A reliable source and reader writes in to let me know I misquoted him misconstrued his words when I said, “and at least one Canadian tells me his people are none-too-happy with my ignorant yankee soilage of the ice people’s grail. In their eyes, apparently, you’re not supposed to touch it, even if your team wins, unless you played an active role in winning it.”

He says, to clarify:

That’s not entirely what I said. What I said was that many hockey fans (Canadian or not) won’t touch the Cup without having been on the team. Some will touch it – but not all. We don’t have any issues with people who do touch it – some of us just prefer not to tempt the hockey gods into punishing us OR our team again.

It seems fitting that Greg “FBT” Mueller won his bracelet on “hockey day” — being that he’s a former professional hockey player. I’m sure that will make his win last night in $10k Limit Hold’em all the more memorable. The Stanley Cup’s presence will also make the 2009 WSOP a special one for Mean Gene, who took this fawning pic of the silvery list of hockey champions in front of the silvery wall of poker champions, as well as others with the Cup in the Amazon Room. I do suppose it isn’t often when an inanimate object gets such celebrity treatment.

Recapping the late Wednesday night WSOP activity…

WSOP Bracelet Touched by Angel

Angel Guillen picked up his first WSOP bracelet in the $2,000 NL Holdem event, defeating Mika Paasonen in a marathon heads up match to deny Finland a second WSOP bracelet. Guillen adds over $530,000 for first place, and throws his name into the Player of the Year race, as he had a 2nd place finish in the $2,500 NL Holdem event two weeks ago.

Mueller Musters a Bracelet

The $10,000 Limit Holdem World Championship ended with a 1-2 finish for Canada, as Greg “FBT” Mueller passed Pat Pezzin to win his first WSOP bracelet. Mueller, a former hockey player, mentioned he was inspired by the Stanley Cup making an appearance at the WSOP on Wednesday, saying it was his destiny to win after having made several WSOP final tables, and two second place finishes in previous attempts.

Klausen Claims Day 3 Chip Lead

The $1,500 NL Holdem event heads to its conclusion at 1pm today with 21 players remaining, and Dane Jonas Klausen holding the lead with 939,000 in chips. Swede Martin Jacobson starts in second (806,000) with Roland de Wolfe, (644,000), Eric Baldwin (610,000), Bertrand “Elky” Grospellier (414,000) and Young Phan (211,000) among the notables remaining. When they eventually make the final table, it’ll be streamed over the Internet at www.bluffmagazine.com/live and wsop.pkr.com.

Hougaard Adds to Dane Domination

Another Dane, Jesper Hougaard will lead the 64 returning players who resume at 2pm in the $5,000 Pot-Limit Omaha event with 208,500 in chips. Sorel Mizzi (177,000), Jeff Lisandro (162,500), Sandra Naujoks (157,000), David “Devilfish” Ulliott (140,000) and John Kabbaj (95,700) are some of the notables looking to make the money, which will be reached when 36 players remain.

Thursday’s Tournaments and Projections

Two tournaments kick off on Thursday, starting with the $2,000 NL Holdem event at 12pm, which was won last year by Alexandre Gomes in a field of 2,317. The $10,000 Stud Eight or Better World Championship commences at 5pm, which was won last year by Sebastian Ruthenberg in a field of 261 when the buyin was $5,000. The WSOP Staff Guide projects a field of 2,549 for the $2,000 NL (expect a field of 2,100), while the $10,000 Stud 8 World Championship field is projected at 150 (take slightly under, 135).

Come back to Pokerati during the day for more WSOP stories, and follow the live updates at www.wsop.com starting at 12pm today.

Admittedly, hockey is far from my favorite sport. Even hailing from St. Louis Blues country, I’ve never been a hockey fan. So as the NHL Charity Shootout sponsored by PokerStars was underway on the ESPN stage, I wasn’t exactly compelled to check it out.

The decision to grab a pic was more for Pokerati readers than any other reason, but when the security guard told me I wasn’t allowed in the media area, I used Twitter to express my dismay. Within a matter of minutes, WSOP Commissioner Jeffrey Pollack was at my work station. “Come with me,” he said in a way that made me think of card counters being taken into the back room to be roughed up nicely. He took me to the NHL game media area, told the security guard I was to be allowed in, and let me know that he simply didn’t want the media to have a bad experience with this event. Done and done. (Later, I’ll see if my new BFF wants to hang out at the clubs.)

Back to the event, three tables full of NHL stars, poker pros, and online qualifiers will play out, and the winners will return to play the final table at 7:30-ish tonight for big money to be donated to their charities of choice. ESPN is filming all of the fun, and Mean Gene is anxiously (understatement of the week) awaiting the arrival of the Stanley Cup around 7pm. Here are a few pics of Table #2 that is still playing out in the Amazon Room.

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The ESPN feature table has been transformed all hockey-y for today’s special tourney. If fans are lucky, there’ll be a fight!

NHLers are all over Vegas this week — mostly for tomorrow night’s NHL Awards, which guys like Daniel Negreanu plan to attend regardless of what tournament he’s missing. And today they’ll be all over the WSOP — along with the Stanley Cup, which will be on stage as JC Tran receives his bracelet to the tune of the Star-Spangled Banner. Should be pretty cool, as nonsensical as it may seem.

I touched the Stanley Cup in ’99 (Stars!), and at least one Canadian tells me his people are none-too-happy with my ignorant yankee soilage of the ice people’s grail. In their eyes, apparently, you’re not supposed to touch it, even if your team wins, unless you played an active role in winning it. I suppose it’s like taking communion at a Catholic church if you haven’t received the sacrament and cleared your soul of mortal sins. But whatever … Pantera got to dent it.

Anyhow, there’s a special hockey-themed tournament at the WSOP today — The NHL Charity Shootout Presented by Pokerstars.net — a 5th televised event that non-PokerStars players have no chance of getting in on, as much fun as it would be to send Matusow or Hellmuth to the penalty box:

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As two final tables, four ongoing tournaments, and loads of cash games and satellites raged on at the WSOP in the Rio, many eyes were firmly fixed on TV screens around the rooms as the Penguins beat the Red Wings in a nail-biting Game 7 of the NFL finals. With many a sports bettor looking to win or lose a buy-in or two a friendly wager, there were sighs as well as cheers when the Penguins took it down.

Some of the poker media members took a break to watch the game in the Rio sportsbook, while others of us went to support friend and UB blogger Gene Bromberg as he rooted on his Pittsburgh home team. And just as Mean Gene was in full celebration mode, Bluff Magazine managing editor Lance Bradley whipped through to the sportsbook to let us know he won quite the impressive futures bet placed in February on the Pens.

Condolences to the lovely Lacey Jones, whose Red Wings lost despite her tremendous cupcake distribution effort on behalf of her team. (Lacey makes a mean cupcake!)

Meanwhile, WSOP Commissioner Jeffrey Pollack paid close attention to the game and the Stanley Cup presentation because, well, his half-brother, Gary Bettman, is the Commissioner of the National Hockey League. (Two commissioners in one family? Rigged!) And just after the game, Pollack twittered:

Pittsburgh wins! Time for GBB to present the Stanley Cup — which may make an appearance at the WSOP next week!

Sure, the Stanley Cup will make its way to Las Vegas for the June 18 NHL Awards at the Palms, but will someone tote it across the street to the Rio? Seems like the brothers might discuss it and give the WSOP players a glimpse of hockey’s version of the WSOP gold bracelet.

photo: Flipchip / LasVegasVegas

Good thing Michael DeMichele didn’t win, or the inscription “Standing the Test of Time” might seem a little presumptuous.

Chuck in Fort Worth writes in with some kudos and a question about the Chip Reese HORSE trophy. I do not know the answer, but I am betting somebody Kevmath does.

Hey Dan,

As like all your other Texas poker god-children I have enjoyed following the WSOP on Pokerati along with your interesting and lively commentary. I have a question that I am sure you can answer for me. I am some what of a trivia buff and enjoy storing meaningful but otherwise useless information in my brain. What is the significance of the hand on the Chip Reese H.O.R.S.E. Trophy, 4 4 7 7 A. Is that the hand that won the tournament for Chip Reese in 2006? Just curious. Hope to hear from you soon.

Thanks for writing in, Chuck. From what I understand the intent of the trophy is to make it sort of a Stanley Cup of Poker. We’ll see if that works — frankly I think that will be difficult because it has too many sharp edges, looks to be awkwardly weighted, and is made of metal that is more likely to break than bend. The Stanley Cup is the Stanley Cup, after all, not only because it is hoisted/passed around by full teams — hey, I suppose that’s another issue altogether if, say, Full Tilt had it one year, Ultimate Bet another — but also because it can be dented when taken to a party with Pantera thrown off a balcony into a pool. Those sorts of legends will be hard to create with this award … but still, it’s a good to have, I can only presume.