In an interview Sunday on Mediocre Poker Radio from WJFK in Washington DC, AJ Benza said Kara Scott will be his replacement when taping resumes in November. Kara is best known in the US from her cashes in the past two World Series of Poker Main Events, gaining the affection of Norman Chad in the process. She was also the presenter of the European Poker Tour for the first five seasons, before moving over to Matchroom Sport to present in their made-for-TV tournaments in the UK. An article at Pokernewsdaily.com, which mentions the Benza interview, only confirms that Shana Hiatt will not take part in the show and that no contract has been signed in regards to AJ’s replacement.

More details to come…

Howard Stutz over at the Las Vegas Review Journal’s Inside Gaming blog reports that Mike Sexton will be the only person to be inducted into the Poker Hall of Fame in November. An official announcement will come from the World Series of Poker and Harrah’s Entertainment on Thursday.

Hat tip to “riverdance” on 2+2 for the link.

The main event of WSOP Europe is underway now, with a super exciting final table of poker stars. These were the starting chip counts when they took their seats:

Seat 1: Barry Shulman (1,090,000)
Seat 2: Jason Mercier (3,198,000)
Seat 3: Praz Bansi (1,160,000)
Seat 4: Markus Ristola (784,000)
Seat 5: Chris Bjorin (518,000)
Seat 6: James Akenhead (1,398,000)
Seat 7: Daniel Negreanu (438,000)
Seat 8: Antoine Saout (701,000)
Seat 9: Matt Hawrilenko (674,000)

The group consists of six previous WSOP bracelet winners (Shulman, Mercier, Bansi, Bjorin, Negreanu, & Hawrilenko), two members of the November Nine (Akenhead & Saout), and a father of a November Niner (Shulman).

More than four hours into the final table “action,” Negreanu worked his way into second place. And that’s about it. Play continues with the likelihood that someone will eventually be eliminated. Live coverage can be found on the World Series of Poker website.

It was no secret that Harrah’s Entertainment planned to enter the online gaming business, especially after hiring former PartyGaming bigwig Mitch Garber as the CEO of its new Interactive Entertainment division in May of this year. But the next big step was announced today.

Gaming Intelligence reported that Harrah’s signed a deal with Dragonfish, a subsidiary of online giant 888, to support Harrah’s entry into the online market with the World Series of Poker and Caesars Casino.

“This is a ground breaking deal for 888 and demonstrates our ability to provide real value to globally renowned, land-based casinos and their leading brands,” said Gigi Levy, Chief Executive Officer of 888.

“We have the structure in place to realise our B2B division’s full potential over the next 18 months and beyond and today’s announcement of our partnership with an industry giant is further vindication of this strategy.”

Mitch Garber, CEO of Harrah’s Interactive Entertainment, added: “As we develop and roll out our interactive strategy, we have chosen to work with 888, primarily for their world-class technology, scalability, and a strong commitment to compliance, and responsible gaming,” said Mitch Garber, Chief Executive Officer of HIE.

No specific time frame was given for the official launch.

It was pretty much confirmed by everyone but Maria Ho and Tiffany Michelle, but now the CBS website lists the contestants for the upcoming broadcast of the Amazing Race, and they’re on it. The Associated Press provided a quote from Ho:

“It’s obviously different from competition at the poker table,” said Ho, who came in 11th place at this year’s World Series of Poker in Las Vegas. “It’s outdoorsy. This is physical and mental, but we will definitely be applying whatever skills we have as gamers to this competition and push ourselves in different ways that we’re not used to doing.”

Their combined bio can be found on the CBS website and describes them as well-traveled, extremely competitive, strong-minded, and savvy. (Funny – but not really – that they’re described by most poker media as simply “hot.”) Despite my usual ban on reality television, I’ll set the DVR to see how far the ladies make it. The premiere is Sunday, September 27.

In the last edition of Card Player Magazine that I may receive (canceled the subscription after his initial WSOP comments), November Nine member Jeff Shulman takes the sly opportunity to make another unclear accusation point about the WSOP and Harrah’s.

To refresh memories, Shulman was headed for the final table of the WSOP Main Event in July and made some comments regarding the possibility of winning the bracelet, namely that he would throw the gold in the trash. Two days later, CardPlayer.com published a story allowing Shulman to clarify his feelings. He noted therein that he was disappointed in how the WSOP is run, and that it is no longer run by people who care about poker or have the players in mind. Some of his comments:

“Look, I love poker and entered with the hopes of winning,” Shulman stated. “But, more importantly, I support making the industry stronger and better for the players, and to do this, there needs to be some major changes to the way the World Series is run at the highest level. Hopefully, by doing something like this, people will start talking about those changes. I am going to stand by my commitment, but instead of pointlessly throwing it in the trash, I have come up with a few ideas.”

Jeff Shulman’s alternative bracelet ideas:
1. Auction off the bracelet and give the money to charity
2. Hold a tournament for all players shut out of the main event and award the winner the bracelet
3. Give the bracelet away in a SpadeClub.com tournament
4. Give the bracelet to Stephen Colbert

As the Card Player Media President and COO, Shulman has the magazine at his disposal in which to write a lengthy explanation of what is so wrong with Harrah’s and how he could fix poker. Instead, though, a page in the September 1 issue is dedicated (as always) to the Card Player TV show entitled “The Scoop with Adam & Diego,” and this time Shulman was the guest and excerpts were printed from the interview. Right off the bat, Diego Cordovez asked a question that baffled me coming from someone in the poker press:

“Now, the last couple of days, the poker press, what there is of it, has started to quote you and stir up controversy, which you initiated…”

Anyhooo, his answer? “…I’ve had a lot of people come up to me and say that somebody’s got to do something about it. I’m not sure I’m the right guy, being that I’m in the industry, but it’s not like we have some special relationship here. They hate us, for whatever reason… I think they hate anyone who’s not a celebrity, or maybe it’s just that they treat the celebrities so much better than everyone else that they have special rules, they don’t get penalties. I’ve never seen anything like it. If we really want to take poker to the next level, you can’t have different rules for different people.”

Evidently, by disrespecting the WSOP bracelet and Harrah’s (and all the players who would do anything to be in his final table position), he plans to take poker to the next level. Would that be the rude and insulting level? Would that be the vague and evasive level? Would love to hear some thoughts on this issue…

(The opinions/insinuations herein are Cali Jen’s views and not necessarily those of Pokerati or Pokeratizens.)

Taken from a post from Andrew Feldman over at Pokerroad’s forum, the first question that comes up, why wasn’t this considered last year?:

ESPN.com Announces New Web-Only Original Poker Show, ESPN Inside Deal

ESPN.com is expanding its poker coverage with ESPN Inside Deal presented by PokerStars.net, an original web-only weekly poker show on ESPN.com that will debut Tuesday, August 4. The show – co-hosted by ESPN The Magazine contributor Laura Lane, professional poker player and ESPN.com columnist Bernard Lee and ESPN.com poker editor Andrew Feldman – will not only feature some of the biggest players in the game and cover poker news each week, but take an inside look at the lifestyle in the world of poker.

The three-month series will conclude with the completion of the World Series of Poker main event final table and along the way will interview and analyze each of the remaining nine competitors. In addition to original Inside Deal content, viewers will also see never-before seen hands and features from the World Series of Poker broadcasts.

Throughout the series, fans will be able to submit questions to their favorite pros via email, Twitter and Facebook. Fans will also be given an exclusive chance to participate in a sweepstakes where one lucky winner will experience the November Nine in a unique way.

The featured guest for the first show will be Chris Moneymaker, the 2003 World Series of Poker main event champion. Moneymaker turned a $39 satellite victory on PokerStars.net into a $10,000 WSOP seat and then into $2.5 million after defeating 839 players in his first WSOP appearance. He is frequently credited with sparking the poker boom in the United States, often referred to as the “Moneymaker effect.” Others featured players for Inside Deal will include Daniel Negreanu and Joseph Hachem.

Just before the Final Table Ten became the November Nine, I made my final attempt to get near the action. The closest I could get was the “media” area, which was soon an uncontrollable mess of fans pushing their way through to capture the Ivey Kodak moment with their disposable cams. But before that happened, here is what the packed stands looked like:

UPDATE: Gene got a good shot of the eruption!

The November Nine, upon its creation.

Wicked Chops reported today that Jeff Shulman, who is still in the top ten in chips on the final day of the summer WSOP, would throw away the WSOP Main Event bracelet if he happened to win it. Throw away…as in the trash…as in one of the most ridiculous stunts should he actually go through with it.

Shulman reportedly believes the selling of WSOP media rights is unfair and that the coverage now is unacceptable.

That is interesting. Let’s think back for a moment to the time, only two years ago, when the World Poker Tour sold the live tournament reporting rights to, ummm, CardPlayer! And didn’t CardPlayer provide its own mediocre coverage of the WSOP about three years ago? The Shulmans and their poker company seemed to have no aversion to buying exclusive media rights coverage until they were outbid and outdone by other companies.

Throw the bracelet in the trash can? Methinks that says more about the intended thrower than the WSOP.

How smart are we? Wait…That’s a loaded question. Rephrase: How close can we come to predicting the November Nine?

We shall see! The Poker Shrink is putting the poker media to the test by encouraging our degeneracy asking us to bet on our picks for the November Nine. With 64 players remaining, some media members are picking our favorites/randoms to go all the way over the next two days at the WSOP. Who are we to shy away from a challenge?

Jen’s Picks:

Dennis Phillips
Phil Ivey
Billy Kopp
Ben Lamb
Ludovic Lacay
Leo Margets
Tom Schneider
Nick Maimone
Andrew Lichtenberger

Dan’s Picks:

Phil Ivey
Tom Schneider
Tommy Vedes
Antonio Esfandiari (Go Iran!)
Ludovic Lacay
Eugene Katchalov
Ben Lamb
Andrew Lichtenberger
James Akenhead

Kevin’s picks:

Billy Kopp
Phil Ivey
Jeff Shulman
Eugene Katchalov
Tom Schneider
Andrew Lichtenberger
Jeff Duvall
Nick Maimone
Ludovic Lacay

Tom Schneider was seated at the ESPN feature table at the start of Day 6 and started in fourth chip position, though he seems to have slipped a bit. But he’s wearing PokerStars gear! (Go poker agent madness!) The table began with:

Seat 1: Clayton Newman – 244,000
Seat 2: Prahlad Friedman – 715,000
Seat 3: Tom Schneider – 3,168,000
Seat 4: Scott Eskenazi – 270,000
Seat 5: Paul Johnson – 1,606,000
Seat 6: Miika Puumalainen – 2,894,000
Seat 7: Scott Sitron – 778,000
Seat 8: Dwayne Stacey – 410,000
Seat 9: Michael Jansen – 852,000

Julie Schneider is in the front row supporting Tom, after having had a great series of her own with a third place finish in the $2,500 2-7 Triple Draw Lowball event about two weeks ago.

Go Team Pokerati/PokerStars/Schneider!

UPDATE: Tom now sitting in third place on leaderboard. From Karridy: @DonkeyBomber busts 2 players at the featured table and is now over 4 Million in chips in the WSOP Main Event. Appx 125 players left.

The rail around the WSOP Main Event is substantial. Though the fans are quite a distance from most of the tables, many of them are there to support friends and family or catch a glimpse of some of the recognizable faces still in the game. The most popular? One Phil Ivey. And unfortunately for the somewhat-shy guy, his table today happened to be close to the rail AND an elevated platform where fans could attempt to smother him congregate.

For most of Day 5, Phil looked as if he wanted to run away. But with a Main Event championship title that he may envision with his name on it, he’ll stick around and put up with the ESPN camera crews and rows of fans (and media people with cameras).

In an effort to spread the Pokerati name as far across the interwebs as possible, Tom Schneider has soared into the chip lead or close enough for our unofficial chip counting tastes in Day 5 of the Main Event.

According to Aaron of PokerWorks, Tom opened the pot to find a raiser in Kevin Saul. Tom reraised, at which point Kevin shipped for just over 1 million. Tom called and was covered by about 50K, but he flipped over pocket aces. Kevin showed A-K, and the board blanked to knock cripple Kevin and catapult Tom to somewhere near the 2.1 million-chip range. That puts him in the chip lead and one of only three players to have made it above the 2-million mark.

At the first break: @DonkeyBomber 2.2 million. 315 left

Funny (or not) that Tom’s all-in wasn’t covered at all by the ESPN cameras, and the official media of the WSOP is stretched awfully thin today and missed it.

UPDATE: Tom ended the day with 3.16 million. According to @Karridy, that’s 5th out of the 185 remaining players.

Oh yeah… I began to doubt my picks when many of their preliminary finishes were not as expected (or non-existent). But it seems that two of my favorites for the 2009 WSOP are heading to Day 5 of the Main Event!

Bertrand “ElkY” Grospellier came into Day 4 as the massive chip leader, and though he lost a little ground, he still finished the day with 1,253,000 chips.

And Kara Scott! She didn’t have a stellar day but ended it with 400K. After the flurry of bustouts after the money bubble today, she hung in there and posted a solid end-of-day result.

It’s when the pros use the fear of the bubble to their advantage. As the money bubble in the Main Event soars right past the 1.5 hour mark, still with 649 players, Tom Schneider seems to be using the tension at the tables to his advantage. He has chipped up quite significantly in the past two hours. Last tweet?

@DonkeyBomber 830k. Still hand for hand.

He’s prettttty much guaranteed to make the money here…

UPDATE: He did. Go Tom!

Well, this just didn’t go as planned. The idea was to make some solid picks mixed with some off-the-wall choices for 2009 World Series performances, with the results proving me to be somewhat of a genius. Whoops.

Some of my players have done well and could very well tear up the Main Event, but I could have possibly done better than, for example, picking my dentist’s nephew. Here’s a little rundown of my eight players through the end of the preliminary events:

Daniel Negreanu – Clearly the best of the picks, Daniel had an excellent series, though possibly not by his own high standards. With eight cashes, two of which were in world championship events and two of which were final tables, he cashed for more than $330K in the series.

Bertrand “ElkY” Grospellier – One of the favorites in many player pools this year, ElkY cashed twice during the series but could not quite pull a final table. He did make the cover of Bluff Magazine, though, with the article written by fellow Frenchman Benjo.

Terrence Chan – He came into the WSOP with a hot online poker streak that simply didn’t translate into WSOP bracelets, only walking away with one cash in the preliminary events.

Kara Scott – Besides being a talented and professional EPT hostess, the woman can play some poker as well. She played one preliminary event – a $1,500 NLHE – prior to the Main Event and cashed in 58th place.

Luca Pagano – My favorite Italian player did not cash. Viva Italia next year and all that.

Jonathan Dull – My dentist’s nephew had one cash in a $1,500 NLHE event, but, well, I won’t have much to report to my dentist in July.

Dwyte Pilgrim – After 13 cashes in WSOP Circuit events over the past year, Dwyte ran cold at the WSOP in Vegas and wasn’t able to cash in the prelims. But his record over the past year doesn’t lie, so it’s just a matter of time, guy I’ve never met buddy.

Whit Blanton – Pokerati player Whit made a run at one event and didn’t find his way to the money. But he still loves Pokerati, and isn’t that what matters?

Bonus pick Mekhi Phifer – Ummm, where was he?

The Main Event is just kicking into gear, so at least one of my picks still has a chance to go deep. (Go Kara!)

The room was packed with players, who gathered on short notice to find out what Harrah’s would do with the hundreds (conservative number) of irate/disappointed/confused players who were denied entry to the 2009 WSOP Main Event because of their late arrivals to the sell-out event. Notables in the room included Mike Sexton, Mickey Appelman, and Melissa Hayden.

twitpic: @melissalvla

Between the tournament staff, Harrah’s staff, and security contingent, there were approximately 20 suits, lined in front of the room. Commissioner Jeffrey Pollack addressed the crowd with a prepared statement that began, “We are sorry and I am sorry.” He went on to say that the players would not be allowed to play, and that he understands that it is disappointing. “We wish we could accommodate you,” he said and added that he wished they would have played other starting days.

Questions were beamed at Pollack, many players talking over each other at times. Allegations of special treatment were aimed at Harrah’s, with some players asserting that well-known players were granted entry after others were shut out. Pollack’s response? “Absolutely not.”

Most questions revolved around the option of allowing players to begin play this evening and play through the night or somehow incorporating a Day 1E into the mix, but Pollack insisted that it would be logistically and operationally impossible to do. When someone pushed the subject, WSOP Communications Director Seth Palansky jumped in with a question of his own directed at the player. “Why didn’t you show up earlier?” A collective “oooh” let Palansky know that he may have gone too far with the comment.

Pollack tried to cool the crowd with comments like, “We are not doing this happily today,” but it was clear that the players were not becoming any more satisfied with the comments. With Pollack promising that sell-out tournaments will be the number one topic to be discussed when planning the 2010 WSOP, he eventually ended the meeting with parting words “I’m sorry, I’m sorry.”

Pollack, Palansky, and other executives went out a private side entrance protected by security.

It was no secret. It has been public information since mid-June, and the PPA announced it days ago that House Financial Services Committee Chairman Rep. Barney Frank made plans to visit the WSOP today. First, he took to the floor of the Amazon Room to speak to the Day 1C players and issue the “shuffle up and deal command,” after which he toured the Rio Convention Center to see poker’s bizness and held a press conference at 1pm. You’d think it might be quite an event for those with any interest in the future of the poker industry.

But while the general reception Frank received in the Amazon Room was positive, it also gave an indication of what kind of struggles his efforts face. Beyond having to deal with the self-promotional shenanigans of Phil Hellmuth and all he brings to the table in the name of poker (for better or worse), behind me on the rail were some poker players/fans/bigots who made hateful gay jokes during his entire short-but-semi-important speech.

Nearing the 1pm start of the press conference in the Full Tilt Chris Ferguson suite, there were about 5 reporters present. No kidding. By the time Frank began speaking, there were possibly twice that, excluding PPA representatives and Full Tilt Poker bigwigs. Of the 5-8 media outlets represented, ESPN got their headshot early and left, before the speech had hardly started.

Some of what the disinterested might have missed:

~It is likely that the Obama Administration was not behind the Southern District of New York’s seizure of more than $30 million in online poker site payments, though Frank is pursuing answers and will attempt to clarify the role of the Department of Justice in the actions.

~While Frank’s current proposed legislation (H.R. 2267) may not be heard in committee until September, it is a priority for Frank to push his companion legislation (H.R. 2266) that will delay the implementation of the UIGEA through 2010.

Meanwhile, everyone else was standing outside the Rio waiting for Phil Hellmuth to arrive in a chariot with scantily-clad chicks, then following him down the hall like he was someone important President Obama. After that embarrassment spectacle, I noticed that there was more media interested in interviewing a WSOP player wearing a full-length Indian headdress than were in the Frank press conference.

(Sigh.)

I just can’t help but wonder if the people who ignored Frank’s presence today will be the same ones asking why the delay in passing pro-poker legislation, or why their online poker funds are frozen, or why they have trouble finding work in the poker industry.

It was a moment for those of us who believed it to be. Surely, it was a moment for 24-year old Bahador Ahmadi, who was celebrating a WSOP victory that came with $278,104 and a gold bracelet, but it was a bit more than that to him. At the Saturday bracelet ceremony, the Iranian-born Canadian resident requested that the anthem played on his behalf be that of his native Iran. He told Nolan Dalla after his win:

In a post-tournament interview, Ahamdi wanted to point out that he is proud of his heritage and supports change in his native country. He believes that playing the Iranian anthem at the WSOP will enable many poker players and the public to better understand the pro-Western attitudes held by many Iranians, both who live within Iran and abroad.

With all of the unrest going on in Iran surrounding the recent election, it was a thought that the people in the Amazon Room would stand with extra pride, exert some sort of extra support for the people of Iran, and it would be a grand moment representing the state of the world (or something like that). In fact, the moment was like any other bracelet ceremony, as the majority of the room stood to respect the anthem of the winner’s country, the winner seemed consumed in his own private moment of silence, and it was over.

Perhaps, however, that is what is notable about the World Series of Poker…and poker tournaments in general. Conflicts that may arise between groups of people or warring countries are not apparent at the poker tables. It’s the demeanor of the person at the table, along with playing style and respect for others that gets the attention rather than their ethnicity or skin color. Others like Dr. Pauly contend that the WSOP is simply so all-consuming that no one responds to news unless it hits them in the face like the death of Michael Jackson. Iran? Never heard any of their music so… Read the Tao of Poker take on the mindset of the players here.

Oh yeaaaaaaah. It’s about as confirmed as it’s going to be, and I’m hearing it from several sources. Nelly will be the performer at the PokerStars Party on July 9th. Thanks to NYC Rounders for giving me something to link:

Hip-Hop Star, Pimp Juice & Apple Bottom Jeans entrepreneur Nelly will be headlining the PokerStars Party at the Palms during the 2009 World Series of Poker…

The party will take place on July 9 at Rain Night Club. Doors open at 9pm. You will need a pass to get in, but I don’t know where you get them. They are not on the PokerStars Web site anymore. I am sure all qualifiers will get them at the Palms and a few will circulate through the Rio. If you don’t have a pass, general admission will start at 10 or 11pm. Not sure when.

Now I have to convince PokerStars I’m harmless ask nicely for a VIP pass so I can give it the coverage it deserves. (Anyone believe that?)

Miami John Cernuto reached out to Nolan Dalla this evening to let everyone know that he is hospitalized but okay after collapsing during Day 2 of Event 44 ($2,500 Seven Card Razz). The hospital staff determined that he had internal bleeding and will require more tests in the coming days to pinpoint the exact problem and resolve it. However, he is conscious, surrounded by family/friends, and comfortable (as one can be) in the hospital.

Funny that his first question to Nolan was about the razz hand he was in at the time of his collapse. He remembered that he looked down at some babies in his hand and wanted to know if Nolan could find out if he would have won the hand. With a laugh, Nolan responded that he did not know.

More updates to come as they are available. Best wishes to John on a speedy recovery!

A great article appeared in the New York Times yesterday about poker’s relationship with Twitter at the WSOP. Complete with a Joe Sebok interview, the piece examines the impact of Twitter on poker players and reporters.

As a growing number of poker players are beginning to send out short messages to the world via Twitter, existing poker media is being disrupted and the news sites are scrambling to out-compete with each other in responding to the players’ direct and immediate communication with their fans. Players are reading each others’ Tweets, too, and that has consequences.

We talked about all this disruption with Joe Sebok, a poker player, the CEO of the Poker Road news site and a man with almost 330,000 people following him on Twitter. All the major poker news sites are racing to integrate Twitter and Sebok says his site isn’t one of the biggest – but as far as we can tell, Poker Road’s use of Twitter during the World Series of Poker may be defining the state of the art better than anyone else in the industry.

Nice job, Seebs! PokerRoad Nation deserves credit where it’s due. (And in our own shameless plug, Pokerati has its own Twitterverse. It’s no “nation,” just a universe-type thing – LOL.)

Event 35 was won this evening by Dick Richard Austin. And evidently, that’s all he really wanted to be said about that. Therefore, there will be no bracelet ceremony or information released about him…or his bracelet…or his poker accomplishment. (Gotta twist the knife even more for 2nd place Sorel Mizzi and 3rd place Cliff Josephy, wouldn’t ya think?) The media release about the event read:

Following Austin’s victory, he declined to be interviewed. Furthermore, Austin refuses to participate in the traditional WSOP gold bracelet ceremony. This means there will be no gold bracelet ceremony held on Saturday, June 20th.

Austin is the first WSOP winner to decline participation in post-tournament activities. All other 34 gold bracelet winners this year have agreed to participate in interviews and festivities.

The WSOP Media and Pubic Relations makes every effort to provide as much background information about the winner as possible. However, coverage of this tournament (Event 35) is, by necessity, limited to facts and figures about the event, rather than the winner.

· Austin collected $409,484 for first place. He was also awarded his first WSOP gold bracelet.

· According to the official records, Austin now has 1 win, 1 final table appearance, and 1 in-the-money finishes at the WSOP. He has $409,484 in career WSOP winnings.

Admittedly, hockey is far from my favorite sport. Even hailing from St. Louis Blues country, I’ve never been a hockey fan. So as the NHL Charity Shootout sponsored by PokerStars was underway on the ESPN stage, I wasn’t exactly compelled to check it out.

The decision to grab a pic was more for Pokerati readers than any other reason, but when the security guard told me I wasn’t allowed in the media area, I used Twitter to express my dismay. Within a matter of minutes, WSOP Commissioner Jeffrey Pollack was at my work station. “Come with me,” he said in a way that made me think of card counters being taken into the back room to be roughed up nicely. He took me to the NHL game media area, told the security guard I was to be allowed in, and let me know that he simply didn’t want the media to have a bad experience with this event. Done and done. (Later, I’ll see if my new BFF wants to hang out at the clubs.)

Back to the event, three tables full of NHL stars, poker pros, and online qualifiers will play out, and the winners will return to play the final table at 7:30-ish tonight for big money to be donated to their charities of choice. ESPN is filming all of the fun, and Mean Gene is anxiously (understatement of the week) awaiting the arrival of the Stanley Cup around 7pm. Here are a few pics of Table #2 that is still playing out in the Amazon Room.

More…

A little smoking area convo with Dutch Boyd (after a heads-up from @robertgoldfarb) led to this little tidbit. Dutch Boyd and Roy Winston supposedly made a $5,000 prop bet at the 2008 WSOP regarding to Player of the Year points. Boyd supposedly won the bet, and when it came time to pay up at the start of the 2009 WSOP, Winston indicated that he would not pay.

Jen: “Did Winston specifically say he wasn’t going to pay you?”
Dutch: “Pretty much, yeah.”

And from his Twitter:

Feeling rather annoyed… A liitle short in the horse and Roy “the Oracle” Winston is welching on a 5k prop bet. Lame.

Methinks “The Oracle” didn’t anticipate Boyd would pursue this any further. Whoops.

Overheard and confirmed. Political geeks are in luck. Not only is it rumored – and close to being 100% confirmed – that Rep. Barney Frank will be visiting the 2009 WSOP on July 5 to do a little “shuffle up and deal” business, but other political figures and friends of poker will be arriving on Monday, June 22.

PPA Chairman and former NY Senator Alfonse D’Amato will be gracing the Rio on Monday for a yet-to-be-announced morning press conference. After, he is scheduled to join Nevada Rep. Shelley Berkley for Monday’s “shuffle up and deal” honors. D’Amato will then look for his seat, as he will be playing in Event 43, the $1K Seniors NLHE tournament, starting at noon.

Fully understanding that the likelihood of D’Amato going deep in this tournament is slim, can we not agree that seeing him at a WSOP final table would rock our worlds?

Go Al!

As two final tables, four ongoing tournaments, and loads of cash games and satellites raged on at the WSOP in the Rio, many eyes were firmly fixed on TV screens around the rooms as the Penguins beat the Red Wings in a nail-biting Game 7 of the NFL finals. With many a sports bettor looking to win or lose a buy-in or two a friendly wager, there were sighs as well as cheers when the Penguins took it down.

Some of the poker media members took a break to watch the game in the Rio sportsbook, while others of us went to support friend and UB blogger Gene Bromberg as he rooted on his Pittsburgh home team. And just as Mean Gene was in full celebration mode, Bluff Magazine managing editor Lance Bradley whipped through to the sportsbook to let us know he won quite the impressive futures bet placed in February on the Pens.

Condolences to the lovely Lacey Jones, whose Red Wings lost despite her tremendous cupcake distribution effort on behalf of her team. (Lacey makes a mean cupcake!)

Meanwhile, WSOP Commissioner Jeffrey Pollack paid close attention to the game and the Stanley Cup presentation because, well, his half-brother, Gary Bettman, is the Commissioner of the National Hockey League. (Two commissioners in one family? Rigged!) And just after the game, Pollack twittered:

Pittsburgh wins! Time for GBB to present the Stanley Cup — which may make an appearance at the WSOP next week!

Sure, the Stanley Cup will make its way to Las Vegas for the June 18 NHL Awards at the Palms, but will someone tote it across the street to the Rio? Seems like the brothers might discuss it and give the WSOP players a glimpse of hockey’s version of the WSOP gold bracelet.

Oh my. Evidently, this “professional commentator” was not aware that the microphone was on nor that anyone was recording his ramblings. They were. And because of the risque nature of his comments, they’re now on YouTube. (UPDATE: Apparently, Nick Geber knew his words were being recorded but only in a mic-testing format. However, all recordings are picked up by overseas partners.)

You decide: funny, good-natured jabs at his employees or inappropriate, sexist remarks?

UPDATE: All traces of the video have been removed from YouTube.

The implementation of this year’s WSOP bracelet ceremonies have been a hit thus far, as play is stopped in the Amazon Room for Jack Effel and Jeffrey Pollack to announce the previous day’s bracelet winners, award them the bracelets and Harrah’s Diamond Rewards cards, and play the national anthem(s) of the newest WSOP winners. In general, it seems to go over well each day with players, fans, and media alike. Today? Not so much.

Ville Wahlbeck is a Finnish player, and his ceremony culminated in the playing of the Finnish anthem. Not sure what the song actually was, but Benjo reported that Finnish players seemed perplexed. And according to Benjo’s conversation with Wahlbeck, it was NOT the Finnish anthem. Whoops.

Yesterday, media row received a visit from Dan Frank, owner of a relatively new player representation company called Top Set. He announced that there would be a “can’t miss” formal introduction of the company just after the start of today’s ladies event.

We watched from media row as a line of people marched into the Amazon Room with a bright-lighted camera filmed the entrance. Led by a petite woman, Frank followed, as did a string of rented ladies in Top Set logo’ed skimpy-ish t-shirts and tight pants, and they all paraded around the room. After taking the long route and finally ending up at a table, the lead woman sat down to play in the event, and the rest of the crew took places on the rail to cheer her on. Who was this woman? No one knows. And the Top Set website said nothing whatsoever about her, as there is no woman even listed as one of their clients. None of the media recognized her. And, she was out of the tournament by the end of the first level. Serious flop.

It was two years ago that I wrote my first opinion piece about the WSOP ladies-only tournament. After I received a sufficient amount of hate mail, I wrote a follow-up piece. I skipped the subject at the 2008 WSOP except for a few snarky comments, and now it slaps me in the face yet again as I sit on media row in front of a sea of women. In lieu of a rant or reiteration of my previously-stated feelings on the issue, I’ll just relay a few notes.

• When your practice game isn’t at a casino but in a home game with your husband and your dad, you might be in trouble at the WSOP.

• When your first instinct at the table is to introduce yourself to everyone and ask where they’re from instead of sizing them up and concentrating on your own strategy, you’re giving off a big tell.

• If you have to apologize for knocking another player out of the tournament, you’re not cut out for tournament poker.

• When the floor staff is openly yawning while observing the tables, the play is not exactly top-notch.

• When tables full of women squeal at every mention of finishing a level or moving to a new table, this is clearly not a room full of pros.

• When the tournament announcer says that another event’s restart will be in the other room to “make room for all these beautiful ladies,” they’re talking to you like you’re “special people” and you shouldn’t smile about that.

Media row is half empty today and will be until the 5pm start of the World Championship O8 tournament. And those of us who are here are praying for the men to arrive for other events so it evens out a bit. For me, add some women-tilt that came from a phone call attempting to convince me not to write anything negative about the Women in Poker Hall of Fame, and I’m simply trying not to write something that will get me bitch-slapped I may regret later. I’ll be staying out of the hallways on breaks, that’s for sure.

Oh yes, Nelly is here again! He is playing in the $1.5K NLHE today at the WSOP, rocking the gray hoodie again and sporting his biggest accessory – a massive bodyguard on the rail. Thus, the lack of a new photo from today’s event. Honestly, I am not prepared to be reported to security or have a “chat” with his bodyguard, so I decided to keep my legally required distance.

Please refer to my previous Nelly post for stalking goodness.

Nelly was in the house today. He played the $1K Stimulus Special, and I will not make a play on the word, despite every inclination. As soon as a friend tracked him down for me, I began the stalking and snapped a few photos. When his bodyguard gave me a look, I gave it up and walked away.

Soon after, Nelly went busto, and his crew escorted him out the back door. And yes, it took every ounce of restraint not to follow them, but I did not. The stalking stopped at the Rio doors for now.

Welcome to Cali Jen’s 2009 WSOP.

This post answers the question: What have we learned from the $40K?

1.       There is a definite need for a “high roller” No Limit tournament at the WSOP each year. This is obvious because 201 players ponied-up the cheddar to play in the $40K, generating a monster prize pool and a $1,891,102 first place prize. This shows that there are plenty of players willing to participate in this type of event and the field might grow larger if Harrah’s starts running satellites online and makes it a yearly tradition.

2.       Television cameras are still a big deal to poker players. It is obvious poker pros are still trying to get endorsement deals and promote their sponsors. There is no easier way to do that than by making an ESPN final table. With no television coverage slated for the $50k H.O.R.S.E. tournament this year, the $40k’s coverage could be the main reason why there may be a smaller field in the big buy-in mixed games tournment.

3.        No Limit Hold’em puts asses in the seats. Since the majority of the mainstream poker fans have spent the last couple of years watching No Limit on television, it is only logical that the $40K would bring the railbirds out in droves. Kudos to Jeffrey Pollack and company for packing the isles with the first “major” tournament.

4.       With arguably the toughest No Limit field in WSOP history, this event brought out a sizeable number of players that would traditionally avoid the $50K H.O.R.S.E. tournament. The reason for this is that there is a strong contingency of players whose expertise lies strictly in No Limit whereas there are only a small percentage of players who feel genuinely comfortable playing mixed games with the best  players from around the world.

5.       Always make sure to follow the mantra of “Start with a bang.” Granted the $1,000 Stimulus special has sold out, but in the end, only a few will care who won this donkfest, but plenty of people will pay attention to the winner of the $40K thanks to ESPN’s coverage and the incredible level of talent in the field.

6.       Despite the fact that all WSOP bracelets are supposed to be considered equal, you have to admit that it sounds much sexier to say you beat the world’s top players in one of the biggest buy-in tournaments on the planet instead of saying that you outlasted 5,999 punters in a $1K bloodbath. ‘Nuff said.

Many speculated that it would happen, but the last seat was sold just after 10am this morning, and the number is official: 6,000 entrants for Event 4. Another 2009 WSOP record was set with the final number, and it became the largest non-WSOP main event tournament ever to be held.

Players are already gathering in droves outside the Amazon Room for the first of two starting days of the $1,000 NLHE Stimulus Special. The madness will begin shortly!

See the official word after the jump.

More…

(Warning: Sarcasm-free blog post. Enjoy it or hate it while it lasts.)

It was one of the best ideas that Commissioner Pollack and crew implemented in years. Starting yesterday, the bracelet ceremonies are in full effect to honor every event winner with a moment in the spotlight. Instead of winners like Andrew Cohen being given his bracelet in the wee hours of the morning when exhaustion mixes with emotion for a sometimes unfulfilling chaotic moment in time, he was honored as the Event 1 Casino Employees World Champion in the middle of the Amazon Room where the eyes of the fans, media, and fellow players were on him. Call me a sap, but it was a touching moment.

Every 2009 WSOP bracelet winner will receive the same treatment. And in a sea of players and tournaments and Day 1’s and Day 2’s and cash games and fan-filled aisles of people, the 2:20pm ceremony each day will be a refreshing few minutes that reminds everyone of why we’re all here.

The final numbers for the big $40K NLHE event were released just after the first break of the day:

Number of Entries: 201
Net Prize Pool: $7,718,400
First Place Prize: $1,891,012
Total Spots Paid Out: 27

The vast majority of big names seems to be here – Scotty, Phil, Jesus, Annie, you get the picture. But one player who was specifically invited by Jeffrey Pollack to come to the WSOP anytime to play any event was not in the field. President Barack Obama evidently had more important things to do than spend the day at the Rio, despite his ownership of a new personalized WSOP jacket. Pollack talks about it about around the 3:45 mark on this Raw Vegas video from the May 27 “Sucking Out on the Rivers” charity tournament hosted by Annie Duke.

Watch Annie Dukes Sucking Out On The Rivers Charity Poker Event on RawVegas.tv

[Speaking of Duke, is there a reason that her opinion about things like American Idol matter so greatly now? I'm not sure I like understand the trend.]

That’s right. I’ve got picks. I didn’t participate in any official draft or betting pool, just chose players to watch this year and listed them here. That makes them official, Pokerati-style.

The purpose of picking a team of players at the 2009 WSOP is that it gives me a variety of players to stalk follow and track results. Some of them are well-known on the poker tournament circuit, while others are just beginning to make their marks and may not garner much publicity from the major media outlets. Here? They’re all stars because I dub them so. I’ll be trying as best I can to keep up with them.

Daniel Negreanu – While some argue that he is not particularly focused this year due to the health of his mother and other factors, I contend that the grind will lock him into place at the WSOP and that he will be looking to score big to bring some extra smiles to his mom’s face.

Bertrand “ElkY” Grospellier – He is a given. He has been on fire for several years and will undoubtedly be a force at the Series as he looks to add a WSOP bracelet to his list of serious poker accomplishments.

Terrence Chan – Not only is he a friend of friends of mine, but he caught my eye when he won two PokerStars SCOOP tournaments on the same night a few months ago. It was impressive, and with his motivation to do well this summer, his momentum/skill combo might be enough to get him there.

Kara Scott – She recently placed second in the 2009 Irish Open main event, and her list of tournament successes is growing consistently. Add to that a relationship with a certain poker pro, with whom intimate discussions of flops and raises can only help. And after a deep run in the 2008 WSOP main event, I look for her to do well in numerous events this year.

Luca Pagano – My favorite Italian player has also had some significant finishes, though 2008 was a better year for him than 2009. Even so, his game has been improving, and he appears due for a big finish this summer.

Jonathan Dull – His record shows that he has accumulated nearly $455K in his career. The young player has potential, but how did he make my coveted list? He is my dentist’s nephew, and my dentist is awesome.

Dwyte Pilgrim – The guy is on fire. Over the past year, he came onto the poker scene and began tearing up WSOP Circuit events, posting 13 cashes overall over the past season, many of which were final tables and one – Harrah’s Rincon – championship victory. Seems he does well in any tournament with WSOP in the name.

Whitney Blanton – Not only is he a faithful Pokerati reader and patch-wearing “preferred player”, but also he’s my Facebook friend and has been having a good poker year. He hopes to bring a WSOP bracelet back to Texas this year, and providing he gets out to Vegas soon to play some events, he has a good chance.

For good measure, in addition to my top eight players, I will add Mekhi Phifer as a bonus pick. What fun is stalking without the man who feared my very presence at the 2008 WSOP? (Just kidding; security was never actually called.)

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.

The final table of the World Series of Poker is less than a month away, and the pressure is on to find sponsors to make a little more money than the $900K and the potential of more than $9 million. Yeah, life is hard.

Since the big name sponsors that they were hoping for aren’t beating down the doors of the members of the November Nine, it’s time to kick the efforts into high gear. Ylon Schwartz has proactively hired RecordWeb Communications to help with the marketing, and they issued a press release stating that sponsorship opportunities are available through eBay.

The eBay item already has one bid of $37,500 from f***2. (Would love to see what that proposed ad is…) Here is part of the page that lists what is being offered:

Ylon Schwartz is offering one lucky and smart bidder, the chance to place a 10 Square Inch patch on his arm, chest, hat or other mutually agreed upon location or a branded item to be placed on his chips or cards. Your brand will benefit from proven Nascar-style advertising as this patch or branded items will be seen by TENS OF MILLIONS of ESPN viewers…

As you can see the photos of Ylon at the poker table, his torso, head, arms, chips and cards are clearly visible to the viewer. Any time Ylon plays a hand in this event; your patch or branded item will be seen by millions of fans. Ylon is currently 5th in chips and will be in this event for a long time. The event will probably play for 15 hours more and then will be shown to a prime time viewing audience on ESPN on November 11th, 2008.

Michael Phelps made history at the 2008 Beijing Summer Olympics by winning a record eight gold medals. And his comments to the press about wanting to play some poker in the future garnered much attention from the poker community, as in offers from the Asian Poker Tour and Betfair regarding the WSOP Europe. Neither offer was accepted.

It seems that the swimming legend does things on his own terms. Phelps recently traveled to Las Vegas with some friends as guests of the Palms, and one of his wishes was to meet Doyle and Todd Brunson and Hoyt Corkins.

Photo courtesy of DoylesRoom.com

According to the most recent post on Doyle’s blog, he received a call and brought his son and Corkins, along with Jennifer Harman and Marco Traniello, to meet Phelps for a dinner at Nine Steakhouse at the Palms. “What a nice kid!” Doyle wrote. “Phelps and some of his friends wanted books so I took Super System 1 and 2 to them and they asked all kinds of poker questions. Michael said all he wanted to do in life, was to eat, swim and play poker.”

Oh yeah… I can already see Phelps with a Doyle’s Room cowboy hat at the WSOP in 2009. Obviously, no deals have been signed at this point and Phelps has not accepted any invitations to play in tournaments thus far, but I can see an NBC National Heads-Up Championship and World Series in the kid’s future. Just a personal prediction…

Was just watching a little early Fox News, and the weekend hosts got visibly excited about the World Series of Poker. Their hedline: “Average Joes Taking Over.” Wha? Apparently the Fox reporters/interns aren’t reading Wicked Chops. Idiots But regardless, dead money is dead money, right?

“That’s why we like it so much, because the underdog can win!” cooed Ainsley Earhardt. Coming up is one of those Average Joes, Dennis Phillips. From there the Fox-branded morning sunshine went on to a story about cadaver dogs being called in to search for a two-year-old girl, and then the weather. My personal chills subsided.

Go delayed final table!

UPDATES/LIVE-BLOG

Interview starts with “This is wonderful stuff, the World Series of Poker”

Dennis appears, wearing STL ballcap and Pokerstars.net logo on his shirt. (Boo, St. Louis!)

He refused sponsor money for his cap.

“I’m a 53-year-old truck salesman, I’m not going to go around wearing a hat backwards. It’s just not going to happen.”

Headline under random, low-quality footage from the WSOP (as if the lighting situation in the Amazon room were new to them or something) — Poker-Palooza: Average Poker Guy Takes Vegas

The key to his success at the WSOP was having fun the whole way.

Dennis is not married and has no kids.

The Fox News staff is rooting for him.

After a break, the extended crew comes back and has a discussion about how amazing his poker face is. They all give impressions, then asks who plays — I’m shocked that the two dudes who are so excited about poker say they don’t — and then they turn to Courtney Friel. She says that while he was hostess of the World Poker Tour, she herself wasn’t very good because she gave away her excitement over big hands.

They end the show with: “Go All-in with Fox & Friends!”

Photo: Flipchip/LasVegasVegas

This seems as good a time as any to share with you another leftover bonus! episode of Tao of Pokerati … where Dr. Pauly chats with Change100 (his personal fashion yogini) about Tiffany Michelle’s attire before her Ultimate Bet patchwork became such a major wardrobe malfunction. It’s sickeningly cute as this pokerblogging duo draws the fine line between rocker-chick chic and Tijuana hooker — and further fashion analysis tries to differentiate between the new-money stylings of Alexander Kostritsin, typical “online douchebag” and Mean Gene, and the poker-prep ways of Shronk and Brandon Adams.

Tao of Pokerati
Episode 28.5: Fashion Report (feat. Change100)

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Pauly’s got up a great recount up of our whole Tao of Pokerati experience at the WSOP. But guess what, we’re not done yet … still have a few more episodes to share with you, and Brian Balsbaugh and Oliver Tse our agents are in negotiations with French authorities over possible continuation of the show.

Meanwhile, one leftover episode — actually it’s a 6-minute double-episode — that seems particularly timely with the benefit of hindsight was recorded from the dead-center of an emptied out Amazon room, shortly after Tiffany Michelle busted out in 17th place. Here Dr. Pauly and I survey the atmospheric damage as “the last hope” of the main event exits the building … and I argue that she was the only one of the final 27 players with true Chris Moneymaker potential — meaning her performance wasn’t so much about her own abilities to win big cash as it was about the future of poker. Comparisons to Scotty Nguyen and college basketball as well, before one of your not-so-gracious hosts goes through severe WSOP separation anxiety.

Episode 28: Exit, Stage Tiffany

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It’s been fun keeping track of the 2008 WSOP by city-nation-state … taught me a lot about something — what exactly, I’m not yet sure. But I did get a clearer picture of just how significant the main event really is compared to all other poker tourneys. Just a little more than a week ago, I wrote:

Unless something really funky happens in the main event, it looks like Nevada has the edge on California when it comes to home base for the best poker players in the world.

Well I guess something funky did happen, because even with the biggest prize-pool distributions TBD, California poker players absolutely dominated in the 2008 main event (93 cashes, 2 final tableists)… while the Nevadans (mostly Las Vegas-based, of course) seemed to be napping, or perhaps just resting on their laurels (49 cashes, 0 final tableists). Regardless, looking at the 55 events that comprised the 2008 WSOP, I think it’s clear that the visitors can stake their claim: California is the Poker Capitol of the World … at least for now.

GREAT DANES: Another big surprise (to me) — apparently the Scandis aren’t so overrated after all. Denmark in particular showed up at the main event ready to play, and not only did they get one of their own on the final table, but also they performed so well in the latter events that they scooched past a bunch of other supposed Europoker powerhouses in the money won. The best non-American players, according to these results, in order: Canadians, Brits, and then the Danes … who actually could move past the Brits come November … and if you add the Danish in with the rest of the Scandis, it’s clear that Scandinavia and the UK are like the California and Nevada of European poker.

More…

It’s Nolan Dalla’s job to feed us media types official information for use in our presumably unique WSOP coverages. And in doing so, he puts in more hours at the World Series than even Pauly. (Sorry dude, it’s true.) When Nolan checked out last night, he said a few goodbyes as he walked from his crow’s nest in the pressbox and made some final announcement saying his last report would be forthcoming, and looking semi-exhaused, with heartfelt sincerity, yadda yadda. The thanks and adieus from the remaining poker journos — it was past 4 am — turned into applause … he smiled, turned and walked across the dark open floor of the broken-down Amazon room to the light of the final table stage.

Below is the last email he sent out, which tells you better than I can the official take on what went down over the past few days and what lies ahead.

 

2008 World Series of Poker

Rio All-Suite Hotel & Casino

Las Vegas, Nevada

 

Official Report 

Event #54                                                                         

World Championship

No-Limit Hold’em

Buy-In:  $ 10,000

Number of Entries:  6,844

Total Net Prize Pool:  $64,333,600

Number of Places Paid:  666

First Place Prize:  $9,119,517

Total Players Remaining:  9

July 3 – November 10, 2008

 

 

NEWS FLASH:  The WSOP “November Nine” is Set!

 

Tournament Notes from Day Seven:

 

• Eleven days ago, the 2008 World Series of Poker Main Event began on Thursday, July 3^rd.  The official Day Seven was played on Monday, July 14^th.

 

• This is the 47^th and final day of a 47-day span which comprises the vast majority of the 2008 WSOP schedule (not including WSOP-Europe, which takes place September 19^th through October 2^nd and the Main Event final table to be played November 9-10).

 

• The day began with WSOP Commissioner Jeffrey Pollack, who assembled the final 27 players together and provided some basic information which will be applicable to the nine survivors.  Pollack stated that the WSOP management team will maintain its close association with the surviving players during the 117-day interim period between the close of the WSOP and commencement of the Final Table, which is to be played in November.   

 

• Play on Day Seven began with the “Shuffle Up and Deal” announcement at 12:30 pm PST.

 

• The number of players who started Day Seven was 27.  Play continued until 18 players were eliminated, and the final nine players were determined.

 

• The average stack at the start of the day was 5,070,000 in chips.

 

• The average stack at the end of the day was 15.1 million in chips.

                                                 

• The chip leader at the start of Day Seven was Dennis Phillips (St. Louis, MO).  He maintained his chip lead and now has the biggest stack going into the final table.

 

• Craig Marquis (Arlington, TX) started the day in second place.  He made it to the final table, but is now ranked eighth in chips.

 

• Scott Montgomery (Perth, Ontario – Canada) made the greatest move up the chip ladder during the course of the day.  He started off in 16^th place and rocketed up to 4^th place by day’s end.

 

• Tiffany Michelle (Los Angeles, CA) suffered the greatest setback of any player of the final 27.  She started the day ranked third in chips but ended up busting out in 17^th place.

 

• Day Seven started with only one female player still alive in the tournament.  Tiffany Michelle came in ranked third in the chip count.  Unfortunately, she wasn’t able to establish the momentum necessary to propel her to the final table.  She ended up finishing in 17^th place, worth $334,534 in prize money.  Michelle’s performance is the best by a female in the Main Event since Annie Duke’s 10^th-place showing in 2000.  The year before, Susie Isaacs also finished in 10^th place.  The best finish ever by a woman in the WSOP Main Event was by Barbara Enright, who finished 5^th in 1995.  Michelle’s earnings – at slightly more than one-third of a million dollars – is the most ever won by a female in the WSOP Main Event.   

 

• Only two former WSOP gold bracelet winners were still in contention when play resumed, including – Phi Nguyen and Brandon Cantu.  Both former champions were eliminated early in the day.

 

•  Two-time WSOP gold bracelet winner Phi Nguyen (Hawaiian Gardens, CA) finished in 26^th place.  This was his second time to cash in the Main Event (164^th place in 2006) and 14^th career in-the-money finish at the WSOP.

 

• Former WSOP gold bracelet winner Brandon Cantu finished in 20^th place.  Cantu was expected to be a wild card in the group, since he has a reputation for playing hyper-aggressive poker.  One fellow poker pro predicted that Cantu would either bust out early or would end up at the final table as the chip leader.  Unfortunately, he had to settle for the former – which meant the last of the former champions was gone.

 

• All players who started play on Day Seven were guaranteed at least $257,334 in prize money.  All players who made it to the final table are now guaranteed at least $900,670.  Players are to be paid the guaranteed prize money on July 15^th, which is the day after the November Nine had been determined.

 

• Tim Loecke, from Highland Park, IL ended up as the 22^nd-place finisher.  Most interesting is the fact that this was Loecke’s first-ever live poker tournament.  He qualified to play in this event by winning a $63 satellite.  His win amounted to $257,334.

 

• Nations still alive in the Main Event include:  United States (5 players), Canada (2), Denmark (1), and Russia (1).

 

• A Russian poker player has now made it to the final table in each of the last two years.  Ivan Demidov follows in the footsteps of Alex Kravchenko, who finished in fourth place last year.

 

• A Canadian poker player has now made it to the final table in each of the last two years.  Two Canadians, Darus Suharto and Scott Montgomery follow in the footsteps of Tuan Lam, who finished in second place last year.

 

• Players from several different nations were represented in the top 100 of the Main Event for the first time ever.  Brazil enjoyed its highest world championship finish ever as Rafael Caiaffa, from Belo Horizonte, Brazil took 55^th place.

 

• Argentina enjoyed its highest world championship finish ever in this event as Jose Barbero, from Buenos Aires, Argentina took 89^th place.

 

• Venezuela enjoyed its highest world championship finish ever in this event as Jamal Kunbuz from Valencia, Venezuela took 33^rd place.

 

• Romania enjoyed its highest world championship finish ever in this event as Toni Judet was Bucharest, Romania took 22nd place.  Note:  Judet had previously been misidentified as “Judet Toni Cristian.  It should be noted that he prefers to be called “Toni” and his last name is “Judet.”    

 

• Play was suspended with 21:50 remaining in Level 33.  Day Seven concluded at 3:29 am PST, about 15 hours after play began.

 

• Day Eight begins Sunday, November 9^th at 10:00 am.  The final table will be played at the Rio Las Vegas.  The venue will be announced later.

 

• This is one of the younger final table fields in WSOP history.  The youngest player remaining is 22.  The oldest player remaining is 53.  The average age of the surviving players is 31.8 years.  Five of the final nine are in their 20s.

 

• When Phil Hellmuth won the WSOP in 1989, he was the youngest world champion in history – at age 24 years, 10 months, and 5 days.  Should either Peter Eastgate or Craig Marquis win this year’s Main Event, the record for youngest champion would be broken.

 

• Here is a list of the final nine players, along with some basic biographical information:

 

Ivan Demidov (Moscow, Russia)

– Age 27

– Professional Poker Player

– Single

– Enjoys skiing and scuba diving

– Playing at the WSOP for the first time, this year

– Finished 11^th place in Event #44

 

Peter Eastgate (Odense, Denmark)

– Age 22

– Professional Poker Player

– High school graduate, no college

– Paid cash to enter

 

Kelly Kim (Whittier, CA)

– Age 31

– Professional Poker Player

– Born in Korea

– Used to work as a business analyst

– Earned his college degree from the UC-San Diego

– Paid cash to enter

– Had three WSOP cashes, all last year

 

Scott Montgomery (Perth, Ontario – Canada)

– Age 26

– Professional Poker Player

– Has been playing poker for about four years

– Paid cash to enter

 

Craig Marquis (Arlington, TX)

– Age 23

– College Student

– Has been playing poker for only about 18 months

– Plays the guitar

– Plans to buy his family a swimming pool with the prize money

– Paid cash to enter

 

Dennis Phillips (St. Louis, MO)

– Age 53

– Account manager for a commercial trucking company

– Actually lives in suburban town of Cottage Hills, IL – but calls St. Louis his home

– Gained entry by winning a WSOP satellite held at Harrahs Casino in St. Louis

– Nickname is “Fordman”

– Earned B.A. college degree

 

David “Chino” Rheem (Los Angeles, CA)

– Age 28

– Professional Poker Player

– Paid cash to enter

– Has been playing poker for about ten years

 

Ylon Schwartz (Brooklyn, NY)

– Age 38

– Former professional chess player, who hustled games in New York City’s public parks for money

– Discovered he could make a far better living playing poker, and has been doing so the last several years

– 12^th time to cash at the WSOP (more than any other finalist); best previous finish was 15^th place in the $2,000 buy-in Limit Hold’em event this year

 

Darus Suharto (Toronto, Ontario – Canada)

– Age 39

– Accountant

– Born in Indonesia

– Earned MBA from Indiana University

– Won satellite entry into the Main Event

 

• Seats were re-drawn on three separate occasions.  When the 27-player mark, 18-player mark, and 10-player mark were reached, survivors were reconfigured into different tables and seats.  Play was consolidated from three tables down to two about mid-way through the second level of the day (or just three hours into Day Seven).  The rate of bust outs was much quicker than had been anticipated. 

 

• Late on Day Seven, although ten players actually sat at a single table, only the nine surviving players constitute the official “final table,” in standard poker reporting and official WSOP records.

 

• The tenth-place money spot is now referred to as the “TV bubble.”  This is because the player will not partake in the three-month publicity built-up to the final table, nor the actual play of the November Nine,” which will be shown on ESPN.  Dean Hamrick ended up as the tenth-place finisher.  His sorrows will be soothed somewhat by collecting $591,869 in prize money.

 

• When play resumes, the finalists are scheduled to play from nine down to two on November 9^th, and two down to a single winner on November 10^th.

 

• The nine finalists are to be paid 9^th-place prize money at this time ($900,670).  That will leave approximately $24 million up for grabs in November.  Since the interest in $24 million for a 117-day period is substantial, Harrahs Entertainment will place the prize money into an interest-bearing account.  The additional funds earned from the account will be added to the prize pool amongst the remaining nine players.  Hence, each player is expected to collect a bit more in prize money than the figures which have previously been announced.

 

• When play resumes, Level 33 will continue with blinds set at 120,000-240,000 and antes at 30,000.

 

• An interesting side note:  The tournament has now reached the point where a single ante represents 1.5 player buy-ins for the Main Event.  Players started this tournament with 20,000 in chips.  Antes are now 30,000.

 

• ESPN’s broadcasts of this year’s WSOP begin on July 22^nd from 8-10 pm EST.  New programs of various tournaments, including the Main Event, will debut each week.

 

• ESPN will broadcast the final table on November 10^th and 11^th, just hours after play is expected to end on the previous days/nights.

 

• The final table will be played just five days after the conclusion of the U.S. presidential election.

 

• Players who have made it to the “November Nine” have now played a total of 65.5 tournament hours, not counting breaks or end of day recesses.

 

• In the 39-year history of the WSOP, champions were citizens of the following nations at the time of victory:  United States (35), England (1), Ireland (1), Australia (1), Spain (1)

 

• Past WSOP champions were born in the following nations:  United States (31), Iran (2), Ireland (1), Lebanon (1), Ecuador (1), Laos (1), Vietnam (1), and China (1) 

 

• This is the largest World Series of Poker in history.  A grand total of 58,720 players entered into 55 gold bracelet events surpassed last year’s number of entries, which was 54,288.  These figures represent an 8 percent increase over 2007.

 

• This was the richest World Series of Poker in history.  A grand total of $180,676,248 in prize money awarded in 2008 makes this the richest event in all of sports.  Note:  This figure does not include the upcoming four events to be played at WSOP-Europe.  These figures represent an increase of 13 percent over 2007.

 

• This ranks as the second-largest live poker tournament in history.  This year’s turnout surpassed 2007 attendance (6,358) by 7.4 percent.  Only the 2006 WSOP Main Event was larger than this tournament — with 8,773 entrants.

 

• This is the second-largest tournament prize pool in history.  The total prize pool amounts to $64,333,600.  The top 666 finishers will collect prize money.

 

• There were at least 118 different nations and territories represented by all players who entered the 2008 Main Event.  By contrast, there were 87 different countries present last year.   This represents a 36 percent increase in international participation.

 

• The 2008 WSOP Main Event winner will collect $9,119,517 in prize money.  The minimum payout is $21,230. 

 

• The full payout list for the Main Event (all places) is as follows: 

 

$9,119,517	1st
$5,790,024	2nd
$4,503,352	3rd
$3,763,515	4th
$3,088,012	5th
$2,412,510	6th
$1,769,174	7th
$1,286,672	8th
$900,670	9th
$591,869	10th-12th
$463,201	13-15
$334,534	16-18
$257,334	19-27
$193,000	28-36
$154,400	37-45
$135,100	46-54
$115,800	55-63
$96,500	64-72
$77,200	73-81
$64,333	82-90
$51,466	91-99
$41,816	100-162
$38,600	163-225
$35,383	226-288
$32,166	289-351
$28,950	352-414
$27,020	415-477
$25,090	478-540
$23,160	541-603
$21,230	604-666

   

Some of us may have gotten a bit sloppy with the development of the final table yesterday — look, I was going on about 5 hours of sleep over the previous three days, and was so hopped up on caffeine and energy drinks that my urethra had constricted to near the size of a coffee stir. Peeing wasn’t painful, but it did take some extra time … and you readers were already in bed on that final day of 2008 WSOP Summer Camp, and I may have been in a rush to the Hooker Bar farewell when deducing that almost all the final tableists were in their 20s and from California, so … not making excuses, just sayin’ … the process of gathering news on the fly can be a bit messy sometimes.

So here is a more accurate recount of who’s really left in the 2008 WSOP main event:

Interestingly enough, Pokerati readers picked a “middle aged white American male” as most likely to win the main event (we discounted a last-minute surge of Jerry Yang votes after he had been eliminated) — and yet 40somethings were completely shut out of the November Nine. (Ask Tom, Pokerati’s resident 40something, I tell him all the time: it’s a lot easier to win when you make the final table.) New era, it seems.

No one’s got a better collection of WSOP factoids than Nolan Dalla (no offense, KevMath, you’re also a fact gathering machine) … and here are the WSOP media director’s notes about Day 6 (money, players, storylines, countries, stats, etc.) with potentially relevant info about the field moving forward:

[Hmm, maybe it is still the Year of the Pro, even though most of these pros are relatively unknown outside their home casinos?]

More…

This weekend wasn’t about life-changing money so much as it was about life-easing money for those who went super-deep (top 1 percent), but not deep-deep-deep in the main event: Margo Outhred reading David Sedaris’ latest (When You Are Engulfed in Flames) while awaiting important updates via text from her husband Alex. Though supposedly tournament poker is all about going for the win, there were points when he got short-stacked that she became very interested in the payout levels, and would rush back into the Amazon Room to let him know what they stood to gain if he could hold on for X spots longer.

63rd-55th place paid $115,800

WSOP Academy instructor Alex Outhred finished in 54th(-46th) for $135,100 — a small but noticeable victory on his way out of the 2008 WSOP main event.

Oh shit, while contemplating the significance of Tiffany Michelle in a Matusow-less field, I almost completely overlooked Craig Marquis — an online player from Arlington (craigmarq) who Raj Kattamuri introduced to me just the other day. And lo and behold, he’s frickin’ second in chips! 11.5 million! Go craigmarq!

He says he doesn’t really play in Dallas underground games — just sticks to online — but he’s exactly the kinda player who I thought would do well this main event … a relative unknown who ain’t dancin’ at his first WSOP rodeo.

Big pre-emptive congrats, dude, and damn all you longtime Pokerati readers for not giving me the heads-up that a Dallas guy was still alive!!! thanks for giving us another person to cheer on as we work our way towards the November Nine.

Ouch … on a baddish beat where his trip aces with a jack kicker lost to a trip aces with a nine.

That means with 27 players left, there are only two I had heard of before the event started: Brandon Cantu and Tiffany Michelle. I gotta say, though our interaction has been limited to accepting MySpace friend requests and sharing a power outlet in the press box, I’m so ready to jump on the Tiffany Michelle bandwagon. If I’m gonna cheer lead for anyone right now, it’s gonna be her.

I’m almost afraid to comment too much on what her current chip position and status as Last Woman Standing means for fear of the jinx factor. And really, the relevance of anything anyone might have to say about her still depends on the fall of fuckin’ cards. But one thing is for sure, right now, going into the penultimate day of WSOP poker, there is no more valuable commodity player still alive in the main event than 24-year-old Tiffany Michelle — and based on the way agents and backers and Hollywood Daves are all up in her bidness, you can tell I’m not the only one to realize how much is really riding on her action.