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« May 17, 2009 - May 23, 2009 | Main
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As Lex 'RaSZi' Veldhuis and Vanessa Rousso, a woman, play in the $40k, on-lookers demonstrated the official "I'm standing here with my arms-folded" look of the 2009 WSOP.
:: Event #2 ($40,000 NLH):After his dinner break vlog, Justin Bonomo continued to crush, ending Day 2 as chip leader, stacked at 2,678,000. Right behind him is Ted Forrest with 2,586,000. Rounding out the top 5 big stacks are David 'WhooooKidd' Baker (2,367,000), Greg Raymer (2,287,000), and "Please stop referring to me as Evy's bf" Lex 'RaSZi' Veldhuis (2,103,000). Just like high school, many of the marquee names have busted. Chris Moneymaker took a quick tumble, missing the money by about 10 spots. Making the money but making exits shortly thereafter were Vanessa Rousso, a woman, the spectacularly-breasted J.C. Tran, and David "The Dragon" Pham*, all of whom happen to be on the Wicked Chops ESPN WSOP Fantasy team. Thanks for nothing. Only 24 remain. Get full chip counts here.
:: Event #3 ($1,500 Omaha Hi/Lo): A record-setting field of 918 entered play and 197 remain for Day 2. Big names still alive include Annie Duke, a going for bracelet #12 Phil Hellmuth, Lee Watkinson-Markholt, Brandon Cantu, Todd Brunson, and Jon "Pearljammer" Turner. Despite looking quite stunning in our previous post, Gavin Smith busted before play concluded. Get a more robust recap here.
For additional WSOP coverage, visit FOWCP sites: TaoPoker| Pokerati.com| Benjo| PokerListings| LasVegasVegas| AlCantHang| PokerRoad
* Not a real dragon.
Gavin Smith is looking good in Event No. 3. Real good.
They're down from a record-setting 918 to about 300 players in the $1500 Omaha Hi-Lo event. Some notables still in with decent stacks include Annie Duke (32k), Chip Jett (32k), Eli Elezra (28k) and Rafe Furst (23k).
Ok, that's pretty much all we got. It's late and you're asleep.
Team Bodog member Justin Bonomo has been right at the chip lead for the entire $40k NLH event. As of post-time, he's third overall, stacked at 1,273,000.
In his first vlog with RawVegas.tv (kid is a natural at this) and in between Chris Moneymaker trying to eavesdrop on the convo, Bonomo talks about the general ease he's had with the tournament.
With the 2009 WSOP if full swing, Daniel Negreanu is back to vlogging. In his first WSOP vlog, Negreanu discusses the big prop bet(s) he and Erick Lindgren have with a number of pros, his bad beat by Doug "Toolbox" Lee in Event #2, and why Omaha Hi/Lo is just like high school.
View all of Negreanu's vlogs here and learn more about his Big Swing charity event here.
The Milwaukee's Best Light Girls are back and it looks like we have a lot of the same ones we've had in past years, which is nice because it's always great to see a familiar set of breasts face. While the girls aren't necessarily new, their outfits are. For the past 3(?) years, they did the daisy duke, carpenter belt, tie-shirt thing. This year they're wearing some sort of Alison in Wonderland/French maid get up or as the Canadian sitting next to us said, "I think they're dressed as milk maids, eh." Whatever kind of maid they are, we'd like to give them a mess to clean up.
Poker Road's Bryan Devonshire trying to get a leg up on today's field in the $1500 Omaha Hi/Lo 8-or-Better event.
Event No. 3, $1,500 Omaha Hi/Lo 8-or-better, is underway at the 2009 WSOP and last we checked there were 908 runners (and rising), including pretty much every big name pro not still in the $40k event or who couldn't quite swing yesterday's buy-in. The size of today's field already tops last year's field of 832 so early on looks like The EconomyTM is not having the effect many thought it would.
Noticeably present in the Rio today are also a shit ton of gingers, including scary ginger from last year and this ginger dealer. So effing creepy. Really. Just gross. And they walk around this place without a care in the world, like it's totally acceptable. Anyway, don't expect for us to do the Ginger of the Day again like we did last year. That robbed our souls more than we thought possible.
Follow the live action here. Follow Wicked Chops Poker on Twitter here.
Heard that the NBA was considering a new logo on the radio today, and we think Erick Lindgren has the right idea for its replacement.
Let's just go ahead and declare: "It's over!"
Ok, maybe the search to find Las Vegas' hottest girl isn't nearly over yet, but the new RawVegas.tv Girl of the Month is a freaking hottie. Meet Brittani Cal-Williamson, a single model who likes to go off-roading, camping, and looks like the kind of girl you could even bring home to meet the parents. Just like Francine Dee. Just kidding.
Anyway, Brittani is our current "chip leader" to win the RawVegas.tv Girl of the Year, which we're not even sure they're doing but they should. More pics below of Brittani.
Given The EconomyTM, an impressive showing of 201 pros forked over $40,000 for 2009 WSOP Event #2, creating a first place prize of $1,891,012.
By the end of the day, 88 remained.
Bruno Fitoussi closed out Day 1 play as chip leader, stacked at 812,500. Fitoussi is a high-stakes player who finished second to half-man, half-amazing Freddy Deeb at the 2007 WSOP $50k H.O.R.S.E. event.
Second overall is Chris Moneymaker with 805,000. Suffice to say, if Moneymaker can make a deep run (something we were a year off maybe on predicting, as we tabbed last year as his John Daly-esque resurgence), that would be good for poker. Justin Bonomo is third overall with 738,000. It's just like high school. Evy Ng's boyfriend Lex 'RaSZi' Veldhuis is fourth with 646,500. And Kyle 'krisqueen' Wilson is fifth, stacked at 611,500.
On a side note, Haxton gets an honorary mention into our Top 5 New Poker Pro looks post. Thanks to FOWCP BJ Nemeth for the at left pic and notice. That Haxton kid cleans up well. Other notable big stacks include Brian Townsend (609,000), Michael "Glambert" DeMichele (519,500), Andy Black (449,500), Phil "OMGClayAiken" Galfond (443,000), Sorel Mizzi (431,000), Mark Seif (411,500), Ted Forrest (401,500), and Isaac Haxton (392,500).
Phil Ivey, Doyle Brunson, the spectacularly-breasted J.C. Tran, and Huck Seed are all still alive as well. Get full chip counts here.
Phil Hellmuth gets burned in a big hand against Alan Sass while we finally find a Girl on the Rail worth posting.
Unlike the fantastically-legged Girl on the Rail in the photo above, 11-time WSOP bracelet winner Phil Hellmuth isn't looking so hot today in the $40k buy-in event. Hellmuth just donked off nearly $235k in one hand to Alan Sass, who is now stacked near the top of the field with 450k. Hellmuth is currently around the 30k range.
Doing well still are Antonio Esfandiari and Justin Bonomo along with new chipleader Lex 'RaSZi' Veldhuis (aka Evelyn Ng's boyfriend) with 530k. We see that Chris Moneymaker is high on the chip count too but we're guessing he's like some sort of "rabbit," like they have in running races, going out ahead to set the pace for the real talent in the field, only to fall out of the race later on. Or maybe he's just getting lucky. It's happened before.
A few more snaps of our first legitimately hot Girl on the Rail of 2009 below.
Poker pros are debuting some new looks at the 2009 WSOP. Here are our top 5 so far (click all thumbs to enlarge):
5. ElkY: No shocker here. ElkY changes his look more than Shannon Elizabeth changes her online sponsors. Dang, we just went there. Zing!
Fortunately ElkY isn't going for the creepy Joker look this time, instead opting for "The Albino." Says FOWCP B.J. Nemeth: "It's just like high school."
We're expecting ElkY to sport red, blue, and a whole bunch of other colorful colors in his hair before the WSOP wraps.
Can you do that once you're in your 40's? Don't you usually gradually shrink with age? It's like he's the experiencing the reverse Benjamin Button effect or something.
Since we can't nail down exactly what it is with Watkinson that has changed, we'll just leave him at number 4.
3. Andy Black: We get Andy Black was a monk for a few years which we actually think is cool, so this isn't a really shocking look for him, but let's just say last time we saw what's on Andy Black's face, it was in a 1975 copy of Playboy.
Actually, scratch that, one time in college, one of the Entity's experienced what is on Andy Black's face and is still finding remnants that he's picking out of his teeth 14 years later.
Andy Black has a hairy vagina on his face.
2. Jennifer Harman: Wow. Jennifer Harman grew her hair out a few inches and got seriously cute.
We're all married to our current/first wives right now, and despite our good looks we're actually really faithful. However, if Harman approached any of the Entities TONIGHT and said, "Hey, do you want to cuddle?" we'd be like, "Cuddle? Awwww. That's so cute. But not as cute as you are with a couple extra inches of hair. So yeah, we'll cuddle," and we're pretty sure our current/first wives would totally understand and be like, "Well, she does look super cute with her hair a few inches longer so, OK, we get it. Cuddle her all you want. Do you want us to grow our hair a few inches longer too?" to which we'd reply, "You know, adding a few extra inches to your hair apparently makes you super cute, so why don't you try it, and here's the thing, if you don't like it, you can always get it cut again. That's what's so great about hair. Any way you slice it though, with an extra few inches of hair (that makes you look really cute) or not, we'd love you just the same." See guys, that's the key to a successful marriage: letting your wives grow an extra few inches of hair that makes them look cuter.
1. Michael DeMichele: Wtf. No seriously, wtf. Apparently Michael "Glambert" DeMichele was a huge Adam Lambert fan. Probably crushed he lost to Kris Allen on American Idol. This photo doesn't even capture the fingerless white gloves he was wearing before play began (not making that up).
But hey, if he's happy, we're happy. It's a pretty ballsy makeover, and we like balls. And when we say "we like balls" we mean that in the way where "balls" is a synonym for "intestinal fortitude." Let's see if he "owns" it and keeps it going for the duration of the WSOP. We suggest taking it further. Introduce some leather. Snakeskin boots. Go for it. Anyway, for putting himself out there like that, no question about it, DeMichele is our number one new look at the 2009 WSOP.
Poker pro Brett Richey is really short on chips. Really short. On chips. He's among the many short stacks right now in the $40k event. Also among the short stacks are Phil Laak (55,000), Shawn Buchanan (37,000), and Michael Binger (28,000). With dinner break approaching, we're sure they'll really try to grow their stacks and survive into Day 2.
Not short are chip leaders Antonio Esfandiari (395,000) and Justin Bonomo (330,000). Get full chip counts at wsop.com here.
Kathy Liebert (in purple) is looking good in Event No. 2 at the 2009 WSOP (Lacey Jones and Jeffrey Pollack in foreground).
Kathy Liebert, a woman, is one of the few (5 or so?) women in today's field for the $40k buy-in 40th Anniversary event. She currently is stacked with chips of some amount greater than zero. More chip counts here.
Unrelatedly, if we did things such as give "mad props" to people we'd be giving mad props to Dustin Iannotti right now for using our soon-to-be-THE-phrase-of-the-2009-WSOP "just like high school" in this tweet.
RawVegas.tv will be running regular vlogs with WSOP Commish Jeffrey Pollack. Above is the first, where Pollack runs down the happenings from the first couple days of the 2009 WSOP.
There is nothing funny about the above photo.
A respectable 201 players entered 2009 WSOP Event #2 ($40,000 NLH), creating a first place prize of $1,891,012.
In probably the first "wtf" moment of the Series, Phil Laak was the early chip leaders. Then in not so shocking news, he lost just about all of his chips and is under the starting stack level.
Current chip leaders as of about 4:30pm PT include Ted Forrest (310,000), Antonio Esfandiari (no, seriously) (302,000), Justin Bonomo (275,000), and Jeffrey Lisandro (270,000).
Get full chip counts and updates at wsop.com here.
At least one Entity who comprises Wicked Chops Poker will be chatting on espn.com tomorrow at 2pm ET, possibly joined by another Entity as well.
We'll be covering the latest 2009 WSOP news and other stories trending well on WCP and RawVegas.tv.
Get an early start on the question submissions here.
Pretty slim pickings for Girls on the Rail at the $500 buy-in casino employees event today (i.e. no pros with lots of cash around). That will probably change with the $40,000 NLH tourney tomorrow.
We think this girl made an appearance last year, but we're not sure. Also pretty sure when she plays poker she usually has top pair.
Not a ton of big WSOP events or parties going on yet. There was a party at Blush featuring Huck Seed that didn't allow media, and that's about it. So fortunately the Sucking Out On The Rivers charity poker tournament, hosted by Annie Duke, stepped up and filled some of that void.
A bunch of top pros and 20 Joan Rivers impersonators showed up, all to the benefit of Refugees International. Above is the red carpet video. It's just like high school. Highlights include Annie Dukes' take on American Idol and Jeffrey Pollack on anticipated WSOP turn-out.
Wow. Really? Russ Hamilton's mug dangling over media row? They must really hate us...
The 2009 World Series of Pokeris officially underway with the casino employees event. Commish Jeffrey Pollack and Phil Hellmuth kicked it off with the above shuffle up and deal.
Funny side story, but really only funny if you're an Entity or honorary Entity Eric Newby (our faithful producer of The TOKE). We had this following convo right before the vid went up:
Newby: "Not really much to edit. I'll probably just post as is, eh?"
Entity: "Ok, I'll just make up to watch for 'something shocking' at the 2:12 mark."
Newby: "Lemme check what's at 2:12 first just in case, eh?"
Entity: "Actually, that's kind of shocking, what he says. It's just like high school."
Newby: "Pretty sick call there, eh?"*
* Gratuitous use of "ehs" might not have happened.
We don't know much about Poker Battle. In fact, until today, we knew nothing about it at all. But apparently they are some sort of merch, social networking, soon-to-be online gaming site that sponsors some players whom they call "Warriors." There's a lot going on there. Sounds like they need to get Poochie as an endorser. It's just like high school.
Anyway, Bryan Micon is having some fun with it, as he wants to be your next Poker Battle Warrior. As he would say, vid below, obv. We'll say that if Poker Battle knows what they're doing, they snatch up that degen pronto.
UPDATE: Since the video autoplays, just watch it here.
Will our favorite 2008 WSOP Girl on the Rail, THO Girl, be making a return visit this year?
For our final 2009 WSOP Guide post, here's some things to look forward to on WCP (and through RawVegas.tv video) over the next two months:
:: A new site design (could be as soon as today or as late as Monday, so probably expect it in two more weeks...damn you technology!).
:: A Russian language site (only look forward to it if you're Russian).
:: Many, many Girls on the RailTM.
:: Regular Daniel Negreanu video blogs.
:: Caption This contests.
:: The occasional Phil Hellmuth video blog (including one today).
:: Absolutely random and arbitrary uses of phrases like, "It's just like high school." (Trust us, by the 50th time it gets funny)
:: Hopefully regular Jeffrey Pollack vlogs/updates (including one today).
:: A new vlog series starring the one and only Prince of Poker.
:: Many, many more vlogs from other top pros/personalities (more on this later in the week). Side note, Michael Fay should start a flog vlog. It's just like high school.
:: And finally (for now), a freeroll giving away two seats to a $1,500 buy-in event (guess what: more on this possibly today).
Stay tuned. For more "real time" "on the scene" updates, follow us on twitter here or @wickedchops. And if you're playing in the 2009 WSOP, book your hotel and club passes here.
Foreshadowing: The scene at the Rio Amazon Room over the next few days will look eerily reminiscent to this picture from the 2005 Main Event (Entity's Note for New Readers: We use this picture a lot), except replace the PartyPoker banners with more mainstream sponsors and some beef jerky.
The 2009 World Series of Poker begins today at noon with the $500 casino employees tournament. So really, the 2009 WSOP starts tomorrow as far as you care. Regardless, we're pumped and we'll be there today to interview commish Jeffrey Pollack and 11-time bracelet winner Phil Hellmuth.
Lots of prop bets abound covering this year's WSOP. Here are a few we like from Bodog. Go throw some money down on bet on your favorite lines here.
Will a player win 2 or more bracelets in the 2009 WSOP occurring in Las Vegas beginning May 27th? Bracelets won in events #1, #17 and #43 do not qualify. (Entity's Note: Until the streak ends, take the Yes)
Yes +130 / No -180
Will a player win 3 or more bracelets in the 2009 WSOP occurring in Las Vegas beginning May 27th? Bracelets won in events #1, #17 and #43 do not qualify.
Yes +1200
Will a female win a WSOP 'open' event at the 2009 WSOP in Las Vegas? Bracelets won in events #1, #17 and #43 do not qualify. (Entity's Note: This one is laughable. Take the -180)
Yes +130 / No -180
Will Phil Hellmuth win his 12th bracelet at the 2009 WSOP occurring in Las Vegas beginning May 27th? (Entity's Note: Take the Yes)
Yes +300 No -500
How many of the living eligible WSOP Main Event Champions that have been invited to play in the Champions Invitational Event on May 31st will participate? (Entity's Note: Pump the over)
Over 18½ (-120)o / (-120)u
Which of the following former WSOP Main Event Champions will win the 2009 Champions Invitational to take place on May 31st? (Entity's Note: Assuming he plays, great value in Ferguson at 15/1, comparatively)
Peter Eastgate 13/1 | Jerry Yang 15/1 | Jamie Gold 15/1 | Joseph Hachem 23/2 | Greg Raymer 23/2 | Chris Moneymaker 15/1 | Robert Varkonyi 19/1 | Carlos Mortensen 23/2 | Chris Ferguson 15/1 | J.J. "Noel" Furlong 24/1 | Scotty Nguyen 23/2 | Huck Seed 23/2 | Dan Harrington 23/2 | Russ Hamilton 65/1 | Jim Bechtel 24/1 | Hamid Dastmalchi 24/1 | Brad Daugherty 19/1 | Mansour Matloubi 24/1 | Phil Hellmuth 9/1 | Johnny Chan 23/2 | Berry Johnston 24/1 | Tom McEvoy 19/1 | Bobby Baldwin 24/1 | Doyle Brunson 23/2 | Amarillo Slim Preston 24/1
Which pairing will have the most winnings in the Main Event of the 2009 WSOP (Event #57) beginning in Las Vegas on July 3rd 2009? (Entity's Note: Take Greenstein and Sebok)
Doyle and Todd Brunson 6/1 | Marco Traniello and Jennifer Harman 6/1 | Barry Greenstein and Joe Sebok 9/2 | Annie Duke and Howard Lederer 15/2 | Evelyn Ng and Justin Bonomo 15/2 | Phil Laak and Jennifer Tilly 6/1 | David and Shirley Williams 6/1 | Chad Brown and Vanessa Russo 10/1 | Tom 'Durr' Dwan and Tiffany 'Hot Chips' Michelle | 9/2 Patrik Antonius and Kathy Liebert 4/1
Again, place your bets here.
The spectacularly-breasted J.C. Tran (above) was our top pick in the ESPN WSOP Fantasy Draft. View more pics of his ESPN WSOP Fantasy Draft photoshoot here.
Pretty sure this is the fourth time we've participated in the ESPN WSOP Fantasy Draft. This year we went with the WCP All-Stars approach, picking only people who we obsess over, gingers, or women.
Our plans to start the draft with our new Official Pick To Win ItTM, Howard Lederer, was foiled by Mark Seif in Round 1 (clearly he's angling to get a FTP deal), but the rest of the draft stayed on point and we got everyone we wanted.
Our team: the spectacularly-breasted J.C. Tran, David "The Dragon" Pham*, guy with hot porn star girl name Shannon Shorr, Jon "Pearljammer" Turner, James Mackey, Vanessa Selbst, Lee Watkinson-Markholt, and Vanessa Rousso, a woman.
View the full results here.
* Not a real dragon.
Because you can only talk about poker so much . . . Click Here
We sort of have this thing for Keeley Hazell and ...
We're kind of digging the snorgtees girls. You should buy their shirts. Check 'em out.
