The biggest revelation may be the extended late registration times. Players will be able to late register for tournaments for up to four hours after the start of an event, and the big question at hand will have to be, “How will this affect playing in multiple events for bracelet bets?” Right?

Main Event Begins July 7th, 2011; 58 WSOP Gold Bracelets Up For Grabs;

$25K Heads-Up No Limit Hold’em Kicks-Off Tourney

LAS VEGAS (Jan. 24, 2011) – The 42nd annual World Series of Poker® (WSOP®) Presented by Jack Link’s Beef Jerky — a set of poker tournaments open to anyone 21 years of age or older – officially puts cards in the air on Tuesday, May 31, 2011.

The annual poker extravaganza, which dates back to 1970, is televised exclusively on ESPN from the Rio All-Suite Hotel & Casino in Las Vegas. The tournament series consists of a comprehensive slate of the game’s most popular poker variations running from May 31 – July 19.

A total of 58 coveted gold bracelets will be up for grabs in 2011 – one more than last year.

On Tuesday, May 31 at 5:00 PM, the first open bracelet tournament will be a new event – a $25,000 Heads-Up No Limit Hold’em Championship. It will be open to a maximum of 256 players.

The opening weekend (June 4-5), features a $1,000 buy-in No-Limit Hold’em tournament, which in the past has drawn more than 6,000 entrants. The event includes two starting flights – one each on Saturday and Sunday at 12 noon. Day 2 for all surviving players will be Monday, June 6.

Throughout June the weekends will remain focused on the “weekend warriors” with affordable buy-in No Limit Hold’em tournaments for WSOP gold bracelets at $1,500 on Saturdays and $1,000 on Sundays. July 2 and 3 will feature our only other multi-day start $1,000 tournament and we will conclude with one last No Limit Hold’em extravaganza on Tuesday, July 5 at 12 noon.

The 42nd annual WSOP will conclude with the grandest spectacle in all of gaming – the $10,000 No-Limit Hold’em Championship (aka “The Main Event”), which begins play Thursday, July 7 and will reach its final table (nine players) on Tuesday, July 19, at which time play will be halted.

The WSOP Main Event will feature four starting flights — one each day at 12 noon on July 7, July 8, July 9 and July 10. The only way to guarantee your starting day is to pre-register for the event prior to the WSOP commencing.

The famed tournament’s culmination will be held with the play of the “November Nine®” from November 5-7, before a live audience with special primetime coverage from ESPN on Tuesday, November 8, 2011.

“Something for everyone is the best way to describe the 2011 World Series of Poker schedule,” said WSOP Tournament Director Jack Effel, who will oversee the event for the sixth consecutive year. “It’s staggering to think that last year alone the WSOP hosted nine of the 17 largest tournaments in poker history. We had 44 events produce more than a $1 million prize pool, so we can’t wait to get at it again and offer players at all levels the best poker action on the planet.”

The entire convention center of the Rio All-Suite Hotel and Casino once again will be exclusively dedicated to the 2011 World Series of Poker, with tournament tables in the 58,000 square foot Pavilion and the 38,000 square-foot Amazon Room. The final number of tables in play is subject to regulatory approval, given just prior to the tournament commencing, but is expected to be similar to the 370 which were utilized in 2010.

Player comfort is also being addressed by new rules regulating the duration of daily play. Excluding the Main Event, gold bracelet tournaments will begin at 12 noon and 5 PM Pacific Time each day, with a maximum of 10-one hour levels being played for the noon starts; the 5 PM events will be comprised of a maximum of eight one-hour levels on Day 1. Day 1 play is expected to conclude at 12:45 AM for noon starts and 2:00 AM for the 5 PM starts. For those advancing past the first day, re-starts for noon bracelet events will be at 2:30 PM, and 5 PM tournaments will restart at 3 PM, with a maximum of 10 levels being played each day until a champion is crowned. The Main Event features two-hour levels, with play beginning at 12 noon each day.

Registration for all bracelet events will remain open through four levels of play – or until all available seats have been sold. This is twice as long as previous years. The only exception to this is the Main Event, which will remain open for it’s customary two levels (or four hours of play).

Pre-registration for the 2011 WSOP will be available on-site at the Main Cage of the Rio in Las Vegas and online through www.WSOP.com beginning February 7, 2011.

All Caesars Entertainment properties in Las Vegas offer special reduced hotel room rates for entrants of WSOP bracelet events. Rates start as low as $69 for players staying at the host property, the Rio. Imperial Palace offers rates as low as $35, and Bally’s, Flamingo, Harrah’s, Paris and Caesars Palace provide WSOP player rates as low as $45-$110 a night. Click here for the special WSOP player hotel rates.

The 2011 WSOP marks the 42nd running of the game’s most prestigious annual tournament. In 2010, the WSOP generated the most entries ever (72,966) from 117 different countries. Players competed for more than $187 million as a total of 57 championship gold bracelets, globally recognized as the game’s top prize, were awarded. Attendance in 2010 was up 20 percent year-over-year.

To view the entire schedule, visit WSOP.com/2011, where you will be able to download event structures, pre-registration forms or save the schedule to your calendar and even link it to your Facebook, Twitter or other social network sites.

Among the highlights of the 2011 schedule:

* 58 gold bracelet events over 50 days.

* Sensational Structures & Starting Chips – All gold bracelet events in 2011 will feature triple the buy-in in starting chips and deep structures, providing plenty of play.

* Hard Stop Times – The maximum a playing day will last is 10 levels each day, regardless of the number of players remaining. This includes re-starts and final table days. If we have not reached a winner or a final table after 10 levels of play, all remaining players left in the tournament will return at 3:00 PM to resume the tournament. This will ensure tournament play each day concludes at approximately 3:00 AM for re-starts and allow a 12-hour break before play resumes. Important: This may cause some tournaments to exceed their scheduled three-day structure; however it will only affect the remaining players at that stage of the tournament.

* New Event — $25,000 buy-in, No Limit Hold’em Heads-Up Championship – Are you the best one-on-one player in the world? The winner of this event will be able to claim that title. Up to 256 players will compete in this first-time event which will be the first open bracelet awarded at the 2011 WSOP. This is Event #2 on the schedule, and begins on Tuesday, May 31 at 5:00 PM in the famed Amazon Room.

* New Event — $2,500 buy-in 10-Game Mix/Six-Handed (Event #29) – On Thursday, June 16 at 5:00 PM, the WSOP introduces a new short-handed event – with a mix of 10 different poker games, including Badugi. The 10 games that will be played are: No Limit Hold’em; Seven Card Razz; Limit Hold’em; Badugi (Limit); Seven Card Stud; 2-7 Draw Lowball (No Limit); Omaha Hi-Low Split 8 or Better; Pot Limit Omaha; 2-7 Triple Draw Lowball (Limit) and Seven Card Stud Hi-Low Split 8 or Better.

* New Event — $5,000 Pot Limit Omaha/Six-Handed (Event #35) – Continuing with the popular trend of short-handed events, a new $5,000 six-handed Pot Limit Omaha tournament has been scheduled for Monday, June 20 at 12 noon.

* Back by Popular Demand – The $2,500 Omaha/Seven Card Stud Hi-Low 8 or Better tournament is back on the schedule this year. Event #47 will begin on Monday, June 27 at 5:00 PM.

* $50K Poker Players Championship – The Chip Reese Memorial Trophy is up for grabs at the $50,000 buy-in eight-game mixed event, also dubbed the “Poker Players Championship.” This eight-game format will serve as the true test of the game’s greatest all-around player. Event #55 starts on Saturday, July 2 at 5:00 PM.

* The Seniors-Only No-Limit Hold’em Championship – On Friday, June 17 at 12 noon, featuring a $1,000 buy-in for all poker enthusiasts 50 years of age or older. In 2010, this event set a record when 3,142 players entered and the winner walked away with just under $500,000 for his $1,000 investment.

* The Ladies Only No-Limit Hold’em Championship – On Friday, July 1 at 12 noon, featuring a $1,000 buy-in.

* Triple Chance Tournaments – With the popularity of our Triple Chance tournaments, we have added an event this year, to offer this format twice. Event #12, on Tuesday, June 7 at 12 noon offers a $1,500 Triple Chance No Limit Hold’em event and on Wednesday, June 29 at 12 noon, Event #50 features a $5,000 buy-in version.

* Daily Deepstack No-Limit Hold’em Tournaments – The Rio will host three different daily No-Limit Hold’em tournaments from May 30 to July 16. At 2:00 PM daily, $235 buy-in events begin. At 6:00 PM, players can play the daily $185 buy-in tournament and at 10:00 PM, a daily $135 tournament will be offered. These are one-day structured tournaments, and not bracelet events.

* Satellites Every Day! — A complete array of satellites, from single-table to mega, will be offered from May 30 – July 10. Mega satellites with buy-ins at $330 for the daily 4 PM and $550 buy-in for the daily 8 PM start.

All winners will be required to provide a valid picture ID. Tax forms will be completed for those with winnings in excess of $5,000 net of event buy-in. Players without a Tax Identification Number and foreign players from non-tax treaty countries are subject to up to 30 percent tax withholding. WSOP reserves the right to cancel, change or modify the tournament or any tournament event, in part or in whole, without notice.

ABOUT THE WSOP
The World Series of Poker (WSOP) is the largest, richest and most prestigious gaming event in the world awarding millions of dollars in prize money and the prestigious gold bracelet, globally recognized as the sport’s top prize. Featuring a comprehensive slate of tournaments in every major poker variation, the WSOP is poker’s longest running tournament in the world, dating back to 1970. In 2010, the event attracted 72,966 entrants from 117 different countries to the Rio All-Suite Hotel and Casino in Las Vegas and awarded over $187 million in prize money. The WSOP in December, 2008 was named the 7th most admired sports brand in North America by the Turnkey Sports Survey, trailing only the older and more established NFL, MLB, NBA, NHL, NASCAR and PGA Tour among sports properties. In addition, the WSOP has experienced groundbreaking alliances in broadcasting, digital media and corporate sponsorships, while successfully expanding the brand internationally with the advent in 2007 of the World Series of Poker EuropeSM. For more information on the World Series of Poker, please visit our website at www.WSOP.com.

Robert Frost once wrote about two roads diverging in a wood, but poker players had a much tougher choice, as the paths from the PCA branched out all over the world. Los Angeles, Mississippi, Oklahoma, and even Australia are the hosts to this week’s tournament schedule.

Aussie Millions (Melbourne, Australia)

It’s become an annual tradition for all of the Full Tilt sponsored players (and a few other big names as well) to head down under following the PCA. There’s another $100,000 event, the $10K Aussie Millions, and, new to this year’s event, a $250,000 single table tournament, with a winner-take-all first prize of $2 million.

The Main Event is just getting underway, but there’s already been plenty of action at the Aussie Millions. Their $100K event drew 38 players, and likely would have drawn a bigger crowd had members of Team PokerStars participated, but they made it a point to boycott this event in retaliation after no FullTilt players participated in the PCA $100k. This isn’t really the space for this discussion, but between the $100K boycotting and the head-to-head late night poker shows, it will be interesting to see how far this issue may go.

Getting back to the event at hand, the final table of six featured David Benyamine and Erik Seidel, amongst others. When the dust had settled, Sam Trickett had captured the title and the $AUD 1.525 million first place prize, beating out Englishman (and Brighton & Hove Albion football club chairman) Tony Bloom heads-up. [PokerNews]

WSOP Circuit – Choctaw (Durant, Oklahoma)

One of the stops that was added to the initial WSOP Circuit schedule was this one, in Durant, Oklahoma. It’s about an hour outside of the greater-Dallas area, so it was going to be very interesting to see just how many players would make the trip up for their $1,600 Main Event, and they certainly did not disappoint. 808 players generated a prize pool of almost $1.2 million, with a first place prize of $232,706.

Among the 81 players who cashed in this event were a Main Event winner (Berry Johnston), a runner-up (TJ Cloutier), and perhaps in the most interesting story, one other former Main Event final tablist in Richard Lee. Lee, who is from San Antonio, Texas, largely dropped out of the public eye after his Main Event finish in 2006, but had a very public incident in which he was charged with running an illegal gambling ring back in 2007. He did not spend any time in jail but gave up $2.2 million in a plea deal.

With a spot in the National Championship Freeroll on the line for just the winner in this event, there was even more value to be had for the winner. That lucky man was Huy (pronounced Wee) Nguyen, who defeated Traci Brown heads-up for the ring and the freeroll entry (and the cash, of course). In an interesting twist, the heads-up match was a real live Red River shootout, as Brown (who finished 12th in this year’s WSOP Ladies’ event) is from Austin, Texas while Nguyen hails from Norman, Oklahoma. No word on whether the crowd had more red or burnt orange. [WSOP]

LA Poker Classic (Commerce, California)

Likely the longest continuous poker series outside of the World Series of Poker, the month-and-a-half spectacle that is the LAPC is one of the most popular stops of the year. Because of its proximity to Los Angeles and Las Vegas, two of the most poker player populated places in the world, they draw quite a crowd for most of their events. As someone who has spent some time playing these events, you’ll inevitably find yourself at a table with JC Tran or Thor Hansen if you’re there long enough.

The initial event this year, the brainchild of Matt Savage, was a $300 tournament with $1 million guaranteed in the prize pool and $250,000 guaranteed to the winner. This was accomplished in large part to the 4 starting days and the opportunity to re-enter each day if you did not survive through the previous one.

California native Cory Nistler was the last man standing, taking home the quarter of a million dollar first prize as well as one of the craziest looking trophies you’ll ever see. [LAPC]

Elsewhere…

Action is underway at the WPT’s latest stop, the Southern Poker Championship in Biloxi, Mississippi, while the Borgata in Atlantic City is hosting the Winter Poker Open… After the performance of the brothers’ Mizrachi in this past year’s WSOP Main Event, we knew poker talent had to run in the family. Now we know which side, as Susan “MommaGrinder” Mizrachi Laufer took down over $4,000 for winning a tournament on Full Tilt Poker this past week.

Michael Woods wins Mega Stack Challenge XVIII
Foxwoods WPT World Poker Room
(photo courtesy of @WhoJedi, WJMedia.net)

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Foxwoods Mega Stack Challenge XVIII -> Results
$1000+$100 (2-day) Main Event – 265 entrants

Prize Pool: $257,050 (guarantee was $100k)
Note: Final four made deal – $30k each; $20k to winner
Note: Then headsup made deal to chop

1st: $40,048 – Michael Woods (was $61,692)
2nd: $40,047 – David Espinola (was $36,244)
3rd: $30,000 – David Hickman (was $23,392)
4th: $30,000 – Brad McFarland (was $18,765)
—
5th: $14,394 – Mustapha Mouttaouakil
6th: $11,696 – LeAnn Anderson
7th: $9,768 – Robert Perry
8th: $7,969 – Carmel Cambareri
9th: $6,699 – Brian Lee
10th: $4,883 – Shawn Maillet

Click “Watch LIVE Video” on the foxwoodslive.com website.  There is optional new-and-improved HD video, live chat with the mods, chip counts/etc from @WhoJedi, and some occasional yammering from the guy responsible for recent hardware/software upgrades – @veeRob, Rob Perelman.

The cam is hooked up to a beam above the table, with a microphone duct-taped onto the felt next to the dealer’s right hand.  This is streamed to their justin.tv/foxwoodspoker site. Slickest part?  You can download the justin.tv app to your Android or iPhone and watch the table there, as well as chat.

Players do really seem to dig being on camera, finding ways to sneak in front of it and streak wave to mom, and stress about the fact that they might be shifted out of the limelight when the tables are rebalanced.

The overall effect is very good.  The audio is clear enough that you can hear the table talk and under-the breath comments (and unfortunately so the chip clatter) quite distinctly. The video in HD mode almost gives enough resolution to zoom into the board cards. Players in the chat log frequently express that they want to know what the board reads.. but improvements for the much-requested “flop cam”, while possible, would potentially cause the Gaming Commission a bit of angina.  @veeRob wrangled a scrolling caption bar to the streaming video, which displays the current blinds/antes.

Both Jay and Rob will be bringing their tech to the  LA Poker Classic with TD Matt Savage in February, where they first introduced the cams last year.

Streamit NOW-> justin.tv/foxwoodspoker
Checkit-> foxwoodslive.com
Follow -> @FoxwoodsPoker

Foxwoods Mega Stack Challenge XVIII -> Final Table
$1000+$100 (2-day) Main Event
10 of 265 entrants remain

Level 23 -> Blinds/Antes: 4000/12,000-24,000
Ave Stack: 1,060,000

Prize Pool: $257,050 (guarantee was $100k)
1st: $61,692
2nd: $36,244
3rd: $23,392
4th: $18,765
5th: $14,394
6th: $11,696
7th: $9,768
8th: $7,969
9th: $6,699
10th: $4,883

Seating/Chip Counts
1. Robert Perry 1,034,000
2. Shawn Maillet 433,000
3. Le-Ann Anderson 895,000
4. Carmelo Cambareri 277,000
5. David Espinola 2,023,000
6. Mustapha Mouttaouakil 1,026,000
7. Brian Lee 1,006,000
8. Brad McFarland 2,406,000
9. David Hickman 805,000
10. Michael Woods 685,000

See what someone representing that elite minority of online players making the *serious moolah* has to say on the subject.

Soundbite->

@WhoJedi: “Are you going to Canada for those fifteen months? What are you gonna do?”

jcamby33: “I talked to the wife about this the other night… we might have to rent a house in Aruba, or someplace tropical.”

Other notable east-coast interviews from Jay are with James Wood and with WSOP 2010 run-deep guy Ronnie Bardah.

***************
Streamit NOW-> justin.tv/foxwoodspoker
Checkit-> foxwoodslive.com
Follow -> @FoxwoodsPoker

I’ve split my time mostly between watching the action from the media desk, and railing iPoker from afar via CSPAN2.  It’s occurred to me during my time here, that if #reidbill lives on to become law (or possibly if it does not and the DOJ decides to force the issue anyhow), this casino is exactly the type of entity best positioned to provide once work-a-day online players a comfortable home to grind out a living in New England.

In the event the blackout takes hold in a month or two, say around the beginning of February, iPoker players will need to find local places to play to make a living in live play for at least 15 months, according to the stipulations of the current bill.  Used to making their own schedules, working in their underwear the comfort of their homes, and getting a trillion hands per hour – the #reidbill refugees will be hungry for daily tournaments under -say- $300, satellites into bigger live events such as WSOP 2011, and cash action. Perhaps this even will spell the re-emergence of some sit-n-gos here.

What makes me say that Foxwoods would stand to benefit, in particular?  The tourney room.

Foxwoods WPT World Poker Room
(photo courtesy of @WhoJedi, WJMedia.net)

Foxwoods has a big|bad ~70 table WPT World Poker Room dedicated to tournament play. Cash games were in here once, and then it was home to some slot machines, before being revamped in September 1st of this year.

The tourney room just kinda a *nice place* to exist in. The ceilings are super high, with a lot of natural light coming into the room during the day, and groovy curvy illuminated panels above.  They don’t have table service for food, but there is a deli right behind near the sports book. There’s lots of room to walk between the poker tables, and plenty of displays used both for the clock and TV display.  Suggestion for improvement: get some throne-like chairs akin those used at the Golden Nugget poker room.

The location works well too -> after players bust out of the tournaments, they are be faced with these options.

1) Donk off a bunch of chips at the ~90 table cash room downstairs and hope to hit the huge big bad beat jackpot (quad 8s beaten)

2) Donk off a bunch of chips on the way out of the casino at SHAKE-BO! -> a craps-like table where people take turns activating a Trouble Bubble on ‘roids with pushbutton activators

At least the players would be able to do some of their work at home from their laptops.  The Foxwoods Poker Room uses the ptseats.com reservation system, allowing the players to lock up their seats online.

***************
Foxwoods Mega Stack Challenge XVIII -> Day 2 Update
Starts at 11a EST/8a LV
$1000+$100 (2-day) Main Event
69 of 265 entrants remain [30 will cash]

Prize Pool: $257,050 (guarantee was $100k)
1st: $61,692
2nd: $36,244
3rd: $23,392

POI (Person-O-Interest):
Busted: Darvin Moon, Bernard Lee, James Woods (with interview)
In it: Spiros Mitrokostas, WSOP 2006 PLO final tabler – with 205k – midfield
Played other events: Ronnie Bardah, WSOP 2010 Main Event (24th)

Chip counts/seat assignments can be found here.

***************
Streamit NOW-> justin.tv/foxwoodspoker
Checkit-> foxwoodslive.com
Follow -> @FoxwoodsPoker

From the heartlands to New England, Darvin Moon has spent the latter part of 2010 running the tournament hosting circuit.  Hosting the Mega Stack Challenge XVII with Chris Moneymaker in August, and making two stops along the Heartland Poker Tour in Iowa/Michigan in the past month, Darvin will be hosting and playing in Foxwoods Mega Stack Challenge XVIII $375,000 Guarantee kicking off Saturday in Mashantucket, CT – not too far from Darvin’s homebase in Maryland.

Foxwoods Mega Stack Challenge XVIII
December 4-12, 2010

$500+$60 NLHE (2 day) -> $75k guarantee – 20k/50 min
$200+$30 NLHE Re-Entry (2 day, 4 flights 1A/1B) -> $100k guarantee – 8k/30 min
$100+$20 NLHE Deep Stack Special -> $10k guarantee – 15k/20 min
$125+$50+$25 NLHE Bounty Deep Stack-> $15k guarantee – 15k/25 min
$300+$40 NLHE (2 day) -> $75k guarantee – 15k/40 min
$1,000+$100 NLHE Main Event (2 day) -> $100k guarantee – 40k/50 min

Bernard Lee, the Foxwoods Poker Room spokesperson who TV-tabled the HPT Michigan Season Finale a couple weeks back with a 5th place finish, invited Pokerati along to catch the action.

Visit the foxwoodslive.com for @WhoJedi‘s tournament coverage updates.
Follow the @FoxwoodsPoker for event twitfeed.

Follow me @scarlet_lv for other behind-the-scenes updates from Connecticut.

Though none of the eleven Season VI HPT Champs ran deep to the Six, many of them stuck around the extra night to sweat the final table including HPT POY Bryan Reisner, Las Vegas grinder Kimbo Ung, US Army Staff Sergeant Jason Fennel, aspiring American Idol singer Kurt Fraser, and an extremely personable Matt “MyTmase” Mason (who was diligently counting chipstacks all throughout Day 2.)

Here are the results:

HPT Soaring Eagle Season VI ->$1500 +$150 Main Event
1st: $176,865 Ahmed Harajli
2nd: $88,434 Joey Brown
3rd: $53,060 Jordan Rowan
4th: $41,269 Dean Hamrick
5th: $35,374 Bernard Lee
6th: $29,478 Chuck Earl

The taping of the final table lasted about 5 hours. Chuck Earl was the first to exit the taping area when Dean Hamrick’s big slick & ace-on-the-river combo beat Earl’s Queens.  Pros Dean Hamrick and Bernard Lee busted out 4th and 5th place, respectively.  Early on, Bernard went on a heater, shoving four consecutive times, while everyone folded and urged him to knock it off until on the last hand he showed kings.

Cowboys were not good to him in the endgame – he took a particularly nasty beat when his pockets fell short to 10s, when the case 10 hit the turn (another player revealed after the hand he was holding the other out), ending his tournament life.  Shortly thereafter, Hamrick ran his 33s into QQs, leaving him on the shortstack.  In the next hand, he pushed allin with K-rag vs. AQ, but it did not get there, and he left with fourth place money.

I happened upon the pair conversing during the break just after Lee’s shove-shove-shove-and-shove fest at the FT.

Here is the link to the interview where they discuss running deep together in the $1500 2010 WSOP Main Event where Hamrick won his first bracelet-> rungood.tv| ESPN Inside Deal Host Bernard Lee and Dean Hamrick Square Off at Heartland Poker Tour TV Table

Jordan Rowan cashed out soon after at 3rd, leaving headups to Joey Brown and Ahmed Harajli.  I’m interested to watch the broadcast of this matchup, because without seeing the hole cards, it still was more entertaining to me than watching the Duhamel-Racener matchup streaming on XBox Live. In the end, Joey went all in shortstacked with K5 against Ahmed 10s.  Ahmed’s hand held up, making him champ of the HPT Season VI Finale, surviving a field of 413 players.

Maria Ho and Tiffany Michelle, patched in UB, presented the Michigan native with his $176,865.  I overheard the floor saying that Ahmed, showing some real class, requested to donate a portion of his winnings to the Disabled American Veterans charity.

There were five notable pros playing the Main, who attending the PPA-sponsored charity bounty tourney benefiting the Disabled American Veterans on Thursday.

Tiffany Michelle & Maria Ho = future USO?

@TheScottyNguyen was the first of them to fall on D1, with his aces cracked in Level 6 (see rungood.tv|bustout interview vid.)  Darvin Moon’s 99′s pre-flop shortshack jam fell to 77′s set late in Level 11.  @TiffnyMichelle and ESPN Poker’s @BernardLeePoker are healthy; @MariaHo has just over 10BBs.

Play for D2 resumes shortly after 10a EST/7a Vegas today at L13 (40 min levels), playing to 6.  The final TV table of the “HPT Six” is scheduled to begin taping @ 5p EST/2p Vegas.

POI (person-o-interest) Chip Counts:

Tiffany Michelle: 162.5k
Brandon Dosch: (HPT Champ & POY Contender): 162.5k
Matt Alexander: (HPT Champ & POY Contender): 136.5k
Bernard Lee: 118k
Maria Ho: 68.5k

Average Stack = 103,250
Big Stack ~ 230k

Day 2 -> L13 Antes/Blinds = 500/3k/6k

Cash bubble @ 41 players today, and the winner will take down an estimated ~ $177k. (hey, I’m not @KevMath y’all, even *inside* the tourney room.)

Follow @TiffnyMichelle, @BernardLeePoker, @MariaHo for table-twitfeed.
Follow me @scarlet_lv today for live-tweets from the rail.

But (really) all I wanted to do to get a look at a live hole cam feed.

And just so you know…there is absolutely no mocking of play going on here, but wtf was he thinking shoving with a K-3 off ?! One of the views shown is a not often used used “rabbit hunt” camera, where the dealer can opt to flash the remaining board cards in big hands that don’t go to the river.

The players remain miked up throughout the entire final table taping, and the feed’s broadcast in the peek room — even on breaks in the bathroom, where it’s sometimes impossible for the guys in the peek room not to mock the action they’re listening in on.

“I have no reason to be out there,” says Moon. “I’m not playing.”  But that doesn’t mean that the WSOP didn’t want last year’s runner-up to be there, front and center. In fact, according to one conversation I eavesdropped on between Darvin and a Heartland Poker Tour in the hotel lobby, Harrah’s practically begged him to attend the event.  He declined, and instead is here at the Meskwaki Bingo Casino in Iowa with the “real people” of poker.

I caught Darvin on vid late last night, filming from the ten seat of his tourney table.  He was on break, well on the road to successfully satelitte-ing into the HPT Main Event, which starts today.  Here are some snippets from our table talk:

Q: World Series offered for you to come to the taping of the November Nine, correct?
A: Yeah they called and invited me out, but I refused. Watching poker, without playing, is like watching paint dry.

Q: And that’s why you played the Main Event this year at the Series?
A: I play for the money. The bracelet don’t mean nothing to me. I’m after the cash.

Q: I saw you playing over at the 1/2 tables. How’d you do?
A: I got my ass beat. You got any money, and you play me in cash, you’re gonna get it.

Darvin, his wife Wendy, and I bonded over some Iowa corn-fed red meat the other night at the very-local Rube’s Steakhouse with the crew of HPT.  Moon is here as the event’s “main draw”, a last minute replacement for Scotty Nguyen, who was side-lined by a sinus infection.  Both Moon and @TheScottyNguyen, as well as Maria Ho and Tiffany Michelle, are slated to play in the Celebrity Charity Bounty Tournament at the HPT Season VI Finale later this month in Michigan.

BTW, I think it’s pretty dang cool that Darvin has spent hours grinding out the 1/2 ($200 max buy-in) tables here with the local farmers, rather than playing the higher limits, or just showing up for the main.  I can’t think of a lot of other big names in poker that would have done the same.

But this new venture from a couple of Poker Beat cohorts on the tournament coverage frontlines could actually do it for me, as I can’t think of a more morning-friendly way to find out all I need to know about WPT-Bellagio/Festa as it nears the money bubble. It’s like Regis & Kelly for poker junkies in a G4 generation.

Topics of the day include Allen Kessler, Phil Ivey, Annette Obrestad, and Matt Affleck … but really, it’s way more fun that that.

Registration opened @ 2pm CT (noon Vegas-time).  Cards get in the air shortly @ 4pm CST/2pm LV.

Play starts with a chip stack of 15000, with blinds at 100-100.  Levels are 40 minutes.

Day 1 will play to the completion of 12 levels or after the bubble breaks, whichever comes first.  Day 2 will begin @ 10am CST/8am LV.  The final table will be televised.

Follow me on my cross-country poker road trip @scarlet_lv, with live-tweeting  from @HPTpokertour‘s Shooting Star Casino main event.

LA Poker Open, Commerce Casino :: The latest tournament series at the Commerce Casino runs Nov. 3-21, running against the NAPT at the Bike. The LAPO’s main event is a $2,085 NL event, w/ re-entry and a $500,000 guarantee LA Poker Open schedule

Both Gus Hansen and Jim Collopy, who have one match remaining in the 10k NL HU final, still have chips in the Main Event. There has been no word on when the deciding match will take place.

Elsewhere …

PokerStars LAPT – Rosario, Argentina :: 24 players remain in their main event, playing down to their final table on Saturday. PokerStars Blog and PokerNews

TJ Cloutier Choctaw Poker Classic – Durant, Oklahoma :: $1,600 Main Event starts Saturday, Cloutier, Scotty Nguyen, Tom McEvoy scheduled to appear. Rounders’ Radio appears to be handling live streaming of the tournament this weekend.

PokerStars EPT London :: The final major poker series to hit London starts Sept. 28th – EPT London details

Finally, Dan Michalski appeared on episode #2 of Gary Wise vs the World at PokerStatic.com with Shaun Deeb, Daniel “Jungleman12″ Cates, and Tim West.

The £10,000 + 350 High Roller No-Limit Heads-Up event reached the best-of-three final, with Gus Hansen winning the first match, and Jim Collopy making a comeback from an over 2-1 deficit to even up the match. The third and deciding match is currently scheduled for Friday afternoon, but with both players planning to play in the Main Event, the exact time has not been announced. Be sure to check PokerNews or WSOP.com

Elsewhere …

WPT Borgata Poker Open, Atlantic City :: Play is currently heads-up between Dwyte Pilgrim and Kia Mohajeri. WPT Live Updates

UPDATE: Dwyte Pilgrim finishes first, winning $733,802, moves into first place in the CardPlayer Player of the Year standings.

LAPT Grande Finale – Rosario, Argentina :: $5,000 Main Event draws a field of 254 players, with 131 returning Friday afternoon. Winner takes down over $300,000. According to Terrence Chan, the Argentinian government will tax 31.5% of net winnings to all players outside Argentinia, which has some people upset. Updates at PokerNews and PokerStars Blog

Seat 1: Willie Tann 72,000
Seat 2: Chris Bjorin 368,500
Seat 3: Phil Laak 317,000
Seat 4: Andrew Pantling 627,500
Seat 5: Ilan Rouah 200,000
Seat 6: David Peters 251,500

Final table payouts:

1. £170,802
2. £105,506
3. £70,473
4. £48,202
5. £33,617
6. £23,900

The final table starts at 2pm London time, (6am Vegas time) with updates available at PokerNews and WSOP.com. At 5pm Thursday, the second WSOPE bracelet event gets underway, £5,000 + £250 Pot-Limit Omaha event, won last year by Jani Vilmunen, who bested a field of 154 players to earn over £200,000.

WSOP Europe – London :: – Event #1 – £2,500 NL Six-Max, starts Tuesday – Live updates available at PokerNews and WSOP.com.

Borgata Poker Open – Atlantic City :: – Tournament series culminates with $3,500 WPT, $2,000,000 guaranteed Sept. 17. – Results and updates at the Borgata Poker Open Blog

World Poker Open – London :: Sam Trickett defeats Yevgeniy Timoshenko heads-up, wins $200k, tournament airs in UK later this year. – PartyPoker Blog

English Poker Open – London :: Day 2 starts with 93 players, playing down to final table, over £220,000 for first. – Live streaming at EnglishPokerOpen.com

PokerStars UKIPT – Dublin :: Max Silver defeats Ronan Gilligan heads-up, wins 72,000 Euros. – PokerStars Blog

Commerce Holdem Series – Rudy Fulson wins $120 NL, $300k guarantee in 10-way deal for $44k, guarantee bested by 30 players.. $1,100 Ironman tournament (no breaks) starts Wednesday – Commerce Tournaments

Also…

BBC Radio 5 program investigating cheating in online poker, centered on PokerStars Double or Nothing scandal by chain of Chinese colluders. Podcast link

Week 2 of PokerStars WCOOP underway – WCOOP.com

Partouche Poker Tour – Cannes – Vanessa Selbst, Fabrice Soulier, Soren Kongsgaard and Tobias Reinkemier among final tablists return November 6, first place prize €1,300,000 – Winamax.fr

Beau Rivage Gulf Coast Poker Championship, Biloxi, MS:: – Mark Rose wins $5,000 main event for $177,386, Chad Brown finishes 4th. – Results from the Hendon Mob

Commerce Holdem Series :: $120 NL w/ $100k to first, $300k prize pool starts today. More from Matt Savage:

PartyPoker World Poker Open – London :: Yevgeniy Timoshenko, Andrew Robl, and John Duthie among heat winners, final table on Friday. Party Poker Blog for updates

English Poker Open – London :: $1,000,000 guaranteed tournament starts Saturday at Palm Beach Casino, live streaming all weekend. English Poker Open

PokerStars UKIPT – Dublin :: Action gets underway Thursday afternoon – http://www.ukipt.com“PokerStars Blog

PokerStars WCOOP – First week of most successful online poker tournament series continues – WCOOP.com

Also …

Deliverance Poker sues Michael Mizrachi and Full Tilt for breach of contract – Cake Poker Blog

Intrastate online poker in California legislation reappears, passage by end of year? – EGR Magazine

Online poker coming to Indian casinos? – ATIG press release

Schedule finally announced for NAPT at the Bike in Los Angeles, will no TV coverage affect the field? – PokerStars Blog

WSOP Europe makes it’s appearance on crowded London poker calendar starting Tuesday – WSOPE Schedule

Finally, This Week in Poker w/ Scott Huff and Jess Welman: