the rest of the poker world anxiously awaits the start of the Main Event.

The $1,500 NL Holdem winner turned out to be David Daneshgar, besting Scott Sitron in heads-up play while Dan Heimiller wound up in 3rd. Daneshgar takes his first bracelet and just over $625,000 while Sitron wins over $385,000 for finishing 2nd.

The $1,500 Limit Holdem Shootout is finally over as Matt Graham outwitted, outplayed and outlasted Jean-Robert Bellande to take down his first bracelet plus just over $278,000. Bellande will have to survive out of whatever he gets from the $173,000 he won for finishing 2nd.

The more important tournament happens at 12pm today, as thousands of people put down their $10,000 (however they got it) and start down the road to winning the Main Event on November 10th with day 1a. I’m sure there will be plenty of glowing praise from the dear commissioner Jeffrey Pollack, and maybe even Jerry Yang will show up to do the “shuffle up and deal” announcement. The Main Event brings out all the celebrities who think they can play poker to get a few seconds of ESPN time to promote their new movie/TV show/pet project. With the celebrities comes the hordes of media who couldn’t be bothered to cover the preliminary events (or bother to learn the basic facts of poker), taking over the media room while the members of the poker media get pushed to the side.

Eleven days of mayhem start in a few short hours, time to buckle up and enjoy the ride, wherever it takes you…

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:
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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:

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What’s been happening at the WSOP since last night, while Dan Michalski anxiously awaits his attempt to make good on his $300 All-In “investment”:

The $10,000 Pot Limit Omaha final table has been set, this group of 9 faces the hot lights of the ESPN cameras:

Seat 1: Kido Pham 1,080,000
Seat 2: Brandon Moran 1,286,000
Seat 3: Peter Jetten 492,000
Seat 4: Michael Mizrachi 1,767,000
Seat 5: Billy Argyros 729,000
Seat 6: Greg Hurst 637,000
Seat 7: Tom Hanlon 192,000
Seat 8: Marty Smyth 1,068,000
Seat 9: Richard Harroch 372,000

The other final table scheduled for today and the other tournament action on the next page:
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I’m thinking about going to the Palms Party, too — started a few minutes ago — just downing another All In Root Beer to see if I have it in me to go. (Huh, do these things even have any flavor any more?)

Big tourney for me tomorrow, of course. Half a million bucks at stake in what seems sure to be an organizational fustercluck.

In the meantime, as of a few days ago, none other than PokerStars is all over (literally) the Palms. Get the sense that with hundreds of main event online qualifiers shacked up across the street from the Rio the low-stakes cash games will be extra-juicy there?

Recapping last night’s action, with an eye on what’s going on today:

As noted below, Scotty Nguyen takes down the $50,000 HORSE event, taking down almost $2,000,000, his 5th bracelet, and the first to have won the WSOP Main Event and the $50k HORSE event. Erick Lindgren’s 3rd place moves him into first in the Milwaukee’s Best WSOP Player of the Year race with just 2 tournaments left.

The $1,500 NL Holdem final table has been set, scheduled to start at 3pm. The two most notable names are two WPT winners, JC Tran and Joe Pelton, here’s how the rest of the table will look like:

Seat 1: Christoph Kohnen 293,000
Seat 2: Joe Pelton 1,093,000
Seat 3: Jesper Hoog 320,000
Seat 4: John Conroy 501,000
Seat 5: Robert Kalb 456,000
Seat 6: J.C. Tran 1,438,000 (his 3rd final table of the Series)
Seat 7: Chad Siu 185,000
Seat 8: Peter Nguyen 870,000
Seat 9: Rasmus Nielsen 2,998,000

Other tournament stuff on the next page:
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What’s happening tonight at the WSOP:

Jen and Dan are taking care of the HORSE event, so I don’t need to duplicate their work, but they’re about to return from dinner break 5-handed.

The $2,000 NL Holdem event was won by Brazilian Alexandre Gomes, the first for that country, moving them up big time in the World Standings. Gomes takes home just over $770,000 while Marco Johnson won’t be feeling super with his 2nd place earnings of just over $491,000.

The $1,500 NL Holdem event is down to 40 as they play down to their final table. Among the notables remaining: JC Tran, Men Nguyen, Andy Black, Joe Pelton, Hevad Kahn. Follow their action on the World Series of Poker website here.

Other tournament action, following the leap:
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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:
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Wrapping up yesterday’s action, with a preview of today’s tournament (with a moment of silence for John Bonetti):

The $5,000 NL Holdem 6-handed event finally reached their final table at around 5:30am, now they have to attempt to get some rest before returning in front of the watchful eye of the ESPN360 cameras at 2pm with this sextet:

Seat 4: Richard Lyndaker 2,345,000
Seat 3: Joe Commisso 1,961,000
Seat 5: Tom Lutz 1,493,000
Seat 1: Samuel Trickett 1,045,000
Seat 6: Edward Ochana 928,000
Seat 2: Davidi Kitai 298,000

The $1,500 Stud Eight or Better stopped play with 13 players remaining as they play down to a winner starting at 3pm. Here’s the approximate chip counts of the baker’s dozen (chip counts and seats to be rearranged later):

(Table 14)
Seat 1: Ryan Hughes 73,000
Seat 4: Margaret Macre 173,000
Seat 5: James Richburg 274,000
Seat 6: Ron Long 33,000
Seat 7: David Brooker 45,000
Seat 8: Daniel Nicewander 41,000

(Table 15)
Seat 1: Mike Hefer 71,000
Seat 2: Tim D’Alessandro 82,000
Seat 3: David Sklansky 110,000
Seat 4: Thomas Hunt III 101,000
Seat 6: Alessio Isaia 172,000
Seat 7: Joshua Feldman 121,000
Seat 8: Jonas Klausen 346,000

Other tournament action (plus the final 24 in the $50k HORSE) on page 2:
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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:
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What’s doing tonight at the WSOP while I welcome Tuscaloosa Johnny to the Pokerati fold:

The $1,500 Pot Limit Omaha Eight or Better event is down to it’s last 3 with Casey Kastle, Martin Klaser, and Michael Fetter remaining. Kastle currently holds the chip lead, Erik Seidel was eliminated in 4th in his attempt at winning his 9th bracelet.

The $5,000 NL Holdem 6-handed event have returned from their dinner break with 280 out of a starting field of 805 to return. Notable names near the top include Alex Jacob, Mark Vos, Gavin Griffin, and Hevad Khan.

Other tournament action is available by clicking on the more thingy:

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Stumbled across this billboard the other day just a couple blocks away from the Rio.

Interesting to see a poker pro 1) with Mike Tyson-esque tats running up his face; and 2) with no reference to his pokering nor a Full Tilt logo anywhere in sight. Of course probably not a bad idea for anyone in the poker biz to diversify their life portfolio … but I can’t help but wonder if last year’s main-event final tableist doesn’t want anyone in the poker world to actually see his Sigfried and Roy side exposed. Actually, I guess it would be bizzaro Sigfried and Roy, or Roy’s evil brother … regardless … who knew Lee Watkinson wanted to sell you knives and skulls to wear at your next formal dinner?

The recent CardPlayer coverboy’s billboard is located just south of the Rio on Dean Martin Dr. (Industrial) facing to the northeast. That means anyone driving in from the south won’t see it, because it will be behind them; but nor will anyone heading to the WSOP from the north … because they would exit I-15 on Flamingo about a third-mile before Lee Watkinson’s topless torso graces their field of view. The only way a poker player might see this sign is if he were leaving the Rio to grab a quick bite at the In-n-Out Burger.

The website he’s pimping — www.leewatkinson.com — doesn’t seem to be fully converted yet for his fashion line … it’s actually about poker … but it does have some funny pictures of Lee taking on an orangutan as a poker protege.

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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What’s happening tonight at the WSOP (besides the HORSE event):

The $1,000 Seniors NL Holdem World Championship final table is already over, as Dan Lacourse a retired firefighter from Dayton, OH took down the bracelet along with almost $370,000. Dale Eberle, a retired police officer from Akron, Ohio finished 2nd, for just over $235,000.

The $1,500 Pot Limit Omaha Eight or Better event is down to the final 16, as they make their way to a final table. Among the notable names: Erik Seidel, Casey Kastle, and WSOP runner-up Tom Chambers. Updates for this event can be found here.

The $1,000 NL Holdem w/rebuys event started with a field of 879 and 2,508 addons and rebuys. Only 320 are left at the present time, the notable names at the top of the leaderboard include Mark Seif, Brandon Cantu, JC Tran, Humberto Brenes, and Scott Clements. Follow their progress at the WSOP.com website here.

Dan and Jen will surely provide numerous posts about the HORSE event, but you can get further updates on the action here.

More throughout the evening…

Phan Phantastically wins 2nd bracelet of Series

Recapping last night, and a preview of today’s tournaments at the WSOP:

John Phan continued a tradition since 2000: A multiple bracelet winner at the World Series of Poker. Phan takes down the $2,500 Limit 2-7 Triple Draw Lowball title over Shun Uchida, earning just over $150,000 for his second bracelet of the Series.

The other final table yesterday, the $1,500 Mixed Holdem event, was suprisingly won by RV enthusiast Frank Gary over Jonathan Tamayo. After Michael Binger was eliminated in 3rd, it appeared to be Tamayo’s tournament to win. However, Gary took control during the limit holdem period; winning several large pots that gave him a big enough chip lead to put Tamayo away in the first hand of the NL holdem round to win the bracelet and $219,000, which should cover his gas costs for the rest of the year.

The final table for today, plus a preview of today’s tournaments on page 2:

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What’s happened today at the WSOP while I finally figure out what day it is in the Series.

The $1,500 Mixed Holdem event is down to its final 3 competitors with Jonathan Tamayo, Frank Gary and Nick Binger went on their dinner break. Binger, who at one point had over 1.6m in chips and had eliminated the first 6 players, lost his chip lead to Tamayo while Gray has been playing just enough to try and get into 2nd place. Follow their progress on the WSOP website here.

The $2,500 Limit 2-7 Triple Draw Lowball event is also on dinner break 3 handed. Shun Uchida, John Phan and Gioi Luong are remaining in what has been a very contentious final table. Luong and Phan had a verbal altercation after Luong attempted to change his discard, while Phan angrily accused him of angle shooting. Things have appeared to calm down, but in all the tension, Uchida has a commanding lead at this time. To see how that turns out, check the updates over at worldseriesofpoker.com here.

The other updates appear on the next page:

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Recapping last night’s action and previewing today’s tournament while getting my tickets for the next poker related piece of nonsense musical to hit the mainstream audience. Thanks to Wicked Chops Poker for the link.

The final table for the $2,500 Limit 2-7 Triple Draw Lowball final table has been set, and a favorite of some forums David Sklansky is among those remaining:

Seat 1: Ben Ponzio 113,000
Seat 2: Shun Uchida 200,000
Seat 3: David Sklansky 78,000
Seat 4: Gioi Luong 291,000
Seat 5: Robert Mizrachi 215,000
Seat 6: John Phan 294,000

The other final table and other stuff on page 2:

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What’s going on tonight at the WSOP:

The $1,500 NL Holdem final table just completed and it was down to a Woo and a Wood for the bracelet (w00t!). David Woo from Atlanta, GA defeated Matt Wood from Whitby, Ontario, Canada to win just over $630,000 and a coveted bracelet. Wood has the consolation of taking home almost $390,000 US back to the Great White North. Woo was bolstered when he knocked out the 2nd and 3rd chip leaders (Thom Werthmann and Curtis Early) with 6 left on the same hand, when he flopped the nut straight against top two pair and an open ended straight draw.

Other tournament action on the next page:

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Recapping last night’s action and previewing today’s tournament at the World Series of Poker, hoping Dan avoids having a similar picture to this taken.

The $2,000 Pot Limit Holdem event was won last night by Belgian player Davidi Kitai as he finally eliminated Chris Bell after almost 200 hands of heads-up play. Kitai wins nearly $250,000 and his first WSOP bracelet, while Bell’s left with $155,000 to attempt and salve his wounds as to what could have been.

The only tournament being held today is the $1,000 Seniors NL Holdem World Championship, for those 50 and over (insert AARP jokes, GSN demo cracks or other old person humor here). Last year’s version drew 1,882 entrants with Ernest Bennett winning the bracelet and nearly $350,000.

Today’s final table and recapping other Sunday action on page 2:

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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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Oops, I may have been drawing lots of conclusions from the WSOP about the state of the poker economy under a false assumption pretense … Tao of Pokerati listeners have probably heard me ramble incessantly about how there’s so much less online money here this year. While technically that is true … the lack of online-company hospitality suites is not necessarily a recessionary indicator. As WSOP title-sponsor Everest Poker has opened up a suite, and other European sites have partnered up to open “The Champions Lounge” … the real reason that there’s no Full Tilt suite, no PokerStars Lounge, etc. is simply because sites that accept American players aren’t allowed the Rio exhibition space this year.

Will seek confirmation on this … but until then, just know that wherever poker’s fiscal health stands, the pure Europeans will be the ones living the cush life during the main event this year.

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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What’s happening at the WSOP tonight:

The $1,500 Pot Limit Omaha w/rebuys event just concluded with a winner, and it’s Layne Flack who put on a dominant performance at the final table, taking an overwhelming chip lead that no one would be able to catch him. Layne wins his 6th WSOP bracelet, putting him in some elite company as one of 10 poker players who have won at least 6 bracelets (Hellmuth, Chan, D. Brunson, Seidel, Cloutier, Moss, Baxter, Heimowitz, M. Nguyen are the others). Daniel Makowsky finished in 2nd, and Ted Forrest will have to try yet again to get his 6th bracelet, as he finished in 5th. Dario Alioto finished in 4th for those following the Italian contingency.

Other action from today after the jump:

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Finishing the recap from last nightR