The first major live poker tournament since Black Friday in the United States kicked off today with the World Poker Tour at the Seminole Hard Rock in Hollywood Florida. One of the unknowns coming into the tournament was wether or not sponsored pros would show up wearing their patches.

With 406 players in the field today only 13 players were found wearing either a Full Tilt Poker or a Ultimate Bet patch. The one “big three” site that did not have a single patched up player was PokerStars, even though WPT regular and PokerStar Pro Jason Mercier was in the field.

Also in the field today not wearing their normal patch were Maria Ho (UB) and Antonio Esfandiari (Victory). The fact that these two are not wearing a patch for their respected site while Adam “roothlus” Levy (UB) and Jonathan Little (Victory) are patched up definitely creates more questions.

Here is a rundown of the players found in todays field that were wearing patches:

Since we are on the discussion of who is wearing what Tony Dunst, who is known for always being well dressed was not wearing his normal suit today due to a delay in dry cleaning. Instead he was wearing a V-Neck shirt and a pair of jeans. Dunst will be returning tomorrow, hopefully in his freshly cleaned suit, to grind out his short stack.

After 5 levels of play only 290 players remain with registration open until the start of play with Randy Dorfman at the top of the leaderboard with 160,000. Other players returning for day two are Vivek Rajkumar, Shannon Shorr, Annette Obstread, Mike Sexton, Kathy, Leibert, and Lauren Kling.

The players will return at 12 noon local time tomorrow for the start of day two of this six-day event to play another 5 levels.

Recapping Friday night’s WSOP tournaments with the two latest bracelet winners finally determined Saturday morning, but first some breaking news for Pokerati fans:

DonkeyBomber leads 1k Seniors’ field

Day 1 of the $1,000 Seniors’ No-Limit Holdem Championship concluded with 427 players remaining at the end of 10 levels of play. The reported chip leader is Team Pokerati/Loudmouth Poker pro Tom Schneider in front with 94,000 in chips. Other notables with chips when play resumes at 2:30pm: Berry Johnston (62,900), Lon McEachern (27,200) and Sam Simon (23,100). A full list of chip counts is now available at PokerNews.

Ellis wins bracelet #4 for the UK

The $1,500 No-Limit Holdem event reached a conclusion first as Mike Ellis overcame a large chip deficit heads-up against Christopher Gonzales to win the bracelet along with $581,851 as the Briton wins the fourth bracelet this year for the UK, moving them into second in the WSOP world standings. Gonzales earned $360,906 for the runner-up finish. Full results and Nolan Dalla’s tournament report are available at wsop.com.

Puchkov punches his way to HORSE victory

The $1,500 HORSE event finally concluded in the wee hours of the morning as Konstantin Puchkov defeated Al “Sugar Bear” Barbieri to earn $256,820 and a WSOP bracelet. Barbieri earned $158,647 for the second place finish. Full results and Dalla’s tournament report will be available at wsop.com shortly.

Lindgren, Nguyen feature final day of 5k NL 6-max

The final day of the $5,000 No-Limit Holdem 6-max event gets underway with 12 players remaining. Here’s how the field will be seated when play resumes at 3pm:

Seat 1: Orlando Delacruz – 301,000
Seat 2: Anthony Roux – 668,000
Seat 3: Evan Panesis – 299,000
Seat 4: Jeffrey “jpapola” Papola – 598,000
Seat 5: Mark Radoja – 1,493,000
Seat 6: Darren Elias – 841,000

Seat 1: Bruno Launais – 875,000
Seat 2: Men Nguyen – 264,000
Seat 3: Erick Lindgren – 1,165,000
Seat 4: Taylor Mcfarland – 848,000
Seat 5: Paul Sheng – 712,000
Seat 6: Lucas Greenwood – 425,000

Follow the updates of this event at PokerNews.

Velador and Chiu top two in 2500 PLO/PLH

Day 3 of the $2,500 Pot-Limit Omaha/Pot-Limit Holdem resumes at 3pm with 14 players remaining. Jose-Luis Velador (455,000) and David Chiu (451,000) are the leaders, while Rob Hollink (423,000), Victor Ramdin (262,000) and Phil Ivey (207,000) also return. PokerNews will be there until a bracelet winner is determined.

10k NL Heads-Up down to final 64

Two rounds of play have finished in the $10,000 No-Limit Holdem Heads-Up Championship with 64 players remaining when the field returns at 3pm. The 32 round three winners will make the money, with some of the notables returning include: Phil Ivey, Gavin Smith, Phil Gordon, Antonio Esfandiari, Sorel Mizzi, Jonathan Little, Josh Arieh, Vanessa Rousso and Vivek Rajkumar. The full bracket for this event is now online at wsop.com.

Saturday’s tournaments

The 12pm tournament is day 1a of the fourth $1,000 No-Limit Holdem event of the WSOP, with a field of at least 3,000 expected over the weekend. The 5pm tournament is the $3,000 HORSE event, which drew a field of 452 players last year with Zac Fellows coming out on top for $311,899.

Recapping Tuesday afternoon’s action:

Lunkin Leads Six Pack of HORSE Finalists

Six players remain in the 50k HORSE, when they return from their dinner break at around 9pm PT, with the players returning to limits of 80k/160k:

Vitaly Lunkin 3,760,000
Erik Sagstrom 3,395,000
John Hanson 3,075,000
Huck Seed 1,730,000
David Bach 1,185,000
Ville Wahlbeck 955,000

The final table is available on ESPN360, www.bluffmagazine.com/live and wsop.pkr.com

Peisert Looking to Give Germany Bracelet #2

Jorg Peisert leads the final six players at the final table of the $3,000 Triple Chance NL Holdem. Michael Katz, Jason DeWitt, Benjamin Gilbert, Michael Noda and Jason Somerville make up the remaining field.

Kohler Looking to Sink Halpern in Stud 8

William Kohler and David Halpernare headsup for a bracelet in the $1,500 Stud Hi/Lo 8 or Better with Halpern currently holding the lead. Congrats go to Matt Savage, who finished in 5th, and a belated congrats to Norman Chad, for his 32nd place finish earlier today.

Boivin Buoyant in $1,500 NL

Day 2 of the $1,500 NL Holdem has about 130 players remaining, trying to whittle the field down as much as they can before the 3am deadline, which will certainly create a long day 3 tomorrow. Don Boivin (401,000) appears to be the chip leader at this time, with Vivek Rajkumar (115,000), Alex Bolotin (88,000), Richard Lee (64,000), Raymond Rahme (54,000), some of the notables remaining.

Libson Looking Live in Triple Draw

Brad Libson (164,000) leads the remaining 33 players in the $2,500 2-7 Triple Draw Lowball, of which 24 will make the money. Notables remaining include: Abe Mosseri, John Juanda, Jerrod Ankenman, Hasan Habib, Allen Kessler and Julie Schneider. They’ll be playing down to the final 7 players or the 3am deadline, whichever comes first.

$5k NL Six-Handed

The final prelim of this year’s WSOP, the $5,000 NL Holdem Six-Handed event drew a field of 928 entries, of which 384 return from the dinner break. The winner will take down just over $1,000,000, which is the third largest first place prize of this year’s WSOP, following only the 40k NL and $50k HORSE.

Unfortunately, there’s no established chip leader, but if you head to www.wsop.com one may be better established during the evening. Also check out Pokerati to see if Dan will have some exciting news, like the Jack Link’s Stacked Jacks promotion.

Recapping Monday night’s tournament action:

Final Table Set in 50k HORSE

The final table of the $50,000 HORSE was established early Tuesday morning, with Gus Hansen the unfortunate final table bubble boy. Here’s how the final table will be seated, with streaming coverage starting around 2pm PT at www.espn360.com and wsop.pkr.com:

Seat 1: Ville Wahlbeck – 645000
Seat 2: Erik Sagstrom – 3675000
Seat 3: John Hanson – 1700000
Seat 4: Huck Seed – 1380000
Seat 5: Vitaly Lunkin – 2490000
Seat 6: David Bach – 2345000
Seat 7: Erik Seidel – 965000
Seat 8: Chau Giang – 1075000

While Lunkin and Wahlbeck will be trying to win their 2nd WSOP bracelet this year, Wahlbeck will lead the WSOP Player of the Year race with just two tournaments remaining if he finishes first.

Carsten Joh Wins One for Germany

Carsten Joh took down the next to last $1,500 NL Holdemtournament picking up a WSOP bracelet and $664,426, besting Andrew Chen in heads-up play.

DeWitt DeLeader in Triple Chance

Jason Dewitt (1,599,000) leads the remaining field of 16 in the $3,000 Triple Chance as they play down to a winner starting at 1pm this afternoon. Among those trailing behind Dewitt: Alex Millar (1,006,000), Karga Holt (715,000), Jason Somerville (320,000), Max Greenwood (294,000), Eric “rizen” Lynch (230,000) and An Tran (216,000).

Swinford Stud Leader

Brian Swinford leads (292,000) the day 3 field of 14 in the $1,500 Stud Hi/Lo 8 or Better when play resumes at 1pm this afternoon. Notables remaining: Chad Brown (284,000), Max Stern (216,000), Allie Prescott (202,000), Richie Sklar (134,000), Matt Savage (106,000) and Vince Burgio (40,000).

Christensen Leads Final $1500 NL Event

Jon Christensen of Oslo, Norway leads the field when day 2 of the $1,500 NL Holdem returns Tuesday afternoon with 160,800 in chips with action resuming at 2pm. Among the notables among the 397 returning players: Alexandre Gomes (76,000), Raymond Rahme (51,800), Dean Hamrick (39,500), Richard Lee (and his San Antonio sweatshirt – 34,300) and Vivek Rajkumar (31,800). 297 players will get paid over the next two days as they get close to the final table by the 3am deadline.

2-7 Triple Draw

Adam Ewenstein (71,800) leads the returning 73 players for Day 2 of the $2,500 2-7 Triple Draw Lowball, with only 24 players making the money when play resumes at 2pm. Notables returning: Rick Fuller (55,200), Blair Rodman (46,500), Tuan Le (42,000), Justin “Boosted J” Smith (33,700), Shawn Sheikhan (31,100), Julie Schneider (25,700), David Sklansky (22,600), and Jimmy “Gobbo” Fricke (18,700).

Tuesday’s Tournament

The final preliminary tournament of this year’s WSOP starts at 12 noon with the $5,000 NL Holdem 6-max event, won last year by Joe Commisso in a field of 805 for over $900,000. The WSOP Staff Guide projects a field of 865 today, which could delay the start of Day 2 in the $1,500 NL and $2,500 Triple Draw Lowball events.

Live updates of the last day of six tournaments begins around noon at www.wsop.com and Pokerati will surely have all sorts of stuff during the other parts of Tuesday.

For those who missed it live yesterday … this week’s episode employs a slimmed down cast with just me and Gary Wise, which is kinda like the difference between The Beatles and Wings, but still … with BJ, Parvis, and Ringo off on other ventures, Gary, Huff, and I break down in nitty-gritty detail whether or not Vivek Rajkumar is just a flash in the pan, the $10k field sizes of Bay 101 vs. the Wynn Classic, Dream Team Poker, and Greg Raymer’s ambassadorial efforts on behalf of the PPA. But really, I probably shouldn’t be saying this, but you can skip all that and just listen to the last few minutes for Joe Stapleton’s “Tight Laydown” … I’m starting to believe more and more that the whole “show” we poker journos do really is just an elaborate set-up for the real show, which starts somewhere around the 58th minute.

(Plus “the Insider”, too!)

on PokerRoad

The Poker Beat
Huff, Michalski, Wise, Stapleton
3/19/09

[audio:http://www.pokerroad.com/upload/radio/23/audio/TPB_03_19_09.mp3]

Pure conspiracy theory … inspired by the winner’s pic of “Harold and” Vivek Rajkumar proudly displaying his WSOP WPT bracelet at the Borgata. Without even a rumor to base this on (just circumstantial observations and wild speculation) I called Pauly hoping we could start one. Pauly was in London after covering the entirety of the last WPT event in Atlantic City, and had a brief stop-over in Amsterdam, which I figured put him in the exact right frame of mind to feel the rhymes I was droppin’ … and sure enough, by the time our jam was done we’d have Full Tilt moving in on PokerStars’ brick-and-mortar territory by bailing out Steve Lipscomb & Friends in an effort to challenge the EPT.

So you heard it here first … be sure to spread the word:

Tao of Pokerati: Episode 2.1
WPT Bailout Rumors (7:28)

[audio:tao/TOP-2-1-WPTBailout.mp3]

It feels good to run good … and because it’s important to know whom you’re up against, here are six players you may wanna congratulate/look out for at the tables live and online, as their most recent noteworthy successes suggest they are running particularly well.

Mary Joe Belcore-Zogman
Heartland Poker Tour’s “The Grand Series”
Onamia, Minnesota

Bested 201 players to take down $85,723 — making her the second woman to win an HPT event, and part of the first husband-wife team to both win on the Heartland Poker Tour. Dan Zogman won $220k in Gary, IN, last year. The Zogmans hail from McHenry, IL, about 60 miles outside of Chicago.

More details about her win at HeartlandPokerTour.com

Phil Ivey
Full Tilt Million Dollar Cash Game
London

Made a stab at his 6th bracelet in the £2,500 HORSE at WSOP-Europe (banking more than US$25k for 6th place), and while overseas was the big winner in the million-dollar cash game against his fellow Full Tilt pros and other highest-stakes players. Finished +$536,400, dominating the competition for the second time in the event’s 3-year history.

Live-blog coverage from Michael Craig (relevant posts start in the #520s)

More…

Compared to some of the marathon WPT final tables, it probably seemed like it took only ten minutes to complete the final table of the WPT Borgata Poker Open. Vivek Rajkumar did, however, win the title in only 48 hands, beating the previous record of 53 hands set by Eugene Katchalov at the December 2007 Bellagio Five Diamond.

Vivek was surrounded by his group of internet young-gunnish friends like Gobboboy and Devo, and the support probably didn’t hurt as he came to the table as the chip leader and went into heads-up play with a massive 16.8 million to 3.9 million lead over Sang Kim. That HU part of the event took only one hand, and Vivek was the latest to win a WPT title. Oh, and he won $1,424,500 to get a good haircut go along with the bracelet and the victory.

The final table results were as follows:

6th place: Andrew Knee ($237,500)
5th place: Mark Seif ($287,500)
4th place: Jason Strochak ($337,500)
3rd place: Dan Heimiller ($387,500)
2nd place: Sang Kim ($750,000)
1st place: Vivek Rajkumar ($1,424,500)

Photo courtesy of World Poker Tour, where WPT Live Updates detailed all of the final table action.