A review of this afternoon’s WSOP action:

Phillips builds chip lead in youngster $1,500 NL 6-max

The $1,500 No-Limit Holdem 6-max final table was reached this afternoon, and thanks to the research of Jess Welman and F-Train, the six who made up the final table was the youngest (or second-youngest) in WSOP history*, with an average age of 22.8.

Carter Phillips 3,175,000
Craig Bergeron 1,214,000
Russell Thomas 1,075,000
Samuel Gerber 1,057,000
David Diaz 490,000
Hugo Perez 485,000

Perez ($124,690) Thomas ($84,256) and Diaz ($58,483) were the first to leave the final table, while the remaining three playing down to a winner. Phillips (3,615,000) has maintained his chip lead, followed by Bergeron (2,200,000) and Gerber (1,700,000). Find out which young gun takes the tournament down at PokerNews.

Gee vs Vance for 1k NL bracelet

The final table of the $1,000 No-Limit Holdem final table is down to two players, with Steven Gee (7,450,000) holding a chip lead over Matt Vance (1,550,000) battling for over $470,000 and the prized WSOP bracelet. David Baker, the leader at the start of the final table, finished in 3rd, good for $206,813. Updates and the rest of the final table results are at wsop.com.

Williams leads 5k NL

Day 2 of the $5,000 No-Limit Holdem returns from their dinner break with under 85 players remaining, 72 making the money. The current chip leader is Jeff Williams with 367,000 in chips. Other notables remaining: Peter Jetten (350,000), Day 1 leader Steven Goosen (295,000), Antonio Esfandiari (250,000) and Vivek Rajkumar (170,000). The field will play six more levels or to the final table, whichever comes first. See who makes the money, who’s the unfortunate bubble boy, and who breaks out of the pack at PokerNews.

Matts 1-2 in Limit Holdem

The $2,000 Limit Holdem event got underway at noon today to eventually draw a field of 476 entrants. After six levels of play, the field is already under 300, with Matt Glantz (24,500) and Matt Matros (22,800) reported as the top two in chips. Other notables: Sorel Mizzi (18,000), Maria Ho (17,000), John Phan (13,000) and defending champion Marc Naalden (10,000). Follow the raise, 3-bet and 4-bet action over at wsop.com.

NL 2-7 Lowball Underway

A field of 101 started at 5pm for the $10,000 No-Limit 2-7 Lowball World Championship and only Dario Minieri has been eliminated in the first three hours. Among the dozens of notables in the field: Tom Dwan, Barry Greenstein, Phil Ivey, Tom Schneider, Yan Chen, Archie Karas and Doyle Brunson. Follow the pat wheels, drawing two, and breaking of good hands over at PokerNews.

* The 2009 $5,000 No-Limit Holdem Shootout final table had an average age of 22.2. However, that was a five-handed final table, and after consultation with BJ Nemeth, that was considered to not be a standard final table.

Time for a recap of the Tuesday night tournament action:

Kassela bests Kessler at Stud 8

Frank Kassela outlasted Allen Kessler and the rest of a stacked final table to win the $10,000 Seven Card Stud Hi/Lo 8 or better World Championship along with $447,446. Jennifer Harman, Steve Zolotow, and John Juanda finished third, fourth and fifth respectively. A full list of the results and Nolan Dalla’s tournament report can be found at wsop.com or read what Pauly wrote about the final table here.

Baker leads 1k final table

Veteran pro David Baker leads the final table of the $1,000 No-Limit Holdem final table when play resumes at 2:30pm. Here’s how the rest of that table will be seated, with the winner pocketing $472,479:

Seat 1: Jared Hamby – 423,000
Seat 2: Daniel Thomas – 602,000
Seat 3: Matthew Vance – 1,731,000
Seat 4: Jeffrey Gross – 281,000
Seat 5: Mats Gavatin – 393,000
Seat 6: Nicholas Heather – 993,000
Seat 7: David Baker – 2,553,000
Seat 8: Kyung Han – 613,000
Seat 9: Steven Gee – 1,540,000

Phillips leads Day 3 of $1,500 6-max

Carter Phillips (922,000) leads the remaining 16 players who’ll return at 2:30pm to determine the winner of the $1,500 No-Limit Holdem 6-max event. Other notables returning include Mark Flowers (545,000), and Jimmy Tran (219,000). The full list of players remaining are at PokerNews.com.

Goosen Leads 5k NL Day 2

Steven Goosen (229,000) leads the 202 players who made it through the first ten levels of the $5,000 No-Limit Holdem who return at 2:30pm. Other notables also returning: Chino Rheem (185,800), James Dempsey (165,800), Michael Gracz (131,800), Tony G (98,500), Joe Sebok (88,100), Phil Hellmuth (82,100), and TJ Cloutier (77,200). The full list of chip counts is now online at PokerNews.

Wednesday’s Tournaments

The doubleheader returns to the WSOP this afternoon, first is the $2,000 Limit Holdem event starting at 12pm. Dutch pro Marc Naalden won this event last year in a field of 446 for $190,770. At 5pm is the $10,000No-Limit 2-7 Lowball Single Draw World Championship, last year won by Nick Schulman for $279,751 in a field of 96. This event starts you out with 7,500 in chips with three additional “rebuy” chips, each good for 7,500 in chips to be added to your stack anytime during the first four hours.

Follow along at home starting at high noon over at PokerNews or www.wsop.com

Recapping Sunday night’s action:

Bracelet Winners go 1-2-4 in Limit Shootout

Greg Mueller becomes the fourth double bracelet winner at this year’s WSOP, taking down the $1,500 Limit Holdem Shootout, good for $194,854 as he denied Marc Naalden his second bracelet this year. The only year where more players have won more at least two bracelets was 2003 (Ivey, Juanda, Men Nguyen, Ferguson, Chan and Flack) . Millie Shiu finished in 3rd, tied for the highest placing woman in an open WSOP event this year(Ming Reslock in the $1,500 Omaha-8 and Laurence Grondin in the $2,000 NL Holdem). David Williams finished in thirdfourth..

Lunkin Looking to Make it Five in $50k HORSE

Vitaly Lunkin, winner of the first open bracelet ($40,000 NL Holdem) leads the remaining 19 players in the $50,000 HORSE event going into day 4. Three players will make zero on their investment, as they play down to the final table today starting around 2pm. Here’s how the remaining players will be seated:

(Table 58)
Seat 1: Erik Sagstrom – 1315000
Seat 2: Erik Seidel – 464000
Seat 3: Steve Billirakis – 576000
Seat 5: David Chiu – 397000
Seat 6: Mike Wattel – 779000
Seat 7: Chau Giang – 616000

(Table 60)
Seat 1: Huck Seed – 672000
Seat 2: Ray Dehkharghani – 262000
Seat 4: Brett Richey – 671000
Seat 6: Todd Brunson – 145000
Seat 7: Vitaly Lunkin – 1527000
Seat 8: Frank Kassela – 499000

(Table 62)
Seat 1: Tony G – 642000
Seat 2: David Bach – 1265000
Seat 3: John Hanson – 815000
Seat 5: Ville Wahlbeck – 842000
Seat 6: John Kabbaj – 678000
Seat 7: Freddy Deeb – 1300000
Seat 8: Gus Hansen – 801000

Durand Looking for Durability in $1,500 NL Holdem

Day 3 of the $1,500 NL Holdem starts with 30 players remaining, with Thibaut Durand (1,650,000) holding the chip lead when play resumes around 1pm PT. Owen Crowe (1,025,000), Josh Schlein (875,000), and Alex Jacob (274,000) are the most recognizable names remaining. When the final table is eventually reached, bluffmagazine.com and wsop.pkr.com will stream all the action.

Australians go 1-2 in Triple Chance

Day 1 of the $3,000 Triple Chance NL Holdem ended with 149 players remaining and it’s two Australians who hold the top spots when play resumes around 2pm today. Tim Horan is the chip leader (149,000), followed by Harris Pavlou (137,300). Notables returning on day 2 include Jeff Lisandro, Antonio Esfandiari, Shane Schleger, Nick Binger, Mike Caro, Noah Schwartz and Praz Bansi.

Prescott Gives Field Allie Can Handle in Stud 8

Day 2 of the $1,500 Stud Hi/Lo 8 or Betterevent resumes around 2pm with 146 players remaining, with Allie Prescott leading the field with 52,500 in chips. Notables returning include Jim Geary, Annie Duke, Marcel Luske, Daniel Negreanu, Barry Greenstein, Jon Turner, Matt Savage and Norman Chad.

Monday’s Tournaments

The 12pm $1,500 NL Holdem Donkament is already sold out, although there’s always the slim chance they’ll open a few more seats during the day. This is the seventh event of the $1,500 NL Holdem of this year’s WSOP, so it’s a “new” event, not having a winner last year. The 5pm (if it starts on time) event is the $2,500 2-7 Triple Draw Lowball event, won last year by John Phan for just over $150,000 in a field of 238. The WSOP Staff Guide projects a field of 262 entries.

Today and tomorrow will both be extremely busy with six tournaments going on at the same time, so check out www.wsop.com for live updates, and Pokerati for other stuff during the day.

Recapping Sunday afternoon’s activities:

Mueller Muscling His Way to Bracelet #2

The final table of the $1,500 Limit Holdem Shootout has 6 players remaining after returning from their dinner break. Greg Mueller is the current chip leader (950,000), followed by Marc Naalden, Millie Shiu, David Williams, Flaminio Malaguti and Matt Sterling.

Erik Looking to put the 123 on the HORSE Field

Erik Sagstrom, an early Internet poker sensation, is the current chip leader (1,280,000) of the $50,000 HORSE with 31 players remaining. Ville Wahlbeck (775,000) is in 2nd place, followed by Vitaly Lunkin (735,000) in 3rd as the players take their dinner break. Day 2 chip leader Gus Hansen (670,000) is still in the top 10, along with Todd Brunson (610,000) and Freddy Deeb (560,000).

Hedler Ahead of the Field in $1,500 NL

Jason Helder (440,000) is the current chip leader in the $1,500 NL Holdem with about 120 players remaining as they try to play down to 9 before the 3am deadline. Notables with chips left include Men Nguyen, Cody Slaubaugh, Jason Potter, Owen Crowe and Vinny Pahuja.

Triple Chance NL Holdem

A field of 854 started today’s debut of the $3,000 NL Holdem Triple Chance event, with a field of approximately 400 remaining. No chip leader has been named yet, but the updates say that there’s a few players with stacks of 70,000 from their starting stacks of 9,000.

Stud 8 or Better

A field of 467 showed up for the $1,500 Stud 8 or Better event that started at 5pm, they have eight levels of play today, with the only notable casualty so far being Perry Friedman.

Check out www.wsop.com for more updates, and some stuff overnight from Pokerati.

Recapping the rest of Saturday’s action:

Cantu Wins Bracelet #2

In a battle of bracelet winners, Brandon Cantu defeated Lee Watkinson heads-up to win his second career bracelet in the $1,500 Pot-Limit Omaha 8 or Better event, good for $228,867.

Hansen HORSE Honcho

Day 3 of the $50,000 HORSE resumes at 2pm Sunday with 53 players remaining and Gus Hansen (686,000) the chip leader. Other notables close behind include Erik Sagstrom (560,000), Scotty Nguyen (463,000), and Tony G (433,000) in the top 10. The entire list can be found here.

Limit Shootout Final Table

Unfortunately, Tom Schneider won’t be there, but there will be three WSOP bracelet winners at the final table of the $1,500 Limit Holdem Shootout, each starting with 450,000 chips when play resumes at 2pm:

Seat 1: David Williams
Seat 2: Flaminio Malaguti
Seat 3: Greg ‘FBT’ Mueller
Seat 4: Joep Van Den Bijgaart
Seat 5: Jose Barbero
Seat 6: Marc Naalden
Seat 7: Matthew Sterling
Seat 8: Millie Shiu

Bonita Benefits with Donkament Lead

Christopher Bonita (131,700) will start day 2 of the $1,500 NL Holdem event when play resumes at 2pm. Other notables include: Cody Slaubaugh (125,900), Jason Potter (100,100), Amnon Filippi (77,700), Men Nguyen (71,200) and Joe Reitman (41,200).

Sunday’s Tournaments

The noon tournament is the debut of the $3,000 NL Holdem Triple Chance event. With no rebuy tournaments this year, the twist is that players start with 3,000 in tournament chips. They’re also given two “add-on” chips, each good for an additional 3,000 in chips. These can be used any time within the first three levels and any players who still have the chips will have it added to their stack at the end of level three. The WSOP Staff Guide projects a field of 700 for this event. The 5pm tournament today is the $1,500 Seven Card Stud 8 or Better event, which was won last year by Ryan Hughes for over $180,000 in a field of 543. The WSOP Staff Guide projects a field of 598.

More stuff during the day from Pokerati and over at www.wsop.com

Recapping the Saturday afternoon action:

Cantu v Watkinson Heads-Up

Brandon Cantu and Lee Watkinson are the last two standing in the $1,500 Pot-Limit Omaha 8 or Better event, each going for their second career bracelet. At the moment, Watkinson holds a 2-1 chip lead over Cantu.

Habib Handling HORSE Headline

Hasan Habib remains the chip leader (453,000) with 77 players remaining in the $50,000 HORSE event as they return from a dinner break with three more levels remaining in today’s play. David Bach (426,000) and John Kabbaj (340,000) are the top 3 in chips at the moment. Among the eliminations today, Justin Bonomo, John Juanda, Eli Elezra and Jennifer Harman. More updates can be found over at www.wsop.com

Limit Holdem Shootout

The field of 64 that started round 2 of the $1,500 Limit Holdem Shootout on Saturday is down to 38 players spread over eight tables. Among the remaining players, David Williams, Tom Schneider, Humberto Brenes, Marc Naalden, and Jean-Robert Bellande.

More Donkament Carnage

A sold-out field of 2781 in the next to last $1,500 NL Holdem event is down to about 975 players as they return from dinner break. The unofficial chip leader is Thomas “titantom32” Braband at 78,000 with another 4 levels before play ends for the day.

More updates available at www.wsop.com and Pokerati for other stuff during the evening.

Recapping the rest of Friday night’s WSOP, and paying respect to the passing of Lee Munzer (1943-2009).

Habib Holds High HORSE Hierarchy

Day 1 of the $50,000 HORSE has 91 of the 95 original entrants remaining, with Hasan Habib holding the chip lead. The list of notables with chips is too many to mention, but you can see who else is remaining by checking out this link. Day 2 will begin around 2pm4pm with another sixfive levels of play scheduled.

Cantu Leads PLO 8 Final Table

The final table of the $1,500 Pot-Limit Omaha 8 or Better has been established and Brandon Cantu has maintained his lead, with the final table seated as follows when play resumes at 2pm:

Seat 1: Lee Watkinson – 412000
Seat 2: Steve Jelinek – 260000
Seat 3: William McMahan – 168000
Seat 4: Brandon Cantu – 1025000
Seat 5: Ted Weinstock – 250000
Seat 6: Aaron Sias – 353000
Seat 7: Jacqmin Mathieu – 552000
Seat 8: Ronnie Hofman – 76000
Seat 9: Tommy Vedes – 334000

Day 2 of Limit Holdem Shootout

64 players remain from the starting field of 571 in the $1,500 Limit Holdem Shootout. Among the first round winners: Jean-Robert Bellande, Nick Binger, Humberto Brenes, Dan Heimiller, Juha Helppi, Greg Mueller, Marc Naalden, Brock Parker, Tom Schneider, David Williams and Todd Witteles. Eight eight-handed tables will play down to a winner starting around 2pm Saturday, with the eight winners returning Sunday.

Saturday’s Donkament

The only tournament starting today is the penultimate $1,500 NL Donkament, starting at noon today with a projected field size of 2,800 taking the felt, which will surely delay the other three tournaments that are scheduled to start later this afternoon. Last year’s version of this event was won by David Daneshgar in a field of 2,693, taking down over $625,000.

Recapping the first half of Wednesday’s WSOP:

Lisandro Wins Bracelet #3, Wins Stud Triple Crown

Jeff Lisandro becomes the first player to win three bracelets in one WSOP after Chris Moneymaker initiated the poker boom in 2003, takes down the $2,500 Razz event, good for $188,370. Lisandro has won all three of his bracelets in stud events in each of the three disciplines of stud (Stud high, Stud Hi/Lo and Razz). Lisandro held the chip lead at the beginning of the day and was never seriously threatened. Michael Craig finished in 2nd, good for $116,405. Other notable finishes: Kenna James (6th), Al “Sugar Bear” Barbieri (10th), Ville Wahlbeck (12th) and Nikolay Evdakov (13th).

Seniors Six-Pack

Half a dozen players remain in the $1,000 Seniors NL Holdem World Championship, led by Scott Buller with over 2 million in chips. Michael Morusty, Charles Simon, Dan DeLatorre, Michael Davis and Barry Bounds make up the remaining players.

Thang Flung From Omaha-8

The $2,500 Omaha Hi-Lo 8 or Better has 70 players remaining, only 45 get paid. The unofficial chip leader is Frankie O’Dell (109,000), followed by day 1 chip leader Josh Schlien (85,000), Pat Poels (71,500), Marsha Waggoner (54,000), Mike Matusow (38,000), and Max Pescatori (28,000) among the familiar faces. Thang Luu unfortunately was eliminated before the dinner break earlier today.

Brummelhuis Bringing It in Pot-Limit

The $10,000 Pot-Limit Holdem World Championship is down to 35 players, only 27 get to cash with day 1 chip leader Michiel Brummelhuis remaining chip leader (570,000). Isaac Haxton (450,000), Eric Baldwin (430,000), Darryll Fish (310,000), Vanessa Rousso (280,000), Sam Simon (173,000), and Eugene Todd (165,000) are among the remaining.

Mixed Holdem Brings Mixed Blessings

The $2,500 Mixed Holdem event drew a field of 527 players, of which just 184 remain. The unofficial chip leader is David Baker (unknown if that’s the one from Michigan or Texas) at 73,000. Eli Elezra (51,000), Marc Naalden (46,000) and Jean-Robert Bellande (42,000) are some well known folks with chips.

More updates during the evening over at www.wsop.com and Pokerati for more Lisandro stuff and other commentary about all things WSOP.

You may have noticed the Pokerati World Standings (presented by Betfair) for the 2009 WSOP (presented by Jack’s Links Beef Jerky) have been updated. Some interesting trends and plausibly coincidental occurrences over the past several events …

It took some time, but the Europeans have clearly arrived – now with more bracelets and final tables than California, and money won than Nevada.

Some of that came from Crocodile Lisandro, who claimed his first bracelet on behalf of Australia, but his second for Italy. Not sure how that will work out with taxes – but hey, if he wants to spread it around in the official standings, what can ya do? On that same day, Italy lost 0-3 to Brazil.

Similarly, we have our first big mistake (to be corrected on the next go-round) as it relates to Marc Naalden’s bracelet in $2,000 Limit Hold’em … which he won as a Belgian, but claims for the Dutch, the other country that runs through his border town.

ALT HED: Belgian Waffles, lol.

European newcomers to the world beyond the bubble include Portugal and PokerStarzistan Isle of Man.

Perhaps inspired and educated by neighboring Russians, Alaskans, specifically Alaskan’s from Wasilla, keep cashing.

Boooo Kentucky!

One of the other “bad” states representing at the WSOP is Washington. They had four players cash in $2k Limit Hold’em, which in and of itself would not seem like a major accomplishment in a 446-player field … but here all four made the final table.

In the way Northeast of North America, Newfoundland finally got on the board, as did Vermont — leaving Wyoming as the only state to not pop into Vegas and pick up some WSOP cash.

California is still unbeaten — batting 38-for-38 in this year’s WSOP — but just barely, thanks to Isaac Baron’s lone Cali-cash (10th place) in the $5k PLO.

When you’re done scrolling through the Standings, get your European poker news at Betfair.