2008 WSOP Main Event: Matt Garner, Brandon Adams Lead Day 1A

This is pretty much what the Rio looked like yesterday, and last year, and two years ago, and three years ago, except with different banners.

First of all, our apologies. We would've gotten this recap up sooner but apparently the World Wide Internets, or as we like to call trademark it, "The Information Super-Highway^TM," was down this morning. Or at least our connection was. Maybe Canada was behind it, trying to get some of that Internet money. Who knows.

Anyway, this is our fourth year covering the World Series of Poker Main Event. While it is without a doubt the most exciting day in poker each year, it's also pretty much the same damn thing every year.

Shuffle up and deal...AA vs KK all-in on the first hand...some requisite pro among the early big stacks.

The honor of "requisit pro early big stack" goes to Brandon Adams, as he finished the day second overall with 176,450. Adams trails Mark Garner, who has a stellar if somewhat limited track record in WSOP events, with 194,900.

In all, the 1,297 entrants to Day 1A played down to 636 last night. Some notable big stacks include the where-have-you-been-the-past-three-years Kido Pham (120,650), Mark Vos, a ginger (113,200), "Glum Girl" Svetlana Gromenkova (94,125), and let's not forget about the uber-present Blair Hinkle (58,275).

And sadly, the following list is of people who will not win the 2008 WSOP Main Event. They will be missed but surely not forgetton: Shannon Shorr, Josh Arieh, Gavin Smith, Mekhi Phifer, Dan Harrington, Joe Sebok, half-man, half-amazing Freddy Deeb, David Benyamine, Tom "durrrr" Dwan, Eli Elezra, Lyle Berman, Davidson Matthew Club founder Davidson Matthew, Erica Schoenberg, a woman, Phil "OMGClayAiken" Galfond, Kevin "BeL0WaB0Ve" Saul, J.J. Liu, a woman, and last year's runner-up, Tuan Lam, who actually now will probably be forgotten.

Get full chip counts here.

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

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.

2008 WSOP Update: Blair Hinkle Looks to Be Second Hinkle to Win Bracelet; Allen Cunningham Goes for Sixth

While we already covered some of the current 2008 World Series of Poker events going on here and here, below are a few more recaps.

:: Event #23 ($2,000 NLH) - We own Blair Hinkle SEO, so hopefully he'll keep up the stellar 2008 he's having by joining his bro and capturing his first bracelet today. Hinkle is stacked second overall with 1,030,000. He slightly trails Andrew Jeffreys with 1,051,000. The most anonymous two-time-bracelet-winner-40-time-WSOP-casher ever Chris Bjorin is stacked seventh overall with 247,000. Get full chip counts here.

:: Event #24 ($2,500 Pot Limit Hold'em/Pot Limit Omaha) - Full Tilt Poker pro Allen Cunningham looks to make history by winning a bracelet in 47 consecutive years today (as Dr. Pauly would say, that's "redunkulous"). Cunningham is currently stacked second going into the Event #24 final table with 484,000. He's a blind behind Kyle Kloeckner (494,000). Also at the final table is Max "The Italian Pirate" Pescatori and Ming Ly. Get full final table chip counts 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.

2008 WSOP Update: Grant Hinkle Wins Event #2, Phil Ivey Leads the Rebuy One, Erick Lindgren Guns for First Bracelet

By early evening there were four different 2008 World Series of Poker tourneys going on simultaneously, so lots to cover. Below is the abridged summation:

:: Event #2 ($1,500 NLH) - After playing down from 18 to 9 earlier in the day, the final table kicked off in primetime. Grant Hinkle (Blair's brother) bested a field of 3,929 to take the $831,462 first place prize. James Akenhead came in second to bank $520,219. Chris "Jesus" Ferguson was third ($388,287) and Theo Tran  fourth ($327,148). Get full recaps here.

:: Event # 3 ($1,500 PLH) - A couple of big names, as WPT winner Joe Tehan, whose name looks too much like Tehran for our liking, is big stacked with 458,000. He's followed by Jacobo Fernandez with 428,000. David Singer is one of the short-stacks with 83,000.

Event #4 ($5,000 Mixed Hold'em) - Now this is a final table. More established names than any final table save the $50k H.O.R.S.E. that we can remember. One-time WSOP bracelet runner-up David Rheem is chip leader stacked at 885,000. One-time WSOP Main Event runner-up David Williams is second with 678,500. Justin Bonomo is stacked third with 517,500. Going after his elusive first bracelet is our official-pick-to-win-it (OPTWI^TM) Erick Lindgren with 345,000. Team Full Tilt Poker leader Howard Lederer, who earlier in the year in Bluff Magazine we predicted would have a monster season is next with 324,500. The rest of the final table includes Roland de Wolfe (194,000), Andrew Robl (162,000), Howard Stern's illigitimate son Isaac Haxton (115,500), and Pat Pezzin (108,500). Final table play begins at 3pm today, get your live updates here.

Event #5 ($1,000 NLH w/ Rebuys) - One of our favorite events is led by one of our favorite players, as some guy named Phil Ivey takes the chip lead to Day 2, stacked at 175,500. He's followed by "That Guy Again?" Amit Makhija with 161,100. Making UGA proud is one-time EPT winner Jeff Williams with 145,700. Other notables include either Lee Watkinson or Lee Markholt (same guy, right?) with 80,800, Phil Hellmuth (67,300), Daniel Negreanu (64,500), and John Juanda (60,600). In total, 106 players remain and play begins again at 2pm. Get full chip counts here.

Event #6 ($1,500 Omaha Hi/Lo) - While we were busy sweating Shannon Elizabeth, we forgot to mention that Scott Clements (a lock to cash in these Omaha events) looks like he's the freaking Incredible Hulk. Dude is huge. We'll get pics today. Clements is among the chip leaders with 28,000. James Van Alstyne leads them all with 40,000. Get full chip counts 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.

2008 WSOP Update: Event #2 Finally at Final Table, Shannon Elizabeth Looking Good, and How Many Times Negreanu Rebought

:: The final table for Event #2 ($1,500 NLH) is finally set. James Akenhead is big stacked with 1,995,000. He's followed by Aaron Coulthard (1,510,000) and Theo Tran (1,420,000). Chris "Jesus" Ferguson also remains, stacked at 1,235,000. Get full chip counts here.

:: Dancing with the Stars' Shannon Elizabeth is here playing in Event #6 ($1,500 Omaha Hi/Lo). Wait, what? Shannon Elizabeth plays Omaha Hi/Lo? Really? Seriously? Do have to admit, all of that fucking dancing she's been doing with Derek Hough is paying off as she's looking pretty good.

:: Event #5 (one of our faves, the $1,000 NLH +rebuys) is in full swing with lots of stocked tables. Daniel Negreanu and Gavin Smith are next to each other. Daniel only rebought 9 times this year, a far cry from his record 23 (BJ Nemeth, it's 23 right? Please confirm.). Gavin put the odds at 0% that Chops' ESPN Fantasy League team would not include Darrell "Deep" Dicken. Good call there. Current chip leaders include Robert Cheung (81,500), we own Blair Hinkle SEO (46,000), Mark Vos, a ginger (40,000), John Juanda (37,500), Phil Ivey (36,000), the aforementioned Gavin Smith (32,000), and Phil Hellmuth (30,000). Get full chip counts here.

:: Vanessa Rousso, who is from Duke, was spotted in the hallway taking to a guy wearing a Duke cap. Not making that up either.

Allen Cunningham Wins WSOP-C Caesar's Palace

We're not going to spend a lot of time on this one. That marathon live blogging session took its toll.

So...Full Tilt poker pro Allen Cunningham won the WSOP-C in Caesar's Palace in Las Vegas.

This is Cunningham's first WSOP-C title. He beat Ben Fineman for the title. And he won $499,162.

Justin Bonomo finished fifth for $96,612. The uber-present Blair Hinkle finished seventh and banked $80,510. Ralph Perry came in eight ($48,306) and Doug Lee came in ninth ($32,204).

Get full final table payouts from Poker News here.

Hey, The WSOP-C Caesar's Has a Killer Final Table

Most of the general poker public kind of shrugs their shoulders at the WSOP-C these days. With little to no TV exposure anymore, smaller buy-ins, and "tour stops" in Indiana, the sex appeal just isn't there.

But that doesn't mean they still can't snag some great fields and top notch final tables. Like this one at the WSOP-C in Caesar's Palace Las Vegas.

With 334 entrants and a $5,000 buy-in, the winner looks to bank just shy of half a mil. Leading the way by a large margin going into final table play is Ben Fineman with 828,000. Fineman is followed by Kelly Sampson with 385,000 and the suddenly uber-present Blair Hinkle (at right) with 382,000.

Of the big names remaining, the biggest stack is previous WSOP-C luckbox winner Doug Lee with 324,000. Bracelet winner Ralph Perry (319,000), five-time bracelet winner and '06 WSOP Main Event Final Table finisher Allen Cunningham (296,000), and Justin Bonomo (272,000) all still remain.

Get full chip counts and live reporting starting at 2pm from Poker News here.

WPT Bay 101 Shooting Star: Blair Hinkle, Clonie Gowen (a Woman), and Paul Wasicka Lead Day 1B

The so-called "shooting stars" fared much better in Day 1b play at the WPT Bay 101 main event, as 11 survived the action (compared with 5 for Day 1a).

Day 1b ended with Blair Hinkle as chip leader, stacked at 170,800. You may remember Hinkle as the man who briefly led the WPT LAPC last month.

Hinkle is followed by Clonie Gowen, a woman, with 163,300. And following the woman Clonie Gowen is 2007 NBC National Heads-Up Poker champ Paul Wasicka with 140,600.

Of the so-called "shooting stars" that survived Day 1b, last year's WPT Bay 101 champ Ted Forrest leads the way with 118,600. Other so-called "shooting stars" include Isabelle Mercier (61,200), "Salty" Joe Hachem (aka Adnan Ghalib) (52,600), Phil Laak (47,000), Erick Lindgren (42,700), Jennifer Harman (40,800), Barry Greenstein (38,900), Mike "The Mouth" Matusow (33,500), Cyndy Violette, a woman (29,300), Allen Cunningham (19,700), and Scotty Nguyen (7,200).

Also remaining at the WPT Bay 101 is our pick to win it, 2008 Canadian Open Poker Championship champ Huck Seed (28,200).

As of "press time," the Blue Diamond Almonds Bold Player of the Day had not yet been named.

Get full chip counts here.

Blair "blur5f6" Hinkle Leads the Phils after First Break at the WPT LA Poker Classic

Blair "blur5f6" Hinkle of Kansas City, Missouri went into the first break today at the WPT LA Poker Classic as the chip leader with 1,659,000 in chips. The 22-year-old from Kansas City is apparently a decent online poker player, recently taking down a Full Tilt $216 buy-in tourney for $146,288. He's amassed over $215k from MTTs on the site.

Both Phils, Hellmuth and Ivey, trail close behind with 1,589,000 and 1,457,000, respectively. In fourth is Michael Watson, who has just over a million.

Stacked below average but still among the final 14 players is Quinn Do (855,000), Theo Tran (853,000), Jennifer Tilly, a woman (841,000) and Nam Le (604,000).

Among the busted, David Singer, who finished in 18th for $48,840.

In related news, it's 80 degrees, sunny skies and breezy in Hermosa.

UPDATE: Holy Canuck! Scott Montgomery of Ottawa, Canada, who plays online as "r_a_y" for one reason or another, has taken the chip lead, nearly stacked at 2 million. He's seated right next to Phil Hellmuth, who's second in chips, and the two have been verbally sparring throughout the day. Blair Hinkle, the kid above, took a $500k or so chip dive.

Check out our favorite girl with a web cam Kimberly Lansing interviewing Scott Montgomery here. To say Kimberly looks especially pretty/cute/hot (take your pick) today would be an understatement.