For those Pokerati readers who missed out on what’s going on, here’s some stuff that’s happened over the past few days:

The first PokerStars.net NAPT event in the US got off to a roaring start on Saturday, with 872 players putting up $5,000 at the Venetian as part of their Deep Stack Extravaganza. 149 players started day 3 a few minutes ago, with 128 making the money. Hand for hand play has just begun, and the tournament staff is hoping to play down to 24. You can follow the action over at PokerNews, PokerStarsblog.com, or PokerListings. The winner when play ends on Thursday will collect $827,648.

Reality show star Trishelle Canatella made the final table of the WPT Celebrity Invitational, part of the LA Poker Classic currently running at the Commerce Casino. The final table will resume on March 3rd with this lineup:

Seat 1: Steve Elliott – 1,520,000
Seat 2: Thor Hansen – 1,480,000
Seat 3: Trishelle Cannatella – 1,540,000
Seat 4: Sean Urban – 2,090,000
Seat 5: Neev Baram – 1,900,000
Seat 6: LeRon Washington – 1,790,000

In other LAPC news, Al “Sugar Bear” Barbieri took down his 3rd preliminary event of this year’s LAPC, winning the $2,100 Ironman event, a tournament with no scheduled breaks. Barbieri pocketed almost $60,000 for the win, plus a seat to the $10,000 Main Event, which starts February 26th.

The NBC National Heads-Up Championship is just a few days away, with the draw party on March 4th at Pure at Caesars’ Palace, followed by the tournament from March 5-7. The full list of 64 participants hasn’t been announced yet, but over 20 players already received their invite through a series of criteria, including last year’s winner, Huck Seed. Other automatic invites include: Phil Ivey, Joe Cada, Vanessa Rousso, Darvin Moon, Jason Mercier, Eric Baldwin, Sammy Farha, Bertrand “Elky” Grospellier, and Barry Shulman. One invitee who had to decline: Jeff Lisandro, who has a prior commitment in Australia which prevents him from attending.

The EPT Copenhagen event, which drew 423 entries, concluded Sunday evening with Sweden’s Anton Wigg outlasting Italy’s Francesco de Vivo in a four-hour heads-up duel to win 3,675,000 Danish kroner ($6782,918). Other notables who cashed: Roberto Romanello, Peter Eastgate, Juha Helppi, and Bertrand Grospellier.

On Dennis Phillips’ radio show on Tuesday, he broke the news that he was one of the first players invited to play on season 6 of High Stakes Poker. It was also revealed that PokerStars will be sponsoring the show, which could escalate the Vanessa Rousso co-hosting High Stakes Poker rumors At Fullcontactpoker.com, Daniel Negreanu mentions that Gabe Kaplan will handle the analysis/commentary solo, and the new addition to the crew will be someone that everyone knows and likes.

Audio of the announcement with Dennis, host Paul Harris and poker coach Joe McGowan:

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An update on a story from last month, but AJ Benza confirmed earlier this morning on 2+2 that he has been replaced on High Stakes Poker (taping for season 6 starts in November) by a woman cohost.

Unconfirmed reports name Vanessa Rousso as his replacement.

AJ has more on the decision at his blog.

Daniel Negreanu knows her as “whackjob surprise” … and though we have a feeling that might be what the Schneiders call Tom’s annual birthday present, well-informed, loyal Pokeratizens know her as “Angry Julie” (from back in the Beyond the Table days) … and as the main event nears the money bubble, she’s the frontrunner amongst the women for WSOP Player of the Year.

(Woot! Congrats, Julie!)

According to Julie, men don’t know what it’s like to have to dodge tilt at a final table on a heavy-flow day … but she didn’t let that get in the way of her finding success. With just the main event left to play — making it still anybody’s game, but statistically unlikely that anyone passes her — here’s the breakdown of the top women in the WSOP POY standings:

1. Julie Schneider – 65 pts
2. Vanessa Rousso – 60 pts
3. Millie Shiu – 60 pts
4. Annie Duke – 40 pts
5. Jennifer Harman – 37 pts

An eventful Day 1d field is off to their dinner break with a record field of 2,808 for a starting day of the Main Event (with several hundred left out) starting around 12 this afternoon. About 2350 returned from dinner break (as about 15% of the field has already been eliminated today). Some notable eliminations: Lyle Berman, Huck Seed, John Salley, Scott Montgomery, Dario Minieri, Eric Baldwin, Roy Winston and Peter Feldman. The early leader is Blair Hinkle with 120,000 in chips. Other notables with an above average stack: Chad Brown (105,000), Dutch Boyd (85,000), Shannon Shorr (65,000), Vanessa Rousso (64,000), Tom “Durrr” Dwan (55,000), Ron Kluber (53,000) and Phil Ivey (52,000). More chip counts and updates can be found at the wsop.com site here. More reactions to the Refusal at the Rio can be expected on Pokerati and various other places to discuss poker on the Internet in the late night hours.

Recapping the first half of Wednesday’s WSOP:

Lisandro Wins Bracelet #3, Wins Stud Triple Crown

Jeff Lisandro becomes the first player to win three bracelets in one WSOP after Chris Moneymaker initiated the poker boom in 2003, takes down the $2,500 Razz event, good for $188,370. Lisandro has won all three of his bracelets in stud events in each of the three disciplines of stud (Stud high, Stud Hi/Lo and Razz). Lisandro held the chip lead at the beginning of the day and was never seriously threatened. Michael Craig finished in 2nd, good for $116,405. Other notable finishes: Kenna James (6th), Al “Sugar Bear” Barbieri (10th), Ville Wahlbeck (12th) and Nikolay Evdakov (13th).

Seniors Six-Pack

Half a dozen players remain in the $1,000 Seniors NL Holdem World Championship, led by Scott Buller with over 2 million in chips. Michael Morusty, Charles Simon, Dan DeLatorre, Michael Davis and Barry Bounds make up the remaining players.

Thang Flung From Omaha-8

The $2,500 Omaha Hi-Lo 8 or Better has 70 players remaining, only 45 get paid. The unofficial chip leader is Frankie O’Dell (109,000), followed by day 1 chip leader Josh Schlien (85,000), Pat Poels (71,500), Marsha Waggoner (54,000), Mike Matusow (38,000), and Max Pescatori (28,000) among the familiar faces. Thang Luu unfortunately was eliminated before the dinner break earlier today.

Brummelhuis Bringing It in Pot-Limit

The $10,000 Pot-Limit Holdem World Championship is down to 35 players, only 27 get to cash with day 1 chip leader Michiel Brummelhuis remaining chip leader (570,000). Isaac Haxton (450,000), Eric Baldwin (430,000), Darryll Fish (310,000), Vanessa Rousso (280,000), Sam Simon (173,000), and Eugene Todd (165,000) are among the remaining.

Mixed Holdem Brings Mixed Blessings

The $2,500 Mixed Holdem event drew a field of 527 players, of which just 184 remain. The unofficial chip leader is David Baker (unknown if that’s the one from Michigan or Texas) at 73,000. Eli Elezra (51,000), Marc Naalden (46,000) and Jean-Robert Bellande (42,000) are some well known folks with chips.

More updates during the evening over at www.wsop.com and Pokerati for more Lisandro stuff and other commentary about all things WSOP.

Recapping the Tuesday afternoon activities, with the hope that Miami John Cernuto has a speedy recovery.

Hungary Hungary Bracelets

Peter Traply captured the first WSOP bracelet for Hungary, taking down the $5,000 NL Holdem Shootout , winning $348,728. Andrew Lichtenbergerfinished in second, good for $215,403. Lichtenberger thought he had the tournament won when his A-K flopped another ace against Traply’s pocket sixes. Another six on the turn doubled Traply up, leaving Lichtenberger with just 250,000 in chips out of the 7.5 million in play. Lichtenberger would double up several times, eventually regaining the chip lead. But Traply would be too much, finally knocking out Lichtenberger when his A-K dominated Lichtenberger’s A-J to the delight of his Hungarian railbirds.

Jerrod Jamming in 8-Game

Jerrod Ankenman, co-author with Bill Chen of The Mathematics of Poker is the current chip leader (1,230,000) of the $2,500 8-Game event. Earlier eliminations included Players to Watch Layne Flack (7th) and Rami Boukai (13th) Online favorite Jimmy “Gobbo” Fricke finished in 9th place to bubble the official final table. Jon Turner (another Player to Watch) is currently in second place (822,000), as he continues to impress in mixed-game tournaments.

Sweating to the Seniors

The $1,000 Seniors NL Holdem World Championship has about 120 players remaining as they’ll try to get as close to a final table as possible before the 3 am deadline. The current leader is Tony Brenner (315,000). Barbara Enright (85,000) and Eric Hershler make up a couple of the notable names remaining. Meanwhile, Players to Watch Lloyd Shinn (130th) and Berry Johnston (185th) did make the money.

The Author, The Cowboy and a Guy Named Warwick

The $2,500 Razz event has author Michael Craig (126,000) the chip leader, followed by “Cowboy” Kenna James (125,000) right behind him, followed by Day 1 chip leader Warwick Mirzikinian (98,000) with 43 players remaining, only 32 getting paid. Other notables remaining include Jeff Lisandro (59,000), Player to Watch Ville Wahlbeck (47,000), and James Van Alstyne (45,000), all involved in the thrilling WSOP Player of the Year race.They will also attempt to have a final table established by the 3am deadline.

Pot-Limit Holdem Boiling Over

The $10,000 Pot-Limit Holdem World Championship drew a field of 275 entrants, 162 of which will return from their dinner break. The unofficial chip leader is David Singer (132,000), with David Stiecke (95,000), Vanessa Rousso (93,500), Bill Edler (67,500), Eric Baldwin (56,000), and Jason Mercier (51,000) just some of the notables remaining. Four more levels remain in their day before returning at 2pm tomorrow.

Omaha, Ha Ha!

The $2,500 Omaha 8 or Better event began with a field of close to 400 entries. No official chip leader has emerged, but the final Player to Watch that hasn’t been mentioned today, Daniel Negreanu is now working on his third tournament of the day, as he has already been eliminated from the Razz and Pot-Limit Holdem events. Could he go 0 for three? Check out the updates over at www.wsop.com or my morning update and find out.

Recapping the Monday evening tournament action…

$10k Heads-Up Going Overtime

The $10,000 NL Holdem Heads-Up World Championship is down to the final match as John Duthie takes on Leo Wolpert in a best of three match at 12pm (broadcast here and at wsop.pkr.com for international viewers to determine a winner. Duthie, the founder of the European Poker Tour, which announced the first half of its schedule yesterday, takes on Wolpert a professional poker player who went back to law school and is currently on a summer internship in Nevada, will attempt to pick up their first career bracelet and the $625,682 that goes with it.

Eise Uses the Force to Win a Bracelet

Mike “The Force” Eise made his first tournament cash worthy of a bracelet, taking down the $1,500 NL Holdem event defeating Jeff Chang heads-up for the title as well as picking up a hefty $639,331.

Boatman Leads the Mob in PLO

Ross Boatman, member of the Hendon Mob (the best place to find tournament results) leads the final table in the $2,500 Pot Limit Omaha final table, which is seated as follows when play resumes at 2pm :

Seat 1: Jeff Kimber – 525000
Seat 2: Rami Boukai – 325000
Seat 3: Dallas Flowers – 239000
Seat 4: Ross Boatman – 718000
Seat 5: J.C. Tran - 387000
Seat 6: John Juanda – 129000
Seat 7: Theo Jorgensen – 419000
Seat 8: Chad Layne – 206000
Seat 9: Jean-Philippe Leandri – 324000

Soulier Écouter en $1,500 Cheval

Fabrice Soulier is the chip leader (351,000) when day 3 of the $1,500 HORSE resumes at 2pm with 23 players remaining. Shannon Shorr (323,500), Joseph Serock (152,500), Chris Bjorin (143,000) Vanessa Rousso (131,000), James Van Alstyne (130,000), Kathy Raymond (111,000), and Bryan Micon (76,000) and Paul Darden (54,500) are some of the notables remaining when play resumes.

Shan Jing Rings Up Day 1 Chip Lead

Shan Jing holds the chip lead (137,400) when day 2 of the $2,000 NL Holdem event restarts at 2pm today with 220 players remaining, 171 of which make the money. Ken Lennaard (109,200), Alex Bolotin (100,700), Luke Staudenmaier (88,600), Neil Channing (65,900), and Chau Giang (57,600) are some of the notables in the top half of the leaderboard, which will try to make the final table by the 3am deadline.

Harman Leading Lady in World Championship Event

116 players will return at 2pm today to resume the $10,000 Limit Holdem World Championship with Jennifer Harman the day 1 chip leader (127,600). Maria Ho (113,400), Josh Arieh (112,100), Shaun Deeb (106,000), and Chino Rheem (87,400) are notables in the top 10. Ville Wahlbeck is trying for his 5th straight cash in a 10k buyin event, 44th with 54,400 in chips. Only 18 make the money with a goal of the final table a possibility.

Tuesday’s Tournament

Only one event on the calendar today, the fourth $1,500 NL Holdem donkament, this version was won last year by David Woo for over $630,000 in a field of 2,720. The WSOP Staff Guide projects a field of 2,569, so take the over with at least 2,700 signing up to try their hand at that game they saw on ESPN.

Plenty of action yet again today at the WSOP, follow the action at and other stuff on Pokerati during your Two for Tuesday.

There’s a lot of interesting action going on tonight. The $40k NLH seems to have quite the storylines developing … Chris Moneymaker (@cmoneymaker) is still alive and strong, but the chip leader is now his new-poker-era successor, Greg Raymer. Justin Bonomo (@JustinBonomo) is still proving to be a big threat … all these boomtime champions, yet plenty of old dogs there, too — Steven Zolotow, David Chiu, Ted Forrest, e.g. — representin’ those pre-boom big-time days.

There are currently 38 players remaining, with 27 making the money. Click here to follow the official chip counts – and Dr. Pauly is all over this one, too.

UPDATE: Moneymaker just took a huge hit, losing 2/3 of his stack.

RE-UPDATE: Pauly is ahead of the official counters — Moneymaker is out. So is Zolotow.

There’s also some potential excitement brewing in the ESPN Fantasy Pool, with Matt Glantz (@MattGlantz, one of my guys) way up near the top of the chip counts; and Mathers has Neil Channing hanging on for his team of fantasy scabs.

Vanessa Rousso (@VanessaRousso) is also still alive, though barely. Wouldn’t it be something …

Last but definitely not least, Dallas/Shreveport baller Keith Lehr (pictured) is currently 5th in chips.

The EPT Grand Final final table (in Monte Carlo) is under way. The contenders, their age, their countries, and their chip counts:

Dag Martin Mikkelsen (age 22, Norway) – 7,360,000
Matthew Woodward (age 26, United States) – 4,920,000
Peter Traply (age 21, Hungary) – 4,250,000
Mikhail Tulchinsky (age 43, Russia) – 3,605,000
Daniel Zink (age 24, Germany) – 2,570,000
Eric Qu (age 47, France) – 2,550,000
Alem Shah (age 51, Germany) – 1,520,000
Pieter de Korver (age 26, Netherlands) – 1,390,000

The 5-day, €10,000 main event drew 935 players (compared to 842 last year) and is paying €2.3 million to the winner. Click here to follow the action.

UPDATE: You can also watch live coverage at EPTLive.com, which I’m listening to in French to hear Benjo do the broadcast, who I gotta say is as funny in French (which I don’t speak) as he is in English.

Meanwhile, they’re concurrently playing the final table of the €25,000 “high rollers” event (a 3-day affair) — where the winner gets €720,000 … €434,000 to 2nd place. It’s apparently been quite the action game. They lost four players in the first level. Those remaining:

Randy Dorfman (age ??, United States) – 1,200,000 2,000,000
Tony G (age 35, Lithuania) – 900,000
Vanessa Rousso (age 26, United States) – 810,000 790,000 880,000
x- 4th place – Florian Langmann (age 26, Germany) – 1,180,000 220,000

Rousso actually started the day as the chip leader. I’m following her on Twitter, actually, where she has quite the hardbody avatar with a fake shark. Semi-interesting that both Americans remaining are both from Florida.

BTW, the current exchange rate:
€1 = $1.33
$1 = €.75

So that means the main event win pays: $3.05 million
The high rollers win pays: $956,000

photo: Stephanie Moore/NBC Sports

Fresh off her Sports Illustrated Swimsuit cover advertorial, followed by her GoDaddy spokesmodel deal (and Danica Patrick commercial), followed by her impressive run to a $250k televised cash at the NHUPC final-final table … Vanessa Rousso is back at her old stomping grounds, doing a monthlong, seven-stop, three-casino run through Florida — with lectures, seminars, charity tourneys, and a “series of instructional workshops grounded in ‘Game Theory’ and Sun Tzu’s teachings about The Art of War”.

Ahh, now I see, her master plan kicked into gear with the PokerStars bikini shoot is all starting to make sense … she’s now got documented cred in looks, personality, skill … if only she could share her grasp of high-level contemporary mathematics and ancient eastern military philosophy with the troubled kids in her old hood!

(Isn’t 26 such a fun age?)

Click below for Vanessa’s Florida pokery homecoming itinerary:

More…

They’ve been playing all day weekend, and are down to two at the NHUPC. And regardless of how it turns out Vanessa Rousso has arguably earned her keep as the Danicka Patrick of Poker.

(I’m keeping up with results on my own time at PokerNews, btw.)

I ranked her 55th. Overall, the ESPN panel put her 49th. But hey, just goes to show you, anyone can get an easy draw. The laughable field the newest GoDaddy spokesmodel had to beat, in order: Doyle Brunson, Phil Ivey, 2007 NHUPC champ Paul Wasicka, Daniel Negreanu, and online wunderkind Bertrand Grospellier, aka ‘Elky’. Hmm. Wow.

Meanwhile, my bracket’s turned to shit. Of the 96 players in on PokerRoad/Pokerati’s fun, eight people picked Vanessa Selbst to win it all, yet no one … as in ZERO! … picked Vanessa Rousso.

Of the final four, here’s how many people picked them to win it all:

Vanessa Rousso – 0
Sammy Farha – 0
Huck Seed – 5
Elky – 9

CORRECTION: Technically Mike Matusow is GoDaddy’s newest spokesboy. He went out in Round 1.

Just gettin’ ready to go “en studio” to record the next episode of The Poker Beat. This should be a good one … topics open for discussion between me, BJ, Gary, Stapleton, and Parvis (under the Scott Huff whip) will include:

– Russ Hamilton and Layne Flack on RawVegas.tv
– The Bluff Magazine Online Challenge (complete with breaking news about JJ Prodigy; oops, he did it again!)
– Steroids in poker?
– The poker event sponsorship biz
– Vanessa Rousso and Tiffany Michelle baring some but not all

Listen live here.

And feel free to call in and harass at 866.925.8255.

The Poker Beat Podcast
February 12, 2009

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Thanks to Gary Trask of Casino City Times, we have an update and some clarity on the all-too-important matter of Vanessa Rousso appearing in the upcoming swimsuit edition of Sports Illustrated.

According to the article published today, Rousso will appear in the issue but, well…:

On Friday, Sports Illustrated Director of Communications Kelli Raftery explained the situation more clearly by saying that Rousso would be appear in the magazine, but not as a “featured model in the editorial portion of the magazine.” Instead, Rousso will appear as part of a PokerStars-sponsored “custom content” piece, which the online poker room paid for.

So, it’s a paid ad, but SI did the photo shoot. SI decided against featuring her with other models in the primary feature spread because “poker was not the direction it wanted to go in.” Interesting. Kinda a bummer, but still good to see that Rousso will make an appearance in the most popular Sports Illustrated issue of the year.

Boys, the images in your minds of Vanessa Rousso in a swimsuit will have to be good enough. Gary Trask of Casino City Times reported yesterday that Sports Illustrated did the photo shoot but decided to leave her out of the swimsuit edition.

That’s cold, SI. Colder than it is today in North Dakota…cold.

Since Vanessa said that it was a good experience for her, those memories will have to suffice. And her renewed energy for poker this year might get her that big win on the felt in ‘09.

While I can’t keep up with all of the Olympic coverage, I’m doing my damnedest. My TiVo has been working in hyperdrive, recording everything airing on NBC, the USA network, and CNBC, and I’m watching a lot and fast-forwarding (with occasional stops) through everything else. With more than 24 hours of coverage a day, it’s a Herculean task.

One thing I’ve noticed is that PokerStars is putting up a fair amount of commercials during the Olympics, at least here in the Atlanta market. (Can anyone watching the Olympics in other markets confirm that it’s national?) The two commercials I’ve noticed the most are from PokerStars — one with Daniel Negreanu (playing pool & playing poker) and one with Vanessa Rousso (bungee jumping & playing poker). Of the two, I think the Vanessa Rousso one stands out much more — more contrast between bungee jumping and poker compared to Daniel’s billiards commercial, and it also has a taste of those “extreme sports” that the young’uns seem to like.

Regardless of what you think of Vanessa as a poker player, I think this could actually be good for the game of poker. One of the things Barry Greenstein came away with during last year’s Congressional visit (to discuss the legality of online poker) was how impressed the congressmen were with the female players who showed up — Annie Duke and Vanessa Rousso. In their eyes, Vanessa is an attractive young woman with a degree from Duke University, and plenty of opportunities open to her. But she chose to play poker. That challenges their view of poker much more than seeing players like Greenstein or Doyle Brunson.

I highly doubt poker will see a post-Olympic bounce from these commercials, but if PokerStars is targeting an entirely new demographic of sports fans, I think they could do a lot worse than putting Vanessa Rousso out front and center.

The 4th of July holiday certainly put a damper on the size of day 1b, as a disappointing 1,158 showed up to play at noon today. Pauly notes that some country music singer did the Star Spangled Banner and some sort of flag ceremony was attempted that didn’t go as planned. The players are currently on their dinner break, with about 850 remaining. Among those whose dream is over: Kenny Tran, Ram Vaswani, Orel Hershiser, Jamie Gold, Greg Raymer, Tuan Le, Ted Forrest, Daniel Negreanu, among many others. The early chip leader appears to be Patrik Antonius, with Robert Mizrachi, Erick Lindgren, Vanessa Rousso, and 2007 ME final tablist Philip Hilm near the top of the leaderboard. Follow the progress when they return on the WSOP.com website here.

More updates as they warrant…

What’s happening tonight at the WSOP, while Wicked Chops Poker is celebrating the good news.

JC Tran takes his name off of the “Best player to never win a bracelet” list, taking down the $1,500 NL Holdem event against Danish pro Rasmus Nielsen. JC, at one point down 3-1 headsup, chipped away at Rasmus until he eventually took the chip lead, winning when his KQ nipped the Dane’s QJ on a Q-high flop. Tran takes home over $631,000 plus 100 WSOP POY points, moving him into 6th in the race with 1 event remaining. Nielsen will be consoled with almost $390,000 to take back to Denmark.

Other tournament happenings on the next page:
More…

We discussed a poorly received tourney idea on Beyond the Table a year ago — the concept being a “men’s minority event.” I loved the idea because we’ve all played dudes-only before and women have ladies tourneys … but while all women players have been the only representative of their gender at a table before, that’s a dynamic that guys simply don’t get to experience.

Psychology would be fun, results would be interesting …Logistics was the tough part — how to limit the field to 10 (or 15) percent men and still attract the necessary entries. But one thing we never considered was a simple invitational sit-n-go.

So much to my delight, the new episode of Poker after Dark just came on and lo and behold the players this week are Gus Hansen, Vanessa Rousso, J.J. Liu, Clonie Gowen, Beth Shak, and Erica Schoenberg. Very cool — well cast with Gus, who knows they know he knows they know he can be a tad horny influenced by his respect for the ladies.

“We should make all the guys play this format one time,” Clonie just said. Barack Obama presumably agrees, as he just sat down for a very similar 6-handed sit-n-go on The View:

(L to R) Vanessa Rousso, Clonie Gowen, Gus Hansen, J.J. Liu, Beth Shak, and Erica Schoenberg appear this week on Poker after Dark.

Love is not often found in the poker community. Players are looking for money, tournament titles, and maybe a little fame. But sometimes a connection is made that just works. Enter Vanessa Rousso and Chad Brown.

They’ve been dating for awhile, and Chad proposed to Vanessa at Christmas. They made the engagement announcement for the first time yesterday on PokerRoad Radio during the EPT PokerStars Caribbean Adventure in the Bahamas.

Do I hear an “Awww” somewhere in Pokerati land?

Congratulations to Vanessa and Chad!

LAS VEGAS–Yes, I know you are all jealous that I will be playing poker with a bunch of hot chicks today. You should be…you will be missing out on cleavage, cat fights and maybe even a few soft hair mustaches.

Ok, let’s take a moment to be serious. I have always had a great time in these events and have actually made some great friends. The women are funny, nice and the room smells better. It’s just…the cat fight thing makes for a better story for all of you drama addicts.

Among the favorites today will be defending champ Mary Jones, Clonie (who needs not a last name) Jen Tilly, Jennicide, Vanessa Rousso and Isabelle Mercier who will be playing on the Queen of Hearts Team. Veteran player Karina Jett will be playing on the feminine felt, while Annie Duke will be skipping out on the gender game, making her way to the Amazon Room for this afternoon’s $5k Limit Championship. Annie, I’m jealous.

I’m sure Wicked Chops Poker will have a lot of cleavage photos because those guys are a bunch of perverts. I only name-call because I was unsuccessful in my attempt to persuade any of them to register into this event. How funny would it be to see two guys at the final table of the ladies event? And the winner of this year’s ladies event is John Doe!

BTW…I covered the WSOP Ladies Academy this past weekend, which was awesome. More to come on that gig.

I spoke with both David Levi and Steve Wong this evening for their updates which you can view on CardPlayer. David was not excited about ending day1 with 25k in chips but worked hard to finish today with 230,000k in chips and Steve Wong is rocking the Fontana in 4th with 476,000 bones! They both humbly said they were feeling good about their play but knew they had a long way to go. Two of my favorite Bellagio Sports Bar friends Amir Vahedi & Freddie Deeb are tied for 23rd with 240,000 in chips.

The Donkey Bomber is not only in 14th place tonight but CardPlayer even mentioned his name! Go Tom, more from you Dan/Karridy.

Fellow Houstonians, Sammy Farha is 9th with 345,000 and John “whadayagonnado boys” Bonnetti is hanging in there with 30k.

Other notables still in are Joe Sebok, Phil Ivey, Lyle Berman, Andy Black, Tran and Chan and Barney Boatmaaaan. But leading the pack is one of the greatest players in the world, Phil Hellmuth with 528,100 (don’t lose that 100 dollar chip, Phil).

Sadly Marcel Luske, Gavin Smith, Joe Bartholdi (who told me Friday he was ready to play this tournament) and Doyle Brunson have been eliminated.

And last but not least…The Ladies or as Wicked Chops Poker would say…crazy bitches.
Newcomer Anna Wroblewski leads the women with 350,000 in 7th place with Vanessa Rousso behind her in 53rd stacking up 115,000. Other ladies holding their own are Isabelle Mercier, Melissa Hayden, Erica Schoenberg, Jennifer Harman, Liz Lieu (who won her seat in a satellite), Kathy Liebert and Kristy Gazes.

Good luck to all and to all a good night.

There were two hands talked about in Austin last week more than any others. One was relayed by Crandell Addington … when Doyle Brunson flopped a set of Aces and laid down a boat on the turn in like 442 AD. (Brunson was right … the other guy had quads, which would go on to lose to bigger quads on the Nile.)

The other was this hand, between Clonie and Vanessa Rousso on Cash Poker … which is basically like High Stakes Poker, only a bit smaller of a game and grittier:

Wow. After that, somebody clearly needs a big hug.