Saw this truck parked downtown (next to Binion’s) this weekend. And not only did it finally teach me the proper/awkward way to spell and punctuate “Jack Link’s” Beef Jerky … but also it made me laugh seeing that the title sponsor of the 2009 WSOP is also a major sponsor of Snack Man!
(Seriously, how have JLBJ not chosen Darvin Moon to be “their guy” at the final table?)
Frankly, I’m starting to see the “value” in having a bitter, Harrah’s-hating heir to an unloved magazine at the final table (seriously, ripping on CardPlayer has been kinda our shtick from the get-go! If it weren’t for them and their incompetence unfriendliness back in the day, we honestly might not be here). And while everybody wants to see Phil Ivey make the final table for millions of reasons … really, do you see him charming the crowd on David Letterman if they’re not willing to wager a few months worth of normal-people income or more?
Here’re the final 10, and their chip positions
Darvin Moon 44.3m
Eric Buchman 36.78m
Steven Begleiter 26.495m
Jeff Shulman 17.9m
Jordan Smith 15.43m
Joseph Cada 13.4m
Kevin Schaffel 13.08m
Phil Ivey 10.21m
Antoine Saout 10.2m
James Akenhead 5.1m
UPDATE: Jordan Smith is out. November Nine is set. We’ll be learning more about them in coming hours/days/weeks/months, I am sure.
Edit: Here’s the official chip counts:
In a surprising move, play ended Saturday after just three levels of play in the main event, as the field is now down to about 400 players after three levels of play, which included nearly two hours of hand-for-hand play. Chip counts are unofficial at the moment, but it appears that Frenchman Ludovic Lacay will be the chip leader with 1,608,000 chips. Tom Lutz is listed in 2nd place with 1,600,000 chips. Other notables returning tomorrow with unofficial chip counts: Jordan Morgan (1,489,000), Blair Hinkle (1,399,000), Bertrand Grospellier (1,250,000), Nichoel Peppe (880,000), Kenny Tran (850,000), Tom Schneider (790,000), Lou Diamond Phillips (755,000), Dennis Phillips (630,000), Kara Scott (580,000), Joe Hachem (570,000), Noah Boeken (515,000), Joe Sebok (412,000) and Joe Serock (400,000). The returning players resume at 12 noon tomorrow, guaranteed at least $27,469.
The bubble was reached after 13 hands during hand-for-hand play. Kia Hamadani had about 160,000 in chips when they were about 20 players for the money, unfortunately for him, he took several hits to his stack until he was all in for his 500-chip ante. His last hand was 4-3o, which was crushed by someone making a large bet on a Q-Q-6 board with 9-2o. A nine on the turn and river meant that Hamadani would finish in 649, consoled by the fact that Jack Link’s Beef Jerky gave him a free entry to the 2010 Main Event.
Notables who can sleep in tomorrow: Phil Hellmuth, Patrick Bruel, Kelly Kim, Surinder Sunar, Matt Brady, Mark Gregorich, and Jesper Hougaard.
Official chip counts will be available in the morning, so return to Pokerati to see what’s turns up next.
Union talks with Benjo are going well — we still haven’t come to complete resolution, but it’s good we’re still all at the table — and thus, to the tune of the Star-Spangled Banner on American Independence Day / La Quatrième de Juillet, he joins Pauly to give a report from Day 1B as Doyle Brunson gets cards in the air … But not before the sometimes-Angry Frenchman is put on self-loathing tilt by a fucking wanker someone wearing a Zidane jersey and America’s insistence on calling soccer football.
Tao of Pokerati at the 40th WSOP
Las Vegas, NVEpisode 11.29: Poker de la Liberté (feat. Benjo)
3:06
[audio:tao/TaoPokerati_WSOP_Day1B_Benjo.mp3]
The Main Event got underway today with Jack Link’s mascot Sasquatch grunting his way through the “Shuffle Up and Deal” with a field of 1,116 (down from last year’s 1,297) starting day 1a. Jeffrey Pollack’s vlog with Wicked Chops Poker, shown below, hopes to get 5,000 entrants, which would be about 25 precent below last year’s 6,844. The lower than expected numbers could also explain the decision to play only 4 two-hour levels on days 1 and 2.
At the moment, there’s about 4,000 registrants already signed up, most of which are on days 1c and 1d, so don’t be surprised if you hear rumors about Monday’s day 1d being “closed” for registrations to add some entrants to days 1b and 1c. Notables who have already been eliminated today include: Jerry Yang, Freddy Deeb, Orel Hershiser, John Phan, Gabe Kaplan, Davidi Kitai and 2009 EPT Grand Final winner Pieter de Korver. The unofficial chip leader is Dragan Galac at 110,000 in chips, followed by by 2006 EPT Grand Final winner Jeff Williams at 106,000.
Other notables with chips: Jason Alexander (84,500), Eli Elezra (84,300), Tom Schneider (57,000), Phil Laak (46,000) and Jimmy Fricke (45,000). Follow the last level of play at the WSOP site here. Chip counts should be available in the early morning hours, but if you want to see who decided to pay their $10,000 today, a list of Day 1a entrants can be found here. More stuff this weekend, so come back to Pokerati often.
Watch Jeffrey Pollack Vlog on Day 1A of the 2009 WSOP Main Event on RawVegas.tv
Thursday is Poker Beat day … and today we’ll be talking about the WSOP, beef jerky, Dream Team Poker, and Twittering poker.
Tune in live or get the podcast:
http://www.pokerroad.com/the_poker_beat/live/
I’m actually on the bench for today’s show to make room for Dennis Rodman. But if he doesn’t show, I gotta be ready to go.
A slightly different take from Pauly. I intellectually don’t agree with his boisterously pessimistic outlook, yet he seems to have a read on many in the poker world’s gut … from Tao of Poker:
God bless Ty Stewart for saving the WSOP. I mean, this guy should get Salesman of the Century Award for finding someone stupid enough to shell out millions of dollars to sponsor a stagnant product in an industry with a murky future.
Pope Benedict should make Ty a saint for providing the WSOP a secure financial future and also giving me and the rest of the derelicts in the poker media an endless amount of material to work with this year. As one of my Canadian colleagues noted, “Premium meat snacks at this year’s WSOP. The jokes, they write themselves.”
I haven’t seen a deal that bad since the Ruskies signed away Alaska in 1867 to Secretary of State William Seward for $7.2 million. If that Seward’s deal never happened, Sarah Palin would be speaking Russian.
The WSOP almost slipped one by us … back in February we reported that Milwaukee’s Best Light had re-upped with the World Series, which was technically true … but our spin-detectors must have been low on batteries, because we totally woulda negatively re-spun the hedline to “WSOP Loses Top-Level Sponsorship” had we recognized that too was technically the case. Very clever, WSOP.
But now we know … the official new name of the biggest annual mass pilgrimage to the desert this side of Mecca is:
the World Series of Poker Presented by Jack Link’s Beef Jerky
Click the link and come up with your own funny pokery sayings that can fit in with Jack’s marketing message that dried beef snacks are a better alternative (from a mom’s perspective) than chips. From our perspective, we’re just happy to be able to provide you a link to a presenting sponsor that honors hirsuteness doesn’t require age verification first. (Hi kids, welcome to poker!)
Anyhow, always interesting and presumably good for the game when a new player sits down. We’ll be sure to let you know what they bring to the table. Click below for the well-crafted official details:
