Day 1 of the World Series of Poker is a misnomer, really. Much of the Amazon Room is still being put together, as is the ESPN feature/final table area, and the media room was dark (well, awfully bright, actually, but without staff to hand out press passes). Many of the hallway displays were still being constructed or had not yet even arrived, and cash games were still being played in the Rio poker room in the casino. However, pre-registration was open as promised, and satellites were in full swing in the Convention Center area.

Players were anxiously getting their game on in the satellite room, looking to be some of the first to win their WSOP event seats via the mega-satellites. And there were a few excited faces walking down the hallway after having purchased their first WSOP seats. But the hallways were relatively empty, as they will not be again for the next 50 or so days.

Today is Day 2, when Event 1 allows the casino employees to get their games on before the madness begins. And that will lead us to tomorrow, which is officially noted as Day 3 but will offer up the first of the much-anticipated big WSOP tournaments – the $40K buy-in NLHE (Event 2) – as well as the first final table, which will award the first WSOP bracelet of the year to a casino employee.

An appeals court reported lessened the jail sentences of two men convicted of throwing a 700-player shindig. From CP-Europe:

The men had the charges against them reduced from “serious illegal gambling” to “illegal gambling”. The court ruled that because the game being played was Texas hold’em in a tournament format, the players own judgment was more important than the cards being dealt, effectively ruling that the game was one of skill and not luck.

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.

More…

Courtesy of PokerListings

By all accounts, the WPT Doyle Brunson Five Diamond World Poker Classic final table was going to be a good one with a line-up that included Corkins, Sung, Rheem, and Filippi. But most eyes were on Rheem, who was one of the November Nine favorites but had to settle for a seventh place finish at the 2008 WSOP final table.

Rheem was determined going into the WPT final table, even knowing that two of his opponents – Steve Sung and Amnon Filippi – were close friends. But as players dropped out of sight, Rheem was able to go heads-up against Justin Young in what ended up being a five-hour epic heads-up match. The chip lead was exchanged numerous times, but it may have been sheer determination and fan support that led Rheem to finally capture the title at 2am. He won the World Poker Tour title and the $1,538,730 that came with it.

Here are the final results:

6th – Hoyt Corkins $216,175
5th – Amnon Filippi $288,235
4th – Steve Sung $396,206
3rd – Evan McNiff $540,440
2nd – Justin Young $936,760
1st – Chino Rheem $1,538,730

I would point you to the official WPT live updates, but it has been unavailable on the internets all morning. So, for updates as they happened throughout the final table, check out Martin’s reporting at PokerListings.

The World Poker Store announced the expansion of its Bar Poker League into Mexico with plans to host 40 free tournaments per week in or around Mexico City, beginning in February of 2009. Liga Mexicana de Poker is set to become the licensee of the Bar Poker League and manage the tournaments.

Other Bar Poker Leagues are set to begin in 2009 – China and Germany in January, The Netherlands in February. Those ideas sound great…but Mexico? Has someone missed the news recently about the LAPT’s rather serious problems with hosting a tournament in that country? Like when Mexican officials shut down the event without warning, refused to let the tournament resume despite talks between attorneys, and supposedly seized all of the production equipment that the government still holds nearly a week later… Sure hope someone lets the World Poker Store know about that little poker snafu south of the border.

Not entirely.

But the WSOP Europe can’t seem to grow its numbers. Amazingly, two of this year’s London events had the exact same number of entrants as in 2007.

2007 HORSE – 105 players
2007 PLO – 165 players
2007 NLHE main event – 362 players

2008 HORSE – 110 players
2008 PLO – 165 players
2008 NLHE main event – 362 players

The only major difference is that there was on additional event at the 2008 WSOPE in the form of a NLHE tournament that drew 410 players. With that extra event, one could say that the overall turnout for the WSOPE grew, but that’s not the real story. THE story is that the World Series of Poker has had such high hopes for the growth of its brand, even throwing out the idea of expanding to Latin America and Asia in the coming years, but the first two years of the WSOP Europe haven’t indicated that there is a real public demand for it.

More…

Maybe one of these days he will accept an offer.

Swimmer Michael Phelps came off an historic Olympics with eight gold medals. And in one of his numerous post-feat interviews, he mentioned that he might like to play in the World Series of Poker. Suddenly, offers were coming from poker tournament organizers like the Asian Poker Tour. Another offer can be added to the list, courtesy of Betfair, the official sponsor of the World Series of Poker Europe.

Even though Betfair worded it with already-overused terms like “human dolphin” and “shark,” the site offered Phelps the chance to play in the WSOPE later this month, even offering to pay the £10,000 buy-in to the main event on his behalf. And then the statement on Betfair ruined it with this: “Phelps will be free to wear his famous LZR swim suit at the table although organizers fear it may not give him the same competitive edge outside of the pool.” No word on any response from Phelps.

(Note to poker tour organizers: Quite possibly, refraining from the use of swimming/poker analogies might get your offer taken more seriously. And it might keep writers like me from making fun of you.)

I think I had you at the first five letters…

Evidently, the Pussycat Dolls are being paid enough to like to play poker, and they are willing to do it with the winner(s) of this contest on bwin poker. The first two winners will fly to a mysterious place called PokerIsland to spend the weekend at a luxurious villa with the Pussycat Dolls from August 16-19. It seems that every week, two more freeroll winners will make the trip, all leading up to a grand finale of some sort in October, the winner of which will be a year-long sponsored player of the bwin team.

1. Has anyone had any experience with bwin?
2. Did anyone read anything I wrote after Pussycat Dolls?

Sounds like a fun contest. And if you can take a guest, consider Dan, who just might need a vacation from his vacation per his CSR posts.

UPDATE: PokerIsland seems to be in Ibiza, Spain.

The last of the $50K H.O.R.S.E. mega satellites is going on now. The $2250 buy-in mega caught the eye of about 40 people, including Anna Wroblewski, Mike Wattel, and Jimmy “Gobboboy” Fricke. Oh, and Tom Schneider, who is no longer seated because he is now headed out of the Amazon Room. “Outski,” he said. “Outski and Hutch.”

At the first break of the mega, Tom stated that he was short-stacked and would probably be out soon. (Ding!) Regardless of the satellite outcome, he plans to play in the $50K event tomorrow and was very honest about how he would do so. He has sold some pieces of himself and is in discussions with a few other possible takers. At this point, he believes he will have to put up a good chunk of the buy-in himself, somewhere in the range of $20K and $35K.

While Tom doesn’t seem too thrilled about forking over that kind of dough, he doesn’t see being able to skip this event with so much prestige and money on the line. So, with bias firmly intact, go Tom!

In an effort to talk to more pros about playing in tomorrow’s $50K H.O.R.S.E. event, I ran into two players who are weighing their options and making decisions today about what to do.

Kenna James admitted that he does not have the money for the buy-in, though as Dan has previously noted, how many people really do? Kenna noted that a backer had contacted him about the possibility of working a deal, and he is considering that, as well as trying to win his way in through a mega satellite, the last of which is this evening at 5pm. With the announcement of the two additional satellite opportunities over the past few days, this gives him more outs. Personally, I didn’t get the feeling that he was super determined to play the H.O.R.S.E. event, but that remains to be seen.

Mark Newhouse is feeling good this year. With the disagreement with Dustin “Neverwin” Woolf out of the way and a backer firmly in place, he can be found walking around the Rio all the time, even standing around watching other tournaments on his own tournament breaks. He seems more determined than ever to make waves. For this reason, the $50K H.O.R.S.E. has definitely been on his mind.

While Newhizzle has a backing deal for the entire WSOP, he chose to exclude the H.O.R.S.E. event from that deal because “I don’t want that kind of makeup.” He also noted that despite his self-confidence, he doesn’t feel like a huge favorite in this particular event and wouldn’t want to take a chance on it by buying in directly with a backer’s money. He played two mega satellites last week and was not able to score a seat, but when I told him that there were mega opportunities still available, he immediately called his backer to discuss that option. If he wins a seat, he will play.

He fought through a field of 713 players, came back from a chip deficit at the final table, and kept his faith through a tough heads-up battle to win the $1,500 Pot Limit Hold’em tournament at the 2008 WSOP. Along with the $214,131, David Singer finally took home a WSOP title.

There are a number of players in poker who are quite accomplished, have paid their dues in poker, and show millions of dollars in tournament winnings…but have no World Series of Poker title. David was one of those players… Before tonight’s long-awaited victory, he had over $3.8 million in tournament earnings (this win puts him over $4 million), 8 WPT cashes (two of which were televised final tables), and 16 WSOP cashes (half of which were final tables). Most notably in the past two years of the WSOP, he gained recognition for finishing in sixth place both years in the $50,000 H.O.R.S.E. tournament, arguably the most prestigious of the WSOP events in recent years. He also won the Mirage Poker Showdown heads-up tournament in 2006 and the Caesars Palace Classic main event for $1 million in 2007.

All of that, and he finally now has a WSOP bracelet.

Well-deserved and well done, David. Congratulations!

At the World Series, it is not uncommon for players to play more than one event on any given day. Many pros buy in to numerous tournaments, even if it means they have to run back and forth from table to table. It’s insane but happens more than you’d think.

Catching up with Dutch Boyd in the smoking area, he let me know that he’s only playing one event at a time. “I’d rather concentrate on one tournament at a time. No double dipping for me.”

Good to know.

The WSOP got underway with a bang and a band. The UNLV marching band entered the Amazon Room with a rendition of “Viva, Las Vegas,” followed by a bit of an uncomfortable silence that was broken by welcome announcements from Jeffrey Pollack and Jack Effel.

Pollack told the crowd of gathering players and media that bracelet winners from years past and going forward will be given Diamond status at all Harrah’s properties around the world. Not a bad perk for the players. A few other welcoming comments and new rule advisories from the duo, and the cards were in the air.

And we’re off. Or we’re on. The $10,000 Pot Limit Hold’em World Championship has begun, and though we still await the final numbers, it looks like about 350 players signed up for Event #1. The cash games are buzzing, media is getting settled in, and players are excited to be here, with the exception of those who have already busted.

More updates to come!

…Okay, that title may be the single gayest line I’ve ever typed. My bad. I’m draining Dos Equis and blogging via Hooters WiFi.

I’m about to fire off an email to friends, family, etc., inviting them to take a piece of me in a second $1,500 NLHE Event, which I wasn’t originally planning on playing. I’m actually interested to hear your opinions on how I’m handling the two-event split and the Main Event equity parlay.

Check out the details at my super-new personal blog (blog.karridy.com), and let me know if you think I’m drawing dead.

ALT HED: For sale: BackerTracker.com – $1,500

A recent player bashing discussion has evolved on the 2+2 forums regarding tipping dealers and tournament staff upon winning a major event. Specifically, this is in reference to Brandon Cantu’s recent World Poker Tour $1 million win at the Bay 101 Shooting Stars tournament.

Evidently, unlike many tournaments on the circuit, Bay 101 didn’t take anything from the buy-ins to tip the staff, but Brandon was unaware of this. CardPlayer has done an interesting two-part article, which includes some words from Brandon and TD Matt Savage.

Click here for Part 1.
Click here for Part 2.

So many interesting questions arise from this discussion, as they did when Jerry Yang won the 2007 WSOP main event.

Should the players be told up-front about the tipping policy at that particular venue?
Is it the players’ responsibility to find out or that of the tournament director to inform everyone?
If a tip is taken from the buy-ins, should players still tip on top of that?
Do only the winners tip? Or should everyone at the final table tip?
What is the correct percentage to tip?

This is a subject that should be discussed in length. I’d love for some tournament pros to weigh in on this.