 Gus Hansen was crushing the final table at the World Poker Tour Championship at Bellagio in Las Vegas. Here is a summary of the early final table action:
Beginning Chip Counts for six-handed Final Table:
Seat 1. John Roveto - 2,720,000
Seat 2. Gus Hansen - 8,570,000
Seat 3. David Chiu - 6,050,000
Seat 4. Tommy Le - 1,950,00
Seat 5. Cory Carroll - 6,670,000
Seat 6. Jeff King - 1,305,000
Action at Final table:
Hand #12 Jeff King eliminated in 6th place by Gus Hansen.
Hand #15 Tommy Le eliminated in 5th place by Gus Hansen.
Hand #16 Cory Carroll elininated in 4th place by Gus Hansen.
Hand #22 John Roveta eliminated in 3rd place by Gus Hansen.
Hansen rivered a ten to beat Jeff King's A-Q suited with his 10-9 suited. Hansen flopped a set of tens over Tommy Le's set of fives. Hansen rivered a seven-high diamond flush to overcome Cory Carroll's pair of jacks. And Hansen cracked John Roveto's pocket kings by rivering a jack-high straight with A-10 suited.
Heads Up Chip Count
Gus Hansen - 22,905,000
David Chiu - 4,360,000
By Hand #46 David was up to 11 Million.
On Hand #77 David won a big pot and brought the chips counts to:
Gus Hansen - 14,825,000
David Chiu - 12,450,000
Two hands later, David Chiu takes over the chiplead.
Hand #80: Gus moves all-in on the turn with two pair 10's & 8's; David calls with top pairs Aces and spikes an Ace on the river to finish a remarkable comeback.
David Chiu wins the 2008 WPT Championship.
 The World Poker Tour has released it's schedule for season seven and it is a much reduced tour from season six.
Gone from last year's schedule are:
Mirage Poker Showdown, Las Vegas
Turks and Caicos Poker Classic
Mandalay Bay Poker Championship, Las Vegas
WPT Spanish Championship, Barcelona
World Poker Open, Tunica
World Poker Challenge, Reno
WPT Ladies Night
Here is the Season Seven schedule:
Let me just say that there are plenty of women who oppose separate events of any kind when physical strength or the length of your beard are not important criteria for winning. I personally have mixed feelings about "Ladies" events in poker. That being said:
The World Poker Tour (WPT) has expanded its tour offerings with the launch of an official WPT ladies league and No Limit Texas Hold ‘Em tournament circuit—WPT Ladies (WPTL).
The first season of the WPTL tour kicks off January 20 at the Borgata Hotel Casino in Atlantic City , New Jersey; and will feature additional tournaments at Foxwoods Resort, Commerce Casino, and Bay 101. The tour will conclude with a $1,500 Championship tournament at Bellagio in Las Vegas. The WPTL Championship final table will be filmed on the WPT set for television broadcast on the Game Show Network in 2008.
Complete Schedule:
January 20 Borgata Hotel Casino & Spa Atlantic City, NJ. $300
February 2-3 Commerce Casino Los Angeles, CA. $970
March 16 Bay 101 San Jose, CA. $300
March 29 Foxwoods Resort & Casino, Mashantucket, CT. $530
April 13-14 WPT Ladies’ Championship Bellagio, Las Vegas, NV $1,500 April 25: Final Table
 The first event of the Spring Poker Season in Las Vegas is over and Juan Carlos Mortensen has added the World Poker Championship/Five Diamond Classic Trophy and $4 Million prize to his wallet and mantle. This was a very interesting tournament and week for me personally.
First, the season ending $25K buy-in WPT/Five Diamond always draws a classic field of professionals and wealthy amateurs. There were literally five recognizable faces at most tables. Now that is five faces that we in the poker media know but even a casual fan could pick out at least one player at each starting table and say:
"I know that guy, I saw him on TV."
With 50,000 starting chips both Day One flights started predictably slow but there was a lot of gamble in this event and lots a big stacks pushing at other big stacks almost every day. The Bellagio preferred structure is five 90 minute levels each day and no more; even with 50,000 chips and a great structure this was adequate time for a seven day event with 639 entrants.
Phil Hellmuth was seated near my media perch on several days and once again gave his immature, obnoxious performance; berating others players at the table and then hours later offering weak and insincere apologies. Around the tournament circuit, floor staff seem immune to enforcing penalties on such behavior but Phil gets a particularly blind eye turned to his television rich bad behavior.
On a very positive personal note, I was working with a great team for the Five Diamond including: Tiffany Michele, the emerging princess of poker interviewers; Justin Shronk, responsible for all the great video over on PokerNews.com; Amy Calistri, BJ Nemeth, Change100 & Dr. Pauly handled the tournment floor duties and photography. Its nice to work with people who know how to professionally do their job.
Finally, the tournament ended with a long and strong heads up between Carlos Mortensen and Kirk Morrison. Its a shame that the blinds eventually have to decide a winner in these WPT events. With 33M chips in play, the final level structure was: 100K ante and 600K/1.2M blinds.
Next, the WSOP Circuit event at Caesar's on Monday.
photo credit: BJ Nemeth
 The first big event of the Spring/Summer Las Vegas Poker season has reached 27 players. The WPT Championhship at the Bellagio will play down today to the "Television Six" before tomorrow's Final Table. This has been a very interesting tournament for several reasons:
-there has been a lot of talk among players about this being "the second biggest tournament in the world." Referring, of course, to the WSOP Main Event as number one but fairly uniformly the players hold that a $25,000 buy-in held at the Bellagio as the culmination of a WPT season clearly makes this #2.
-Lyle Berman, the founder of WPT, went deep in this event; eventually busting yesterday in 29th place. Everyone was rooting for a final table appearance for Lyle, except Doyle Brunson, who was at the rail yesterday telling him to bust out and come to the "real" game over in Bobby's Room. For those who don't know--the high stakes room in the Bellagio is named after Bobby Baldwin and is the site of the big stakes game in town, which often finds both Doyle and Lyle taking seats.
-like most other casinos, the Bellagio has yet to figure out how to accomodate fans who would like to watch some poker. The mindset of nearly every tournament director in poker is to break tables like they have always done so, yet with just a little creative arrangement the fans on the rail could see a lot more of the action without inconveniencing the players. But poker remains first a game to accomodate the casino and then running a distant second to make the players comfortable; the fans, as yet, are not on the radar of the tournament organizers.
-at Bellagio, they have some unique rules on reseating, on stalling to end the day's play and a completely unique interpretation of the "Show One Show All" rule. Many players and other observers believe that Bellagio is actually attempting to circumvent the Tournament Director's Association by enforcing different rules than those being used by the TDA.
Spring is here in Las Vegas or at least what briefly passes for Spring before the inferno of Summer begins. Next week the WSOP Circuit hits Caesar's Palace.
 I was covering the WPT Championship yesterday at the Bellagio in Las Vegas when one noted professional made a particularly risky bluff and got caught. He not only got caught with his hand in the cookie jar; he had made continuation bluff bets on the flop, turn and river and got smacked so hard on the river, he couldn't even make a crying call.
(Don't you love poker jargon.)
Well as the big pot was pushed to his young (internet) opponent, he sighed:
"You know if you can't be nothin' else, you can always be a bad example."
So cue up the gramophone and put on an old scratchy vinyl record of "I'm a Yankee Doodle Dandy" and check out this decision by the government of South Africa.
As reported by the South Africa Herald:
“If you can’t beat them, join them . . . or at least regulate them. That is the attitude that the government has adopted towards the rapidly expanding online gambling and online poker industry. Having learnt from the United States that outlawing online gambling and online poker does little to solve the problem, the government is now on course to legalise online casinos."
I'm making a list and checking it twice before heading out for my final assignment of the year. Today at noon the Doyle Brunson North American Poker Classic gets underway at Bellagio. The 2006 field will be split into two flights, one today and one tomorrow, before combining for day 2.5 on Saturday and playing until a new champion poses with the pile of fake money next Tuesday or early Wednesday.
All of the luminaries in poker are here for the last hurrah of 2006 and all the news thats fit to print will be offered up by the attending poker media corps if they can work out a schedule to not interfere with their various 12 step meetings, medications, and therapy sessions. Apparently what happens in Vegas doesn't stay in Vegas if someone has a blog and no understanding of "He who casteth the first stone."
Perhaps everyone needs a break, time to reflect and a week or so with a dark computer screen. Try talking to a live human or snuggin' with a cat.
The feature table on Day Two of the Festa al Lago at Bellagio was simply that table up on the little stage. There were no cameras yet, no microphones; it’s just another table in the room. But on this day perhaps it is just a bit more special. After a couple of players are knocked out and their seats are filled; here is the line-up:
Seat #1: Mike Matusow
Seat #2: Erik Seidel
Seat #3: Erik Friberg (8th place 2006 WSOP Main Event)
Seat #4: Carl McKelvey (4th 1983 WSOP Main Event, 7 WSOP Final Tables)
Seat #5: Richard Tatalovich (six 2006 WSOP cashes)
Seat #6: Paul Magriel (quack, quack)
Seat #7: Scott Fischman
Seat #8: Chip Jett
Seat #9: Hasan Habib
Nine seats, nine professionals in a deep money (20,000 starting chips) event with big stacks and low blinds (400/800). I decided to settle in for a few hours to see and hear what this table might produce pokerwise and otherwise.
Let's finish up what we started yesterday and play another round of: As the Big Stack Turns. Will Joe Pelton's big lead hold up? Will Andreas Walnum make it all the way back from dead last yesterday? Can Can Kim Hua make the same move today? Will Lassie find Timmy in the well in time?
[5 PM PDT + TV rehearsal time]
Joe Pelton ................... 2,923,000 ... 7:45 3rd place
David Baker ................ 1,652,000 ... 7:10 5th place
Andreas Walnum ........ 1,374,000 ... 8:05 1st place
Christopher Loveland . 1,059,000 ... 7:40 4th place
Steve Wong .................. 886,000 ... 8:05 2nd place
Can Kim Hua ................. 765,000 ... 5:50 6th place
From 18th to 1st, nicely done Mr. Walnum
LAS VEGAS--Down to just two tables in the Main Event at Festa al Lago @ Bellagio.
Today the field will play down to the final TV six for the WPT televised final table tomorrow. Here are the survivors including The Grinder, Carlos Mortensen, Captain Tom Franklin and Brandon Cantu. After the page break find the other cash finishers.
53-5 Joseph Pelton Newport Beach , CA 1,288,000
53-1 Chris Loveland Hollis , NH 1,122,000
55-8 Loi Phan Seattle , WA 799,000
53-3 Brandon Cantu Vancouver , WA 770,000
53-7 Can Hua Rosemead , CA 695,000
55-6 Steve Wong Hoofddorp , Netherlands 621,000
53-4 Stan Wasserkrug Henderson , NV 525,000
53-8 Michael Mizrachi Hollywood , FL 378,000
55-5 David Baker Katy , TX 367,000
55-3 Tom Franklin Gulfport , MS 336,000
55-2 George Mamacas Tasmania , Australia 291,000
53-9 Michael Eckes Oak Creek , WI 268,000
55-1 Joseph Tehan Utica , NY 264,000
55-9 Danny Smith Folsom, CA 227,000
55-7 Chris Cellery Gardena , CA 217,000
53-6 Carlos Mortensen Las Vegas , NV 203,000
55-4 Ted McNeely Myrtle Point , OR 190,000
53-2 Andreas Walnum Bodo , Norway 103,000
Ah! The Bellagio.
After all the complaining at the Rio this summer:
"The events are so big, it's all about luck now."
"There is no way to read a field of 3,000."
"All-in is the only move these guys have."
How nice it is to come back to the Bellagio. Even with 400+ entries, this is a quality field.
While the other media ran about getting names, seat assignments and hat sizes; I strolled the two rooms just counting the players I knew. No list of names just the quality of the field. Once my number hit 100, I was going to stop but then the late arrivals started to trickle in (15 to 20 minutes late is the new "fashionable" arrival time for stars wishing to avoid the public).
"Sorry I am late for the tournament."
Nearly half of the final field were professionals. Nary a donkey in the house, no matter what Phil says. All is right in the world of poker...as long as you don't listen to the table talk about you know what.....
 LAS VEGAS--It isn't long since Joe Sebok had to parade around the Rio in a variety of costumes. That was his forfeit for only cashing $14k at the WSOP. I was pleased not to see Gavin Smith in those outfits.
With stepfather and close friend Barry Greenstein on " High Stakes Poker" duty, 3 miles away at the South Coast, Joe coached himself back from the shortstack position at 5pm. He had only 12% of the chips when play was four handed. That was half of the average.
The chip leader was amateur Chuck Keeley. He was unlucky losing one hand with AK, with an ace on the flop, to trip sixes of John Huong. Then Joe Sebok called with 2-4 v Chuck's AQ. Chuck caught a queen on the flop and pushed all in. Joe had paired his deuce and called. A deuce on the river,not the title of BarryG's book, eliminated Chuck.
Heads-up began with Joe having 930k to Huong's 480k.
Joe came from behind on the final hand to river a straight.
Vanessa Rousso left with Chad Brown who finished fifth.
1) Joe Sebok Ca $267k
2) John Huong Ca $143K
3)Chuck Kelley Va $71k
4)Gene Todd NY $39k
5)Chad Brown NY $29k
 LAS VEGAS--The most astonishing thing at todays final table was Gavin Griffin's new hairstyle. No wonder I didn't recognise Jennicide's ex yesterday.
Not only did I miss my photo opportunity for this but bottled out of asking New York Yankee Alex Rodriguez for a photo. A-Rod was playing 10-20 NLHE in the cash room and despite being "spoiled rotten" by the Bellagio poker room directors. I wasn't sure how HE would react especially on the day one of his fellow poker-playing teammates died.
Everyone knew where the final table for todays $3k was. Vijay Nagarajan + JC Tran have been there three times this Festa. Brian Rast + Sam Cohen twice. David Plastik had won $200k here in December.
The overnight chip leader Andrew Cimpau came prepared for a marathon and found everyone else in for a sprint. So much so that he had only entered two pots before his two hour heads-up with eventual winner Jess Newman started.
 LAS VEGAS--Event #1 final table, at Bellagio's Festa al Lago, was four handed before you could say "Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act of 2006."
The winner was Alan Cutler (left), of Chicago, who had come to town to celebrate his brother's 50th birthday. Second was Kim Fredericksen of Denmark who now calls Las Vegas home.
Today's $1,500 NLHE was quality not quantity. Only 140 players entered, meaning 18 places got paid. As I left 26 players remained, including Minh Nguyen, Chip Jett, David Levi, Lars Bonding, Ron Stanley, Jean Gispard, Allen Cunningham, and Cecilia Reyes. Here's how it finished out:
1 Alan Cutler -- Chicago, IL -- $131,810*
2 Kim Frederiksen -- Gentofte, Denmark -- $63,210
3 Dapo Fadeyi -- Centennial, CO -- $31,605
4 Ryan Larson -- Las Vegas, NV -- $17,235
5 Scott Warner -- Redondo Beach, CA -- $12,930
6 Mack Lee -- San Jose, CA -- $10,055
7 Rodney Barkis -- San Angelo, TX -- $7,185
8 Sven Vestlund -- Stockholm, Sweden -- $5,745
9 Mark Gregorich -- Las Vegas, NV -- $4,595
*includes a $25,500 entry in World Poker Tour Finals on April 21, 2007.
 I find it hard to type whilst patting myself on the back but I did call this one. Shannon Shorr made short work of this final table and ended in style with two black aces.
Will he go back to college or will he become the new Gavin Smith?
Place Name Hometown Prize Money
1 Shannon Shorr Tuscaloosa, AL $960,690*
2 Danny Wong Los Angeles, CA 561,115
3 Michael Andersson Kalmar, Sweden 296,145
4 Gioi Luong Westminster, CA 171,430
5 David Kim Las Vegas, NV 124,690
6 Atilio Bitondo New York, NY 87,285
7 Men Nguyen Bell Gardens, CA 62,345
8 Louis Pagnotti West Pittston, PA 49,875
 Today a tidal wave has pushed 3 million chips onto the Shorr, Shannon Shorr of Tuscaloosa.
First to exit was Sweden's poker gypsy Johan Storakers. Johan adds $43640 to his travel budget. Then Louis Pagnotti, another gypsy, added $49875 to his Bicycle budget when exiting in 8th place.
That leaves Shorr from Alabama fighting four Asians (Men Nguyen, Giou Luong, David Kim and Danny Wong), one Swedish player Michael Andersson and A.Bitundo from NY.
Player 2:30pm
Shannon Shorr 2.9m
Attilio Bitundo 650k
Giou Luong 300k
Men Nguyen 250k
Danny Wong 520k
Louis Pagnotti out
M.Andersson 1.2m
David Kim 500k
 "Oh Alabama can I shake your hand?
The Devil fools with the best laid plan."
--Neil Young
Until this World Series mention this state and this song came to mind.
Now I can tell you about our own Tuscaloosa Johnny and his fine poker skills and his buddy Shannon Shorr, who I, second guessed Johnny, took his photo as a final table longshot. Right day, wrong final table.
Shannon Shorr will not become a household name if he wins tomorrow but he will return home with over $900k which must be like Jaimie Gold taking $12m back to Malibu. OK, Lynyrd Skynyrd write a song about me but make it a good one.
Tomorrow's other final table, in the $10,000 Bellagio event:
2 Shannon Shorr Tuscaloosa, AL 1,405,000
9 Atilio Bitondo New York, NY 984,000
7 Gioi Luong Westminster, CA 920,000
1 Michael Andersson Kalmar, Sweden 746,000
8 Danny Wong Los Angeles, CA 625,000
4 Johan Storakers Stockholm, Sweden 594,000
5 David Kim Las Vegas, NV 590,000
3 Men Nguyen Bell Gardens, CA 283,000
6 Louis Pagnotti West Pittston, PA 270,000
Michael Mizrachi lost a big pot when he flopped a straight but his oppo rivered a bigger straight.Michael dropped from 170k to 70k after the pot. Scott Fischman was out when he flopped a set was called by two pair which turned into a full house.
Men Nguyen 180k
Dan Harrington 160k
Stan Fulton 150k
Eric Froehlich 130k
Hasan Habib 110k
The chip leader is Attilio Bitondo, who was a PartyPoker player during the WSOP.Attilio was the winner of the big pot with Grinder and has 270k
Just in case you think I have taken the easy option: it is hot out here on the patio, it is too dark to take photos in the room and I have had to listen to Celine Dion twice.
Back to the poker.Live, exclusive and mostly accurate coverage. Now thats breaking a trend.
92 players remain: Missing presumed eliminated:Burt Boutin, Tony Cousineau,Darrell Dicken, Paul Darden, Ted Forrest, John Gale,Thor Hansen, Kathy Liebert,Nam Le, Carlos Mortensen,Padraig Parkinson, Carmel Petresco, Erica Schoenberg, Gavin Smith.
Simon Trumper started with 7k. He still has 7k but the blinds are now 600-1200 with a 100 ante.
 "A change will do you good" was playing as I put my laptop away on the patio of the Fontana lounge tonight. The Sheryl Crow song was very descriptive of my feelings. I felt as though I had somehow taken a vacation since hauling my jaded body down the long Rio corridors for the last time yesterday.
Obviously any person with a laptop, with WSOP updates, would have been popular(no I didn't put a " This is not an information booth." sign up) but as usual I was invited to have a complimentary buffet with the players when play closed for the day around 9pm.
Michael Mizrachi 142k
Men Nguyen 141k
Dale Morrow 115k
John Juanda 104k
Scott Fischman 101k
Tor Iverson 99k
Mike Landers 97k
Darrell Dicken 97k
Lars Alshamn 95k
Tony Ma 90k
James Van Alstyne 85k
A few more players who must have been in the main room: James Van Alstyne, Stan Jablonski, Brad Kondracki, Carmel Petresco, Shawn Rice, Johan Storakers, Erik Seidel, Jimmy Tran, Eric Froelich, and Ian Woodley.
James Van Alstyne 70k, Men Nguyen 75k and Jimmy Tran 78k are in the top six.
Out: Mark Cole, Barry Greenstein, Chip Jett, Scotty Nguyen, Stuart Donator, Vanessa Rousso, Jennifer Tilly, Thomas Wahlroos(he bounced), and David Williams.
A few more names have apppeared from their starting tables in the poker room. Daniel Alaei, Sarah Bilney, Bob Bright, Allen Kessler, Ted Lawson,Michael+Robert Mizrachi, Men Nguyen, Roland de Woolf, Praz, Arnold Spee, Mike Sica, Lasse Ubostad.
The prize pool has been announced. The winner will receive $957780. 50 players will be in the money, 41st- 50th receiving $12430.
Gavin Smith and Michael Mizrachi are both over 100k in chips now.
PartyPoker player Scott O'Reilly has been out on the patio with me. He didn't feel like playing today. We talked about Torquay, his hometown, one of the most scenic towns in England.He checked on the soccer scores and the final 27 from the Rio. He has no regrets, he probably got his dream result.
Play continues for another hour.
With the WSOP signing off, good afternoon from my office at the Bellagio. The Fontana usually has a band playing Santana but today the only game being played is poker.
319 players, up from 90 last year, paid $10k to receive 20k in chips.Unlike the WSOP this is an all star event.Any event where I can name 7 players a table is worthy of Championship status.
John,the asst TD, has just announced any player eliminated has his name on the list at the buffet cashier for the player and a friend. Hopefully I can find a friend in the tournament before 9pm!!!
Players include: Rene Angelil, David Benyamine, Mark Cole, Darrell Dicken, Steve Frederick, Ted Forrest, Tom Franklin, Stan Fulton,John Gale, Barry Greenstein, Thor Hansen, Dan Harrington, Kenna James, John Juanda, Chip Jett, Kathy Liebert, Tony Ma, David Matthew, Carlos Mortensen, Dario Minieri, Sean McCabe, Scotty Nguyen, Padraig Parkinson, Stuart Patterson, Louis Pagnotti,Greg Raymer,Vanessa Rousso, Erica Schoenberg, Gavin Smith, Simon Trumper, Jennifer Tilly, Eugene Todd, Thomas Wahlroos and David Williams.
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Unlike the preliminary events at most tournaments the Five Diamond at Bellagio draws the name pros. Event #2 was a $2,000 NLHE event and 
