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When I made the decision to postpone Malta, I started looking into alternate smaller trips I could take in the spring or summer.

I found out about WPT Montreal, a $3.3k tournament at Playground Poker, and it seemed like a slam dunk. People always say that May is a great time to go out East, and I’d never been to Montreal before.

It was also just a 5 hour flight to get there, which seemed perfect for a short vacation without too much hassle.

If you play poker you love poker chips.

Looking at them, touching them, playing with them. Dragging enormous piles of them and meticulously arranging them into intricate vertical structures.

We've compiled our favorite photos of poker chips from over seven years of traveling the international live tournament circuit, and we'll keep adding more as we go.

Continue down the page to get up close and personal with poker chips from all over the world.

Photo credits: Matt Showell for PokerListings.com.

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Catch up with Part 1 of Courtney's trip to Peru here.

I’m a really light sleeper and my hotel room was (once again) extremely noisy, so I slept even more badly the night before Day 2 than I did the night before Day 1.

Having slept around 10 hours in the past three nights, I went to the casino feeling like a zombie on Day 2 of the LAPT Grand Final.

I somehow went all of November without blogging here. I meant to write before I headed off to Peru for the LAPT Grand Final mid-month, but the writing never materialized. But, better late than never, here I am with a tournament trip report!

For those that don’t know, the LAPT Grand Final was a $2.5k buy-in held in Lima. I played a few satellites trying to win a package to the event, but the closest I got was 2^nd place in one of the $22r 3x turbos (which are insanely frustrating, by the way).

In the end I made a small profit playing the satellites, but I had to enter the tournament using FPPs.

Day 1b of the 2012 Battle of Malta is complete with a total of 97 players making it to Day 2. We've got the chip counts from Day 1b below:

Trying to tune in for tonight's World Series of Poker Main Event Final Table?

Sure Phil Hellmuth may be insufferable if he manages to win his 13th WSOP bracelet but the bottom line is we could potentially see poker history at the WSOPE Main Event final table today.

Check below to see a slightly-delayed live video stream of the event, which begins at 1:45 p.m. CET.

Hellmuth has his work cut out for him as talented elite poker pros Jason Mercier, Joe Cheong and Chris Brammer are all looking to grab a slice of European glory.

Ukrainian Sergii Baranov, who is second in chips to Hellmuth, was also surprisingly good as they played down to a final table.

Meanwhile French fans will likely be pulling for an upset from one of their three remaining competitors: Stephane Albertini, Stephane Girault and Paul Tedeschi.

There’s a lot on the line tonight and if Hellmuth wins he’ll also take down 2012 WSOP Player of the Year and become the only player in poker history to win both the North American and European Main Events.

Check for the live stream after the jump.

There are a number of athletes who love the competitive nature of poker and former NBA player Earl Barron certainly counts himself in that group.

Barron picked up the game while he was playing with the Miami Heat and although he doesn’t get to play cards as much as he’d want playing basketball in Puerto Rico he made a special trip out to play to try and qualify in this year’s Main Event.

In the end Barron not only qualified but made it through Day 1c of the 2012 Main Event with 50,550 chips. Here’s a collection of photos from Barron’s first experience in the Main Event.

Shane Warne's got a good thing going. He's one of the most famous cricketers alive. He's the captian of Team 888poker. And he's dating actor and model Elizabeth Hurley.

Warne is in Las Vegas right now taking a shot at the 2012 World Series of Poker and we caught him at Tryst Nightclub to find out what he loves about the WSOP and 888poker.

Watch the full interview above and make sure to check out our WSOP 2012 Main Event live updates for all the action.

Earl Barron loves poker. We know because he told us.

And Barron also loves basketball. We know because he was on the 2006 Miami Heat Championship team.

Barron won his way into the 2012 WSOP Main Event through a live satellite and now he's got a shot at $8.5 million. Barron speaks to us about his love of poker and how he picked it up while playing ball in Miami in this World Series of Poker video interview.

Watch the full interview above and make sure to check out our WSOP 2012 Main Event live updates for all the action.

We're making headway! All three Day 1 flights of this year's Main Event are done and PokerListings is giving you an inside look at the action with our daily WSOP video.

Today on the program we talk to Joe Cada, Erika Moutinho and Vanessa Selbst about what kind of Main Event winner would be best for poker, plus speak to 2006 NBA Champion Earl Barron about playing his first ever Main Event.

Check out the video above to see it all, and make sure to follow the action live with our WSOP 2012 Main Event live updates.

Here's a rough look at the Day 1C leaderboard:

1. Randy Haddox - 188,275
2. Erik Hellman - 175,950
3. Marco Bognanni - 169,600
4. Daniel Morgan - 160,025
5. Mathias Maasberg - 159,150
6. Brandon Adams - 158,100
7. Steve Yea - 157,175
8. Paul McTaggart - 155,475
9. Asa Smith - 148,475
10. Zennawi Petros - 148,150

Antonio Esfandiari knows a thing or two about partying in Las Vegas. After all, he's the guy you can hire to take you out on the town in Sin City and show you things you'd never see on your own, all for the paltry sum of $10,000.

So we were suprised when he told us that he went way overboard on the night he won the Big One for One Drop. I guess winning $18.3 million will do that to you.

Check out the full interview above to hear about the night that almost killed him, plus his plans for the 2012 World Series of Poker Main Event.

And head over to our WSOP 2012 Main Event Live Coverage to follow all the action.

We're two days in to the 2012 World Series of Poker Main Event and we're giving you a backstage pass via our daily video show.

Today on the show we speak to UFC Welterwight champion Georges St-Pierre. He tells us about joining Team 888poker and what it's like playing his first WSOP in Las Vegas.

Next we check in with Big One for One Drop champion Antonio Esfandiari. The man known as the Magician won $18.3 million last week and went a little overboard celebrating the win.

Check back for more WSOP Main Event videos and follow the action with our Main Event live updates.

Here is the rough leaderboard at the end of play on Day 1B.

James Schafer - 178,000
Jeff Beckley - 158,550
Matt Woodward - 158,500
Nelius Foley - 146,875
Jason Somerville - 144,725
Maria Ho - 130,425
Shaun Deeb - 125,900
Cody Wang - 121,900
Brian Hastings - 119,000
Jeremy Kottler - 112,000

MMA legend Georges "Rush" St-Pierre made his debut appearance in the 2012 WSOP Main Event today.

The 888poker ambassador took a seat at a table in the Amazon Room and a group of media and fans packed the rail to see how the fighter would do at the poker table.

Considering the Ultimate Fighting Championship is based in Las Vegas there has always been excellent cross-promotion between the WSOP and UFC brands and Chuck Liddell, Tito Ortiz, Forest Griffin and Rampage Jackson have all played in various events here at the WSOP.

Unfortunately St-Pierre, who is known to many as GSP, got off to a bad start today when he turned an eight-high straight but then checked it on the river and then revealed his hand with action still pending.

Usually that’s a penalty but St-Pierre got off the hook and the entire table got a chuckle out of the hand.

St-Pierre then lost the majority of his chips when he rivered two-pair against an opponent who turned the nut-straight. The Canadian finally busted in the second level to a player with a set of jacks.

Here’s a photographic look at St-Pierre’s WSOP debut:

TV's Ray Romano tells PokerListings.com how he's made a deal with his wife to stay in Las Vegas as long as he's still in the WSOP Main Event. Tood bad for Ray he busted on Day 1.

We talk to Ray about his new Ice Age movie plus his lifelong love of poker in this WSOP 2012 video interview.

Check out the full interview above, then head over to our WSOP 2012 Live Coverage Section for live updates, news and photos from the Main Event

Day 1A of the 2012 WSOP is over and we've got the daily video to prove it.

William John managed to put a stranglehold on the chip lead and we spoke to NHL goalie Roberto Luongo and the star of Everybody Loves Raymond, Ray Romano.

Check back for more WSOP Main Event videos and follow the action with our live updates.

Top 10 Chip Counts for Day 1A

William John - 266,700
Gerardo Lubas - 165,800
Daniel Strelitz - 164,125
Dane Lomas - 157,600
Chance Kornuth - 141,775
Jonathan Cuevas - 141,675
Eric Kurtzman - 136,900
David Randall - 132,750
Vasile Buboi - 132,075
Leo Wolpert - 128,300

Chip Counts Courtesy of WSOP.com

Kevin Pollak told us he's been playing poker his entire life, and that he's met most of his lifelong friends through poker. He also met the founder of Mahalo.com at a poker game and it led to the online chat show he's been doing for the last few years.

Pollak is a die-hard poker player which means he's more than excited to be playing the biggest tournament on the planet, the World Series of Poker Main Event.

In this WSOP video interview Pollak tells us about Hollywood home games, the edge that comes from being a comedian and a contest he's involved in called Hollywood Poker Face.

Mohsin Charania has been paying his dues as a poker pro for years so it was especially nice to see him win $1.7 million by taking down the EPT8 Grand Final in Monte Carlo this April.

Charania plays online as "chicagocards1" and he's already got 12 cashes at the WSOP. His best cash at the Series was a 10th-place finish in the $10k Pot-Limit Hold'em Championship in 2009 and he's looking to better that in the Main Event this year.

Charania tells us about riding the momentum of a seven-figure score into the World Series of Poker Main Event.

The 2012 WSOP Main Event is here and PokerListings.com is kicking off our daily video coverage by welcoming you to Las Vegas.

We'll be recapping the main event action with help from the biggest names in poker every day until we reach the final table. Today in the video we speak to former November Niner Scott Montgomery, recent EPT Grand Final champion Mohsin Charania and actor Kevin Pollock.

We're busy launching a new video section but until it's up and running we'll be posting our videos right here in the blog. Keep an eye out for full interviews with Kevin Pollock and Mohsin Charania going up later today.

And make sure to check out our WSOP 2012 Main Event live update coverage beginning at noon.

The first $1 million buy-in poker tournament ever is underway at the World Series of Poker in Las Vegas and PokerListings.com is all over it.

We're armed with cameras and just like a kid with his first BB gun we're shooting everything in sight. There's no shortage of fanfare so scroll down the page to see it all in photo form.

We've got shots of all your favorite high rollers and billionaire businessmen including Phil Ivey, Tom Dwan, Guy Laliberte, Phil Ruffin, David Einhorn and many more.

Head over to our WSOP Big One for One Drop live coverage for all the action and check back here as we add more photos throughout the day.

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