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.

Two new bracelet winners were determined Wednesday night, two more bracelet events get underway this afternoon, so here’s a brief recap:

Phillips Wins $1,500 NL 6-Max

Carter Phillips became the 7th-youngest WSOP bracelet winner when he took down the $1,500 No-Limit Holdem 6-max event last night, defeating Samuel Gerber of Switzerland in heads-up play to earn $482,744. Phillips, who won an EPT event last year in Barcelona, has now earned over $1,800,000 in his 18-month tournament career. The full results, along with the tournament report from Nolan Dalla is online at wsop.com.

Gee, I just won a bracelet!

Steve Gee of Sacremento, CA defeated Matt Vance to take down the $1,000 No-Limit Holdem bracelet, along with $472,479. The full results and Dalla’s tournament report is now up at wsop.com.

DeWitt DeBest for Day 3 of 5k NL

Jason Dewitt (1,873,000) leads going into day three of the $5,000 No-Limit Holdem bracelet event, resuming at 2:30pm with the field of 18 playing down to a winner. Among the day 3 survivors: Jeff Williams (1,323,000), Antonio Esfandiari (883,000), Perry Friedman (361,000) and David Benefield (326,000). Chip counts and updates can be found all afternoon over at PokerNews.

$2,000 Limit Holdem

After ten levels of play on day one, Joshua Honegger leads the field with 87,000 in chips at the $2,000 Limit Holdem tournament. Others in contention for a bracelet include Matt Matros (53,700), Matt Glantz (50,700), Eric Buchman (39,400), Joe Serock (38,000) and Joe Serock (33,400). The field of 109 returns at 2:30pm with 45 making the money, with $203,607 going to the winner. The full list of chip counts is now online at PokerNews.

10k 2-7 NL Draw Day 1

Day 2 of the $10,000 No-Limit 2-7 Lowball World Championship resumes at 3pm with 72 of the 101 starters returning. Homan Houshiar will start the day as chip leader, with 116,100 in chips. Following close behind include David “Bakes” Baker (104,000), Tom Dwan (64,100), John Juanda (54,050), Daniel Negreanu (46,800), Yan Chen (33,200) and Team Pokerati’s Tom Schneider (18,700). 14 players will make the money, with the winner pocketing $294,314. Chip counts are now available at PokerNews.

Thursday’s Tournaments

Starting at noon is the $1,500 Pot-Limit Omaha event, last year won by Jason Mercier for over $237,000 over a field of 809. Players will start with 1,500 in chips, along with three “rebuy” chips, each good for 1,000 additional chips used during the first four hours. The 5pm tournament today is the $1,500 Seven Card Stud event, won last year by Jeff Lisandro for almost $125,000, besting a field of 359. While waiting for the tournaments to start, check some of the links along the right hand side for more WSOP content than you ever thought was possible.

Catching up on the goings on from a busy Saturday night:

Ivey Going for Bracelet #7…

Four players remain in the $2,500 Omaha 8/Stud 8 event, with Phil Ivey the current chip leader with over 1.1 million in chips. Ming Le, Carlos Mortensen, and Dutch Boyd round out the remaining players.

and #8?

Remarkably, Ivey is still in the field in the $5,000 PLO 8 or Better event with 23 players remaining, 18 make the money. He’s played very few hands in this event, but the ones he has played have given him a medium sized stack. The current chip leader is Anthony Lellouche with 357,000 in chips. Other notables include: Brett Richey (250,000), Scott Clements (155,000), Jeff Lisandro (124,000), and Ivey (92,000).

McCaffrey One to Beat in $1,500 NL

The final table of the $1,500 NL Holdem event now has six players remaining with Glenn McCaffrey the current chip leader with 2.64m in chips. Michael Greco battled back from a short stack to take second with 2m in chips, followed by Andy “BKiCe” Seth, “Pete the Greek” Vilandos, Dean Hamrick and Alan Jaffray, and round out the field.

Check-Raise FTW

The $1,500 Limit Holdem event is now down to 44 players with Glenn Englebert the leader with 144,000. Notables remaining include Rep Porter, Paul Darden, Noah Boeken, Justin Bonomo and Phil Tom.

Donking Around

The $1,500 NL Holdem donkament field has returned from their dinner break with 846 players remaining from a field of 2,641. Jason Potter is the unofficial chip leader at 28,000 and a cast of hundreds following behind him. Four more levels of play remain, unless they’re near the money and extend play for a few extra minutes.

Tete a Tete on the Felt

The $10,000 Heads-Up NL Holdem World Championship has concluded round 1, with the 2nd round starting at 10pm PT. Notables returning at that time include David Benefield, Dustin “Neverwin” Woolf, Tom Dwan, Greg Raymer, Brock Parker, and Chris Ferguson. Phil Hellmuth, Nam Le, Gus Hansen, Erick Lindgren, Vivek Rajkumar and Howard Lederer weren’t as lucky, as they were early eliminations.

A few more hours remain on Saturday, so check out www.wsop.com and Pokerati for more stuff.

Parker casts spell over Negreanu

Brock Parker, a former Magic the Gathering player, knocked off Daniel Negreanu heads-up to take down his first bracelet in the $2,500 Limit Holdem 6-max event last night.

“Stamdogg” Top Dog in $2,500 NL

Keven “Stamdogg” Stammen bested Angel Guillen to collect over $500,000 and his first bracelet in the $2,500 NL Holdem event.

WSOP, Where Final Tables Actually Happen on Time, Sometimes

The $1,500 7 Card Stud event reached their final table earlier this morning, with action starting at 2pm today. The participants are:

Seat 1: Jeff Lisandro (334,000)
Seat 2: Eric Pardey (217,000)
Seat 3: Nick Frangos (84,000)
Seat 4: John Juanda (287,000)
Seat 5: Mitch Schock (83,000)
Seat 6: Steven Stencil (323,000)
Seat 7: Rod Pardey (245,000)
Seat 8: Daniel Studer (43,000)

Our Pokerati cohort Robert Goldfarb finished 29th for $2,945.

Monday’s other final table will take place later this afternoon in the $5,000 NL Holdem event. Faraz Jaka was the last player eliminated when the clock struck 3am, and with 17 players remaining, Isaac Baron is the chip leader (1,101,000). Other notables remaining: David Pham (880,000), Mike Sowers (583,000), Liya Gerasmova (527,000), Lars Bonding (365,000), Thomas Keller (314,000) and David Benefield (239,000). The players will be returning at 12 noon tomorrow, which didn’t make Bonding or Keller too happy about hearing that news, as this will be streamed on ESPN360 and PKR later this afternoon.

Ladies and Omaha Returnees

The $1,000 Ladles NL Holdem World Championship returns with 146 remaining, of which 117 get paid. The reported chip leader is Tammy Tibbles, with 129,700 in chips. Defending champion Svetlana Gromenkova is in 2nd (62,200). Other notable ladies returning at 2pm today include: Lisa Parsons (46,300), JJ Liu (38,300), Susie Isaacs (32,600), and Maria Ho (24,800).

The $10,000 Omaha 8 or Better World Championship returns with 129 players remaining, 111 of which will leave with nothing. Chris Bjorin is the day 1 chip leader at (134,400) with Scott Clements (130,800), defending champion David Benyamine (94,800) and Phil Hellmuth (83,700) in the top 10. Selected notables include: Phil Ivey, (80,000) Thang Luu (63,400), and Matt Savage (60,100) among the returnees at 2pm today.

Monday: Only One Today

Only one tournament today, the $2,500 NL Holdem 6-max event. Last year, it was won by Dario Minieri in a field of 1,012 for over $528,000. The WSOP Staff Guide projection for this event was set at 1,113. With the recent downward trend in tournament entries, take the under expecting just over 1,000 to take to the felt.

That’s all for me, but more stuff can be found at Pokerati during the day.

A recap of the events from earlier this morning, trying something new to avoid the wall of text my morning reports have become:

Harb-oring a bracelet

Congratulations go out to Anthony Harb who took down the $2,000 NL Holdem event for $569,254 earlier this morning, outlasting Peter Rho and Jim Geary. All three players had cashed in earlier events in the WSOP as Harb and Rho cashed in the $1k NL Stimulus Special), while Geary finished 7th in the $1,500 OHL event.

Off to a Flying Finn-ish start

Onnittelu to the first Finn to win a WSOP bracelet, as Ville Wahlbeck, who had an earlier 3rd place finish in the $10,000 7 Card Stud World Championship bested David Chiu in heads-up play to take home the bracelet that eluded him earlier in the week, collecting nearly $500,000. He also moves into the lead in the WSOP Player of the Year race with 160 points, ahead of Phil Ivey and Vitaly Lunkin’s 110 points.

Another Finn looking for some glory of his own will be Tommi Horkko, who is the chip leader (509,000) with 11 left when the $2,500 Limit Holdem 6-max event gets underway at 1pm today. Daniel Negreanu (470,000) is close behind in 2nd place. Barry Shulman, Brock Parker, Shawn Buchanan and Nikolay Losev are the more notable names remaining in the compact field.

NAFTA: $2,500 NL version

The $2,500 NL Holdem event will also return at 1pm today with 20 players returning to play down to a winner. It”ll be like the Ross Perot v Al Gore debate all over again as Texan Gregg Merkow starts play as the chip leader (932,000), with Mexico’s Angel Guillen (860,000) and Canada’s Bahador Ahmadi (800,000) are the top three stacks fighting it out in the name of free trade and poker supremacy. Other international invaders who’ll be trying to take the bracelet to their own trade zone includes the UK’s Roland de Wolfe (400,000) and Russia’s Kirill Gerasimov (390,000).

Brazilian waxing 5k NL holdem

Brazilian Clemencau Calixto, not to be confused with the New Mexico band Calexico, is the chip leader (186,300) at the end of day 1, as 164 players will return at 2pm. Frere Jacques Faraz Jaka is 3rd in chips at 172,200. Other notables who are in the top half of the field: defending champion Scott Seiver (118,600), Jimmy “Gobbo” Fricke (112,200), Isaac Baron (101,300), David Benefield (85,200), Gavin Griffin (69,100), Erik Seidel (65,900), and Dan Heimiller (56,200).

$1,500 7 Card Studs

From a field of 359, only 97 will make their way back into the Rio at 2pm to attempt to reach a final table. The day 1 chip leader is David Levi (49,600). Among those in the top 10: Dutch Boyd (47,700), Jeff Lisandro (40,700), Jason Mercier (35,000), and Eli Elezra (31,100). Other notables include: Sam Grizzle, Nick Frangos, Pokerati’s own Robert Goldfarb, and Barbara Enright.

Hey Ladies!

Today’s event at 12 noon is the $1,000 NL Holdem Ladies’ World Championship, which was won last year by professional Svetlana Gromenskova in a field of 1,190 to collect just over $220,000 in cash. It remains to be seen if any guys will attempt to enter the field like last year, but it’ll surely make a great photo op for someone bold enough to give it a try.

Omaha, 8? You better!

The 5pm event today will be the $10,000 Omaha 8 or Better World Championship which was won last year by David Benyamine in a field of 235 to add over $535,000 to his tournament stats.

Projections

$1,000 Ladies World Championship – 1,190 (take the over, saying 1,254)
$10,000 OHL World Championship – 247 (take the under, guessing 231)

Follow the updates at www.worldseriesofpoker.com and Pokerati for the other stuff.

As Dan has informed me, my gambling has become a problem. However, the compulsive gambling that I’ve been accused of takes place nowhere near a casino. And quite honestly, in this game of roulette, I’m betting on the house.

Pokery Domains I own… And, yes, would consider selling 😉

*** Oklahoma Poker ***
REDRIVERROUNDUP.COM/.NET – I don’t think Winstar abandoned this one after the rebranding. I’m thinking they never thought to buy it.
WINSTARBLOG.COM – Not bad. I actually know the guy who bought WinstarPoker.com,.net, etc. He’s somewhat to blame for my addiction.
OKIEPOKER.COM
OKPOKERBLOG.COM,.NET
CHEROKEEPOKERBLOG.COM,.NET
CHOCTAWBLOG.COM,.NET
CHOCTAWLIVE.COM,.NET
INDIANPOKERBLOG.COM,.NET
INDIANPOKERNEWS.COM,.NET

*** WSOP/Harrahs ***
THENOVEMBERNINE.NET,.CO.UK,.INFO,.ORG,.TV – Not sure why somebody doesn’t buy all versions of the domain. Didn’t they learn anything from the WSOP.com ownership battles?
THENOVEMBER9.NET,.CO.UK,.INFO,.ORG,.TV
THENOVNINE.COM,.NET,.INFO
THENOV9.COM,.NET,.INFO

More…