The show is nearly 5 1/2 hours, as Micon is absent and wasn’t able to force us to turn it off!  Druff, Drexel, and reggiman talk about a wide variety of topics, including Phil Ivey’s battle with Full Tilt, the end of Victory Poker, ’80s movie sequels, and the just-started WSOP.  Ken Scalir tells us about his “alone time” in a Starbucks bathroom.  neverheeb gives us an update on his recovery process.  The Iceman lets us know about his World Series plans.  Barry calls in to help set up the upcoming DonkDown WSOP party.

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Awesome … talk about a stroke of fortunate timing. The latest release from Pokerati’s Generic Pokerwear collection just arrived … in time for Dan Fleyshman’s final table run at WSOPE, where he starts off as the chip leader. The shirt, as testament to PGP’s high style and versatility, is also fitting for die-hard fans of 1981 movies starring Sylvester Stallone and Pele.

Even if Fleyshman, the affable jet-setting insomniac Gen-Y online poker CEO whose penchant for lingerie models has put him at the center of controversy, goes out in something non-memorable like 7th place … you can always stick it to the Nazis or make a time-tested statement on the table or off about what’s yours with:

Pick a Winner

NOTE: These shirts are not official uniforms for Team Victory Poker and are for entertainment purposes only. Any similarities to attire worn by actual VP pros is coincidental.

The £10,000 + 350 Main Event has now reached the final table of nine, returning Tuesday afternoon at 12pm UK time/7 am ET/4 am PT to play down to a winner, who’ll earn a coveted WSOP gold bracelet and over £830,000 (~$1.3m US). Several big names fell short of reaching the final table, including Phil Ivey (19th), Viktor Blom (16th) and Barny Boatman (13th). Here’s how the final table will be situated, with just a few minutes remaining in level 20: 10,000/20,000 with a 3,000 ante:

Seat 1: Roland de Wolfe – 1,377,000
Seat 2: Marc Inizan – 349,000
Seat 3: Nicolas Levi – 428,000
Seat 4: Fabrizio Baldassari – 697,000
Seat 5: Brian Powell – 842,000
Seat 6: Dan Steinberg – 1,520,000
Seat 7: James Bord – 1,331,000
Seat 8: Ronald Lee – 1,899,000
Seat 9: Dan Fleyshman – 1,946,000

Streaming of the final table, with hole cards, on a five-hour delay will be available at www.espn3.com and www.wsop.com for European viewers. For those looking to follow the action live, PokerNews and WSOP.com will constantly be providing live updates.

Elsewhere …

TJ Cloutier Choctaw Poker Classic – Durant, OK :: Sudhakara Kattamuri takes down the $1,500 + 100 Main Event for $73,127.

Big Poker Oktober – Bicycle Casino :: Small buy-in series of tournaments through Oct. 9, NAPT in November.

PokerStars WCOOP $5k Main Event: Under 125 players remaining, one of them tbvle, winner of hand 50,000,000,000 on PokerStars at a 2/5 cent table, which included a WCOOP Main Event ticket. He’s turned that into at least $17,711 and is looking for more. The PokerStars blog is providing live updates as they play down to a winner by Tuesday morning.

Day 2 of the 10,000 + 350 WSOPE Main Event came to a close with 66 players remaining, and Viktor Blom, rumored to be online legend Isildur1 the leader with 443,200 in chips. Other notables returning: Phil Ivey – 289,300, Victory Poker CEO Day Fleyshman – 269,000, Yevgeniy Timoshenko – 222,900, Barry Greenstein – 175,300, Roland de Wolfe – 166,200 and Daniel Negreanu – 142,800. The day 3 table draw is now available at WSOP.com . Play resumes at 12pm Sunday afternoon/7am ET with the field playing down to the final 27. Follow the updates at PokerNews and WSOP.com.

The third and deciding match of the 10,000 + 350 NL Holdem Heads-Up bracelet will take place at 6pm Sunday evening between Gus Hansen and Jim Collopy. There was discussion of holding the final match in Las Vegas November Nine weekend, but eventually it was worked out to finish it out in London.

Elsewhere …

LAPT Grande Finale – Rosario, Argentina :: The final table of 8 has been reached, with Matthias Habernig, winner of LAPT Florianopolis, is looking to win back-to-back titles. Here’s how the final table will be seated:

Seat 1: Roberto Bianchi (Argentina) 1,242,000
Seat 2: William Ross (USA) 352,000
Seat 3: Ivan Saul (Argentina) 179,000
Seat 4: Nico Fierro (Chile) 406,000
Seat 5: Matthias Habernig (Austria) 463,000
Seat 6: Martin Sansour (Peru) 952,000
Seat 7: Bolivar Palacios (Panama) 1,000,000
Seat 8: Daniel Ades (Argentina) 514,000

Action resumes Sunday at noon local time, follow the action at PokerNews and the PokerStars blog.

TJ Cloutier Choctaw Poker Classic – Durant, Oklahoma :: Day 1 of their $1,500 + 100 Main Event drew a field of 191 players, with first place taking down $73,126. Streaming at Roundersradio.com

The award-winning cast of The Poker Beat breaks down last week who did and did not make the cut of the Bluff Power 20, and we analyze the launch of Victory Poker. Is there space (six years after Chris Moneymaker) for a new online poker site in the sector — one that does not include Full Tilt pros, PokerStars-size tournament fields, and AP/UB’s Kahnawake-ness?

The Poker Beat
2/05/10

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The Hard Rock Poker Lounge is getting its weekend poker orgy underway — this is the “relaunch” of the poker room there … under new management, with new ideas, and more action than usual …

They’ve got a full slate this weekend — beyond just the free food, splashed pots, a 20k guarantee Friday tourney and stuff like that … they’ve got a whole slate of events, including a Sharon Osborne celebrity charity event (Trash Talk Championship of the World they are calling it), a party for the launch of Victory poker. Currently filming (for ESPN 360, I believe, is a $100/$200 NLH cash game. $50k buy-in … with Antonio Esfandiari, Andrew Robl and others on the table … we’ll have some more names for you. And I think that’s The Maven waiting in the wings for a seat.

Click here for a rundown of all they’ve got going on.

Of course the game next table over is what really interests me — $1/$2 NLH/PLO … just an option to run-it-2x today, not automatic. But in my jaded opinion, that’s where the real poker is going on. The plan is to keep this game running throughout the weekend — as Super Bowl raffle is currently my 2010 bankroll plan.

More TK throughout the weekend … but here’s a glimpse of surprisingly early Friday night action taking off at the Hard Rock’s big poker weekend: