A short recap of Thursday’s afternoon action, with congratulations going to Bertrand “ElKY” Grospellier, who won the one-table SNG for the final WSOP Tournament of Champions seat, defeating Michael Mizrachi heads-up.

DeWitt leads 5k NL final table

Jason Dewitt (2,600,000) holds a slight chip lead over Jeff Williams (2,550,000) with 8 players remaining in the $5,000 No-Limit Holdem final table. David Benefield (1,265,000) and Amit Makhija (720,000) are others looking to take down the title.

Brussard leading 2k limit holdem

The $2,000 Limit Holdem event is down to 48 players, with the money bubble burst when 45 remain. Andrew Brussard leads with 158,000 in chips, followed by Daniel Makowsky (140,000), Matt Matros (80,500), and Joe Serock (71,500) among the notables.

Danzer leads 10k 2-7 Lowball

George Danzer (200,000) leads the 34 remaining players in the $10,000 2-7 No-Limit Lowball World Championship. He’s followed by David “Bakes” Baker (187,000), Eric Cloutier (145,000), Billy Baxter (101,000) and Daniel Negreanu (97,100) among the recognized names returning shortly from dinner break.

$1,500 PLO Day 1

The $1,500 Pot-Limit Omaha event drew a field of 889, with the top 81 making the money, with a first place prize of $256,919. Half of the field has already been eliminated before the dinner break, with the unofficial chip leader Wade Townsend with 55,000. Jordan Morgan (44,500), Fabrice Soulier (40,000) and “Miami John” Cernuto (32,000) among the names you’ve heard of in the top 10. Four more levels of play are left, with a chance that the money bubble will be burst later tonight.

$1,500 Stud Day 1

A field of 408 started the $1,500 Seven Card Stud event this afternoon, with the last 40 remaining earning more than they paid. In early action, Sorel Mizzi is the unofficial leader with 10,000, followed by Cyndy Violette (8,000), Allen Kessler (7,000) and Humberto Brenes (6,100). The field will play eight levels before calling it a night.

We take you into Tao of Pokerati studios on a random Sunday evening bustling with action. Pauly and I look at Kiddie Table HORSE and discuss how a new player-of-the-year point system — with Scotty Nguyen and Erick Lindgren at the Big Dog HORSE final table — presents real possibilities for a WSOP Triple Crown. Special appearances by Isabelle Mercier, David Benyamine, Donkey Bomber, Jerry Buss, Cyndy Violette, Richard Brodie, and Chris Ferguson.

Episode 18: Triple Crown-and-Coke

Not in the tournament, I don’t think … but I did just see him hobble by (distinguishedly) in apparent defeat.

Speaking of Doyle, I’ve also noticed Arizona player Mike Wattel decked out in Doyle’s Room gear — a DR.net wide-brimmed golf hat and heavily washed DR.com golf shirt. Congrats to Wattel for whatever deal he’s worked out. Am guessing it’s no coincidence that he has been logo’ed up by the same room as his ex-girlfriend Cyndy Violette.

(Syntax dilemma of the day: Does Cyndy Violette support Doyle’s Room, or does Doyle’s Room support Cyndy?)

Am also noticing a lot more dot-commage all over the place this year. From my perch in the pressbox, right in front of me I see some Euro journo wearing a big PokerStars.com splay on the back of his T-shirt … and several other players in the second-chance tourney right in front of me wearing all sorts of FullTiltPoker.com swag.

Not sure yet what this means … either it’s irrelevant because there’re no TV cams around, or in general The Empire* is lightening up over the terrorist threat dot-coms present?

As mentioned below, Tom is doing rather well in the WPT Championship after Day 2. (This could be the tournament my fantasy team needs! Don’t let me down, guys, I got $20 riding on your results!)

Here is some plausibly interesting raw audio of my two Beyond the Table cohorts recapping Day 1 — with intense, hardcore hand histories to boot:

Tom Schneider/Karridy Askenasy – 4/22/07
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Highlights below:

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