So earlier in the day … I’m in the media room for the Epic Poker League final table. (Stop LOLing.) One of the PR ladies running the room asked me if I had any predictions. LOL. “I think you’re asking the wrong guy,” I said.

But I decided to look at who was left, what the chipstacks were (in relation to the blinds), position at the table … damn, this is a tough FT … and indeed, offered up a prediction, based on the above factors and a little bit of karmic guesstimating. We already knew Huck Seed was out in 6th, so that one was a freebie. But with that could I accurately call the bust-out order for the remaining five? I bet I could …

And that got me thinking about what kinda impact Epic might have on or with sports-betting, as recent changes to Nevada law have allowed casinos to offer betting lines on non-athletic events, such as the WSOP .

So with imaginary money on the line, I made my predictions:

EPL Pick Six
1. Erik Seidel Jason Mercier
2. Jason Mercier Erik Seidel
3. Chino Rheem
4. Gavin Smith
5. Hasan Habib
6. Huck Seed

UPDATE: Game over: Seidel out, Chino wins, creditors rejoice.
UPDATE: Jason Mercier 3rd.
UPDATE: Hasan Habib 4th.
UPDATE: Gavin Smith out in 5th.

Hmmm, now I remember why I stopped betting horses.

Time for a recap of the Tuesday night tournament action:

Kassela bests Kessler at Stud 8

Frank Kassela outlasted Allen Kessler and the rest of a stacked final table to win the $10,000 Seven Card Stud Hi/Lo 8 or better World Championship along with $447,446. Jennifer Harman, Steve Zolotow, and John Juanda finished third, fourth and fifth respectively. A full list of the results and Nolan Dalla’s tournament report can be found at wsop.com or read what Pauly wrote about the final table here.

Baker leads 1k final table

Veteran pro David Baker leads the final table of the $1,000 No-Limit Holdem final table when play resumes at 2:30pm. Here’s how the rest of that table will be seated, with the winner pocketing $472,479:

Seat 1: Jared Hamby – 423,000
Seat 2: Daniel Thomas – 602,000
Seat 3: Matthew Vance – 1,731,000
Seat 4: Jeffrey Gross – 281,000
Seat 5: Mats Gavatin – 393,000
Seat 6: Nicholas Heather – 993,000
Seat 7: David Baker – 2,553,000
Seat 8: Kyung Han – 613,000
Seat 9: Steven Gee – 1,540,000

Phillips leads Day 3 of $1,500 6-max

Carter Phillips (922,000) leads the remaining 16 players who’ll return at 2:30pm to determine the winner of the $1,500 No-Limit Holdem 6-max event. Other notables returning include Mark Flowers (545,000), and Jimmy Tran (219,000). The full list of players remaining are at PokerNews.com.

Goosen Leads 5k NL Day 2

Steven Goosen (229,000) leads the 202 players who made it through the first ten levels of the $5,000 No-Limit Holdem who return at 2:30pm. Other notables also returning: Chino Rheem (185,800), James Dempsey (165,800), Michael Gracz (131,800), Tony G (98,500), Joe Sebok (88,100), Phil Hellmuth (82,100), and TJ Cloutier (77,200). The full list of chip counts is now online at PokerNews.

Wednesday’s Tournaments

The doubleheader returns to the WSOP this afternoon, first is the $2,000 Limit Holdem event starting at 12pm. Dutch pro Marc Naalden won this event last year in a field of 446 for $190,770. At 5pm is the $10,000No-Limit 2-7 Lowball Single Draw World Championship, last year won by Nick Schulman for $279,751 in a field of 96. This event starts you out with 7,500 in chips with three additional “rebuy” chips, each good for 7,500 in chips to be added to your stack anytime during the first four hours.

Follow along at home starting at high noon over at PokerNews or www.wsop.com

Going over what’s happened so far this Tuesday at the WSOP:

10k Stud 8 Final Table Set

The final table of the $10,000 Stud 8 or Better final table has been set, with plenty of big names looking to take down a bracelet this evening. Here’s how the final table will look when play resumed at 9pm:

Seat 1: Jennifer Harman – 861,000
Seat 2: Steve Zolotow – 684,000
Seat 3: Frank Kassela – 800,000
Seat 4: John Juanda – 787,000
Seat 5: Vladimir Schmelev – 304,000
Seat 6: Kirill Rabtsov – 882,000
Seat 7: Allen Kessler – 467,000
Seat 8: Dario Minieri – 316,000

Follow the split-pot action at PokerNews.

Vance Still Best in $1k NL

Matt Vance remains the chip leader (1,100,000) with 19 remaining on day 3 of the $1,000 No-Limit Holdem event. David Baker, no relation to 50k Player’s Championship final tablist David “Bakes” Baker, has 990,000. It was hoped that they would play down to a finish, but that looks unlikely at this time, so they’ll stop when they reach the final 9. See what does happen by following over at PokerNews.

$1,500 NL 6-max Day 2

The $1,500 No-Limit Holdem 6-max has under 50 players remaining, with Michael Myers the current chip leader with 385,000. Other notables include Ray Henson (329,000), Jordan Morgan (240,000), and Mark Seif (200,000). Follow the updates and results over at wsop.com.

$5,000 NL Day 1

The only tournament to start this afternoon, the $5,000 No-Limit Holdem event drew a field of 792 players, up over 100 from last year’s edition. Under 500 remain after the dinner break at the end of level 6 with Amit Makhija currently in front with 83,000 in chips. Other notables near the top: Chino Rheem (60,000), Perry Friedman (55,000), Scott Fischman (53,000) and defending champion Brian Lemke (48,900). More updates and chip counts are available at wsop.com.

Oh, huh, whaddya know … another international team event. Yep, this concept of national pride meets team poker ain’t going nowhere. (You know who you are who said that, dumbshit(s) ha ha.)

We’ve got the Caesar’s Cup coming up at WSOP-Europe, PokerStars has their America’s Cup of Poker, there’s another new op taking shape called World Team Poker … and at the APT-Macau tourney going on right now, they just had the JBET Battle of Nations, where the Koreans — represented by Brandon Wong, Chino Rheem, and Steve Sung — outmuscled the Vietnamese Le brothers — Nam, Tommy, and Allan — to take down an HK$406,000 first prize. (US$52,400.)

I don’t quite understand how it worked — teams of 3 playing macro-heads-up on 6-handed tables? — but click below for more details … I’m sure it was a good time; team poker always is … and with all these events I think it’s clear that team poker will indeed become a part of the true-to-life poker landscape … making the real question now: which format is gonna stick? I dunno, maybe I’m jumping the gun … but the Winter Olympics, World Cup 2010 … how can flags not be coming into fashion on the poker table and off?

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The Day 1c field has returned from its dinner break a few minutes ago, with two more levels to play today. The difference between this field and the first two Day 1’s is that the field as well as tomorrow’s field will play 5 two-hour levels. When Day 2a commences Tuesday, they’ll also play 5 two-hour levels, while the Day 2b field will play 4 levels. A field of 1,697 were registered today, and there’s a possibility that Monday’s Day 1d field could be sold out. If not, it will certainly be the largest Day 1 field with well about 2,300 already registered.

Notable names already eliminated: Annie Duke, Daniel Negreanu, Evelyn Ng, John Caldwell, Lacey Jones, Chino Rheem, and Jamie Gold. The unofficial leader at this time is Jeff Lisandro, looking for his 4th bracelet this year, leading the field with 132,000 in chips. Other notables with stacks include Hevad Khan (94,000), Joe Hachem (88,000), David Singer (78,000), Justin Bonomo (56,800), Brett “gank” Jungblut (51,000), Scotty Nguyen (49,000), and Dan Harrington (47,500). Other chip counts and live updates can be found at the wsop.com site here.

More updates later this evening from Team Pokerati, and another update from me in the morning recapping who’s left at the end of the night.

I’m about to head over the the Golden Nugget (in an hour or so) … so then I’ll have an official count on who’s playing … but there were some last-minute swaps in play.

Yesterday, both Peter Eastgate and Barry Greenstein were hanging around waiting for an open seat. When Sam Simon decided to call it quits, Greenstein took it … seniority?

David Benyamine, Doyle Brunson, Ilari Sahamies, Eastgate, and Greenstein supposedly have their seats for today locked up. Eastgate was playing highest-stakes at the Bellagio on Friday in preparation, and lost $100k to Daniel Alaei and some player named “Brinn”. (My phonetical translation of what I heard from Eastgate’s heavy-accent recount.)

Phil Hellmuth was supposed to play today, but he backed out. Likewise for Phil Ivey. Ivan Demidov considered taking one of the empty seats, but ultimately declined. As of late yesterday, Chino Rheem was a probable, and Alaei was a possible.

UPDATE: Just got word from the set … players are late. Start delayed a half-hour.

CORRECTIONS: Tom Dwan took Sam Simon’s seat. Hellmuth was never officially on the sked. But somebody told me he might play. Perhaps he just felt the games on UB were better for him?

Courtesy of PokerListings

By all accounts, the WPT Doyle Brunson Five Diamond World Poker Classic final table was going to be a good one with a line-up that included Corkins, Sung, Rheem, and Filippi. But most eyes were on Rheem, who was one of the November Nine favorites but had to settle for a seventh place finish at the 2008 WSOP final table.

Rheem was determined going into the WPT final table, even knowing that two of his opponents – Steve Sung and Amnon Filippi – were close friends. But as players dropped out of sight, Rheem was able to go heads-up against Justin Young in what ended up being a five-hour epic heads-up match. The chip lead was exchanged numerous times, but it may have been sheer determination and fan support that led Rheem to finally capture the title at 2am. He won the World Poker Tour title and the $1,538,730 that came with it.

Here are the final results:

6th – Hoyt Corkins $216,175
5th – Amnon Filippi $288,235
4th – Steve Sung $396,206
3rd – Evan McNiff $540,440
2nd – Justin Young $936,760
1st – Chino Rheem $1,538,730

I would point you to the official WPT live updates, but it has been unavailable on the internets all morning. So, for updates as they happened throughout the final table, check out Martin’s reporting at PokerListings.

At dinner break, Dr. Pauly and I discuss Chino Rheem’s bustout interview and its political inspiration, along with PokerStars’ domination over Full Tilt. (Four Stars players left, one Full Tilter.) In fact, there’s even a rumor we start discuss about PokerStars’ intentions to start its own country — which would be theoretically feasible, and would probably have the best prisons.

Book 4: WSOP Final Table
Episode 4.7: Pokerstarzistan 2:04

[audio:tao/TOP-4-7a.mp3]

I go rogue to bring you the bustout of David “Chino” Rheem — supposedly the most serious pro at the table, but also the guy with the most serious criminal record. Dude knows how to play hardball, though, as we’ve all seen him on ESPN get hella lucky to get here, and the (unconfirmed) word buzzing around the room is that he was a contract holdout with PokerStars, reportedly threatening not to wear his gear without more money attached to it. To be sure, much of this is just rumor second-hand from quasi-reliable sources, but on Tao of Pokerati — especially without Pauly to keep me in check and Benjo to keep it funny — does that really matter?

Book 4: WSOP Final Table
Episode 4.6: Poker Rogue 1:05

[audio:tao/TOP-4-6.mp3]

Courtesy of PokerStars Blog

David “Chino” Rheem hasn’t had the best of days. After starting his trip to Vegas with some questionable logo decisions and seeming uncertainty about to follow through on a deal, it seemed that karma wasn’t on Chino’s side, and he knew it.

After going through the motions at the final table and holding back any emotions that may have indicated enjoyment, his A-K was busted by the A-Q of Peter Eastgate when a queen fell on the flop. Chino was escorted to the media portion of the evening where the first question aimed at the 7th place finisher was something like, “How are you feeling right now?” And reportedly, his response was, “Are you f**king serious?” A tirade ensued, and though he calmed down to answer some reasonable follow-up questions, Chino and his backers poker pro-filled entourage soon exited the Penn & Teller Theater.

Lou Kreiger is reporting the new rumored big-media poker date is Nov. 9. Makes sense to me. So long as nothing really-really big happens between now and then.

Otherwise I’d expect a President/Election story, something political (probably about the environment, or Wall Street), poker (with Russ Hamilton as the villain), and a few minutes with Andy Rooney.

Presuming this story does run on November 9th — whether it’s “good for poker” or not — it will be great promotion to non-poker people of ESPN’s final table broadcast. And these people, frankly, wouldn’t know a Peter Eastgate from a Brandun Cantu or a Craig Marquis from Huck Seed … or heck, even a Chino Rheem from a JC Tran, and won’t care so long as they see some fireworks.

UPDATE: Poker Player Newspaper gives a little confirmation on the date. So set your Tivos, unless of course a war breaks out before then.

In a stunning development, one of the WSOP November Nine has cashed in a poker tournament. And it just happened to be Kelly Kim, the shortest stacked player waiting to head back to the Rio in Las Vegas to attempt an immediate double-up at the WSOP final table. But instead of stuntin’ around Los Angeles with his 9th place money, he’s honing his final table skills.

In Event #13 of the Legends of Poker tournament series at the Bicycle Casino in L.A., Kelly was one of the 252 players in the $335 NLHE w/rebuys. And he ended up finishing in 4th place for a $10,650 payday.

In other November Nine news, David “Chino” Rheem did make the trip last week to Uruguay for the LAPT Punta del Este, but he was busted early on Day 1 when his 9-6 ran into a 6-4 and a 4 flopped. (PokerStars reported the action here.) Chino, along with Ivan Demidov and Peter Eastgate, are scheduled to play the WSOP Europe next month, so it will be possible to see some results from them there.

A few weeks back, a bunch of us got a press release from PokerStars boasting that six of The November Nine were Team PokerStars players. Now don’t get me wrong — I’ve got lots of friends at PokerStars and generally like what they do. But c’mon, who ya tryin’ to fool? Those guys aren’t really PokerStars players — at least not in the way Chris Moneymaker and Greg Raymer were!

So while I’m happy to share the official word on the Stars-heavy WSOP main event final table (even though none only one of their 2,000 true online qualifiers made it), I couldn’t help but try to get a little more info first on what goes into buying a temporary online team in an effort to increase the odds that the buyers will indeed get to be the site that crowns the next American (or non-American) Poker Idol:

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