Lots went down. SealsWithClubs is in Forbes. Saramar is still on her Mexican cashout adventures, now without the wisdom of her teeth. Srslysirius blew up Zac Hart. Marco left too. Hollywood Dave checks in about a facebook free-chip site. Butterfly labs CEO Josh Zerlan is just making shit up as he goes along. So much to cover in this 2+ hr show:

[audio: http://www.donkdown.com/media/DDRadio-2013_01_23_19_02_28.mp3|titles=Allen Kessler | Saramar | Pokerati | Hollywood Dave | BFL Update | Srslysirius Salvo vs Zack Hart|autostart=no]

So many people on tilt these days … and while it’s kinda fun to watch certain players without patches bearing down with renewed intensity … we’re also likely to see petty poker matters bring storied pasts to the fore. Such was the case in last week’s vocal brouhaha between Men Nguyen and Dave Stann in a $1,500 Omaha Hi-Lo event, with (unsubstantiated) accusations of cheating flying, all inspired by a rather simple split pot.

Marco from QuadJacks sat with Men to discuss, and in the process of getting the Master to address those willing to publicly feed old rumors based on hearsay, we get an interesting glimpse at a venerable character in the WSOP who recently cashed for his 71st time.

Check it out … I’ve also learned how to insta-timestamp videos so you can press play right at the interesting spot.

Shocking… Dan and Dr. Pauly actually watch one of the events from the rail at the WSOP, and Dan actually recognizes a few players.

[audio: https://pokerati.com/podcast/tao/TOP_W11_04_AngryJulie_TeamPokerati.mp3]
2011 WSOP – Episode 4: Team Pokerati Update and the Men the Master/Hollywood Dave’s Fracas (4:58) – Dan and Pauly hang out on the rail of Event #3 $1,500 Omaha 8 after the money bubble bursts. They discuss updates on Angry Julie, a member of Team Pokerati, along with detailing the highlights of argument that almost turned into a brawl when Men the Master (ironically) accused Hollywood Dave of being a cheater.

For more episodes, visit the Tao of Pokerati archives or subscribe to the Tao of Pokerati feed.

Former UB pro Hollywood Dave is our special in-studio guest.  We interview Raymond Davis and Bryan “Devo” Devonshire. The status of players getting paid on Full Tilt and UB is discussed. Hollywood Dave debates Druff about whether UB ever looked legit enough post-scandal to represent.  We talk about the Pokerstars FPP cashout controversy — is Pokerstars stealing upwards of $10 million from players?  We introduce new sponsor Hero Poker and organize a $300 freeroll during the show.  Some more technical fail kills about 20 minutes of the show from the archives (at about the 2:20 mark), but Druff stops that fail before it gets worse.

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Friday afternoon of the $335 Commerce Guaranteed Million Dollar Tournament drew the largest field with 716 players entering the tournament, with the final 72 making the money. To avoid an overlay, Saturday’s field will need to top 1,100 players. Saturday is expected to be the largest field, with registration available until 4:15pm like the other days of the tournament.

Joe Tehan led the field on Friday with 376,000 in chips, with Don Zewin (72,000) the other name player returning Sunday at 2pm. Among the name players to make the money: David “The Dragon” Pham, Hon Le and “Hollywood Dave” Stann. Friday’s tournament had three players — Abraham Barbarian, Sarjiv Karnataki, and Frank Schram — take advantage of the opportunity to re-enter the tournament and cash for a second time. Barbarian (108,000) and Schram (30,500) did well enough to return on Sunday afternoon.

Full results can be found here and for more details, click on the banner at the top of the page.

Everyone says the same thing about the Hard Rock Poker Lounge — beautiful room, but not much action … some like the loud music and smoke-and-leathery bar just a turn-and-a-river away, others don’t … But it does seem like things have been picking up. And with the new tower at Hard Rock opening earlier this month — I dunno, it just seems the right wheels are in motion to make it a Top 5ish player on the LV poker scene eventually, if not soon.

The void they’re currently trying to fill is the bargain-price deep-stack tournaments — of which there were almost none in August. Hence the “Mega Stack Poker Showdown in Las Vegas” … an 18-event series that started on Friday and plays through Aug 25 … with $340, $550, and $1,070 buy-ins … and starting stacks from 12,500 to 20,000.

The Poker Atlas has early results … from the looks of it Event #1 ($340) drew about 100 runners, and the first $550 event got 50ish. Not bad. Semi-respectable … and look, even Hollywood Dave got paid!

Event #1 Results
Friday, August 7th at 12:00 PM
$340 buy-in No-Limit Hold’em Tournament

1st – Robert Tannira, Nevada – $7750
2nd – Joshua Rose, Florida – $3650
3rd – Roberto Betbase, Argentina – $3200
4th – Mark McPherson – $3150
5th – Stephen Seffense – $3150
6th – Jeffery Ditanna – $3107
7th – Dave Stann – $1083
8th – Christopher Hughes – $947
9th – Steven Hiltz – $676
10th – Rosh Wave – $350

The “main event” (planned for four days) is somehow connected to the World Poker Showdown and Canadian Poker Tour (it’s their championship?) … a $2,650 buy-in with 50k starting chips.

First, some advice from the Poker Shrink to those in the poker media during the WSOP.

Day 1a of the $1,000 NL Holdem Stimulus Special drew a full field of entries today as the WSOP tournament staff issued a press release declaring the event a sellout at 6,000 entrants, although official numbers are slightly below the 6000 total. There have been rumors that a few spots are still available on Sunday to select individuals who wish to register. An earlier rumor that alternates were being allowed to enter the event turned out to be incorrect. The players will be returning from their dinner break shortly, with less than 1000 players remaining to play the final 2 to 4 levels today. Among the notables that have already came and went: Kevin Saul, Shannon Shorr, and PokerRoad’s Joe Sebok, Joe Stapleton and Barry Greenstein.

The 40th Annual $40,000 NL Holdem event almost has its final table in place, as they’re now 10-handed and return from their dinner break shortly. Alec Torelli leads a stacked table with 5,375,000 in chips. The remainder of the table features Greg Raymer, Tony G, Ted Forrest, Justin Bonomo, Dani Stern, Vitaly Lunkin, Isaac Haxton, Noah Schwartz and Lex Valdhuis (with his girlfriend, Evelyn Ng, sweating the action on the rail).

The size of the Stimulus Special caused a one-hour delay in the start of day 2 of the $1,500 Omaha 8 or Better event. The players reached the money just before their dinner break. Notables who won’t be heading to the pay window include Phil Hellmuth, Andy Bloch, “Hollywood” Dave Stann, Scott Clements and Tony Cousineau. Defending champion in this event Thang Luu is near the top of the leaderboard, with Layne Flack, Freddy Deeb, Todd Brunson and Pat Poels all still in the fight. Special congratulations goes to former WSOP TD Matt Savage for his first WSOP cash. With about 85 players left, the goal is to play down to a final table for Sunday, but don’t be too surprised if there’s a couple of tables who’ll get to return tomorrow afternoon. Check out www.worldseriesofpoker.com for more updates during the evening, and here for players to follow.