WSOP 2013 Blog - PokerListings 2013 World Series of Poker Blog

How to Watch the WSOP Main Event Final Table - Broadcast Directory by Country

Mon, 29 Oct 2012 11:50:28 -0700

Below find the complete broadcast guide supplied by the WSOP with where/how you can watch the broadcast depending on your country.

Click on the image for the full-size directory.

For most parts of the world live coverage with hole cards on a 15-minute delay can be found on ESPN 2/3 or streaming live on WSOP.com.

Follow along with our live coverage here for added analysis starting at 4:45 pm PT.

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Watch Phil Hellmuth Go for His 13th WSOP Bracelet

Thu, 04 Oct 2012 06:00:06 -0700

The following YouTube stream should work for most viewers but there are some alternatives:

In the United States: http://espn.go.com/watchespn/index

In Europe: http://www.eurosport.com/

ROW: http://www.wsop.com/

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WSOP 2012 Main Event Picture Book

Wed, 25 Jul 2012 09:56:13 -0700

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Jesse Sylvia Leads WSOP Main Event Final Table (Video)

Tue, 17 Jul 2012 04:00:00 -0700

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Arizona Student Jacob Balsiger at Final Table of 2012 Main Event (Video)

Mon, 16 Jul 2012 23:15:12 -0700

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Live Cash-Game Pro Scott Abrams on Verge of WSOP Main Event FT (Video)

Mon, 16 Jul 2012 22:58:36 -0700

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Vegas Local Pro Jeremy Ausmus at WSOP Main Event Day 7 (Video)

Mon, 16 Jul 2012 20:39:13 -0700

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Poker Pro Robert Salaburu Hunts $8.5 Million at WSOP Main Event (Video)

Mon, 16 Jul 2012 20:13:05 -0700

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WSOP Daily Show: Day 6 with Sylvia, Van Alphen, Hellman (Video)

Mon, 16 Jul 2012 02:41:33 -0700

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Erik Hellman Sweden's Last Hope at WSOP Main Event (Video)

Mon, 16 Jul 2012 00:04:51 -0700

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888poker's Jesse Sylvia Hunting WSOP Main Event Final Table (Video)

Sun, 15 Jul 2012 21:58:08 -0700

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Amit Makhija Cracks Top 50 in WSOP Main Event (Video)

Sun, 15 Jul 2012 21:00:30 -0700

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Niels van Alphen is Last Dutchie Standing at WSOP Main Event (Video)

Sun, 15 Jul 2012 20:20:24 -0700

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Brazil's Nicolau Villa-Lobos Makes Day 6 WSOP Main Event (Video)

Sun, 15 Jul 2012 16:16:48 -0700

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Uruguayan Pro Fabrizio Gonzalez Deep in WSOP Main Event (Video)

Sun, 15 Jul 2012 10:42:36 -0700

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Norwegian Amateur Elisabeth Hille Deep in WSOP Main Event (Video)

Sun, 15 Jul 2012 00:25:44 -0700

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WSOP Daily Show: Day 5 with Fabrizio Gonzalez, Elisabeth Hille (Video)

Sat, 14 Jul 2012 23:54:00 -0700

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Actor Kevin Pollak Wins Bragging Rights at WSOP Main Event (Video)

Sat, 14 Jul 2012 10:38:00 -0700

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WSOP Daily Show: Day 4 with Kevin Pollak, Jeff Gross (Video)

Fri, 13 Jul 2012 23:53:16 -0700

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Counter Strike Legend Griffin Benger Goes for $8.5M at WSOP (Video)

Fri, 13 Jul 2012 12:15:49 -0700

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Brothers Fabio and Roberto Luongo Together at WSOP (Video)

Fri, 13 Jul 2012 01:50:10 -0700

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WSOP Daily Show: Day 3 with Luongo Brothers, Griffin Benger (Video)

Thu, 12 Jul 2012 23:52:03 -0700

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888poker's Sam Holden Making Second Main Event Run (Video)

Thu, 12 Jul 2012 20:14:22 -0700

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Daniel Negreanu Blasts Rio Ruling and Jeffrey Pollack (Video)

Thu, 12 Jul 2012 17:35:50 -0700

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WSOP Daily Show: Day 2C with Negreanu, Schwartz (Video)

Thu, 12 Jul 2012 11:12:15 -0700

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Jason Alexander: Poker Still Big in Hollywood (Video)

Wed, 11 Jul 2012 19:46:24 -0700

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Jason Somerville on Coming Out, Poker and Happiness (Video)

Wed, 11 Jul 2012 14:39:38 -0700

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WSOP Daily Show: Day 2AB with Jason Alexander (Video)

Tue, 10 Jul 2012 23:59:00 -0700

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Photo Spotlight on Former Miami Heat Center Earl Barron

Tue, 10 Jul 2012 23:00:54 -0700

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Team 888poker Captain Shane Warne Leads Charge at WSOP (Video)

Tue, 10 Jul 2012 21:03:15 -0700

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NBA Champion Earl Barron Takes Shot at WSOP (Video)

Tue, 10 Jul 2012 20:46:47 -0700

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WSOP Daily Show: Day 1C with NBA's Earl Barron (Video)

Mon, 09 Jul 2012 18:00:00 -0700

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UFC's Georges St-Pierre Works on Poker Game at WSOP (Video)

Mon, 09 Jul 2012 11:44:28 -0700

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Antonio Esfandiari Parties Too Hard After One Drop Win (Video)

Mon, 09 Jul 2012 11:23:55 -0700

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WSOP Daily Show: Day 1B with Georges St-Pierre, Esfandiari (Video)

Mon, 09 Jul 2012 01:46:11 -0700

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Georges St-Pierre Gets His Kicks in 2012 Main Event

Sun, 08 Jul 2012 21:49:14 -0700

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Ray Romano Loves Poker, Las Vegas and the WSOP (Video)

Sun, 08 Jul 2012 12:47:41 -0700

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Roberto Luongo: "Lots of Fishy Players in the NHL" (Video)

Sun, 08 Jul 2012 12:24:24 -0700

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WSOP Daily Show: Day 1A with Ray Romano and Roberto Luongo (Video)

Sun, 08 Jul 2012 04:22:34 -0700

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Kevin Pollak Talks Lifelong Poker Passion at WSOP 2012

Sun, 08 Jul 2012 00:20:00 -0700

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Mohsin Charania Brings EPT Momentum to WSOP 2012 (Video)

Sat, 07 Jul 2012 23:37:49 -0700

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Photos of Roberto Luongo’s Rookie WSOP Season

Sat, 07 Jul 2012 15:00:08 -0700

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Welcome to the 2012 WSOP Main Event (Video)

Sat, 07 Jul 2012 04:00:00 -0700

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WSOP $1M Big One for One Drop Picture Book

Sun, 01 Jul 2012 17:08:13 -0700

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$1 Million Big One for One Drop at 2012 WSOP: Player List and Bios (UPDATED!)

Fri, 29 Jun 2012 16:04:57 -0700

We’re going to go through the list of confirmed players, updating it as more people jump on board, and we’ll make a few educated guesses about who else might be able to afford the most ballingest buy-in in poker history.

In addition to player bios we’ll be looking at the projected prize pool and the event’s One Drop charity component.

NOTE: An official list of participants has now been posted with several changes from the previously confirmed list. See the list of new additions below the bios.

Tournament Stats

$1 million buy-in 10% of buy-in automatically donated to One Drop 48 player maximum 3 million starting chips 20% of the field will make the money

Confirmed Players for the $1 Million 2012 WSOP Big One

Guy Laliberté

Who he is: Founder of Cirque de Soleil, Guy Laliberté got his start busking on the streets of Montreal. Since then he’s grown his circus into a worldwide phenomenon that's been seen by more than 90 million people, been named Entrepreneur of the Year by Ernst and Young and taken a vacation into space. Why he can afford a $1M buy-in: As Canada’s 11th wealthiest man, with an estimated net worth of $2.5 billion, Laliberte is one of the few players in this event that can eat a $1 million loss without breaking a sweat. Fun Fact: Even if Laliberte wins this tournament it won’t fully make up for his online poker losses.

Bobby Baldwin

Who he is: The Owl, the 1978 world champion of poker, President of the Golden Nugget, Bellagio and Mirage. These are just a few of the things Bobby Baldwin has been called. A casino industry fixture for the last 30 years, there’s a reason the biggest cash game in Las Vegas is played in “Bobby’s Room”. Why he can afford a $1M buy-in: According to the Casino Journal the average gaming CEO made $750,000 in 2007 and Baldwin has been a top-level executive since the 80s. And just think, he’s probably getting comps to the Bellagio buffet 365 days a year. Fun Fact: Despite having limited presence at live poker tournaments, Baldwin is the proud owner of four WSOP bracelets, including the world championship in ’78.

Phil Ruffin

Who he is: An American businessman with interests in casinos, oil production, convenience stores and real estate, Phil Ruffin is best known as the owner of the Treasure Island Hotel and Casino in Las Vegas. Why he can afford a $1M buy-in: In 2008 Ruffin was named the 215th wealthiest man in the US, with a net worth of $2.1 billion. Even though the casino industry’s had some tough times we’re pretty sure he’s got a spare million lying around somewhere. Fun Fact: At 72 years old Ruffin married 26 year old Oleksandra Nikolayenko, his fourth wife and 2004's Miss Ukraine. Even more impressive? They just had their first child together.

Daniel Negreanu

Who he is: Arguably the most recognizable face in poker, Daniel Negreanu has been among the winningest tournament players in the world for more than ten years. Why he can afford a $1M buy-in: With $14.65 million in live tournament earnings Negreanu is number two on the all-time live money list. He’s also the flagship of Team PokerStars Pro, a position which has probably been as lucrative for him as every hand of poker he’s ever played. Fun Fact: Negreanu is no stranger to dropping money in poker tournaments. At the 2006 WSOP he reloaded a record 48 times in the $1k rebuy event.

Tom Dwan

Who he is: In many ways Tom Dwan defined what it is to be an uber-successful, fearless, talented and young online poker professional. He’s part of a very small group looked upon as the absolute best of their generation. Why he can afford a $1M buy-in: Estimating Dwan’s net worth isn’t easy but considering he was willing to put $1 million up on two separate occasions for the durrrr Challenge, it should come as no surprise that Dwan was one of the first to commit to the Big One. Fun Fact: Dwan doesn’t just play on the internet. He won the biggest pot ever played on GSN’s High Stakes Poker, a $919,600 monster he took from Barry Greenstein in Season 5.

Jonathan Duhamel

Who he is: 2010 world champion of poker, Montreal poker poster boy, new BFF of Guy Laliberte. Jon Duhamel played a comfortable and hospitable poker ambassador during his tenure as world champ, and looks to have a staying power not shared by main event winners of late. Why he can afford a $1M buy-in: Duhamel snatched nearly $9 million for winning the 2010 Main Event, and he also secured a PokerStars endorsement deal that is still in place today. Despite having close to $10 million in tournament earnings it’s extremely unlikely he’ll have 100% of himself in the Big One. Fun Fact: Duhamel donated $100,000 to the Montreal Canadiens Children’s Foundation when he won the main event.

Bertrand “ElkY” Grospellier

Who he is: Rock star in Korea, recreational kickboxer, Guiness World Record Holder. Real name Bertrand Grospellier, ElkY has been one of the winningest players in poker since 2008. Why he can afford a $1M buy-in: ElkY has $8.6 million in live tournament earnings and over $1.1 million online. In addition to a bloated bankroll he has the confidence of every potential staker in the world. It will not be hard for ElkY to sell action for the Big One. Fun Fact: He got kicked in the head by Lex Veldhuis just a few weeks ago.

Justin “BoostedJ” Smith

Who he is: From wheelchair to wealthy, BoostedJ has been winning at poker since an injury put him out of work at age 17. Since then he’s been a reserved but omnipresent part of the poker world. He’s a well-rounded, high-stakes veteran who plays many games and succeeds in both tournaments and cash games, online and live. Why he can afford a $1M buy-in: Smith has only been playing live tournament poker since late 2008 but already he’s earned more than $2 million. He’s definitely not afraid to play high. He took fourth in the $100,000 buy-in High Roller event at the 2011 Five Diamond in Las Vegas. Fun Fact: It appears Smith was involved in the 2011 horror movie Detention as an executive producer. The movie “starred” Dane Cook.

Daniel Shak

Who he is: Dan Shak is known in the poker world as a hedge fund manager, but he’s probably known as a poker player by his fellow financiers. Specializing in gold futures Shak has been finding more and more time to play live major poker tournaments. Why he can afford a $1M buy-in: Shak’s New York City apartment sold earlier this year for $7.5 million and judging by the number of super high roller events we’ve already seen Shak playing, his commitment to the Big One isn’t surprising. Fun Fact: Shak has the rare ability to say he beat Phil Ivey at poker. Shak won the $100,000 buy-in event at the 2010 Aussie Millions, defeating Ivey heads-up.

Andrew Robl

Who he is: A regular in the highest-stakes cash games in the world, you may have seen Robl on Poker After Dark or High Stakes Poker. Known more early in his career as good2cu, Robl cut his teeth online before becoming a predominately live player in the last couple of years. Why he can afford a $1M buy-in: If you’re profitable in the highest-stakes cash games in the world, you likely have $1m kicking around. Robl has also spent time in the past year playing the softer, nosebleed-stakes games in Macau. Fun Fact: One of the original members of the "Ship it Holla Ballas" crew, Robl had one of the worst losing weeks of his career while being filmed for the documentary From Busto to Robusto.

Bob Bright

Who he is: The 68-year-old Bright is a day trader/professional poker player and the current chief executive officer of one of the biggest day-trading firms in the US, Bright Trading LLC. Why he can afford a $1m buy-in: CEOs of successful trading companies rarely can’t. Fun fact(s): In 1974 Bright quit his management job and moved to Las Vegas to be a professional blackjack player. Bright also has a third-place finish at the 2006 WSOP in a $2k NLHE event. Bright has recruited several poker players to work for his trading firm, including at one time Chris "Jesus" Ferguson.

Cary Katz

Who he is: Katz founded the College Loan Corporation in 1999 and has built it into the seventh-largest education-loan provider in the United States. Katz is also the Chairman of the non-profit organization Stop Child Predators. Why he can afford a $1m buy-in: Still in the process of paying back a couple of them, we can confirm student loans are a very profitable business for the loan company. Fun Facts: Katz has almost $700k in live tournament earnings and is a regular at the WSOP with seven career cashes. He also has a B.A. in Business Administration from the University of Georgia.

Erik Seidel

Who he is: One of the all-time biggest winners in live tournament poker and a Poker Hall of Famer. Seidel began his poker career in New York playing the underground games and at the Mayfair Club before moving to Vegas and becoming one of the most conistent winners in poker ever. Why he can afford a $1m buy-in: He's Erik Seidel, mostly. He also has $17m in career tournament earnings. Fun fact: A former tournament backgammon player, Seidel has eight World Series of Poker bracelets but is more known for the clip of him losing the 1998 WSOP Main Event to Johnny Chan that appeared in the movie Rounders.

Eugene Katchalov

Who he is: The Ukrainian-born, Brooklyn-raised Katchalov is one of the most respected players in the game and is on Team PokerStars pro. He has over $7 million in career live tournament earnings including wins at the $15k WPT Doyle Brunson Five Diamond Classic and the PCA High Roller. Why he can afford a $1m buy-in: See $7 million in career earnings. He’s likely backed for some of his action, but his track record certainly helps bring in stakes. Fun Fact: Katchalov was just 10 years old when he and his mom left Kiev shortly before the collapse of the Soviet Union. Katchalov also worked as a day trader and has degrees in international business and finance from NYU.

Jason Mercier

Who he is: A South Florida native and one of the most successful tournament poker players of the last five years. Mercier has an EPT title, two WSOP bracelets and just under $8 million in career live tournament earnings. Why he can afford a $1m buy in: Mercier, like most poker pros, is selling shares for his buy in but with his record he won't have much trouble raising the cash. Fun fact: Mercier is a big Miami Heat fan and he had a large amount of money on the Heat winning the 2012 championship. Mercier also stakes well known pros Allen Bari, Dan O’Brien and Brent Hanks.

Ben Lamb

Who he is: Not yet on the confirmed list, Lamb has said via Twitter he intends to play. Primarily a live pro, Lamb had one of the best World Series of Poker’s ever in 2011 when he won over $5 million, finished third in the Main Event and won his first bracelet. He was also named WSOP Player of the Year. Why he can afford a $1m buy in: With his huge 2011 Lamb can likely afford most of his action. He'll have no problem selling the rest to other poker players. Fun fact: Before making the November Nine in 2011, Lamb almost made the November Nine in 2009 before being eliminated by Jeff Shulman in 14th place.

Frédéric Banjout

Who he is: A 41-year-old businessman from Paris with interests in retailing and real estate, Banjout has had some small successes in poker with a cash at the Monte Carlo Millions in 2006. He’s also known to frequent private high-stakes cash games in France Why he can afford a $1m buy-in: He’s rich, we assume. Fun fact: Banjout is one of the best backgammon players in the world and finished second in the World Championship of Backgammon in 1997.

Paul Newey:

Who he is: A regular in the biggest cash games in London, Newey sold his debt consolidation business, Ocean Finance and Mortgages, for a rumored £200 million in 2006 and is one of the most successful young entrepreneurs in England. Why he can afford a $1m buy-in: Newey is a founder of New Wave Ventures LLC and worth an estimated £230m. Fun fact: Newey set up Ocean Finance for just £2,500. He’s also a roulette high-roller and once took Star City Casino for £3 million, forcing the company to issue a profit warning.

Jens Kyllönen

Who he is: Not necessarily well known to TV poker fans, Helsinki native Kyllönen has been a notorious high-stakes online crusher for years. Known as Jeans89 on PokerStars and Ingenious89 elsewhere, Kyllönen has won multi-millions of dollars online to go along with his $1.3 million in live earnings. Why he can afford a $1m buy-in: According to Kyllönen, a banner year online so far in 2012 convinced him to take a shot at this "once in a lifetime" event. He also plans on paying the full buy-in himself. Fun fact: Kyllönen won the 2009 EPT Copenhagen main event in only his second big international poker tournament appearance.

Paul Phua

Who he is: Paul Phua is a big league investment banker from China who is one of the driving forces behind the nosebleed cash games in Macau frequented by Tom Dwan, Patrik Antonius and Gus Hansen. In 2011, Phua also showed up to play the high roller (and juice up the cash games) at the Aussie Millions. How he can afford a $1m buy-in: Given he usually, by the sounds of it, loses a bit of money in the big cash games, Phua likely has a bottomless pile of investment money. Fun fact: Phua took Phil Ivey’s whole $200k stack at the 2012 Aussie Million cash game and left the table with it.

Richard Yong

Who he is: Another regular in the nosebleed cash games in Macau, Malaysian-born Yong is rumored to be a billionaire and is on the Board of Directors of a Chinese aluminum company. How he can afford a $1m buy-in: Aluminum magnates usually aren’t hurting for cash. Fun fact: Yong was sentenced to 15 months in prison for his involvement in a major scandal during his time as chairman of Singapore's National Kidney Foundation.

John Morgan

Who he is: 70-year-old John Morgan is an amateur poker enthusiast and CEO of the Winmark Corporation, a retail-franchise operation based in Minneapolis. How he can afford a $1m buy-in: Being 390th on the all-time money list for the Heartland Poker Tour might not indicate just how deep Morgan’s pockets are. Fun fact: Morgan frequently plays in small-stakes Midwestern tournaments in Minnesota and also has one lifetime WSOP cash – a 35th-place finish in the 2010 Seniors event.

Sam Trickett

Who he is: Number one on England's all-time live tournament money winner's list, Trickett has just over $6 million in career earnings. He's also a regular in the highest-stakes cash games in Macau. How he can afford a $1m buy-in: In 2011 alone, Trickett cashed three times for over $1 million - twice at the Aussie Millions (1st in $100k High Roller, 2nd in $250k Super High Roller) and for winning the Partouche Poker Tour main event. Fun fact: Trickett only started playing poker in 2005 after a knee injury ended his career as a professional footballer with Hartlepool.

Haralabos Voulgaris

Who he is: A well known high-stakes poker pro and sports bettor, Voulgaris has appeared on High Stakes Poker as a player and as a commentator for several televised poker shows. While not playing much tournament poker in the last few years, his live earnings still total almost $2 million. How he can afford a $1m buy-in: Voulgaris is known as a highly successful sports bettor, particularly adept at picking NBA and CFL games. He picked up his Big One seat via a deal with Quebec Lotto satellite winner Carlos Nahas. Fun fact: Voulgaris was born in Winnipeg, Manitoba and has a degree in philosophy from the University of Manitoba.

Mike Sexton

Who he is: The voice of the World Poker Tour and a sponsored pro for Party Poker, Sexton is a long-time poker player with his own set of impressive results. Sexton has cashes at the WSOP dating back to 1984 and won his first bracelet in 1989. How he can afford a $1m buy-in: Sexton has alluded to sponsors or backers paying his way into the Big One. Fun fact: Sexton was a paratrooper in the US Army before taking up poker in 1977. Sexton was also very good friends with Stu Ungar and was a pallbearer at his funeral.

Nick Schulman

Who he is: The Manhattan-bred Schulman began his poker career at just 19 years old and by the age of 21 had won the biggest prize ever on the WPT - $2.2 million - at the World Poker FInals. He also became the youngest WT winner ever. Since, he's eanred his first WSOP bracelet and pushed his career earnings up over $5 million. How he can afford a $1m buy-in: Besides being extremely successful at the poker table, Schulman's general level of gamble seems to show he's can find money when he needs it. Fun fact: Also a pro-level billiards player, Schulman appeared on MTV's World of Jenks in 2010.On the show Schulman revealed he suffered from anziety attacks and dropped out of high school but poker helps alleviate his anxiety.

Vivek Rajkumar

Who he is: A surprising name of tne player list to some, Rajkumar is considered a poker prodigy within the industry and has over $4 million in career live tournament earnings. His biggest win was for $1.4 million at the 2008 WPT Borgata Open when he destroyed the final table in just 48 hands. How he can afford a $1m buy-in: His career earnings are substantial but he's more than respected enough in poker to get backing to play. Fun fact: Rajkumar moved to the US at age 12 and skipped most of high school to enter college at age 15. He graduated at 19 with a degree in applied mathematical science and got a job at Microsoft but left a year later to pursue poker.

Noah Schwartz

Who he is: Another somewhat surprising name on the player list, Noah "fourUhaters" Schwartz belies his youthful appearance with over $2.5 million in career live earnings. He's also a regular in the high-stakes cash games in Miami and played in the WSOP's first $40k buy-in event. How he can afford a $1m buy-in: We'd guess the high-stakes cahs games in Miami are very good value. Fun fact: Nicknamed Mclovin for his resemblance to the character in the movie Superbad, Schwartz was a pitcher at Florida International University before a ligature injury ended his career.

Michael "The Grinder" Mizrachi

Who he is: Yet another South Florida native, Mizrachi is simply one of the biggest winners in poker tournament history. Mizrachi pushed his career earnings past $14 million with a win in the $50k Players Championship at the 2012 WSOP - the second time he's won that event. How he can afford the $1m buy-in: He had already sold enough action to raise the cash but Mizrachi made it easy when he won the Players Championship for $1.4 million and rolled it over into his Big One ticket. Fun fact: All four Mizrachi Brothers – Michael, Robert, Danny and Eric – cashed in the 2010 Main Event and older brother Robert was actually the first to win a WSOP bracelet.

Tom Marchese

Who he is: A big-time online cash-game grinder under the nickname "kingsofcards," Marchese has worked his way up to become one of the most respected and feared high-stakes players in the world. Most recently Marchese won the $100k Super High Roller at the WPT Championship for $1.3 million. How he can afford the $1m buy-in: We're assuming partly his own money and partly stakes from his numerous friends in the poker industry. Fun fact: Marchese was the 2010 CardPlayer Player of the Year with 11 final tables, six six-figure scores and two major wins.

Caesars satellite seat

Who he is: Hopefully a degenerate Las Vegas local who goes on a ridiculous dice heater, culminating in him entering and winning the Big One satellite. Why he can afford a $1M buy-in: Increased oxygen levels and free cocktails clouded his judgment, stopping him from leaving the casino mid-heater. Fun Fact: He will probably be watching NASCAR when he discovers he’s won.

MGM Resorts International satellite seat

Who he is: Probably named Jacques, or Soren, or Jan, this player will band together with fellow Euro-high rollers ElkY and Gustav. Why he can afford a $1M buy-in: He took a shot at the satellite despite having to put up with boorish Americans in order to cash in the prize. Fun Fact: He will probably be wearing a shirt with a popped collar when he discovers he’s won.

Previously Unconfirmed Additions:

Ilya Bulchev - Businessman, Moscow, Russia Age: 55 Roland De Wolfe - Professional Poker Player, London, England Age: 33 David Einhorn - U.S. Hedge Fund Manager, Rye, New York Age: 43 Antonio Esfandiari - Professional Poker Player, Las Vegas, NV. Age: 33 Phil Galfond - Professional Poker Player, Potomac, Maryland Age: 27 Philipp Gruissem - Professional Poker Player, Germany Age: 25 Giovanni Guarascio - Businessman, Montreal, Canada Age: 55 Phil Ivey - Professional Poker Player, Las Vegas, NV. Age: 36 Chamath Palihapitiya - Venture Capitalist, Burlingame, CA. Age: 35 Bill Perkins - Owner, Small Ventures (Private Equity), Houston, TX. Age: 43 Brian Rast - Professional Poker Player, Las Vegas, NV. Age: 30 Tobias Reinkemeier - Professional Poker Player, Brighton, Germany Age: 24 Rick Salomon - Film Producer, Los Angeles, CA. Age: 44 Talal Shakerchi - European Hedge Fund Manager, Surrey, England Age: 48 Mikhail Smirnov - Businessman/Poker Player, Moscow, Russia Age: 39 Brandon Steven - Businessman/Car Dealer Owner, Wichita, KS. Age: 38

Previously confirmed players that have now dropped out:

Andy Beal

Who he is: Andy Beal started with nothing and built a banking and real estate empire. Noteworthy to us for playing some of the highest-stakes cash games in history against the absolute best in the world, Beal has little to no public presence, meaning we'll be doing our best to get an interview this summer. Why he can afford a $1M buy-in: The 39th wealthiest person in the US, Beal has an estimated net worth of $7 billion. $1 million is inconsequential to him. Fun Fact: Beal, who fancies himself something of a math geek, put up a $100,000 prize for anyone who can prove or disprove “Beal’s Conjecture”, a generalization of Fermat’s famous last theorem.

Patrik Antonius

Who he is: Patrik Antonius holds a unique position in the poker world. Equal parts demi-god and superhuman, Antonius has proved that his good looks are matched only by his ability to win at poker. Why he can afford a $1M buy-in: Antonius has over $3.3 million in live earnings which represents one of the smallest parts of his net worth. Antonius has consistently been among the biggest winners online, profiting almost $12 million over the last five years. He was also one of the main faces of Full Tilt Poker. Fun Fact: Antonius was on the winning end of the biggest pot in online poker history, a $1.35 million behemoth against Viktor “Isildur1” Blom.

Gus Hansen *Note won Caesars $25k satellite seat and now will play

Who he is: Gus Hansen, the Great Dane, old-school Euro tournament crusher and pioneer of the super-LAG style that’s now old news. Gus Hansen was a big part of poker’s growth in Europe, and one of the big names that helps fight the stereotype of the slobby, malcontent grinder. Why he can afford a $1M buy-in: A full patch member of Team Full Tilt, Hansen was likely compensated well for his endorsement. Hansen has won over $9.3 million playing live tournament poker but he’s down roughly $3.2 million playing cash poker online. It’s unlikely Hansen is truly rolled for this event. Fun Fact: Hansen was voted one of the 50 sexiest men alive in 2004 by People Magazine. We think People needs to get its eyes checked.

David "Viffer" Peat

Who he is: A regular in the televised high-stakes cash games like High Stakes Poker and Poker After Dark, Peat is a former billiards pro who doesn't frequent tournament play. He's not one to shy away from confrontation at the table and has had several notable run-ins with Phil Hellmuth, Phil Laak and others. Why he can afford a $1m buy-in: Hard to say, He could be backed or he could be putting up his own money. But if there's a high-stakes game to get involved in, Viffer usually finds a way. Fun fact: Peat grew up in Cleveland, Ohio and left school after sixth grade, according to his "swell" on the 2+2 forums.

Arnaud Mimran

Who he is: French businessman and part of the Mimran empire, one of the richest in France with an estimated fortune of €1.2 billion and interests in much of West Africa. Why he can afford a $1m buy-in: Um, see above. $1 million is peanuts for a Mimran, apparently. Fun fact: Mimran's girlfriend is Paraguayan model Claudia Garanti, who has been featured on several Italian television shows including reality series The Famous Island. He also has some poker chops as in 2006 he finished in 13th place at the PokerStars EPT Grand Final.

Roger Teska

Who he is: That's a good question. By far one of the least expected names on the list, Teska is a poker pro from Bloomington, Indiana who plays online under the nickname "term_." His career live tournament earnings are roughly half a million, with most of that coming from a 4th-place finsih at the 2011 WPT Championship. How he can afford the $1m buy-in: There must be some especially soft cash games in the Indiana area. Fun fact: It's fun to think about Teska showing up and sitting down at one of these tables, that's for sure.

Johnny Chan

Who he is: Back to back world champion Johnny Chan has ten WSOP bracelets and legend-status in the poker world. Chan was immortalized in Rounders, which is basically the poker player’s bible, if the bible was a movie from the 90s with Matt Damon. Why he can afford a $1M buy-in: Chan has made more than $8.5 million playing live tournament poker but if the rumors are true, that’s just the tip of the iceberg compared to what he makes playing high-stakes cash in Macau. Despite his earnings, dumping $1 million with nothing to show for it will sting. Fun Fact: Despite being born in China, and having a legitimate Chinese name, Johnny Chan is often referred to as “Chen Qiangni”, a transliteration of his adopted English name.

PokerListings.com will be on location in Las Vegas this summer so keep an eye on our 2012 WSOP live coverage section for video, news and live updates of the $1 million WSOP Big One .

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WSOP Photo By Numbers: Controversial $50k Hand

Fri, 29 Jun 2012 10:42:29 -0700

1. Ali Eslami wasn't involved in the hand, but was leading the efforts to sort out what happened, even using his iPad to calculate the size of the disputed pot-raise.

2. Shaun Deeb held J♥ J♠ 10♣ 7♠, and was happy with the board the way it was -- Q♠ J♦ 2♦ 10♠ 8♠. Deeb flopped a set of jacks and rivered a spade flush, which was good for a triple up rather than an elimination.

3. Floorperson Troy listened to the different sides of the story and initially ruled that the turn and river need to be brought back, because the players weren't all in. The flop would stay, but action would resume there, and both players would have chips left behind after the preflop pot-raise.

4. Patrick the Dealer was put in a bad spot. Technically, he made a mistake by treating the situation like it was all in. But in his defense, the players treated it like an all-in first. There was a lot going on in a high-pressure pot, and the time that Mosseri spent in the tank clouded the situation.

5. John D'Agostino was the short stack at the table with just 61,300 in chips, and definitely annoyed that this entire situation -- between the hand and the multiple rulings -- took about half an hour.

6. Nikolai Yakovenko reminded everyone more than once that his preflop pot-raise did not put him all in, but when Mosseri wanted a count of his entire stack, Yakovenko pushed his entire stack forward -- which may have added to the confusion that he was all in.

7. David Baker watches the controversy from the next table. The situation was so intriguing that play slowed down at the other tables around the room, as players were more interested in this table than their own.

8. Viktor Blom is sitting in seat 5, and he limped and called a preflop raise before folding. You can't see him in this photo because the player known as "Isildur1" is an enigma.

9. Abe Mosseri seems to have been the source of most of the confusion, both by asking for a full count of Yakovenko's stack (rather than the pot-sized raise), and because he turned over his cards after he called. But in the end, Mosseri got the best of it, winning the huge side pot to become one of the chipleaders.

Eventually, a senior floorperson was called to assess the situation, and he ruled that since the players all treated it like an all-in situation, and nobody objected as the flop, turn, and river were dealt, that the action would be binding -- it was an all-in situation.

So Nikolai Yakovenko was crippled, and eliminated a few minutes later. Shaun Deeb more than tripled up to 234,000, and Abe Mosseri won the massive side pot to skyrocket to second on the leaderboard with 645,000.

For all the action from the WSOP in Las Vegas click through to our 2012 World Series of Poker Live Coverage section, brought to you by 888poker.com.

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$50k Players Championship Bubble: Ben Yu Asks Why Me?

Wed, 27 Jun 2012 18:12:44 -0700

Unfortunately for Yu the vultures eventually got their meal when he busted in a hand of Stud-8 to Roland Israelashvili.

After losing Yu simply shrugged, shook Israelashvili's hand and headed for the exit.

Perhaps the only silver lining for Yu is that he didn’t bubble the $1 million buy-in BIG ONE, which is set to take place this weekend.

THAT one is going to sting.

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Norman Chad and Lon McEachern WSOP Announcer Soundboard

Mon, 25 Jun 2012 10:34:22 -0700

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The British Are Coming!

Thu, 21 Jun 2012 19:47:27 -0700

Floorman Robbie Thompson, who’s trying to announce the action, has been drowned out completely with a series of merry chants and shouts from the rail.

We haven’t seen anyone actually get ejected from the Amazon Room yet, but if this keeps up we wouldn’t be surprised to see someone get the boot.

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WSOP Picture Book: Poker Chip Stack Art Shots

Wed, 20 Jun 2012 18:10:05 -0700

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Live Blog: Phil Ivey Finishes Fifth Final Table in 8th

Wed, 20 Jun 2012 13:26:40 -0700

Action was folded back around to Ivey, who quickly called.

"You're not making many friends," a railbird screamed to Samuel Golbuff after he crippled Ivey

Ivey showed 8♠ 8♦ and Golduff showed 6♥ 2♠. Things were looking good for Ivey until the dealer fanned out a 5♣ 2♥ 3♣ flop. The audience in the mothership let out a gasp, but Ivey didn't flinch.

A K♠ came on the turn and Ivey stayed the same.

The dealer burned the last card and then flipped over a 4♠. The audience mumbled and spoke over each other as Ivey just let out a, "How much is it?"

The floor counted it out and announced the all-in was worth 159,000. Ivey counted it out from his stack, pushed it to his left and was left with 11,000.

With less than a big blind, Ivey only had one move. After folding the next three hands, Ivey went all-in from UTG.

He got calls from the button, the small blind and the big blind.

"Good luck," Golbuff said to Ivey. Ivey laughed and brought our official Ivey smile count up to three.

The board ran 8♣ A♣ 6♠ 9♠ 7♠ and all three non-all-in players checked all the way down. When it was time to show hands, one player turned over 4♥ 2♥, Ivey turned over A♦ 3♦ and another player mucked.

Erik Cajelais was still in the hand and turned over 7♣ 6♥, his two pair won the pot and eliminated Ivey.

When Ivey turned over his A♦ 3♦, he stood up and briskly exited the tournament area. He exited behind the mothership, found a side door in the Amazon Room and went into the cement hallways.

Phil Ivey at his fifth final table this year

He was fiddling with his phone and took a right at the end of the hallway. He kept walking and fiddling and took a left at the end of that hallway. There, a few dealers and waiters were taking a break. By the time we reached that room, Ivey was gone.

Vanished.

There was no trace of the 8-time bracelet winner. The $21,699 he just won remains unclaimed.

Ivey misses out on his 9th bracelet yet again. There's no sign of Ivey in another tournament yet, but we know it won't take long.

Ivey's natural desire to win, combined with 7-figure bracelet bets guarantees that we'll see him again. Soon.

But for now, he's gone, vanished, taking a break.

We'll see if he makes final table #6 when he reappears.

The man's magical.

Bonus Photo Gallery

Check out a few quick pics from the final table.

A Slow Start

The mothership was surrounded. It was just past 2pm PST and every chair inside the feature final stage was taken. About fifty people were crowded around the outside of it, listening to the announcements.

"And in seat seven," the announcer said. "Phil Ivey."

They crowd went nuts. People love Phil Ivey.

We've gone through one level of no limit and are halfway through a round of limit and the crowd has started to dissipate. The crowd standing outside the feature table has shrunk to about a dozen hardcore fans.

The stage itself is now peppered with empty seats, so if you want to come watch the action in person, there's space.

A smiling Ivey

Ivey has been a bit tame so far. He entered the table 7th in chips but now, with eight players left, Ivey is the shortstack with about 240,000.

The fallen player was Michael Foti. Foti was eliminated when his Q♥ J♦ ran into Erik Cajlais's K♦ Q♠. Both players hit a queen on the river, but Cajelias's kicker would kick Foti out of the tournament.

Foti's 9th place finish earned him $16,692.

Phil Ivey -- as well as every other player at the table -- is now guaranteed $21,699.

Ivey has only played a few pots so far. Most of them haven't made it to the flop and his stack hasn't fluctuated too much.

Ivey has been smiling a lot though, our Ivey smile count is currently at 2.

Play is about to switch back to No Limit with 5,000/10,000 blinds with a 1,000 ante. Ivey is short and the time to make moves seems right.

Stay tuned.

Ivey Makes His Fifth Final Table in 12 Days

Phil Ivey is busy making history at the 2012 World Series of Poker and once again PokerListings.com is bringing you the blow-by-blow.

Ivey is seventh in chips with nine players left in the $2,500 Mixed Hold'em event and it's his fifth final table in less than two weeks.

But this is familiar territory for Ivey. Back in 2002 he made five final tables in one summer. The only difference was that in 2002 he won three bracelets.

Ivey is going for career bracelet number nine, and with a reported seven figures riding on bracelet bets Ivey has to be feeling the pressure of another potential close call.

Check back here all day as we bring you full coverage and photos of Phil Ivey at his latest WSOP final table.

Here are the final table chip counts:

1 Joep van den Bijgaart - 605,000 2 Samuel Golbuff - 526,000 3 Michael Gathy - 418,000 4 Erik Cajelais - 368,000 5 Chris Tryba - 347,000 6 Salman Behbehani - 253,000 7 Phil Ivey - 169,000 8 Brent Wheeler - 158,000 9 Michael Foti - 105,000

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Your $25k WSOP Fantasy Update

Sun, 17 Jun 2012 17:49:14 -0700

1) Robert Mizrachi

Robert Mizrachi is getting some serious help from Brock Parker’s two WSOP final tables but it’s worth noting his team is very deep and he’s getting contributions from nearly everyone.

Brock Parker: 124 points Barry Greenstein: 83 points Mike Matusow: 58 points Shaun Deeb: 53 points Michael Mizrachi: 36 points Eric Froehlich: 19 points Joe Tehan: 6 points Jon Turner: 1 point Overall score: 380 points

2) Jason Mercier

Once again Jason Mercier is killing it in the $25k fantasy draft. This year Mercier has John Monnette and Joe Cassidy to thank for his fantastic run.

John Monnette: 152 points Joe Cassidy: 78 points Brett Richey: 51 points Allen Bari: 26 points Josh Arieh: 21 points Jason Mercier: 3 points Shannon Shorr: 1 point John D'Agostino: 0 points

Overall score: 332 points

3) Todd Brunson, Frank Kassela & Doyle Brunson

Todd Brunson is certainly carrying his weight on his own draft team. For those keeping track at home he’s got a second-place finish, a seventh and a 61st for a total of 98 points. Phil Hellmuth was also a nice pick.

Todd Brunson: 98 points Ali Eslami: 82 points Phil Hellmuth: 66 points Jeff Lisandro: 47 points Frank Kassela: 32 points Ben Lamb: 0 points David Bach: 0 points Dario Alioto: 0 points

Overall score: 325 points

4) Brian Hastings

Brian Hastings has the MVP of the $25k fantasy draft – Phil Ivey – but the rest of his team is bringing down his chances at taking the overall crown this year.

Phil Ivey: 190 points Shawn Buchanan: 29 points Tom Marchese: 1 point Stephen Odwyer: 1 point Joe Serock: 0 points Andrew Brown: 0 points Minh Ly: 0 points Mike McDonald: 0 points

Overall score: 221 points

5) Bryn Kenney

Bryn Kenney has a slightly top-heavy team that has seriously benefited from his own play at the 2012 WSOP. He’s going to need a big push from the rest of the team if he wants to finish top three.

Bryn Kenney: 58 points Stephen Chidwick: 51 points David Baker: 42 points Paul Volpe: 14 points Steve Billirakis: 9 points Allen Kessler: 2 points Sorel Mizzi: 1 point Michael Binger: 1 point

Overall score: 178 points

6) Daniel Negreanu

Daniel Negreanu has a few nice picks on his hands with Selbst, himself and Katchalov but the rest of his team is really bringing him down. That Viktor Blom pick is looking pretty bad at this point as the Swede hasn’t played a lot at the WSOP and only managed one cash. At least he was cheap.

Vanessa Selbst: 70 points Daniel Negreanu: 37 points Eugene Katchalov: 31 points Owais Ahmed: 11 points Marco Johnson: 11 points Viktor Blom: 1 point Johnathan Duhamel: 1 point Alexander Kostritsyn: 0 points

Overall score: 162 points

7) Eugene Katchalov

Eugene Katchalov made one heck of a good decision picking Brian Hastings. The young pro picked up his first bracelet in the $10k Heads-Up Championship to award Katchalov 113 points. Outside of Hastings, however, his team has performed rather poorly.

Brian Hastings: 113 points John Juanda: 13 points Dan Kelly: 11 points Yuval Bronshtein: 10 points Nick Schulman: 9 points Chris Lee: 0 points Abe Mosseri: 0 points Andrei Zaichenko: 0 points

Overall score: 156 points

8) Justin "BoostedJ" Smith

Matt Glantz and David Chiu have both been strong players on Justin Smith’s team but that’s pretty much it. At least Fabrice Soulier had a big stack in the $10k H.O.R.S.E. as this article was published.

Matt Glantz: 75 points David Chiu: 54 points David Benyamine: 14 points Fabrice Soulier: 8 points Daniel Shak: 2 points Daniel Alaei: 1 point Chad Brown: 1 point Huck Seed: 1 point

Overall score: 156 points

9) David Bach & Josh Arieh

Scott Seiver and Lee Goldman have been very good for David Bach and Josh Arieh but everyone else has pretty much stunk. It’s going to take a big effort for Team Bach/Arieh to get out of the basement.

Scott Seiver: 40 points Lee Goldman: 37 points Scott Clements: 10 points George Lind: 9 points Eli Elezra: 4 points Justin Smith: 2 points Mike Gorodinsky: 2 points Sebastien Sabic: 0 points

Overall score: 104 points

10) Cary Katz

Bertrand “ElkY” Grospellier is once again off to a good start at the 2012 WSOP but that’s pretty much all Cary Katz has going for him so far. He’s likely hoping Erik Seidel will regain form with a deep run.

Bertrand Grospellier: 46 points Erik Seidel: 12 points Gavin Smith: 6 points Isaac Haxton: 6 points David Sands: 3 points David Bakes Baker: 1 point Richard Ashby: 0 points Sam Trickett: 0 points

Overall score: 74 points

11) Sorel Mizzi

Sorel Mizzi’s team has been an unmitigated disaster with only 40 points earned. It probably doesn’t help that Tom Dwan has yet to play a single event at the WSOP. It would take a minor miracle for Mizzi to win the $25k fantasy draft at this point.

Chris Klodnicki: 13 points Ben Yu: 11 points Chau Giang: 8 points Justin Bonomo: 3 points Men Nguyen: 3 points Robert Mizrachi: 2 points Alex Kuzmin: 0 points Tom Dwan: 0 points

Overall score: 40 points

For all the action from the WSOP in Las Vegas click through to our 2012 World Series of Poker Live Coverage section, brought to you by 888poker.com.

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It’s Phil Ivey’s World, We Just Live in it

Wed, 13 Jun 2012 23:07:13 -0700

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Live Blog: Phil Hellmuth Wins 12th WSOP Bracelet

Sun, 10 Jun 2012 13:46:27 -0700

Phil Hellmuth Wins His 12th WSOP Bracelet

Hellmuth, showing off #12

"Is this for real Mike?" Phil Helmuth asked Mike Matusow. "I've waited so long for this."

It's real, Phil Hellmuth has won his 12th WSOP bracelet.

I'll repeat that. Phil Hellmuth has a dozen gold WSOP bracelets.

In the last hand of Event #18, Zewin got all his chips in on the turn. When seventh street was dealt, the board looked like this.

Hellmuth: (A)(4) A-2-J-4

Zewin: (3)(9) 6-K-J-3

"Phil, you make this hand and it's over," Matusow said.

About 15 cell phone cameras popped up and everyone started filming what was going to be Hellmuth's historic win.

Hellmuth squeezed his last card first and turned over a 10 for A-2-4-10-J.

Then it was Zewin's turn to squeeze. He did it slowly and all eyes were on him.

"You got it," Zewin sighed and Phil Hellmuth exploded.

He jumped up and down like a preteen meeting their favorite celebrity and jumped straight up to Matusow and hugged him.

Then he turned back around and laid on the floor next to the table. He rubbed his face and stood up.

That's when he went back to Matusow and asked him if what was happening was for real.

The floor asked Hellmuth's wife to come up and present him with his 12th bracelet, but Phil had a different Hellmuth in mind.

"Philip," Hellmuth said. "Come up here."

Phil's oldest son came up on stage and presented his Dad with something he's been waiting to get for years.

Hellmuth then took the microphone and addressed the crowd.

"I appreciate everyone for being here," Hellmuth said. "I want you to know that I'm going to take every picture and sign every autograph."

"Are you buying drinks?" Todd Brunson screamed from the crowd.

Don Zewin finishes in 2nd for $113,024

Hellmuth laughed and ordered a few bottles of Dom Perignon to the feature table.

"This is the first tournament of my life that I have no idea what the prize pool is," Hellmuth added. When someone informed the 12-time bracelet winner that he'd just won $182,793 he responded with, "That's nice."

But this wasn't about the money, Hellmuth said. It's about the bracelet. The coveted 12th bracelet that he's come so close to winning so many times.

Since winning his 11th bracelet, Hellmuth has made 7 WSOP final tables and finished runner-up three times.

It was so close, so many times, but now he's finally got it.

Now Hellmuth is off sipping champagne with his friends, enjoying something he's waited so long to get.

"I guess I'm going to have to make new hats," Hellmuth said.

"Don't pretend like you don't already have them made," the floor person joked. Everyone laughed.

We all knew it was a matter of time before Hellmuth booked his 12th bracelet, now he has.

Congratulations to Hellmuth on achieving something no one else has.

It's Not Over Yet

Zewin battles for his first bracelet while Hellmuth goes for number 12

Well, we might've spoken a bit too soon.

After our last update, Don Zewin went on a massive win streak and ended up getting nearly even in chips with Phil Hellmuth.

After taking down a bunch of smaller pots, Zewin took down a massive pot when he hit a 7-6 to Hellmuth's 9-5.

It was a reminder for everyone around the world that anything can happen in tournament poker. Hellmuth himself started to look a bit distraught, surely memories of his three runner-up finishes were running through his head.

The crowd has also started to grow. Everyone's waiting to see if Phil Hellmuth can get #12. There's currently about 35 people on the stage and another 50 surrounding it.

That crowd's about to grow a little more since Phil Ivey just busted out in the mothership. All those railbirds are slowly migrating to the Pavilion.

They all want to know, will this Phil take it?

One fan visit came from Todd Brunson.

Brunson showed up to support Hellmuth, he even made the Poker Brat smile, stand up and give him a hug.

Zewin didn't have any celebrity railbird appearances, but he does have Hellmuth dominated in one department.

Don Zewin and his mustache

Hellmuth may have more bracelets, but Zewin has more mustache. Hellmuth's recently adopted facial hair pales in comparison to Zewin's mustache. You can tell it's been around for a while, it's seen more action than most young online players ever have.

But this isn't a battle of facial hair. It's a battle to see who can get the lowest five cards.

So far, Hellmuth is starting to gain back ground.

Hellmuth managed to bring Zewin below the 500,000 mark, but the man with the mustache is now back up to 750,000.

Zewin managed to beat Hellmuth's 10-8-6 with a 9-7-5.

Daniel Negreanu has also taken an interest in this heads-up match. He's providing live Twitter commentary, here's his most recent Tweet:

"Typically in HU razz matches the low card raises but that's happened about 15% of the time in this match with either folds or calls"

The Final Step

While tournament poker is quite chaotic, it always seems to abide by certain rules.

There's always one player who gets a big stack, but loses one hand and just can't recover. There's one player that's a short-stack ninja and rides his tiny stack deeper than Day 1 chip leaders.

Then there's the suckout artist. That player who can't lose a coin flip and just always seems to get there.

Then you have the tournament dominator.

He bets well, plays well, gets there when he needs to and, simply put, is just on fire. The aura of "run good" around these players is almost visible.

Today, Phil Hellmuth seems to have that glow. He's been dominating the final table and is now heads up for his 12th bracelet.

Hellmuth has had a few setbacks, but he's managed to knockout a number of players and accumulate a massive chip lead.

Hellmuth came back from the dinner break with nearly half the chips in play. Soon after, Scott Fischman was eliminated in 4th place.

Fischman fell victim to Don Zewin when his 9-6 couldn't stand up against Zewin's 6-5.

Hellmuth then took over and sent the tournament into heads-up mode.

Cantu was short-stacked and he got all his chips in against Hellmuth. Cantu's final tournament board read:

Will this be #12?

Hellmuth: (A)(5) 7-8-4-10 (6)

Cantu: (9)(4) 5-2-3-J (3)

Hellmuth instantly turned over seventh street while Cantu gave his card the squeeze of a lifetime. In what was nearly 30-seconds of card squeezing, Cantu eventually turned over a 3 and was eliminated in third place.

His finish gave him $74,269 while also giving Hellmuth the dominating chip lead for the heads-up battle.

Hellmuth will start the heads-up match with 1,900,000 while Zewin has 400,000.

Will Hellmuth finally get bracelet number 12 or is he destined for another runner-up finish.

Stay tuned.

Dinner Break

Our remaining four players are now on dinner break.

Brendan Taylor was the most recent player to exit the feature table. In his final hand, Brendan fell to Brandon.

Brandon Cantu managed to hit a 7-6-4 low and Taylor couldn't get any lower. His 5th place finish earns him $40,167.

Hellmuth is now three players away from his ever-elusive 12th bracelet. In addition to getting bracelet #12, a victory here would bump Hellmuth up to 7th place in the WSOP All Time Money List.

Hellmuth, with $7,832,465, is currently trailing Joe Hachem, who's earned a total of $8,010,509. A victory here would bring Hellmuth up to $8,015,258.

That victory seems more plausible as the match continues. When the dinner bell rang, Hellmuth still had the lead with 1,131,000.

While Hellmuth has been dominating, he can't win every hand.

Brandon Cantu

The board read:

Hellmuth: (X)(X) 2-5-7-9 (X)

Cantu: (X)(X) 10-7-6-J (X)

The Poker Brat had been firing away on every street and Cantu was calling down. Hellmuth bet the river and Cantu tanked. Hellmuth adopted his trademark "hands-over-mouth" pose while Cantu tanked.

But Cantu's thought process seemed to elicit hunger in Hellmuth. The Poker Brat removed his hands from his mouth and decided to start munching on a salad instead.

Cantu eventually called and Hellmuth said, "Ten."

Hellmuth showed 10-9-7 but Cantu had him beat with 10-7-6.

"You got stubborn," Hellmuth said. "But I'll get you.

And Hellmuth seems to be in a positing to get everyone at the table. With 1,131,000 in chips, Hellmuth has nearly half the chips in play. Second in chips is Don Zewin with 558,000.

Cantu enters the dinner break 430,000 while Scott Fischman is the short stack with 204,000.

Down to Five, Hellmuth on Top

The $2,500 Razz is down to its final five players and Phil Hellmuth is four eliminations away from making history.

Hellmuth is on the hunt for his 12th WSOP bracelet. Hellmuth hasn't won a bracelet since 2007, but he's come close. Very close.

Last year, Hellmuth managed to make three WSOP final tables, but the bracelet slipped out of his grasp every time as he finished runner-up in all three events.

Now, Hellmuth has another shot.

Our final table has seen three eliminations so far. The first was the WSOP newcomer, Jeff Misteff. Misteff was eliminated by Brendan Taylor and his first WSOP cash got a number attached to it. His 8th place finish is good for $17,693.

The next to go was Michael Chow, his executioner was Mr. Hellmuth.

Barry Greenstein, out in 6th

Chow's final showdown looked like this:

Hellmuth: (2)(5) A-A-3-9 (10)

Chow: (4)(8) 3-2-4-J (3)

Chow bet most of the way and Hellmuth raised him on fifth street. Chow responded by moving all in and Hellmuth called.

Hellmuth hit a 9-5 low on sixth street and Chow paired his 3 on the river. Chow was eliminated in 7th place for $22,945 while Hellmuth's stack grew to about 500,000.

Barry Greenstein was the next to go.

Greenstein fell to Brandon Cantu. Greenstein's final hand was a 9-7-6 low and Cantu managed to outlow him with a 9-7-4 low.

Phil Hellmuth is also back in the lead. Limits are 12,000/24,000 with a 3,000 ante and Hellmuth has a stack of 795,000. His closest contender is the only bracelet-less player at the table, Don Zewin with 565,000.

We'll go back on the floor and see if Hellmuth can turn Event #18 into bracelet #12.

The Final Table

Event #18 final table

Phil Hellmuth has made another WSOP final table.

While it's Hellmuth's first this year, it's his 46th overall.

But competition is stiff at this final table. Only two of the final eight players don't have a WSOP bracelet.

Aside from Hellmuth, the other five players have a combined WSOP bracelet count of nine. Barry Greenstein leads these five with three WSOP bracelets, including one in Razz.

If we throw Hellmuth's count into the mix, we get a final table with 20 gold WSOP bracelets.

The only two players lacking some WSOP jewelry are Don Zewin and Jeff Misteff. But this isn't Zewin's first WSOP final table.

In fact, it's not even his first WSOP final table with Phil Hellmuth. Zewin has a total of 18 WSOP cashes, including a third place finish in the 1989 Main Event. That year, the biggest prize in poker went to Phil Hellmuth.

Phil Hellmuth at his 46th WSOP final table

Jeff Misteff, on the other hand, is in uncharted territory. Not only is this his first WSOP final table, it's his first WSOP cash.

Fans have lined up and the final table is underway. They're arranged exactly like this:

Seat 1: Michael Chow - 145,000

Seat 2: Scott Fischman - 430,000

Seat 3: Jeff Misteff - 187,000

Seat 4: Barry Greenstein - 115,000

Seat 5: Phil Hellmuth - 446,000

Seat 6: Brandon Cantu - 187,000

Seat 7: Brendan Taylor - 451,000

Seat 8: Don Zewin - 359,000

A Double Feature

Hellmuth is on his way to another WSOP final table

Poker fans in the Rio are in for a treat.

The $2,500 Razz has nine players left. Phil Hellmuth is one of them, he's also second in chips. The final nine have moved out of the Amazon and into the feature table in the Pavilion Room.

But back in the Amazon, the $10,000 Pot-Limit Hold'em tournament is down to 10 players. Among them is Phil Ivey. These players have been relocated to the main, mothership feature table.

It's no surprise that the Rio is teeming with railbirds. One older fan with a Cubs jersey, sunglasses and a lack of sobriety is eyeing Hellmuth's every move.

He makes his support audible by letting out the occasional, "Nice hand Mr. Hellmuth."

Hellmuth also gave some audible support to tablemate Calvin Anderson after Anderson was eliminated in 11th place.

Hellmuth stood up, shook Anderson's hand and whispered something into his ear.

"I haven't told anyone else that," Hellmuth said after. "Good effort."

Hellmuth also got another elimination in, knocking out Jared Bleznick in 13th place.

The final board read:

13th place finisher, Jared Bleznick

Hellmuth: (J)(10) A-7-8-Q (5)

Bleznick: (5)(2) K-9-6-Q (2)

The bulk of Bleznick's chips didn't find their way into the middle until fourth street. Hellmuth bet and Bleznick moved all-in.

Hellmuth called and showed his jack-ten. Bleznick was ahead with his five-two, but he paired his deuce on the last street.

Hellmuth's stack is now up to 389,000, but he's not the chip leader anymore. That title goes to Brendan Taylor, who managed to amass a stack of 526,000.

Players have moved off to the feature table in the Pavilion Room as the unofficial final table. Hordes of fans followed the procession of potential final tableists as they carried their big bags of chips into the Pavilion.

Players took a 20-minute break after moving to the feature table, but now they're back in action.

Twelve Step Program

Phil Hellmuth took a few more steps in the direction of bracelet number 12.

Phil Hellmuth, now available in "beard"

He eliminated a player, made the final two tables and got the chip lead.

The Hellmuth we're seeing today is a little different from the one we're used to. He's rather calm and is sporting about a week's worth of facial hair.

But some things haven't changed.

Hellmuth's determination is almost tangible. His gaze is focused, his bets are methodical and his stack is fairly large.

Hellmuth took the tournament chip lead after knocking out Chris Wallace and bringing the tournament down to its final two tables.

Hellmuth: (4)(2) A-8-7-8 (3)

Wallace: (5)(7) 8-9-7-10 (J)

This was the last board Wallace would participate in this tournament. By fifth street, Wallace had gone all-in and Hellmuth was his only customer.

Hellmuth took off his sunglasses during the all-in and shook Wallace's hand after he was eliminated.

"Good game," Hellmuth said to the 17th place finisher.

Play stopped and the floor redrew to the last two tables.

Hellmuth was the last player to make it to his new seat, he was busy fitting all his chips into five racks. Eliminating Wallace put Hellmuth up to 355,000, nearly 50,000 more than the closest contender.

When Hellmuth got to his new table, he sat down between the dealer and Barry Greenstein. He also has the pleasure of sharing the table with Calvin Anderson, Jared Bleznick and Michael Chow.

Limits are now 8,000/16,000 with a 2,00 ante. Keep checking back for more updates on Hellmuth's quest for bracelet number 12.

Here's the full draw for the final two tables:

Table 1

Seat 1: Phil Hellmuth

Seat 2: Barry Greenstein

Barry Greenstein, now seated to Hellmuth's left

Seat 3: Brendan Taylor

Seat 4: Calvin Anderson

Seat 5: Jared Bleznick

Seat 6: Michael Chow

Seat 7: Chris Viox

Seat 8: Gerald Ringe

Table 2

Seat 1: Jeff Mervis

Seat 2: Scott Abrams

Seat 3: Jeff Misteff

Seat 4: Dan O'Brien

Seat 5: Brandon Cantu

Seat 6: David Rosenau

Seat 7: Scott Fischman

Seat 8: Don Zewin

Day 3 Starts with Hellmuth Third in Final 18

Hellmuth came painfully close to extending his bracelet record in 2011, finishing second on three separate occasions.

And even more surprising, all of the Poker Brat's deep runs these days are coming in non-Hold'em events.

Hellmuth has some stiff competition today, however, should he make it to the final table and eventually the winner's circle.

Here are the start-of-day chip counts. Notice the names Brandon Cantu, Barry Greenstein, Jared Bleznick, Dan O'Brien, Scott Fischman, and Calvin Anderson.

Brandon Cantu - 298,500 Brendan Taylor - 288,500 Phil Hellmuth - 287,500 Chris Viox - 189,000 Michael Chow - 183,000 Jeff Misteff - 155,000 David Rosenau - 149,000 Don Zewin - 115,500 Jeff Mervis - 111,500 Barry Greenstein - 94,500 Scott Abrams - 93,000 Jared Bleznick - 91,500 Scott Fischman - 57,500 Gerald Ringe - 54,500 Chris Wallace - 54,000 Dan O'Brien - 50,500 Calvin Anderson - 28,000 Scott Clements - 20,000

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Live Blog: Ivey Goes for 9th WSOP Bracelet

Fri, 08 Jun 2012 17:55:01 -0700

***Update*** Sunday June 10: Phil Ivey finished second, losing to now two-time bracelet winner Andy Frankenberger, in Event 17, the $10k Pot-Limit Hold'em Championship, .

Click here to read step-by-step coverave of Phil Ivey's latest bracelet run.

Friday, June 8: Phil Ivey Eliminated 7th in $5k Stud Hi-Lo ($34,595)

The unthinkable has happened. Phil Ivey has been eliminated.

Phil Ivey finishes seventh for over $35,000.

Even when Ivey was down to less than one big bet we still had high hopes. After all, he’s Phil Ivey.

But it wasn’t to be. Despite doubling up just a few hands ago Ivey was in need of a serious infusion of chips. He went after those chips in a hand against Todd Brunson but couldn’t put the cards together to earn himself even half the pot.

Ivey’s final hand began with Adam Friedman bringing it in with the 2♦ and Ivey completing with the A♥. Brunson and John Monnette also came along, with the 3♠ and Q♣, respectively.

Brunson bet on fourth street and only Ivey called. Ivey check-raised all-in on fifth street and Brunson called.

Ivey was ahead for the high side with a pair of sevens but Brunson had a wheel draw and an ace which he could pair.

Brunson nailed his straight on seventh street to scoop the pot and send Phil Ivey home in seventh place.

Ivey narrowly misses his ninth bracelet, but records his 23rd WSOP final table.

And with that we are done live blogging Ivey’s quest for his ninth bracelet. Hopefully he will make another final table so we can pick this up again.

Ivey Rallies with Emergency Double

Phil Ivey is staging a comeback. He was down to less than one big bet but now, after chopping an all-in and then doubling up, he’s back up to 68k (almost three big bets!)

The first hand saw Ivey all-in on third street with (A♠ J♣)2♦ against (9♦ 8♥)3♦. By seventh street Ivey had paired his ace, good enough for the high, while Brunson had made an eight-low to take the other half.

Just a few hands later Ivey was all-in on fourth street with trip nines against Ziyard’s trip sixes. Neither player could pull out a qualifying low and Ivey pulled the 68,000 back to his corner of the table.

Bonus Ivey Photo Gallery

Ivey in Critical Condition

Phil Ivey is on life support at this final table. The eight-time bracelet winner is down to his last few bets and already found himself all-in once, chopping to stay alive.

Ivey is running on fumes.

He lost a moderately-sized pot to Adam Friedman before shipping the majority of his stack to Zinman Ziyard.

The hand started with Sven Artzen bringing it in with the 2♦ and Ivey completing with the 5♠. Ziyard raised with the A♦ and only Ivey called.

Ivey check-called one bet on fourth street, got a free card on fifth and check-called again on sixth.

Ziyard: (X-X) A♦ 7♦ 6♠ J♥ Ivey: (X-X) 5♠ 5♦ 2♦ K♦

Both players checked seventh street and Ziyard showed A♥ Q♦ 5♣ and Ivey threw his cards to the muck.

Ivey was down to just 35,000 after that hand.

Not long after, Ivey was all-in against Nikolai Yakovenko. The hand started with Todd Brunson bringing it in and Yakovenko raising. Ivey called all-in and Brunson folded.

Ivey showed A♣ J♥ against Yakovenko’s A♦ 2♥.

By the time all the cards were dealt Ivey had made a pair of eights to take the high while Yakovenko’s six-low was good for the other half.

Ivey is still very much in danger.

Ivey Makes Final Table

We’re down to the final eight players in this event and Phil Ivey is sixth in chips with 230,000.

Monnette and Ivey clash.

Here are the final table counts as eight-handed play gets going:

Adam Friedman – 707,000 John Monnette – 686,000 Sven Arntzen – 549,000 Nikolai Yakovenko – 343,000 Todd Brunson – 259,000 Phil Ivey – 230,000 Bryn Kenney – 207,000 Zimnan Ziyard – 203,000

On the way to the final table Ivey got in a few big pots, mainly against recent bracelet winner John Monnette.

The first pot saw Monnette get bets in on every street, scooping the pot with an eight-high straight and an 8-7 low.

Not long after, however, Ivey managed to take a few chips back from Monnette.

Ivey check-called bets on every street and bet out on seventh with(X-X) 4♥ A♠ 4♠ T♣ against Monette’s (X-X) K♣ 8♥ A♦ 9♣.

Monnette folded to Ivey’s final bet and Ivey chipped back up to 260k.

Ivey Battles Bari, Outlasts Hellmuth

Phil Ivey started Day 3 of this event sixth in chips with 234,000, just a few thousand chips in front of 11-time WSOP bracelet winner Phil Hellmuth.

Ivey is a mixed-game powerhouse at the WSOP. He's got eight bracelets and every one of them was won in a non-Hold'em event.

In 2002 Ivey won three bracelets and two of them were in Stud events, including the $5k Stud Hi-Lo event he's playing in today.

Today Ivey's first real taste of action was against 2011 bracelet winner Allen Bari.

Hellmuth isn't smiling any more.

Bari was short and doubled through Ivey to get his day off on the right foot. Bari then lost a big pot, which was a blessing for Ivey since Bari doubled through him again just a few hands later.

The second double-up started with Ivey bringing it in with the 2♦ and Bari completing with the 8♦. A third player called and Bari bet fourth street when he received the 4♦. Only Ivey called, now showing 2♦ 6♠.

Bari check-raised all-in on fifth street and Ivey called. They turned over their hole cards.

Bari: (7♦ 3♥) 8♦ 4♦ Q♦ Ivey: (4♥ 2♣) 2♦ 6♠ 5♦

Bari managed to spike his flush on seventh street and with neither player making a qualifying low Bari got the double.

While Ivey's day got off to a rough start he did manage to outlast Phil Hellmuth.

The Poker Brat had been feuding with Adam Friedman since this event began and the two didn't pull any punches this afternoon.

Hellmuth was crippled in a previous hand against Alexander Krapivinsky but it was Friedman that took the last of the Brat's chips

Friedman and Hellmuth played a big pot to seventh street with Friedman making a flush for the high and a six-low to scoop the entire pot.

Shortly after, Hellmuth was all-in with a pair of nines on third-street against Friedman’s A♠ T♠ 2♠. Friedman paired his ace to scoop and eliminate Hellmuth.

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Rumor: Ivey Bets Millions on WSOP Bracelet

Fri, 08 Jun 2012 17:31:18 -0700

We overheard Ali Eslami talking about Ivey’s new bracelet bets while he was playing in the $10k Pot-Limit Hold’em Championship and although we don’t have the full story, the bets sound enormous.

Phil Ivey stands to win more than first-place money.

This information is particularly relevant since Ivey has chips in the $5k Stud Hi-Low event that’s playing down to a winner today.

Eslami was heard to say that just one of Ivey’s bets is worth $900,000 should he win a single bracelet.

We’re not sure who the bets are with but there are a few likely candidates.

Ivey and Daniel Negreanu had a long-standing bet that was worth $250k per bracelet. So if Daniel won a bracelet Ivey would owe him a quarter-million and vice versa. Perhaps Ivey and Kid Poker raised the stakes for 2012.

The biggest bracelet bet Ivey has ever booked, that we know about at least, was a $5 million wager he made with Howard Lederer. To win the bet Ivey had to take down two bracelets over two years at the WSOP, starting in 2011.

But based on what’s happened to Howard Lederer in the last year, we’re pretty sure that bet has been thrown out the window.

In other bracelet bet news, Tom Dwan tweeted today that he has no bracelet bets for 2012, and that he bought out of the bet he had to win two bracelets in three years.

Click here to read the interview we did with Dwan about his previous bets.

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Female Players Continue to Impress at 2012 WSOP

Fri, 08 Jun 2012 15:40:01 -0700

Selbst, Musumeci, Liu Highlight Female Campaign

Vanessa Selbst

Vanessa Selbst kicked off Event 2 with a final table finish. This No-Limit Hold’em event had 2,101 entrants and Vanessa finished 4th for a handsome $161,345.

Selbst has had quite am impressive career at the WSOP. In 2008, Selbst became the first women to win a bracelet in a PLO event. With over 5.1 million in tournament winnings she doesn’t show any sign of slowing down.

Event 3 brought the $3,000 No Limit Hold’em Heads Up tournament where Annette Obrestad dominated the field of 315 men to finish in 8th place. Obrestad was only one of two women to enter the event.

In Event 4 of the Seven Card Stud Hi-Low 8 or Better event, Xuan Liu proved that women wouldn’t be limited to just Hold’em final tables. Although, Hold’em is the most widely played poker game, Liu dominated the Stud Hi-Low field of 622 players to finish in 6th place of the event for $29,985.

Annette Obrestad

Caroline Hermesh made her first WSOP cash by finishing 7th in Event 7 Stud tournament. She had to contend with the likes of David Williams, Barry Greenstein, and Andy Bloch to earn her $15,135.

Amanda Musumeci has amassed the biggest cash this year by a female so far. She took 2nd in the No-Limit Hold’em Re-entry event for $481,643. The accolades she received were well deserved, as she had rely on her skills to beat out Brian Rast and Greg Mueller who were also on the final table.

Vanessa Selbst made her second deep run in the $10,000 Heads-up No-Limit Hold’em event. She was a huge contender to go heads up for the bracelet, but she wasn’t able to fade Jeff Gross’ cards on Day 2 and finished 9th for $20,674.

So after only nine days of WSOP fun, the women have already made six final tables and have made a number of deep runs in this year’s events. At this time last year, Maria Ho was the only woman to make a final table. She took 2nd place in the $5,000 No-Limit Hold’em Event for $540,020.

We expect to see more female players make final tables as the series continues. We only speculate at which tournament will be the first to have a lady claim a bracelet in an open event.

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Seeing the WSOP for the First Time (Again)

Thu, 07 Jun 2012 22:39:55 -0700

The next step is the Pavilion Room. You don't walk into it, it envelops you. The different lighting, smells and sounds wash over you as if you'd jumped into a pool.

It's also massive, larger than any room should be. Its size is an affront to most deities and anything larger is an act of hubris.

On the left, there's a yellow section 4 tables wide and 8 tables deep. The right side holds an even bigger section, the green section.

Here, rows are 15 tables long and 6 deep. Everything from high-stakes NLHE, PLO 2-7 TD and whatever-game-you-can-get-your-tablemates-to-agree-on is being played.

The crowded hallways of the WSOP.

Then you're greeted by the black and white sections. Currently, the black section is empty while the white is hosting what remains of the $185 Deepstack tournament.

If you keep walking straight, you'll see a stage decorated with a feature table and a wall with bracelets.

Every bracelet being awarded this year is on display there. By the end of this thing, none will remain and pictures of their new owners will take their place.

The next step is the WSOP hallway. Here, everything from oxygen to books are being sold to enthusiastic players and tourists.

Behind them is the Poker Kitchen, but you don't want to go there.

The next room is the Brasilia room. This love child of the Amazon and Pavilion room is being used for the first time since 2009.

It's a relatively small four-section room that hosts Day 1s. Currently, the $1,500 NLHE 6-Handed event is playing out there. Only 384 of the original 1,604 players remain.

When you walk out and make your way towards the Amazon room, there's a number of curious hallways and doors with dealers and maintenance people popping out every minute.

The Mothership

The Amazon room didn't have much energy at 8:45pm today. The legendary room only had one tournament at that time, the $1,500 NLHE Shootout. The $5,000 Stud Hi-Low was also being played, but players were on their dinner break.

Most of the excitement happened earlier today. A horde of fans came in to watch the final day of the $10K Heads-Up Championship and other events

Now though, the glorious mothership stage is quiet.

Well-lit, but quiet.

This blue and red-hued monstrosity -- sponsored by Southern Comfort and Jack Links Beef Jerky -- isn't sleeping, it's waiting.

Soon enough, it'll be packed. Poker players and fans will overflow it, engrossed in the newest bracelet battle.

But today, it's quiet.

Don't be fooled though, there's always a storm brewing in the Amazon.

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Texas Dolly Rides into Town

Wed, 06 Jun 2012 22:40:25 -0700

The 78-year-old Brunson appeared chipper as ever on Wednesday and was telling Allen Kessler about the time he raced Amarillo Slim on a scooter in the halls of the Rio a few years ago.

Slim, a close friend of Brunson and one of the first WSOP Main Event champions, passed away in April.

The sad reality is there will eventually come a time when Brunson is no longer at the World Series of Poker but fortunately for poker fans everywhere we can say that day is not today.

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Viktor "Isildur1" Blom Touches Down at WSOP 2012

Tue, 05 Jun 2012 13:46:59 -0700

Viktor Blom is finally old enough to play the WSOP.

Blom is playing in Round 1 of the $10,000 Heads-Up Championship and based on the tournament results the young Swede has been posting this year, we’re expecting big things.

Blom exploded into the live arena in January at the PokerStars Caribbean Adventure when he won the $100k Super High Roller for $1.25 million.

He then went on to win two titles in the Spring Championship of Online Poker.

Blom made his name as a high-stakes poker legend on the internet long before he was old enough to play live in Las Vegas. Now that he’s here, however, we’re looking forward to deep runs and hopefully some high-stakes side game action.

Blom is playing Andy Bloch in the first round of the Heads-Up Championship and, depending on whether he wins, there’s a good chance you’ll be seeing feature coverage of his next match on PokerListings.com.

For every round in this event we’re opening the voting on Twitter and letting our followers decide which match we’ll cover.

At the end of each round we’ll post the next matchups on our $10k Heads-Up Live Updates page. You can then vote by tweeting who you’d like to see @PokerListings on Twitter.

For now check out a few pics of Viktor Blom at the WSOP.

***Update*** Viktor Blom defeated Andy Bloch in Round 1 to advance.

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WSOP Photo of the Day: Jon Aguiar Reacts to WSOP Retweet

Sun, 03 Jun 2012 14:04:10 -0700

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Why Female Players Will Break Through at 2012 WSOP

Thu, 31 May 2012 16:01:15 -0700

Of course women remain severely disadvantaged statistically as only a small percentage of the field in each event is made up of women.

That said, it seems like we’re due for a female winner. Since 2008 there have been multiple female final table finishers including Ho, Jennifer Harman and Laurence Grondin.

Camaraderie between female players also seems to be an all-time high to the extent that Rousso, Ho, Selbst and Boeree are all sharing a house this summer.

We originally intended to do female-only coverage of the $3k HU NLHE/PLO event but had to call it off thanks to the fact that only two women showed up for the event.

One of them was Annette Obrestad, however, and she defied the odds and finished in the final eight of the tournament.

If more women can keep pace with Obrestad and Selbst’s lead, a woman is going to win an open event at the 2012 WSOP.

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Jon Duhamel Q&A: The Big One, Home Invasion and 2012

Sat, 25 Feb 2012 20:15:55 -0800

PokerListings.com: Your results this year have been phenomenal, even before finishing second in the $5k here a few days ago, and now you’ve got a big stack in the main. How much does that momentum and confidence help?

Jonathan Duhamel: I’m feeling really good right now for sure. The start of the year is so good for me and I feel like I’m running really good which is huge for my confidence.

When I got that second in the $5k I came into the tournament really confident and really knowing I can do well and it really is a big help, when you feel like you can make all the right decisions.

And I felt like that when I came into the main event yesterday. Just not really playing too many big pots, but chipping up with lots of small pots and just building a stack.

Jon Duhamel

And that’s more or less what I’m trying to do today. I don’t want to get involved in too many big pots, having a big stack.

What are the biggest differences you see in the way you’re playing, or the way people are playing against you, when you’ve got this momentum and confidence?

I think it’s about timing mostly. I don’t think I’m really playing looser or tighter, it just seems like every single time you make a move it’s the right one. When you’re bluffing you get folds and when you’ve got it the other guy is calling you down.

And when the other players at the table see that your timing is really on, they’re more likely not to play hard against you. So they might start playing a bit tighter against you which is always good.

With everything that happened to you in December, and now all the success that you’re having, do you feel like the two things are connected?

I don’t know, it’s tough to say. After what happened in December I had about two weeks at home with nothing to do but be in my own head, coming into the PCA I was really focused.

I haven’t been that focused since the final table of the WSOP Main Event. Obviously I ran pretty good there, but I had a lot of confidence.

I lost my stack so fast in the $100k but I decided to rebuy because I felt like I was really prepared for the trip and really focused.

I don’t want to say it’s connected but maybe it’s karma, who knows.

What are you taking away from the experience you had in December?

I’m definitely always trying to learn from the things that happen to me, and this is a good example. Instead of just crying about what happened you have to learn from it and grow.

It’s pretty heavy shit and I wouldn’t wish it on anyone, but you learn from it and you become a better person.

I think it helped me put some things in perspective, about what’s really important in my life.

But I feel really relaxed now. I’m not the champ anymore and with everything that’s happened, it’s actually kind of taken the pressure off.

Do you feel like you’re proving yourself to the poker world with the success you’ve had this year? Sometimes there’s like a “one hit wonder” kind of label put on world champions.

Jon Duhamel acts as spokesperson for One Drop.

I’ve always said that I play for myself, and it’s true. First I want to prove to myself that I belong here, so playing those High Roller events is about proving to myself that I can play with those guys.

I don’t feel the need to prove myself to other people. If my results show that I’m a good player then that’s a great thing, but my main goal is to know myself that I can play with all the big guys and compete with them.

That’s the biggest reason I play those big events, but it’s also a really good learning experience because the fields are so tough.

I’m a way better player now than I was a year and a half ago and that’s a big reason why.

You’re playing in the $1 million buy-in Big One at the 2012 WSOP and you’ve been involved in promoting it and everything, so what can we expect from the most expensive poker event ever held?

I’m really excited for sure. This has never happened before and it’s going to be the biggest buy-in event ever.

There’s a lot of businessmen that are going to play that event so the dynamic’s going to be pretty amazing, the biggest poker players in the world and a bunch of these rich businessmen.

It’s going to be interesting to see how useful bluffing your stack is in that event since it’s really going to mean something to everyone.

And the fact that it’s for One Drop, which I’m the spokesperson for, is just amazing. I’m so happy to be a part of it and it’s just going to be huge. A lot of fun and for a good cause.

How many people are going to play?

It’s going to be over 40 for sure. I think between 40 and 48 players will play, so it’s going to be a lot of money for the winner.

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Nine Thoughts From Behind the Scenes at the 2011 November 9

Fri, 11 Nov 2011 23:43:02 -0800

1. Badih Bou-Nahra Had Amazing Fans

Considering Badih Bou-Nahra had to fly most of his fans in from Belize he had some incredible support.

We counted more than 100 fans cheering on Bou-Nahra wearing a variety of Belize paraphernalia. Bou-Nahra was the biggest showman at the final table and definitely played off the energy of his fans.

Ben Lamb, Phil Collins and Matt Giannetti also had tons of fans but it was a little more understandable considering they live in the U.S.

2. Chants Were Odd but Great

Almost every player got their own specialized chant and some of them were pretty amazing.

Personally we were a big fan of the way Eoghan O’Dea’s fans cheerfully sang “Olé, Olé, Olé” except “O’Dea, O’Dea, O’Dea.”

Of course every time Phil Collins raked a pot his fans serenaded him with renditions of his famous namesake’s hits like “In the Air Tonight.”

Perhaps the best and oddest one was the Pius Heinz one. For some reason it was sung to the tune of KC & the Sunshine Band’s “Baby Give it Up” and would go “Na na na na na na na now, Pius Heinz, Pius, Pius Heinz.”

We’re still humming it in the shower.

3. Lamb and Collins Talked Frequently on the Break

Not sure what they talked about but knowing that Collins and Lamb are friends it could have been a small bit of strategy.

4. Allen Bari Got Kicked Out

It’s not exactly a surprise that out of all the poker players on location it was the always-controversial Allen Bari who got kicked out of the Penn and Teller Amphitheater.

We didn’t hear the exact reason but we’re to bet it involved alcohol and shouting. No shoe throwing this time though. We think.

5. Ben Lamb Accidentally Received Payout Sheet for First Place

Apparently when Ben Lamb when to get his third place payout he accidentally received the sheet for first place. He Tweeted a picture of the sheet and said "Wow biggest needle ever. Gave me this instead of one that said 3rd."

Lamb should have just taken the first place payment and ran.

6. Matt Giannetti was Most Visibly Upset About Busting

Sam Holden received the minimum payout at the final table and was generally in good spirits.

Matt Giannetti on the other hand finished in fourth place for $3 million and was, quite honestly, pissed off.

It’s tough to feel bad for a guy who just won $3 million but Giannetti was gunning for the final three and likely would have gotten there if not for bad luck.

7. Staszko and Heinz Have Limited Wardrobes

Not sure if you caught this but Pius Heinz and Martin Staszko appeared to be wearing the exact same thing they were this summer when they made the final table.

It was unclear if it was a superstition or if they just don’t like to switch it up that often.

8. The Poker Hall of Fame Ceremony was Surprisingly Moving

You can get a bit jaded as a poker journalist: Everybody owes each other money, there’s always a scandal of some sort, so many well-known players are broke, etc.

That’s why it was somewhat of a surprise that the Poker Hall of Fame ceremony that saw Linda Johnson and Barry Greenstein inducted was actually quite heart-warming.

The honor obviously meant a lot to Linda Johnson as she talked in detail about how different the industry was when she broke onto the scene.

Meanwhile Barry Greenstein mostly talked about various ways he would change the way the Hall of Fame system works and pushed hard for cardroom manager/poker player/innovator Eric Drache to be nominated for the hall of fame.

9. Daniel Negreanu was on Team Lamb

Daniel Negreanu was Tweeting heavily throughout the 2011 WSOP Main Event final table and later revealed he was a part of the team that analyzed hands on the live stream for Ben Lamb.

Negreanu even claimed he had picked up tells on Martin Staszko and Pius Heinz but by this point Lamb was already out of the tournament.

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2011 WSOP November Nine Final Table Picture Book

Sun, 06 Nov 2011 21:00:29 -0800

The biggest final table of the year is happening right now.

Martin Stazsko could become the first world champion from the Czech Republic.

Germany's Pius Heinz salutes the crowd.

Start of day chip leader Martin Staszko in the spotlight.

Anton Makiievskyi is looking to become the first Ukrainian world champion.

Bob Bounahra is representing Belize at this final table.

Vegas model Dana Lauren armed with tee-shirt cannon.

The truest Ben Lamb fan in the building and it's not even close.

Apparently Santa Claus is a Giannetti fan, but not a jolly one.

Norman Chad and Jack Effel kick off the finale by announcing "Shuffle Up and Deal!"

Eoghan O'Dea followed in his father's footsteps by making this final table.

Sam Holden rounds out a very international final table.

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Sam Holden in London - Full Interview Transcript

Fri, 04 Nov 2011 00:35:13 -0700

First things first: What’s changed in your life since making the November Nine?

Yeah things are definitely different. Everything’s strange in my life since Las Vegas.

I was a professional poker player before so obviously the game was already a big part of my life, but I was very much grinding online sort of thing, and playing the odd live tournament but very low-key.

And now I’ve got a lot more to do, interviews, commitments for 888.com, and it’s a lot of fun.

I’m getting the chance to play a few more of these big buy-in tournaments and do all the media stuff which is really cool as well.

Sam Holden at the 2011 WSOP Europe main event.

I’m obviously thinking about November a lot but right now I just feel really excited and focused on it and I’m really looking forward to it.

The last few months I’ve tried really hard to just be chilled and let it sink in and not play tons of poker, but now I’m getting ready.

Being the shortstack, how much are you focused on giving yourself a chance to win versus moving up the payouts?

I think it’s just important for me to play as well as I can. The thing I don’t want to do is turn up and punt away my stack playing really badly or something. If I come ninth but I’ve played a big hand well or whatever then I’ll be happy.

There are loads of things outside of your control in poker so I’ll just keep control of what I can and how I play my cards.

Also, going in as the shortstack there’s not really a benchmark where I’ll be disappointed if I don’t come third or something, which would be a bad thing for anyone. It would be really difficult psychologically to be going in third in chips and go out in ninth, and that’s going to affect their play.

For me as long as I’ve played well I’ll be happy and I already feel lucky to have made it this far.

What opportunities is this money going to give you in your life away from poker, depending on how high you finish?

Right now my main aspiration is to buy a house. I’ve actually just moved to London and I’ve been renting so the idea of being in a position to buy something is really exciting for me.

As a poker player you can’t really get a mortgage in the UK so the money will come in handy.

As far as business opportunities in the future are concerned, thatt’s something I’ll be thinking about in the next few years I’m sure and I’ll be trying to tuck a bit of money away for something like that.

Right now I’m really thinking about poker and the money allows me to play a few more big tournaments, plus the opportunities as far as endorsements go.

I’m definitely not trying to spend all the money anytime soon.

Like you said, you were a pro before making the November Nine, but how have people’s attitudes changed towards you since getting this level of exposure? Did it legitimize it in some way for the skeptics, or for people who didn’t really get it to begin with?

Sam Holden is on the verge of the biggest score of his life.

Yeah definitely. There were a lot of people who knew what I was doing and were happy for me to be doing my own thing, and my parents could see that I was happy before, and that I was doing fine and making decent money, but now they’re a lot more excited about it because they’re seeing me on television and gaining a better understanding of what it’s all about.

But for the skeptics, or more importantly for the guys who don’t really know what poker is but they know that’s what I do. Now they see me on the TV playing or in some interview they’re able to grasp it a bit better.

I mean, looking at this one thing as somehow legitimizing my career as a poker player is pretty results-oriented but no one knows any better. They don’t get it.

But they can see that I’m doing well and that I’m not wasting my life too much playing poker.

So it’s a good feeling for sure but at the same time I’d like to think that the people who are close to me and the people who are important to me were happy as long as I was happy and they hopefully won’t be changing their thoughts too much about what I’ve been doing.

And I think for the most part, other people’s skepticism is coming from a lack of understanding so they can’t be blamed too much for having some doubts. They’re just looking out for me.

What are your thoughts on the caliber of this final table and how it stacks up historically? Who are the players in particular that you think are the most dangerous?

Yeah I think this is one of the toughest final tables ever. It might even be the toughest.

There are so many good players in the world now, especially Texas Hold’em tournament players, and with a structure as good as the main event they really shine through.

There are a lot of really tough spots at the table but I don’t really want to single anyone out. I have to play against all of them and I feel pretty good about it so I’m not really worried about anyone.

It’s going to be an exciting final table.

Click through here for the feature news story we did on Sam Holden with excerpts from this interview.

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Photo By Numbers: Seven Sharks and a Mark at WSOPE Main Event

Wed, 19 Oct 2011 00:23:45 -0700

1. Chris “Moorman1” Moorman: Chris Moorman is not just one of the best online MTT players in his home country of England, he’s one of the best in the world.

His online accomplishments are too many to number and total over $7.4 million in earnings. This summer Moorman had his biggest live cash yet - a runner-up finish in the $10k Six-Max Hold’em Championship for $716,282. He also bagged a third-place finish in the $2,500 Six-Max event worth $271,800 plus two other small cashes. With well over $1 million playing live tournaments this year alone, Moorman should always be considered a threat.

Hoyt Corkins, Alabama's most recognizable poker pro.

2. Hoyt “Alabama Cowboy” Corkins: Hoyt Corkins is a bona fide old-schooler but that doesn’t mean he can’t hang with the best of the new generation. Corkins has over $5.5 million in live tournament earnings and a record that includes two WSOP bracelets and two WPT titles.

This is his 32nd time cashing in a WSOP event and he’s made an astounding six WPT final tables.

3. “Fast” Freddy Deeb: Freddy Deeb is respected by the best live players in the game as a wily opponent, as evidenced by his more than $7.6 million in live tournament earnings. Deeb has two WSOP bracelets including a win in the $50,000 HORSE event in 2007. He won the WPT’s Ultimate Poker Classic in 2005 for $1 million and took down the WPT Celebrity Invitational in 2009. He’s also got WSOP cashes going all the way back to 1990.

4. John “johne147” Eames: John Eames has been a successful online player building more than $1.5 million in earnings since 2007.

While he’s also built a long list of significant live scores, totaling over $1.2 million, he’s yet to secure his first major title. He has had three six-figure paydays in his young career however.

He won a €2k side event at EPT Vienna for $172,000, placed second in a €2k side event EPT Barcelona for $107k and finished third at this year’s EPT Copenhagen main event for $257,011.

Jake Cody, proud owner of poker's Triple Crown.

5. Jake Cody: To say Jake Cody has had a successful few years in poker would be an understatement. In just two years Cody has completed poker’s Triple Crown, the honor bestowed upon those who have won titles on the EPT, WPT and WSOP. Cody won EPT Deauville in 2010 for over $1.2 million, WPT London for $426,000 and the $25,000 Heads-Up Championship at the 2011 WSOP for $851,192.

6. Melanie “Callisto 5” Weisner: Melanie Weisner hails from Houston, Texas and has earned close to $600,000 playing online poker since 2007. Weisner is an up and comer and perhaps most telling about the young pro is the respect she gets from some of the best online poker tournament specialists in the world.

With almost $400k in live earnings, Weisner is just getting started.

7. Maria Ho: Maria Ho has the distinction of taking down the single biggest score by a woman in the history of the World Series of Poker.

She holds that record thanks to a runner-up finish this year in the $5k No-Limit Hold’em event for $540,000. Previous to that windfall her biggest result was 38th in the 2007 WSOP Main Event. That earned her over $237,000. With over $1.1 million in earnings and a turn on the popular reality show The Amazing Race, Maria Ho is already one of the most recognizable females in the game.

8. Giuseppe “Random Itali-Donk” Sammartino: Listen, we’re not here to badmouth anyone but with just a single min-cash in a $1k donkament at the 2011 WSOP we’re thinking this guy’s the target

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Niall "onehandturks" Charlton Full Interview Transcript

Wed, 12 Oct 2011 01:28:16 -0700

PL.com: Let’s start at the beginning. When did you get into poker and what’s the development of your game been like since then?

Niall Charlton: I’ve been playing for about seven years-ish. When I got out of University in Nottingham I was playing online and making money and instead of getting a job I just kept playing and did some traveling.

Niall Charlton created a computer program for making preflop decisions for his university dissertion ... obsess-much?

About four years ago I started focusing on Omaha and I think because I got into it before it started getting really popular my game progressed a lot faster than the average Omaha player.

And now I play high-stakes online.

What were you doing in University at the time, when you got into online poker?

I studied business and computer science but poker just sort of fell into my lap. My final year’s dissertation was on game theory and poker, sort of trying to solve poker and see if a computer could do it.

It was a rudimentary program but the theory was okay.

You’ve spent a lot of time in the HSPLO forums on Two Plus Two. How much did that help the development of your game?

I’ve been part of the Two Plus Two community for about four years and it’s definitely helped a lot. I’ve met a lot of great players there and the discussion and talking over hands it’s allowed me to do has helped.

It was good in the early days but not much posting about hands seems to go on there anymore.

When you talk about the learning curve in Omaha, is it really getting hard now that the game’s becoming so much more popular?

Yeah it really is. The No-Limit players that are coming across and beginning to take Omaha seriously are improving so fast.

I think within a year or two a lot of these guys will be the best, better than all the PLO players who have been playing for a long time.

Are the games beatable now? And will they continue to be as the level of play continues to go up?

Well, I think so. I mean, I hope so because I don’t know what else I would do. (laughs)

Talk about sick, Charlton comes to live majors to "take a break".

But the games at the moment are great. The $50/$100 and $100/$200 games are really good right now.

You went deep in the Main Event at the WSOP this year and you’ve had some other good live results. Is live poker something you’re interested in doing more of?

Yeah, actually I just moved to London and things have been busy, a lot of drinking and a lot of partying, so I look at these events as a time to sort of take it easy and get a break.

So I’ll definitely be playing more events when I have the time to get away.

What do you see in your future? Will you be playing poker forever or do you have aspirations outside of the game?

I don’t think I’ll be able to beat the game forever so I want to make as much money as I can now, and use that to try some business ideas and investments.

It’s really hard to sit down right now and invest time in stuff like that when I can make a lot of money playing poker.

You talked a bit about the skills you learned in University helping you in poker. Do you think the skills you’ve learned in poker will help you down the road when you decide to turn to other projects?

Definitely. Bankroll management is obviously a huge skill. New business owners will often put all their funds in their first big idea which is dangerous, just like poker.

Understanding risk and being honest with yourself are really important in poker and I think the experience I’ve got will be a big help in business.

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Welcome to Our 2011 WSOP Europe Headquarters

Sun, 09 Oct 2011 15:47:14 -0700

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Top 7 Best Photos from WSOP 2011

Fri, 02 Sep 2011 21:41:34 -0700

Rast and Antonio Jump for Joy

Caught in mid-air forever Brian Rast and Antonio Esfandiari literally jump for joy seconds after Rast took down the $50k Players Championship, his second bracelet of 2011.

Rast pocketed $1.72 million and handed Phil Hellmuth his third runner-up finish of 2011.

(Photo by BJ Nemeth)

The Summer of Jason

To say we're Seinfeld fans seems like an understatement of fact so when we got the chance to shoot an installment of The Circuit with Jason Alexander we jumped at it.

Someone like Alexander going deep in the Main Event could do a lot for the game of poker. Unfortunately this year it was not to be.

Check out the video companion piece here.

(Photo by Alexander JE Bradley)

The Truth Will Set you Free

Celtics star Paul Pierce played his first WSOP event this summer, and more than held his own against a table that included the likes of Dwyte Pilgrim.

I personally spent four hours and multiple attempts getting this interview, and the pictures here.

(Photo by Matthew Showell)

Hellmuth Oversleeps

Phil Hellmuth had reason to face-palm on Day 2a of this year's Main Event. The Poker Brat actually slept in, with his "Do Not Disturb" sign on the door, and missed almost two hours of play.

Hellmuth, short even before his stack was blinded away for a level, failed to make the money.

(Photo by BJ Nemeth)

Two Outs Over the Line

With eight players left and $600k waiting for first place McLean Karr was in a great spot to double up and make a run at his first WSOP bracelet.

Karr had got all-in racing A-J against Sam Stein's pocket fours. Karr hit a jack on the flop, and faded the turn ... you can probably guess what happened on the river.

(Photo by BJ Nemeth)

Runner Runner for the Stunner

This picture was captured during the Ladies Event, the moment Jennifer Cowan hit a mirace runner-runner double inside straight draw.

Cowan had gotten it in with A-K on a ten-high flop against an opponent who flopped a set. The turn was a queen and the river a jack to give Cowan something to scream about.

(Photo by BJ Nemeth)

Beware the Landfish

We'll let you decide whether this photo has been altered in any way.

We're pretty sure this is how Steve Landfish looked when he went on a nice little heater this summer, earning over $330,000 thanks to two $10k final tables.

(Photoshop by Arthur Crowson)

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Poker Graphed: Which November Niner is Best for Poker?

Mon, 29 Aug 2011 19:02:47 -0700

Understanding the Graph

There are four values represented above.

First off, each player is represented by a circle. The size of the circle corresponds to that player’s chip stack. Next, the color of the circle indicates what part of the world that player represents, and the current state of its poker market.

Thirdly we have each player’s chances of winning, as estimated by the Bodog Sports Book.

And finally we have our own estimation of how big an impact each player is capable of making should he become the 2011 world champion of poker.

Since none of these players would be patently “bad” for poker, we’re going to talk about impact in positive terms. This includes growing the game, legitimizing poker as a recreational activity as well as a way to make a living, and adding to the overall development and establishment of poker culture.

Ben Lamb could do serious good for the poker world should he become world champion.

The Best Potential Champion

We’re singling out Ben Lamb as having the biggest potential impact on poker. Luckily for us, he’s among the most likely to actually win this thing.

One interesting thing that this graph helps show is that Lamb shares the same odds to win as Matt Giannetti, and better odds than Phil Collins, despite having the smallest chip stack of the three.

The reason for that is obvious if you were following the WSOP this summer, and it’s also the reason we’re picking him as the best candidate for world champion.

Ben Lamb’s performance at the 2011 WSOP was perhaps the greatest in history. He won the $10k PLO Championship, came second in the $3k PLO event, final-tabled the $50k Players Championship and narrowly missed the final table in the $10k Six-Max No-Limit Championship.

Including the money he’s guaranteed for making the final table of the Main Event, Ben Lamb has already earned well over $2.1 million at the 2011 World Series of Poker.

And that seemingly impossible run could be capped off by winning the biggest event of the year.

Sports need stars. The media needs someone to paint as the superhuman. Not only is it noteworthy, which will translate to more media exposure, it reinforces the idea that poker is a skill game.

If Ben Lamb can crush to that extent by being among the best in the world, we can all expect to succeed at least moderately with the small edges we’ve honed in our own games.

All of that, and the fact that Ben Lamb is a clean cut, personable and articulate young man, makes him the best possible face for the game in the 12 months following the final table.

Continuing to Appeal to Poker's Biggest Demographic

The ranks of the poker playing world are dominated by men and I don’t think it should be underestimated how big an impact having a world champion that matches that demographic represents.

For teenagers and twenty-somethings, watching Jon Duhamel win an astronomical amount of money can be a powerful thing. And it’s not the same thing as knowing that Joe Cada did it just one year before.

A winner like Ben Lamb, or Phil Collins, or Matt Giannetti, perpetuates the real possibility of success in poker.

And having clean cut, well-spoken individuals representing the game to the mainstream only legitimizes it as an honest and real way of making a living.

Phil Collins is a self-described “family man”, and being able to tell the world that his hard work playing poker has given him the opportunity to begin a family without financial worry is a nice bullet point for any interview.

But this line of thinking has some problems. For one, there is no online poker in the US. Also, America experienced its poker boom years ago so how much of an impact could yet another young, American world champion really have?

Martin Staszko, in our opinion, will not impact the poker world in a meaningful way as Main Event champion.

November Niners from Emerging Markets

So perhaps Martin Staszko and Anton Makiievskyi actually stand the best chance of making a difference in poker’s growth, not in North America but on a global scale.

Representing the Czech Republic and Ukraine, respectively, Staszko or Makiievskyi might act as the fuse for a new explosion in the game’s popularity in Eastern Europe. After all, the area has always produced intensely competitive mind-gamers.

This premise is sound, but Martin Staszko won’t be the man to prove it.

Having potential has never been a guarantee of reaching it and we don’t have a lot of confidence in Staszko’s ability, or desire, to act as an effective poker ambassador. Our prediction is that if Martin Staszko wins this tournament, he’ll be the least visible world champion in a long, long time.

Makiievskyi is a different story. He is personable, young, and appeared to us at least to be much more interested in spending time with the media. Anton Makiievskyi already has the opportunity to do great things for poker in Eastern Europe. He’ll be able to do even more should he become a world champion.

November Niners from Developing Markets

Pius Heinz represents Germany, a more developed market than Czech and Ukraine but one with much untapped growth potential.

Poker is already big in Germany, which could make Heinz a very influential champion. The infrastructure is already in place to promote him, and mainstream Germany is already aware of the game which makes major media opportunities in that country a reality.

A little further along the scale of development are the UK and Ireland, homes to Sam Holden and Eoghan O'Dea, respectively. Poker is an establishment in both these countries, but just like Germany, there's still plenty of room for it to get even bigger.

Both O'Dea and Holden will be in good positions to impact the poker world if they win the Main Event in November.

Questionable Impact as World Champion

If Martin Staszko will be hard to see as a world champion, Bob Bounahra will be invisible. Our perception of him may be skewed, however, by a particularly painful November Nine video interview. Cut together it plays as a punchy one-minute short, but it’s important to note that it took 10 minutes of questions to compile the material.

And while poker is getting big in South America, Boudahra’s native Belize, and the surrounding countries, represent a relatively small poker market.

In just over two months we’ll find out who the 2011 Main Event winner will be, and over the following year we’ll see what that person can do to grow the game in their own region and around the world.

Another interview on David Letterman would be nice.

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2011 WSOP November Niner Sam Holden: Full Interview

Thu, 18 Aug 2011 18:25:23 -0700

PL: What’s it been like for you since making the November Nine?

SH: It’s obviously been pretty cool. I’ve been doing a lot of mainstream interviews here in the U.K. but that’s finally died down a bit and I’m starting to a more poker interviews. It’s generally a lot more fun doing the poker interviews because the questions tend to be more interesting.

I just got back from UKIPT Edinburgh as well. That was really the first live poker I’ve played since Vegas.

It was fun to get back to playing poker again.

PL: Can you talk a little bit more about your experience with the media so far?

SH: It’s been great. I’m just trying to take it all in stride. I’m obviously not used to it at all and didn’t really know what to expect.

It’s been a lot of fun and generally the attention is pretty nice. Everyone seems very interested in the story, even people that don’t follow poker.

PL: What was the reaction from your friends and family when you got back to the U.K.? They must have been pretty excited...

SH: Yeah absolutely. I mean they were following along online when I was out there so I was even getting reaction from them when I was still in Las Vegas.

Everyone was very excited and as soon as I got home I was getting a lot of phone calls. It was great catching up with everyone that I could.

Obviously they all had their own questions, wondering what it was like. Everyone is obviously delighted and very excited.

PL: Did you find a lot of friends you hadn’t seen in awhile coming out of nowhere to say hello?

SH: (Laughs) No, not too much. There have been a few people on Facebook I wouldn’t normally hear from but it’s really just been nice comments. Generally the people who were congratulating me were close friends before I went to Vegas.

PL: Were your poker friends fairly amazed you made the November Nine?

SH: Yeah definitely. I mean lots of them had a piece of me so they were extra, extra happy. Obviously it’s what every poker player dreams of. Making the Main Event final table isn’t something any poker player expects to do.

It’s probably more real to my friends than it is to me because it still hasn’t sunk in completely. It’s all pretty crazy.

PL: Could you talk a little more about your upbringing and where you grew up?

SH: I was born near a place called Eastbourne in East Sussex. The actual village I grew up in (Herstmonceux) was very small and only had a couple of shops.

When I turned 18 and I went to university in Canterbury. I’ve lived in Canterbury for the last four years.

I graduated from university last June. I’ve been playing poker professionally since then. Obviously I’ve been playing poker longer than that.

PL: What were you into when you were growing up? Did you play sports? Any hobbies?

SH: I played a lot of sport when I was growing up, especially at school when I was younger. I was never particularly good at one sport. I just enjoyed playing all of them. I wasn’t bad but I never really excelled either.

I just enjoyed the competition and exercise like most kids. I enjoyed school too, though, I always did pretty well. I guess I stopped playing most sports when I was about 18 because I was playing poker by that point.

PL: How did you actually get into poker?

SH: I think I saw it on TV when I was in university and then started to play for free online. Just sort of teaching myself the rules and very basic strategy.

I met a few other guys that played and we talked about online poker. I made a few deposits and would usually lose them after a month or so.

Eventually I got better and started beating the micro stakes.

It turned into kind of a part-time job for me. I just used it to essentially fund my life instead of going back to the bar I was working at.

PL: What initially attracted you to the game?

SH: I’ve always enjoyed maths and statistics and that side of the academic world. I definitely understand and enjoy that part of the game.

I’ve always enjoyed competition as well. I liked card games and strategy games. It was a combination of those things.

I like the way poker players think and constantly try to improve.

PL: What do you think is your best attribute as a poker player?

SH: I think removing emotion from decisions and thinking rationally is probably the best part of my game. I was quite surprised at the WSOP that I could break hands down just like any other game of poker even though there was a lot of pressure.

I just tried to think about the situation, the players, the chips and the cards and what the optimal decision was.

PL: Are you primarily an MTT player online or do you play cash games as well?

SH: I play mainly tournaments. I’ve played a bit of cash over the years but tournaments were always what I enjoyed the most.

It could have been because I had the most success in tournaments but after awhile I just focused primarily on them.

PL: Did you have any big scores in the early stages of your poker career?

SH: Not big scores. I final tabled the Sunday Million earlier this year. Finished sixth. That was my biggest score before Las Vegas.

I was doing OK at MTTs but I was nowhere near crushing it. I was making a good living but I definitely had a lot more to learn. I mean, really, I still do.

PL: What did your parents think when you told them you wanted to play poker professionally?

SH: I think they sort of saw it coming because I was playing through university and taking it more and more seriously.

They’d heard I was doing quite well, although I guess they really had no proof at the time.

When I graduated I just wanted to give it a go for a year and see if I still enjoyed it and what kind of living I could make.

My initial plan was to go back to university after a year and maybe go for a Master's degree.

As I carried on through the year I started making good money and really enjoying myself and once my parents could see that I was making money and could pay my bills they were happy.

Obviously they were worried I would go broke because they don’t really know much about poker.

PL: This was your first World Series of Poker. Why did you decide to play?

SH: Tournaments had been going very well online and I’d started to play a little bit live. I knew live games could be a lot softer and there were a lot of recreational players, especially in the World Series.

I knew there was a lot of value out there. I knew I could beat the games. Plus it’s the WSOP and every poker player wants to be there.

I was very excited to get out there and play it.

PL: Did you play any prelims?

SH: I did play three events. I didn’t cash in any of the big tournaments I played but thought I was playing well and was encouraged by the amount of players in each tournament.

To be honest I expected a higher standard of play in general at the WSOP but there were just so many poker tourists.

Obviously there is so much variance in table draws because the pros are there as well. I definitely had some luck in the Main Event to draw some softer tables.

PL: Heading into the final table this year you are one of the shorter stacks, is that a situation you feel comfortable with?

SH: Yeah absolutely. Having an online MTT background I’m pretty used to playing a 20-30 big blind stack. I feel it’s one of my strengths.

Whilst I’m ninth in chips, I’ve still got 24 big blinds. There’s some room there. I’m definitely not heading out to Vegas just to stick it in on the first hand.

I feel I’ve got a good chance to win or go very deep. We’ll see what situations arise.

PL: Could you talk a little bit your preparation leading up to the final table? I’m assuming you’re going to be watching as much footage of your opponents as possible.

SH: This year there is even more footage around because of the live stream so I’ll be taking a close look at that and I’m sure everyone else will be.

Obviously I’ll be trying to work on my own game as well. In my opinion every poker player has things they can improve.

I have a lot I can improve. Hopefully I’ll be able to use my time wisely. I definitely want to get some live practice in other tournaments.

PL: Some players distance themselves from the game in the months leading up to the November Nine, I take it that’s not going to be your approach?

SH: Personally if I didn’t play before November it would all feel very foreign to me. It would feel quite unnatural to be playing poker for the first time in four months. I wouldn’t feel very comfortable.

I’m trying to get as much live experience as I possibly can against good players.

Someone who is more experienced might take a different approach.

PL: What do you think of the table draw?

SH: My seat is kind of tough because on my direct left is Pius Heinz, who’s a very good player, and on his left is Ben Lamb and then the chip leader Martin Staszko.

To be honest the whole table is tough and anything can happen.

PL: Are there any players at the final table that particularly impressed you during the play down?

SH: (Laughs) Pretty much all of them. I think these days there are so many good players in the world and the structure is so good in that tournament I don’t think we’ll ever see a weak final table in the Main Event.

That said, I guess I’d have to say Pius really impressed me. The only reason I say that is because I didn’t see him show down many of his hands, which is usually a good sign.

PL: Winning the Main Event is a huge and obviously there would be a ton of media attention that would come with it. How would you feel about receiving that kind of attention and essentially acting as an ambassador for poker?

SH: Obviously it’s what every poker player dreams of. The ambassador role would be kind of intimidating but it’s something I’d try to enjoy and do as best I can.

Poker has done a lot for me and I enjoy the game and the industry behind it so I would be very proud to represent it.

It would be fantastic and present a lot of opportunities for me I’m sure.

PL: Are there any players you look up to?

SH: At the moment it’s guys like Isaac Haxton and Scott Seiver. They think on such a high level and they do a great job of taking their emotions out of the game.

I love how rationally they tend to think and the way they break decisions down.

PL: Do you think the U.K. poker scene is fairly strong?

SH: Yeah there are some awesome U.K. players at the moment. People like Jake Cody and EPT winner David Vamplew have been crushing it.

I love how Vamplew thinks about the game. He’s so consistent. He doesn’t take any spot for granted. He never disregards any spot he’s in as “standard” whereas so many players just make instant assumptions.

PL: You currently live in Canterbury, are you planning to stay there for the near future?

SH: No I’m actually hoping to move to London in September. I was planning on doing that anyways but making the November Nine makes it a lot easier financially because London is such an expensive place.

I’m really looking forward to it.

PL: Have you had any unusual media requests yet?

SH: Most of it's pretty standard. I’ve been watching some of the other players do skits and such and I’ve been thinking that doesn’t look like too much to me (Laughs).

Haven’t really had any odd requests yet.

PL: What did you think about being referred to as the “Jobless Brit” in the The Sun?

SH: Yeah that was one of the first stories I did with the mainstream media over here. They phoned me up for an interview, which was fine, and the story was fine as well but they went for a headline of “Jobless Brit” and then told readers I’d been playing poker professionally for a year so they contradicted themselves a bit.

(Laughs) I didn’t take it too personally. I think they were just looking for an eye-catching headline. Lots of my friends do now call me “The Jobless Brit.” It’s all in good fun.

PL: What tournaments are you planning on playing over the next few months?

SH: I’ve already made plans to play the WSOPE in France and I’ll probably play EPT London as well. I’ve also been thinking about playing WPT Paris but we’ll see what happens. There are a couple more maybes in there as well.

PL: Thanks Sam, we’ll see you at WSOPE.

SH: Sounds good.

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Vanessa Selbst - The Circuit: Photo/Video Combo Bonus

Tue, 02 Aug 2011 21:03:46 -0700

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WSOP Photo By Numbers - The 2011 November Nine

Thu, 28 Jul 2011 23:07:51 -0700

2008 WSOP Player of the Year Erick Lindgren is interviewed by the great Kara Scott for the ESPN live broadcast. ESPN aired 10 telecasts on ESPN2 that reached over 415,000 viewers per episode and streamed over 23 million minutes of live WSOP action online at ESPN3. Ben Lamb has had perhaps the greatest single WSOP run in history and it’s far from over. Before the Main Event began Lamb had made over $1.3 million this summer alone, including a bracelet in the $10k PLO championship. Lamb enters the November final table fifth in chips. Just like each November Niner Lamb is guaranteed at least $782,115. Mori Eskandani is best known as producer of poker TV mainstays like High Stakes Poker and Poker After Dark and he can now add the World Series of Poker ESPN broadcast to his list of accomplishments. Eskandani’s outfit Poker PROductions took over the WSOP’s television broadcast from 411 Productions who had handled it for nearly a decade. Jack Effel is the head tournament director for the World Series of Poker and despite having a stellar reputation before this year’s WSOP, Effel took things to a whole new level this summer. Using his Twitter account to handle player issues, Effel astounded the poker community with his dedication, commitment and straight up hard work. Eoghan O’Dea is the only Irishman among the 2011 November Nine and he’ll be taking almost 34 million in chips to the final table, good for second position. Eoghan’s father Donnacha O’Dea is a two-time bracelet winner who has had multiple deep runs in the Main Event, finishing 25th in 1996, 27th in 1994 and ninth in 1991. Sitting in the stands watching what could have been are David “Doc” Sands and Erika Moutinho. Amazingly this couple both made the top 30 of the 2011 Main Event, finishing 30th and 29th respectively. They each left Las Vegas with $242,636. Phil Collins is one of the best known November Niners of 2011, although he’s likely a fresh face for the casual WSOP fan. Collins has won well over $3 million playing online poker under his screen name USCphildo. Collins is fourth in chips with 23,875,000. Badih “Bob” Bounahra is another international addition to this year’s November Nine. Originally from Lebanon, Bounahra lived in the US before moving to Belize where he currently resides. Bounahra has 19.7 million in chips, good for sixth position going into the final table. Martin Staszko is the first player from the Czech Republic to make the final table of the Main Event and he’s headed into November as the chip leader with over 40.1 million. A former auto-plant worker, Staszko now has a shot at over $8.7 million.

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John Hewitt: 2011 WSOP November Nine

Wed, 20 Jul 2011 02:18:25 -0700

His largest cash appears to be $7,105.00 in a PokerStars Nightly $70,000 guaranteed event on Nov. 5, 2009 - the date of which may be significant as that's the day the November Nine is set to resume in 2011.

Hewitt also reportedly learned how to play the game from another feared online poker star, Felipe "Improved" Montenegro.

John Hewitt

Age: 23

Online Handles: SicTheory/simple play/SpinItUp

Twitter: n/a

Home town: Chicago, Illinois

Current Residence: San Jose, Costa Rica

Hewitt enters the final table in xx position with xxxx in chips.

For a full list of players who have made the final table, check our November Nine recap.

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Bryan "Devo" Devonshire: 2011 WSOP November Nine

Wed, 20 Jul 2011 02:18:16 -0700

A former wilderness guide in Colordao, Devonshire got his start in poker playing $2-5 spread-limit games while serving on a Search and Rescue team.

He hit the poker scene in 2006, but first as a profesional dealer.

It didn't take long for it to pay off as he came second for $66,478 in his first-ever WSOP event, the 2006 Casino Employees' Event.

He followed that up shortly after with a second in a Omaha Hi-Lo event at the WSOP in 2007 for $140,336 and another second-place at the World Poker Challenge on the WPT in 2008 for $271,625.

Last year he won the WSOP Rincon Circuit event in San Diego for $114,975.

To date, he has cashed for more than $1.2 million in live tournaments and for over $700,000 online. He had two cashes so far in the 2011 WSOP for about $7k coming in to the Main Event

A Southern California native and now Las Vegas resident, he's a also a coach Poker VT and well known on the tournament circuit for his creative chip stacking.

Bryan “Devo” Devonshire

Age: 30

Main Online Handle: badbeatninja

Twitter: @devopoker

Hometown: San Dimas, California

Current Residence: Henderson, Nevada

Bryan Devonshire enters the final table in xx position with xxxx in chips.

Check our news report for a full recap of the 2011 November Nine.

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Martin Staszko: 2011 WSOP November Nine

Tue, 19 Jul 2011 23:59:55 -0700

Staszko is guaranteed to make at least $782,155 for making the November Nine, which will move him up to fourth on the all-time Czech money list.

Staszko was down to just 12,000 in chips on the money bubble in this tournament but apparently folded “40 hands in a row” (according to Erick Lindgren) to survive.

He’s the first player from the Czech Republic to make the final table of the WSOP Main Event.

Right in line with PokerListings.com's 2011 WSOP predictions, he's also a competitive chess player.

Martin Staszko

Age: 35

Online Handle: filfedra

Twitter: n/a

Home town: Trinec, Czech Republic

Current Residence: Trinec, Czech Republic

Staszko enters the final table as the chip leader with 40,175,000 in chips.

For a full list of players who have made the final table, check our November Nine recap.

Also, get to know Martin Staszko a little better through the magic of video below.

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Eoghan O'Dea: 2011 WSOP November Nine

Tue, 19 Jul 2011 23:59:22 -0700

O'Dea's largest live cashes are a 2nd-place finish at the 2008 Ladbrokes Poker Million for $260,000 and a second-place finish at the 2009 WPT Marrakech main event for $388,532.

He also has five WSOP cashes in total, including three this year, putting him in 18th place on on the all-time Ireland money-earners list (his dad is 8th with $1.13 million).

Online, O'Dea also won the iPoker European Championship of Online Poker III main event for $315,000 - actually in the exact same week in Dec. 2008 that he earned his runner-up finish in the Poker Million.

Eoghan O'Dea

Age: 26

Main Online Handle: intruder123

Twitter: n/a

Home town: Dublin, Ireland

Current Residence: Dublin, Ireland

O'Dea enters the final table in second position with 33,925,000 in chips.

For a full list of players who have made the final table, check our November Nine recap.

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Matt Giannetti: 2011 WSOP November Nine

Tue, 19 Jul 2011 23:58:12 -0700

His best performance in the WSOP Main Event came back in 2006 when he finished 521st for $22,266.

Giannetti's highest WSOP finish is fourth in a $1,500 Pot-Limit Omaha event in 2009 for $66,544.

He also took 35th in the 2006 WPT Championship for $65,000

Giannetti's big move to get in position for the final table came on Day 7 when he twice hit a full house to beat a flush from Brazil's Hilton Laborda.

The two big hands moved him up to the top of the leaderboard with over 16 million in chips and he held on, despite becoming the short stack near the end of Day 8, to make the final nine.

If anyone doubts his resilience, Giannetti has also won a $15,000 prop bet by standing in a pool at Club Med for 12 hours.

From midnight until noon the next day no less.

Matt Gianetti

Age: 26

Online Handle: hazards21

Twitter: n/a

Hometown: Austin, Texas

Current Residence: Las Vegas, Nevada

Giannetti enters the final table in third position with 24,750,000 in chips.

For a full list of players who have made the final table, check our November Nine recap.

Also, get to know Matt Giannetti through the magic of video below.

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Phil "USCphildo" Collins: 2011 WSOP November Nine

Tue, 19 Jul 2011 23:57:58 -0700

The USC in his well known online moniker "USCphildo" is actually the University of South Carolina, not the University of Southern California.

Collins graduated from USC back in 2006 before moving into poker full-time.

It didn't take long for him to assert himself in the poker world once he took up the game full time.

He hit for some good scores very early in his career, winning the Full Tilt $1k Monday tournament and a PokerStars $100 rebuy tournament in 2008.

He's followed that up with countless online scores, including a win in the Full Tilt $1k for $89,750 in 2010 and another recent win in the Full Tilt $75k Guarantee.

In recent years he's also expanded his live game and now has at least 16 listed live cashes - six of them at the WSOP - for about $125k.

As you might expect, Collins is super popular with the 2+2 poker forum crowd and counts several online poker young guns among his close friends, including Brent Hanks and Jason Mercier.

Off the felt he says he loves all sports, especially college football and basketball.

For more with Phil Collins from the WSOP, check out our video interview.

Phil "USCphildo" Collins

Age: 27

Online Handle: USCphildo

Twitter: @USCphildo

Hometown: Aiken, South Carolina

Current Residence: Las Vegas, Nevada

Collins enters the final nine in fourth position with 23,875,000 in chips.

For a full list of players who have made the final table, check our November Nine recap.

Also, get to know Phil Collins a little better with the video interview below.

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Ben Lamb: 2011 WSOP November Nine

Tue, 19 Jul 2011 23:56:11 -0700

To recap his success so far this summer:

Won the $10k Pot-Limit Omaha Championship for $814,436 Took second in the $3k Pot-Limit Omaha event for $259,918 Final-tabled the $50k Players Championship, finishing 8th for $201,338 Finished 12th in the $10k No-Limit Hold’em Six-Handed event for $56,140 Leads the Player of the Year race over Phil Hellmuth heading into the World Series of Poker Europe

All told, he’s won over 2 million already this World Series including now at least ninth-place money in the Main Event.

If you think Lamb came out of nowhere to do this, however, you might be surprised.

Lamb has been one of the most solid all-around grinders for the last four or five years with dozen of cashes to his name including eight cashes in previous WSOPs.

If the cards broke a little differently two years ago, we also might have heard a lot more about Ben Lamb by now as he made it to the final two tables in the 2009 WSOP Main Event.

He eventually busted in 14th, taking home $633,022.

He’s now #1 on the all-time Omaha money winners list for the WSOP and 211th on poker’s all-time live tournament money list with just over $2.5 million in earnings.

Oh - he's also won over $1.1 million online.

Ben Lamb

Age: 26

Main Online Handle: Benba

Twitter: @BenbaLamb

Hometown: Tulsa, Oklahoma

Current Residence: Las Vegas, Nevada

Lamb enters the final nine in fifth position with 20,875,000 in chips.

For a full list of players who have made the final table, check our November Nine recap.

Also, get to know Ben Lamb a little better with this November Nine video interview:

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Badih "Bob" Bounahra: 2011 WSOP November Nine

Tue, 19 Jul 2011 23:54:30 -0700

He has eight listed cashes on the Hendon Mob database with the biggest being a first-place finish in a $1,020 No-Limit Hold’em Second Chance tournament on the LAPT in 2008 for $30,054.

His massive cash in the 2011 World Series of Poker Main Event is now his second official WSOP cash. His first came in 2008, when he finished 51st in a $2,000 No Limit Hold’em event for $7,500.

Along with 35-year-old Martin Straszko from the Czech Republic, he has to be considered the other real wild card at the final table with not much known about his play.

He is the first player from Belize to make the final table of the WSOP Main Event.

Badih "Bob" Bounahra

Age: 49

Main Online Handle: LEB_BEL

Twitter: @BobBounahra

Home town: Ft. Lauderdale, Florida

Current Residence: Ambergris Caye, San Pedro Town, Belize

Bounahra enters the final nine in sixth position with 19,700,000 in chips.

For a full list of players who have made the final table, check our November Nine recap.

Visit www.pokerlistings.com

Pius Heinz: 2011 WSOP November Nine

Tue, 19 Jul 2011 23:52:17 -0700

Heinz has already had a fairly successful WSOP, finishing seventh in a $1,500 No Limit Hold’em event for his first major live score and $83,286.

Online, Heinz also took down the Full Tilt Poker Sunday Mulligan in July 2010 for $61,000 and won the PokerStars $150,000 Guarantee for $29,000.

According to his profile on PocketFives, his hobbies include “playing unlimited Hold’em donkaments, partying, and what not.”

Pius Heinz

Age: 22

Main Online Handle: MastaP89

Twitter: n/a

Home town: Cologne, Germany

Current Residence: Cologne, Germany

Heinz enters the final nine in seventh position with 16,425,000 in chips.

For a full list of players who have made the final table, check our November Nine recap.

Also, get to know Pius Heinz a little better with the video interview below.

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Anton Makiievskyi: 2011 WSOP November Nine

Tue, 19 Jul 2011 23:51:00 -0700

Only receiving his travel visa in late June to come play in the WSOP, Makiievskyi is a very unlikely candidate to have made the final Nine.

"I just don't believe everything that's happening now," Makiievskyi told ESPN yesterday. "I understand that I may not have any other chances in life like this, but I don't feel it.

"I just play my game. "

He did exactly that on Day 8, gradually chipping up throughout the day with the exception of one big pot again against Moore when he hit an ace on the flop to top Moore’s pocket kings.

Throughout the last few days of the tournament, Makiievskyi has worn the baby blue and gold Team Ukraine jacket of close friend Oleksii Kovalchuk, another 21-year-old Ukrainian who won a WSOP bracelet this year.

Makiievskyi would become the youngest player to win the Main Event should he go on to take the title in November.

Anton Makiievskyi

Age: 21

Main Online Handle: Unknown

Twitter: n/a

Hometown: Dnipropetrousk, Ukraine

Current Residence: Kiev, Ukraine

Makiievskyi enters the final table in eighth position with 13,825,000 in chips.

For a full list of players who have made the final table, check our November Nine recap.

Additionally, get to know Anton Makiievskyi through the magic of video below.

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Sam Holden: 2011 WSOP November Nine

Tue, 19 Jul 2011 23:50:00 -0700

Holden learned how to play seriously through his college years at the University of Kent, playing home games and at a poker society.

Towards the end of university he started doing well online, and he decided to take poker on full time in 2010 after he graduated with his degree in forensic science.

Holden warmed up for the Main Event by playing a bunch of live tournaments in England and Ireland and it seems to have paid off.

Sam Holden

Age: 22

Online Handle: SamDMND

Twitter: @SamDMND

Home town: Herstmonceux, East Sussex, UK

Current Residence: Canterbury, UK

Holden enters the final table in ninth position with 12,375,000 in chips.

For a full list of players who have made the final table, check our November Nine recap.

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So, You Come Here Often?

Tue, 19 Jul 2011 01:56:07 -0700

Moutinho is currently slightly ahead of Sands with 2.5 million chips to his 2 million. Sands does have position on Moutinho so we could see some fireworks between the love birds.

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Kara Scott - The Circuit: WSOP Edition

Sun, 17 Jul 2011 20:43:11 -0700

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Lamb Looks for Lead in 2011 WSOP Player of the Year Race

Sun, 17 Jul 2011 12:41:53 -0700

Phil Hellmuth also had an impressive WSOP with five cashes, three second-place finishes and $1.5 million in profit.

Hellmuth, however, is not still in the Main Event while Lamb very much is.

If Lamb can survive to 138 players remaining, he will officially pass Hellmuth in the 2011 Player of the Year.

Keep in mind that this year's results from the World Series of Poker Europe in France will be included in Player of the Year consideration so this battle could continue until October.

Either way it’s been an exceptional race between the two skilled pros.

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Jason Alexander: The Circuit: WSOP Edition

Sat, 16 Jul 2011 07:32:41 -0700

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Joe Cheong Goes Deep in 2011 Main Event

Sat, 16 Jul 2011 05:38:02 -0700

Cheong has already earned bragging rights over his 2010 November Nine tablemates, but now we’re going to see if he can become the first player in WSOP history to make back-to-back November Nine final tables.

He’s currently stacked with nearly 900,000 chips.

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Reza Kashani is the 2011 Main Event Bubble Boy

Fri, 15 Jul 2011 12:10:34 -0700

This year that player is Reza Kashani. He’s from California and was friendly enough when he was doing his exit interview with Kara Scott. At one point he even mentioned he was lucky to make it as far as he did.

Luckily this year Kashani won’t go home completely empty-handed as Caesars Entertainment has decided to give him a seat in the 2012 WSOP Main Event.

Of course, that just means the player who finished in 695th place - a Dylan Linde - is the last player to leave without any sort of consolation prize.

There’s always next year, Mr. Linde.

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David "DevilFish" Ulliott - The Circuit: WSOP Edition

Fri, 15 Jul 2011 11:19:50 -0700

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Elky - The Circuit: WSOP Edition

Wed, 13 Jul 2011 01:06:39 -0700

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It’s a Family Affair at the 2011 WSOP Main Event

Tue, 12 Jul 2011 06:14:51 -0700

Eric is by far the more experienced player with eight cashes at the WSOP while Donny only has the one from last year.

It’s Donny who’s killing it today, however, as he’s up to 140,000 chips while Eric is severely short-stacked with only 14k.

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Phil Ivey Has Officially Skipped the Entire 2011 WSOP

Mon, 11 Jul 2011 22:18:59 -0700

For now it looks like WSOP fans will have to wait another year to see the famous pro in the halls of the Rio.

Most rumors place Ivey still in Ireland working to sell Full Tilt. He might want to stick around. The World Series of Poker Europe in France begins in September.

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Phil Hellmuth Made One Critical Error Today

Mon, 11 Jul 2011 20:55:52 -0700

According to his Twitter, Hellmuth thought he was playing on Tuesday and had his phone off and a “Do Not Disturb” on his hotel door.

Eventually close friend Mike Matusow called security and made them run into the room and wake him up.

Hellmuth related what happened text via Twitter:

Security broke into my room, I'm like, "What's going on?!?" SGuard says, "You're playing in the World Series of Poker today."

Hellmuth burned rubber and made it to the Rio nearly two hours late and his stack had been blinded down to 7,000 chips.

Nguyen had a good laugh but Hellmuth quickly went to work.

At the dinner break he had 12,000 chips while Nguyen had hit the rail. He will still need a huge run if he hopes to see the light of Day 3.

If he does make it to Day 3, let's hope he sets a couple of alarms.

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WSOP 2011 $25K Fantasy Poker League Update

Mon, 11 Jul 2011 08:59:05 -0700

But what if a draft player makes it to the November 9? an observant reader may ask.

Well, observant reader, it doesn't matter. If any of the players in the draft make it that far, the points will be distributed according to chip counts.

The chip leader will take points for 1st, second in chips will earn the points for second place and so on and so forth.

In the Lead

Jason Somerville and Jason Mercier are currently in the lead, their team has a total of 636 points.

65 per cent of those points come from another dynamic duo, Ben Lamb and Bertrand “ElkY” Grospellier.

Ly and Hellmuth earning Brunson 174 points at the $50K Championship.

Lamb has scored the team a total of 207 points and ElkY has contributed 204.

Second place is currently occupied by Erick Lindgren.

He trails Mercier and Somerville by 160 points, for a total 476. Lindgren owes most of his points to three of his draftees: George Lind, Eric Froehlich and Shawn Buchanan.

Coming in for the surprise third is Team Brunson.*

*Team Brunson is led for and paid for by Todd Brunson.

Brunson was actually in the bottom-half of the field until after the $50,000 Poker Player's Championship.

Not only did Brunson have Phil Hellmuth, he was lucky enough to have drafted Minh Ly.

Hellmuth's second place finish earned the team 92 points and Ly's third place finish gave Brunson another 82.

These extra 174 points boosted Brunson up from 277 to 451, where he currently stands.

This bumped Scott Seiver and his team out of the money, a fact he noticed while play was nine-handed at the $50K Championship.

Payout Structure

The full payout structure looks like this:

1st – $225,000

2nd – $93,750

3rd – $37,500

4th - $18,750

Seiver and his team, which included Justin Bonomo and Eric Froehlich, was knocked down to fifth place.

The last paying spot belongs to James Bord and Toby Lewis' team.

They had no deep runs in the $50K, but they had a fair amount of good, consistent players.

Richard Ashby, Nick Shulman, Shaun Deeb and Anthony Lellouche provided the team with 17 cashes and 382 of their 420 points.

"You paid what for me?!"

The Less Profitable Bunch

While all these players have proven valuable, others have not.

Vladimir Shchemelev is currently in last place with only 88 points.

Penultimate place belongs to Frank Kassela and Shaun Deeb. The former Player of the Year recruited himself, but only earned 20 points this year.

Team Kassela/Deeb also spent $89 – all teams started with budget of $200 that they could not exceed – on drafting Daniel Negreanu.

Despite playing 32 events, Negreanu only cashed twice for a total of three points.

But the worst investment of the draft was Phil Ivey.

Ivey was the most expensive player in the draft, costing Barry Greenstein $108.

As you may know, Ivey did not play a single WSOP event.

Huck Seed also went for a hefty amount of draft dollars. He was drafted by Ashton Griffin and Justin Smith for $50. Seed played 19 events but didn't manage to get a single cash.

Shannon Shorr was also less than impressive for his team. Even though he sold for a single draft dollar, Shorr played 37 events and only managed to cash once.

The Race is Still On

Despite a commanding lead by Team Somerville/Mercier, it's still anyone's game.

While the Main Event is only one of 58 events, it's a game changer.

A cash in the Main Event will give a player 70 points.

That means, hypothetically, if all eight players in Shchemelev's team cash – and no other players in the draft do – he can jump into first place.

And if a player makes the November 9 with the chip lead, then they'll earn their team 168 points.

That means a few cashes in the Main Event can stir up the field yet again.

The league isn't over yet!

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Dr. Pauly - The Circuit: WSOP Edition

Sun, 10 Jul 2011 21:40:27 -0700

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Kevin "Kevmath" Mathers - The Circuit: WSOP Edition

Sat, 09 Jul 2011 01:58:53 -0700

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Is Doyle Brunson Done?

Thu, 07 Jul 2011 20:35:34 -0700

Brunson busted out of the $50k Players Championship on Day 2 and, despite making several claims to the contrary, decided to make an appearance in the 2011 WSOP Main Event.

Unfortunately he also busted out of that earlier today.

It seems that Brunson may not have the desire or the mental or physical endurance to play poker for 12 hours at the Rio anymore.

He’s also mentioned that he’s lost a lot of motivation for poker since Black Friday and even took a shot at the Department of Justice, asking them to buy him into the Main Event.

Brunsons results over the last while have also declined considerably and he has zero cashes at the WSOP over the last two years.

It’s hard to put into words how much Brunson has meant to the game of poker. Brunson literally wrote the book on poker with his renowned Super System 1 & 2.

Despite being known more as a cash-game player Brunson’s results speak for themselves with 10 WSOP bracelets and over $6 million in lifetime live tournament earnings.

On a deeper level, Brunson is perhaps the last, best, link to the game’s underground, back-room beginnings.

It’s hard to picture a WSOP without Brunson. Although Phil Hellmuth has more bracelets and Johnny Chan is tied with Brunson, the Texas Dolly is really in a league of his own when it comes to the amount of respect he has in this industry.

Poker fans can take heart that Brunson could very well return to the WSOP, however.

He’s mentioned several times that he’s had a lot of personal problems in the last eight months but that might just be temporary.

He’s still playing cash games and if he had one change of heart about playing the WSOP, he can definitely have another.

If Brunson does decide to take a permanent leave of absence from live tournaments, at least those that were at the 2011 WSOP can say they saw one of the greatest in his final WSOP appearance.

The 2011 WSOP continues through July 19. For comprehensive coverage live from Las Vegas check PokerListings' Live Updates brought to you by PartyPoker.

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