Our good pals at the Hard Rock wanna remind you that they have their $20,000 guarantee tourney tomorrow. They probably don’t want me to tell you that they had to add money to the prize pool the last time they ran this tourney to make the guarantee … but that’s good for you. There were about 60 players, and something like 9 got paid. (I got 12th-ish.)

Decent structure, too. 12k chips for $250 ($225+25) … with a $100 rebuy or add-on for 5k chips. (I didn’t take it. My starting table was soft.) Seriously, it’s not a huge tourney, but it’s a good one, with good payout possibilities. Starts at 6 pm. Details here.

And, of course, they’re always happy to spread 1/2 NLH/PLO … and they usually have enough people interested in dipping their toes into 4-card hold’em waters to make it happen. Just ask them to put your name on the list for the Pokerati game and they’ll be sure to accommodate. You can always text “pokerati” to 25287 and you’ll get a text whenever this game is running. I won’t be able to make it this week, but next week I’m back in action, so you probably need some practice.

UPDATE: Tournament didn’t make. Not sure where the fine print may or may not come in for “guarantees”.

The Venetian Deep Stacks, with the first ever NAPT tag attached to their main event, is underway. Click here to see the schedule.

One other new not necessarily that new thing this go-round is the Best Overall Player Award. Details from The V:

BEST OVERALL PLAYER AWARD
The four players that accumulate the most player points throughout the entire event will be awarded Best Overall Player cash awards. One-half of one percent will be withheld from the prize pool of each daily tournament and added to the Best Overall Player total prize pool. The standings will be updated daily and posted in The Venetian Poker Room. Super Satellites, 7 pm second chance tournament and the $5,000 NAPT are not part of the overall point’s race.

We sometimes forget that a lot of poker players out there — particularly mid-tier pros — rely on big tournaments to help them make their living. So when they see something potentially asinine, they get a little upset. Unlike we analysts, who simply laugh, scoff, and position ourselves to “cover” what could well be a gloriously entertaining collapse.

So it goes for the upcoming Bellagio 5-Diamond event in April — which features a ridiculous 17 rebuy tournaments as its preliminary events. Seriously, someone has lost it here, right? We’ll see if we can’t get a comment from Tourney Director Jack McClelland on what’s the thought process behind this. Because right now, the best we can deduce arbitrarily surmise is that maybe it would be contractually better for him to get fired as opposed to resigning?

Some players were so incensed by this rebuy-crazy sked, supposedly, that they began circulating a petition to change the schedule back to its original set-up — a scheduling revolt supposedly led by Scott Clements. And in it, they proposed an alternative that seemed to make more sense. However, according to 2+2, the Bellagio has said thanks-but-no-thanks to the suggestion — leaving some players already talking about skipping this series, and a few media types excited about the pending collapse.

Beau Rivage, Mississippi

Borgata, Atlantic City

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Here is the schedule of tournaments and events for the 2010 Borgata Winter Poker Open.

The Commerce Hold’em Series just got underway yesterday in California. It’s a 2+ week festival with limit, no-limit, and pot-limit hold’em tourneys … most of them in the $200, $300, and $500 range … and some with fun little twists such as knockout bounties and creative payout structures. They got off to a good start with 1,217 entries on Day 1A in their $220 NLH — with a $500k guarantee — and It all culminates in a $2,580 main event (also with a $500k guarantee).

But the event that’s most intriguing to me: Event #15 — a $1,600 “Ironman” tourney, on Wednesday, Sep 23.

The concept, from a Commerce spokesman:

$1600 Ironman Tournament. 10,000 in starting chips. 1 hour levels starting at 25-50, with slow progressions. Includes 50-75, 250-500, 900-1800 blinds. The key is that there are no breaks! We will play from start to finish without interruption. 3 meals provided as long as you are in the tournament. Must play down to one player. Paying only the final table with 50% for first.

Wow. Awesome. Cool. While part of me thinks this might-should be called the Meth-head Invitational, it will be really interesting to see who plays the best under those conditions. Short-stacked smokers at a disadvantage, but hey … them’s the (only) breaks.

UPDATE: Event #1 seems pretty unique, too. Each Day 1 plays down to 27, and 90 players have already made the money. An additional funky caveat — those who have already busted can re-enter on Day 1B or Day 1C. What-the …

The Antiscouse writes in seeking some info that I figure should share with all of you, too … because really, what more do Pokeratizens wanna know beyond the latest law, politics, tournament results where should I play and eat when coming to Las Vegas?

Headed your way for the weekend, was hoping at the last second to get your recommendations on 1) tournaments and 2) sushi places to take guest/client. As for tournaments, playing one Friday somewhere during the day, not sure where yet- thoughts? Used to play the Caesars noon $330, didn’t like it last time so thought I’d branch out.

A slightly embellished version of my response to The Antiscouse:

1) Tournaments (Friday day)

Venetian $150 nooner
7,500 starting chips and 30-minute levels. It’s actually a daily event that usually draws 75-or-so runners throughout the week, but on Fridays it has been running closer to 150 players with first-place payouts around $8k.

Since you don’t dig the Caesar’s $330, you might also wanna check out the Bellagio daily events, and if you’re willing to go up against a smaller field with fewer prize payouts, the Hard Rock is in the last few days of their inaugual MegaStacks series — where all the events have been turned into $340s.

For a complete and semi-regularly updated list of Las Vegas daily and weekly tournaments + special events, go here.

2) Sushi

Nobu (at Hard Rock) is my personal favorite. Tasty. Sexy. Fun.

Simon (at Palms Place) is also one of my favorite restaurants in town … though it’s not pure sushi … it’s like Asian fusion with homegrown American steaks and stuff, and it’s away from the casino, which may be more appealing to me than you and your client.

Sushi Roku in Caesar’s Forum Shoppes is great food … but the price-to-portions ratio makes you feel like you’re at more of a French restaurant, and the long walk through a shopping mall to get there may be unappealing to smokers.

The sneaky, ooh, wouldn’t have thought of that place … Koi at Planet Hollywood.

UPDATE: 143 runners at Venetian today — Tagg finished 22nd (18 got paid). Hopefully better results TK for sushi.

Day 6 of the Main Event resumes today at 12 noon today, with the plan to play down to 63 players, which may make today the longest day of the WSOP so far. Here’s a few tables to scroll through, consisting of Day 6 table draws, payouts so far, and the 2nd page consists of Nolan Dalla’s tournament report.

For those that don’t care to click ahead, follow the live updates over at www.wsop.com and I’m sure Pauly and Dan will be providing updates on their run to Dream Team Poker glory.

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Edit: Here’s the official chip counts:

Sunday brought another three-level day to the WSOP, with just 185 players remaining when play resumes Monday afternoon at 12pm. The current unofficial leader is Warren Zackey, who’s listed from Honeydew, South Africa with 4,977,000 in chips. The most notable name at the top of the leaderboard is 2007 WSOP POY and member of Team Pokerati Tom Schneider at 3,168,000, good for 4th place. More notables, with their unofficial chip counts: Noah Boeken (2,4000,000), Eugene Katchalov (2,1000,000), Ludovic Lacay (1,685,000), Fabrice Soulier (1,450,000), Bertrand Grospellier (1,400,000), Blair Hinkle (1,100,000), Joe Sebok (1,100,000), Joe Hachem (1,000,000), Peter Eastgate (927,000), Blair Rodman (890,000), Joe Serock and Prahlad Friedman (760,000) and Kenny Tran (700,000).

Notable eliminations: Kevin O’Donnell, Mickey Mills, Cornel Cimpan, Kara Scott, Dan Shak, Nick Binger, Bobby Baldwin, Kevin Saul, William Robertie and Can Kim Hua.

Hopefully the official chip counts will be coming shortly, and Pokerati will be the 5th place to find them. Follow Pokerati also for Dream Team Poker updates, when they return from dinner break.

Edit: Here’s the official chip counts:

In a surprising move, play ended Saturday after just three levels of play in the main event, as the field is now down to about 400 players after three levels of play, which included nearly two hours of hand-for-hand play. Chip counts are unofficial at the moment, but it appears that Frenchman Ludovic Lacay will be the chip leader with 1,608,000 chips. Tom Lutz is listed in 2nd place with 1,600,000 chips. Other notables returning tomorrow with unofficial chip counts: Jordan Morgan (1,489,000), Blair Hinkle (1,399,000), Bertrand Grospellier (1,250,000), Nichoel Peppe (880,000), Kenny Tran (850,000), Tom Schneider (790,000), Lou Diamond Phillips (755,000), Dennis Phillips (630,000), Kara Scott (580,000), Joe Hachem (570,000), Noah Boeken (515,000), Joe Sebok (412,000) and Joe Serock (400,000). The returning players resume at 12 noon tomorrow, guaranteed at least $27,469.

The bubble was reached after 13 hands during hand-for-hand play. Kia Hamadani had about 160,000 in chips when they were about 20 players for the money, unfortunately for him, he took several hits to his stack until he was all in for his 500-chip ante. His last hand was 4-3o, which was crushed by someone making a large bet on a Q-Q-6 board with 9-2o. A nine on the turn and river meant that Hamadani would finish in 649, consoled by the fact that Jack Link’s Beef Jerky gave him a free entry to the 2010 Main Event.

Notables who can sleep in tomorrow: Phil Hellmuth, Patrick Bruel, Kelly Kim, Surinder Sunar, Matt Brady, Mark Gregorich, and Jesper Hougaard.

Official chip counts will be available in the morning, so return to Pokerati to see what’s turns up next.

Day 3 of the Main Event were able to play five full levels yesterday, with 789 players surviving to return at noon Saturday as they crawl their way to the money bubble at 648 players. The only player with a 7-figure chip stack is Bertrand “ElkY” Grospellier with 1,380,500. Other notables who are still hanging around: Blair Hinkle (542,000), Dennis Phillips (510,000), Phil Hellmuth (485,000), Kara Scott (456,500), Mike Sexton (414,000), David Benyamine (381,500), Lou Diamond Phillips (359,500), Kelly Kim (346,000), Joe Sebok (297,500), Joe Hachem (239,500), Tom Schneider (231,000), Bobby Baldwin (193,500) and The Big Randy (190,500). The entire list of survivors is available below:

Five more levels of play are scheduled for today, but a prolonged period of bubble play can play havoc, depending on when they start hand for hand play and how much time is added back after the money is reached. In any case, it’ll be a joyous occasion for most who make the money, while the more established players will be looking to abuse the bubble, and take chips off players looking to get out of Vegas with their $21k+ payday.

Follow all the action over at www.wsop.com here and Pokerati for other stuff going on during Saturday.

The Main Event resumes today around noon today with the remaining 2,044 entrants expecting to play 5 two-hour levels today. If they follow the procedures in the Staff Resource Guide, hand for hand play should begin with about 670 players remaining, if the eliminations come fast enough. To see the entire list of players, check out the page below:

Follow the tournament updates here with more stuff from Pokerati during the day, hopefully.

2,044 players remain when the World Series of Poker resumes Friday afternoon for Day 3, so today will mostly consist of the Commish’s media briefing and media tournament down at the Rio. The chip leader when play resumes appears to be Amir Lehavot with 610,500 in chips. An unofficial list of players for Day 3 is now up here. Five levels of play are now scheduled for the duration of the WSOP, with the money expected to be reached for Day 4 Saturday afternoon.

Page 2 consists of Nolan Dalla’s Tournament Report from the conclusion of play with further details:

More…

First, an interview with the Commish from SkyPoker’s James Hartigan about Day 1d (Thanks to DesD on 2+2 for the link):

Day 2a concluded with 607 players remaining and Andrew Gaw the chip leader with 386,800 in chips. In an interesting story, Eric Cloutier, who was reported chip leader at the end of day 1a with 150,750 in chips, turned out to have 15,075 to start the day. He ends today in 2nd place with 383,500 in chips. Other notables: Greg Mueller (287,300), Andy Black (215,700), Mike Sexton (169,000), Kara Scott (139,500), Jimmy Fricke (138,300), Tom Schneider (123,700), Greg Raymer (95,900), Jason Alexander (73,700), Sam Farha (67,500), Erik Seidel (55,600) and Roland de Wolfe (21,200). To view the entire list of day 2a survivors, follow this link.

The Mystery of Amazon Green 156

The day 2 situation brings up this interesting case, especially since it’s the very last table in the Amazon Room. As I mentioned to Pauly, there were 4 players on the day 1d entrants list who were seated in the 10 seat, all of them in the Amazon Green section:

Jeppe Nielsen – Amazon Green 143/10
Joe Reitman – Amazon Green 144/10
Marco Bertaccini – Amazon Green 145/10
Dale Poynter – Amazon Green 146/10

To be fair, only Poynter’s table was actually 10-handed, although in Reitman’s case, that table only seated 7 players (according to the list). Another interesting table is Amazon Green 156, which is seated as follows:

LANDAU, MICHAEL
ERNA, SALVATORE
GASPARD, JEAN
HACHEM, TONY
MICHNIK, MICHAEL
HARRISON, AUDLEY
SEED, HUCK
MORRISON, KIRK
ODONNELL, KEVIN

Gaspard and Seed both had been guaranteed a seat, for winning WSOP-C New Orleans and the NBC Heads-Up event respectively, as noted by the Commish in the above video. Audley Harrison is a known British boxer who has played a few events this year at the WSOP. Some of the rumors that were flying around the Rio yesterday were about some players getting preferential treatment. I’ll leave it to the reader to guess which names on the above list fit that role. Another name worth mentioning is Kevin O’Donnell, who apparently was shut out, according to Gary Wise’s article on ESPN.com:

Frustration was boiling over among those who felt their dreams of championship glory moving beyond reach, many feeling betrayed by what they saw as insufficient warning of what might be going down.

“I think that Harrah’s communications was awful,” said Kevin O’Donnell, a professional circuit regular who’d gone home to Arizona for Independence Day. “If they’d warned us better about this possibility, we’d have made the needed adjustments. There are a lot of things they’re going to say that are true, but ultimately the communications broke down. As a business person, I understand you can only fit in so many people, but they should have done a better job of letting people know they were going to have these space issues.”

Meanwhile, Palansky was sending out a follow up e-mail at 12:08 p.m. entitled “WSOP Main Event – Flight 1D is a SELLOUT.”

Yet O’Donnell did get a seat — at Amazon Green 156 — and returns today with more than 72,000 in chips.

Day 2b gets underway at noon today, playing 4 two-hour levels. A not exact list of chip counts and where they’ll be sitting can be found here. If you’re in the Amazon Room and poker room, you’ll be playing 9-handed. Buzio’s and any of the other tournament rooms will mostly start 10-handed, although they’ll be breaking tables as fast as they can to get to 9-handed as quickly as possible. One of the tables not in use at the moment, Amazon Green 156.

Follow the live updates at www.wsop.com and other updates from Pokerati about other goings on at the WSOP.

Day 1d ended play this morning with 1,816 players remaining and Troy Weber the overall chip leader with a whopping 353,000 in chips. Other notables with chips: Carter King (170,000), J.C. Tran (139,975), Josh Arieh (135,700), Bertrand “ElkY” Grospellier (127,475), Dutch Boyd (121,050), Kirk Morrison (96,000) and Tony Hachem (89,400). To see everyone’s chip counts, click here. To see all 2,809 entrants to day 1d, click here.

Day 2a will start at noon today, as they play five two-hour levels at nine-handed tables in a field of 1,476 (half the size of the day 2b field Wednesday). A list of those players is here. The over 2,900 strong field for day 2b will have over 120 tables start 10-handed when play resumes for them on Wednesday. It could be another logistical nightmare if the day 2a field has too many eliminations, and play is forced to be suspended sooner than expected. The Day 2b field only has four two-hour levels of play on their agenda so that when the field is combined on Friday, expect a field of at least 2,000 starting for Day 3.

As usual, check out Pokerati or Pauly for more details, and www.wsop.com for updates during the day.

The Day 1c field has returned from its dinner break a few minutes ago, with two more levels to play today. The difference between this field and the first two Day 1’s is that the field as well as tomorrow’s field will play 5 two-hour levels. When Day 2a commences Tuesday, they’ll also play 5 two-hour levels, while the Day 2b field will play 4 levels. A field of 1,697 were registered today, and there’s a possibility that Monday’s Day 1d field could be sold out. If not, it will certainly be the largest Day 1 field with well about 2,300 already registered.

Notable names already eliminated: Annie Duke, Daniel Negreanu, Evelyn Ng, John Caldwell, Lacey Jones, Chino Rheem, and Jamie Gold. The unofficial leader at this time is Jeff Lisandro, looking for his 4th bracelet this year, leading the field with 132,000 in chips. Other notables with stacks include Hevad Khan (94,000), Joe Hachem (88,000), David Singer (78,000), Justin Bonomo (56,800), Brett “gank” Jungblut (51,000), Scotty Nguyen (49,000), and Dan Harrington (47,500). Other chip counts and live updates can be found at the wsop.com site here.

More updates later this evening from Team Pokerati, and another update from me in the morning recapping who’s left at the end of the night.

First, this note from Nolan Dalla’s latest tournament report:

In the days following the third annual Ante Up For Africa tournament, WSOP officials have received a number of media inquiries regarding the event’s second-place finisher – specifically whether he collected his winnings without donating a portion to the cause the tournament benefits. In light of these ongoing inquiries and certain erroneous media reports that have been filed since the event’s conclusion, the WSOP feels it is necessary to clarify certain relevant facts.

First and foremost, the second-place finisher, to date, has not collected his tournament winnings. Nor has he stated an intention not to contribute to the charity. This player has, in fact, contacted Ante Up For Africa organizers to discuss his plans for the money. Any reports to the contrary are factually inaccurate and should be disregarded.

Day 1b concluded with 655 players returning Tuesday afternoon, joining the remaining entries from day 1a as Day 2a gets underway. The reported* chip leader at the end of play is Brandon Demes with 137,075. Other notables with a decent stack include: Fabrice Soulier (97,725), Joe Sebok (78,800), Bruno Fitoussi (58,100), Shaun Deeb (55,100), Amarillo Slim (48,075) and Greg Raymer (43,750). To see the entire list of survivors, check out the link here.

* Day 1 chip leader Eric Cloutier’s stack was reported as 150,750, it turns out it actually is 15,075.

Day 1c gets underway with a possible change in schedule, as ESPN.com’s Andrew Feldman noted, day 1c and 1d MAY start with 5 levels of play, then playing 4 levels on Day 2b on Wednesday. Day 2a will then be five levels long so everyone has played for the same amount of time. Feldman expects an announcement to made just before play gets underway at 12 noon today. Follow the updates over at www.wsop.com here and maybe some stuff from the rest of Pokerati during Sunday.

Another down day for today’s Main Event as only 873 registered for day 1b, the lowest day 1 figure since the poker boom began. Reports indicate that over 2,700 players combined have already registered for days 1c and 1d, combined with the 1,989 who have already registered means the 5,000 figure should easily be reached. Another rumor, this one reported by ESPN’s Andrew Feldman, says that Days 1c and 1d will play 5 two-hour levels, followed by 4 two-hour levels for Day 2b. The Day 1a and 1b survivors will then play 5 two-hour levels on Day 2a so everyone has played nine levels when the field combines for day 3.

On to what’s known, and that is the Day 1b field is on their fourth and final level of today’s play, with about 720 players remaining. Notables who have already been eliminated: Chris Moneymaker, Doyle Brunson, Vicky Coren, David Pham, boxer Winky Wright, and Marlon Shirley, who will definitely get some airtime during ESPN’s Day 1b coverage.

The unofficial chip leader is Nick Maimone, with 129,000 in chips. Some notables with chips includes: Ali Eslami (85,000), Fabrice Soulier (66,000), Erik Seidel (59,500), Shaun Deeb (53,000), Joe Sebok (42,500), and Amarillo Slim (36,000). You can follow the live updates at www.wsop.com here.

See what other rumors get started or squashed at Pokerati in the evening hours and early morning and I’ll be back with more stuff in the morning.

Day 1a of the Main Event is in the books, with 821 players remaining from the 1,116 who started the day. The reported chip leader is Eric Cloutier at 150,750. Other notable names with chips include: Jason Alexander (89,575), Pokerati’s Tom Schneider (79,600), John Hennigan (76,250), Vitaly Lunkin (68,300), Someone who didn’t report (69,500), Jimmy Fricke (63,425), and Andy Black (56,475). To see the entire list of chip counts, check it out here.

Day 1b gets underway at noon today, and will surely be the smallest field of the four day 1’s, with a chance the field will be under 1,000 when the registrations are calculated sometime after the dinner break after level 2 this afternoon. To see if that happens, follow the live updates over at www.wsop.com and more stuff from Pokerati during the day.

The Main Event got underway today with Jack Link’s mascot Sasquatch grunting his way through the “Shuffle Up and Deal” with a field of 1,116 (down from last year’s 1,297) starting day 1a. Jeffrey Pollack’s vlog with Wicked Chops Poker, shown below, hopes to get 5,000 entrants, which would be about 25 precent below last year’s 6,844. The lower than expected numbers could also explain the decision to play only 4 two-hour levels on days 1 and 2.

At the moment, there’s about 4,000 registrants already signed up, most of which are on days 1c and 1d, so don’t be surprised if you hear rumors about Monday’s day 1d being “closed” for registrations to add some entrants to days 1b and 1c. Notables who have already been eliminated today include: Jerry Yang, Freddy Deeb, Orel Hershiser, John Phan, Gabe Kaplan, Davidi Kitai and 2009 EPT Grand Final winner Pieter de Korver. The unofficial chip leader is Dragan Galac at 110,000 in chips, followed by by 2006 EPT Grand Final winner Jeff Williams at 106,000.

Other notables with chips: Jason Alexander (84,500), Eli Elezra (84,300), Tom Schneider (57,000), Phil Laak (46,000) and Jimmy Fricke (45,000). Follow the last level of play at the WSOP site here. Chip counts should be available in the early morning hours, but if you want to see who decided to pay their $10,000 today, a list of Day 1a entrants can be found here. More stuff this weekend, so come back to Pokerati often.

Watch Jeffrey Pollack Vlog on Day 1A of the 2009 WSOP Main Event on RawVegas.tv

Congrats to Matt Hawrilenko, winner of just over $1,000,000 in the $5,000 NL Holdem 6-max earlier this morning.

The big day has finally arrived, the final bracelet event of this year’s World Series of Poker, the $10,000 NL Holdem World Championship starts shortly after 12pm today, after the various festivities that kick off the event conclude (marching bands, Wayne Newton, or whatever they decide to do this year).

Each Day 1 will play 5 two-hour levels of poker, with a 20-minute break after each level and a two-hour dinner break. Thousands will swarm the various tournament rooms of the Rio to either play or spectate, some hopefully catching the eye of the ESPN cameras that will be around to film all the action. Expect a return of the mysterious Post-It note covering the total number of registrants on the tournament clock, which eventually revealed 6844 entrants. This year’s WSOP Staff Guide projects a field of 7323, and if last year is an indicator, Days 1a and 1b (being the 4th of July) will have the smaller fields, while Sunday and Monday’s days 1c and 1d will be much larger as people decide to enjoy their weekend before plunking $10,000.

As always, plenty of updates will be available at www.wsop.com and Dan, Jen and the rest of Team Pokerati will do their part to describe the action over the next two weeks.

Recapping the rest of Friday night’s WSOP, and paying respect to the passing of Lee Munzer (1943-2009).

Habib Holds High HORSE Hierarchy

Day 1 of the $50,000 HORSE has 91 of the 95 original entrants remaining, with Hasan Habib holding the chip lead. The list of notables with chips is too many to mention, but you can see who else is remaining by checking out this link. Day 2 will begin around 2pm4pm with another sixfive levels of play scheduled.

Cantu Leads PLO 8 Final Table

The final table of the $1,500 Pot-Limit Omaha 8 or Better has been established and Brandon Cantu has maintained his lead, with the final table seated as follows when play resumes at 2pm:

Seat 1: Lee Watkinson – 412000
Seat 2: Steve Jelinek – 260000
Seat 3: William McMahan – 168000
Seat 4: Brandon Cantu – 1025000
Seat 5: Ted Weinstock – 250000
Seat 6: Aaron Sias – 353000
Seat 7: Jacqmin Mathieu – 552000
Seat 8: Ronnie Hofman – 76000
Seat 9: Tommy Vedes – 334000

Day 2 of Limit Holdem Shootout

64 players remain from the starting field of 571 in the $1,500 Limit Holdem Shootout. Among the first round winners: Jean-Robert Bellande, Nick Binger, Humberto Brenes, Dan Heimiller, Juha Helppi, Greg Mueller, Marc Naalden, Brock Parker, Tom Schneider, David Williams and Todd Witteles. Eight eight-handed tables will play down to a winner starting around 2pm Saturday, with the eight winners returning Sunday.

Saturday’s Donkament

The only tournament starting today is the penultimate $1,500 NL Donkament, starting at noon today with a projected field size of 2,800 taking the felt, which will surely delay the other three tournaments that are scheduled to start later this afternoon. Last year’s version of this event was won by David Daneshgar in a field of 2,693, taking down over $625,000.

Recapping the Friday afternoon action…

Vallo Valuable in $50k HORSE

As the players return from the dinner break, Martin Vallo is the unofficial chip leader (245,000) in the $50k HORSE event with all 95 players who registered remaining. The players are now on level four, with three more levels of play scheduled before play ends for the day. Among the early leaders, Daniel Negreanu (200,000), Jeff Lisandro, (188,000), Patrik Antonius (175,000) and Todd Brunson (168,000).

Letting Ylon’s Be Bygones

Ylon Schwartz is the current chip leader (2,000,000) with three players remaining in the $2,500 Mixed Holdem event as they return from their dinner break. John McGuiness (1,200,000) and Bahador Ahmadi (750,000) round out the field. Barry Greenstein finished in 5th before heading off to join the $50k HORSE field.

Cantu Crushing PLO8

With 36 players remaining in the $1,500 Pot-Limit Omaha 8 or Better event, Brandon Cantu (525,000) is the dominant chip leader, with Tommy Vedes (225,000) a distant second. Other notables remaining: Lee Watkinson (70,000), Noah Boeken (62,000), Phil Hellmuth (58,000), and Randy Holland (46,000).

Limited Field in Limit Holdem Shootout

The late afternoon tournament, $1,500 Limit Holdem Shootout drew a field of nearly 600, seated at 64 tables. The round one winners play at eight eight-handed tables, and those winners will return on Sunday to determine the winner. No table winners have been determined yet, but expect some notable winners included in the morning update.

Catch up with all the updates over at www.wsop.com and more stuff from Team Pokerati during the evening.

The TI Poker Room will be hosting a tournament to give away a seat in the $10,000 World Series of Poker Main Event.  To qualify players must log as few as 20 hours of live play in the TI Poker Room (play must be in jackpot dropped games and you must be logged in with your Treasure Island Players Card).  Qualifying period for the tournament starts at 12:01AM on Monday, May 25th and ends at 11:59PM on Sunday, June 28th. Tournament date TBD.

Players who qualify with 20 hours of play will receive 2,000 tournament chips and will earn 1,000 in extra tournament chips for each additional 10 hours of qualifying play.  Another 5,000 in tournament chips is available for a $50 Staff Appreciation Fee on the day of the tournament.  For more info contact the TI Poker Room at (702) 894-7291.

Treasure Island Las Vegas
3300 S. Las Vegas Blvd.,
Las Vegas, Nevada 89109
702-894-7111

Las Vegas, NV: The Orleans Hotel & Casino will host the 2009 Orleans Poker Open from May 9th – 19th.  The 2009 Orleans Open is highlighted by two Championship Events, the $540 Omaha Hi-Lo Championship on Saturday, May 16th and the $540 No Limit Hold’em Championship on Sunday, May 17th.

The starting chip amounts shown below include the 2,500 extra chips for the $10 Staff Bonus.  All 12:00 noon events have 45 minute blind levels, 7:00PM events have 20 minute blind levels. Satellites begin on Saturday, Mat 9th at 5:00pm. 

More…

The Hard Rock Poker Lounge weekly poker tournament schedule features daily events at 1:00pm and 7:00pm. The poker room also hosts a weekly $5,000 Freeroll Tournament at 4:00pm on Saturday for players who log 20 hours of live play on their Rockstar Club Card between Sunday and Friday. Play 30 hours and receive 1,000 bonus chips with an additional 500 chips at 35 and 40 hours. Freeroll players can also buy a $20 Staff Bonus for 1,500 additional chips. For more info call the Hard Rock Las Vegas Poker Lounge at 702-693-5874.

Hard Rock Poker Lounge Tournament Schedule:

Monday
1:00 PM – $45 Buy-in No-Limit Texas Hold’em Tournament
4,000 starting chips, $5 Bonus for 1,000 additional chips, Play 1 hour of live poker on your Rock Star Card from 8am – 1pm for 1,000 Bonus chips. 20 minute blind levels.

7:00 PM – $50 Buy-in No-Limit Texas Hold’em Tournament
4,000 starting chips, $10 add-on for 2,000 additional chips, earn 500 extra chips per hour (Between 1pm and 7pm) max 2,000 extra chips. 20 minute blind levels.

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The poker room at the Wynn offers up two daily tournaments at 2:00 PM & 7:00 PM.  The 2:00 PM tournament has a $120 buy-in ($100+20) for 4,000 chips and 30 minutes blind rounds. There is an optional $100/4,000 chip re-buy during the first three levels. The 7:00 PM daily event is a $160 buy-in ($140+20), no re-buys, no add-on, with 10,000 starting chips and 30 minute blind levels. For more information contact the Wynn Poker Room at 702-770-7654.

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Caesars Palace is hosting its World Series of Poker Circuit Event, which started April 11th and runs through April 29, 2009.  Registration for all events is underway.

The winner of the $5,150 World Series of Poker Circuit Main Event on April, 27th will receive 1st Place Prize Money plus entry into the 2009 World Series of Poker $10,000 Main Event.  For more information contact the Caesars Palace Poker Room at 702-785-6566.

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The World Series of Poker Europe (presented by our good friends at Betfair) is set … so we go WSOP in June and July … take August off … WSOP-Europe in September … take October off … November Nine.

Click below for details. I think the £2,500 PLH/PLO will be a hit … no prob for the pros, of course, and “round of each” seems to be popping up more and more these days in the States – in home games, country clubs, and even for lower stakes in casinos.

NOTE: It used to be you could convert pounds to dollars quick-and-simply by doubling it. Now, however, the rough-estimate factor is x1.5 … making it just a $3,750 event in the example above. Can’t quite figure out if this exchange makes it better or worse for American EV.

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The Silverton Poker Room will be holding the $25,000 Silverton Invitational on Saturday, June 27, 2009.  Invitations will be earned by playing live poker or by participating in daily tournaments starting on April 6 — a total of 50 invitations will be available for this event. Thirty invitations are reserved for live action poker players and 20 invitations are reserved for players who participate in daily tournaments.

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Las Vegas, NV: The next Venetian Deep Stack Extravaganza for 2009 will run Wednesday, April 1st thru Saturday, April 25th.

The Venetian’s 2009 DSE II schedule of events:

Wednesday, April 1 – Super Satellites
$275 buy-in, No-Limit Hold’em, 4,000 starting chips.

Thursday, April 2 at 12 Noon
$330 buy-in, No-Limit Hold’em, 10,000 starting chips, 2,000 additional chips for optional $10 Staff Bonus (12,000 starting chips total) 40 minute rounds.

Friday, April 3 at 12 Noon
$330 buy-in, No-Limit Hold’em, 10,000 starting chips, 2,000 additional chips for optional $10 Staff Bonus (12,000 starting chips total) 40 minute rounds.

Saturday, April 4 at 12 Noon
$550 buy-in, No-Limit Hold’em, 12,500 starting chips, 2,500 additional chips for optional $10 Staff Bonus (15,000 starting chips total) 40 minute rounds.

Sunday, April 5 at 12 Noon
$1,070 buy-in, No-Limit Hold’em, 12,500 starting chips, 2,500 additional chips for optional $10 Staff Bonus (15,000 starting chips total) 60 minute rounds.

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The Bellagio is gearing up for the start of the 7th Annual Five Star World Poker Classic running March 31 thru April 25.  The Five Star is highlighted by the $25,000 buy-in WPT Championship beginning Saturday, April 18.

Complete schedule below:

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The Wynn Las Vegas Poker Room is hosting $50,000 worth of Free-Roll Tournaments coming up in April.   To gain entry to one of the four weekly $12,500 Free-Roll Tournaments players must log at least 12 hours of live poker during the qualifying periods.  You can earn extra starting chips by playing more hours in the poker room, 12 to 16 hours of Live play start with 4,000 in chips, 16 to 20 hours get 5,000 in chips and 20 hours or more start with a 6,000 chip stack. For more information call the Wynn Poker Room at 702-770-7654 or visit wynnpoker.com.

Tournament Dates & Qualifying Periods

Monday, April 6th at 12:00pm – Qualify between March 30 – April 5
Monday, April 13th at 12:00pm – Qualify between April 6 – April 12
Monday, April 20th at 12:00pm – Qualify between April 13 – April 19
Monday, April 27 at 12:00pm – Qualify between April 20 – April 26

April Free-Roll Payout Structure:

1st Place: $5,000
2nd Place: $2,000
3rd Place: $1,2 00
4th Place: $1,000
5th Place: $800
6th Place: $600
7th Place: $500
8th Place: $400
9th Place: $300
10th Place: $200
11th – 15th Place: $100

This just in over the transom … from our wifi providers at the Venetian … and sure enough, this scheduled skill-based series will be competing directly with the WSOP:

We are pleased to announce The Venetian Poker Room’s Deep Stack Extravaganza III schedule is now available. I have attached it to this email for your convenience however for future reference it can be found online at http://venetian.com/Pages.aspx?id=2451. In addition to the DSE III schedule, you’ll also notice that our April DSE II schedule is available as well as the winners from our DSE I tournament held in February 2009. A couple things of note for our DSE III:

Dates of Tournament: June1 to July 15
Starting Chip Counts:

• $225 NLH Shootout: 1,500, no additional chips available
• $330 NLH and $550 PLO: 10,000, 2,000 additional with optional $10 staff bonus
• $550 NLH and $1,070 NLH: 12,500, 2,500 additional with optional $10 staff bonus
• $550 Omaha 8/B and  $550 H.O.R.S.E: 8,000, 2,000 additional with optional $10 staff bonus
• $1,590 and $2,000 NLH: 15,000, 5,000 additional with optional $10 staff bonus
• $5,000  NLH Main Event: 20,000, 5,000 additional with optional $10 staff bonus
• Super Satellite: $4,000, no additional chips available

Table Count: The Venetian Poker Room will be expanding to 89 tables to accommodate our rapidly growing player base
Registration: Begins at 9 p.m. the day prior to of each event
Event Start Times: No-Limit Tournaments begin at 12 p.m. The Omaha 8/B, H.O.R.S.E. and the PLO Tournaments start at 4PM. See poker room tournament staff for super satellite start times.
Best Overall Points Winners: 1/2 of one percent will be withheld from all Deep Stack III tournament prize pools for Best Overall Points Winners. 10 players will be awarded Best Overall Player prizes. All awards will be paid in casino chips.

The Continental Poker Championship has scheduled their first PPV event (with Pokerati’s own Tom Schneider on commentary) at the Turning Stone Casino in Verona, New York on Monday. Their first tournament, also at Turning Stone, drew 117 for a $2,000 buyin event back in July. Organizers were surely expecting similar numbers for their $1,500 3-day tournament, which started Saturday. Unfortunately, it looks like those final table participants may be waiting around for a while. According to a poster on 2+2 (post #666), they drew about 64. At 4:30 ET today, a player was eliminated in 30th. No word of if the final table is still to take place on Monday, but watch this space for any further updates if they become available.

Update: Play ended for the day around 8pm ET with 17 players left.

The final table starts at about noon ET today, Pokerpages will be providing live updates here.

That’s the word just in … remaining runners will pick up where they left off chip-wise and play the tournament online (at PokerStars, natch) down to a final table, which will be held live in Chile. $50k new overlay, too. According to Jessie in Pokerstarzistan:

Hi Dan,

We just wanted to provide you with an official update from PokerStars on LAPT Mexico.

The Latin American Poker Tour (LAPT) confirms that it is cancelling the poker tournament in Nuevo Vallarta, Mexico, due to an indefinite suspension served on one of its local partners.

The LAPT states it has cooperated fully and in good faith with the requirements outlined by the Mexican government. The LAPT respects and abides by local regulations in each market.

LAPT’s partner in Mexico obtained a formal ruling from the Mexican Ministry of the Interior (SEGOB) allowing the event to take place. As the LAPT complied with every rule stipulated by the Code of the Mexican Federal Law of Games and Raffles, the reasons for suspension are beingreviewed by lawyers of all parties.

All the best,
Jessie

POKERSTARS.NET LAPT MEXICO SUSPENDED

Nuevo Vallarta, Mexico – December 9, 2009 — PokerStars.net today announced that they will be offering a free roll on their site to all remaining players in the suspended LAPT Mexico event. The players will start with the same number of chips they had when the tournament was suspended and they will play down to the final table. The final nine will then be flown to the LAPT Vina del Mar in Chile, where they will finish the tournament live on a televised table.

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This tournament just will not go away, but that’s probably a good thing for the 89 players who felt a little left out in the cold warmth. No shot at a televised final table or a piece of Latin American fame or more money than $5500.

So, PokerStars is offering a freeroll tournament online – time and date to be determined by the availability of the players – for the 89 finalists, who will start with the number of chips they had at the time of the suspension. The nine who reach the final table will be flown down to Vina del Mar, Chile, the site of the next LAPT stop in January, to play for the win…and for television.

“We know that many of our remaining players really wanted the opportunity to finish this tournament and earn their shot at an LAPT title” says Sarne Lightman, Director of Marketing for PokerStars Latin America. “Although the tournament was suspended and the prize money distributed, PokerStars still wants to offer their players this extra opportunity. PokerStars will also be adding $50,000 in prize money to the final table. “

The World Poker Tour dropped another tournament from its already-trimmed Season 7 schedule, and it just happens to be a player favorite – the Borgata Winter Poker Open. Even players who hate Atlantic City love the Borgata, and while the other event stayed on the schedule in September, the January tourney is no longer a WPT event.

A press release from the Borgata noted that the main event is now a $3,000 buy-in, reduced from the going WPT rate of $10,000. Thus, the drop from the WPT schedule could have been a result of indicators that player turnout would be low. Economy? Damn right.

Almost all major tournaments, with the exception of the WSOP main event, have been lower in 2008, the most sad embarrassing obvious was the 2008 U.S. Poker Championships in September that only brought 52 players to the $10K main event, as compared to 164 players in 2007 and 261 players in 2006. Turns out that when the lights and cameras go away, not to mention people’s IRAs, stocks, and day jobs, people are less willing to plunk down $10K for a poker tourney.

So, if you want a WPT title, you won’t be getting it at the Borgata next month. There are other choices, however, like the Five Diamond event coming up at Bellagio, which will cost you a mere $15K to enter. The rest of the revised WPT Season 7 schedule can be viewed by clicking this handy link below:

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Before things got underway here ate the final table, I was listening to an old podcast appearance I did with Andrew Feldman on ESPN’s The Poker Edge. We were talking about the action at the end of Day 2B, and discussing what kinda impact a weird blip in scheduling might have in outcome: There was a Day off between Day 1D and Day 2A, but not between Day 2B and Day 3. That was a little strange, because had the day off been between the former, then everyone woulda gotten a day off … however, because they took that break when they did … players who survived on 2B had to less than a half a day of rest before the fields converged.

Anyhow, I decided to take a look at the starting days for all of the November Nine, and while this is hardly enough data for a scientific sample, there was a noticeable difference between players who started early (Days 1A and 1B) and late (Days 1C and 1D). Here’s the breakdown:

Craig Marquis — 1A, 2A
Chino Rheem — 1A, 2A
Scott Montgomery — 1A, 2A

Ivan Demidov — 1B, 2A
Ylon Schwartz — 1B, 2A
Darus Suharto — 1B, 2A

Dennis Phillips — 1C, 2B
Peter Eastgate — 1C, 2B

Kelly Kim — 1D, 2B

Due to Hurricane Gustav and the accompanying evacuations and flood threats, CardPlayer is reporting that the popular Gulf Coast Poker Championship series at the Beau Rivage casino in Biloxi has been canceled. Some of the preliminary events were a casualty, as well as the main event that was scheduled to start tomorrow.

Beau Rivage and neighboring casinos have been closed since evacuations were mandated several days ago but will reopen soon, as little to no damage was incurred by the recent storm. There has yet to be an official word about any possible rescheduling of the Gulf Coast Poker Championship. And with more hurricanes approaching the U.S., it might be too soon to schedule anything.

Good luck to all those along the southern and eastern U.S. coasts. Hope you’re spared any damage during hurricane season!

The WSOP has been over for days now, so for all of you poker junkies looking for your next tournament fix, L.A. is the place. Well, the Bike is actually located in Bell Gardens, California, which isn’t exactly a beach resort, but unfortunately, no one has built a card room oceanside in Los Angeles yet. My bad.

The Legends of Poker series at the Bicycle Casino begins shortly and runs for a full month, culminating in the WPT $10K main event. Here is a breakdown of the tournament schedule for your planning pleasure:

7/30 $335 NLHE
7/31 $335 NLHE – single rebuy
8/1 $545 NLHE
8/2 $335 NLHE – $150K guaranteed
8/3 $340 Ladies NLHE
8/3 $530 Mega Super Satellite NLHE
8/4 $335 Omaha hi-lo
8/5 $335 NLHE
8/6 $545 NLHE
8/7 $335 LHE
8/8 $335 7-Card Stud hi-lo
8/9 $1070 NLHE – 6K starting chips
8/10 $335 NLHE – multiple rebuys
8/11 $545 NLHE
8/12 $545 Omaha hi-lo
8/13 $1070 NLHE – 6K starting chips
8/14 $335 NLHE – multiple rebuys – $150K guaranteed
8/15 $545 NLHE – single rebuy
8/16 $550 Ladies NLHE
8/17 $545 NLHE – multiple rebuys
8/18 $1070 NLHE – 6K starting chips
8/19 $545 LHE
8/20 $1030 Mega Super Satellite NLHE
8/21 Media Invitational NLHE
8/21 $1070 Mariani/Buss Open NLHE charity tournament
8/22 $1030 Mega Super Satellite NLHE
8/23 $10K WPT NLHE Championship – Day 1A
8/23 $1030 Mega Super Satellite NLHE
8/24 $10K WPT NLHE Championship – Day 1B
8/29 $225 NLHE Player Appreciation – $50K added – qualifiers played at least 1 LOP event

Quite possibly, I’m exaggerating.

However, at 11:10pm, there are 95 players remaining. WSOP officials just announced that the tournament will stay true to the structure in that they will play down to the final nine tonight. And I use the term “tonight” loosely. It will likely be well into the morning hours tomorrow, generously speaking, when they hit that magic number. They will then give the final table players the mandatory 10 hours of rest, ask that they come back to the Rio for the two-hour block of ESPN interviews, and then play the final table.

It was ESPN’s decision, and since they will film the final table, it was their decision against breaking at a decent time tonight, playing to nine tomorrow, and pushing the final table out one day. Instead, they have chosen to drain the players of all earthly stamina and patience in the hope against all hope that play will suddenly speed up and merge with their intended schedule. In the meantime, the media members required to cover the tournament are being forced into a special kind of hell.

Hopefully, play won’t last beyond 5am or 6am, but I’ll take the over on that one.

Complete 2008 WSOP schedule. The 2008 WSOP consists of 54 bracelet events, including eleven $10,000 World Championship tournaments. The action at the Rio in Las Vegas kicks off May 30 with the Pot-Limit Hold’em World Championship, and ends with the Main Event, which will play down to a final table on July 14, and then resume on November 11.

General Information

For events 2 & 54, you may request your first day of play based on seating availability.

Single Table Satellites, Mega Satellites and Live Action begin on May 28, 2008

Mega Satellite Schedule:
$330 Mega Satellites Monday – Thursday at 3 PM.
$550 Mega Satellites Friday – Sunday at 3 PM.
$1060 Mega Satellites Daily at 9 PM.

Mega Satellite Days July 2 – 5:

$330 Mega Satellites at 6 PM.
$550 Buy-In Mega Satellites at 10 AM and 4 PM.
$1060 Buy-In Mega Satellites at 1 PM and 9 PM.

Turbo Mega Satellite July 6:
$1060 Turbo Mega Satellite at 8AM

$50k H.O.R.S.E. Mega Satellite Days May 31, June 1, 16, 20, and 21:

$2250 Mega Satellites at 5 PM.

Nightly Tournaments From May 29 – July 15:
$340 Buy-In No-Limit Hold’em tournaments nightly at 7 PM.

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% tax withholding.

Harrah’s reserves the right to cancel, change or modify the Tournament or any Tournament Event ,in part or in whole, without notice.

For more information, visit www.worldseriesofpoker.com.