Good video from WPT-London … with Neil Channing discussing the travails of backing James Akenhead and a more detailed explanation of what goes into staking players, from the guy Brits worldwide look to for bankroll assistance:
Time to recap the Saturday afternoon action:
Six players remain at the $5,000 No-Limit Holdem 6-max final table with Jeffrey Papola (2,340,000) leading when play resumed at 9pm. The rest of the final table is made up of Erick Lindgren (1,670,000), Men Nguyen (1,505,000), Orlando Delacruz (1,100,000), Bruno Launais (1,003,000) and Mark Radoja (480,000). Follow the action at PokerNews.
Eight players remain in the $2,500 Pot-Limit Omaha/Pot-Limit Holdem final table with Jose Luis Velador (985,000) holding the chip lead. Kevin MacPhee (631,000), David Chiu (437,000), Rob Hollink (323,000), and Victor Ramdin (200,000) are the notable names remaining, follow the action at PokerNews.
The $10,000 No-Limit Holdem Heads-Up Championship is currently at round 4 with players now in the money. Among the round 4 winners: Faraz Jaka, Bertrand “ElkY” Grospellier, Brian Rast, Kido Pham, Ludovic Lacay and Jason Somerville. One more round is scheduled for 11pm tonight, with the 8 survivors playing to a winner Sunday afternoon. See who else moves on at wsop.com.
Less than 150 players remain as play continues on day 2 of the $1,000 Seniors’ No-Limit Holdem Championship with Duane Gerleman (210,000) reported as the chip leader. Other notables in the hunt: Team Pokerati/Loudmouth Poker pro Tom Schneider (181,000), Berry Johnston (110,000), Susie Isaacs (60,000) and John Spadavecchia (55,000). Find more info over at wsop.com.
A field of 2,485 1,987 started day 1a of the $1,000 No-Limit Holdem with around 550 players remaining, scheduled to play 10 levels or down to about 360 players, whichever comes first. Notables who’ve grown their 3,000-chip stack: Scott Montgomery (25,000), Liv Boeree (24,700), Neil Channing (18,000) and Lee Childs (11,000). More updates and chip counts can be found at PokerNews.
The 5pm tournament today, $3,000 HORSE, drew a field of 478 entrants with the top 48 making the money, with the winner earning $329,840. The early leader is Robert Willamson III with 16,000 in chips, followed by Andre Akkari (13,000), Shaun Deeb (12,500), Matt Savage (11,700) and Scotty Nguyen (10,500). More updates as eight levels of play is scheduled at PokerNews.
Recapping the seven WSOP bracelet events taking place this afternoon:
The $1,000 No-Limit Holdem final table just concluded with Jeffrey Tebben defeating JD McNamara in heads-up play, winning his first WSOP bracelet. Tebben also earned $503,389, while McNamara earns $310,248. Full results and Nolan Dalla’s tournament report will appear later at wsop.com.
The official final table has been established for the $2,500 No-Limit Holdem 6-max final table, returning from dinner break shortly. Joe Baldwin will start as the leader with 2,812,000 in chips. Follow the updates at wsop.com.
The final table of the $1,500 Stud Hi/Lo 8 or Better final table has also been finalized. Maxwell Troy remains the leader with 755,000 in chips. Notables at the final table include David Levi (565,000), Karina Jett (450,000), and Allen Bari (170,000). Action will resume shortly, follow the split-pot action over at PokerNews.
The $2,500 Pot-Limit Omaha field has made the money with 50 players remaining. Bryce Yockey is the current chip leader with 293,000, followed by T.J. Cloutier (232,000), Chau Giang (225,000), Michael Greco (150,000), Joe Serock (114,000) and Adam Junglen (95,000). Play is scheduled for six more levels or a final table is reached, whatever comes first, updates available at wsop.com.
More updates on page 2:
A recap of Saturday’s sextet of bracelet events this afternoon:
Six players remain in the $10,000 Seven Card Stud event, with Men Nguyen the current chip leader with over 1,000,000 in chips. The rest of the final table consists of Nikolay Evdakov, Brandon Adams, Michael Mizrachi, Joe Cassidy and Steve Bilirakis. The first two to to cash from the final table are Vladimir Schmelev ($55,991) and Sirious Jamshidi ($46,206). Follow the final table activities, and other WSOP events over at PokerNews.
The final table of the $1,500 Pot-Limit Holdem event is down to heads-up, with James “Flushy” Dempsey holding the chip lead over Steve Chanthabouasy. JJ Liu fell short of triumph, finishing in 3rd for $86,512. Updates of the battle are ongoing over at PokerNews.
Less than 100 remain in the $1,500 No-Limit Holdem, with chances appearing slim that a final table will be reached. Notables remaining: Blair Hinkle, Tom Dwan, Neil Channing, Roy Winston, and Alex Bolotin.
The field in the $1,500 Limit Holdem event is down to 77 after their dinner break, with 63 making the money. Michael Miccio is the current chip leader at 85,000, followed close behind by Jameson Painter (82,000), Terrence Chan (81,000), Jason Potter (74,000), and David Plastik (56,000) in the top 10. Play continues until they reach the final table or around 3am, whichever comes first. More updates available at PokerNews.
1,922 handed over their money for day 1a of the $1,000 No-Limit Holdem event, a decrease from last week’s 2,600 day 1a. The remaining 450 players remain with play ending for the night when 15% of the field remains or 10 levels of play, whichever happens first. Some of the notable post-dinner break survivors: Phil Gordon, Kathy Liebert, John Cernuto, Tony Cousineau, Liv Boeree, and Vitaly Lunkin.
A field of 250 players decided to give the $1,500 No-Limit 2-7 Lowball, Single Draw event a try, with notables such as Annette Obrestad and Eric Baldwin making their lowball debut. Players start with 1,500 in chips along with three $1,000 “rebuy” chips that can be used anytime within the first 4 hours. Nick Schulman appears to be the early chip leader with 25,000, but the volatile nature of the game means anything can happen over the eight levels of play this evening.
Wrapping up the Friday tournament action, with another bracelet winner determined:
Pascal LeFrancois, a 23-year old student from Quebec, won the $1,500 NL Holdem event, winning $568,974 along with the coveted WSOP bracelet. LeFrancois defeated Max Steinberg in heads-up play, with Steinberg collecting $352,916 for his runner-up finish. The full list of results, Nolan Dalla’s tournament report, and a first for the official winner’s photo, can be found over at wsop.com.
Twelve players remain for day three of the $10,000 Seven Card Stud World Championship with Vladimir Schmelev and Michael Mizrachi looking to renew their rivalry from the $50,000 Players’ Championship won by Mizrachi earlier this week. Schmelev is the current chip leader (921,000), with Mizrachi in third (544,000). Other notables: Nikolay Evdakov (543,000), Steve Bilirakis (448,000) and Men Nguyen (302,000). The full list of chip counts is now available at PokerNews.
The final table of the $1,500 Pot-Limit Holdem gets underway at 2:30 this afternoon. JJ Liu is the first woman to make a final table at this year’s, starting third in chips with 479,000. Here’s how the entire final table will look:
Armen Kara 220,000
Gregg Wilkerson 230,000
Mark Babekov 246,000
JJ Liu 479,000
Edward Brogdon 89,000
Scott Haraden 224,000
Steve Chanthabouasy 533,000
Joseph Williams 385,000
James Dempsey 528,000
Day 2 of the third $1,500 No-Limit Holdem event resumes at 2:30 this afternoon with 291 players returning, 270 making the money. Venkatesch Gupta will be the leader with 199,100 in chips. Among the notables: Blair Hinkle (112,400), Shannon Shorr (64,300), Erick Lindgren (57,600), Jerry Yang (49,100), Tom Dwan (44,500) and Neil Channing (42,000). Team Pokerati’s Pat Poels finished the day in 288th place with 3300 chips. The full list can be found over at PokerNews.
The $1,500 Limit Holdem event returns with 177 players returning at 3:00pm to attempt to play down to a final table. Jameson Painter, who finished 5th at the $2,500 2-7 Triple Draw event earlier this week, starts play today as the chip leader with 47,600. David Williams is 3rd in chips (41,800) with Jason Potter (32,800), Jeff Madsen (28,700) and Matt Hawrilenko (23,900) among the notables near the top of the standings. The full list of players returning can be found at wsop.com.
Saturday brings Day 1a of the second $1,000 NL Donkament to the WSOP at 12pm today, with about 4,000 runners expected over the next two days. The plan is to play ten one-hour levels today per usual, but if the pace of eliminations is as rapid as it was last Saturday, there could be a change in plans. The 5pm tournament is the $1,500 NL 2-7 Lowball Single Draw event, won last year by Phil Ivey when it had a $2,500 buy-in with a field of 147.
Recapping the Thursday afternoon action, with one bracelet already decided:
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.
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.
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.
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).
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.
Recapping Wednesday night’s WSOP action, starting with the awarding of two more WSOP bracelets:
The first $1,000 No-Limit Holdem bracelet of this year’s WSOP was awarded to Canadian Aadam Daya defeating Deepak Bhatti in heads-up play. Daya won the sixth-largest live poker tournament in history, besting a field of 4,345 players to earn $625,872. Bhatti picked up $385,106 for the runner-up finish. The full list of results and Nolan Dalla’s tournament report is available at WSOP.com.
Praz Bansi picked up his 2nd career WSOP bracelet, winning the $1,500 No-Limit Holdem bracelet, defeating Vincent Jacques heads-up to prevent a Canadian sweep of bracelets on Wednesday. Jacques earned $320,913 for falling just short of a bracelet, the full list of results and Dalla’s report are online here.
The final table of the $5,000 No-Limit Shootout gets underway at 2:30pm this afternoon with these six players, each with the same starting stack of 1,500,000:
Neil Channing
Stuart Rutter
Nicolas Levi
Brent Hanks
Joseph Elpayaa
Joshua Tieman
Play at the $2,500 2-7 Triple Draw Lowball ended earlier this morning with its final table just out of reach, returning at 4pm this afternoon to determine a winner. Among those who made the money: Team Pokerati’s Pat Poels (10th for $12,232), Ted Forrest (12th for $9,972), Jordan Seigel and Allen Kessler (16th and 17th for $7,663 each). The rest of the results can be found here. Here’s the eight players looking for a bracelet:
David Chiu 436,000
Peter Gelencser 400,000
Don Mcnamara 370,000
Raphael Zimmerman 262,000
Tad Jurgens 223,000
Leonard Martin 195,000
Shunjiro Uchida 173,000
Jameson Painter 127,000
Josh Schlein leads the remaining 270 players returning at 2:30pm for day 2 of the $1,500 No-Limit Holdem with 127,300 in chips. Other notables on the leaderboard: Jean-Robert Bellande (89,200), Phil Hellmuth (84,700), and Amnon Filippi (55,800). The full list of chip counts can be found at PokerNews.
The $1,500 Pot-Limit Holdem event starts at 12pm today, won last year by John Paul Kelly for over $190,000 in besting a field of 633. A compact field is expected at 5pm today for the $10,000 Seven-Card Stud World Championship won by Freddie Ellis last year, winning over $370,000 as the last man standing in a field of 142.
The mystery of who Isildur1 is may finally be revealed in a televised cash game in London next month. PokerNews, Tony G (who will stake Isildur1) and Matchroom Sport have each announced that the high-stakes online phenom will appear at the Les Ambassadeurs club in London for PartyPoker’s “Big Game IV”, a 48-hour cash game taped April 11-13th. Negotiations are still underway as to whether Isildur1 will wear a mask to continue hiding his identity or if he’ll choose to finally reveal himself to the public.
Names already announced for the cash game include Phil Laak, Jennifer Tilly, Isaac Haxton, Luke “Full Flush” Schwartz, Neil Channing with several other players to be announced over the next few days. Previous “Big Game” broadcasts filmed by Matchroom Sport have been 25-50 NL holdem, with the possibility of the blinds increasing during the session. The final product will first air on Channel Five in the UK, and eventually appear on networks around the world.
Here’s a promo previewing last year’s “Big Game” broadcast, picture this action in a much nicer location:
A little late, but here’s the first half recap of Sunday’s action…
Marc Naalden went nearly wire-to-wire to victory in the $2,000 Limit Holdem event, as he held a large chip lead over the field, handing it over to Steve Cowley for a few hands when play got to heads-up, but then going on a rush at the end to take a bracelet home to the Netherlands, as well as $190,770.
The $1,500 NL Holdem event is down to ~80 players, and Brandon Cantu is the current chip leader with 530,000 in chips. Other notables remaining include Joe Bartholdi (390,000), Raymond Davis (342,000), Nam Le (125,000) and Alex Jacob (78,000). Play will end at the 3am deadline well short of the final table, so the remaining field gets to return at 1pm to play down to a winner.
Noah Schwartz is the current chip leader (674,000) in the $10,000 Pot-Limit Omaha World Championship with 42 players remaining, only 27 getting paid. Jonas Entin (434,000), David Williams (359,500), Erick Lindgren (270,000), Nenad Medic (216,500), Padraig Parkinson (173,000), and Barry Greenstein (111,000) are some of the other notables who’ll be happy to reach the 3am deadline with chips.
A field of 280 is down to 30 in the $5,000 NL Holdem Shootout with the remaining players meeting at five tables of six players each to create a five player final table on Tuesday. Phil Ivey, Jean Gaspard, Joe Serock, Jennifer Harman, Neil Channing, Peter Feldman, John Monnette and Mark Teltscher are some of the returnees for day 2 at 2pm Monday.
The debuting $2,500 Mixed Event drew a field of 412 to play eight different games (HORSE, PLO, NL Holdem, 2-7 Triple Draw) with 335 players remaining. JC Tran appears to be the unofficial chip leader at 27,000, followed by Steve Billirakis at 26,000 and Sabyl Cohen-Landrum at 19,000. The players just returned from their dinner break to play another four levels before they do it all over again at 2pm Monday. More coming from me in the morning update, and check out Pokerati for other accusations of cheating, while www.wsop.com will cover the updates and other exciting stuff that’s not as controversial at the World Series of Poker.
Recapping the Monday evening tournament action…
The $10,000 NL Holdem Heads-Up World Championship is down to the final match as John Duthie takes on Leo Wolpert in a best of three match at 12pm (broadcast here and at wsop.pkr.com for international viewers to determine a winner. Duthie, the founder of the European Poker Tour, which announced the first half of its schedule yesterday, takes on Wolpert a professional poker player who went back to law school and is currently on a summer internship in Nevada, will attempt to pick up their first career bracelet and the $625,682 that goes with it.
Mike “The Force” Eise made his first tournament cash worthy of a bracelet, taking down the $1,500 NL Holdem event defeating Jeff Chang heads-up for the title as well as picking up a hefty $639,331.
Ross Boatman, member of the Hendon Mob (the best place to find tournament results) leads the final table in the $2,500 Pot Limit Omaha final table, which is seated as follows when play resumes at 2pm :
Seat 1: Jeff Kimber – 525000
Seat 2: Rami Boukai – 325000
Seat 3: Dallas Flowers – 239000
Seat 4: Ross Boatman – 718000
Seat 5: J.C. Tran – 387000
Seat 6: John Juanda – 129000
Seat 7: Theo Jorgensen – 419000
Seat 8: Chad Layne – 206000
Seat 9: Jean-Philippe Leandri – 324000
Fabrice Soulier is the chip leader (351,000) when day 3 of the $1,500 HORSE resumes at 2pm with 23 players remaining. Shannon Shorr (323,500), Joseph Serock (152,500), Chris Bjorin (143,000) Vanessa Rousso (131,000), James Van Alstyne (130,000), Kathy Raymond (111,000), and Bryan Micon (76,000) and Paul Darden (54,500) are some of the notables remaining when play resumes.
Shan Jing holds the chip lead (137,400) when day 2 of the $2,000 NL Holdem event restarts at 2pm today with 220 players remaining, 171 of which make the money. Ken Lennaard (109,200), Alex Bolotin (100,700), Luke Staudenmaier (88,600), Neil Channing (65,900), and Chau Giang (57,600) are some of the notables in the top half of the leaderboard, which will try to make the final table by the 3am deadline.
116 players will return at 2pm today to resume the $10,000 Limit Holdem World Championship with Jennifer Harman the day 1 chip leader (127,600). Maria Ho (113,400), Josh Arieh (112,100), Shaun Deeb (106,000), and Chino Rheem (87,400) are notables in the top 10. Ville Wahlbeck is trying for his 5th straight cash in a 10k buyin event, 44th with 54,400 in chips. Only 18 make the money with a goal of the final table a possibility.
Only one event on the calendar today, the fourth $1,500 NL Holdem donkament, this version was won last year by David Woo for over $630,000 in a field of 2,720. The WSOP Staff Guide projects a field of 2,569, so take the over with at least 2,700 signing up to try their hand at that game they saw on ESPN.
Plenty of action yet again today at the WSOP, follow the action at and other stuff on Pokerati during your Two for Tuesday.
Recapping the Monday overnight at the World Series of Poker:
Brian Lemke, cousin of the late Justin Shronk of PokerRoad and PokerNews, came back from a 4 to 1 chip deficit against Fabian Quoss to take down the $5,000 NL Holdem event for his first WSOP cash, final table, and bracelet, picking up $692,690 in the process. Quoss collected $427,911 for the 2nd place finish. An emotional Lemke dedicated the win to Shronk, saying “He was with me the whole time – the entire time. I know he brought that queen for me.” (The final hand had Lemke holding A-8 to Quoss’ A-Q, the board ran out 9-10-J-Q-x). “I miss him and that bracelet is dedicated to him, my family, my grandma, and his momâ€.
The $1,000 Ladies NL Holdem World Championship has their final table which will be seated as follows, with the final table streamed at 2pm on ESPN360:
Seat 1: Mari Lou Morelli 320,000
Seat 2: Lisa Parsons 427,000
Seat 3: Dawn Thomas 212,000
Seat 4: Lisa Hamilton 527,000
Seat 5: Lisa Santy 196,000
Seat 6: Angel Pedroza 522,000
Seat 7: Lori Bender 643,000
Seat 8: Kimberly Cunningham 140,000
Seat 9: Kim Rios 197,000
Meanwhile, the $10,000 Omaha 8 or Better World Championship is down to its final 17 players, with John Monnette looking to get the bracelet that Phil Ivey had won from him in the $2,500 NL 2-7 Lowball event last week. Monnette is the dominant chip leader (1,141,000) with Ben Boyd in 2nd place (663,000). Eight bracelet winners make up the other half of the field, topped by Scott Clements (477,000),
Daniel Alaei (297,000) and Ville Wahlbeck (231,000). The other bracelet winners: Daniel Negreanu, Annie Duke, Toto Leonidas, Ted Lawson, and Alex Kravchenko. Play resumes this afternoon with the final table scheduled to air at around 2pm PT at www.bluffmagazine.com/live.
2pm today also brings the return of 135 players for Day 2 of the $2,500 NL Holdem 6-max event, of which 108 will make the money. Brett “threatnasty” Switzer is the chip leader (183,000), with Brock Parker in 6th place trying to pick up a second bracelet this WSOP (138,900). Among the notables: Howard Lederer (93,900), Shaun Deeb (80,100), Neil Channing (59,000), and Erick Lindgren (31,600).
It’s a return to double duty for the WSOP, with the 12pm tournament the $1,500 Pot-Limit Holdem event, which was won last year by David Singer in a field of 713, collecting over $210,000. The 5pm tournament is $3,000 HORSE, which was won last year by Jens Voertmann taking home almost $300,000 in a field of 414.
The WSOP Staff Guide projections for today’s events: $1,500 PL Holdem – 713 (take the under, with around 685). $3,000 HORSE is projected at 435 (take the under as well, I’ll guess 403).
More stuff during the day so check back to Pokerati frequently.
The $1,000 NL Hold’em Stimulus Special looks to be a huge success, as day 1a appears to be sold out with at least 2,800 entered. There’s still some room for tomorrow’s day 1b, but it looks like that field will also be maxed out before play gets underway at 12 noon today. The WSOP Staff Guide projected 5,305 entrants and that has already been exceeded, so I’ll take the cheap win and take the over with a field of 5700 who will eventually play this weekend as the WSOP staff finds a few additional tables to put on the floor to accommodate the field.
The 40th Annual $40,000 NL Hold’em event returns for day 3 action today at 2pm with 23 players playing down to Sunday’s ESPN final table. Justin Bonomo will start action as the chip leader with 2,678,000 in chips, Ted Forrest in 2nd with 2,586,000, and David “WhoooKidd” Baker in 3rd with 2,367,000. Greg Raymer is the last remaining World Champion in the field, in 4th place with 2,287,000. Other notable names include Alec Torelli, Dani Stern, Matt Glantz, Isaac Haxton, David Chiu, Neil Channing, Andy Black, and Andrew Robl.
The $1,500 Omaha Eight or Better also comes back at 2pm today with 197 players remaining from their record field of 918. 2008 winner Thang Luu appears to have returned to his winning form, as he’ll start play today as the chip leader with 73,600 in chips. Other notable names remaining in the field include Phil Hellmuth, Annie Duke, Todd Brunson, and Brandon Cantu. Their final table is also scheduled for Sunday, although with much less exposure than what will be a mix of live and online stars of the 40k event or the WSOP Champions Invitational event, which also starts on Sunday. More to come today, with an update soon (?) if the Stimulus Special has sold out.
8am Update: Under 80 seats left for Sunday.
10:30am Update: 5,839 registered from Da Commish’s Twitter
There’s a lot of interesting action going on tonight. The $40k NLH seems to have quite the storylines developing … Chris Moneymaker (@cmoneymaker) is still alive and strong, but the chip leader is now his new-poker-era successor, Greg Raymer. Justin Bonomo (@JustinBonomo) is still proving to be a big threat … all these boomtime champions, yet plenty of old dogs there, too — Steven Zolotow, David Chiu, Ted Forrest, e.g. — representin’ those pre-boom big-time days.
There are currently 38 players remaining, with 27 making the money. Click here to follow the official chip counts — and Dr. Pauly is all over this one, too.
UPDATE: Moneymaker just took a huge hit, losing 2/3 of his stack.
RE-UPDATE: Pauly is ahead of the official counters — Moneymaker is out. So is Zolotow.
There’s also some potential excitement brewing in the ESPN Fantasy Pool, with Matt Glantz (@MattGlantz, one of my guys) way up near the top of the chip counts; and Mathers has Neil Channing hanging on for his team of fantasy scabs.
Vanessa Rousso (@VanessaRousso) is also still alive, though barely. Wouldn’t it be something …
Last but definitely not least, Dallas/Shreveport baller Keith Lehr (pictured) is currently 5th in chips.
LAS VEGAS – I just received word that I don’t need to be here for a potential press release (don’t ask, no hints, more on that later hence the expression…press release). After my brain realized my soul was granted freedom from the media room/The Rio/The WSOP/Las Vegas/Sao Paulo and The Tilted Kilt… my body crashed. In fact, I’m having difficulty holding my eyes open at this point. It has been 47 fun filled days of poker camp in the media room in what could best be described as…sitting in the back of the bus with my new fun brothers. Yes, it was fun but now, like every end of the WSOP, it’s “Time To Say Goodbye.”
The field has dwindled, the celebrities are gone, the halls are quiet and the only line you’ll see here is senior citizens at the buffet at 6pm. A handful of pros are still fighting for gold but the rest are new faces looking to be the new champ. There is still a buzz in the Amazon…all-in players standing on chairs with ten ESPN cameras zooming around, clapping, slapping on backs and the occasional waiter calling water, coffee, red bull? Gary Wise and Lacey Jones are still with camera but Mr. Peanut is gone.
Don’t fret…WSOP Europe will offer three bracelets in London this fall. Hmmm, London or Tunica? Tunica or London? For now, the closest I’ll be to London is flying over Big Ben on the Peter Pan ride as I’m off to Disneyland with my children.
As always…I don’t leave Vegas without getting a bit sappy with this below…
LAS VEGAS – Spiderman is out but Huckleberry is in and looking confident and happy at his table.
I was disappointed to read David Levi busted but on the contrary found him on break holding 360k in chips. I watched him lay down AK yesterday against JJ and 8c 6c. The 86er turned a straight and David’s lay down allowed him to return today.
Speaking of jacks, Neil “Bad Beat” Channing just picked them up and cracked aces giving him a hefty stack of about 550k.
Others – Gary Friedlander from Houston is still in the game with around 350k. And finally, Germany’s Andreas Krause (the guy that Dan refers to as “Michele’s Swede”) is holding his own as well as Gus Hansen.
Things are getting exciting as camera’s are on almost every table waiting to find this year’s champ.
