We’re ready to roll here for a good day of poker. It occurs to me that the hours are kinda funny, because as the WSOP day gets started here in the pacific time zone, you folks in NYC and DFW are just about calling it a day. But don’t worry, you can still read Pokerati, Tao of Poker, Wicked Chops, and Las Vegas Vegas from home and/or mobile device, assuming you don’t have poker-related sites firewalled to protect the children. Oh, and Pokernews, if you want to follow chip counts from a site whose employees refer to their big bosses as “the Lithuanian Mafia.” Speaking of … just saw Tony G for the first time this Series. Waved to him as he walked by media row … and he waved back, looking very confused. You might also want to check out Cardplayer.com … apparently they have figured out how to work pretty well within the crappy play-by-play update limitations that they created way back when.

As you probably know, Tom is the chip leader going into Day 2 of the $10,000 Mixed Event World Championship. Wow, nice job tom. Good to have you back — I didn’t get it up in time, but I had a post working … according to my notes:

Tom, stop fucking around and get your shit together. Energy up!

When I had last spoken to him, he wasn’t even going to play this event — he was more interested in trying to repeat in the $2,500 7-Stud/O-8 event, which he won last year and started today. I liked that plan, as he’s been having a pretty bad Series from the gitty — doing nothing of note in any events he’s bought into and getting his butt kicked in the cash games. Julie, Karridy, and I were discussing possible new nicknames: It was a toss-up between Donkey Grizzle and Eskimo Schneider.

More TK, of course … and be sure to keep an eye on the ticker above if you want to peak in on the text updates Tom sends his friends and family, as well as mystery updates not from me, but a random friend to whom I might loan my phone to while he sits at the rail (in theory). You can also follow along the texting trail here.

Day 2 is underway … and being the chip leader now means jack shit if you don’t get it up and keep it up! Just ask Angry Julie!

What’s going on at the WSOP this afternoon while waiting for Tom updates from Michalski:

For the first time at the Series this year, an event sold out as the $1,500 NL 6-handed tournament drew a full field of 1,236. Reports from elsewhere said that at least 200 were shutout of the event. The Brasilia room still won’t be available for another week, costing those players (and Caesars/Harrah’s getting their 9%) the chance to participate. Less than 3 hours into the tournament and already the field is down by half. Maybe some of them will try their hand at the next tournament at 5pm, $2,500 Omaha 8/Stud 8. Other action after the jump.
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Update: Event #9 ($1,500 NL 6-handed) sold out just after play started at noon at 1,236 entrants.

What’s going on at the WSOP while I try to get an invite to Low Stakes Poker.

First the important news, Pokerati’s own Tom Schneider is chip leader at the end of day 1 of the $10k Mixed Event World Championship with ~140,000 in chips. 94 89 of the starting field of 192 in this inaugural event remain to play down to the final table of 8. 2006 WSOP POY Jeff Madsen is in 4th, while Gus Hansen, Johnny Chan, and Phil Ivey are all in contention. Play for them begins at 3pm.

More results from yesterday after the jump:
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Happenings at the WSOP while Ultimate Bet has signed another known online player:

Update: Tom Schneider interview with Gary Wise at roundersradio.com sometime between 5 and 7pm PT

Things got underway at noon in event #7, $2,000 NL holdem, 1,593 put up the money in their chase for a bracelet. The $10k Mixed Event World Championship will get underway at 5pm. There’s been talk about how this will all turn out. Some have expressed their concerns about the structure. The WSOP structure sheet says that 8 hands of each game will be played. However, there’s no way they can get 64 hands dealt in an hour, so how will the rotation be dealt with the next increase in blind/ante level. With triple draw 2-7, will there be two players out of action in a hand while cards are dealt to the other 6? Imagine what David Singer would think of that!

Speaking of Singer, he’s currently at the $1,500 PL holdem final table, which is getting the cold shoulder from ESPN while they cover the more attractive to TV final table. The action at that table will start shortly.

The $1,000 NL/rebuys tournament is underway and in a shocking development, day 1 chip leader Phil Ivey is out before the money. Play is currently at hand-for hand, so expect a long 10-minute period of not-so agonizing bubble play. Also on their day 2 is the $1,500 Omaha 8 or better tournament, both tournaments should reach their respective final tables sometime early Thursday morning.

More later this evening…

What’s happening around the WSOP while I consider a new career.

In event #2, the $1,500 NL, the final 18 staggered their way back to the Rio to reach the ESPN final table. So far they’ve made their way down to 10, which is where ESPN’s coverage may start. They’re currently on break for dinner/ESPN interviews, here’s the chip counts for the final table, which will restart shortly after 7pm:

Seat 1 - Jeff Wiedenhoeft 880,000
Seat 2 - David Bach 675,000
Seat 3 - Aaron Coulthard 1,510,000
Seat 4 - Mike Ngo 1,375,000
Seat 5 - Joe Rutledge 785,000
Seat 6 - Melvin Jones 1,280,000
Seat 7 - Theo Tran 1,420,000
Seat 8 - Chris Ferguson 1,235,000
Seat 9 - James Akenhead 1,995,000
Seat 10 - Grant Hinkle 680,000

Meanwhile, the $1,500 PL Holdem event is down to their final 2 tables with Brandon Schaefer, David Singer, Joe Tehan and Phillip Yeh still in action. Gregg Merkow was one of the very recently busted, out in 19th for $5,547. Play for them ends when they reach their final 9, this group will definitely be more rested for their ESPN final table.

Today’s new tournaments, after the jump:
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I’ve been snapping quite a few photos of the tournament players thus far, but the one that I wanted is not yet a reality. I saw Vinnie Vinh wandering through the tournament area this morning, then again in the Poker Kitchen, but I wasn’t quick enough with the cam. Doh.

But here are some pics that I did get this morning. Andy Bloch’s shirt says, “I never finish anything.” Jeff Lisandro looks like he’s winding up for the pitch. And Tom looks like he’s, well, playing poker. Go figure.

Some leftover pics from Day 1, taken by Jen, of and from the press box …

The author of “Oops! I Won Too Much Money!” (wearing a Pokerati jersey in this picture, whether you realize it or not) lording over the poker media with a thoughtful eye.

Pauly says:

Eat the rich. Or at least smell them.

Tom busted out on his first hand of today’s $1,500 NLH event. Here’s how it went down … Donkey Bomber shows up and is looking for his seat. A floor guy directs him to his table — only he sends him in the wrong direction, and when he finally makes it to his seat, turns out he was just a table away when he asked for directions. Oops.

So he arrives having missed the first hand … no biggie, right? Takes his seat and the first two cards he sees are both queens. So he raises … Bill Edler re-raises (to about 1,500 — virtual half-stacks) and Hevad Khan calls. So Tom concludes that there’s no way Hevad has aces or kings — he woulda just shoved — and Edler was just letting Tom know who’s gonna be boss at the table … so Tom goes all-in.

Edler calls (with pocket 5s) and Khan calls (with AK). Edler would end up flopping a 5, and Hevad also paired one of his big-boys … so just like that, Tom is out. But wait, there’s more …

A floor guy had come over to the table to let players know that some of them were in the wrong seats … including Edler and Khan. Hevad woulda had the pocket 5s, and Edler woulda been in the ded big-blind’s stack … something like that. But in general, everything woulda been different.

Kinda funny/ironic … especially since dealers are being extra-cautious about checking IDs.

Rick in Greenville, TX writes in with what would count as a major beef in a bizzarro poker world:

Hey Dan o,

I have been a loyal DAILY Pokerati reader for 3 years now. We (myself and 13 other Pokerati readers from Greenville, Texas) will be heading out to the WSOP next week.

I met you for the first time at the Rio last year and you introduced me to The Donkey Bombers wife. She even let me touch Toms newly acquired bracelet. Woo Hoo…

Keep up the good blogging, bowling, drinking, losing….it makes for great reading

Rick
Pokerati-zen

Rick, thanks for the prizzops, but you clearly haven’t been reading us, because we clearly haven’t even started working yet.

6:25pm Edit: Unfortunately Tom’s out, he took AcKc against 3s3c and the board ran out 7 high.

9:20 Edit: Current chip leader is Tony LiCastro. He took down a huge pot with 10-10 v AA and KK to take his stack to over 310k. When he was last seen at the WPT Foxwoods in 2006, finishing 2nd to Nick Shulman, his standard play was to move all-in (which is more difficult in pot-limit) expect him either to keep building his stack or busting short of the money.

Here’s some links from around the WSOP, wishing I had a whiff of Tom’s POY banner:

Daniel Negreanu’s provided his own live updates, including news that Phil Ivey’s offering was offering 1.8-1 odds to anyone interested that he’ll win a bracelet this year.
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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.

Before we make 2008 The Year of Bitching about Tom’s Lack of Coverage (Again) — because really, if it weren’t for that, what would Angry Julie have to scream about? — I do want to point out that ESPN Correspondo Gary Wise did pick the Donkey Bomber to be on his WSOP fantasy team. Looks like he was a 5th-rounder.

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

My poker pal Jim Killeen first parlayed his poker winnings into a successful chair massage business at the Commerce Casino and now has gone big time and made a movie. Always breaking the mold, Jim’s movie is available to watch for free on YouTube. Tom and I watched it recently on the drive from Phoenix to Las Vegas and both enjoyed it. Angry Julie, not so much. If you happen to watch it, let me know what you think.

Tommy-boy started the day as one of the shortest stacks in the WPT World Championship at Bellagio, and with 55 players left, he managed to squeak out an extra $13k for himself by finishing 50th. Nice job, Tom, way to represent.

Click here to follow the action as the remaining players fight for position in competing for the bigger money and real paydays.

UPDATE: I could be totally wrong … it’s possible Tom was the artificial bubble boy going out in 51st place. Will let you know …

They’re into the money in the $25k WPT World Championship Event. Every remaining player is guaranteed $39,570 (a $14.5k payday) while they compete for the $3.4 million first prize.

As of this moment, there are 85 players left — Anna Wroblewski just went out … she was looking strong all tourney long. Our best friend Tom Schneider is still alive with a slightly above average stack. (Notice he’s our best friend as opposed to just a friend or Pokerati contributor now that he’s secured the money. If he can make the final table, he’ll be our super-best-very-best friend … and I’m sure that’s what’s motivating him.)

Other names of note (to me) that are still live include Carlos Mortenson (defending champ), Rhynie Campbell (met him last night, he seems funny and cool), Mark Seif (who’s been keeping people posted about the condition of his wife’s cervix), Isabelle Mercier and Kristy Gazes (attractive women), Jared Hamby (Go Texas!), Tommy Le (one of my MySpace friends with a really cool name), Steve and Danny Wong (Go 2007 Fantasy Team!), and TJ Cloutier (Go same Dallas flight!)

Ed. Note: This post woulda been much more relevant and timely had it gone up yesterday, when it was written.

Despite slightly lower numbers, the WPT World Championship will still likely end up being one of the five biggest tournaments in the Milky Way this year … and Day 2 has just gotten underway. Pokerati would love to beyotch about not having access to the makeshift WPT TV studio at Bellagio to do our brand of non-chip coverage, but we’ve been invited to a WPT Party tonight with free food and booze, so we’re obviously all good with the status quo.

421 of 545 starting players remain … A few names that I’ll be paying attention to for various reasons, and where they stand in relation to their starting 50k chipstack include Carlos Mortenson (defending champ - 172,075), Tom Schneider (25,400), Clonie Gowen (93,975), Gregg Merkow (40,075), Nenad Medic (12,425), Rodeen Talebi (18,000), Ray Henson (89,550), and David Sklansky (41,050).

Click below to see how the whole pro-studded field shaped up as of noon-Pacific today, and click here to follow the action throughout Day 2.

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NBC Heads-Up Championship was on today. Did anyone see it? I saw about 10 minutes of it — but I blinked so I missed Tom.

However, interestingly, I was watching it with a non-poker-player … and he was a little confused, thinking it was live. He seemed a little disturbed when I explained it was shot like 6 weeks ago or so. Then, unsolicited from me, he said, “Why don’t they show poker live? That would totally be sick. I would really get into it if it [were] live.”

“What you are saying is more interesting than you realize,” I said. “It’s kinda a hot topic right now.”

“So you already know the winner of this?” I nodded and he changed the channel to hockey.

Tomorrow be sure to watch the World Poker Tour on GSN. Tom is back to his old tricks finishing in fourth place and getting a full 10 seconds of TV time.

The BTT crew: Poker talk fused with gay jokes and fat commentary was all the rage in 2007.

Some of you have been wondering, why no new episodes of Beyond the Table? Tom, Karridy, and I have been wondering the same thing. It’s been a good run, and with drinks in the air, three guys who clearly love/hate the sounds of their own voices are calling it podcast quits.

Back when we started, our show about poker but not really about poker stood out as revolutionary in a sea of lame poker interviewcasts with questionable audio quality. Soon after iPod sales were booming as more and more of the world got hooked on downloading poker audio with funny intros and Angry Julie cameos. But Tom couldn’t handle the celebrity and Karridy developed a crack addiction lives got busy and producers for Beyond the Table fared about as well as drummers for Spinal Tap. The show hired Shamus at a fraction of a Cambodian farmer’s wage to pump up our numbers — did he ever get his T-shirt? — but with a new generation of poker podcasts getting better and stronger (Lou Kreiger, Gary Wise, 2+2, Pocket Fives, Ante Up, Poker Road, et al) old-school payola wasn’t enough to save us from going out on the podcast bubble.

Listen below to a heretofore unpublished episode (recorded on 2-27, my dream flop) as your favorite semi-amateur yammerers phone it in for the last and final-ish time:

Beyond the Table: Fin

Thanks for listening via RSS, iTunes, play-in-popup, and direct download … we already miss ourselves.

You can still prank call Karridy on the Beyond the Table listener line at 888-820-8091.

Tom, at the WPT World Poker Challenge in Reno …

Photo: World Poker Tour

Shirt says:

Doh!
Nuts!
Mmm, Donuts …

… at the World Poker Challenge at the Grand Sierra in Reno, finishing 28th out of 261. Ouch. But not all is lost for the Arizona Posse … Tom may have gone out early on Day 2, but the crew’s other double-bracelet holder Pat Poels is still alive and well — with a slightly below average stack.

Click here to follow the Day 3 action – where because of legally questionable exclusive media deals, you have no choice but to read coverage from a guy who clearly would rather write in a way that reveals he can’t wait to go home (or to the tables, or the bar) as opposed to figuring out the names of fewer than 30 players left in a field?

(If it’s fair to expect NFL television announcers to know every name on two rosters, is it really too much to ask that any “reporters” know every name once a tourney gets below four tables? There are breaks, after all, where you theoretically could go find out what you don’t know by asking someone. But whatever … it’s not Pokerati’s job to bitch about crappy, uninspired coverage just because we happened to have a conversation with someone else about whether or not we have a right to post numbers and letters like the ones below and/or haven’t had our coffee yet this morning.)

And click below to see the starting stacks going in:

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And maybe Tom … and their nice friend from Phoenix whose name I forget:

Somewhere along the way to posting six losing sessions out of eight and after receiving a severe tongue-lashing from Robert G (with echoes of Tulsa in my head) I abandoned my soccer-shootout tally and quest for five wins in a row. Hadn’t given it a thought since then, really, until today, upon seeing the results of my past four sessions:

DATE — VENUE — HRS — GAME — BUYIN(s) — CASHOUT — EXTRA — NET
15-Mar – venetian — 5.5 — 2/5 nlh — 600 (2) — 776 — 2 — 174
21-Mar – paris — .25 — 1/2 nlh — 200 (1) — 249 — 2 — 47
22-Mar – golden nugget — 3 — 1/2 nlh — 200 (1) — 1709 — 0 — 1509
24-Mar – venetian – 2.25 – 1/2 nlh — 200 (1) — 1262 — 2 — 1060

I swear I won’t be thinking about it next time I play.

6:45 — Johnathan Little d. Erik Seidel. “Plenty of awfully good players are going down,” says TJ Cloutier to Seidel.

6:46 — “Gavin Smith has moved all-in” [to quote the NBC announcer. “Gavin Smith with about 10,000. 10,300. Tom Schneider has the rest, Gavin smith moved in on the button, Tom Schneider makes a quick call.”

6:47 — TJ Cloutier, to friend: “Heh-heh, I got to go to a make-up appointment!”

6:51 — We’re still waiting for a flop. Robert Goldfarb can be seen across the room reading my text and not responding. I guess we both know the situation.

6:52 — Still waiting for the flop. Joe Hachem has come over to read Gavin’s copy of Tom’s book before Smith gets eliminated. Tom has AJ vs. Gavin Smith’s KJ. Flop is 2-3-4. Crowd is screaming for a king. “Only a king can help,” announcer says. “That’s not true,” a few of us think. 6 on the turn.

6:53 — 5 on the river. Chop-chop. Gavin Smith stays alive.

6:54 — Pokerati can’t stop thinking about how unexciting and technically inaccurate this announcer is and wondering what his presence might have to do with this events falling ratings last year (which were 15 percent smaller than the previous year’s showing).

6:55 — Pokerati removes its jump-to-conclusions subhed, which read “Tom moves on.”

6:57 — Gavin Smith all-in again, with 7-8o against Tom’s Q-Q. “He’s a lot more behind,” says the announcer. “A Gavin Smith race,” says Michael Craig. Flop comes K-5-6. Turn is a 9. Gavin takes the lead.

7:00 — Tom is all-in with 9-9 against Gavin’s Ac-10c. Flop is K-10-J. 8 on the turn. River is 5h.

7:01 — Tom is out after getting it all-in with the best hand three times in a row. Gotta love heads-up, especially for $20k!

7:03 — Matusow is all-in against Hachem, the announcer says “has to get a 4″ … and the audience and media start calling out a bunch of other turns and rivers that could help.

6:02 — Who is this announcer guy? Not too exciting nor comprehensive.

6:03 — Funny, he just made it over to the Tom vs. Gavin table … pointed out that Tom was trailing by “a little more than a few thousand chips.” He then seem confused by why Gavin had some book on the table. “Oops! I Won Too Much Money,” he said over the microphone, surprised to discover the author was right in front of him.

6:05 — “Gavin Smith takes down another nice pot. No one at this table is very afraid,” he said, presumably referring to Tom’s questionable call.

6:06 — Robert Goldfarb is on the other side of the room, not responding to my texts inquiring about what is going on over at his end.

6:09 — Chris Ferguson hits a three-outer on the river … I know see a hot blonde girl standing up and clapping, and am pretty sure that is his modeltastic Brazilian girlfriend.

6:13 — TJ Cloutier shows up and is laughing tickled upon hearing the report from Robert Williamson’s little sister (and favorite Pokerati stalking victim) who informs him that indeed, Hellmuth went out on the third hand. “Heh-heh-ha,” says Cloutier in his Hank-Hill chortle.

6:14 — Oh no! My personal sleeper pick and Arizona Posse-ite Hooman Nikzad is out. He got it all-in with the best, but Greg Raymer turned a set to advance.

6:20 — Tom pushes all-in, Gavin folds … to give the Donkey Bomber a 24k-16k lead. Last time these two played heads-up at the same time, both were competing for WSOP bracelets (in different events). Tom won his match, and Gavin lost his. Just sayin’ …

6:22 — At least two very Hammery flops have come in this 8-match quadrant of first round action. Both 7-7-2 flops have resulted in bets followed by folds. Very interesting.

6:30 — There are seats for about 90 spectators in this makeshift Caesar’s viewing coliseum. Twelve media spots (not counting the dozen or so NBC folks who have the run of the floor.

6:31 — Kenny Tran doubles up against Scott Clements thanks to running clubs. “The turn always gives you extra outs,” the announcer said. No it doesn’t, at least four of us in the room are thinking.

6:33 — Back to counting … there’s standing room only for about a dozen squeezed in around the rails.

6:34 — Greg Raymer can’t seem to leave, even though he’s already one. It’s clear (imho) he’s looking for camera time … not Phil Hellmuth-style for ego … but presumably to get some HD-pixel time for his patch-friends at PokerStars.

6:36 — As Raymer loudly mentioned PokerStars, a headphone-wearing producer woman just informed Fossilman that he was getting in the camera’s way and needed to leave. “Aww, c’mon,” Raymer unsuccessfully plead.

6:40 — Scott Clements’ AK holds up against A7, and California Jen’s pick to win it all moves on.

6:41 — Gabe Kaplan knocks out Antonius.

Check it out, in this picture … what two very unusual things do you notice about Tom?

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Battle of the Podcast Stars.

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

The NBC Heads-up Championship is proving to be one of the more highly anticipated big poker events of the year … LV Sun columnist Jeff Haney has his own odds — Tommy Boy comes in at a middle-of-the-road 50:1. Other Pokerati faves Clonie Gowen and Hooman Nikzad are lumped together in a 4:1 field bet.

Though I’m not sure how official these are, some odds on who’s gonna win the NBC National Heads-Up Poker Championship (Feb. 29) are out … and Tom Schneider is listed in the middle of the pack at 45:1 — the same as David Williams, Jennifer Harman, Huck seed, and TJ Cloutier. Duuude. Not bad. Clonie, after all, is 80:1, which is almost as good as Jerry Yang’s 60:1.

Click below to see the full list … and while doing that, think how funny it is that this sorta poker ink comes from marijuana.com. (And Tom says I do nothing for him …)

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It’s good to be back in Vegas. Was interesting being on the plane as someone “returning home” as opposed to heading out. The guy in front of me was 21 and heading to Vegas for his first time with an older man who I can only presume was his father. A hot blonde local was sitting in the window seat. She works in construction — and apparently it’s been a little slow around here this winter (the best time to build, weather-wise), so she was on her way back from a vacation to Puerta Vallarta.

Not sure who was behind me, but he had three little open airline liquor bottles on the middle tray — one of which was tipped over, as if a Smurf had passed out with it in his hand before falling over. It was enough to have me feelin’ a little pokery and ready to head to the Strip myself. It is Super Tuesday Mardi Gras, after all.

Tom went to San Diego for his Fat Tuesday. He’s goin’ for two final tables in a row at WSOP Circuit events, which would be a nice way to start the year, no? This is the $5,000 Harrah’s Rincon event. I’m quasi-following on the WSOP website. Looks to be a solid field full of pros still alive … all competing for a $TKK,000 first prize:

Time Stamp: Wednesday, February 06, 2008 12:51:35 AM
Player / Chip Count

Vanessa Rousso 72,000
Layne Flack 69,000
Bill Edler 60,800
Ted Lawson 57,000
Lee Watkinson 54,000
Theo Tran 47,800
Tom Schneider 35,000
Damien Oborne 34,000
Chad Brown 29,000
Jeff Madsen 28,600
Roy Winston 24,000
Erick Lindgren 23,000
Alex Jacob 21,025
Gavin Smith 15,500
Brandon Cantu 13,500
Allen Kessler 8,800
Jerry Buss 5,600
Anna Wroblewski 5,600

Peter ‘Nordberg’ Feldman 0
Jerry Yang 0

Here it is a little more closer to live, from PokerNews.

All In magazine is no CardPlayer … (seriously, I don’t think anyone would disagree) …

Rumor has it that they have bestowed Pokerati’s own Donkey Bomber with the Bobby Brady Award for being the best Tom Schneider he could be. Assuming it’s true — no confirmation yet from the All In website — big congrats, Tom! You definitely deserve the 2007 AIM MIPOY, and you couldn’t have done it if you didn’t play so bad a few years ago when poker was booming work so hard!

I had a good time in Tunica. I came in 8th at the WSOP circuit event and didn’t play the WPT. I had an opportunity to play the WPT because the circuit event had a day off between day 2 and the final table, but I would have had to accumulate a ton of chips in order not to get blinded out on day 2 while I was playing at the final table.

Had I known that I would come in 8th, I definitely would have taken a shot at it. Had I tried to do it and made it through the first day of the WPT, I would have been able to blame my 8th place finish on being distracted, or at least Angry Julie would have reminded me many times.

I like Tunica because of its friendly environment, loads of PLO and the food. The food is pretty good but very fattening. I did happen to lose weight on this trip because I have totally changed my eating habits. I am now eating a very balanced diet with big emphasis on vegetables. I hate them, but I do like the way I’m starting to feel.

Late in December of ‘07 I declared that ‘08 is going to be the year of health. I weighed more than I ever have, and I was starting to feel it. In the past, I have always lost weight by working out hard and always being hungry. I haven’t been hungry once and have lost about 10 pounds since the beginning of the year. I have changed my ways of eating to something I think I can sustain for the rest of my life, at least that’s the plan.

A few comments about Tunica …

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Leave it to Tom to turn lemons into lemonade … a $400,000 glass of lemonade to be more specific, but still. He may be out of the WSOP Circuit Tunica main championship event, but if you can’t get enough Tom on, near, or — ahem — beyond the table, he has joined Nick Geber to do the semi-live video webcast of the remaining players.

Click here to listen/watch.

Well shoot … I was hoping we could spend our day watching Tom Schneider take down the $7,500 main event at the WSOP-circuit in Tunica. But while checking my facts, finding some links, and watching the Bluff-mag video coverage at worldseriesofpoker.com … I discovered that Tom has been eliminated — 8th place … paying $39k. Congrats, Tom! Seriously, we know you’re bummed … but remember, you did almost as well as people expected of you!

Here’s the hand that knocked him out, from PokerListings:

Tom Schneider is out eighth after a stellar play by Ryan Young checking a straight twice. The action was a battle of the blinds as Young limped from the small blind and Schneider checked his option.

The flop came and both players checked. The hit on the turn and Young checked, as did Schneider. It turned out the river was a great card for Young as the fell and he checked again. Schneider made it $40k and Young came over the top, putting Tom all-in for his tournament life. He made the call felting for the rivered trips, but was done in by Young’s slyly played for the turned straight.

Schneider cashes $38,928.

Ouch, while typing, I just saw Tom’s elimination. That had to hurt.

You can watch the rest of the semi-live action on internet video here, as six-and-a-half players are still competing for the $428k first prize (on a 1-hour delay).

Or click below to see the semi-ironic post I was working on before Tom got eliminated:

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It’s that time of year again. The NBC National Heads-Up Poker Championship is on the horizon, and many players have already confirmed that they’ll pay the $20k to get some camera time compete in the event. Sixty players have been announced, leaving four open seats for qualifiers yet to be announced.

Festivities will begin on February 28th at Pure Nightclub at Caesars in Vegas with the drawing party to determine the match-ups. The following day brings the first matches, and a winner will be determined and get his/her $500k on March 2.

Previous champs Paul Wasicka, Ted Forrest, and Phil Hellmuth will be playing, as well as numerous first-time players like David Singer, Bill Edler, Scott Clements, Jerry Yang, Brian Townsend, Tom Dwan, celebrities Jason Alexander and Brad Garrett, MLB player Orel Hershiser, and the 2007 CardPlayer favorite WSOP Player of the Year Tom Schneider.

Click below for the list of players:

More…

Tom Schneider makes another final table, this time in Tunica. It was only back in November that he made the WSOP Circuit final table at Caesar’s Indiana, though then he was short-stacked.

Tomorrow, Tom will begin final table play with a healthy stack of 422,000. (Correction: The final table is Tuesday at noon CST. Thanks, Kevin!)

There were 180 players entered into the $7500 buy-in event, and the winner is guaranteed $428,210. Not a bad way to kick off 2008…

PokerListings is doing live updates from the event, which is where you can find the following info (and more):

Here are the final table seats and chip counts:
Seat 1: Tom Schneider $422,000
Seat 2: Ben Sabrin $417,000
Seat 3: John Devia $929,000
Seat 4: Giovanni Marcacci $465,000
Seat 5: Jordan Rich $147,000
Seat 6: Mark Garner $213,000
Seat 7: Bart Tichelman$164,000
Seat 8: Don Nicholson $325,000
Seat 9: Ryan Young $521,000

* Blinds: $4,000/$8,000
* Ante: $1,000
* Average Stack: $400,000
* Players Left: 9
* Tables Left: 2

Just got the latest CardPlayer in the mailbox and discovered there’s a part II to Bob Pajich’s year in review, titled “Poker’s 2007 Odyssey: A Review of the Year’s Historic Events Concludes.” Didn’t realize there was gonna be a sequel.

Beyond the Table listeners heard Dan mention Part I in the most recent episode, and how despite referring to 100-plus players the article failed to name a certain 2007 WSOP Player of the Year and BTT co-host.

So I had something to look for here in part II. Let’s see . . . over 50 names highlighted in this one. No way. Yr kidding me . . . .

I think I know what the lost Angry Julie segment might have been about.

Strange. Just listened to the latest episode of Beyond the Table, the first of the new year. If you haven’t queued up “ . . . Who Needs Enemies?” yet, let me forewarn you. The guys talk about poker. That’s right. Poker. I mean like all the way through.

What the hell?

After a brief rundown of the several January tourneys presently ongoing, Tom offers some winning wisdom regarding tourney selection. Then, prompted by a question from Karridy, there follows a smart, insightful discussion about differences between cash game players and tourney players. Yeah, I know. “Smart” and “insightful” usually ain’t what us BTT fans are looking for. But there it is.

Next the trio turn their attention to Dan’s first poker session after moving to Vegas, as well as the rambling, gambling fortunes of Dan’s friend, Bob. The show concludes with a stunner of sorts regarding CardPlayer’s recent 12-page, comprehensive overview of “Poker’s 2007 Odyssey: A Review of the Year’s Historic Events.” (Hint: The article ain’t as comprehensive as one might have hoped.)

Oh, there were opportunities for the hosts to get away from the pokery content. Other topics arise, such as Dan’s sex life, Barack Obama, and froteurism. (Not at the same time. Ahem.) But somehow none of these offered enough turbulence to divert Beyond the Table from its poker-specific flightpath.

Do let the BTT hosts know how you feel about this strange new development by calling the listener line at (888) 820-8091 or emailing theshow(at)beyondthetable(dot)com.

Huh, maybe I’m wrong about poker’s decline … maybe Lycos is right and poker is just starting to boom. Was checking out YouTube early this AM, and with so much important stuff going on in the world — the assassination of Benazir Bhutto, Ron Paul’s squelching by Fox News, the New England Patriots yadda yadda — what’s the number one spotlight video? How to play Texas Hold’em. “The fifth and final card dealt is called the river.”

On the upside, it led me to a related video with Oliver Tse at a final table. Southern California Poker Tour announcer Matthew Dodd rips into the O-man for leading out from early position when he flops two pair … and I just gotta say, Doddo, you are dead wrong in your analysis — despite your Tom Schneider looks emphatic delivery of it! But hey, I guess that sorta expertise should be expected from the people who bring us the video above?

The guys over at Life’s a Bluff have posted a video of random questions with Tom Schneider. If you listen to Beyond the Table you have heard Tom rant about Humberto and Hevad, the death of high-stakes cash poker, and more…now you can see it live!

The Oxford English Dictionary defines “diagnosis” as the “determination of the nature of a diseased condition; identification of a disease by careful investigation of its symptoms and history; also, the opinion (formally stated) resulting from such investigation.” Such is the theme of “Card Sick,” this week’s year-ending installment of Beyond the Table.

Co-hosts Karridy, Dan, and Tom collectively look ahead to 2008 by diagnosing one another’s poker games (and/or lives). In so doing, the trio take turns enacting each of the roles typically occurring in yr basic health care scenario — patient, physician, and insurance provider.

For example: Dan spends most of the episode as patient, sharing relevant details about his history and identifying his goals moving forward. Tom acts as Dan’s physician, offering tips for how Dan can improve the health of his bankroll in the coming year. Meanwhile, Karridy explains to Dan the limits of his coverage. Thus when Dan says he’d like to make a final table of a “major event,” Tom assesses the likelihood of such an occurrence (given the patient’s current vital signs), while Karridy reminds Dan he can’t afford to enter that many “major events.” And so forth.

A quiet time of year poker-wise, so not a lot of hard-hitting news in this week’s episode. There is some discussion of the 2008 WSOP schedule, details of which were largely gleaned from Craig Cunningham’s blog. Head over to C.C.’s site for more such info. And perhaps a Christmas carol, too.

And remember you can always send your own diagnoses of BTT (including how new producer Ryan is doing) to
theshow(at)beyondthetable(dot)com and/or call ’em in to (888) 820-8091.

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.

The Five Diamond World Poker Classic brings the best in the poker world to the Bellagio each year, and 2007 was no exception. The preliminary events began in late November, and here are some of the better-known winners:

• Event #3 - $2,500 NLHE – 247 entrants, Dutch Boyd won $237,685
• Event #6 - $1,500 NLHE – 508 entrants, Chris McCormack won $239,590
• Event #7 - $2,000 NLHE – 362 entrants, Roy Winston won $230,365
• Event #8 - $2,500 NLHE – 319 entrants, David Pham won $279,845
• Event #12 - $5,000 NLHE – 307 entrants, JC Tran won $523,075

It should be noted that Tom Schneider came in fourth place in Event #3, and Courtney Harrington of PocketFives and PokerRoad made two final tables.