The previous post below lists my thoughts on players that I consider having a legitimate shot at winning the 2005 WSOP championship. When I read through the article this morning I realized I left out dozens of working professional players with the skills and demonstrated track record to win. Ron Rose, Charlie Shoten, Scotty Nguyen, Chris Ferguson, Hassan Habib, Men Nguyen, Gus Hansen, Barry Greenstein, Carlos Mortensen, Joe Beever or just a few that have demonstrated their ability to play winning poker. We can't forget that a complete unknown can rise from the huge field, collect all of the chips and go home the 2005 World Champion Poker Player.

I put together a list of players that could be longshots to win and included the reason they are on the list. The Nines list this week covers the players that may not win the 2005 WSOP championship and why. This week's Nines...

9. Jerry Buss...Fouled out for coming over the top of Evelyn Ng.
8. Phil Laak...Put trademark hooded sweatshirt on backwards, couldn't see cards.
7. Men "Master" Nguyen...Taken away by paramedics after consuming 26 Coronas during level 12.
6. Phil Hellmuth...Showed up so late his chips had been blinded away.
5. Jean Robert Bellande...Penalized so many minutes for table trash talk he can't return to play until the 2007 WSOP.
4. Any dog playing poker...self explanatory.
3. Anyone from Celebrity Poker...except Bret Maverick.
2. Doyle Brunson...Didn't show, too big of a pay cut if he left "his game."
1. Johnny Moss...He's dead.

That's it for today. Tomorrow has the Week in Review and J. Santos' "Muck It" cartoon.

Posted by flipchipro at 5:42 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

I am continuing to catch up on everything poker and today was a read everything poker day. Scanning some of the news feeds I quickly spotted this article from Rolling Stone titled, Aces and Kings, The New Superstars of Poker. Writers, Michael Kaplan and Brad Regan, profiled three of poker's hottest young stars. Daniel Negreanu, 2004 player of the year; Eric Lindgren, 2003 player of the year and Phil Ivey. I noticed that the article touched on a thread that runs through each players game. They all have developed and fine tuned a game plan that includes much more aggression than the older professional player's "A" game. I have been hanging around tournament poker tables with camera in hand for a number of decades, close enough to capture the game faces, so I have seen the evolution in poker playing styles up close.

I believed these new young guns would be nothing more than flash in the pan when going against the likes of Brunson, Reese, Chan or Hellmuth. How can a kid whose experience is measured in months bulldoze someone with experience expressed in fractions of a century? Of course, some of these instant poker celebrities are indeed flash in the pan and just happened to sit in the lucky seat that magic day during the world's greatest poker tournament. Does Moneymaker come to mind? None of the three superstars that are the focus of the article have bagged the big one yet; but, maybe this will be the year that Negreanu, Ivey or Lingdren goes home with the title of world's best and the coveted platinum bracelet. Of the three, my money will be on Phil Ivey outlasting the predicted field of more than six thousand hopefuls at the 2005 World Series of Poker Main Event. The Poker Prof assured me that the smart money, his included, will be down on Daniel Negreanu.

Which professional player would I make the overall favorite in the 2005 WSOP? It would have to be Phil Hellmuth. I think he brings to the table the best of the old school ideas and the latest Internet spawned ultra-aggressive style. I am aware he is not the most popular guy around and is better known to the millions of television viewers for his tantrums and abusive behavior than his poker skills; but, tournament poker is not a popularity contest. Phil shares the record of most WSOP bracelets (nine) with Johnny Chan and Doyle Brunson. He has won the big one. He retains enough youth (some say he never grew up) to match any young star, stamina for stamina; and remember, this is the player that will quickly tell you he would win every tournament he enters if it were not for bad luck. There is a degree of truth in this ego driven statement since you never see Phil all-in without a winning out, the guy stays out of the traps and is never drawing dead. Phil has no doubts about his poker playing abilities and the motivation to become the first player to hold ten gold bracelets has to be a big contributing factor. I was there in 1989 when he won the WSOP championship event and I have watched him evolve into a most formidable force. Hellmuth's recent win at the NBC National Heads-Up Championship proves he is at the top of his game.

Tuan Le, winner of the recent WPT $25,000 buy-in championship is certainly a contender. Tuan has demonstrated on two occasions he can come back from the brink of disaster and win it all so he is on the list. How about defending champion, Greg Raymer? He is lawyer smart and brings years of concentrated Internet experience in surviving large tournament fields. He knows how to win. Maybe Mike Matusow will be there at the end. Mike is loaded with natural talent and perhaps he has matured enough to avoid self-destruction at the end game. TJ Cloutier is probably the toughest professional player to never win the Championship. TJ is way overdue to take this one home. Tom McEvoy, 1983 champion and the first ever champion to come in from a satellite, has found his winning ways again. Let us not forget Dan Harrington, the 1995 WSOP champion that always seems to be at the WSOP main event final table.

There is also a list of females that have the ability and skill to become the first woman champion in the history of the WSOP. Jennifer Harman can play with anyone at any level. Jennifer is one of the best players, male or female, playing poker today. Annie Duke knows how to win the big ones and could certainly be there at the end.

This post began with the Rolling Stone article about the new superstars of poker and I have to agree, they are definitely superstars. The fact that they are featured in an article in Rolling Stone qualifies them as superstars. Anyone remember Dr Hook and the Medicine Show?

Posted by flipchipro at 3:04 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

The slack time I'm enjoying between major poker tournaments here in Las Vegas has allowed me to catch up on the industry buzz. Of course, all the news right now is the opening of the Wynn joint, a $2.8 billion project that originated within the imagination of Steve Wynn. Hiking around the place and listening to the comments of visitors seeing Las Vegas for the first time indicates the place will be a smashing success. Even though the interest on the mortgage would choke a field full of oil wells, the Wynn will suck up a majority share of the tourist dollar, more than ample money to satisfy all those investment bankers; even enough left over spare change to feed the stock holders. This is a given, considering the competition has to play with second best. This is the equivalent of going to the Indy 500 with the only bright, shiny new race car while everyone else has to drive your old, discarded race cars. So who do you think is going to come out on top?

The Wynn stock (WYNN on the NASDAQ) took an as expected hit today and closed at 53.50, down 1.19 or 2.17%. Guess the smart money crowds finally figured out the numbers are with the big "B" instead of the more sedate "M" and they got a case of the postpartum project jitters. As they like to say on the hill, "A Billion here and a Billion there and pretty soon you're talking some serious money." Once the traffic jams in the streets outside the great curved copper blade settle down with a degree of organization and all the rubberneckers quit blocking the slot machines and table games the latest Wynn money tree forest will go into the books as one of the world's most productive monetary printing presses. All of this to the delight of stockholders; and remember, for the rest of us it is a damn fine place to buy a Ferrari, eat a thousand dollars worth of foo-foo food, look at $130 million worth of oversize house plants stacked on a steel reinforced concrete Matterhorn, pick up the Hope diamond for the little lady or get so close to a canvas that is so beautiful you can smell the lingering sweat left by the long dead great master. Oh yeah, did I mention that the Wynn is also a great vacation destination? Drink some suds, soak up some rays, fantasize about all that silicone and maybe get lucky.

How long will the Wynn remain on the top of the heap? Certainly for a couple of years or more. At least until the massive $7 billion plus MGM/Mirage City Center, to be built on 64 acres of prime Vegas Strip frontage, comes online. Defined as a city-within-a-city this project promises to take the vacation resort offerings to a whole new plateau. It will be the first to offer permanent residences to those well-heeled inhabitants of the finer side of life. What will come after the City Center project? I can only imagine; but, if I had to bet, I would say that it is already beginning to take on form somewhere on those drafting tables in the recesses of Steve Wynn's imagination. What will it be? A larger, more beautiful city-within-a-city that resides under its own enclosed bubble; where, even the afternoon clouds and rainstorms are controlled from a computer keyboard? Imagine sitting in a poker room on an outdoor terrace on the hundredth floor with always perfect weather. Now, that's a thought; but wait, how can we talk about the future of Las Vegas without adding another major player, the Donald? He just may be holding the trump card of the future.

Posted by flipchipro at 3:44 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

The Wynn resort opens tonight at 12:01 am. Anxious gamblers are waiting outside the property to rush into this newest of mega-resorts when the doors finally open. A party atmosphere pervades the crowded sidewalks where the people began lining up in the early afternoon for a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to be the first to gamble in the latest Steve Wynn fantasy. The casino is large at 110,000 square feet. The copper tinted glass sheathed blade hotel houses 2716 guest rooms. The 2,087 seat showroom in the round is home to a Franco Dragone produced, water-themed stage spectacular titled Le Reve. No seat is further than forty-two feet from the one million gallon pool/stage. All of this is neatly tucked behind a $130 million man-made mountain surrounding a multi-level three acre lake complete with waterfalls, some as high as one hundred feet.

Steve Wynn has been absent from the Las Vegas strip for five years after selling his signature properties, Mirage, Bellagio and Treasure Island Resorts, to MGM Mirage. The opening of the new Wynn Resort marks his much anticipated return to the Vegas scene. The Wynn was designed and created by Mr. Wynn with his usual attention to even the smallest detail. Wynn's partner, Kazuu Okada, CEO of Azure Corporation, has maintained a silent presence in the project, having spent most of his time managing his world wide business interest.

Wynn describes his latest work as the first Las Vegas project designed from the inside out. The primary design consideration is through the eyes of a hotel guest rather than giving people on the strip the best view of the property. Wynn went on to say he could not have created the Wynn Resort without having designed the other properties and his experiences allowed him to incorporate ideas never before considered for a resort. Steve Wynn said, "The Wynn resort offers the highest level of excellence available anywhere." Tonight, the three year project will open its doors and welcome the general public to share the most complex resort ever built on this earth. Steve Wynn recently announced plans to begin construction on a second tower on the north side of the property aptly named, "Encore."

Cameras and other recording devices are not allowed on the property until the release of Vanity Fair magazine next week. I did manage to get some shots of the crowds outside the property. The Poker Prof was invited to spend a couple of days at the Wynn resort prior to the official opening and was kind enough to share his experience with us. The Prof, in his own words...

Imagine heaven...Well, the Wynn is where people in heaven will book their vacations.

A few days ago I had an opportunity to experience the Wynn Resort first hand and this is my first impression.

Casino: The staple of any Las Vegas resort is it's casino floor, this is the area of a casino that must be successful and Wynn has listened to the experts and designed a casino floor with an intimate, comfortable feel. Gone is the impression of being in a massive space, the Wynn has replaced it with a lower ceiling, warm wood tones and lighting that welcomes and invites. The Wynn casino floor is as inviting as it is opulent. The games are the usual Vegas fare with slot and video poker machine banks dominating the majority of the casino space. The table games line the main walkway that circles the casino. Only two considerations merit their own separate sections; the massive high-roller pit complete with an elegant lounge and, of course, the poker room.

Poker Room: For those who have been to Vegas, think of the poker room at the Mirage or Bellagio, only a smidgen nicer and you'll have the Wynn's 27 table poker room. The room will spread the usual fare of popular games including low limit Hold'em, No Limit Hold'em, Stud, Omaha and, of course, a high limit area in the back of the room on a raised dais, which will be the only place Daniel Negreanu will be found in cash games since he has a exclusive agreement with the Wynn. The poker room is out of the way without being difficult to reach and affords the same inviting and intimate feel as does all of the casino floor. Of course, the poker room is non-smoking.

Shopping: The shops will soon open their doors and join the latest Vegas Strip offerings of trendy, top-tier designer boutiques with familiar names such as Dior, Chanel and Cartier. A Ferrari-Maserati dealership with direct access to the Vegas strip for an easy test drive of the exotic machines and super exclusive Graff Jewelers offerings big-dollar trinkets unique to the Wynn.

Dining: Even the coffee shop, Tableau, has gourmet offerings including a delightful French Onion Soup, Grilled Lamb Chops and a fabulous dessert Cappuccino. The Wynn offers cuisine from the world over including his favorite restaurant, the Japanese based Okada (named after his partner Kazuu Okada), Asian at the Red 8 Asian Bistro, Italian at Cartolotta Ristorante Di Mare all the way up to the extreme of dining delight, Alex, which serves French Rivera flavors created by Master Chef, Alessandro Stratta. With so many great restaurants even the most finicky pallet is sure to be pleased.

Entertainment: I've only had a chance to see Le Reve, but I must say it's a real treat, with intriguing choreography and mind-blowing acrobatic feats making it a must-see show; however, the real star of this production is the stage itself. A massive circular area in the center of the auditorium, the stage is completely surrounded by the audience and it goes from being immersed in water to rising high above, with a series of circular dais in an ever changing configuration. Truly, no bad seats in this spherical house.

Unfortunatly, this is the extent of my personal experiences during my overnight visit to the Wynn; but rest assured, the architect of modern Las Vegas, Steve Wynn, has outdone himself this time. The Wynn Resort takes luxury to a whole new level and anyone who visits Las Vegas will have their own opportunity to enjoy the new crown jewel of destination resorts.

Posted by pokerprof at 1:59 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Today was a day away from the casinos, poker tournaments and professional players after the non-stop three weeks of events at the Five-Star. I almost stopped by the downtown Plaza Hotel this evening but decided to stay in and catch up on Internet related chores so the post will be a collection of odds and ends from the past few days. I was most pleased to find our photos in a gallery on the FOXSports website. First time readers may need to know that we have an extensive Five Star Photo Gallery and new photos are added daily.

The PPT final table proved to be some of the best poker of the 5-Star. The heads-up between Lee Markholdt and Barry Shulman was mistake free and ended when both were dealt strong short-handed-game pocket pairs. The end came when the Poker Gods chose to send Lee a Queen instead of a winning Seven for Barry. QED.

Update: Check out Paul Phillips for the hand that is the source of these rumors. And visit this thread on fullcontactpoker for some of the debate.
I listened in on some controversial rumors floating around about the WPT $25,000 buy-in Championship event final table. A few of the players are questioning some of the calls or lack of calls from chip leader, Hasan Habib. They are mystified as to how an overwhelming chip favorite could loose all of his massive stack of more than $14 million, approximately two thirds of the total chips in play, while the shortest stack, about $100K, went on to win. Haven't they heard the cliche, "A chip an a chair?" I can't offer anything more to this dark tale, except to say that almost every tournament, especially the top money championships, have a group (disgruntled losers?) that questions some or even all of the plays and the outcome. I remind myself that this is poker and, as such, it does not follow the defined statistical path we predict or expect, more like predicting the weather, too many variables to be exact. It was all recorded for national television broadcast so the viewers can watch the show and decide for themselves if there may have been any funny business. More on this later if new information becomes available and can be substantiated.

Even though the typical tournament schedule is grueling, I always enjoy covering major tournaments. An opportunity to visit with the fans and players and learn whats happening in the industry. It is a pleasure to see new, young talent coming into these events with a strong game developed from dedicated study and concentrated experience often combined with play lessons from a reputable professional. The days of the smoky backrooms filled with the enlarged prostrate crowd has been replaced with energetic, sophisticated, well educated, aggressive young players. Every tournament finds more women entering and playing well. Players from all over the globe representing practically every nationality has made today's poker tournaments an international affair. The top European player, Marcel Luske, has been working closely with the IPF to develop and implement a standardized set of rules that will offer the professional poker player the same familiarity and atmosphere regardless of the global location of the poker room (more on this in a future post).

Tomorrow is another day of poker action here in Las Vegas and, of course, another poker tournament needs to be photographed. I did enjoy my day off, even watched a movie on the tele, The Rounders.

Posted by flipchipro at 2:48 AM | Permalink | Comments (2)

The, 2005 Five Star World Poker Classic at the Bellagio Resort on the Las Vegas strip is positively, absolutely over. The final event, a scheduled stop of the Professional Poker Tour played the final table today. Today's finale of a PPT event that began on the 15th of April and played down to 45 survivors that returned the next day and play until only six remained. The event was then placed on hold until the 5-Star completed it's scheduled events including the WPT season three $25,000 buy-in Championship. The six players qualified for the PPT final table and their respective chip counts follow:

Lee Markholdt $890K
Barry Shulman $400K
Erick Lindgren $380K
Doyle Brunson $324K
Chris Bjorin $214K
Dan Heimiller $85K

The finish to the $500,000 freeroll, invitation only event began today, Monday, a little after 4:00 pm. A PPT television production crew was on hand recording everything for a later broadcast on the Travel Channel. Four hands into today's match Erich Lindgren goes all-in and chip leader, Lee Markholdt, calls and wins the hand. Erich is the sixth place finisher and collects $25,000. Lee adds to his chip lead and knows his good fortune is continuing into today. Next out is Dan Heimiller taking $35,000. Chris Bjorin leaves in fourth place and receives $45,000. The legendary Doyle Brunson falls to Markholdt's card luck and collects third place money of $60,000. Heads-up will be between the chip leader, Lee Markholdt and Barry Shulman.

The chip count going into the two-way match shows Lee with a comfortable 3 to 1 lead over Barry Shulman. The two professionals cautiously trade chips back and forth without much of a change in the ratio. Lee continues to guard and maintain his lead. The final hand was about 7:30 this evening after less than an hour of play. Lee opened for $60K and Barry called. The flop came 10,2,2 rainbow. Barry bet out $100K. Lee immediately raised it to $300K. Barry called all-in and without any consideration Lee called. Lee turned over two black Queens and a dejected Barry stood up and showed his two black Sevens. The turn card was all that was needed to end the match when a red Queen painted the board giving Lee Queens full to Barry's two pair. For the record the river was another deuce so Barry ended with a full house only to lose to Lee's bigger full house.

Barry goes away with $100,000 for his second place finish; while Lee garners the top prize of $200,000 plus a $25,000 seat and a very shiny large trophy. Throughout the match stadium seats surrounding the final table television set was filled with fans and family members providing support to their favorite player. A few of the hold-over pros from the WPT wandered in and out of the room. The crew was disassembling the set as the prize presentations were being made. Professional tournament poker will move to Lake Tahoe and then return to the Mirage Resort in Las Vegas for the final poker tourney show before the 2005 WSOP begins its run at the Rio Hotel and Casino. I'm going to take a couple of at-home days to catch up on everything and then I will check out the action downtown at the Plaza. The latest photos will be posted to the Five-Star Photo Gallery and complete tournament results are available at Poker Player Newspaper. Experience the very best in Internet Poker Rooms at Noble Poker.

Anyone wondering about the Poker Prof should look around the new Wynn Resort. The Prof got himself an invite to see the place before the general public grand opening on Thursday, talk about good luck!

Posted by flipchipro at 1:42 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

The final event of the third season of the World Poker Tour ended a few minutes before midnight at the Bellagio resort here in Las Vegas. The $25,000 buy-in No Limit Hold'em event played the final table Sunday at 4:00 pm and played on and on until only one was left. Tuan Le survived the field of 452 players and seven days later was crowned the WPT Champion. The six players going into tonight's final table was a representation of some of poker's toughest competitors, so the action was top rate. Phil Ivey was the first to go out in sixth place collecting $264,195 on the way to the door. Rob Hollink was next to leave the party and received $377,420 followed closely by John Phan, out in fourth place with $518,920. The three handed play lasted into the night with Tuan hovering on the brink of elimination while Hasan Habib and Paul Maxfield continued to have a go at each other. Tuan got all the way down to $100K while the other two players had over $10 million each and appeared to have no hope; but, as he did at Foxwoods he never gave up and he didn't wait for pocket rockts before making a move to collect some of the chips. And collect he did, until he finally took out Hasan Habib, who collected $896,375 for third. The heads up play began after the money was brought to the final table by Shana Hiatt completing her final duty before leaving the WPT for good.

Paul Maxfield and Tuan Le traded chips for the better part of an hour and a half. During this period Paul had Tuan all-in and on the ropes needing a miracle card on the river. Both times he pulled off the suck-out. Finally, Paul went all-in with his K,5o and was immediately called by Tuan showing Kd,Jd. The flop came J,10,3 giving Tuan a pair of Jacks and the lead. The Queen on the turn was no help to Paul and the 7 on the river gave Tuan his second WPT victory of the season. He collected $2,856,150 plus a $25,000 seat in next season's championship. Paul had to settle for the consolation money of $1,698,390.

The crowd tonight was great; cheering for their favorite and having a great time. At the presentation of the trophy and prize money, Daniel Negreanu was presented with his WPT Player of the Year jacket (no, it wasn't green) and trophy. Complete results of the final table are available at Poker Player Newspaper. Photos are being added to our Five-Star Photo Gallery daily so be sure to browse through the hundreds of photos.

The PPT, Professional Poker Tour, plays its final table at 4:00 pm tomorrow at the Bellagio. Stop in to see the Grand Master of Poker, Doyle Brunson, work his table magic.

Posted by flipchipro at 2:40 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)

Let's start off with the good news, Felicia posted, I pray the news only gets better. Be sure to check out the latest from Otis, the official Poker Stars Blog. Bad Blood put up a creative writing contest for a write-up on winning a WSOP event and Pauly has posted his write-up. Hank has an interesting post up about Self Affirmation, while Poker Grub takes a look at some of the lesser known attractions, such as 10 minute plays here in Vegas. Bob celebrated his birthday on April 22nd and his present was winning the WSOP event seat tonight, way to go Bob. Poker Nerd got one heck of a present from Poker Stars as well. The Poker Geek is trying to offer some cool T-shirts and Wil has posted a bit more on his Five-Star excursion. Finally, be sure to watch Iggy for the WSOP qualifier tournament events.

The past three weeks have been spent mostly at the Bellagio covering the Five-Star World Poker Classic tournament. All of the poker pros have been spotted at the 5-Star, the second largest show in poker. Hanging out with the movers and shakers of poker has provided some insights into subjects of current interest. One of the major topics is what effect the opening of the Wynn will have on existing poker rooms here in Vegas. Will the players in the high limit games go to the Wynn instead of the Bellagio? I guess the Bellagio is concerned and decided to remodel their room, then get it reopened before the super-joint behind the mountain opens to the general public on Thursday. We will provide news and photos from the Wynn as soon as possible.

Posted by pokerprof at 1:31 PM | Permalink | Comments (2)

Day six of the WPT $25K Championship played down to the final TV table six. Today's play began at noon with 17 players and 11 had been eliminated a few minutes before 6:00 pm. Joe Beevers of the Hendon Mob went out on the TV table bubble and play stopped until tomorrow's 4:00 pm start time. The chip leader going into tomorrow's final table is Hasan Habib with $7,795,000 in tournament chips, well ahead of Rob Hollink's $4,430,000. Phil Ivey is third in the chip count with $3,365,000 followed by Paul Maxfield holding $2,885,000. Tuan Le has $2,680,000 and John Phan is the short stack with $1,405,000.

Joseph Cordi left in the eight spot and collected $150,970 while Chris Ferguson received $132,025 for ninth. Juna Helppi was eliminated tenth and got paid $113,225. The Fontana room was crowded with fans and media gathered around the tables watching and reacting to every hand. Tomorrow promises to be a great final table with some of the toughest professionals on the tour playing their best game to grab the WPT Championship and the $2,856,150 first place money. Second place will go home a millionaire with $1,698,390 and third takes $896,375. Even the first player to be eliminated will leave with $264,195.

The Fontana Room has taken on the party atmosphere of any other big time sporting event involving professionals vying for millions of dollars, fans cheering for their favorite players and poker industry movers and shakers practicing the art of the deal. Combine all of this with a Saturday in the entertainment capitol of the world, Las Vegas, and then add in the Bellagio setting and you would have to work at not having a wonderful time. The Bellagio's regular poker room is jammed with players in cash games that range from $4-$8 Hold'em all the way up to "My God, it's how much?" Just walk around the facility and you will see all of those poker stars you watch every week on television. It's not just the who's who of poker, it is total poker. The WPT Championship will be decided tomorrow and the 2005 champion will be crowned; but, that's not the end of this event. Monday will be another "filmed for television final table" in the form of the Professional Poker Tour. The PPT tour stop that began on April 15th will play down to a champion. If you have the time then come on down to Vegas and watch some poker history being made; or better yet, make some poker history of your own.
The complete results of the WPT Championship event can be found on Poker Player Newspaper. More photos have been added to the Five Star photo gallery so click on over and for the very best Internet Poker experience don't forget our sponsor, Noble Poker.

Sitting on the veranda outside the Fontana Room the other day I watched some wet suited scuba divers doing maintenance on the Bellagio's fountains and wondered how you get one of these cushy jobs. I've done some research and determined some of the other great Vegas jobs. This week's Nines...

9. Stratosphere ride tester (except that Insanity thing).
8. Monorail inspector (you do even less than the Maytag man).
7. Anything at the new Wynn joint.
6. Bellagio terrorist detector inspecting incoming cars (the only thing they have created found is irate motorist)
5. Girls of Glitter Gulch wardrobe malfunction fixer (what wardrobe?).
4. City Historian (really easy, we have no history older than an hour and a half)
3. Traffic signal coordinator (unsure how easy this job is since it's never been filled).
2. Mayor (includes all the gin you can drink).
1. Bunny Ranch product tester.

That's it for today. Tomorrow has the Week in Review and J. Santos' "Muck It" cartoon.

Posted by flipchipro at 10:24 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

The fifth day of the WPT $25,000 buy-in No Limit Hold'em Championship event finished this evening a few minutes before 8:00 pm when Tuan Le took out two players, Bo Sehlstedt and Mark Rose, to trim the field to seventeen. Both Bo and Mark received $75,465 in prize money. My long shot pick to win the event, Isabelle Mercier, collected $56,615 for her 28th place finish. Isabelle played a solid game, held her own with the guys and was the last surviving female so I expect to see her finishing in the money in many future tournaments.

The chip leader going into Saturday's action is professional Phil Ivey with $3,884,000 in tournament chips followed closely by Tuan Le with $3,730,000. Hassan Habib is third in the count with $3,255,000, Rob Hollink has $1,584,000 placing him in the fourth spot and Chris Ferguson completes the top five with $1,411,000. Joe Beevers remains with $1,162,000, Juha Helppi has $493,000, Tony Ma starts Saturday on the short side with $287,000, Las Vegas pro David Slansky has even less at $200,000 and the short stack honors goes to Paul Testud. Friday's chip leader, John Smith, is a newcomer to tournament play and lost his chips and his seat going out in the 20th position and collecting $75,485. The two remaining tables will begin on Saturday at noon in the Fontana Room at the Bellagio. The play will continue until the field is cut to six players. The final table will be played on the WPT television production set beginning at 4:00 pm on Sunday and will continue until one player has all of the chips and the Championship.

The Five-Star World Poker Classic is winding down to the big finish on Sunday. Many of the professionals will be headed for Lake Tahoe to play in the Harvey's Lake Tahoe Poker Tournament at Harvey's Resort Casino from April 26th to May 17th. The action will the return to Las Vegas for the Mirage Poker Showdown at the Mirage Resort on May 23-26th and is the final major tournament scheduled before the big one, The 2005 World Series of Poker, at the Rio Resort beginning June 3 and continuing daily through July 15th when the $10,000 Championship event final table is played to determine the poker champion of the world.

Remember to click over to Poker Player Newspaper for the complete results of the Five-Star tournament daily events. Spend some time browsing our 5-Star photo gallery to experience views of the action straight from the tournament floor. We are adding photos daily.

Posted by flipchipro at 1:15 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

The fourth day of the Five-Star World Poker Classic's WPT $25,000 Championship ended this evening with 45 players remaining in the tournament. The play began at noon today with 164 finalists attempting to last into the top 100 positions that receive some of the prize money. Yesterday I detailed the dinner conservation with the professionals saying what time today they believed the final 100 would be reached. The 4:00 pm guess was the most accurate; the actual time was 4:59 this afternoon. Danny Dang was the bubble boy today. He went out with pocket Jacks after being called all-in by Tam Nguyen holding J,Q and catching another Queen to end Danny's day. The hand-by-hand started at a few minutes past four and continued until one minute before five, a considerable length of time. All of the remaining 100 players will receive at least $30,000. Play today continued though level #13 before ending for the night. Tomorrow the 45 lucky players that are left will return and play until 27 remain so I expect Friday will be an abbreviated session.

The current chip leader is Reza Payvar with $1,638,000 of the total. John Smith follows closely in second place with $1,611,000. Phil Ivey is in the fifth spot with $1,088,000 and David Williams sits in the sixth spot with $838,000. Joe Beevers of the Hendon Mob is in good shape with $562,000; while 2000 WSOP Champion, Chris Ferguson , has $492.000. The winner of the largest first place money of the 2005 5-Star, Tony Ma, will begin on Friday with $438,000. Well known Las Vegas professional, David Slansky, had accumulated $460,000 at the end of today's play; while Dewey Tomko is playing his usual solid game with $371,000. Thursday's chip leader, Al Boston, remains in the action with $358,000. Isabelle Mercier has accumulated $334,000 in chips and is my dark horse choice to win it all. 2004 WSOP champion, Greg Raymer, seated next to Isabelle also has $334,000 in chips. Bob Stupak will be there Friday with his $253,000. Professional Jesse Jones starts with $214,000 and Stuart Paterson will come into the day with the $107,000 and short stack honors.

Most of my early favorites are gone. Max Pescatori, the Italian Pirate, left with $37,740 for his 48th place finish. Jennifer Harman was eliminated 65th and received $30,000. Tom McEvoy goes away with $30,000 for 74th.

Check out the complete tournament results on Poker Player Newspaper. Additional photos are being added to the 5-Star gallery so click on over and don't forget our new sponsor, Noble Poker, for the finest in Internet Poker.

The twenty-seven will come back on Saturday and play down to the final television table slick six. The WPT filmed final table will be played on Sunday and crown this seasons WPT champion.

Posted by flipchipro at 1:34 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)