World Series of Poker

I’ve attended the World Series of Poker in Las Vegas for the last couple of years, mainly as a spectator. Poker friends of my mine play in a few of the $1,500 events, so normally my role for the week is to win as many tournament buy-in chips for them as I can through the single-table satellites that are always running. I normally do really well at these considering my online poker SNG experience combined with the number of unskilled tourists that frequent the games. Between the satellites and the vendors, I’m normally pretty happy for the five days or so that I’m there. There are many other reasons to come down and check out the WSOP though, regardless of your skill level. Here are a few reasons why:

Pros Galore: If you like to gawk at pro poker players and get your hat signed by the biggest names in the game, the WSOP presents the best opportunity. Practically every major pro in the game shows up at the WSOP at one point or another, and most of them are happy to take a photo with you and sign something. Just make sure you adhere to some basic etiquette and not bother the players while they’re on a short break or obviously occupied with another responsibility.

Witness the Poker Spectacle: If you’ve never been to the WSOP, the first thing that will blow you away is the sheer scope of the event. Hundreds of poker tables line the main ballroom where the games take place, and it’s truly a sight to see so many poker players in one place at one time.

Buy Some Swag: Unless you do a lot of shopping online, you probably don’t get a lot of opportunity to get your hands on some good poker gear. Well, the WSOP normally has a decent number of poker-based vendors with booths setup, selling everything from t-shirts and books to card protectors. Many of these items can become hard to find after the event as well, so come with some spending money in hand.

The last time the World Series of Poker put on their famous Tournament of Champions event was back in 2006. Now, they’re planning on bringing back the exclusive tournament for 2010 and opening up the invitation list to be decided by the WSOP fans themselves. 27 players will end up being offered seats into the event, and already in the first 24 hours of voting more than 40,000 votes have been cast.

“In just 24 hours, the poker community has spoken loud and clearly, and they should be applauded for their passion,” said Ty Stewart, the vice president for Harrah’s Interactive Entertainment. “We really love the idea of turning the fans into executive producers, and they are taking the challenge head on and making sure their voices are heard.”

Don’t worry if you haven’t cast your vote yet, as you have until June 15th to make your selection on the WSOP website. Also displayed on the site will be a randomly generated list of the top 50 players who lead the overall vote count. After June 15th, the top 20 vote-getters will be awarded seats into the freeroll event (which will be televised), where they’ll compete against Mike Matusow, Mike Sexton, Annie Duke, Joe Cada, and Barry Shulman, all of whom were giving automatic entries for either being the current WSOP and WSOPE champion, or for having won a past Tournament of Champions event. An additional two spots are being left available as sponsor exemptions and will be awarded to players that win qualifier tournaments produced by Harrahs.

As expected, the current list of that comprises the top 50 vote-getters is full of legendary players including Ted Forrest, Sam Farha, Phil Hellmuth, Johnny Chan, Dan Harrington, and Chris Ferguson.

Just recently, the World Series of Poker finalized and posted up their tournament rules for the upcoming 2010 WSOP. A couple of hardcore poker insiders have already poked through most of the 105 rules listed on the 8-page document and confirm that no major changes have been made since the posting of the 2009 rule book. One new item addressed in the report though is that of cell phones at the table, situations that many card rooms and tournaments have been changing their stance on.

According to Rule #55, your cell phone must now be turned off during tournament play, yet it also says that players not involved in a hand (those that have already mucked their cards), can text/email at the table while waiting for the next hand. But wait, didn’t they just tell us to have our phones “off”? Here’s the actual wording of the rule:

“All cell phones and other voice-enabled and “ringing” electronic devices must be turned off during tournament play. Players not involved in a hand (cards in muck) shall be permitted to text/email at the table, but shall not be permitted to text/email any other
player at the table. If Rio, acting in its sole and absolute discretion, believes a player is communicating with another player at the table, both parties will be immediately disqualified from the tournament and face imposition of additional penalties as described in Rule 36. All players desiring to talk on a cell phone must be at least one table length away from their assigned table during all said communication. Those individuals who talk on a cell phone not at least one table length away from their assigned table shall be subject to a penalty to be determined by Tournament Staff. No cell phones or other electronic communication device can be placed on a poker table.”

It does read a little weird, but basically what I glean off of the text is that you just can’t make any calls while at the table, yet you can still text/email just as long as you’re not involved in a hand. Plus you can’t email or text anybody else seated at your table, though that is going to be near impossible to enforce unless two goons are being really obvious.

“Poker has evolved exponentially the last decade, and with so many new players to the game, it’s important that we as tournament officials, dealers and players are all familiar with the rules. We believe that as the industry leader, it’s important for us at the WSOP to have the most comprehensive rules in the game today," said Vice President of International Poker Operations and World Series of Poker Tournament Director Jack Effel.

The most prestigious tournament series in the world has announced the schedule for the 2010 World Series of Poker. The 41st annual World Series of Poker in Las Vegas is set to run from May 27-July 17, 2010. It is the only tournament series that awards the coveted gold bracelet signifying the best poker champions in the world. The series attracts players from all over the world. In 2008 it was named the 7th most admired sports brands in North America.

This year there have been a few changes to the tournament set up, and all changes appear to be positive ones. In the past, players have had to endure long hours which can be taxing on anyone’s play. This year tournaments that start at 12 noon are expected to play a maximum of10-one hour levels, and 5 p.m. starts will play a maximum of 8 one-hour levels. This will give players the opportunity to get adequate sleep for the next day’s start. Tournaments will have the same structure of starting chips as last year which provided triple the buy in amount in starting chips. The $25k 6-Handed No-Limit event will be a new event added. The Rio All-Suite Hotel and Casino has advocated its entire convention center to the WSOP this year.

For more information on events, buy-ins, starting times and structures visit www.wsop.com.

I was going to say “SPOILER ALERT: Don’t read this article if you don’t want to know who will be playing heads-up for the WSOP championship until the ESPN footage airs”, but I guess I demolished that opportunity in the headline. It’s official, poker young gun Joe Cada and logger Darvin Moon have outlasted the other seven members of the 2009 WSOP Main Event November Nine and will face each other starting at 10:00pm PST on Monday night.

Needless to say, this isn’t exactly the match-up that most poker fans were hoping for. Phil Ivey versus anyone would’ve been far more exciting for heads-up play, heck I would’ve even have settled for Jeff Shulman just to see if he was really going to throw the championship bracelet away if he won it all as he had claimed earlier on. My main concern is that I don’t think that the poker nation wants another average joe champion this year, we were all ready for a big name to finally step up and take the title.

It also doesn’t help that both Moon and Cada greatly advanced their chip stacks during the final table play by pulling out some dramatically bad beats, often catching their cards after calling an all-in bet and being big underdogs before the flop. The crowd in attendance was none to pleased to see that luck and small percentage suckouts were basically negating more of the strategic play, not to mention that action overall was slow to begin with, to the point to where there was a period where 15 hands went by without a single flop hitting the felt.

To be honest I really don’t even know who to root for between Darvin Moon and Joe Cada. Moon has the personality of one of the logs he cuts down, while Cada has built up somewhat of a poor reputation in the poker spectator community through some cocky attitude he’s exhibited at the table. I don’t think the whole Cinderella story angle is going to work this year, we’ve already had that with Chris Moneymaker. Plus Moneymaker, though he definitely did get his share of good cards, is not having his series handed to him anywhere near the level of Moon, who even admits himself to having caught every card in the deck throughout the entire 2009 main event. This doesn’t mean we have to dislike him for his lucky streak, but at the same time it’s hard to root for a underdog that wakes up with aces, kings and queens on a regular basis against opponents that are all too eager to shove all-in.

Cada will go into the heads-up battle with about a 3 to 1 chip lead over Moon and considering the skill level of both participants, I suspect that both Cada and Moon will just be looking for cards to push with and hope that their hand holds up. It should be interesting, but there’s no denying that most of the wind was taken out of this final tables sails once Ivey headed out the door.

I’ve been pretty vocal with my own personal satisfaction that Phil Ivey has made it to the November Nine for the 2009 WSOP main event, and as expected the producers behind the ESPN coverage of the World Series are beginning to voice their excitement as they announce that the first episodes of the ’09 series will begin to run on Tuesday. They’re not shying away from admitting just how important it is to have Ivey associated with the final table and they have every intention on cashing in on the opportunity.

“This is the most excited I’ve ever been for a season of the World Series of Poker,” said Jamie Horowitz, the coordinating producer for ESPN. “It’s long been discussed in poker — could a pro ever win the main event [again]? Having Phil Ivey as part of our November Nine has just added a new level of interest in poker, not just on the blogs but even within ESPN … There is just an elevated sense of excitement for this season.”

Coverage begins this Tuesday at 8pm with the brand new $40,000 no-limit hold’em event, which was a resounding success with the players that participated and was even considered by many to be the most difficult tournament of the series in terms of overall skill level. Throughout their 2009 coverage, ESPN will feature four events from the ’09 WSOP – the main event, the $40k no-limit, a special charity tournament and a special invitational event that features many previous main event champions.

“We get to kick [coverage] off with new events that we’ve never televised before like the $40,000 championship, the champions invitational, and Ante Up for Africa,” said Horowitz, who also highlighted the network’s increased coverage of the biggest tournament of the year. “We’re doing a record number of hours this year [for the main event] — 24 hours — followed by the two-hour final table on Nov. 10.”

It seems like Darvin Moon is the current bookies favourite to win the WSOP title, which is due to reconvene on the 7th November from Las Vegas.

Self-employed logger Moon, from Oakland in Maryland US, is currently in the lead of the other eight finalist with a 30% of total chips, giving Moon the chance to win a total prize of $8.546 million – certainly nothing to sniff at!

"Everyone at this table is way better than I am," Moon was quoted as saying. We’re sure he’s just being modest.

Two finalists will be battling it out on November 10th. But just who will the finalists be? The bookies second favourite is Eric Buchman, who made it to 1st place at the Main Event, No Limit Hold-em of 2006, with a Prize Total of $275,000.

Third on the list of bookies favourites is Californian-born Ivey (currently labelled as one of the best poker players in the world), who managed to finish 10th in the 2003 series. Ivey has currently won a staggering $3.46 million at the series (not including this year’s main event).

One thing is for sure, we can guarantee that this year’s November 9 will be giving it all they have for the prize money. They have been sent home, in the spotlight, to prepare for the next 4 months

The 2009 World Series of Poker has made the Main Event more compatible to professional level play than any previous year. The number of starting chips for the 2009 World Series was improved by offering 30,000 in chips with two hour levels, as opposed to the 10,000 in chips offered in previously. Recently, there have been a lot of tournaments that have produced “deep stack” tournaments that offer more value for the buck, and more chips for the levels that are played. This caters to the pro players in that they are able to withstand bad beats and suck outs to produce quality plays that will get them into the money and onto the final table. A consitant complaint with the World Series structure was that after losing one pot players were committed to the next hand they played which left little room for advanced plays or surviving a bad beat. This year the World Series changed that, and the Main Event was no exception. It was no surprise that the biggest tournament in the world would up the ante on chips in able to provide more play time and better results for their qualified players.

Aside from the number of chips that were provided, the play time was reduce to an acceptable amount of play, as to not fatigue the players. On most days, there was not more than 12 hours of continuous play in one day. The nights were cut short in order to offer the players a break so that they could play under conditions that supported good decision making and strong poker skills. Those that were in charge this year knew that it was important that all players were able to rest and put their best game faces forward for the next day. On Day 6 of the Main Event, play lasted less than four levels which was eight hours of play. Some of this was due to the amount of players that were dropping, but the new schedule seemed to give players a long enough reprieve to get rest and have a good showing for the next day.

Due to these new changes, it was no surprise that this year there were more professional players left late in the game than in previous years. Some of the pros that lasted well into the money included Joe Sebok, Peter Eastgate, Kenny Tran, David Benyamine, Joe Hachem, J.C. Tran, Chris Bjorin, Jamin Stokes, Jordan Rich, and Dan Harrington. This only proves that there were significant changes in the World Series tournament structure that set to create a barrier between skill and chance.

When last year’s WSOP Main Event final table aired for the first time I was on a WPT (World Poker Tour) cruise watching the action unfold with a number of sea-traveling poker players. I hadn’t been following too much of the hype or stories that had used to help pump up the excitement behind the relatively unknown group of players that made up the November 9, so I really didn’t have too much vested interest in the players themselves, even though some of them were respectable professional poker players.

However, many of the players that played the 2008 WSOP main event final table are now well-known names, including Dennis Philips, Ivan Demidov and of course champion Peter Eastgate. For years the main event has been able to turn all but completely unknown poker players into celebrities and gain massive TV audiences in the process. What would happen though if the final table once again featured some of the biggest names in the sport? Would viewership double if Phil Ivey was one of the November 9 instead of some unknown trucker? It looks like we may get to find out.

With only 27 players left (at the time of this writing) in the 2009 main event, a couple of superstar names remain in the running, including Phil Ivey and Antonio Esfandiari. Ivey actually sits in the top four in overall chip count, while Card Player publisher Jeff Shulman, another very well-known player, sits in the top ten. You have to imagine that everyone working for the promotions/TV crew of the WSOP this year has their fingers crossed that Ivey or Esfandiari make the final table, as it would be the first time in a long time that names of that caliber will have made it to final stage of the world’s most important poker tournament.

I know the motto of the WSOP is “Anyone Can Win”, but it’s time to have a poker superstar win the main event. It’ll be good for TV and good for poker in general, and personally I hope that it’s Ivey that pulls it off. We all keep hearing that he is widely considered the best poker player alive, and the amount of interest that could be generated in seeing him take down the rest of the November 9 could easily result in the most watched televised poker event of all time.

C’mon Phil, we’re rooting for you!

At the beginning of the World Series of Poker 2009 it looked like it was a close race between a few individuals to take down the Player of the Year Title. However, there were a few times where it seemed as though the title would go to the underdog. When Brock Parker won his second bracelet in the WSOP he shot to the top of the leader board, and it seemed that this relatively unknown poker player would have a great chance at winning the title. However, despite Parker’s deep run in several other events in the WSOP, it wasn’t enough to give him the boost he needed to maintain his top two standing.

Vitaly Lunkin was also a big contender for the title. First he took down the 2nd event in the WSOP which was the $40,000 buyin 40th Annual No-Limit Hold’em event. He gained himself a bracelet and $1.8 million to go along with it. Then he took 21st place in the World Championship Mixed Event for $16,649. After playing the World Championship Pot-Limit Omaha event and taking 2nd place, it seemed that Lunkin was unstoppable. He then took 4th place in the H.O.R.S.E. tournament for $368,812. By this point in the tournament standings, it was assumed that Lunkin was going to take down the title.

It was also a great series for Jeffrey Lisandro. First he cashed in the 7 Card Stud World Championship for $36,266. However, he was able to take down his first bracelet of the year in the 7 Card Stud Event 16 for $124,959. His first bracelet win gave him a substantial boost on the POY list. Then he cashed in the Pot Limit Omaha Hi/Lo 8 or Better tournament in 17th place. He also took a 33rd place finish in the Pot Limit Omaha event. However, his bracelet wins in the 7 Card Stud Hi/Lo World Championship and the Razz event really pushed him over the edge. He had three bracelet wins in one year to gain him the lead in points.
Today, July 10th, 2009, WSOP Media Director Nolan Dalla halted play of the Main Event for a few moments to announce the winner of this year’s Player of the Year Award. Many whispered under their breaths about who they thought it would be. Then the victory was awarded to Lisandro who takes the title for the POY award. Players throughout the room applauded Lisandro and he stood up and waved appreciatively to the crowd. It was a job well done by Lisandro, and definitely deserved for his hard work, determination, and skill.

The World Series of Poker has released the schedule for the 2009-2010 WSOP Circuit Events. These events offer a range of outstanding tournaments which are played at Harrah’s properties around the United States. “World Series of Poker Circuit Events are a great way to gain live tournament experience, get a feel for what the World Series of Poker is all about and have a lot of fun,” said Jeffrey Pollack, President Commissioner of the World Series of Poker. Events will start October 16, 2009 and will run through until next year’s World Series of Poker 2010. The schedule of events is as follows:

October 16 – October 25, 2009 Horseshoe Hammond Chicago

October 23 – November 2, 2009 Horseshoe Southern Indiana

November 5 – November 15, 2009 Harveys Lake Tahoe

December 4 – December 20, 2009 Harrah’s Atlantic City

January 20 – February 11, 2010 Harrah’s Tunica

February 18 – March 14, 2010 Horseshoe Council Bluffs

March 3 – March 14, 2010 Harrah’s Rincon San Diego

April 1 – April 14, 2010 Harrah’s St. Louis

April 14 – April 30, 2010 Caesars Palace

May 7 – May 19, 2010 Harrah’s New Orleans

It’s hard to really gauge who’s going to go far in the main event based on chip counts during the early stages of play as even the chip leaders can easily bust out at any time, but at least it’s nice to see who’s currently in the running. Here’s a look at the top 25 chip counts from Day 2B at the WSOP, which includes a few noted pros such as Jeff Lisandro and J.C. Tran.

Rank Last Name, First Name Chip Count
1 Weber, Troy 353,000
2 Marks, Tyson 196,500
3 Costello, Stephen 192,000
4 Cada, Joseph 187,225
5 Wissing, Mads 185,750
6 Patterson, Tyler 179,500
7 Sanders, Joseph 175,800
8 Ay, Mikael 173,900
9 King, Carter 170,000
10 Weil, Mark 168,575
11 Wolfe, Paul 163,000
12 Pastura, Alessandro 160,900
13 Stier, Sebastian 160,050
14 Sanders, Adam 156,400
15 Kornuth, Chance 150,025
16 Levy, Steven 148,825
17 Schneller, Ariel 147,275
18 Lisandro, Jeff 146,950
19 Davis, Tim 146,000
20 Kunin, Samuel 145,775
21 Tran, J.C. 139,975
22 Bilzerian, Dan 139,675
23 Hougaard, Jesper 138,675
24 Parmann, Julian 137,400
25 Avital, Jacob 136,625

In a rather disturbing turn of events, it appears that at least 500 players were turned away from entering the Day 1D session of the WSOP Main Event on Monday. Tournament officials closed down registration for Day 1D after reaching the day’s allotted capacity, leaving hundreds of players in shock and removing any chances they have of playing in the 2009 WSOP Main Event.

The reaction of most of the turned away players was that they did not expect the final starting day of the main event to reach capacity so quickly (if at all) since all three previous sessions didn’t even come close to reaching the 2,700 daily capacity (the highest was 1,696 on Day 1C).

“We’re sympathetic because our goal is to accommodate everyone who wants to play. But once we run out of space, there’s gaming licenses at stake,” said Seth Palanksy, WSOP Communications Director. “People could start registering on March 1, 2009. It’s hard to say we didn’t give them opportunity to register.”

A number of notable names dot the list of players denied entry to the 2009 main event including T.J. Cloutier, Layne Flack, Ted Forrest, Patrick Antonius and Brandon Adams. The hardest hit players however were those that flown in from out of country and had been in Vegas for days already, trying their best to satellite into the main event, with plans on paying full price on Day 1D if they had no luck in doing so.

“I’ve played Day 1D for the last two years,” said Adrian Passfild, who flew in from Sussex, England. “I came here at 11:50 a.m. last year, registered, and was in my seat by 12:00 p.m. So I had no expectation that they’re going to reach capacity (this year).”

The WSOP tournament staff has said that the total number of entrants for the 2009 main event will be somewhere around 6,400, which will be more than the 2007 main event field (6,358) but less than 2008 (6,844). Factor in those unfortunate 500+ players that didn’t even get a chance to sit down at the world’s most prestigious poker tournament and this year’s field could’ve easily been one of the biggest ever.

The Main Event is in full swing and as a result the pre-Main Event standings for the 2009 WSOP Player of the Year race have been posted. Remember that this year the Main Event will be factored into the points race, so there’s still a chance for someone to come from way behind and take home the overall title. In the meantime, here is how the top 15 breaks down.

Player POY Points 2009 POY Winnings
1 Vitaly Lunkin 4,337 $3,140,037
2 Eric Baldwin 4,060 $1,029,892
3 Angel Guillen 3,492 $943,268
4 Cornel Andrew Cimpan 3,450 $1,773,374
5 Brock Parker 3,132 $776,433
6 Jeffrey Lisandro 3,018 $781,252
7 Poorya Nazari 3,000 $3,000,000
8 Jude Ainsworth 2,840 $1,009,885
9 Jon Turner 2,788 $627,726
10 James Van Alstyne 2,756 $549,057
11 Chris Moore 2,710 $563,822
12 Matt Hawrilenko 2,664 $1,153,147
13 Panayote Vilandos 2,640 $1,080,539
14 Martin Jacobson 2,608 $477,536
15 Peter Rho 2,600 $1,009,215

The third annual Ante Up for Africa tournament has concluded for the 2009 World Series of Poker, and it is the last tournament before the Main Event starts. The tournament is designed to raise awareness about the atrocities and crisis that is happening in Darfur. The buy in for the tournament is $5,000 and players who cash in the money are expected to give at least half of their earnings to the charity. This is event is always sure to bring tons of celebrities and professional poker players.

The tournament saw a total of 138 players turn out. The total prize pool for the tournament was $670,680 with a first place prize of $177,730. Some of the big name poker players that attended were Jennifer Harman, Steve Zolotow, David Singer, Justin Bonomo, Chad Brown, Annie Duke, Chris Ferguson, and Phil Hellmuth. There wasn’t a lack of popular entertainers either. Jennifer Tilly, Herschel Walker, Sarah Silverman, Matt Damon, Ben Affleck, Jason Alexander, and Cedric the entertainer also participated in this charitable event.

As the day went on, professional poker players and movie stars alike said their goodbyes. It came down to the final nine which included Eric Siedel, Matthew Kay, Phil Gordon, John Hennigan, Chris Ferguson, Rafe Furst, Adam Richardson, Alex Bolotin, and Jennifer Harman. The first to go from the final table was the very talented Jennifer Harman who donated all of her winnings to the charity. Matthew Kay went out in 8th place, and John Hennigan placed 7th. Phil Gordon went out in 6th place to Richardson. Chris Ferguson was all in against Bolotin. Eric Siedel went out in 4th place. Rafe Furst went out in 3rd, and then it was heads up against Alexander Bolotin and Adam Richardson. Heads up only lasted one hand before Bolotin came out on top for $177,730.

Greg Mueller has become the fourth player to win two bracelets at the 2009 WSOP, a feat made even more impressive by the fact that prior to this years World Series Mueller had 13 career WSOP cashes but no bracelets. His first bracelet this year came in the $10,000 world championship limit hold’em event, where he topped a field of 185 and pocketed $460,836.

His second victory came on Monday in the $1,500 limit hold’em shootout, where he outlasted a much larger field (572 players) in a shootout format. Mueller ended up facing Marc Naalden heads-up for the championship, where after building a 5-1 chip lead he eliminated Naalden and earned $194,854 in the process.

Here are the final table results:

1. Greg Mueller — $194,854
2. Marc Naalden — $120,614
3. Mille Phung Shiu — $77,138
4. David Williams — $51,145
5. Matthew Sterling — $35,058
6. Flaminio Malaguti — $24,824
7. Joep van den Bijgaart — $18,136
8. Jose Barbero — $13,655

The WSOP H.O.R.S.E World Championship event is widely considered to be the most difficult tournament at the WSOP, as the large $50,000 buy-in and mixed-game format usually results in only the best players in the world entering. This year, 95 players put up the cash for a chance at the $1,276,820 first-place prize money and the opportunity to call themselves the best all-around poker player in the world, and in the end it would be David Bach in the winners circle.

Bach had to endure an 18 hour and 44 minute final table that also included a seven-hour heads-up match against John Hanson, making it the second longest WSOP final table in history. “I never wanted to touch one until I earned it,” said Bach.

Here’s are the final standings from the event:

1. David Bach – $1,276,802
2. John Hanson – $789,199
3. Erik Sagstrom – $522,394
4. Vitaly Lunkin – $368,813
5. Huck Seed – $276,610
6. Ville Wahlbeck – $219,655
7. Chau Giang – $184,087
8. Erik Seidel – $162,382

After much anticipation, I finally made my way down to the 2009 World Series of Poker last week from Thursday, June 18th to Monday, June 22nd, as I have done for the past four years or so as a way of celebrating my birthday. I’ve been lucky enough to attend the WSOP during the huge expansion years where the attendance has jumped up to unprecedented heights, and although last year was a bit of a let down overall, the feeling around the 2009 Series was that it could once again put the WSOP back on an upward swing in terms of attendance and prestige.

I once again elected to stay at the Rio Hotel, the current home of the WSOP, as it is easily the best way to fully enjoy the event, as you can just walk downstairs from your room at any time and check out an event, play in a satellite or two, and just watch the masters at work.

After a perfect Italian meal at Café Martorano inside the Rio, I headed down to the main WSOP floor to check out the satellite action. I don’t know exactly why I was looking to play in a satellite event since I had zero plans or intentions to actually participate in a large buy-in tournament, but I guess the single tournament format of the satellites appealed to the online SnG player inside me.

I ended up buying into a $125 satellite, with 1st place (all satellites were winner take all) awarding $120 in cash and $1,000 in tournament chips, which can be applied to a normal WSOP tournament. I wasn’t surprised when I sat down at my table and noticed that most of the other players were of the standard tourist fair with limited poker knowledge and almost no single-table tournament experience.

I decided to play the satellite much like I would any of my usual online SnG tournaments, sticking to a fairly tight strategy to begin with and then amping up the aggression and “steal” mentality as the blinds went up. Well, as it turned out I didn’t need to put too much effort into my strategy, as on the third hand I received pocket 8’s in early position and decided to just limp to try and flop big. Three other players limp in behind me and the flop came K-J-8 with two diamonds. I made a pot sized bet and was immediately raised by the player to my left, which was then followed by a call by the player to his right. Figuring I was up against A-K and maybe a diamond draw, I pushed all-in and to my surprise was called by both players.

My first opponent turned over K-J for two pair and the other turned over A-6 of diamonds for the flush draw. With two cards to come I had to dodge a king, jack and any diamond and was lucky enough do so, eliminating both players and tripling myself up very early in the match. From that point on I was able to pick off a number of pots, as simple tournament strategies including continuation bets and betting in position were able to work very effectively against my relatively weak table. Considering that there was never a check-raise throughout that entire satellite, it became very obvious that everyone was going to check a weak hand and fold to a bet.

Overall I ended chipping my stack up comfortably by stealing pots and blinds and didn’t have to show my hand more than twice throughout the entire game, just when I tripled up and then again when I knocked out the 8th player from the table with my pocket 4’s against his Q-10. Once it got to heads up the other player and I decided to make a deal, which ended up resulting in us each taking home $60 in cash and a single $500 tournament chip, which I then quickly sold for $400 on my way out the door.

One satellite down, and I have more than $300 in profit to show for my efforts. Not a bad way to start my WSOP weekend!

Jeff Lisandro won his first bracelet of the year in Event 16 $1,500 Seven Card Stud, but his bracelet in Event 37 $10,000 Seven Card Stud Hi/Lo Championship was well deserved. On Day 3 of Event 37, twelve players returned at their chance at a World Series bracelet. Of those returning, the field was tough with Doyle Brunson, Scotty Nguyen, Justin “Boosted J” Smith, and Perry Friedman still in.

Lyle Berman was the first to drop from Day 3, and one by one they continued to fall. Doyle Brunson finished the event in 7th place. He had lost a big pot to Abe Mosseri after check calling Mosseri all the way down to 7th street. Mosseri was able to made a flush, while Brunson only had a pair of jacks with no low to be seen.

Brunson was crippled and committed a few hands later when he was the bring in showing a deuce. Farzad Rouhani was eager to get his chips and raised to put Brunson all in. With not much of a choice, Brunson made the call. Rouhani was able to boat up, and Brunson missed his low draw on 7th street to knock him out.

The knockouts continued until the final table was left with only two. This is the order in which players were eliminated from Day 3:

12. Lyle Berman - $33,668
11. Scotty Nguyen- $33,668
10. Perry Friedman- $41,885
9. Anthony Rivera- $41,885
8. Justin Smith- $54,896
7. Doyle Brunson- $62,234
6. Abe Mosseri- $74,258
5. Yan Chen- $93,513
4. Frank Mariani- $124,684
3. Mike Wattel- $176,605

Then it was down to two. Farzad Rouhani and Jeff Lisandro started their heads up play around 12:45 am. Rouhani had a slight chip lead over Lisandro, but they started heads up at 80,000/160,000 limits which made it fairly even stacked. After an hour or so of heads up play, Rouhani had Lisandro four to one in chips. It looked as though the final table wouldn’t last as long as everyone expected.
A crowd of people began to gather at the final table, and Lisandro’s supporters were making more noise than Rouhani’s which must have boosted Lisandro’s confidence. The tides began to turn, and within a few hands Lisandro had fought his way back. Rouhani began to be over powered by Lisandro, and Rouhani was unable to regain his chip lead.

After more than three hours of heads up play, Rouhani became critically low on chips and was essentially all in on every hand. For several hands Rouhani was all in, and it looked like it was going to be over, but the two contenders kept splitting the pot. Finally, the moment came. Rouhani was all in and the hands ran out:

Rouhani: (As 5s) 2c 3c Ts 2h (Kd)
Lisandro: (2s 6d) 6s Tc Th Kh (5h)

With Rouhani unable to complete a low, and Lisandro taking the high, it was all over. This final table was athe longest match in the 2009 World Series so far. Both players played extremely well and fought hard, but ultimately it was Jeff Lisandro that would take home the gold. Rouhani took home $266,804 for his 2nd place finish. Jeff Lisandro takes home the bracelet and $431,656.

He may be the godfather of Texas Hold’em, but Doyle Brunson, at least for the time being, is going to remain just one bracelet under Phil Hellmuth’s record-setting 11 WSOP bracelets. The Texas Dolly made the final table (his 24th overall) at the $10,000 seven-card stud eight-or-better world championship event, but was quickly eliminated in seventh place. Brunson remains tied for second overall on the WSOP bracelet list with Johnny Chan.

Here is a recap of the ten bracelets Brunson has one thus far in his career.

1976: $5,000 deuce-to-seven draw

1976: $10,000 no-limit hold’em main event

1977: $1,000 seven-card stud split

1977: $10,000 no-limit hold’em main event

1978: $5,000 seven-card stud

1979: $600 mixed doubles

1991: $2,500 no-limit hold’em

1998: $1,500 seven-card razz

2003: $2,000 H.O.R.S.E.

2005: $5,000 six-handed no-limit hold’em

Just a few days ago we reported that Phil Ivey had won his sixth WSOP bracelet when he took down the Event #8 $2,500 NL Deuce-to-Seven lowball tournament on June 4th, and now just over a week later he’s already done it again, winning a second 2009 WSOP event. Ivey took down the Event #25 $2,500 Omaha eight-or-better/seven-card stud eight-or-better, netting $220,538 and a seventh gold bracelet in the process.

With this win, Ivey now sits tied in sixth on the all-time bracelet list with Billy Baxter. He owns bracelets for wins in Omaha eight-or-better/seven-card stud eight-or-better, S.H.O.E., seven-card stud, pot-limit Omaha, no-limit deuce-to-seven lowball events and seven-card stud eight-or-better.

Here are the final table results from the Event #23 $2,500 Omaha eight-or-better/seven-card stud eight-or-better tournament:

1. Phil Ivey – $220,538
2. Ming Lee – $136,292
3. Carlos Mortensen – $89,342
4. Dutch Boyd – $69,919
5. Jon Turner – $45,237
6. Eric Buchman – $34,747
7. Tom Koral – $27,993
8. Peter Gelencser – $23,600

Famed English poker pro Roland De Wolfe beat out a final table stacked with notable players including Andy Black, Antony Lellouche and Scott Clements to take home first place honors during the Event #27 $5,000 PLO Hi/Lo event at the WSOP. The win represents De Wolfe’s first ever WSOP bracelet, and also earns him the honor of being only the second player ever to win poker’s “Triple Crown”.

Along with Gavin Griffin, De Wolfe has won an EPT, WSOP and WPT title, putting him into the most elite club in poker. For his first place finish in the $5,000 PLO Hi/Lo event, De Wolfe also picked up $246,616. Only a handful of players have victories in any two of the three Triple Crown qualifying series, so it’ll be interesting to see just how much time passes before the third Triple Crown inductee is named.

There’s a lot of WSOP play left to go, but already the leaderboards for the Player of the Year race are heating up, with forerunner Ville Wahlbeck maintaining an impressive lead with 255 points. By comparison, when Erick Lindgren won the WSOP Player of the Year award in 2008 he only had 235 points. Here’s how the rest of the top ten pans out thus far:

1. Ville Wahlbeck 255

2. Brock Parker 220

3. Phil Ivey 220

4. Pete Vilandros 175

5. Steve Sung 160

6. Daniel Negreanu 155

7. Jeff Lisandro 150

8. Jason Mercier 147

9. Roland De Wolfe 145

10. Scott Clements 135

The day started out with ten hopefuls waiting to be condensed to the final table of the Deuce to Seven NL Event 23 at the World Series of Poker. Roland De Wolfe was the first to fall which was not much of a surprise being that he was the short stack. Then Justin Smith took the fall, and players were down to the final table.

The day started out with a lot of excitement as two more players were unable to build their chips. Michael Binger was a short stack and moved all in from early position. John Juanda made the call. To everyone’s surprise, Binger opted to draw two cards. This seemed to perplex Juanda as well, and he took a moment to decide how many he was going to draw. He decided to stand pat, which turned out to be the right decision. Juanda turned over 10-8-6-4-2, and Binger was out pairing his nine for 9-9-K-7-2.

David Benyamine would be the next to go out after he moved in over the top of Sung’s raise. Sung made the call and stood pat, leaving Benyamine to draw one card. It wasn’t the card he need as it paired his nine to make 9-9-6-5-4 against Sung’s J-8-7-3-2.

At this point, six were left. Vince Musso started off the day as the chip leader, but John Juanda and Ville Wahlbeck were the favorites to win the event. Nick Schulman had been riding his short stack to stay alive, and Steve Sung had been gaining momentum with his aggression. Archie Karas was the silent contender at the table.

Vince Musso has lost the chip lead, but was able to double up through Juanda. After Musso raised to 36k from the small blind, Juanda pushed him all in. Musso called and each player drew a card. Musso showed an 8-7 low which was good against Juanda’s 9-8 low.

Musso wasn’t able to hold onto his chips though. He jammed once again, and Ville Wahlbeck called. Wahlbeck stood pat, and Musso decided to draw one. Walkbeck table a perfect 7-5-4-3-2 leaving Musso drawing dead with a 9-5 low.

Archie Karas was the next victim and moved in against Steve Sung who called. Both players rapped pat, but it was Sung who came out on top with 10-9-8-7-3 against J-10-8-5-2.
John Juanda, who was once the chip leader at the final table, had lost some substantial pots. He lost a big one to Steve Sung when Juanda put Sung in for his tournament life. Sung called after tanking for a few minutes and both players stood pat. It was a close showdown as Juanda showed 9 8 6 5 4 for low, and Sung showed 9- 5- 4- 3- 2 to best him. This was a critical pot, and after losing this Juanda was the short stack with only 250k left.

Juanda did end up moving all in against Nick Schulman who made the call. Each player drew one card and Juanda turned over 9- 6- 5- 4- 3, but Schulman had the best of it with 8- 7- 5- 3- 2. Juanda became the 4th place finisher of this event.

Nick Schulman was playing incredibly well at this point. Despite the aggression coming from Steve Sung, he was able to take down a few nice size pots without a showdown . In a three way pot, Schulman was able to bet his way to winning over 500k. Then Sung decided to stand up against Schulman after he raised to 60k. Sung came over the top for 170k, and Schulman insta shoved on Sung. It was a decision for his tournament life, and the chance at another bracelet for Sung, so he went into the tank. Ultimately he decided to call. Sung stood pat, and then it was Schulman’s time to tank. He decided to stand pat as well. It was extremely close. Sung turned over T-8-5-4-3 against Schulman’s T-8-5-4-2. It turned out to be a very good pat from Schulman.

In the heads up match between Nick Schulman and Ville Wahlbeck, it became an uphill climb for Wahlbeck very quickly. Schulman had Wahlbeck 3:1, and Schulman was a strong contender at this point. He was aggressive, and he was getting great hands against Wahlbeck. In smart heads up play, Schulman was patiently cautious about lending Wahlbeck too many chips. In the end, it all came down to a bluff and a perfect hand.

Schulman opened for 75k, and Wahlbeck came over the top for 250k. Schulman called and each player drew one card. Wahlbeck quickly moved all in. Even more quickly, Schulman made the call. Wahlbeck knew he was crushed when he turned over a busted low with 9-9-8-5-2 against Schulman’s perfect 7-5-4-3-2.
In a dramatic ending, Nick Schulman became the champion of the No Limit Deuce to Seven Draw tournament for 2009. He took home an impressive $279,742 for 1st place and the most sought after bracelet in the world.

Some players dream that when they play the World Series of Poker, they will be able to cash in an event. Some players dream of winning a WSOP bracelet one time in their lives. If your Phil Ivey, you dream of two or three bracelets in the course of the whole series. If your Brock Parker, you dream of winning two bracelets within a week of each other…and you actually do it.

Brock Parker first found an interest in poker through the card game Magic. The card game Magic, like Poker, is a game that depends on strategy, reading opponents, and having a little luck on your side. Through Magic, Brock was able to find an appreciation of Poker and started playing online. He has cashed in several other events, but this year he really proved what he was made out of.

The first Six Handed Limit Event 14 of the Series, and it was taken down by Brock. He beat out 367 players to make it to the final table. Once he got to the final table of the event, he was not the favorite to win. Daniel Negreanu led the final table, and once it got to heads up Negreanu had Parker at a 3 to 1 disadvantage in chips. Parker never gave up though. He played solid, caught cards, and was able to over take Negreanu for the win.

Parker then went on to play the Six Handed NL Event 19. Parker again played solidly as the final table dwindled down to just two players. Joe Serock and Brock Parker were heads up for the money, the bracelet, and all the glory. Parker started hitting cards, and Serock lost some key hands. Serock eventually jammed with pocket tens, but ran into Parker’s queens to bust out.

It has been quite an accomplishment for Brock Parker to come into the World Series as a relatively unknown player, and then come out with a World Series bracelet. Not only has he won a bracelet, but he has won two within days of each other. He will definitely be a player to watch in upcoming tournaments.

If you’re one of the many players that first got into poker thanks to the Chris Moneymaker 2003 WSOP poker boom era, you’ve missed out on a lot of the history behind the World Series of Poker. There have been 28 WSOP Main Event champions, stretching as far back as 1970. Take a moment to brush up on some of the biggest names in poker you’ve probably never heard of. Also, take a look at the dramatic difference in the 1st place cash as early as just seven years ago.

2008: Peter Eastgate - $ 9,152,416

2007: Jerry Yang - $8,250,000

2006: Jamie Gold - $12,000,000

2005: Joseph Hachem - $7,500,000

2004: Greg Raymer - $5,000,000

2003: Chris Moneymaker - $2,500,000

2002: Robert Varkonyi - $2,000,000

2001: Carlos Mortensen - $1,500,000

2000: Chris Ferguson - $1,500,000

1999: J. J. "Noel" Furlong - $1,000,000

1998: Scotty Nguyen - $1,000,000

1997: Stu Ungar - $1,000,000

1996: Huck Seed - $1,000,000

1995: Dan Harrington - $1,000,000

1994: Russ Hamilton - $1,000,000

1993: Jim Bechtel - $1,000,000

1992: Hamid Dastmalchi - $1,000,000

1991: Brad Daugherty - $1,000,000

1990: Mansour Matloubi - $895,000

1989: Phil Hellmuth - $755,000

1988: Johnny Chan - $700,000

1987: Johnny Chan - $625,000

1986: Berry Johnston - $570,000

1985: Bill Smith - $700,000

1984: Jack Keller - $660,000

1983: Tom McEvoy - $580,000

1982: Jack Strauss - $520,000

1981: Stu Ungar - $375,000

1980: Stu Ungar - $385,000

1979: Hal Fowler - $270,000

1978: Bobby Baldwin - $210,000

1977: Doyle Brunson - $340,000

1976: Doyle Brunson - $220,000

1975: Sailor Roberts - $210,000

1974: Johnny Moss - $160,000

1973: Puggy Pearson - $130,000

1972: Amarillo Slim Preston - $80,000

1971: Johnny Moss - $30,000

1970: Johnny Moss n/a

Earlier this week I was chatting with Andy Black while he was playing the $1,500 PLO World Series event. It was about an hour and a half into the tournament, and suddenly one of the guys on his table yells, “Andy, what seat are you supposed to be in?!” Andy turns to him seeming a bit confused, but realizes there is a kid standing next to him looking at his seat assignment card. Andy pulls out his assignment card and realizes that he was sitting in the right seat, but on a totally different table. I’m standing there wondering why the original dealer hadn’t caught the mistake in the first place, but it really wasn’t too surprising. It is the series after all.

The floor is called over so he can decide what to do. “Well, he will just have to move to his original table and seat.” It seemed like a logical enough ruling. Then the players started asking about his chips. He had won a few pots at the table, and now he was going to move to another table and take his chips with him. The floor just bluntly said, “There isn’t anything I can do. He’s going to move to his original seat and take his chips.” It didn’t seem right to me, as it put the players at his first table at a disadvantage. The chips they had lost to him had been taken out of play and they wouldn’t be given the chance to get them back. On top of that, his next table will have the advantage of taking more chips from him. It seemed like a domino effect of mistakes.

This story was brought up to several other floor men, not affiliated with the World Series of Poker, and they said the ruling wasn’t correct. Being that Andy had made the mistake, one floor man said that he would have moved him to his original seat and made him play at the starting chip count. “It’s his fault that he sat at the wrong table, and he could use the extra chips to bully his next table around because of the chips he won at the wrong table.” Another floorman suggested taking the extra chips and just adding them to the pot as an ante for the players on the original table. Either way, it definitely seemed like a decision for the tournament director to make, or someone higher up. It is just one of many rulings that will be made at the WSOP this year that may or may not be appropriate for the situation.

This year was supposed to be the year of cutbacks, and the poker community was anticipating smaller fields because of the hard times. However, it seems that is not the case and the fields are just as strong as ever this year.
The series kicked off with the $40,000 buy in event which attracted over 200 players. Most people were wondering if the event would break 100 players, but those skeptics were definitely wrong. There were big name pros who were taking part in the event as well as lesser known players. The event proved that even the big buy in events were going to be a hit this year.
Event 4 brought the $1,000 “Stimulus” Event which catered to those that may not be able to afford $1,500 or bigger buy in tournaments. This event saw an impressive 6,012 players which was only pales in comparison to the Main Event. It was so popular that the event completely sold out and players were turned away from registering. This event was supposed to be a four day event with two day starts, but ended up needing five days to finish.
Event 3 also broke records this year. Event 3 was the $1,500 Omaha High Low Split 8 or Better, and it saw a lot of big name pros. Not only were the pros interested in playing this event, but it brought it over 950 players. This was the biggest live Omaha tournament to date, and no one could have expected such a strong turnout.
There is still a lot of time and events left in the 2009 WSOP, and it seems that this is the year to break all records.

Phil Ivey is no stranger to winning poker tournaments and taking home titles, but he has been looking forward to the chance to take home another WSOP bracelet. Tonight, he was able to prove why he is the best poker player out there by taking home his 6th bracelet from the WSOP. In the Deuce to Seven Draw Lowball event Ivey was up against John Monette. Phil put on his game face and really sought to crush his competition with is aggressive play. In the end it payed off and Phil was able to gain a significant chip lead. John kept his hopes up and tried to put the pressure on Phil as the short stack, but in the end it was Phil who came out on top. Phil Ivey took home the bracelet and $96,361.

There is still plenty of time to make the drive/flight down to the Vegas for the World Series of Poker, and it’s a trip I strongly suggest you consider. I’ll be heading down there myself from June 18th – 22nd, and although the WSOP can’t compare in grand overall scale against some mega events like the Super Bowl or Stanley Cup, there is no shortage of reasons to attend this epic poker extravaganza.

Here are 5 of those reasons:

1. Meet the pros, get their autograph.
2. Freebies from many different poker companies and online card rooms.
3. Play in some of the juiciest side games in the world. The cash game tables during the WSOP are loaded with fish.
4. Play in an inexpensive satellite for a chance at making it into one of the larger tournaments.
5. Bare witness to the largest gathering of poker players you’ve ever seen.

Bonus Reason: The chance to be berated on live television by Phil Hellmuth.