LAS VEGAS–Here\’s what\’s going on today at the WSOP, and some of what\’s recently gone down leading up to it all:
A Canadian Polack named LUKASZ DUMANSKI won the $1,500 Omaha Hi Lo event. Go non-American players!
The $50,000 HORSE final table has been set.
Interesting field and chip situations …
Amnon Filippi 4,015,000
Freddy Deeb 3,500,000
Kenny Tran 2,445,000
John Hanson 1,995,000
David Singer 1,330,000
Bruno Fitoussi 895,000
Barry Greenstein 750,000
Thor Hansen 40,000
(Pokerati fave GABE KAPLAN went out on the final table bubble, in 9th place.)
You\’ll notice that TOM SCHNEIDER is not there. He went out early in Day 2. He was in the Big-little-big one for $34,000. The rest went to a smattering of backers, to whom 9 percent was available for $5,000. Can Tom build on his early WSOP success and make that third final table without dropping below the six-figure mark? After paying taxes, BACKERS, and living expenses associated with moving to Las Vegas for two months, mixed with tournament buy-ins, cash-game losses, and fancy scotches for Dan … the money can go fast during the WSOP.
Day 2 of Omaha Hi Lo gets underway at 2 pm pacific, 4 pm central.
Day 1 was a pretty relaxed, jovial affair … presumably because it was a relatively low buy-in for the big-time pros who had busted out of the $50k HORSE event. Very fun and chatty. On a break PHIL HELLMUTH and ROBERT WILLIAMSON III had a semi-private discussion about sponsorship deals and the logistics of autographing products en masse. (The easiest are things you can sign with one hand, and slide to the side with the other.)
At the 2007 WSOP, patches are the new body paint.
The other final table today is in the $2,000 Limit Hold\’em event — no known pros in this one.
Getting underway at noon is the $5,000 World Championship of 6-handed No-Limit Hold\’em.
And the 5 pm (Vegas time) tourney is $1,000 7-stud Hi Lo (aka Stud 8 aka Stud 8 OB aka Stud 8 or better).
JEFFREY POLLACK has a new post up on his \”blog\” (yo, dudes, they\’re called \”posts,\” OK? Get with the program … a single memo ain\’t no blog, but a collection of such theoretically could be)— where he informs the poker world (at 10:30 pm last night) that there will be a \”players town hall\” at 10:30 am today. I\’m a bigger fan than most of the poker\’s most corporate representative, but either he doesn\’t realize that poker hours dictate that the vast majority of players won\’t see this, which is pretty bad … or he does, which is worse. But still, we kinda like The Jeffster\’s relative openness in his \”blogs\” .:
[STEVE ZOLOTOW] was so honest with me that he started our conversation by asking for my boss’s phone number so he could call to recommend that I and every other key WSOP executive be fired.
Pollack, of course, ain\’t going nowhere — at least not for a while — but can you imagine if the \”blogs\” on worldseriesofpoker.com had comments?
UPDATE: Amy informs me that the players town hall was actually held yesterday … 11-and-a-half hours before Pollack\’s post went up. Nice … Here ye, hear ye!
Don\’t forget to follow my following the cash game action at the Rio. It\’s a little awkward poking around these games with a notepad and camera, because a lot of people make their livings at these tables and don\’t really want people to know that they are good.
Favorite hand of the night would come a little later upon busting out the dude in the background for another $600.
By the way, if you like the photos, you can see more of what Pokerati sees by checking out our FLICKR gallery.
In other news, ERICK LINDGREN beat PHIL IVEY in a $340,000 golf course prop bet. RAM VASWANI chits presumably in the mail.
