Poker News

Jared Jaffee Leads WPT Southern Poker Championship with 27 Left

Twenty-seven players remain in the World Poker Tour’s (WPT) Southern Poker Championship. Jared Jaffee leads the way entering the play down day on Tuesday, with Tyler Smith hot on his heels.

Smith made the final table of last year’s Southern Poker Championship, which featured Allen “AawwNutz” Carter coming out on top. Smith finished fifth and earned $134,000, the first and only WPT cash of his career. Smith told WPT Live Updates Hostess Amanda Leatherman following Monday’s action, “I started the day with 90,000 and early, I got crushed. The first level, I dropped down to 45,000 and then I won a race with nines against A-10, which doubled me up to 100,000. Right after that, I pulled off a full house and got action from four people, so that catapulted me to 230,000.”

Smith amassed a healthy stack at the expense of WPT Season 6 Player of the Year Jonathan “FieryJustice” Little. Smith was all-in pre-flop with A-K against Little’s A-Q. The board ran out K-K-Q-2-J and Smith’s trip kings were good enough to scoop the pot. The hand pushed Smith to 365,000 chips and he ended the day with 462,500, trailing only Jaffee’s 546,000.

Jaffee sent Team PokerStars Pro member Chad Brown to the rails after his pocket aces withstood Brown’s pocket eights. The board came K-J-5-7-K and the better pocket pair held to take down the pot. The hand propelled Jaffee to 463,000 in chips; he piled on another 80,000 before the day was through. Jaffee sent an opponent with pocket kings to the rail holding pocket aces. He spiked a one-outer on the river for the win after Tommy Vedes claimed that he mucked A-5 pre-flop.

The money bubble will burst today, as the top 18 players will walk away with cash. Among those vying for the $739,000 top prize is Ryan “g0lfa” D’Angelo, who is fresh off a fifth place showing in the PokerStars Caribbean Adventure Main Event. D’Angelo sent Keith Lehr to the rails after Lehr called all-in on a board of 10-3-2-K-Q with four hearts. D’Angelo flipped up the ace of hearts for the nut flush, while Lehr mucked. D’Angelo owns a stack of 304,500 entering Tuesday’s play, good for eighth in the WPT Southern Poker Championship.

Crowd favorite Daniel Negreanu was once again involved in an unorthodox hand. In it, he pushed pre-flop, was called by the original raiser in the hand, and Justin “Boosted J” Smith shoved over the top. The original raiser promptly pulled out a phone to crunch the numbers before being stopped by tournament officials. He ultimately called, putting Negreanu at risk with A-10 of diamonds against A-K of clubs and pocket queens. The board ran out five cards eight or lower and Negreanu hit the exit.

Who remains in the hunt, you ask? Here are the chip counts after two days of play, according to the official website of the WPT:

1. Jared Jaffee - 546,000
2. Tyler Smith - 462,500
3. Jonathan Kantor - 412,500
4. Corwin “mig.com” Mackey - 380,000
5. Tommy Vedes - 336,500
6. Sam Rashid - 319,500
7. Shawn Quillin - 307,000
8. Ryan “g0lfa” D’Angelo - 304,500
9. Justin “Boosted J” Smith - 280,000
10. Hoyt Corkins - 276,000
11. Dwyte Pilgrim - 246,000
12. Ken Harbaugh - 244,000
13. James Reed - 221,500
14. Dan O'Brien - 205,500
15. Jerry Vanstrydonck - 202,500
16. Vitor Coelho - 201,000
17. Ayaz Mahmood - 199,000
18. Narinder Khasria - 190,000
19. Seamus Cahill - 171,000
20. Kathy Liebert - 123,500
21. James Guinther - 123,000
22. Andy Philachack - 120,000
23. James Blackmon - 95,500
24. J.J. Liu - 93,000
25. Benjamin Tollerene - 86,500
26. Ken Perry - 70,500
27. Brian “SNo0oWMAN” Hawkins - 70,000

When play concluded on Monday, the blinds were at 1,500-3,000 with a 400 ante. The cards hit the air on Tuesday at 2:00pm CT from the Beau Rivage in Biloxi, Mississippi.

Dwyte Pilgrim Leads WPT Southern Poker Championship After Day 1

Two-time World Series of Poker (WSOP) Circuit Event ring holder Dwyte Pilgrim leads the field of the World Poker Tour’s (WPT) Southern Poker Championship after Day 1. A total of 106 players remain of the 208 who bought in on Sunday afternoon.

The tournament, emanating from the Beau Rivage in Biloxi, Mississippi, drew a field of 283 players in 2009. The 208 who turned out yesterday to cough up the $10,000 buy-in meant that attendance dove by a sizable 27%. Pilgrim leads the survivors with a stack of 175,900 chips, comfortably in front of the second place tally of Jonathan “FieryJustice” Little, who holds 152,100. Pilgrim claimed a pair of WSOP Circuit rings in March 2009 after taking down a $560 buy-in tournament at Caesars Atlantic City before flying cross-country to Harrah’s Rincon and winning the site’s $5,150 buy-in Championship event.

Little is no slouch, either. He was the WPT Player of the Year during Season 6, when the Florida native made final tables at the Mirage and North American Poker Championship and bubbled a third at the Gulf Coast Poker Championship at Biloxi. All told, Little has nearly $3.5 million in career WPT earnings to his name and two titles. Little took down a pot early on Sunday with pocket aces against pocket queens on a 10-9-8-2-2 board. Little's opponent check-called a bet of 7,775 on the river to boost his stack to over 41,000; he finished the day with nearly six times that total.

DoylesRoom Brunson 10 member Amit “amak316” Makhija was a late Day 1 casualty at the WPT Southern Poker Championship. Makhija committed his chips with pocket kings on a board of J-3-2, but his opponent spiked a straight with 4-5. Jeff Madsen, meanwhile, was all-in holding the nut flush draw, but blanked out to hit the rails. Madsen is a Full Tilt Poker Red Pro.

Faraz “The-Toilet” Jaka was flushed down the drain on Sunday. The runner-up in the Bellagio Cup V, which began airing as part of the WPT’s Season 8 kickoff on Fox Sports Net last night, Jaka called all-in with K-3 after a flop of K-J-4. However, his opponent flipped up pocket jacks for a set, which held for the win. Jaka made two final tables during Season 8 of the WPT, finishing second in the aforementioned Bellagio Cup and taking third in the Doyle Brunson Five Diamond World Poker Classic for a combined $1.3 million.

The top 10 at the end of Day 1 of the WPT Southern Poker Championship features rock solid poker talent:

1. Dwyte Pilgrim - 175,900
2. Jonathan “FieryJustice” Little - 152,100
3. Jonathan Stanton - 142,100
4. Chad Brown - 138,000
5. James Jewett - 135,500
6. Sam Rashid - 125,700
7. Shawn Quillin - 118,300
8. Scott Standridge - 117,600
9. Hoyt Corkins - 115,600
10. Corwin “mig.com” Mackey - 113,200

Other notable names among the 106 players remaining in the field include:

Paul Wasicka - 107,500
Daniel Negreanu - 81,200
Matt “All In at 420” Stout - 73,100
Ty “puffinmypurp” Reiman - 71,400
Justin “Boosted J” Smith - 68,600
J.J. Liu - 67,800
Josh Arieh - 67,200
Tommy Vedes - 66,300
Kathy Liebert - 53,300
Adam “Roothlus” Levy - 46,900
Nick Schulman - 40,000
Allen “AawwNutz” Carter - 38,200
David Singer - 34,000
Jonathan “driverseati” Tamayo - 25,900
Allen “Chainsaw” Kessler - 17,600
Michael Binger - 13,000

When play wrapped up on Sunday, the blinds were 300-600 with a 75-chip ante. The Southern Poker Championship runs through Wednesday, when the newest WPT champion will be crowned. Stay tuned to Poker News Daily for the latest from the Biloxi tournament.

Dario Minieri Dominates PokerStars Caribbean Adventure High Roller Event

Italian poker pro Dario Minieri leads the pack for the second straight day in the PokerStars Caribbean Adventure (PCA) $25,000 buy-in High Roller tournament. Minieri is a member of Team PokerStars Pro.

After two days of play, there are 24 players remaining out of the 84 who entered. Minieri was on top of the leaderboard after Day 1 and turned in another strong outing on Tuesday for Day 2. Minieri holds a stack of 430,700 chips entering Day 3 on Wednesday, edging out Michiel Brummelhuis’ second place tally of 403,800. Minieri and Brummelhuis are the only players to cross the 400,000-chip threshold and own a comfortable lead over former World Poker Tour (WPT) Borgata Poker Open champ Vivek “Psyduck” Rajkumar’s third place total of 301,700. Minieri won the High Roller event at the European Poker Tour’s (EPT) Warsaw stop in October.

One of the final eliminations of the evening at the Atlantis Resort and Casino on Paradise Island in the Bahamas was Mike “The Mouth” Matusow. He was all-in pre-flop with A-Q against Carter “bdybldngpkr” Phillips’ K-8. Phillips struck lightning in a bottle when the flop came K-8-4 and a running 9-J left Matusow scratching his head. William Thorson also exited at the end of the day when his 7-8 ran into pocket sevens. Thorson has made three EPT final tables.

2004 World Series of Poker (WSOP) Main Event Champion Greg Raymer sent fellow PokerStars-backed pro Andre Akkari out on Tuesday. Akkari pushed with A-9 of diamonds pre-flop and received a call from Raymer, who had A-Q of clubs. The flop contained a queen, keeping Raymer out in front for good. Meanwhile, Chad Brown hit the rails when his A-9 couldn’t draw out on former WPT Invitational winner Alex Brenes’ wired pair of eights.

Brummelhuis helped his cause by casting off Andrew “luckychewy” Lichtenberger, who appeared on several episodes of the G4 online poker reality series “2 Months, $2 Million.” Lichtenberger committed his chips pre-flop with K-Q, but Brummelhuis picked up aces. The flop came ace-high and that was all she wrote for the young American.

Here are the chip counts of the 24 players remaining in the 2010 PCA High Roller event:

1. Dario Minieri - 430,700
2. Michiel Brummelhuis - 403,800
3. Vivek “Psyduck” Rajkumar - 301,700
4. Tobias Reinkemeier - 279,900
5. Dmitry Stelmak - 264,000
6. Alex Brenes - 253,600
7. Greg Raymer - 206,600
8. Bijan Zahmat - 198,200
9. Sandra Naujoks - 180,500
10. Shawn Buchanan - 171,100
11. Lisa Hamilton - 153,900
12. Nick Schulman - 143,400
13. Carter “bdybldngpkr” Phillips - 139,400
14. Joe Cada - 135,700
15. Matt Marafioti - 121,000
16. Brett Richey - 106,400
17. Paul Berende - 104,400
18. Christian Kruel - 103,800
19. Bill Edler - 94,700
20. Adolfo Vaeza - 92,600
21. William Reynolds - 89,100
22. James Calderaro - 89,100
23. Isaac “westmenloAA” Baron - 76,200
24. Will Molson - 60,000

The winner of the $25,000 buy-in poker tournament will earn $576,000 and the top 16 players will finish in the money. Cada and Raymer are former winners of the WSOP Main Event in Las Vegas. Phillips won the EPT Barcelona stop during Season 6, while Naujoks, one of only two women ever to win an EPT tournament, took down the Dortmund event during Season 5. Schulman made the final table of the WPT Foxwoods World Poker Finals twice in a three-year span, recording a win and a runner-up showing for $3 million combined. Many consider Baron to be one of the top poker players on the planet. Needless to say, it’s anybody’s game.

The High Roller event will play down to its final table this afternoon from the Bahamas and crown a champion on Thursday. Stay tuned to Poker News Daily for the latest from paradise. Pack your bags, we’ll leave tonight.

Vanessa Rousso Appears on E! Network’s Bank of Hollywood

On Monday, E! Network will air the second installment of “Bank of Hollywood,” which kicks off at 9:00pm ET and runs for one hour. The show stars, among others, Team PokerStars Pro member Vanessa Rousso.

Rousso makes up one-fourth of the Power Panel, joining producer Aaron Spelling’s wife, Candy, Pussycat Dolls member Melody Thornton, and Wilhelmina Models founder Sean Patterson. A series of hopefuls appeared in front of the panel asking for money for a specific purpose. If they received a majority vote from the panel, they’d take home the cash. If not, they’d leave with nothing. Rousso wore no PokerStars paraphernalia during the show.

The first hopeful was Robert Terry, who sought $8,750 to represent the United States at the Tap Olympics in Germany. After performing a routine on the “Bank of Hollywood” sound stage, the panel quickly awarded him the requested funds. The next hopefuls were Michael and Stephanie, who requested $75,000 for their dream wedding. Rousso, who recently was hitched to Chad Brown, told the couple, “I too had that whole dream of wanting a nice big wedding. I didn’t have the time to plan it and we ended up eloping. During the eloping process, I learned that the whole big dream thing isn’t necessary” and promptly handed down a negative vote.

Debi Carideo asked for $31,997.50 to fund half of her daughter’s commercial pilot’s license, while coming up with the other half on her own. Rousso admired Carideo’s selflessness, explaining, “Two things are amazing. You offered to pay half of it yourself and you’re asking for someone else and not yourself.” The panel quickly learned that Carideo had been the victim of financial scams twice in her life and ultimately elected to approve her request for just over $30,000. As a caveat, they would write the check directly to a flight school.

Also appearing in front of the “Bank of Hollywood” Power Panel was Cheryl Martin, who wanted $84,000 for a chance to follow Madonna on her next world tour, purportedly giving back to each community along the way. The panel was quite skeptical of her cryptic request, with the PokerStars pro ultimately concluding, “I feel it’s disingenuous and I vote no.”

Timothy Wilcots sought $21,425 to compete in the Miss Gay USA At Large pageant. Rousso inquired as to why traveling to a pageant costs over $20,000, to which Wilcots responded that an evening gown, entry fees, and travel expenses for his team were to blame. Wilcots had been arrested and spent 18 months in jail. Despite the feel-good story, Rousso did not support his request: “I vote yes to you as a person, but I vote no to your request.” The panel agreed and Wilcots walked away disappointed.

Then, “Bank of Hollywood” took an emotional twist, as Spencer Mroz desired $93,750 for a swimming pool in his backyard. Mroz, in a wheelchair, told the panel, “When I’m in a swimming pool, I can actually walk. I can’t walk on land.” Mroz is retraining his body to walk again using aqua therapy and was the victim of a drunk driver. The panel and many in the audience broke into tears during the presentation and Rousso concluded, “If I had the opportunity to make this a great, momentous, positive day, then hell yes.”

Also appearing were Drew Pokorny and Jason Gadino. The latter, a professional balloon artist, wanted $15,000 to travel across the United States to children’s hospitals making balloon animals. Rousso had a rather festive balloon hat on her head and the entire panel gave Gadino the thumbs-up.

“Bank of Hollywood” airs on Monday nights at 9:00pm ET on E! Check your local listings for station and channel information.

Vanessa Rousso Discusses Big Slick Boot Camp, Televised Poker

It has been quite a year for Vanessa Rousso. From her stunning performance in the National Heads-Up Poker Championship in March, where she finished second to Huck Seed, to television and magazine gigs, to running her own poker training camp called the Big Slick Boot Camp, Rousso has been at the pinnacle of the poker world. Poker News Daily recently had a chance to catch up with the globe-trotting Rousso and learn about many of the current aspects of her life, both on and off the felt.

Poker News Daily: What does the Big Slick Boot Camp give its participants that other poker training camps don't provide?

Rousso: What we try to do with the Big Slick Boot Camp is tie in concepts from game theory and Sun Tzu’s book “The Art of War” to offer a way for students to combat the game of poker. I personally believe that we give our seminars a truly unique take on poker strategy.

PND: Do you learn from the camps?

Rousso: I absolutely learn from the students in the camp. I love seeing the light bulbs go off in my students' minds when they achieve new levels of understanding about poker.

I feel very passionate about teaching also. Teaching helps me remind myself of some of the poker strategy fundamentals from which I stray over time in an attempt to play creatively, you might say!

PND: What type of player would learn the most from instruction in your training camp?

Rousso: The intermediate player would be the best person to take on the Big Slick Boot Camp. These are players who understand the basic concepts like position and blind-stealing, but have yet to explore some more complex ideas, such the concept of “M” as defined by Dan Harrington in his books.

PND: You have also offered private individual training for players both in the Boot Camp and outside of the course. How valuable is the individual instruction that you offer?

Rousso: I am very proud of the fact that each of my students has expressed great satisfaction with their private coaching experience. I know that one-on-one attention is the most efficient way to improve someone else’s game because I am able to tailor a program to fit their individual needs.

PND: Does the private training go into further depth than what you have time for in the Big Slick Boot Camp?

Rousso: Yes, because then I can evaluate and customize a program to fit an individual’s needs. I encourage my students to shadow me while I play online to see how I execute different strategies. With some of my longer-term students, I have gone into very advanced concepts and moves that have helped them become some of the top players in the game today.

PND: How big for you and your poker career was finishing as the runner-up in the National Heads-Up Poker Championship?

Rousso: Monetarily, the $250,000 prize is only my fifth largest to date, but the sense of accomplishment that I gained after beating a lineup of players that included Doyle Brunson, Phil Ivey, Daniel Negreanu, Paul Wasicka, and Elky head-to-head has been unequaled.

PND: Do your sponsorships with PokerStars and GoDaddy.com put you as a player at ease for tournaments?

Rousso: Having sponsorship income is a bonus for sure, but it doesn’t mean that I no longer feel pressure to perform well in tournaments. In fact, I probably feel added pressure to meet my sponsors’ expectations!

PND: You’ve been on television quite a bit lately. What did you find exciting about participating in the PokerStars Million Dollar Challenge?

Rousso: It was exciting to be part of a poker “game show.” I liked seeing ordinary people being given the chance at the once-in-a-lifetime experience of playing heads-up with celebrities and top poker pros. Of course, the opportunity to win a huge prize is pretty important, too!

PND: You were rumored to be taking over a hosting gig on High Stakes Poker, which turned out to be false. What did you think of that?

Rousso: I was flattered by that, though!

PND: You have a couple of other poker and non-poker related television shows going on right now, correct?

Rousso: Correct. I am happy with the current hosting gig on my plate with Stars of Poker. I co-host on that program and it airs on the Canal+ network in France. The other program I am going to appear on, Bank of Hollywood, is set to air on December 14th at 10:00pm ET on the E! Network. I am part of a panel of judges that has the power to award money to people so that they can fulfill their dreams. It’s completely non-poker related, but still a special program.

PND: Finally, does having a happy personal life with Chad Brown help your poker game and how much?

Rousso: Part of being a successful poker player is realizing that you can’t perform at your best level on the felt unless you have overall balance in your life. Part of that is having healthy and fulfilling personal relationships. So being a part of a great relationship like the one that Chad and I share certainly helps me perform well at the poker table.

PokerStars Launches Team Pro Tuesdays

This week marks the second installment of Team Pro Tuesdays on PokerStars, the world’s largest online poker site. Every Tuesday through December 29th, PokerStars sponsored pros will be hitting the virtual felts in earnest.

Team PokerStars Pro includes the reigning champion of the World Series of Poker (WSOP) Main Event, Joe Cada, who became the youngest winner ever of the $10,000 buy-in tournament in November. Cada shattered fellow Team PokerStars Pro member Peter Eastgate’s standing record by a full year, as the site boasts the last two WSOP Main Event champions. Chris Moneymaker, widely considered to be the man responsible for starting the modern poker boom, is also a card-carrying member of Team PokerStars Pro. Moneymaker took down the feature tournament in 2003 as a little-known accountant from Tennessee, defeating established pro Sammy Farha heads-up.

In 2004, Greg Raymer became poker’s newest star and Aussie Joe Hachem followed in 2005. Both are now sponsored by PokerStars and are benevolent ambassadors for the game. Text found on PokerStars’ website explains what players can expect as part of Team Pro Tuesdays: “On this day every week, scores of our pro players will be logging on and playing at the tables, covering everything from cash games to tournaments across a wide range of games and buy-in levels. You’ll be able to watch your favorite players in action and talk to them from the rail.”

PokerStars pros will take to the felts during two separate time blocks each Tuesday, from 12:00 to 15:00 ET and again from 19:00 to 22:00 ET. In order to figure out which pros are online, visit the “Team Pro” link at the bottom of the PokerStars lobby. You can also click “Requests” on the top menu bar and then hit “Find a Team PokerStars Player.” The concept of playing with the pros is similar to the main marketing message of rival online poker site Full Tilt, whose stable of players includes Howard Lederer, Gus Hansen, and Tom “durrrr” Dwan, the newest member of the team.

In addition to being able to play with pros in cash games, PokerStars is running a pair of Outlast the Pro tournaments. The first installment takes place at 13:00 ET on Tuesdays, while the second running issues its “Shuffle up and deal” command at 20:00 ET. Each tournament has a buy-in of $11 along with $1,000 in cash added to the prize pool. Players who remain in each tournament longer than every single one of the pros in the field will divvy up the $1,000 in added funds. For example, if Cada were the last pro standing and knocked out in 83rd place, the remaining players would each pocket $12.20, or $1,000 split 82 ways. The Outlast the Pro tournaments can be found by visiting “Tourney” and then “All” in the PokerStars lobby.

Other members of Team PokerStars Pro include “PokerStars.net Million Dollar Challenge” front man Daniel Negreanu, Bertrand “Elky” Grospellier, and Humberto Brenes. Its roster also includes top female pros like GoDaddy Girl Vanessa Rousso, Vicky Coren, Barry Greenstein, Chad Brown, Gavin Griffin, and Maridu Mayrinck, who was featured in this year’s WSOP Main Event coverage on cable station ESPN.

According to PokerScout.com, which keeps tabs on online poker room traffic, PokerStars is the largest site worldwide with a seven-day running average of 28,600 real money ring game players. During its peak hours, well over 40,000 cash game aficionados call the site home. It happily accepts customers from the United States.

Antonio Matias Leads Final 12 at EPT Vilamoura

One of the new stops on Season Six of the European Poker Tour (EPT) was a November jaunt to Vilamoura, Portugal.  The tournament, which got underway on November 17th, drew 322 runners, making it the third largest EPT event of the season so far.

A number of familiar faces made the trip to Portugal, including Team PokerStars players Chad Brown, Jason Mercier, and Katja Thater, as well as Shaun Deeb, Jason Lavallee, Andy Black, Ludovic Lacay, and Ross Boatman.  The event featured a €5,000 + €300 buy-in and promises a first place prize of €404,793, or roughly $600,000.  The Vilamoura stop is one of several new destinations on the EPT circuit and it has already outperformed one of the other additions to the tour, the August event in Kiev.

The final table is set to play out on Sunday and, at time of writing, there are still four eliminations to go on Saturday before play ends for the day.  Friday’s Day 3 proved to be a short one, as the field began with 69 players and stopped a little early once it was trimmed to 24.  Typically, play slows as the field nears the money bubble, with tables going hand-for-hand to avoid stalling.  At the Vilamoura event, play did not even make it to hand-for hand before Sergey Lebedev was knocked out in 49th place to burst the bubble.

Those who survived to Day 4 on Saturday included chip leader Anthony Lellouche, Team PokerStars Pros Jude Ainsworth of Ireland and Ruben Visser of the Netherlands, Jim “MrBigQueso” Collopy, Ryan “HITTHEPANDA” Franklin, and seven Portugese players, including Joao Barbosa.

Lellouche began the day in a familiar role, serving as the tournament’s chip leader with over 1.1 million chips.  He ended Day 2 second in chips and also logged some time as the chip leader earlier this season at the Warsaw stop.  It looked as though Lellouche would be in great position to make his fourth career EPT final table, but an aggressive play early in the day found him on the rail in 20th place.  After action on every street, Lellouche moved all-in on the river with the board reading J-8-2-Q-2 and Antonio Matias called, showing A-2 for rivered trips.  Lellouche held just 7-9 for a busted gutshot straight draw and was eliminated.

Matias amassed a huge chip lead as a result of the hand and only built on it as Day 4 progressed.  With just 12 players left, Matias holds 2.3 million chips, nearly a million more than his next closest competitor, Jeff Sarwer of Canada, who has almost 1.4 million chips.  There is a wide discrepancy between these two players and the rest of the field, as Claudio Coelho is third in chips with just 750,000.

Joining Lellouche on the rail today were Collopy, Barbosa, Visser, and Ainsworth.  The back-to-back eliminations of Visser and Ainsworth in 13th and 12th places, respectively, means there will be no PokerStars pros appearing at the Vilamoura final table, although PokerStars online qualifiers Santiago Terrazas and Pierre Neuville are still in contention for the title.

Play in Vilamoura will continue until the final eight-handed table is set.  Players will then have the night off before returning at 12:00pm local time to play down to the newest EPT champion.

Mike Sexton to Host Poker Game Show Shuffle Up and Deal

Most of the poker on television today shows top professional players wagering large amounts of money, either in a tournament or a high-stakes cash game. In many cases, this is money that the Average Joe just doesn’t have to put up and, as such, it excludes them from the game. A new poker-themed game show is coming to television, however, that is looking to change that situation.

Poker Hall of Fame inductee and World Poker Tour (WPT) Host Mike Sexton will serve as the host for “Shuffle Up And Deal,” a poker themed game show that will air on the MyTV network in 2010. The half-hour program has been tapped for 13 episodes and, along with Sexton, will feature another poker program veteran in Brandi Williams, who was last seen as the hostess on the syndicated “Ultimate Poker Showdown.” The MyTV network is available in over 50 million homes across the United States and features such programming as the highly popular “WWE Smackdown.”

Billed on its website as “TV’s First Family-Friendly Poker-Themed Game Show,” the program doesn’t focus on high-stakes play. Instead, it will give amateurs the opportunity to use their skills, intuition, and luck in a fast-paced game that will give each episode’s winner a shot at a progressive jackpot that can total up to $1 million.

In each episode, amateur poker players choose their own cards from an electronic board that the viewing audience sees and the turn of each card either helps the contestant’s hand or hurts their chances of winning. The objective of the game is to finish with the highest cash winnings among the five players that are competing. The player who wins each episode advances to the bonus round and plays for a progressive jackpot that starts off at $250,000 and goes up $10,000 for every episode that the jackpot isn’t hit.

As an added attraction for the show, “Shuffle Up And Deal” will offer an interactive feature for the viewing audience. By using their phones, viewers are invited to “Follow the Ace” by picking one of five cards that are used in that particular viewer’s game. If the viewer is correct and picks the card that is the ace, they will be entered into a random drawing that gives each winner $10,000.

“Poker has been a great source of entertainment for many people for many years, but in order to grow and continue to be the most popular game of all time, poker needs to reach out to a whole new audience,” Sexton stated during the announcement of the new program. “Shuffle Up and Deal does just that and I’m proud to be a part of this new movement.”

Another unique part of the “Shuffle Up And Deal” franchise is the opportunity for players to take part in casinos across the country, much like the popular “The Price is Right” franchise has done with its Las Vegas show. A traveling road show is in the works that will take the game to those who aren’t able to be a part of the television production. Another top poker professional, Chad Brown, has signed on to serve as the emcee when the live version visits local casinos across the United States.

There is already a great deal of buzz about “Shuffle Up And Deal.” Other than the website, a Facebook group has also been created that is approaching 1,000 fans who are eager to see the program take flight. With such support, “Shuffle Up And Deal” looks to be the next hot poker property that fans will see not only on their television screens, but also in casinos in 2010.

Vanessa Rousso to Appear On E!’s Bank of Hollywood

This past month, rumors were flying that Team PokerStars Pro member Vanessa Rousso was going to be the new co-host of the GSN poker show “High Stakes Poker.”  While that TV gig ultimately went to Kara Scott, poker fans and others will be seeing Rousso’s face on their screens in the very near future, as she will be a member of the panel of judge’s on the new E! reality game show “Bank of Hollywood.”

Rousso broke the news of her involvement on her Twitter feed earlier this week and a write-up on the new show in the Hollywood Reporter confirmed that she would be a part of the Ryan Seacrest-produced show.  Joining Rousso on the judging panel are Candy Spelling, Wilhemina Models President Sean Patterson, and Pussycat Dolls singer Melody Thornton.

The basic premise of the show rings similar to the NBC vehicle “Shark Tank,” but instead of business proposals, contestants come to the judges with more personal matters.  “Bank of Hollywood” allows contestants to ask the celebrity panel for money for a variety of causes ranging from charity to personal gain.  Participants in the upcoming show will be pleading for money for everything from an engagement ring for their fiancée to funds for charity.  If the judges feel the cause is worthwhile, they will award the contestant with at least $2,000 from their own pockets.

Seacrest elaborated on the show to the Hollywood Reporter: “The idea’s simple. We are giving away tons of money to everyday people to alleviate the stress of today’s climate.”  E! Executive Vice President of Programming Lisa Berger elaborated on Seacrest’s thoughts: “We’re giving real people the opportunity to garner life-changing sums of money and, at the same time, fulfilling our judges’ desire to make a difference in the lives of others – one person at a time.”

The eight-episode series will be hosted by comedian Bryan Callen, who has also appeared on shows like “Sex and the City,” “How I Met Your Mother,” and “Entourage.”  The show is scheduled to premiere at 10:00pm ET on December 14th.

This is just the latest TV appearance for Rousso, who keeps developing an increasingly higher profile both inside and outside of the poker world.  This past spring, she signed on as a spokesperson for GoDaddy.com and appeared in a PokerStars-sponsored spread in the 2009 Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Edition.  Rousso was also heavily featured on NBC’s 2009 National Heads-Up Poker Championship, where she finished as the runner-up to Huck Seed.

2009 has been a landmark year for Rousso on the tournament scene as well.  In addition to her showing in the Heads-Up event, she also had a deep run at the Southern Poker Championship in Biloxi in February, a win at the European Poker Tour High Roller event in Monte Carlo in May, and four cashes at this summer’s World Series of Poker.  She married longtime boyfriend Chad Brown this past spring.

“Bank of Hollywood” is the latest E! reality vehicle from Ryan Seacrest Productions. “Keeping Up with the Kardashians,” “Denis Richards: It’s Complicated,” and the recent “Leave it to Lamas” are just a few of the E! shows currently on the network’s lineup that are produced under the Seacrest banner.

Chad Brown, Liv Boeree Join ESPN Inside Deal

The final installment of ESPN’s poker show “Inside Deal” before the 2009 World Series of Poker (WSOP) Main Event final table was released on Tuesday, featuring Chad Brown and Liv Boeree.

The “Inside Deal” crew moved to a new set to open the show and its attention immediately turned to Phil Ivey mucking the winning flush during last week’s WSOP on ESPN broadcast, which saw the field trimmed to 18 players. “Inside Deal” host Bernard Lee gave his take on the errant move: “It was shocking. That’s really all you can say. I’m sure it’s happened before, but not in the final 27 of the WSOP Main Event.” Ivey remains in the running for the $8.5 million first place prize despite the hiccup.

On Kara Scott being the new host of the GSN poker franchise “High Stakes Poker,” Lee quipped, “At least we know that Norman Chad will be watching;” Chad referred to Scott as “Kara Scott-Chad” throughout the 2009 WSOP Main Event broadcast. Poker News Daily can independently confirm that Scott is the new host of “High Stakes Poker” pending finalization of her contract and obtaining a working visa. No official announcement has been given by GSN.

A recent study released by the Joint Committee on Taxation, a U.S. Government agency, revealed that over $40 billion could be realized from taxing the internet gambling industry over a 10-year period. Lee explained the significance of the report: “That has to raise a lot of eyebrows in the government, knowing that amount of money could go into their coffers. This has to slowly move the pendulum toward us.” In the meantime, the financial services industry in the United States must come into full compliance with the regulations of the Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act (UIGEA) by December 1st.

Boeree them joined the show and revealed that she studied physics and astrophysics in school before being cast for a poker reality show featuring Ultimate Bet pros Annie Duke and Phil Hellmuth. Boeree has been competing on the tournament circuit for only one year and commented, “I definitely don’t think I could go back to hosting now. I find it very difficult being at a European Poker Tour (EPT) event and asking people what their strategies were.” Her favorite band is Metallica, whom she has met and seen in concert. Boeree, a Brit, also claimed that her worst pet peeve of Americans is “easting like idiots.”

Brown discussed being one-half of a “power couple” in poker along with wife Vanessa Rousso: “We both have our own careers. As a couple, [we] can be supportive of each other.” Brown was the 2006 Bluff Magazine Player of the Year on the strength of five Top 40 finishes in World Poker Tour (WPT) events and a fifth place showing in EPT London. On the accolade, which only takes into account $5,000 buy-in tournaments with more than 100 players, Brown told Lee and fellow “Inside Deal” host Laura Lane, “These are the best players in the world you’re competing against.” John Juanda and Barry Greenstein were on his heels throughout much of the competition.

Brown noted that he was cast to be part of a movie directed by James Woods, but the project was put on hold due to the lingering global recession. On his acting career, the Team PokerStars Pro member explained, “If you’re a movie star, you can do whatever you want. If you’re a working actor, you need to stay in Hollywood and pound the pavement.” While Brown has put his acting skills to use on the green felts, Boeree commented that exploiting her femininity is advantageous: “There are definitely times when you can use it to your advantage. If you can flirt with the guys, they’ll want you to stick around.”

“Inside Deal” now heads to Las Vegas for the finale of the 2009 WSOP Main Event. The show is released each Tuesday on ESPN.com.

Brian Powell, Jason Mercier Lead WSOP Europe Main Event Day 1A

Day 1A of the World Series of Poker (WSOP) Europe Main Event played out on Saturday. When the smoke cleared, Brian Powell and Team PokerStars Pro member Jason Mercier led the field, which began with 156 players.

By the end of play in London, just 75 runners remained in contention. Packing the pack is Powell, who hails from Louisville. Powell made a deep run in the 2009 WSOP Main Event, finishing in 66th place and earning $90,000 for his $10,000 buy-in. He also finished 13th in the World Championship Mixed Event for $27,000. Powell owns a stack of 194,600 in London. Trailing him on the leaderboard is Mercier, a WSOP bracelet winner and newly-minted member of Team PokerStars Pro. Mercier holds 189,725 chips and will watch as Day 1B plays out today.

During a break in play, WSOP Commissioner Jeffrey Pollack awarded Jeffrey Lisandro WSOP Player of the Year honors. Lisandro won three bracelets during the 2009 festivities in Las Vegas, two in Seven Card Stud and one in Seven Card Razz. Lisandro recorded a total of six in the money finishes during the 2009 WSOP overall. As a result of claiming Player of the Year honors, Lisandro will be bought into the 2010, 2011, and 2012 WSOP Main Events.

Fittingly, Doyle Brunson issued the day’s “Shuffle Up and Deal” command to begin play in the third running of the WSOP Europe Main Event. Pollack told the gathered crowd, “Doyle was there in Las Vegas at the very start of the WSOP 40 years ago. Doyle was also with us when we started WSOP Europe three years ago in London. And, we are proud to have him with us today.” Brunson, a member of the Poker Hall of Fame, holds 10 WSOP bracelets, tied with Johnny Chan for the second most overall. The leader in that category is Phil Hellmuth, who has collected 11 pieces of hardware over the years and also won the 1989 WSOP Main Event.

Speaking of Hellmuth, a press release distributed last week by Ultimate Bet outlined his complex parade route around London leading to his entrance at the Casino at the Empire. WSOP officials painted the picture of Hellmuth’s arrival: “Hellmuth entered Empire Casino much like Nero burning through Rome, oblivious to the ongoing tournament and taking his seat at the televised feature table. The bizarre spectacle was ornamented by an army of faux Roman soldiers erect and pretty girls standing at attention, while trumpets blared.” Hellmuth entered dressed as Julius Caesar on Day 1C of the Main Event in Sin City.

Here are the Top 10 chip stacks after Day 1A of the 2009 WSOP Europe Main Event:

1. Brian Powell - 194,600
2. Jason Mercier - 189,725
3. Sami Kelopuro - 168,925
4. Viktor Blom - 163,175
5. Jonathan Aguiar - 160,100
6. Martin Hansen - 152,775
7. Christian Harder - 134,125
8. Tommy Pavlicek - 119,825
9. Richard Grace - 116,850
10. John Kabbaj - 104,500

Other notable players who will take to the felts when Day 2 plays out on Monday include:

13. Doyle Brunson - 92,900
15. Brandon Cantu - 89,000
19. Barry Shulman - 80,250
21. James Akenhead - 77,675
28. Liz Lieu - 65,600
37. Eric Friberg - 49,475
43. Todd Brunson - 46,050
45. Chad Brown - 44,975
47. Men “The Master” Nguyen - 43,200
58. Marco Traniello - 33,000
60. Alex Kravchenko - 31,100
62. Mike “The Mouth” Matusow - 28,900
71. Phil Hellmuth - 18,450
72, Scott Montgomery - 18,225
73. Erik Seidel - 9,925

Shulman and Akenhead are both part of the November Nine, the members of the final table of the Main Event in Las Vegas who will take to the felts in two months. Another November Nine member, Phil Ivey, was sent packing on Day 1A. Registration for Day 1B is expected to close around 3:40pm local time on Sunday.

Stay tuned to Poker News Daily for the latest from WSOP Europe.

ElkY ships WCOOP bracelet

PokerStars pros came out in force with Chad Brown, Humberto Brenes and Grant Levy all finishing in the money.

Baseball legend and PokerStars sponsored player Orel Hershiser also made a deep run to finish 49th.

With play down to two tables, the field in the WCOOP event was still thick with world-class pros, including James "mig.com" Mackey, who eventually went on to finish in 11th place.

After the elimination of Mackey it only took a few hands to play down to the nine-handed final table.

Perhaps the greatest threat to ElkY at the final table was Hafiz "hafizzle" Khan who finished runner up to Grospellier in his 2008 PokerStars Caribbean Adventure win.

Khan managed to double up through cashryders22, only to double up Grospellier a couple hands later, eventually finishing in fourth for $93,092.

It was Ginsash who took on ElkY heads-up and although he managed to grind himself into the chip lead, ElkY's unrelenting aggression saw the French pro turn things around.

ElkY's first place finish earned him $232,730, and one more impressive poker victory to add to his resume.

Since 2008, ElkY has been one of the hottest poker players in the world.

He started the year by shipping the PCA for $2 million.

He then took first at the WPT's Festa Al Lago for $1.4 million, third in the NBC Heads-Up Championships, and third in the $25k WPT Championship earning him WPT Player of the Year honors.

The 2009 WCOOP is into its final weekend with the $5,200 2-day main event beginning Sunday.

Bernard Lee Recaps the 2009 WSOP, ESPN Inside Deal Launch

With the 2009 World Series of Poker (WSOP) in the midst of a four month hiatus, the members of the November Nine are currently engaged in the inevitable media onslaught.  Of course, these players are also mentally preparing to return to the Rio All-Suite Hotel and Casino to battle for the coveted WSOP Main Event bracelet, the $8.5 million first prize, and instant poker stardom.  This year’s group is led by chip leader Darvin Moon, who has over 25% of the chips on the table, and poker superstar Phil Ivey.

To follow all of the exciting news and behind-the-scenes action, watch ESPN.com’s new weekly poker show, ESPN Inside Deal.  This weekly poker show, which airs online, debuted on Tuesday, August 4th with its first guest, the 2003 WSOP Main Event Champion Chris Moneymaker.  I have significant inside information about this show since I am one of the co-hosts along with ESPN the Magazine contributor Laura Lane.  During the next few months, we will interview members of the 2009 November Nine, while giving the viewers a behind-the-scenes look at the WSOP.  You can send a question to us via e-mail, Twitter, or Facebook.  I hope you will join us each week, as I am sure that you will enjoy the show (look for our version of “This is Sportscenter” commercials).  Visit ESPN.com/InsideDeal or ESPN.com and search “Inside Deal”.

Beyond the November Nine, this year’s WSOP was known for its multiple bracelet winners, four to be exact.  Each player had their own interesting story prior to their incredible summer.  Here is a brief recap of each of them:

Jeffrey Lisandro (2009 WSOP Player of the Year and winner of three bracelets)

In 2007, Lisandro was still on the BPWB (Best Player Without a Bracelet) list.  However, later that summer, he was able to remove himself from this dubious group, which currently includes Andy Bloch, Michael Binger, Michael Mizarchi, Gavin Smith, Gus Hansen, Patrik Antonius, and Jonathan Little, among others. Lisandro captured the win in Event #32 ($2,000 Seven Card Stud), outlasting 212 other players and taking home $118,426.  However, this year he outdid himself, winning three WSOP bracelets and capturing 2009 WSOP Player of the Year honors.  Positioning himself as one of the best Seven Card Stud players of all-time, Lisandro won all three bracelets in variations of this classic game (Event #16, $1,500 Seven Card Stud; Event #37, $10,000 Seven Card Stud 8 or Better; and Event #44, $2,500 Razz).  Oh, by the way, Lisandro also finished ninth in Event #6, $10,000 Seven Card Stud.  In total, he cashed six times this summer, pocketing over $800,000.

Greg Mueller (Winner of two Limit Hold’em bracelets)

This former professional hockey player from Canada had been a bridesmaid in back-to-back years at the WSOP.  In 2007, Mueller finished second in Event #1, $5,000 Mixed Hold’em, to Steve Billirakis, who still holds the record for being the youngest WSOP bracelet winner.  In 2008, he came ever so close again, this time losing to Phillip Tom in the $5,000 No Limit Hold’em Shootout.  However, the third time was a charm, as he captured Event #33, $10,000 Limit Hold’em.  I had the pleasure of witnessing this victory first-hand, as I was the lead commentator on ESPN360.com.  The most critical pot occurred three-handed against the chip leader at the time, Chad Brown.  Mueller 4bet Brown, who made a crying call with an ace-high flush.  However, Mueller turned over a straight flush, allowing him to take over the chip lead.  From that moment on, he never looked back and took home his first bracelet along with $460,836.  However, he was not done for the summer, as he captured a second bracelet just 11 days later, when he took down Event #50, $1,500 Limit Hold’em Shootout, and another $194,909. Congratulations to a solid player and gentleman at the tables.

Brock Parker (Winner of two Six-Handed Hold’em bracelets)

Well-known online for years as “t soprano,” this 27 year-old from Maryland made his mark in live tournaments this summer at the 2009 WSOP.  Beginning with Event #14, $2,500 Limit Hold’em Six-Handed, Parker outlasted the popular Daniel Negreanu heads-up, capturing his first WSOP bracelet and $223,688.  Amazingly, three days later, Parker found himself at another WSOP final table, this time at Event #19, $2,500 No Limit Hold’em Six-Handed.  Ten hours later, he had outlasted 1,067 other players and won his second bracelet in back-to-back events, cashing for 552,745.  Who says that online players can’t make the transition to live poker?

Phil Ivey (Winner of two bracelets and member of the 2009 November Nine):

Nicknamed the “Tiger Woods of Poker,” Ivey entered the 2009 WSOP with five bracelets; however, he had not won any hardware since 2005.  He ended his dry spell this summer with a vengeance.  First, Ivey captured Event #8, $2,500 No Limit 2-7 Draw Lowball, becoming the youngest player to own six WSOP bracelets.  Nine days later, he rewrote the history books once again, becoming the youngest ever to capture seven, prevailing in Event #25, $2,500 Omaha 8 or Better/ Seven Card Stud 8 or Better.  Ivey then outlasted nearly 6,500 players to earn a spot in the 2009 November Nine.  Amazingly, he has finished in 23rd place or better in the WSOP Main Event four times in the past eight years - 2002 (23rd place), 2003 (10th place), 2005 (20th place), and 2009 (at least ninth place).  Simply remarkable!  If he does capture the 2009 WSOP Main Event, it will amazingly be his first No Limit Hold’em bracelet and will surely cement his legacy as one of the best players of all-time.

As for me, my second WSOP trip and Main Event were filled with more bad beat stories.  There is no need to elaborate any further.  Suffice it to say, I did not have a good 2009 WSOP.  Oh well, there is always next year.

And as a final note, don’t forget to listen to my radio show, The Bernard Lee Poker Show, on RoundersRadio.com on Tuesday nights from 7:00pm to 8:00pm ET and repeated throughout the week.  Upcoming guests will include Tom McEvoy, winner of the 2009 WSOP Champions Invitational, and members of the November Nine.

Daniel Negreanu, Erick Lindgren Struggle on ESPN WSOP Coverage

In Tuesday night’s broadcast of the 2009 World Series of Poker (WSOP) Main Event on ESPN, Daniel Negreanu and Erick Lindgren struggled in front of a national viewing audience as Days 1C and 1D of the Main Event unfolded. This article contains language that may not be suitable for all audiences.

Daniel Negreanu and Ultimate Bet pro Phil Hellmuth were featured during the first hour of coverage on ESPN, which tracked Day 1C of the 2009 WSOP Main Event. Negreanu, plagued by sinus problems, was seated at the feature table, while Hellmuth found himself at Table Two. Hellmuth arrived in typical grand fashion, dressed as Emperor Hellmuth and flanked by scantily-clad women, drummers, and a throng of poker fans armed with cameras. ESPN announcer Norman Chad quipped, “If Tom Brady came to the Super Bowl like this, the NFL would shut down, but we embrace this.”

Even Negreanu took notice of Hellmuth’s entrance, telling his tablemates, “[Hellmuth] loves to show us his nipples. If you watch ESPN, you’ll notice that there are a lot of nipple shots. He’s either meditating with his tiny nipples or doing something.” ESPN recapped Lindgren and Negreanu’s Player of the Year competition, where poker pros could pick any partner except for Phil Ivey and compete based on Player of the Year Points. Barry Greenstein selected Jeffrey Lisandro, who promptly won three bracelets during the 2009 festivities. Negreanu and Lindgren noted that they stood to lose around $1 million as a result of the bets.

Chad and fellow ESPN commentator Lon McEachern dubbed Hellmuth “Pokerus Bratus” and “Hellmuthicus.” The 11-time bracelet winner lived up to his reputation after teeing off on tablemates early on. An opponent who made three kings after calling a raise with K-8 when Hellmuth had jacks received the brunt of the anger. Hellmuth lamented, “What the fuck? Calling a fricking raise with K-8?” Hellmuth then spouted four expletives in a row followed by the word “man.” He sat back down and vented, “Fucking moron players.” No penalty was shown despite a stricter player conduct rule.

2008 WSOP November Nine member Dennis Phillips brought an entourage of look-a-likes with him, including David Tucker, who was charged with blowing a portable truck horn every time Phillips scooped a pot. Also in the field was “Celebrity Apprentice” runner-up and Poker News Daily Guest Columnist Annie Duke, who was sent to the rails early on. Chad exclaimed, “Annie, you’re fired” when the Ultimate Bet face was ousted from the $10,000 buy-in tournament.

The “Straight from the Pros” segment featured Team PokerStars Pro member Joe Hachem squaring off against Steve Dannenmann on Day 5 of the 2005 Main Event. Dannenmann flopped a set in the hand, while Hachem flopped the nut flush draw. After Dannenmann put in a check-raise, Hachem folded, which he called “the biggest laydown of my life.” ESPN viewers then watched Negreanu get trumped during the Jack Link’s Beef Jerky Wild Card Hand, in which the hole cards of one player are unknown.

Meanwhile, Hellmuth and an opponent each bet $20 that they had the best hand. In the end, Hellmuth showed A-Q, while his opponent flipped over pocket fours. The money was given to a friend on the rail to “buy drinks,” an activity Hellmuth deemed worthy of another $40 contribution. Then, Hellmuth learned the crew was from Aruba, the site of the annual Ultimate Bet Aruba Poker Classic, and tossed another $100 their way. The situation quickly turned dark. Hellmuth ran into a rivered flush, which caused him to lament, “Is this some kind of fucking joke? I can’t even fucking believe what I’m seeing.” Again, no penalty was assessed.

Day 1D of the 2009 WSOP Main Event featured 2008 Player of the Year Erick Lindgren. Joining Lindgren at the feature table was Joe Hardie, the former owner of the Bicycle Casino in Los Angeles. Also in the field on Day 1D, which saw more than 500 players turned away, were “I’m a Celebrity, Get Me Out of Here” winner Lou Diamond Phillips and third place finisher John Salley. Others playing included Ray Romano, Ivan Demidov, J.C. Tran, Jennifer Harman, Marco Traniello, Chad Brown, Vanessa Rousso, Jordan Farmar, Phil Ivey, Tom “durrrr” Dwan, and 2006 Player of the Year Jeff Madsen.

Lindgren’s tentative play at the feature table was the theme of the second episode. Chad explained, “I hope the tape of this telecast is destroyed before Lindgren sees it. It’ll set him back 15 years.” The Wild Card Hand featured four-way action to the turn on an A-J-7-8 board with two diamonds. Serge Pouliott bet out 450 and the action folded around to Lindgren, who made the call. The river was the four of hearts. Lindgren checked, Pouliott bet 825, and Lindgren called. Pouliott turned over A-Q, out-kicking Lindgren’s A-6 of diamonds. The Full Tilt-sponsored “Deal Me In” featured Lindgren breaking down a hand that transpired during Day 1 of the 2008 WSOP Main Event.

Day 2 of the 2009 WSOP Main Event will air next Tuesday on ESPN at 8:00pm ET and runs for two hours.

Brett Favre Signing Delays WSOP Main Event Coverage on ESPN

The signing of quarterback Brett Favre by the Minnesota Vikings delayed the premiere of the 2009 World Series of Poker (WSOP) Main Event by 20 minutes on Tuesday night, with action from Day 1A and Day 1B taking center stage.

The $10,000 buy-in feature tournament began with Full Tilt Poker pro Jennifer Harman narrating, “Someone has to win it, right? So why not you or me?” Highlights of past Main Event winning moments aired, with a player rounding out the montage by saying, “All you need is a ticket and a dream.” The feature table of the first hour, Day 1A of the 2009 WSOP Main Event, included 2006 final table participant Allen Cunningham, Eli Elezra, and Lex Veldhuis, the boyfriend of Evelyn Ng who was featured in ESPN’s coverage of the $40,000 buy-in event commemorating the 40th running of the WSOP.

ESPN announcer Norman Chad fired up viewers by claiming, “This is it. It’s the greatest event in the galaxy. Anyone can win. We could bound and gag Lon [McEachern], stick him in a potato sack, and roll him into the Amazon Room and he may make the final table. I love the Main Event.” Table Two featured 2009 dual bracelet winner Greg “FBT” Mueller and poker pro Sammy Farha, who finished as the runner-up to Chris Moneymaker in the 2003 WSOP Main Event, igniting the modern poker boom.

The 40th Annual Moments featured Johnny Chan winning the 1987 and 1988 Main Events before landing as the runner-up to Phil Hellmuth in 1989. Chan also turned in a seventh place performance in 1992. Joining Chan in the Day 1A field were Phil Laak, Jennifer Tilly, Orel Hershiser, Dewey Tomko, Steven Paul-Ambrose, and Gus Hansen. “Seinfeld” star Jason Alexander and “Everybody Loves Raymond” actor Brad Garrett were seated together, making for a lively table.

At the feature table, Veldhuis rolled over his competition, showing a bluff against Elezra, who labeled him the best player in the field on Day 1A. Veldhuis then represented a flush on a four club board to take down a pot against a player who held two pair. In the Jack Link’s Beef Jerky Wild Card Hand, Simon Muenz raised to 900 with pocket tens, Velduis called with unknown cards, and Cunningham called with A-J. The flop came 4-3-2 with two hearts. Muenz checked, Velduis led out for 2,300, Cunningham got out of the way, and Muenz called. The turn was the nine of hearts. Veldhuis bet 6,000, leaving Chad to comment, “I still think Lex has air.” Muenz called and the ace of spades fell on the river. Veldhuis pushed and Muenz folded. As it turned out, Veldhuis held K-6 for a bluff.

A brand new segment dubbed “Deal Me In” aired and featured Full Tilt Poker pros reliving key hands in live tournaments. Chris Ferguson was the focus of the inaugural segment, recapping a hand where he turned quad aces against Prahlad Friedman. The punch line, according to Ferguson: “You don’t always want to slow play.” Contrastingly, “The Nuts” featured PokerStars pros Greg Raymer, Vanessa Rousso, Chad Brown, Joe Hachem, Hevad Khan, and Dennis Phillips trying to hit a wiffleball thrown by Hershiser. In the end, Raymer laid down a bunt, only to have Hershiser blow it foul.

ESPN’s second hour of coverage, which kicked off around 9:20pm ET on Tuesday night, included a feature table with Mike Matusow. He chimed, “Life is all about the power of positive thinking.” Flanking him was John Dodge, whose grandfather started the automobile company of the same name. Also in the field was Jack Ury, the oldest player in the Main Event at age 96, and poker legend Amarillo Slim, who hasn’t cashed in the tournament since winning it in 1972.

The Wild Card Hand during the Day 1B episode featured Doyle Brunson raise to 675 with A-J of hearts. James Kier called, holding the elusive Wild Card hand. The flop fell 2-4-K rainbow and the action went check-check. The turn was a three and Kier led out for 1,500. Brunson called to watch a four hit the river. Kier once again bet out, this time for 2,500, and Brunson called with just ace-high. Kier sheepishly revealed J-9 for air and another player at the table quipped, “Were you really just trying to bluff Doyle Brunson?”

Matusow gave autographed copies of his book, “Check-Raising the Devil,” to his tablemates, while another Mike, Mike Caro, was featured in an ESPN vignette talking about his “Mad Genius” moniker. Others in the field included Raymer, Ferguson, Barry Greenstein, Joe Sebok, Chris Moneymaker, Todd Brunson, and Pam Brunson. A “Straight from the Pros” segment, in which PokerStars sponsored players gave their take on hands, aired and featured Moneymaker.

Next week, Moneymaker’s colleague at PokerStars, Daniel Negreanu, will take center stage along with Hellmuth. The action takes place from 8:00pm to 10:00pm ET barring any more Favre news.

Jeremy Gaubert Wins Gold Strike World Poker Open

Jeremy “thechemist83” Gaubert ran away from the field in the $5,150 buy-in Gold Strike World Poker Open despite entering the final table in seventh place out of nine runners. He earned $192,000 in the Tunica, Mississippi tournament.

Online, Gaubert has been one of the top players in the industry. In April, he trumped the field in the weekly Full Tilt Poker Sunday Mulligan for $52,000 and grabbed a win in the Ultimate Bet $100,000 Guaranteed in June for another $26,000. He chopped the Sunday Million on PokerStars for $233,000 and also has a victory in the site’s prestigious Warm-Up for $80,000. The $192,000 cash in the Tunica casino wasn’t his first six-figure live payday, however. Gaubert made a deep run and finished 58th in the 2008 World Series of Poker (WSOP) Main Event, banking $115,000 from the $10,000 buy-in contest.

In addition to the cash, Gaubert also received a $10,000 buy-in to the World Poker Tour’s (WPT) Southern Poker Championship, which is slated for January 24th to 27th at the Beau Rivage in Biloxi, Mississippi. Here’s a look at how the final table panned out in Tunica:

1. Jeremy Gaubert - $192,953
2. Steve Hamontree - $109,400
3. Chris Moneymaker - $60,110
4. Chad Brown - $48,088
5. Thomas Creel - $36,066
6. Gil George - $30,055
7. Tommy Vedes - $24,044
8. Jerry Milanos - $18,033
9. Paris Heard - $12,022

Gaubert rolled through stiff competition in the $5,150 buy-in event. Heading into the final table, Moneymaker held 40% of the chips in play. The 2003 WSOP Main Event Champion was at home in Tunica, originally hailing from nearby Tennessee. Moneymaker’s victory over Sammy Farha in the 2003 WSOP Main Event is the primary reason that many of us are here today. In 2004, Moneymaker backed up his Main Event win by finishing as the runner-up to Phil Gordon in the WPT Bay 101 Shooting Star, banking $200,000. A card-carrying member of Team PokerStars Pro, Moneymaker remains synonymous with poker glory.

Also calling Team PokerStars Pro home is Brown, who is married to 2009 National Heads-Up Poker Championship runner-up Vanessa Rousso. Brown made two final tables during the 2009 WSOP, including a $188,000 payday for taking third in the $10,000 buy-in World Championship of Limit Hold’em. In 2007, Brown finished second to Full Tilt Poker pro Erik Seidel in the $10,000 buy-in World Championship of No Limit 2-7 Draw Lowball for $324,000. Like Rousso, Brown has excelled in NBC’s National Heads-Up Poker Championship, reaching the final table against Paul Wasicka in 2007 and ultimately claiming second place for $250,000.

The World Poker Open was originally a stop on the WPT circuit and formerly held at the Horseshoe Casino, located next door to the Gold Strike in Tunica. In 2003, David “Devilfish” Ulliott outlasted the 160 player field en route to a win over Phil Ivey and a $589,000 payday. In 2004, Barry Greenstein defeated Randy Jensen in Tunica for $1.2 million, defeating a field of 367. In 2005, the tournament moved to the towering Gold Strike Casino, where John Stolzmann outlasted one of the toughest final tables in WPT history that also included Chau Giang, Daniel Negreanu, Michael “The Grinder” Mizrachi, and Scotty Nguyen.

In 2006, Nguyen took down the World Poker Open title, defeating Mizrachi heads-up. The two had miraculously reached the final table of the five-figure buy-in tournament in back-to-back years. In 2007, Negreanu was the runner-up to Bryan Sumner in the Mississippi tournament. In 2008, the final year that the Gold Strike played host to a WPT event, Brett Faustman bested Hoyt Corkins for the title and $892,000 first place prize. The festivities then moved to Biloxi for the Southern Poker Championship, which is held at the Gold Strike’s sister property, the Beau Rivage.

Moneymaker blows Tunica lead

He held that lead until 40-year-old Tennessee business owner Steve Hamontree busted Monroe, Louisiana's Thomas Creel fifth to take control four-handed.

Moneymaker found himself crippled soon after, running ace-queen into 25-year-old poker pro Jeremy Gaubert's big slick.

Although fellow Team PokerStars Pro Chad Brown busted first, taking fourth when he shoved a river with air, the best the 2003 WSOP Main Event champ could muster was a third-place finish and $60,110.

Gaubert, whose biggest score previously in four years as a pro was a chop in the Sunday Million on PokerStars, went on to take the title, $192,953 and a $10k seat in the WPT Southern Poker Championship at the Beau Rivage coming up in January.

Moneymaker won his seat by virtue of a first-place finish in a $500 Pot-Limit Omaha preliminary event in Tunica last week.

Despite the Main Event title and a runner-up finish at the 2004 WPT Bay 101 Shooting Star, Moneymaker told reporters in Tunica the PLO win was his greatest poker accomplishment.

Clonie Gowen won the event in 2008, beating a field of 107 to take down the $183,224 first-place prize.

Moneymaker dominating Tunica

Only fellow Team PokerStars Pro Chad Brown and his 433,500 in chips are even close.

Won by Clonie Gowen in 2008 when she beat 106 others to take the $183,224 top prize, the $5k buy-in No-Limit Hold'em Main Event started with 126 players Sunday creating a $601,100 prize pool this year.

Moneymaker, who booked his seat by winning a $500 Pot-Limit Omaha preliminary event last week, began his meteoric rise early on the second day of the event, that started with just 42 players.

He hit a gutshot to bust one player and took the rest of a third player's chips just moments later to move up the leader board.

He then ran a massive bluff to take the chip lead, cracked Harrah's New Orleans WSOPC event finalist Kenny Milam's kings by making two pair and by the time the 18-person money bubble rolled around; he had roughly one quarter of all the chips in play.

Moneymaker played classic big-stack poker crushing the bubble and ran another huge and succesful bluff against Day 1 chip leader Mike Wang to cement the lead heading into the final.

First place in the event pays $192,953 and a seat at the upcoming WPT Southern Poker Championship at the Beau Rivage in Biloxi, Mississippi this January.

The final table will begin play Tuesday at 2 p.m. CT from the Gold Strike Casino Resort.

Other noteables in the event who failed to make the final included 2009 WSOP Main Event final table bubble boy Jordan Smith, Team PokerStars Pro Vanessa Rousso, Poker VT's Adam Junglen and online stars Mike "GoLeafsGoEh" Leah and Shaun Deeb.

Tiffany Michelle, Maria Ho May Compete on Amazing Race

Poker News Daily can confirm that Ultimate Bet Star Player Tiffany Michelle will compete on the upcoming season of the CBS reality series “Amazing Race,” according to anonymous sources inside the industry. The show debuts on September 27th at 8:00pm ET following “60 Minutes.” Michelle’s partner, according to Bluff Magazine and various television news outfits, is Maria Ho.

The upcoming season is the 15th for the “Amazing Race,” which pits teams of two against each other for a race around the world – literally. Last season, contestants traveled to diverse destinations that included Switzerland, Germany, Austria, Romania, Russia, India, Thailand, and China before crossing the finish line at the King Kamehameha Golf Club in Maui, Hawaii. Michelle and Ho represent the last women standing in the 2008 and 2007 World Series of Poker (WSOP) Main Events, respectively. Michelle gained notoriety last year by calling the clock during a hand she wasn’t involved in, an act that was criticized by tablemate and November Nine member Craig Marquis.

An e-mail sent to Michelle seeking comment about the rumors resulted in an auto-response that read, “I’ll be off shooting for the next month, till mid August, and may be away from my computer and out of touch during that time.” An image that appeared on RealityFanForum.com showed Ho at Los Angeles International Airport allegedly for the start of “Amazing Race.” In a blog entry dated June 27th, Michelle indicated that she would not defend her title of Last Woman Standing in the Main Event: “It’d have to be something pretty big to deter me from the WSOP Championship Event this year and trust me, IT IS! I can’t disclose much right now, but I’ll be leaving the country to film a project for a month and it conflicts with the Main Event.”

In May, Jean-Robert Bellande, who appeared on CBS’ “Survivor: China” in 2007, posted on the online poker forum TwoPlusTwo that “two hot poker girls” were wanted for an “upcoming reality show.” Bellande, a Bodog pro, noted that the ideal candidate is “a respected pro, young, hot, single, [and] engaging.” The Bad Boy of Poker suggested Kristy Gazes and Team PokerStars Pro member Vanessa Rousso, although the latter is engaged to Chad Brown. Last season on the “Amazing Race,” former NFL cheerleaders Jaime and Cara finished as the runner-ups to siblings and lawyers Tammy and Victor.

A representative from Ultimate Bet told Poker News Daily, “I know Tiffany is away working on a project, but unfortunately that is all we know at this point. We can’t comment on any such rumors.” Michelle signed with the Tokwiro-owned online poker room one year ago, joining a Team UB roster that includes Adam “Roothlus” Levy, Brandon Cantu, Gary “debo34” Debernardi, “Hollywood” Dave Stann, Matt “mattg1983” Graham, Michael Binger, Mark “P0ker H0″ Kroon, Scott Ian, and Shawn “westtexasman” Rice. The site’s two main faces are 11-time WSOP bracelet winner Phil Hellmuth and “Celebrity Apprentice” runner-up Annie Duke.

At the Dream Team Poker event held at Caesars Palace in March, Michelle and Ho joined forces to bring Team Yo Mama to life. The all-female squad also featured Lacey Jones. No female team has ever won “Amazing Race,” which first aired in 2001. That season, contestants traveled 35,000 miles around the world, led by Rob and Brennan. For its 11th season, favorites from the first 10 cycles of “Amazing Race” convened for a special All-Stars edition. Notable teams included Rob and Amber of “Survivor” fame and Season 7 winners Uchenna and Joyce, who were eliminated at the end of the ninth leg.

During each episode, teams compete in “Detours,” which is a choice between two tasks, each with its own pros and cons. In addition, they’ll stumble upon “Road Blocks,” which are challenges that only one team member can perform. Each “Detour” and “Road Block” typically focuses on the local culture, giving the show a unique flair. New Zealander Phil Keoghan serves as its host and the show will return to its Sunday night timeslot on September. “Amazing Race” serves as the lead-in for the new CBS drama “Three Rivers.”

PokerStars.com APPT returns with Macau festival

The festival will feature a total of 20 events including the $5,200 Main Event and a PokerStars-style $11,500 High Roller Event all taking place in the official PokerStars Macau Poker Room at the Grand Lisboa - the largest poker room in continental Asia.

"I'm pleased to see the sport of tournament poker continue to grow in Asia," said Team PokerStars Pro and Poker World Champion Joe Hachem.

"I played in the first APPT Macau in 2007 when PokerStars planted the seeds of No-Limit Texas Hold'em poker culture in Macau and it's been incredible watching that legacy take root and bloom.

"There are now hundreds of local players, cash games running 24/7 and tournaments available every week at the PokerStars Macau Poker Room. I wouldn't be surprised if the next World Champion comes from Macau or elsewhere in China."

During its second season, APPT Macau generated the biggest prize pool ever recorded for a poker event in China with more than $1.5 million awarded. Noted American pro Edward Sabat outlasted a field of 538 players to take down a first place prize of $453,851 while Nam Le won the High Roller Event for $473,915.

This year the APPT expects to break their own records in Macau by drawing more players and creating a prize pool over $2 million.

"This season's APPT is set to be even bigger than Season 2 in terms of both number of participants and prize pools," said APPT President Jeffrey Haas. "This has been made possible by continued enthusiasm for the tour right across the region with amazing levels of participation."

The third season of the APPT is also scheduled to make stops in Seoul, Auckland and Cebu in the Philippines before culminating in Sydney for the Grand Final in December.

Last year some of most elite poker players in the world played APPT events including Team PokerStars Pros Joe Hachem, Lee Nelson, Isabelle Mercier, Lee Nelson, Barry Greenstein, Hevad Khan, Chad Brown, Bertrand "ElkY" Grospellier as well as John Juanda, Johnny Chan, Scotty Nguyen, Grant Levy, Men "The Master" Nguyen, Eric Assadourian and Liz Lieu.

For the complete Macau Summer Poker Festival schedule visit the official APPT website here.

Below is the APPT Season 3 schedule:

Halpert and Peisert Win First Career Bracelets

Besides the Marathon H.O.R.S.E. event, there were two other final tables on Tuesday that didn’t take twenty hours to complete. One was the $3,000 buy-in Triple Chance tournament. Sixteen players returned Tuesday to play down to the final table and, of course, the bracelet. It didn’t take too long before the final nine were set, with players like An “The Boss” Tran and Eric “Rizen” Lynch busting out early in the day. The final nine may not be household names, but several of the players at the table were young poker pros, including 22-year old online pro Jason “JCarver” Somerville, who finished second in the $1,500 No Limit Hold’em Shootout earlier this month. Somerville was unable to match his success from his previous final table and busted out in 5th place.

The final two players left standing were another online pro, Jason DeWitt, and Jorg Peisert, a recreational poker player from Dusseldorf, Germany. This was DeWitt’s third career WSOP final table and second one this year. He finished in 3rd place in Event #20, a $1,500 buy-in Pot Limit Hold’em event. While DeWitt was able to best his previous finish, he fell just short of the bracelet once again, taking second place and the $313,227 prize that went with it. Peisert, who works full time as an investment banker, emerged victorious, defeating 853 competitors in what is only his second WSOP tournament ever. He earned $506,800 for his impressive victory.

The third final table to wrap up yesterday came in Event #53, a $1,500 buy-in Stud Hi/Lo event. The buzz going into the final day of play was whether or not Poker Stars Pro Chad Brown could capture his first bracelet and join the ranks of James Van Alstyne and Greg “FBT” Mueller, who both managed to nab their first career bracelets this year. Joining Brown at the final table were 3-time bracelet winner Dr. Max Stern and noted tournament director Matt Savage. Savage finished in 5th place, Brown was the next player to fall in fourth and Stern was eliminated in third. This was Brown’s second final table this Series. He previously finished in third place during the $10,000 Limit Hold’em Championship Event.

Heads-up play came down to New Orleans attorney David Halpert and William Kohler of Cincinnati, Ohio. Halpert held the chip lead at the start of the final table, but relinquished that title to Kohler late in the event. Halpert was able to rally back from a 2 to 1 chip disadvantage to regain the lead and eventually win the bracelet and the $159,048 prize.

The final preliminary event of the WSOP kicked off Tuesday. Event #56, a $5,000 buy-in Six-Handed No Limit Hold’em event drew 940 runners to start the day, but by the end of play only 160 were left standing. Lars Bonding, Eugene Katchelov and online pro Faraz “The-Toliet” Jaka are some of the big stacks who will be returning at 2PM Wednesday to play down to the final table.

The final $1,500 No Limit Hold’em event and the $2,500 Limit Deuce to Seven events also played Tuesday. Neither event was able to narrow the field to the final table by the 3AM deadline, so nine players, including Kill Phil author Blair Rodman, will return tomorrow in the Deuce to Seven event, while 28 players, including WPT Borgata winner Vivek “psyduck” Rajkumar, remain in the No Limit Hold’em tournament.

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.

Carsten Joh Wins WSOP Event #52; $50,000 HORSE Reaches Final Table

Professional poker player Carsten Joh gave Germany its first World Series of Poker champion since Sebastian Ruthenberg’s 2008 win, when he won the $1,500 No-Limit Hold’em Event (#51) Monday evening. Joh outlasted a field of 2,781 to earn his first gold bracelet and $664,426.

Much like many of the previous $1,500 buy-in No-Limit Hold’em tournaments at the 2009 WSOP, this final table included no former WSOP gold bracelet winners. Joh claimed his first when he defeated Canadian Andrew Chen for the title.

An accomplished backgammon player, Joh competed in international backgammon tournaments and played in various clubs for many years. One of Joh’s friends from the backgammon tournaments was Danish poker player Gus Hansen. With Monday’s victory he now has one more WSOP bracelet than the prominent poker superstar.

“The bracelet means a lot because you have it for the rest of your life”, Joh said afterward. “Whatever you’ve got later on, you can always say you won a bracelet. Even if you stop playing poker – you just have it. If you come second, you really have nothing. You have the money. But nobody talks about that. It is just like that in sports. Everyone remembers the winner.”

At 45 years of age, Joh was the oldest player at the final table. Six of the nine players were age 27 and younger, and the youngest was 21-year-old Chen. Joh sent him home as the runner-up when Chen moved his remaining chips into the middle with after Joh raised from the button. Joh quickly called and flipped over pocket sixes. The flop didn’t give much hope to Chen but the on the turn gave him a flush draw. Joh then ended things when the fell on the river, giving him a set to eliminate Chen in 2nd place for $412,426.

On winning the tournament as the oldest player, Joh said: “Normally, the older players like me do not win the bracelet. You see every final table with six, seven, or eight players in their 20s. It is more difficult for an older player to win it. I have a lot of respect for the older players because you have to play ten levels and you might be here 13 or 14 hours each day.”

Here are the final results from Event #51:

1. Carsten Joh - $664,426
2. Andrew Chen - $412,632
3. David Walasinksi - $272,405
4. Steven Levy - $192,650
5. Owen Crowe - $145,199
6. Thibaut Durand - $115,817
7. Georgios Kapalas - $97,634
8. Jason Helder - $86,702
9. Nathan Page - $80,894

The $50,000 HORSE event reached its final table Monday evening as the aforementioned Gus Hansen was sent home in 9th place. A short-stacked Hansen was eliminated in the Omaha-8 round when he got his last 30,000 chips in on the flop against Chau Giang:

Flop:

Hansen:
Giang:

Hansen was drawing to a three to make a full house but the river was a blank and he left the Rio with $123,895. The remaining eight players, which make up a tremendous final table, will return at 2:00 p.m. Vegas time Tuesday and play until a champion is crowned. The winner will receive the Chip Reese Memorial Trophy and $ 1,276,802. The seating arrangement will look like this:

Seat 1: Ville Wahlbeck - 645,000
Seat 2: Erik “Erik123” Sagstrom - 3,675,000
Seat 3: John Hanson - 1,700,000
Seat 4: Huck Seed - 1,380,000
Seat 5: Vitaly Lunkin - 2,490,000
Seat 6: David Bach - 2,345,000
Seat 7: Erik Seidel - 965,000
Seat 8: Chau Giang - 1,075,000

Meanwhile, two more events will award bracelet Tuesday, making for a busy day of poker. The $3,000 Triple Chance No Limit Hold’em event is still loaded with talent as Jason “TheMasterJ33” DeWitt takes the chip lead into the final day. Other notables among the 16 players still in contention include An “The Boss” Tran, Max Greenwood, and online stars Jason “Jcarver” Somerville and Eric “Rizen” Lynch. Play will resume at 1:00 p.m. and finish when a winner is handed a gold bracelet and $506,800.

The other event coming to a close is the $1,500 Seven Card Stud Hi-Lo event. Brian Swinford has the lead with 14 players returning at 2:00 p.m. but PokerStars Team Pro Chad Brown is close behind. Others vying for the title are Allie Prescott and famed poker tournament director Matt Savage. The champion will earn $159,390 for his three days of work.

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

Greg Mueller Wins WSOP Limit Holdem Championship

Greg “FBT” Mueller barreled through the field of 185 players in the $10,000 buy-in Limit Hold’em Championship (Event #33) during the 2009 World Series of Poker (WSOP). The Vancouver native earned $460,000.

The Limit Hold’em Championship marked Mueller’s second final table of the 2009 WSOP. He grabbed seventh in Event #6, the World Championship of Seven Card Stud, and earned $53,000. He finished as the runner up during the 2008 WSOP in the $5,000 buy-in No Limit Hold’em Shootout and during the 2007 WSOP in the World Championship of Mixed Hold’em. A former hockey player, Mueller watched as the National Hockey League’s (NHL) Stanley Cup Trophy was hauled into the Rio during a special presentation while the final table played out. On-hand for the festivities, which included a charity poker tournament, was NHL Commissioner Gary Bettman.

Kenny Hsiung, who came into the final day of play as the chip leader, was bounced from Event #33 in ninth place for $55,996. His Kd-Q was up against 2009 WSOP bracelet winner Daniel Alaei’s A-8. The flop came ace-high, all diamonds; Alaei led with top pair, but was up against a flush draw. Needing to catch a diamond or running cards for help, Hsiung watched as the turn and river both came sevens, sending him home. Soheil Shamseddin was eliminated in eighth place after committing all of his chips on a 2-Q-Q-J board holding A-3. Matt Glantz flipped up pocket nines and improved to a boat when a nine hit on the river. Shamseddin earned $59,996.

After being crippled in a hand against Alaei, Michiel Brummelhuis was all-in pre-flop with A-Q against two pocket pairs, as Glantz held sevens and Pat Pezzin peeked down at nines. Glantz and Pezzin checked the action all the way to the river on an 8-4-2-K-10 board, shipping the pot to Pezzin and sending Brummelhuis away $67,647 richer for his wear. It was Brummelhuis’ second WSOP final table in two years. Glantz was promptly shown the exit in sixth place, cashing for $80,342. Glantz pushed with A-3 on a board of A-5-Q with two clubs for top pair. Pezzin called and flipped over Q-J of clubs for middle pair and a flush draw. The turn was the king of clubs, filling his flush.

Matt Hawrilenko fell in fifth place from the Limit Hold’em Championship. The high-stakes cash game player was short on chips after a hand against Team PokerStars Pro member Chad Brown and quickly pushed from the small blind with Q-8. Pezzin called and revealed Q-9, which held up. Alaei was the next to go when his A-8 could not withstand Mueller’s 10-8 after the flop came Q-10-6. The turn and river came a seven and ten, respectively, sealing Alaei’s exit and $134,733 payday. Alaei won Event #18 of the 2009 WSOP, the World Championship of Omaha High-Low Split Eight or Better.

Brown was ousted in third place. He was all-in pre-flop with Q-10 against Mueller’s A-9 of hearts. The flop came 5-8-7, adding a gutshot straight draw for Mueller, which hit on the river and kept “FBT” out in front. Brown pocketed $188,855 in his first WSOP final table in two years. The win in the hand gave Mueller a 2:1 chip lead heads-up and created an all-Canadian battle for the 33rd WSOP bracelet of 2009.

At one point during heads-up play, Mueller had built his chip lead to 36:1. Pezzin then doubled up, cutting the margin to 15:1. On the final hand, Pezzin called all-in for his tournament life with 10-8 on a flop of 2-K-3. Mueller held pocket fives, which held. Pezzin took home a $285,196 consolation prize and turned in the third WSOP final table of his career. On capturing a bracelet, Mueller told WSOP officials, “It’s a huge weight lifted off my shoulders. I was starting to think I was a second place pony there for a while. I had nightmares, even heads-up. When he won a pot against me, I thought, ‘My God, this could be the biggest choke ever.’ But, it feels unbelievable and I am so happy right now.”

Here were the final results from Event #33 of the 2009 WSOP, the Limit Hold’em Championship:

1. Greg “FBT” Mueller - $460,841
2. Pat Pezzin - $285,195
3. Chad Brown - $188,855
4. Daniel Alaei - $134,772
5. Matthew Hawrilenko - $100,688
6. Matt Glantz - $80,341
7. Michiel Brummelhuis - $67,647
8. Soheil Shamseddin - $59,995
9. Kenny Hsiung - $55,995

Stay tuned to Poker News Daily for the latest 2009 WSOP results.

Second bracelet for Mexico highlights WSOP June 17

"I always had the dream to become a professional poker player but I never had the opportunity or the chance," Guillen told PokerListings.com moments after the win.

"I will keep trying to improve my game, to become a well-known player and to win more big events in the future."

Guillen's victory shines a spotlight on a country poised to pick up the game.

"In Mexico, poker isn't legal so the growth in our country has been very slow," explained Guillen. "We're trying to develop that with a group of players like my friends here."

"We're trying to create a boom in Mexico."

J.C. Alvarado, a member of Team PokerStars Pro, is one of Guillen's closest poker friends and someone the new bracelet winner has learned from since picking up tournament poker.

"Angel has a great future ahead of him," emphasized Alvarado. "He's going to continue crushing tournaments."

PokerStars.net NHL Charity Shootout

An addendum to the NHL Awards happening tomorrow at the Palms, this Charity event saw professional hockey players and Team PokerStars pros square off to earn money for the Ronald McDonald House of Las Vegas and the NHL Players Association's Goals & Dreams fund.

Philadelphia Flyers left winger Scott Hartnell defeated Vancouver Canucks captain Roberto Luongo heads-up to claim the victory.

Click through to hear more about the event from the players themselves.

Event 33 - $10,000 Limit Hold'em World Championship

Today marked Greg Mueller's sixth WSOP final table in the last four years but his first time in the winner's circle with a gold bracelet on his wrist.

The Full Tilt pro defeated a stacked final table including recent bracelet winner Danny Alaei, Chad Brown and Matt "Hoss TBF" Hawrilenko.

Click through to read the full story.

Event 34 - $1,500 No-Limit Hold'em

Adding more low buy-in No-Limit Hold'em events was part of the WSOP's plan to increase attendance this year, and so far it's been a big success.

Over 2,000 runners entered this event and when play was suspended tonight, two days into the event, just 21 of them remained.

Denmark's Jonas Klausen is leading the field going into the playdown to a champion but fellow Euro-rounders Roland de Wolfe, Praz Bansi and Bertrand Grospellier aren't far behind.

Action resumes at 2 p.m.

Event 35 - $5,000 Pot-Limit Omaha

Higher buy-in PLO events consistently draw pro-heavy fields and this one was no different.

Denmark's Jesper Hougaard held the chip lead for much of the day and managed to finish the night in the number one slot.

Canada's Sorel "Imper1um" Mizzi is just inches behind, followed by Cliff "JohnnyBax" Josephy, Jeff Lisandro and David "DevilFish" Ulliott.

PokerListings is providing comprehensive live coverage of this event as we continue the playdown to the final table, beginning at 2 p.m.

James Van Alstyne Wins First Bracelet; Wolpert Defeats Duthie in $10K Heads-Up

Just days after finishing runner-up to Zac Fellows in the $3,000 buy-in HORSE event, poker pro James Van Alstyne made another HORSE final table, this time in the $1,500 buy-in HORSE tournament. While he just missed the mark at the former final table, he finally captured the elusive gold bracelet in this most recent event.

Van Alstyne has a long list of poker accomplishments to his name, including over $3 million in tournament winnings and six World Series of Poker (WSOP) final tables, but he was missing that final piece of the puzzle – the bracelet. So far this Series Van Alstyne has been close to the title on several occasions; in addition to finishing second in the $3,000 HORSE event, he also took 6th in the $10,000 Mixed Games championship event which was won by Ville Wahlbeck.

At Monday night’s final table Van Alstyne started out near the bottom of the chip counts, but managed to rally back once play got down to the final six players. After the other big names at the table, online pro Shannon Shorr and Bryan “The Icon” Micon, were eliminated in 5th and 4th place respectively, Van Alstyne made quick work of his two remaining opponents Mitch Schock and Tad Jurgens. Schock went out in third place and Jurgens was eliminated in second just half an hour later. Van Alstyne earned $247,033 for his victory. With his win, Van Alstyne is now tied with Brock “t_soprano” Parker for third in the WSOP Player of the Year race with 220 points.

Just a few tables away from Van Alstyne’s HORSE final table, another gold bracelet was on the line. Play in the $10,000 buy-in Heads-Up No Limit Hold’em event was initially scheduled to end Monday, but after a long day of matches, the two finalists, semi-professional online poker player Leo “Pechorin” Wolpert and EPT co-founder and PokerStars Pro John Duthie, were given a night to rest up before playing out the championship match.

Play in the finals kicked off at noon on Tuesday where the players played a total of three matches before a champion was crowned. While the rest of the tournament was single elimination, the finals were conducted in a best-of-three format.

Wolpert jumped to an early lead in Match One, but doubled Duthie back up to even when his A-Q lost a race to Duthie’s pocket tens. From that point forward, Duthie proceeded to chip away, eventually taking down Match #1 in a matter of 96 hands. The players took a short break and returned for Match #2 which was done in a flash. Match #2 lasted a grand total of nine hands before Wolpert put it away with a monster hand.

With the blinds at 15,000/30.000 Wolpert raised to 90,000 and Duthie called from the big blind. The two then proceeded to get it all-in on the flop with Duthie holding for top pair, top kicker and Wolpert holding for a set of sixes. The set held and Wolpert was right back in the thick of things in a matter of minutes.

The end of the tournament was still a long ways away though. The third and final match lasted an astounding 191 hands and several hours before a winner was determined. On the final hand of play, Wolpert got it all in on a holding for two pair versus Duthie’s for top pair. The treys and fives held to give Wolpert his first WSOP bracelet at his second WSOP final table.

Wolpert, who divides his time between playing online and attending law school at the University of Virginia, was ecstatic after his big win. However, in his post-victory interview he remained level headed about his achievement. “[Life] won’t change”, he explained. “I will have more money in the bank. But I am still going to be in law school next year.” Wolpert is right, he will definitely have more money: he earned $625,682 for his win while Duthie took home $386,636 for second.

Wednesday will see two more bracelets awarded. The twelve players remaining in the $10,000 buy-in World Championship of Limit Hold’em will return at 1PM to play down to a winner. Kenny Hsiung is the current chip leader, but several other known pros including Full Tilt Pros Jennifer Harman and Greg “FBT” Mueller as well as Daniel Alaei and PokerStars Pro Chad Brown remain in the field.

A winner will also be crowned in the $2,000 buy-in No Limit Hold’em Event. Chip leader Jason Boynes and Peter “Nordberg” Feldman are amongst the 19 players still in contention for the bracelet.

With a little more than half of the events in the books, the WSOP has awarded $64,293,644 in cash prizes and drawn 32,136 participants. There are still a couple dozen more tournaments to go, including the Main Event, so expect those numbers to grow substantially as play continues into July.

Tran, Van Alstyne add bracelets WSOP June 16

James Van Alstyne completes the trio of champions as he collected his first bracelet in the $1.5k H.O.R.S.E. event.

Here's how the action went down on a dramatic day at the 2009 WSOP.

Event 29 - $10,000 World Championship Heads-Up NL Hold'em Final Table

256 players entered this event, but just two survived to battle for the bracelet in the final.

Law student Leo Wolpert faced off against EPT founder John Duthie in a best-of-three challenge and a gruelling marathon three matches played out between the pair.

Although Duthie drew first blood, Wolpert won the next two matches to secure the title, collecting $625,682 for his win, as well as his first WSOP bracelet.

Read more about Wolpert's epic contest against Duthie here.

Event 30 - $2,500 Pot-Limit Omaha Final Table

J.C. Tran scored his first bracelet in 2008 and he showed that was no fluke, by picking up number two here in the $2.5k PLO event, winning $235,685 in the process.

He had to beat off a tough field, including John Juanda and Theo Jorgensen to take the title in front of his many enthusiastic fans.

For a full re-cap of this event click here.

Event 31 - $1,500 H.O.R.S.E. Final Table

James Van Alstyne collected the $1.5k H.O.R.S.E. title in Event 31, dusting off a final table that included the combined talents of Shannon Shorr and Brian Micon, amongst others.

Perhaps more impressively, he immediately exorcised any demons he might have had after narrowly missing out on a bracelet just five days ago in the $3k H.O.R.S.E. event.

Van Alstyne collected $247,033 for the win and even gave himself an outside shot at the Player of the Year title following his victory.

Event 32 - $2,000 No-Limit Hold'em Day 2

Despite making a noble attempt to go from 220 players to a final table of nine in Event 32, organizers had to call it a night with 19 players remaining.

The remaining players are relatively unknown although Peter "Nordberg" Feldman is looking to make some noise with 465,000 chips. The chip leader is Mika Paasonen with 894,000 chips.

Play resumes at 1 p.m. tomorrow.

Event 33 - World Championship Limit Hold'em Day 2

Event 33 saw 104 eliminations in one of the most pro-heavy fields of the year. The 12 remaining players are all in the money but most of them are likely thinking about the final table and the WSOP bracelet on the line.

The final table could be a compelling one with Chad Brown, Matt Hawrilenko and Greg Mueller all in the running. Perhaps most interesting is the addition of Maria Ho, who is stacked with nearly 500,000 chips.

Action kicks off at 1 p.m. tomorrow.

Event 34 - $1.5k No Limit Hold'em

2095 players were whittled down to 243 by the close of play on day one of this event and big-field specialist Phil Hellmuth remained in contention come the end of play.

With $521,932 the juicy first prize awaiting the eventual winner, it should be a battle royale for the bracelet over the next few days.

Jeff Carris Tops Jason Somerville for WSOP Shootout Title

Jeff Carris told media members late Friday night that he didn’t normally play tournaments. He then followed that up with, “I should probably start.”

Carris won the $1,500 No Limit Hold’em Shootout at the World Series of Poker, besting a final table of 10 players to earn his first bracelet and a prize of $313,673. The 10 players had each won their first two rounds of one-table shootouts to advance to Friday’s final table.

It was one of the most rambunctious crowds we’ve seen gathered at the secondary featured table during this year’s WSOP as it seemed almost every player had some sort of cheering section. Carris had a large group of friends on the rail dressed in bright orange T-shirts that said, “The Wildcat Jeff Carris”, with a picture of Jeff’s head on the body of a lion.

He fed off that support system to eliminate five players from the final table. The first was Ralph Shannon, whose stack had suffered a big hit early in the day. Shannon moved all in for 117,000 preflop and was called by Carris with pocket Kings. Shannon’s K-Q couldn’t improve and he was sent to the rail in 10th place for $13,609.

After the eliminations of Josh Tieman and Mike McNeil, Carris took out Eugene Katchalov in seventh place. Sitting with just over three big blinds in his stack, Katchalov moved all in preflop and Carris called with K-9. Katchalov’s pocket queens were in great shape until he made a set on the river – which gave Carris the winning straight. The New York City native left the Rio with $29,195 for his three days of work.

Brandon Wong was eliminated in sixth place and Joseph Cutler in fifth. Chris Moore then moved his last 300,000 into the middle preflop with K-J and Carris called with A-9. The flop hit both players, as Carris made top pair and Moore picked up a flush draw, but the turn and river bricked for Moore and he was gone in fourth place.

Andrew Margolis, one of the more excitable players at the final table, was sent home in third place. With the blinds at 15,000/30,000 with a 4,000 ante, Carris raised to 80,000 from the button and Margolis reraised all in for around 600,000 from the small blind. Carris called with A-Q, which was in front of Margolis’ K-8. Neither player connected with the flop but an Ace hit on the turn, leaving Margolis drawing dead and out of the tournament with $124,158.

Somerville began heads up play with a 3-1 chip deficit and it didn’t take long for Carris to get the best of him. Just 20 minutes after Margolis’ elimination, a short-stacked Somerville moved his last chips in preflop with Q-6. Carris called with K-5 and after the dealer revealed the board his King-high was good enough to take down the pot and the title.

Here are the final results from Event #22:

1. Jeffrey Carris - $313,673
2. Jason Somerville - $194,004
3. Andrew Margolis - $124,158
4. Chris Moore - $82,322
5. Joseph Cutler - $56,440
6. Brandon Wong - $39,968
7. Eugene Katchalov - $29,195
8. Michael McNeil - $21,981
9. Joshua Tieman - $17,045
10. Ralph Shannon - $13,609

Two more bracelet winners will be crowned Saturday as play will conclude in the $2,500 Omaha/Seven Card Stud and $1,500 No Limit Hold’em events. Fourteen players will play down to a champion in the Omaha/Stud event. Jon “PearlJammer” Turner finished Day 2 as the chip leader with 465,000 chips; Carlos Mortensen is the next closest with 328,000. Other big names still alive include Phil Ivey, Dutch Boyd, and Chad Brown.

Andy “BKiCe” Seth is the chip leader heading into the final day of the $1,500 NLHE tournament. Seth, a well-known online tournament player, will attempt to outplay the other remaining 18 players and earn himself a payday of $607,256. Others still in the field are Alan Jaffrey, Michael Greco and 2008 WSOP Main Event 10th-place finisher Dean Hamrick.

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

Schulman, Carris take down bracelets WSOP June 13

An especially impressive feat considering Erick Lindgren won POY last year with only 245 points.

Both players outlasted a stacked final table that included Steve Sung, John Juanda, David Benyamine and Rolande de Wolfe.

Click here for an extensive recap of the prestigious event.

Here's a look at what else happened on another busy day at the WSOP:

Event 22 $1,500 Shootout Final Table

The $1,500 Shootout final table didn't have a lot of star power, but you wouldn't have known that by looking at the railbirds.

More than 20 fans donned orange Jeff "Wildcat" Carris t-shirts to cheer on their horse while Chris Moore and Jason Somerville also drew a large crowd of fans.

The screaming was near Main Event level as Carris proceeded to outlast all of his competition, including WPT Five Diamond winner Eugene Katchalov, to take down the bracelet and the $313,673 that came with it.

Event 24 $1,500 No-Limit Day 2

Event 24 was of particular interest to PokerListings' fans because two of our bloggers, Martin Derbyshire and Olle Sundin, were looking to go deep.

Both players made it past the 40-player mark but Sundin busted soon after and Derbyshire ended up coming in 29th. Not bad for the PL.com crew.

Pretty much everyone was excited to see EPT Hostess Kara Scott go deep in the event, but she also busted out around 1 a.m.

By the end of the day, 19 players remained with no big-name pros in the running. Although Dean Hamrick did bubble the 2008 Main Event final table.

Also trying to win the bracelet are Michael Greco, Panayote "Pete" Vilandos and Andy "BKiCe" Seth. Day 3 of Event 24 starts at 1 p.m. sharp tomorrow.

Event 25 $2,500 Omaha/Seven-Card Stud HL/Eight or Better Day 2

Day 2 of Event 25 began with 153 players including pros like Jennifer Harman, Phil Ivey, Gavin Smith and Chau Giang all vying to make another WSOP final table.

They made it all the way down to 14 players before opting to bag up the chips and come back tomorrow for what could be a long Day 3.

Jon "Pearljammer" Turner is your overnight chip leader with 365,000 chips. It could be an epic final table with Ivey, Blair Rodman, Chad Brown, Carlos Mortensen and Dutch Boyd still in the running.

Play resumes at 1 p.m. tomorrow.

Event 26 $1,500 Limit Hold'em Day 1

Event 26 drew 643 players, which once again proves that the No-Limit variant of poker is easily the more popular of the two.

That said, the field was rather compelling with actress Shannon Elizabeth, Lakers owner Jerry Buss and all the usual suspects with Teddy "Iceman" Monroe, Erica Schoenberg, Brock Parker and Barry Greenstein all in the building.

By the end of the day there would still be 124 players remaining with Bill Chen, Justin Bonomo and Nikki Harris all wielding big stacks.

Play resumes at 2 p.m. tomorrow.

Event 27 $5,000 Pot-Limit Omaha Hi-Low Split Eight-or-Better Day 1

For an obscure event with a buy-in of $5,000, Event 27 did very well to bring in 198 runners.

Among the field were well-known pros like Phil Ivey, who multi-tabled Event 25, Barny Boatman, Shannon Shorr, Amnon Filippi, Clonie Gowen, Kathy Liebert, Erick Lindgren and many others.

By the end of the day 60 players were left with the money starting at 18. Daniel Negreanu, Jeffrey Lisandro and Roland De Wolfe were all stacked.

Day 2 starts at 2 p.m. tomorrow.

Wahlbeck domination highlights WSOP June 11

Roland de Wolfe came into the day heading the chip counts and he was still in contention come the close of play, albeit with the short stack.

The big story though was the rise of Ville Wahlbeck, the Finn contending for Player of the Year title, having already won a bracelet and had a 3rd-place finish at this year's series.

He steamrolled his way through the day and will return handily-placed in second when the players take up arms tomorrow, though with talent like John Juanda, David Benyamine and Michael Binger still eyeing up first place, he will have a fight on his hands if he harbors hopes of picking up his second bracelet.

Here's the notable news from the rest of the day at the WSOP.

Event 20: $1,500 Pot Limit Hold'em

The nine players remaining met back up today to play to a finish and all eyes were trained on Erik Seidel as he made his bid for a ninth bracelet.

His bid ended in failure however, as he crashed out 7th and instead it was left to Englishman J.P. Kelly to storm his way to the title, $194,434 in cash and his first WSOP bracelet.

Event 21: $3,000 H.O.R.S.E.

21 players were back to battle for the bracelet today, with Canadian Zac Fellows returning as the chip leader.

Fellows used his stack well to guide himself through to the latter stages, although there were some difficult periods along the way.

Ultimately though, he conquered the final table, putting in an impressive performance heads-up that saw him dominate fellow big stack James Van Alstyne to pick up the title and the bracelet, collecting $311,899.

Event 22: $1,500 No Limit Hold'em Shootout

One hundred players sat back down at 10 tables today as the $1.5k shootout resumed at the Rio. Only one man from each table could survive, meaning by the end of the day, we had our final-table lineup of 10.

Of those, former WPT winner Eugene Katchalov was the most recognizable player in contention, though he can be assured of some stiff competition from Jason Somerville and Brandon Wong when the players return to shoot it out for the bracelet tomorrow.

Event 24: $1,500 No Limit Hold'em

2,000 runners put up the $1.5k to buy themselves a seat at the latest WSOP donkament and after 14 hours of gruelling poker, the vast majority found themselves on the rail.

270 made it past the knee-trembling cash-bubble period however, including Irish Open runner-up Kara Scott, online pwner Chris Moorman and PokerListings' very own Martin Derbyshire.

Other notable names still alive include Eric Liu, Joe Sebok, Nam Le and Cory Carroll.

Event 25: $2,500 Omaha/7-card-Stud-8 Mixed

This mixed event is not the most fashionable of the potential WSOP bracelets on offer, as evidenced by the smallish field of 376 that paid to enter.

Regardless, there were some exciting plays and action seen at the felt today and by the close of play the 155 remaining included such stars as Phil Ivey, Jason Mercier and Chad Brown.

Join Pokerlistings Live Update team for the latest from the Rio as the 2009 WSOP, like the temperature here in Las Vegas, starts to hot up.