Jonathan Roy
Photo: World Poker Tour

Today’s Boxscore

Jonathan Roy $779,710 – World Poker Tour Montreal
Brock Parker $372,568 – Borgata Fall Open
Geoff Smith NZ$80,502 – ANZPT Auckland

The World Poker Tour Montreal stop may not have been a televised event, but that didn’t stop it from drawing all kinds of interest over the weekend. Things started off well when it was obvious attendance was going to be great well before the first card was dealt. Nearly 1,200 players traveled to the Great White North and Playground Poker venue received plenty of kudos from the players.

That was until Allen “King of the Endless Needle” Kessler decided to have one of his first-class hissy fits, even going so far as post his complaints on Facebook, the home of cat videos and high school bullies. Kessler took issue with the 60-minute levels and voiced his complaints publicly on Twitter and once again made a joke out of a real issue.

This final table would have made for some great TV as Canada’s drunkest son Gavin Smith was there on the last day along with Jeff Gross and Pascal Lefrancois. Gross had easily the most famous rail birds in the room as his best friend, and most decorated Olympian ever, Michael Phelps make a surprise visit for support. Eventual winner Jonathan Roy’s rail wasn’t too shabby either with 2010 WSOP Main Event Champion Jonathan Duhamel among his supporters.

Link Dump

Tweet(s) of the Day – That’s what hell of a cheering section, beats Gavin Smith’s section which probably consisted of bartenders, drunkards, and off duty strippers.

Pumped for the kid today!! Just surprised him for the final 6 of the #wptmontreal @playgroundpoker !!!! #weeeeneedit

— Michael Phelps (@MichaelPhelps) November 27, 2012

Man the kid!!! Can’t be more happy for what @jgross5 did!! Proud of u man!!!!

— Michael Phelps (@MichaelPhelps) November 28, 2012

Could Online Poker Help Avert the Fiscal Cliff? – I find all kinds of interesting articles throughout the week in terms of poker, gambling, and people who should be nominated for the Darwin awards. This is good read questioning whether online poker, instead of raising taxes, is a valid way to avoid the “fiscal cliff”. It’s also an SEO bonanza. (Warning, they make you enter an email address to read the entire article.)

Will online poker fall off the fiscal cliff? – On the other side, a horseracing blogger asks if the “fiscal cliff” will kill the chances of online poker in the near future. I’ve officially hit my quota of using the term “fiscal cliff”.

Pro Poker Player Embraces #GivingTuesday – Faraz Jaka, one of the good guys in poker, has a nice bio piece on the Huffington Post about his charitable side. Nice to see poker players being in the news for something positive.

WPT Montreal: Olympic Swimmer Michael Phelps – Jeanine (Freddy not Shaun) Deeb was the lucky one to grab an interview with the 18-time Olympic medalist while he was on the rail for his best friend.

The WSOP crowned its newest champion this week, but that doesn’t mean tournaments around town are done for the year.

Heartland Poker Tour makes its next stop at Palms. The tournaments run today (Friday, Nov. 2) through Nov. 11, culminating with a $1,650 main event.

This is probably a good series of events for those who want to try their hand tourneys, or players like me who don’t want to spend a bunch on donkaments. It’s essentially a group of at least 7 satellites every day leading up to the big one.

There are single-table sit-n-go qualifier tournaments that start as low as $60 and a $120 “nightly turbo,” all the way up to a $375 “last chance qualifier.”

With former 2004 WSOP champ Greg Raymer winning 3 HPTs already this year, it should be interesting to see how many other well-known pros turn out to give the series a shot. We know from Gavin Smith’s twitter that he’s a lock: “It seems like every day I get one day closer to @HPTPoker at the palms, it is kinda like Christmas only this Santa is real!”

Ante Up Magazine’s new poker tour starts later this month at Thunder Valley Casino Resort near Sacramento, where the main event comes with a $200,000 guarantee. They’re also hosting events in Minnesota and Oklahoma leading up to a world championship at Hard Rock Punta Cana in the Dominican Republic. Man, tournament players might have a higher variance grind, but at least it can be exotic.

Ante Up also announced its next Vegas event would be held at Red Rock Casino from Jan. 21-27. The event schedule has yet to be released, but the series will culminate with a $1,100 main event with three Day 1s, which will “spill over into the Rocks Lounge,” according to the magazine. Sounds like they might have more than a few splashed pots.

My best shot at a bracelet just passed me by.

Jokers Wild Casino closed its poker room! The home of the practically secret monthly bracelet tournament in Henderson played its last hand on Halloween night.

They didn’t give a reason for the shutting down, but cash games there were often hit or miss, and staff members told me that some of their regulars had been rounded up by nearby Club Fortune Casino.

And it wasn’t the only locals poker room on the outskirts of Las Vegas to close this week.

The former Aliante Station, now Aliante Casino and Hotel, also shuttered its poker room after being taken over from Aliante Gaming LLC. The North Las Vegas casino was sold as part of Sations Casino bankruptcy and reopened under the new name Thursday.

I never played in their poker room, but if they ever decide to re-open — a la Silverton — I might have to check it out.

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.

The final table of the first Epic Poker League Main Event resumes with Hasan Habib leading an impressive final six with $1,000,000 going to the winner when play resumes Friday afternoon. He’ll be joined by WSOP bracelet winners Erik Seidel, Huck Seed, Jason Mercier and Gavin Smith. Chino Rheem is the only player without a bracelet, but he’ll have several interested players sweating him as he starts the final table second in chips.

Play started with the remaining 18 players in the money, guaranteed over $43,000 and an early advantage in the EPL standings for the February 2012 $1,000,000 Epic Poker League Championship freeroll. Day 3 was a short day for Justin Bonomo and Hoyt Corkins, the first two to collect their EPL winnings. Pro/Am qualifiers Brandon Meyers (9th) and Dan Fleyshman (15th) will have another chance to qualify for the Main Event in the September Pro/Am. Day 2 chip leader Sam Trickett had a disappointing Day 3, finishing 11th.

The elimination of Eugene Katchalov in 8th place meant the remaining players gathered at one table to play down to the televised final table, airing on CBS and Velocity later this year. The final hand involved Adam “Roothlus” Levy going all-in with pocket queens against Chino Rheem’s pocket kings. The A-A-Q flop moved the DeepStacks-sponsored pro into the lead, but an ace on the river meant it was a ruthless end for Levy. Rheem knocked out another DeepStacks pro, Matt Graham, on the money bubble to end Day 2.

All players at the final table earns a six-figure payday, a boon to those players Chino owes money. Here’s how the final table will be seated when play resumes around 2pm with blinds at 8,000/16,000 with an ante of 2,000.

Seat 1: Hasan Habib – 1,655,000
Seat 2: Erik Seidel – 1,109,000
Seat 3: Chino Rheem – 1,432,000
Seat 4: Gavin Smith – 766,000
Seat 5: Jason Mercier – 1,495,000
Seat 6: Huck Seed – 396,000

What they’re playing for:

1st: $1,000,000
2nd: $604,330
3rd: $360,970
4th: $237,560
5th: $154,260
6th: $107,980

Hand-for-hand updates of the final table, videos and photos and more available at www.epicpoker.com

Day 2 of the $20,000 Epic Poker League Main Event concluded with Sam Trickett leading the remaining 18 players, all guaranteed $43,190. Trickett is the only player with a seven-figure chip stack as the field will now be playing for a $1,000,000 first prize as the players agreed to move money from 2nd place to the winner.

Day 2 started with 63 players as Eugene Katchalov, Ben Lamb and Brian Rast held the top three spots. Only Katchalov survived the day with chips as the early action was dominated with several eliminations as Vanessa Selbst, Dwyte Pilgrim, and Phil Laak were among the familiar faces hitting the felt.

Some players complained about the fast structure; leading Commissioner Annie Duke and Tournament Director Matt Savage agreeing to review the structure, among other aspects of the EPL, before their second tournament in September.

The remaining 29 players reached the dinner break with an average stack of about 80 big blinds, with the objective of finishing the day after bursting the money bubble. Antonio Esfandiari, Brandon Cantu, Nam Le, Tom Marchese and Frank Kassela all fell short of earning their first EPL cash when 19 players remained, one from the money. A prolonged bubble period gave Trickett the opportunity to add to his stack, becoming the first EPL player to hold over 1,000,000 in chips.

Two hours into hand-for-hand play, Matt Graham added his name to the long list of EPL firsts as his pocket jacks were cracked by Chino Rheem when he turned a flush to become the EPL’s first bubble boy.

The remaining 18 players return Thursday at 12pm to play down to the final table of six. The field consists of 20 WSOP bracelets, 3 WPT titles and almost $80,000,000 in tournament winnings. Two players who qualified through the Pro/Am over the weekend, Brandon Meyers and Dan Fleyshman, become EPL-eligible for the rest of the season if either player wins the tournament on Friday. Here’s how the Day 3 field will be seated with play resuming with blinds at 2,500/5,000 with a 500 ante (the average stack having ~76 big blinds):

Table 1:

Seat 1: Adam Levy – 587,000
Seat 2: Dan Fleyshman – 82,500
Seat 3: Hafiz Khan – 144,000
Seat 4: Hoyt Corkins – 252,500
Seat 5: Brandon Meyers – 109,500
Seat 6: Isaac Baron – 637,500

Table 2:

Seat 1: Noah Schwartz – 259,500
Seat 2: Matt Glantz – 453,000
Seat 3: Ted Lawson – 210,000
Seat 4: Huck Seed – 93,500
Seat 5: Chino Rheem – 408,000
Seat 6: Gavin Smith – 357,500

Table 3:

Seat 1: Hasan Habib – 646,000
Seat 2: Eugene Katchalov – 418,000
Seat 3: Sam Trickett – 1,032,000
Seat 4: Jason Mercier – 535,500
Seat 5: Justin Bonomo – 42,000
Seat 6: Erik Seidel – 609,000

Live updates and more available at www.epicpoker.com

There are just 12 players left heading into Day 5 of the WPT World Poker Finals at Foxwoods, with a short but exciting play down to the final table looming for Monday.

The 28 players that started the day quickly became 27, but after the redraw for the final three tables it would be over two hours before there would be another elimination, with the money bubble looming at 25. After another half hour or so of hand-for-hand play the bubble finally burst.

One of the early eliminations in the money was Gavin Smith, who lost a monster pot to end the previous day and never seemed to get traction on Day 4. Upon his exit, Gavin took quite a bit of the early afternoon rail with him. Josh Arieh, who had a lot of chips entering the day as well, fell victim to some unfortunate luck and was not long for the tournament today either.

Ronnie Bardah, who enjoyed a deep run in this year’s Main Event, got into the Halloween spirit by donning a wig for several hours during play today, which you can see here. He survived on the short stack for quite some time, earning a few double-ups before ultimately succumbing to the blinds.

There are still some big names in contention for this title. The chip leader heading into Day 5 is Tom Marchese with 1,832,000 but there are some heavy hitters chasing him including Jason Mercier, Sorel Mizzi, Hoyt Corkins, Kevin Stammen, and Mohsin Charania.

Play will resume at 12 pm Monday.

Chip Counts:

1. Tom Marchese 1,832,000
2. Jeff Forrest 979,000
3. Sorel Mizzi 789,000
4. Nikolai Yakovenko 690,000
5. Chris Bonita 610,000
6. Besnik Ziba 500,000
7. Keven Stammen 400,000
8. Hoyt Corkins 335,000
9. David Inselberg 331,000
10. Jason Mercier 322,000
11. Mohsin Charania 283,000
12. Ben Klier 269,000

Average Stack: 605,000

For more information on today’s action as well as live updates throughout the rest of the tournament visit foxwoodslive.com and worldpokertour.com.

It’s getting down to the wire at Foxwoods as just 28 players made it to the end of Day 3 at the WPTs World Poker Finals.

With 25 spots paid, it’s likely to be a short trip into the money Sunday. Players will redraw after one more elimination as they get down to three tables.

Then the issue of time becomes the biggest factor, as the tournament is scheduled to finish on Tuesday. Depending on the pace of play on Sunday, there will either be a day off (if they get down to six) or a short play down to the final table.

The chip leader going into Sunday is Chris Hunichen with 714,000. Josh Arieh, Jason Mercier and Gavin Smith are all in the top ten heading into Day 4. Other notables remaining include Tom Marchese (249,000), Hoyt Corkins (239,000), Mike Beasley (120,000), Ronnie Bardah (112,000) and Kyle Bowker (70,000). The average chip count is 259,285

Play will resume at 12 pm.

Top Ten:

1. Chris Hunichen – 714,000
2. Nikolai Yakovenko – 580,000
3. Josh Arieh – 548,500
4. Ben Klier – 465,500
5. Keven Stammen – 387,000
6. Mohsin Charania – 349,000
7. Jeff Forrest – 342,500
8. Jason Mercier – 342,000
9. Gavin Smith – 307,500
10. Bryon Springer – 293,000

You can find the remainder of the chip counts and live updates during the action at foxwoodslive.com or worldpokertour.com

Check it out … caught my eye the other night … Cashout tourneys. Though I’m not sure if they’ll be a regular thing, they made their debut this past weekend @AriaPoker. Interesting concept — essentially tournaments with pre-established guaranteed chops, allowing players to cash out at any point (and go home) … you know, should they not like their chip situation, have somewhere else to be, be on tilt from incessant angry wife texts … whatever … backer with a gun? Apparently they also can cash out and keep playing, too.

Full Tilt began offering these online a while back, but no clue how they worked out. According to the sign, these were the first ever in a land-based casino. I ventured over to see how it was playing, but they were down to three and it seemed at this point it was just straight poker. Mel Judah sat at the final table but wasn’t playing. I assumed he was sweating, or at least trying to woo, the lovely middle-age Asian lady still with chips. That may or may not have been true, but turns out primarily Judah was there because it was his game — supposedly his creation.

See for yourself what Mel is up to at CashoutPoker.com.

UPDATE: Oops, turns out the lovely lady was JJ Liu. One of these days I will learn actual players.

Hard Rock charity knocks

Upon his own early elimination, Gavin Smith took over as charity photog, no-flash rules be damned!

Also stopped by the Hard Rock this weekend … first time since Detox and the shuttering of their room (and operations) that made @hardrockpoker the Pokerati game’s home for most of 2010. No new-resto construct has begun — just a bunch of tables stuffed in the back of the old room, with their previously decorative orange-luxe highback leather chairs lined up in front of the TVs that used to entertain 1/2 players. With football on and one viewer lounging per screen, It was both awesome and sad.

Anyhow, the new smaller spot is still called the “Poker Lounge” … nice-ish, but looks unsettled in. And though it seemed clear from a matter of simple square footage that the Hard Rock’s days as a red-carpet poker venue are gone, none of that seemed to stop the good times at Gavin Smith’s Darius Goes West charity tourney (with Bryan Devonshire) … which was kinda a birthday party for the namesake beneficiary, Darius Weems, the kid with an extra-funky form of muscular dystrophy that Smith says inspired him to a WSOP bracelet this summer. Darius had just turned 21 (he wasn’t supposed to live past 16 I think?) … and really, can you think of a better host to welcome those coming of age into the glorious world of degenerate gambling?

Here’s video from the final table, with Layne Flack, David Plastik, and at least one semi-awkward kiss:

BTW, fwiw, the Hard Rock has changed their basic game to 1/3 NL, with a $500 max buy-in.

Elsewhere in Vegas …

Unvetted, unconfirmed word has it that Fiesta Henderson has closed their poker room. Supposedly they lost their players to the Club Fortune casino, which began holding a $40 bounty tourney ($10 for each knockout) and taking a better-for-locals high hand jackpot drop. (You’ll have to pardon Pokerati for not digging into this plausibly controversial game-shift.)

And here’s a globally funny poker picture … from power Vegas player Eric Baldwin at EPT-London:

In what some consider a controversial decision, tournament director Jack Effel decided to stop play with 1:15:44 left in level 16 (2,500/5,000 w/ 500 ante) to have the 751 players remaining (747 make the money) take their 90-minute dinner break. Effel’s explanation was that they needed time to prepare for paying the players who bust out immediately after the bubble bursts. The field had planned to start hand-for-hand play before the announcement. The current leader is Theo Jorgensen with 1,325,000 in chips. Other notables: Matt Affleck (1.26m), Tony Dunst (1.18m), Phil Galfond (1.05m), Adam Levy (840k), Johnny Chan (785k), Jean-Robert Bellande (753k), David Benyamine (630k), Scotty Nguyen (540k) and Eric Baldwin (500k). Also in the field are all 4 Mizrachi brothers: Robert 310k, Michael 118.5k, Donny 115k and Eric 60k.

Gavin Smith and Jason Somerville discuss the decision with Wicked Chops Poker.

Notables who were eliminated earlier today: Matt Savage, Annie Duke, JJ Liu, Hank Azaria, Robert Varkonyi, Dan Harrington, Erica Schoenberg and Barry Greenstein. Team Pokerati’s only remaining hope (?), The Big Randy, was eliminated in early action.
Follow the action on the money bubble with play resuming at 8:30pm at wsop.com.

As much as I’ve noted Team Pokerati’s struggles on the felt this summer, it’s not like our players don’t know their way to the WSOP payout window. Here’s a rundown of the team’s representative real-money scores so far:

(Click below for the Team Chauhan comparative results.)

Tom to La, after Team Pokerati’s first and only FT of 2010: “Congrats, you really played great. If I don’t bink a tourney soon, think you might be able to float me some scratch?”

Tom Schneider
$4,348 – 128th – $1.5k NLH
$22,085 – 14th – $1k NLH/Seniors
$3,352 – 52nd – $1.5k PLH
$6,128 – 32nd – $1.5k Omaha Hi/Lo

La Sengphet
$22,728 – 7th -$1k NLH/Ladies

Pat Poels
$13,232 – 10th – $2.5k Limit 2-7 3x

Robert Goldfarb
$6,128 – 29th – $1.5k Omaha Hi/Lo

The Big Randy
$3,428 – 196th – $1.5k NLH

Toothless Bob
$3,080 – 2nd place – $150 NLH (Binion’s Poker Classic)
$1,240 – 1st place – $65 NLH (Sahara nightly)
$355 – 4th place – $65 NLH (Sahara nightly)

John Harris (85Nutz)
TBD – first 2010 WSOP day 2 – $1k NLH

More…

Recapping Saturday night’s action, with the list of great players without a bracelet had another named crossed off the list.

Ole G Smith wins mixed holdem bracelet

Gavin Smith, one of the most popular players on the tournament circuit, finally won his first WSOP bracelet this morning, defeating Danny Hannawa heads-up to win the $2,500 Mixed Holdem event along with winning $268,238. Full results at wsop.com

Tournament of Champions starts today

The WSOP Tournament of Champions gets underway at 12pm today, as the 27 participants will play four one-hour levels today and Monday, with the survivors returning on July 4 to determine the winner. Besides being filmed to air on ESPN later this year, ESPN3 will be streaming a feature table both days. Here’s the feature table when play starts today:

Doyle Brunson
Daniel Negreanu
Annie Duke
Howard Lederer
Joe Hachem
T.J. Cloutier
Antonio Esfandiari
Bertrand “ElkY” Grospellier
Scotty Nguyen

Trickett on top final day of $1,500 NL

Day three of the $1,500 No-Limit Holdem returns at 3:00pm with Sam Trickett (922,000) leading the 35 players remaining as they play down to a winner. Other notables in the hunt include: Dutch Boyd (619,000), Ray “ExitOnly” Rayburn (560,000), Paul Magriel (460,000), Alex Outhred (444,000), and Zachary Clark (176,000). Team Pokerati’s Tom Schneider finished 128th, good for $4,348. Full chip counts available at PokerNews.

Altbregin ascends to 5k PLO 8 lead

Day 3 of the $5,000 Pot-Limit Omaha 8 or Better resumes at 3pm with Sergey Altbregin (486,000) holding the chip lead with 21 players remaining. Other notables returning: David “Devilfish” Ulliott (415,000), Perry Green (367,000), Dan Shak (331,000), Dan Heimiller (247,000), Allen Kessler (117,000), Andy Black (100,000) and Erik Seidel (65,000). Full chip counts and updates available at http://www.pokernews.com/live-reporting/2010-wsop/event-46/“>PokerNews.

Brickner blasts his way into day 1a 1k NL lead

The next to last $1,000 No-Limit Holdem event of the WSOP drew a field of 1,759 entries for day 1a Saturday afternoon. That field was whittled down to around 300 players when they return on Monday afternoon, and the reported leader is Justin Brickner with 86,000 in chips. Other notables include Antonio Esfandiari (35,000), Scott Montgomery (30,000), Matt Glantz (28,000) and Carter King (17,000). Full chip counts along with updates for Sunday’s day 1b action available at wsop.com.

Jaffee leading $2,500 8-Game

Day one of the $2,500 Mixed Event brought 453 players to the Rio Saturday afternoon, with 162 returning at 4:10pm today. The reported chip leader is Jared Jaffee with 71,125. Some of the notables returning include: Justin “Boosted J” Smith (58,225), Michael Mizrachi (56,875), Brandon Cantu (41,000), Scott Seiver (37,350), Dario Minieri (32,175) and Gavin Griffin (29,150). Team Pokerati’s Julie Schneider returns with 18,975 in chips. Other chip counts and updates at wsop.com.

Gavin Smith is near the chip lead at the $2,500 Mixed Hold’em Final Table. (One of his remaining opponents, on the second-shortest stack, is Dwyte Pilgrim, a Pokerati Fantasy WSOP pick in 2009; again, we were just ahead of our time …) Phil Hellmuth knows both these spots well … and naturally, we understand why Hellmuth wasn’t gonna make it the whole way for #12, and why Smith was setting himself up nicely for #1.

(Does Pauly even know the shifts in Ole G Smith’s backing set-up? Do you?)

Episode 39: Hellmuth’s Non-Hold’em Final Table

Dan happens to wander into the Rio at the exact time Phil Hellmuth advanced to the final table of the PLO/8 event. Pauly and Dan head up to the Beef Jerky lounge to get a better look at the Hellmuthian circus.

Episode 40: Gavin Smith’s Ass Crack

Pauly and Dan saunter into the Pavilion Ballroom, where they rarely hang out. During the recording of this particular episode, they’re ambushed by a couple of the entities from Wicked Chops Poker. At some point, a discussion about a masseuse working on Gavin Smith’s upper ass region breaks out.

Two more WSOP bracelets were awarded this morning, plus the first of this year’s final tables will be streamed online this afternoon., so here’s the info:

Hamrick wins $1500 NL

Dean Hamrick, who bubbled the 2008 WSOP final table, earned his first WSOP bracelet as he defeated Thomas O’Neal heads-up in event #42: $1,500 No-Limit Holdem winning $604,222 and his first WSOP bracelet. O’Neal earned $375,627 for finishing 2nd, while UFC fighter Mike Swick finished in 10th. Full results online at wsop.com.

Gordon grooves to 10k HORSE bracelet

With nine players remaining, Ian Gordon was the least-known name of a star-studded final table in the $10,000 HORSE World Championship. That face didn’t stop him as he was the last player with chips on a lengthy final day, denying Richard Ashby his second WSOP bracelet, winning $611,666 and a coveted WSOP gold bracelet. Ashby earned $378,027 for finishing 2nd, while Eugene Katchalov finished 3rd for $248,831. Full results at wsop.com.

Ole G Smith, Pilgrim feature attractions at Mixed Holdem FT

The $2,500 Mixed Holdem final table will be the first at this year’s WSOP streamed online at ESPN3.com (check your local cable system for availability). Here’s how they’ll be seated when play resumes at 2:30pm:

Seat 1: Michael Michnik – 527,000
Seat 2: Jamie Rosen – 300,000
Seat 3: Dwyte Pilgrim – 196,000
Seat 4: Gavin Smith – 745,000
Seat 5: Jarred Solomon – 748,000
Seat 6: Daniel Idema – 237,000
Seat 7: Michael Santoro – 179,000
Seat 8: Danny Hannawa – 542,000
Seat 9: Timothy Finne – 331,000

Failla leads $1,500 NL

Day 1 of Event #45: $1,500 No-Limit Holdem completed their first 10 hours with less than 400 players remaining, with the final 324 in the field making the money, while the winner adds $721,373. The reported leader is Will Failla with 156,000 in chips. Other notables returning at 2:30 include Veronica Dabul (70,000), Alex Outhred (65,000), John Phan (58,500), Amnon Filippi (47,000), Lauren Kling (29,000) and Team Pokerati/Loudmouth Poker pro Tom Schneider (25,900). Full chip counts available at PokerNews.

Burton leads 5k PLO 8 M

Day 2 of the $5,000 Pot-Limit Omaha 8 or Better resumes at 3pm with 130 of the 284 players who started remaining. The chip leader is Colin Burton with 91,700. Other notables include James Dempsey (88,900), Mike Matusow (63,100), Scott Seiver (44,000), Annie Duke (39,900), Dave Ulliott (36,000), Tony Cousineau (29,000), and Annie Duke (23,000). Full chip counts available at PokerNews.

Saturday’s tournaments

The 12pm tournament is day 1a of the fifth $1,000 No-Limit Holdem with the usual throng of thousands expected to turn up. The 5pm tournament today is the $2,500 Mixed Event, consisting of HORSE, No-Limit Holdem, 2-7 Triple Draw Lowball and Pot-Limit Omaha. Last year’s winner of this event was Jerrod Ankenman defeating a field of 412, earning $241,637.

Recapping Friday night’s WSOP tournaments with the two latest bracelet winners finally determined Saturday morning, but first some breaking news for Pokerati fans:

DonkeyBomber leads 1k Seniors’ field

Day 1 of the $1,000 Seniors’ No-Limit Holdem Championship concluded with 427 players remaining at the end of 10 levels of play. The reported chip leader is Team Pokerati/Loudmouth Poker pro Tom Schneider in front with 94,000 in chips. Other notables with chips when play resumes at 2:30pm: Berry Johnston (62,900), Lon McEachern (27,200) and Sam Simon (23,100). A full list of chip counts is now available at PokerNews.

Ellis wins bracelet #4 for the UK

The $1,500 No-Limit Holdem event reached a conclusion first as Mike Ellis overcame a large chip deficit heads-up against Christopher Gonzales to win the bracelet along with $581,851 as the Briton wins the fourth bracelet this year for the UK, moving them into second in the WSOP world standings. Gonzales earned $360,906 for the runner-up finish. Full results and Nolan Dalla’s tournament report are available at wsop.com.

Puchkov punches his way to HORSE victory

The $1,500 HORSE event finally concluded in the wee hours of the morning as Konstantin Puchkov defeated Al “Sugar Bear” Barbieri to earn $256,820 and a WSOP bracelet. Barbieri earned $158,647 for the second place finish. Full results and Dalla’s tournament report will be available at wsop.com shortly.

Lindgren, Nguyen feature final day of 5k NL 6-max

The final day of the $5,000 No-Limit Holdem 6-max event gets underway with 12 players remaining. Here’s how the field will be seated when play resumes at 3pm:

Seat 1: Orlando Delacruz – 301,000
Seat 2: Anthony Roux – 668,000
Seat 3: Evan Panesis – 299,000
Seat 4: Jeffrey “jpapola” Papola – 598,000
Seat 5: Mark Radoja – 1,493,000
Seat 6: Darren Elias – 841,000

Seat 1: Bruno Launais – 875,000
Seat 2: Men Nguyen – 264,000
Seat 3: Erick Lindgren – 1,165,000
Seat 4: Taylor Mcfarland – 848,000
Seat 5: Paul Sheng – 712,000
Seat 6: Lucas Greenwood – 425,000

Follow the updates of this event at PokerNews.

Velador and Chiu top two in 2500 PLO/PLH

Day 3 of the $2,500 Pot-Limit Omaha/Pot-Limit Holdem resumes at 3pm with 14 players remaining. Jose-Luis Velador (455,000) and David Chiu (451,000) are the leaders, while Rob Hollink (423,000), Victor Ramdin (262,000) and Phil Ivey (207,000) also return. PokerNews will be there until a bracelet winner is determined.

10k NL Heads-Up down to final 64

Two rounds of play have finished in the $10,000 No-Limit Holdem Heads-Up Championship with 64 players remaining when the field returns at 3pm. The 32 round three winners will make the money, with some of the notables returning include: Phil Ivey, Gavin Smith, Phil Gordon, Antonio Esfandiari, Sorel Mizzi, Jonathan Little, Josh Arieh, Vanessa Rousso and Vivek Rajkumar. The full bracket for this event is now online at wsop.com.

Saturday’s tournaments

The 12pm tournament is day 1a of the fourth $1,000 No-Limit Holdem event of the WSOP, with a field of at least 3,000 expected over the weekend. The 5pm tournament is the $3,000 HORSE event, which drew a field of 452 players last year with Zac Fellows coming out on top for $311,899.

The World Series of Poker starts on Friday, and the poker media (except for www.wsop.com) are getting ready with their various previews and other stuff to get their readers into the mood for six weeks of tournament action. Part of that is the fifth annual WSOP fantasy draft over at ESPN.com. Unfortunately, Pokerati’s own Dan Michalski apparently missed the conference call (he had the #1 pick) so here were the twelve participants in this year’s draft:

Eric Baldwin
Lance Bradley – Editor at Bluff Magazine
Andrew Feldman – Poker Editor at ESPN.com
Chad Holloway – Poker Pro Magazine
Howard Lederer
Bernard Lee
Daniel Negreanu – Defending champion
Dennis Phillips
Steve “Chops” Preiss – Wicked Chops Poker
Mark Seif
Gavin Smith
Gary Wise

Each participant made eight picks in the draft and the handy chart below displays their selections by round:

A detailed analysis from Feldman on the selections can be found at www.espn.com/poker

Page 2 features how points are earned and my selections:

More…