Face Up Gaming really wants to be the darling free/subscription site this WSOP, you can tell. This not-yet-gambling operation has been around for awhile, developing their live-interaction social-media-friendly software, and are finally busting it out in force to get players. In addition to paying a few shills* they’re starting to pay out winners, too, giving them a taste of real-money play.

* full-disclosure: including yours truly and legendary battle-of-bloggers king and new Pokerati power forward/gaffer AlCantHang.

Just this past week, Face-Up paid out some $50k in cash or cash-equivalent prizes (Supposedly Oklahoma Johnny Hale took second in one event) … I’m still figuring out how it all works, but I have slapped down my $25 to get a seat at various non-gambling tables that pay out real money. We’ve got Al’s blogger freeroll coming up, and I think I signed up for some CardPlayer Cruises. Face-Up’s next 8-week leagues start today.

There are two levels of qualifiers … one for a $30k prize pool where 35 percent of the players finish ITM, and another $20k prize pool with a more traditional Top 10 percent payout structure. Other events available include ladies qualifers into the LIPS Poker Queen Championship, WSOP Seniors event, and a Tom McEvoy training seminar (with live tourney part of it, I’m pretty sure).

Haven’t been this interested in actual tournament results since ’06 … but if the run-up to the 2011 WSOP is any indication … everybody’s gonna win! No? Well there were a some notable finishes for a few people starting their summers off right:

Friendly Faces at WSOPC National Championship
Caesars Palace, LAS VEGAS
As far as Pokerati’s concerned, La Sengphet is the player who made the WSOP-Circuit most fun to follow. Whether it be strong-playing “the Hammer” or testing the limits of “the Harris” … not since Dwyte Pilgrim has there been such an engaging minor-league pro story. La criss-crossed the country for months to earn her seat, where she finished 4th for $100k this weekend — staking her claim as the #1 most successful female on the 2010-11 WSOP Circuit. Also notable at the final table was Josh Evans, longtime friend of Pokerati and frequent opponent of La’s back in the Dallas Jackie’s days. He won $135k, finishing 3rd. Television coverage of the WSOP-Circuit leading up to this event event airs on Thursdays on Versus, starting June 2. NOTE: La kept her winning ways alive, chopping an Aria nightly four ways for $1,600 the following day.

Orleans Open Raising
The Orleans, LAS VEGAS
Another strong Pokerati lady player proving she can compete against fields with or without penises, Stacey Nutini had been moneying often in recent months in various small tourneys around town, and even tore up events online post-April 15 to pad her theoretical play-money bankroll. But yesterday, the defending LIPS Grand Champion — who’s probably taken more Maven Training than anyone else — showed she could turn it on with real money on the line. @LasVegasPokers destroyed a 166-player field in the $550 main event at the Orleans Open this weekend for a solid, WSOP-warming $24k score.

Poker Pro Wannabe FTW!
Caesars Palace/the Rio, LAS VEGAS
When not working undercover to confirm the whereabouts of Howard Lederer, new Pokerati on-and-off-the-felter Marie-Lizette admits she still has “the dream” … and to that effort took down an $85 nooner at Caesars for a $1,440 bankroll boost, and then binked a single-table-satellite for a seat in today’s WSOP Event #1, the casino employees event. (Added props to Pokerati alum Kevmath, who won the same Caesars daily the night before.) @MarieLizette to see her excitable tweets from the WSOP.

Elsewhere …

PokerStars, Made in China
Grand Lisboa Casino, MACAU
With the Macau Poker Classic underway this week, PokerStars is essentially saying if they can’t have America, they’ll be in China before Caesars … establishing a foothold where the WSOP can’t by staging their second MPC in three months — complete with three events determining the APPT “Official” Asian Player of the Year. Click here for the latest standings, and remember to divide by 8 for a rough conversion from HK to US dollars.

High Schooler Wins WPT Spanish Championship
Grand Casino, BARCELONA
18-year-old Lukas Berglund from Uppsala, Sweden is the youngest champion in the history of the World Poker Tour after winning the Season X WPT Spanish Championship. Berglund, who graduates from high school this week, scooped €206,000 after crushing the field and knocking out every single player on the final table en route to victory.

The ladies event brings out all sorts … supposedly one man entered, and one man left. Because the WSOP wasn’t gonna get themselves into anything resembling a civil rights and discriminatory mess, anyone who stood in line for Event #15 would be allowed to buy in. However, when only one man did this, Nolan Dalla went up to him and politely asked him not to play — refunded his buy-in as he obliged.

One lady who is supposedly playing: Mindy McCready. She’s the country singer-turned-Roger Clemens affairester. Can you imagine if she got seated with a dress-wearing Jose Canseco? Sorry that I don’t have a pic of her in action … but I have to admit, I’m less interested in Day 1 of the Ladies Event than usual. Perhaps it had something to do with a chat I had with Snake, or maybe it’s just because Pokerati fave Evil Omaha Sharron (NSFW) isn’t playing.

Regardless, Jen has pretty much successfully convinced me that non-open events should be non-bracelet events. Ladies, Seniors, Casino Employee’s … since anyone can’t win then they should not receive the same acclaim as those who take down a tourney where technically anyone can.

Of course the problem with this would be that if these events lost their prestige, then they would also lose their crowds, which are an important part of bringing newbies into the game. The solution: partner up with some other entity to make these special events the pinnacle of their season(s). Though I don’t really know much about the LIPS Tour, it seems a pretty big, legitimate deal. Why not bring in them (or some entity like them) to give some special championship prize that still makes the non-bracelet event exciting?