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.

Jason Alexander Has a Bad Beat Story

Never slow play Aces. Just don't.

2008 WSOP: Jason Alexander Bad Beat Story

2008 WSOP Update: Day 1A of the WSOP Main Event Underway

Poker pro Shawn Rice, somewhere in the photo above, is among the pros who have already busted on Day 1A of the 2008 WSOP Main Event.

Day 1A of the 2008 WSOP Main Event kicked off today at noon, and the big story brewing is that the number of runners is looking to be down from last year's 6,358. And Harrah's ain't talking about it, refusing to share with media or anyone how many are in the field today (rumor is around 1400). They've even gone as far as blocking the number generally visible on the tournament clocks located throughout the Amazon Room. All we can see now is that 907 players remain at the dinner break.

The early chipleader is "friends and family" player Christopher Kero with 118,700 in chips. Big names at the top include David Rheem, Kido Pham, Glum Girl, Dustin Dirksen and ever-present Blair Hinkle.

Pros sent home early include Davidson Matthew, Gavin Smith, Chad Brown, OMGClayAiken, Katja Thater, a woman, Taylor Caby, Lyle Berman, Dan Harrington, Freddy Deeb, James Mackey, Vanessa Selbst, a woman, Durrrr, a ginger, Devilfish, a chav, David Benyamine and 2007 final table-ist Raymond Rham.

Keep track of chip counts here.

Adam Sandler Also Played the Ante Up for Africa Charity Poker Tournament

Adam Sandler couldn't hide his excitement of playing in the Ante Up for Africa charity poker tournament yesterday

Not much more to say than the headline above. We have tons of photos from the first 3 and a half minutes of the event yesterday before all the celebs busted, so we're dumping some more on you.

See a few more shots of Adam from a different angle by clicking thumbnails below.

And oh yeah, Johnny World Hennigan took down the event and won a bunch of money. He was asked to give 50% of it to charity and he ended up giving it all away because apparently pros like him and John Phan are out to make us seem like bigger assholes than we already are.

They Say the Best Things In Life Are Free

Well, not all things that are free.

One of our readers found this Craigslist listing for the told-you-we're-not-making-this-sh!t-up All In: The Poker Musical. Apparently Harrah's is giving away free tickets to the show this weekend.

Or you can pay 55 bucks a pop for them here.

We're guessing all the players who seem content with wasting $10k on donkey-ass moves during the WSOP Main Event today will go for the latter.

Shannon Elizabeth on Ante Up for Africa Red Carpet at the 2008 WSOP

We didn't quite listen to what Shannon Elizabeth had to say in the video above from the Ante Up for Africa poker tournament yesterday at the 2008 WSOP. Something about actors being tired doing poker players who act while playing poker at the World Series of Poker. Or something. We don't know. Honestly we were distracted by that cute vein Shannon has on her forehead and the British glam girl with huge breastesses who walked by near the end of the video and who somehow made an appearance in our photos of Ben Affleck yesterday.

Watch Shannon Elizabeth on RawVegas.tv here

Jeffrey Pollack Reads, Loves Wicked Chops Poker

"I read Wicked Chops and I love it!"

That's what WSOP commish and famed blogger Jeffrey Pollack reportedly told Michele Lewis the other day.

And to think we thought he came here just for the photos of girls on the rail.

2008 WSOP Update: The Year of The Pro(TM) Not Dead Yet

Well, it looks like it all comes down the the Main Event this year to determine if the 2008 WSOP will forever be known as The Year of the Pro^TM or as something else. Fortunately, as reader "Mike" pointed out here, the man who won the $10,000 PLO tournament, Marty Smith, is in fact an Irish pro, which definitely helps.

:: Event #52 ($1,500 No Limit Hold'em) - Pro poker player David Daneshgar took this one down, winning his first WSOP bracelet and banking $625,443. Daneshgar defeated Scott Sitron (not a pro), for the title. Ginger pro Dan Heimiller finished third. Get full results here.

:: Event #53 ($1,500 Limit Hold'em Shoot-out) - Survivor's Jean-Robert Bellande could've put away The Year of the Pro^TM race with a win, but he came up just short of his first bracelet. JRB lost heads-up to Matt Graham, who is arguably pro material with four cashes in this year's World Series of Poker. Graham banks $278,180 for the win. Get full payouts here.

Main Event starts tomorrow at noon PST. Check back with WickedChopsPoker.com for regular updates.

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.

Ben Affleck, Matt Damon Don't Play Poker Anymore, Are Good Tippers

This video can best be summed up as: don't have kids.

Ben Affleck and Matt Damon were in Las Vegas today to play in Don Cheadle and Annie Duke's Ante Up for Africa charity poker tourney. Both said that they really won't be playing poker anymore, and one of the major reasons was because they both have kids.

So yeah, don't have kids.

In unrelated news, apparently Affleck is a legendary tipper.

Ben Affleck and Matt Damon in Las Vegas for Ante Up for Africa

Charles Barkley Thinks We're Jackasses

Charles Barkley is awesome. No way around it. Even if he thinks the so-called "media" (which he is a part of) are "jackasses." Not that we disagree with Sir Chuck, but sometimes it hurts being called a jackass. Although this isn't one of those times.

Regardless, good to see Charles in Las Vegas again...hope the pit bosses are ready.

Charles Barkley in Las Vegas for Charity Poker Tournament

Don Cheadle and Mekhi Phifer Have Similar Taste in Ed Hardy Shirts

If we were the type of guys who posted on a poker forum run by sanctimonious old douchebag pricks, we'd probably make a Phil Ivey joke here. But we're far better than that. Seriously, we are. Don't laugh. So yeah, Don Cheadle, aka one of the coolest dudes alive, and Mekhi Phifer were among the celebs who played today in the Ante Up for Africa poker tournament and incidentally both showed up wearing the same not-so-limited limited edition Ed Hardy t-shirt (which apparently runs about $2k).

Matt Damon Among Celebs Playing Today in the Ante Up for Africa Poker Tournament

Matt Damon (above), the actor who starred in the only decent poker movie in the past decade and who stole the show in Team America, joined his bud Ben Affleck at the tables today in the Ante Up for Africa poker tournament at the 2008 WSOP.

Another shot of Matt similar to above and one for the ladies after the jump . . .

Ben Affleck Among Celebs Playing Today in the Ante Up for Africa Poker Tournament

Actor Ben Affleck was among the A-list celebs who played in today's Ante Up for Africa poker tournament today at the 2008 WSOP. Click away below to see the rest of the photos our trusty photog got of Ben playing today.

For more girls on the rail, at the table, or within eyeshot of some notable pro at the 2008 WSOP, go here.

Google Image Photo Dump of Some Celebs Playing the Ante Up for Africa Event Today

Don Cheadle and Annie Duke's Ante Up for Africa poker tournament at the 2008 WSOP got underway today. Lots of celebs ponied up the $5,000 buy-in to play for something called "charity".

We'll have some pics from the event shortly but until then below is a photo dump of google images we found for some of the celebs in attendance.

Jeff Madsen and Phil Ivey's Cuz Smokey Rap Battle Video

As promised in this post, we just put up a YouTube video of Jeff Madsen's rap battle with Phil Ivey's cousin Smokey at last night's World Series of Barbecue at the Golden Nugget.

Jeff Madsen is the white guy.

Check it out below or on YouTube here.

UPDATE: Yeh the audio blows. It's from a phone but Madsen's moves straight from 8 Mile are worth the watch.

2008 WSOP Gingers of the Day

They're multiplying! Like gremlins or something, except way creepier.

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.

Poker News Made Better with Venezuelan Hottie Gabriela Vergara

Some poker news to go along with photos of Venezuela hottie Gabriela Vergara, who plays the seductress on the Univision version of Desperate Housewives, if you care and aren't already clicking away at the thumbnail images below.

• British guy on holiday loses poker game, gets naked, plunges to death. [link]

• Assistant principal at elementary school gets nabbed for running underground poker room in Texas. [link]

• Same story above but this time involves girls stuffing cash in their bras. [link]

• The poker player once described by Nolan Dolla as a "ball-busting, cantankerous curmudgeon" passed away on Saturday. [link]

• Norman Chad counts the ways the World Series of Poker is better than the Olympics. [link]

• Poker nights helping to populate Jews in Britain. [link]

• Some poli-blogger on what poker and craps say about Obama and McCain. [link]

• WSOP Europe announces schedule. [link]

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 Ginger of the Day

This one is so gross, we can't post it on our home page.

Click 'continue' . . . if you dare.

The Spectacularly-Breasted J.C. Tran Wins His First Bracelet

We might as well just call this post the J.C. Tran All-Star Boob Spectacular.

In honor of the spectacularly-breasted J.C. Tran winning his first WSOP bracelet, this post will be a little overboard on the cleavage. We imagine many, many browsers in Corporate America will be quickly minimizing right now.

Tran overcame a Double-D sized chip disadvantage in heads-up play to capture the Event #49 ($1,500 No Limit Hold'em) title. For the win, Tran banked $631,053. Get full final table payouts here. Click the thumbnails for the full sized version of the photos. More pics after the jump. We'll work on getting J.C. himself to be our Friday Night Parting Shots.

If The Spectacularly-Breasted J.C. Tran Wins This Tournament, Well, You Don't Even Wanna Know

The spectacularly-breasted J.C. Tran (above) has fought his way back to even in his heads-up battle against Rasmus Nielsen for the Event #49 title. Many consider J.C. now the "Best Without Bracelet." He's definitely the best-breasted without a bracelet.

In honor of a potential J.C. win, well, remember that movie There Will Be Blood. Well, our site will be just like that movie, except replace "Blood" with "Boobs."

Follow the action here.

Girl on Girl: Jennifer "Jennicide" Leigh

The below is WCP contributor Michele Lewis' latest 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.

Jennifer “Jennicide” Leigh has been a favorite on and off the poker table. She’s sweet and social with a firm opinion on women’s bodies. No, get those naughty thoughts out of your mind… she’s not referring to her recent appearance in Playboy but actually how strongly she feels that women need to be comfortable with eating and having curves rather than starving themselves.

Leigh admits she played poker 24/7 when she first started because she “wanted to try and learn as much as I could.” However, her attendance at the 2008 WSOP remains to be seen. Her experience of traveling the circuit… often presented tiring situations even when she cashed. She hasn’t ruled out the WSOP completely for there are people, places and things she loves in Las Vegas; however, she’s enjoying a balanced life at home focusing on her time with friends and family.

Thump to the jump to read more on Jennicide’s future plans and viewing guys through rose colored glasses.

2008 WSOP Update: J.C. Tran Goes After First Bracelet (Again); Phil Hellmuth Takes Aim at Number 12

While most of the attention was on the $50,000 H.O.R.S.E. event, some big names were making their mark on other 2008 WSOP tournaments this weekend.

:: Event #48 ($2,000 No Limit Hold'em) - Unfortunately none of those big names were in this one. Brazalian Alexandre Gomes took this won down, banking $770,540 and his first bracelet. Get full payouts results.

:: Event #49 ($1,500 No Limit Hold'em) - The mega-field of 2,718 is down to its final nine. Rasmus Nielsen is the chip leader, stacked at 2,998,000. The spectacularly-breasted J.C. Tran (above) once again goes for bracelet number one, entering the final table second overall in chips with 1,438,000. Joe Pelton, who a couple years ago had a cool girlfriend but we haven't heard much from since, is third with 1,093,000. Get full chip counts here.

:: Event #50 ($10,000 Pot Limit Omaha) - Nice turn-out as 381 signed up, creating a first place prize of $859,532. Josh Arieh just killed it on Day 1, ending play as big stack with 343,700. He's followed by Guillaume Patry with 226,400. Some other big name big stacks include David Williams (142,900), David Singer (128,200), Nenad Medic (101,800), and The Intense Stare of Scott Clements (88,600). Get full chip counts here.

:: Event #51 ($1,500 H.O.R.S.E.) - All the big names who went all Big Brown in the $50,000 H.O.R.S.E. entered this one. In total, 803 runners signed up creating a first place prize of $256,412. Phil Hellmuth ended the day as chip leader, stacked at 46,400. He's closely followed by "Salty" Joe Hachem (37,500) and Lorenzo Lamas (36,700). Get full chip counts here.

Get full J.C. Tran photo spread here.

The Year of the Pro(TM) Reclaims Official 2008 WSOP Moniker Race

Scotty Nguyen keeps the Year of the Pro^TM alive at the 2008 WSOP.

With Scotty Nguyen's victory in the $50,000 H.O.R.S.E. event and some strong showings by other pros this weekend, The Year of the Pro^TM has reclaimed its lead as official moniker of the 2008 WSOP.

After Nguyen's win, The Year of the Pro^TM now has 147 points, catapulting it over Jacobo Fernadez's Own Personal Playground (130 points). Also still in contention are Good for Poker (121) and The Year of the Random Guy We've Never Heard Of (98).

To everyone's disappointment, David "The Dragon" Pham* has not dominated the bracelet count, denying us the opportunity to dub this The Year of the Dragon**.

* Not a real dragon.
** Not a real year of the dragon.

Erick Lindgren Takes 2008 WSOP Player of the Year Lead

With his third place finish in the $50,000 H.O.R.S.E. event, Full Tilt Poker pro Erick Lindgren overtook the lead for 2008 WSOP Player of the Year.

Lindgren now has 245 points, 10 ahead of Barry Greenstein, who moved into second place with math math math 235.

Previous leader, Jacobo Fernadez, has cashed again (making it seven for the year) but fell back to third with 232.

Get full standings here.

Scotty Nguyen Wins $50,000 H.O.R.S.E. Event; The Year of The Pro(TM) Off Life Support

In what all "pros" as well as "years" at the 2008 WSOP considered a "must-win" situation, Scotty Nguyen, a pro, won the $50,000 H.O.R.S.E. event early this morning, giving The Year of The Pro^TM what could best be described as a "serious shot in the arm" for official moniker of this year's World Series.

Fortunately for the pros, the deck was stacked in their favor going into the event. From our pick to win it, Huck Seed, to Barry Greenstein (who counts twice) and Erick Lindgren, the odds were in favor of a pro pulling this one out.

In the end it was Nguyen, baby. The title gave Scotty $1,989,120, his fifth WSOP bracelet, and poker journalists everywhere a chance to make plays on the words "Win" and "Nguyen" in their tournament recap headlines.

Nguyen defeated Mike DeMichele ($1,243,200) for the championship. Erick Lindgren finished third ($781,440). Get full payouts here.

Jean-Robert Bellande Is Surviving the 2008 WSOP

Captain Obvious could see our headline above coming a mile away. Wow. Not creative.

Regardless, or as stupid people say, "irregardless," Jean-Robert Bellande has seen his stature in the poker world rise since his stint on Survivor. And while he admittedly is a bit down on his 2008 WSOP results, he's certainly not out of opinions on just about anything. Take it away, JRB.

VIDEO: Jean-Robert Bellande 2008 WSOP vlog

Jean-Robert Bellande on the $50,000 H.O.R.S.E. event
More RawVegas.tv 2008 WSOP vlogs

2008 WSOP Update: Erick Lindgren Leads $50k H.O.R.S.E. Final Table; Ryan Hughes Wins Second Bracelet

Right now, we'd say it's a coin flip as to whether the 2008 WSOP will end up earning it's The Year of the Pro^TM moniker that we trademarked when all is said and done.

Some of this argument simply hinges on this: when exactly do you qualify as a "pro?" We're certainly not willing to play the role of God and make that assessment for people. But then again, how else will we know for sure? It's so daunting.

:: Event #47 ($1,500 Seven Card Stud Hi/Lo) - Case in point. Ryan Hughes, who won a Seven Card Stud Hi/Lo event last year, took down this one, earning his second WSOP bracelet. Even though only 7 people in the poker world have heard of Hughes before and only 3 would recognize him walking down the street, Hughes is a pro, right? We say an emphatic "yes" to that question, btw. For the win, Hughes banks $183,368. Get full results here.

:: Event #45 ($50,000 H.O.R.S.E.) - Here's a chance for the pros to put a stake in the ground and say, "Dammit, this is the year of us!" Full Tilt Poker pro Erick Lindgren will bring the chip lead to the final table, stacked at 3,680,000. A win here would all but cement Lindgren as the 2008 WSOP POY. The same could be said for the man in third, Barry Greenstein, who is stacked at 1,955,000. Scotty Nguyen is second overall with 3,535,000. And our perennial pick to win it, Huck Seed, is sixth overall with 1,200,000. Get full final table chip counts here.

:: Event #48 ($2,000 No Limit Hold'em) - Lots of collective WSOP cashes in this group but no one that you'd really look at and say, "Yeah, he's a pro." Get final table chip counts here.

:: Event #49 ($1,500 No Limit Hold'em) - This one had 2,718 entrants, playing down to 215 early this morning. First place pays $631,053. A surprising number of big named pros remain, although chip leader Micah Raskin (175,000), is not one of them. However, some big named big stacks do include Young Phan (128,000), Greg "FBT" Mueller (120,000), the spectacularly-breasted J.C. Tran (above, 93,000), and David "The Dragon" Pham* (90,000). Get a more complete list of chip counts here.

Get J.C.'s full photo after the jump and check out the entire spread here.

* Not a real dragon.

All In The Musical Song Title Are a Joke, Right? Seriously Though, Right?

 

Thanks to one of our readers walking through the Rio in Las Vegas for snapping a photo of the "All In: The Poker Musical" poster.

As we first reported, this Entities-can't-believe-is-really-happening production held at the Rio July 4th and 5th and starring Phil Hellmuth among others also has a Entities-can't-believe-the-song-titles song list.

We really hope there's a huge degree of irony and tongue-in-cheekiness going on with this thing, because "I'm Gonna Bad Beat You Boy" really, really has us worried. Almost as terrifying sounding as being hoyt corkin'd. 

We're In The Money

Mike Wattel played the role of bubble boy in the 2008 WSOP H.O.R.S.E. event, busting in 17th place. There's been a number of knock-outs since then, including Doyle Brunson in 16th and Andy Bloch in 15th (earning both $124,320).

At dinner break, 13 remain. Erick Lindgren is chip leader, stacked at 1,790,000. Our perennial pick to win it, Huck Seed, is third with 1,460,000. Scotty Nguyen, Phil Ivey, Barry Greenstein, and Daniel Negreanu are all alive, giving The Year of the Pro^TM a last gasp shot at still being The Year of the Pro^TM.

Get full chip counts here.

2008 WSOP Update: The Year of the Pro(TM) Is In Jeopardy

Lyle Berman and Robert Williamson III getting rail'd by Gus Hansen's lap girl from Day 1 of the H.O.R.S.E. event.

Maybe we jumped the gun a bit in dubbing (and trademarking) the 2008 World Series of Poker as The Year of the Pro^TM.

We almost don't want to recap yesterday's action because of its general lack of proness. But we're professionals. And it's not our fault pros and making it less the year of them right now.

:: Event #44 ($1,000 No Limit Hold'em w/ Rebuys) - Max Greenwood, not a pro, wins his first (and likely last) bracelet by capturing the $1,000 rebuy event. Greenwood banks $693,392 for the win. The one pro in the event, Alex Bolotin, was the first out at the final table. Nice work, Alex. Get full payouts here.

:: Event #45 ($50,000 H.O.R.S.E.) - Not sure what to make of this. On the surface, about 80% of the remaining field of 24 would qualify as "pro." But the chip leader, Mike DeMichele, is new on the scene and has a girly French sounding name. Two huge knocks against him. DeMichele does have three WSOP cashes, all in mixed games, which gives some credibility to him being a "pro." But not much. Luckily, after DeMichele is a laundry list of who's who run the gamut the whole kit and kaboodle and the kitchen sink of big named pros. Following DeMichele are Barry Greenstein (who is such a pro he counts twice) with 1,311,000 and uber-pro Daniel Negreanu with 1,226,000. Some other names you've probably heard of include Scotty Nguyen (1,033,000), Doyle Brunson (777,000), Michael "The Grinder" Mizrachi (701,000), Erick Lindgren (485,000), likely second place finisher Andy Bloch (421,000), Gabe Kaplan (360,000), Brandon Adams (290,000), our pick to win it Huck Seed (190,000), Phil Ivey (145,000), and Lorenzo Lamas (81,000). And that's just to name a few.

:: Event #46 ($5,000 No Limit Hold'em Six-Handed) - A total non-pro final table. Only notable mention is the singular version of David Kita, Davidi Kitai, is short-stacked. Get full finaly table chip counts here.

"Salty" Joe Hachem Can Rub Off On People

Apparently, "Salty" Joe Hachem has some sort of osmosis effect on people he sits next to at the World Series of Poker. That's a lot of salt at one table.

DoylesRoom.com Renews Doyle Brunson Sponsorship

There's been some speculation as to why Doyle Brunson (and Todd Brunson) were without DoylesRoom.com logos the first two days of the $50,000 H.O.R.S.E. event at the 2008 WSOP (speculate on the WCP forum here). Even stranger, why were Hoyt Corkins, Dancing with the Stars' Shannon Elizabeth, Sam Grizzle, and others still wearing the logo around? Even stranger, DoylesRoom.com's marketing strategy.

Anyway, Doyle donned the DoylesRoom.net logo again today. Although he doesn't look thrilled about it from the above photo. He could be Glum Girl's grandpa.

All of this speculation though doesn't seem to be impacting Doyle's game, as he's still above averaged stacked. Huck Seed, who happens to be our pick to win it, is currently the chip leader. Follow the action here.

2008 WSOP Update: Erik Seidel Doesn't Win Non-Record 9th Bracelet, Is The Year of the Pro(TM) No Longer The Year of the Pro(TM)?

Isabelle Mercier, a woman pro, is one of the many pros still fighting to ensure that the 2008 WSOP remains The Year of the Pro^TM.

The talk around the Rio Amazon room today among so-called poker "media" and industry types completely surrounds whether or not Erik Seidel and his non-win of Event #43 means that it is no longer The Year of the Pro^TM.^* Or maybe it signals a changing of the tide. Or maybe it's just a blip on the screen, and pros will continue making it the year of them in the last few tourneys before the Main Event starts next week. Like that song from Asia, only time will tell.

:: Event #43 ($1,500 Pot Limit Omaha Hi/Lo) - You've probably figured out by now that Erik Seidel, a pro, did not win Event #43. He finished fourth. A win by Seidel would've all but solidified the 2008 WSOP as The Year of the Pro^TM. A win by Kasey Castle would've at least been a nice consolation, as his hot porn star sounding name gives us a little chubber. Until we see his face. Which then obliterates said chubber. Kastle finished second. Martin Klaser, who is not even a pro, won the event. Further hammering home Klaser's non-pro status is the fact that this is his first ever WSOP cash, let alone bracelet. For the win, Klaser banks $216,249. Get full payouts here.

:: Event #44 ($1,000 No Limit Hold'em w/ Rebuys) - What the fuck is going on here man. We're willing to say that the wildly under-rated Alex Bolotin is a pro, but he's pretty much it at the final table, and he's among the short-stacks, sitting with 308,000. This is Bolotin's third final table of the 2008 WSOP, and for the sake of pros everywhere, he better win. And if not for the pros, than for the sake of The Year of the Pro^TM and all the money we spent trademarking it and dividends we're expecting in return. Jesse Chinni, not a pro, will bring the big stack to final table play with 2,160,000. Get full chip counts here.

:: Event #45 ($50,000 H.O.R.S.E.) - Now we're talking! The leaderboard for this one has more pros on it than a Chinese phonebook. Let's count 'em down: Lyle Berman (pro, 507,000), Patrick Bueno (not a pro, 485,500), Barry Greenstein (such a pro you should count him twice, 473,000), Minh Ly (pro, 451,000), Chris Reslock (pro, 435,500), Joseph Michael (Internet pro and Davidson Matthew Club member, 401,000), Erick Lindgren (pro, 397,500), Justin Bonomo (pro, 384,000), Daniel Negreanu (pro, 374,500), Doyle Brunson (pro, 366,000), and Andy Bloch (pro, 362,500). So counting Barry Greenstein twice, that makes 11 of the top 12 chip leaders in Event #45 pros. That's 91.6%!!! Of the other 49 remaining (counting Greenstein twice still), we'd be willing to bet that at least 80% are pros. And we'd even be willing to count Isabelle Mercier twice (146,000), just because of her fantastic new rack. Get full chip counts here.

Poker Pros Daniel Negreanu, Erick Lindgren on the $50k H.O.R.S.E. Event

Full recap (i.e. a paragraph) coming shortly, but half-way through last night's $50,000 H.O.R.S.E. event, here's Daniel Negreanu and Erick Lindgren's take on some of the bad play going on and general thoughts on Allen "The Chainsaw" Kessler (i.e. Larry David).

VIDEO: Daniel Negreanu's 2008 WSOP vlog on the $50,000 H.O.R.S.E. event

You Can't Take the H.O. Out of H.O.R.S.E.

Gus Hansen's lap girl returned for Day 2 of the H.O.R.S.E. championship at the 2008 WSOP.

While "trying" to take photos of Greg "FBT" Mueller (above), Tim Phan and Layne Flack (both below) during Day 2 of the H.O.R.S.E. World Championship at the 2008 WSOP, our photog focused in on everyone's favorite table-side call girl along the rail.

Get up to speed on the girl above here. Click thumbnails below to enlarge photo. Click here to sign up for the new WCP forum.

Doyle Brunson Dropped From DoylesRoom?

But seriously, why isn't Doyle Brunson wearing any DoylesRoom.net logos for the second day in the row during the $50k buy-in World Championship H.O.R.S.E. event at the 2008 WSOP. Did he get Gowen-ed?

FWIW, we didn't see Todd Brunson patched up either.

Anyone?

Relatedly, Doyle is second in chips late tonight with 301k. Patrick Bueno is living up to his name with a good lead as chipleader, stacked at 416k. James Mackey, a ginger, is third and soulless with 288k.

Chip counts here.

Unrelatedly and ironically, one of the Entities played a tournament today and was seated immediately to the left of this guy. And is still alive.

Caption This: Patrik Antonius Playing the H.O.R.S.E. Event at 2008 WSOP

Every 2+2 members' dream.

Give it your own caption in the Wicked Chops Poker forum here. Caption other photos from the 2008 WSOP here.

UPDATE: Actually this photo may be better.

If you swipe this photo for your site or another forum, please give a link back to WCP. Thanks.

2008 WSOP Update: James Mackey, A Ginger, Leads $50k H.O.R.S.E; Erik Seidel Goes for 9th Bracelet Again

David Benyamine (above right), continues his assault on 2008 WSOP POY honors as he's among the chip leaders in the $50,000 H.O.R.S.E. event.

After a few days of downtime, the hype/action/buzz returned to the 2008 WSOP yesterday with the start of the $50,000 H.O.R.S.E. event. The Rio Amazon Room was packed with newly arrived so-called poker "media,"
railbirds, fanboys, and industry types. Action for the H.O.R.S.E. event picks up again today at 3pm.

:: Event #42 ($1,000 Seniors No Limit Hold'em) - Whatever.

:: Event #43 ($1,500 Omaha Hi/Lo) - The big story here is that Erik Seidel is making his second run at bracelet #9 this year. Seidel is stacked second overall with 340,000. He only trails Jon Maren (377,000), who you've likely discerned then must be the chip leader. Also in contention is Casey Kastle (188,000), who joins Shannon Shorr as the two dudes on the circuit with the best hot porn star sounding names. Let's just say if we saw a DVD called "Girl-Girl-Guy Threesomes Galore! (43)" starring Casey Kastle, Shannon Shorr, and Brock Parker, we probably wouldn't even do a double-take. Get full chip counts here.

:: Event #44 ($1,000 No Limit Hold'em w/ Rebuys) - 115 remain of the original 879, and with all the rebuys, first place with pay $693,444. Jamel Maistriaux ended Day 1 as chip leader, stacked at 169,300. Big name big stacks remaining include Mark Seif (133,000), Joe Tehan, whose name sounds too much like "Tehran" for our liking (108,200), and the spectacularly-breasted J.C. Tran (54,900). Get full chip counts here.

:: Event #45 ($50,000 H.O.R.S.E) - The big one. The event everyone was waiting for and the title the pros most want to claim. Each table is stacked with a who's who of poker greats. Surely the event will continue the trend this year that we exclusively trademarked as The Year of the Pro^TM. Frightening the competition with fearlessness that could only be accomplished by someone lacking a soul is James "mig dot com" Mackey, a ginger, with 214,000. With 140 of the initial 148 remaining, and with virtually every person in the field someone that you've heard of, it'd be, as Dr. Pauly would say, "redunkulous" to list all the notables. But we will mention that Phil Hellmuth, seen here talking about the bad WSOP he's having right before the event began, was one of the eight eliminated on Day 1. Also, the four pros most likely to claim 2008 WSOP POY honors (and solidify this year as the Year of the Pro), Erick Lindgren, Daniel Negreanu, Barry Greenstein, and David Benyamine, are all above averaged stacked going into Day 2. Get full chip counts here.

After the jump, a photo of the fantastically stacked and looking-better-than-ever Isabelle Mercier next to Dario Minieri. Mercier seriously looks like that hot teacher everyone wanted to bang in 9th grade and Dario like the student who gets a little too nervous around her. Also after the jump is possibly the best photo we've ever taken of Tom Schneider.

You Can't Spell HORSE Without H-0

We snapped our new stock photo for Gus Hansen tonight during the HORSE event.

We haven't a clue who the hooker girl is above. We just know that she walked out onto the floor of the World Championship HORSE event at the 2008 WSOP earlier tonight without a care in the world, and started to chum and chat it up with Daniel Negreanu at his table for awhile.

After she walked away, Daniel said he had no idea who the girl was.

The big-boobed buttaface then found Gus Hansen at his table across the room, and as you'd expect, the self-proclaimed ladies' man was more open to having a conversation than Daniel was, and by conversation we mean having her sit on his lap while he played, getting David Williams to snap photos of the two, getting her phone number and generally enjoying her huge breasts in his face before she was more or less escorted away.

And of course our photog was right there to capture all of the above.

Click away to see her in action below . . .

Guess Who's Busting Out at the 2008 WSOP (And We Think She's OK We Noticed)

She's one of only a few women poker players who was silly enough to throw $50k away on the Horse Event because they don't have a snowball in hell's chance to win this thing and if a woman did win, it was nice knowing you world are playing in the $50,000 buy-in World Championship HORSE Event at the 2008 WSOP.

Yeh the PS patch gives it away but if you're still guessing or want to see more photos of her busting out of her top go here.

Phil Hellmuth Not Making Any Excuses

Poker pro Phil Hellmuth is back to making video blogs, and we forgot how much we liked them. Good honest stuff.

While he's cashed twice at the 2008 WSOP and made one final table, he's still not happy with his overall performance, but he's not making any excuses for about it either. For now at least.

Phil Hellmuth 2008 WSOP vlog

2008 WSOP Update: $50K Buy-In HORSE Event Underway

Chad Brown (above, headphones) at the tail end of the first level of the $50k HORSE event.

Saddle up!

The HORSE event at the 2008 World Series of Poker got out of the gate off to a galloping quick start tonight with a stable field of 146 players who ponied up paid the $50k buy-in to compete for what is now the most coveted title in poker.

Poker stallion great Gus Hansen has grabbed the reins taken charge early to amass the chip lead.

Last year's champ, the Shetland-sized half-man, half-amazing Freddy Deeb is currently second in chips.

Also doing well just after the first break are a few young foals guns, including James Mackey, a ginger, and Phil "OMGClayAiken" Galfond.

Filly Female player Isabelle Mercier is among the top twenty, while Annie Duke, a mare woman, was off to a good start as well but has fallen back to 100k in chips.

Surprisingly a no show is a lame stud not-feeling-well Patrik Antonius.

Get current chip counts here.

UPDATE: PA showed up during second level.

2008 WSOP Update: John Phan Ruining It for The Rest of Us; New Davidson Matthew Club Member Wins Bracelet

John Phan (above) captured his second bracelet of the 2008 WSOP.

The $50,000 H.O.R.S.E. championship at the 2008 WSOP starts today, and sitting on the toilet typing this post looking out about the Rio Amazon Room in Las Vegas the anticipation is palpable. Plays starts at 5pm PST, so come back for updates and pics, as super hot "working women" railbirds will be out in full force.

On with the recaps:

:: Event #40 ($2,500 Limit 2-7 Lowball) - Well, looks like The Year of the Pro^(TM) at the 2008 WSOP continues. John Phan becomes the 2008 WSOP's first multiple bracelet winner by capturing Event #40. For the win, Phan banks $151,911 and moves up to third in the POY race. Inexplicably, Phan, who already is considered one of the nicest guys on the circuit, has reportedly decided to give the winnings to charities in Vietnam. By doing so, Phan further makes guys like us who have completely disavowed the concept of "charity" and "philanthropy" look like bigger assholes than we already are. Thanks Phan. Mr. Nice Charity Guy defeated Shun Uchida heads-up for the title. Get full payouts here.

:: Event #41 ($1,500 Mixed Hold'em) - Newly elected Davidson Matthew Club member Frank Gary takes this one down, banking $219,508 and his first bracelet. Nick Binger, brother of WSOP cashing machine Michael, held the chip lead for much of the event but bowed out in third. Get full payouts here.

:: Event #42 ($1,000 Seniors No Limit Hold'em) - Whatever.

:: Event #43 ($1,500 Pot Limit Omaha Hi/Lo) - The last tournament of the day had 720 entrants and will pay out $216,249 to first. Ed Smith ended the day as chip leader stacked at 119,500. The guy with the hot girl's name, Shannon Shorr, is second with 86,900. Read our previous and more detailed recap of the event here and get full chip counts here.

2008 WSOP Update: Shorr, Seidel and Hachem Among Leaders on Day 1 of Event No. 43

Shannon Shorr (above photo, on right) is among the Day 1 leaders in the $1,500 buy-in Omaha Hi-Low event at the 2008 WSOP.

A total of 720 runners entered Event No. 43, the $1,500 buy-in Pot-Limit Omaha Hi-low Split-8 or Better event, today, bringing the prize pool to just under a mil with first getting $216,249, or about $70k less than what you could fetch Phil Ivey's old SLR for on eBay.

Last we looked there were 82 players remaining and one good-from-afar-but-far-from-good girl on the rail. Really, photo-worthy railbirds have been slim to none the past few days. Let's step it up ladies. We have a site to run.

Current chip leaders just before midnight include Erik Seidel, who's gunning for his first bracelet of this year's WSOP, Joe Hachem, who just might be the next Joe Hachem, compulsive WSOP casher Berry Johnston, and the guy with the girl's name Shannon Shorr. Layne Flack and his teeth are also making a move up the leader board late tonight just got eliminated.

Stacked the most right now is the generically-named Ed Smith, who has quietly amassed around $270k in WSOP earnings over the years.

Keep track of chip counts here.

Check out WSOP daily video recaps over at PokerListings.

Hot girls in the WCP forum here.

* Despite the overall lack of talent along the rail lately, the girl below was seen over the weekend and from all accounts is one of the hottest yet. Hopefully she returns because our photog was drunker than a peach orchard boar, whatever that means, when he snapped the shots below.

Joe Hachem Could Be the Next Joe Hachem

We don't know Australian that well, but our friends who speak it say the below video of 2005 WSOP Main Event champ Joe Hachem includes a pretty funny anecdote about a cab ride he had over to the WSOP today. Watch it below or over on RawVegas.tv here.

Liv Boeree Deserves More of Our Attention

Heavy metal poker hottie Liv Boeree playing at the 2008 WSOP.

We're big fans of 20-something year-old rocker chicks who can pull off the beater tee look, talk with British accents, know how to play cards and can do a chip trick or two with some style.

So putting 2+2 together, well, we suck at algebra. But the point is we're digging Brit pokerer Liv Boeree, who just returned to Vegas after a brief break back home in England and has already cashed twice at the 2008 WSOP (Events Nos. 38 and 41).

We think Liv deserves some greater consideration so expect to see more of her on WCP and RawVegas.tv in the coming days. For now, see more of our photos of Liv playing at the 2008 WSOP on her Poker Hotties thread here.

2008 WSOP Ginger of the Day

This may be the last of our 2008 WSOP Gingers of the Day. At least it will be if this guy ever sees his photo on our site. Because we're pretty sure he could/would kill us.

All In: The Poker Musical Announced, Told You We Weren't Making This Sh*t Up

When we first broke the news yesterday that Phil Hellmuth and the WSOP we're doing a poker musical called "All In: The Poker Musical," no one really believed it, with people on the WCP forum and other forums immediately calling it a level. Or at least hoping it was.

Well, like we said, you can't make shit like this up.

Just minutes ago, Harrahs and the WSOP officially sent out the press release for what is being billed as the world's first poker musical, which will debut during the WSOP Main Event on July 3, with shows open to the public on July 4 and 5 at the Rio.

Check out the full press release here.

Talk it up on the WCP forum here.

Read what Hellmuth actually said about it on his blog back in April here.

Read what we said about it yesterday here.

Daniel Negreanu On the Run in the Palms Parking Lot

Daniel Negreanu is taking a couple of days off from the 2008 WSOP, flying out to LA today. Or at least that's what he told us before the Palms security showed up.

VIDEO: Daniel Negreanu 2008 WSOP video blog

The Degenerate Update: Vanessa Selbst Takes on Neverwin; Phil Ivey's McLaren Up for Auction; Sklansky Banned from ESPN?

Kind of a slow week for "degenerosity," but the latest Degenerate Report from NWP covers the gamut of filthy gambling rumors floating around the Rio in Las Vegas. Joining Bryan Micon this week is Event #41 10th place finisher Todd "DanDruff" Witteles. The NWP guys are balling at the 2008 WSOP with 8 cashes between them.

VIDEO: Neverwinpoker.com's 2008 WSOP Degenerate Report

Captain Tom POB'ing Competition in WSOP Senior Tournament

The 2008 WSOP Seniors tournament had a record field today of 2,218, paying out $368,759 for first place. Best comment we heard by some old geezer right before the cards flew: "Anyone wanna make a live longer bet?"

The field contained lots of people who for whatever reason we didn't realize were even old enough to compete in this event, like Men "The Master" Nguyen, Johnny Chan (who is doing absolutely nothing funny in this photo), and the insufferably annoying Humberto Brenes.

Currently, Captain Tom Franklin is just POB'ing the competition, big stacked at 73,000, or approximately the number of days he's been alive. In related creepy old man news, David Sklansky final tabled Event #40 (chip counts here).

We're debating whether or not to keep updating this one, especially with the surprising lack of GILF railbirds, so get your chip counts here.

A photo example of the Senior Event railbird action today after the jump . . .

Breaking: Phil Hellmuth, Phil Hellmuth's Ego and WSOP Team Up for First Ever Poker Musical

After hearing some talk around the Rio about a Phil Hellmuth-themed poker musical and thinking there's absolutely no way it could be for real, an advanced draft of the press release confirming it just landed on our laps. And now there's a website up for it.

Yep, proving once again that nothing can out jump the shark quite like poker can, the World Series of Poker, along with Phil Hellmuth and Phil Hellmuth's Ego, have teamed up with Las Vegas show producer Tim Molyneux to present the first, and hopefully last, ever poker musical entitled "All In: The Poker Musical."

Seriously. We're not making this shit up.

A preview concert featuring songs from the musical will be held at the Rio on July 3, the first day of the Main Event, for poker "VIPs, luminaries and media." A limited engagement open to the public will be presented at the Masquerade Theatre at the Rio on July 4 and July 5. Tickets are going for $29.95 and up. Seriously.

Quoting directly from the release, and we're not making this shit up, the story of the musical "revolves around the final nine players at the Main Event of the World Series of Poker and, just like the real WSOP, these players come from all walks of life. These clearly identifiable characters sing songs that are interlaced with poker analogies, quotes, and situations that also apply to the game of life."

For example, and again we're not making this shit up, a source of ours says that one of the characters is based on Hellmuth and sings songs like:

"I can dodge bullets baby, but I can’t dodge you."

Really. You can't make this stuff up.

Some sweet press release quotes from Hellmuth and Pollack after the jump . . .

Talk it up on the new WCP poker forum on the Hellmuth poker musical thread (with link to musical's website).

Girl on Girl at the WSOP: There's Something About Amanda Leatherman

The below is WCP contributor Michele Lewis' latest 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.

Girl on Girl at the 2008 WSOP is a great way to start off Monday morning.  And who better than Amanda Leatherman of PokerRoad and PokerNews (photo above playing in the 2008 World Series of Poker Ladies Event).  Leatherman can easily be perceived as just a cute petite blonde; however, don't think for a second her strength is synonymous with her size.  She may be a tiny... but she walks tall, speaks her mind and has a sharp sense of humor.  Leatherman concocts her skills of wit, professionalism and girl-next-door appeal to create interviews that get to the point yet are fun and entertaining. For example, she managed to host Phil Hellmuth shotgunning a beer then ended the interview before a possible "Frank the Tank" streak.

Again, some might think it's just her beauty encouraging the constant double-takes, but I disagree.  I think she has a way of making one feel as though they already know her or ... they really want to get to know her (and I don't mean sexually).  Last week, Leatherman was sweet enough to answer some questions about who is hot and how she landed in Las Vegas to travel the world.  Thump to the jump to read something about Amanda...

2008 WSOP Update: We'll Keep This Brief

Only four tournaments to report on from Sunday, and we'll keep it short. For a more "thorough" look at the action, get  live World Series of Poker coverage and more in-depth WSOP blogs at Poker Listings. To get your week started off right, visit the Wicked Chops Poker Forum for threads on Breann McGregor and the spectacularly-breasted Yoko Matsugane.

:: Event #38 ($2,000 Pot Limit Hold'em) - Apparently the singular version of "David Kita," Davidi Kitai, brings home his first bracelet by defeating poker pro Chris Bell heads-up for the title. Davidi banks $244,583 for the win. Get full payouts here.

:: Event #39 ($1,500 No Limit Hold'em) - The final nine come back at 2pm PST to play for the $631,656 first prize. 2005 WSOP bracelet winner and overly-consonanted Thom Werthmann has the chip lead. Get full chip counts here.

:: Event #40 ($2,500 2-7 Limit) - Shun Uchida looks to make his third cash at the 2008 WSOP as he takes the chip lead to Day 2 of Event #40. Uchida is stacked at 79,200. Other big name big stacks include Greg Raymer (64,600) and Robert Mizrachi (54,200). Only 30 remain and first pays out $151,896. Get full chip counts here.

:: Event #41 ($1,500 Mixed Hold'em) - Just 731 entered the final tourney of the day and 98 survived to Monday. Jonathan Tamayo is chip leader stacked at 98,100. Super hero/porn star Brock Parker remains (23,125), as does Todd "DanDruff" Witteles (13,750). Get full chip counts here.

Daniel Negreanu Had a Bad Day

Even poker superstar Daniel Negreanu has a bad day every now and then. A little beat down, Daniel sneaks out of the Rio where he'll now take a couple days off and hit the links before playing in the $50,000 H.O.R.S.E. event.

Daniel Negreanu 2008 WSOP video blog

Learn how to play like Daniel at Poker VT.

2008 WSOP Update: David Benyamine Livin' Large, Wins First Bracelet

David Benyamine (above, front center) battled a stacked final table to win his first bracelet earlier today.

Working off some general fog from the Gnarls Barkley concert at Mandalay Bay beach so we're light on the preamble for this WSOP update. However, of note, the sitarist for opening act Thievery Corporation is a dead ringer for Dutch Boyd. Seriously could've been him. Dutch, do you have wicked sitar chops that we're unaware of?

::  Event #35 ($1,500 No Limit Hold'em) - Here's a final table that would've been infinitely more interesting if Bryan Micon out lasted another six eliminations to join the remaining nine (get Micon's latest Degenerate Report here). Aaron Kanter, he of 2005 WSOP final table fame, made a run from short-stack to finish third, which pretty much constitutes the "big story" on this one.  Jesper Hougaard started the day as chip leader and ended the day as chip leader, winning his first bracelet and banking $610,304. Get full results here.

:: Event #35 ($10,000 Omaha Hi/Lo) - David Benyamine is having a helluva month. Aside from waking up next to Erica Schoenberg every morning, Benyamine banked almost $1.5M on Full Tilt Poker last month. Today he added another $535,687 to his bankroll after taking down the World Championship of Omaha Hi/Lo. Benyamine defeated Greg Jamison heads-up for the title. The win vaults Benyamine to second overall in the 2008 World Series of Poker Player of the Year standings, trailing Jacobo Fernadez by two points. Toto Leonidas finished fourth, Mike "The Mouth" Matusow fifth. Get full payouts here.

:: Event #36 ($2,000 Pot Limit Hold'em) - Michael Binger will have to wait a little longer for his first WSOP bracelet. After holding the chip lead for most of Event #36, the cashing machine just missed another final table, bowing out in 11th. Instead the exceedingly pretentiously named Jan Christoph Von Halle will start final table play with the chip lead, stacked at 485,000. He's followed by 2007 WSOP Main Event final table-ist Lee Watkinson-Markholt with 357,000. Watkinson-Markholt is going for his second bracelet. In fourth overall is Ayaz Mahmood, who let's just say we'd watch his every move like a fucking hawk if he sat next to us on a flight. Why doesn't he have any carry-on luggage? Why only a book? He's been in the bathroom an awfully long time. Whew ok he sat back down and is now buckling his seat belt. First pays out $$244,583. Get full chip counts here.

:: Event #37 ($1,500 No Limit Hold'em) - Another mega-field, with 2,720 entrants paying out a first place prize of $631,656. Only 218 survived to Day 2. Michael Polcari takes the chip lead into action today with 130,000. Making his own push for 2008 WSOP Player of the Year honors is Barry Greenstein, who started off strong and is stacked at 89,600. Get full chip counts here.

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

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.

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 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

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

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 & 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 (guys, it’s her first and middle name, duuuuh). 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.

2008 WSOP Update: Event No. 28, the $5,000 Pot-Limit Omaha with Rebuys event

Phil Ivey (on left) and Phil Laak (on right) are among the notable players in the $5k PLO w/ rebuys event.

As you'd expect with any $5,000 buy-in event with rebuys, the tables were loaded with big name pros tonight for Event No. 28, the $5,000 Pot-Limit Omaha with Rebuys event at the WSOP. A total of 152 players entered, up from last year's event, and there were 483 rebuys and add-ons by the end of the third level, bringing the prize pool up to $3,085,930. Early chipleaders include Jason Mercier, Andy Black, Gavin Smith, David Benyamine, Phil Galfond, Tony G, Johnny Chan and Jeff Williams. Others doing well on Day One and we'll just go with first/nick names 'cause we're getting lazy include Erick, Daniel, Dario, Joe, Durrr, Josh and Jesus. Head here to see a list of the players and their current chip counts.

Click away below for photos from Event No. 28 of Andy Bloch, Erik Seidel and a rare group shot of Chau Giang, Bill Gazes, Tony G and Phil Laak, all from Event No. 28.

 

2008 WSOP Ginger of the Day

Ahhhh!!!!!

Catching Up with Erick Lindgren at the 2008 WSOP

For the latest webisode of The Toke with Wicked Chops Poker, we caught up with poker pro Erick Lindgren while he was chilling in the Poker Royalty lounge. Listen to what he has to say about the WSOP so far, including Day 2 of the $10,000 World Championship Heads-Up Hold'em event.

Watch it on RawVegas.tv here.

Relatedly, we believe 6 is the highest number of pros/poker personalities someone has spotted in the Gavin Griffin video blog.

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: $10k World Championship Heads-Up No-Limit Hold'em, Event No. 25

Chris "Genius28" Lee was among the pros who made it to the second round of the Heads-Up event today at the 2008 WSOP

The $10k buy-in World Championship Heads-Up No-Limit Hold'em Championship of the World at the World Series of Poker is down to 64 from its original 256. Players will play one more heads-up match tonight.

Chipleaders include everyone still in the tournament.

The favorite after two rounds has to be Chris "Jesus" Ferguson, who took down the National Heads-Up Championship in April and has the most wins of any pro in the televised tournament's four-year history.

Others to look out for include Michael "The Grinder" Mizrachi, the spectacularly breasted JC Tran, Erick Lindgren, Sammy Farha, Brandon Adams, Kenny Tran, Alex Jacob, Theo Tran and Nam Le.

Chip counts here.

More shots of what you're looking at above (and Eric Liu railbirding?) below . . .

Phil Gordon Has About-Face on Justin Bonomo, Loses Heads-Up to Him today at WSOP

Phil Gordon goes heads-up against Justin Bonomo today at the 2008 WSOP

Early in 2007, Phil Gordon publicly stated that he wanted nothing to do with Justin Bonomo, saying on his Poker Edge radio show:

'"I don't ever want to have him on the show...I don't want his name brought up on the show."

This week Bonomo's name did come up on Gordon's show, but this time the ridiculously tall poker pro (6'9" to all those people who strangely google it and end up on our site) had nothing but praise for the 22-year-old, saying he considers him "extremely bright," "a fantastic player," "respectful and nice," with "a very good attitude," and that he will be a force to reckon with for years to come.

He also said that Bonomo is a much better player than him, something Bonomo was able to prove today when the two ironically faced off during the second round of the World Heads-Up Hold'em Championship at the 2008 WSOP. After being down to under 3k in chips, Bonomo stormed back for the win and will move on to the third round tonight.

As for Gordon, we hear he's ready to have Bonomo on his show. Perhaps next week.

Relatedly, Gordon's wife gave birth to a baby boy a few weeks ago, and word is some of the Tilt Boys have a wager on the kid's eventual height. Over under set at 6'8".

Read our original post on Gordon not wanting anything to do with Bonomo here.

Listen to Gordon talking about Bonomo, among other things, on Poker Edge here.

See a photo of what we think Gordon would look like if he went life busto after the jump . . .

Fun with Gavin Griffin Video Blog

Name all of the notable poker players/industry types who walk by during Gavin Griffin's latest video blog. It's fun.

Or at least more fun than listening.

2008 WSOP Ginger of the Day

Ewww! [Shiver]

Poker Pro Daniel Negreanu Wins Fourth WSOP Bracelet

It's been quite a WSOP-winning dry spell for the man who many consider the best all-around tourney player in the game.

Daniel Negreanu captured 2004 WSOP Player of the Year honors when he won an event and made, to borrow a phrase from Dr. Pauly, a "redunkulous" five final tables.

Since then, he's made a few final tables but no bracelets.

That changed early morning when Negreanu took down Event #20 ($2,000 Limit Hold'em).

While Negreanu banked $207k for the win, the story many are talking about is the side bet he has with Phil Ivey and Ted Forrest. While we're still unclear on the terms with Forrest, Ivey, who likes to gamble, had a $200k-per-bracelet bet with Negreanu for the 2008 WSOP. We told you Negreanu was running hot.

A bunch of guys you never heard of finished 2-9. Get payouts here.

Relatedly:

- Learn how to play poker like Daniel Negreanu at Poker VT here.
- Watch Daniel's video blog before he took down the final table here.
- More pics of the win from the Poker Prof here.

Vanessa Selbst, A Wom--, A Woma--, Ugh, A Woman, Wins First WSOP Bracelet

Yesterday, we said it was inevitable. And while she almost blew it like that loser Big Brown, Vanessa Selbst, a woman, became the first woman poker player to ever win a WSOP bracelet ever in the history of woman at the World Series of Poker.

More or less.

Selbst took a Phil-Hellmuth-sweater's-breast-sized chip lead (in person they're bigger) to the final table, but was actually short-stacked for a time when it was down to three-handed. But Selbst, whose been steadily rising the ranks as a very respected tournament player and probably has a super hot girlfriend, buckled down and grinded out her first WSOP bracelet when she defeated Jamie Pickering heads-up.

For the win, Selbst banks $227,965. Get full payouts here.

2008 WSOP Update: Grinder Guns for 1st Bracelet in $5k No-Limit Hold'em Event

A week ago, Michael "The Grinder" Mizrachi final tabled the Omaha/7CS Hi-Lo event, only to fall short of his first WSOP bracelet by finishing 8th.

Tonight, we're down to 13 players in the $5k buy-in No-Limit Hold'em event at the 2008 WSOP, and he's in good position to make a run again, stacked third in chips with 850,000.

Scott Seiver, who already has two cashes this series, is the chipleader with just under 1.4 mil. Rajesh Vohra is second with just over a mil.

Speaking of Indian, if you're ever stuck at the Rio, the curiously named, not that we're curious, Gaylords is a must. Try the chicken tikka masala with a couple of orders of garlic naan bread. It's good eatin'.

What were we talking about again? Oh ... so yeh we saw this chick again. Damn.

Whaaaaaat? Grinder just busted while we were writing this post. So much for all of the above. They're down to 10 now. Jacobo Fernandez is now in third and Seiver's over the 2 mil mark. Also notable, Scott "SCTrojans" Freeman is still around, stacked at 465k.

Get another look at Grinder below . . .

2008 WSOP Update: Hellmuth Eyes 64th WSOP Cash

The $2,000 buy-in No-Limit Hold'em event is done for the night, and 11-time WSOP bracelet winner Phil Hellmuth (above) is among the 180 or so players who will be returning to the tables tomorrow at 2pm.

Hellmuth is stacked at 47,500 (last report), and will be gunning for his ridiculous 64th WSOP cash and his 12th bracelet.

The chipleader at the end of the day may or may not be Dustin Dirksen, stacked at or around 172,000. Other pros still in include Barry Greenstein, Tim Phan, Allen Le, Jared "The Waco Kid" Hamby and the not very athletic Bill Gazes.

Our favorite Brazilian chica who doesn't model for Victoria's Secret Maridu is stacked just over $50,000.

Get updated chips counts while we're sleeping here.

Click thumbnails below for more hot photos of Hellmuth (and yes it's her again) below. . .

2008 WSOP Update: Event No. 23 - $2K Buy-In No-Limit Hold'em

Poker couple David Benyamine (top left photo) and Erica Schoenberg (top right photo) were among the pros who busted early in today's $2k buy-in No-Limit Hold'em event. The first tournament to kick off today at the 2008 WSOP was the $2K Buy-In No-Limit Hold'em event (Event No. 23). 1,344 runners entered--about 300 less than last year--bringing the total prize pool to $2,446,000. First place walks with $507,613. Players are currently on dinner break, and only 350 remain. It's Barry Greenstein who leads with 53,000. Swede Simon Lindqvist is close behind with 51,000. Other big names who are up early include Men Nguyen, Young Phan, and TJ Cloutier. 11-time WSOP bracelet winner Phil Hellmuth is still among the crowd, stacked at 13,000. He's been 'dodging some bullets' today, surviving an all in early with KK against AA when he spiked a set on the river. Our crazy Brazilian friend Maridu (photo at right) is up there near the top with 40,000 at the dinner break. Chip counts here. Guess whose boobs are whose here.

2008 WSOP Ginger of the Day

Ah!!!

Get Carrot Top's pubes off your face!

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.

Daniel Negreanu Is Running Hot

Times are good for Daniel Negreanu.

Last week he launched his new business venture, Poker VT.

Yesterday he took down a big high stakes golf match against Patrik Antonius (and side bets with Phil Ivey, who really likes to gamble). RawVegas.tv will have exclusive video of the match tomorrow, but the gist is Negreanu was down about $300k on the back 9 and ended up around $150k when it was all done (watch Daniel's vlog about it below).

And today, Negreanu has a massive chip lead in WSOP Event #20 ($2,000 Limit Hold'em). The bubble just burst and players are in the money, with Negreanu stacked at 122,000. He's followed by Derek Lerner with 89,000.

Just missing an absolutely insane 64th WSOP cash was Phil Hellmuth. Get full chip counts here.

2008 WSOP Update: Event No. 22 - $3K Buy-In H.O.R.S.E. Underway

It's a pro heavy field in today's $3k buy-in HORSE event at the 2008 WSOP, and we're not just saying that because David Benyamine and Greg Raymer are playing. Like any tournament that involves anything but just Hold'em, tonight's HORSE event has drawn a who's who of big name pros ... way too lazy many to be named.

We're picking Chad Brown (photo above) as our early favorite, because he's a solid all-around player and our photog snapped the great shot of him above before he busted in the $5k NLHE event. He's the one wearing headphones for those who don't follow poker and may not recognize him.

Early chip leaders in the tournament include Allen Kessler, who, as a side not, really needs to lay off the Facebook crack, Chau Giang, and Perry Friedman.

Annie Duke, a woman, is also off to a decent start while Shannon Elizabeth isn't so much. She's down almost 2k from the start and is bundled up in a jacket trying to stay warm in the Amazon Room. It's a bit nippy in here right now, you may have noticed.

Get current chip counts here.

Erick Lindgren is Freakin' Tired, Gunning for Second WSOP Bracelet

Poker pro Erick Lindgren stopped by to chat right before he took his seat as the chip leader at the final table of Event No. 18 - the $5k buy-in No-Limit 2-7 Draw Lowball w/ReBuys tournament at the 2008 WSOP. After two long days of play, Lindgren is in prime position to win his second bracelet of this year's series, or at least he is in as good as position as one could be in the toughest field so far.

A quick glance over at the table, Lindgren has maintained his chip advantage so far, leading with just over a million in chips. In second is Barry Greenstein with 935k. Mike Matusow, Jeffrey Lisandro and 2007 POY Tom Schneider round out the final five remaining.

See what Edog had to say in the video below.

Other recent RawVegas.tv poker player video blogs:

Joe Hachem
Gavin Griffin
Vanessa Rousso
Evelyn Ng

UPDATE: Schneider out. Lindgren up to 1.35 mil. Matusow second w/ just over 1 mil. Chip counts here.

UPDATE: Shocker. Lindgren out. Lisandro leads.

Phil Ivey Likes to Gamble

You may know this already, but Full Tilt Poker pro Phil Ivey kind of likes to gamble.

It's one of the reasons why he's one of our favorite guys on the circuit.

Word on the street Amazon Poker Room floor (and this is still somewhat unsubstantiated so far so take it for what it's worth) is that Ivey has $2M riding on the Lakers to win the NBA Finals.

As seen above, Ivey was playing the $2,000 Limit event last night, sometimes playing and raising hands without looking at his cards as he watched the NBA Championship game on the flat screen.

For more on Phil Ivey liking to gamble, watch Phil Ivey play Craps for a million on the Life of Ivey on PokerRoad.com.

All photos courtesy of the one French guy we dig, Benjo.

2008 WSOP Update: Poker Pro Erick Lindgren Goes for Bracelet #2 + Some Dude Gives a Lot of Money to Charity

We didn't do a full update yesterday from the WSOP, mostly because one development truly left us horrified. We didn't know how to report it. Because it surely had to have been made up. Seriously, who does what we are about to report? What kind of a person would do this? Definitely not anybody we know, that's for sure.

:: Event #14 ($10,000 Seven Card Stud) - We spent a good portion of the day yesterday trying to verify this story because it seemed like something out of a Jerry Bruckheimer movie. A very bad Jerry Bruckheimer movie with no explosions. But apparently it's true. Eric Brooks won his first WSOP bracelet (and making his first cash too) in Event #14, the Seven Card Stud World Championship. He subsequently then GAVE ALL OF THE PRIZE MONEY--$415,856 TO BE EXACT--TO CHARITY. Read that last sentence again. Is he flipping crazy? Aren't there laws that prevent mentally deranged people from doing shit like this? We're not sure what this country is coming to, but we are sure it's a place we don't want to be. Full results here.

:: Event #15 ($1,000 Ladies Only) - Read about Glum Girl Svetlana Gromenkova and her thrilling victory here.

:: Event #16 ($2,000 Limit Omaha Hi-Low) - Chalk up yet another Omaha final table to The Intense Stare of Scott Clements. However, do not chalk up another bracelet. He finished seventh, banking $36,232. Instead, the tourney was taken down by Justin Guarini Andrew Brown. This is Brown's first WSOP bracelet, banking $226,483 and denying Ted Forrest, who finished second, his sixth. Get full results here.

:: Event #17 ($1,500 NLH Shoot-Out) - "Friends and family" final table won by Jason Young. Full results here.

:: Event #18 ($10,000 2-7 Lowball w/ Rebuys) - Always a "who's who" event with big names galore. Full Tilt Poker pro Erick Lindgren, who could easily run away with 2008 World Series of Poker Player of the Year honors, takes a massive chip to the final table, stacked at 1,104,000. He's followed by Barry Greenstein (541,000), super skinny Mike Matusow (520,000), Jeffrey Lisandro (461,000), David Benyamine (410,000), Tony G (394,000), and last year's POY, Tom Schneider (162,000). First place pays $537,682. Get final table updates starting at 3pm PST here.

:: Event #19 ($1,500 Pot Limit Omaha) - Fast play in this one, as 759 entered and only 46 remain. Vanessa Selbst, a woma--, a woma--, ugh, a woman, is big stacked with 203,600. Other big name big stacks include Nam Le (59,500) and Chau Giang (58,300). Get full chip counts here.

:: Event #20 ($2,000 Limit Hold'em) - The last tourney of the day saw 479 enter. Play concluded with 125 remaining. The chip leader is Daniel Makowsky, stacked at 49,200. World renown cougar and WCP guest blogger Michele Lewis was eliminated towards the end of the day, but gave us some "big ups" (her words) in this interview with hottie Tiffany Michelle. Also in the event but eliminated was NWP's Bryan Micon. Watch his latest Degenerate Update below. Get full Event #20 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: Day 2 of Event No. 18 - No-Limit 2-7 Draw Lowball w/ReBuys

The big-name, big-bankroll poker pros in the $5,000 buy-in No-Limit 2-7 Draw Lowball w/ReBuys event at the 2008 WSOP are nearing a final table on Day 2. 18 of the 85 players remain with David Benyamine holding an ironically slim chip lead over a newly slim Mike Matusow, 2007 WSOP POY Tom Schneider of Pokerati fame, and 21-year-old Tom "Durrrr" Dwan. All are over the 400k mark. Others still in include Barry Greenstein, Jeffrey Lisandro, Erick Lindgren, David Grey, Chad Brown, Tony G, Nick Schulman and Michael Binger. Busts before the bubble include Layne Flack (top left photo) and Shawn "Sheiky" Sheikhan (top right photo), and going out just before the money was poker legend and blogger Doyle Brunson. Chip counts here. Click thumbnail for another, better look at what you're looking at above. . .

Glum Girl Svetlana Gromenkova Grabs Ladies Title at WSOP, Cracks Smile

She finally did it.

After three days of battling out against more than one thousand other female and female-ish poker players, including hotties, cuties, butchies, MILFs, GILFs, soccer moms, and one lone tranny, Svetlana Gromenkova, aka Glum Girl, finally cracked a smile. Albeit a small one.

The Russian from Brooklyn took down the Ladies No-Limit World Championship at the 2008 WSOP, and in accepting her bracelet from WSOP commish Jeffrey Pollack, Glum Girl said sheepishly that she was "Happy . . . Excited." And then for one fleeting second the corners of her mouth turned up and a twinkle could be seen in her eyes.

Or maybe that was just the lighting from the ESPN final table set.

Glum Girl nets $244k for her win.

Anh Le, a woman, who you may remember for finishing second in the Ladies Event when Jennifer Tilly won, finished second.

In third was Patty Till, a woman, who like last year's lady winner, just attended poker camp at the WSOP Academy the day before the tournament.

In not really related news, we're big fans of the hot Russian girl dancing video below.

2008 WSOP Ginger of the Day

We're kind of confused on this one because everyone knows that the Asian gene is immune to gingervitis. But somehow Johnny Chan has red hair. How is this possible? It defies science.

Past "Gingers of the Day" here, here, here and here.

BREAKING: Daniel Negreanu and Patrik Antonius Playing High Stakes Heads-Up Golf Match

Daniel Negreanu and Patrik Antonius are in the midst of a large cash sum (amount unconfirmed) match of high stakes golf.

The match is taking place at TPC Summerlin. Just yesterday in his vlog Patrik said that he still "sucks at golf...but still gambles big."

Guess he didn't waste any time putting his wallet where his mouth is.

He also said that he'd never take any golfing advice from Daniel. Maybe that'll change after today?

RawVegas.tv will have video footage of the match available tomorrow. In the meantime watch Erick Lindgren's legendary golf prop bet from last year's World Series of Poker.

UPDATE: Daniel was down around $85k on the front 9 but came back and is now up $55k. Developing...

2008 WSOP Update: No-Limit 2-7 Draw Lowball w/ReBuys (Event 18)

Tom "Durrr" Dwan (above photo, on left, seated next to Robert Mizrachi) is the chipleader at the end of level 6 in the $5,000 buy-in No-Limit 2-7 Draw Lowball w/ReBuys event at the 2008 WSOP.

Mike Matusow, Todd Brunson, Shawn Sheikhan and Phil Ivey round out the top 5. Word is that Ivey is invested $140,000.

The event drew a total of 85 players, all big name, big bankroll players. A total of 272 rebuys and add-ons hiked the total prize pool up to $1,735,020.

Get latest chip counts here.

A closer, better look at the above after the jump . . .

Glum Girl Gromenkova Killing the Ladies Event

Glum Girl Svetlana Gromenkova, a woman, seen above in various stages of glumness, is destroying the field right now in the Ladies No-Limit Hold'em World Championship at the 2008 WSOP. With 21 players left, Glum Girl is stacked at 320,000, with her nearest competitor, Christine Priday, a woman, stacked at 180,000.

Patty Till, a woman, who just attended the WSOP Academy Ladies Event, is in third right now with 148,000. Till will be looking to do what Sally Ann Boyer did last year -- go from poker camp to poker champ in a matter of days.

Of note, Hoa Nguyen, a woman, is still in and still not a man, despite what the NY Times Freakonomics Blog reported today. Understandable mistake considering the WSOP site links to this Hoa Nguyen, a man, who finished 34th in the WSOP Main Event last year.

UPDATE: Steven Levitt just updated his Freakonomics blog with an addendum and also links to the old Tilt Boys photos of Rafe Furst and Phil Gordon dressed as chicks. Check it out here.

2008 WSOP Update: $1,500 No-Limit Hold'em Shootout

Neil Channing and Tom McEvoy (above) were among the poker pros playing in today's $1500 No-Limit Hold'em Shootout (Event #17) at the 2008 WSOP, which drew 1,000 players and a $1,365,000 total prize pool. First place will walk with $329,872.

More than six hours after the start and all but maybe two or three of the first round of shootouts are done. Everyone moving on cashes. Some of the notable players advancing to the second round of shootouts include Chris "Jesus" Ferguson, Antony Roux, Thor Hansen, and Noah Boeken.

Chris Vaughn from this scandal is also among those advancing.

Get the latest here.

More photos after the jump . . .

Patrik Antonius to Quit Tennis, Talks a Lot in Finnish

For Patrik Antonius' latest video blog, RawVegas.tv caught up with him away from the World Series of Poker at Bear's Best where he was playing golf with some friends. The Full Tilt poker pro talks candidly about giving up tennis this year, extreme props like Erick Lindgren's golf bet last summer, what he thinks about Daniel Negreanu's golf tips and the rest of the video was in his native tongue Finnish, which sounds Greek to us. Speaking of, Greek singer/actress/model Julia Alexandratou is all kinds of hot. Damn.

Patrik Antonius Video Blog

2008 WSOP Update: Vinnie Vinh Doesn't Win; Erik Seidel Goes for Number 9

Plenty of other World Series of Poker tourneys to recap other than Phil Tom, father of Absolute Poker founder Scott Tom, winning Event #11 (read here). Let's get going.

:: Event #12 ($1,500 Limit Hold'em) - Whether for the train-wreck potential or the redemption story, kind of hard not to root for Vinnie Vinh. Or his chair. Vinnie stuck it out and played this one through himself, and ended up with a third place finish cashing just shy of a hundred grand. Jimmy Schultz took eventually took it down, banking $257,049 and scoring his first bracelet. Get full results here.

:: Event #13 ($2,500 NLH) - One of those "friends and family" final tables. Get chip counts here.

:: Event #14 ($10,000 Seven Card Stud Championship) - This one was shaping up to be a huge final table but fizzled a little. David Oppenheim is the chip leader, stacked at 508,000. While short-stacked with 273,000 Erik Seidel will gun for his ninth WSOP bracelet. Just missing the final table were Phil Ivey (ninth) and Daniel Negreanu (eleventh). Watch Daniel give his thoughts deep into the tourney here. Get full chip counts here.

:: Event #15 ($1,000 Ladies Event) - Best to read some of our "real-time" updates here and here, but Shavonne Mitchell, a woman, is the overnight chip leader with 94,000. Some notables remaining include Olga Varkonyi, a woman, (83,800), Evelyn Ng, a woman, (55,300), Glum Girl Svetlana Gromenkova, a woman, (48,000), Van Nguyen, a woman, (45,200), Kathy Liebert, a woman, (22,500), and Amanda Leatherman, a woman, (11,500).

Event #16 ($2,000 Omaha Hi/Lo) - The last tournament of the day had 551 entrants. Only 178 remained when play concluded. Lots of big names are among the chip leaders. The top chip counts are Marc Goodwin (33,500), Barry Greenstein (27,000), Jimmy "gobboboy" Fricke (27,000), Men "The Master" Nguyen (26,000), The Intense Stare of Scott Clements (25,800), Dutch Boyd (25,300), David Williams (22,600), Victor Ramdin (22,000), David Chiu (22,000), "Miami" John Cernuto (20,000), Ed Fernandez (18,000), and John Juanda (16,500). 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.

Dad Who Bankrolled Absolute Poker Wins Event #11

Phil Tom (above) is not your typical WSOP bracelet winner.

And that's not just because he's a newly elected Davidson Matthew Club member.

Or that he denied Greg "FBT" Mueller his second bracelet in two years.

No, Phil Tom is one of the dad's who bankrolled the launch of Absolute Poker back in 2003.

According to Absolute Detectives:

"AP was started by Scott Tom and a few Ivy league friends back in 2003. Phil Tom and the other fathers of these kids bankrolled the venture, and Absolute Poker was born. Phil Tom is Scott Tom's FATHER, not his brother. The IP address that this 'other' account was logged in from was traced to the home cable modem of Scott Tom, CEO of Absolute poker. [email protected] is apparently the CEO, and is also the owner of account POTRIPPER. Scott Tom is also apparently the owner of the STEAMROLLER account."

Read the full Absolute Detectives "who's who" report on Scott Tom here.

While none of this at all implicates Phil Tom in any of the Absolute Poker scandal from last year, it's an interesting wrinkle that's not widely being reported by the so-called poker "media."

For the win, Tom banks $477,990, or just a few mil shy of what Potripper stole from people in high-stakes games.

Get full payout and results here.

Ladies Event Update, Photo Dump

They're down to under 200 players in the Ladies event at the 2008 WSOP and someone who isn't Lacey Jones is the chipleader because Lacey is out.

Notables still in include Men Nguyen's wife, Kathy Liebert, our crazy Brazilian friend Maridu who will probably take this event down, Robert Varkonyi's wife, Evy Ng, Glum Girl Gromenkova, and Amanda Leatherman.

Latest chip counts here.

Below are some of the girls who played in today's event and caught are attention for one reason or another. In order below, they are:

(1) Florida cutie who we thought was Eastern European and didn't get the best picture of but she's really darn cute, (2) Famous frog Patrick Bruel's pretty French girlfriend in the hat whose name we found out is Celine, (3) tiny cute girl with hand on her face and crimped(?) hair, (4) Perfect 10 girl who was about an 8, (5) the buttaface messy blonde with the killer rack, (6) Diane Nguyen, (7) Amanda Leathermen, (8) cute chick with the Guantanamo looking get up, (9) hot Asian chick until she put on the big goofy sunglasses, (10) Lacey Jones, (11) black-hair girl we see everywhere every year, (12) Tiffany Michelle, (13) JennFox chick who posts on 2p2 and did the Brandi RIP video, (14) Patrik Antonius' hot wife Maya, (15) hoop earring chick with the the big'uns and pretty eyes and (16) that Christina Lindley fitness model girl from this post.

Click on the images below and pick your faves.

Debut Webisode of The Degenerate Update with NeverwinPoker.com

The Degenerate Update with NWP at the WSOP

Poker Hottie Lacey Jones Stacked at the 2008 WSOP

Yeh, that headline was too easy but we're lazy and plus it's true that the hottest girl in poker Lacey Jones is stacked right now in the chips department with well above the chip average in the Ladies No-Limit Hold'em World Championship today at the 2008 World Series of Poker. She's got about 9,000 after the second break. Starting with 1190 entrants, they're down to 420 players, all women, except for maybe this one. Totally is/was a dude. No idea if post-op or not. Ain't checking. Photos of Lacey Jones playing today in the Ladies Event below. See Lacey in nothing but body paint here. Our first interview with Lacey and Exhibit #49 why she's the coolest hot chick we know here.

All photos in this post, and others posts here on the WSOP, taken exclusively by Wicked Chops Poker. If you snag, please link back to this post. Thanks.

Vinnie Vinh's Chair Contemplates Its Next Move

Vinnie Vinh must've been in limbo on whether or not to let his chair take over for him in the $1,500 Limit Hold'em event, which he ended Day 2 as the chip leader. With Vinh failing to show up during the first 30 or 40 minutes of play today, his chair took over and outlasted three players before Vinh eventually showed up. He is currently fifth overall in chips. Erick Lindgren has climbed up the leaderboard and is currently sixth overall. Get full chip counts here.

Ladies Event?

One of our favorite events each World Series of Poker is the $1,000 NLH Ladies championship: 1) it's the one event guaranteed to be won by a woman, 2) there's usually some smoking hot girls who play (lots of pics from this later in the upcoming hours), which when you're surrounded by a bunch of ugly dudes for six weeks, is a nice change of pace, and 3) revisit point #2.

Now WSOP commish and renown blogger Jeffrey Pollack has emphatically stated that he intends to keep the integrity of the ladies event by making sure no men enter it.

So we ask him to double-check the gender of the above entrant. We're not trying to be mean, but "she" has facial hair. We saw it. Maybe "she's" a tranny or something, but man oh man...

...anyway this year has 1,190 entrants for a top prize of $224,753. More to come...

UPDATE: Confirmed. Totally a dude.

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.

2008 WSOP Updates: Big Names Don't Bag Bracelet + Will Vinnie Vinh's Chair Rise Again?

Isn't it great to have the spectacularly-breasted J.C. Tran (above) doing so well in so many tournaments? Here's your daily dump of recaps.

Event #7 ($2,000 NLH) - It felt somewhat inevitable. For a few people, actually. On a tear in the 2008 WSOP so far and wire-to-wire chipleader in Event #7, Theo Tran seemed on his way to his first bracelet. But it didn't happen. Tran was knocked out in fourth, banking $191,231. The final table finish however leave him tied with Nenad Medic for 2008 World Series of Poker Player of the Year honors. Another Tran, the aforementioned spectacularly-breasted J.C. Tran, was due for his first bracelet as well. But he was eliminated in seventh, cashing $94,166. And eventual runner-up-guy-with-girl-name Shannon Shorr, who may be the most under-appreciated tourney player around, could've shaken that rep/lack of deserved notoriety with a win. But no. His second brought him $349,141 and raised his career tourney earnings to over $2.3 mil. So who won? Matt Keikoan, nabbing his first bracelet and $550,601.

Event #8 ($10,000 Mixed) - This prestigious big name final table was taken down by relatively unknown 22 year-old cash game specialist Anthony Rivera. It's Rivera's first WSOP bracelet, banking him $483,688. James "mig dot com" Mackey, a ginger, finished second ($297,792). Other notable finishes included Eli Elezra ($108,288), Sam Farha ($85,728), Tom "durrr" Dwan ($67,680), and Jeff Madsen ($54,144) (watch Jeff's RawVegas video blog ahead of final table here). Get full final table payouts here.

Event #9 ($1,500 NLH 6-Handed) - Unless you're friends and family, you probably don't care about this one. Get the final table chip counts here.

Event #10 ($2,500 Omaha Hi/Lo 7CS Hi/Lo) - Couple of big names at the final table. John Cernuto (285,000) is third overall and in fifth is Michael "The Grinder" Mizrachi (231,000). Grinder will be going for his first bracelet. They trail chip leader Farzad Rouhani (513,000). Get full chip counts here.

Event #11 ($5,000 NLH Shoot-Out) - 36 of the starting 360 remain. First place pays $477,990. Some big names remaining include but are certainly not limited to Alex Jacob, Erik Seidel, Joe Sebok, John Juanda, and Tony G.

Event #12 ($1,500 Limit Hold'em) - The final tournament on Friday brought in 883 and wrapped with 181 remaining. That is all secondary to the fact that Vinnie Vinh is playing and made it to Day 2...which means...will his chair take over??? (see Vinnie contemplating the move here) Clearly this is the biggest story of the WSOP so far. Eric Pratt ended as chip leader stacked at 40,700. Other notables include Marco Traniello (34,400), the aforementioned Vinh (30,700), Erick Lindgren (27,300), and Tom Schneider (25,100). First pays out $257,936. Get full chip counts here.

* J.C. Tran going by pen name Cristal Houston in above photo. Full photo after the jump.

Vinnie Vinh Considers Letting Chair Take Over at 2008 WSOP

It was bound to happen.

Vinnie Vinh would eventually face this difficult decision at the 2008 World Series of Poker: play it through, or let the chair take over.

Last year, Vinh's chair set a record for most cashes by an inanimate object (two, breaking Rhett Butler's previous record of one).

After much contemplation, Vinh decided that he was in better shape to pull this one out than his chair, and he cruelly rubbed his chair's face in it by sitting on him.

2008 WSOP Ginger of the Day

Jordan Rich, a ginger, is arguably the hottest ginger on the poker circuit right now.

This would probably make Jordan happy to know...except...HE HAS NO SOUL.

AH!!!

Daniel Negreanu Has a New Book and Stuff

Daniel Negreanu has new book, bad players at table

Daniel Negreanu Working on Golf Game at WSOP

Daniel Negreanu WSOP video blog

2008 WSOP Update: Battle of the Trans + Will Durrrr Capture First Bracelet?

Just a sick amount of tournament action going on. Here's the round-up:

:: Event #5 ($1,000 NLH + rebuys) - Michael Banducci snags his first WSOP bracelet in one of our favorite events. He defeated Jeff Williams for the title and banks $636,736 for the win. WSOP cashing machine Michael Binger went out in seventh. Get full final table results here.

:: Event #6 ($1,500 Omaha Hi/Lo) - Bracelet goes to Thang Luu. This is his first WSOP bracelet and fourth overall cash. He outlasted a field of 832 and a final table that included the Intense Stare of Scott Clements to bank $243,342. The aforementioned Intense Stare of Scott Clements was first to bust from the final table, uhhh, just as we predicted. Get full results here.

:: Event #7 ($2,000 NLH) - Theo Tran continues what could be an early run at 2008 WSOP Player of the Year honors as he takes the chip lead into the Event #7 final table. Tran is stacked at 1,884,000. He's followed by Mihai Manole with 1,020,000. Also in the hunt, albeit as one of the short-stacks, is the spectacularly-breasted J.C. Tran (above) with 273,000. One of the best hold'em tournament players in the world, Tran has yet to win his first WSOP bracelet. Get full final table chip counts here.

:: Event #8 ($10,000 Mixed) - Another star-studded final table. Matt Glantz is the chip leader stacked at 1,150,000. He's followed by 2007 WSOP bracelet winner and former Ginger of the Day James 'mig.com' Mackey with 742,000. Tom "durrrr" Dwan makes a run at his first bracelet as he's third overall with 642,000. Also in contention are Sam Farha (374,000), Jeff Madsen (149,000), and Eli Elezra (76,000). First place here pays out $483,680. Follow the final table here starting at 4pm PST.

:: Event #9 ($1,500 NLH Six-Handed) - Only 72 remain from the initial starting field of 1,236. First place will nab $372,843. Matt Matros is chip leader stacked at 156,600. Other notables include no one really. Get full chip counts here.

:: Event #10 ($2,500 Omaha/Seven Card Stud Hi-Low-8 or Better) - Speaking of gingers, Jordan Rich, a ginger, leads Event #10 at the end of Day 1. He's stacked at 45,800. Other big name big stacks include Michael "The Grinder" Mizrachi (35,600), James Van Alstyne (35,100), Steve Zolotow (35,000), Todd Brunson (31,300), "Miami" John Cernuto (30,000), "Boston" Alan Boston, and Howard Lederer (27,900). They're all playing for a $232,911 first prize.

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.

* Get more of the spectacularly-breasted J.C. Tran, slyly going by pen-name Elin Grindemyer, here.

2008 WSOP Kind of Cute Girl of the Day

Slim pickens around the Rio today in the hot girl department. However we did find this poor man's version of Poker News hottie Tiffany Michelle playing at table 31 - Red. Another photo after the jump . . .

Afternoon Poker Links from the 2008 WSOP + Guess the Chick with the Tat

• A day after getting knocked off his scooter by a fan, Doyle Brunson wishes fans would just let him pee. (link)

• Rizen's got some explaining to do on Ultimate Bet signing. (link)

• Shaniac's back blogging, calling out Doug Kim for being a schmucky tool and being sort of a schmucky tool himself with guidelines on how to deal with him at the WSOP. (link, link)

• Speaking of, Jean-Robert Bellande. (link)

• Dr. Pauly gets deep about Eskimo Clark and recalls Erick Lindgren's sick golf prop bet last summer. (link)

• BodogAri is recup'd and blogging again, apparently isn't a fan of McCain or Obama. Or CardRunners. (link)

• Shannon Shorr jumps back into blogging his WSOP. (link)

• Still not Johnny, Terrence Chan is blogging his series. (link)

• Vanessa Rousso, who went to Duke, pops her RawVegas.tv cherry with a video blog debut about whatever she ended up talking about after she says "I am professional poker player Vanessa Rousso." (link)

• On Facebook? Send WCP contributing cougar Michele Lewis an application, she'll love it. (link)

• The PokerCrack Girls are pretty hot, dig bald dudes. (link)

Guess the tat-legged chick below. We'll give you a hint, her name rhymes with Fikki Glows. Photo answer (NSFW-ish) after the jump . . .

2008 WSOP Ginger of the Day

Ah!!!!! [shiver]

2008 WSOP Update: David Singer Grabs First Bracelet, Will J.C. Tran Follow?

Aside from Erick Lindgren's first WSOP bracelet, poker pros are dominating the bracelet count this year. Will the trend keep up today?

Event #3 ($1,500 PLH) - Overlooked by Erick Lindgren's first WSOP bracelet win was very well-respected pro David Singer nabbing his. In a close heads-up battle, Singer defeated Jacobo Fernandez for the title. The $214,131 first place payday pushes Singer's career tourney earnings north of $3.7M. Get full recaps here.

Event #5 ($1,000 NLH + rebuys) - Michael Banducci will take a big chip lead to the final table, stacked at 1,655,000. Alan Jaffray follows with 1,222,000. Former EPT winner and Georgia Bulldog Jeff Williams is fourth with 683,000. And WSOP cashing machine Michael Binger is eigth overall with 186,000. This one just missed a star-studded final 9, as Clonie Gowen, a woman, finished 15th, Daniel Negreanu finished 22nd, Nenad Medic was 24th and John Juanda was knocked out in 27th.

Event #6 ($1,500 Omaha Hi/Lo) - No shocker in this one as The Intense Stare of Scott Clements made the final table and will gun for his third WSOP bracelet in three years. He's fourth overall with 315,000 and our official-pick-to-win-it (OPTWI^TM). Clements trails big stack Thang Luu (560,000). Get full chip counts here.

Event #7 ($2,000 NLH) - A field of 1,592 ponied up $2k a piece for a first place payout of $550,601. Only 152 remain. Theo Tran, who finished fourth in Event #2, continues a solid 2008 WSOP ending the day as chip leader stacked at 145,800. The spectacularly-breasted J.C. Tran (above) is among the chip leaders with 93,200. Get full chip counts here.

Event #8 ($10,000 Mixed) - 192 runners bought into this highly anticipated tourney which includes about every form of poker. Day 1 wrapped with 89 remaining and some familiar names atop the leaderboard. Last year's WSOP Player of the Year Tom Schneider is big stacked with 142,300. Other big name big stacks include Gus Hansen (119,500), Johnny Chan (97,800), Jeff Madsen (87,500), Tom "durrr" Dwan (86,600), Greg "FBT" Mueller (84,600), Brandon Adams (75,000), and Phil Ivey (69,600). 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.

* Get the full size version of the above photo after the jump and more of the above in this full semi-NSFW spread here.

Full Tilt Poker Pro Erick Lindgren Wins First WSOP Bracelet

The Entities who comprise Wicked Chops Poker have an uncanny knack for nailing predictions. We good.

Yesterday we dubbed Erick Lindgren as our official-pick-to-win-it (OPTWI^TM) and lo and behold, guess who wins it? Erick Lindgren.

Coincidence?

There is no such thing as coincidence.

Lindgren bested one of the most impressive final tables in recent memory en route to his first WSOP bracelet. He defeated Justin Bonomo heads-up for the Event #4 ($5,000 Mixed Hold'em) title, banking $374,505.

Or just enough for another crazy golfing prop bet this year.

The win gives Lindgren over $5.6M in career tourney earnings.

Andrew Robl finished third ($144,337), Roland de Wolfe fourth ($117,030), David Rheem fifth ($93,624), Howard Lederer sixth ($74,119), David Williams seventh ($58,515), Pat Pezzin eight ($46,812), and Isaac Haxton ninth ($35,109).

Get full recaps from WorldSeriesofPoker.com here.

Whaaaaaaa? Wait a Minute. He's a Dude?

Ok, when we first saw Dario Minieri at the 2006 WSOP, we were like, "Who is that dainty little girl? She's kind of cute. Needs to grow the hair out a little but kind of cute." And then last year we saw our our favorite scarf-wearing Euro again during the World Series of Poker Main Event and were like, "Yeah, she's definitely drunk action at least. Definitely drunk action."

So imagine our surprise today when we saw what you're seeing in the above photo. Two years of thinking that we'd totally hit that and to our dismay it turns out that Dario Minieri was a dude all along.

Wow. Just...wow.

2008 WSOP Irony of the Day

i-ron-y (ī-rə-nē) n. 1 the use of words to express something other than and especially the opposite of the literal meaning.  2 a usually humorous or sardonic literary style or form characterized by irony.  3 an extremely large dude wearing a sports jersey at the 2008 World Series of Poker with the word "LITTLE" written on the back of it.

Alexia Portal, the Girl from Our 'This Girl is Playing the ...' Series, is Here Playing at the WSOP

Alexia Portal, the French actress with the wicked poker chops we first noticed at the EPT Dublin last November and have since spotted at several other EPT events, is here in Las Vegas for the World Series of Poker, playing today in Event No. 7 - the $2,000 No-Limit Hold'em tournament. She's repping French poker site Winamax.

We have to say we're kind of digging Alexia. She's super cute with a sexy French vibe about her, and if she's like other French girls we've known she's into anal she's totally down with casual afternoon hotel sex void of any commitment whatsoever she's a sweet girl. And we like that she's rocking an Alice Cooper shirt today. Love Alice Cooper. Plus we got word that she showers regularly, despite being French.

We think Portal is sort of a big deal in France where she's starred in a number of foreigny flicks that involved her being naked a lot, which is the equivalent of someone eating a chicken sandwich in an American film. Just ain't a big deal over there.

See screen grabs of her from various French flicks here, here and here (ALL NSFW).

Check out our "This Girl is Playing the . . . " series of Alexia Portal posts here, here and here.

Check out Portal's Wiki page here.

Photo dump of Alexia Portal today at the 2008 WSOP below.

Daniel Negreanu Is Vlogging from the 2008 WSOP

VIDEO: Daniel Negreanu talks about playing next to Phil Ivey in $1k rebuy event

2008 WSOP Ginger of the Day

We couldn't help but notice on the fantastic Poker Crack forum that an interesting topic broke out on the "Ask Mark Vos" thread. Specifically, poster Harley asked Vos, "What is it like to have red hair."

Vos replied: "It's kinda like being unfunny and a little bit overweight like yourself Harley... except without the ridicule and girls not sleeping with you."

We assume that this is all in good spirit, and we have nothing but mad respect for Mark Vos and his game. But he is a ginger, which means he has no soul, so as poster red+black warned: "Mark's time will come: 2008 WSOP Ginger of the Day."

Good call, red+black. The above photo is of Mark Vos, a ginger, playing a cash game in the Rio Amazon Room this morning with his laptop by his side, likely checking the Poker Crack forum.

Ah!!!

* Editor's Note: For those of you who have bumped into us in the hallway asking what exactly a ginger is, watch this or the full Ginger Kids episode 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.

Shannon Elizabeth Playing Poker at 2008 WSOP Photo Dump

Dancing with the Stars contestant and poker pro Shannon Elizabeth is doing well early on in Event #6, the $1,500 Omaha Hi/Lo tournament at the 2008 World Series of Poker, although chances are pretty strong that by the time we wake up she'll have been sent to the rail.

Still not seen anywhere around the Rio or Las Vegas is Derek Hough. But that's fine. We're not really into Mormon dudes. And as long as he keeps working her out, that's a good thing, cause this is the best she's looked in about four years (although sort of hard to tell in these pics). Or better put, since she stopped taking her clothes off in movies and started playing poker full time.

Below is the first of likely many Shannon Elizabeth 2008 WSOP photo dumps. Click pics to enlarge.

2008 WSOP Ginger of the Day

Ah!!!

Poker News Made Better with Vikki Blows and Other Hot British Glam Models

With Keeley Hazell not being so prolific these days, and somewhat prudish, punk rock Brit glamour girl Vikki Blows is in prime position to step up to Official Wicked Chops Poker Girl status. As are Sam Cooke, Nikkala Stott, Amii Grove, Peta Todd and the always growing list of hot British chicks who drop the top for one photo spread after another. Above and below today's poker news are the aforementioned five doing what they do best in the recent issue of Front Magazine.

Some poker news . . .

• Another news story reminding us how much politicians who play poker but are against online poker suck. (link)

• More on PartyPoker's purported billion dollar pay off with the US DoJ. (link)

• Someone in Canada reports that those dot net poker commercials are really just a way to pimp the pay sites. Wow, we never saw the correlation. (link)

• A guy with the last name of a car wins poker tournament in third world country. (link)

• Third-world quality news video of Mike Savage in third world country being asked third rate questions about poker in Asia. (link)

• Florida red necks get themselves a new $30 million dog track and poker room. (link)

• And we thought we had anger issues. (link)

• Our French friend Benjo just told us that the poker playing French actress from our "This Girl is Playing the . . . " posts is here at the WSOP. Wait there she is, just walking by with a media badge on. Very cute girl. And yeh, we have a French friend. One. (link)

• Wearable feedbags would be big sellers with the poker playing crowd at the Rio. (link)

• Canadians want some of that Internet poker money and are getting it, boasts PL.com's Martin Derbyshire. (link)

Click photos below to enlarge . . .

See more of the girls wearing much less here (NSFW).

WSOP Not Planning to Move to Caesars

(Post by Michele Lewis, a cougar. Read more from Michele on her blog michelelewis.com)

At the 2007 World Series of Poker I posted on Pokerati things going on in the Amazon room. This year I will do the same but possibly eliminate Amazon Room from headlines because I'm convinced the 2009 WSOP will be at Caesars Palace. OK, I'm not really convinced because transferring the location wouldn't have been exactly prudent in the middle of a leveraged buyout, especially during the subprime mortgage crisis.

Nonetheless, since the 2005 WSOP, many speculate a move because someone heard from a stripper...who is friends with a dealer... who may or may not have heard from a pro... who knows the guy at the valet really well. Despite the constant gossip, Jeffrey Pollack continues to explain the Rio provides an easy flow and user-friendly structure for the WSOP brand.

So, I asked him to clarify any assumptions, rumors and expectations. Pollack stated today:

“The rumor about a move to Caesars is completely without merit. The Rio is the home of the WSOP and a terrific home at that. There is no discussion about moving from the Rio.”

There you have it…print it, fold it and take it to your table to let your dealer and opponents know the (current) facts. You might also want to tell them it’s common business practice of corporations to keep things quiet until it is a done deal or the time is right. Yet, that very thought keeps me hopeful while thinking of WSOP dinner breaks at Raos rather than Sao Paulo.

PS – I don’t have any pictures of hot chicks. Perhaps someone can take some of the Rio's Sapphire Pool girls on break at Starbucks, which is next to the Sao Paulo Café. Provided they say "yes" which is not the new "no."

2008 WSOP Tourney Round-Up Made Slightly More Appealing by Nikoletta Ralli

It was a long day/night so it's kind of hard for us to "sex up" this 2008 WSOP round-up post. That's where Greek babe Nikoleta Ralli comes in. Ralli is some Tourism Queen pageant winner who parlayed that "success" into this Maxim cover spread.Opa!

As one of our all-time least favorite t-shirts once said, yesterday's 2008 World Series of Poker events schedule was nucking futs. Lots of action, lots to cover. Before proceeding though, which poker pro is most likely to wear a shirt that says nucking futs? Some reason Mike "The Mouth" Matusow comes to mind. But leave your thoughts in the comments section. Again, long night. Random thoughts abound. F' off.

Here's an abridged summation of the happenings:

:: Event #2 ($1,500 NLH) - Harrah's/WSOP officials somehow thought they'd be able to play down from a split-session-Day-1-4,000-person-field to 9 in two days? Really? Amazingly that didn't happen. Harrah's and ESPN actually wanted to stop the event early, but "the rules" have generally been that you need 10 hours between play and all players must agree to the stoppage (something we like to call the old "unanimous vote") for it to happen. With about 20 remaining the first vote was held and came out to a 6-6 tie with some abstentions (Abstentions??? What were they voting on, the Constitution? This isn't a difficult decision. Grow a pair.). The second vote was then held once they got down to 18 players and came out 10-6 to stop. Play resumes today at 1:30pm. The chip leader is Aaron Coulthard (1,327,000). He's followed by Theo Tran (1,199,000). Also remaining include Tiltboy Perry Friedman (653,000), Minh Nguyen (600,000), and Chris "Jesus" Ferguson (444,000). Get full chip counts from the snazzy new and improved WorldSeriesofPoker.com site here.

:: Event #3 ($1,500 PLH) - Play whittled down from 713 to 63. Robert Workman put in workmanlike production ending up as big stack with 146,800. Other notables include but are certainly not limited to David Singer (123,600), David Daneshgar (41,200), Tom McEvoy (22,900), and Joe Tehan, whose name looks too much like "Tehran" for our liking (8,000). Full chip counts here.

:: Event #4  ($5,000 Mixed Hold'em) - Some of the bigger name bust-outs from Event #3 came back at 5pm to play in this slightly more prestigious event. The field totaled 332 (for a first place payout of $375,617) and played down to 91. Jon "PearlJammer" Turner, a ginger, finished as chip leader, stacked at 100,200. Lots of big names remain, and some notable chip leaders include Justin Bonomo (73,900), David Williams (67,000), Gavin Griffin (65,800), Thomas "Thunder" Keller (63,500...and where the f' have you been?), Maria Ho! (60,400), Barry Shulman (60,100), Bill Chen (60,000), Ted Forrest (59,400), Jimmy Fricke (57,600), Roland de Wolfe (57,400), and Mark Newhouse (56,500). Full chip couuuunts...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.

Liv Boeree, Maria Ho and Some Other Girls Playing Poker at the 2008 WSOP, Plus an Update

Above is head-banging poker hottie Liv Boeree and the last chick standing at the 2007 WSOP Main Event Maria Ho playing at the 2008 World Series of Poker. Liv, a woman, was in the field yesterday for Event No. 2 - $1,500 No-Limit Hold'em and mentioned that she "went deep and got it in ahead and that's what matters." So we guess that means she's out. Maria Ho, also a woman, is playing today in Event No. 4 - $5k Mixed Hold'em.

Updating you on the action from the floor of the WSOP, there are three events underway today at the Rio, including Day 2 of the $1,500 NLH event. 180 players remain from the nearly 4000 who started Event No. 2 and Ginikachukwu Izuogu (<- no way that's a real name) is out front with 305,000 in chips, David Bach (6th at 2007 LAPC) is in second with 288,000 in chips and Ryan D'Angelo is third with 237,000. Notables still in include Chris "Jesus" Ferguson, Theo Tran, Kenny Tran, Shaniac, Aaron Kanter, Arnold Spee, and Terrence Chan. They have to play down to the final 9 before action stops so we're guessing they'll still be going when we wake up tomorrow afternoon.

Both Event No. 3 ($1,500 Pot Limit Hold'em) and Event No. 4 ($5k Mixed Hold'em) started today with the former drawing a decent 713 entrants and already down to 198. David Singer leads the pro heavy field last we checked. Get the latest chip counts here.

Event No. 4 was the late start today and had 333 players enter, with most of the field consisting of players who busted early from Event No. 3. Brit pro Ben Grundy holds the early chip lead with 32,000, and big names over 20k in chips already include Bill Chen, Ralph Perry, Bill Edler, Berry Johnston, Eric Froelich, and Phil Ivey.

Okay, this is really tiring. Time for a nap.

WSOP updates here. If you speak French, maybe here.

Random photos of some random girls and Mrs. Patrik Antonius (center pic) playing poker at the 2008 WSOP below.

Erica Schoenberg is Somewhere in this Photo

Our photog sent us the photo above claiming it shows Full Tilt Poker pro Erica Schoenberg playing in Event No. 2 - $1500 No-Limit Hold'em, at the 2008 WSOP.

We'll take his word for it but we have to say we had an easier time spotting Erica in this photo from last year's WSOP.

Or even this photo of her losing (her top) while playing strip poker.

Relatedly, someone please turn the damn air conditioning up in the Amazon Room.

This Girl Will Be Here Soon at the 2008 WSOP

We just got word that Christina Lindley, the Playboy/Maxim model we wrote about in this post, will be here at the Rio in Las Vegas sometime this week and will be playing in the 2008 WSOP Ladies Event on Sunday, June 8.

This is good news because Lindley looks pretty hot and her website says she is a "fitness model" and based on a random encounter two of us Entities had a few years ago with a girl named Tanya Taylor we can 100% confirm that when a girl says she is a "fitness model" it means she likes to get naked and freaky, and does porn.

Speaking of, Gambling 911's try-sexual reporter Jenny Woo just told us that she recently interviewed Christina Lindley. Check out the girl-on-girl chat here.

And watch a video of Christina Lindley doing some lingerie shoot with another chick below.

Okay . . . we actually read the Jenny Woo interview and apparently Lindley doesn't do porn. She doesn't even do the drop-the-top thing. Maybe she is a Mormon. Or perhaps that fitness model/porn correlation was just a Tanya Taylor thing. We'll look into it.

Also, apparently Lindley is taking this whole poker thing seriously and has been getting some lessons from Jeff "Prairie Dog" Madsen and Hollywood Dan Dave. In her interview with Woo she also doesn't seem to think much of Shannon Elizabeth and says Barry Greenstein and Sammy Farha are the pros she "looks up to" the most.

Again, check out Woo's interview here.

2008 WSOP: Nenad Medic Captures First Bracelet, Wins Event #1

Nenad Medic won the first bracelet at the 2008 World Series of Poker, taking down Event #1 ($10,000 Pot Limit Hold'em).

This makes Medic's second major tourney title, having won the WPT's 2006 World Poker Finals.

Medic, who is nicknamed "The Serb" because he's ancestorially from Serbia, actually hails from Canada now. Typically this is where we'd make the obligatory ice fishing joke or something of that nature, eh?, but Medic is 6'5 and looks like he could give Bob Probert a run for his money, so we'll refrain for now. But if you need some Canadian humor fix, watch the "I'm Not Your Friend" remix again here.

For the win, Medic banks $794,112, pushing his career tourney earnings to over $3.6 mil.

Andy Bloch finished in the runner-up spot of yet another big tourney. He'll net $488,048. Kathy Liebert, a woman, finished third for $306,064.

Get full recaps and payouts from WorldSeriesofPoker.com here. Get Dr. Pauly's take on WSOP happenings here. And get Poker Prof's recap and more photos here.

Doyle Brunson Opens the 2008 WSOP and Cougar Accepts WCP Invite

It was no surprise when WCP asked “a woman” to write on their site but it was quite the shocker when they chose “a woman” who hadn’t undressed for money. Nonetheless, it was a quick affirmative as I knew I would have full access to their private jet and yacht. We debated… In the Cage with a Cougar, Five Minutes with a Cougar, The Cougar’s Roar and settled on The Cougar Corner.

They call me the Cougar for at least two of the following reasons:

1. It’s an inside joke.
2. I married a man 392 days my junior.
3. It makes the 1/3 of WCP married to a Cougar feel better.
4. Cougar halts at the border of offensiveness and my husband scares them.
5. I attended Cougar classes here.

However, last night between their beer bongs, SEXT* messages (to their current and first wives) and casino streaking, they couldn’t decide what exactly qualified one as a Cougar. Did she hunt or just prefer younger men? Should Cougars be at least 40 years-old with relations averaging a ten year age difference? Did a Cougar need to be a fan of the Chippendale dancers?

In Cougar summary, it doesn’t matter because they’ve branded me with the nickname and now, since several people addressed me as Cougar yesterday at the 2008 WSOP, I guess it’s “Time to Say Goodbye” to nickname numero uno…the Black Widow.

Hump to the jump for WSOP updates.

"Paul" Eskimo Clark Has An Ironic Moment

Last year, poker pro "Paul" Eskimo Clark proved to be super-human by suffering and playing through not one but two strokes during the WSOP.

Who "plays through" a stroke???

"Paul" Eskimo Clark, that's who.

Suffice to say that perhaps our favorite moment of the 2008 WSOP thus far occurred late morning when the following scenario occured: one of the booths in the hallway outside of the poker room had a speaker blasting Billy Squire's immortal "The Stroke." And right during the bridge when the Billy's back-up vocalists are chanting/singing "Stroke! Stroke!" none other than "Paul" Eskimo Clark walks by.

The Entities did a quick glance around to see if anybody else caught the awesomeness of this too-good-to-be-true moment but apparently it was lost on everyone around.

* The part of "The Stroke" we're referring to occurs at the 2:15 marker in this video if you can make it that long.

** Thanks to Dan from Pokerati for the new pic of Eskimo.

Harrah's to Open WSOP Branded Store in Las Vegas, Inks Deal with Major League Merch Company

The World Series of Poker is set to announce later today that it plans to open an Official World Series of Poker retail store in Vegas in the near future. Scouting for the location is currently underway. Unfortunately tearing down Toby Keith's I Love This Bar & Grill isn't being considered.

The new Las Vegas store announcement is tied to a deal the WSOP has inked with major league merchandise company XP Events to manage the WSOP's online store and all of its officially-licensed retail shops in Vegas during the series, in addition to the new brick-and-mortar shop.

XP has managed merch sales for the NBA and NHL All-Star games, the World Baseball Classic, the President’s Cup, and the Tour de France. XP Events also runs retail shops for the Phoenix Suns, Arizona Diamondbacks and the Florida Panthers.

According to Harrah's, the official WSOP online store (wsopshop.com or is it shopwsop.com?) will be re-launched this Thursday, May 15, with a wide range of new WSOP products and "an exciting, user-friendly shopping experience." So we're guessing you won't have to wait 117 days for your order to be fulfilled.

WSOP-relatedly:

:: The Hottest 2008 WSOP Schedule on the Internet

:: Best Strip Joints to Get Your Grind On During the 2008 WSOP

:: Sure Place to Get Laid this Summer During the 2008 WSOP

UPDATE: WSOP has just dropped the press release on the above. Read it after the jump . . .

2008 WSOP Guide: Best Strip Clubs in Las Vegas

If you're coming to Las Vegas to play some poker at the 2008 WSOP, chances are you'll likely have some free-time on your hands after you got knocked out of a tourney or in between events.

And since you're in Vegas, you're almost contractually obligated to visit one of the city's fine strip club establishments.

With so many choices, where should you go? Below is a video featuring the Best Strip Clubs in Vegas. It's a list that would make anyone over at Bluff Magazine proud.

Related posts:

2008 WSOP Schedule of Events
Live Blogging from the 2008 WSOP Media Conference Call
WSOP to Announce Delayed Main Event Final Table

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.

Live Blogging from the 2008 WSOP Media Conference Call

11:05am PST: Ok, we never do this and never will again, but here's some "live updates" from the 2008 WSOP media conference call.

Jeffrey Pollack (at right) says that the "very exciting innovation" of the 2008 WSOP Final Table is good to go. The Main Event final table will be held as you know in primetime on November 11th. Pollack calls this "must-see appointment television." On November 9 they'll play down from nine to two. On November 10 they'll play the final heads-up match. Then on the 11th the final table will be shown on ESPN.

Some other new rules:

:: No tents for poker this year.
:: Separate satellite room.
:: Five rooms inside convention center for poker with 2,740 player capacity.
:: No alternatives allowed this year.
:: New rules for unsportsmanlike conduct and new code of conduct.
:: New cell phone rule...must be silenced during tourney play. Need to be one table length away from assigned table to use it.
:: Opening day registration will open Wed May 28th.
:: More room between tables this year.
:: Introducing a WSOP concierge service.
:: Enhanced food choices and expanded hours at Sao Paulo (yes!!!) and expanding restroom facilities.

11:20am PST: Someone wants to know how the dealers will be compensated since the Main Event final table will be held 16 weeks after the tourney first wraps. Tuning this one out...don't really care. Somebody said something though. 

11:22am PST: The "collusion and deal-making" question was asked and this will be addressed in the new code of conduct, so looks like that definitely won't happen now, right? No way.

11:25am PST: Some old dude wants to know about playing too many hours because he's old and doesn't like playing too many hours. However they did say that there will only be 5 levels played each day. Maybe. Got Flight of the Conchords on right now and they're singing "Leggie Blonde" and it's pretty funny.

11:28am PST: Trying to figure out what is needed to ask a question. Wasn't paying attention at that part. Just speak up? Don't think so. Damn you attention span!

11:32am PST: None of the Entities is entirely sure how to submit a question either.

11:34am PST: Kathleen Hennessey from the AP sounds kind of cute.

11:37am PST: No pay-per-view this year for the Main Event. Really questioning the whole "live blogging" concept right now.

11:40am PST: Greatest valedictorian speech ever? Oh yeah they're still talking about why the 16-week WSOP delay is great.

11:42am PST: This is brutal. Seriously questioning motivation of doing this more and more. Thank goodness we don't do hand updates, recounts, chip counts, and things of that nature.

11:45am PST: Gary Wise chimes in with question #2! We laid odds earlier that Wise would lead the question-asking tally. +/- was 3.5...come on Gary get a couple more in!

11:46am PST: Trying to find Kathleen Hennessey on Facebook or somewhere. Pic anyone?

11:46am PST: Whew...only 3 more questions to go!

11:48am PST: Steve Rosenbloom enters the fray! We are big Rosenbloom fans. Read his Rosenblog here. He asked a question that gets an answer about "being good corporate citizens" so glad that we missed yet another question. Really not good at this. However now they're answering a question where the answer included the phrase "12 square inches" so maybe they're talking about one of the Entities now. Did someone ask about us?

11:52am PST: Ah man! Last question and it's not from Gary Wise! Looks like the under wins. Knew 3.5 was too ambitious.

11:54am PST: Just found out how to enter a question...seriously.

11:59am PST: Call is concluding. All in all Jeffrey, new PR chief Seth and crew did a great job of moving it along. Tons of "explaining" on the new final table format. Someone's cell phone just went off on the call as they're wrapping up. Ok, they're asking more questions even though they said that was it. Someone's cell phone just indicated a voice mail was left. But that's it for us and our first and last "live blogging" experiment.

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.

WSOP Officials to Conduct Media Conference Call Today, Will They Announce Delayed Main Event Final Table?

The Entities who comprise Wicked Chops Poker will be on a so-called "media" conference call today at 2pm EST where world renown blogger Jeffrey Pollack and equally renown tourney director Jack Effel will preview the 2008 World Series of Poker.

So will this be when WSOP officials announce the big news that Wicked Chops Poker first reported, that the Main Event final table will be delayed until after ESPN airs all of the episodes up to the final nine players?

Or will this big news be announced today even ahead of the conference call?

We think we know the answer, but we'll have to wait and see...

UPDATE: And yes, we were right. Read more at ESPN's Poker Club here.

Guy Who Forwarded Howard Lederer 'Freak' Email Wins WSOPC Prelim Event

We're not big on reporting on prelim tournaments at WSOP-Circuit events, but when they're won by the "errand monkey" at Full Tilt Poker who forwarded Howard Lederer's freak/weird dude email about Jimmy “gobboboy” Fricke, it's worth the mention.

If you don't recall, gobboboy sent an email to FTP last November asking to be sponsored at the Aussie Millions, and in replying to gobboboy, FTP's jack-of-all-trades Jason "J.D." Newitt (at right) accidentally attached an internal email from Howard Lederer in which the professor called gobboboy "a freak and a very weird dude." (Read our post on the "Fricke is a Freak" email here).

Well, we think Newitt was shit canned after that unfortunate mishap, but if you felt bad for him, you can can feel better as Newitt just pocketed $71,439 by winning the $500 buy-in No-Limit Hold'em event at Caesars Palace Las Vegas, which is part of the World Series of Poker Circuit.

In the press release announcing Newitt's win, the WSOP's go-to man Nola Dalla points out that Newitt was a "consultant and public relations specialist," and before that, he was an editor on "That 70's Show'" where he set up regular poker games with the show's stars like Mila Kunis, Danny Masterson, and Laura Prepon, who all went on to play in the 2004 WSOP Main Event.

While we've seen Danny and Laura at the WSOP since then, we haven't seen the Ukrainian-born Mila around the poker tables much which is sad considering her photos below. Hopefully one of the poker sites is considering adding Mila to their celebrity team this year. Howabout it Howard?

Jamie Gold's Personal Videographer Pissed, Will Auction 'Negative' Footage on eBay

Rae Valentine, the videographer who followed Jamie Gold around pretty much everywhere the WSOP Main Event champ went for several months before, during and after his controversial win in the summer of 2006, is set to auction off all of the video footage he has of Gold on eBay which he claims will "validate some of the negative imagery surrounding the life of Jamie Gold." Says Valentine on a website he created recently: "On August 10, 2008, the 2-year anniversary of Jamie's World Series Of Poker 2006 win, I will end a 5-day auction on Ebay providing the winning bid with all video content associated with the Jamie Gold Project, in its entirety. Maybe this day will prove to be lucky for me. I truly hope whomever ends up with this content has the same passion I once had of making a compelling movie documentary, even in it's moments of controversy, as interesting and entertaining a story, I know it to be." Valentine claims that he was hired by Gold per a "gentlemen's agreement" (Jamie's good at those) to produce a behind the scenes movie documentary and had followed Jamie "through airports and hotels, limos and casinos, from Los Angeles to New York." Valentine alleges that their friendship soured after Gold's win and that he has lost "an estimated $150k" because apparently Jamie no longer wishes to use the footage for a documentary, which we can't really blame Gold for considering how sucky poker movies are doing at the box office. According to Valentine: "A majority of the footage shows Jamie as an arrogant, paranoid, at times over-the-top individual who through all of his imperfections can be quite entertaining as he plots strategies (while in the comfort of his hotel bed with two plain clothes security guards posted just outside his door) on how he will defeat each of his opponents in the final days leading up to his poker world series victory." Arrogant, paranoid, at times over-the-top, and with security guards? No, not the Jamie Gold we know. No way. Check out all of what Rae has to say on his website, including a few transcripts from the footage featuring none other than our good pal Crispin Leyser, here. In related Jamie Gold eBay auction news, no one paid $5,000 for Jamie Gold's urinal mint. Semi-relatedly, Jamie Gold thinks Wicked Chops Poker is "awesome."

Gus Hansen Does Not Win WPT World Championship

After dominating final table play and at one time holding a 23,695,000 to 3,570,000 chip lead during heads-up action, Gus Hansen just missed out on his would-be record fourth WPT title.

Gus had eliminated Jeff King, Tommy "The Asian Tommy Lee" Le, Cory Carroll, and John Roveto (all pictured above, although not in the order that we just listed) in near record speed. With 84% of chips in play once they got to mano e mano, he only had to get past David Chiu for the title.

Chiu hung in while Hansen held the chip lead. But when Chiu eventually took the lead, it took only two hands to win the tournament.

On the final hand, Hansen flopped two-pair to Chiu's top-pair. The turn brought Chiu a flush draw and he and Hansen got all-in. The river brought Chiu trip Aces and the WPT World Championship title.

Read the drama of the final hands from the WPT's excellent tourney reporting site.

Final table payouts were: David Chiu - $3,389,140, Gus Hansen - $1,714,800, John Roveto - $923,355, Cory Carroll - $593,645, Tommy Le - $395,725, and Jeff King - $263,815.

Poker News Looking Fit with Anna Kournikova Triathlon Photos

Thanks to pervie tennis photogaphers, Anna Kournikova brought daily workplace productivity to a virtual halt a decade ago with an endless stream of sexually suggestive "sports" photos of the not-quite-legal racket swinger. Fast forward to today and not much has changed except for Anna's age and the speed of the Internet, which makes looking at photos of her doing a triathlon (link below) or a shoot for K-Swiss (to the right) feel a lot less creepy and about a 100 times faster--leaving more time for this, this, this, this but not this.

All right, some poker news links:

:: Woman poker players find something to bitch about and for good reason (Click here)

:: Canuck Cheung chipleader at WSOP Circuit in E-town (Click here)

:: Ron Paul partners with Barney Frank on bill to slay online gambling prohibition (Click here)

:: Houston poker room raid leads to organized crime charges, and guns and poker are all the rage in Dallas (Click here and here)

:: Purple Lounge signs sexy poker player/model and Poker Night Live presenter Michelle Orpe (Click here)

:: Washington State PPA-er Lee Rousso keeps fighting the good fight (Click here)

:: Lacey Jones' "Hottest Girl in Poker" video rising the ranks over at RawVegas.tv (Click here)

:: Poker movie The Grand could hardly pay the buy-in for the WPT Championship with its box office receipts (Click here)

Anna Kournakova triathlon photos below and after the jump . . .

UPDATE: Photos of Anna Kournikova running during a triathlon removed, see some of them here.

Poker News Made Better With Svetle Simeonova

The latest poker news is brought to you by 25-year-old Bulgarian model Svetle Simeonova, who is currently the Shana Hiatt of an Italian poker TV show called "La Notte Del Poker," although we could be making this up as nothing we read about her was in English. Photos of Svetle below, and check out her Maxim Germany photo spread here (NSFW).

:: That little guy who won the EPT Copenhagen for his daughter N-a-n-z-i took down the $500 buy-in event at the WSOP-C Indiana (Click here)

:: WCP Poker Awards Winner The Intense Stare of Scott Clements won the $5k prelim event at the Bellagio Five-Star World Poker Classic (Click here)

:: Poker raid in Hilton Head nets 27 players, one of who we bet was wearing a Tommy Bahama shirt (Click here)

:: Poker pro Jen Harman, a woman, continues her fight against animal cruelty with charity tourney at the Venetian this April 18 (Click here)

:: Jerry Yang, the most anonymous WSOP Main Event winner in recent history, is apparently known as "The Shadow" in poker circles. What happened to Nien Nunb? (Click here)

2008 WSOP Main Event to Air Live, Sort Of, at a Later Date?

Rumors are circulating on the so-called "Internet" and from various well-placed sources that Harrahs is mulling the idea of making final table of the 2008 WSOP Main Event a live television event on ESPN, airing possibly in October.

Play would be halted this July once the field was whittled down to its final nine players, and then delayed until three months later. The idea is to make the final table a big television event with plenty of lead time to hype the finalists and so no one knows who the winner is until the show airs.

What we're personally hearing is that the final table would not actually broadcast live but would be filmed on a closed set at a later date, then edited and broadcast about two days later.

A decision hasn't been made yet, according to our sources, but officials are leaning towards making this happen.

As we're not so much in a thinking mood right now as we are in a looking at photos from the Miss England contest and scratching our heads mood (we like Miss Roehampton Natalie Lawrence btw), we will say this brings up the interesting prospect of poker pros giving amateurs lessons during the 3 month down time for a piece of their winnings.

Developing . . .

Shannon Shorr Can Fly

You may recall seeing 22-year-old poker pro Shannon Shorr, a guy, playing last year's WSOP in a back brace and being pushed around in a wheel chair after he fractured two vertebrae and broke his heel. At the time he didn't say much about what actually happened, just that he was "horsing around" with his roommates when "a major accident happened at the house" (Shannon's blog post about it here).

Well, the accident, if jumping off a 15 foot ledge onto a deflated air mattress counts as an accident, was captured on film in all its jackass glory by his roommate Jerry "JLimbs" Limber, and it just got posted on YouTube today. Check it out below:

In related Shannon news, in case we haven't mentioned it yet, Shannon Elizabeth is on Dancing with the Stars.

After the jump, the video of Tiffany Michelle interviewing Shannon Shorr at the WSOP two days after breaking his back . . .

Eric "Sheets" Haber Wins WSOP-C Atlantic City + Seat Into 2008 WSOP Main Event

In a post that only exists because we previously used it as an excuse to post photos of "Kristen," aka Ashley Alexandra Dupre, aka Ashley Youmans, aka Ashley Rae Maika DiPietro, aka Nina Venetta, noted online pro Eric "Sheets" Haber has captured this year's WSOP-C Atlantic City event.

Much like the new photos, one of which is at right, of Ashley Alexandra Dupre (aka Ashley Youmans...we're KILLING IT on SEO with this girl, btw), Eric "Sheets" Haber also very much looks like a dude.

As we've noted, we just don't know what to make of Ashley Alexandra Dupre. She's like that two-face girl that Jerry dated in the Seinfeld episode "The Strike." See below:

GEORGE: So, attractive one day - not attractive the next?

JERRY: Have you come across this?

GEORGE: Yes, I am familiar with this syndrome -- she's a two-face.

JERRY: (Relating) Like the Batman villain?

GEORGE: (Annoyed) If that helps you..

JERRY: So, if I ask her out again - I don't know who's showing up: The good, the bad, or the ugly.

Anyway, for the win, Sheets banks $431,136 and earns a seat to the 2008 WSOP Main Event.

Other people finished in various places at the final table. You can read about that on Poker News here.

New Photos of Ashley Alexandra Dupre, nee Ashley Youmans, Who is from Jersey Where the WSOPC Atlantic City Final Table is Underway

The final table of the main event of the WSOP Circuit in Atlantic City is underway along the Jersey shore where former NY governor Eliot Spitzer's high-priced hooker "Kristen," aka Ashley Alexandra Dupre, aka Ashley Youmans, aka Ashley Rae Maika DiPietro, aka Nina Venetta, grew up.

With the chip lead at the start of play was Florida's Dan Hicks, stacked at 1,118,000. Hicks has had some decent tournament success over the past few years including a 4th place finish in the short-handed event at the 2006 World Series of Poker.

Starting today in second was New York poker pro and noted online-er Eric Haber, aka 'Sheets,' with 927,000.

The only other notable worthing noting to us from the final table is Nick Binger, brother of 2006 WSOP Main Event final table-ist Michael Binger. Nick has quietly amassed nearly $400k in tournament winnings the last two years and no doubt is looking to make some noise here at Caesars Atlantic City.

Moving along here to the real story, some new photos of Ashley Alexandra Dupre are popping up online despite her shyster's claims that they violate her right to privacy.

Checking them out, we're not quite sure what to make of the 22-year-old (or is she 32? or 37? which some are reporting) call girl who sent the anti-online gambling Spitzer packing from the Governor's mansion this week after word got out about their tryst in a Washington hotel. The more photos we see of her the more we're confused. In some pics, like this one, she's exactly what we'd expect from a 5-diamond-er. Other shots, she's just the girl next door, if you live in New Jersey that is. Still others, she comes across a tad bit rough, to put it kindly. Like a girl you might run into along the Jersey Turnpike and say, "So what brings you to this truck stop young lady?"

Anyway, hot or not, Ashley is on her way to stardom because she banged dudes for money, which really is the moral to the story here.

After the jump below, some of the new photos of Ashley Alexandra Dupre Rae Maika DiPietro Kristen Youmans . . .

Related posts:

Ashley Alexandra Dupre photos
Ashley Alexandra Dupre aka Ashley Youmans is Kristen the Hooker
Eliot Spitzer to Resign, Dropped $80k on Hookers the Past 10 Years
Anti-Online Gambling Crusader Gov. Eliot Spitzer Linked to Prostitution Ring

WPT Bay 101 Shooting Star Lost Many of Its Shooting Stars

The WPT Bay 101 Shooting Star tournament is a fave among players on the circuit. Many "name" pros have a $5,000 bounty on them, and the tournament leader at the end of each day collects $10,000.

With Day 1a wrapped, 46 players remain from the initial field of 146. A cursory look at those numbers indicate that 100 people were thusly eliminated.

Leading all Day 1a survivors is 2006 WSOP bracelet winner Brandon Cantu with 242,300. Cantu eliminated shooting stars Bill Edler and John Juanda on his way to the chip lead. We'll go out on a limb and also say that Cantu will have a year's supply of Blue Diamond Almonds coming his way as well.

Only five Day 1a shooting stars actually survived. They include the spectacularly breasted J.C. Tran, Men "The Master" Nguyen, Kathy Liebert (a woman), Layne Flack and Miami John Cernuto (who should've ceased qualifying for shooting star status around the Bush 41's administration).

Get full chip counts from the WPT website.

Man With Woman's Name Booted From Final Table of WSOPC Atlantic City Event for Being a Total Jackass

We love Nolan Dalla.

The celebrated poker writer, publicist and gambler is hands-down the best thing Harrahs has going on the PR side of its WSOP biz. The guy works his ass off, knows his shit, can write and is always super accommodating.

With that said, we'd be lying if we told you we read all of the press releases he sends on a daily basis when a WSOP Circuit event is going on. Especially when it's the first event, and especially, especially when it's the first event of a WSOP Circuit held in Atlantic Shitty.

So it should be no surprise that when we got an email today from Nolan with the subject "WSOP CIRCUIT (Event #1) Caesars Atlantic City", we immediately tossed it in the virtual trash bin. Again, nothing against Nolan. We love the guy.

Thankfully though someone did read the press release, because if they hadn't, there's a good chance we wouldn't have known that a man with a woman's name was booted from the final table of a WSOPC Atlantic City event for acting like a total jackass.

The player, Lesley Thornburg of Richmond, Va., was the chipleader at the time "all hell broke loose" and he was "forcefully removed from the tournament room." He had already been given two warnings for unsportsmanlike behavior on the previous day and was driving players mad with a "ceaseless display of loud comments and baiting tactics lasting several hours."

Here's what Nolan reported when play was down to five players:

"Holding onto a perilous chip lead, Thornburg lost self-control and began jamming chips into the pot with reckless abandon. Warned by tournament officials (repeatedly) to stack his chips properly and obey the rules, Thornburg crossed the final demarcation of everyone’s patience when he shoved half of his stack into the pot and then later announced, 'all in.' Fed up with the annoying and confusing antics, officials announced Thornburg’s immediate disqualification. Lesley Thornburg, a general contractor from Richmond, VA earned $19,026 in prize money."

Word is that this may be the first time a player has been forcibly removed from the final table of a poker tournament, and we have to say, considering the crap we see every year at the WSOP, including at final tables, we hope it isn't the last.

By the way, Nolan please keep sending us the press releases. Just perhaps next time use a headline like the one above. At least for us, it will get our attention.

After the jump, the full press release for Event #1 of the WSOP AC. Scroll down to the text in bold italics for the complete account of what happened.

Brothers Mohammed Busted for Bilking Bank Machines in Britain to Build WSOP Bankroll

Two poker playing brothers named Mohammed Imran and Mohammed Irfan were arrested in Scotland for swindling thousands of dollars from ATMs with plans to use the money to take on the "world's best poker players" at the 2008 World Series of Poker, according to the Daily Record.

"They exploited a loophole in the ATM system to carry out the scam, which saw them originally being accused of stealing almost £500,000.

But yesterday, the swindlers admitted stealing £154,640 using an expired HBOS bank card.

The brothers planned to splash the cash in Las Vegas casinos, gambling against some of the world's top poker players.

They wanted to play in a series of high-stake competitions including the Annual World Series of Poker in the city's Rio Hotel."

Apparently the two Mohammeds were regulars at the poker tables in Las Vegas and had both cashed in World Series of Poker events in the past. The Mohammed by the name of Imran finished 32nd in the $1,000 NLH event at the 2005 WSOP. The other Mohammed, Irfan, ended up 19th in the same event that year and has racked up winnings in several other tournaments, amassing just over $70K in career cashes.

Now we know what you're thinking. Two guys named Mohammed, they have to be terrorists. No question. Just by name alone. In fact, the one even has the exact same name as a Guantanamo detainee. Uh hello, can you say guilty!

Oh, you weren't thinking that. Yeh, we weren't either.

Read the full story here

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2008 World Series of Poker Open for Pre-Registration

Harrah's Entertainment announced that it has officially opened pre-registration for the 2008 World Series of Poker with poker players now able to secure their spots at this year's WSOP by visiting WorldSeriesofPoker.com. Once there, they are instructed to download a form, fill it out and then mail or fax it to the Rio because it's the year 1989 and submitting a form online hasn't been invented yet.

To make payment, players have the option to mail in a cashiers check or wire money per instructions provided on the site. Players can also register in person at the main cage of the Rio using cash or chips.

As far as third-party payments go, Harrah's rules dictate that only those approved by corporate sponsorship and licensing will be accepted. Unless approved, the player's name must match the remitter's name.

In news to us, although we're sure it's been mentioned elsewhere, WSOP tournament director Jack Effel says in the press release that "no alternates will be seated at the 2008 WSOP," likely as a way to get people to sign up early and put an end to the fiasco that saw WCP entities Snake and Chops two of 800 alternates in Event No. 3 last year. That means events with just one starting day will be capped at 2,760 players. Event No. 3 last year had 2,998.

Both the form and deposit must be submitted to the Rio at least two weeks before the start of the event.

The 2008 WSOP will run from May 30 through July 16, 2008, and will include 55 bracelet tournaments.

Read the full press release after the jump below . . .

Photo above our snap of Phil Hellmuth's 11-girl escort into the 2007 WSOP Main Event

Ben Hock Wins WSOP-C Council Bluffs, Bernie Lee Finishes 4th

That's all we got.

Irina Shayk Brings You Some Poker News

:: Duane Demaris Crittenden II shoots people who cheat at poker (Click here) :: EPT Copenhagen is underway and Daniel Negreanu, Bill Chen and players who wear scarves and have names we can't pronounce are among the field (Click here) :: Full Tilt Poker's website is apparently under a barrage of Denial of Service attacks. Action is still rolling at the tables though at www2.fulltiltpoker.com (Click here) :: Annette Obrestad, a woman, is about to have a new teammate as Betfair Poker (Click here) :: Former NFL communications-er Seth Palansky is the new Communications Director for the WSOP (Click here) :: Irish poker pro Andy Black doesn't choke and wins a sort of major event (Click here) Below and after the jump photos of 22-year-old Russian model and 2008 Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Issue-er Irina Shayk (aka Irina Sheik and Irina Shaykhlislamova).

Harrah's Moves WSOP HORSE Event from June 22 to June 25

Breaking news on the 2008 World Series of Poker front.

Announced just hours ago, Harrah's is moving the WSOP $50,000 buy-in World Championship HORSE event, originally scheduled to start at noon on Sunday, June 22, to 5 p.m. Wednesday, June 25.

Seriously, we ain't shittin ya.

And get this, the $2,500 buy-in 2-7 Triple Draw Lowball contest that was originally scheduled to begin at 5 p.m. June 25. That is now set to start at noon on June 22.

The 20-frickin-2nd, the same day the HORSE event was scheduled for but they've now like switched dates.

Developing . . .

Poker News, 2008 Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Models and Some Really Bad Puns in Quotes

:: Men "The Master" Nguyen is on a roll at the LAPC and we're not talking spring roll baby. That's "pho sho" (Click here, here and here) :: Brazil's Ana Beatriz Barros doing her SI Swimsuit photo shoot is the "polar" opposite of that Canadian chick ice fishing in June (Click here, here and here) :: A poker tournament in Egypt? Bet the competition is "in tents." (Click here) :: We actually like the candid bikini shots of Bar Refaeli better than her SI Swimsuit shots (Click here and here) :: Bible Belt-ists in South Carolina may "altar" their stance on church-held poker tournaments (Click here) :: Marisa Miller is the 2008 Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Cover Girl and you probably knew that already (Click here) :: NBA is looking to "slam dunk" online gambling with "assists" from lobbyists (Click here) :: Irina Shayk (yeh we bet she can) looks like a devilish version of Adriana Lima in her Sports Illustrated photos (Click here) :: Leave it to a hot cougar mom of two to loosen WSOP commish Jeffrey Pollack up a little (Click here) :: We'd never get "board" with SI Swimsuit model Tori Praver...she could ride our "sticks" any day...we'd like her to rub a little "sex wax" on our "decks"...We bet she's "swell" in bed...Get it? She's holding a surfboard. Alrighty (Click here)

Poker News, Girls and A. Dikshit

:: Doctors, bankers and some guy named Taco were among the 3,200 people on 2006 WSOP final table-ist Richard Lee's bookie list. [Click here] :: British glam model Gemma Atkinson is still famous for her really large breasts [Click here] :: Max "The Italian Pirate" Pescatori won a prelim event at the LA Poker Classic, still has the dumbest nickname in poker [Click here] :: Clothes aversed model Eve Wyrwal might be our new favorite British distraction [Click here] :: The land of A. Dikshit will host its first-ever poker tour when the inaugural India Poker Tour kicks off this August [Click here] :: Australian Victoria's Secret model Miranda Kerr has phenomenal legs [Click here] :: Phil Hellmuth and Annie Duke compete to see who's the better poker coach on FSN's Best Damn Poker Show. Sounds like a show we thought of 5 years ago [Click here] :: Aussie hottie Imogen Bailey is always worth the look [Click here] :: Harvard prof Charles Nesson is in London to talk about the effect US gambling ban has on global free trade [Click here] :: Finally, below after the jump is a great idea for a booth at this year's WSOP GLE, if Jeffrey Pollack would let the strippers back. Please.

WPTDBFDWPCASS Final Table Not As Good As It Could've Been

Even after Phil Ivey's Day 3 flame-out, the  World Poker Tour Doyle Brunson Five Diamond World Poker Classic All-Star Spectacular (WPTDBFDWPCASS) was shaping up to be one of the more compelling final tables of the year.

Daniel Negreanu took the chip lead into play today, but busted in 14th place. Also falling just short was Todd Brunson (15th place) and Erick Lindgren (10th place).

Instead, taking the chip lead to the final table is Eugene Katchalov (8,360,000). He's followed by our prediction to win this, Jordan "Ginger" Rich (6,585,000).

The final table isn't void of all star power, as Dave "Devilfish" Ulliott is third overall, stacked at 1,900,000. Ryan Daut, who won a WPT earlier this year, is the short-stack at 330,000.

Get live reporting here.

Harrah's Mulls Launching Online Poker Site in UK, Europe

The Associated Press is reporting that Gary Loveman (at right), the chairman, president and CEO of Harrah's Entertainment who you may recognize as the chubby, slow-talking guy from the responsible gaming commercials, told an audience at the Global Gaming Expo today that he's looking at taking the World Series of Poker brand into the realm of online poker in Europe.

"If you take a look at the legal landscape in continental Europe and the United Kingdom, there are countries where it's demonstrably legal and there's absolutely no encumbrance. Those are areas that are very attractive to us," said Loveman, who also denied today reports that he and US Attorney Catherine Hanaway are the same person.

WSOP spokesman Gary Thompson added that Harrah's would not enter the online poker market "where there are any gray areas." He also said don't eat poker chips but that may be unrelated to this story.

Loveman's remarks come a month after the announcement that PartyGaming, the parent company of Party Poker, was looking for a potential buyer and "would like to hear from the major [casinos] in Las Vegas."

While there's a lot to be said here about a WSOP-branded online poker site being launched in the UK and mainland Europe, it's Naked Wednesday here at the WCP compound so we're kind of busy right now. Feel free though to share your thoughts below. Or somewhere random. Like here.

Source: BusinessWeek.com

Things Not to Do While in Vegas for The WSOP

In the latest edition of BLUFF Magazine, we provided our 2007 WSOP Surivival Tips (included in them: don't suck, and eat at The Coffee Shop at TI).

Get the issue at newstands today!

Now RawVegas.tv has put up its top Vegas misconceptions. From things not to do (like saying "Vegas, baby," which is just as bad as shouting "that's what I'm talking about!" after sucking out) to why all chicks in Sin City are not hookers...sort of...it's a must watch for WSOP travelers.

Since this video stars the gorgeously dangerous Denise Pernula, after the jump is one of her latest model shots . . .