Mike Sexton apparently has a new gig over at my personal poker news RSS reader PokerNewsDaily, and in his debut column shares his real thoughts on the 2008 WSOP. They are respectful (of course) but, the WPT television co-host doesn’t hold back from addressing his concerns about WSOP floor staff, cheating, and death.

Some highlights:

Another problem I have: “What if someone dies before the final table is assembled?” Putting a little casket on the table and blinding a guy off would not only create a morbid setting, it would also change the strategy players might induce to move up in the money. And although a legend didn’t make that final table (such as Doyle Brunson), what if they did and then they died in October? What might have been perhaps the greatest final table ever would now be a very sad and tragic final table.

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Some various news stories while wondering what Darus Suharto’s doing right now…

Congrats to John Phan, who took down the WPT Legends of Poker main event at the Bike. That makes 2 WSOP bracelets and 2 WPT final tables since mid-June for the Razor.

The debacle at the $50,000 HORSE event appears to have affected the Scotty Nguyen Poker Challenge at the Cherokee Casino in Tulsa, Oklahoma. The page dedicated to the event appears to have changed a bit in the past week:

August 23rd version from Google’s cache

The same page on August 30.

An interview with Nolan Dalla, WSOP Media Director, on Lou Krieger’s Keep Flopping Aces podcast says to expect new rules regarding player behavior to be instituted in time possibly for the WSOP Circuit events in October.

Strangely enough, the current rules in place were able to disqualify a player who was misbehaving at the final table, even though said player had the chip lead.

The five remaining defendants from an arrest (and SWAT team raid) on a South Carolina home for playing poker back in April 2006 are still trying to get a trial, which may be over a year away.

The Asian Poker Tour drew a field of about 250 for their latest stop, Macau. They had two day 1’s to whittle down the field to 67 remaining. Notable names remaining: JJ Liu, Casey Kastle, and Mel Judah. Play starts again at midnight Eastern time, with updates available on the APT site and Pokernews.

Circle your calendars for Oct. 14, when the Real Deal poker game show (with host Paul Rodriguez) at the Venetian makes its debut. Tickets start at only $75, but audience members will be able to walk away with valuable prizes (imagine how hard it is to walk away with a plasma TV).

More exciting stuff later, maybe…

Funny, I didn’t get the FIDPA release Jen did, but I did get an email from Jesse Jones to members of the WPA (I’m one of the few who somehow paid twice) … and it seems these two ops are finding their distinct paths. FIDPA, I know, is all about the rules. In fact, I heard about a month ago from both ML’s that their rules were in affect at the Bellagio for the big WPT event last week. Have not confirmed that, however supposedly when Jack McClelland made the Daniel Negreanu rule change mid-tourney at the WPT Championship, you couldn’t get a written version of that rule, because it didn’t exist — no written tourney rules at Bellagio — so apparently they were happy to finally get something on paper.

(And the way the FIDPA 80 work … they leave room for adjustments, so theoretically you could go to a tourney and the TD woulds say, “We’re using FIDPA rules today, except for #47, where we’re going to let you blah blah blah” or “… and we have one extra rule of our own: no coughing.”)

The WPA meanwhile, seems to have moved their rules agenda to the backburner, focusing instead on tournament rake — pushing for more sponsorship/commercial money to be added to major event prize pools, a la the PGA:

It’s a disgrace that tournament poker players for the most part do not share the revenue generated by their participation in events (e.g. television, sponsorship, etc). In most or all events players put in all of the prize money via the buy-in, have 6-10% of their money taken out, and only a small number of participants make a payday. Any revenue generated by sponsors or other means is not shared with you the players.

This is something we must change.

This is the WPA’s principal focus. This is why you joined the WPA. This is why we need your support.

Yeow! I’m not so sure I agree with the not-shared part … those waters they put on the table ain’t free, ya know! But the All In Energy Drink is!

Though I suppose both operations ultimately wanna become the FIFA of poker, it looks like their going about it in two kinda different ways

Marcel Luske and Michelle Lau formally announced that their organization is up, running, and ready to introduce “The International Poker Rules” in the near future. According to the press release, the goal of FIDPA and the set of rules is to organize and promote tournament poker as a sport and “unite the industry on a global level.”

Hmmm. Where have I heard that before? Oh, never mind…

The IP Rules have been created in cooperation with the Tournament Directors Association, Bob Ciaffone’s Robert’s Rules of Poker, and Jack McClelland and Doug Dalton of Bellagio, among others. There are a total of 80 rules, procedures, and policies that will be announced at a later date.

Note to self: This sounds an awful lot like the World Poker Association (WPA)!

Click the “more” button to see the entire press release:

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14 players left as they head to the dinner break, to return at 8:30). Average stack will be 9.77m as the players return at 80,000/160,000 with a 20,000 ante.

Eliminations:
15th - Owen Crowe
16th - Anthony Scherer
17th - Tiffany Michelle

Chip counts at the dinner break:

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Today’s the final day of play in the Amazon Room, as the 27 players remaining will play down to the November Nine, as those players scatter around the world an the vultures agents that represent them in an attempt to maximize the profile and sponsorship potential of a relatively unknown group of players looking to win just over $9m early in the morning of November 11th.

To see those final 27, head to page 2:
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I continue to work the hallways and set up executive-journo shop this time outside the payouts cage — where Pauly teaches me how to figure out who’s really backing whom … but not before we get distracted by a player sponsorship deal taking shape right before our very eyes, as a PartyPoker representative exchanges pleasantries with guys who clearly love the show Entourage agents from Poker Royalty. (Nothing would become of these pre-negotiations, however, as the lone remaining PartyPoker player would go from chip leader to out in 71st place in less than a day — falling just 62 spots short of the ever-valuable final table that various poker bizzers are jockeying for a piece of.)

Episode 27: Payouts and Payoffs

Jack Effel and Oliver Tse

(Apologies for the blur, but I had to kick into full-on Stalkerati mode and take these shots while running.)

On dinner break until 9:30pm with 92 players left. Tiffany Michelle at 3,000,000 and Lisa Parsons at 1,200,000 are the last two women standing. Players will play one more level after dinner break, like Jen notes below.

Top 5 Chip leaders:

Nikolay Losev - 3,500,000
Mark Ketteringham - 3,450,000
Jamal Kunbuz - 3,250,000
Aaron Gordon 3,200,000
James McManus 3,200,000

More on page 2:
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(Lost first post because of Rio internet. F!@$&! Abbreviated version here.)

The goal of Day 4 was to play five levels, though it the tournament staff noted that if the field dwindled from the starting number of 474 down to the 175-200 range, play may be stopped after four levels. So, Level 19 played until…189 players remained and a random announcement came that play ended for the day. Huh? With 38 minutes left in the level, they were done for the day.

While straight answers are hard to come by, it is widely accepted that ESPN makes decisions like that. Dr. Pauly speculated that the ESPN featured table was the next one to break, and instead of going through the hassle of moving players and setting up new ones on the stage - attaching microphones, making sure they understand the hole card cameras, etc. - it was easier to end play for the day and start over on Day 5. Voila! It was done.

Today, players are scheduled to play the 38 remaining minutes of Level 19, then the regularly scheduled five levels. Tournament director Jack Effel announced that although that is the plan, it will be reevaluated throughout the day as the field continues to dwindle.

It only took those 38 minutes to see the field shrink from the original 189 to 177. They’re going fast. Hope that fits into ESPN Standard Time.

After it was decided to play one more level after the dinner break, the tournament staff decided to suspend play with just over 38 minutes remaining in level 19. Two possibilities: Since play started an hour later on Friday, ending it at the same time as the other Main Event days would seem right. Also, there was 21 full tables of 9 players when play was suspended. so that there wasn’t a disadvantage to the other tables.

The leader at the end of day 4 is Jeremy Joseph with over 2.18m in chips, Nikolay Losev is 2nd with 2.11m in chips. 46 players start play today with over 1m in chips, among those players include Brandon Cantu, Shawn Sheikhan, Alex Outhred, Mark Vos, David Benefield, and Gus Hansen and Allen Cunningham. Phil Hellmuth is the final remaining Main Event winner with 581,000 in chips.

Tiffany Michelle, Kara Scott, Minna Ritakorpi, Karen Manfrede, and Lisa Parsons, make up the remaining female players. To see how everyone will be seated today, head to page 2:
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About 215 players head towards their 90 minute dinner break, knowing that they’re only playing one more level when they return around 9:45pm. At that point, they should be under the magical 175 figure tournament director Jack Effel had mentioned when play could possibly be stopped early. Saturday is scheduled for another 5 two-hour levels, while on Sunday they play down to the final 27.

The chip leader appears to be Jeremy Joseph, currently atr 2.8m in chips, 1m more than Brandon Cantu in 2nd. Today’s been a moving day for many pros (live and online), as Allen Cunningham, David “raptor” Benefield, APT winner David Saab, and Alex Outhred have moved into the top 10, More notable names left include Phil Hellmuth, Gus Hansen, Mike Matusow, Hoyt Corkins, Raja Kattamuri, Chip Jett, and Adam “roothlus” Levy. There’s less than 10 female players left (Alana Morin leads the ladies with 1m in chips), but two of them are more known for their work in front of the microphone, as Tiffany Michelle (Pokernews reporter) and Kara Scott (EPT hostess) survived the dinner break as well.

More updates later, as the Amazon room gets more deserted by the elimination…

Change 100 reports (via PokerNews):

25,000 Chips Introduced

“Hey, what are those green chips in your stack?” asked a surprised Maya Antonius. A small stack of forest green chips sat atop her tablemate’s stack of yellows and oranges.

He showed the chips to a curious Antonius– at the last color-up dark green 25,000-denomination checks were introduced into play.

Ms. Antonius looked a bit disappointed that she didn’t have any… yet.

The arrival of these chips have been highly anticipated — not just because they are big — but because of the color troubles last year with orange, off-orange, and pinkish-orange all on the table at the same time.

All the denominations higher than 5,000 have changed this year, and even the floor staff doesn’t now what they will be until they come out for color-up.

747 733 players survived to make the dinner break, trying not to crash eliminate themselves just short of the money at a devilish 666. Strangely, the current chip leader has less chips than the leader at the end of day 2 as Brian Schaedlich, who started with 801,000 in chips has gone under 300,000 in chips after Jeff Kimber flopped a set of queens to Brian’s AA in a 681,000 chip pot (he’s since recovered to be just under 500,000 in chips). However, the leader going into the dinner break is Jeremiah Smith, with 766,000 in chips. Kimber’s in 4th with the Satan-like 666,000, other notables with a pretty good stack include Victor Ramdin, prospective member of Team Pokerati Raja Kattamuri, Matt Matros, Adam “Roothlus” Levy, James McManus (not the author), Chip Jett, Brandon Cantu, and Steve Bilirakis. Notable players who won’t have to worry about the bubble: Chris Moneymaker, Phil Gordon, Tony Hachem, Andy Griggs, and Steve Zolotow. More updates can be found at the WSOP.com site here.

Once the players return from dinner break, there’s a couple more two-hour levels left for today, but the bubble will be looming in that first level, we’ll see if the tournament staff adds time back to that level and maybe stop play after it’s broken, depending on the time of course.

Finally the Main Event doesn’t need to have any letters in front of the day number as about 1,300 players return at noon today to play 5 more two-hour levels of play, with the hope of playing into the money today. The curious will want to know if they can make it down to the devilish 666 for the money today, and when the arduous task of hand-for-hand play starts. The Day 2b leader appears to be Peter Biebel, with just over 515,000 in chips. Other notables near the top: Alex Outhred, Raja Kattamuri, Victor Ramdin, favorite of Pauly Diogo Borges, Jean-Robert Bellande, Phil Hellmuth and Gus Hansen.

More updates later…

Johnny says: Ask Dan to post about garbage men and chip dumping. He had some interesting ideas on conspiracty theories…

Indeed … today we moved from yellow-chip ($1k) threat level to orange ($5k) — with tighter than usual security notably apparent during the green-chip race-off today. After clearing out the fans then players, the perimeters around the table we’re extra secured: no media allowed in, no masseuses, no waitstaff. A couple people did wander in unknowingly and were quickly and sternly ushered out. It was all taken so seriously — making sure every chip was properly accounted for, one can only presume. For as empty and quiet as the entire Amazon room was — only about a dozen small-stakes cash games going — it was totally abuzz. Floorsuits half-running down the aisles, barking questions, answers, orders … dealers making sure the chip trays were aligned at the perfect angle … all done with a certain military efficiency that suggested they had done the dress rehearsal, and now it was go-time.

(Even in the hallways, I saw for the first time semi-armored chip carts, arriving empty, and by the end of the day returning full.)

The only non-tourney staff allowed in to the tournament area was the sanitation crew. On breaks, they pick up empty cans, bottles, discarded magazines, general poker waste, etc. while wheeling overstuffed black trash bags between the tables. For all the effort that went into protecting the integrity of the 2008 main event race-off, these necessary laborers were the security weakness should anyone want to engage in shenanigans. Pay these guys off with something akin to their annual wages and before you know it those garbage sacks arrive amid the floorstaff frenzy stuffed with a orange chips machine guns or even bigger and stun grenades … poof, a little slight of hand while cleaning, and whammo, a dirty player returning from break finds a few big chips tossed onto his stack or wedged between the felt and rail. At least that’s what I would do.

What, you think it doesn’t happen? Probably not … but it would make a good movie if it did.

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…

Catching up on the final two preliminary events of the Series before the Main Event.

The $1,500 NL Holdem event is down to three players: veteran Dan Heimiller, rising pro David Daneshgar, and relative unknown Scott Sitron. They just went on their one hour dinner break, so to see how this turns up, follow the updates on the WSOP site here.

The $1,500 Limit Holdem Shootout just created its final table and one of those who will be moving on is Jean-Robert Bellande, who may have a fellow pro railing him at the final table. You can follow the updates of their action here.

Here’s how the final table will look like, everyone starting with 300,000 in chips:

Andrew Prock
Brandon Wong
Danny Wong
Jean-Robert Bellande
Joe DeNiro
John Kranyak
Mike Kachan
Spencer Lawrence
Matt Graham

Graham was the last to make the final table, and was extremely upset that the levels leaped from the 6,000/12,000 level to 10,000/20,000 when the stacks were level at 150,000. It seems to have worked out for him to make the final table, we’ll see if it propels him to the bracelet.

I’ll return tomorrow to preview Day 1a of the Main Event and give the final winners…

Recapping last night’s events with a preview of today’s action:

The $1,500 Pot Limit Omaha Eight or Better event was won last night by Martin Klaser, who was dominant in the brief heads-up battle with Casey Kastle to take down his first bracelet and just over $216,000. Kastle winds up with almost $138,000, the biggest cash in his career.

The $1,000 NL Holdem with Rebuys event got down to their final table, here’s how it’ll look like under the hot lights of the ESPN360 cameras at 2pm today:

Seat 1: Scott Freeman 675,000
Seat 2: Max Greenwood 728,000
Seat 3: Curtis Kohlberg 209,000
Seat 4: Rene Mouritsen 1,007,000
Seat 5: Alex Bolotin 308,000 - His 3rd final table of this Series
Seat 6: Albert Iversen 921,000
Seat 7: Aliaksandr Dzianisau 186,000
Seat 8: Phung Ngo 556,000
Seat 9: Jesse Chinni 2,160,000

Other action from yesterday on the next page:
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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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What’s happened tonight while preferring to watch the Pokerati Bowling Series over PBS every time:

The $3,000 NL Holdem event is down to headsup play with John Phan and Johnny Neckar. There’s been some controversy over where the action has taken place. First, David Singer had an issue with the lighting in the area and requested to be moved to another location. The table they were moved to was in the center of the tournament floor, and the crowd of players in other tournaments, fans, and media were too much for the players. The floor staff would eventually rope off the area to give the combatants some breathing room. Singer eventually finished in 5th place, chip leader Matthew Vengrin would be eliminated in 3rd.

More after the leap:

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Happenings from yesterday with a preview of today’s action::

The two final tables yesterday have been covered enough here so on to the day 2 action. The $5,000 NL Holdem final table is now set for this afternoon under the ESPN360 cameras shortly after 2pm.

Seat 1: Anders Henriksson 311,000
Seat 2: Jacobo Fernandez 848,000
Seat 3: Rajesh Vohra 1,040,000
Seat 4: Ben Sprengers 441,000
Seat 5: Adam Geyer 645,000
Seat 6: Scott Freeman 423,000
Seat 7: Scott Seiver 2,512,000
Seat 8: Chuck Sklar 439,000
Seat 9: Dave Seidman 653,000

More after the jump:

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Today the good doctor and yours true venture into the new 65-table Brasilia Room … and contemplate what a $2,500 PL Hold’em/Omaha tourney in this new locale may or may not mean for the WSOP, and what it says about the state of the greater Las Vegas economy. Yo … heavy.

Episode 7: Brasilia Time

The WPA announced today that Jesse Jones has returned to his status as Chairman of the Board of the organization in the wake of the resignation of Wendeen Eolis.

It came on strong. Jesse Jones started the World Poker Association with the best of intentions, and using his solid reputation in the industry and a goal-laden pitch about developing uniformity in tournament poker rules globally, the WPA energized the poker community. Integrity, worldwide, rules - all words that appealed to tournament players. Membership grew, especially with the WPA’s strong presence at the 2007 WSOP. Joseph Hachem joined the board, players anted up to become founding members, and a solid base was built.

Time went by. More time went by.

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photo: Aaron Hendrix / The Poker Mentor

It’s clear Phil Ivey is a problem gambler. The question is whether he’s a problem for casinos and his prop bet opponents or himself. One well-respected ambassadorial poker friend of Ivey’s has said he worries that Phil is too into gambling — to the extent that he doesn’t really have the time of day for anyone who isn’t up for a big-money wager. And this year one of his Full Tilt cronies has reportedly said that if he keeps up the prop bets at his current pace, he’ll be broke in two years.

Yeow, I don’t know Ivey’s real numbers, but his friend who said the latter certainly knows a thing or 12 about going broke. The dollar amounts circulating for Ivey’s off-table wagers are $2 million. On two separate wagers — one about whether or not he will win a bracelet, and the other on the outcome of the Laker-Celtics series. Supposedly Ivey has $2 million riding on the LA winning the NBA Championship. Not sure if I believe it of course — just seems a little coincidental that both his big bets would tally $2mm on the dot … but maybe … regardless, a lot of people saw Ivey auditioning to be the next Spike Lee courtside at Game 1, and yesterday, Game 3/Day 1 of a $2,000 Limit Hold’em event, it was very apparent that he had a lot of something riding on the outcome.

During the tournament, Ivey had no problem convincing the floor to replace the big-screen tournament clock with the basketball game, and his opponents at this table got a rare glimpse of Phil without his usual inscrutable poker face (as Daniel Negreanu occasionally popped by to laugh).

ALT HED: I Like Big Bets!

Phil Ivey’s Laker Tells
Photos by Benjo:

Happenings at the WSOP while JC Tran (and his spectacular breasts) make the final table.

Play ended shortly after 5am in the $10k Mixed Event World Championship. A tournament that had its share of controversy, from confusion over the structure to players threatening to go to 2+2 to express their dislike of having table redraws start at triple draw instead of going through the eight-game rotation. Here’s the final table, starting at 4pm:
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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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Oy ve. This is complicated stuff! For the first time, the WSOP has added the $10,000 World Championship Mixed Event, which boasts of 8 different games. Not an event for the casual player. Must be why there is hardly an anonymous face in the crowd.

The tournament was 1/2 hour late to start as the dealers, tournament staff, and players tried to get settled. With the event drawing such an elite group of notable players, they wanted to have everything right. “We have the best dealers in this event,” said TD Jack Effel, after admitting this is the first time trying this many games in one event.

And not 5 minutes into the game there was a tiff between Eli Elezra and the dealer regarding the way something happened in 2-7 Triple Draw. If I had any idea what the rules of the game were, I’d let you know about the disagreement, but… All I can tell you is that the two people in front of the button will sit out on 2-7 games. (Hope that makes sense to someone!) In the end, tournament staff came over and cleared up the misunderstanding, which there was bound to be when Effel noted, “These are not the same rules that you play at Bellagio.”

Anyway, eight hands of each game will be played before switching. The games are: 2-7 triple draw lowball, limit hold’em, Omaha hi-o split 8-or-better, seven card razz, seven card stud, seven card stud hi-lo split 8-or-better, no-limit hold’em, pot-limit Omaha.

Whew! I’m tired. And confused.

P.S. - Had my first Gus Hansen and Sammy Farha sightings of the 2008 WSOP.

This is a little bit of old news, but I just watched it for the first time, and thought some of you who also might not have seen it yet would be interested in Daniel Negreanu’s very thorough and sober analysis of the WSOP’s delayed main event final table:

In it he reminds even yours truly about how close the World Series was to going out of business in 2004. He’s right, of course, even though I had completely forgotten about that.