A "How F'in Hot It Is" at the 2008 WSOP Update

In case you were wondering how f'in hot it is in Las Vegas now, let Dario Minieri, Dave "Devilfish" Ulliot, and Erick Lindgren tell you.

VIDEO: How F'in hot it is in Las Vegas

2008 WSOP Update: Flack Attacks and Wins Sixth Bracelet; Is It Finally Time for Binger's First?

Before recapping the 47 tournaments going on concurrently right now, here's some suggested weekend browsing. Visit our favorite cougar for her interview with PokerRoad.com's Joe Sebok (here). Hilarious true story on Astroglide from Kid Dynamite (here). Great pics of 2008 WSOP winners at LasVegasVegas.com (here). Interesting read on the latest UIGEA news at Pokerati (here). And head over to PokerListings.com for their daily WSOP video recap.

:: Event #34 ($1,500 Pot Limit Omaha w/ Rebuys) - It's been five years since Layne Flack (at right, earlier at this year's WSOP) captured his fifth WSOP bracelet. Both Flack and Ted Forrest entered final table play with a shot to enter poker elite status by becoming only one of ten people to capture their sixth. While Forrest flourished early but faltered to fifth, Flack went on the attack to finish first. Flack appeared super focused, went hyper-aggressive after Forrest was eliminated, and defeated Daniel Makowsky heads-up for the title. Along with his sixth bracelet, Flack banked $577,725, more than making up for the 20+ rebuys he made in the event. Get full final table payouts here.

:: Event #35 (#1,500 Seven Card Stud) - Trust us, you really don't care. Results here.

:: Event #36 ($1,500 No Limit Hold'em) - The mega-field of 2,447 made it down to a final table early this morning. Making his first final table at the 2008 WSOP as chip leader after two previous cashes is Jesper Hougaard with 1,582,000. Danny Wong is third overall with 1,105,000. And the 2005 WSOP final table-ist who made the donk move that knocked Greg Raymer out, Aaron Kanter, is short-stacked with 165,000. NWP's Bryan Micon had a strong showing, finishing 15th. Get full final table stacks here.

:: Event #37 ($10,000 Omaha Hi/Lo) - Of the 235 who started only 18 remain, and they'll play it down to a winner today. Ram Vaswani starts the day as big stack with 569,000. Last year Phil Hellmuth told us that Mike Matusow is the best Omaha Hi/Lo player in the world, and he's living up to that rep stacked second overall with 396,000. Other notable unmarketable big names remaining include Chau Giang (384,000), David Benyamine (378,000), David Chiu (372,000), and Berry Johnston (338,000). Get full chip counts here.

:: Event #38 ($2,000 Pot Limit Hold'em) - Not many people mention Michael Binger as a "Best Without a Bracelet" guy, but his run since making the 2006 WSOP final table is just sick. He cashed eight times at the WSOP in 2007. He already has three cashes and a final table this year. And he's currently the big stack in Event #38 with 146,100. He's followed by Ayaz Mahmood with 97,600. Get the full final 63 who will play down to the final table today (and a $244,583 first prize) here.

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WSOP Photo Dump: Pros Playing in the World Championship Omaha Hi-Low Split Event

As we mentioned in this post, the big name pros came out yesterday for Day 1 of Event No. 37, the $10,000 buy-in World Championship Omaha Hi-Low Split event at the 2008 WSOP.

We tasked our photog with shooting some of the poker pros competing, and we think he did a great job picking his subjects, including Mike Matusow (above), Katja Thater, Thor Hansen, Jen Harman and Michael Binger.

Click thumbnails below for full images.

If you liked the photos above, don't click here. Ruins everything.

If you swipe our pics, we appreciate the link back to www.wickedchopspoker.com. thanks.

2008 WSOP Ginger of the Day

Scientist have confirmed that male pattern baldness, like gingervitis, is a recessive gene.

They've also confirmed that gingers have no souls and are creepy, even when they lose their ginger hair.

Caption This

Click individual thumbnails below for full photos of Dewey Tomko, Eskimo Clark and Johnny Chan and to post your caption in the new WCP poker forum.

Actually don't click on the Johnny Chan one. Really, it's not funny. Not at all.

2008 WSOP Update: Ted Forrest Goes for Sixth Bracelet; Chris "Jesus" Ferguson Just Misses His

Jennifer Harman (above) is among the many big names going toe-to-toe in the $10,000 Omaha Hi/Lo championship.

We're beginning to think that the goal goal of the 2008 WSOP is to punish the so-called poker "media." Just way too many events going on at once. Did we lose a war? A war we weren't even aware of?  You are sly ones, Harrah's officials, with your guerilla tactics.

:: Event #33 ($5,000 Seven Card Stud Hi/Lo) - Tough one for Chris "Jesus" Ferguson. Going for WSOP bracelet number six, Ferguson had the chip lead at times but eventually fell heads-up to Sebastian Ruthenberg. This is Ruthenberg's first bracelet. He banks $328,756 for the win. Ferguson adds another $202,406 to his fortunes. Marcel Luske finished fourth ($95,069) and Annie Duke, a woman, finished fifth ($73,602). Get full results here.

:: Event #34 ($1,500 Pot Limit Omaha w/ Rebuys) - While Ferguson just missed his sixth, Ted Forrest has a shot to nab his. Forrest already has a runner-up finish this year in Event #16 and is one of the many rumored to have bracelet prop bets on the side. Forrest is second overall in chips going into final table play with 757,000. Also in the mix is Layne Flack with 601,000. Jacobo Fernadez will take a crack at his first bracelet again this year, having now made three final tables. Fernadez is short-stacked with 240,000.

:: Event #35 ($1,500 Seven Card Stud) - A "friends and family" final table of eight. If you're related to Michael Rocco or Al Barbieri then get their chip counts here.

:: Event #36 ($1,500 No Limit Hold'em) - Of the 2,447 that entered, only 186 survived. Sounds dramatic. Day 2 play begins shortly with Owen Crowe as the chip leader, stacked at 170,000. NWP's Bryan Micon has 64,500 (watch his spectacular Degenerate Report here). And the spectacularly-breasted J.C. Tran is among the few other big names remaining with 54,400. Get full chip counts here.

:: Event #37 ($10,000 Omaha Hi/Lo) - The final tourney of the day is led by Omaha Hi/Lo specialist Soheil Shamseddin (dude already made a Hi/Lo final table this year). Other big name chip leaders include 2008 WSOP POY co-leader Erick Lindgren (91,700), Chau Giang (84,700), and Annie Duke, a woman (83,700). Tons of other big names still remain. Get 'em all here.

Get live World Series of Poker coverage and more in-depth WSOP blogs at Poker Listings.

Wii Fit Kind of Sells Itself (this post 99% poker free)

Who you got? Random dudes girlfriend doing Wii Fit (above left) or Playboy's Cyber Girl of the Year 2008 Jo Garcia doing Wii Fit (above right). View choices after the jump . . . Or of course, you could exercise some restraint and not watch the videos of hot chicks doing Wii Fit and get current 2008 WSOP chip counts from Event No. 36 here.

Bryan Micon Pwning Event #36, Degenerate Updating

NWP's Bryan Micon is currently one of the chip leaders in Event #36 ($1,500 No Limit Hold'em). More on that later. For now, get the latest breakdown on the sickest prop bets, bracelet bets, and drunken stupors this week at the 2008 WSOP on the Degenerate Update.

VIDEO: Bryan Micon's latest 2008 WSOP Degenerate Update

Clonie Gowen Patched Up Today at the WSOP

. . . and about to cash in the $1,500 buy-in Pot-Limit Omaha W/ReBuys event.

Relatedly, Michael Binger has something to say about Clonie here.

Semi-relatedly, these photos show what 44 should look like.

Poker Player Jerry Buss Likes 'Em Young, Exotic

Grampa gets an eye-full of Jerry Buss' railbird late night at the 2008 WSOP.

A day after the Celtics hammered his Lakers in Game 6 of the NBA Finals by more than five touchdowns, Jerry Buss, 74, was grinding it out in the $1,500 buy-in Seven Card Stud event at the 2008 WSOP while being railed by some exotic-looking youngin' we're guessing is a few years shy a third his age, if that in any way adds up to about 21.

And by exotic we mean what is she? Indonesian? Peruvian? Native American/Filipino/Black/Mexican? Not that it really matters. Just curious.

Anyway, the girl above was with him all day along with another, way hotter, equally exotic-looking chick who looked sort of like Jeannena Flores, the Hawaiian Tropic model he was with when he got busted for his DUI. We're not sure where she went later in the night when it was just the girl above on the rail. Curfew perhaps.

Why are we writing about this shit? Oh yeh, we promised pics in this post. Click away below, including the crappy one a reader emailed us from his iPhone. See how Jerry's doing today on Day of Event No. 35 here.

2008 WSOP Ginger of the Day

This ginger, staring blankly, soullessly at his opponents, made it to Day 2 of the $1,500 Stud event at the 2008 WSOP.

2008 WSOP Update: Our Favorite Scarf-Wearing Euro Wins First Bracelet; Chris "Jesus" Ferguson Goes for His Sixth

While our photog was getting busted and Phil Ivey and Jerry Buss were chatting it up, there was actually some great poker going on at the Rio last night. Update time...

:: Event #31 ($2,500 No Limit Hold'em Six-Handed) - Our favorite scarf-wearing Euro, Dario Minieri (photo), took this one down. He beat Seth Fischer heads-up for the title, winning his first bracelet and banking $528,418. In what probably contains no irony at all, Dario's winning heads-up hand was pocket Queens. Not that Dario goes that way, even though most Euros are definitely more sexually "open" than U.S. Americans. In fact, we'd wager that that little guy probably bags more chicks than KFC. Mostly because European girls are more sexually "open" than just about anywhere else in the world, and that includes girls who grew up in Florida. So actually why are we ripping on Euros? They hardly work, their money is worth more than ours, and they're doing it like all the time. Bastards. This is a poker blog, right? Get full chip counts here.

Rest of the update after the jump . . .

Not Sure What Phil Ivey and Jerry Buss Are Discussing

We have no idea what Phil Ivey, who is rumored to have bet a bundle of cash on the LA Lakers to win the NBA championship series (along with a bunch of other players), was saying to LA Lakers owner Jerry Buss in the above photo taken last night in the Amazon Room at the Rio Las Vegas.

However, their combined income probably exceeds the GDP of many small countries, so they could probably give two shits about any joke we'd make about it any way. Money is cool like that.

Look for another post on Jerry Buss and his hot railbird shortly...

Shannon Elizabeth Playing Poker Isn't Quite Like Shannon Elizabeth Dancing with the Stars

When Shannon Elizabeth of Dancing with the Stars fame was on Dancing with the Stars, we were killing it because people google'd the heck out of Shannon Elizabeth Dancing with the Stars and Dancing with the Stars Shannon Elizabeth. And either way you put it, we owned it, so Shannon Elizabeth on Dancing with the Stars was great for our traffic.

Shannon Elizabeth playing poker, however, not so much.

Not that we're not one of the top sites if you google "Shannon Elizabeth playing poker." Just seems no one is doing it.

Lacey Jones playing poker. Tons of hits.

Diane Nguyen playing poker. Ditto.

Layla Kayleigh nude playing poker. People want to see.

But Shannon Elizabeth playing poker. Again, just not something people are searching.

Not sure why, because if you click on our photos below of Shannon Elizabeth playing poker in the Stud/8 event at the 2008 WSOP (where she made it onto Day 2 with a healthy stack), you have to admit she looks pretty damn good. Maybe not Layla Kayleigh nude playing poker good, but still good enough.

Shannon Elizabeth Poker Photos Gallery

Busted!

She's on to us.

Btw, can you spot the poker player our photog was "supposed" to be shooting in the pic above? Answer here.

Click the first thumbnail image below (same girl) to see that we weren't the only ones who got busted . . .

2008 WSOP Update: Event No. 34, $1,500 Pot-Limit Omaha w/ Rebuys

The insufferably annoying Humberto Brenes (foreground) playing in Event No. 34 as WSOP media guru Nolan Dolla (background) focuses on his work.

Event No. 34, the $1,500 buy-in Pot-Limit Omaha W/ReBuys event at the 2008 WSOP, lived up to its billing as a huge shove fest with 320 runners rebuying/adding-on a total of 1,350 times. That drove the prize purse up to $2.4 million with first place guaranteed a decent $577,725 payday.

Half a day after the start of action and they're down to just 58 players. Frank Vizza is the current chip leader with (351k) and big name pros like Ted Forrest (175k), Gavin Griffin (158k), Layne Flack (145k) and Thomas Wahlroos (122k) are among those remaining.

Also in the mix still is Clonie Gowen (120k), who we saw earlier sans any Full Tilt Poker patches. People were speculating that she's about to be dropped from Team Full Tilt and sources of ours close to FTP management have told us she's indeed on her way out, if not already.

Get current chip counts here.

Photos of the insufferably hot Grace Park here.

Fun w/ GIFs at the 2008 WSOP: Eskimo Clark

What a difference a year can make.

A year ago Eskimo Clark came close to dying several times, having multiple strokes while playing in tournaments at the WSOP. This year he's doing push-ups at his table during the break of the $1,500 buy-in 7CS event. The guy's a machine.

(give it a sec to load and animate)

Got a caption for the above or something to say, comment below or head to our new poker forum.

Eskimo cooling off after his work out below . . .

Daniel Negreanu Kinda Wants to Win POY, Badly

After slagging Yukon Brad Booth for not knowing jack about Stud/8, Daniel Negreanu talks about his WSOP Player of the Year strategy and how badly he wants to win it. Watch his latest video blog below or head over to RawVegas.tv.

Also, for those who speak Australian, check out Joe Hachem's latest video blog here.

2008 WSOP Ginger of the Day

Dr. Pauly's Good at that Writin' Stuff

Everyone's favorite degener-able poker journalist/blogger/burnout Dr. Pauly of Tao of Poker is on a roll this year at the 2008 WSOP.

Not stuck at the Rio doing 20-hour days of live reporting like in past years, Pauly's been able to focus on smoking up barrels of weed poolside in Summerlin writing up some of of his best WSOP-Vegas-degenerate-gambling color stories in his 5(?)-year history of covering poker's biggest event.

Indeed, some of his best has been this week, including his Never Trust a Junkie post, which we actually read in its entirety despite the lack of pictures. Read it here.

Also check out today's post Looking Through a Glass Onion here.

He also did a great write-up on Archie Karas. Not sure what the link is for that but we're someone will tell us.

Phil Hellmuth Records 65th WSOP Cash, Going for 12th Bracelet, That's Tom McEvoy in the Hat Below

It's late and that headline is all we got right now for the $1,500 No-Limit Hold'em event at the 2008 WSOP.

Perhaps more of an update in the a.m. For now, go here for chip counts.

Click thumbnail below for closer look. For something NOT FUNNY at all, go here.

John Phan Phinally Phetches Phirst WSOP Bracelet

John "Razor" Phan phinally did it.

After more than 10 hours of phinal table play and six-plus hours of heads-up action, Phan was phinally able to claim his phirst WSOP bracelet by winning the $3,000 buy-in No-Limit Hold'em event at the 2008 World Series of Poker. Phan takes away $434,789 phor the win, the second biggest cash of his career.

Phinishing second was Johnny Neckar, who walks with $277,452.

Phan has runner-up'd twice at the WSOP, once last year and once the year bephore. He now has just under phour million dollars in career tournament winnings.

Read about Phan and Neckar going all-in three times, in the dark, prephlop, near the end of the tournament here.

Relatedly, we're phans of Phans' super cute girlphriend, and we mean that respectphully. Click thumbnail image below phor a closer look . . .

2008 WSOP Update: Event No. 33, World Championship Seven Card Stud Hi-Low Split-8 or Better

Scott Fischman (above) decked out in his Full Tilt Poker gear in Event No. 33, the Stud/8 championship.

The World Championship Stud 8 or Better event was today's 5pm start at the 2008 WSOP. Lotta big names in the 261-player field battling it out for a share of a smallish prize pool of $1,226,700. That number though is up a tad from last year's championship won by Edwin James Olmos Eli Elezra

Early chipleaders include Barry Greenstein, who's coming off a bracelet win in the Razz event, Shawn "Sheiky" Sheikhan, who wins the award so far for drawing the hottest drunk railbirds to an event, Robert Mizrachi, Tex Barch, Todd Brunson, Alex Jacob, David Benyamine, 4-time WSOP bracelet winner Daniel Negreanu, Justin Bonomo, Jordan Rich, a ginger, and Huck Seed, who we're picking to win this event 'cause the guy is due.

Notable bust outs so far include Gavin Smith, Chad Brown, who is somewhere in this photo, not that you're looking, Jen Harman and Archie Karas.

Chip counts here.

Unrelatedly, Marissa Miller topless in Ralph here.

Click thumbnail image below . . .

Phil Ivey Might've Lost A Lot of Money Tonight

Phil Ivey (above) might've emptied his wallet when the Lakers lost tonight.

As we reported last week, Phil Ivey, who likes to gamble, had a vested interest in the LA Lakers vs. Boston Celtics NBA Championship series.

The rumor all over the Rio Amazon Room floor was that Ivey had $2 million dollars riding on the Lakers to defeat the Celtics (pictures of Ivey watching the game while playing poker here and actually courtside at a game here).

However today there is talk that it was a futures wager of $500,000 to win $2,000,000. Who knows. Ivey is to throwing cash around what the SEC is to college football. He's simply the best at it.

What we do know is that last time Ivey was supposedly down a lot of cash, he won the WPT LA Poker Classic. So watch what Ivey does in the $50,000 H.O.R.S.E. event next week.

More photos of Ivey watching the game tonight during the Stud/8 World Championship after the jump.

Tony G, Gavin Smith and Others On How F'n Hot It Is In Las Vegas

Click play above or watch it on RawVegas.tv here

BREAKING: 60 Minutes Interviews Mark Seif, Mike Sexton, Greg Raymer on Online Poker Cheating Scandal; Feature Rumored to Be a "Hatchet Job" on the Industry

The long awaited 60 Minutes feature on the Absolute Poker online poker cheating scandal took a big step to hitting the small screen today. And Wicked Chops Poker is the only site with photos of the news event.

Anchor Steve Kroft, 62, interviewed Mark Seif (wearing an Absolute Poker jersey), Mike Sexton (not wearing a Party Poker one), Linda Johnson (why? was Shari Flanzer unavailable?), and Greg Raymer (wearing a Poker Stars shirt). The interviews took place in an empty Rio Amazon Room around 11am.

We overheard Raymer discussing the need for the U.S. American government to regulate online poker, and we can surmise because we're smart-like-that that the rest of the messaging from the group was on point with the PPA's platform. Raymer, a Libertarian, said he doesn't see why the government should regulate his actions if they cause no harm to others. Johnson (why her again?) and Sexton both agreed with the need for regulation and taxation.

The wild card in this mix is that 2+2 poster and founder of the AbsolutePokerCheats.com website (here), Michael Josem, was also interviewed. How the stories weaved by Seif and Josem regarding the Absolute scandal will surely be a focal point of the piece and may eventually influence (ever so slightly) how legislators decide to handle the legality of online poker moving forward.

Unfortunately, word from our sources indicate that this 60 Minutes feature will be an outright "hatchet job" on the online poker industry. Although that's really not much of a shocker. But it's certainly not good news either.

More photos from the interviews below. The one of Josem with Seif in the background (second from left) is particularly great.

View the full 60 Minutes online poker scandal photo gallery here. If you swipe photos we appreciate the link back to WCP. And definitely re-watch Mark Seif's interview on the Absolute scandal from last October here or view it in its entirety after the jump.

2008 WSOP Ginger of the Day

Sick

2008 WSOP Update: OMGClayAiken Grabs First Bracelet; J.C. Tran Goes for His Again

The spectacularly-breasted J.C. Tran (above) goes for his first WSOP bracelet today at 2pm PST.

It was an interesting day of 2008 World Series of Poker action, as Event #31 ($2,500 No Limit Hold'em Six-Handed) left many happy to be there and this unfortunate photo was taken which just isn't funny at all. On with the updates.

:: Event #27 ($1,500 No Limit Hold'em) - Vitaly Lunkin won this "friends and family" final table, banking $628,417. If you just really love poker that much and gotta know the rest of what happened, get full results here.

:: Event #28 ($5,000 Pot Limit Omaha w/ Rebuys) - In yet another star-studded final table, online poker superstar Phil "OMGClayAiken" Galfond took down the title, earning his first of what is sure to be a few WSOP bracelets and banking, as Dr. Pauly would say, a "redunkulous" $817,781. Galfond defeated another online specialist, Adam "the_houdini" Hourani, for the title, going 100 hands deep heads-up. David Benyamine took third earning three million five hundred thousand glazed doughnuts $316,307. Poker legend Johnny Chan, who has gone from oranges to bananas, missed out on his record-tying 11th bracelet, finishing fourth and earning $246,874. John Juanda came in sixth ($154,296), Daniel Negreanu, who has mad respect for OMGClayAiken's game, was seventh ($123,437), and the always impressive Phil Hellmuth was eighth ($100,292).

:: Event #29 ($3,000 No Limit Hold'em) - Matthew Vengrin, who you may not remember from the final table of last year's Event #3 final table, is chip leader stacked at 1,007,500. Also in the mix is unheralded Alex Bolotin, who has nearly $1M in WSOP earnings, with 534,000 in chips; David Singer, who is going for his second bracelet at this year's WSOP, with 515,000; and John "The Razor" Phan, who while he doesn't have a bracelet yet, his mom is still probably very proud of him, with 396,500.

:: Event #30 ($10,000 Limit Hold'em) - 218 entered this one, playing down to the final table last night. Aaron Katz, who won a bracelet in 2004 and was never heard from again, is heard from again as chip leader, stacked at 1,232,000. The real story here are two guys looking to shed the "Best Without a Bracelet" moniker, as both Andy Bloch (370,000), and the spectacularly-breasted J.C. Tran (247,000), are in the mix. The short-stack is a guy named Brock Parker, who must either be a super-hero or a porn star. Get full chip counts here. Follow final table action at 2pm PST here.

2008 WSOP Band of Bloggers: Get full recaps and payouts from WorldSeriesofPoker.com here. Get Dr. Pauly's take on WSOP happenings here. Gary Wise has some thoughts here. Please please don't forget Pokerati here. And get Poker Prof's recap and more photos here.

* The photo above is of J.C. Tran masquerading by the name Tanya Robinson, super-sexy British model. Get the full sized pic after the jump and the full lingerie shoot here.

2008 WSOP Update: Event No. 31, No-Limit Hold'em - Six Handed

A smiling Anthony Roux of Team Winamax is well-stacked late on Day 1 of Event No. 31

Day 1 of the $2,500 buy-in No-Limit Hold'em / Six Handed event at the 2008 WSOP has drawn to a close, and among the notable chipleaders include our favorite scarf-wearing Euro Dario Minieri, Bill Chen, Scotty Nguyen, Anthony Roux, the guy with the girl's name Shannon Shorr, the awfully nicknamed Max "Italian Pirate" Pescatori and railbird-er Eric Liu.

A total of 1,012 runners entered to bring the prize pool to $2,327,600, with first cashing $528,418.

Play resumes tomorrow at 2pm PST. Chip counts updated before then here.

Click thumbnails below for photos of the aforementioned Anthony Roux (photo courtesy of Benjo), Shannon Shorr and Bill Chen.

Guess Who

Party foul on table Blue #9 in the $2,500 Six-Handed No-Limit Hold'em event at the 2008 WSOP.

Here are your picks:

(a) Eli Elezra
(b) Scotty Nguyen
(c) Men "The Master" Nguyen
(d) Minneapolis Jim Meehan
(e) Dario Minieri

This Is Unfortunate

Ok, a couple things:

1) As our site has grown over the past couple years, we get more and more of our stories from reader tips. We also occassionally get photos from them too. Like this one of Johnny Chan. It's why we love our readers so, so much.

2) There is absolutely nothing funny about this photo. We can't think of anything humorous about it at all. We're not even sure why we posted it. Nothing good can be gained from posting this photo. What is it even of? We're not sure. But whatever it is, it's not funny. Anyone who thinks it's funny is seriously fucked up in the head. There is something wrong with you if you find something like the above photo funny.

Caption this photo.

Hellmuth Denied 12th WSOP Bracelet, Chan Closing In On 11

11-time WSOP bracelet winner Phil Hellmuth (above) was out-stacked at the final table of Event No. 28.

There will be no 12th WSOP bracelet for Phil Hellmuth. At least not today.

Severely out-stacked when play began today, Hellmuth had his work cut out for him against a seriously stacked final nine in the $5,000 buy-in PLO w/ Rebuys event, which included pros Phil "OMGClayAiken" Galfond, Kiril Gerasimov, David Benyamine, John Juanda, Johnny Chan and Daniel Negreanu. Doubling up during the first level of play, Hellmuth was able to hang in there early, but after just about three hours, his chance to further distance himself in the WSOP bracelet count came to an end.

Hellmuth's 8th place finish does add to his record-setting number of WSOP cashes, now at 64.

He also holds the record for number of WSOP final tables: 40.

Also eliminated from the final table so far: Brian "tsarrast" Rast - 9th place, Daniel Negreanu - 7th and John Juanda - 6th.

Still in and sitting with the second most chips last we checked is Johnny Chan (a ginger?), who is hoping to match Hellmuth's record 11 WSOP bracelets tonight. Chan is currently stacked at 2,125,000 while online poker phenom OMGClayAiken is the leader with 2.3 mil. Benyamine and Gerasimov (where's he been?) are fading away with 750k and 745k, respectively.

Keep track of chip counts here.

Hear what Daniel Negreanu has to say about OMGClayAiken here.

David Benyamine looking his best here.

UPDATE: Chan is choking, down to 330k. Some guy named Adam Hourani is apparently still in at the final table, with over 1.2 mil in chips.

UPDATE: Chan canned. OMGClayAiken, Benyamine and Adam Who?-rani remain.

Daniel Negreanu On OMGClayAiken, Online Poker Players In General

Daniel Negreanu is currently playing the stacked Event #28 final table (follow the action at WorldSeriesofPoker.com here).

In his latest vlog, Daniel talks about a sick move Phil "OMGClayAiken" Galfond made during the tourney and how pros dominating this year's bracelet tally shows that online poker players don't have quite the edge many used to think.

VIDEO: Daniel Negreanu 2008 WSOP vlog

Leilani Dowding Was Here at the 2008 WSOP

Remember our photo of the Perfect 10 girl who we said was an 8 (we were high at the time) from the Ladies Event at the 2008 WSOP? Probably not. She kind of blended in with the other 15 girls in the post that day.

Well, somehow we failed to make the connection then, but the girl is famous British top dropper Leilani Dowding.

If you're not familiar with Dowding, she's a former Miss Great Britain who went topless for Page 3 just like every other self-respecting hot British girl with a smoking hot body has done, then dated a bunch of soccer players (ditto) and has done the celeb-reality TV circuit (ditto again). She's now living in the U.S. and is engaged to some old dude who owns a famous pizza joint and was once married to the world's hottest GILF Raquel Welch.

Word we got from a friend is that the superbly hot, all natural Leilani Dowding is coming back to Vegas for the 2008 WSOP Main Event (not playing though), along with another famous British top dropper who we'll announce here soon. For now, click away below for some of her more modest photos, and for some NSFW pics go here, here, and here.

Click the thumbnails for larger images or visit the Leilani Dowding photo gallery:

2008 WSOP Ginger of the Day

Ahh yuck!

Girl on Girl at the 2008 WSOP: Tiffany Michelle Interview with Michele Lewis

The below is WCP contributor Michele Lewis' first interview in her "Girl on Girl" series at the WSOP. Stay tuned for more interviews with some of the coolest, hottest girls in poker. Check out Michele's blog at michelelewis.com.

I finally had a chance to chat with Tiffany Michelle (above), known on WCP as the girl with two first names. We hooked up in the quiet WSOP Poker Kitchen this week to discuss the little things in life. Tiffany Michelle is a sweet, friendly Gemini who enjoys singing, acting, music and loves animals… OK, I’ll stop with the Playboy-like description. Seriously though, she does have many talents, including playing the piano since she was six, a self-taught guitarist and a successful songwriter.

After finding success in the Hollywood cash games and live tournaments at the Hustler Casino she suddenly found herself on the Bombshell Poker Team for a week at the 2006 WSOP. A simple one week WSOP gig multiplied into six when she was approached by Nick Geber to interview for Bluff. Today, Tiffany Michelle spends less time playing live poker as she’s traveling the world interviewing pros for PokerNews; however, don’t be fooled as she’s often online playing under the name HotChipz. And even though she looks like just another pretty face, she is in fact, well spoken and takes pride in her work.

Interested in finding out what she thinks of the 2008 World Series of Poker, who is the sexpot of poker, what she looks for in a guy and how you may or may not get a date with her through MySpace? Then hump to the jump...

Patrik Antonius Has Some Interesting Prop Bet Offers

VIDEO: Patrik Antonius prop bet video

More RawVegas.tv 2008 WSOP Video Blogs:
Daniel Negreanu and Erick Lindgren during $5k rebuy break
Gavin Griffin at the $10k NLH Heads-Up Championship
Lacey Jones at the $1,500 Razz event

Poker Player Rocco Mediate Guns for U.S. Open Golf Title

When we first met poker player Rocco Mediate at the 2005 WSOP Main Event, we told him, "Son, you're a good poker player. But if you really put your mind to it, you could be a world champion golfer. Work on your game for a few years and then give 'em hell in 2008!"

Mediate, 45, apparently took our advice* and will play the Phil Ivey of golf, Tiger Woods, for the U.S. Open championship.

While a U.S. Open title isn't as tough as Erick Lindgren's golf prop bet last year or have the drama of Patrik Antonius and Daniel Negreanu's battle last week, we here it's still moderately prestigous.

The two will tee off at 9am PST. Get full chip counts here.

* And by "advice" we mean we said, "Hi, good to meet you..." which is closer to the real conversation we had.

2008 WSOP Update: Kenny Tran, Barry Greenstein, Max Pescatori Win Weekend Bracelets, Chan Goes for 11, Hellmuth for 12

 
Shannon Elizabeth (above) is among the millions of poker players not included in this WSOP update.

The Entities decided to take it a little easy this weekend, but only because we love you. As we've all learned through our respective marriages, the best way to make someone grow fonder of you is through a steady diet of ignoring them and neglect. And here you are thinking to yourself, "I thought it was through bringing them flowers, listening to their problems, and being a strong emotional rock of support." And that's why you're a pussy.

:: Event #24 ($2,500 Pot Limit Omaha/Hold'em) - Listen, we know sometimes people have no control over what their nicknames are, but there's nothing cool about being called "The Italian Pirate." However that didn't stop Max Pescatori from denying Allen Cunningham a WSOP bracelet for the 47th consecutive year. Pescatori banks his second bracelet and $246,471. Get full results here.

:: Event #25 ($10,000 No Limit Hold'em Heads-Up) - Many people consider Kenny Tran the best no limit hold'em cash player in the world. He doesn't play many WSOP events, but the ones he does, he does well. Tran won his first bracelet over the weekend by beating, as Dr. Pauly would say, a "redunkulous" field in the $10,000 No Limit Hold'em Heads-Up World Championship at the WSOP. The win brings Tran $539,056. Vanessa Selbst, a woman, finished third. We've spotted Selbst at various cash games googling her name, and we think it might've been her confirming with this comment that she does have a hot girlfriend.

:: Event #26 ($1,500 Razz) - Barry Greenstein is the absolutely most perfect person in the world to win a Razz tournament. Razz is generally detested by most players and Greenstein often doesn't look like he's enjoying playing poker at all (even though it's quite the opposite). For the win, Greenstein banks $97,389 and his third bracelet. Archie Karas, yes this guy, came in seventh. Get full results here.

:: Event #27 ($1,500 No Limit Hold'em) - Over 2,700 entered and 17 remain. And it's an absolutely "friend and family" final 17. Get chip counts here.

:: Event #28 ($5,000 Pot Limit Omaha w/ Rebuys) - Big name final table on this one. Online poker legend Phil "OMGClayAiken" Galfond is the chip leader stacked at 1,393,000. The final table also includes David Benyamine (1,041,000), John Juanda (694,000), going for a record tying 11th WSOP bracelet Johnny Chan (624,000), Daniel Negreanu (460,000), and going for a record 12th WSOP bracelet Phil Hellmuth (119,000). First pays $817,781 and final table play begins at 3pm PST.

The Brothers Hinkle are Good at Poker, Make WSOP History

Twelve days ago, 27-years-old Grant Hinkle of Kansas City won the first $1,500 No-Limit Hold'em event at the 2008 WSOP, besting a massive field of nearly 4,000 players to win $831,462.

Last night, his better-known, younger brother, Blair Hinkle (above), who has been killing it lately on the tournament circuit (just scroll down here), won a WSOP bracelet of his own, taking down Event No. 23, the $2k buy-in No-Limit Hold'em event and bagging $507,563 for the win.

According to Nolan Dolla, this is the first time in the WSOP's 39-year history that siblings have won bracelets in the same year.

Semi-relatedly, sexy Spanish siblings Penelope and Monica Cruz recently made hot sisters history when they may or may not have made out in their brother's porn-themed music video (screen shot from video below, watch video here.

Get full payouts from the $2k NLHE event here.