Poker News

Poker Community Reacts to Phil Hellmuth WSOP Entrance

“I’m glad I’m not playing today so I won’t see Hellmuth make a fool out of himself with his entrance. I can’t help thinking it’s terrible.” That was the Tweet of 10-time World Series of Poker (WSOP) bracelet winner Doyle Brunson shortly before UB.com pro Phil Hellmuth made his grand entrance to the Main Event on Wednesday. This year, Hellmuth dressed as an MMA fighter.

Hellmuth’s entrance was scheduled for around 1:15pm PT in front of the doors to the Rio Pavilion, site of the 2010 WSOP. A media representative told the assembled crowd to “watch for the stage” and, to our amazement, one rolled in being towed by a black pickup truck from the valet area. A group of male and female dancers put on a rather elongated show before Hellmuth finally turned out dressed in a black and yellow UB.com hooded robe.

Brunson in part recanted his controversial Tweet, saying, “I got scolded by PH for my last Tweet. Sorry Phil, but I got 103 responses. 99 agreed with me, 4 didn’t. I love you anyway, gl in the WSOP.” Brunson played in the WSOP Main Event on Thursday for Day 1D, ending the session with 62,000, or twice the starting stack. On July 3rd, “Texas Dolly” was spotted railing Dan “djk123” Kelly in the $25,000 No Limit Hold’em Six-Max final table; Kelly ultimately took down the bracelet and became the newest Brunson 10 member.

Watching the Hellmuthian-sized entrance on Wednesday were a variety of pros including Joe Sebok, Sam Chauhan, Gavin Smith, and Mike Matusow, the latter of whom jokingly told the crowd that he had been paid $50,000 to show up. Smith and Sebok, meanwhile, contemplated what the reaction would be if they showed up to a major tournament like the Main Event in the same fashion as Hellmuth.

On his way up to the Pavilion doors, Hellmuth picked up two escorts, his mom and his dad, who watched their son start his Main Event run. UFC’s Bruce Buffer, donning Full Tilt Poker logos, introduced Hellmuth to the crowd before his microphone stopped working. Then, girls holding up cardboard cutouts of WSOP bracelets trailed Hellmuth down the hallway to the Amazon Room as a mass crowd pursued.

Despite his titanic-sized introduction, Hellmuth was sent packing from the Main Event on Day 1C. Bluff Magazine painted the picture of the scene on Twitter inside the Rio when the 11-time bracelet winner’s run ended: “Phil Hellmuth has been eliminated from Day 1C of the Main Event. Entire Pavilion room applauded as it was announced over the PA.”

For his part, Hellmuth seemed rather calm about being ousted from the $10,000 buy-in tournament, Tweeting, “Out! Still feel calm (not freaking out); did autographs + pics 4 45 mins str8 after busting. 2010 WSOP: played great, cards were not great.” Hellmuth finished the 2010 WSOP with four cashes and one final table for a total haul of $110,000.

While Sebok snapped Twitpic after Twitpic of the sea of poker media and fans enduring 110-degree heat to watch Hellmuth enter, tournament reporter B.J. Nemeth objectively guessed, “I’d bet that >50% of the media reports on Hellmuth’s entrance are negative or mocking in tone. What more needs to be said?” Meanwhile, Annie Duke, who also began her Main Event journey on Day 1C, noted, “Damn. I think I am in the wrong room for Phil Hellmuth’s entrance. Bad beat.”

Perhaps the best summary of the scene, appropriately, went to the always insightful Sebok, who succinctly Twittered: “Holy effing eff. Phil Hellmuth entrance. Wow. Just wow.” With reigning WSOP Main Event champ Joe Cada seated at the feature table, Hellmuth took his spot at Table 2, facing the room that his legacy has, in part, helped to fill. Hellmuth ate sushi with his parents on the dinner break, when his stack had dwindled to around 12,000, and he exited shortly thereafter.

Around 2:30pm PT on Wednesday, Poker News Daily caught up to Hellmuth inside the UB.com suite at the Rio to discuss his entrance. Click here to watch.

Phil Hellmuth 2010 WSOP Entrance and Interview

Phil Hellmuth‘s entrance at the WSOP is now a yearly event and the 2010 edition definitely did not disappoint. The UB sponsored poker pro made his way into Day 1C of the World Series of Poker Main Event in lavish style with a dance routine and loud music introducing his entrance into the tournament. Our camera was strategically placed next to Joe Sebok, Mike “The Mouth” Matusow and Gavin Smith and picked up their hilarious commentary of this epic event which drew hundreds (if not close to a thousand) people. We captured the festivities outside the Rio and followed up with a quick interview with Hellmuth in this video.

Mathiu Sauriol Leads WSOP Main Event Day 1C; Johnny Chan Close Behind

The World Series of Poker (WSOP) set numerous attendance records in 2010, so even amidst the trials and tribulations poker players have endured during the UIGEA enforcement, it isn’t surprising to see the WSOP Main Event attract so many players this summer. With 2,314 players participating on Day 1c, the 2010 Main Event will officially go down as the second largest poker tournament in history. The total was up from 1,696 entrants on Day 1c last year, an increase of 36%. And with Day 1d registration still open and a max capacity of around 3,800 in the Rio this year, the total could eclipse 8,000 entrants. The 2006 Main Event had 8,773 players.

Mathiu Sauriol ended the Day 1c as the chip leader, bagging up 168,900 chips at the end of four and a half levels. Sauriol will enter Day 2a third overall in chips, trailing Day 1a chip leaders Corwin Cole (228,000) and Dwyen Ringbauer (191,125). Close on Sauriol’s heels was two-time Main Event champion Johnny Chan, who doubled up early in the day to finish with the second highest total of the 1,489 players that advanced. Others ending the day healthy in chips were Lauren Kling, Hoyt Corkins, David Williams, Billy Kopp, Isaac Baron, Lex Veldhuis, Robert Mizrachi, Jennifer “Jennicide” Leigh, David Pham, Cole South, and Patrik Antonius. Here’s a look at the top 10 chip counts from Day 1c:

1. Mathiu Sauriol — 168,900
2 .Johnny Chan — 163,700
3. Andrew Liporace — 155,250
4. Joe Monro — 153,350
5. Lauren Kling — 149,650
6. Barny Boatman — 144,050
7. Steven Goosen — 142,925
8. Michael Reed — 142,125
9. Sean Prendiville — 140,500
10. Benjamin Blair — 137,200

UB.com‘s Phil Hellmuth made yet another grand entrance to the Main Event, this time arriving dressed as a UFC Fighter. UFC announcer Bruce Buffer announced Hellmuth as he entered the Amazon Room with UFC fighter Wanderlei Silva at his side. However, unlike the past two years, Hellmuth’s Main Event ended well short of a deep run, as he was eliminated late on Day 1c. Upon the announcement of his exit, the Amazon Room and Rio Pavilion exploded in applause. Shortly after, Tournament Director Jack Effel announced that 2007 WSOP Event winner Jerry Yang had been eliminated and both rooms remained silent.

Others hitting the rail early on Day 1c were Huck Seed, Dario Minieri, Steven Begleiter, Men Nguyen, Jeff Madsen, Chad Brown, Chau Giang, and Tom Dwan, who had ESPN cameras following him around all day as he moved from table to table in the Pavilion and Amazon Room. Dwan, playing his last tournament to collect a bracelet and win or lose millions of dollars in prop bets, was being watched closely all day by his peers, but ultimately hit the rail during the final level of the day.

Day 1d will get underway at noon on Thursday. Among those expected to take to the felts include Vanessa Rousso, Daniel Alaei, Phil Ivey, John Juanda, Michael Binger, Shannon Elizabeth, Dan “djk123″ Kelly, and Player of the Year leader Frank Kassela. Stay tuned to Poker News Daily for continuous updates from the 2010 WSOP Main Event!.

Liv Boeree and UB.com Renegotiating Contract

Rumblings around the Amazon Room, site of the 2010 World Series of Poker (WSOP) Main Event, have Liv Boeree and UB.com parting ways. However, Poker News Daily can independently confirm that the two sides are actively renegotiating Boeree’s contract.

Boeree made waves in April after taking down the European Poker Tour’s (EPT) San Remo Main Event for $1.7 million. She bested the largest European EPT field ever of 1,240 in the process and defeated Sweden’s Jakob Carlsson heads-up. Boeree’s win was the latest in the so-called Year of the Woman, which also included Annie Duke winning the National Heads-Up Poker Championship and Vanessa Selbst taking down the PokerStars North American Poker Tour (NAPT) Mohegan Sun Main Event.

Poker News Daily has learned that Boeree’s contract has expired, but the two sides are pursuing a new deal. A UB.com spokesperson explained on Thursday, “Liv’s contract has expired. We are in contract renegotiation discussions now.” The negotiations are expected to come to a head within a week.

Meanwhile, the 2010 WSOP Main Event is playing out at the Rio in Las Vegas. Boeree played on Day 1B on Tuesday, running into a set of kings during the first level to cripple her stack. Then, she was poised for a much-needed double up with pocket jacks, but an opponent with pocket eights found a set. Boeree has never cashed in a WSOP tournament with a buy-in greater than $2,000. This year, she turned in three in the money finishes for $8,000 total.

Boeree, who is dating fellow poker pro Allie Prescott, still appears on UB.com’s website as a sponsored pro. The U.K. native was born in 1984 and, 21 years later, appeared on “Ultimate Poker Showdown.” There, she received instruction from Annie Duke, Phil Hellmuth, and David “Devilfish” Ulliott and the rest, as they say, is history. Duke and Hellmuth now front Team UB, while Ulliott serves as the namesake behind the Entraction Network site Devilfish Poker.

In May 2008, Boeree took down the Ladbrokes Poker European Ladies Championship for $42,000. Then, she final tabled a preliminary event held during the Aussie Millions in 2009 for another $13,000. The same year, Boeree took 37th in the World Poker Tour (WPT) Championship at the Bellagio for $40,000, nearly doubling her $25,000 buy-in. Her crowning glory remains her win in San Remo, where she became just the third woman ever to win an EPT title, joining Vicky Coren (EPT London in 2006) and Sandra Naujoks (EPT Dortmund in 2009).

Besides Hellmuth, Duke, and Boeree, UB.com’s roster of sponsored pros also includes former “Poker2Nite” host Joe Sebok, “Amazing Race” contestant Tiffany Michelle, two-time bracelet winner Brandon Cantu, and Anthrax’s Scott Ian. In early June, Cantu re-signed with UB.com for one year. UB.com pros were spotted at the site’s get-together at the Mandarin Oriental bar at CityCenter in Las Vegas on Monday. The night ended with a shotgun wedding as part of a site-sponsored prop bet contest.

Recent player signings include David Williams and Vanessa Selbst inking agreements with PokerStars, the world’s largest online poker site. In addition, PokerStars is sponsoring the stable of pros belonging to Cliff “JohnnyBax” Josephy and Eric “sheets” Haber during the Main Event, which includes well-known players like Nick “fu_15” Maimone, and Jamie “TheNew” Robbins. Back in May, Amanda Musumeci joined the ranks of Bodog, which parted ways with Williams, Justin “ZeeJustin” Bonomo, and Jean-Robert Bellande.

WSOP Main Event Attendance Up 34% After Three Starting Days

Three starting days are in the books in the 2010 World Series of Poker (WSOP) Main Event. Today at Noon PT, Day 1D will kick off after being the first to sell out its pre-registration. Overall, attendance through the first three starting days of the Main Event is up a colossal 34% year over year.

In 2009, there were 3,685 entries after Day 1C officially closed its doors to new players. A total of 1,116 entered on Day 1A, while just 873 took to the floor on Day 1B, which fell on the Fourth of July. Day 1C saw 1,696 entrants in 2009. This year, the first of three starting days in the Main Event occurred on Monday, July 5th, safely removed from the holiday festivities one day prior. Day 1A this year featured a starting grid of 1,125 players, while Day 1B attracted 1,489. Yesterday, Day 1C saw a field of 2,314 show up for a three-day total of 4,928.

Among those who took to the felts on Day 1B was Annette “Annette_15” Obrestad, a Full Tilt Poker pro, who was seated at Table 2. Meanwhile, Poker News Daily witnessed Tiltboy Rafe Furst make his exit after an opponent flopped a set of threes. Jeff “yellowsub” Williams, who finished third in a $5,000 No Limit Hold’em event, told us to bet on the Netherlands in the Fifa World Cup; sure enough, “Sub” was right, as the European country outlasted Uruguay 3-2. Unfortunately, we did not make it to the Rio sports book in time.

At the table next to Full Tilt pro Jeremiah Smith’s was an all-in and a call with A-K versus aces, one of several pots that featured Big Slick running into the superior hand. This time around, however, the player with A-K made a straight a busted his opponent. A bevy of players donned blue 888 logos, including Leo Margets, the Last Woman Standing in the 2009 Main Event.

Justin “ZeeJustin” Bonomo, Matt “mcmatto” Affleck, Drag the Bar instructor Dusty Schmidt, and Marco “CrazyMarco” Johnson were among those who carried the banner for the internet poker community on Tuesday during Day 1B. On Day 1C, online poker pros in the room included DoylesRoom’s Faraz “The-Toilet” Jaka, free agent Lauren Kling, Kling’s beau Mike “SowersUNCC” Sowers, and Jordan “Octavian_C” Rich.

Furst and Joe Sebok were among those who donned an all-white jump suit in support of Bad Beat on Cancer, whose green 1% patches can be seen on a bevy of players in the Amazon Room.

Day 1D of the Main Event has a capacity of 3,800 and, as of 5:00pm PT on Wednesday, nearly half of those seats were sold. In 2009, a total of 6,494 players entered the Main Event, meaning that we’re already guaranteed to have a field larger than last year’s, a welcome sign given the depressed economy. The 2009 attendance would have been even larger had 500 players not been shut out after Day 1D reached capacity. Whether today will have any similar drama remains to be seen.

Wednesday began with PokerStars pro Joe Cada issuing the command to start play. Then, it was UB.com pro Phil Hellmuth’s turn to shine. Several hundred spectators endured 110-degree heat in the Rio parking lot to watch Hellmuth enter as an MMA fighter, including Mike Matusow. When asked by Hellmuth why he was in attendance, Matusow responded that he wanted to watch the “idiocy.” Meanwhile, 2010 bracelet winner Gavin Smith caught a pink UB.com hat tossed to the crowd by several dancers.

Finally, we’d be amiss if we didn’t discuss the trials and tribulations of Illinois native Stuart Nitzkin, the first player eliminated from the Main Event back on Day 1A. He lost a pot with pocket aces when the final board came K-K-10-10-10. Then, he donated his remaining chips with pocket kings after a player with K-10 made a straight. So it goes in poker’s richest tournament.

The survivors from Day 1A and Day 1C will convene for Day 2A on Friday. Those who made it through Day 1B and Day 1D will assemble for Day 2B on Saturday. Stay tuned to Poker News Daily for the latest news, notes, and nuggets from the 2010 WSOP.

WSOP Main Event Day 1C: Chan Takes Control

The official WSOP count for the day was 2,314, which topped the 1,125 from day 1A and the 1,489 from day 1B.

While the WSOP doesn't have an exact number of players who have pre-registered for the final starting day, staff did go on record and say the total number would top the 6,844 in 2008.

Eight previous Main Event Champions played the day and only five emerged to play another. Joe Cada, Scotty Nguyen, Carlos Mortensen, Johnny Chan and Tom McEvoy are all still competing while Phil Hellmuth, Huck Seed and Jerry Yang were sent packing.

There were 540 unfortunate souls who didn't survive the day, while 1,774 will return on Friday for day 2.  

Among the other players who had their WSOP hopes cut short were Tom Dwan, Chad Brown, Shaun Deeb, Jeff Madsen, Dario Minieri, Howard Lederer, Scott Fischman and former Playboy Playmate Shanna Moakler.

On the other end of the spectrum Johnny Chan, David Williams, Lauren Kling, Robert Mizrachi and Hoyt Corkins all have over 100k in chips.

Patrik Antonius played in his first WSOP tournament since the $50k Player's Championship, as the Finn has been sticking mostly to cash games in recent weeks.

Tomorrow will be the final "Day 1" of the 2010 Main Event with the first of two "Day 2s" starting on Friday. Action starts at noon again so be sure to keep it locked here for all of the latest news and live updates.

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Tale of Two Days for Team UB

Two flights of the 2010 World Series of Poker Main Event Day 1 are in the books, and while there have been plenty of ups and downs for the 2,600 players so far, it has been a story of contrasting days for the members of Team UB.

Day 1A drew 1,125 runners, two of whom were members of Team UB: Tiffany Michelle and Matthew Graham.  Michelle, who has become a crossover celebrity after competing on “The Amazing Race,” was never far from the roaming eyes of the ESPN cameras.  If she was involved in an all-in, particularly if it was all of her chips at stake, chances were that camera crews would rush over to her table.  In fact, at one point she tweeted, “Listen ESPN cameras: Stop hoarding around my table like I’m a lamb being led to the slaughter, not giving you an exciting bust anytime soon!”

Watching her chip stack crumble from the get-go, Michelle did have her chips at risk on more than one occasion, but she managed, as she put it, to “grind grind grind” and keep herself in the competition.  With only around 20 big blinds left, she is going to need to make a move early on Day 2, but she’s still alive, and that’s what matters.  Hopefully for her sake, she’ll have a better run of cards.  On Twitter, she said, “I keep thinking that good cards HAVE 2 come. Playing 10hrs & I’ve had Aces twice, jacks, 8s, AK AQ & AJ once. Not exaggerating. That’s it.”

Also on Day 1A, Team UB member Matthew Graham had a very nice go of it, ending the day with 58,450 chips, just a bit fewer than twice as many as what he started with.  That chip count put him about in the middle of the pack after that first flight.

So, Team UB was 2-for-2 after Day 1A.  Regardless of whether the players had 200,000 chips or 2,000, they were batting 1.000, so that’s something to hang their hats on.

And then the calendar turned to Tuesday.  Four Team UB players took to the felts on Day 1B: Brandon Cantu, Liv Boeree, Joe Sebok, and Mark “P0ker H0″ Kroon.

Kroon was eliminated early on, getting unlucky when his Queens slammed into Kings.  That wasn’t the knock out blow, but it crippled him and shortly thereafter he headed home when he lost a race with A-K against, of course Queens.

Sebok couldn’t gain any traction all day.  During the first level, he had Kings against Eights against A-Q, but the flop came A-8-A, giving him virtually no shot at the pot.  He was smart enough to get out of there, though, so the damage was minimal.  He later lost with two pair against a better two pair and eventually sunk as low as 6,000 chips.  He was able to chip back up to keep hope alive, but slipped back again when he called an all-in with A-Q, losing to Jacks.  At dinner, he had just 3,500 chips, all of which he lost on the first hand back from the break when his Fives lost to A-6.  He just couldn’t win a race.

Philosophical about the whole thing, Sebok Tweeted, “there’s something so brutally final about not doing shit during the wsop and busting out of the main. like, it’s over. see you next year…”

Liv Boeree, winner of the 2010 EPT San Remo Main Event, ran into a set of Kings during Level 1 and was never able to recover after her stack fell to almost 5,000 so early.  She was eliminated when her opponent turned a set of 8′s, sucking out on her pocket Jacks.

It wasn’t all doom and gloom for Team UB on Day 1B, though.  Brandon Cantu, a two-time WSOP bracelet winner, advanced to Day 2 with a healthy 65,000 chip stack.  Always brief, yet prolific, with his Twitter updates during tournaments, Cantu let his followers know that he was down slightly from his starting stack at the first break, but soon climbed to 33,000, then 42,000, and then about 52,000 by dinner.  He peaked at 71,000 going into the last hour, but despite the small drop in chips to close out the night, he called it a “great day.” Cantu admitted that he was getting cards left and right, but at the same time, he was playing his “A game.” Not a bad combination.

All in all, with the amount of luck needed just to get past the first day, a 50 percent success rate for Team UB is pretty solid, even though the first two days had very different feels.  The big stars of Team UB – Annie Duke and Phil Hellmuth – will play Wednesday, as will Adam “Roothlus” Levy and Hollywood Dave Stann.  The rest of the team members have not publically announced which of the last two starting days they will play, but no doubt they will be at the Rio, ready to make a run to the November Nine.?

UB.com Sends Team Pros, Online Satellite Winners To WSOP Main Event

The World Series of Poker’s Championship Event is now halfway through its four Day Ones, with UB.com sending its stable of pros from Team UB to battle. Joining the crew from UB.com are a slew of online players who won their way into the event through satellites on the site.

According to a spokesperson for UB.com, 158 players won their way to Las Vegas through the variety of means provided by the site. “Until the final Day One (Day 1D), we won’t have an accurate count of how many have actually made the journey to the WSOP,” the spokesperson stated. To encourage players to make the trek to the Rio, UB.com has created a stake for those players to share, even if they don’t cash in the WSOP Championship Event.

For players who have won their way to Sin City through satellites on UB.com, there is a guaranteed $1000 awaiting them if they wear UB.com apparel. This guaranteed money goes up on a graduated scale to a minimum of $3750 if more than 52 of the qualifiers heads to Vegas to take their shot at the World Championship. If a UB.com branded player makes it to the money, they will earn substantially more, depending on how many of the qualifiers show. If more than 52 UB.com qualifiers show up and no one makes the money, the players will each earn $5000 just for going to the WSOP.

As to Team UB.com, several players have already been in action on the felt at the Rio. On Monday’s Day 1A, two of the top players from the squad, Matt “mattg1983” Graham and Tiffany Michelle stepped up to carry the UB.com banner. Of the 1125 players who took part in action on Monday, only 762 will come back for action on Day 2A, with Matt and Tiffany both still alive; Tiffany is significantly below her starting stack of 30,000 in finishing the day with 12,950 chips, while Matt has been able to add to his starting stack and will enter Day 2A with 58,450.

Tuesday saw a few more of the Team UB.com pros enter the fray at the Rio. WSOP double bracelet holder Brandon Cantu was joined by Mark “PokerH0” Kroon and Joe Sebok for play, with two of them not making the cut. “PokerH0,” according to the UB.com blog from “Mean” Gene Bromberg, was cooled on two occasions, once running pocket Queens into pocket Kings, then being shown the door when his Big Slick couldn’t catch up with the Queens he once held.

Sebok, who had one mini-cash during the run of the 2010 WSOP, was a bit more fortunate than “PokerH0.” Joe made the dinner break and, as accurately stated by Bromberg, “…and one hand beyond.” With a dwindling stack, Sebok made a stand with pocket fives and was looked up by A-6. Once his Presto had been vanquished, Joe headed for the door of the Rio.

Cantu, who has picked up a couple of cashes over the WSOP schedule for just under $10K, has had the best run of Team UB.com members in the Championship Event to this point. Of the 1489 runners who came to the line on Tuesday, Cantu is a part of the of the 1017 who will live to play on Day 2B (Days 1A and 1C take Day 2A, while Days 1B and 1D will take Day 2B). According to WSOP statistics, Cantu finished 189th for the day, with a chip stack of 65,025.

The rest of the Team UB.com stable will be storming the WSOP castle over the next two Day One’s. On Wednesday, Phil Hellmuth will make his usual grandiose WSOP entrance as an MMA fighter, with actual MMA warrior Wanderlei Silva as a part of his entourage. In the past, the eleven-time WSOP bracelet winner has made his entrance as General George Patton and Julius Caesar, just to pick some memorable ones.

Entering the Rio much more subtly will be the remaining members of Team UB.com. Led by Poker News Daily guest columnist Annie Duke, Billy “Patrolman35”  Kopp, defending CardPlayer Magazine Player of the Year Eric “basebaldy” Baldwin, Anthrax guitarist extraordinaire Scott Ian, WSOP Circuit Rincon champion Bryan Devonshire, the always dangerous Michael Binger, Adam “Roothlus” Levy and Gary “Debo34” DeBernardi will all be on the tables on Wednesday afternoon. UB.com has also tapped former Miss USA Shanna Moakler for a seat at the WSOP Championship Event; “Hollywood” Dave Stann will also be a part of the fray, but his decision between Days 1C and 1D isn’t known at this time.?

2008 Main Event Champ Eastgate a No-Show

The 24-year-old Danish pro said he is burnt out on tournament poker and taking an indefinite leave of absence from the game that brought him fame and fortune.  

"In the 20 months following my WSOP win, I feel that I have lost my motivation for playing high-level poker along the way and I have decided that now is the time to find out what I want to do with the rest of my life," Eastgate said in a press release from his sponsoring company PokerStars.  

Eastgate took the poker world by storm by becoming the youngest World Champion in WSOP history, breaking Phil Hellmuth's 19-year-old record. His cash immediately propelled him to the number two position atop the all-time WSOP earnings list - a ranking he still holds.

That financial security is now leading him to explore opportunities beyond the felt. "The period following [my WSOP victory] has taken me on a worldwide tour, where I have seen some amazing places and met many new people; it has been a great experience," said a reflective Eastgate.

"I have decided that now is the time to find out what I want to do with the rest of my life. What this will be, I do not yet know. I have decided to take a break from live tournament poker, and try to focus on Peter Eastgate the person," he explained.

This should come as good news to the rest of the field as Eastgate proved his 2008 win wasn't a fluke by finishing 68th out of 6,494 as the defending champion last year.

Eastgate did not give any timetable on the leave of absence, though he also didn't use the term retirement or categorically rule out a return to professional tournament play.

Daniel Alaei Claims Third Bracelet; Huck Seed Wins TOC

With the World Series of Poker Main Event just hours away, Sunday was originally intended to be a quiet day at the Rio Hotel and Casino. But with constant schedule changes to the Tournament of Champions and two events adding an extra day of play, it turned out to be a rather eventful day in the Amazon Room as two of poker’s most talented players walked away with titles at the day’s conclusion.

Poker pro Daniel Alaei won his third career bracelet and a prize of $780,599 by winning the $10,000 Pot Limit Omaha Championship. Alaei bested 346 players, a field that included Tom Dwan, Phil Hellmuth and Jason Mercier, all of whom busted just before the final table. An extra day was added to the event, as the final table wasn’t reached until after midnight the day before, so players recharged their batteries and returned at 4:00 p.m. to play down to a winner.

Much of the day was led by France’s Ludovic Lacay, who entered second in chips but was able to chip up despite not eliminating a player at the final table. At the dinner break, Lacay had more than twice the chips of Alaei, who was in second, but he lost the lead with four players remaining. Ville Mattila got his chips in on a flop of 10h-9h-6c with Js-Jc-6s-6s against Lacay’s flush and straight draws. Mattila’s hand held up to give him the lead, but it wouldn’t last for long.

Minutes later, Mattila and Alaei wound up in a preflop raising war that saw nearly 5 million chips end up in the pot before their hands were revealed. Alaei was all in with As-Ah-Kc-7h against Mattila’s Jc-7c-9d-5s, and after the board came Qh-8h-8c-3s-Ac Alaei took over the chip lead, with Mattila now second, Lacay third and Miguel Proulx fourth.

It took a couple more hours for the next player to hit the rail, but Daniel Alaei found a great spot to eliminate Lacay. The short-stacked Frenchman moved all in with Ks-Jh-9d-2s but was in rough shape against the Ah-Kc-Qd-Js of Alaei. Lacay’s hand failed to improve and he collected $262,208 for his fourth place finish.

Mattila was the next to go, running aces into Alaei’s trip kings to send him on his way in third place. That gave Alaei a substantial lead over Proulx, who won the $2,500 Pot Limit Omaha Event earlier in the summer. His attempt at bracelet #2 would fall short, as he got his last chips in with Ac-Kh-10h-2h against Alaei’s 7s-6c-5s-5h, and Alaei would make a set of fives on the flop to eliminate Proulx in second and give him bracelet number three.

Alaei’s first WSOP win came in the $5,000 buy-in Deuce-to-Seven Draw Lowball event in 2007. He won gold bracelet number two last year in the $10,000 buy-in Omaha High-Low Split championship.

1. Daniel Alaei — $780,599
2. Miguel Proulx — $482,265
3. Ville Mattila — $354,218
4. Ludovic Lacay — $262,208
5. Trevor Uyesugi — $195,631
6. Stephen Pierson — $147,138
7. Dmitry Stelmak — $111,524
8. Alexander Kravchenko — $85,180
9. Matthew Wheat — $65,578

The WSOP Tournament of Champions finally decided on a day to play down to a winner on Sunday and a large crowd gathered to watch the biggest names take to the felt in the Amazon Room. Mike Matusow began the day with the chip lead but most of them went to Daniel Negreanu, who flopped a set of kings against Matusow’s top pair, sending “The Mouth” out in 16th. Negreanu led the way going into the final table, with Johnny Chan, Joe Hachem and Huck Seed all lurking.

After several hours of play and the stacks growing shallower by the minute, Negreanu, Hachem and Chan had fallen and Howard Lederer was heads up with Seed for the title. The short-stacked Lederer moved all in with Qc-8c and Seed made the call with As-2s. Seed made a pair on the flop and used it to claim his first TOC title and the $500,000 prize.

1. Huck Seed — $500,000
2. Howard Lederer — $250,000
3. Johnny Chan — $100,000
4. Joe Hachem — $25,000
5. Barry Greenstein — $25,000
6. Daniel Negreanu — $25,000
7. Jennifer Harman — $25,000
8. Annie Duke — $25,000
9. TJ Cloutier — $25,000

Two more prelims will play down to a winner on Monday as the $1,000 No Limit Hold ‘em Event #54 and the $2,500 No Limit Hold ‘em Event #56 will crown champions. Online superstar David “DPeters17″ Peters takes the chip lead into the final day of Event #54, eyeing a first place prize of $570,960, while PokerStars Team Pro Salvatore Bonavena leads Event #56, which has a reward of $825,976. Both final tables will begin at 3:00 p.m. local time.

And, of course, the highly anticipated Day 1a of the Main Event will get underway at Noon Pacific Time on Monday. Another late schedule change was made by Harrah’s, as players will take to the felts for 4 1/2 levels on Days 1 and 2, adding an extra hour of play to each day. Everyone who advances on Days 1a and 1c will play on Day 2a, and Days 1b and 1d will form Day 2b.

Stay tuned to Poker News Daily for continuous updates from the 2010 WSOP Main Event!

Pros Put Bad Beat on Cancer

The Bad Beat on Cancer Initiative began as an idea between poker professionals Phil Gordon and Rafe Furst at the 2003 World Series of Poker event to fund cancer prevention research.

The pair had been raising money for the cause prior, but knew they had hit the jackpot when they came up with the idea to ask poker players to give one percent of their winnings to the foundation as a tax-deductable donation.

Since 2003, participation in the initiative has only grown and to date over $3.2 million has been raised for the Prevent Cancer foundation, proving just how charitable the poker community is.

Some of the more notable names on the pledge list this year include Phil Ivey, Chris "Jesus" Ferguson, Annie Duke, Chris Moneymaker, Andy Block, Phil Hellmuth, Adam Levy, Phil Gordon and Toby Maguire.

"Poker players lead very lucky lifestyles, so it is good to give back when you can," said Adam Levy, an accomplished Ultimate Bet pro.

It is clear many share Levy's generous outlook with 94 players already listed on the Prevent Cancer Foundation's pledge list.

"It's important for all of us to realize that there is a lot of people in unfortunate situations... a lot of us have relatives or might even have cancer ourselves," said Andy Bloch, Full Tilt pro and former member of the MIT blackjack team.

"I didn't go to school thinking I was going to be a poker player; I thought maybe I'd be an engineer or a lawyer. I wanted to help save the world and this is one way I can do that by still being a poker player."

Prevent Cancer's CEO Jan Bresch Mahrer mentioned how impressed she was with the players.

"I think it's terrific because poker players are not known for their philanthropic endeavors but in reality they are very philanthropic," she said. "They go out of their way for us."

Players at the 2010 World Series of Poker aren't the only one's contributing to this worthy cause. By building awareness through the use of social media tools, such as Twitter and MySpace, there are now weekly events on Full Tilt, home games and tournaments all benefitting the cause.

However, if you are looking to spot a do-gooder on the tournament floor who has already donated they're wearing a green 1% pledge badge.

With files from Crecia Page and Geoff Fisk

The 2010 WSOP continues through July 17. For comprehensive coverage of the WSOP tune in to PokerListings' Live Updates and News.

Phil Gordon Wins WSOP Ante Up for Africa Event

In a relatively subdued atmosphere compared to previous cycles, the Ante Up for Africa event at the 2010 World Series of Poker (WSOP) drew 83 players. The $5,000 charity poker tournament benefiting victims of the crisis in Darfur raised nearly $300,000.

Ante Up for Africa founders Don Cheadle and Annie Duke were the first two down the red carpet, stopping at each of the dozens of media outlets in attendance to relay why they founded the charity along with Norman Epstein. Actor Ben Affleck, one of the tournament’s leading celebrities, did not walk the red carpet due to a migraine and instead went directly to the tournament room. Among those media outlets reporting on Affleck and others in attendance were Fox 5 Las Vegas, Celebrity Update, and 888.

“Everybody Loves Raymond” actor Brad Garrett followed Duke and Cheadle down the red carpet around 1:00pm at the Rio in Las Vegas. At one point, the extremely tall actor stood behind the much shorter Jennifer Harman, holding her shoulders while delivering an Oscar acceptance speech as if the Full Tilt pro were a small trophy.

Other celebrities who took time to speak with the media included boxing legend Evander Holyfield, Carbon Poker pro Shannon Elizabeth, Pittsburgh Steelers great Jerome Bettis, comedian David Alan Grier, and talk show host Montel Williams. Pros lending their thoughts included Andy Bloch, Greg Raymer, and Rafe Furst.

With Affleck sidelined from the red carpet, fellow actor Matt Damon took up the reigns. In an exclusive video interview, Damon told Poker News Daily how he became involved with the movie “Rounders,” which turned many in the industry on to the game: “Harvey Weinstein had the script at Miramax and said, ‘I have this really great script.’ I was doing ‘Saving Private Ryan’ at the time and he sent it over to England. I read it and thought, ‘This is fantastic.’ It’s this crazy little subculture that nobody ever talks about.” Damon did not rule out the possibility of a follow-up to “Rounders,” which has been rumored to be in the works.

In the end, it was Full Tilt Poker pro Phil Gordon coming out on top in the Ante Up for Africa tournament, defeating Elizabeth heads-up. The “American Pie” actress and runner-up candidly told WSOP officials following the gala, “I wish the rest of my WSOP had gone the way this tournament went.” 2009 WSOP Main Event November Niner Phil Ivey hustled through the red carpet and did not take many interviews. Notably absent was UB.com’s Phil Hellmuth, who finished 15th in the $10,000 Pot Limit Omaha World Championship that took place concurrently.

Chris Ferguson, Howard Lederer, and Erik Seidel did not walk the red carpet, although all three participated in the event. Seidel finished in fifth place after his 8-5 could not draw out on Gordon’s Q-10. Gordon flopped top pair on a 10-high board and never looked back. Ferguson bubbled the final table, also exiting at the hands of Gordon. This time, “Jesus” held pocket twos, which failed to outrace Gordon’s K-Q of diamonds.

Gordon donated his $130,000 first place payday to Ante Up for Africa in a highly generous gesture. Gordon got the best of Elizabeth with Q-3 against K-10 after flopping a queen to seal the win. The tournament marked Elizabeth’s first in the money finish in a WSOP event in three years. Here were the final results from the 2010 running of the Ante Up for Africa event:

1. Phil Gordon – $130,641
2. Shannon Elizabeth – $80,737
3. Alex Filatov – $56,516
4. Carter “BdyBldngpkrplyr” Phillips – $41,166
5. Erik Seidel – $30,287
6. Jerome Bettis – $22,624
7. Barry Hartheimer – $18,146
8. Kyle Carlston – $15,125
9. Claire Renaut – $12,998

Stay tuned to Poker News Daily for the latest headlines from the 2010 WSOP.

Image courtesy WSOP.com

WSOP Tournament of Champions: the 3rd day cancelled

Scheduling plays a crucial role when organizing big tournaments - but even the best seem to make mistakes…

May the reason be Phil Hellmuth’s better-than-expected success in $10k PLO or Joe Hachem’s gift of sleep, but anyway organizing the third day of the TOC didn’t function at all.

The places for the day were already drawn and the chipbags were opened, but Hellmuth was still busy playing the Omaha tournament. During the lunch break of the PLO they decided to play one level of the TOC so that the players wouldn’t have to continue as early on the following day. However, the TOC players had already managed to spread themselves all around, so the result was a massive telephone rumba.

After the telephone session Huck Seed and Joe Hachem were still missing. The organizers found out that Seed was already on the road to the tournament, but Hachem instead was still in bed (and it would have taken him at least half an hour to make it). Also the lunch break of the PLO was nearly over, and Hellmuth needed to get back to the Omaha table. And Hachem’s delay would have meant only half an hour of time to play the TOC.

Due to this confusing situation the tournament lead decided to cancel the whole third day of the tournament. In practice this means that the TOC will continue tomorrow until there’s one player left.  

Source: PokerNews and TheHendonMob

You just read Poker News from HighStakesNews.com

WSOP Tournament of Champions: the 3rd day cancelled

I’m Bluffing Matt Damon! - Day 37 WSOP Recap

Once again the casino was a a hub of activity as the WSOP played out with the $10k Main Event looming ever closer.

There was so much activity that the scheduled Tournament of Champions competition had to be postponed till tomorrow.

Here's how today's action went down.

Event 52 - $25k No-Limit Hold'em Six-Max

The final six players still in contention reconvened today to finish off what they started and when an incendiary final table had blazed its way to a conclusion, Daniel "djk123" Kelly was the man left holding the bracelet and the incredible $1,315,518 first prize money.

The 21 year old American defeated Shawn Buchanan heads-up to land the bracelet, and along the way he also saw off the challenge of Player of the Year contender, the double-braceleted Frank Kassela.

"I want to win more," a hungry Kelly said afterwards, who looks like he will now become the latest addition to the group of young players known as the "Brunson 10."

Event 54 - $1k No-Limit Hold'em

596 players were back in action for day 2 as the survivors of Day 1a and Day 1b met up to do battle.

A tough contest ensued and when they bagged and tagged the chips by the end of play, Sean Prendiville headed the chip counts with 47 players left.

They'll return to contend the bracelet tomorrow at 2.30 p.m..

Event 55 - $10k Pot-Limit Omaha Championship

The Pot-Limit Omaha Championship saw many stellar names left with hope of a last bracelet before the Main Event written all over their faces.

By the end, most of them had had that hope wiped clean off their visages - Devilfish, durrrr and Phil Hellmuth all crashing out.

However, Alex Kravchenko, Ludovic Lacay and Daniel Alaei are still some of the big names hunting the bracelet and the final nine players will return at 4.00 p.m. tomorrow to play to a finish.

Event 56 - $2.5k No-Limit Hold'e

The final event before the Main Event saw 1,941 hopefuls register for Day 1 in a bid to get out of it for the Series.

Only 507 made it through to Day 2 and by the time 10 levels had come and gone, this number had been reduced to 85.

They will return tomorrow at 3.00 p.m. and James Mackey is the man they will all be chasing.

Ante Up For Africa

Celebrities from all walks of life gathered together in the Rio today to show a little generosity, have a little fun and play a little poker.

Film stars like Matt Damon and Don Cheadle rubbed shoulders with the likes of retired NFL halfback Jerome Bettis and Australian cricketer Shane Warne - playing out a tournament filled with fun and laughter - and plenty of generous donations.

The final saw poker pro Phil Gordon facing off against Shannon Elizabeth, who straddles the poker and movie worlds, and she also straddled Gordon when he defeated her heads up.

Gordon was quick to donate his $130,641 winnings to the charity, commenting, "I wish the rest of my WSOP had gone the way this tournament went."

6-Max Mania - Day 36 WSOP Recap

Day 36 saw Frank Kassela take command of the Player of the Year race with a final table appearance in $25k Six-Max Hold'em.

We saw a bracelet champion crowned in $1.5k Limit Hold'em Shootout, while Tom Dwan absolutely destroyed Day 2 of the $10k PLO Championship.

Here's a look around the day:

Event 52 - $25k No-Limit Hold'em Six-Max

Friday's most popular tournament was the $25k Six-Max, as several big names were around the table to sweat the action on Day 3.

Frank Kassela's monster 2010 WSOP continues, as the two-time bracelet winner is at the final table with a chance to lock up Player of the Year honors.

Kassela comes back second in chips, trailing chip leader Dan Kelly, who sits at 5.9 million.

Just 18 places paid out in the event, but it was a big payday for all that did make it, with Carlos Mortensen and Justin Bonomo finishing 17th and 18th, with both taking home $58,699.

The final table commences at 3 p.m. Saturday.

Event 53 - $1.5k Limit Shootout

Brendan Taylor survived a long final table, taking home the bracelet and $184,950 for first place.

Only the strong can survive in the grueling $1.5k Shootout, and the final eight came back to the Rio Thursday with Terrence Chan amongst the contenders.

Chan's luck didn't last long on Day 3, as the Canadian pro was the first bustout of the day, finishing eighth for $12,961. Jonathan "Fiery Justice" Little busted in third place to take home $73,218.

Ben Yu finished second and takes home $114,484.

Event 54 - $1k No-Limit Hold'em

The total came in at 3,844 entrants for the final $1k Championship of the WSOP 2010, and the format has been an attendance winner no doubt.

Antoine Saout, Kathy Leibert and Theo Tran and Phil Ivey were amongst the Day 1b casualties in a chaotic day in the Pavilion Room.

A total of 602 players return to the Pavilion Room for Day 2, which commences at 2:30 p.m. Saturday.

British pro James Dempsey will begin Day 2 as the chip leader, and $570,960 is the announced first-place prize.

Event 55 - $10k Pot-Limit Omaha Championship

Tom "durrrr" Dwan, Phil Hellmuth and Nenad Medic were amongst the notables atop the chip leader board as Day 2 came to a close.

In reality the day was all about durrrr who tormented his opponents all day long and finished with 910,000 chips, nearly twice what his closest competitor had. Because Dwan has numerous bracelet bets, there will be an intense amount of interest in what transpires tomorrow.

This event is the final $10k Championship before the Main Event, and first place receives $780,599.

33 players return at 3 p.m. Saturday.

Event 56 - $2.5k No-Limit Hold'em

The final 2010 bracelet event before the Main Event began Friday, with 1,952 players coming out for $2.5k No-Limit Hold'em.

Plenty of familiar faces were in the crowd on Day 1, including Phil Ivey, Theo Tran and Sorel Mizzi.

By the end of the day only 585 players remained with Shannon Elizabeth, David Williams and Daniel Negreanu were amongst the Day 1 casualties.

Mark Newhouse and Jamie Gold were among the end of day chip leaders.

Players come back for Day 2 at 3 p.m. Saturday.

To view how the day played out in more detail as well as see blogs, news and videos from the Series, click through to PokerListings WSOP 2010 coverage.

WSOP Live!

Check out PokerListings' WSOP Live! The most star studded and entertaining daily WSOP recap in the industry:

Absolute Poker Prop Bet Interview

Absolute Poker recently ran a promotion asking players to submit their wackiest last longer prop bets. They picked the craziest ones and put them up for a public vote with the winner getting a trip out here to Las Vegas and their entry fees to the $1,000 No Limit Hold’em event paid for by the site.

The winners from Absolute Poker Mike Arniss and Tom Lipco, who joined us from the Phil Hellmuth Private Suite at the Rio. They told us about their incredible prop bet which required the loser (who busted out first) to walk home from Las Vegas all the way back to Pennsylvania. These two guys are poker fanatics who made their first trip out to the World Series of Poker and ended up at the bar with us to tell their story.

First Impressions of the 2010 WSOP by Lee Jones

I think the WSOP may actually be shedding some excess and concentrating on poker, as it should. It’s no secret that the Las Vegas economy has been one of the hardest hit in the American (and global) downturn; the WSOP is reflecting its host city’s hardships.

Now, I don’t consider this a bad thing. The World Series of Poker is supposed to be about (!) poker. For a while, poker was so faddish that “they” (the media, anybody who had a dollar to make from it) attempted to make it all things to all people. For instance, in recent years there was a “Poker Lifestyle” show at the WSOP. “Poker Lifestyle” – surely you’re kidding, right? I mean, poker is a game, not a lifestyle.

But there it was, although last year it began looking frayed around the edges. There were fewer booths and you’d be hard-pressed to find a relationship to poker at many of them. Perhaps with a bit of foreshadowing, one of the larger booths was that of Sports Legends Challenge. They proposed bringing retired sports heroes and poker players together at a tropical resort. They sold (or awarded in satellites) dozens of prize packages and then the whole thing collapsed in a cloud of scandal and lies.

Maybe this was yet another sign that there are limits to what poker should try to be. Whatever – the lifestyle show is gone. The room that used to hold it is now the main tournament area, full of poker players.

Gone this year are the energy drinks (although the beef jerky is still everywhere). The side halls don’t have the ancillary vendors that have been there in recent years. There’s less pomp and glitz and for that reason you can see the poker better. Player fields are down a bit, but have no fear, there’s more poker – at the Rio and elsewhere – than you can shake a stick at.

Tournament of Champions

I had the opportunity to participate in the ESPN webcast of the first two days of the Tournament of Champions. As you’re probably aware, this was a 27-player tournament (a three-table sit-and-go if you will) consisting of many of the top players in the world. Twenty of them were chosen by a poll of the fans. By and large, I think the fans did exceptionally well at picking (although I was disappointed that Chris Moneymaker didn’t make the cut).

The match has an extremely generous structure and this, combined with the solid play of the participants, produced the departure of only nine players after two days of play. As I pointed out during the webcast, these pros didn’t suffer from the over-eagerness that often affects players more used to shorter-stack online events. As an example, Greg Raymer ran into a set-under-set situation and a couple of other nasty second-best hand scenarios, yet managed to survive quite a while beyond them.

Having watched this event closely for two days, I’m 100% sold on the idea of bringing together a relatively small group of top players to battle it out. If nothing else, the stories they tell and the poker lessons they give by example are well worth it.

One parting comment on the TOC: Phil Hellmuth showed up over two hours late on the first day – a day in which they were only going to play four levels (four hours). I know that a fashionably late appearance is his standard M.O., but I (and others) consider his tardiness for this event unconscionable. Being voted into the TOC by the poker community was, or should have been, an honor for anybody selected. Showing up late indicates a lack of respect for the other players in the tournament, the game, and the community at large. That last sentence is largely a paraphrase of what Mike Matusow said right to Phil’s face; good for Mike.

Note to the poker community: When you get ready to vote for TOC participants next year, don’t forget that slight.

Poker is Everywhere

As I said before, there’s poker everywhere. I played in a donkament at the Venetian last night; the poker “room” has spread out into the casino like kudzu on steroids. There were tournaments, sit and gos, and satellites. There were cash games, including $8-16 Limit Hold’em, $1-2 PLO, and dozens of No Limit Hold’em games. Away from the media and the beef jerky, it’s just pure uncut poker and it was beautiful to be part of it.

Resort Fees

Who thought this abomination up? Hotels all over Las Vegas are now adding a “resort fee” to the cost of the room. They don’t advertise it as part of the room price, but you have no more choice in paying it than you do the state room tax. It’s supposed to cover things like the weight room, swimming pool, and internet. But a lot of things that it’s supposed to cover used to be part of the room cost anyway.

I understand the Las Vegas economy is hurting and the hotels are trying to make an extra buck. But this approach of tacking on a nearly hidden charge (many resellers don’t mention the fee in their ads) is cynical and disingenuous.

Note: If you’re shopping for Las Vegas hotels, be sure to ask about “resort fees.”

The People

As always, the real joy of attending the WSOP is encountering friends I see once a year or so. Players, bloggers, media people, former colleagues, WSOP staff, all of them. Las Vegas can be a cold impersonal town, but when you’re having a post-cash-session dinner with old friends from across “The Pond,” it feels warm and intimate.

Note: Don’t come out here by yourself, unless you know people here. Meet friends from home, make contacts over the forums, do whatever is necessary. As lonely as it can be here by yourself, it’s one of the best places in the world to hang with friends.

Lee Jones is the Card Room manager of Cake Poker and has been in the online poker business for over six years. He is also the author of “Winning Low Limit Hold’em,” which has been in publication for over 15 years.

UB.com July Second Sundays to Benefit Crystal King Foundation

This month’s running of the UB.com Second Sundays charity poker tournament will donate its funds to the Crystal King Benefit Foundation. The $10 buy-in tournament will pan out at 14:45 ET on July 11th and former “Amazing Race” contestant Tiffany Michelle, a member of Team UB, will host.

UB.com will match all of the proceeds raised from the tournament and then donate the entire prize pool to the Crystal King Benefit Foundation. In addition, those who play will be in the running for over $2,000 in added prizes.

What is the Crystal King Benefit Foundation, you ask? The fund came about when mother Crystal King and her three-year-old twins Camrea-Rose and Caden were involved in a major traffic incident two months ago. Caden died in the wreck with a semi, while Camrea-Rose and Crystal survived, albeit with a multitude of life threatening injuries. UB.com got wind of the family’s plight through PokerRoad.com and PokerPlayersUnite.org and decided to get involved.

Michelle, who has traveled the world as part of her participation in “Amazing Race,” commented in a press release distributed by UB.com on why she chose to host July’s event: “There is a lot of money thrown around in poker on a regular basis and it’s causes like this and the ability to help that make what I do for a living worthwhile. I’ve seen first hand the emotional and financial stress that comes from awful accidents like this one. Being a friend or bystander, it’s hard not to feel completely helpless. This is such a significant way to lend a hand.”

The top 10 on the leaderboard in July 11th’s running of the Second Sundays event will walk away with prizes. In addition to helping out a cause near and dear to Michelle’s heart, participants will also be vying for entries into UB.com’s $200,000 Guaranteed weekly flagship event and a wireless poker controller. The player who eliminates Michelle from the charity event will claim a $66 ticket to the UB.com $7,000 Guaranteed, redeemable at 21:30 ET the same day as the Crystal King Benefit Foundation tournament.

PokerRoad personality and UB.com pro Joe Sebok hosted the June Second Sundays tournament, which resulted in nearly $5,700 being raised for the National Tay-Sachs and Allied Diseases Association. The player who knocked Sebok out, “Bob5Bob,” claimed the $66 bounty and promptly took third in the $7,000 Guaranteed for $800 – not a bad way to spend an evening. A total of 284 players bought in.

For those who don’t have time to partake in a multi-table tournament, but still want to donate to the Crystal King Benefit Foundation, funds are being accepted through the UB.com player account “CHARITIES.” The account has a first name of “Charity.” Members of Absolute Poker, which makes its home on the USA-friendly CEREUS Network alongside UB.com, can also participate in the Second Sundays fundraising efforts.

The inaugural Second Sundays event took place in March and benefited the San Antonio Aids Foundation. UB.com and Absolute Poker happily accept real money action from the United States. Besides Michelle and Sebok, UB.com pros include reigning National Heads-Up Poker Championship winner Annie Duke, 11-time bracelet winner Phil Hellmuth, and blackjack guru “Hollywood” Dave Stann.

UB.com Celebrates Independence Day With Freedom Tournaments

With the celebration of Independence Day coming up this weekend in the United States, UB.com is getting in on the party by offering two tournaments that could earn players some green while celebrating the Red, White, and Blue.

The fireworks start on Sunday at Noon ET, when UB.com opens the doors with the first of two Freedom Tournaments. The first event will be a freeroll that guarantees 20 seats to UB.com’s weekly $200,000 Guaranteed, which will play out on Sunday at 4:00pm ET. The tournament, with its guaranteed prize pool of $200,000 and a buy-in of $200+$15, is one of the top Sunday tournaments in the industry.

For players who miss out on the start of the freeroll – or bust out of it – there is a second chance tournament available. A special satellite event will be held at 1:30pm ET that will also offer a minimum of 20 seats for the top finishers. This tournament features a minuscule buy-in of $4+$0.40. In total, UB.com will be offering up 40 seats as a way of celebrating Independence Day.

“What better way to celebrate the freedom we Americans have to play this incredible game than with a Fourth of July freeroll,” Team UB pro Phil Hellmuth commented. “I’m proud to be an American, I’m proud to be part of UB, and I’m proud to celebrate Independence Day with the entire poker community at the best poker site around.”

Also on tap this weekend at UB.com is the opportunity for players to earn double Ultimate Points as part of Double Points Sit and Go Weekend. From Midnight ET on July 3rd to 11:59pm ET on July 4th, players will earn twice as many Ultimate Points for their play on the tables.

For those who aren’t a part of the action on UB.com, but are a member of the CEREUS Network site Absolute Poker, the same opportunities are available. Absolute Poker players will be eligible to enter the special UB.com freeroll, the satellite event, and – if they are skillful enough to take one of the 40 seats – the $200,000 Guaranteed. They will also earn twice as many Absolute Points for play as part of Double Points Sit and Go Weekend.

The $200,000 Guaranteed is the marquee weekly event for UB.com and its players. In last week’s tournament, there was a slight overlay that provided a considerable amount of value for the players involved. A total of 906 competitors showed up for last Sunday’s tournament, with 90 players earning cash for their time on the felt. The top five finishers in the tournament all walked away with a five-figure cash. In the end, it was “DOCTORDOKTOR” outlasting “BKAPLAN78” to take away the first place payday of $44,920, with “BKAPLAN78” earning a second place haul of $26,900.

Instead of heading to the lake, a picnic, or a fireworks display on Sunday, it could be an excellent chance to take some cold hard cash with UB.com’s special Freedom Tournaments. Visit UB.com for full details.

Phil Hellmuth, Annie Duke Vying for WSOP Tournament of Champions Title

While the 2010 World Series of Poker (WSOP) Tournament of Champions (TOC) takes a break until July 3rd, the leaders of Team UB.com, Phil Hellmuth and Annie Duke, find themselves right in the thick of things.

With 17 of the original 27 players remaining, Hellmuth and Duke are back-to-back in the middle of the pack.  With 44,100 chips, Hellmuth is in eighth place, while Duke is right behind him in ninth with 42,600.  If they hold those same positions throughout the rest of the tournament, they will both earn $25,000.  Undoubtedly, though, they each have their eyes trained on the $500,000 grand prize.

Duke has not had any success at this year’s WSOP, as she is still without a cash, so a win in the TOC would be a great boost for the 2009 “Celebrity Apprentice” runner-up.  It will also be quite an accomplishment to beat such a stacked, albeit small, field after recently winning the similarly challenging National Heads-Up Poker Championship.  Duke was one of five automatic qualifiers for the TOC, earning her spot by winning the inaugural Tournament of Champions back in 2004.  Coincidentally, she defeated Hellmuth heads-up in that event to win the $2 million purse.

While Hellmuth prides himself on holding the most WSOP bracelets of anyone in the history of poker, he would still love to win the TOC, even though it would not technically count as his 12th bracelet.  Hellmuth has had a disappointing run at the WSOP so far, with just three cashes for $70,622.  He does have two top-15 finishes, including a final table, but for Hellmuth, also the all-time leader in number of cashes at the WSOP, it has been frustrating.  Last night, he Tweeted, “Feeling so TORTURED right now!! Busted on level 15, in 59th place… 45 get paid. Four times I played till level 14 or later, and didn’t cash.”

Hellmuth earned his seat in the Tournament of Champions through the online fan vote.  He was the fourth-leading vote getter of the 20 players who qualified via balloting, garnering 12,673 votes.  Ahead of him were Phil Ivey (16,267), Daniel Negreanu (16,239), and Doyle Brunson (13,796).

The TOC has a dash of past UB flavor, as well, as ex-UB pro Antonio Esfandiari (now with Victory Poker) is 16th place and Scotty Nguyen, who was once sponsored by UB, is in fourth place.

The TOC is slated to pick back up on July 3rd and play down to a final table, which will be contested the following day.  If any player is still alive in events happening on July 3rd, however, the TOC will not resume at all until July 4th, when it will start bright and early at 9:00am local time.

Mizrachi Chasing Bracelet: Day 33 Recap

Las Vegas experienced a sweltering day and inside the relative cool of the Amazon Room, the temperature also rose as a fiery group of poker players went head-to-head across four WSOP tournaments.

Two of the biggest names in poker also traded verbal blows.

This is how the day played out.

Event 47 - $1k No-Limit Hold'em

Event 47 was originally planned to be a four day event but, once it got down to the final nine, the tournament directors cried uncle and decided that for the sanity of the players and staff involved we should call it a night and come back for more tomorrow.

Out of the final nine. Owen "ocrowe" Crowe is the name that stands out and he'll be coming back tomorrow in fourth place with 1.2 million when the final nine return to battle for the bracelet.

Event 49 - $1.5k No-Limit Hold'em

The penultimate small buy-in "donkament" of the series played out day 2 today - if donkament is a fair description of a four-figure buy-in tournament.

Tha payouts are not inconsiderable, given the winner will collect s sizeable $609.493 for first and 23 players still have a shot at that.

Michael Linn will come in as the chipleader with just over 1.4 million in chips. Closely behind is Mihai Manole of Romania who is hot on Linn's tail with 1.25 million.

At 2.30 p.m. they will reconvene and play to a winner.

Event 50 - $5k Pot-Limit Omaha

The $5k Pot-Limit Omaha was scheduled to play to a final table, but was always unlikely to achieve that goal - 31 players still in the hunt by the time they bagged and tagged the chips.

Along the way English pro Dave "Devilfish" Ulliott crossed swords with "The Poker Brat" Phil Hellmuth in what was a keenly-contested tournament.

They did manage to make it into the money spots and Robert Mizrachi snatched the chip lead by the end of the day.

He'll be looking to emulate brother Michael Mizrachi's bracelet success earlier in the series.

PokerListings blogger Jason Mercier and Hendon Mobster Joe Beevers were two others who survived and when they return at 3 p.m. tomorrow, they will be nursing ambitions of bracelet glory.

Event 51 - $3k Triple Chance No-Limit Hold'em

The $3k Triple Chance was a fiesta of action, with a bumper field of 965 swiftly whittled down to just 189 come the close of play.

The field was stacked with some top-class players and the end of day chip counts relected this.

Tommy Vedes, David Singer, Gavin Griffin, James Akenhead and Tom "durrrr" Dwan will all return tomorrow at 2.30 p.m. well-placed to make a deep run and we expect fireworks when they resume.

For an in-depth account of how Day 33 of the World Series played out, along with news, blogs and videos keeping you up-to-date with all te action playing out in the Rio, click through to PokerListings dedicated WSOP 2010 section.

WSOP Live!

Check out PokerListings' WSOP Live! The most star studded and entertaining daily WSOP recap in the industry:

WSOP TOC: Mike Matusow leading, Huck Seed as second

Mike “The Mouth” Matusow finished the second day of the WSOP Tournament of Champions in a great way: in chiplead. The loudmouth collected exactly 85,500 chips which is a bit more than Huck Seed’s 73k.  

-Matusow won the Tournament of Champions in 2005 and was third in 2006. 

A few big names were eliminated during the day - for example Doyle Brunson, Joe Cada and Mike Sexton had to leave the tournament table.

Below all the remaining 17 players and their exact chipstacks:

1. Mike Matusow          85,500
2. Huck Seed         73,000
3. Johnny Chan         68,600
4. Scotty Nguyen         64,700
5. Joe Hachem             64,300
6. Erik Seidel         58,900
7. Allen Cunningham     58,900
8. Phil Hellmuth         44,100
9. Annie Duke         42,600
10. Daniel Negreanu     39,900
11. TJ Cloutier         38,800
12. Jennifer Harman     34,200
13. Howard Lederer         30,800
14. Chris Ferguson         30,100
15. Barry Greenstein     29,900
16. Antonio Esfandiari     24,400
17. Bertrand Grospellier     21,400

There are also some changes in the tournament schedule as the tournament has proceeded much slower than expected: still 17 players are competing for the $500,000 dollar main prize, although according to the estimates we should already know the finalists.

Originally it was meant to be that the nine finalists would return to the table on 4th of July, but since there are still this many players left, the tournament will continue already on July 3rd.

However, the Ante Up for Africa tournament can still mix the schedules, so it remains to be seen when we finally know the winner of this year’s TOC…   

Source: PokerNews and TheHendonMob

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WSOP TOC: Mike Matusow leading, Huck Seed as second

Sigurd Eskeland Captures First World Series of Poker Bracelet

Norway’s Sigurd Eskeland earned his first ever World Series of Poker (WSOP) gold bracelet on Tuesday morning, defeating Steve Sung heads-up in the $2,500 Mixed Event.  The former school teacher won $260,497 in his third career WSOP cash.

The Mixed Event features eight different games: No Limit Hold’em, Fixed Limit Hold’em, Pot Limit Omaha, Omaha 8/b, Razz, Stud, Stud 8/b, and 2-7 Triple Draw.  Day 3 began with 20 players still remaining and Eskeland had a ways to go, sitting in 12th place.  Aside from the chip leader, Nikolai Yakovenko, who had 310,000 chips, it was a fairly tightly grouped field.

Eskeland waited patiently through several eliminations before surging into the chip lead thanks to a series of double-ups.  After eliminating Alex Wice in third place, Eskeland went into heads-up play with a 2-to-1 chip advantage over Sung.  He expanded his lead quickly, but after about 40 minutes, Sung had pulled to even and looked like he was poised to make a run at the bracelet when he took the lead shortly thereafter.

Sung’s lead didn’t last long, though, and just over two hours into the heads-up match, he had all of his chips in the middle in a No Limit Hold’em round with Qd-Qs against Eskeland’s Ac-9s.  The flop was harmless – 3d-9c-4c – and it looked like Sung still just needed to dodge an ace to double-up.  The Jc on the turn gave Eskeland a flush draw, though, and the river was heartbreaker for Sung: 2c.  That brought Eskeland a flush and the title.

2010 WSOP Event #48 $2,500 Mixed – Final Table Results

1. Sigurd Eskeland – $260,497
2. Steve Sung – $160,952
3. Alexander Wice – $102,314
4. Nikolai Yakovenko – $73,776
5. Stephen Su – $54,032
6. Scott Seiver – $40,175
7. Jared Jaffee – $30,319
8. Kirill Rabtsov – $23,223

Elsewhere around the Rio, the Tournament of Champions (TOC) wrapped up Day 2, albeit behind schedule.  The plan was to play Day 1 last Sunday and Day 2 on Monday, at which point the final nine players would be determined.  Play would then resume on July 4th.  However, after Monday’s action, there were still 17 players left.  Therefore, WSOP officials decided to bring everyone back on July 3rd to play down to the final table, which will still be played on July 4th.  The schedule may be modified even further, though.  There are two events taking place on July 3rd – the Ante Up for Africa charity tournament and the $25,000 Six-Max – so there is a chance that one or more of the TOC players will already be playing in an event.  If that is the case, the TOC will resume on July 4th at 9:00am so that there is enough time to determine a champion.  Here is a look at the current standings:

1. Mike Matusow – 85,500
2. Huck Seed – 73,000
3. Johnny Chan – 68,600
4. Scotty Nguyen – 64,700
5. Joe Hachem – 64,300
6. Erik Seidel – 58,900
7. Allen Cunningham – 58,900
8. Phil Hellmuth – 44,100
9. Annie Duke – 42,600
10. Daniel Negreanu – 39,900
11. T.J. Cloutier – 38,800
12. Jennifer Harman – 34,200
13. Howard Lederer – 30,800
14. Chris Ferguson – 30,100
15. Barry Greenstein – 29,900
16. Antonio Esfandiari – 24,400
17. Bertrand Grospellier – 21,400

There were three other tournaments running on a busy day at the Rio on Monday.  Event #47, $1,000 No Limit Hold’em, completed its second day with just 33 of the original 3,128 players remaining.  Manuel Davidian tops the field with 889,000 chips, 176,000 more than his next closest competitor, Adam White.  Of note is recent bracelet winner Scott Montgomery, who in 24th place is gunning for his second win of the 2010 WSOP.  Here is what the top ten looks like:

1. Manuel Davidian – $889,000
2. Adam White – $713,000
3. Jason Riesenberg – $635,000
4. Owen Crowe – $607,000
5. Justin Young – $449,000
6. Laurence Stein – $442,000
7. Paulus Valkenburg – $439,000
8. Pekka Ikonen – $435,000
9. Shawn Busse – $432,000
10. Olivier Busquet – $377,000

Event #49, $1,500 No Limit Hold’em, is entering its second day with 315 of 2,543 players remaining, so the field is still 45 players away from the money.  Giuseppe Zarbo leads the chase to the $609,493 first prize with 156,500 chips.  Other players of note are still alive, including George “Jorj95″ Lind III (96,400), David “The Dragon” Pham (83,300), J.P. Kelly (61,600), Mark Gregorich (55,600), Shane Schleger (54,800), Liv Boeree (43,400), Roland de Wolfe (38,400), Matt Matros (36,600), and Andy Bloch (35,000).  Play will resume at 2:30pm local time.

Finally, Event #50, $5,000 Pot Limit Omaha, also concluded its first day.  Almost half of the original 460-player field is still alive, so it is a long way until the cash bubble bursts.  Kevin Schaffel, a member of last year’s November Nine, leads all players with 178,900 chips.  Also among the leaders are Jarred Solomon, who just made the final table of the $2,500 Mixed Hold’em event, 2005 Main Event final tablist and this year’s $1,500 Pot Limit Omaha champ John “Tex” Barch, 2010 $5,000 Pot Limit Omaha 8/b runner-up Dan Shak, and inaugural WSOP Europe Main Event champ Annette “Annette_15” Obrestad.  First place pays over $500,000.  The players will be back at 3:00pm local time to continue their quest for a bracelet.

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

Event #50, $5,000 PLO, Day 1 completed

WSOP Tournament of Champions continues - Ivey, Juanda and Farha out

The WSOP Tournament of Champions started yesterday. 20 poker professionals chosen by a public vote and seven other players who qualified in the tournament started the chase for the million dollar prize pot.

The first day already demanded five big names - John Juanda, Barry Shulman, Greg Raymer, Sam Farha and even Phil Ivey himself were all eliminated from the tournament.

The tournament lead, instead, was taken by Erik Seidel (72,075), Johnny Chan (71,325) and Mike Matusow (70,575).

Below all the remaining players and their chips:

So who will eventually be the champion of this ultimate high-level tournament?

The tournament continues today and then on the 4th of July, and the whole event will be broadcasted as a part of ESPN’s WSOP 2010 TV-broadcasts.

Source: PokerNews

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WSOP Tournament of Champions continues - Ivey, Juanda and Farha out

Inside Look at the Hijack Seat with Bernard Lee

With the 41st annual World Series of Poker (WSOP) well underway, there have already been several highlights including:

1. Michael “The Grinder” Mizrachi captured Event #2, the $50,000 Poker Player’s Championship.  En route to winning his first bracelet, he eliminated his brother, Robert, in fifth place, while removing himself from “The Best Player Without a Bracelet” List.

2. Phil Hellmuth created a huge buzz as he made Day 3 in Event #8 ($1,500 No Limit Hold’em), vying for his 12th WSOP bracelet.  Alas, his bid came up short, as he finished in 15th place.

3. Men “The Master” Nguyen won his seventh bracelet in Event #10, $10,000 Seven Card Stud Championship.

4. Tom “durrrr” Dwan just missed his first bracelet in Event #11 ($1,500 No Limit Hold’em), finishing second to New Zealander Simon Watt, which also prevented him from collecting on several very lucrative prop bracelet bets.

5. Eric Buchman, a member of the 2009 November Nine, was able to win his own bracelet in Event #18, $2,000 Limit Hold’em.  Buchman, who finished fourth in the 2009 WSOP Main Event, also came close to a bracelet in 2006, finishing as the runner-up in Event #4, $1,500 Limit Hold’em.

6. Another WSOP Main Event final tablist from 2005, John “Tex” Barch, won his first bracelet in Event #25, $1,500 Pot Limit Omaha.

7. Sammy Farha, who is dubiously best known for finishing as the runner-up to Chris Moneymaker in the 2003 WSOP Main Event, captured his third bracelet in Event #25, the $10,000 Omaha Hi-Low Split-8 or Better Championship.

Additionally, during the WSOP, Poker News Daily and I introduced a new show called The Hijack Seat.  The idea for the show actually originated back in June 2009.  I came up with the concept of doing audio interviews similar to my radio show, but primarily focused on the players at the WSOP.  After discussing the idea with Poker News Daily, there was significant interest, but we realized that there was very little time to work out the details.  Thus, they requested that I contact them in early 2010 if I were still interested.  In some respects, it was a blessing in disguise, as ESPN Inside Deal began work behind the scenes during the summer and I was extremely busy with the start of the show.  Therefore, I put the show idea on the back burner until next year.

Once the new year arrived, I was very interested in the show for the 2010 WSOP.  When I reached out to Poker News Daily at the beginning of this year, they asked if the show could be video interviews since the site had expanded its capabilities.  After further discussions, I agreed and decided to move forward with it.

I chose the show’s name, The Hijack Seat, for a few reasons.  First, I thought the name was somewhat original and cool.  With the button, under the gun, and cutoff fairly common, the hijack seat is a relatively new term in poker.  Also, to interview my guests, I temporarily “hijack” the player to ask them questions that are somewhat unique and informative.  Finally, a player sitting in the hijack seat must get through four spots (cutoff seat, button, small blind, and big blind) to steal the blinds and antes.  Thus, I ask them four questions at the end of every program before I let them go.

I hope that you have seen an episode, but if not, here are links to the first few shows and a quick synopsis:

Greg Raymer: “The Fossilman,” who was my first guest, talked about why he likes to rent a house instead of staying at the Rio and what he brings in his daily bag just in case.  View Part 1 and Part 2.

Billy Baxter: The seven-time bracelet winner discusses his love of Lowball and his relationship with Stu Ungar.

Howard Lederer: “The Professor” discusses his relationship with Doyle Brunson and his prop bet with David Grey.  View Part 1 and Part 2.

Dennis Phillips: The 2008 November Niner talks about his lucky coin, special watch, and prize cows (that’s right, this is not a misprint).

Since the introduction of the show, several people have e-mailed me asking how I am able to interview certain players.  Overall, there are three ways.  First, I am fortunate that several of these players are personal friends.  Second, I have forged relationships with some of these players via my work with ESPN and my radio show.  Finally, I have been playing in several 5:00pm events (mostly Mixed Games) and many of the pros play in these events vying for the shot at a bracelet.

I am constantly trying to bring you the best guests and get interesting information about poker and their lives.  I hope you will enjoy the future installments of The Hijack Seat.

Bernard Lee is the official spokesperson of Foxwoods Resort Casino. Lee is the co-host of ESPN Inside Deal, host of PokerNewsDaily.com’s Hijack Seat, a columnist for the ESPN.com, Sunday columnist for the Boston Herald, and author of “The Final Table, Volume I” and “Volume II.”  Visit BernardLeePoker.com.  Listen to “The Bernard Lee Poker Show” presented by Foxwoods Resort Casino every Tuesday from 6:00pm to 7:00pm on 1120 AM in Boston (MoneyMatterBoston.com or RoundersRadio.com). For questions or comments, e-mail him at BernardLeePoker@hotmail.com.

Gavin Smith Wins First World Series of Poker Bracelet

In the $2,500 World Series of Poker (WSOP) Mixed Event – featuring levels that alternate between Limit Hold’em and No Limit Hold’em – nine players came back on Saturday afternoon to determine a champion. Jarred Solomon held a slim lead over Full Tilt Poker’s Gavin Smith when play began, with WSOP Circuit terror Dwyte Pilgrim sitting on the short stack. Starting with Limit Hold’em, the players wasted little time in getting down to business.

Within the first three hours, three players were dispatched from the event. Pilgrim could never get any traction to make a drive at a WSOP bracelet, departing the final table in eighth place. 2007 British Columbia Poker Championship victor Daniel Idema, who came to the felt as the second shortest stack, was also a victim of the early action before leaving the event in seventh place.

Solomon was felted prior to the dinner break by Danny Hannawa and finished in sixth place. After dinner, Hannawa held a 240,000-chip lead over Timothy Finne, Jamie Rosen, Smith, and Michael Michnik. With the game changed to No Limit, several players became more aggressive, attempting to be the last man standing.

Hannawa dumped Rosen in fifth place, at which time Smith took over play. The Canadian aggressively took chips from Michnik and, in a key hand, assumed the chip lead from Hannawa when Smith, holding A-Q, flopped a queen and Hannawa couldn’t beat him. He continued to pound the pot with bets as the game switched to Limit, when he was able to vanquish Michnik in fourth.

After Hannawa was able to defeat Michnik at the end of the Limit level, heads-up play began in No Limit with Smith holding a 400,000-chip edge over Hannawa. After decimating Hannawa with a pair of eights on a 4-2-8-K-10 board, Smith saw fortune fall his way on the final hand. Hannawa committed the remainder of his chips holding a 10-8. After Smith called with his suited A-Q and the board ran A-K-2-J-J, he dropped the “best player to never win a bracelet” tag from his name by winning Event #44:

1. Gavin Smith (Las Vegas, NV) – $268,238
2. Danny Hannawa (Farmington Hills, MI) – $166,050
3. Timothy Finne (Fanwood, NJ) – $110,324
4. Michael Michnik (Hollywood, FL) – $81,871
5. Jamie Rosen (Las Vegas, NV) – $61,441
6. Jarred Solomon (Johannesburg, South Africa) – $46,562
7. Daniel Idema (Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada) – $35,601
8. Dwyte Pilgrim (Brooklyn, NY) – $27,438
9. Mike Santoro (Egg Harbor, NJ) – $21,304

In Event #45, another $1,500 No Limit Hold’em tournament, 35 players will return on Sunday afternoon to determine a champion. Sam Trickett, who was the runner-up to Jason DeWitt in the $5,000 No Limit event, holds the chip lead with several notable names in the mix behind him. 2010 WSOP bracelet winner Dutch Boyd sits in fifth, with Paul “X-22” Magriel, Alex Outhred, and Tim “tmay420” West just off the top 10.

Twenty-one players will return for Day 3 in the $5,000 Pot Limit Omaha Hi/Lo event, which will probably run deep into Monday morning to determine a champion. Sergey Altbregin leads the tournament when the cards fly this afternoon, but a host of top pros are still in the mix. In second place is David “DevilFish” Ulliott, with Dan Shak and Chris Bell also in the top five. A blast from the past in the top 10 is Leif Force, who is known for his 11th place finish in the 2006 WSOP Main Event. Add in other pros such as Rob Hollink, Dan Heimiller, Allen Kessler, Andy Black, “Miami” John Cernuto, and Erik Seidel and the final day of this tournament will be one to watch.

Two tournaments opened up play on Saturday, with the first Day 1 of the latest $1,000 No Limit Hold’em event pulling in 1,759 entries. 310 players survived the carnage on Saturday to come back for Day Two on Monday. The final size of the field will be determined with the second Day 1 taking place on Sunday.

In Day One of the $2,500 Mixed Event, 453 players stepped up to test themselves against one of the toughest formats in poker. 192 will come back for Day 2 today, with Jared Jaffee holding the overnight chip lead. $50,000 Player’s Championship winner Michael Mizrachi is in fifth place, with other stars of the game such as Luca Pagano, Brandon Cantu, Steve Billirakis, Dario Alito, Alex Kravchenko, Scott Seiver, Andrew Robl, and 2010 double bracelet winner Frank Kassela all in the top 20.

While these tournaments all are featuring a great deal of star power, they will be dwarfed by the only tournament that starts today. The WSOP Tournament of Champions, which features 27 of the biggest names in the poker world, opens up play Sunday at Noon PT.

It looks to be a battle of the online poker rooms, as nine members of the Full Tilt Poker stable (Phil Ivey, Chris Ferguson, Allen Cunningham, John Juanda, Seidel, Jennifer Harman, Huck Seed, Howard Lederer and Mike Matusow) will hit the felt against six PokerStars pros (Daniel Negreanu, Barry Greenstein, Greg Raymer, Joe Hachem, Joe Cada, and Bertrand “ElkY” Grospellier). Team UB sends its most prominent representatives in Phil Hellmuth and Annie Duke, while Doyle Brunson represents DoylesRoom. Defending Tournament of Champions titleholder Mike Sexton will carry the PartyPoker banner as he attempts to repeat.

It all makes for one of the busiest Sundays during the run of this year’s World Series of Poker.

Hellmuth: “The competition with Ivey is about 20 bracelets”

Phil Hellmuth, who holds the record of won WSOP bracelets (11), couldn’t win his 12th one from the WSOP Event #41 / $1,500 PLO Hi-Lo. In final results Hellmuth ranked only seventh and was understandably very disappointed.

Unlike “normally”, this time Hellmuth chased the bracelet in Omaha, not Hold’em. “This seems so unfair, did you see how they played? I played only seven hands during the day and three times I bumped into aces. It shouldn’t happen. I played splendid poker, better than ever, and that’s why being eliminated felt very unfair.”

Poker News was there as Hellmuth claimed his prize money of about $30,000. Overall, that money is nothing to Hellmuth - especially alongside the bracelets.

“Phil Ivey just won a bracelet. Congrats to him. This is all about competition between us. One day he may beat me in the amount of WSOP bracelets, but not yet as I myself still have 11 bracelets.” As a NL Texas specialist Hellmuth didn’t hesitate to name this Hi/Lo as his best tournament of this summer.

According to Hellmuth, it is - above all - about accomplishments and records. “Ivey may leave me behind, but that won’t happen before I have 17 or 18 bracelets. So this competition between Ivey and me is about 20 won bracelets.”

Source: Poker Nyhederne and TheHendonMob

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Hellmuth: “The competition with Ivey is about 20 bracelets”

Stars Headline 2010 TOC

20 of the 27 players seated for the start of the TOC Sunday were voted in by fans on WSOP.com, and this year's TOC is the equivalent of an All-Star game from any major sport.

A ballot of 50 names was released by the WSOP on March 15, and the public had until June 15 to vote.

The top 20 players receiving the highest vote total earned a TOC, along with seven other qualifiers.

The result is an field that includes names like Phil Hellmuth, Mike "The Mouth" Matusow, Sammy Farha and Scotty Nguyen, seated with Barry Greenstein, Allen Cunningham, Mike Sexton and Barry Shulman.

All of those big names are sitting around just one table at the TOC.

"All in all I think it's great for the game, and I think all poker players should appreciate the fact that somebody's putting up a million dollars for a freeroll, for players to put that back in the poker community," Sexton told PL.com on a break.

"Obviously it's a phenomenal field. I predicted the final table will be the greatest final table in the history of poker. I think it'll be that strong."

The TOC is back for the first time since 2006, and the formula was overhauled for 2010, allowing the public to vote in the first-ever event of it's kind.

Daniel Negreanu is seated right next to Annie Duke at the ESPN feature table.

 

"Any time you have a voting process, people are going to talk about it," Sexton said.

"That's the way it is. It's like any major sport. All-Star baseball game, basketball, it doesn't matter. If the fans vote on it, they vote for people that they recognize, that are popular."

The event is definitely creating a buzz in the Amazon Room, with all three feature tables offering a spectacular lineup.

Top vote-getter Phil Ivey is in the field, along with Daniel Negreanu, Annie Duke, Chris "Jesus" Ferguson and Erik Seidel.

"It's a tough field," said Sammy Farha with a grin.

"I like that though, it's better for me. They're all good players. There's no strange move or something like that. I'd rather be in a field like this than against different faces that I haven't seen before."

The TOC will play four levels Sunday and wrap up early in the afternoon, allowing multi-tabling pros to fulfill other bracelet-event commitments later in the day.

Action will resume in the TOC at 12:00 p.m. on Monday with the goal of playing down to a final table of nine. The final table will play out on July 4.

Farha told PL.com that he's done playing bracelet events for the summer, with the $10k Omaha Hi-Lo bracelet already in the bag for the 2010 WSOP.

Nonetheless, Farha says the TOC title is meaningful to the pros.

"You know what you hear, we're having fun, we're socializing," Farha said.

"That means nothing. The play, it's very competitive. We're all going to try to beat each other."

The 2010 WSOP continues through July 17. For comprehensive coverage live from Las Vegas tune in to PokerListings' Live Updates and News.

Five-Star Canada win 5th WSOP bracelet: Day 30 Recap

Another four absorbing contests also took place, with Devilfish and Hellmuth facing off mano to mano in event 46.

Here's how it played out.

Event 44 - $2.5k Mixed Hold'em

Nine of the original 507 players showed up for Day 3 of what proved a dramatic and hotly-contested final table.

Danny Hannawa started the day as the chip leader with Gavin Smith directly behind him on the leaderboard.

Smith was able to quickly snatch the chip lead and the heads-up saw him face off against Hannawa for the bracelet.

Following a protracted battle, Smith kept his nerve to earn his first, and Canada's fifth, bracelet of the series - as well as collecting $268,238 in prize money.

"Now I'm part of that club I've always wanted to be a part of," said Smith after adding a WSOP bracelet to his trophy cabinet.

To read more about Smith's historic win - see PokerListings' extended news story.

Event 45 - $1.5k No-Limit Hold'em

Day 2 of the $1.5k saw the remaining players reconvene in a bid to play down to the final table.

That was always likely to prove a difficult task, though by the time the allotted 10 levels were in the bag, the players had played through to the money spots of the tournament.

35 players made it through the day and when they return tomorrow, it will be Englishman Sam Trickett - who narrowly missed out on a bracelet earlier in the series - who holds the chip lead, with 2010 bracelet-winner Dutch Boyd also well in contention to win the massive $721,373 first prize and WSOP bracelet.

Event 46 - $5k Pot-Limit Omaha/8

A host of stars were still in the running for day 2 of this split event and a grinding day of poker saw the 130 remaining players finally whittled down to just 21.

Big names such as Mike Matusow, Howard Lederer and Bruno Fitoussi hit the rails during a tough day's play.

During the day, Dave "Devilfish" Ulliott levered his way almost to the summit of the leaderboard, knocking an aggravated Phil Hellmuth out along the way.

It will be Sergey Altbregin however who will be best primed for a run at the bracelet when the surviving players return to play it out for the win at 2.30 p.m. tomorrow.

Event 47 - $1k No-Limit Hold'em

Another NLHE donkament on the WSOP 2010 schedule saw 1,759 players turn up for Day 1a to take their shot at glory.

A rapid-fire day played out, and by the close a number of players with well-founded reputations - including Antonio Esfandiari, Scott Montgomery and Matt Glantz - had made their mark on the tournament, well-placed near the summit of the leaderboard.

The 270 odd who made it through the day will hook up in two days' time with the survivors from tomorrow's Day 1b - which will begin at 12:00 p.m. sharp.

Event 48 - $2.5k Mixed

An encouragingly-large field of 453 arrived to contend the $2.5k Mixed title, and by the close of play, 192 of those still had some chips remaining.

The end-of-day top ten leaderboard was peppered with star quality and when the players return at 2.30 p.m. tomorrow, Jared Jaffe will be just ahead of the likes of Justin "BoostedJ" Smith, EPT super-casher Luca Pagano and player of the year contender Michael Mizrachi - as well as many other hihgly talented mixed game specialists.

More information on day 29 of the WSOP, including news, blogs and videos can be found by accessing PokerListings' dedicated WSOP 2010 section.