The first major final table of the 2009 WSOP takes place at 2pm today for the 40th Annual $40,000 NL Holdem. ESPN will be filming today, the only bracelet event besides the Main Event to bring out their cameras. Fortunately, they’ve made a wise choice as they have a final table with a World Champion, several bracelet winners and some of today’s best Internet players battling out for nearly $1.9 million for first and a gold WSOP bracelet. Here’s how the players will be seated when play resumes:

Seat 1 – Ted Forrest (560,000)
Seat 2 – Noah Schwartz (660,000)
Seat 3 – Alec Torelli (2,340,000)
Seat 4 – Isaac Haxton (5,955,000)
Seat 5 – Greg Raymer (3,345,000)
Seat 6 – Justin Bonomo (1,685,000)
Seat 7 – Lex Veldhuis (3,805,000)
Seat 8 – Dani Stern (1,300,000)
Seat 9 – Vitaly Lunkin (4,565,000)

The unfortunate (for both ESPN and himself) final table bubble boy was Tony G, outflopped by Lunkin on the final hand of play yesterday, but he should be able to console himself with the $172,000 he earned for the 10th place finish.

Day 1a of the $1,000 NL Holdem Stimulus Special is now in the books, with 2,998 entries for day 1a, and only 375 surviving the donkey slaughter to return on Monday afternoon to join the remnants of Sunday’s field of nearly 3,000 who start play at 12 noon. The day 1a chip leader is Jeremiah DeGreef with 132,200 in chips, the only other player who broke the 100k mark was Jonathan Tamayo (107,500). The average stack for the remaining day 1a players will be about 24 BBs (24,000). A more detailed recap of today’s events from me can be found on PokerNews. Today at 12 noon, another field of nearly 3,000 will be taking their seats for day 1b, playing ten levels of poker and then coming back on short rest tomorrow to first make the money, then the final table.

The ESPN cameras will also be focused on the Champions Invitational which will start at 4pm PT today. Somewhere between 20 and 25 players anticipate on being part of the lineup, although Greg Raymer could certainly be excused if he shows up a little later than the others. Russ Hamilton and Bobby Baldwin, as noted earlier, will not be in action today. Chris Ferguson surely has RSVP’d by now, but the remaining champions (Mansour Matloubi, Hamid Dastmalchi, and Noel Furlong) may not bother coming back to Vegas just to play for the Binion Cup trophy and 1970 Corvette that goes to the winner.

The $1,500 Omaha 8 or Better event will also come to a conclusion today starting at 2pm, as 19 players remain at the end of play on day 2. Ed Smith is the current chip leader at 433,000 in chips, defending champion Thang Luu is in 2nd (410,000). Other notables remaining: Robert Price, Jim Geary, Freddy Deeb, Sebastian Ruthenberg, Richard Toth, Ming Reslock, and Jordan Rich. Follow all the action over at www.worldseriesofpoker.com and throughout the day here on Pokerati.

After 33 of 55 events …

California is making a real run at Nevada as the most powerful poker region in the world.

In the second tier of American poker (below Canada), Texas can’t seem to keep up with Florida in terms of kizzash, nor New York when it comes to sealing the winning deal. It seems only a matter of time before the Russians catch up, as Nikolay Evdakov and his comrades keep going deep.

New countries in the WSOP money: Spain, Belarus, Greece, and New Zealand … Welcome! Spanish players (sorry Greece) take comfort in knowing at least a few TVs are showing the Euro Cup in the Amazon Room.

Also making its first appearance on the 2008 WSOP money list: Vermont! It’s official: All American states and territories that have petitioned to become one have cashed in the World Series. (And Vermont didn’t just eek past the bubble — Shane Stacey from Hyde Park made a final table … finishing 5th to bank a $166k payday.

Point of order … Shannon Shorr’s latest cash — 32nd Place in the $2,500 6-handed NLH — is credited under Alabama, not Nevada. (The Euros also cashed big in this event — go figure, they seem to like 6-handed action.) While we did decide to make Tony G’s Lithuania finish into an Australia (he moved Down Under at age 11), we couldn’t bring ourselves to put Shorr in potential tax trouble — at least not in a way that messed up all our other numbers on the spreadsheet — as he was the one who presumably declared himself residing in Nevada for his $350k bracelet in Event #7. Surely that won’t be relevant in our contrived little Cali vs. NV race, right?

Two homeless moneymakers: If anyone knows where Larry Jafee (sp?) or Larry Michaels is from, please let us know. And don’t go saying Hungary just so they can move past Wyoming and New Brunswick.

Speaking of the Hungarians … Richard Toth scored again for his proud Eastern Euro nation’s 4th ITM finish. Still not enough to move past Wyoming, but keeping pace …

Click below to see the full rundown of poker across political borders:

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