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Pros gear up for 2009 WSOP Main Event

info@www.Pokerlistings.com — Fri, 03 Jul 2009 21:26:36 +0100

Thousands of hopeful rounders have swamped the Amazon Room at the Rio for the first of four Day 1s of this WSOP's $10,000 buy-in flagship event.

And the pros are licking their chops.

"This is the biggest tournament of the year," Full Tilt's Gavin Smith told PokerListings.com. "This is the one I always look forward to!"

Irish pro Andy Black echoed Smith's sentiments.

"It's the biggest tournament in the world and the best one. It's a great day, Day 1 of the Main Event."

The tournament is expected to attract more than six thousand players in search of a multi-million dollar first prize and a shot at poker immortality.

Last year, Denmark's Peter Eastgate defeated 6,843 other entrants to claim a $9,152,416 first prize.

In 2007, meanwhile, Jerry Yang came from nowhere to beat out 6,357 players, taking $8.25 million for first before disappearing from the poker landscape once more.

Yang is back for 2009 and told PokerListings he's eager to reclaim the top spot.

"I've been waiting for so long, waiting for one year," he said. "I'm going to play my best and see what happens."

Neither Yang nor Eastgate's purses hold a candle to the $12 million 2006 champ Jamie Gold earned for topping a field of more than 8,700 competitors.

But the former champs will have both have their work cut out for them if they want to make another deep run.

Since 2003, only Greg Raymer has been able to replicate his tournament-winning success in a later year, finishing 25th in the 2005 Main Event after winning in 2004.

Among those players to show up for Day 1a action are former L.A. Dodger Orel Hershiser, PokerListings blogger Jason Mercier, actors Jason Alexander and Brad Garrett and rapper Nelly.

This year's Main Event will see the field divided into four flights on Day 1 and two flights on Day 2, with the survivors coming together for the first time on Day 3 next Friday.

Tournament organizers have tweaked the structure and given players 30,000 in chips compared to last year's 20,000, but despite the deeper stacks the field will only play four two-hour levels on Day 1.

As in 2008, the Main Event will play down to a nine-handed final table before the tournament is suspended until November.

The new "November Nine" will then reconvene at the Rio to play out the tournament's climactic hands in what promises to be another raucous spectacle of an event.

PokerListings.com will have live and comprehensive coverage of the 2009 Main Event in the WSOP section.

Tune in throughout the tournament for live updates, chip counts, video features and cutting-edge blogs from the Rio.

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It's time! WSOP Main Event starts now

info@www.Pokerlistings.com — Fri, 03 Jul 2009 20:27:35 +0100

The Main Event is a monster of a tournament with four day 1s scheduled, each with 3,000 seats available for one easy payment of $10,000. Day 1A starts today at noon, with Day 1B starting tomorrow.

Day 1C and D start on the two days to follow. Each day is scheduled for 5 blind levels, with each level lasting 120 min. The first Day 2 (Day 2A), seating the remaining players from Day 1A and B, starts at noon on July 7th.

Day 2B will see the remaining players from Day 1C and D take to the felt for their second 10-hour session. After Day 2B completes, all players still with chips have one day off, during which the media tournament takes the center stage.

If you manage to make it to Day 3, you're looking at a non-stop marathon of poker, playing five levels of poker per day all the way through to Day 8. Day 8 finishes only when the field has played down to the infamous nine-player final table.

The final table will take place at some point between November 7th and 10th, concluding only when a new World Champion is crowned.

Last year's Main Event drew a field of 6,844 players, amassing a prize pool worth $64,333,600.

A lucky 666 players made it into the money including Men "The Master" Nguyen, Vanessa Rousso, Robert Mizrachi, Hasan Habib, Johnny Chan, Evelyn Ng, Gus Hansen, Mark Vos, David Benefield, Adam Levy, Phil Hellmuth, Mike Matusow (30th) and Brandon Cantu (20th).

In the end it was Peter Eastgate who defeated Ivan Demidov heads up for a first-place prize of $9,152,416 and a place in poker history.

Here at PokerListings.com, we take The Main Event mighty seriously. Bookmark our tournament page for live updates, news, blogs and video from the floor of the Rio.

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Hawrilenko wins 6-max bracelet - WSOP July 2nd

info@www.Pokerlistings.com — Fri, 03 Jul 2009 10:34:43 +0100

Following two bracelet-less final tables this summer, he finally shook that monkey off his back, beating off a bumper field of 928 to snatch the $5k Six-Max bracelet, winning $1,003,163 in the process.

"I'm just super excited," said Hawrilenko. "Today worked out brilliantly and I felt really happy to get lucky in the right spots."

Hawrilenko paid tribute to the assistance of some of his fellow high-stakes pros in the development of his game.

"I'm renting a house this summer with Bill Chen, Jerrod Ankemann, Terence Chan and Gavin Griffin," Hawrilenko said. "Everyone thinks about stuff very differently. Bill and Jerrod are very theory-based, Gavin is much more of a 'play the player' type ; just to have all that expertise to draw on - it's amazing.

"Without a doubt, without those guys I would not be here today. And so many poker players will say that about them."

The six-handed final table played out in a swift, efficient manner - a hallmark of the entire tournament.

Matthew Waxman and Jonas Wexler were the first men to succumb and once Hawrilenko won two big coin flips to knock out Sean Keeton and Faraz Jaka in the 4th and 3rd spots, he polished off Josh Brikis heads-up within a few hands to take the title.

Having just won a million dollars, it would be easy for Hawrilenko to be tempted by the many vices and temptations on offer in Las Vegas, but he maintains his celebrations will be relatively low-key.

"Honestly I'll go for a nice run tomorrow morning," said Hawrilenko.

He explained that this bracelet win was especially sweet, given the crew he rolls with have had such great poker success.

"I've had Jerrod saying, 'I have a bracelet, I have a bracelet'. - holding it over me."

"Well, finally, I have a bracelet!"

The end of Event 56 means there is just one more tournament left on the 2009 WSOP itinery, but it's the big one - the Main Event.

Stay tuned to PokerListings' WSOP updates as we bring you all the drama and excitement from the biggest tournament in the world.

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Stars ante up for Africa again at 2009 WSOP

info@www.Pokerlistings.com — Fri, 03 Jul 2009 03:16:34 +0100

Media outlets from all over the world jam packed the red carpet as the Rio Convention Center became the center of the universe for both the celebrity world and the poker world Thursday.

Lots of big names flew into town for the event, which is in its third year on the WSOP schedule.

Actor Don Cheadle and Annie Duke are officially hosting and it appears the 2009 Ante Up For Africa is the biggest one yet.

"When we first conceived of the charity, we were thinking we'd just do a little event and raise like 20 or 30 thousand dollars," said Duke. "But (WSOP Commissioner) Jeffrey Pollack had a vision for this event that we didn't have and he made us part of the World Series of Poker.

"It's an amazing platform where not only are poker players involved here, at one place at one time, but media is also focused on poker this time of year right before the Main Event. It's so exciting to see everyone come out."

138 players from the worlds of poker, entertainment and sports descended on the Amazon Room for the $5k event, won by John Hennigan in 2008.

Hennigan was back in the field to try to defend his title, along with celebrities including Ben Affleck, Charles Barkley, Kenny Smith and Mike Tyson.

"I don't really think I'm going to do well but it's for a good cause," said Tyson. "It's nice to be able to participate, play poker and raise awareness."

Plenty of poker pros also came out for the event, including Phil Hellmuth, Howard Lederer, Jennifer Harman, Mike Matusow, Mike Caro, Andy Bloch, Chris "Jesus" Ferguson, and Tiffany Michelle.

"Everybody who's an amateur poker player thinks it's exciting to play with professional poker players, but as a professional poker player it's exciting to sit down and play with celebrities," Michelle said.

With the $5k buy in, the tournament netted a prize pool of $670,680, with a first-place prize of $177,730.

However, Hennigan donated his entire winner's share to charity last year and it's expected that today's winner will do the same.

Other celebrities in the field included Sarah Silverman, Jennifer Tilly, Brad Garrett, Nelly and a poker icon ever since his role in Rounders, Matt Damon.

"More people that come up to me on the street, if they say 'I love you in....', and it's a guy between the age of 18 and 40, I can guarantee you he's going to say Rounders."

With such an eclectic field, there's no telling who might come away with the title.

"All these bracelet winners, all these final table winners," said Nelly. "I don't think I'm going to think about it, because if I think about it I'm going to make the wrong moves.

"Their mind control at this point is much superior to mine."

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Late H.O.R.S.E. and Mosseri highlight WSOP July 1

info@www.Pokerlistings.com — Wed, 01 Jul 2009 23:55:15 +0100

That was most certainly the case with the $50k H.O.R.S.E. as it took David Bach until 10 a.m. today to win the tournament. The final table for the event began at 2 p.m. yesterday but it would be over 20 hours later that Bach would win the decisive hand against John Hanson.

Big names like Erik Seidel and Huck Seed fell out of contention early leaving an eclectic mix of Erik Sagstrom (known as TheSalmon online), Bach and Hanson.

Hanson and Bach would go on to play to play over six hours of heads-up play in the longest final table in the history of the $50k H.O.R.S.E.

Despite the marathon length of the final table Bach was still ecstatic when he received his WSOP bracelet and the Chip Reese Memorial Trophy.

You can read about Bach's thoughts on the event here.

Here's a look at what else happened on the abbreviated WSOP schedule just days before the Main Event begins:

Event 54 $1,500 No-Limit Hold'em Final Day

Event 54 was the last of the popular $1,500 No-Limit events and it easily sold out on Day 1 with 2,818 entrants.

Although the day began with 28 players it didn't take that long to cut that number down to a tidy final table of nine. Vivek Rajkumar was probably the most well-known player coming into the day but he ended up bowing out in 15th just sixth players short of the final table.

The final table was certainly lacking in big-name poker players but Tony Veckey of Chicago didn't mind as he outlasted everyone to take down a $673,000 prize for first place. The next $1,500 No-Limit Hold'em WSOP event will be played in 2010. Mark your calendars.

Event 55 $2,500 2-7 Triple Draw Lowball Limit Final Table

Event 55 was essentially the opposite of the $1,500 final table as 2-7 Triple Draw Limit is very much a pros' game.

The final table was littered with big names like John Juanda, Blair Rodman, Nam Le and all gunning for a bracelet.

Surprisingly Tom Schneider's wife Julie also made a very deep run in the event and ended up finishing third, which was better than all the pros just mentioned.

In the end it was Big Game regular Abe Mosseri who took it down. Mosseri bested Masayoshi Tanaka in a super-short heads-up match to win a WSOP bracelet and the $165,521 that came with it.

Event 56 $5,000 No-Limit Hold'em/Six-handed Day 2

Day 2 of Event 56 (the last tournament before the Main Event) began with one of the better fields we've seen this year.

Phil Hellmuth, Sorel Mizzi, Justin Bonomo Shannon Shorr and several other well-known players all started with hopes of making another WSOP final table. Unfortunately none of the above players would make it to the final 16 that finished the day.

Instead it's Rory Mathews who will take the chip lead of 1.35 million into Day 3 although Full Tilt Pro Matt Hawrilenko is close behind him with 1.32 million and Peter "Nordberg" Feldman has 1.2 million.

The remaining players will reconvene at 1 p.m. tomorrow with the intention of crowning the last WSOP bracelet winner before the Main Event.

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Mo money for Mosseri at WSOP 2-7 Triple Draw

info@www.Pokerlistings.com — Wed, 01 Jul 2009 23:48:15 +0100

Mosseri fought through a field of 258 players and made quick work of Masayoshi Tanaka in heads-up play to take down the somewhat obscure event.

He entered the heads-up match with Tanaka as the short stack, but it took less than an hour for the Big Game veteran to take the victory.

"I play high stakes with all those great players and that really helps," Mosseri said. "That's how I learned to play this game and it really helped me today."

The final four players were a tough draw, with Mosseri and Tanaka joined by John Juanda and Julie Schneider, the wife of two-time bracelet winner Tom Schneider.

Juanda, who has to be considered a favorite in just about any four-player field, made an uncharacteristic mistake that cost him big at the final table.

Engaged in a sizeable pot against Tanaka, Juanda settled on his hand after two draws, while Tanaka took one discard on the final draw.

Juanda tabled his hand, thinking he had a seven-low that was good enough to beat Tanaka's 8-7-6-4-2.

Unfortunately for Juanda, he'd misread his hand, and actually held a 7-6-5-4-3 for the straight. The hand knocked Juanda below 250k in chips and he never recovered.

"Once John Juanda got knocked out I thought it was my tournament," Mosseri said. "I felt that I had control of the table."

Juanda won $44,941 for the fourth-place finish but had to be disappointed with how his tournament ended.

Schneider was the next player to hit the the rail, her short stack not surviving long as the heads-up battle between Tanaka and Mosseri became inevitable. She took home $66,285 for second place.

Tanaka did the deed in eliminating Schneider, giving him a slight chip lead going into heads-up, with 1,019,000 chips to Mosseri's 916,000.

It didn't take long for Mosseri to start taking over, however, and after 20 minutes of heads up play Mosseri had built his stack to 1.27 million to Tanaka's 655k.

Mosseri steamrolled after that, using his skill in what he says is his strongest game.

"Lowball is probably my best game, and the truth is most people don't really play it that well," Mosseri said. "In other tournaments the level of play is way higher."

"It was a lot easier for me to control what was going on. There's a much bigger difference between the skill levels in this tournament compared to a No-Limit Hold'em tournament."

Mosseri takes home $165,521 for the win. His previous best finish at the WSOP came earlier this year, when he finished sixth in the $10k Seven Card Stud Hi-Lo World Championship.

Tanaka wins $102,313 for the runner-up finish.

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Boeree beats up Castello in WSOP Rumble

info@www.Pokerlistings.com — Wed, 01 Jul 2009 23:25:55 +0100

The Ultimate Bet pro defeated video hostess Melissa Castello in an amateur boxing match in Las Vegas on Wednesday.

Despite admitting to having very little experience fighting human beings, Boeree handily defeated her rival over the course of three rounds at Barry's Boxing Center.

"It was way harder than I expected," Boeree told PokerListings.com. "Three rounds is a lot.

"By the end of the second round I was like, 'Are you insane, you want to do another?'"

Boeree punished Castello with a succession of brutal blows, but the Brit was nothing if not gracious following her victory.

"Melissa is just amazing," she said. "I mean, I was hitting her really hard. I wasn't holding back and she kept coming.

"It was so much fun. I'm really tired, but I'm really, really happy I won."

With the win, Boeree earned $1,000 for the Marie Curie Cancer Trust, while $500 will be donated in Castello's name to the Hemophilia Foundation of Southern California.

Beyond the victory for her chosen charity, Boeree cited pride as a key motivational factor.

"Winning was 100% important," she said. "I could not lose.

"I couldn't let my lot down. They were cheering me on and had bets on me so I had to win. There was no other option."

Originally slated to be fought in UFC fighter Wanderlei Silva's personal octagon, the fight attracted the attention of the Nevada State Athletic Commission, necessitating a number of changes to the program.

The fight was moved to Barry's Boxing Center and both Boeree and Castello were given amateur boxing certification as a condition for the Commission sanctioning the event.

Consequently, Boeree now finds herself possessed of a sparkling 1-0 record in the Commission's official register while Castello drops to 0-1.

The PokerListings video crew was on location for the fight shot plenty of footage, including interviews with both fighters. Check out the PokerListings TV section for more coverage.

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Bach is best in $50k H.O.R.S.E.

info@www.Pokerlistings.com — Wed, 01 Jul 2009 19:45:18 +0100

The "Gunslinger" staved off a remarkably resilient John Hanson in a heads-up battle that lasted seven hours, winning his first WSOP bracelet and the right to have his name engraved on the Chip Reese Memorial Trophy.

Bach's reward for enduring 480 hands at the final table is $1,276,802 in cash and ownership of arguably the most prestigious bracelet in the game.

"It hasn't even sunk in yet," said a tired but overjoyed Bach after the win.

"Especially this tournament, Chip Reese's tournament, and it being the best tournament of the whole year. It just means the world."

The win is a breakthrough for Bach, who's made a final table in each of the last five years at the WSOP but wasn't able to earn himself a bracelet until this year.

Bach, who says he played 30-hour sessions regularly earlier in his career, showed that endurance on Day 5.

"Two nights ago, I told (friends) that this is the bracelet I should win," Bach said.

"It's the game that I'm best at, it's the tournament I want to win the most. If I'm going to break through and win one this is the right one."

Bach appeared to be headed for a certain third-place finish at one point when play was three-handed, and he held a woefully short stack at 670k in chips, with Erik Sagstrom at 6.25 million and Hanson at 7.36 million.

Instead of packing up and exiting, however, Bach went on a spectacular comeback stretch, quickly rebuilding his stack to 1.7 million chips just a few hands later.

"I just had to remind myself to keep fighting and play well," Bach said. "I could live with losing if I played my best."

Bach never looked back after that, eventually becoming the chip leader as Sagstrom's fortunes took a wrong turn.

The heads-up finale between Bach and Hanson emerged after Sagstrom went out in third, collecting $522,394 for the third-place finish.

Sagstrom's good friend Gus Hansen was part of an entourage that cheered on the Swedish pro, but it wasn't enough as the cash-game specialist came up just short.

Player of the Year contender Vitaly Lunkin continued his incredible run in the 2009 WSOP, but he also came up just short of his second bracelet of the year, finishing fourth.

After spending parts of Day 5 as the chip leader, Lunkin's fortunes began to fade late in the day, and a Stud-8 hand against Sagstrom proved to be Lunkin's undoing.

The Russian pro cashes out for $368,813 and stays amongst the leaders for Player of the Year and most cash won at the 2009 WSOP.

Four-time bracelet winner Huck Seed was a crowd favorite at the final table, but his chances for a bracelet ended four spots short. Seed's fifth-place finish earns him $276,610.

Ville Wahlbeck continues to breathe down Jeffrey Lisandro's neck in the POY race, and his sixth-place finish puts him at 320 points, just behind Lisandro's 355.

It's been an amazing run for Wahlbeck in events with buy-ins of $10k or more. The Finnish pro took his first bracelet in the $10k Mixed Event World Championship, the first-ever bracelet win for a player from Finland.

He came up just short of another, finishing runner-up in the $10k Deuce-to-Seven Lowball. He finished third in $10k World Championship Seven Card Stud and 13th in $10k World Championship Omaha Hi-Lo.

Wahlbeck has said he's quitting poker after this year, but he's had enormous success at the 2009 WSOP, also taking a 12th place finish in $2,500 Razz.

"I rank this second after the Mixed Event win," said Wahlbeck of the 6th-place finish in $50k H.O.R.S.E.

"In the Mixed Event I wasn't all in a single time during the whole tournament, and it was pretty much the same here. Even though I was the short-stack for a long time, I wasn't all-in until the end.

"So in that sense, I think I have played the best in those two tournaments. Of course I wanted to go all the way and win the bracelet, but if someone had offered me sixth place before the tournament, I obviously would have taken it."

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The amazing, fantastic, durrrr

info@www.Pokerlistings.com — Wed, 01 Jul 2009 19:24:04 +0100

In the case of Tom Dwan, his swing this year has almost reached the point of being legendary. Starting the year in a serious slump, it took almost no time for Dwan to get stuck for $3 million in online cash games

At that point, most of the hate-durrrrs were crying "Busto!" and "just another flash in the pan!"

After a short winning streak, it looked as if Dwan would pull out of his nose dive, only to plummet deeper. At his lowest point, and just 5 months into the year, Dwan had almost reached $4 million in losses.

Partially thanks to his latest session, all of that has turned around.

The last day of June saw Dwan sitting against two of the most feared online poker players in the world:

Ilari "Ziigmund" Sahamies at $500/$1,000 PLO
Phil Ivey at $500/$1,000 HA (Half Omaha, half Hold'em)

After some sick calls, and sicker-sized pots, Dwan came out of the PLO session up $700,000. The amounts of the session's top five pots alone add up to over $2 million wagered.

Ivey fared better than Sahamies, only losing $90k to Dwan at the mixed game.

With his latest win in tow, Dwan is now showing an overall profit of over $1.5 million for the year, with no signs of slowing down.

Here are the three largest pots of the session:

The largest pot of the session.

Dwan's fold button broke.

Gigantic river check-raise.

Replay any of the day's largest pots at will on our MarketPulse page.

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Epic H.O.R.S.E battle story of WSOP June 30

info@www.Pokerlistings.com — Wed, 01 Jul 2009 18:06:25 +0100

The final table has turned out to be an epic affair as following the quick bust-outs of Erik Seidel and Chau Giang, the game developed into a massive test of endurance.

Player of the Year contender Ville Wahlbeck was next to fall in 6th and when Huck Seed busted in 5th, it looked as though the tournament was opening up for another POY contender, Vitaly Lunkin.

This proved deceptive though, with the wheels falling off for the deep-stacked Russian in a series of unfortunate hands and his elimination suggested it will be tough to topple triple-bracelet Stud champion Jeffrey Lisandro from the top of the POY rankings.

Three-handed for the bracelet, Erik "The Salmon" Sagstrom was next to bust, also managing to let a dominant chip position slip from his grasp and leaving David Bach and John Hanson heads-up for the title.

As of press time? Still heads-up for the title, making for one of the longest heads-up conflicts, at well over 400 hands, we've witnessed at this year's WSOP.

Bach and Hanson have traded the chip lead several times, with neither seeming capable of delivering the knockout blow despite the escalating blinds.

There has to be a winner though, so make sure to click through to Pokerlistings' live updates for the latest in this titanic face-off.

Meanwhile, here's a round-up of the best of the rest from another fascinating day at the 2009 WSOP.

Event 52 - $3k Triple Chance No Limit Hold'em

With rebuys banished from the 2009 WSOP agenda, the Triple Chance Event was billed as the next best thing with players given three chances to refill their stacks in the opening stages.

854 entered, but today just 16 returned to contend the bracelet. Following a tough final-table battle, Jorg Peisert was the man to take the glory and the $506,800 for first place, seeing off Jason Dewitt in a one-sided and brief heads-up contest.

Event 53 - $1.5k Seven Card Stud-8

The $1.5k Stud-8 played to a winner today and perhaps the most shocking news was that it was not Jeff Lisandro who took the bracelet down - for once the triple 2009 bracelet winner was nowhere to be seen at a WSOP Stud final table.

Instead David Halpern was the man to seal the deal, collecting his first WSOP bracelet as well as the $159,390 first prize.

He saw off a final table containing Chad Brown and Matt Savage before besting William Kohler heads-up in a see-saw battle to take the title.

Event 54 - $1.5k No Limit Hold'em

The last of the $1.5k donkaments played well into the cash spots today as 376 returned to fight for the bracelet.

The original 2,818 runners combined to produce a chunky $3,846,570 prize pool, and a day ram-packed with bust-outs means that just 29 will return to play down to the final table when they reconvene at 1 p.m. tomorrow.

$673,276 is the prize they will all have their eyes on come the resumption as that's what the winner will be paid - along with that coveted WSOP bracelet naturally.

Event 55 - $2.5k Limit Deuce to Seven Triple Draw

Time and again the 2-7 events have proved a big draw for the pros and this was neatly demonstrated once more as the great and the good of poker gathered in the $2.5k 2-7 Triple Draw.

They played from 73 to the final 10 today, and when they take up arms again tomorrow chip-monster Abe Mosseri will be the man to stop with a huge chip lead over the rest of the field.

He can't afford to rest on his laurels though with the assembled talents of Blair Rodman, John Juanda and Nam Le lurking in the wings waiting to pounce should he slip up.

They will return to play to the bracelet at 2.30 p.m. sharp.

Event 56 - $5k Six-handed No Limit Hold'em

The $5k Six-max represents the last opportunity for pros and amateurs to snag a bracelet prior to the Main Event and unsurprisingly a bumper field of 928 paid the requisite monies to give themselves a shot at glory.

The huge attendance resulted in an equally impressive first prize of just over $1 million dollars and when they return to the felt at 2 p.m. tomorrow to play down to the final - or thereabouts - some big names such as Phil Hellmuth and Justin Bonomo will be looking to grab the bracelet and the plaudits.

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Jack Link's Beef Jerky offers WSOP promotion

info@www.Pokerlistings.com — Tue, 30 Jun 2009 23:59:34 +0100

Jack Link's Beef Jerky has been the main presenting sponsor for the WSOP this year, and the upstart beef snack company is giving players even more incentive to pony up for the Main Event.

The company announced its "Stacked Jacks Go Wild" promotion, which will run throughout the Main Event.

Any player in the Main Event that ends up with four jacks as a final hand will win a Jack Link's prize pack valued at more than $100. All players and hands are eligible for the prize.

"Four-of-a-kind Jacks has always been a good hand," said Jeff LeFever, director of marketing for Jack Link's. "With 'Stacked Jacks Go Wild' it just got better."

"Obviously we're a little biased about the Jack being our favorite card in the deck so we thought it might be fun to sweeten the pot a little and make sure that hand is a winner every time."

While the prize packs are a fun idea, it's unknown how the "Stacked Jacks Go Wild" promotion will impact play in the Main Event.

The addictive nature of Jack Link's Beef Jerky could present some tough choices at the table for players who might be thinking about only concentrating on putting together four jacks, instead of playing optimal No Limit Hold'em strategy.

Poker superstar Daniel Negreanu is one player whose play won't be affected by the promotion.

"I think it's very nice of them and I appreciate the offer, but until they have vegan beef I'll be donating my prize to somebody else," Negreanu said.

It's not exactly an endorsement from Negreanu, but the promotion goes on.

"Competing for the richest prize in sports is serious business, but it is still poker after all, and poker should always be fun," said World Series of Poker vice president Ty Stewart.

"We're glad Jack Link's is celebrating its presenting sponsorship by bringing another layer of excitement to the WSOP tournament floor."

The prize pack goes to any player making quad jacks, even if that player takes a horrendous bad beat and ends up being eliminated from the Main Event.

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Bach riding high at $50k H.O.R.S.E. finale

info@www.Pokerlistings.com — Tue, 30 Jun 2009 21:04:50 +0100

The lineup is set for the final table in the $50k H.O.R.S.E. World Championship, and after four days of grinding, Bach is amongst the chip leaders.

The "Gunslinger" spent most of Day 4 trading the chip lead back and forth with Erik Sagstrom, who goes into the final table as the chip leader with 3,675,000 chips.

Vitaly Lunkin ended the day second in chips with 2,490,000, while Bach's got the third-highest stack at 2,345,000.

"It's grueling, said Bach. "It takes a lot of focus."

"You have to pay attention to all of the up cards. But it's also enjoyable. I enjoy all of the games so it's a challenge."

Bach is no stranger to final tables at the WSOP. This is his fifth final table appearance, and he's made one final table in each of the last five years at the WSOP.

With a final table that includes Lunkin, internet phenom Sagstrom, eight-time bracelet winner Erik Seidel and four-time bracelet winner Huck Seed, it won't be an easy road for whoever takes the Chip Reese Memorial Award.

"There's still a lot of work to do," Bach said. "I really want to win this."

"This is far and away the best poker tournament in the world. It takes most of the luck out of tournament poker," said Bach.

"In No-Limit no matter how well you play, certain hands can come up where you're just going to go broke."

Spectators crowded the rail to watch the final two tables play down to the final eight.

Bach, Sagstrom and Lunkin were the only players that stayed comfortably ahead of elimination throughout Day 4.

When the final two tables were then re-drawn to one, Mike Wattel and Gus Hansen were barely hanging on.

Wattel's all-star entourage of Mike "The Mouth" Matusow, Shawn Sheikhan and Cyndy Violette wasn't enough to get him to the final table, as Wattel went out in 10th place.

Crowd favorite Gus Hansen was the victim of the final table bubble, his short stack finally evaporating in an Omaha hand against Chau Giang. Hansen takes $123,895 in cash but falls short of the final table appearance.

So the final table is set, with Sagstrom, Lunkin, Bach, John Hanson, Seed, Giang, Seidel and Ville Wahlbeck playing for the bracelet Tuesday.

The Russian pro Lunkin began the WSOP by winning Event #1, the $40k No Limit Hold'em commemorative event, while Wahlbeck is chasing Jeffrey Lisandro for Player of the Year honors.

The final table commences at 2 p.m. Tuesday at the ESPN feature table. Click through to follow all the action in our WSOP Live Update section.

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WSOP 2009 by the numbers

info@www.Pokerlistings.com — Tue, 30 Jun 2009 20:01:13 +0100

2009 might be forever remembered as the summer of multiple bracelets. Although every year since 2000 has seen one player with two bracelets, there's never been a year quite like this.

First, Brock Parker (infamous on PokerStars under the handle t_soprano) won a pair by taking down bracelets in back-to-back six-handed Hold'em events.

After winning his first bracelet of 2009, Phil Ivey shocked the poker world by claiming he would win a second in under two weeks. He accepted any bet players were willing to throw at him then made good on his claim, winning his second just 10 days after the first.

If you hadn't heard the name Lisandro before the 2009 WSOP, you've heard it now. Not only was Jeffrey "The Stud King" Lisandro the third player to win a second bracelet in 2009, he became the first to win a third. All three of his bracelets have come from 7-Card variations.

Finally, the latest player to double down was Full Tilt Pro Greg "FBT" Mueller. Mueller, whose nickname is an acronym for "Full Blown Tilt," has managed to keep his tilt under control, making 2009 the year he won both his first and second WSOP bracelets.

The Dominance of the U.S and A

When it comes to the race for bracelets by country, the USA has absolutely decimated the rest of the globe. With 33 won so far, the USA has almost double the number of bracelets than the rest of the world combined.

Nation	Bracelets
United States	33
Canada	3
United Kingdom	3
Australia	2
Russian Federation	1
Finland	1
Sweden	1
Mexico	1
Italy	1
Holland	1
Hungary	1
Iran	1
Germany	1

Note: Last year 19 of the 59 gold bracelet events were won by non-Americans.

Year of the Pro

Most likely due to the increased starting stack sizes and added blind levels, 2009 has seen the poker professionals dominating over the amateurs. Out of the 51 bracelets awarded this year, 37 have been won by professionals and 7 by semi-professionals.

More WSOP 2009 By the Numbers (Note: all following stats exclude event #49):

Most Cashes:

Darryll Fish	7
Fabrice Soulier	6
Jeffrey Lisandro	6
Daniel Negreanu	6
Brock Parker	6
Anthony Cousineau	6
David Fox	6
Barry Greenstein	6
Mitchell Schock	5
John Monnette	5
Ville Wahlbeck	5
Roland DeWolfe	5
Neil Channing	5
Nikolay Evdakov	5
Alexander Kravchenko	5
Phil Ivey	5
Robert Mason	5
Michael Binger	5
Ken Lennaard	5
Clark Hamagami	5

Most Final Table Appearances:

Mark Gregorich	3
John Juanda	3
Jeffrey Lidandro	3
Greg Mueller	3
Phil Ivey	3
Ville Wahlbeck	3

Most Events Played:

Nikolay Evdakov	33
Nikolay Isra	32
Jacobo Fernandez	29
Daniel Negreanu	28
Andrew Black	28
Erick Lindgren	28
Amnon Filippi	28
Daniel Heimiller	27
Soheil Shamseddin	27
Andrew Bloch	27
Gavin Smith	27
Tad Jurgens	26
Frank Kassela	26
Marco Traniello	26
Richard Geyer	26
Michael Binger	25
Jason Mercier	25
Chris Bjorin	25
Shannon Shorr	25
David Singer	25
Ryan Hughes	25
Berry Johnston	25
Michael Leah	25

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Jason Mercier joins Team PokerStars Pro

info@www.Pokerlistings.com — Tue, 30 Jun 2009 18:38:40 +0100

The 22-year-old Floridian has torn up the live tournament circuit since his victory last year at EPT4 San Remo, amassing $3.3 million in winnings in a little over a year.

Mercier picked up his first World Series of Poker bracelet earlier this summer and now continues his meteoric rise to success by joining forces with one of the biggest names in poker.

"It feels great," Mercier told PokerListings.com. "It feels like it's been a long time coming.

"Over the last fifteen months it's just like each thing I've done I've gotten one step closer. Winning the bracelet I guess was the last thing I needed to do."

As a Team Pro, Mercier will wear the PokerStars logo at many of the world's most prestigious tournaments, including European Poker Tour and WSOP events.

"I'm looking forward to going to Barcelona and London this year," Mercier said. "Before the deal I wasn't sure if I was going to go."

He'll also play online at PokerStars.com, where fans will be able to test their skills against the young hotshot.

"I have to play a certain amount of online hours whereas I wasn't playing online as much over the last six months," he said. "I'm going to have to get back to the online grind."

Mercier told PokerListings the partnership with PokerStars was a natural fit.

"I'm friends with a decent amount of the team pros already and I'm friends with a bunch of people who work for PokerStars, so I'm really looking forward to developing those friendships more as well as travelling and making new friends," he said.

The EPT London High-Roller champ also said he looks forward to the security he gains from the deal, but that he doesn't think it will change much at the tables.

"Maybe more people will know who I am, but as a player I don't think it changes anything about the way that I play or the respect that I get," he said.

PokerStars also announced it has signed Dutch pro Marcel Luske as another new member of Team PokerStars Pro.

You can join Mercier and Luske at PokerStars by signing up for an account via PokerListings.com. Do so here.

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PokerRoad captures WSOP big picture

info@www.Pokerlistings.com — Mon, 29 Jun 2009 22:07:24 +0100

The popular multimedia site continues to reinvent the way poker tournaments are covered with its innovative PokerRoad Nation Photo Blog.

Taking inspiration from mainstream media and print sources, the blog seeks to provide a photo essay showcasing the highlights of each tournament day at the World Series of Poker.

It's the brainchild of PokerRoad president Joe Sebok, veteran tournament reporter BJ Nemeth and PokerRoad Nation maestro Jeff Holsey.

"We wanted to take the lead of Sports Illustrated and the Boston Globe's Big Picture," Sebok told PokerListings.com.

"It's basically us trying to tell the story of what goes on at the WSOP through these big high-resolution photos."

Nemeth takes the bulk of the pictures, which range from standard tournament fare to human-interest and lifestyle shots.

A recent album focused on pro Daniel Negreanu's charity golf tournament, featuring pros like Scotty Nguyen and Erick Lindgren.

"We're trying to catch the excitement of what goes on at these tournaments as well as outside of them," Sebok said.

According to Sebok, the genesis of the project sprang from Nemeth and Holsey's background in traditional tournament reporting.

"I think the inspiration came from them doing tournament coverage and wanting to do something different and wanting to push the envelope," he said.

Nemeth is understandably proud of his work.

"It takes a long time to shoot, sort, process, upload and caption the best possible photos to tell the story of each day at the World Series of Poker," he recently wrote on Tao of Poker. "But it only takes five minutes to check them out each day."

As with many of PokerRoad's innovations, reactions to the blog have been positive.

"People love it. People absolutely love it," Sebok said. "I think everyone from [WSOP commissioner] Jeffrey Pollack to all of these different players have all told us they love it.

"It's something you can check out to see what's going on day after day."

Check out the PokerRoad Nation Photo Blog and hear PokerListings.com on PokerRoad Radio at PokerRoad.com.

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$50k H.O.R.S.E. headed down the home stretch

info@www.Pokerlistings.com — Mon, 29 Jun 2009 10:51:17 +0100

The unofficial players' championship is now down to just 19 players and the winner of the 2009 WSOP $40k 40th anniversary tournament holds the overnight lead.

Russian Vitaly Lunkin pushed his way to the top of the leaderboard after four levels of play Sunday and following his second place finish in the $10k PLO World Championship, he sits poised to make his third final table of this summer.

While top pros like Phil Ivey, Barry Greenstein, Doyle Brunson and 2008 H.O.R.S.E champ Scotty Nguyen all hit the rail today, Swedish high-stakes cash player Erik "The Salmon" Sagstrom led the field for much of the day.

A late charge by Lunkin, who also won a bracelet in 2008, put Sagstrom second in chips headed into Day 4 Monday, but he still sounded enthusiastic about his chances.

"I've been feeling good the whole day," he said. "It's nice for the ego to win a tournament like this. I don't care that much about bracelets, but in this tournament, the money's nice, the field is nice and I love to play H.O.R.S.E."

2007 H.O.R.S.E. winner Freddy Deeb made a strong post-dinner push and will come into the final 19 third in chips with both David Bach and the omnipresent Ville Wahlbeck breathing down his neck.

With a bracelet win in the $10,000 Mixed Game World Championship, a runner-up finish in the $10k 2-7 Draw Lowball and a third in the $10k Seven-Card Stud already this year, Wahlbeck retains a shot at 2009 WSOP Player of the Year honors.

"I really did care about [winning Player of the Year] before Jeffrey [Lisandro] won his third bracelet," Wahlbeck said. "He's got such a massive lead that it's almost over now.

"I would like to win it, but with the year I've had already, I really can't complain."

Plenty of big names are still in contention, including Gus Hansen, Huck Seed, Tony G and Erik Seidel.

Play continues at 2 p.m. PT in the play down to the final table and PokerListings will have Live Updates throughout.

Event 50 - $1,500 Limit Shootout

Canadian Greg Mueller won his second bracelet of the summer beating fellow 2009 WSOP bracelet winner Marc Naalden heads-up for the title.

For Mueller's thoughts on joining the multiple bracelet club click here.

Event 51 - $1,500 No Limit Hold'em

Alex Jacob, who came 4th in the a $1,500 No Limit event a week ago, looked poised to make another run here until a late collapse saw his chances slip. 2008 WSOP final tablist Owen Crowe will headline the field going into the final day 2 p.m. Monday.

Event 52 - $3,000 Triple Chance No Limit Hold'em

Replacing the rebuy events at the 2009 WSOP, this unique triple-chance event saw 854 entries for Day 1 Sunday.

After ten levels of poker just 153 survived.

Although it appeared Tim Horan and Anthony Spinella were neck and neck for the overnight lead, 2009 WSOP triple bracelet winner Jeffrey Lisandro is not far behind.

Play resumes at 2 p.m. PT Monday.

Event 53 - $1,500 Stud 8

The final Stud 8 event of the 2009 WSOP saw 467 players register Sunday.

Mike Matusow, Daniel Negreanu and host of other big names are still in the running headed into Day 2 at 2 p.m. PT Monday.

- With Files From Rod Stirzaker

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Mueller makes it two at 2009 WSOP

info@www.Pokerlistings.com — Mon, 29 Jun 2009 09:45:18 +0100

But Sunday night, in his first final table appearance since, the hockey-pro-turned-poker-pro from British Columbia, Canada managed to win his second piece of World Series gold.

"It feels unbelievable," he told PokerListings moments after the win.

"The first one was extremely special, but winning two bracelets in one year puts me in a pretty elite category. It feels great."

Once again the game was Limit Hold'em, but this time it was the $1,500 Shootout and Mueller had to beat fellow 2009 WSOP bracelet holder Marc Naalden heads-up to book the win.

"What made it really tough was I had to beat the one player I was most concerned about heads-up to win it," he said. "Even coming into the final table I felt Marc Naalden would be my toughest competition."

Mueller said the experience of seven final tables and the bracelet win a week and a half ago certainly helped.

"I don't panic when I lose a hand early on in the final table and I don't try to win the whole tournament in the first 20 hands," he said. "Experience really helps."

With two Limit Hold'em bracelets on his wrist now, Mueller has to be considered one of the strongest Limit players in the game today.

"It definitely says a lot about my Limit Hold'em game right now," he said. "They say good things come in threes and there's still a couple more events to go here."

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No chance for rebuys at 2009 WSOP

info@www.Pokerlistings.com — Sun, 28 Jun 2009 23:45:27 +0100

There isn't a single rebuy event at the 2009 WSOP.

The closest thing to a rebuy event this year is the $3k Triple Chance No-Limit Hold'em event, which began Sunday with a field of more than 800 players.

Eliminating the rebuy tournaments has sparked much debate around the 2009 WSOP.

"They should have kept the rebuy events," said Mike "The Mouth" Matusow, who didn't buy in for the Triple Chance event.

The Triple Chance format has been used before for Pot-Limit Omaha events but this event marks the first time it's been used for No-Limit Hold'em.

Players get 9,000 in chips total but can choose to access the chips in increments of 3,000 up until the cutoff point. Entrants are given an initial 3,000 chips and have two special rebuy chips that they can turn in at any time for an additional 3,000 per chip.

This format adds a new dimension of strategy, as players can choose to get all 9,000 chips right at the beginning, or sit at 3,000 and save the Triple Chance chips as protection against bad beats.

"It's a fun thing," said Daniel Negreanu during a break. "For one thing it adds skill to the event, because it offers people a chance to decide how they want to play their stacks, a little bit more like simulating the cash game in a sense."

"It's kind of a unique structure. We have so many events, 57 bracelet events, so it's kind of fun to throw one in there like that."

Negreanu was one of the biggest names to advocate the elimination of the rebuy events for 2009.

"I was a big proponent of getting rid of the rebuy events," Negreanu said. "For a world championship event, everyone should be on equal footing. Everyone in an event should have an equal chance based not on how rich they are."

The event has drawn an all-star lineup, including Erick Lindgren, who spent the afternoon multi-tabling between Triple Chance and $50k H.O.R.S.E.

Other entrants include John Juanda, Antonio Esfandiari, Ivan Demidov, Mike Sexton, Jeffrey Lisandro, Eli Elezra, Jason Mercier and many others.

Negreanu spoke out against the rebuy events before this year's WSOP, with the philosophy that players shouldn't be able to "buy" a bracelet by pouring big money into a rebuy events.

Matusow is amongst the contingent that disagrees.

"Not having the rebuy ruins some of the events," Matusow said.

The $3k Triple Chance No-Limit Hold'em event will continue for two more days culminating in a final table on Tuesday night that will award a WSOP bracelet.

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Two-time Cantu ships PLO-8 bracelet

info@www.Pokerlistings.com — Sun, 28 Jun 2009 08:11:02 +0100

The comeback was especially significant for Cantu, given the young American was bitterly disappointed to let an opportunity of another bracelet slip from his grasp just a week ago, finishing 2nd in the $1.5k No Limit Hold'em.

"It does feel great because a week ago I should have won and it was really hard for me to take," said Cantu.

In this tournament, Cantu appeared to have created an almost impregnable position of strength, holding nearly one-third of chips coming into the final table.

"Once I got so many chips I thought it was going to be tough to get them from me," Brandon revealed.

He still had some demons to exorcise following that near-miss last week, however.

"With three or four left, it was slipping from my grasp," he said.

"I was last in chips four-handed and I was just trying to wait for premium hands and pick my spots. The 2nd place finish a week ago preyed on my mind when we were heads up. When I was short I was just thinking double, double and once I did, I knew I was going to have a great chance."

He exorcised those demons impressively, negotiating his way through the difficult periods of the final and following a tumultuous heads-up skirmish, Cantu emerged victorious against fellow poker pro Lee Watkinson, picking up the WSOP bracelet and $228,867.

His motivation for success was not the financial gain but the place in WSOP history he explained.

"Money comes and goes but the bracelet will always be there - it's great!"

Having picked up the bracelet, Cantu seems unlikely to rest on his laurels, promising great things were still to come.

"I'm playing outstanding right now," he said.

"I would never really say this but I really think I'll make another final table this series."

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Hansen among leaders in $50k H.O.R.S.E.

info@www.Pokerlistings.com — Sun, 28 Jun 2009 07:15:32 +0100

Gus Hansen finds himself second in chips with 53 players remaining after 11 total levels in the $50k extravaganza.

Hansen sits behind only Ray Dehkharghani on the chip leaderboard.

Notable among Day 2's survivors are Day 1 chipleader Hasan Habib, Patrik Antonius, Doyle Brunson and Phil Ivey as well as 2008 champ Scotty Nguyen and 2007 champ Freddy Deeb.

Deeb found himself embroiled in a bit of controversy late in Saturday's action, accusing Brett Richey of peeking at his hole cards while standing behind the table.

Richey, in turn, accused Deeb of being a luck box and challenged him to a heads-up match, "Any game, any stakes, any time."

Unfortunately, the night ended before Deeb could accept the challenge.

Among those to succumb on Day 2 were 2006 runner-up Andy Bloch, Annie Duke, the indefatigable Allen Kessler and Daniel Negreanu.

Play will resume for Day 3 at 2 p.m. on Sunday.

Here's how the rest of Saturday's action played out in the Amazon Room:

Event 48 - $1,500 Pot Limit Omaha Hi-Lo Split

Brandon Cantu claimed his second WSOP bracelet in the $1.5k PLO8 event just days after taking second in Event 39, a $1,500 No Limit Hold'em donkament.

Cantu entered the final table with nearly one-third of the chips in play but saw his stack fluctuate wildly before mounting a comeback to defeat Lee Watkinson heads-up for the bracelet and $228,867 in cash.

Check out Cantu's thoughts on the victory here.

Event 50 - $1,000 Limit Hold'em Shootout

Greg Mueller and David Williams headline the final table of the $1,500 No Limit Hold'em shootout event after Day 2 action saw a field of 64 survivors whittled down to an eight-handed final table.

Jose Barbero and Marc Naalden also snagged final table seats, while EPT3 Dortmund champ Andreas Hoivold just barely missed the cut.

Shawn Buchanan and Humberto Brenes also busted out shy of the final table.

Final table action begins at 2 p.m. local time on Sunday.

Event 51 - $1,500 No Limit Hold'em

The penultimate donkament of the 2009 WSOP was an unmitigated success as a field of 2,781 entrants sold out the Amazon Room in a quest for a piece of a $3.8 million prize pool.

Among the 350 players advancing to Day 2 are chipleader Christopher Bonita as well as Amnon Filippi and Jason Potter.

Meanwhile, Paul Wasicka, Jason Mercier and Marc "The Beaver" Convey were among the multitudes who failed to survive the first day's action.

Action will resume at 2 p.m. on Sunday.

Check out PokerListings' WSOP section for more exclusive coverage from the 2009 World Series of Poker.

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