Poker News

Vitaly Lunkin Shines in First 2009 WSOP on ESPN Broadcast

The kickoff event of the 2009 World Series of Poker (WSOP) on ESPN played out on Tuesday night, with Russian Vitaly Lunkin taking home $1.9 million from the record $7.7 million prize pool.

Fans of poker on ESPN noticed several stark changes in the 2009 WSOP broadcast compared to years past. 2008 WSOP Main Event Champion Peter Eastgate now appears in the opening credits of the broadcast, which are otherwise the same as last year. The show began by highlighting the 40th running of the WSOP, featuring comments by several pros, including Doyle Brunson, Howard Lederer, Daniel Negreanu, Mike Sexton, Johnny Chan, Chris Ferguson, Annie Duke, Erick Lindgren, Chris Moneymaker, Greg Raymer, Jennifer Harman, Joe Hachem, and Scotty Nguyen. Eastgate’s banner, which hung above the Amazon Room floor at the Rio during the WSOP, was then unveiled.

Jack Link’s Beef Jerky, the presenting sponsor of the 2009 WSOP, received a slew of product placement throughout the show. The foodstuff’s logo appears on the center of the ESPN featured table, on video monitors above it, and in a bevy of graphics during the broadcast. Everest Poker’s name continues to appear in the ring of the table. Commemoration of the 40th WSOP consisted of a series of “40th Annual Memories” vignettes, which honored players who have won three bracelets in one year (Jeffrey Lisandro won a trio in 2009) and Greg Raymer’s deep run in the 2005 Main Event after winning the tournament in 2004.

The hole card camera now bears the presenting sponsor’s name and a Jack Link’s Wild Card Hand of the Day allows viewers at home to see one player’s hand, but not their opponent’s. In one, Raymer held 8-7 of hearts and raised to 250,000 under the gun. Isaac Haxton, whose cards were unknown, asked for a count and then made the call. The flop came 7-7-9 and the action went check-check. The turn came a nine, leading ESPN poker commentator Norman Chad to note, “If Isaac has a small pocket pair or an ace, he’s playing the board.” Haxton checked, Raymer led out for 350,000, and Haxton called. The river was another nine. Haxton checked, Raymer bet 750,000 after seeing his full house counterfeited, and Haxton called, showing A-Q for a chopped pot. On the Wild Card Hand of the Day, Chad noted, “That was fun. We’ve found a whole new way for me to sound stupid.”

For an event featuring a $40,000 buy-in, the average age of the final table was lower than many expected. Six of the nine players were in their 20s, while Raymer, who finished third, was the elder statesman at just 44. Noah Schwartz, who finished eighth, was labeled McLovin during the broadcast due to his striking resemblance to a character in the movie “Superbad.” Lex Veldhuis was cheered on by his girlfriend, Evelyn Ng, as well as Team PokerStars Pro member Maridu Mayrinck and Karina Jett. Raymer’s wife and mother turned out to support him, while Bodog pro Justin “ZeeJustin” Bonomo’s mother and stepfather rooted him on from the rails.

Two one-hour episodes aired on Tuesday night. The second focused on a prop bet by Bonomo that at least one of 43 poker players who live in Panorama Towers in Las Vegas would win a bracelet during the 2009 WSOP. Bonomo gave 7:1 odds on the bet and watched in agony as heads-up action between Lunkin and Panorama Towers’ own Haxton featured several double-ups by the player on the short stack. Besides Haxton and Bonomo, Panorama Towers residents include David Williams, Ng, Barry Greenstein, Joe Sebok, Antonio Esfandiari, Phil Laak, and Veldhuis.

In one of the most memorable heads-up matches in WSOP history, which left viewers on the edge of their seats, Lunkin finally prevailed and banked $1.9 million. Even Chad was rooting his fellow American along. After one double-up by Haxton with K-10 against Lunkin’s aces, Chad yelled, “Take that, you Commies!” Chants of “Russ-i-a” permeated the Amazon Room following Lunkin’s win and WSOP Commissioner Jeffrey Pollack presented the commemorative bracelet to the Russian at the end of the first 2009 WSOP on ESPN broadcast. Here were the final payouts:

1. Vitaly Lunkin - $1,891,012
2. Isaac Haxton - $1,168,566
3. Greg Raymer - $774,927
4. Dani Stern - $548,315
5. Justin Bonomo - $413,166
6. Alec Torelli - $329,730
7. Lex Veldhuis - $277,940
8. Noah Schwartz - $246,834
9. Ted Forrest - $230,317

Other vignettes included Brunson, Adam Schoenfeld, and David Plastik battling in 40th Annual WSOP Trivia during the traditional segment “The Nuts.” Nine questions in three categories were asked, including Main Men, Dynamic Duos, and Famous Firsts. In the end, Schoenfeld prevailed and advanced to the next round.

Poker News Daily has learned that future WSOP episodes will feature sponsored vignettes from PokerStars (called “Straight from the Pros”) and Full Tilt Poker (called “Deal Me In”). Pros from each online poker site will explain why they played a hand a certain way, giving the viewer unique insight. The Wild Card Hand of the Day will also continue to appear in each episode.

Stay tuned for the latest from the 2009 WSOP on Poker News Daily.

NBC’s Face the Ace to Premiere August 1st

In online poker’s version of Iron Chef, Face the Ace will premier on NBC on August 1st. The show will air in the 9:00pm to 10:00pm ET time slot and is hosted by The Sopranos’ Steve Schirripa. It features pros from Full Tilt Poker.

In a conference call earlier this week, Schirripa noted that Face the Ace is the “first of its kind to air in primetime on a broadcast network.” At stake is a chance to win $1 million on national television and the series contains a total of seven episodes. To start Face the Ace, four pros will be stationed behind glass doors, hidden from view by a contestant, who will select one to play in a game of Heads-Up No Limit Hold’em. If a contestant defeats the “ace,” they’ll receive $40,000 for their efforts. They can then elect to keep the $40,000 and walk away or face a second pro for a chance at $200,000. If they win once again, each contestant can take the money or play one last heads-up match for $1 million. If a contestant loses to an “ace” at any time, they’ll forfeit their winnings in a unique all-or-nothing proposition.

Each match that a pro wins means $10,000 will be donated to the charity of their choice. The pros who will participate in NBC’s Face the Ace include some of Full Tilt Poker’s top names: Durrrr Challenge participant Patrik Antonius, Andy Bloch, Allen Cunningham, Chris Ferguson, Phil Gordon, Gus Hansen, Jennifer Harman, 2009 World Series of Poker (WSOP) November Nine member Phil Ivey, 2008 WSOP Europe Main Event winner John Juanda, Howard Lederer, Erick Lindgren, Mike Matusow, reigning National Heads-Up Poker Championship victor Huck Seed, Erik Seidel, and Gavin Smith.

The show is co-hosted by Ali Nejad and Megan Abrigo, who holds case number six on the hit NBC game show Deal or No Deal, is Face the Ace’s hostess. Nejad gave his take on the caliber of contestants that viewers can expect to see: “The qualification process online is difficult. For these guys to have gotten that far - they’re either the luckiest guys we know or they’re good.” Schirripa added, “Personally, I thought some were pretty good. They didn’t seem intimidated and, if they were, they hid it pretty well.”

The show airs on August 1st and August 8th at 9:00pm ET. Then, it airs once per month through January, 2010:

August 1st, 2009 – 9:00pm ET
August 8th, 2009 – 9:00pm ET
September 12th, 2009 – 2:00pm ET
October 31st, 2009 – 3:30pm ET
November 14th, 2009 – 3:00pm ET
December 12th, 2009 – 3:00pm ET
January 2nd, 2010 – 2:30pm ET

Three of the seven episodes have already been filmed, with Schirripa describing the first two primetime broadcasts as opportunities to “test the waters.” When viewers tune in, they’ll witness high-stakes poker and life-changing money on the line. Nejad described what makes Face the Ace resoundingly successful: “There’s no safety net here like there is in other game shows. If you don’t win your match, you lose everything you’ve won. The pressure is really on and this isn’t a cakewalk.”

Face the Ace is not NBC’s first venture into the poker world. The massive U.S. network airs Poker After Dark weekly and the National Heads-Up Poker Championship once per year. Meanwhile, qualification for Face the Ace continues on Full Tilt Poker. The site, which serves as a presenting sponsor of the World Poker Tour (WPT) on Fox Sports Net, is holding Round Two Face the Ace qualifiers tonight at 21:15 ET and August 2nd at 21:15 ET. The next Face the Ace Final Qualifier takes place on August 3rd at 21:15 ET. The two former tournaments have a buy-in of 100 Full Tilt Points, while the Final Qualifier boasts a price tag of 2,500.

We’ll have full details of the inaugural Face the Ace episode right here on Poker News Daily.

Fifth anniversary celebration for Full Tilt Poker!

Full Tilt Poker celebrates their fifth anniversary for the next ten days. The World’s second largest online poker site is going to have a big birthday as they launch five different promotions. You can earn extra Full Tilt Points, boost your bankroll through freerolls and have a shot at Sunday’s major tournaments with raised prize pool.

On Thursday, July 9th, a $20,000 freeroll will start the celebration. After being announced on Wednesday, the event is already sold out at 30,005 players. A disclaimer that appears on Full Tilt Poker’s website notes, “Sorry, the $20K Freeroll has reached the maximum number of players. Registration is now closed.”

Then at next Tuesday, July 14th, Full Tilt is offering their members to earn FTPs five times faster than normally over a 24 hour period. This promotion is valid in any cash game, sit and go and multi-table tournament. Also from July 14th through 19th, all scheduled Happy Hours will award FTPs five times their normal rate.

All the players who missed the $20.000 freeroll can have their shot in $5.000 freerolls that take place every five hours. These special tournaments are scheduled to take place from July 14th to July 19th and the buy-in for each is five FTPs.

Full Tilt will award 5X Bust-Out Bounties from ther pros starting at midnight July 14th. Team Full Tilt members will be signing up to these special tournaments for you to claim your prize. Team Full Tilt pros who are joining the fun are going to be at least these familiar faces: Phil Ivey, Chris Ferguson, John Juanda, Jennifer Harman, Phil Gordon, Erick Lindgren, Erik Seidel, Andy Bloch, Gus Hansen, Mike Matusow, Allen Cunningham, and Patrik Antonius.

July 19th Full Tilt will be adding $700,000 to the prize pools of their Sunday majors. The Sunday Brawl, a $256 buy-in bounty tournament, will have the guarantee raised from $350,000 to $500,000. Every player in the Sunday Brawl has a $40 bounty on their head. The player who gets the most knockouts will earn an entry into the following week’s event.

The regularly scheduled Full Tilt $1 Million Guarantee will have a stunning $1.5 million guaranteed prize pool on July 19th. The Sunday Mulligan will have a raised prize pool as well as Full Tilt is bringing an extra $50.000 to get the pool up to a total of $250.000.

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Fifth anniversary celebration for Full Tilt Poker!

Full Tilt Poker Launches FIVE Promotion for Fifth Birthday

Full Tilt Poker turns five years-old in 2009. For the next 10 days, the world’s second largest online poker site is celebrating in a big way, giving players the ability to earn extra Full Tilt Points (FTPs), boost their bankroll through freerolls, and participate in richer Sunday majors.

On Thursday, July 9th, a $20,000 freeroll will kick off the festivities. After being introduced on Wednesday, the event is already sold out at 30,005 players. A disclaimer that appears on Full Tilt Poker’s website notes, “Sorry, the $20K Freeroll has reached the maximum number of players. Registration is now closed.” The event takes place at 17:05 ET and is one of the largest freerolls ever offered on Full Tilt.

Beginning next Tuesday, July 14th, at 00:05 ET, the online poker room will offer its members an opportunity to earn FTPs five times faster over a 24 hour period. The offer is valid in any cash game, sit and go, or multi-table tournament. From July 14th through 19th, all regularly scheduled Happy Hours will become even happier, as FTPs will be awarded at five times their normal rate. A yellow smiley face symbol will appear next to tables during Happy Hours.

Players shut out of the $20,000 freeroll will undoubtedly be headed in droves to play in $5,000 freerolls that take place every five hours. The tournaments run from 00:05 ET on July 14th through 20:05 ET on July 19th and the buy-in for each is five FTPs. To register, Full Tilt Poker players are advised to head to the Tournament lobby and look for tournaments shaded in pink. Alternately, FTPs can be redeemed in the Full Tilt Store for a variety of merchandise.

Starting at 00:00 ET on July 14th, Full Tilt will award 5X Bust-Out Bounties. Members of Team Full Tilt will be signing up for tournaments with more than 30 players. Knock any of them out and players will take home five times their buy-in as a reward. Tournaments that boast Team Full Tilt members in their field will be shaded in red in the site’s lobby. Those slated to participate include Howard Lederer, 2009 World Series of Poker (WSOP) dual bracelet winner Phil Ivey, Chris Ferguson, 2008 WSOP Europe Main Event Champion John Juanda, Jennifer Harman, Phil Gordon, Erick Lindgren, Erik Seidel, Andy Bloch, Gus Hansen, Mike Matusow, Allen Cunningham, and Patrik Antonius.

On July 19th, Full Tilt will be adding $700,000 to the prize pools of its Sunday majors. The Sunday Brawl, a $256 buy-in bounty tournament, will see its guarantee boosted from $350,000 to $500,000. Each player in the Sunday Brawl has a $40 bounty on his or her head. The player who records the most number of knockouts earns entry into the following week’s event.

The regularly scheduled Full Tilt $1 Million Guarantee will instead boast a $1.5 million guaranteed prize pool on July 19th. The $535 buy-in tournament runs once per month and replaces the $750,000 Guaranteed, which has a price tag of $216. Finally, the purse up for grabs in the $216 buy-in Sunday Mulligan will be $250,000, up from its regular total of $200,000. The Sunday Mulligan serves as one final chance for players to take home a sizable score in a weekend tournament.

Full Tilt Poker is fresh off unveiling the schedule for its 13th Full Tilt Online Poker Series (FTOPS). A total of 25 tournaments will pan out beginning on August 5th and culminating in a $535 buy-in $2.5 million guaranteed Main Event on August 16th. In September, an affordable MiniFTOPS schedule will begin. During FTOPS XII, the MiniFTOPS series ran concurrently with its high-stakes counterpart. This time around, the events will occur one month apart.

Troy Weber Holds Commanding Chip Lead after Day 1D of WSOP Main Event

While Day 1D of the 2009 World Series of Poker Main Event might best be remembered for disarray, it was an industrial salesman from Indiana who swayed the attention of the poker world for at least a moment. Troy Weber, 38, finished the day as the commanding chip leader with 353,000 and was the only player to break the 200,000 chip mark through all four starting days.

Weber held the chip lead late in the evening and managed to add significantly to his advantage by winning a massive pot with just minutes remaining on the clock. The player seated directly to his left had built a stack of 150,000 and the two went to battle for the largest pot of the tournament to date. On a flop of J-8-3 with two hearts, the other player bet 7,000 and Weber check-called. Weber checked again when another eight hit the turn and his opponent bet 11,000. Weber raised to 30,000 and his opponent quickly moved all-in. Weber thought for several minutes before deciding to call. A large crowd gathered as the players revealed their hands:

Weber:
Opponent:

Weber’s trip eights were out in front and he earned the pot when the nine of diamonds landed on the river. Weber now holds one of the largest end of Day One stacks in WSOP history.

Reigning World Champion Peter Eastgate played on Day 1D and took center stage at the ESPN secondary table, where he stayed until the conclusion of play. Eastgate will take 44,725 chips into Day 2. Other former Main Event Champions to take to the felts on Day 1D were Bobby Baldwin and Robert Varkonyi, both of whom survived the day.

The man who took second to Eastgate in last year’s WSOP Main Event, Ivan Demidov, was eliminated. Joining him on the rail were his girlfriend and established poker pro Lika Gerasimova along with Dario Minieri, Huck Seed, Phil “OMGClayAiken” Galfond, Mark Seif, Jeff Madsen, Steve Sung, and Daniel Alaei.

Notable celebrities who played on Day 1D included Ray Romano (actor), Jordan Farmar (Los Angeles Lakers basketball player), Marlon Wayans (actor and comedian), John Salley (former NBA basketball star), Lou Diamond Phillips (winner of “I’m a Celebrity, Get Me Out of Here”), Joseph Kahn, and Sully Erna (musician). Farmar, Wayans, and Phillips survived the day.

The highest-ranked former WSOP gold bracelet winner from Day 1D is Josh Arieh, who hails from Atlanta, Georgia. Arieh, who took third in the 2004 WSOP Main Event for $2.5 million, bagged up 135,700 when play concluded. He doubled his 30,000 starting stack early in the day when he made the nut flush against an opponent’s second nut flush. From there, Arieh coasted to land among the chip leaders.

Here’s a look at how some other notable pros finished on Day 1D:

J.C. Tran – 139,975
Bertrand “ElkY” Grospellier – 127,475
Kirk Morrison – 96,000
Phil Ivey – 84,025
David Benyamine 81,700
Kenny Tran – 65,600
Jen Harman – 61,125
Dave “Devilfish” Ulliott – 59,000
Lee Markholt – 57,350
Tom “durrrr” Dwan – 24,100
Erick Lindgren – 20,450

Players who survived Day 1D will return on July 8th at Noon and merge with the survivors of Day 1C. Tuesday’s Day 2A will combine those that advanced from Days 1A and 1B. Players will take their seats at Noon on Tuesday and play five two-hour levels. Those that make it through will return on July 10 for Day 3, which will combine all of the players in the Main Event for the first time.

Stay tuned to Poker News Daily for continuing coverage of the 2009 WSOP Main Event.

Hundreds left out of 2009 WSOP Main Event

Day 1D is the last first day in the field, meaning that players that haven't registered by today are left out of the Main Event this year.

After a drop off in the numbers from last year on Day 1A and 1B, Day 1C saw a resurgence, with nearly 1,700 entrants.

Day 1D has been an even bigger success, drawing right around 2,809 players at the latest count, bringing the total number of entrants for the 2009 Main Event to 6,494.

The problem? The flood of players has caused Day 1D to sell out, and hundreds of players were turned away today with the Amazon, Brasilia and Miranda rooms full, and even some tables moved out of the Rio Convention Center to the main casino.

The players that did manage to get into the field have created the busiest day yet at the WSOP. Every room is jam packed with tables, ESPN camera crews and spectators.

Bertrand "ElkY" Grospellier was one of the lucky ones to make it into the field on the final day.

"I registered earlier so I didn't have any problem," Grosspellier said. "I do think it's a shame that they had to turn away players for the Main Event."

Day 1A drew 1,116 players, while Day 1B drew only 873 players. With two days in the books, the 2009 Main Event was on pace to have less than 4,000 entrants.

1,696 players bought in for Day 1C, however, and the huge turnout for Day 1D brings the total number of entries to 6,494.

The Main Event drew 6,844 last year and 6,358 players in 2007.

"I think it's pretty good, especially considering the downswing in the numbers for American tournaments," Grospellier said.

"There were very few players for Day 1B, so today is pretty good. I do think it's strange that they have such a difference in the number of players each day."

The massive Amazon Room is tough to navigate, and the atmosphere around the room is hectic and dramatic, particularly around the ESPN feature tables.

Rumor around the WSOP early in the day had it that Patrik Antonius was one of the players that was turned away after Day 1D sold out.

His arch-nemesis from the durrrr Challenge, Tom Dwan, did manage to make it into the field, making a rare real-world appearance with a late entrance into the Miranda room.

Other big names in the field on Day 1D include Erick Lindgren, Vanessa Rousso, Phil Ivey, Dutch Boyd, Kenny Tran, Michael Mizrachi, Jennifer Harman, Marco Traniello, and Cyndy Violette.

Ivey has commanded a lot of attention from the rail and from the ESPN camera crews, and the Full Tilt pro has spent his day away from the feature table and staying out of the limelight as much as possible.

The WSOP has stated that a sell out occurs when 2,800 players enter the field in one day. The final numbers have yet to be released at the time of this writing.

Other notables in the field Monday include 2008 Main Event champ Peter Eastgate, Humberto Brenes, Kathy Liebert, Shawn Sheikan, Mike Wattel, David Chiu and Huck Seed.

Plenty of celebrities were also spotted in the field, including Ray Romano, Marlon Wayans, Shannon Elizabeth and former NBA player John Salley.

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NBC and Full Tilt Poker gear up to film “Face the Ace”

NBC and Full Tilt announced their joint effort to produce Face the Ace, a new concept for a poker show where players who qualify online get to play heads-up against three Full Tilt pros for a $1,000,000 prize.

This is how NBC described the show’s concept:

If selected to be a participant on the show, the contestant will have to choose between four smoked-glass doors, behind which are four top professional poker players, or the “Aces.”  Once one is chosen, the contestant will play that pro in a heads-up No-Limit Texas Hold’em match.  Should the contestant defeat the pro, they will have the opportunity to take the money they have won and leave or risk it all and choose another door and battle a different pro for a significantly larger sum of money.

Some of the poker pros rumored to stand at some point or another behind the doors are Gus Hansen and Phil Ivey (both of whom feature prominently in the show’s advertising,) Chris “Jesus” Ferguson, Jennifer Harman, Erick Lindgren, Phil Gordon, Erik Seidel, Allen Cunningham, Andy Bloch, John Juanda, Mike Matusow, Patrik Antonius and Howard Lederer. The show will be hosted by Steve Schirripa, star of the popular series “The Sopranos.”

The best part of the Face the Ace promotion is that it’s completely free: the classification tournaments are all freerolls, which will progress as follows:

• Face the Ace – Round 1 Freerolls are available around the clock; the winner of each Round 1 Freeroll earns an entry to a Face the Ace – Round 2 Freeroll
• The winner of each Round 2 Freeroll advances to a Face the Ace – Final Qualifier tournament
• The next Face the Ace – Final Qualifier tournament takes place at 9:15 p.m. ET on Monday, July 6; the top ten finishers in each Final Qualifier win a free prize package, which includes a trip to Las Vegas and an audition for Face the Ace.

All winners will be flown to Vegas with one guest, and lodged at the iconic Golden Nugget for 5 days and 4 nights, where they will get $500 spending money and their chance to audition for NBC’s new poker show.

Filming is expected to start next week, and Face the Ace will premiere on NBC on Saturday, August 1st at 9:00 pm ET. Seven one-hour episodes of Face the Ace are currently booked, and they will show from the prime-time August 1st debut through January 2nd, 2010.

There is still time to catch a seat in the Face the Ace satellites and show Phil Ivey and Gus Hansen who’s boss. For more information visit www.face-the-ace.com

WSOP 2009 by the numbers

2009 might be forever remembered as the summer of multiple bracelets. Although every year since 2000 has seen one player with two bracelets, there's never been a year quite like this.

First, Brock Parker (infamous on PokerStars under the handle t_soprano) won a pair by taking down bracelets in back-to-back six-handed Hold'em events.

After winning his first bracelet of 2009, Phil Ivey shocked the poker world by claiming he would win a second in under two weeks. He accepted any bet players were willing to throw at him then made good on his claim, winning his second just 10 days after the first.

If you hadn't heard the name Lisandro before the 2009 WSOP, you've heard it now. Not only was Jeffrey "The Stud King" Lisandro the third player to win a second bracelet in 2009, he became the first to win a third. All three of his bracelets have come from 7-Card variations.

Finally, the latest player to double down was Full Tilt Pro Greg "FBT" Mueller. Mueller, whose nickname is an acronym for "Full Blown Tilt," has managed to keep his tilt under control, making 2009 the year he won both his first and second WSOP bracelets.

The Dominance of the U.S and A

When it comes to the race for bracelets by country, the USA has absolutely decimated the rest of the globe. With 33 won so far, the USA has almost double the number of bracelets than the rest of the world combined.

Nation	Bracelets
United States	33
Canada	3
United Kingdom	3
Australia	2
Russian Federation	1
Finland	1
Sweden	1
Mexico	1
Italy	1
Holland	1
Hungary	1
Iran	1
Germany	1

Note: Last year 19 of the 59 gold bracelet events were won by non-Americans.

Year of the Pro

Most likely due to the increased starting stack sizes and added blind levels, 2009 has seen the poker professionals dominating over the amateurs. Out of the 51 bracelets awarded this year, 37 have been won by professionals and 7 by semi-professionals.

More WSOP 2009 By the Numbers (Note: all following stats exclude event #49):

Most Cashes:

Darryll Fish	7
Fabrice Soulier	6
Jeffrey Lisandro	6
Daniel Negreanu	6
Brock Parker	6
Anthony Cousineau	6
David Fox	6
Barry Greenstein	6
Mitchell Schock	5
John Monnette	5
Ville Wahlbeck	5
Roland DeWolfe	5
Neil Channing	5
Nikolay Evdakov	5
Alexander Kravchenko	5
Phil Ivey	5
Robert Mason	5
Michael Binger	5
Ken Lennaard	5
Clark Hamagami	5

Most Final Table Appearances:

Mark Gregorich	3
John Juanda	3
Jeffrey Lidandro	3
Greg Mueller	3
Phil Ivey	3
Ville Wahlbeck	3

 

Most Events Played:

Nikolay Evdakov	33
Nikolay Isra	32
Jacobo Fernandez	29
Daniel Negreanu	28
Andrew Black	28
Erick Lindgren	28
Amnon Filippi	28
Daniel Heimiller	27
Soheil Shamseddin	27
Andrew Bloch	27
Gavin Smith	27
Tad Jurgens	26
Frank Kassela	26
Marco Traniello	26
Richard Geyer	26
Michael Binger	25
Jason Mercier	25
Chris Bjorin	25
Shannon Shorr	25
David Singer	25
Ryan Hughes	25
Berry Johnston	25
Michael Leah	25

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PokerRoad captures WSOP big picture

The popular multimedia site continues to reinvent the way poker tournaments are covered with its innovative PokerRoad Nation Photo Blog.

Taking inspiration from mainstream media and print sources, the blog seeks to provide a photo essay showcasing the highlights of each tournament day at the World Series of Poker.

It's the brainchild of PokerRoad president Joe Sebok, veteran tournament reporter BJ Nemeth and PokerRoad Nation maestro Jeff Holsey.

"We wanted to take the lead of Sports Illustrated and the Boston Globe's Big Picture," Sebok told PokerListings.com.

"It's basically us trying to tell the story of what goes on at the WSOP through these big high-resolution photos."

Nemeth takes the bulk of the pictures, which range from standard tournament fare to human-interest and lifestyle shots.

A recent album focused on pro Daniel Negreanu's charity golf tournament, featuring pros like Scotty Nguyen and Erick Lindgren.

"We're trying to catch the excitement of what goes on at these tournaments as well as outside of them," Sebok said.

According to Sebok, the genesis of the project sprang from Nemeth and Holsey's background in traditional tournament reporting.

"I think the inspiration came from them doing tournament coverage and wanting to do something different and wanting to push the envelope," he said.

Nemeth is understandably proud of his work.

"It takes a long time to shoot, sort, process, upload and caption the best possible photos to tell the story of each day at the World Series of Poker," he recently wrote on Tao of Poker. "But it only takes five minutes to check them out each day."

As with many of PokerRoad's innovations, reactions to the blog have been positive.

"People love it. People absolutely love it," Sebok said. "I think everyone from [WSOP commissioner] Jeffrey Pollack to all of these different players have all told us they love it.

"It's something you can check out to see what's going on day after day."

Check out the PokerRoad Nation Photo Blog and hear PokerListings.com on PokerRoad Radio at PokerRoad.com.

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No chance for rebuys at 2009 WSOP

There isn't a single rebuy event at the 2009 WSOP.

The closest thing to a rebuy event this year is the $3k Triple Chance No-Limit Hold'em event, which began Sunday with a field of more than 800 players.

Eliminating the rebuy tournaments has sparked much debate around the 2009 WSOP.

"They should have kept the rebuy events," said Mike "The Mouth" Matusow, who didn't buy in for the Triple Chance event.

The Triple Chance format has been used before for Pot-Limit Omaha events but this event marks the first time it's been used for No-Limit Hold'em.

Players get 9,000 in chips total but can choose to access the chips in increments of 3,000 up until the cutoff point. Entrants are given an initial 3,000 chips and have two special rebuy chips that they can turn in at any time for an additional 3,000 per chip.

This format adds a new dimension of strategy, as players can choose to get all 9,000 chips right at the beginning, or sit at 3,000 and save the Triple Chance chips as protection against bad beats.

"It's a fun thing," said Daniel Negreanu during a break. "For one thing it adds skill to the event, because it offers people a chance to decide how they want to play their stacks, a little bit more like simulating the cash game in a sense."

"It's kind of a unique structure. We have so many events, 57 bracelet events, so it's kind of fun to throw one in there like that."

Negreanu was one of the biggest names to advocate the elimination of the rebuy events for 2009.

"I was a big proponent of getting rid of the rebuy events," Negreanu said. "For a world championship event, everyone should be on equal footing. Everyone in an event should have an equal chance based not on how rich they are."

The event has drawn an all-star lineup, including Erick Lindgren, who spent the afternoon multi-tabling between Triple Chance and $50k H.O.R.S.E.

Other entrants include John Juanda, Antonio Esfandiari, Ivan Demidov, Mike Sexton, Jeffrey Lisandro, Eli Elezra, Jason Mercier and many others.

Negreanu spoke out against the rebuy events before this year's WSOP, with the philosophy that players shouldn't be able to "buy" a bracelet by pouring big money into a rebuy events.

Matusow is amongst the contingent that disagrees.

"Not having the rebuy ruins some of the events," Matusow said.

The $3k Triple Chance No-Limit Hold'em event will continue for two more days culminating in a final table on Tuesday night that will award a WSOP bracelet.

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Jeffrey Lisandro Interview with Poker News Daily

Jeffrey “Iceman” Lisandro accomplished a feat that many thought would be difficult to achieve in the post-Moneymaker era of the World Series of Poker (WSOP)—win three bracelets in a single year. Lisandro did just that, taking down Stud, Stud Hi/Lo and Razz events to make him the undisputed Stud games champion of 2009.

We caught up with Lisandro shortly before his second bracelet ceremony to talk about his amazing Series so far as well as the reasoning behind alternating between the Australian and Italian national anthems at his numerous bracelet ceremonies.

Poker News Daily: Congratulations on winning your second bracelet this year and your third career bracelet. After you won the first one a few weeks ago, did you expect to win another bracelet this year?

Jeffrey Lisandro: I thought it was going to be close, to be honest. I was really trying hard and I thought this (the Stud H/L Championship) would be my best chance. I was playing well.

PND: All of your bracelets are in Stud events. Do you consider yourself to be one of the premiere Stud players in the world?

Lisandro: Not really, no.

PND: You don’t think it is your best game?

Lisandro: I think I play all games well, but it just worked out that I’ve done better in the Stud events.

PND: Do you have a preference between Stud Hi and Stud H/L?

Lisandro: Yeah, I prefer the Stud Hi. I can play my opponent better.

PND: You’ve really excelled in the $10,000 buy-in Championship events. Do the bracelets mean more to you when you win them in a smaller field, but one packed with tough competition than winning one in a large field No Limit Hold’em event?

Lisandro: I don’t really enjoy playing No Limit Hold’em. I’ll play any game except No Limit Hold’em. I’ve been avoiding the No Limit Hold’em events so far this year.

PND: Is it nice to have so many alternatives to Hold’em at this year’s WSOP?

Lisandro: Yeah. I like the higher buy-ins and being able to play different games.

PND: It also seems to be helping you and Barry Greenstein in your bet with Daniel Negreanu and Erick Lindgren about which pair will turn out better results.

Lisandro: Yeah, we’re doing really well now. We’re pretty far in the lead now, but we’re not giving up. We can’t slack off because the two guys are capable of catching up and beating us. There are still enough tournaments left that if we were to stop now we might lose, so we’ve got to keep going and get a couple more results.

PND: Do these prop bets help motivate you more to play all the events in the Series?

Lisandro: They do, definitely. Barry’s really motivated, he wants to do well and so do I, but Barry more so because he wants to pull his end (of the bet).

PND: Are you going to put the pressure on him to match your results?

Lisandro: (laughs) No, no I’m not going to put the pressure on him. He’ll do better without pressure. You know, it just works out that you can have a good year, you can have a bad year. If you look at his results over a period of time, he’s right up there.

PND: We heard you were going to have the Italian national anthem played at your second bracelet ceremony of the year. How important is it to you to pay homage to all the different places you call home?

Lisandro: Very important. I’m very happy I won two bracelets this year because I consider myself an Australian-Italian and a lot of Italians don’t cope too well with the fact I say I’m Italian, but I’m Italian. I’m an Italian citizen, I have an Italian passport and other nations aren’t like America. In America, it doesn’t matter where you came from, you’re an American. One thing I value is my citizenship and the fact that I wasn’t born in Italy, but I am Italian. So, I am going to play the Italian national anthem today not for the guys who knock me, but for myself and for my country.

PND: Well congratulations again and enjoy your bracelet ceremony.

Millions bet on WSOP side action

The seasoned poker pro wants a little more action, something a little more immediate.

Enter the world of high stakes bets at the WSOP.

Every year the top name pros gamble more money than the entire prize pool of a standard $1,500 tournament on various bets throughout the series.

Perhaps the most well-known bet is the bracelet bet. This is one of the most straightforward bets.

Daniel Negreanu has a very well-publicized bracelet bet with Phil Ivey where every time one of them wins a WSOP event the other has to pay them $200,000.

Negreanu is already $400,000 in the hole, despite very nearly adding a bracelet of his own this summer.

Although bracelet bets are one of the most common, Team PokerStars Pro Barry Greenstein mentioned the wagers are always progressing.

"The bets have changed over time," Greenstein said. "The first couple years I started playing tournament poker we were all crossbooking various tournaments. My first bracelet that I won I had it crossbooked with Doyle Brunson so he had to pay me an extra 50% of first place. After that time we mostly did bracelet bets."

Because the wagers are so high between professional poker players they can sometimes dwarf the first place prize of a WSOP tournament.

In 2007 it was well publicized when Eli Elezra won his first bracelet he made an extra $250,000 thanks to a 10-1 bet with Greenstein. The first place prize for the event that Elezra won was just $198,984.

This year Phil Ivey has already two bracelets and poker gossip sources have Ivey winning anywhere from $2 million to $14 million thanks to extremely high stakes bets with other poker pros.

"Yeah I make a bracelet bet every now and then," said Ivey. "It's working out now but I've also lost a lot on them too. You win a bet, you lose a bet. That's my lifestyle."

Greenstein and fellow pros like Erick Lindgren, Jeffrey Lisandro and Negreanu have also introduced bets based on WSOP Player of the Year points.

"It just seemed to be a good overall player bet if you're thinking about what to bet on," said Greenstein. "Rarely do you win a bracelet so don't get much action if you just make a bracelet bet."

It was either POY points or overall cash-winnings, Greenstein expalined.

"The problem with doing cash is that whoever goes deep in the $50,000 H.O.R.S.E. or the $40,000 No-Limit Hold'em this year will have a huge edge because it's a much bigger prize pool. There's not much sweat in that."

Perhaps the most well-known example of this POY based-bet is one that Greenstein made.

"My biggest bet is with Jeffrey Lisandro against a team of Daniel Negreanu and Erick Lindgren," said Greenstein. "It's been close throughout the summer."

As of June 23, Negreanu and Lindgren had accrued 195 points while Team Greenstein/Lisandro were finally starting to pull away with 310 points, thanks in most part to the two WSOP bracelets won by Lisandro.

Tournament veteran Mike Sexton is convinced that it's these kinds of bets that keep the high-caliber pros out of the cash games and in WSOP events.

"Their incentive is the millions and millions in side bets," Sexton said. "That's what brings all the big names out here."

The incentive to win WSOP bracelets makes pros go to extreme lengths, including playing several tournaments at once and even holding on to just barely make the cash to accumulate more POY points if need be.

"I need the points, man!" said an excited Negreanu as he held on for a small cash in the $2,500 Pot-Limit Omaha/Hold'em event earlier this summer.

Between crossbooking, bracelet bets and POY bets, there's almost no limit to the methods poker pros can win or lose money at the WSOP.

It's really anybody's guess what angle poker pros will work into the next big bet, but one thing is clear - there will never be a dull moment at the WSOP.

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First bracelet of 2009 for Holland WSOP June 21

Naalden outlasted a field of 446 players to take his first WSOP title in the $2k Limit Hold'em event. The Dutch native takes home $190,770 for the first-place finish.

Naalden isn't very well known in the U.S., but he's earned more than $1 million in tournaments since turning pro in 2005.

Naalden had previously cashed five times at the WSOP, including one final table appearance.

"It's great," said the 40-year-old pro. "This is my fourth WSOP. I have played in a lot of events ... and third place was my best finish."

"It is very hard to win a WSOP event. Finally, after all of those efforts, it feels fantastic."

Naalden went into the final table with a sizeable chip lead and never looked back, eventually outlasting Steven Cowley in heads-up play.

"Yeah, you tend to over-exaggerate your chances because you have a big chip lead," Naalden said.

"But (I) only had 25 percent of the chips in play. So, I have only about a 25 percent chance of winning," he said

"And, plus the fact there are quite a few strong players - so I thought to myself, don't get too excited. But I went on a big heater."

Cowley cashes for $117,902 in second place, while former WSOP bracelet winner Ian Johns placed third.

Negreanu, who won this event last year, finished 26th.

Hellmuth finished in the money in 17th place, giving him 72 career cashes at the WSOP, the most all time.

Event 39 - $1,500 No Limit Hold'em

The latest $1,500 No Limit event began with another huge field, but now the original 2,715 have been whittled down to the last two tables.

Amazingly Nam Le was playing this event and the $10k Pot-Limit Omaha World Championship simultaneously all day long.

Notable names still in it include Raymond Davis, former WPT Championship winner Joe Bartholdi, Brandon Cantu, Alex Jacob and Benjamin Kang.

The bracelet will be awarded tomorrow, with play beginning at 2 p.m.

Event 40 - $10k World Championship Pot Limit Omaha

The $10k PLO championship is among the most prestigious events for the serious pro and this year saw another absolutely stacked field.

Nam Le was the unfortunate bubble boy in this event, having multi-tabled it along with the $1,500 No-Limit Hold'em event.

Erick Lindgren was next out as the first person to get paid.

Noah "fouruhaters" Schwartz is the overwhelming chip lead with Euros Stefan Mattsson, Marcus Golser, Vitaly Lunkin and Robin Keston close behind.

Matt Vengrin, Josh Arieh, Matt Graham, Barry Greenstein, Howard Lederer, David Williams and Nenad Medic are representing North America in the playdown to the final table, beginning at 2 p.m.

Click through for full live updates.

Event 41 - $5k No Limit Hold'em Shootout

Many big names started amongst the field of 280, but few made it to Day 2.

Phil Ivey will be going for bracelet number three of 2009 with Jennifer Harman, Barny Boatman, David "The Dragon" Pham and Neil Channing still in the hunt.

30 players are coming back at 2 p.m.

Event 42 - $2,500 Mixed Event

It's another all-star field for the $2,500 Mixed Event.

The mixed games seem to be a format that the pros love, and this tournament is no exception.

Day 1 kicked off today with Daniel Negreanu, Jennifer Harman, Gavin Smith, Phil Hellmuth, J.C. Tran and a host of other big names in the field.

Play resumes at 2 p.m. Monday, and the event is scheduled to play down to a final table, which will be played Tueday.

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More chips, more pro bracelets at 2009 WSOP

Powered by the dreams of amateur players watching at home Moneymaker's improbable victory transformed the WSOP into a spectacle that no one thought possible a decade ago.

As a result, amateur players have converged en masse on the WSOP in the last six years, making it tougher and tougher for the established pros to win bracelets.

This year, however, the professional poker player is making a comeback.

Phil Ivey has led the charge for the pros, winning a pair of bracelets in $2,500 Deuce to Seven Draw Lowball and $2,500 Omaha/Seven Card Stud Hi-Lo.

Jeff Lisandro, J.C. Tran and Greg Mueller have all won bracelets, while EPT circuit pro Ville Wahlbeck leads the Player of the Year standings, with Ivey close behind.

Some pros, like WPT pioneer Mike Sexton, attribute the resurgence of the pros to the larger starting stacks at many bracelet events this year.

"It's because they tripled our chip stacks. Absolutely," Sexton said minutes before sitting down for the $10k Seven Card Stud Hi-Lo World Championship event.

"They doubled the starting stacks last year and none of the pros really got through. This year you're really seeing what some of the pros can do with the triple stacks."

Ivey has commented that he's taking bracelet events more seriously in 2009, thanks to a renewed respect for poker history. With seven bracelets already in the bag, Ivey is starting to gain on Phil Hellmuth's record setting 11 bracelets.

Aside from the glory associated with winning bracelet events, some of the pros have plenty of other reasons to bring the "A" game to the WSOP.

"Their incentive is the millions and millions in side bets," Sexton said. "That's what brings all the big names out here."

One well-known bet standing at the 2009 WSOP involves Negreanu and Erick Lindgren taking on Lisandro and Barry Greenstein in a wager involving the Player of the Year standings.

Other pros such as Wahlbeck, John Brock Parker and James Van Alstyne might not be as well known as some of the more famous TV pros, but each is in the top five in the POY standings.

PokerListings.com blogger Jason Mercier is another pro who's having a big year in 2009, taking his first career bracelet in the $1,500 Pot Limit Omaha event.

Mercier isn't surprised that the pros are on the comeback trail this year.

"I think it's just kind of random," Mercier said. "I think with some of the bigger buy-in tournaments you have less amateurs in the field anyway. And a lot of these online kids have really done well."

On his way to the $10k Stud World Championship, Mercier contemplated Sexton's comment about the larger starting chip stacks and mostly agreed.

"That may be it," Mercier said. "Having that increase in chips does probably make it more favorable for the pros."

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WSOP Player of the Year Race Update

The World Series of Poker POTY points race is an eagerly-anticipated part of the series for many pros. In the past few years Daniel Negreanu, Allen Cunningham and Erick Lindgren have all nabbed the title.

Tomas Alenius Wins WSOP $1,500 Limit Holdem; Johnny Chan Eyes Bracelet #11

There was no rest for players on Sunday in the Amazon Room at the Rio All-Suite Hotel and Casino in Las Vegas, as the 2009 World Series of Poker (WSOP) drives into its third week of competition.

One final table on Sunday featured the survivors of the $1,500 Limit Hold’em tournament, Event #26 on this year’s WSOP schedule. After fighting through the original field of 643 players, 15 players came back to the felt to divvy up the lion’s share of the $844,000 prize pool and determine the latest bracelet winner in Sin City. The players went to work immediately and, with the high blinds, determined the final table within the first hour of play when Full Tilt Poker’s Richard “Quiet Lion” Brodie was the final table bubble boy in 10th place.

Leading the pack into the final table was veteran poker professional Al “Sugar Bear” Barbieri, who started the day’s play with the chip lead and added to it by eliminating three of the six players who left prior to the final table. He was followed on the leader board by Glenn Englebert and Tomas Alenius, who were within striking distance of Barbieri.

From the start, play was frenetic, as the field was cut to five players within the first hour of final table action. Barbieri maintained his lead, but was now being chased by Jason Tam and the aforementioned Alenius. After “Sugar Bear” dropped a few hands in a row, Alenius seized the lead and put more distance between himself and the remaining players by eliminating Englebert in fourth place. Down to three-handed action, the remaining players - Tam, Alenius and Barbieri - were separated by a mere 120,000 chips.

After the dinner break, Barbieri was eliminated in third place. Tam held nearly a 3:1 lead over Alenius as heads-up play began, but the Swede began to chip into that lead almost immediately. Thirty minutes into heads-up play, Alenius took the chip lead, only to see Tam seize it back on the very next hand. The two would swap the lead between each other until, after nearly an hour of play, Alenius rivered a full house against Tam that crippled him and gave Alenius a 3:1 advantage.

On the last hand, Tam got his chips into the center pre-flop when he capped the betting and showed . Alenius was more than willing to gamble with and, once the board blanked for both players, Alenius won the $1,500 Limit Hold’em title. For his efforts, the Swede banked a payday of $197,488 and his first WSOP bracelet.

Two tournaments will play down to their champions on Monday with Day Three action in Event #28, a $1,500 No Limit Hold’em contest, and Event #29, the $10,000 World Championship Heads-Up No Limit Hold’em. In Event #28, 27 players remain from the 2,638 who started the tournament on Saturday. Joe Simmons, who has six cashes in his WSOP career, has the chip lead and is the only player over a million in chips. His closest competitor is Jason “JP_OSU” Potter, who is stacked with 929,000 chips.

While this tournament is battling to its final table, much of the attention of the fans in the Amazon Room may be taken by Event #29. After 12 hours of play, eight players remain from the original 256 player field and WSOP history could possibly be in the making. Legendary professional Johnny Chan is one of those remaining in the Elite Eight, looking to earn his record-tying 11th WSOP bracelet. The field will be tough, however, as the brackets match up as such when play continues this afternoon:

Leo Wolpert versus Dustin “Neverwin” Woolf
Jamin Stokes versus Johnny Chan
Nathan Doudney versus Bryan Pellegrino
John Duthie versus Steve O’Dwyer

Of the remaining players in Event #29, Duthie and Woolf have the most professional experience other than Chan. Duthie is a legendary European pro with a lengthy track record and Woolf brings 15 cashes in his WSOP career to the battle. The action will kick off at 2:00pm Pacific Time.

Two tournaments pick up this afternoon after finishing their Day One proceedings early Monday morning. In Event #30, a $2,500 Pot Limit Omaha tournament, 63 players remain from the original starting grid of 436. Such pros as Barry Greenstein, 2008 WSOP Player of the Year Erick Lindgren, Katja Thater, and Daniel Negreanu will not be around for Day Two play, but 2008 WSOP Europe champion John Juanda, Hendon Mobster Ross Boatman, and 2009 WSOP double bracelet winner Phil Ivey are still in the hunt. The field will crack the 45 player money bubble this afternoon and may be down to the final table before the 3:00am WSOP curfew.

Event #31, the $1,500 HORSE tournament, drew a surprising 770 players for its Day One action. Per the nature of the game that is said to be the test of a poker player’s abilities, approximately 240 survived to play down to the final table.  At this point, Ireland’s Andy Black is the chip leader.

Two more tournaments are scheduled for their Day One premieres on the WSOP stage. Event #32, the $2,000 No Limit Hold’em tournament, and the $10,000 World Championship Limit Hold’em (Event #33) will both kick off today in the Amazon Room. Play begins in these tournaments at Noon Pacific Time.

The WSOP is ready for the potential for history to be made once again. Can Chan tie Phil Hellmuth for the all-time WSOP bracelet lead? Poker News Daily will have reports on not just Chan’s pursuit, but all of the WSOP action as it happens.

Schulman, Carris take down bracelets WSOP June 13

Schulman finished first in the $10,000 World Championship 2-7 final table with Wahlbeck taking second to grab control of the WSOP Player of the Year leaderboard with 255 points.

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.

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Lisandro crushes, Baron downed at 2009 WSOP June 9

Lisandro entered the final table of Event 16 $1,500 Seven-Card Stud as one of the favorites but he had to contend with skilled players like John Juanda and Nick Frangos in his bracelet-winning attempt.

Lisandro proved to be more than any of the players could handle and after a brief heads-up battle against Rod Pardey he earned his second Seven-Card Stud WSOP bracelet. Lisandro also picked up a cool $124,959 for his efforts.

Check out a full recap of Lisandro's big win here.

Here's a look at the other big headlines on June 9 at the 2009 WSOP:

Event 15 $5,000 No-Limit Hold'em

Many people say Isaac "westmenloAA" Baron is the future of poker but that future was delayed at least for awhile on Monday.

Baron came into the final table as one of the chip leaders but was quickly overshadowed by relatively unknown players Fabian Quoss and Brian Lemke. Lemke ended up beating Quoss heads-up to take down the bracelet.

Check out the news section for more on Event 15.

Event 18 $10,000 World Championship Omaha-8

Day 2 of the Championship Omaha-8 event began with 129 players and the seemingly impossible task of setting a final table by the end of the day.

Indeed the final table proved to be a pipe dream for WSOP organizers and by the time 3 a.m. rolled around there were still 17 players remaining. Organizers decided to bring them all back tomorrow and play all the way down to a winner.

The event was stacked with well-known pros like Phil Hellmuth, Phil Ivey and Daniel Negreanu all in the running.

Unfortunately Hellmuth and Ivey were eliminated before the end of the day but Negreanu, Annie Duke, Alexander Kravchenko, Daniel Alaei and several others still remain. Perhaps most impressive is Finn Ville Wahlbeck who is within striking distance of another bracelet just days after winning his first one.

Day 3 of the event starts at 12 p.m. tomorrow. Check PokerListings.com for live updates.

Event 17 $1,000 Ladies No-Limit Hold'em

There usually aren't that many recognizable players by the time the final table of the ladies event is set and that was certainly the case at this year's event.

J.J. Liu nearly made the final table but she busted out in 13th. Texan Lori Bender will take the chip lead into the final table with 643,000 to her name.

The final table begins tomorrow at 2 p.m.

Event 19 $2,500 No-Limit Hold'em/6-handed

Six-handed poker is always action-packed and Day 1 of Event 19 was certainly that. The event drew 1,068 runners to start the day but by 2 a.m. only 288 remained.

It's way too early to even start to pick favorites in the event but Erick Lindgren, Layne Flack and Humberto Brenes all built sizable stacks.

Day 2 kicks off at 2 p.m. tomorrow.

Check out more in the PokerListings.com 2009 WSOP section.

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Negreanu hunts fifth bracelet in $2.5k limit

This time, however, there's more than just a bracelet on the line.

"Let's just say that me winning is extremely important," he told PokerListings.

A series of high-stakes prop bets between Negreanu, Phil Ivey and a host of other top pros has added extra spice to the contest.

"I've got the standing $200,000 per bracelet bet with Ivey and I have a lot of standing prop bets with me and Erick Lindgren against a lot of teams," said Negreanu.

"Mainly it's me against Barry Greenstein and Jeffrey Lisandro. There's a lot of different bets going on, but trust me, it's a lot."

At last year's series, Negreanu came out on top in the prop-bets, winning the $2k Limit Hold'em event for a bumper $200k bonus while Ivey left the series empty-handed.

However, this year has been a different matter so far.

Ivey threw the gauntlet down Thursday, blitzing his way to a sixth bracelet and taking the lead in their personal head-to-head battle.

Never one to shirk a challenge, Negreanu has responded instantly, powering his way through to the brink of another WSOP final table.

Given Negreanu has won two of his four bracelets at Limit Hold'em, it is no surprise he is excelling once again at this variant of the game.

"It's the game I used to play back when I was a professional poker player," he joked.

"I'm really comfortable and it really is a game I have played more hands in than anything else. I grew up playing it."

As the event played down to eleven players early Sunday morning, Negreanu claimed he'd figured out Limit Hold'em's big secret.

"The secret is this: The online world has a view of how Limit Hold'em should be played - six handed especially," he said. "You know, they're wrong, especially when it comes to tournaments - and I'm right.

"They're wrong about certain aspects about what they think is mandatory, and what they think is the right way to play in terms of being out of position."

To follow Negreanu's progress in the $2k limit check PokerListings' WSOP live updates.

- With files from Ed Sevillano

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$10k Mixed event attracts cream of WSOP crop

The event uses a format where eight game variations are played at each level. The levels start with a mixed round of Deuce to Seven Triple Draw, Limit Hold'em and Omaha Eights or Better.

The next mixed round includes Razz, Stud and Stud 8, and the final mixed round of each level involves the big bet games, No Limit Hold'em and Pot Limit Omaha.

With eight different games in the mix, some pros admit that their skill level in some games is higher than in others.

"This one here is a really interesting one," said Gavin Smith. "This one puts a lot of weight on big bet games.

"No Limit Hold'em and Pot Limit Omaha are a lot more dangerous than all the Limit games. I think you have to be a lot more careful when you're playing the big bet games."

Smith spent some of Day 1 near the chip lead, but a tough run toward the end of the night left him short-stacked for Day 2.

"Al the guys that play the Big Game will have an advantage because they play these games all the time," Smith said. "The guys that you expect to go deep will probably be the guys that are going deep."

David Oppenheim enters Day 2 of the event with the chip lead, followed closely by Daniel Negreanu and Jimmy "Gobboboy" Fricke.

Negreanu told PokerListings he feels the mixed-game format suits him well. Despite entering late because of his participation in the $10,000 Seven Card Stud World Championship, he quickly worked his way up the leader board on Day 1.

"I came in 43rd in ($10,000 Seven Card Stud) so I started late, but I still was able to do really well," he said. "I'm more than comfortable, feel good, ready to kick ass.

"I play these games all the time. That's what I used to do for a living when I played poker for a living. So I feel more than comfortable playing all those games. I feel like a big favorite usually."

Fricke was all business at his table in the minutes before the start of Day 2.

"I feel like I have an edge in some of the games," he said. "I've played the same mix on PokerStars for the last couple of months.

"I feel like there are a lot of people that are strong in two or three games, and then the rest of them they're kind of just working their way through."

"PLO is my strongest game by far. No Limit I have a big edge. People have different skill sets, and I feel like I match up well against the field."

Lots of big names remain in the field, including Scotty Nguyen, Jennifer Harman, Jeff Lisandro, Allen Cunningham, Doyle Brunson, Todd Brunson, Erick Lindgren and Huck Seed.

The event is scheduled to play to the Final Table tonight before crowning a champion Saturday.

Check out the live updates for details.

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Stud legend’s win headlines WSOP June 3rd

Ellis, 76, is a legend in the underground stud games on the East Coast, having taken up poker after making his fortune in New York City as a real estate broker.

He'd moved to New York to pursue a career as a singer.

Ellis told PokerListings.com he was very excited to win a bracelet in only his second Seven-Card Stud tournament, but that the joy of victory was tempered by the recent loss of his wife, Barbara.

"She would always go with me whenever I played poker in Atlantic City or Las Vegas," he said. "I didn't know how I could go on without her."

Drache, meanwhile, is the much-respected former card room manager at the Golden Nugget and Mirage Casinos and the inventor of tournament satellites and ante structures, among other things.

He took $231,014 for a gutsy second-place finish.

Here's what else went down at the Rio on Wednesday:

Event 4 - $1,000 No Limit Hold'em

Californian pro Steve Sung won his first-ever WSOP bracelet, defeating Pete "The Greek" Vilandos in heads-up play to claim $771,106 in prize money.

Check out our news recap here.

Event 5 - $1,500 Pot Limit Omaha

PokerListings.com blogger Jason Mercier won this event, taking down his first WSOP bracelet and $237,415 in prize money after beating Steven Burkholder heads-up for the title.

Mercier talked to PL.com's Rod Stirzaker shortly after his victory. Click here for the story.

Event 7 - $1,500 No Limit Hold'em

The first donkament of the season played down to the final 33 players before action was suspended at 3 a.m. due to Rule 95.

Steven Karp is chipleader with just under $1 million to his name, while EPT5 London champ Michael Martin is the most notable survivor, sitting on 260,000 for just under 20 big blinds.

Among those to falter on Day 2 were Sandra Naujoks, Brandon Cantu, Shaun Deeb and Alex Jacob.

The survivors will return on Thursday and play down to a champion, with action beginning at 1 p.m. Vegas time.

Event 8 - Deuce to Seven Lowball (No Limit)

The first lowball event of the Series played down to its final table on Wednesday, with Phil Ivey headlining a seven-handed contingent that will be led by one John Monnette, who has 259,000.

Ivey is sixth of seven with 106,300 to his name.

Just missing out on the final table were Layne Flack and Tony G, who finished eighth and ninth respectively.

A total of 21 players will be paid for their time in this event, and among the ranks of the already paid-out are Erick Lindgren, Barry Greenstein, Vanessa Rousso and Freddy Deeb.

The final table kicks off at 2 p.m.

Event 9 - $1,500 No Limit Hold'em Six-Handed

The six-max event that kicked off on Wednesday attracted 1,459 players, of whom only 105 survived to see Day 2.

All told, 144 players will be paid, with the prize pool amounting to $1,991,535 and first prize totaling $428,259.

Chipleader at the end of the night was forum favorite Doug Lee (200,000), with industry insider Jeremiah Smith fifth in chips with 131,000.

Eliminated on Day 1 were Tim Vance, Chris Moorman and Dario Minieri, among many others.

Day 2 will see the field reduced to the final six and will begin at 2 p.m.

Event 10 - $2,500 Pot Limit Hold'em/Omaha

Four-hundred and fifty-three players bought in for the "HA" spectacular and 104 survived the first eight levels.

Clonie Gowen, Andy Black and Chino Rheem were among the notable eliminations, with Jamie Rosen the presumptive chipleader by day's end.

Forty-five players will partake from the prize pool, with first place worth $244,862.

Action resumes at 2 p.m.

Check out the PokerListings.com WSOP section for full coverage from the Rio.

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Matusow eyes WSOP Lowball repeat

"If I play well I give myself a chance," Matusow said.

This year the World Series of Poker added a new $2,500 Lowball event, while elevating the buy-in for the World Championship event from $5,000 to $10,000 and removing the rebuys.

A move Matusow disagrees with.

"They should have kept the $5,000 and they should have kept it with rebuys," Matusow said. "They should let everybody rebuy as many times as they want because [without rebuys] it ruins the event.

"If it's not going to be a rebuy event it needs to be at least a $20,000 buy-in with one optional rebuy. They don't need three or four events in deuce to seven. They just don't have the market for it."

A Lowball Triple-Draw event will also take place at the 2009 WSOP, giving players three Lowball bracelet events to choose from.

The $2,500 event began today drawing 122 entrants and a field top-heavy with pros.

Matusow, Huck Seed, Jennifer Harman, Greg Raymer and Gavin Smith were just a few of the big names on hand for the beginning of the event.

Lowball isn't a common game online or in casinos and previous events at the WSOP have drawn only top-notch fields filled with true professionals for what most agree is a strategy-intensive game.

Matusow won his bracelet last year fending off a stellar final table lineup including pros Jeff Lisandro, Barry Greenstein and Erick Lindgren.

"It's just a great game to read," Matusow said. "It's more of a game where you play position. The guy is drawing one card, and you really have to read his reaction to one card."

Matusow agreed Lowball games are hard to find, with only one known major live high-stakes game on the West Coast played in Los Angeles.

"The cash game is a lot different than a tournament," Matusow said. "In a tournament it's really a one-hand game, so you can't make a mistake on that one hand."

Despite the obscurity of the game, last year's star-studded final table drew big crowds, including several pros.

Matusow knows a repeat won't be easy in what is expected to be another difficult field.

"You have to be real lucky," he said.

Vanessa Rousso is playing in the Lowball event after opening the WSOP with a successful 27th place showing in the $40k anniversary event.

Unlike Matusow, she likes the idea of the added $2,500 event, but doesn't expect the tournament to draw major interest.

"I say the more the merrier," Rousso said. "Most players probably know the right way to play.

"The problem is it can get pretty boring just waiting for the right hand. Maybe they lose patience and push in with some rougher hands."

The first Lowball event of the WSOP will play to a final table Wednesday before crowning a champion Thursday.

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POY award to include Main Event

The list of winners since is a who's who of poker icons, including Daniel Negreanu, Allen Cunningham, Erick Lindgren, Tom Schneider and Jeff Madsen - all of whom racked up multiple cashes, final tables and gold bracelets on their way to the POY title.

What it didn't include, however, was a way of factoring the biggest tournament of them all - the $10k Main Event - into the mix.

This year the WSOP is adding a bit of extra intrigue to the final two weeks as, for the first time ever, results in the Main Event will now be counted in the standings, making all open WSOP gold bracelet events eligible for Player of the Year points.

"We're confident the inclusion of the Main Event to the Player of the Year race will add some drama and excitement to the conclusion of this year's WSOP," said WSOP Vice President Ty Stewart.

"The race is wide open this year but, as the past winners confirm, the player who wins this award will clearly be one of the game's best for years to come."

Standard POY scoring allocates five points for cashing in an event, 10 points for getting to one of the final three tables of an event and 20 points for making it to the two final tables.

At the final table of a standard open bracelet event, the winner gets 100 points, second place gets 75 points, third place 60 points, and each place after five less points through to ninth place, which receives 30 points.

Shootout and heads-up tourneys award points slightly differently.  For complete details, check out the official POY point system here.

The 2009 WSOP Player of the Year Award will be presented at a ceremony during the Main Event Final Table in November.

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Online grinders flock to WSOP’s $40k event

As befits an event with a $40,000 buy-in, Doyle Brunson, Jennifer Harman, Daniel Negreanu and Phil Ivey are attracting the lion's share of the attention.

But a large subset of the tournament population is made up of young online grinders, many of them playing their first World Series.

Justin Bonomo, Vivek "Psyduck" Rajkumar, Mike "SirWatts" Watson, Jonathan Little and Shawn Buchanan are all among the approximately 200 players in contention.

But while those youngsters have managed to translate their online successes into victories in big buy-in live events, players like Shaun Deeb, Adam Junglen, Christian "charder" Harder and Chad "lilholdem" Batista remain best-known by their internet personas.

None of them, however, feels out of their league in this pro-rich event.

"My table's really easy," Batista told PokerListings.com.

He's sharing space with Erick Lindgren, Phil Laak, Ted Forrest and Steve Zolotow and has seen his stack take a beating in the early going.

"I would really like my edge if I could get my chips back," he said.

"There are a couple of guys at my table who are playing as if it's their first tournament ever," said PokerListings blogger Jason Mercier.

Harder and Junglen both told PokerListings they liked their chances.

"My edge can't be that big, but I wouldn't be playing if I didn't think I had a positive expectation," said Junglen.

Harder agreed.

"I think I have an edge, but it's probably the smallest edge I'll have all Series," he said.

"I would obviously rather play against the kind of players who play in the $1,500 tournaments, but it's more fun and exciting to play against pros like these.

"It's my first WSOP and I wanted to start it off with a bang."

None of the online young guns were surprised to see so many of their number in attendance.

"There are a lot of good young online players here at the Series and a lot of people who are willing to back them in tournaments," said Deeb.

"This is the biggest tournament of the Series and it's televised, so that probably helps attract players as well."

"The number of online MTT players seems alright to me," said Junglen. "I'm not surprised.

"There are a lot of really good No Limit Hold 'em players that the general public isn't aware of and that the media might not be aware of either."

At press time, the top of the chip leaderboard was a mix of live pros and their online counterparts, with Laak and Rajkumar dueling for top spot and the likes of Justin Bonomo and Michael DeMichele lurking in the wings.

The news wasn't so good for Harder, however, who was eliminated early in Level 3 after getting all-in preflop with a suited ace-jack against Jay Rosenkrantz's pocket jacks.

Get full coverage of this exciting event in the PokerListings.com WSOP section.

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40 years of the WSOP: The new millenium

Back in 1991, Jack Binion was asked to look into the future and see where the WSOP might go.

Jack had no way of knowing how the WSOP would explode in popularity, bringing thousands to his casino in search of fame and fortune and said he expected a slow, steady 10 to 15 percent growth rate.

The last winner of the twentieth century was Jesus himself, Chris Ferguson.

He took home $1.5 million after outlasting 512 other players in the 2000 Main Event.

Poker author and fifth place finisher Jim McManus chronicled the final table in his book Positively Fifth Street.

The final battle between Ferguson and T.J. Cloutier was epic, with T.J. overcoming Ferguson's huge chip lead only to lose when his A-Q was out-flopped by Fergusons' A-9.

In the preliminary events, Jennifer Harman, Phil Ivey and Howard Lederer each won their first bracelet and Ferguson won another in 7-card stud.

Carlos Mortenson won the title in 2001 playing at the first final table with nine players, including poker standouts Mike Matusow, Phil Gordon, Phil Hellmuth and Dewey Tomko.

An unknown patent attorney Greg "Fossilman" Raymer came in 12th in the $1,500 Omaha Hi/Lo event that year.

2002 saw a whopping 39 preliminary events, three of which were won by Phil Ivey.

Robert Varkonyi was the Main Event champion, besting 631 hopefuls on his way to winning a then-record $2 million in his first ever WSOP event.

"I won my buy-in in my first ever single-table satellite," Varkonyi told PokerListings.

"I was extremely surprised to make the final table, it was completely unexpected. I was totally pumped with adrenaline, not nervous, just totally out of control excited to be there."

The fact that Varkonyi was a recreational - not professional - poker player caused some to doubt his chances, including Phil Hellmuth, who Varkonyi had doubled through earlier with Q-10 against his A-K.

During the televised final table, Hellmuth memorably promised to shave his head if Varkonyi were to pull out a win.

Eventually Hellmuth was forced to get a trim, but the name Robert Varkonyi was really lost in the shuffle with what happened next.

There is no poker aficionado who does not remember every moment of the 2003 Main Event.

The final nine, outlasting the record 839 who started, included Sammy Farha, Dan Harrington, Jason Lester, Amir Vahedi, David Grey, and David Singer.

But in their midst was a mild-mannered accountant who had dreamed of playing the Main Event since he saw the movie Rounders years earlier.

When Chris Moneymaker turned his online-qualifying win into $2.5 million, poker would never be the same.

Somewhat forgotten was the fact that Layne Flack had his second consecutive two-bracelet WSOP that year or that Ferguson, Hellmuth, Johnny Chan, Men "the Master" Nguyen and John Juanda each won two bracelets as well.

Women poker players did well in 2004 with Kathy Liebert, Cyndy Violette and Annie Duke each winning bracelets in open-field events.

But the story that year was the phenomenal increase in Main Event participants due in no small part to Moneymaker's historic win.

A total of 2,576 played and of course Greg Raymer won the $5 million dollar prize. Just like Moneymaker, Raymer had won his seat through an online satellite at PokerStars.

The 2005 WSOP was held outside of Binions for the first time, though the final two days of the Main Event took place in the old haunt.

Aussie Joe Hachem came out on top of the 5,619 person field, taking home $7.5 million.

His supporters' cheers are now legendary as was the final table that had a wide array of talent from the recently paroled Mike Matusow to the loveable everyman Steve Dannenmann.

The final table was also the site of the memorable meltdown from Ireland's Andy Black.

Raymer made a believer of everyone by coming close to repeating, finishing 25th in the big show.

Jennifer Tilly became the first celebrity player to win a bracelet and Doyle and Todd Brunson became the first father/son combo to win bracelets the same year.

If it were not for Jamie Gold, the 2006 WSOP would be remembered for its Player of the Year, Jeff Madsen.

Madsen became the youngest bracelet winner in history taking down the $2,000 NLHE, then won his second bracelet in Short-Handed NLHE six days later.

He also had two third place finishes - one in Omaha 8 and another in Stud Hi/Lo, an astounding feat at any age.

But Gold's $12 million win, outlasting the largest Main Event field ever at 8,773, is the story of 2006 as much for Gold's brash and controversial style as for the legal dustup that his win caused when another player claimed Gold had promised him half.

As if preordained, 2007 Main Event winner Jerry Yang was the anti-Gold. Quiet, pious, unassuming, Yang won $8.25 million with an aggressive, steam-roller approach to the final table that his co-finalists could not match.

With 6,358 players entering, there were 2,415 fewer than the previous year, only the second time in WSOP history that the number of entrants to the Main Event decreased.

Steve Billirakis was crowned the new-youngest bracelet winner in history, breaking Madsen's record from the previous year. Hellmuth won his record 11th bracelet and had a then-record 63 WSOP cashes.

Last year's WSOP set records for attendance (58,720), countries represented (118), and prize pool ($180,676,248).

It also saw the introduction of the November Nine, which ratcheted up the interest in and attention to the final table.

For poker purists who had been decrying the lack of "professional" winners of the Main Event, this final table had many players for whom poker was not just a hobby.

Runner-up Ivan Demidov went on to place third at the WSOP-Europe, David "Chino" Rheem is a respected pro, and eventual $9.1 million winner, the taciturn Dane Peter Eastgate, has proved himself a worthy title-holder.

2008 had a rash of memorable bracelet winners in preliminary events from the brothers Hinkle (Grant and Blair) to first-time bracelet-winners Erick Lindgren, David Singer, Kenny Tran, Nenad Medic, David Benyamine, JC Tran, and John Phan all breaking their "one of the best to never win a bracelet" record - now currently held by Andy Bloch.

So what is in store for 2009?  What records will be set, which will be broken?  Who will be the big story, the one talked about another forty years from now?

Will a big name take the big title, or will another "relative" unknown take poker's biggest prize?

For those answers and a whole lot more, follow PokerListings' Live Reporting from the Rio throughout the 2009 WSOP.

Related Articles:

• 40 years of the WSOP: The beginning
• 40 years of the WSOP: The 70s
• 40 years of the WSOP: The 80s
• 40 years of the WSOP: The 90's

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Griffin wins $25K Heads-up World Championship

A total of 63 players came in solely focused on the $551,250 first-place prize when play began Saturday.

However, as big names like Phil Ivey, Gavin Smith, Andy Bloch and Erick Lindgren all hit the virtual rail, PokerStars LAPT San Jose final tablist Griffin moved his way up the ranks, defeating GrindMode, Isaac "luvtheWNBA" Haxton, David Singer, and Past to push into Sunday's semifinals.

Meeting him there was Blair "yogiblair" Anderson, who had also beaten a stellar crew of rounders, including 2008 WSOP final tablist Scott Montgomery, to book his seat.

Griffin made quick work of Anderson, however, jumping out to an early lead and eventually moving on when his queens bested Anderson's fives.

The other semifinal saw Full Tilt Pro David Benefield taking on Jim "WinnerFish" Kilarjian.

However, it was Benefield making a date with Griffin when he took the lead making trips to beat Kilarjian's flopped pair of aces, then rode an overpair over his top pair.

After both semifinalists were sent packing with $165,375 in prize money, the final began with Griffin taking the lead holding two pair against Benefield's top pair.

A short while later, Benefield turned a pair to go with his open-ender and committed all his chips.

Griffin had trips, they held and the $551,250 first-place prize was his.

Benefield took $315,000 for second.

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A Poker Pro Mortgages His Life For a Trip To Vegas!

It is probably wrong to call Bo Fric a poker pro in a sense that we normally know it. He has never had big success in poker, actually he is almost broke. He calls himself “just a regular guy who likes to play poker”.

Mister Fric himself.

Many, or should I say all, poker players dream of a trip to Las Vegas to play the Main Event of WSOP. Fric, a fan of Eli Elezra (because he wears his hair the same way like Fric), is going to fulfill that dream and many others on this summer in a project he calls “My Poker Bucket List”.

Here is the list what Fric is planning on doing in Las Vegas:

# Take Doyle Brunson out for dinner
# Shoot craps with Phil Ivey
# Play Golden Tee, Wii, and Pool with Daniel Negreanu
# Win a hand in Bobby’s Room
# Have lunch with the Canadian heroes: Daniel, Brad, Gavin and Nenad and FBT
# Train MMA with Team Cardrunners and a UFC star
# Play a $10,000 hand of blackjack
# Have a drinking contest with Gavin Smith
# Go club hopping with Antonio Esfandiari and Phil Laak
# Play the main event
# Go to a gentlemen’s club with Layne Flack
# Drive cart for Patrick Antonius or David Benyamine in high stakes golf match
# Learn to pick up Asian women from Barry Greenstein
# Play a game of pickup basketball with Nenad, Grinder, Huck, J.C. and others
# Go suit shopping with Sammy Farha
# Get business advice from Eli Elezra and Howard Lederer
# Drink coronas with Scotty Nguyen
# Play Mike Matusow in a match play golf game
# Sweat $5,000 sportsbet with Erick Lindgren
# Spend an afternoon at the spa with Tom “Durrr” Dwan
# Play Chinese Poker with Poker Road crew Ali, Gavin, Joe, and Huff.
# Appear on Poker Road Radio
# ATV with the Poker Road Crew
# Cash in a WSOP event
# Ride in a Bugatti with Guy Laliberte
# Play Video Poker with Archie Karas
# Take a helicopter ride with Chris Moneymaker
# Go stockcar racing with Gus Hansen
# Take a balloon ride with Sam Grizzle
# Get Joel some female help
# Play Rock Band with Evelyn Ng
# Play blackjack with Andy Bloch
# Practice Yoga with Allen Cunningham
# Go out for an evening of swing dancing with Chris Ferguson
# Practice Buddhism with Andy Black
# Visit Fremont St. with Gabe Kaplan
# Meet the guy who got breast implants for a prop bet
# Get marriage advice from Norman Chad
# Have a smoke break with Eugene Todd
# Get publishing advice from Dan Harrington
# Host the world’s largest poker pro paintball game

Well, that is a long list to accomplish and he will need a lot of money to do all the stuff. Fric is planning on filming his trip and make a documentary about it afterwards and of course a book. But there are few problems in his plans:

1. I don’t know any of these people on a personal level and really don’t know how to begin.

2. I currently have a slight negative balance in my bank account, $30,000 in credit card debt, and less than $3,000 liquid cash.

3. I don’t know the first damn thing about writing a book or filming a documentary.

Mortgaging a house is a good start for making money. If you want to help Fric in this plan and find more information about him, check out the website of the Poker Bucket List and sign as a member for free.

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A Poker Pro Mortgages His Life For a Trip To Vegas!

2009 Aruba Poker Classic Dates Announced

Mark your calendars. The 2009 Aruba Poker Classic will take place from October 3rd to 10th at the Radisson Resort on the sunny island. Officials from Ultimate Bet, which serves as the event’s presenting sponsor, are expecting 550 runners.

The Main Event in Aruba will carry a $5,500 buy-in and begin on October 5th, crowning a champion five days later. The event’s website has even received a makeover to mark the countdown to the festivities, which begin in just 170 days. In a press release distributed by Ultimate Bet this week, one of its main faces, 11-time World Series of Poker (WSOP) bracelet winner Phil Hellmuth, commented that he’s already ready to head to Aruba: “Aside from winning my 12th bracelet, the week-long Aruba Poker Classic poker experience is what I’m looking forward to the most this year. Millions in prize money, more players than ever, UB’s 10th birthday bash, and unbelievable parties. I mean, what’s not to love?”

Tournament Directors’ Association co-founder Matt Savage will serve as the officiate in Aruba. Also slated to appear is Ultimate Bet pro and Celebrity Apprentice runner up Annie Duke, who is fresh off reaching the final two of the popular NBC reality show. Ultimately, comedian Joan Rivers bested her in the season finale, but Duke raised over $730,000 for her charity, Refugees International. In addition to the Main Event, Duke, Hellmuth, and others in attendance will be battling it out in a series of preliminary tournaments. Here is the full schedule of events for the 2009 Ultimate Bet Aruba Poker Classic:

$5,000+500 Aruba Poker Classic Championship Event: October 5-10th
$2,000+100 Two-Day No Limit Hold’em Tournament: October 7th
$1,000+60 No Limit Hold’em Tournament: October 8th
$2,000+100 No Limit Hold’em Six-Handed Tournament: October 9th
$500+40 No Limit Hold’em Tournament: October 3rd, 4th, 5th, 6th, 7th, and 9th
Charity Poker Tournament to Benefit the Aruba Community: October 8th

The Aruba Poker Classic Main Event’s reigning champion is Matt Brady, who pocketed $1 million for the win last year. In 2007, Travis “TravestyFund” Rice emerged victorious from the field of 548 players en route to an $800,000 first place prize. In 2006, it was Devon Miller, who went toe to toe against then-Ultimate Bet pro Cliff “JohnnyBax” Josephy, who parted ways with the site in December. In 2005, two-time WSOP bracelet holder Feddy Deeb took home the title for $1 million. Eric Brenes stole the show in 2004, besting 646 players, while another Eric, Full Tilt Poker pro Erick Lindgren, won it all in 2003. The very first installment of the Aruba Poker Classic took place in 2002 and was won by Juha Helppi, who defeated Phil Gordon.

Deeb’s win in 2005 marked the last time that the Aruba Poker Classic served as a stop on the World Poker Tour. In October of 2006, the Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act (UIGEA) was passed in the United States, leading to events like the Ultimate Bet Aruba Poker Classic and the PokerStars Caribbean Adventure looking for new tour partners. The latter is now part of the European Poker Tour (EPT); Ultimate Bet’s remains an independent event. Despite the flux, Ultimate Bet will celebrate its decade-long anniversary in Aruba and host a Welcome Party on Day 1, which it touts as the “don’t miss social event of the Aruba Poker Classic.”

Ultimate Bet, which comprises one-half of the CEREUS Network, recently rolled out a software update that includes ante games, a “final table view” design, and automatic tournament pop-ups in case the software client is closed or disconnected. Absolute Poker also makes its home on the CEREUS Network, the seventh largest worldwide in terms of cash game traffic according to PokerScout.com. The Network boasts a seven day running average of 2,150 real money ring game palayers with a 24 hour peak of nearly 3,000.

Gavin Smith Takes Down FTOPS Event 7

Not since Erick Lindgren won the FTOPS event that he himself hosted has one of Full Tilt poker’s Red Pros enjoyed success in the tournaments. However, Gavin Smith turned out as another exception that proves the rule by taking down the $109 NLHE rebuy.

Fore! Leatherass puts up $1 million challenge

But Dusty "Leatherass" Schmidt may be the first to claim he's the best combination of both in the world.

In fact, as a former pro golfer turned professional online poker player, Schmidt may have a good case. And he's willing to put his money where his mouth is.

Schmidt has issued a $1 million challenge to anyone that will play him in eight, 9-hole golf matches and 10 heads-up poker matches.

Each round of golf will be worth $50,000, and the overall winner of the golf matches will win $100,000. Each heads-up poker match will also be worth $50,000.

"I mainly decided to issue the challenge because if I'm not the best poker and golf player out there, I'd like to see someone who can beat me," Schmidt said. "Plus it doesn't hurt to draw a little attention to my new Web site (10thGreen.com)."

Schmidt has been catching some grief in the 2+2 forums for the bet, with people calling it a publicity stunt and saying it's ridiculous to think any serious golfer would take him on. And, if one did, that Schmidt would have no chance at winning.

Leatherass says bring it on.

He even amended the challenge to give the forum haters a chance to pool their money and put it behind the golf pro of their choice - or more accurately their choice outside of the top 10 official world-ranked players.

"There's definitely less luck involved in golf than poker," said Full Tilt Poker Pro Erick Lindgren, who is well known for taking on golf prop bets.

"A pro golfer might win by beating him seven out of eight golf matches, then getting lucky a few times in the poker."

Despite his own golf reputation, Lindgren said he wouldn't be taking on the challenge himself.

"He's a better than scratch golfer," Lindgren said. "I can't compete with that. What you need is a sick golfer who knows a little bit about poker. You can't just be a sick poker player who's a bad golfer."

It's not poker players that Schmidt is hoping to attract anyway. He suspected there wouldn't be many takers from the poker world, and even if there were, they'd probably want more action on the golf part of the bet.

Schmidt said he didn't put out this challenge just to get action. He wants to attract someone from the pro-golf world who is also into poker and prove himself to be the best golfer-slash-poker-player out there.

"The guy that makes the most sense would be Rocco Mediate," Schmidt said.

Not only did Mediate give Tiger Woods a run for his money at the 2008 U.S. Open, losing in a sudden-death playoff, he's also played in some top level poker tournaments, including the World Series of Poker.

"I can give him a better run than someone like Tiger Woods and Phil Mickelson," Schmidt claimed.

Schmidt is better-known for his online poker persona "Leatherass" than for his golf game. But if it weren't for a health problem, perhaps it would be the other way around.

He discovered golf at a young age and threw himself into perfecting his game. From about age 19 to 23, Schmidt was an on and off professional golfer and was pretty close to making the PGA tour when he suffered a heart attack.

While recovering, he had to give up golf, but transferred that competitive drive to playing online poker.

Schmidt ended up making more money playing online than he did in his family's business, so he quit to play full time.

Despite a new profession, the golf bug never left. He started playing again when he was healthy and has continued to work back to his former status.

In preparation for someone taking him up on his $1 million challenge, he has split his time between golf and poker.

In fact, he's been working on his short game with friend and golf pro Casey Martin.

"In some ways I'm light years ahead of when I was playing professionally, and in some ways I'm way behind," Schmidt said of his golf game. "I'm certainly playing much better, and I expect to come out of this a much better player too."

In fact, he's planning to start playing in some tournaments this summer and see where his golf game can take him.

"If I go out there and start tearing it up, I may have to give it a shot again," he said.

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