2008 WSOP Update: The Year of the Pro(TM) Back In Jeopardy as Phil Hellmuth, Michael "The Grinder" Mizrachi Do Not Win Bracelets

The Grinder failed to rack up his first WSOP bracelet last night.

Uh oh.

:: Event #50 ($10,000 Pot Limit Omaha) - Errr. Eeee. Hmm. Well, Michael "The Grinder" Mizrachi entered final table play as chip leader, but he couldn't pull through that first WSOP bracelet, eventually falling in third. Instead, Marty Smith, who is not even a pro, took the title, his first bracelet, and $859,549. Even worse, and this is truly scary, Marty Smith is...ugh...a ginger. Get full payouts here.

:: Event #51 ($1,500 H.O.R.S.E.) - After Grinder not winning a bracelet, all eyes were on Phil Hellmuth. Could Hellmuth keep hope alive for The Year of the Pro^TM at the 2008 WSOP? It was such a main storyline that nobody was even paying attention to the fact that Phil was going for his 12th bracelet. Didn't even cross anyone's mind. It was all about The Year of the Pro^TM. But following in the steps of The Grinder, Hellmuth finished third. Instead, James Schaaf took his first bracelet, banking $256,412. Get full payouts here.

:: Event #52 ($1,500 No Limit Hold'em) - There is still hope though. Three guys we consider pros by any measurable standard, Matt Matros, David Daneshgar, and Dan Heimiller, who happens to be THIS GINGER, enter final table play stacked second, fourth, and sixth respectively. If Heimiller pulls out his second bracelet, will that make this The Year of the Ginger? (patent pending) They all trail chip leader Corwin Cole (not a pro). Get full final table chip counts here.

:: Event #53 ($1,500 Limit Hold'em Shoot-Out) - A field of 823 whittled down to 72, paying out first $278,180. Some pros still alive and fighting to ensure this year is their year include Jean-Robert Bellande, Hoyt Corkins and Kenna James (see their brokeback moment here), and David Bach. Get 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.

2008 WSOP Update: Grinder Goes for First; Hellmuth Takes Aim at 12th

Phil Hellmuth (above) is in the hunt for bracelet #12 again.

Just one more tournament before the Main Event begins. After the spectacularly-breasted J.C. Tran bagged his first WSOP bracelet yesterday, all eyes will be on Michael "The Grinder" Mizrachi this afternoon. With the Grinder in contention for bracelet #1 today, it might be time to consider a new official moniker for the 2008 World Series of Poker: The Year of the Best Without a Bracelet^TM. Although that title is a little complicated, as to be the best without a bracelet you also must be a pro, so actually it just lends more support to it being The Year of the Pro^TM. Interesting...VERY...interesting.

:: Event #50 ($10,000 Pot Limit Omaha) - As mentioned, the story here is if Michael "The Grinder" Mizrachi can capture his first bracelet. He'll bring the big stack to the final table with 1,767,000. Grinder is followed by non-pro Brandon Moran with 1,286,000. Get final table chip counts here.

:: Event #51 ($1,500 H.O.R.S.E.) - It was an up and down day for Phil Hellmuth. Or perhaps even a rollercoaster. Despite some ups and downs, Hellmuth finished the day as big stack with 287,500. Pretty sure we don't need to explain the implications of a Hellmuth win, not only for his bracelet count but for a little thing we like to call/trademark The Year of the Pro^TM. Hellmuth is followed by James Schaaf, who is not to be confused with Snarf, with 236,500. Some other big names of the 20 remaining include no one. Get full chip counts here.

:: Event #52 ($1,500 No Limit Hold'em) - The last mega-field tourney before the Main Event had 2693 entrants with 228 remaining at the end of the day. Keith Carberry will take the chip lead to Day 1 with 203,000. Get full chip counts here.

For another good, insightful look at yesterday's action, read Dr. Pauly 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.

2008 WSOP Update: Mike "The Mouth" Matusow Takes a Deuce; Daniel Negreanu Goes for Fourth Bracelet

The 2008 World Series of Poker has been going on for almost two weeks. Lots of action. Tired...interest waning. Then watched this video. Suddenly awake. Recharged. Let's go.

:: Event #18 ($10,000 2-7 Lowball w/ Rebuys) - The Deuce-to-Seven list of winners is a "who's who" of poker greats. So how the hell does Full Tilt Poker pro Mike "The Mouth" Matusow get to add his name to that list? Mike defeated a star-studded final table, out-dueling a final four that included Erick Lindgren, Barry Greenstein, and Jeffrey Lisandro to pick up his third bracelet and $537,862. Get full payouts here. Photo of Mike "The Mouth" Matusow after the win from the Poker Prof here.

:: Event #19 ($1,500 Pot Limit Omaha) - Like Big Brown winning the Triple Crown, this one is a "foregone conclusion." Vanessa Selbst, a wom--, a woma--, ugh, a woman, to borrow a phrase from Dr. Pauly, has a "redunkulous" chip lead. Selbst is stacked at 1,047,000. The closest competitor, Jamie Pickering, has 329,000. A bunch of people you've never heard of and who aren't winning the bracelet anyway follow. See their names here.

:: Event #20 ($2,000 Limit Hold'em) - The big story here is "Can Daniel Negreanu win his fourth bracelet?" Cause there's really not that much intrigue after that. Daniel seems primed and ready and as we wrote yesterday, is running hot right now. Get full chip counts here.

:: Event #21 ($5,000 NLH) - Day 1 saw 731 entrants whittle down to 121. Some dude named Alex Melnikow is the chip leader, stacked at 248,800. A surprising lack of big names are among the big stacks, with a few exceptions including the wildly marketable Hasan Habib (140,200), Michael "The Grinder" Mizrachi (103,100), this insufferably annoying Humberto Brenes (101,000), Anna Wroblewski, a woman, (100,000), and Dmitri "Where You Been Lately" Nobles (100,000). Gavin Smith, who we hope will help us starting finding some hot railbirds with THOs for pics, also remains with 25,500. Get full chip counts here.

:: Event #22 ($3,000 H.O.R.S.E) - The last tournament of the day brought in a respectable 414 runners. Only 160 remained at the end of play. Alexander Jung leads the way, stacked at 51,000. Lots of big names follow, including Todd Brunson (41,000), Kevin 'BeL0WaB0Ve' Saul (38,600), get this...wait for it...Dancing with the Stars' Shannon Elizabeth (34,500), Steve Zolotow (30,000), James Mackey, a ginger (30,000), and Phil Ivey (28,000). 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: Vinnie Vinh!!! + Some Other Stuff

Unfortunately for the aesthetics of this post, we have no news to report on the spectacularly-breasted J.C. Tran. However, we've received a number of questions the past few days on what exactly is up with that nickname, along with a few others ("Salty" Joe Hachem, for example). So sometime in the next day or so we'll review the origins of some of those names. Now on to the recaps as there were six tourney in action yesterday.

Event #9 ($1,500 NLH 6-Handed) - Unless you're friends and family, you probably don't care about that Rep Porter won this, banking $372,929. Read the final table recap here.

Event #10 ($2,500 Omaha/Seven Card Stud Hi-Low-8 or Better) - With Erick Lindgren's bracelet win (Video: Lindgren discuss WSOP bracelet), Michael "The Grinder" Mizrachi is among the leaders for the title "Best Without Bracelet" now. He had a chance to shed that monkey off his back in Event #10, but was the first out at the final table. Farzad Rouhani took the title, besting a field of 388 to bank $232,911. Get full tourney results here.

Event #11 ($5,000 NLH Shoot-Out) - Only one of the "big names" from the remaining 36 made it down to the final 6, as Greg "FBT" Mueller will gun for his first WSOP bracelet. Joining him at the final table are Sirous Jamshidi, Thomas Roupe, newly elected Davidson Matthew Club member Phil Tom, Tim West, and Leo Wolpert.

Event #12 ($1,500 Limit Hold'em) - In a grueling day that tourney officials decided to halt at 18 since there was no way of getting to 9...wait for it...Vinnie Vinh!!! is the chip leader, stacked at 345,000. Vinnie Vinh!!! The potential for something awesome happening here is a full 14 on a scale of 1-10. Also still in contention is Erick Lindgren, stacked at 90,000. Get full chip counts here.

Event #13 ($2,500 NLH) - Huge turn-out of 1,397, creating a spectacularly evil-and-lucky first place prize of $666,777. Edwin James Olmos Eli Elezra ended the day as chip leader, stacked at 147,500. The absolutely red-hot Theo Tran continues his run at 2008 WSOP Player of the Year and is in second overall with 134,900. Other notables among the 137 remaining include Lee Watkinson/Markholt, Vanessa Selbst, Chris "Jesus" Ferguson, and Liz Lieu, a woman. Get full chip counts here.

Event #14 ($10,000 7CS) - A total of 158 bought in to this marquee event, creating a first place prize of $415,856. 80 remain after Day 1. Leading the way is Alexander Kostritsyn with 121,100. Other big name big stacks include Lorenzo Lamas (89,100), Daniel Negreanu (watch Daniel's vlog on the event below) (79,700), Ralph Perry (76,100), and Cyndi Violette, a woman (70,300). Plenty of notables remain, get the chip counts here.

VIDEO: Daniel Negreanu discusses Seven Card Stud Championship

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.

WPT World Poker Challenge Final Table Is Boring

With only 10 remaining, the WPT World Poker Challenge was shaping up for an all-timer final table, as Phil Ivey, Michael "The Grinder" Mizrachi, Chau Giang, and David "The Dragon" Pham* were all in contention.

Then, disaster struck.

During play, a monkey showed up carrying an Ebola-like contagious virus called Motaba. The monkey was brought to the U.S. Americas to be sold illegally in the underground pet trade market. The monkey began spitting on everyone's faces, infecting them all. Will the virus kill humanity? And just how far will the U.S. American government go to stop it's spread???

Wait, turning off Outbreak...

Phil Ivey was eliminated in 10th ($46,832), Chau Giang in 8th ($65,565), and The Grinder in 7th ($74,931), leaving only David "The Dragon" Pham** as a "name" at the final table.

Pham is stacked at 406,000, fourth overall. He trails the big-boned big-stack Jason Potter (1,156,000). No word yet if Potter is the Blue Diamond Almonds Bold Player of the Day, but if so, wethinks that year supply of almonds may be just as important of a prize as the first place money.

The rest of the televised final table includes: Lee Markholt (1,137,000), Bryan Devonshire (674,000), Zach Hyman (285,000), and Jeff DeWitt (249,000).

Get live final table blogging from the WPT website at 5pm PST here.

* Not a real dragon.

** Not a real dragon.