This week, my continent graciously released a delegation of Frenchman into your capitol. Had they to craned their necks around for a look back across the tumbling expanse of ocean, they might have seen a fallen hero re-emerging, nations sparring on the felt, and one of their countrymen getting kicked in the head. Stay tuned for this and not much more in the Wider World of Poker.

Ivey is Back

Glad to see you’re still with us. We start with the sneakiest news of the week. After seven months spent hiding under a craps table, Phil Ivey quietly arrived in Macau for the Asia Pacific Poker Tour. An event conveniently located 8,000 miles from Ivey’s Room. At time of going to press, Phil held a middling chip stack and had not been attacked by any angry Full Tilt customers. [PokerNews]

IFP Showcase National Talent

Most sensible people will tell you that poker is a game of skill and there are plenty of groups dedicated to propagating that opinion, but they don’t usually organize major poker tournaments. That’s the stratagem of the International Federation of Poker, who this past week curated both the Nations Cup and IFP World Championships. Germany took the plaudits in the team competition, while Spain’s Raul Mestre defeated the enchanting Victoria Coren for the overall title. [IFP]

Online Grinders Fight for Glory

And finally, the bit with the face-kicking in it. Dutchman Lex Veldhuis and French personage Bertrand ‘ElkY’ Grospellier got together over the weekend for some friendly violence. It’s been two years since the duo challenged each other to a kickboxing contest and despite 24 months of build up, the brawl lasted only two rounds. A couple of kicks to ElkY’s bleached hair had him seeing pokerstars. [Wicked Chops]

I don’t know if you caught my hilarious joke in that last sentence. If you didn’t, why not reread the entire article? I recommend taking notes. While you study, I’ll be out hunting news, trying to avoid any stray kicks to the face. If I still have a face this time next week, I’ll see you then.

Recapping the Thursday afternoon action, with one bracelet already decided:

Tieman Takes Down Title

The $5,000 No-Limit Shootout final table with Joshua Tieman eliminating the final four players to take down the coveted WSOP bracelet, along with $441,692. Tieman disposed of veteran British pro Neil Channing in heads-up play, earning $273,153 for Channing. Stuart Rutter ($179,617), Joseph Elpayaa ($125,387), Nicolas Levi ($92,543) and Brent Hanks ($71,998) rounded out the final table results.

2-7 Lowball Final Table

The $2,500 2-7 Triple Draw Lowball is down to three players with Raphael Zimmerman the chip leader (865,000), followed by Dan McNamara (675,000) and Peter Gelenscer (612,000). David Chiu ($50,517), Jameson Painter ($34,843). and Leonard Martin ($24,723) were the others at the final table. Follow the action over at PokerNews.

$1,500 NL Day 2

The $1,500 No-Limit Holdem event is down to under 80 players as the field is now at their one hour dinner break. The chip leader is Jose Gatmaitan at 350,000. Notables with chips: Josh Schlein (196,000), Matt Stout (150,000), Phil Hellmuth (145,000), and Steve Sung (85,000). The field returns to play five one-hour levels or reach the final table, whichever happens first. Follow PokerNews to get all the latest updates.

Taking it to the Pot-Limit

The first tournament to start on Thursday, $1,500 Pot-Limit Holdem starting with a field of 650, with under 200 remaining when they return from their 90-minute dinner break to play four more one-hour levels. The final 63 players in the field cash, with the winner earning $197,470. Chad Batista is the current chip leader (52,000), followed by notables Justin Bonomo (32,000), Liv Boeree (26,500), Team Pokerati’s Tom Schneider (22,000) Lex Veldhuis (17,000) and Eric Froehlich (15,000).

World Championship Stud Starts

The $10,000 Seven Card Stud World Championship got underway at 5pm this afternoon, with a field of about 148 when registration closed. Yuval Bronshtein has already doubled up his starting stack of 30,000 to take the early lead. He’s followed closely by Daniel Negreanu (51,800), Robert Mizrachi (49,000) and Scotty Nguyen (35,000). For updates and a full list of entrants, check out wsop.com for more information.

From GSN’s press release:

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