Episode 22
SpartanFox is back in the host seat with Tyresias to talk about the first three days of WPT-Festa al Lago, Full Tilt’s mobile Rush Poker app, Deliverance Poker unsuing Full Tilt, and Scott Montgomery’s getting robbed at Bellagio … on this week’s edition of the Rabbit Hunt.
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A look back at Monday night’s action, with another WSOP bracelet winner determined earlier today:

Eskeland stops Sung, wins Mixed Event bracelet

The only bracelet awarded Monday went to Norway’s Sigrud Eskeland, as he defeated Steve Sung heads-up to win the $2,500 Mixed Event, earning $260,497 and the prized WSOP bracelet. Scott Seiver finished in 6th for $40,175, while Todd Brunson finished in 10th for $18,045. Full results and Nolan Dalla’s tournament report at wsop.com.

Davidian branches out into lead for 1k day 3

Manuel Davidian holds the chip lead (889,000) when day 3 of the $1,000 No-Limit Holdem resumes with the final 33 players playing down to a final table. Among the notables returning: Owen Crowe (610,000), Shawn Busse (432,000), Olivier Busquet (377,000), EPT winner Allan Baekke (274,000) and Scott Montgomery, winner of the previous 1k NL WSOP event (151,000). As noted in the comments, Richard Ferro finished 182nd for $2,589. Chip counts and updates starting at 2:30pm PT at wsop.com.

Zarbo leads after day 1 of $1500 NL

Day two of the final $1,500 No-Limit Holdem tournament of the WSOP will have 290 players returning to the Rio at 2:30pm with Giuseppe Zarbo leading the field with 156,500 in chips. Other notables returning include George Lind (96,400), David Pham (83,300), John Myung (66,300), Shane Schleger (54,800), Liv Boeree (43,400) and Matt Matros (36,600). The day 2 table draw and chip counts are available at PokerNews.

Schaffel leads 5k PLO

Day 2 of the $5,000 Pot-Limit Omaha resumes at 3pm with 2009 November Nine participant Kevin Schaffel leading the 172 who had chips at the end of level 8 with 178,900. Some of the returning players include Dan Shak (100,800), Annette Obrestad (73,600), Nam Le (63,000), Lex Veldhuis (52,800), Ben Grundy (48,000), Jonathan Little (41,000) and John Juanda (28,300). Full chip counts and table draw now at PokerNews.

Tuesday’s tournament

Only one tournament on today’s schedule, the $3,000 Triple Chance No-Limit Holdem event. Players start with 3,000 in chips, then get two additional “rebuy” chips, each good for another 3,000 chips to be added to their stack during the first four levels of play. Last year was the debut of this event, won last year by Jorg Peisert in defeating a field of 854 for $506,800.

Three more WSOP bracelets were rewarded in the overnight hours, with the first double-bracelet winner at this year’s WSOP, an original November Nine participant, and a first-time bracelet winner.

Kassela razzes Troy for 2nd bracelet

Continuing a streak that dates back to 2000, Frank Kassela won his second bracelet of this year’s WSOP, defeating Maxwell Troy heads-up in the $2,500 Razz, earning $214,085 and moving into a tie with John Juanda in the WSOP Player of the Year race. For his second runner-up finish at this year’s WSOP, Troy has to be consoled with $132,229. Full results available at wsop.com.

Montgomery makes most of opportunity, wins 1k NL

Scott Montgomery, an original November Nine participant, defeated Michael Carlson in heads-up play to win his first WSOP bracelet along with $481,760. Montgomery’s win also moves Canada into a tie for 2nd again with the United Kingdon in the world standings. Carlson earned $297,996 for the second-place finish. Full results and Nolan Dalla’s tournament report at wsop.com.

Kelly last man standing, wins shootout

The $1,500 No-Limit Holdem Shootout winner was Steven Kelly, defeating Jeffrey King heads-up, pocketing $381,927 and a coveted WSOP bracelet. Full results available at wsop.com.

Hellmuth and Greenstein feature PLO 8 final day

Only one bracelet to be awarded today, but the $1,500 Pot-Limit Omaha 8 or Better event could be one for the ages. Ryan Karp will lead the remaining 15 players with 564,000 chips, but the presence of Phil Hellmuth looms large as he’ll start 4th in chips with 331,000 in his ongoing quest for bracelet #12. Barry Greenstein (204,000) will be looking for another bracelet to add to his resume as well when play resumes at 2:30pm. The full chip counts are available at PokerNews.

Zheng zooms to day 1 lead in 1500 NL

Jackson Zheng (151,000) leads the 277 day 1 survivors in the $1,500 No-Limit Holdem when play resumes at 2:30pm, the money being reached when 270 remain. Notables in contention include: Humberto Brenes (146,400), Carter Phillips (122,100) Arnaud Mattern (107,500) and Dean Hamrick (86,000). Full chip counts online at PokerNews.

10k HORSE Day 2

Day 2 of the $10,000 HORSE resumes at 3pm with 164 players remaining. Sergey Altbregin leads with 143,000, to see the full list of chip counts, they’re available at PokerNews.

Thursday’s Tournament

Just one tournament today, starting at 12pm is the $2,500 Mixed Holdem, consisting of 30 minutes of no-limit holdem, followed by 30 minutes of limit-holdem. Last year’s tournament was won by Bahador Ahmadi defeating a field of 527, good for $278,804.

Briefly recapping a busy Wednesday afternoon:

Montgomery leads 1k NL

Five players remain in the $1,000 No-Limit Holdem, with original November Niner Scott Montgomery moving into the chip leader with 3,200,000. Adam Richardson is close behind with 2,700,000. See who comes out on top at PokerNews.

Obrestad, Tran make early exits in shootout

The two big names in the $1,500 No-Limit Holdem Shootout, Annette Obrestad and JC Tran, both were eliminated short of the final table, finishing in 11th and 13th respectively. Derric Haynie (1,365,000) leads the remaining 9 players, follow the updates and see who wins at PokerNews.

Final five in Razz

The $2,500 Razz is down to five players with the most recent elimination being Jennifer Harman in 6th place. Melville Lewis (945,000) leads the field with Maxwell Troy (545,000), Vladimir Shchemelev (455,000), Frank Kassela (390,000) and Mikko Pispala (385,000) rounding out the field as they take their dinner break and/or play in the $10,000 HORSE. Updates available at wsop.com.

Baker leading $1,500 PLO 8 day 2

Jeffrey Baker (no relation to the dueling David Bakers) holds the chip lead with 160,000 chips with about 60 players remaining in the $1,500 Pot-Limit Omaha 8 or Better. Notables still in the field include Barry Greenstein (153,000), Kevin MacPhee (89,000), Mike Matusow (68,000) and Phil Hellmuth (60,000). Find more updates and chip counts at wsop.com.

Another large field in $1,500 NL

The first of Wednesday’s tournaments drew a field of 2,521 players for the latest $1,500 No-Limit Holdem tournament. Less than 1,000 players returned from dinner break with the early chip leader Arnaud Mattern reported as leading with 46,000 in chips. Other notables: Eric Lynch (33,000), Shane Schleger (25,500), Jon Friedberg (22,700), Bernard Lee (17,000) and Lauren Kling (14,000). More information on the happenings in this tournament at PokerNews.

High stakes HORSE underway

The 5pm tournament was the debut of the $10,000 HORSE World Championship, which drew a field of 241 players. The top 24 players make the money, with the winner earning $611,666. David Oppenheim is the early leader with 52,000 chips, followed by Jimmy Fricke (44,000), Maria Ho (40,000), Team Pokerati’s Tom Schneider (36,000), Erik Seidel (34,000) and Joe Hachem (31,000). More updates and info at wsop.com.

A review of Monday afternoon’s action:

Ivey, Juanda, Lisandro among final ten in 3k HORSE

Ten players remain in the $3,000 HORSE event, with Ryan Hughes (860,000) leading the field on dinner break. Other notables returning include Bill Chen (700,000), John Juanda (670,000), David “Not Bakes” Baker (450,000), Jeff Lisandro (445,000), Chad Brown (395,000) and Phil Ivey (180,000). Play resumes shortly, see who wins a bracelet at PokerNews.

Mahmood v Schmjekal at it again in 10k HU

Match #2 in the $10,000 No-Limit Heads-Up Championship final is underway, Mahmood only needs to win once more while Schmjekal needs to win two straight to earn a bracelet. PokerNews will be there for the long haul, hoping for a swift conclusion.

Frye cooking the field at 1k NL Day 2

Around 150 players remain on day 2 of the $1,000 No-Limit Holdem with Jeff Frye leading the field with 280,000 in chips as they return from dinner break. Other notables: Ryan D’Angelo (175,000), Scott Montgomery (140,000), Leo Margets (122,000) and Svetlana Gromenkova (73,000). See who’s cashed so far and get updates at wsop.com.

Jetten blasts into 10k Pot-Limit Holdem lead

62 players remain during day 2 of the $10,000 Pot-Limit Holdem Championship with Peter Jetten (605,000) holding the lead, with 27 players making the money which will be reached sometime this evening. Other notables: Tom Marchese (318,000), Jason Lester (290,000), Allen Kessler (245,000), Vitaly Lunkin (215,000), Burt Boutin (142,000) and Amnon Filippi (98,000). PokerNews will be go deep into the night providing updates and chip counts for people to track their favorites.

Shootout draws plenty of shooters

The $1,500 No-Limit Holdem Shootout drew a field of 1400 players, with the 140 ten-handed tables playing to a winner for round 1. The 140 winners return Tuesday afternoon, among the winners so far include Michael Binger, Adam Levy, Isabelle Mercier, Bryan Devonshire, Robert Mizrachi, Annette Obrestad, Rob Perelman, Chau Giang, JC Tran and Victor Ramdin. To see who else moves on this evening, check out wsop.com.

Razz draws hundreds to get frustrated

The 5pm tournament on Monday was the $2,500 Razz, which drew a field of 365 entrants starting with 7,500 in chips. Among the early chip leaders: Frank Kassela (14,300), Team Pokerati/Loudmouth Poker pro Tom Schneider (11,200), Dutch Boyd (10,600), and Lacey Jones (8,000). Eight hours of play are on the agenda, and PokerNews will be there to cover the excitement, if it can be found.

Two more bracelet winners became known Sunday morning, and the rest of Saturday’s action:

Papola denies the Master bracelet #8

Jeffrey Papola defeated Men Nguyen in the $5,000 No-Limit Holdem 6-max event, earning $667,443 and his first career bracelet. Nguyen earned $412,746 for the second-place finish, moving into a three-way tie for first in the WSOP Player of the Year race with Michael Mizrachi and James Dempsey. Erick Lindgren finished sixth for $82,303. Full results and Nolan Dalla’s tournament report are available at wsop.com.

Velador slams the door on his second bracelet

Luis Velador took down the $2,500 Pot-Limit Omaha/Pot-Limit Holdem title as he defeated David Chiu heads-up, good for $260,517 and his second career WSOP bracelet. Chiu earned $160,902 for the second place finish, moving into a tie for 6th in the WSOP Player of the Year race. Full results and Dalla’s tournament report can be found at wsop.com.

10k NL Heads-Up down to an Elite 8

The final day of the $10,000 Heads-Up No-Limit Holdem Championship resumes at 3pm with these matchups:

Jason Somerville vs. Kido Pham
Faraz Jaka vs. Ayaz Mahmood
Alexander Kostritsyn vs. Ludovic Lacay
Ernst Schmejkal vs. Vanessa Rousso

The matches will be single-elimination until the finals, a best of three match. Follow the action at PokerNews.

Minetti leads Seniors’ event, Schneider among final 23

Day 3 of the $1,000 Seniors’ No-Limit Holdem Championship resumes at 2:30pm with Michael Minetti leading the final 23 players with 1,038,000 in chips. Other notables returning include Michael Woo (523,000), Jack Ward (519,000), and Team Pokerati/Loudmouth Poker pro Tom Schneider (284,000). The full list of chip counts is at PokerNews.

Montgomery leads day 1a of 1k NL

Original November Niner Scott Montgomery (75,200) led the day 1a survivors in the $1,000 No-Limit Holdem event as the field played halfway through level 9 to get down to 286 players. Other notables: Neil Channing (64,500), Michael Gracz (52,700), Fabrice Soulier (39,125), Liv Boeree (24,275) and Leo Margets (22,875). The full list of chip counts is available at wsop.com.

Siegel super at day 1 of 3k HORSE

Day two of the $3,000 HORSE resumes at 3pm with Jordan Siegel leading the 207 players who remain with 66,900 in chips. Other recognizable names include: Darus Suharto (55,100), Dan Heimiller (52,100), Howard Lederer (44,400), Chau Giang (36,400) and Eugene Katchalov (29,900). The full list of chip counts is available at wsop.com.

Sunday’s tournaments

12pm is day 1b of the $1,000 No-Limit Holdem event, with a field of at least 1,000 expected. The 5pm tournament is the $10,000 Pot-Limit Holdem Championship, won last year by John Kabbaj in a field of 275 for $633,335.

Time to recap the Saturday afternoon action:

Lindgren and Nguyen highlight 5k 6-max FT

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.

Velador vibrant at PLO/PLH FT

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.

10k NL HU at Round 4

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.

Seniors’ sauntering along at day 2

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.

Day 1a of 1k NL underway

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.

3k HORSE field saddles up

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 Thursday night action as we start week two of the WSOP with a pair of bracelet events starting this afternoon.

Hellmuth in Contention for Bracelet #12

Day 3 of the $1,500 No-Limit Holdem event has 25 players remaining when play resumes at 2:30pm this afternoon. The current chip leader is Saar Wilf with 1,207,000 followed by 2009 Casino Employees winner Andrew Cohen with 1,025,000. But the name that most will be following today is Phil Hellmuth, 5th with 567,000 in chips, going for his 12th WSOP bracelet. If he made the final table, would a decision be made to stop and hold the final table on Saturday in front of ESPN cameras?

Gelencser Tops in Lowball

Hungarian Peter Gelenscer bested Raphael Zimmerman in heads-up play to take down the $2,500 2-7 Triple Draw Lowball bracelet along with $180,730. Zimmerman pockets $111,686 for the runner-up finish, while Don McNamara finished third for $73,803. Full results and Nolan Dalla’s tournament report can be found at wsop.com.

Play Pauses Prior to Payouts in Pot-Limit

After much discussion, tournament directors decided to halt play with 65 players remaining, two players short of the money in the $1,500 Pot-Limit holdem event. James Dempsey ended the day as the leader with 205,900 in chips. Original November Niner Scott Montgomery is in 2nd with 193,300. Notables in contention: JJ Liu (123,900), Joe Serock (70,400), Melissa Hayden (64,800), and Christian Harder (45,200). Team Pokerati’s Tom Schneider is also hanging around with 20,100 in chips. The full list of chip counts is available over at wsop.com.

Mizrachi and Schmelev 1-2 in Stud

The $10,000 Seven Card Stud World Championship concluded play after eight levels with the top two finishers in the $50,000 Players’ Championship, Michael Mizrachi (191,900) and Vladimir Schmelev (180,000) 1st and 2nd in chips with 85 players remaining. Plenty of notables are remaining, the full list is at wsop.com. Just 16 will make the money when play resumes at 3:00 this afternoon.

Friday’s Festivities

The third $1,500 No-Limit Holdem event of the WSOP gets underway at 12 noon today with another 2000+ player field expected. For comparison purposes, Mike Eise is the defending champion of this event, besting a field of 2,638 for $639,331.

At 5pm is the $1,500 Limit Holdem event, won last year by Tomas Alenius in a field of 643.

An eventful Day 1d field is off to their dinner break with a record field of 2,808 for a starting day of the Main Event (with several hundred left out) starting around 12 this afternoon. About 2350 returned from dinner break (as about 15% of the field has already been eliminated today). Some notable eliminations: Lyle Berman, Huck Seed, John Salley, Scott Montgomery, Dario Minieri, Eric Baldwin, Roy Winston and Peter Feldman. The early leader is Blair Hinkle with 120,000 in chips. Other notables with an above average stack: Chad Brown (105,000), Dutch Boyd (85,000), Shannon Shorr (65,000), Vanessa Rousso (64,000), Tom “Durrr” Dwan (55,000), Ron Kluber (53,000) and Phil Ivey (52,000). More chip counts and updates can be found at the wsop.com site here. More reactions to the Refusal at the Rio can be expected on Pokerati and various other places to discuss poker on the Internet in the late night hours.

It’s over … at least in the minds of various online poker execs. With Scott Montgomery’s elimination in 5th place, there are now more Full Tilt players alive. It’s all PokerStars, and now, I guess, they’ll be having their primary … which is a little odd, seeing it after the general election.

Courtesy of PokerStars blog

Wow! It was an all-in moment, good instinct moment, and big whoop-tee-doo all in one.

Eastgate made the initial raise, and short-stacked Montgomery pushed all-in from the small blind. Eastgate called with pocket sixes, and Montgomery showed A-3 of diamonds.

Flop: Ac-Qs-4d
Ace for Montgomery gives him the advantage.

Turn: As
Trips are even better for Montgomery. And according to Jack Effel, Phillips folded a six, so there was only one out for the Scandi…

River: 6d
Oh yeah, the case six. The miracle six. The one-outer. Bam!

Montgomery left in fifth place with a little over $3 millie, and Eastgate jumps into a tight second position on the leaderboard. And Eastgate kept all of us in the media from falling asleep in our after-dinner comas. Thanks, Peter!

Dallas-to-Vegas transplant Linda Tran is one of five dealers dealing the final table. While there’s a wee-bit of hubbub from the usual featured-table dealers who weren’t invited to pitch … I know Linda is one of the best dealers I’ve ever sat/worked with, whether that was at charity tourneys in Dallas, or as a player in WSOP cash games in previous years. Kinda exciting to see her throwing Kems in such a big game — she’s earned it, imho.

She was at the Rio last night working with the TV table felt — something about the grain affecting the speed of the slide … and think about it, if she messes up here, sure, flipped cards and the like are part of the game, but still … can you imagine working on stage, in the spotlight, knowing if you make one of those mistakes that is inevitable … it potentially affects a player’s personal outcome by a million dollars or more? No pressure. 🙂

NOTE: She’s on the felt now, and kept Ivan Demidov alive by not cracking his pocket kings (despite flopping a nut-flush draw for his opponent, who I believe was Scott Montgomery). Meanwhile, in the crowd, Dennis Phillips’ fans have started chanting college-hoops style: “Let’s – Go – Den – Nis – [clap] – [clap] -[clap][clap][clap]!”

UPDATE: Whoa!!!! A one outer-on the river, compliments of Linda, to knock out Scott Montgomery in 5th place. $3,096,768. (Still pretty good money — more than Moneymaker won.)

CURRENT CHIP COUNTS

Ivan Demidov — 49,100,000
Peter Eastgate – 47,635,000
Ylon Schwartz — 22,175,000
Dennis Phillips – 17,325,000

Players are off on dinner break … and the chip counts are nicely on display for all to see:

Ivan Demidov: 30,725,000
Peter Eastgate: 27,175,000
Dennis Phillips: 26,950,000
Ylon Schwartz: 20,475,000
Scott Montgomery: 20,300,000
Darus Suharto: 10,600,000

Damn, that’s tight poker. And I don’t mean tight tight … I mean close-tight.

Before dinner break, btw, Phil Hellmuth introduced Johnny Chan, and Hellmuth got more boos than Tiffany Michelle. He said, that’s OK, boo all you want … and the crowd that is at this point tired-drinky (think post-football game tailgate in college) obliged.

They were announcing a multi-year deal between the WSOP and ALL IN energy drink. Oy, I guess all I can say for now is that after going through my bajillion cases … I didn’t rebuy.