Photo: Associated Press

Today’s Boxscore

Barack Obama – 2012 U.S. Presidential Election
Brandon Cantu – 2012 Whiner Series of Poker

Perhaps you were visiting friends in Antarctica or stuck in a pesky coma if you missed the U.S. Presidential election this week. Incumbent Barack Obama easily handled GOP contender Mitt Romney after every politician across the board dumped a ton of money to blast my swing-state airwaves with constant ads. The jury is still out on how this will impact the future of online poker in the States, but I think they’ll have a few more important things to handle at the moment.

In far less exciting news, Brandon Cantu defeated Jon Aguiar in a replay of the controversial Mix-Max WSOP Europe heads up match. To refresh your memory, Cantu whined like a newborn after Aguiar beat him for the bracelet in September because of Main Event scheduling issues and then managed to stand in for an insta-classic PokerNews interview (linked at the bottom of this post).

While no stranger to acting a fool when it pleases him, Aguiar offered to play heads up after Cantu wouldn’t let up on the subject. They played for the difference between 1st and 2nd, but not for the bracelet, at Aria, where Cantu somehow feels vindicated after winning the match and ~$135,000. Lose/lose.

Link Dump

Tweet(s) of the Day – Following the match, Cantu showed his ass.

This teaches me a lesson that crying and complaining really does work in poker

— Brandon Cantu (@brandoncantu) November 8, 2012

@wsoptd will the Wsop be holding a bracelet ceremony for me now? Seems only right

— Brandon Cantu (@brandoncantu) November 9, 2012

Shuffle Up and Deal! Full Tilt Poker Opens for Real Money Online Poker – In the middle of all this excitement, maybe you noticed that Full Tilt Poker has returned to the world of the living. “Rest of World” players outside the U.S. (and various other freedom-bashing countries) are back check/raising the Donkeys/ATMs/Cowboys/Random other avatars.

Players Flock to FTP Tables Despite Cashier Bugs – Full Tilt is making an immediate impact in the poker world according the traffic site PokerScout. So again, congrats to all you players living outside of the States.

Destination Poker: Eight Things You Didn’t Know About Moving to Play Online Poker – Now that Full Tilt Poker is back (and insane Republicans after the election), even more people are looking to move themselves out of the country. PokerNews has a nice writeup of somethings you should consider.

Online Poker One Of 25 ‘Thorny’ Issues In Lame-Duck Session – CardPlayers takes a look at the chances of anything being done for online poker over the next few months of the Congressional lame-duck session. Not too rosy.

WSOPE 2012: Brandon Cantu Speaks his Mind – Brandon Cantu, channeling his inner Hellmuth, rambles in this glorious interview by Sarah Grant on PokerNews. This should be added to the Library of Congress.

Jon Aguiar
Photo: PokerNews.com

Today’s Boxscore

Roger Hairabedian €142,590 – WSOPE €5,300 Pot Limit Omaha
Giovanni Rosadoni €107,614 – WSOPE €3,250 NLH Shootout
Jon Aguiar €258,047 – WSOPE €10,450 Mixed Max NLH
Francisco Da Costa Santos €83,275 – WSOPE €1,650 PLO

Never a dull moment across the Atlantic at the World Series of Poker Europe, this time it was a bizarre ending to the €10,450 Mixed Max Event following a perfect storm of silliness. The tournament began it’s final heads up matches two days ago but was forced to pause the action when Brandon Cantu complained his way through a 9 hour match and then the final between Cantu and Jon Aguiar was paused because the casino was closing. I thought last call in a casino was silly, but closing it all down?

The match had to wait while both players were in the Main Event but both were knocked out on Day 1. Aguiar finally put this one to bed with his first career WSOP bracelet but there is no truth to the rumor he blamed Joe Sebok for the delayed victory. Cantu stayed true to form and spent several spastic minutes in front of the PokerNews video camera (video below).

Link Dump

Tweet of the Day – Jon Aguiar dedicates his WSOPE victory.

I did it! That was for you grandpa!!!

— Jonathan Aguiar (@JonAguiar) October 1, 2012

Tweet of the Day 2 – There are just far too many golden tweets from Mister Cantu so I picked just one. If you need a chuckle, check out his timeline.

God I was fucked that bracelet should have an asterisk next to it

— Brandon Cantu (@brandoncantu) October 1, 2012

PokerCast Episode 239 – Howard Lederer – TwoPlusTwo has a followup podcast with Lederer after his 7 hour PokerNews marathon. I haven’t had the time, or fortitude, to endure another 3 hours so I’ll wait until someone writes a recap.

Lederer backs out of scheduled interview, cites hardship on himself and his family – And then Lederer backed out of a scheduled interview with Diamond Flush Poker. After the soft serve given to Andy Bloch, not sure exactly how much more information would have be gained.

bwin.party Sells Ongame Poker Network For Up To €25 Million – “Amaya looks forward to unleashing Ongame’s technology to its full potential”, kind of sounds like an evil genius trying to take over the world instead of a small B2B poker network.

Obama’s poker tells – So we can’t play online poker here in the States but we can use badly thought out poker metaphors when writing an op/ed about the Presidential election.

WSOPE 2012: Brandon Cantu Speaks his Mind – PokerNews has perhaps the single greatest stream-of-consciousness, whiny interview since the last time someone stuck a camera in Hellmuth’s face. God bless you Brandon Cantu, never change.

A review of Tuesday’s tournament action at the WSOP, with 3 bracelets to be determined during today’s play:

1k NL final table set

The $1,000 No-Limit Holdem final table gets underway this afternoon at 2:30pm with this lineup:

Seat 1: Blake Kelso – 1,166,000
Seat 2: JD McNamara – 2,393,000
Seat 3: Kiet Tran – 2,311,000
Seat 4: Greg Pohler – 1,660,000
Seat 5: David Cai – 844,000
Seat 6: Michael Gross – 535,000
Seat 7: Denis Murphy – 789,999
Seat 8: Jeffrey Tebben – 466,000
Seat 9: John Tolbert – 925,000

Cowley leads final 15 in 2500 NL 6-max

Steve Cowley (1,279,000) leads the remaining 15 players in the $2,500 No-Limit 6-max event when they play down to a winner starting at 3pm. Among the notables with chips: Justin “Boosted J” Smith (641,000) and Erik Cajelais (345,000). The full list of chip counts is online at PokerNews.

Troy leads 1500 Stud 8 on final day

Maxwell Troy (430,000) leads the final 23 players who return at 3pm in the $1,500 Stud Hi/Lo 8 or Better event. Among the familiar names looking to get a WSOP bracelet in this event: David Levi (216,000), Karina Jett (187,000), Blair Rodman (117,000) and Brandon Cantu (50,000). The remaining field’s chip counts is online at PokerNews.

Klein leads 2500 PLO after day 1

A field of 596 players started the $2,500 Pot-Limit Omaha event Tuesday afternoon, with 102 returning at 2:30 today. The final 54 players make the money, with the winner collecting $315,311. The leader is Loren Klein with 187,300 in chips. Other notables on the leaderboard: Richard Ashby (137,700), Tex Barch (72,600), T.J. Cloutier (70,400), Chau Giang (59,800), and Scott Clements (58,200). A full list of the survivors will appear soon at wsop.com.

Lisandro leads 10k limit holdem

The $10,000 Limit Holdem World Championship drew a field of 171, with 102 remaining after ten levels of play. The leader is Jeff Lisandro with 130,900 in chips. Other names you’ve heard of: Brett Richey (113,800), Hoyt Corkins (109,900), Shaun Deeb (89,000), Michael Mizrachi (69,800), Doyle Brunson (65,300) and Jennifer Harman (46,300). The full chip counts are online at wsop.com.

Wednesday’s tournaments

Another two bracelet events get underway this afternoon, starting with the fourth full-ring $1,500 No-Limit Holdem starting at 12pm. The defending champion in this event is Eric Baldwin, defeating a field of 2,095 for $521,991. At 5pm it’s the $1,500 HORSE event, with James Van Alstyne defeating a field of 770, earning $247,033.

Recapping the action from Sunday afternoon:

Hellebuyck wins Ladies’ Championship

The $1,000 Ladies’ Championship just finished as Vanessa Hellebuyckmade quick work of Sidsel Boesen in heads-up play. Hellebuyck wins the specially designed ladies’ WSOP bracelet along with $192,132, with Boesen earning $118,897 for her runner-up finish. Timmi Derosa, fiance of veteran pro Lee Watkinson finished third for $74,389. Team Pokerati Asia member La Sengphet finished in 7th for $22,278. Full results and Nolan Dalla’s tournament report will appear later over at wsop.com.

Dutch Boyd looking for second bracelet

The $2,500 Limit Holdem 6-max field is down to a final table of six as they take a one-hour dinner break. Russ “Dutch” Boyd is the current chip leader with 745,000. He’s followed by Albert Minnullin (696,000), Brian Meinders (635,000), Al “Sugar Bear” Barbieri (305,000), Domenico Denotaristefani (282,000) and Art (formerly known as Julian) Parmann (219,000).

Batista leads 1k NL day 1b field

A field of 1,358 registered for day 1b of the $1,000 No-Limit Holdem has completed six levels of play as the survivors are currently on dinner break. In total, 3289 signed up for this tournament with the top 342 making the money, with the winner earning a cool $503,389. Less than 600 players remain this evening, with the current reported chip leader being Chad Batista with 38,000. Notables with a healthy stack include Eric Froehlich (23,000), Brandon Cantu (15,500), Michael Binger (14,000), Isaac Haxton (9,500) and Robert Varkonyi (8,300). Play will end halfway through level nine, mirroring the day 1a field, with those still having chips combining at 2:30 Monday afternoon.

Dempsey flush with chips in 10k Omaha 8

James “Flushy” Dempsey is looking for his second bracelet of the WSOP as he leads the remaining 73 players with 224,000 in chips as the $10,000 Omaha Hi/Lo 8 or Better World Championship field returns from dinner break soon. Some of the notables with a decent stack include Sammy Farha (220,000), Chino Rheem (194,500), Eric Baldwin (130,000), Phil Hellmuth (98,000), and Matt Glantz (81,000). The field makes the money when 27 remain, as they’re scheduled to play ten levels or reach the final table.

Follow all the results and updates over at PokerNews or wsop.com.

Here’s this week’s Poker 2Nite episode discussing Isildur1, a charity poker tournament hosted by Annie Duke, Brandon Cantu getting tased and an interview with Andy Bloch. Parts 2 and 3 appear on the next page:

More…

I gotta say, @Phil_Hellmuth really is turning into one of the best poker reporters out there … I read his blog, follow his tweets and generally occasionally love his vids; you can tell he is actively working on his 21st-century media game.

Most recently, at his own TASER Foundation charity tourney in Phoenix — the biggest high-society charity poker shindig of the year in Arizona — he was there to report on Brandon Cantu’s being shot with a taser gun … Cantu was paying off a prop-bet he lost at last year’s event with Clonie Gowen.

Damn, ouch … but cool … didn’t realize you could bounce back so quickly from those things.

BTW, an extra-funny … @DonkeyBomber was there as one of the “star poker players” who help make the event extra fun for the Big Charity donors who play … but even on his home turf, our favorite business-exec-turned-author-turned-2007-WSOP-POY-turned-struggling-poker-pro is no Layne Flack or even Roy Winston:

More…

Recapping the rest of Saturday’s action:

Cantu Wins Bracelet #2

In a battle of bracelet winners, Brandon Cantu defeated Lee Watkinson heads-up to win his second career bracelet in the $1,500 Pot-Limit Omaha 8 or Better event, good for $228,867.

Hansen HORSE Honcho

Day 3 of the $50,000 HORSE resumes at 2pm Sunday with 53 players remaining and Gus Hansen (686,000) the chip leader. Other notables close behind include Erik Sagstrom (560,000), Scotty Nguyen (463,000), and Tony G (433,000) in the top 10. The entire list can be found here.

Limit Shootout Final Table

Unfortunately, Tom Schneider won’t be there, but there will be three WSOP bracelet winners at the final table of the $1,500 Limit Holdem Shootout, each starting with 450,000 chips when play resumes at 2pm:

Seat 1: David Williams
Seat 2: Flaminio Malaguti
Seat 3: Greg ‘FBT’ Mueller
Seat 4: Joep Van Den Bijgaart
Seat 5: Jose Barbero
Seat 6: Marc Naalden
Seat 7: Matthew Sterling
Seat 8: Millie Shiu

Bonita Benefits with Donkament Lead

Christopher Bonita (131,700) will start day 2 of the $1,500 NL Holdem event when play resumes at 2pm. Other notables include: Cody Slaubaugh (125,900), Jason Potter (100,100), Amnon Filippi (77,700), Men Nguyen (71,200) and Joe Reitman (41,200).

Sunday’s Tournaments

The noon tournament is the debut of the $3,000 NL Holdem Triple Chance event. With no rebuy tournaments this year, the twist is that players start with 3,000 in tournament chips. They’re also given two “add-on” chips, each good for an additional 3,000 in chips. These can be used any time within the first three levels and any players who still have the chips will have it added to their stack at the end of level three. The WSOP Staff Guide projects a field of 700 for this event. The 5pm tournament today is the $1,500 Seven Card Stud 8 or Better event, which was won last year by Ryan Hughes for over $180,000 in a field of 543. The WSOP Staff Guide projects a field of 598.

More stuff during the day from Pokerati and over at www.wsop.com

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

Habib Holds High HORSE Hierarchy

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

Cantu Leads PLO 8 Final Table

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

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

Day 2 of Limit Holdem Shootout

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

Saturday’s Donkament

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

Recapping the Friday afternoon action…

Vallo Valuable in $50k HORSE

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

Letting Ylon’s Be Bygones

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

Cantu Crushing PLO8

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

Limited Field in Limit Holdem Shootout

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

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

Recapping the end of Thursday action at the WSOP

Kabbaj Picks up the Cabbage

London professional John Kabbaj took down the $10,000 Pot-Limit Holdem World Championship for $633,335 and his first WSOP bracelet, defeating Kirill Gerasimov in heads-up play. Gerasimov has now made nine WSOP final tables without taking down a bracelet, passing Andy Bloch to become the “leader” in that statistic. Eric Baldwin finished in 3rd, followed by Belgium’s Davidi Kitai in 4th and J.C. Alvarado in 5th for an international top 5.

Everyone (But Tenner*) Loves Raymond

Derek Raymond defeated Mark Tenner in a 12-hour long final table in the $2,500 Omaha 8 or Better event, good for $229,129 and a WSOP gold bracelet. Mark Tenner, Omaha-8 author and co-founder of the PPA picked up $141,647 for the runner-up finish.

*Statement probably not true.

Lopez Leads Mixed Field

The final table of the $2,500 Mixed Holdem event is down to its final table, which will be seated as follows, with the first member of 2008’s November Nine making a final table in 2009:

Seat 1: Bahador Ahmadi – 708000
Seat 2: Zachary Humphrey – 99000
Seat 3: Barry Greenstein – 193000
Seat 4: Hasan Habib – 114000
Seat 5: Karlo Lopez – 941000
Seat 6: Randy Haddox – 555000
Seat 7: John McGuiness – 406000
Seat 8: Ylon Schwartz – 286000
Seat 9: Matt Woodward – 653000

The final table will be streamed over at ESPN360 and wsop.pkr.com

Friedman Finishes First (For Friday)

Perry Friedman will be the chip leader (144,500) when action resumes in the $1,500 Pot-Limit Omaha 8 or Better at 2pm Friday. He’ll be joined by Brandon Cantu (105,000), Noah Boeken (64,300), Aaron Kanter (52,000), Phil Hellmuth (41,400), and Randy Holland (38,000) among the notables.

$50,000 HORSE Goes Giddy-Up

The $50,000 HORSE event starts at 12pm today for the first of five scheduled days. The big question will be how many people will enter the event, especially with no ESPN television coverage. Last year Scotty Nguyen and his drunken antics managed to win, taking down almost $2,000,000 in a field of 148. The WSOP Staff Guide projected 151 entries for this event, a similar number to the previous three years. Some say the field will fall to around 100, as some online poker sites will not put up the money for its lesser known players to participate. That will leave it to the big names (and a few that will leave people wondering) making up the field fighting it out for the most prestigious WSOP bracelet outside of the Main Event.

Obligatory Limit Shootout Mention

At 5pm, the $1,500 Limit Holdem Shootout begins. Last year, Matt Graham defeated Jean-Robert Bellande heads-up for the bracelet and over $275,000 in a field of 823. The WSOP Staff Guide projects a field of 901 for this event.

Pokerati will have more about the WSOP during the day, and follow www.wsop.com for live updates during the afternoon.

Here’s what’s happened this afternoon at the WSOP:

Tenner Tenuously Leading Omaha 8

Mark Tenner remains the chip leader with 6 players left in the $2,500 Omaha 8 or Better event. Josh Schlein, Fabio Coppola, Derek Raymond, Scott Bohlman, and Sirous Jamshidi round out the remaining field. Mark Gregorich finished in 8th, while Team Pokerati’s own Pat Poels finished in 9th.

Baldwin Looking to Hit a Double

Eric “basebaldy” Baldwin is the current chip leader with 7 players remaining in the $10,000 Pot-Limit Holdem World Championship, returning shortly after 8:30pm PT and streaming at www.bluffmagazine.com/live and wsop.pkr.com. Davidi Kitai, John Kabbaj, J.C. Alvarado, Kirill Gerasimov, Eugene Todd and Jason Lester are the remaining players at that final table.

Kuether in the Mix

Joe Kuether is the current chip leader (296,000) with 28 players remaining in the $2,500 Mixed Holdem event as they will end with either a final table of nine or when the clock strikes 3am. Randy Haddox is in second place (290,000) with Ylon Schwartz (245,000), Matt Matros (240,000), Barry Greenstein (227,000), and Gavin Griffin (145,000) in the top 10.

PLO 8, Flopping the Nuts is Great!

A field of 762 entrants started the $1,500 Pot-Limit Omaha 8 or Better event Thursday afternoon. When the players return from their 90-minute dinner break, approximately 270 players remain. No chip leader has been announced, but before the break Brandon Cantu was around 35,000 with Phil Hellmuth at 27,400 followed by Noah Boeken at 25,500.

Check the live updates at www.wsop.com and Pokerati for other stuff during the night.

Players to Watch

Negreanu

Wahlbeck

Johnston

Shinn

Turner

Flack

Boukai

Recapping the conclusion of Monday’s play… and looking forward at Tuesday’s action ready to get underway.

Foley Flies Home a Winner

Ray Foley, a business manager for Chrysler Financial, bested Brandon Cantu headsup to take down the $1,500 NL Holdem event early Tuesday morning, collecting $657,969 along with his first WSOP bracelet. Cantu was hoping to pick up his second, starting heads-up play and had Foley drawing to two outs in what appeared to be the final hand, but Foley caught a third ten on the turn to pass Cantu’s flopped pair of kings to take the lead. Foley’s Q-J outkicked Cantu’s J-7 on a jack high board in the final hand to send Foley, a resident of Northville, Michigan home the winner. Alex Jacob was the only other notable at the final table, finishing third.

Graham Cracks Russian, Wins PLO World Title

The $10,000 Pot-Limit Omaha World Championship was won by Matt Graham, coming back from a 9 to 1 chip deficit to win his second career WSOP bracelet. The other three previous WSOP bracelet winners finished 7th, 8th and 9th (Josh Arieh, Richard Austin and Barry Greenstein respectively).

Five Remain in 5k Shootout

The final table of the $5,000 NL Holdem Shootout is now set, and here’s how the players will be seated, each with 1,500,000 in chips when play resumes at 2pm PT:

Seat 1: Maxim Lykov – 900000
Seat 2: Danny Wong – 900000
Seat 3: Andrew Lichtenberger – 900000
Seat 4: Peter Traply – 900000
Seat 5: Nasr El Nasr – 900000

Turner Hopes To Turn It On Again

14 players remain in the $2,500 8-Game Mixed event with Jon Turner (469,200) the chip leader when play resumes at 2pm. Other notables returning: Adam Friedman (325,800), Layne Flack (283,400), former MMA fighter and bracelet winner Rami Boukai (137,700), and Jimmy Fricke (47,400).

Seniors Day 2

Lloyd Shinn of Dallas (86,500) leads the 397 players returning for Day 2 of the $1,000 Seniors NL Holdem World Championship at 2pm. Former WPT winner Eric Hershler (82,500) is in second. A few names stand out among the remaining players, such as Jerry Reed (38,500), former WSOP Main Event winner Berry Johnston (29,400), “Minneapolis Jim” Meehan (27,400), and Hall of Famer Barbara Enright (24,600).

Razzerific!

Day 2 of the $2,500 Razz has Warwick Mirzikinian the leader (59,400) of the 118 players returning at 2pm on Tuesday. The field started with 315 players, only 32 making the money. Notables also returning include: David Chiu (41,800), Kenna James (38,600), Ville Wahlbeck (35,300), Justin Bonomo (30,600), Daniel Negreanu (21,900), and Archie Karas (15,900).

Tuesday’s Tournaments

Another two tournaments on Tuesday, starting with the $10,000 Pot-Limit Holdem World Championship, won last year by Nenad Medic for almost $800,000 in a field of 352. The 5pm tournament is the debut of the $2,500 Omaha 8 or Better event. The WSOP Staff Guide projects a field of 370 for the 10k PL Holdem event, while in the $2,500 OHL, a field of 525 is projected.

Recapping the six-pack of WSOP events on Monday:

Graham Looking to Crack PLO Final Table

Matt Graham is the current chip leader at the $10,000 Pot-Limit Omaha World Championship final table which features several WSOP bracelet winners (including Graham). Here’s how the players are currently seated, currently streaming on ESPN360 and wsop.pkr.com:

Seat 1: Ferit Gabriellson
Seat 2: Matt Graham
Seat 3: Barry Greenstein
Seat 4: Josh Arieh
Seat 5: Stefan Mattsson
Seat 6: Richard Austin
Seat 7: Van Marcus
Seat 8: Vitaly Lunkin
Seat 9: Robin Keston

Can Cantu Can Do?

The $1,500 NL Holdem event is now on dinner break, returning with eight players remaining. Roy Foley is the current chip leader, with Brandon Cantu currently in second, with Alex Jacob in third.

Shootout Nears its OK Corral

The $5,000 NL Holdem Shootout has one table remaining before play concludes with the five winners of their six person table. Andrew Licthenberger, Danny Wong, Maxim Lykov and Peter Traply have already claimed their seat, while Nasr El Nasr and Barny Boatman are playing for the last seat. Phil Ivey was at the same table as El Nasr and Boatman, finishing 8th to move into the lead in the WSOP POY standings if the criteria doesn’t change.

Thang Doing his Thang in 8-Game

Thang Luu is trying to prove he’s not an Omaha-8 wonder, as he’s the current chip leader (150,000) in the $2,500 Mixed Event with 54 players remaining, 40 making the money. Other notables with chips: Michael Binger (115,300), Layne Flack (80,000), Blair Rodman (67,500), Jimmy Fricke (50,000) and Robert Williamson III (30,000). Play will continue until the 3am deadline or when 8 players remain, whichever comes first.

Seniors Sellout

A capacity field of 2,707 members of the over 50 set started the $1,000 Seniors NL Holdem World Championship with about 900 players returning after the dinner break with four levels remaining in the day.

Razz Draws Respectable Field

The $2,500 Razz event drew a field of approximately 300 (including Pokerati’s own Tom Schneider) to the Amazon room, with those sick enough to play razz playing eight levels before play ends for the evening.

No official chip leaders have been named in the above two events, but those who head to www.wsop.com should find updates during the evening hours.

Finishing up Saturday’s action from the WSOP…

Lisandro Pulls the Triple Double at the Rio

Jeff Lisandro became the third double bracelet winner of this year’s 2009 WSOP when he took down the $10,000 7 Card Stud Hi/Lo 8 or Better World Championship a couple hours ago defeated Farzad Rouhani at about 4am Vegas time. Lisandro pockets over $430,000 for his victory as well as several hours sleep before he comes back to the Rio Sunday to hear Italy’s national anthem this afternoon. When he won his first bracelet two weeks ago in the $1,500 7 Card Stud event, the Australian national anthem was played, making him the first to have two anthems played. This is also the first time more than two players have won multiple bracelets since when six players (Chan, Ferguson, Juanda, Hellmuth, Flack, and Men Nguyen) won bracelets in 2003. His second bracelet also moves him into a tie for first in the red-hot WSOP Player of the Year Race.

Texan Tops in NL Holdem

Jordan Smith from College Station, Texas took down the $2,000 NL Holdem event, pocketing $586,212 after defeating Ken Lennaard heads-up to take home a bracelet. From Nolan Dalla’s tournament report, Smith had this to add about legalizing poker in Texas:

“I think poker definitely needs to be legalized and regulated. Legalize it. Tax it. Regulate it. I don’t think it’s the government’s job to tell me what to do or how to spend my money – even though they sure want a cut of this (taxes) whenever I win it.”

This was event #36 of the WSOP, and after only one woman (Annie Duke) had made a previous final table, there were two at this one. Almira Skripchenko who is more well known for her successes in chess, being an FIDE Woman Grandmaster, finished in 7th place, good for $78,644. Laurence Grondin from Montreal, Quebec, Canada finished in 3rd for $237,537.

Obligatory Limit Holdem Final Table Mention

The final table of the $2,000 Limit Holdem consists of:

Seat 1: Jared O’Dell 189,000
Seat 2: Danny Qutami 323,000
Seat 3: Ian Johns 113,000
Seat 4: Marc Naalden 755,000
Seat 5: Tommy Hang 202,000
Seat 6: Steven Cowley 322,000
Seat 7: Rep Porter 287,000
Seat 8: Jameson Painter 205,000
Seat 9: Alex Keating 284,000

O’Dell, Johns, Hang and Porter list Washington state on their bio sheet, which may be the first time Washington state has represented so strongly at a WSOP final table.

Charania in Charge

Moshin Charania finished day 1 of the $1,500 NL Holdem event the leader with 144,100 in chips with 327 players remaining, of which 270 make the money. Brandon Cantu (86,600), Grant Hinkle (85,800), Jeff Williams (66,200), Eric Baldwin (63,400) and Shane Schleger (63,000) are some of the players who won’t be playing the Sunday tournaments online, as they’ll be returning to the Amazon room at 2pm.

Nate is Great in PLO

Nate Lindsay from San Francisco is the chip leader (482,200) at the end of day 1 in the $10,000 Pot-Limit Omaha World Championship with 116 players remaining, only 27 getting paid. Noah Schwartz (292,600), Ilari “Ziigmund” Saharies (229,400), David Williams (223,000), and Josh Arieh (220,600) round out the top five. Steve Zolotow (220,200), Ben Grundy (191,000), Tom McEvoy (142,800), Erick Lindgren (120,900) and Jimmy “Gobbo” Fricke (108,000) are just some other notables back for more action at 2pm as they attempt to make the final table.

Sunday’s Tournaments

The 12pm tournament day is the $5,000 NL Holdem Shootout which was won by Phillip Tom in a field of 360 for over $475,000. The WSOP Staff Guide projects a field of 396 for this event, but if it’s slightly above that, it could cause a bit of a problem for tournament staff. The payout structure for the shootout event pays 40 spots if the field is between 378 and 420, which would create 11-player tables for the first round if the field size is in the 401-420 range. The 5pm tournament is the debut of the $2,500 8-Game event which consists of HORSE, NL holdem, PLO and 2-7 triple draw, with a projected field size of 250.

More updates during the day at Pokerati and follow the WSOP at WSOP.com

The first of three final tables has reached its conclusion as Jason Mercier took down the $1,500 Pot Limit Omaha event as he went on a rush when it got to six-handed to take the chip lead, beating Steven Burkholder heads-up to take down a WSOP bracelet to go along with his two EPT titles he earned in 2008. The other two final tables the $1,000 NL Holdem “Stimulus Special” as the players are about to return from their dinner break, with Steve Sung the chip leader at 8,700,000 followed by “Pete the Greek” Vilandos (5,930,000) and James Matz III (3,650,000). You can watch the conclusion of this final table on ESPN360 or http://wsop.pkr.com for those without the ESPN service. The $10,000 7 Card Stud World Championship is also down to their final three with Freddie Ellis (2,330,000), followed by Eric Drache (1,435,000) and Ville Wahlbeck (495,000).

The two Day 2 events are moving towards their conclusions, one much more likely to reach a final table than the other. Twelve players remain in the $2,500 NL 2-7 Draw Lowball event, with John Monnette holding the chip leader. They’ll be playing down to a final table of 8 with Tony G, Layne Flack, Phil Ivey, David Grey and Freddy Deeb the players you’ve heard of remaining. The $1,500 NL Holdem event is currently down to about 110 players, trying to get to their final table for their Internet broadcast tomorrow at 2pm on bluffmagazine.com. People you’ve heard of remaining: Brandon Cantu, Jacobo Fernandez, Nancy Todd Tyner, Grant Hinkle, and Michael Martin.

The $1,500 NL Holdem 6-max event drew a field of 1,459 which was down to 318 after the dinner break, while the $2,500 PL Holdem/PLO event drew a field of 453 which has been whittled down to 261 as they take their dinner break. See who’s remaining in those fields over at www.worldseriesofpoker.com and I’ll be back with more stuff tomorrow.