Roland de Wolfe is at the final table in a $1,500 donkament, going for his second bracelet of 2009. Would be pretty cool to win one in a 198-player PLO-HL and a 2,095-player NLH.

The fact that I had him on my fantasy team in 2008 and not 2009 just further reassures me that I am a man ahead of my time.

Current final-table chip counts:

1. Jonas Klausen 2,849,000
2. Steven Bradbury 1,860,000
3. Eric Baldwin 1,700,000
4. James Taylor 1,200,000
5. Martin Jacobson 633,000
6. Roland de Wolfe 500,000
7. Andrew Youngblood 453,000
8. Benjamin Scholl 328,000

Click here to follow the action online.

And here (Bluff) or here (PKR) to watch it live.

Just happened … more TK.

Photo: BJ Nemeth (via iPhone?)

UPDATE:
Not so fast Ville Wahlbeck and Brock Parker … Player of the Year race ain’t over yet!

And prop bets? Oyy, the prop bets. One of the good things about poker is that betting on yourself won’t keep you out of the Hall of Fame. But it will keep your friends, cronies, and fans wildly speculating on your side action … which Pokerati, btw, puts at anywhere from $2 million to $12 million for Phil Ivey this summer. (We stand behind our numbers.)

Oh, right … the event: $2,500 Omaha/Seven Card Stud Hi/Lo 8-or-better … or as I like to call it, OHL/7CSHL. (LOL.) The guy he beat was Ming Lee (not to be confused with Minh Ly).

ALT HED: Black Guy Beats Asian (of course) in Yet Another Event Involving 7-Stud

ALSO UPDATE: I think this pretty much gives Daniel Negreanu the lock on the ESPN Fantasy WSOP pool. We all picked eight players … and Negreanu’s squad has four bracelets less than halfway through the Series. (Lisandro, Alaei, Ivey, Ivey.)

Yikes, through 19 events …

(I fear Mathers’ scab squad might be gaining, and this little fun-for-me could prove costly.)

Daniel Negreanu: 406
Gavin Smith: 134
Lance Bradley: 110
Mark Seif: 97
Andrew Feldman: 81
Bernard Lee: 72
Howard Lederer: 47
Dan Michalski: 44
Dennis Phillips: 40
Chops Preiss: 32
Gary Wise: 2

(Negreanu, btw, has multiple $10k and $12k-to-$10k sidebets on his fantasy poker action.)

I officially dropped Men the Master in exchange for Yevgeniy Timoshenko today. (Thanks, readers, for the tip!)

KevMath, how’s your scab team doing?

Here are the current standings, through 8 events:

Negreanu
77

Feldman
67

Lee
66

Seif
54

Chops
24

Pokerati
17

Smith
16

Lederer
16

Phillips
1

Wise
1

Bradley
0

Meanwhile, Lance Bradley has dropped Matt Brady for Jason Mercier, and Bernard Lee has dropped David Williams to pick up Matt Brady.

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.

Phil Hellmuth celebrates his first-round draft pick by Team Pokerati.

The draft just ended … (complete rosters forthcoming) …

1. Phill Hellmuth
2. Robert Mizrachi
3. Men the Master
4. Humberto Brenes
5. Matt Glantz
6. Nikolay Evdakov
7. Dwyte Pilgrim
8. Isaac Baron

All the above players should come find me before any of their events start so I can properly patch them up. (Those are the rules, right?)

UPDATE: Click below to see everyone else’s picks in draft position order — from Gavin Smith (via blackberry), Daniel Negreanu, Gary Wise, Bernard Lee, yours truly, Howard Lederer, Andrew Feldman, Mark Seif, Lance Bradley, Chops, and Joe McGowan (for Dennis Phillips):

More…

Ahh, it seems like only yesterday 25 years ago that the Dallas Mavericks had to choose between Sam Perkins and Charles Barkley … (Hakeem Olajuwan, Sam Bowie, and Michael Jordan had all gone before them.)

This year I’ll be taking part in ESPN’s fantasy WSOP draft … so with that, I’ve got to pick some players, preferably those who will perform. Personally, I’ve got my eye on a Dallas girl named Sara Chau to surprise a lot of people … but since she will likely only be playing a few events (unless, of course, she makes a big score early), she wouldn’t be a great pick. At the same time, you know me … I’m not gonna go with the traditionals — Phil Ivey, Doyle Brunson, Daniel Negreanu, et al (though I do think Erick Lindgren would be a fine pick) — and I’d probably be too embarrassed to reveal my fanboy leanings for Clonie Gowen, Tom Schneider, and Gregg Merkow. Plus, really, no offense to those three, but they just don’t give me proper odds, ya know?

Anyhow, please share with me any thoughts or suggestions about players who seem to be on their game and ready to tear it up in the 2009 WSOP.

BTW, does anyone remember who the Mavs took with their second first-round pick in 1984? Terence Stansbury. (Highlight the white space for the answer.)

Oops.

Before we make 2008 The Year of Bitching about Tom’s Lack of Coverage (Again) — because really, if it weren’t for that, what would Angry Julie have to scream about? — I do want to point out that ESPN Correspondo Gary Wise did pick the Donkey Bomber to be on his WSOP fantasy team. Looks like he was a 5th-rounder.

LAS VEGAS–The fireworks are still going off, just not as frequently anymore … and Tom has taken the chip lead. He’s been at a pretty tough table:

Seat 1 – Tony G
Seat 3 – John Juanda
Seat 4 – Tom Schneider
Seat 5 – Gavin Smith
Seat 6 – Howard Lederer

Click here to follow. Or here.

John Juanda (fantasy team disappointment) was just eliminated, so not sure if that means their table will break or have a player added. Also not sure where Jeff Lisandro stands, as an obvious typo has him listed with 146 chips (even though the antes were recently at 700).

At present, the official prize payouts and total number of entries haven’t been released yet, but we know (from our seat overlooking the action 12 miles away) that there were 78 players in the field, seven of whom get paid. Bottom payout is about $55k, top prize being $500somethingish-k.

UPDATE: Lisandro is the chip leader with 240,000. Tom is second in chips with 171,000. This doozy of a race for Player of the Year in a high-dollar obscure game played no-limit-style is back, baby!

BIASED JOURNALISM ALERT: Go Big Tom!

CLARIFICATION: Phil Hellmuth is also technically still in the hunt for Player of the Year. He reportedly has a paltry 25,000 chips. But he has had those 25,000 chips for at least two hours now. So for all we know he may or may not be the actual chip leader at some point during one of three levels.

ALT HED: Horserace Poker

(Yeah, but what a nail biter!)

LAS VEGAS–Here’s what’s going on today at the WSOP, and some of what’s recently gone down leading up to it all:

A Canadian Polack named LUKASZ DUMANSKI won the $1,500 Omaha Hi Lo event. Go non-American players!

The $50,000 HORSE final table has been set.

Interesting field and chip situations …
Amnon Filippi 4,015,000
Freddy Deeb 3,500,000
Kenny Tran 2,445,000
John Hanson 1,995,000
David Singer 1,330,000
Bruno Fitoussi 895,000
Barry Greenstein 750,000
Thor Hansen 40,000

(Pokerati fave GABE KAPLAN went out on the final table bubble, in 9th place.)

Click here to follow the coverage of today’s action, where they will continue to mix games and not play a final table of just no-limit hold’em. Any odds on what will be the final game?

You’ll notice that TOM SCHNEIDER is not there. He went out early in Day 2. He was in the Big-little-big one for $34,000. The rest went to a smattering of backers, to whom 9 percent was available for $5,000. Can Tom build on his early WSOP success and make that third final table without dropping below the six-figure mark? After paying taxes, BACKERS, and living expenses associated with moving to Las Vegas for two months, mixed with tournament buy-ins, cash-game losses, and fancy scotches for Dan … the money can go fast during the WSOP.

But busting out early did allow him to play the $2,000 Omaha Hi Lo, which, after a night of drowning his sorrows followed the next day by a cash-game all-nighter, he played with “no sleep”:

Tom went out toward the end of Day 1.

Lori from Carrollton was dealing — with new hair no less:

She seems to be having a pretty good time — seen here sweating Pokerati fantasy poker favorite STEVE WONG, as he plays $50-a-point Chinese:

Day 2 of Omaha Hi Lo gets underway at 2 pm pacific, 4 pm central.

Day 1 was a pretty relaxed, jovial affair … presumably because it was a relatively low buy-in for the big-time pros who had busted out of the $50k HORSE event. Very fun and chatty. On a break PHIL HELLMUTH and ROBERT WILLIAMSON III had a semi-private discussion about sponsorship deals and the logistics of autographing products en masse. (The easiest are things you can sign with one hand, and slide to the side with the other.)

Robert is selling pieces of himself in by-the-inch embroidered increments. I should probably get a better picture of his jacket …

Here are the patches Hellmuth will be wearing in the main event — 13 of them so far:

Many of these are companies selling Phil’s products, but still, let’s face it, the NASCARIZATION of poker is here. Now if only the non-online-poker companies will buy in.

At the 2007 WSOP, patches are the new body paint.

The other final table today is in the $2,000 Limit Hold’em event — no known pros in this one.

Getting underway at noon is the $5,000 World Championship of 6-handed No-Limit Hold’em.

And the 5 pm (Vegas time) tourney is $1,000 7-stud Hi Lo (aka Stud 8 aka Stud 8 OB aka Stud 8 or better).

JEFFREY POLLACK has a new post up on his “blog” (yo, dudes, they’re called “posts,” OK? Get with the program … a single memo ain’t no blog, but a collection of such theoretically could be)— where he informs the poker world (at 10:30 pm last night) that there will be a “players town hall” at 10:30 am today. I’m a bigger fan than most of the poker’s most corporate representative, but either he doesn’t realize that poker hours dictate that the vast majority of players won’t see this, which is pretty bad … or he does, which is worse. But still, we kinda like The Jeffster’s relative openness in his “blogs” .:

[STEVE ZOLOTOW] was so honest with me that he started our conversation by asking for my boss’s phone number so he could call to recommend that I – and every other key WSOP executive – be fired.

Pollack, of course, ain’t going nowhere — at least not for a while — but can you imagine if the “blogs” on worldseriesofpoker.com had comments?

UPDATE: Amy informs me that the players town hall was actually held yesterday … 11-and-a-half hours before Pollack’s post went up. Nice … Here ye, hear ye!

Don’t forget to follow my following the cash game action at the Rio. It’s a little awkward poking around these games with a notepad and camera, because a lot of people make their livings at these tables and don’t really want people to know that they are good.

One such player I am following is “TEDDY,” who has become a fixture at the $100/$200 Limit Hold’em table. He’s a trip. We’ll leave it at that for now.

I’ve had a decent run at the cash games myself — except for the two times I lost, which negate a big fat win, seen here:

My second-favorite hand was dealt by Linda the Dallas dealer … who flopped me a straight and said, “I knew you had Q-J when you said, ‘This is probably a pretty bad call,'” as she shipped me a $300 pot.

Favorite hand of the night would come a little later upon busting out the dude in the background for another $600.

By the way, if you like the photos, you can see more of what Pokerati sees by checking out our FLICKR gallery.

In other news, ERICK LINDGREN beat PHIL IVEY in a $340,000 golf course prop bet. RAM VASWANI chits presumably in the mail.

LAS VEGAS—Michele, I’m wrong? Wanna bet? Steve Wong made, by definition, the final table. There were no other tables that followed the last one he sat at … and there were no other tables running when he was seated there with chips.

But because I think you sometimes know stuff and because I don’t always trust my own hearsay, I consulted higher authorities on the 7-seated 6-handed final table matter. BJ Nemeth covered the event for PokerNews and knows how to explain the intricate details of on-field tournament operations pretty-dern well:

Dan —

In most events, you need to finish in the top 9 to be recognized as “reaching the final table.” This is why Phil Hellmuth didn’t tie T.J. Cloutier for the most final tables until the tenth player busted on ESPN. The final ten players all play at the same table, but the official “final table” doesn’t start until they reach nine players.

The same logic applied to the six-handed event. They combined the final seven players into one table (rather than playing three- and four-handed), and continued play until one more player was eliminated. The remaining six players reached the official “final table.” But the final seven all played at the same table.

So if you’re asking me if the final seven players in the six-handed event played at the same table, that’s true. But play continued on Day 2 until #7 busted. The official final table started on Day 3 with just six players, and only those six players receive “credit” for reaching the final table.

Confusing enough for you? Well, that’s the way the tradition goes.

— BJ

Thanks, BJ. It does make sense. Well I mean not really — but I guess we shouldn’t be surprised to see decision-making poker people not understanding that words should almost always mean what they say, especially when numbers are attached.

ALT HED: Strunk & Poker?

PS — I have decided to stick with Steve Wong through the remainder of the Series. He knows what’s at stake and seems to have the desire necessary to deliver.

LAS VEGAS – Nope, you’re wrong. A six-handed final table is a…six-handed final table and Hoyt Corkins took it down. I’ve discussed my fantasy poker point system with LB at The Poker Biz, aka Wicked Chops Junior. None for me. Then he scolded me in front of everyone in the media room today for not reading your post. But hey, I’ve got money to lose.

And thanks for the kudos but I have been eliminated from the limit $3k NLH event. My high pocket pairs were up against a higher pocket pair every time. Just down right cold decked. My table was less than exciting but all around me sat Joe Sebok, Amir Vahedi, Annie Duke, JC Tran, Phil Hellmuth, Eric Seidel and David Sklansky.

FYI – This would typically be a comment; however, the comment feature is still unavailable.

Hello? Is anyone out there?

LAS VEGAS–I was this close to dropping Tom Schneider from my fantasy team — it was either him or Steve Wong, to make room for Danny Wong. But we’re still working out some internet kinks here in West V-town, and I was unable to email in the change when Tom busted early in Event 4 – $1500 PLH. Fortunately he was out in time to buy-in to the funky-mixed Event 5 – $2500 Omaha/7-stud Hi Lo, where he finished the day as chip leader.

Play resumes at 3 pm (Vegas time)

Competing for a 1st-place bracelet bounty of $214,347 … 112 players remain, and 32 players get paid. A lot of big-name pros and non-televised toughies still alive, but Pokerati believes in you, Tom! You’re in prime position to get really close to the bubble!

BELLAGIO, LAS VEGAS–While feeling good about turning $600 into $2,300 playing 5-10 NLH last night, I caught the back of Phil Hellmuth’s head as he stepped into Bobby’s Room (the high stakes poker room). I was hoping to see him again so I could tell him he was my number one draft pick. However, my thoughts ran back to…One buy-in down, 53 more to go. That’s right, tomorrow starts the race for the WSOP gauntlet, the cash games in Vegas are already packed, and across the highway the Rio is getting ready (hopefully) for a big turn-out.

Tomorrow starts with the inaugural $5k mixed NL/Limit Holdem event at noon, followed by the $500 Casino Employees Event at 5 pm.

Saturday is the first $1500 NLH and people are already in line registering.

Check it out … Michele has gotten in on the rotisserie poker thing for the World Series. She’s competing against some good peeps in the WLOFPLL (World League of Fantasy Poker Leagues League). Though I woulda taken JC Tran with her first pick, I think Phil Hellmuth shouldn’t be as big of a surprise as some of her competitors contend.

We’ll see, what do I know. Let’s just hope she does better than I am doing in the Batface fantasy game.

(And super-go Steve Wong! You got a lotta Pokerati bankin’ on you.)