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

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.

Day 1d ended play this morning with 1,816 players remaining and Troy Weber the overall chip leader with a whopping 353,000 in chips. Other notables with chips: Carter King (170,000), J.C. Tran (139,975), Josh Arieh (135,700), Bertrand “ElkY” Grospellier (127,475), Dutch Boyd (121,050), Kirk Morrison (96,000) and Tony Hachem (89,400). To see everyone’s chip counts, click here. To see all 2,809 entrants to day 1d, click here.

Day 2a will start at noon today, as they play five two-hour levels at nine-handed tables in a field of 1,476 (half the size of the day 2b field Wednesday). A list of those players is here. The over 2,900 strong field for day 2b will have over 120 tables start 10-handed when play resumes for them on Wednesday. It could be another logistical nightmare if the day 2a field has too many eliminations, and play is forced to be suspended sooner than expected. The Day 2b field only has four two-hour levels of play on their agenda so that when the field is combined on Friday, expect a field of at least 2,000 starting for Day 3.

As usual, check out Pokerati or Pauly for more details, and www.wsop.com for updates during the day.

Recapping the six-pack of WSOP events on Monday:

Graham Looking to Crack PLO Final Table

Matt Graham is the current chip leader at the $10,000 Pot-Limit Omaha World Championship final table which features several WSOP bracelet winners (including Graham). Here’s how the players are currently seated, currently streaming on ESPN360 and wsop.pkr.com:

Seat 1: Ferit Gabriellson
Seat 2: Matt Graham
Seat 3: Barry Greenstein
Seat 4: Josh Arieh
Seat 5: Stefan Mattsson
Seat 6: Richard Austin
Seat 7: Van Marcus
Seat 8: Vitaly Lunkin
Seat 9: Robin Keston

Can Cantu Can Do?

The $1,500 NL Holdem event is now on dinner break, returning with eight players remaining. Roy Foley is the current chip leader, with Brandon Cantu currently in second, with Alex Jacob in third.

Shootout Nears its OK Corral

The $5,000 NL Holdem Shootout has one table remaining before play concludes with the five winners of their six person table. Andrew Licthenberger, Danny Wong, Maxim Lykov and Peter Traply have already claimed their seat, while Nasr El Nasr and Barny Boatman are playing for the last seat. Phil Ivey was at the same table as El Nasr and Boatman, finishing 8th to move into the lead in the WSOP POY standings if the criteria doesn’t change.

Thang Doing his Thang in 8-Game

Thang Luu is trying to prove he’s not an Omaha-8 wonder, as he’s the current chip leader (150,000) in the $2,500 Mixed Event with 54 players remaining, 40 making the money. Other notables with chips: Michael Binger (115,300), Layne Flack (80,000), Blair Rodman (67,500), Jimmy Fricke (50,000) and Robert Williamson III (30,000). Play will continue until the 3am deadline or when 8 players remain, whichever comes first.

Seniors Sellout

A capacity field of 2,707 members of the over 50 set started the $1,000 Seniors NL Holdem World Championship with about 900 players returning after the dinner break with four levels remaining in the day.

Razz Draws Respectable Field

The $2,500 Razz event drew a field of approximately 300 (including Pokerati’s own Tom Schneider) to the Amazon room, with those sick enough to play razz playing eight levels before play ends for the evening.

No official chip leaders have been named in the above two events, but those who head to www.wsop.com should find updates during the evening hours.

Finishing up Saturday’s action from the WSOP…

Lisandro Pulls the Triple Double at the Rio

Jeff Lisandro became the third double bracelet winner of this year’s 2009 WSOP when he took down the $10,000 7 Card Stud Hi/Lo 8 or Better World Championship a couple hours ago defeated Farzad Rouhani at about 4am Vegas time. Lisandro pockets over $430,000 for his victory as well as several hours sleep before he comes back to the Rio Sunday to hear Italy’s national anthem this afternoon. When he won his first bracelet two weeks ago in the $1,500 7 Card Stud event, the Australian national anthem was played, making him the first to have two anthems played. This is also the first time more than two players have won multiple bracelets since when six players (Chan, Ferguson, Juanda, Hellmuth, Flack, and Men Nguyen) won bracelets in 2003. His second bracelet also moves him into a tie for first in the red-hot WSOP Player of the Year Race.

Texan Tops in NL Holdem

Jordan Smith from College Station, Texas took down the $2,000 NL Holdem event, pocketing $586,212 after defeating Ken Lennaard heads-up to take home a bracelet. From Nolan Dalla’s tournament report, Smith had this to add about legalizing poker in Texas:

“I think poker definitely needs to be legalized and regulated. Legalize it. Tax it. Regulate it. I don’t think it’s the government’s job to tell me what to do or how to spend my money – even though they sure want a cut of this (taxes) whenever I win it.”

This was event #36 of the WSOP, and after only one woman (Annie Duke) had made a previous final table, there were two at this one. Almira Skripchenko who is more well known for her successes in chess, being an FIDE Woman Grandmaster, finished in 7th place, good for $78,644. Laurence Grondin from Montreal, Quebec, Canada finished in 3rd for $237,537.

Obligatory Limit Holdem Final Table Mention

The final table of the $2,000 Limit Holdem consists of:

Seat 1: Jared O’Dell 189,000
Seat 2: Danny Qutami 323,000
Seat 3: Ian Johns 113,000
Seat 4: Marc Naalden 755,000
Seat 5: Tommy Hang 202,000
Seat 6: Steven Cowley 322,000
Seat 7: Rep Porter 287,000
Seat 8: Jameson Painter 205,000
Seat 9: Alex Keating 284,000

O’Dell, Johns, Hang and Porter list Washington state on their bio sheet, which may be the first time Washington state has represented so strongly at a WSOP final table.

Charania in Charge

Moshin Charania finished day 1 of the $1,500 NL Holdem event the leader with 144,100 in chips with 327 players remaining, of which 270 make the money. Brandon Cantu (86,600), Grant Hinkle (85,800), Jeff Williams (66,200), Eric Baldwin (63,400) and Shane Schleger (63,000) are some of the players who won’t be playing the Sunday tournaments online, as they’ll be returning to the Amazon room at 2pm.

Nate is Great in PLO

Nate Lindsay from San Francisco is the chip leader (482,200) at the end of day 1 in the $10,000 Pot-Limit Omaha World Championship with 116 players remaining, only 27 getting paid. Noah Schwartz (292,600), Ilari “Ziigmund” Saharies (229,400), David Williams (223,000), and Josh Arieh (220,600) round out the top five. Steve Zolotow (220,200), Ben Grundy (191,000), Tom McEvoy (142,800), Erick Lindgren (120,900) and Jimmy “Gobbo” Fricke (108,000) are just some other notables back for more action at 2pm as they attempt to make the final table.

Sunday’s Tournaments

The 12pm tournament day is the $5,000 NL Holdem Shootout which was won by Phillip Tom in a field of 360 for over $475,000. The WSOP Staff Guide projects a field of 396 for this event, but if it’s slightly above that, it could cause a bit of a problem for tournament staff. The payout structure for the shootout event pays 40 spots if the field is between 378 and 420, which would create 11-player tables for the first round if the field size is in the 401-420 range. The 5pm tournament is the debut of the $2,500 8-Game event which consists of HORSE, NL holdem, PLO and 2-7 triple draw, with a projected field size of 250.

More updates during the day at Pokerati and follow the WSOP at WSOP.com

Recapping the early part of Tuesday action at the WSOP…

JC’s a Runaway Tran in PLO

JC Tran took down his 2nd career WSOP bracelet in the $2,500 Pot-Limit Omaha event defeating Jeff Kimber in heads-up play to also adds $235,685 to his tournament database. Ross Boatman finished in 4th, John Juanda finished in 9th place.

Wolpert Topples Duthie Heads Up

The $10,000 NL Holdem Heads Up World Championship just conclude with Leo Wolpert taking the final two matches to defeat John Duthie 2-1 and pick up $625,682. Duthie settles for the 2nd place winnings of $386,636. Duthie won the first match in about 90 hands, while Wolpert won the second match in just nine hands. The third match took 191 hands, ending when Wolpert flopped bottom two pair against Duthie’s top pair.

Micon Trying to Schock the World

The $1,500 HORSE now has six players remaining at the final table, as Mitch Schock is the current chip leader with Shannon Shorr, Tad Jurgens, Bryan Micon, Brian Malcolm, and James Van Alstyne round out the final table.

Lennaard, Part 7

Ken Lennaard, a veteran Swedish pro, is the current chip leader with 77 players remaining in the $2,000 NL Holdem event. Notables still in the field include: Michael Binger, Peter Feldman, Andre Akkari, Kelly Kim and Chau Giang.

Go, Ho, Go!

The $10,000 Limit Holdem World Championship is down to 48 players, only 18 get paid as they strive to reach a final table tomorrow. The current chip leader is online high stakes cash-game specialist Matt Hawrilenko with 272,000. Maria Ho is currently 3rd (225,000) with Ralph Perry (180,000), Josh Arieh (170,000), Steve Zolotow (150,000) and Jennifer Harman (142,000) among the notables still in contention. Ville Wahlbeck is still in the field, but towards the bottom of the field with just 54,000 in chips.

Donkament 4: Voyage to the Rio

The 4th $1,500 NL Holdem event started with a field of 2095, with only 669 players remaining. Unfortunately an early chip leader hasn’t been announced yet, but check out the morning update or wsop.com for an update later this evening.

If there seems to be a little more action than usual on Ultimate Bet these days, it’s because a lot of players have been given new cash with the promise “this time we won’t cheat you out of it.” Donkey Bomber got a rebate of about $1,400 — see, Tom, the economy is already looking up, as you just got back what you lost to me on the presidential election — which showed up unexpectedly in his account along with an email with a bunch of legal documents attached. That’s small potatoes compared to the couple hundred-k that Josh Arieh supposedly got refunded.

(If you were someone who unknowingly lost money to the cheating, wouldn’t you love to study the replays of the hands where your action seemed to go bizarrely awry?)

Further reports say at least one of the above-mentioned refundees has been playing with it, and winning a lot. Considering that most new players on UB clearly haven’t done some basic searching on the internet, it’s plausible that the games here are particularly soft these days.

I really wanna believe what Annie Duke says about the fantastic security now in play at UB … and heck, beyond playing there, might Pokerati actually be able to make some affiliate bucks off any pimpage? For now, of course, all we’ve got to go on giving necessary reassurances is an AP/UB infomercial explaining it all that has since been taken down once people actually started to see it.

What’s happening tonight at the WSOP, while Wicked Chops Poker is celebrating the good news.

JC Tran takes his name off of the “Best player to never win a bracelet” list, taking down the $1,500 NL Holdem event against Danish pro Rasmus Nielsen. JC, at one point down 3-1 headsup, chipped away at Rasmus until he eventually took the chip lead, winning when his KQ nipped the Dane’s QJ on a Q-high flop. Tran takes home over $631,000 plus 100 WSOP POY points, moving him into 6th in the race with 1 event remaining. Nielsen will be consoled with almost $390,000 to take back to Denmark.

Other tournament happenings on the next page:
More…

Recapping last night’s action, with an eye on what’s going on today:

As noted below, Scotty Nguyen takes down the $50,000 HORSE event, taking down almost $2,000,000, his 5th bracelet, and the first to have won the WSOP Main Event and the $50k HORSE event. Erick Lindgren’s 3rd place moves him into first in the Milwaukee’s Best WSOP Player of the Year race with just 2 tournaments left.

The $1,500 NL Holdem final table has been set, scheduled to start at 3pm. The two most notable names are two WPT winners, JC Tran and Joe Pelton, here’s how the rest of the table will look like:

Seat 1: Christoph Kohnen 293,000
Seat 2: Joe Pelton 1,093,000
Seat 3: Jesper Hoog 320,000
Seat 4: John Conroy 501,000
Seat 5: Robert Kalb 456,000
Seat 6: J.C. Tran 1,438,000 (his 3rd final table of the Series)
Seat 7: Chad Siu 185,000
Seat 8: Peter Nguyen 870,000
Seat 9: Rasmus Nielsen 2,998,000

Other tournament stuff on the next page:
More…

What’s happening tonight at the WSOP:

Jen and Dan are taking care of the HORSE event, so I don’t need to duplicate their work, but they’re about to return from dinner break 5-handed.

The $2,000 NL Holdem event was won by Brazilian Alexandre Gomes, the first for that country, moving them up big time in the World Standings. Gomes takes home just over $770,000 while Marco Johnson won’t be feeling super with his 2nd place earnings of just over $491,000.

The $1,500 NL Holdem event is down to 40 as they play down to their final table. Among the notables remaining: JC Tran, Men Nguyen, Andy Black, Joe Pelton, Hevad Kahn. Follow their action on the World Series of Poker website here.

Other tournament action, following the leap:
More…

It has been brought to my attention – *ahem* – that Josh Arieh and Bodog parted ways amicably and by way of a mutual decision. At least that’s what Arieh said in a PokerNews interview.

“Luckily I have been smart with the money I’ve earned in the last five years in poker and not being sponsored won’t keep me away from the tables. It was a great three-year run with Bodog. Angela (Josh’s wife) and I have met a few of our closest friends through Bodog and it probably wouldn’t have been possible if I weren’t with them. I won the Calvin Ayre Wildcard Poker event because of my affiliation with them. I’ve got nothing but kind words to say about them… they were a stepping stone in my life and now I’m ready to move on to bigger and better things that I know will present themselves to me.”

Okay, okay. So Bodog didn’t boot Arieh. I still have my doubts about what went on behind closed doors, but that is solely my opinion.

Bodog Poker announced this week that Justin “ZeeJustin” Bonomo has been signed to its roster of pros that comprise Team Bodog. He joins David Williams, Evelyn Ng, and Jean-Robert Bellande.

Where is Josh Arieh? According to his stats, he’s doing well. His Hendon Mob stats show that he has over $4.5 million in lifetime tournament earnings thus far, including two WSOP bracelets. In 2007, he made close to $200k, and he stands at $71,682 for 2008 so far. But he has been dropped from the Bodog roster because the company wants to move in a “different direction.” Quite possibly, that direction is away from married guys with kids, which probably doesn’t fit the definition of living the so-called Bodog lifestyle.

In the meantime, Evelyn Ng stays on the team. Her lifetime tournament earnings are… wait for it… $301,957. And in 2008 alone, she has made nothing. Nada. Zip. In 2007, she made $17,457.

Bonomo is a good choice for Bodog. He’s taken his online poker successes to the live circuit and done well with over $1.1 million so far. Yes, he was embroiled in a bit of a scandal during his younger online days, but he has made a sincere effort to overcome that stigma and become a respected member of the poker community.

What leaves me shaking my head is the decision to drop Arieh and keep Ng. If anyone has an answer other than, “She’s pretty,” I’d love to hear it.

The Bodog Lounge is on wheels this year for the 2007 WSOP Main Event. Bodog’s big busty bus came to town yesterday and whisked players from hotels to the felt while enjoying television, sofas, pretty girls and frosty beverages. Who knows, you may get picked up off the street to hang with David Williams, Josh Arieh or Evelyn Ng.

Anyone sporting Bodog’s black & red gear just might have an awaiting carriage ride. The bus driver, John Doe*, drove the bus from Atlanta to Las Vegas and will be parking the monster at the back entrance of the convention center. Yo check it.

*Name changed because I don’t know his name.

LAS VEGAS–They’re down to 11 10 players in Event 5 – Omaha/7cs Hi Lo – $2,500, and Tom is still the chip leader, with more than a quarter of the chips in play — and a goofy hat that says “Beyond the Table” on one side and “Oops I Won Too Much Money” on the other. He’s got Annie Duke and Chris Ferguson to his left. Also still alive: Josh Arieh, Scotty Nguyen, John Phan, David Benyamine, and Chris Bell.

Damn.

While writing this post, Steve Hall, unaware of what I was doing and who Tom Schneider is, says, “That’s amazing. John Phan is almost at the final table in the 7-card-stud-Omaha event … You have to actually know poker for that … It looks to be an amazing final table.”

Indeed, Steve, it does. This final table only may or may not be televised. It will be up to ESPN whether to broadcast Tom’s game (is it premature to call it that?) or the $1,500 PL Hold’em final table, featuring Gavin Smith and Marco Traniello. Anyone know any lobbyists?

Also, Mr. Fresh Princess is alive and slightly above average in the $1,500 limit event, and Julie Schneider — Mrs. Donkey Bomber — is thriving in a second-chance tourney in the back of the room.

UPDATE: Tom made it … busted out Arieh to seal the final table deal … he’s got a third of all the chips in play. Mr. Fresh Princess is now hanging “by a thread.” And Julie got knocked out with Ace-Queen … but what’s really funny is how she plowed through the roped off area to tell Tom about it while he was in the middle of a hand.

Anti-poker insurgents are on the offensive in suburban Atlanta — with dozens arrested at the second big poker-room bust in a week. This is more serious than in Texas, because Georgia law puts running a poker room as a felony, and players aren’t just ticketed … they are taken to jail. One of the 52 players arrested (last night?) was a judge.

The sting came after a monthlong investigation by the Clayton County Sheriff’s Office vice unit. Hill said the casino [in Jonesboro] – which had a sign out front saying Poker Palace and is literally down the street from the sheriff’s office – had been operating for about two years.

Things have apparently been made worse in this case because some drugs were found during the raid, and one of the operators allegedly offered a $5,000 bribe to make his problems go away.

Atlanta, of course, is a pretty big poker town. About a year ago, Josh Arieh’s favorite local game got raided. A-town is also the headquarters for Bluff and Wicked Chops.

Related:
Cops n’ Rounders – 2/14/06

UPDATE: The Macon Telegraph just updated their story, so the one referenced above has changed. The new news item (by the same writer) points out that a former pro wrestler — Disco Inferno — was arrested by Roswell police. And he was also one of the people with the drugs. Here’s a new link to the original story about the judge and the alleged bribe.

And here is a link to a story about charges being pressed against the operators in the first of these two raids.