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Asian Poker Tour Festival To Be Stage For Chinese Poker Film

The Asian Poker Tour is busily preparing for the first ever poker festival on the grounds of the Galaxy StarWorld Hotel and Casino in Macau and, as an added feature for participants, the festivities from August 12th through the 23rd will be the stage for the filming of a Chinese poker film.

The film, tentatively titled “Poker King” and being directed by Chinese language directors Chan Hing-Kai and Janet Chun and produced by Amy Chin and Chan Hing-Kai, will use the Asian Poker Macau Festival as the stage for its movie. The production will tell the story of two poker rivals competing for world championship glory and features such Chinese actors as Louis Koo, Sean Lau Ching-Wan, Stephy Tang, Cherrie In and Josie Ho. It is expected that the film will be completed for its cinematic release later this year.

Tom Hall, the CEO of Asian Logic - which owns the Asian Poker Tour - states that the movie will only add to the excitement following the first APT event last year. “This is a very exciting project and is sure to provoke even more excitement about The Asian Poker Macau Festival”, Hall said. “Players across the region and from around the world are encouraged to come to the StarWorld and play at the Asian Poker Tour Macau when it begins on August 12th.”

There is also a possibility that some of the most prominent Asian poker stars in the game will have cameos in the movie. The APT’s sponsored professional players “The Poker Pack” - featuring recent World Series of Poker bracelet winners J. C. Tran and Steve Sung, 2008 “November Nine” member David “Chino” Rheem and Quinn Do, Nam Le and Kwang Soo Lee - are said to be in negotiations for substantial parts in the “Poker King” film.

Even though the film will be the focus of some of the attention in Macau, the tournament will be the first celebration of poker in the Chinese territory of Macau. The Asian Poker Macau Festival stretches from August 12th through the 23rd and will feature plenty of action for participants. Preliminary tournaments starting at a mere 500 Hong Kong Dollars (about $64 America) will be featured all the way up to the start of the APT Macau Main Event, a 32,000 HKD buy in (slightly over $4,000 USD). There will be three Day Ones for the APT Macau Main Event, which begin on August 19th. The final table is scheduled for August 23rd and will have television coverage.

Organizers of the Asian Poker Macau Festival have enlisted the expert skills of tournament director Matt Savage to oversee the time in Macau and Savage should provide a wealth of side games and events for those in attendance. High limit games and Sit And Go tables should be a prominent feature of Savage’s efforts.

Last year, the Asian Poker Tour’s journey to Macau drew some of the biggest names in the game for six days of poker and featured the debut of one of the current stars of the game. Professional players such as two-time World Champion Doyle Brunson and fellow former World Champion Johnny Chan (who is scheduled to return for this year’s festival), 2008 WSOP Europe champion John Juanda and popular female professional Liz Lieu were all part of the action. The tournament itself was won by the then-newcomer to live poker Yevgeniy Timoshenko, who picked up $500,000 for the APT Macau championship and went on to win the WPT Championship in April of this year.

The Asian Poker Tour is bringing the poker world to the Pacific Rim through a unique cooperation of companies. Through such online poker rooms as Party Poker, bwin.com and Titan Poker and land based casinos in the Philippines and Hong Kong, the field for this year’s event is expected to explode past last year’s gathering. For a full look at the schedule of preliminary events for the Asian Poker Tour Macau festival, visit the Asian Poker Tour website to learn more.

Poker Legend Johnny Chan Returns to APT Macau.

The Asian Poker Tour is becoming a staple of the poker year, proved by Chan’s attendance.

PokerStars.com APPT returns with Macau festival

The APPT Macau Summer Festival of Poker will run from Aug. 25-30 with millions of dollars up for grabs.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Below is the APPT Season 3 schedule:

EVENT	VENUE	CITY	DATES	BUY-IN	CAP
APPT Macau	Grand Lisboa Casino	Macau	August 25-30	40,000 HKD (5,160 USD)	700
APPT Seoul	7-Luck Casino	Seoul	September 17-20	3,000 USD	250
APPT Auckland	Skycity Casino	Auckland	October 12-15	3,250 NZD (2,050 USD)	350
APPT Philippines	Shangri-la Mactan Resort	Cebu	October 14-19	100,000 PHP (2,150 USD)	300
APPT Sydney	Star City Casino	Sydney	December 1-6	6,300 AUD (4,920 USD)	750

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Faraz Jaka Leads WPT Bellagio Cup V Final Table

A brief hour and a half of play in the World Poker Tour’s (WPT) Bellagio Cup V occurred on Saturday. In the end, the six-handed final table was determined. Online poker pro Faraz “The-Toilet” Jaka, who holds a stack of five million chips, leads the way.

Pavel Reshetov was the first elimination of Saturday’s play in the Bellagio Cup V under rather bizarre circumstances. The king of spades dealt to Ray Taylor was exposed during the deal and Taylor, thinking it was a misdeal, turned over his lone hole card, the queen of diamonds. The latter card remained in his hand, allegedly seen by two other players, while the king of spades was replaced. The flop came K-6-4, leading WPT coverage to note, “Before anyone can act, one of the players calls foul, claiming that a few players at the table have seen one of Taylor’s cards, but nobody else has - creating an unfair advantage.” Taylor then revealed his queen of diamonds for the entire table to see and the hand continued.

On the K-6-4 flop, Reshetov pushed all-in over the top of a raise by new Doyle’s Room pro Alec “traheho” Torelli holding K-3. Torelli called and flipped up K-7 for top pair with a better kicker. The turn and river both came aces, giving Torelli the pot and sending Reshetov to the rails in an ominous first elimination of the afternoon at the Bellagio. Reshetov received $46,000 for his efforts and Torelli’s stack was boosted to 2.6 million.

As if play couldn’t get any stranger, Jaka busted two players on the same hand holding just A-9 of clubs. Taylor held pocket kings, while Sam Stein found himself all-in with Q-9; Jaka had both covered. The flop fell 10-6-2 with two clubs, giving Jaka a flush draw and keeping Taylor out in front with pocket kings. The turn was a jack, giving Stein an open-ended straight draw. The river was the five of clubs, improving Jaka to a flush and sending both Taylor and Stein to the rails in eighth and ninth place, respectively. Stein picked up $61,000 for his troubles, while Taylor earned $87,000.

Mimi Tran was sent packing on the final table bubble in seventh place, earning $125,000. Tran, the lone female remaining in the fifth Bellagio Cup, was all-in holding pocket jacks against Jaka’s A-Q for a race situation. The flop came queen-high, giving Jaka a pair of queens, and an ace on the turn improved the chip leader to two pair. The river was a 10, setting up Sunday’s six-handed final table that will air as part of Season VIII of the WPT on Fox Sports Net. Here’s how the field looks:

1. Faraz Jaka - 5,041,000
2. Justin Smith - 2,992,000
3. Alec Torelli - 2,623,000
4. Erik Seidel - 2,170,000
5. Christopher Sonesson - 1,671,000
6. Alexandre Gomes - 1,586,000

Blinds will be 12,000-24,000 with a 3,000 chip ante when play resumes at 4:00pm PT from the Las Vegas casino. Every player owns at least 66 big blinds, setting up a deep-stacked final day of play. Poker pro Erik Seidel, who is perhaps the most well-known player left in the field, told WPT officials that the group of six represents “the toughest final table the WPT’s ever had.” The $15,000 buy-in tournament’s winner will take home $1.1 million and each player remaining is assured at least a $164,000 payday.

Seidel owns eight World Series of Poker (WSOP) bracelets, good for fifth all-time. He trails only Phil Hellmuth (11 bracelets), Doyle Brunson (10), Johnny Chan (10), and Johnny Moss (9) in that category. Seidel’s 57 WSOP in the money finishes are tied for fourth all-time with Berry Johnston and the Full Tilt Poker pro won the Season VI WPT Foxwoods Poker Classic for $992,000.

We’ll have complete results for you right here on Poker News Daily.

Bernard Lee at the 2009 WSOP

The 2009 World Series of Poker (WSOP) is underway.  Already, most of this year’s 57 WSOP bracelets have been awarded.  If you have never been to the Rio All-Suite Hotel and Casino during the summer, you owe it to yourself to attend one year to witness the spectacle that is the WSOP.  Table after table jam-packed with poker players.  A symphony of shuffling chips permeates through air.  A room overflowing with hopes and dreams of becoming the next WSOP bracelet winner.  Does it get any better than this?

On any given day, up to six different bracelet events were played.  Each day started off with a new WSOP bracelet event at Noon, while another often commenced at 5:00pm.  Meanwhile, the other WSOP bracelet events reassembled for Day 2 and final tables kicked off at 2:00pm and 4:00pm.  Additionally, two multi-table non-bracelet tournaments were played (7:00pm and 11:00pm), while two multi-table WSOP Main Event satellites were offered daily (3:00pm and 8:00pm).  All the while, there were single table satellites that occurred all day ranging from $65 to $1,030 down the hallway in the Brasilia Room.

This year, the WSOP started off with a bang, as 201 players registered for the first major event - the $40,000 No Limit Hold‘em tournament.  It was created as a celebration of the 40th anniversary of the WSOP and won by Russian Vitaly Lunkin.  Outlasting poker professionals Greg Raymer (2004 WSOP Main Event Champion) and Isaac Haxton, Lunkin took home the coveted WSOP bracelet in addition to almost $1.9 million.  Also during the first weekend, the Stimulus Special (Event # 4, $1,000 No Limit Hold‘em) had a record turnout.  The 6,012 participants made up the largest non-WSOP Main Event field in the history of poker. In the end, the tournament was won by poker professional Steve Sung, who took home $771,106.

However, one of the most anticipated events of the 40th annual WSOP was not even a bracelet event.  On Sunday, May 31st, the WSOP Champions Invitational brought together all of the past WSOP Main Event winners.  Although 34 different players have won the WSOP Main Event (remember, there have been players with multiple titles such as Doyle Brunson, Stu Unger, and Johnny Chan), there are 25 current living champions.  Of these, 20 former winners came together in the Amazon Room, making this winner-take-all event one of the most competitive fields in the history of poker.

The winner of this unprecedented Champions Invitational would take home a vintage red Corvette from 1970, marking the inaugural year of the WSOP.  More importantly, the winner would have the ultimate bragging rights as “The Champion of Champions.”

At the beginning of the tournament, Commissioner Jeffrey Pollack announced each player’s name one by one, culminating in a historic picture of all of the living WSOP champions.  The massive crowd was electric with anticipation for this once-in-a-lifetime event.

After 10 champions were eliminated on Day One, the final 10 players reassembled on June 1st. The field was comprised of a mix of old school and new style online aggression: Two-time champion Doyle “Texas Dolly” Brunson (finished 8th), “Action” Dan Harrington (finished 3rd), reigning WSOP Main Event champion Peter “Icegate” Eastgate (finished 9th), and 11-time WSOP bracelet winner Phil Hellmuth (finished 10th).  Overall, this final table would be one for the ages.

In the end, Robert Varkonyi, the 2002 Champion, succumbed to the winner of the WSOP Champions Invitational, Tom McEvoy.  McEvoy, the 1983 WSOP Main Event champion, is a four-time bracelet winner in his own right and author of 12 books, mainly on poker. However, he is best known as the first WSOP champion ever to have earned his seat into the Main Event via a satellite. By laying the groundwork, the majority of the players can today earn their seats in satellites, whether online or in live casinos.

Clearly emotional after his victory, McEvoy commented, “This is the toughest field I have ever played against.” After the grueling final table, McEvoy received the Corvette and the first-ever Binion Cup from its namesake and poker patriarch, Jack Binion.

I have known Tom for several years.  When I first began taking tournament poker very seriously back in 2004, the first book I read about playing No Limit Hold’em tournaments was Tom McEvoy’s and T.J. Cloutier’s “Championship No Limit and Pot Limit Hold’em.”  Before every tournament, I still re-read the book to prepare and focus on the upcoming event.  This book truly helped set the foundation of my game.  I even own a signed copy that I carry with me to every tournament.  Congratulations Tom on your historic victory.  In the end, the Champions Invitational is an event that all fans alike will enjoy and I will look forward to seeing later this fall on ESPN.

As for my WSOP, I could not have gotten off to a worse start.  I played in six preliminary events during the second week, starting with the Stimulus Event.  Originally, I was shut out of the $1,000 No Limit event because it was sold out.  However, on Day 1B, it was announced that there were six available seats, as several pre-registrations were voided.  Thus, I was fortunate to get into the event.  However, my K-K ran into A-A during Level 7 and I was sent packing.

The rest of the week did not go much better, as once again my K-K faced A-A (Event #7), Ah-Qh went up against K-K on a Qs-9h-7h flop (Event #11), 10-10 lost to 9-9 on a nine-high board (Event #13), and my A-2 (I had checked my option from the big blind) got tangled with A-8 on an A-10-8-A-9 board (Event #15).  Finally, playing in the $1,500 Seven Card Stud event (my only non-No Limit Hold‘em tournament), my aces and eights got run down by a two-outer.  On 7th street, my opponent, holding only a pair of nines, hit trips and I could not improve.

Finally, don’t forget to listen to my radio show, “The Bernard Lee Poker Show,” on RoundersRadio.com and 1510 AM in the Boston area on Tuesday nights from 7:00pm to 8:00pm ET and repeated throughout the week.  Recent and upcoming guests include Tom McEvoy, Mike Matusow, and Brandon Cantu.

607 Players Survive WSOP Main Event Day 2A

Day 2A of the World Series of Poker (WSOP) Main Event began with 1,478 players, compared with the 2,922 prepared to play on Day 2B. However, it ended with only 607 survivors.

Andrew Gaw, from the Philippines, was the overall chip leader at the end of the night with 386,000, while Eric Cloutier is right on his heels with 383,000. Amazingly, Cloutier began play with only 15,000 chips after a clerical error that reported him as being the chip leader after Day 1A. It has been confirmed this time that the former professional hockey player is near the top of the leaderboard after going on an unimaginable rush on Day 2A.

Several big names advanced to Day 3, including former world champions Chris “Jesus” Ferguson, Greg “Fossilman” Raymer, and Carlos Mortensen. Other bracelet winners moving on were Greg “FBT” Mueller, Poker News Daily Guest Columnist Mike Sexton, Thor Hansen, Vitaly Lunkin, Burt Boutin, Tom Schneider, Sam Farha, Farzad Rouhani, Erik Seidel, Bill Edler, Ted Lawson, and Roland de Wolfe.

Mueller has the most chips of any former bracelet winner heading into Day 3. He won two bracelets at this year’s WSOP and finished the day with a stack of 287,000. Both of his wins came in Limit Hold’em and combined for more than $650,000. Poker pro Kyle Wilson, a good friend of Mueller’s, ended the day with 306,000.

Notable celebrities who resumed play on Day 2A included actor and comedian Jason Alexander, world famous cricket player Shane Warne, actor and comedian Brad Garrett, and music manager Rene Angelil. Alexander, seated with Greg Raymer on the ESPN featured table for all of Tuesday, joins Warne as the only survivors of that group heading into Day 3.

With more than half of the field disappearing on Tuesday, there were several prominent names sent home. One of the first was Gus Hansen, who was unable to repeat his deep run in the Main Event last year. Hansen got his entire stack in on the turn with the nut straight against an opponent’s set of threes, but the board paired on the river to give the other player a full house and eliminate Hansen.

Others sent home early on Day 1A were former two-time Main Event champion Johnny Chan, Tony G, Barry Greenstein, Todd Brunson, John “World” Hennigan, Mike Matusow, and Amarillo Slim.

A horde of cameras and media members made their way over to Phil Laak’s table when his tournament was on the line during the second level of the day. A short-stacked Laak moved all-in with Q-9 and was called by a player with pocket eights. After Laak spiked a Queen on the flop, his opponent made a flush on the river to send him to the rail. Laak’s girlfriend, actress Jennifer Tilly, also made her exit on Day 1A.

Here’s a look at some notables who advanced to Day 3 of the 2009 WSOP Main Event:

Greg ‘FBT’ Mueller - 287,300
Andy Black - 215,700
Mike Sexton - 169,000
Sorel “Imper1um” Mizzi - 166,400
Vitaly Lunkin - 135,900
Tom Schneider - 123,700
Joe Sebok - 122,800
Greg Raymer - 95,900
Jason Alexander - 73,700
Farzad Rouhani - 70,000
Sam Farha - 67,500
Carlos Mortensen - 57,900
Bill Edler - 57,300
Erik Seidel - 55,600
Roland de Wolfe - 21,200

Day 2B will get underway at Noon Pacific Time on Wednesday. Troy Weber holds an overwhelming lead over the rest of the field with 353,000 chips; no other player has hit the 200,000 mark. Stay tuned to Poker News Daily for updates on all of today’s happenings at the 2009 WSOP Main Event.

Barney Frank, Emperor Phil Hellmuth to Highlight WSOP Main Event Day 1C

On Sunday, the third of four starting days in the 2009 World Series of Poker (WSOP) Main Event will kick off with Congressman Barney Frank (D-MA) issuing the traditional “Shuffle up and deal” command. In addition, “Emperor” Phil Hellmuth will make his entrance.

With Sunday majors expected to keep many of the world’s top online poker players away from Day 1C, Frank and Hellmuth will instead take center stage. Frank, whose Internet Gambling Regulation, Consumer Protection, and Enforcement Act (HR 2267) is up to 40 co-sponsors, will also be available to media inside the Pro’s Choice Suite adjacent to the Amazon Room at 1:00pm Pacific Time. All WSOP credentialed media are invited to attend the function, which will take place one hour after Frank authorizes Rio dealers to begin Day 1C. A press release issued by the Poker Players Alliance (PPA) on Sunday morning noted, “Chairman Frank has been online poker’s greatest advocate in Congress, sponsoring legislation to license and regulate the game (HR 2267) as well as delay implementation of Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act (UIGEA).”

HR 2266, which delays industry compliance with the regulations of the UIGEA by one year, is up to 23 co-sponsors after being introduced on May 6th, nearly two months ago to the day. Both HR 2266 and HR 2267 have been referred to the House Financial Services Committee, of which Frank is the Chair, although neither has been scheduled for markup in Committee. Last September, Frank’s HR 6870, the second installment of the Payments System Protection Act, was approved by the House Financial Services Committee in a 30-19 vote, but failed to reach the House floor due to the then-emerging financial crisis in the United States and around the world.

Those registered for Day 1C will also witness Hellmuth, an Ultimate Bet pro, enter the Rio in grand fashion. This year, the 11-time WSOP bracelet winner will arrive as “Emperor Hellmuth,” according to a press release distributed by the Tokwiro-owned online poker room: “Hellmuth will enter the Rio Convention Center appropriately attired, in keeping with Ultimate Bet’s Romanesque 10th Anniversary theme. Come see Emperor Phil as he leads his legions into the Amazon Room to take his seat at the table and thus begin the ultimate challenge of conquering the 2009 WSOP Main Event.” Play will begin on Sunday at Noon Pacific Time. When Hellmuth will arrive is anyone’s guess.

Twenty years ago, Hellmuth became the youngest WSOP Main Event winner ever at age 24. His record stood for 19 years until 2008, when Danish poker pro Peter Eastgate took down the industry’s most prestigious tournament at age 22. Hellmuth has recorded five in the money finishes during the 2009 WSOP leading up to the Main Event, a tournament he grabbed 45th in last year for $154,000. Ultimate Bet notes that Hellmuth’s entrance will provide for “magnificent photographic and video opportunities.”

Last year, Hellmuth donned UB Army attire when entering the Main Event. In 2007, he famously collided with a light pole in the Rio parking lot while at the wheel of a racecar. Hellmuth leads all players with 11 WSOP bracelets. Hot on his heels are poker legends Doyle Brunson and Johnny Chan, who own 10 bracelets apiece. Johnny Moss holds nine bracelets, just ahead of Full Tilt Poker pro Erik Seidel, who owns eight. Phil Ivey’s dual bracelet wins this year propelled the top all-around player to seven overall, tied with Billy Baxter. A total of 57 pieces of hardware were handed out during the 2009 WSOP festivities in Las Vegas. Four more will be awarded as part of WSOP Europe in London.

Monday marks the final starting day of the 2009 WSOP Main Event. The field will play down to the final table on July 15th, when the action will be paused for four months until November 7th. The feature table will be played on the morning of November 10th and air on cable station ESPN that night.

Jose Canseco Enters Dream Team Poker WSOP Tournament

Poker News Daily has learned that former Major League Baseball star Jose Canseco has entered the third Dream Team Poker tournament, which will be held on July 12th and 13th during the 2009 World Series of Poker (WSOP).

Canseco, whose book “Juiced” helped fuel the steroid hunt in professional baseball, will take to the Dream Team Poker felts along with teammates Shane McDowell and Josh Clark. Canseco’s team, dubbed “On Tilt,” is one of over 100 that have already registered for the event, which will be the first of its kind at the WSOP. Each three-man Dream Team Poker squad will battle for individual and team prizes in the two-day contest, which comes with a price tag of $560 per person.

Attendees of PokerPalooza, formerly the WSOP Gaming Life Expo, will notice a wall of jerseys hanging outside its entrance. The spectacle has been on display all week, runs from floor to ceiling, and has become a popular stop for poker fans. Dream Team Poker officials are expecting over 300 players total at the Rio, including Daniel Negreanu, whose Team Poker VT has already paid its buy-in. 2007 WSOP Main Event Champion Jerry Yang will be in attendance, as will Team Bodog, which includes Evelyn Ng, Justin “ZeeJustin” Bonomo, and David Williams.

Last time out, Dream Team Poker held its first open tournament at Caesars Palace. The event attracted 148 teams and 444 players, selling out the Caesars poker room. In the end, Team ACED, led by 2006 WSOP Main Event Champion Jamie Gold, took down the title. Although Gold has since parted ways with the Merge Gaming Network site, his name is forever entrenched in Dream Team Poker history. Gold and company pocketed $59,000 for recording the top team finish and Danny Nelson from Team BikerHaven.net grabbed $24,000 for claiming the individual title.

Coming in second place at Caesars in the team competition were the Claddaghs, who earned $33,000. Other top finishers included The Clones (third place for $15,000), Party at the Mansion (fourth place for $10,000), and the Hellmuth Busters (fifth place for $6,000). One-third of the 2008 WSOP November Nine turned out at Caesars, as did Phil Hellmuth, Johnny Chan, Todd Brunson, Paul Wasicka, Mike Matusow, Erica Schoenberg, and T.J. Cloutier. Also in attendance was Bonomo, who along with Matt Parvis and Eric Morris took down the inaugural Dream Team Poker event as part of Team Bluff.

Each player will begin with 10,000 starting chips and blind levels last 40 minutes. The price of poker begins at 50-100 and antes kick in at Level 3, when blinds are 150-300. A 10 minute break occurs after every three levels and teammates are not seated at the same table until 14 to 16 players remain. Teams that registered prior to July 1st received a customized jersey and play begins at 2:00pm Pacific Time on both July 12th and 13th. Individual payouts amount to 40% of the prize pool, while team payouts make up the remaining 60%.

Other players slated to enter the third Dream Team Poker tournament include Barry Greenstein and Joe Sebok (Team PokerRoad), Gavin Smith (Team Zurvive), Pamela Brunson (Team Pushers), Liz Liu (Team Chili Poker), and Barbara Enright, Paul Darden, and David Levi, who will make up Team Bookmaker Poker.

July 12th also marks Day 5 of the 2009 WSOP Main Event, which kicked off on Friday with the first of four starting days. A total of 1,116 entrants took to the felts on Day 1A, down from 1,297 last year. Today’s field is expected to be smaller due to the July 4th holiday in the United States. The $10,000 buy-in tournament will play down to its final table on July 15th, when it will be paused for four months. Last year, Danish poker pro Peter Eastgate earned $9.1 million for the victory and became the youngest WSOP Main Event winner ever at age 22.

The Dream Team Poker event will be held inside the Amazon Room, home of the 2009 WSOP. Registration is now open at the Rio cage and can be paid via casino chips, cash, or cashier’s check. We’ll have full tournament results for you right here on Poker News Daily.

World Series of Poker Main Event Kicks Off

The 2009 World Series of Poker Main Event got underway Friday afternoon as 1,116 players took to the felts on the first of four Day Ones. The $10,000 No Limit Hold’em tournament World Championship attracted a number of celebrities on Day 1a, which turned out to be the main story as a couple of them finished the day among the chip leaders.

Actors Brad Garrett and Jason Alexander, former Major League Baseball player Orel Hershiser, cricket star Shane Warne, and musician and rapper Nelly were just some of the stars seated among the pros and amateurs taking a shot at the biggest tournament of 2009. Alexander and Warne each finished in the top 35 of the 821 players that survived, while Garrett ended the day above the starting stack. Nelly and Hershiser were unable to advance to Day 2. Nelly has been a familiar face on the circuit this year, participating in several WSOP Events as well as the WPT Invitational and the EPT Grand Final at Monte Carlo. Hershiser is a friend of Team PokerStars and as is his custom he gave a signed baseball to the player that knocked him out of the tournament.

Of course, numerous poker pros took their seats on Day 1a as well. Former world champions who played were Berry Johnston, Johnny Chan and Jerry Yang. Johnston and Chan advanced to Day 2 but Yang will not return. He lost most of his stack early in the afternoon after running pocket kings into pocket aces and was eliminated later on. Other prominent pros in the field were Greg “FBT” Mueller, Vitaly Lunkin, Andy Black, Roland De Wolfe, and Full Tilt Pros Allen Cunningham and Eli Elezra, who were seated together at the ESPN featured table.

For the first time ever at the WSOP Main Event, players were given 30,000 in chips to begin play. The Main Event from 1971 through 2005 gave players 10,000 in starting chips and from 2006 through 2008 players started with 20,000.

Even with the bigger stack it didn’t take long to lose the first player. Just 10 minutes in Rafael Zimmerman, from Oneonta, NY was sent to the rail. Other early exits included John Phan, Mike “SowersUNCC” Sowers, Chris Moorman, and Pieter de Korver. Freddy Deeb, Mark Vos, Davidi Kitai, Matt Glantz, Men “The Master” Nguyen, Isaac Haxton and Cunningham were eliminated after the dinner break.

The chip leader at the end of Day 1a was Eric Cloutier, from Mont-Laurier, Quebec (Canada). Cloutier is a former professional hockey player who played briefly for the NHL’s Boston Bruins. Cloutier has been playing poker on the tournament circuit for about five years and has more than $160,000 in live tournament winnings. He will take 150,750 into Day 2.

Here’s a look at chip counts of some notables that survived Day 1a:

Jason Alexander - 89,575
Shane Warne - 87,625
Lex “RasZi” Veldhuis - 84,000
Tom Schneider - 79,600
Andy Black - 56,475
Phil Laak - 53,025
Tony G - 42,325
Sorel “Imper1um” Mizzi - 41,375
Mike Sexton - 41,000
Gus Hansen - 38,075
Brad Garrett - 36,625
Dewey Tomko - 34,275
Roland De Wolfe - 31,000
Sam Farha - 30,425

Day 1b will kick off at around Noon Vegas time on Saturday. Stay tuned to Poker News Daily for updates throughout the 2009 WSOP Main Event.

It’s time! WSOP Main Event starts now

The Main Event is a monster of a tournament with four day 1s scheduled, each with 3,000 seats available for one easy payment of $10,000. Day 1A starts today at noon, with Day 1B starting tomorrow.

Day 1C and D start on the two days to follow. Each day is scheduled for 5 blind levels, with each level lasting 120 min. The first Day 2 (Day 2A), seating the remaining players from Day 1A and B, starts at noon on July 7th.

Day 2B will see the remaining players from Day 1C and D take to the felt for their second 10-hour session. After Day 2B completes, all players still with chips have one day off, during which the media tournament takes the center stage.

If you manage to make it to Day 3, you're looking at a non-stop marathon of poker, playing five levels of poker per day all the way through to Day 8. Day 8 finishes only when the field has played down to the infamous nine-player final table.

The final table will take place at some point between November 7th and 10th, concluding only when a new World Champion is crowned.

Last year's Main Event drew a field of 6,844 players, amassing a prize pool worth $64,333,600.

A lucky 666 players made it into the money including Men "The Master" Nguyen, Vanessa Rousso, Robert Mizrachi, Hasan Habib, Johnny Chan, Evelyn Ng, Gus Hansen, Mark Vos, David Benefield, Adam Levy, Phil Hellmuth, Mike Matusow (30th) and Brandon Cantu (20th).

In the end it was Peter Eastgate who defeated Ivan Demidov heads up for a first-place prize of $9,152,416 and a place in poker history.

Here at PokerListings.com, we take The Main Event mighty seriously. Bookmark our tournament page for live updates, news, blogs and video from the floor of the Rio.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Breaking: Brunson goes for record-tying WSOP win

A thick crowd gathered around the final table this afternoon with hopes of seeing Brunson match Phil Hellmuth's record-setting bracelet haul.

Brunson is one of the most well-respected players in the game, so it was no surprise that fellow pros Mike Matusow, Cyndy Violette and Mike Caro were all on hand to see the veteran poker player try to outlast his opponents at least one more time.

Caro mentioned it was a historic moment for poker if Brunson could pull it off.

"I think it will happen," said Caro. "If it doesn't happen tonight, it's still going to happen. It would be one of the greatest moments of my life if he was able to win this eleventh bracelet."

Caro didn't mince words when it came to describing what Brunson means to the poker world.

"He's put a face to poker," said Caro. "He's the ultimate icon. If you were to call anybody an ultimate icon in any profession it would be Doyle Brunson in poker."

Currently Phil Hellmuth leads the all-time WSOP bracelet winners with 11 while Brunson and Johnny Chan have been tied with 10 each since 2005. Brunson hasn't won a major tournament since 2005 although he has made several high-profile final tables including the $50,000 H.O.R.S.E. in 2006.

"He takes the good and bad beats and doesn't seem to react," said Caro. "He will just take it in stride if he loses here and move on to the next hand, as we all must, but I know he wants this one badly and I hope he gets it."

Check out PokerListings' live updates to follow Brunson's progress as he attempts to make history by grabbing yet another WSOP bracelet.

Edit: Brunson is out seventh but keep checking our updates to see who takes it down.

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John Duthie, Leo Wolpert Advance to WSOP Heads-Up Championship

Last year Kenny Tran took home the $10,000 No Limit Hold’em Heads Up title by defeating Alec Torelli in a memorable duel that had the poker world talking. While this year’s version doesn’t pack quite as much big-name muscle, it certainly won’t be lacking in talent.

PokerStars Team pro John Duthie and law student Leo Wolpert battled through seven rounds of a 256-player field to advance to the championship late Monday night. Duthie breezed through most of his matches during the three days, including the semifinal round against Nathan Doudney. He grinded away at the Dallas, TX, native before sending him to the rail when his pocket queens got the best of Doudney’s Ace-Jack.

Wolpert’s road to the final round was far more taxing. He matched wits against three of the biggest names in poker during the first three rounds and eventually found himself up against Jamin Stokes in the Final 4. Stokes shocked those in attendance when he eliminated Johnny Chan in the quarterfinals but Wolpert was able to escape after a lengthy contest. The final hand was a fortunate one for Wolpert, as the two players got all of their chips in on an 8-6-3 flop with two hearts:

Wolpert:
Stokes:

The turn and river were no help to Stokes and he was sent home in third place with $214,289.

The tournament was originally supposed to wrap up Monday but tournament officials decided to move the championship back as they hadn’t anticipated the event running so deep into the night. Therefore Duthie and Wolpert will clash on Tuesday at noon local time in a best-of-three final round. They will begin each match with 3,840,000 in chips and blinds of 15,000/30,000. The winner will receive $625,682.

Duthie became a name on the poker circuit when he won the inaugural televised Poker Million 2000 tournament, earning $1,426,330. He later used his television background to begin the European Poker Tour in 2004, which has since become very popular among players around the world. Duthie also does commentary for the television broadcasts.

Wolpert put his professional poker career on hold go back to law school at the University of Virginia, which is the opposite route most aspiring young poker pros take this day in age. His biggest moment on the felt came at last year’s World Series of Poker, where he took third place in the $5,000 No Limit Hold’em Shootout for $187,812. He cashed five times in the 2008 WSOP.

Here’s a look at the path each of the finalists took to the championship round:

John Duthie
Round 1: Robert Starkey
Round 2: Stuart Marshak
Round 3: Terrance Chan
Round 4: Andrew Lichtenberger
Round 5: Benjamin Sprengers
Quarterfinals: Steve O’Dwyer
Semifinals: Nathan Doudney

Leo Wolpert
Round 1: Michael Mizrachi
Round 2: John Juanda
Round 3: David Pham
Round 4: Matt Woodward
Round 5: Mathieu Clavet
Quarterfinals: Dustin Woolf
Semifinals: Jamin Stokes

Two more events will crown winners Tuesday. The $2,500 Pot Limit Omaha (Event 30) final table is jam-packed with stars, including J.C. Tran, John Juanda, Theo Jorgensen and recent bracelet winner Rami Boukai. They will all be chasing chip leader Ross Boatman for the rights to the gold bracelet and $235,685. The final table will get underway at 2:00 p.m. Las Vegas time.

The other tournament heading into its final day is the $1,500 HORSE (Event 31). Play was halted at 3:00 a.m. early Tuesday morning with 23 players still vying for the title and $ 247,033. Fabrice Soulier and Shannon Shorr are the chip leaders going into Day 3, while Vanessa Rousso, James Van Alstyne, Paul Darden and Bryan Micon are in shadows

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

Duthie vs. Wolpert in WSOP Heads-Up finals

The Team PokerStars Pro pro is in the final round of the WSOP's $10,000 Heads-Up No Limit Hold'em World Championship event after a grueling Day 3 at the Rio.

The European Poker Tour founder defeated Steve O'Dwyer and Nathan Doudney to claim a berth in the finals, where he'll face poker pro-turned-law student Leo Wolpert.

"I'm elated, just elated," Duthie told PokerListings.com. "I feel that heads-up is among my strongest games and I had my eye on this tournament from the beginning.

"I've been very focused and I'm looking forward to tomorrow, however it turns out."

In what was supposed to be the tournament's final day, many of the playdown matches went marathon lengths, prompting organizers to add an extra day to the schedule, with the best two-of-three championship slated for Tuesday at noon.

Duthie, however, disposed of his rivals with relative speed, leaping out to an early lead in both matches and wasting little time in closing out the proceedings.

"I built up a pretty commanding lead against Nathan and my strategy was to not double him up, and to make sure I had him crushed if and when all of the money got in," Duthie said.

The plan worked. After building up a 3:1 chip lead, Duthie got Doudney to ship all-in with A-J against his pocket queens and faded the three-outer to clinch the match.

"Nathan played great," said Duthie. "He wasn't as aggressive as my previous opponents, but that's probably normal. Everyone wants to make the finals at this stage."

Compared to Duthie's relatively painless path, Wolpert's road to the final round was a marathon slog.

After disposing of Dustin "Neverwin" Woolf by miraculous resuck in the Elite Eight (77 v. 66 all-in preflop with the board coming Q-6-5-8-4), Wolpert had to face Jamin Stokes in the Final Four.

Stokes had defeated defending runner-up Alec Torelli in a hard-fought battle on Sunday and took on Johnny Chan in another epic match on Monday.

After spending four hours with Chan, Stokes found himself facing down another determined opponent in Wolpert.

The two players battled for another four hours, trading the lead multiple times before Wolpert finally claimed the match when his A J held up against Stokes' Q 9 all-in on an 8 6 3 flop.

"Jamin played really well," said Wolpert. "I think he went a bit card dead and I could see him getting frustrated that he had to keep folding.

"He kept getting 8-3 and 8-4; if he had been playing blackjack he would have crushed!"

Even though both Final Four matches were played on the WSOP final table, Wolpert said he didn't have any opportunity to scout his future opponent while facing down Stokes.

"I was pretty focused on Jamin," he said. "He was more than enough of an awesome player to demand my attention."

Earlier in the evening, Duthie confessed he knew little of either Wolpert or Stokes.

"The only thing I know about them is that I want to kill them - whoever gets through!" he said.

Stokes and Doudney took $214,289 for their efforts while Duthie and Wolpert are guaranteed at least $386,636.

First prize in the Heads-Up Championship is $625,682.

PokerListings.com will have live updates from Tuesday's final table. Check out the 2009 WSOP section for full details.

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WSOP — Johnny Chan Falls Short in Bid for Bracelet No. 11

Close, but no cigar. Phil Hellmuth remains in sole possession of first place on the all-time bracelets list with 11, but Johnny Chan gave him quite a scare today. Chan made poker’s version of the Elite Eight in the world championship of heads-up no-limit hold’em, needing only to beat three more opponents

WSOP — Johnny Chan in the Hunt for Bracelet No. 11

And then there were eight. Johnny Chan is in poker’s version of the Elite Eight in the world championship of heads-up no-limit hold’em. If he beats three more opponents, he will win the prestigious championship and join Phil Hellmuth as the only two players with 11 bracelets. Chan will face Jamin Stokes, with the winner

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.

Chan, Duthie headline Heads-Up Elite Eight

O'Dwyer was the last qualifier of the night in Round 5 of the $10k Heads-Up World Championship, and his patience paid off.

After an exhausting four-hour match, the Pennsylvanian finally put away Roberto Romanello to secure a berth in the tournament's Elite Eight.

Johnny Chan is still alive after advancing against Justin Smith, and the 10-time bracelet winner will take on Leo Wolpert in the quarterfinals. Wolpert took out Clavet Mathieu in another lengthy match.

European Poker Tour pioneer John Duthie also advanced after a marathon battle, outlasting Benjamin Sprenger in the second-to-last match of the night.

The EPT director expressed his enjoyment for the heads-up format, which has played out as a single-elimination tournament beginning with 256 players.

"You have to be able to make marginal calls and you have to be able to play quite aggressively," Duthie said.

"A lot of time you have to assume that if somebody is betting on the flop that they've missed, and you can float a flop with actually very little. There are various things you have to consider when you're playing."

Duthie goes on to play Dustin "Neverwin" Woolf in Round 6, with Woolf advancing after defeating Mike Caro in the Sweet Sixteen.

O'Dwyer, meanwhile, advances to play Brian Pellegrino in Round 6, and is guaranteed a cash of at least $92,580.

"I feel great, obviously," O'Dwyer said. "This is my biggest cash ever."

"This is my first live heads-up tournament, but I've been playing big buy-in tournaments for a long time now. It's been a really long run to get to this point. I wish it was over sooner so I could have just gone to bed."

PL.com pro blogger Jason Mercier fell short in his quest for his second bracelet of the 2009 WSOP, losing to Nathan Doudney when his jacks fell to Doudney's queens in an early preflop all-in.

Doudney will play Jamin Stokes in the next round. Stokes advanced in yet another three-hour-plus match, this one involving him and Alec Torelli, who finished second in this event in 2008.

"Every single match I've played has been over three hours," Stokes said. "I see all these people and their matches are over in 10, 15 minutes, and I haven't been involved in one of those."

"Every single match I've been involved in I've been, at some point, down considerably in chips. They've all been tough and this was the toughest. [Alec] is a very, very good player."

The tournament resumes Monday at 2 p.m. and will continue a new champion is crowned, with the final round taking a best-of-three format.

The champion will earn $652,682 and the runner-up $386,636.

Here are tomorrow's quarterfinal brackets in full:

Dustin Woolf v. Leo Wolpert

Johnny Chan v. Jamin Stokes

Nathan Doudney v. Bryan Pellegrino

John Duthie v. Steve O'Dwyer

For more information, check out the PokerListings.com WSOP section.

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De Wolfe, Alenius take bracelets at WSOP June 14th

Swedish pro Tomas Alenius overcame a 3-1 chip disadvantage to win his first World Series of Poker bracelet in Event 26, the $1,500 Limit Hold'em event.

Alenius defeated Canada's Jonathan Tam heads-up to claim the $197,488 first prize, besting a final table that also included Al "Sugar Bear" Barbieri (3rd) and Rep Porter (7th).

Get full results here.

De Wolfe, meanwhile, talked to PokerListings' Rod Stirzaker shortly after his win. Check out the Englishman's thoughts on his historic accomplishment here.

Also playing out in the Amazon Room on Sunday:

Event 28 - $1,500 No Limit Hold'em

Twenty-seven players remained in contention in the latest NLHE donkament when play was called at 3 a.m.

PokerListings fave Liv Boeree entered the day with chips and a chance at her first WSOP final table, but despite hitting a straight flush midway through the evening the Brit couldn't make it work long-term and was eliminated in 57th place.

Joe Simmons leads the field with 1.12 million at the conclusion of play, with the notable names still in contention including Jason Potter, Marco Johnson and Mehdi Alaei, father of pro poker player Danny Alaei.

Action will resume at 1 p.m. tomorrow and play down to a bracelet.

Event 29 - $10,000 No Limit Hold'em Heads-Up World Championship

Sixty-four players returned for Day 2 of the $10k Heads-Up event and by day's end all but eight had been eliminated.

PokerListings blogger Jason Mercier made the sweet sixteen before falling to Nathan Doudney while last year's runner up, Alec Torelli, fell to Jamin Stokes in the same round.

Johnny Chan, John Duthie and Dustin "Neverwin" Woolf are among those advancing to the Elite Eight.

Check out Geoff Fisk's recap here.

Event 30 - $2,500 Pot Limit Omaha

A total of 436 players bought-in for the $2.5k PLO event and after ten levels of play only 109 remained.

Among those to survive Day 1 were chipleader J.C. Tran, Theo Jorgensen, Phil Ivey and John Juanda, while Daniel Negreanu, Mercier, Barry Greenstein and Vanessa Rousso would all be eliminated.

Action will resume at 2 p.m. tomorrow.

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

By all accounts one of the fishiest tournaments of the Series, the $1,500 H.O.R.S.E. event attracted a field of 770 players, of whom 72 will be paid.

Phil Ivey was among those to pony up the $1.5k, but the Full Tilt Pro saw more value in the $2,500 PLO event and was blinded out of the H.O.R.S.E. tournament shortly before the end of Day 1.

By the time play was called at 3 a.m., approximately 240 players remained, with Andy Black, the aforementioned Greenstein and Lacey Jones among the notable survivors.

Mike Matusow, Maria Ho and Doyle Brunson were among those eliminated.

Action will resume at 2 p.m. on Monday.

Check out the PokerListings.com 2009 WSOP section for more coverage from Las Vegas.

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Uncensored Poker Show to Debut on Playboy TV

Television producer Sam Simon, who is best known for his work on “The Simpsons” animated series, will bring his home game to Playboy TV, according to the Associated Press. The show is uncensored and features some of the entertainment industry’s marquee names.

Simon described his home game to the Associated Press: “The stakes aren’t the biggest, the players aren’t the best, but the game is definitely the funniest.” The show, dubbed “Sam’s Game,” currently airs on Thursday nights on Playboy TV and was filmed at the Palms in Las Vegas. Poker fans will remember that the off-Strip casino played host to the second season of GSN’s “High Stakes Poker.” ESPN followed Simon in paparazzi fashion during his World Series of Poker (WSOP) Main Event run in 2007, which ended with “The Simpsons” producer hitting the exits in 329th place for $39,000.

In addition to his five-figure Main Event cash two years ago, Simon took 16th in a $1,000 No Limit Hold’em with Rebuys tournament in 2007 for $35,000. Three of his four WSOP cashes are in rebuy events, which were stricken from the schedule in 2009 on the grounds that they favor deep-pocketed players. Simon appeared on the recently-completed Season 5 of “High Stakes Poker,” but abruptly left the show and was replaced by Tom “durrrr” Dwan. In his final hand, Simon dropped a $128,000 pot to Patrik Antonius after his A-Q was out-flopped by Antonius’ A-2. No explanation for his departure was given.

Besides Simon, a host of other combatants will take to the felts of Playboy TV’s “Sam’s Game.” They include comedian and former “Saturday Night Live” cast member Norm MacDonald, who took 20th in a $3,000 buy-in No Limit Hold’em event during the 2007 WSOP for $14,000. Also appearing are Dave Attell, Artie Lange, and Jeff Ross. Fans of NBC’s “Celebrity Apprentice” will recognize former Playboy Playmate of the Year Brande Roderick, whose friendship with show runner-up Annie Duke ignited a storm of conspiracy theories from television producer Melissa Rivers. Upon being fired, Rivers went on a profanity-laced tirade against Roderick, Duke, and “Celebrity Apprentice” staff that unfolded in front of a national viewing audience. Joan Rivers ultimately won the NBC reality show.

Poker fans will recognize Phil Laak and Jennifer Tilly. The latter was formerly married to Simon, but the couple divorced in the early 1990s. Tilly won a bracelet during the 2005 WSOP in the $1,000 buy-in Ladies No Limit Hold’em Championship, banking $158,000 and besting a final table that included Cecelia Mortensen, 2008 Ladies Event runner-up Anh Le, and Beth Shak. Laak has yet to win a coveted gold bracelet. In fact, he’s only made two final tables at the WSOP during his poker career. The first came in 2005, when he finished in second in a $2,500 Pot Limit Hold’em tournament for $156,000, falling to 10-time bracelet winner Johnny Chan heads-up. In 2008, he received television time on ESPN for his ninth place showing in the World Championship of Pot Limit Hold’em, the first bracelet win for Full Tilt Poker pro Nenad Medic.

According to the Associated Press, the concept of “Sam’s Game” came from Playboy TV executives. Simon explained, “I’ve spent years in development to try to get shows on the air. When a network calls and says we want to shoot this…. the answer is yes.”  According to the Internet Movie Database, Simon was a Consulting Producer on the “Drew Carey Show” and was the Executive Producer of the “George Carlin Show.” However, he is best known for being a Co-Creator of “The Simpsons,” which has aired for 20 years. The franchise even released a feature length movie in 2007.

Catch “Sam’s Game” featuring producer Sam Simon every Thursday night on Playboy TV.

WSOP Event #3 Recap

In just the first week of the 2009 World Series of Poker, records are being broken all over the place. The 3rd Event, $1,500 Omaha Hi-Low Split-8 or better, was to be no exception. The defending Champion, Thang Luu, outlasted a record setting field of 918 players to win back to back WSOP bracelets in the same event. In 2007, Luu took second place in the same event also. The only other player in WSOP history to do as Luu has done was Johnny Chan back in the 1980s.

WSOP Main Event champs appreciate the invite

However, the first ever WSOP Champions Invitational event brought together the largest collection of Main Event winners ever assembled for one tournament at the Rio today.

Spectators created a chaotic scene for the 20-player event, as throngs of people gathered to get a look at a group of players that includes nearly every living Main Event champion.

Every champion from the year 2000 and beyond is playing, along with legends like Amarillo Slim (1972), Doyle Brunson (1976, 1977), Johnny Chan (1987, 1988), Phil Hellmuth (1989), Dan Harrington (1995), Huck Seed (1996) and Scotty Nguyen (1998).

"This is the only time it's ever happened," said 2003 Main Event winner Chris Moneymaker. "You get to play with legends, so it'll definitely be fun."

Also in the field are Tom McEvoy (1983), Berry Johnston (1986), Brad Dougherty (1991) and Jim Bechtel (1993).

ESPN will feature the Champions Invitational as part of its television coverage of the 2009 WSOP.

"I haven't played with some of these guys in a long time," added Chris "Jesus" Ferguson, the 2000 champ.

"A lot of these World Series of Poker champions aren't nearly as well known as a lot of these young kids, and all of them have really interesting stories.

"It makes for great TV. These guys are all really interesting people."

If there is a grey cloud to this silver lining, it is the fact the players involved may have to avoid other events for the duration, although Greg Raymer is multi-tabling.

He was still at the $40k final table at press time, but told PokerListings the Champions Invitational wasn't exactly a priority anyway.

"I love the concept, and have suggested exactly an event like this to Jeffrey Pollack several times in the past, as well as to the ESPN people," he said.

"The only downside here is that I expected them to put up a somewhat more vigorous prize pool than an old car."

Those who do advance to Day 2 may be forced to skip the $10,000 Seven Card Stud World Championship bracelet event, which begins Monday.

"It might interfere with tomorrow," Ferguson said. "I haven't made a decision on what I'm going to do if that happens."

Despite the scheduling conflict and the fact first prize is nothing more than a re-built 1970 Corvette, the event is still a fan favorite.

As the players started entering the tournament floor for the 4 p.m. start today, a huge crowd flocked to the Amazon room, creating a red carpet-like scene with cameras flashing and fans desperately attempting to get autographs.

Moneymaker, whose run to the 2003 Main Event championship played a large role in the rise of poker's popularity, will be looking to use the event to change his fortunes after bubbling the WSOP's $40k event Saturday.

"It's going to be a lot of fun," Moneymaker said. "Coming off the $40k bubble, it's not going to be as much fun as it would have been if I had cashed in that or busted out earlier, but it's going to be fun."

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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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Phil Hellmuth the favorite to win WSOP Champions Invitational

A total of 34 players have won the WSOP Main Event, but some of them have already passed away, including three-time winners Johnny Moss and Stu Ungar. Only living champion who has indicated that he will not play the event is 1978 champ Bobby Baldwin.

Poker Brat is the favorite of the tournament of champions.

Hellmuth has smallest odds for winning the tournament, 9:1. A strong group of former champions all have 23:2 odds. The 2005 champ Joe Hachem, 2004 Main Event winner Greg Raymer, 1998 world champion and reigning HORSE champion Scotty Nguyen, 1996 Main Event champion and 2009 Heads-Up Poker Championship winner Huck Seed, 1995 WSOP Main Event victor Dan Harrington and 10-time bracelet winners Doyle Brunson and Johnny Chan.

Reigning champion Peter Eastgate has 13:1 odds, even though he feels like he should be the favorite:

“I should be one of the strongest [players] as I have emerged from the second biggest field,” he said. “However, you can’t disregard the champions like Doyle Brunson, Huck Seed and Phil Hellmuth, who have proven to stay on top ever since they won their championships.”

The winner of the biggest ever WSOP Main Event, Jamie Gold, who has 15:1 odds for winning the tournament, is also excited about the tournament:

“There is a 40-year history of excitement and prestige surrounding the WSOP,” he said. “This event will celebrate all of it and give us a once in a lifetime opportunity to compete with each other. We’re going to have a great time.”

The least favorite of bettors with 65:1 odds is Russ Hamilton, the 1994 Main Event Champion and the main suspect of the super user cheating scandal at Ultimate Bet. Though, it is fairly easy to predict that Hamilton will not participate in the tournament, as he has lost pretty much all the respect of the poker community.

The winner of the tournament will not win money or a bracelet, but he will take home a commemorative trophy named in honor of the Series-founding Binion family as well as a restored 1970 Corvette.

Sources: pokernewsdaily, pokerlistings

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Phil Hellmuth the favorite to win WSOP Champions Invitational

Poker News in Brief: May 18-24, 2009

This week we take a look at the Poker Brat's new book, how online poker is headed to a TV set near you and where the best female poker players on the planet will be this week.

Brat's book hits shelves

Commemorating the 20th anniversary of his World Series of Poker Main Event win, Phil Hellmuth has released a book featuring the inspirational stories behind 20 different poker champions.

Deal Me In by Stephen John and Marvin Karlins features poker legends Doyle Brunson, Daniel Negreanu, Phil Ivey, Annie Duke, Johnny Chan, Chris Ferguson, Carlos Mortensen, Chau Giang, Jennifer Harman, Allen Cunningham, Howard Lederer, Erik Seidel, Chad Brown, David "Devilfish" Ulliott, Layne Flack, Scotty Nguyen, Annette Obrestad, Tom Dwan, Peter Eastgate and Hellmuth himself giving first-hand accounts of their rise to poker stardom.

"Each chapter takes you behind the scenes into the early lives of poker's biggest names," Hellmuth said. "They cover their humble beginnings, the obstacles they overcame, the demons they faced and ultimately the success they enjoyed."

Deal Me In is available exclusively online at Hellmuth's website www.PokerBrat.com.

Harrah's eyes online gaming

Harrah's Entertainment announced this week it has established a new subsidiary, Harrah's Interactive Entertainment, to manage the global growth of the World Series of Poker.

Former PartyGaming CEO Mitch Garber, has signed on as CEO.

In addition to growing the WSOP brand, Harrah's claims the new subsidiary will "explore the use of interactive gaming technologies to expand the reach of Harrah's brands globally, starting in Europe."

In other words, it appears Harrah's and the WSOP are considering moving into the online gaming industry in Europe.

Online poker hits cable

Starting this August, US Cable Network G4 will be taking its audience inside the world of high-stakes online poker.

Dubbed 2 Months, $2 Million, a new ten episode docu-series will air following the lives and adventures of Jason "pr1nnyraid" Rosenkrantz, Brian "Flawless_Victory" Roberts, Emil "whitelime" Patel and Dani "ansky" Stern as they attempt to earn $2 million dollars online over just two months.

The series also promises a window into the high-stakes Las Vegas lifestyle the group leads when they step away from their monitors.

Ladies hit the felt for PartyPoker World Open

The PartyPoker.com Women's World Open III begins Sunday.

The $3,000 buy-in event will include 36 of the world's best female players hit the felt at Three Mills Studios in London between May 24 and May 27.

Annette Obrestad headlines a tough field that also includes actress and WSOP bracelet holder Jennifer Tilly and EPT Dortmund champion Sandra Naujoks.

The top prize is $50,000.

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Phil Hellmuth Favored to Win WSOP Champions Invitational

According to betting lines posted on Bodog, Ultimate Bet pro and 11-time World Series of Poker (WSOP) bracelet winner Phil Hellmuth is the favorite to win the WSOP Champions Invitational, fetching 9:1 odds. The tournament will consist solely of former Main Event champions.

Hellmuth took down the 1989 Main Event, earning an automatic entry into the WSOP Champions Invitational. The non-bracelet event kicks off at the beginning of the 2009 festivities on May 31st and crowns a winner the next day. The “champion of champions” will take home the Binion Cup along with a brand new car. Jack Binion will be on-hand for the festivities and present the trophy. A total of 34 players have won the previous 39 Main Events, although seven have since passed away (Johnny Moss, Puggy Pearson, Stu Ungar, Hal Fowler, Jack Strauss, Jack Keller, and Bill Smith).

Hellmuth leads the field at 9:1 odds. Just behind him and coming in at 23:2 (or 11.5:1) are 2005 WSOP Main Event winner and Team PokerStars Pro member Joe Hachem, 2004 WSOP Main Event Champion Greg Raymer, new Expekt Poker pro and reigning HORSE Championship winner Scotty Nguyen, 2009 Heads-Up Poker Championship winner Huck Seed, 1995 WSOP Main Event victor Dan Harrington, and 10-time bracelet winners Doyle Brunson and Johnny Chan. Last year’s Main Event winner, Peter Eastgate, is fetching 13:1 odds and holds the record as the youngest champion of the feature tournament ever at age 22. Eastgate took home $9.1 million for his efforts in the second largest Main Event field in history, 6,844 runners.

Four former Main Event champs sit at 15:1 odds. Jerry Yang trumped the field in 2007 for $8.25 million, his lone WSOP cash to date. Members of that final table watched Team PokerStars Pro member Hevad “RaiNKhaN” Khan boisterously play his way through the event, ultimately grabbing sixth place for just under $1 million. Jamie Gold, the winner of the largest Main Event field ever in 2006, is also generating 15:1 odds. Gold is a former ACED Poker pro, but recently parted ways with the Merge Gaming Network site. Tied in odds with Gold and Yang is the man many would credit with sparking the modern poker boom, former Tennessee accountant Chris Moneymaker, who won it all in 2003. Full Tilt Poker pro Chris Ferguson is also fetching 15:1 odds. The man they call “Jesus” took down the first Main Event of the new millennium.

Robert Varkonyi and Tom McEvoy, who won the 2002 and 1983 WSOP Main Events, respectively, are both going off at 19:1 odds. Also seeing 19:1 odds is 1991 World Champion Brad Daugherty, who took home an even $1 million for his efforts and bested Don Holt heads-up. Several brand name pros are coming in at 24:1, including Noel Furlong, Jim Bechtel, Hamid Dastmalchi, Mansour Matloubi, Berry Johnston, and Bobby Baldwin.

At the bottom of the field and coming in at 65:1 is Russ Hamilton, the 1994 Main Event Champion. Last September, Hamilton was found to be “the main person responsible for and benefiting from the multiple cheating incidents” on Ultimate Bet, according to the Kahnawake Gaming Commission. The revelation came after members of the online poker community linked Hamilton’s Las Vegas home to one of the accounts involved in the scandal, Sleeplesss. The events were revealed to the entire world as part of a November feature story on the CBS News program “60 Minutes” and a joint investigation with the Washington Post newspaper.

The WSOP Champions Invitational is one of four tournaments that will comprise ESPN’s television coverage this year. It will air on August 4th from 8:00pm to 10:00pm ET. Also seeing time in the spotlight will be the $40,000 buy-in No Limit Hold’em tournament commemorating the 40th running of the WSOP, the Ante Up for Africa charity poker tournament, and the Main Event. The tournament series itself begins on Wednesday, May 27th with the $500 Casino Employees event. The $40,000 festivities begin the following day.

Phil Hellmuth’s New Book: Deal Me In

Phil Hellmuth’s own book company are now releasing a book called “Deal Me In” which tells the story about 20 poker stars and their road to sucess. Amongst the people participating by telling their life story we find players like; Daniel Negreanu, Phil Ivey and Howard Lederer.

This book tells the story of how Phil Ivey went from a telphone marketer to becoming one of the best poker players in the world. Today he has generated over $10 Million in profit from poker tournaments alone, which means that you can surely add a couple of Millions to that figure if you include cash game winnings.

The book doesnt really follow any storyline and is just bringing up stories about 20 poker professionals and their road to fame and fortune.

The players participating in this book are; Peter Estgate, Allen Cunningham, Phil Ivey, Phil Hellmuth, Scotty Nguyen, Doyle Brunson, Johnny Chan, Carlos Mortensen, Chris “Jesus” Ferguson, Tom Dwan, Howard Lederer, Daniel Negreanu, Annie Duke, Dave “Devilfish” Ulliot, Chad Brown, Annette Obrestad, Erik Seidel, Layne Flack, Jennifer Harman and Chau Giang.

Dream Team Poker Announces Tournament During 2009 WSOP

Dream Team Poker will present the third tournament in its history in July. Fresh off a sold out event at Caesars Palace, the team gaming concept will make its way to the Rio from July 12th to 13th during the 2009 World Series of Poker (WSOP). The buy-in is $560 per person, or $1,680 per three-man team.

The last time out, 148 teams and 444 players mobbed Caesars Palace for a sold out tournament, the first one held by Dream Team Poker that was open to the general public. In the end, Team ACED, which consisted of then-ACED Poker pro Jamie Gold, Ashley Nataupsky, and Houston Waldie, dominated the field and banked nearly $60,000. Other teams that finished in the money included The Claddaghs (second place for $33,300), The Clones (third place for $15,984), Party at the Mansion (fourth place for $10,656), and the Hellmuth Busters (fifth place for $6,660). Players who hit the felts included Bodog Poker pro Justin “ZeeJustin” Bonomo, Ultimate Bet personality Phil Hellmuth, Johnny Chan, David Williams, Paul Wasicka, and T.J. Cloutier. Needless to say, the poker world was out in full force.

Dream Team Poker CEO Daniel Delshad will now bring his company’s popular concept to the world’s biggest stage: The 2009 WSOP. The tournament will take place concurrently with the end of the $10,000 buy-in Main Event, which will air as part of ESPN’s coverage of the festivities. Delshad told Poker News Daily, “After the success of our Caesars Palace event, we were able to get some time with WSOP officials and discuss an opportunity to bring Dream Team Poker to the Rio. To be able to get a turnaround that quickly is a testament to our success and the WSOP bringing new ideas to their game.” The WSOP Main Event will play down to its final table on July 15th and then be paused until November for the second straight year. On July 12th and 13th, the featured tournament will be playing out Day 5 and Day 6.

The first 300 teams that register will receive customized jerseys to don when they hit the Dream Team Poker felts. Although the number of tables that the tournament will have available has not yet been determined, a crowd surpassing the 444 players who showed up to Caesars is not out of the question. Delshad was elated at the event’s timing: “It gives us a lot more time to promote it. For us, the real excitement is to be in the Amazon Room at the same time as the Main Event. It’s a step higher than just being at the WSOP.” Registration for Dream Team Poker’s WSOP tournament will open on July 3rd. The organization will also have a booth in the halls of the Rio throughout the seven week WSOP festivities.

Among those who have expressed interest in creating a team is Jason Lilly, the individual winner in Dream Team Poker’s inaugural tournament, which was held at the Hard Rock in November. In addition, Joe Sebok has asked for Dream Team Poker officials to reserve him a spot. The tournament’s rules will remain much the same. Delshad told Poker News Daily, “People will still be wearing jerseys, but we’ll be on a bigger floor. We are still going to have time outs for players to talk to teammates who have been eliminated. We look at this as a good opportunity for people to continue to learn about the strategy of team gaming.” Taking down the invite-only Hard Rock event was Team Bluff, which consisted of Bonomo, Eric Morris, and Matt Parvis.

Delshad revealed to Poker News Daily that Dream Team Poker has plans to take the brand outside of the United States, as it has revolutionized the notion that poker is an individual sport. Team scores are determined by adding up the position that each player finished in. Only the two best scores are counted and the team with the lowest tally wins. Teammates are not seated at the same table until 14 to 16 players remain and any team that is represented in the final 27 runners receives a time out. Players also compete for individual prize money in addition to banking on their team’s success.

Poker News Daily would like to thank Delshad for giving our readers a unique insight into the Dream Team Poker concept.

Phil Hellmuth, Annie Duke Featured in Deal Me In Poker Book

Eleven-time World Series of Poker (WSOP) bracelet winner Phil Hellmuth and Celebrity Apprentice runner up Annie Duke are two of 20 poker pros that tell their stories in “Deal Me In,” a brand new book available at PokerBrat.com.

The publication was released commemorating the 20th anniversary of Hellmuth’s WSOP Main Event win in 1989. Then, he was just 24 years-old and became the youngest winner ever of the world’s most prestigious poker tournament. Last year, Danish poker pro Peter Eastgate shattered Hellmuth’s mark, defeating Ivan Demidov heads-up and pocketing $9.1 million at the age of 22. Hellmuth last won a bracelet in 2007, besting the field in a $1,500 buy-in No Limit Hold’em tournament for $637,000 and defeating Andy Philachack heads-up. Each story told by a poker legend in “Deal Me In” chronicles anecdotes and milestone moments as they’ve climbed the ladder.

Duke is fresh off finishing as the runner up to comedian Joan Rivers on NBC’s hit reality series Celebrity Apprentice. In the process, the Ultimate Bet pro and top female poker player raised well over $700,000 for her chosen charity, Refugees International. Together with actor Don Cheadle and Norman Epstein, Duke founded Ante Up for Africa in 2006. The organization raised over $2 million in its first two years for the victims of the crisis in Darfur. Duke’s lone bracelet win came in 2004, when she grabbed the “W” in a $2,000 buy-in Omaha High-Low Eight or Better tournament for $137,000, besting Ronald Graham heads-up. Duke won the inaugural WSOP Tournament of Champions in 2004, defeating Hellmuth and taking home $2 million.

About the brand new book, Hellmuth commented in a press release distributed on Monday, “Each chapter takes you behind the scenes into the early lives of poker’s biggest names. They cover their humble beginnings, the obstacles they overcame, the demons they faced, and ultimately the success they enjoyed. Deal Me In is packed with the musings of poker’s most colorful characters, surprising and insightful stories, plus inside poker tips.” Hellmuth was the ringleader behind “Deal Me In” coming to fruition. The 308 page book that includes 154 photos is available on his website, PokerBrat.com, for $24.95. Appropriately, Phil’s House Publishing, Inc. released it.

Hellmuth owns the record for the most number of WSOP in the money finishes with 69, edging out Men “The Master” Nguyen’s tally of 62. A bevy of poker legends appear in “Deal Me In” sharing their stories about the WSOP and other high-stakes events, including Doyle Brunson, Daniel Negreanu, Phil Ivey, Johnny Chan, Chris “Jesus” Ferguson, Carlos Mortensen, Chau Giang, Jennifer Harman, Allen Cunningham, Howard Lederer, Erik Seidel, Chad Brown, David “Devilfish” Ulliott, Layne Flack, and new Expekt Poker pro Scotty Nguyen.

CardPlayer Magazine reviewed “Deal Me In” and proclaimed, “A page-turner about the world’s most powerful poker players and their hardscrabble journeys from the backgammon games of Manhattan, the taverns of Wisconsin, the back alleys of Saigon, and the pubs of England. Unforgettable stories and valuable tips, Deal Me In is about dreaming big and the will to succeed.”

Also included in the publication are three of the game’s rising stars. Headlining the group is 2007 WSOP Europe Main Event Champion Annette “Annette_15” Obrestad, a card-carrying member of Team Betfair. Obrestad is the youngest bracelet winner ever and earned $2 million for her efforts in the 2007 event. Also profiled in the book is Tom “durrrr” Dwan, who is currently battling in the Million Dollar Challenge against Patrik Antonius. Dwan is a regular on shows like “High Stakes Poker” and competed in the National Heads-Up Poker Championship. The third young gun chronicled is Eastgate, the number two money winner in WSOP history behind Jamie Gold.