WPT Championship: Handicapping The Final Table

The WPT Championship final table is set.

Yevgeniy Timoshenko. Early on Day 2 of the event, we asked the WPT team if Yevgeniy Timoshenko, a woman, was a chick, because of this picture. Later we did a post on him. Come to find out the dude is SOLID. Most think he's the real deal. Plus, he's got the Russian thing going for him. After Slumdog Millionaire, Vivek Rajkumar's run, and Anoop Desai's early front-runner status on American Idol, we thought it was the Year of the Indian^TM. But then Anoop flamed out, killing that theory. In poker, it's clearly the Year of the Russian^TM, even if said Russian actually lives in Seattle. Whatever. Timoshenko is big stacked at 13,300,000. He's got the mojo. We've got him listed at 1:1.

Christian Harder. Who? What? Harder is second overall in chips with 7,425,000. He's played solid all week. Third place feels right. 6:1 odds.

ElkY Grospellier. ElkY could grab WPT Player of the Year honors with a fourth place finish, which we think he'll do, because he'll finish second. No non-Russian is hotter in poker right now. EklY is currently third overall with 5,955,000. Odds of winning: 3:1.

Scotty Nguyen. Nobody has more primetime poker experience at this final table than Nguyen. He's played great poker all week. He's been focused. It would be no shocker for him to make a run at this title, despite having a ways to go to catch up. A win would actually make Scotty tournament poker's all-time money winner, so there's some extra incentive if he cares about that kind of thing (like a Phil Hellmuth would, for example). Nguyen is fourth overall going into final table play with 3,275,000. Odds of winning: 5:1 just because he's Scotty Nguyen, baby.

Ran Azor: Who? What? Azor is fifth overall with 2,525,000. Odds of winning: 47:1.

Shannon Shorr: The common sentiment among most people upon hearing Shorr, the guy with the hot porn star sounding girl's name, made the final table has been, "Good for Shannon." The dude has been one of poker's most consistent performers and has been doing it the right way (except for this incident): building his bankroll on his own, no backers, still going to school, and just doing his thing. However, Shorr kind of has that "happy to be here" vibe. He's way short, with 1,130,000, although hopefully he'll cling on to a fifth place finish to milk just a little more TV time and maybe nab himself a deal with one of the online poker sites out there. Odds of winning: 10:1.

Final table play starts at 4pm PST.

What Daniel Negreanu Has Been Up To...

Daniel Negreanu has been a semi-hot topic lately in poker news/forums, but mostly for how people think his bankroll is busted and he's broke, which isn't remotely true. Regardless, it's been awhile since his last vlog, so here's what he's been up to recently.

Watch Daniel Negreanu Blogs From A Secret Location on RawVegas.tv

WPT Championship: Scotty Nguyen Adds Blue Diamond Almonds Bold Player of The Day To List of Accomplishments

A total of 32 poker titles. Five WSOP bracelets. One WPT title. One $50,000 H.O.R.S.E. title. One WSOP Main Event title. And now, finally, Scotty Nguyen can add a Blue Diamond Almonds Bold Player of the Day to his long list of accomplishments.

With just 10 remaining, Nguyen holds the chip lead at the WPT Championship, stacked at 5,880,000. If Nguyen wins this tourney, he'll end up just a few hundred grand behind Jamie Gold as the all-time poker tournament money winner.

Nguyen is followed by Yevgeniy Timoshenko, a woman, with 5,105,000.

Also remaining is porn star Shannon Shorr with 3,155,000. Shorr has been one of the most consistent players on the circuit for the past few years, is always near the top of various Player of the Year standings, yet receives practically no pub. A WPT TV final table appearance at this championship would definitely change that...if people still watched the WPT on TV.

We keed. We keed.

Also still alive is ElkY Grospellier with 1,965,000. We get it ElkY, you're good. Enough already. Leave some tournament money for everyone else.

Full chip counts here.

Lacey Jones' Dirty Thirty

Happy birthday to FOWCP and the hottest girl in poker Lacey Jones. 

Along with being a great girl, Lacey is defying genearlly accepted common logic. See, most girls peak around 19 and steadily deteriorate from there into almost untouchable "things" by the time they hit 32ish. However, occassionally you get these freaks of nature like Lacey who looks better at 30 than she did when we first met her four years ago and whatever 30-4 equals.

Watch Lacey Jones Dirty 30 Party at Lavo on RawVegas.tv

We Know Who Annie Duke Was Yelling at on Celebrity Apprentice

In case you missed it, before the whole Hitler and blowjob comments happened, on this past week's Celebrity Apprentice, Annie Duke just laid the fuck into somebody on the phone who was helping Natalie Gulbis get Phil Hellmuth to contribute to her charity. Instead of Annie's.

Lots of speculation on who it was (Hellmuth even addressed it on the Hardcore Poker Show today here). While there has been a lot of speculation as to what poker industry insider it was, we actually know.

It's one of these five below. Vote for who you think it is in our comments section. And by the way, the voice was altered on the phone in the episode, so no real clues there.

We will randomly select one of the correct answers for a Wicked Chops t-shirt.

1. Jamie Horowitz (ESPN)
2. Brian Balsbaugh (Poker Royalty)
3. Jeffrey Pollack(WSOP/Harrah's)
4. Steve Lipscomb(WPT)
5. Ty Stewart(WSOP/Harrah's)

Vote away...

UPDATE: Not announcing the winner yet, as we may have something in the works with this...developing...

UPDATE II: The big reveal and winner announced Tuesday, April 28.

WPT Championship: Eugene Katchalov Leads After Day 4

Day 4 is in the books at the WPT Championship. The field is down to 24 and Eugene Katchalov of Russia Brooklyn leads them all, stacked at 4,294,000.

Close behind him and third overall in chips is Victor/Victoria Yevgeniy Timoshenko with 2,613,000. Some of the big names remaining include Scotty Nguyen (1,823,000), half-man, half-amazing Freddy Deeb (1,575,000), Jeff Madsen (1,265,000), damn-this-guy-is-good ElkY Grospellier (1,230,000), damn-this-guy-is-good-too-and-has-a-hot-porn-star-name Shannon Shorr (1,200,000), Jennifer Harman, a woman (821,000),and Joe Sebok Zach Hyman Hyman Roth Matt Hyman (433,000).

Get full chip counts here.

We Didn't Start the Flame War

While we've never really actively participated in the comments on our site or in forums, we haven't disavowed the concept that flaming on comment sections and forums actually does exist. For all of you who do flame, enjoy.

All We're Saying Is This...

If Yevgeniy Timoshenko had a really sick and twisted sense of humor, he'd (yep, that's a he) would put on a long blonde wig, some high heels, and try to make out with a guy in a bar...after which he'd go all Crying Game and reveal he's actually a dude, so the friends of the poor guy he was making out with would be all like, "You were making out with a dude, dude! Ah dude! Hahahahaha! Dude!"

We're sure someone like Gavin Smith would pay top dollar to have Yevgeniy do that to Sebok, right? Greatest prop bet ever?

Timoshenko is currently among the chip leaders on Day 4 of the WPT Championship. Phil Ivey and Scotty Nguyen are making charges too. Follow the action here.

WPT Championship: Steve Billirakis Leads Day 3, Phil Ivey Lurking

Day 3 has wrapped at the WPT Championship with Steve Billirakis as the chip leader, stacked at 1,722,000. Billirakis you might remember as the youngest WSOP bracelet winner in history. Or you may not remember him. Either way, he's chip leader. Fuck off.

Billirakis is followed by Joe Sebok Zach Hyman Hyman Roth Matt Hyman with 1,663,000. Mark Seif is third for now until he gets too aggressive and spews off his 1,315,000 in chips. Nenad Medic will probably final table as he's fourth overall with 1,306,000. And David Singer is fifth with 1,116,000.

Only 62 remain. Plenty of notables, including but not limited to Phil Ivey (1,036,000), Jennifer Harman (828,000), Jeff Madsen (712,000), Scotty Nguyen (557,000), ElkY (378,000), Chris "Jesus" Ferguson (338,000), and Mike Matusow (272,000).

Get full chip counts here.

In related news, for those of you in Vegas, you've noticed it's gotten really hot this week, which means the pools are kicking, which means hot girls in bikinis (see below).

Watch SpyOnVegas.com Hot 100 Launch Party with Arianny Celeste on RawVegas.tv

Chip Reese's Estate Up for Auction

This past weekend, an auction was held for Chip Reese's estate.

Reese's house has been on the market for about a year with an asking price around $6M. But now the house and the valuables inside it are going up for auction. The big rumor going around today is that a casino magnate wants to buy the house, tear it down, and build a bigger house. Makes sense. That's what casino magnate kind of do.

While the estate is asking $6M for the house, most we've spoken with think it'll go for something closer to $3.5-4.5M.

View the auction info site here.

WPT Championship: Jean Noel Thorel Leads After Day 2

The WPT Championship played down to 168 on Day 2, and when the dust cleared (<--kidding about that phrase), Jean Noel Thorel, who we know nothing about other than he looks like this and he has a French-sounding name so he's probably a frog. Thorel is stacked at 743,500. He's followed by the still hot Bertrand "ElkY" Grospellier with 678,300. ElkY is to 2008-2009 tournament poker what the spectacularly-breasted J.C. Tran (125,500) was to tournament poker from 2006-2008.

Among the top 10 big stacks are also Steve Billirakis (672,400), Dan Heimiller, a ginger (655,700), Jimmy "Gobboboy" Fricke (583,800), and Jeff Madsen (479,200) who is on his way towards getting a million dollars again (go about 2:45 in here).

Plenty of big names still remain. Some might say that the field is "littered" with big names. Some might say. Get full chip counts here.

Layne Flack With A Douchebag Comment In 3, 2, 1...

In the above video, Layne Flackshatters the world record for making a douchebag comment to start an interview, previously held by Pauly Shorewhen he said, "It's the weee-zelll...owwwww...glaze your do-nuts..." in 1993 on Mtv. Seriously, we go back and forth between not being able to remotely tolerate the guy to having the utmost respect for him as Flack clearly does not give a sliver of a fuck what people are writing/saying about him.

In related news, Justin Young is currently the chip leader at the WPT Championship. Absolute must to check out the worldpokertour.com site for continuing updates here. Their crew does the best job in poker...

Liv Boeree Is Single?

Liv Boiree is quickly turning into one of our favorite poker players. She's smoking hot. She's smart. She pounds beers. She's got that accent. Fuck, she could be a renown ax murderer and we'd be like, "Well, you know, she IS  smoking hot, and smart, and she pounds beers, and damn she has that accent too...Ok so yeah she may decapitate me with an ax but let's roll the dice and see where this one leads..."

Add to that list of pluses that she's also single (or at least she does not mention having a boyfriend in the below vid). So apparently we were wrong. She is not dating Jon Friedberg. To his credit, Friedberg is at least a good sport about it, giving her a lapdance to start the vid off. If we were him, we'd be posting fake Facebook status updates like, "Going to Target with Liv," or "All day Kate Hudson moviefest with Liv, OMG How To Lost A Guy in 10 Days is so LOL!" just to keep the myth going. Like Constanza in that Seinfeld episode, once you date a girl like Liv, you're pretty much "in the club." No less than 10's for him from here on out.

Celebrity Apprentice: Annie Duke Talks Hitler, Blowjobs

Everyone in the WPT Championshipat the Bellagio is talking about last night's Celebrity Apprentice with Annie Duke and Joan Rivers (pictured here).

Amanda Leatherman nabbed Duke during one of the breaks for her take on Joan Rivers' comments and the never-going-to-live-it-down-blowjob remark, which her ex-husband apparently is willing to confirm. Duke makes a pretty salient (pretty sure that's the first time we've used that word in 4 years...BJ Nemeth can you confirm?) point about people reacting to the blowjob comment more than the Hitler one.

Daniel Fuhs Closes Day 1B of WPT Championship as Chip Leader

J.C. Tran's spectacular breasts are among the Day 1B chip leaders at the WPT Championship. View more of his latest photoshoot here.

Good turnout for Day 1B of the WPT Championship, as 211 entered. Today the fields combine, with 301 of the registered 337 remaining.

Daniel Fuhs closed out Day 1B as chip leader, stacked at 254,200. Other big named big stacks include Steve Billirakis (232,450), the spectacularly-breasted J.C. Tran (218,300), and half-man, half-amazing Freddy Deeb (210,425).

Notable eliminations include Clonie Gowen, a woman, and Allen Cunningham. Get full combined field chip counts here.

Celebrity Apprentice: Hitler vs. the Crazy Bitch

So we were flipping through the channels last night and since American Idol, Flight of the Conchords, Big Love, The Office, and South Park weren't on, we decided to give Celebrity Apprentice one more try.

Glad we did. Tuned in a little late, but from what we gathered, Annie finally stepped up as project manager. The task was auctioning off some of Ivanka Trump's jewelry. Whichever team raised the most money won.

Annie was talking about all of the rich friends she has and delivered, including getting Scott Ian from Anthrax to show. Apparently the competing project manager (golfer Natalie Gulbis, sexy time pics here) knew Phil Hellmuth and had called the Poker Brat to contribute as well. Annie caught wind of this and immediately kiboshed that from happening. Annie's team crushed, Natalie got the ax, but before that happened, there was a big board room blow up where Joan Rivers (pictured here) compared Annie to Hitler (clip below). Yes, Adolf Hitler. Whatever you think of Annie, pretty sure she ain't trying to exterminate the Jews. Annie later said she thought Joan was a "crazy bitch," which she probably is, although a different kind of crazy bitch than Tiffany Williamson.

Later in the episode on the second task, Annie was cooking and said something to the effect of her being the "total woman" because she cooks, raises four kids, works hard...and gives a great blowjob. Check out the blowjob clip (not an actual blowjob, but Annie discussing it) here.

UPDATE: From Annie Duke's twitter page: "Joan rivers just tweeted, " I just compared Annie to Hitler. I feel terrible. My apologies to Hitler." Look at her page. WTF?"

Vadim Trincher Running Good, Leads World Poker Tour Championship Day 1A

We're no math wizards, but somewhere around a week or so ago Vadim Trincher won the WPT Foxwoods Poker Classic. He banked over $731,000 and won a seat into the WPT Championship, which began Saturday.

Trincher is still running good, as he ended Day 1A of the aforementioned WPT Championship as chip leader, stacked at 309,725.

This is a mega-deep-stack event, as everyone starts with 100,000 in chips. That makes it even more surprising that Phil Hellmuth showed up late (he twittered that he was at Antonio Esfandiari's VIP cabana) and then busted about 15 minutes after he arrived.

Other Day 1A big stacks include second overall in chips (seriously? really?) Johnny Chan (291,675), Burt Boutin (281,000), and Shaun Deeb (269,900).

Only 19 people from the starting 126 busted, with notables including Kevin Saul and Daniel Alaei.

Get full chip counts here.