Poker News

Vanessa Rousso Goes Broke on PokerStars Big Game

It took all of one episode for Vanessa Rousso to go busto on the PokerStars sponsored “Big Game,” which airs on Fox. This week’s table, which was spread with $600,000, saw online qualifier Bob Ferdinand, affectionately dubbed the “Loose Cannon,” spar with five of the game’s top pros. At stake is a $50,000 North American Poker Tour passport, which currently belongs to David Fishman. Ferdinand is the final “Loose Cannon” of the season.

The action on the “Big Game” is Pot Limit pre-flop and No Limit thereafter with blinds of $200/$400 along with a $100 ante paid entirely by the player on the button. Each “Loose Cannon” is staked $100,000 from PokerStars and keeps any profits.

In the first major pot of Monday’s kickoff episode, Ferdinand check-called a bet of $4,000 from UB.com pro Phil Hellmuth with A-J on a flop of Q-Q-A for aces-up. Hellmuth held Q-6 in the hand for trips and the turn was a seven. Ferdinand once again check-called, this time a bet of $12,000, and the river was an ace, giving the amateur a better full house than Hellmuth. Ferdinand fired out $18,500 and Hellmuth began to reel, lamenting, “Is this even possible?” Hellmuth called reluctantly, shipping the $73,800 pot to the qualifier.

Hellmuth would exact revenge with K-Q against Rousso, who held K-J on a king-high board. The pot totaled $54,000 and initiated Rousso’s downward spiral. On the next hand shown, Bertrand “Elky” Grospellier bet out $3,600 on a flop of 7-7-K with two clubs holding pocket nines, including the nine of clubs. Rousso, who had A-5 of hearts, made it $8,000 and the turn was the six of clubs, giving Grospellier a flush draw.

Rousso checked when the six hit and Grospellier hit the table as well to bring the deuce of clubs on the river. Rousso continued firing, this time $16,000, and Grospellier called, scooping the $55,000 pot with a flush. Rousso was down $55,000 through just 12 hands out of the 150 played during the week.

Introduced in recent weeks on the “Big Game” is a segment dubbed “Couch Cannon” in which only the hole cards of the “Loose Cannon” are revealed, allowing the audience at home to play along. During Monday’s installment, Hellmuth rivered trip nines against Ferdinand with A-9 to draw out on top pair. The pot, the largest of the night, amounted to $113,000 and shaved Ferdinand’s stack by $56,000. He was down $21,000 at the time.

Rousso’s witching hour came after she raised pre-flop to $1,000 with Q-J of hearts and received a 3bet from DoylesRoom Brunson 10 member Amit “amak316” Makhija, who pushed it to $3,500 with pocket jacks. Rousso came along and the flop came 10-4-J, giving her top pair against Makhija’s set. Rousso check-called a bet of $4,000 and the turn was a queen.

Rousso checked two pair and Makhija moved $10,000 in chips to the center of the table. Rousso shoved over the top for $35,800 and Makhija called with his set. The DoylesRoom pro told Rousso that she could run the river as many times as she wanted and so four final cards were dealt. A three, nine, king, and deuce fell on the four river runs and Makhija scooped the entire $87,000 pot, the second largest of the night. Rousso collected her belongings and headed for the exit, refusing to rebuy.

At the end of Monday’s episode, Makhija was up $37,000, Hellmuth was up $33,400, Grospellier was up $26,700, and Ferdinand was $5,400 in the black. Poker pro Abe Mosseri was down $3,100, while Rousso was busto. A new pro will take to the felts in her place on Tuesday night.

You can catch the PokerStars sponsored “Big Game” late nights on Fox. Check your local listings for more details.

World Series of Poker Main Event Begins Airing on ESPN

On Tuesday night, the 2010 World Series of Poker (WSOP) Main Event began airing on ESPN with a pair of one-hour episodes highlighting Days 1A and 1B. A stirring introduction by reigning Main Event champ Joe Cada touted the feature table as “the table where dreams come true.”

The first one-hour episode covered Day 1A of the Main Event, with a feature table that included Full Tilt Poker pro Mike Matusow and bracelet winner Jason Lester. Every player received 30,000 in chips and Matusow donned an “I Am McLovin” shirt for his kickoff day. “The Mouth” has recorded four top 100 finishes and two final tables in the Main Event since 2001. Christopher Mintz-Plasse, who plays McLovin in the movie “Superbad,” turned 21 two weeks prior to the Main Event kicking off this year.

Out in the field were a variety of pros, including former Main Event champs Bobby Baldwin, Chris Moneymaker, and Greg Raymer, the latter of whom doubled up John Bennett with top pair against a set. The hand dropped Raymer to just 1,200 in chips and he was later eliminated with pocket eights all-in pre-flop. Raymer, who gave the Day 1A “Shuffle up and deal” command, signed over his signature fossil and departed the Amazon Room at the Rio in Las Vegas.

Ted Forrest, in the midst of competing in a $2 million weight loss prop bet against Matusow, doubled up and, over at Table 2, eight-time bracelet winner Erik Seidel tangled with Taylor Larkin. Seidel 3bet to 2,325 with A-6 and Larkin, holding A-K, made it 6,500. Seidel responded by 5betting to 17,000, or over half of the starting stack, and Larkin moved all-in for 17,000 more. Seidel thought briefly before laying his hand down.

Hands featuring Scott Seiver, Isaac Haxton, Peter “Nordberg” Feldman, Dallas Mavericks star Shawn Marion, and Abe Mosseri were shown and, back at the feature table, ESPN displayed Matusow’s vital stats. “The Mouth” boasted a VPIP (Voluntarily Put Money into the Pot) of 32% and an Aggression Factor of 40%. However, he promptly dropped half of his stack to former World Poker Tour Southern Poker Championship winner Allen “AawwNutz” Carter when he whiffed on a diamond flush draw.

After T.J. Cloutier and Ray Romano were shown the door, Matusow followed suit by running top pair into Carter’s middle set. Just prior, a dealer error had resulted in Matusow’s dealt ace being exposed. After looking at his other hole card, which was also an ace, Matusow became quite perturbed.

The second episode profiled Day 1B of the 2010 WSOP Main Event. The feature table hosted Gavin Smth and Ivan Demidov, while Table 2 sported 2007 WSOP Europe Main Event champ Annette Obrestad, who was playing in her first WSOP Main Event on U.S. soil. Obrestad’s run featured multiple exclamations of “So sick,” as she flopped a boat and ran into a higher boat in one hand. Then, Obrestad doubled up with pocket nines after check-raising all-in on a 10-high board. She received a call from an opponent with pocket jacks, but hit a nine on the turn to stay alive.

Former UB.com pro Liv Boeree, cancer survivor Thuy Doan, and Erick Lindgren’s better half Erica Schoenberg were all in the field. The comment of the night belonged to ESPN commentator Norman Chad, who introduced Schoenberg as follows: “Like me, she is a former model and personal trainer.” Lindgren hit the rail immediately after Chad’s intro, raising all-in on the flop with a flush draw against a player with two pair. Lindgren hit his flush on the turn, but his opponent rivered a full house.

Elsewhere in the field were Jean-Robert Bellande, Unabomber Poker pro Phil Laak, and Deepstacks instructor Tristan “Cre8ive” Wade. At the feature table, Smith doubled up after check-raising all-in with middle set on a flop of 7-9-Q. Smith turned a full house and the river was no help to his opponent.

The exits of Bertrand “Elky” Grospellier, Joe Sebok, Jennifer Tilly, and Boeree on Day 1B were highlighted. Then, Obrestad moved all-in less the chip protecting her cards with A-J on a flop of 2-2-9. Two-time bracelet winner Chris Bjorin called with pocket queens. A jack hit on the turn and an eight came on the river, sending Obrestad into the Las Vegas night. The internet whiz finished with four cashes and no final tables in the 2010 WSOP.

Action from the Main Event continues next Tuesday on ESPN at 8:00pm ET. Once again, two one-hour episodes will air.

WSOP Event #52: $25k NLHE 6-max ended in Dan “djk123? Kelly’s celebration

The final table of the WSOP $25k NLHE 6-max was over pretty quickly: young Dan Kelly, who had started the final from great standings, rolled to victory in less than four hours.  

Only 21-year-old Kelly got experienced Shawn Buchanan as his heads-up opponent. In the last hand, Kelly got it all on the river holding AT against Buchanan’s pocket jacks, and the celebration for over $1,3 million dollar victory could begin.

Buchanan came second and cashed $812,941 dollars from his great game performance. Buchanan started challenging Kelly for real after Frank Kassela (the 3rd) “handed over” all his chips to Buchanan’s chipstack. Kassela, who is looking for the third bracelet of the summer, assured his lead in the WSOP Player of The Year competition - and the victory is about to be at his fingertips, unless the players behind him perform very well in the Main Event.

The prize pool and results:

1. Dan Kelly – $1,315,518
2. Shawn Buchanan – $812,941
3. Frank Kassela – $556,053
4. Jason Somerville – $386,125
5. Mikael Thuritz – $272,084
6. Eugene Katchalov – $194,559
7. Sam Trickett – 141,168$
8. Bryn Kenney – 141,168$
9. Isaac Haxton – 104,651$
10. Brian Hodhod - 104,651$
11. Daniel Negreanu – 77,569$
12. Abe Mosseri – 77,569$
13. Martins Adeniya – 58,699$
14. Billy Jordanou – 58,699$
15. Heather Sue Mercer – 58,699$
16. Vadim Trincher – 58,699$
17. Carlos Mortensen – 58,699$
18. Justin Bonomo – 58,699$

Sources: Bluff, PokerNews and TheHendonMob

 

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WSOP Event #52: $25k NLHE 6-max ended in Dan “djk123? Kelly’s celebration

Carlos Mortensen, Robert Mizrachi Among Finalists in WSOP HORSE Championship

To say that the remaining field in the World Series of Poker (WSOP) $10,000 HORSE Championship is stacked would be a severe understatement. Cuong Do, who finished 30th in last year’s Main Event, owns the top spot on the leaderboard with 23 players remaining at 720,000. Right behind him in the chip counts for Event #43 is online poker veteran Marco “CrazyMarco” Johnson.

Former CardRunners instructor and former Full Tilt Poker Red Pro Brian Townsend sits in third holding a stack of 616,000. Fifth place belongs to Carlos Mortensen, the World Poker Tour’s (WPT) all-time money leader and 2001 WSOP Main Event champion. Mortensen will come armed to Friday’s play in the HORSE Championship with a stack of 503,000.

Richard Ashby, one of five British bracelet winners in 2010, is poised to make it six for the U.K. in the HORSE event. Ashby is in seventh on the leaderboard at 441,000 and took down a $1,500 buy-in Seven Card Stud event (#21) earlier this year for $140,000 and his first WSOP bracelet. Just behind Ashby is Nick Schulman, a WPT champ and WSOP bracelet holder. Schulman won the 2005 WPT World Poker Finals for $2.1 million and took down the tour’s Battle of the Champions one year later. His bracelet came in last year’s 2-7 Lowball World Championship for $279,000.

Robert Mizrachi has already made two final tables at this year’s World Series, including a fifth place finish in the $50,000 Player’s Championship. Mizrachi holds down the fort in 10th place entering the finale of Event #43. Two-time bracelet winner Scott Fischman, whose last WSOP final table came in London in 2008, sits in 11th after two days of play in the HORSE Championship.

Also a part of the talented lineup in Event #43 are Marco Traniello, Full Tilt pro Brandon Adams, DoylesRoom pro Todd Brunson, Matt Glantz, Allen “Chainsaw” Kessler, John “World” Hennigan, and Scotty Nguyen. Yikes. Here’s a full list of chip counts:

1. Cuong Do – 720,000
2. Marco “CrazyMarco” Johnson – 626,000
3. Brian Townsend – 616,000
4. Eugene Katchalov – 525,000
5. Carlos Mortensen – 503,000
6. Ian Gordon – 483,000
7. Richard Ashby – 441,000
8. Roman Yitzhaki – 429,100
9. Nick Schulman – 402,000
10. Robert Mizrachi – 364,000
11. Scott Fischman – 347,000
12. Marco Traniello – 323,000
13. Brandon Adams – 310,000
14. Todd Brunson – 274,000
15. Matt Glantz – 200,000
16. Michael Chow – 180,000
17. Allen “Chainsaw” Kessler – 104,000
18. Steve “MrSmokey1” Billirakis – 89,000
19. Pawel Andrzejewski – 80,000
20. Abe Mosseri – 71,000
21. Al Barbieri – 65,000
22. John “World” Hennigan – 60,000
23. Scotty Nguyen – Did Not Report Chip Count

Poker News Daily Hijack Seat host and Guest Columnist Bernard Lee is the short stack entering the final day of play in Event #42, $1,500 No Limit Hold’em. Lee will be on life support when play resumes at 2:30pm PT, as he’ll have just four big blinds to work with. However, he’s assured a payday of at least $17,000 and a total of 25 players are still in the mix.

James Schaaf and Ryan Hemmel own a commanding lead over the competition at 1.26 million and 1.08 million, respectively, in Event #42. Dean Hamrick, who took fifth in a $1,500 No Limit Hold’em event last year, sits in third on the leaderboard entering Friday’s finale at 858,000. Perhaps the most decorated player left in the field is PokerStars front man Humberto Brenes, a two-time Costa Rican bracelet winner. Brenes has made three WPT final tables over the course of his career.

The lone bracelet awarded on Thursday in Las Vegas went to the U.K.’s Steve Jelinek, who won Event #41, $1,500 Pot Limit Omaha High-Low Split Eight or Better. In the tournament’s final hand, Jelinek’s As-Ah-Qd-4h bested John Gottlieb’s Ad-Kh-9d-5c. Jelinek’s wired pair of aces was enough to capture his first bracelet and $245,000. He became the fifth U.K. player to win gold this year, joining Praz Bansi, James Dempsey, Ashby, and Mike Ellis.

Stay tuned to Poker News Daily for the latest from the 2010 World Series of Poker.

PokerStars Big Game Week 2: Doyle Brunson Runs over the Table

Monday night marked the first episode of Week 2 of the PokerStars.net sponsored “Big Game” on Fox. The high-stakes cash game featuring a “Loose Cannon” qualifier from PokerStars battling against five poker pros airs at 1:00am or 2:00am nightly in most markets.

Daniel Negreanu was the high roller at the table, buying in for $200,000, while everyone else purchased $100,000 in chips. This week’s “Loose Cannon” is William Davis, who candidly told “Big Game” hostess Amanda Leatherman prior to his battle, “I could win or lose a pot worth more than my house.” Davis’ wife is not a fan of Negreanu, who serves as the face of the “Big Game,” because he talks too much.

The “Loose Cannon” made his presence known early, raising to $1,200 pre-flop with pocket deuces and receiving a call from defending World Poker Tour Championship winner David Williams, who held pocket tens, including a club. The flop came 5-4-4 with two clubs and Williams check-called a bet of $2,100. The turn put a third club on the board and the action went check-check to the deuce of clubs on the river, giving Davis a boat and Williams a flush. Williams checked, Davis bet $6,000, and Williams tanked before electing to abandon ship.

Then, internet entrepreneur Jason Calacanis raised to $1,200 pre-flop with pocket deuces, 10-time World Series of Poker bracelet winner Doyle Brunson popped it to $4,800 with pocket queens, and Davis 4bet to $14,800 with a wired pair of jacks. Brunson pushed the action to $46,400 after trying to push all-in, but the action on the “Big Game” is Pot Limit before the flop and No Limit thereafter. Davis released his hand, causing host Joe Stapleton to comment, “That was some power poker. A $60,000 pot without a flop.”

The hand of the night occurred when Williams bet $3,000 holding A-4 of spades on a flop of 8-8-Q with two spades for the nut flush draw. Davis called with K-10 of spades for the second nut flush draw and the turn brought the deuce of spades, filling both players’ flushes. Williams bet $7,000 and Davis called to bring a fourth spade on the river. Williams bet $20,000 and Davis insta-called, shipping the $64,400 pot to Williams. Just like that, the “Loose Cannon” was down $43,000 out of his $100,000 stake.

Brunson hit the deck hard on Monday night’s episode, picking up pocket queens twice and pocket kings once in the first 10 hands. He was up over $20,000 by the time all was said and done, roughly tied with Williams. In the final hand shown, Davis picked up aces and raised to $1,200. Cash game guru Abe Mosseri called with J-6 of hearts and the action flop came 5-5-8 with two hearts. Davis bet $3,200 with his overpair and Mosseri called to bring an offsuit deuce on the turn. Davis fired out another bet, this time $9,000, and Mosseri called despite not receiving the right price to hit his flush draw. The river brought another offsuit duck. Davis bet $23,000 and Mosseri folded, ending the action for the evening.

Davis was still down $28,000 to close out the episode. The “Loose Cannon” qualifier had an Aggression Factor of 2.7, the second lowest at the table, through the first 30 hands. Negreanu had a Pre-Flop Raise Percentage of 30%, the highest of the group, while Davis turned in the second highest tally at 23%.

The PokerStars.net-backed “Big Game” airs daily on Fox. Check your local listings for more details.

Sammy Farha Wins Third WSOP Omaha Bracelet

After a 20-hour final table and four-hour heads-up marathon, Sammy Farha defeated James “Flushy” Dempsey to take home his third World Series of Poker (WSOP) bracelet in the $10,000 Omaha High-Low Split Eight or Better Championship (Event #25). All of Farha’s accolades have come in Omaha events. Farha also claimed nearly $500,000 for the win, while Dempsey, a U.K. native and 2010 bracelet winner, walked away with just over $300,000.

Farha is only one of five players to have nabbed a pair of Omaha High-Low Split bracelets. The other four represent an elite group: Thang Luu, Scott “BigRiskky” Clements, Main Event champ Scotty Nguyen, and Full Tilt Poker’s Chris Ferguson. On the competition he barreled through in order to capture his third bracelet, Farha told WSOP officials, “There are a lot of great players. The whole field is amazing. Every year. I think this is the toughest field in the entire WSOP. It is 212 players and they are all good players.” Here’s how the final table shook out:

1. Sammy Farha – $488,237
2. James “Flushy” Dempsey – $301,790
3. Yueqi Zhu – $225,326
4. Sergey Altbregin – $169,368
5. Tony Merksick – $128,097
6. Michael Chow – $97,508
7. Eugene Katchalov – $74,670
8. Abe Mosseri – $57,552
9. Steve Wong – $44,619

The big Omaha High-Low Championship wasn’t the only tournament going on at the WSOP. In fact, three other events were being contested at the same time. The furthest along at the end of Monday’s action was Event #24, $1,000 No Limit Hold’em. On Monday, the two starting days, during which 3,289 people played, were combined, with the 507 remaining players battling down to a final 30. The money bubble burst more than 300 players ago, so nobody needs to worry about cashing.

With blinds at 5,000/10,000 and a 1,000 chip ante, Joseph Grenon leads the way heading into Day 3 with 857,000 chips. Ireland’s Denis Murphy is the only other player above 700,000, sitting in second place with 751,000. Let’s also not forget about PND’s very own J.D. McNamara, who owns the 17th largest stack at 230,000. Here is the current top ten:

1. Joseph Grenon – 857,000
2. Denis Murphy – 751,000
3. Greg Pohler – 698,000
4. Jim Jeffrey – 656,000
5. Jaymes Rosenthal – 472,000
6. John Tolbert – 423,000
7. Kiet Tran – 407,000
8. Gordon Johnson – 402,000
9. Edgar de la Torre – 399,000
10. Yordan Mitrentsov – 373,000

Event 26, the $2,500 No Limit Hold’em Six-Handed tournament, has completed Day 1 with 156 players left. On top of the field is Will Haydor with 180,300, followed by Canadian Erik Cajelais with 163,000. CardPlayer Magazine editor and 2009 November Nine member Jeff Shulman sits in seventh place with 122,000. We also have a Jerry Yang appearance, as the 2007 WSOP Main Event champ is lurking in ninth place, just ahead of CardRunners instructor David “Raptor” Benefield.

Other notables still playing include DoylesRoom Brunson 10 member Chris “Moorman1″ Moorman, Justin “Boosted J” Smith, Titan Poker’s Sorel “Imper1um” Mizzi, Ferguson, Amnon Filippi, Annette “Annette_15” Obrestad, Alan “The Usher” Sass, “Captain” Tom Franklin, Daniel Negreanu, Marco Traniello, and Taylor “Green Plastic” Caby. Here are your leaders for the event:

1. Will Haydor – 180,300
2. Erik Cajelais 163,000
3. Richard Robinson – 152,100
4. Al Barbieri – 133,000
5. Farhad Madhani – 125,800
6. Joseph Baldwin – 122,300
7. Jeff Shulman – 122,000
8. Andrew “good2cu” Robl – 119,400
9. Jerry Yang – 110,600
10. David “Raptor” Benefield – 99,200

Event 27, $1,500 Seven Card Stud High-Low Eight or Better, could develop into an interesting story, as a female, Odette Tremblay, ended Day 1 as the chip leader, although she is just 400 chips ahead of David Levi. Dutch Boyd, who just won the $2,500 Limit Hold’em Six-Handed event, is in sixth position, last year’s WSOP Player of the Year Jeffrey Lisandro, is in eighth, and John D’Agostino, a name we haven’t heard much from lately, is in tenth. There are currently 208 out of 644 players remaining, with the top ten looking like this:

1. Odette Tremblay – 43,700
2. David Levi – 43,300
3. Daniel Studer – 42,600
4. David Warga – 37,000
5. Debbie Hickok – 33,500
6. Dutch Boyd – 26,000
7. Mark Provenzano – 25,500
8. Jeffrey Lisandro – 23,000
9. Felipe “Mojave” Ramos – 21,000
10. John D’Agostino – 20,000

WSOP: Sam Farha won his 3rd bracelet after 16-hour battle

The $10k Omaha Hi/Lo Championship was of very high quality and took 16 hours of play at the Rio Casino. The tournament - which was filled with top players - ended up in Sam Farha’s celebration.  

-Sam Farha with his prior bracelet.

23 players started the day. Three and half hours later there were only nine finalists left. The Bubbleboy of the final table was Mike Sexton. James Dempsey started the final table from chiplead, and his noisy and drunk supporters kept brawling throughout the tournament. 

When there were only seven players left, Sam Farha started his rise. During a couple of hands Farha took the chiplead, and when there were only five players left, he had nearly half of the chips of the whole tournament. After the game was changed to 3-handed, it took a very long time before the next player got eliminated. Yueqi “Richard” Zhu ranked third after which the heads up between Farha and Dempsey could begin with Farha leading 2:1 in chips.

In one phase Farha was leading even 15:1 in chips until Dempsey struck back. After two hours of heads up the two gamblers were having completely identical chipstacks. After 15 hours of play Farha announced his will to set forward the heads up since he was about to play again in the $2,5k PL Omaha tournament in only seven hours. In the end both players were really worn out, and the game got drastically slower and the audience a lot quieter.  

The solution to this exciting but wearing heads up came finally at 7am local time. In the crucial hand Farha was holding aces and kings as Q93QA came to the table. Dempsey was powerless in front of Farha’s full house and remained holding only a couple of blinds in hand.  

The final results:
1. Sam Farha $488,237
2. James Dempsey $301,790
3. Yueqi Zhu $225,326
4. Sergey Altbregin $169,368
5. Tony Merksick $128,097
6. Michael Chow $97,508
7. Eugene Katchalov $74,670
8. Abe Mosseri $57,552
9. Steve Wong $44,619

Despite his brilliant cash playing skills this was only the seventh time as Farha won money in the WSOP. But we must also note that five times he has ranked in top three. Now it’s exciting to see when Farha is gonna show up in the $2,5k PLO tournament which was scheduled to begin only six hours after he had won the bracelet…

Sources: pokernews.com, Wikipedia and TheHendonMob

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WSOP: Sam Farha won his 3rd bracelet after 16-hour battle

Farha Blazes Path to 3rd WSOP Bracelet: Day 18 Recap

Stellar fields, a run at "Player of the Year" from James Dempsey and a bracelet won by one of the most iconic figures in poker - day 18 of the WSOP truly did have it all.

Event 24 - $1k No-Limit Hold-em

Day 2 saw 512 players return to take their chance to make the money. Within 2.5 hours, the money bubble had burst seeing Tom Dwan, Tony Dunst, and Arnaud Mattern cash in a pay check.

By the time the day was finished, just 30 remained and when the players hook up to play down tomorrow, they will all be shooting for Joseph Grenon, the chip leader at the end of play.

Event 25 - $10k Omaha/8

A field rammed with the best poker players around was always likely to produce a high-calibre final table and so it proved with Abe Mosseri, Michael Chow, Sammy Farha and recent bracelet-winner James Dempsey all lining up to take their shot at glory.

After a tough day's play, it was James Dempsey and Sammy Farha who met heads-up in what proved an epic struggle. After six hours of heads-up, it was Farha who ended up picking up the WSOP bracelet and the $488,237 first prize.

"I love the game," said Farha afterward. "This is my hobby, my business. You have to love the game to do well."

A shattered Dempsey looked distraught to have missed out on a second bracelet, but his performances have still left him in contention for the Player of the Year position.

Event 26 - $2.5k No-Limit Hold'em/Six Handed

Day number one of the $2.5k NLHE six handed featured 1,245 players competing to start the day but after a highly attritional day only 156 will return for day two tomorrow in the Amazon Room.

Daniel Negreanu, Jeff Shulman, Annette Obrestad, Jerry Yang and Amnon Filippi are among the top names remaining. Yang and Shulman sit among the top 10 in chips.

A number of top pros weren't so lucky: Phil Ivey, Chris Ferguson, Phil Hellmuth and many others were all eliminated before reaching day two.

The winner of the six-handed event-who will be crowned on Wednesday-will take home just over $630k in prize money.

Join us tomorrow at 2:30 p.m.  as we rejoin all of the action.

Event 27 - $1.5k Seven Card Stud Hi-Low-8 or Better

Apparently there was more than just prop betting going on in the Amazon Room this evening, though during the first level there was more side action than actual hands being played on the felt.

Once all of the side bets were made, 644 players faced off for the seven card stud hi-low bracelet. There were many familiar faces in the house including Howard Lederer, Daniel Negreanu, Joe Haschem, Mike Sexton and recent stud bracelet winner Men the Master.

There are 64 spots in the money, with $208,682. If Howard Lederer would have won then he was in line to get an extra $200k on top thanks to the 200:1 odds he got from Tom Dwan. Unfortunately for Lederer he got short stacked late in the night and was eliminated.

For more information on how this action-packed day played out at the series, click through to the PokerListings WSOP page.

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Dutch Boyd and Vanessa Hellebuyck Strike WSOP Gold

The first event to reach its conclusion yesterday at the World Series of Poker (WSOP) was #22: $1,000 Ladies No Limit Hold’em Championship, in which Vanessa Hellebuyck banked $192,132 for her victory.

The ladies tournament attracted a number of men, which had the Rio buzzing with various opinions. None of the frowned-upon gendered players made the final table, meaning it came down to nine women battling for the bracelet, just as intended.

On the final hand of play, Sidsel Boesen moved all-in with her last 358,000 with Td-9d, only to be called by the 5s-5d of Hellebuyck. When the flop came Qc-Ks-3s, Boesen picked up for more outs, but the turn and river bricked, which sent Hellebuyck’s supporters into a euphoric frenzy. Boesen, who entered the final table as the chip leader, took home $118,897 for her second place finish. Here’s a look at the final results:

1. Vanessa Hellebuyck – $192,132
2. Sidsel Boesen – $118,897
3. Timmi Derosa – $74,389
4. Allison Whalen – $53,994
5. Kami Chisholm – $39,860
6. Holly Hodge – $29,880
7. La Sengphet – $22,728
8. Bonnie Overfield – $17,520
9. Loren Watterworth – $13,688

A few hours later, Dutch Boyd took care of business in Event #23: $2,500 Limit Hold’em Six-Handed, taking home $234,065 and his second WSOP bracelet. On the last hand of play, Brian Meinders had just one big blind left and got his chips in the middle with Ac-8s. Boyd called with Jh-Td, and when the board ran out Jc-2s-9d-7c-8d, the tournament was over. The rest of the final table went down like this:

1. Dutch Boyd – $234,065
2. Brian Meinders – $144,650
3. Albert Minnullin – $93,892
4. Art Parmann – $62,769
5. Domenico Denotaristefani – $43,117
6. Al Barbieri – $30,399

Meanwhile, in Event #24: $1,000 No Limit Hold’em, Day 1B came to an end late Sunday night with a number of notable players still alive. 1,358 entrants showed up and Eric Froehlich, Tony Dunst, Chad Batista, Liv Boeree, and Isaac Haxton are all in the hunt for a bracelet. After eight and a half levels, which mimicked Day 1A’s play, the 512 remaining runners will combine and return to play 10 levels later today. A total of 342 players will make the money, with a whopping $503,000 set aside for the winner. Take a peek at the top chip counts heading into Day 2:

John Tolbert – 73,900
David Wilkinson – 66,400
Adam Reynolds – 66,350
Jeffrey Tebben – 60,225
Ping Yung – 58,625
Leonid Yanovski – 58,275
Christopher Adams – 56,325
Kevin Kelly – 55,775
Anthony Hice – 53,650
Laura Cantero – 52,850

Event #25: $10,000 Omaha Hi-Low Split-8 or Better played down to 23 players yesterday, with Michael Chow and his 600,000 stack leading the way. The tournament is just inside the money and all players have their eyes on the top prize of $488,241. Some notable names remain in the field, including Sammy Farha, Mike Sexton, Jean-Robert Bellande, Steve Zolotow, Chino Rheem, and UB.com pro Eric “basebaldy” Baldwin. Play will resume at 2:30pm PT this afternoon. Here are the biggest stacks going into Day 3:

Michael Chow – 600,000
Abe Mosseri – 531,000
Sammy Farha – 512,000
Eugene Katchalov – 463,000
Sergey Altbregin – 444,000
Mike Sexton – 386,000
Steve Wong – 363,000
Tai Nguyen – 325,000
Jean-Robert Bellande – 314,000
Tony Merksick – 312,000

Two tournaments kick off today: Event #26 $2,500 No Limit Hold’em Six Handed and Event #27 $1,500 Seven Card Stud Hi-Low-8 or Better. Stay tuned to Poker News Daily for all the updates.

WSOP: The 3rd day of Omaha Hi-Lo Championship will start with plenty of big names

After first two days the WSOP Event #25 / $10,000 Omaha Hi-Lo Championship is full of big names. Michael Chow is leading the tournament, and also Sammy Farha and Mike Sexton are in the top six. 

-A year ago Mike Sexton became a Hall of Fame member.

Altogether 145 players started the second day of the tournament. 23 of them will continue tomorrow. Eugene Katchalov, who started the day from chiplead, carried on to play well: in this phase his stack is the fourth biggest.

Top 10 chips

1.	Michael Chow	600,000
2.	Abe Mosseri	531,000
3.	Sammy Farha	512,000
4.	Eugene Katchalov	463,000
5.	Sergey Altbregin	444,000
6.	Mike Sexton	386,000
7.	Steve Wong	363,000
8.	Tai Nguyen	325,000
9.	Jean-Robert Bellande	314,000
10.	Tony Merksick	312,000

Also the tournament’s money bubble was burst during the day. 27 of the 212 attendants made it to money. The Bubbleboy of the tournament was Dale Phillips whereas Dan Heimiller managed to take the first cash position ($17,138).

Tomorrow the battle for the championship will tighten - with among others Steve Zolotow, Chino Rheem, Mike Watson and David Baker. The complete list of the qualifiers for tomorrow can be found from here.

Source: PokerNews and TheHendonMob

 

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WSOP: The 3rd day of Omaha Hi-Lo Championship will start with plenty of big names

Double Dutch: WSOP 2010 Day 17 Recap

It was a day packed with outstanding poker and titans of the game battling it out for WSOP glory. This is how it played out.

Event #22 - $1k Ladies Event

The ladies event may have been a hotbed of drama with controversy over male entrants but all that was forgotten today as an exciting final table played out.

There were no superstars of note, meaning this was an opportunity to crown a new bracelet holder and when Vanessa Hellbuyck defeated Sidsel Boesen heads-up, we had our new champion.

Hellbuyck collected $192,132 for the win and of course she gets a much-sought after WSOP bracelet.

Event 23 $2,500 Limit Hold'em/Six Handed

The $2.5k Limit Hold'em started with 384 players across more than 40 tables on Friday, and it's now played down to one six-handed LHE champion.

Controversial figure Russ "Dutch" Boyd, well-known for his late run in the 2003 main event, took down his second bracelet and the $234,065 1st prize, defeating Brian Meinders heads-up.

There is likely to be mixed reaction from the poker community to Boyd's win, given his chequered past but there's no doubting Boyd's poker skills, aptly demonstrated by his result here.

Event 24 - $1,000 No-Limit Hold'em Day 1b

Tom Dwan, Liz Boeree and Isaac Haxton were some of the notable survivors of the $1k NLHE day 1b.

Play will resume tomorrow at 2:30 p.m. in the Amazon room with just over 500 players competing for 342 spots in the money. Nearly 3,300 players registered for the NLHE event and a chance at the coveted bracelet.

Top prize is just over $500k, but Tom Dwan is after the jewelry. Dwan is sitting pretty with just under 40k in chips, though will still be trailing yesterday's leader who registered upwards of 70k.

This would mark his third cash of the 2010 WSOP, as Dwan moneyed in the $5k Shootout and his second place finish to Simon Watt has been well documented. Stay tuned as we update all of the exciting durrrr action tomorrow.

Event 25 - $10k Omaha/8 Championship

A star-studded field returned to play down to the final table today but with 150 plus superstars battling it out in a deep-stacked split pot limit game, that was always going to be optimistic.

After a very hard-fought ten levels of poker, just 23 players were left in the hunt and Michael Chow is the man who will take the chip lead into the final day.

He'll have to fend off the combined skill of Abe Mosseri, Sammy Farha and Mike Sexton amongst others if he intends to take down the bracelet.

To read more about how the day played out, click through to the PokerListings Live Updates.

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Michael “The Grinder” Mizrachi won WSOP $50K Poker Player’s Championship and 1,559,046 dollars

The perhaps toughest tournament event of the World Series of Poker, the Event #2 Poker Player’s Championship $50K 8-game, has ended up in Michael Mizrachi’s victory celebration.

The final table was only about No Limit Hold’em and went to heads-up as Mizrachi eliminated David Oppenheim in the following deal:

Vladimir Schemelev opens from the button 225K, Mizrachi 3-bets total 600K from the small blind and Oppenheim goes all-in from the big blind total 3,3M. Schemelev folds and Mizrachi ponders for a long time and finally calls with Kc-Qs in hand. Oppenheim shows the snowmen, 8c-8d.

• Flop: 9d-6s-4c
• Turn: 7c, Mizrachi has 6 outs
• River: Qd, The supporters of “The Grinder” start a wild celebration, and Oppenheim is eliminated and headed to the rail with a day of 603,348 dollars behind.

Heads-up began from Mizrachi’s 10,6M chiplead against Schmelev’s 6,7M. However, Schemelev got into 12M vs 4M chiplead from where “The Grinder” grinded himself even after receiving lucky doubles after 4-betting all-in preflop holding Ac-7c in hand - which Schemelev snap called with Ad-Jd.

• Flop: Kc-9c-10d
• Turn: Qh
• River: 5c and the game is even, both players have about 8 million chips.

After this Mizrachi started his slow but steady rise, and in the end Mizrachi got to press his opponent with a bigger stack. The following hand probably sealed the tournament:

Mizrachi opens 225K, Schmelev calls:

• Flop: Qd-8s-As was checked by both players
• Turn: 3c was checked as well
• River: 3h, Schmelev bets 250K, Mizrachi considers for a while and raises 2M total, after which Schemelev is forced to make a tough decision: “Call”. Mizrachi shows 3d-2d which was enough for winning the game. After this hand Schemelev had only 600K chips left.

Mizrachi secures his victory soon after going all-in with Qs-5c in hand. Schemelev calls this with Qd-8s. The board is 9h-6h-4c-5h-4d, and Mizrachi is the winner of the tournament event.

Event #2 results and prize pool:

1. Michael Mizrachi 1,559,046$
2. Vladimir Schemelev 963,375$
3. David Oppenheim 603,348$
4. John Juanda 436,865$
5. Robert Mizrachi 341,429$
6. David Baker 272,275$
7. Daniel Alaei 221,105$
8. Mikael Thuritz 182,463$
9. Nick Schulman 152,739$
10. Alexander Kostritsyn 152,739$
11. Abe Mosseri 129,957$
12. Lyle Berman 129,957$
13. Brett Richey 113,030$
14. Allen Bari 113,030$
15. Ilya Bulychev 98,330$
16. Andy Bloch 98,330$

- The prize pot surely delights Mizrachi, as he was foreclosed in May.

- I am the champion!

Source: PokerNews, TheHendonMob and SunSentinel.com

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Michael “The Grinder” Mizrachi won WSOP $50K Poker Player’s Championship and 1,559,046 dollars

Michael Mizrachi Leads WSOP $50,000 Player’s Championship After Day 3

Twenty-one players remain in the $50,000 Player’s Championship at the 2010 World Series of Poker (WSOP) after Day 3. Leading the field is a familiar face, Michael “The Grinder” Mizrachi, who owns a stack of 1.48 million chips entering Day 4. Hot on his heels with 1.43 million is Russia’s Vladimir Schmelev. Also appearing in the top 10 is Robert Mizrachi, brother of “The Grinder.”

One of the final eliminations of Sunday’s play at the Rio All-Suite Hotel and Casino in Las Vegas belonged to Hasan Habib. Day 2 chip leader Kirk Morrison made aces-up in Stud Eight or Better and neither player managed to make a low. Morrison’s stack shot up to 610,000 as a result and he ended the day with 518,000. Habib barely missed out on the money, as the top 16 players will cash. The minimum payout is $98,000 and a top prize of $1.5 million is up for grabs.

Also busting on Sunday was Erik Sagstrom, who 3bet all-in pre-flop with 10-8 of spades during Limit Hold’em, but ran into high-stakes cash game pro David Oppenheim’s Q-J. Sagstrom could not improve and he headed for the exit. Sagstrom finished third in last year’s $50,000 WSOP HORSE Championship for over $500,000. Oppenheim took fifth in the 2009 National Heads-Up Poker Championship and grabbed third in the World Poker Tour’s (WPT) Borgata Poker Open in 2003.

Oppenheim sent former CardRunners instructor Cole South to the rails during No Limit Hold’em. South was all-in with pocket eights in a race against Oppenheim’s A-K. Oppenheim flopped two pair and an eight never fell, sending South out short of the money bubble. South left CardRunners in late April to play poker and work on his college degree.

The remaining field of the $50,000 Player’s Championship represents a beastly group. Brett Richey and David “Bakes” Baker are carrying the flag for the online poker world, while the remaining players primarily consist of seasoned poker pros like Andy Bloch, 2008 WSOP Europe Main Event champ John Juanda, 2010 National Heads-Up Poker Championship runner-up Erik Seidel, and WPT co-founder Lyle Berman.

Here’s a look at the survivors of Day 3 of the Player’s Championship at the 2010 WSOP:

1. Michael “The Grinder” Mizrachi – 1,483,000
2. Vladimir Schmelev – 1,432,000
3. David Oppenheim – 1,340,000
4. Abe Mosseri – 1,338,000
5. Daniel Alaei – 1,227,000
6. Robert Mizrachi – 1,032,000
7. Mikael Thuritz – 952,000
8. Allen Bari – 940,000
9. James Van Alstyne – 845,000
10. John Juanda – 788,000
11. Brett Richey – 754,000
12. David Baker – 713,000
13. Lyle Berman – 696,000
14. Alexander Kostritsyn – 638,000
15. Nick Schulman – 611,000
16. Ilya Bulychev – 602,000
17. Kirk Morrison – 518,000
18. Andy Bloch – 418,000
19. Erik Seidel – 373,000
20. David Singer – 364,000
21. Eli Elezra – 336,000

Starting on Sunday inside the Rio was a $1,500 Omaha High-Low event (#4) that attracted a field of 818 players. Last year, the first Omaha High-Low tournament on the docket began on Friday, May 29th and generated a field of 918, meaning attendance this year is off by 11%. After Day 1, Oleg Shamardin leads the way with 70,800 chips, a whopping 25,000 ahead of Scott Epstein’s second place tally of 45,400.

Several notable names grace the top 10 of the leaderboard after Day 1 of WSOP Event #4, including reigning $50,000 HORSE champ David Bach, 2009 dual bracelet winner Brock “t soprano” Parker, and cash game guru Chau Giang. Here’s a look at the top 10:

1. Oleg Shamardin – 70,800
2. Scott Epstein – 45,400
3. Daniel Klein – 39,900
4. David Bach – 39,700
5. Clinton Steelman – 38,800
6. Brock “t soprano” Parker – 36,700
7. Steven Aaron – 32,600
8. Jean-Daniel Pessina – 32,500
9. Chau Giang – 31,300
10. David Eckert – 31,200

A combined field of 481 players will take to the felts on Monday for Day 2 of the $1,000 No Limit Hold’em event (#3). Forty will need to be ousted before the money bubble breaks. Braxton Dunaway was the overwhelming chip leader after Day 1B at nearly 140,000. Others who survived the second of two starting days included Jordan “iMsoLucky0” Morgan, Ravi “govshark2” Raghavan, UB.com pro Eric “basebaldy” Baldwin, Jonathan “FatalError” Aguiar, and Poker Hall of Fame nominee Men “The Master” Nguyen.

Play will pick back up in Event #3 at 2:30pm PT. Monday marks the Memorial Day holiday in the United States and the beginning of the first $1,500 No Limit Hold’em event (#5), which issues its “Shuffle Up and Deal” command at Noon PT.

ESPN.com Holds Fifth Annual WSOP Fantasy Draft

Since 2006, ESPN.com has held a fantasy poker draft leading up to the World Series of Poker, and the poker writers and players involved pick the team of players that will perform the best at this year’s WSOP.  On Monday, ESPN.com Poker Editor Andrew Feldman published the results of the fifth annual draft, which was held last Friday.

This year’s league consists of 12 teams, captained by Feldman, Chops from WickedChopsPoker.com, Bluff Magazine Editor-in-Chief Lance Bradley, Poker Pro Magazine’s Chad Holloway, ESPN.com’s Gary Wise, poker pro and Poker News Daily contributor Bernard Lee, and poker pros Eric “basebaldy” Baldwin, Howard Lederer, Mark Seif, Daniel Negreanu, Gavin Smith, and Dennis Phillips.  The draft was a standard fantasy sports-style “snake” draft in which the last person to pick in the first round selects first in the second round, the last person to pick in the second round led off the third round, and so on through eight rounds.

Negreanu dominated the league last year, getting five bracelets and a Main Event final table appearance from Phil Ivey and Jeffrey Lisandro.  In his blog at FullContactPoker.com, Negreanu wrote that he feels he has another “really strong” team this year.  He also noted that had he had the number one overall selection of the draft, he would have taken Ivey.  As he had the second pick and Ivey was already drafted by Chops, Negreanu picked himself.  Both Smith and Seif also drafted themselves, Smith in the second round and Seif in the seventh round.

The scoring for the ESPN.com fantasy poker league is as follows:

Make the money – 1 point
Make the top 50 – 2 points
Make the top 20 – 5 points
Make the final table – 10 points for a tournament with 100 players or fewer, plus 1 point for every 100 players beyond that
Ninth place – 1 additional point on top of base final table points
Eighth – 2 additional points
Seventh – 4 additional points
Sixth – 6 additional points
Fifth – 10 additional points
Fourth – 15 additional points
Third – 20 additional points
Second – 30 additional points
First – 40 additional points

Point totals will be doubled for any event with a buy-in of $10,000 or more.

And now, the teams, listed in the order in which they selected in the first round:

Chops
Phil Ivey
Carlos Mortensen
David Benyamine
Faraz “The-Toilet” Jaka
Brock “t soprano” Parker
Abe Mosseri
Tom Marchese
Josh Arieh

Daniel Negreanu
Daniel Negreanu
Scotty Nguyen
David Chiu
Justin “Boosted J” Smith
Todd Brunson
Freddy Deeb
Brett Richey
John Monnette

Andrew Feldman
Jason Mercier
Bertrand “Elky” Grospellier
Chau Giang
Scott Seiver
David Pham
Alexander Kostritsyn
David “Doc Sands” Sands
Ryan “g0lfa” D’Angelo

Gary Wise
Allen Cunningham
Daniel Alaei
Andy Bloch
Eli Elezra
Issac Haxton
Tom Schneider
Nick Schulman
Vitaly Lunkin

Howard Lederer
Barry Greenstein
John Juanda
Robert Mizrachi
Chad Brown
Matt Glantz
Amnon Filippi
Ralph Perry
Thor Hansen

Dennis Phillips
Erick Lindgren
Jeffrey Lisandro
J.C. Tran
David Singer
Brandon Cantu
Greg “FBT” Mueller
John “The Razor” Phan
Nam Le

Mark Seif
Tom “durrrr” Dwan
Phil “OMGClayAiken” Galfond
Ted Forrest
Doyle Brunson
Jennifer Harman
Johnny Chan
Mark Seif
Eric Froehlich

Lance Bradley
Erik Seidel
Howard Lederer
Chris Bjorin
Yevgeniy “Jovial Gent” Timoshenko
Patrik Antonius
Kenny Tran
Andrew “luckychewy” Lichtenberger
Dan “djk123″ Kelly

Bernard Lee
Chris Ferguson
Michael Binger
Paul Wasicka
Eric “basebaldy” Baldwin
Max Pescatori
Dwyte Pilgrim
Roland de Wolfe
Jonathan “FieryJustice” Little

Eric Baldwin
Scott “BigRiskky” Clements
Matt Hawrilenko
Justin “ZeeJustin” Bonomo
Corwin “mig.com” Mackey
Shannon Shorr
Justin Young
James Van Alstyne
Michael Katz

Gavin Smith
Huck Seed
Gavin Smith
Jeff Madsen
Steve Sung
Bryan “badbeatninja” Devonshire
David Oppenheim
Chris Bell
Vivek “Psyduck” Rajkumar

Chad Holloway
Phil Hellmuth
Sorel “Imper1um” Mizzi
Mike Matusow
Annette “Annette_15” Obrestad
David Williams
Jason “JCarver” Somerville
Phil Laak
Amit “amak316″ Makhija

2009 WSOP: Abe Mosseri Claims Event #55 2-7 Triple Draw Gold

This year’s World Series of Poker featured only one 2-7 Triple Draw event, Event #55. The field drew gamblers, lowball specialists...

Tony Veckey and Abe Mosseri Claim Bracelets in Events #54 and #55

The preliminary events of the 2009 World Series of Poker (WSOP) are winding down and with the completion of Events #54 and #55 Wednesday there is only one more bracelet to give out before the Main Event kicks off on Friday. While the crowds at the Rio may have been smaller than usual yesterday, there was still plenty of excitement to go around as backgammon player turned poker pro Abe Mosseri and Illinois software engineer and recreational player Tony Veckey each picked up their first WSOP gold bracelets.

Mosseri earned his bracelet in the last non-Hold’em event of the Series, a $2,500 Limit Deuce to Seven Triple Draw event. Over the course of the first two days the field whittled down from 258 players to nine who would return on the final day. Included among them were a couple of big name pros like Full Tilt Pro John Juanda and Kill Phil co-author Blair Rodman. There was also another pro paying very close attention to this event: 2007 WSOP Player of the Year Tom Schneider was on the rail for much of the day rooting his wife, Julie Schneider, on her first ever WSOP final table.

Schneider, Juanda and Rodman all made the seven-handed final table of the event. Rodman, who was always in the middle or towards the bottom of the chip counts lost most of his chips to Mosseri and was subsequently eliminated in 5th place. Juanda followed suit shortly thereafter going out fourth, and Schneider was the next to fall. The final two players standing were Mosseri, who has been a cash game presence in the New York card room scene for several years now; and Masayoshi Tanaka, an online player from Japan who specializes in Lowball games. The two battled back and forth for a while, but Tanaka could not overcome Mosseri’s run of good cards and settled for second place while Mosseri won his first career bracelet and $166,651. This is the second final table appearance for Mosseri this WSOP. He also final tabled the $10,000 Stud Hi Championship event, finishing in sixth place.

Wednesday’s other bracelet winner, Veckey, won his bracelet after navigating through the 2,818-person field of the final $1,500 buy-in No Limit Hold’em preliminary event. The tournament was the tenth event out of the 56 preliminary events to fill to capacity and sell out. According to a press release from the WSOP, this is the first time in the 40 year history of the Series that many events saw players turned away from registration because there was simply no place to put them.

Twenty-eight players returned for Day 3 of the final $1,500 event including WPT winner Vivek “psyduck” Rajkumar who fell short of the final table in 15th place. The first batch of eliminations to get down to the final two tables came in a rush at the beginning of the day, but action slowed and it took until around 8PM to get down to the unofficial 10-handed final table. Perhaps as a result of the relief of making it to the top nine and the pay jumps that come with such an accomplishment, play loosened up and it didn’t take long at all for the final ten to pare down to just two.

There were no recognizable names at the final table, but there were several avid amateur players from both the live and online poker worlds. Players at the table ran the gamut from online grinders like Joe Chaplin and Jason Wheeler to live tournament players with success on the Latin American and Heartland poker tours like Christopher Demaci and Christopher Bonita to players making their first substantial live score like Sergey Konkin, Andrew Malott and the eventual winner Tony Veckey.

Heads-up play came down to Veckey and Wheeler, with Wheeler holding a slight chip advantage over his opponent after Chaplin was eliminated in 3rd place. Wheeler started the day 6th/28 and spent the majority of Day Three at or near the top of the leaderboard. Veckey was in the middle of the pack for much of the final table, but he was able to slowly chip away at his opponent to pull back to even.

On the final hand of play Veckey and Wheeler got it all-in on a Q-10-8 flop with Veckey holding J-9 for a flopped straight while Wheeler was drawing slim with A-Q for top pair. The straight held and the amateur Veckey staked his claim to one of the last available bracelets of 2009. After winning the second largest tournament of the Series thus far, Veckey remained level-headed about his future plans. “I am going to go back to work. That is what I am going to do,” Veckey explained. “But if I win the Main Event next year, that will be a tougher decision.” He will be going back to work with an additional $673,276 in his pocket for his first place finish.

There is still one more bracelet to award on Thursday and it will come in Event #56, a $5,000 buy-in 6-Handed No Limit Hold’em event. Sixteen players will return at 1PM to play down from the final three tables to a bracelet winner and there are still a couple of notable pros alive and kicking in the event even though Raymond Davis, Phil Hellmuth and Full Tilt Pro David Chiu all saw their chances at the bracelets extinguished yesterday. Former World Poker Tour winner Eugene Katchalov, Full Tilt Pro Peter “Nordberg” Feldman and online cash game specialist Matt Hawrilenko all remain in contention for the bracelet.

Abe Mosseri wins WSOP Event #55 2-7 Triple Draw Lowball Limit

Backgammon has often proved a great primer for poker players, just look at the success of Dan Harrington and Gus Hansen. And now the ranks have swelled further as former backgammon pro Abe Mosseri has won his first WSOP bracelet.

World Series Of Poker — Abe Mosseri Wins Event No. 55

Abe Mosseri has been a tournament regular for years, but on Wednesday night he finally put away his first career World Series of Poker bracelet and earned $165,521. His victory came just two weeks after he final tabled the $10,000 stud eight-or-better championship, where he finished in sixth place.

Late H.O.R.S.E. and Mosseri highlight WSOP July 1

That was most certainly the case with the $50k H.O.R.S.E. as it took David Bach until 10 a.m. today to win the tournament. The final table for the event began at 2 p.m. yesterday but it would be over 20 hours later that Bach would win the decisive hand against John Hanson.

Big names like Erik Seidel and Huck Seed fell out of contention early leaving an eclectic mix of Erik Sagstrom (known as TheSalmon online), Bach and Hanson.

Hanson and Bach would go on to play to play over six hours of heads-up play in the longest final table in the history of the $50k H.O.R.S.E.

Despite the marathon length of the final table Bach was still ecstatic when he received his WSOP bracelet and the Chip Reese Memorial Trophy.

You can read about Bach's thoughts on the event here.

Here's a look at what else happened on the abbreviated WSOP schedule just days before the Main Event begins:

Event 54 $1,500 No-Limit Hold'em Final Day

Event 54 was the last of the popular $1,500 No-Limit events and it easily sold out on Day 1 with 2,818 entrants.

Although the day began with 28 players it didn't take that long to cut that number down to a tidy final table of nine. Vivek Rajkumar was probably the most well-known player coming into the day but he ended up bowing out in 15th just sixth players short of the final table.

The final table was certainly lacking in big-name poker players but Tony Veckey of Chicago didn't mind as he outlasted everyone to take down a $673,000 prize for first place. The next $1,500 No-Limit Hold'em WSOP event will be played in 2010. Mark your calendars.

Event 55 $2,500 2-7 Triple Draw Lowball Limit Final Table

Event 55 was essentially the opposite of the $1,500 final table as 2-7 Triple Draw Limit is very much a pros' game.

The final table was littered with big names like John Juanda, Blair Rodman, Nam Le and all gunning for a bracelet.

Surprisingly Tom Schneider's wife Julie also made a very deep run in the event and ended up finishing third, which was better than all the pros just mentioned.

In the end it was Big Game regular Abe Mosseri who took it down. Mosseri bested Masayoshi Tanaka in a super-short heads-up match to win a WSOP bracelet and the $165,521 that came with it.

Event 56 $5,000 No-Limit Hold'em/Six-handed Day 2

Day 2 of Event 56 (the last tournament before the Main Event) began with one of the better fields we've seen this year.

Phil Hellmuth, Sorel Mizzi, Justin Bonomo Shannon Shorr and several other well-known players all started with hopes of making another WSOP final table. Unfortunately none of the above players would make it to the final 16 that finished the day.

Instead it's Rory Mathews who will take the chip lead of 1.35 million into Day 3 although Full Tilt Pro Matt Hawrilenko is close behind him with 1.32 million and Peter "Nordberg" Feldman has 1.2 million.

The remaining players will reconvene at 1 p.m. tomorrow with the intention of crowning the last WSOP bracelet winner before the Main Event.

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Epic H.O.R.S.E battle story of WSOP June 30

The final table has turned out to be an epic affair as following the quick bust-outs of Erik Seidel and Chau Giang, the game developed into a massive test of endurance.

Player of the Year contender Ville Wahlbeck was next to fall in 6th and when Huck Seed busted in 5th, it looked as though the tournament was opening up for another POY contender, Vitaly Lunkin.

This proved deceptive though, with the wheels falling off for the deep-stacked Russian in a series of unfortunate hands and his elimination suggested it will be tough to topple triple-bracelet Stud champion Jeffrey Lisandro from the top of the POY rankings.

Three-handed for the bracelet, Erik "The Salmon" Sagstrom was next to bust, also managing to let a dominant chip position slip from his grasp and leaving David Bach and John Hanson heads-up for the title.

As of press time? Still heads-up for the title, making for one of the longest heads-up conflicts, at well over 400 hands, we've witnessed at this year's WSOP.

Bach and Hanson have traded the chip lead several times, with neither seeming capable of delivering the knockout blow despite the escalating blinds.

There has to be a winner though, so make sure to click through to Pokerlistings' live updates for the latest in this titanic face-off.

Meanwhile, here's a round-up of the best of the rest from another fascinating day at the 2009 WSOP.

Event 52 - $3k Triple Chance No Limit Hold'em

With rebuys banished from the 2009 WSOP agenda, the Triple Chance Event was billed as the next best thing with players given three chances to refill their stacks in the opening stages.

854 entered, but today just 16 returned to contend the bracelet. Following a tough final-table battle, Jorg Peisert was the man to take the glory and the $506,800 for first place, seeing off Jason Dewitt in a one-sided and brief heads-up contest.

Event 53 - $1.5k Seven Card Stud-8

The $1.5k Stud-8 played to a winner today and perhaps the most shocking news was that it was not Jeff Lisandro who took the bracelet down - for once the triple 2009 bracelet winner was nowhere to be seen at a WSOP Stud final table.

Instead David Halpern was the man to seal the deal, collecting his first WSOP bracelet as well as the $159,390 first prize.

He saw off a final table containing Chad Brown and Matt Savage before besting William Kohler heads-up in a see-saw battle to take the title.

Event 54 - $1.5k No Limit Hold'em

The last of the $1.5k donkaments played well into the cash spots today as 376 returned to fight for the bracelet.

The original 2,818 runners combined to produce a chunky $3,846,570 prize pool, and a day ram-packed with bust-outs means that just 29 will return to play down to the final table when they reconvene at 1 p.m. tomorrow.

$673,276 is the prize they will all have their eyes on come the resumption as that's what the winner will be paid - along with that coveted WSOP bracelet naturally.

Event 55 - $2.5k Limit Deuce to Seven Triple Draw

Time and again the 2-7 events have proved a big draw for the pros and this was neatly demonstrated once more as the great and the good of poker gathered in the $2.5k 2-7 Triple Draw.

They played from 73 to the final 10 today, and when they take up arms again tomorrow chip-monster Abe Mosseri will be the man to stop with a huge chip lead over the rest of the field.

He can't afford to rest on his laurels though with the assembled talents of Blair Rodman, John Juanda and Nam Le lurking in the wings waiting to pounce should he slip up.

They will return to play to the bracelet at 2.30 p.m. sharp.

Event 56 - $5k Six-handed No Limit Hold'em

The $5k Six-max represents the last opportunity for pros and amateurs to snag a bracelet prior to the Main Event and unsurprisingly a bumper field of 928 paid the requisite monies to give themselves a shot at glory.

The huge attendance resulted in an equally impressive first prize of just over $1 million dollars and when they return to the felt at 2 p.m. tomorrow to play down to the final - or thereabouts - some big names such as Phil Hellmuth and Justin Bonomo will be looking to grab the bracelet and the plaudits.

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Jeffrey Lisandro Wins Stud High-Low Championship for Third WSOP Bracelet

Poker pro Jeffrey Lisandro became the third dual bracelet winner of the 2009 World Series of Poker (WSOP) on Saturday night, winning the $10,000 buy-in World Championship of Seven Card Stud High-Low Split Eight or Better for $431,000.

Lisandro joins Brock “t soprano” Parker and Full Tilt Poker pro Phil Ivey as players who have won two bracelets during the 2009 WSOP. He solidified himself as one of the top Seven Card Stud players in the world after taking down a $1,500 buy-in tournament in the popular genre of poker (Event #16) two weeks ago. During the 2007 WSOP, Lisandro won his first bracelet in a $2,000 buy-in Seven Card Stud event for $118,000. Holding a dual citizenship in Italy and Australia, Lisandro requested that the Italian national anthem be played during his bracelet award ceremony today in the Amazon Room. When he won Event #16, he elected to have the Australian national anthem played.

Online poker player Justin “Boosted J” Smith was the first casualty of the final table. The Kissimmee, Florida native was ousted after he could muster just a pair of aces against Yan Chen’s queen-high diamond flush. Chen had a pair of tens up during the hand, which he bet on both sixth street and seventh street. Smith took home $54,896 for his efforts and the hand propelled Chen to third in chips.

Out in seventh place was “Texas Dolly,” Doyle Brunson. In pursuit of what would have been a record-tying 11th bracelet, Brunson instead had his tournament life on the line after paying the bring-in. He was sent packing at the hands of Farzad Rouhani, who showed 4-4-10-10 up and held another four in the hole for a boat. Brunson’s stack took a sizable hit in a hand against Abe Mosseri, setting up his all-in pre-flop against Rouhani. Brunson remains tied with Johnny Chan with 10 WSOP bracelets, one shy of Phil Hellmuth’s record of 11.

Mosseri was shown the exit in sixth place, cashing for $74,258. Mosseri showed queens and eights against Frank Mariani’s nines full of sevens; neither player held a qualifying low after Mosseri spiked a pair of eights on seventh street. Mosseri logged his first WSOP in the money finish since 2004, when he took 120th in the Main Event for $15,000. Chen was the next to go. Like Brunson, he was forced to commit his stack on the bring-in and Rouhani’s pair of sixes was enough to take the pot. Chen also final tabled Event #8 of the 2009 WSOP, a $2,500 buy-in Deuce to Seven Draw Lowball tournament.

After being crippled in a hand against Lisandro, Mariani’s ante on the next hand was enough to put him all-in. In the end, Rouhani’s two pair, queens and tens, scooped the high, while Lisandro’s 7-5 claimed the low. Mariani managed to make a pair of kings in the hand, but fell by the wayside in fourth place for $124,684. Mike Wattel was then eliminated in third. He was all-in on fourth street against Lisandro, who made two pair on the final card. Wattel held a pair of sevens and no qualifying low, but recorded his second final table appearance of 2009; he grabbed seventh in the World Championship Mixed Event.

Rouhani held roughly a 3:2 chip lead entering heads-up play against the poker veteran. However, Lisandro’s experience in Stud proved vital, as he slowly chipped away at the lead. In the end, Rouhani was all-in after fifth street against Lisandro’s two pair, tens and sixes. However, he could not catch up, propelling Lisandro to his third WSOP bracelet. Rouhani took home a $266,804 consolation prize and recorded his second in the money finish of this year’s tournament series. Here’s a look at the final payouts from the World Championship of Seven Card Stud High-Low Split Eight or Better (Event #37):

1. Jeffrey Lisandro - $431,656
2. Farzad Rouhani - $266,804
3. Mike Wattel - $176,605
4. Francis Mariani - $124,684
5. Yan Chen - $93,513
6. Abe Mosseri - $74,258
7. Doyle Brunson - $62,234
8. Justin Smith - $54,896

Richard Austin Wins WSOP $5,000 Pot Limit Omaha Event

In one of the wildest endings at the 2009 World Series of Poker (WSOP) thus far, Richard Austin came out on top to win the $5,000 Pot Limit Omaha event (#35). Austin won a shocking three-way all-in against prominent pros Sorel “Imper1um” Mizzi and Cliff “JohnnyBax” Josephy to earn his first bracelet and a payday of $409,484.

On the final hand, with Austin holding the cheap lead, he limped on the button. Mizzi completed from the small blind and Josephy raised the pot (150,000) from the big blind. Austin called, and, unexpectedly, Mizzi put in another raise to 750,000. Josephy moved all-in for a total of 950,000, Austin called, and Mizzi called, leaving himself with around 600,000.

The flop ran out . Mizzi moved all-in and Austin called:

Josephy:
Mizzi:
Austin:

Turn:
River:

Mizzi had the best hand pre-flop and Josephy flopped a set of kings to take the lead, but the river gave Austin a flush to eliminate both. It took a few moments for the players and tournament staff to realize who had won the final hand, but Josephy pointed to Austin, shrugged his shoulders, and shook each player’s hand before walking away with $166,771. Josephy was the only bracelet winner at a final table in which every player listed himself as a poker pro. He earned his hardware in the $1,500 Seven Card Stud event during the 2005 WSOP.

Mizzi, a Team Betfair pro and native of Toronto, fell just short of a bracelet for the second time in his young career. The 23 year-old took second place in the $5,000 Pot Limit Omaha Championship during the 2008 WSOP Europe in September. Friday’s runner-up finish was the third biggest cash of his live poker career, the largest coming as part of a chop of the 2007 Irish Open.

Mizzi took the chip lead midway through the final table after taking out Felipe Ramos in sixth place and Rifat Palevic in fifth. Ramos made an unfortunate exit when Mizzi came from behind to make a straight against Ramos’ aces after all of the chips had gone in pre-flop. Mizzi then eliminated Palevic holding the best hand pre-flop to send the 29 year-old Swede away with $85,516.

The fourth place finisher was Dan Hindin of Danbury, Connecticut. Hindin got all of his chips in pre-flop with single-suited kings against Austin’s single-suited aces and was unable to improve, sending him home with $116,748. It was the first-ever cash at the WSOP for the 24 year-old.

A humble Austin declined to be interviewed by the WSOP media staff after his win and chose not to participate in the gold bracelet ceremony on Saturday. It will mark the first time this year that a player has declined to take part in the tradition. A WSOP tournament official told Poker News Daily, “The WSOP is disappointed that one of our tournament’s winners did not shine in his moment of glory.”

Here are the final results from Event #35:

1. Richard Austin - $409,484
2. Sorel Mizzi - $253,048
3. Cliff Josephy - $166,771
4. Dan Hindin - $116,748
5. Rifat Palevic - $85,516
6. Felipe Ramos - $67,663
7. Van Marcus - $55,687
8. Peter Jetten - $48,112
9. Samuel Ngai - $43,539

Two more bracelets will be awarded on Saturday as the $2,000 No Limit Hold’em event (#36) and $10,000 Seven Card Stud High-Low World Championship (Event #37) will play down to winners. Event #36 will get underway at 1:00pm Pacific Time with 17 players remaining. The field will be chasing chip leader Steven Tabb to win the bracelet and $586,212 prize.

As expected, the final day of the $10,000 Stud World Championship is loaded with big names. The final 11 include chip leader Abe Mosseri, Doyle Brunson, Scotty Nguyen, Justin “Boosted J” Smith, and Jeff Lisandro, who is eyeing his second bracelet of this year’s WSOP. The winner will collect $431,656 for his three days of work.

Stay tuned to Poker News Daily for updates on all of today’s events at the 2009 WSOP.