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July 31, 2008

Best Las Vegas Poker Tournament Directory

photos by flipchip • lasvegasvegas.com
Wynn Poker Room
Elegant Wynn Poker Room


Are you in Las Vegas, planning a trip to Vegas or looking for an excuse to enjoy some live action poker in Las Vegas? Look no further than the Poker Prof's Las Vegas Poker Tournament Directory. It is the most up-to-date, comprehensive guide to Las Vegas poker to be found anywhere. Unlike print guides that offer month old info printed in a format guaranteed to confuse the Prof's schedules are updated daily so the information is as fresh and accurate as possible.


photos by flipchip • lasvegasvegas.com
Palms Poker Room
Ultra Hip Palms Poker Room


Need another reason to make the Prof's Poker Tournament Directory your exclusive poker planning tool? How about the easiest to use search functions currently available anywhere? Choose your input parameters - calendar dates, days of the week, clock times, casinos, formats, buy-ins - and and then quickly zero in on the events that fit your preferences, schedule and wallet. You can even custom tailor the resultant data in an easy to understand style of your choice.

It's time you stop squinting at the fine print of old fashioned poker tournament directories filled with out-of-date info. Use the Poker Prof's Las Vegas Poker Tournament Directory and the only squinting you'll be doing will be recording the flash of your opponent's hole cards.


photos by flipchip • lasvegasvegas.com
Binion's Poker Room
Nostalgic Binion's Poker Room


July 30, 2008

Poker room offers at Station Casinos

photos by flipchip • lasvegasvegas.com
Palace Station
Play at the original Station


If you're in Las Vegas and play poker, it pays to sign up to the Station Casino's player's club.

We preferred the old Boarding Pass card to the new My Card, but that's just cosmetic. Either way, we received a flier in the mail for $10 off our next buy-in of $100.

Just two hours of play is necessary before claiming the $10, so it's basically $5 an hour to play a few hands.

The offer is good through Sept. 30.

You may already know about Station's Bad Beat Jumbo Hold'em Progressive, which starts at $150,000 at quad 10s beaten, then the hand requirement reduces every week until someone gets the beat.

And when it happens, everyone playing poker in every Station casino shares in the progressive... with a minimum of $200.

(This is aside from the in-house bad beat jackpot of $10,000 for Aces full of 10s beaten.)

Another offer is $250 for every royal flush.

And, in addition to the regular $1/hour comp for playing live poker, you'll receive $3/hour if you play between 3 a.m. and 9 a.m.

Nothing beats playing poker on the Strip, but sometimes it's worth taking a drive to check out the local casinos (Palace Station is the closest Station to the Strip, but our favorites are Red Rock and Green Valley Ranch).

photos by flipchip • lasvegasvegas.com
Palace Station
Palace Station Poker Room
July 29, 2008

Ladies of the 2008 WSOP Part I

photos by flipchip • lasvegasvegas.com
Evelyn Ng
Evelyn Ng


Sorting and cataloging the thousands of image shot during the 47 days of the 2008 WSOP is a mind numbing chore that requires hundreds of hours. I'm reliving the 55 events frame-by-frame so thought it would be appropriate to offer up some of my favorites gleaned from the mass. As expected from an old chauvinistic photographer, my choices trend toward the small percentage of females that take a seat at the tables.

I've selected a dozen or so images to spice up tonight's WSOP Poker Fest on ESPN. While you're watching the guys shove chips back and forth check out the ladies. Many more Flipchip WSOP photos will follow in the upcoming weeks.

Another dozen photos after the jump...


photos by flipchip • lasvegasvegas.com
Maria Ho
Mario Ho


################

photos by flipchip • lasvegasvegas.com
Jennifer Harman
Jennifer Harman


photos by flipchip • lasvegasvegas.com
Shannon Elizabeth
Shannon Elizabeth

photos by flipchip • lasvegasvegas.com
Anna Wroblewski
Anna Wroblewski


photos by flipchip • lasvegasvegas.com
Cyndy Violette
Cyndy Violette


photos by flipchip • lasvegasvegas.com
Kathy Leibert
Kathy Leibert


photos by flipchip • lasvegasvegas.com
JJ Liu
JJ Liu


photos by flipchip • lasvegasvegas.com
Clonie Gowan
Clonie Gowan


photos by flipchip • lasvegasvegas.com
Julie Dang
Julie Dang


photos by flipchip • lasvegasvegas.com
Kristy Gazes
Kristy Gazes


photos by flipchip • lasvegasvegas.com
Annie Duke
Annie Duke


photos by flipchip • lasvegasvegas.com
Liz Lieu
Liz Lieu


photos by flipchip • lasvegasvegas.com
Katja Thater
Katja Thater

July 28, 2008

2008 WSOP on ESPN TV Tuesday 8 PM EST

photos by flipchip • lasvegasvegas.com
Grant Hinkle
Grant Hinkle on his way to winning $831,462


WSOP Episode #2 premiers Tuesday evening on ESPN at 8 PM EST. Times vary depending on your location so be sure to check local listings for the exact schedule in your area. A record field for this first $1,500 buy-in No-Limirt Hold'em event finally topped out with 3,929 players to make it the largest non main event live poker tournament ever. It also set a record for the largest prize pool for a $1,500 buy-in event without rebuys at $5,363,085. Tuesday night's final table nine will take home $2,906,436 from the record setting purse.


photos by flipchip • lasvegasvegas.com
Grant Hinkle
Chris "Jesus" Ferguson finished third


Tuesday's final table is not just another table full of poker hopefuls wishing for a miracle. Included on the list of nine is the 2000 WSOP Main Event World Champion Chris "Jesus" Ferguson looking from under the black hat to win his sixth WSOP gold bracelet. Under the other black hat at the final table is well known poker pro David Bach seeking his first WSOP gold. Poker millionaire Theo Tran will be there trying to strike the mother lode and carry away his first WSOP golden bracelet.


photos by flipchip • lasvegasvegas.com
David Bach
David Bach left in the eight spot


This final table will go to the heads-up play for all the marbles after Jesus is eliminated in the third spot leaving a couple of relatively unknown players, Grant Hinkle and James Akenhead. For more than two hours the two tip toed around each other with neither willing to do much gambling. The first bet at the pot often takes it down with few hands going past the turn card.


photos by flipchip • lasvegasvegas.com
Theo Tran
Theo Tran outlasted all but three players


The four day event finally comes down to the final hand and a most fitting finish to the biggest non main event poker tournament. With Akenhead all-in and covered by Grant Hinkle's call the showdown reveals Hinkle's hole cards of 10-4 of diamonds to Akenhead's favored Big Slick. The flop comes 10,4,10 giving Hinkle a full house and Akenhead a migraine headache. His only out is a miracle of runner-runner Aces or Kings. All his hopes are dashed when the fourth 10 comes on the turn to give Hinkle quads for the win and Akenhead second place.


photos by flipchip • lasvegasvegas.com
Grant Hinkle and James Akenhead
Grant Hinkle and James Akenhead played heads-up for more than two hours


Grant Hinkle takes home $831,462 and the bracelet. James Akenhead received $520,219 for his bad beat second place finish. Chris Ferguson drives away in his red Ferrari with $388,287 and Theo Tran takes $327,148 for his fourth place. David Bach collected $117,987 after going out in eight place.


photos by flipchip • lasvegasvegas.com
Quad Tens
The final board of WSOP event #2...Quad Tens

July 24, 2008

Online Poker Room Adds Bad Beat and Royal Flush Bonuses

photo courtesy bodog.com
Bodog Poker
Whether it's a bad beat or a royal flush Bodog is now paying you for it


Bodog Poker recently added some value to their online poker room with Bad Beat bonuses and Royal Flush jackpots.


While few things hurt more than a serious bad beat, Bodog is easing the sting a bit. As of now, the Bodog poker room will pay out 100 times the big blind up to $1,000. All you need is to get beaten while holding at least a boat with aces full of kings.


On the flip side, when things are as rosy as they can be and you're holding a royal flush, Bodog will see that you make more than just the pot you're playing for. Their new royal flush bonus pays out the holder of the nuts of all nuts with 50 times the big blind up to $200.


Get the complete details on these promotions over at Bodog's online poker room.

July 22, 2008

Tuesday Night is WSOP Poker Night on ESPN

photos by flipchip • lasvegasvegas.com
Nenad Medic
Nenad Medic shows us the money


Are you ready for some poker? The first installment from the 2008 World Series of Poker premiers tonight on ESPN at 8 PM EST. Join hosts Norm Chad and Lon McEachern as they provide the running commentary for the first of 17 weeks of WSOP poker. That's over thirty hours from the most exciting poker tournament in the world, the WSOP.


photos by flipchip • lasvegasvegas.com
2008 WSOP money
$791,112


Tonight's episode will feature the $10,000 Buy-in Pot-Limit Hold'em World Championship from the Rio Resort in Las Vegas. A total of 352 players vying for a prize pool of $3,308,800 in this first event of the 2008 WSOP. Supplement tonights viewing experience with Dr. Pauly's final table recap of the event right here on the Poker Prof's Poker Blog.

Set up the laptop, grab some brews, surround yourself with snacks and settle in for an evening of poker from the 2008 WSOP. This is great training for the soon to be here 2008 NFL pre-season games. So, are you ready for some football...and poker, too? The 17 consecutive weeks of Tuesday night WSOP poker on ESPN will take us to the November 9 same day coverage of the 2008 Main Event final tablewhen the November Nine will be competing for more than $9 million.


photos by flipchip • lasvegasvegas.com
Nenad Medic and Andy Bloch
Nenad Medic and Andy Bloch go heads-up for the championship

July 19, 2008

November Nine...or Straight Eight?

photos by flipchip • lasvegasvegas.com
David Rheem
David Rheem first man out of 2008 WSOP November finale?


According to the South Florida Sun-Sentinel, David "Chino" Rheem could be resolving an outstanding arrest warrant from Hollywood, Florida while the remaining eight 2008 Main Event finalist are vying for the $9 million. Rheem failed to show up in court for a misdemeanor trespassing charge from 2003. He also has prior felony convictions from Broward County Florida dating back 8 years.

So what does this have to do with the November final table? Nothing I hope. David Rheem is the early favorite to take it all and he is also the only recognizable player among the 2008 November Nine. Promoting this group will, at best, be difficult and to have David out would make it impossible..."Tune in November 9th to watch all the excitement of eight people you never heard of and aren't likely to hear from again going nose-to-nose for the title of World's Best Poker Player."

Following closely on the heels of the Tiffany Michele greed fest over the Poker News logos and the Ultimate Bet superuser cheating scam makes this latest revelation even more difficult to handle. Not exactly the publicity needed from the biggest spectacle in poker to provide a positive spin for the efforts to legalize online poker rooms. Does this mean next years WSOP entry form will come with a background check? Anyone want to venture an over/under on the number of felony convictions among this year's other 6,843 main event players?


photos by flipchip • lasvegasvegas.com
David Rheem supporters
David Rheem had plenty of supporters behind him at the Main Event final table

July 18, 2008

APT Macau Online Qualifiers at Bodog

photo courtesy bodog.com
Bodog Poker
The casinos of Macau are legendary


Bodog is now awarding trips and seats to Macau to compete in the Asian Poker Tour. The APT is taking place from August 26 - 31 in the Vegas of East, Macau China.

Score one of Bodog's four seats and you'll receive the Main Event buy-in worth $5,300, flight expenses, six nights' accommodation in Macau and $500 in spending cash.

Qualifiers are running from July 7 - August 3. But poker players looking for a shot at the APT can also get there on the cheap with Bodog's Seat Giveaway Series. The Seat Giveaway Series has buy-ins starting at as low as 5 Bodog Poker Points - so basically they are a series of freerolls. The top 25 players of each of these will get invited to the series finale freeroll which will award another APT Macau seat.

Learn more about Bodog's APT Macau online qualifiers.

July 17, 2008

2008 WSOP Money Winners - Through Day 5

photos by flipchip • lasvegasvegas.com
2008 WSOP
2008 WSOP Main Event Day 2A


The WSOP main event has reached the money. Cashing in the WSOP is a prestigious moment in any poker player's life. At the 2008 WSOP, the top 666 players won prize money.

Here's some quick stats:

Number of Entries: 6,844
Net Prize Pool: $64,333,600
First Place Prize: $9,119,517
Total Spots Paid Out: 666
Players Remaining: 79

So far through Day 5, places 80-666 won prize money.

Check out the first 587 money winners after the jump

photos by flipchip • lasvegasvegas.com
Mark Vos
Mark Vos collected $77.200 for 80th place


In the Money Finishers:

80 Mark Vos Cape Town South Africa $77,200
81 Davor Lanini Parma Italy $77,200
82 Stephen Kenna Dublin Ireland $64,333
83 Lonnie Heimowitz Monticello New York $64,333
84 Alexander Kostritsyn Moscow Russia $64,333
85 Cedric Kolstad Mesa Arizona $64,333
86 Reagan Silber Los Angeles California $64,333
87 Karle Wilson West Chester Ohio $64,333
88 Santeri Valikoski Espoo Finland $64,333
89 Jose Barbero Buenos Aires Argentina $64,333
90 Jeffrey Papola Howell New Jersey $64,333
91 Timothy Taylor Tampa Florida $51,466
92 Geoffery Herzog Jacksonsville Florida $51,466
93 Markus Feurle Bregenz Austria $51,466
94 Robert Hwang Barnegat New Jersey $51,466
95 Yde Deutekom Zoetermeer Netherlands $51,466
96 Aditya Agarwal Philadelphia Pennsylvania $51,466
97 Dwayne Stacey Romsey England $51,466
98 Darren Grant Toronto Ontario, Canada $51,466
99 Cort Kibler-Melby Berlin Germany $51,466
100 Marc Podell New York New Jersey $41,816
101 Vito Branciforte Kourtant Germany $41,816
102 Petteri Pirinen Espoo Finland $41,816
103 Tri Nguyen Westminster California $41,816
104 Kara Tobin Hove England $41,816
105 Shahram Sheikhan Las Vegas Nevada $41,816
106 Stephan Hornet Clichy France $41,816
107 Nathan Hays Lincoln Nebraska $41,816
108 Nghia Le Shakopee Minnesota $41,816
109 Greg De Bora Toronto Ontario, Canada $41,816
110 Reggie Lyons Dublin Ireland $41,816
111 Robert Ford Johnstown Pennsylvania $41,816
112 Jeff Madsen Las Vegas Nevada $41,816
113 Steve Pestal Long Beach California $41,816
114 Adam York Bristol England $41,816
115 Keller Hunter Minot North Dakota $41,816
116 Matthew Jensen Los Angeles California $41,816
117 Allen Cunningham Las Vegas Nevada $41,816
118 William Brewin Bristol England $41,816
119 Jens Klaning Aarhus C Denmark $41,816
120 Jeff Kimber London England $41,816
121 Keith Ferrera Las Vegas Nevada $41,816
122 Brandon Becker Loveland North Dakota $41,816
123 Raja Kattamuri Irving Texas $41,816
124 Douglas Ashmore Houston Texas $41,816
125 Dale Hoy Norwich England $41,816
126 Andrew Teng London England $41,816
127 Dan Assor Caracas Venezuela $41,816
128 Brad Johnson Madison Alabama $41,816
129 Jason Su Houston Texas $41,816
130 Jeffrey Anderson Mt. Vernon Washington $41,816
131 Anton Nikaj Putnam Valley New York $41,816
132 Alexander Tinsley Wauconda Illinois $41,816
133 Xiao Dong Deng Edmonton Alberta, Canada $41,816
134 Terry Stewart Duluth Georgia $41,816
135 Brent Sheirbon The Dalles Oregon $41,816
136 Minna Ritakorpi Vantaa Finland $41,816
137 Robert Betts Las Vegas Nevada $41,816
138 Pontus Khosravi Gothenburg Sweden $41,816
139 Karen Manfrede Santa Monica California $41,816
140 Sylvain Coeur Echirolles France $41,816
141 Mikael Johansson Kristianstad Sweden $41,816
142 Andrew Schultz Madison Wisconsin $41,816
143 Keoni Schwartz San Francisco California $41,816
144 Matthew Lessinger Alameda California $41,816
145 Joel Fischbein Las Vegas Nevada $41,816
146 Jeremiah Smith Las Vegas Nevada $41,816
147 Sarkis Akopyan Moscow Russia $41,816
148 Jonathan Friedberg Las Vegas Nevada $41,816
149 Charalampos Tsaoussis Starberg Germany $41,816
150 Barry Leventhal Brooklyn New York $41,816
151 Justin St John Pittsburgh Pennsylvania $41,816
152 Patrick Zamarian Zurich Switzerland $41,816
153 Garth Paul N Ridgeville Ohio $41,816
154 Kyle Carlston Las Vegas Nevada $41,816
155 Christopher Overgard Naperville Illinois $41,816
156 Joshua Freeman Plantation Florida $41,816
157 Noah Kawashige Honolulu Hawaii $41,816
158 Jerry Martin Indianapolis Indana $41,816
159 Cory Albertson Houston Texas $41,816
160 Gus Hansen Copenhagen Denmark $41,816
161 Charles Jett Henderson Nevada $41,816
162 Hoyt Corkins Las Vegas Nevada $41,816
163 Robin Larsson Koping Sweden $38,600
164 Andy Witek Nevada City California $38,600
165 Evan Jarvis Toronto Ontario, Canada $38,600
166 Cornel Pazara San Jose California $38,600
167 Mao Qiu Scottsdale Arizona $38,600
168 Gerardus Terwisscha Van Scheltinga Groningen Netherlands $38,600
169 Jesse Mceuen Akron Ohio $38,600
170 Helge Pederson Odensec Denmark $38,600
171 William Purle Wokingham England $38,600
172 Luigi Esposito Glendale New York $38,600
173 Thomas Cope Westport Connecticut $38,600
174 James Mills Downey California $38,600
175 ChristopherBarrile Marlborough Massachusetts $38,600
176 Chad Layne Henderson Nevada $38,600
177 Charles Dolan Huntington Beach California $38,600
178 Benjamin Roberts London England $38,600
179 Joshua Norris Toronto Ontario, Canada $38,600
180 Bernie Koerner Daytona Beach Florida $38,600
181 Diren Yildiz Namur Belgium $38,600
182 Roy Carter Carrollton Texas $38,600
183 Neil Sweeting Ashtead England $38,600
184 Anthony Meeker Rockville Centre New York $38,600
185 Gerald Cusick Aurora Colorado $38,600
186 Hai Chu Melbourne Australia $38,600
187 Anthony Clark Reno Nevada $38,600
188 Peter Traply Budapest Hungary $38,600
189 George Rahme Burbank California $38,600
190 Bayani Flores Berkeley California $38,600
191 Edward Roger London England $38,600
192 David Olson Dallas Texas $38,600
193 Virgil Beddingfield Alpharetta Georgia $38,600
194 Eric Bremond $38,600
195 Robert Georato Seabrook New Hampshire $38,600
196 Andreas Berggren $38,600
197 Alexander Borteh Lewis Center Ohio $38,600
198 Edwin Aister Yorkville Illinois $38,600
199 Steve Billirakis Genoa Illinois $38,600
200 Glenn Cozen Pasadena California $38,600
201 Ronald Adams Richmond British Columbia, Canada $38,600
202 Ross Smith Chicago Illinois $38,600
203 Jimmy Nickens $38,600
204 Michael Graffeo Fort Mills South Carolina $38,600
205 Anthony Zinno Boston Massachusetts $38,600
206 William Soffin Delray Beach Florida $38,600
207 Jose Baeza San Juan Puerto Rico $38,600
208 Samir Shakhtoor Malmoe Sweden $38,600
209 Alana Morin Edmonton Alberta, Canada $38,600
210 Paulo Loureiro New York City New York $38,600
211 Hyon Kim Hillsborough New Jersey $38,600
212 Jeffrey Frye Palestine Texas $38,600
213 Le Banh Long Beach California $38,600
214 Daniel Fuhs Long Beach California $38,600
215 Ed Fernandez San Jose California $38,600
216 Scott Carpenter Fairfax Station Virgina $38,600
217 Joseph Brandenburg Portland Oregon $38,600
218 Joseph Ward Revere Massachusetts $38,600
219 Brent Roberts Staten Island New York $38,600
220 Ryan Milisits Pittsburg Pennsylvania $38,600
221 Manuel Bevant Paris France $38,600
222 Justin Wald Redmond Washington $38,600
223 Jose Gomez Cordova Alaska $38,600
224 Matthew Beisner Reno Nevada $38,600
225 Jon Turner Las Vegas Nevada $38,600
226 Clifton Allen Camarillo California $35,383
227 Steven Landfish St Albans Vermont $35,383
228 Joseph Bolnick Los Angeles California $35,383
229 Edward Zane Honolulu Hawaii $35,383
230 Damien Creurer Waterloo Ontario, Canada $35,383
231 Thierry Van Den Berg Almere Netherlands $35,383
232 Kristian Obbarius Norrland Sweden $35,383
233 Billy Seber Houston Texas $35,383
234 Domini Kulicki Amsterdam Netherlands $35,383
235 Veronica Dabul Buenos Aires Brazil $35,383
236 Kevin Mason West New York New Jersey $35,383
237 Mark Weil Cincinnati Ohio $35,383
238 Evelind Ng Las Vegas Nevada $35,383
239 Tracey Nguyen Henderson Nevada $35,383
240 Hevad Khan Poughkeepsie New York $35,383
241 Sigurd Eskeland Oslo Norway $35,383
242 Michael Pedley Australia $35,383
243 Melvin Lowe Rockville Maryland $35,383
244 Olivier Busquet New York New York $35,383
245 Ziv Bachar Tel Aviv Israel $35,383
246 Doran Malinasky Hollywood Florida $35,383
247 George Mckeever $35,383
248 Gregory Jamison Las Vegas Nevada $35,383
249 Tyron Krost Sydney Nsw $35,383
250 Van Nguyen Bell Gardens California $35,383
251 Soren Petersen Frederiksberg Denmark $35,383
252 David Baker Rochester Hills Michigan $35,383
253 Marc Fineman Boca Raton Florida $35,383
254 Brad Hood Pittsburgh Pennsylvania $35,383
255 Paul Lieu Aurora Illinois $35,383
256 Marco Marcon Curitiba Brazil $35,383
257 Leonardo Fernandez $35,383
258 Thomas Cargill Longview Texas $35,383
259 Raul Paez Barcelona Spain $35,383
260 Travis Cook Springfield Missouri $35,383
261 Leonardo Emperador Caracas Venezuela $35,383
262 Andreas Martens Bielefeld Germany $35,383
263 John Bowler Canton Georgia $35,383
264 Brian Eckstrom Marlton New Jersey $35,383
265 Weikai Chang San Ramon California $35,383
266 Eric Tom Cupertino California $35,383
267 Hannu Korva Oulu Finland $35,383
268 David Angel Kingwood Texas $35,383
269 Phongthep Thiptinnakon Downey California $35,383
270 John Peter Brighton England $35,383
271 Shawn Pilot North Hills California $35,383
272 Tino LeChich Melbourne Australia $35,383
273 Peter Biebel Oshkosh Wisconsin $35,383
274 Nicholas Voyatzis Pasadena California $35,383
275 Michael Ortlieb Sheboygan Wisconsin $35,383
276 Mike Ngo Sacramento California $35,383
277 Per Mattsson Stockholm Sweden $35,383
278 Daniel Mitnick Alpharetta Georgia $35,383
279 Phidias Georgiou Limassol Cyprus $35,383
280 Chad Freid Northbrook Illinois $35,383
281 Dag Mikkelsen Stavanger Norway $35,383
282 Dustin Holmes West Hollywood California $35,383
283 Mark Radoja Guelph Ontario, Canada $35,383
284 Theodore Park Las Vegas Nevada $35,383
285 Ngocchau Do Burbank California $35,383
286 Jeff Heyn Salt Lake City Utah $35,383
287 Aleksandar Rasic $35,383
288 Jiri Hlavaty Prague Czech Republic $35,383
289 Paul Kristoffersson Sweden $32,166
290 Bernard Brady Tuam Galway Ireland $32,166
291 Michael Souza San Diego California $32,166
292 Paul Vicary Cheshunt Herts $32,166
293 Alan Jaffray Silver Springs Nevada $32,166
294 William Burdick St. Petersburg Florida $32,166
295 Marcelo Dabus Rio De Janeiro Brazil $32,166
296 Theodore Harris Mount Shasta California $32,166
297 Frederick Halling Vasteras Sweden $32,166
298 Randy Benton Rolla Missouri $32,166
299 Shahram Rastegari $32,166
300 Steven Goosen Abbotsford British Columbia, Canada $32,166
301 Brian Hansen Henderson Nevada $32,166
302 Aaron Lerner Montreal Quebec, Canada $32,166
303 Michael Purdy Chesapeake Virgina $32,166
304 Peter Ling Victoria Australia $32,166
305 Clayton Newman Athens Georgia $32,166
306 Michelle Sainz Huixsuilucau Edo $32,166
307 Bruce Hyde Ithaca New York $32,166
308 Michael Blockside Rocky River Ohio $32,166
309 Tony Basile Toronto Ontario, Canada $32,166
310 Patrick Poels Mesa Arizona $32,166
311 Kevin Lang Raleigh North Carolina $32,166
312 Brian Lamanna Las Vegas Nevada $32,166
313 Nichlas Mattsson $32,166
314 Dragoslav Timarac Reutlingen Germany $32,166
315 Thomas Schaffer Gahanna Ohio $32,166
316 Andre Johnstone Cape Town South Africa $32,166
317 John Gordon Clearwater Florida $32,166
318 Ferdinand Quelle Bradon Manitoba, Canada $32,166
319 Carmel Petresco Las Vegas Nevada $32,166
320 Paul Kitsos Manhassett New York $32,166
321 Thayer Rasmussen Largo Florida $32,166
322 Jani Vilmunen Porvoo Finland $32,166
323 Michael Bertolini Las Vegas Nevada $32,166
324 Kevin Schaffel Weston Florida $32,166
325 Mads Andersen Hellerup Denmark $32,166
326 Derek Buonano Tolland Connecticut $32,166
327 Nicholas Rampone Mcminnville Oregon $32,166
328 Shane Pacheco Tahoe Vista California $32,166
329 Johnny Chan Cerritos California $32,166
330 Joshua Chait Los Angeles California $32,166
331 Maya Gellar Encino California $32,166
332 Everett Carlton St Paul Minnesota $32,166
333 William Blanda Galveston Texas $32,166
334 Greg Duros Signal Hill California $32,166
335 Tracy Scala Ocean Ridge Florida $32,166
336 Edward Godfrey Las Vegas Nevada $32,166
337 Magnus Petersson Stockholm Sweden $32,166
338 Hasan Habib Downey California $32,166
339 Mirza Nagji New York New York $32,166
340 Michael Spinasanta Phoenix Arizona $32,166
341 Andrew Armstrong Mcleansville North Carolina $32,166
342 Mitchell Smith Cape Coral Florida $32,166
343 Thomas Hanlon Dublin Ireland $32,166
344 Adam Zinn Las Vegas Nevada $32,166
345 Igor Ioffe Reminderville Ohio $32,166
346 Gary Friedlander Bellaire Texas $32,166
347 Jeremy Renz Green Bay Wisconsin $32,166
348 Stuart Hosen Addison Texas $32,166
349 Jason Newburger Vernon Hills Illinois $32,166
350 Robert Wood Lenexa Kansas $32,166
351 Tai Nguyen Fremont California $32,166
352 Mark Crocker Winchester England $28,950
353 Matthew Calhoun Phoenix Arizona $28,950
354 Joanne Monteavaro Bronx New York $28,950
355 Denny Lee Los Angeles California $28,950
356 Raymond Henson Spring Texas $28,950
357 Paul Ridley Weoley Castle England $28,950
358 Trevor Reardon Seaffordshine England $28,950
359 Robert Cook Boca Raton Florida $28,950
360 Devin Porter Provo Utah $28,950
361 Tomer Berda Menlo Park California $28,950
362 Adam Schwartz Maple Ridge British Columbia, Canada $28,950
363 Marc Tschirch Reyklinghausen $28,950
364 Russell Silva $28,950
365 Leonard Nicoletta Waveland Mississippi $28,950
366 Dylan Linde Coeur D'alene Idaho $28,950
367 Jason Lester Miami Florida $28,950
368 Leo Wolpert Fairfax Virgina $28,950
369 Arthur Tanimoto Elk Grove California $28,950
370 Bertrand Grospellier London England $28,950
371 Waylon Frey Houston Texas $28,950
372 Eric Kesselman New York City New York $28,950
373 Evan McNiff San Diego California $28,950
374 Christopher Smith San Francisco California $28,950
375 Frank Browne $28,950
376 Ryan Eber Johannesburg South Africa $28,950
377 Mark Velloney Chesterfield Michigan $28,950
378 Kenneth Lee Oakton Virgina $28,950
379 Phillip Liou Urbana Illinois $28,950
380 Lawrence Jacobs $28,950
381 Israel Hodara Duluth Georgia $28,950
382 Herbert Morici Erving Texas $28,950
383 Eric Thompkins Antelope California $28,950
384 Gary Berbiglia Lenexa Kansas $28,950
385 Iwan Johns Cadiff Wales England $28,950
386 Cliff Josephy Syosset New York $28,950
387 Scott Landrem Franklin Square New York $28,950
388 Robert Fechser Las Vegas Nevada $28,950
389 Steve Davis Romford England $28,950
390 Patrick Forton Quebec Quebec, Canada $28,950
391 Shaun Farley St. Mary France $28,950
392 John Reiss Omaha Nebraska $28,950
393 Kim Moon Dublin California $28,950
394 Frank Russo Pampano Beach Florida $28,950
395 Jamie Rosen Las Vegas Nevada $28,950
396 Nicholas Keegan Sale England $28,950
397 Larry Bernstein Ramsey New Jersey $28,950
398 Jasper Lee Culver City California $28,950
399 Egerton Bullock Plantation Florida $28,950
400 Andres Alvarez Caracas Venezuela $28,950
401 Stephen Giufre $28,950
402 Jolyne Thompson Houston Texas $28,950
403 Thomas Cummins Cincinnati Ohio $28,950
404 Diogo Borges Porto Portugal $28,950
405 Martin Elkher Copenhagen Denmark $28,950
406 Salomon Sutton Huixqulucan $28,950
407 Michael Schnabel Wuppertal Germany $28,950
408 Pawel Andrzejewski Park Ridge Illinois $28,950
409 Paul Leckey Ballycastle Antrim Northern Ireland $28,950
410 Frank Chimienti Clovis California $28,950
411 Richard Owens Sandyford Ireland $28,950
412 Whitney Blanton Carrollton Texas $28,950
413 Peter Wesselius Hilversum Netherlands $28,950
414 Kory Mitchell Denver Colorado $28,950
415 Patrick Ocallaghan Galway Ireland $27,020
416 Andrew Goetsch Calabasas California $27,020
417 William Pilossoph Presto Pennsylvania $27,020
418 Frankie Odell Henderson Nevada $27,020
419 Timothy West Las Altos California $27,020
420 Steven Rosen Armonk New York $27,020
421 Jason Sagle Sudbury Ontario, Canada $27,020
422 Dale Andrews Frederick Maryland $27,020
423 Craig Goodling Naples Florida $27,020
424 Adam Schoenfeld Las Vegas Nevada $27,020
425 Peter Christensen St. Paul Minnesota $27,020
426 Raymond Saide Garza Garcia Mexico $27,020
427 David Colclough Birmingham England $27,020
428 Christopher Anzivino Boston Massachusetts $27,020
429 James Dalessandro Chicago Illinois $27,020
430 David Naimark Cardiff California $27,020
431 Michael Wattel Phoenix Arizona $27,020
432 Gary Do Englewood Colorado $27,020
433 Maria Navarro Madrid Spain $27,020
434 Eetu Vehilainen Tampere Finland $27,020
435 James Washer Pelham Alabama $27,020
436 Robert Bright Las Vegas Nevada $27,020
437 Jeffrey Bryan Ft. Calhoun Nebraska $27,020
438 Richard Lowe Olathe Kansas $27,020
439 Kirill Gerasimov Moscow Russia $27,020
440 Fokke Beukers Noordwijk Netherlands $27,020
441 Alberto Fontrytzner $27,020
442 Jean Bellande Las Vegas Nevada $27,020
443 Scott Harris Morgantown West Virgina $27,020
444 Jason Young Suffern New York $27,020
445 Neville Robbeson Parklands Cape Town South Africa $27,020
446 Haysam Chiniara Montreal California $27,020
447 Darryl Ronconi Naperville Illinois $27,020
448 Morten Antonsen Bodoe Norway $27,020
449 Peter Hedlund Stockholm Sweden $27,020
450 Jason Mccarty Coconut Creek Florida $27,020
451 Evan Woodington Sussex Wisconsin $27,020
452 Chris Bjorin London England $27,020
453 David Dao Elizabethtown Kentucky $27,020
454 Steven Devries Groningen Netherlands $27,020
455 Nathaniel Mullen Daly City California $27,020
456 Brian Schaedlich Orange Ohio $27,020
457 George Ramsey Naples Florida $27,020
458 Robert Mizrachi Las Vegas Nevada $27,020
459 Denys Drobyna Bremen Germany $27,020
460 Chase Madden Sarasota Florida $27,020
461 Christain Oman Stockholm Sweden $27,020
462 Thamir Akrawi Sterling Heights Michigan $27,020
463 Huyen Bo Houston Texas $27,020
464 David Ritter Austin Texas $27,020
465 Peter Aiello Fernie British Columbia, Canada $27,020
466 Scott Hair Bradenton Florida $27,020
467 Zafar Aslam Accrington Lancashire England $27,020
468 Hugo Navarrete Miami Beach Florida $27,020
469 Michael Vanier Lincoln Nebraska $27,020
470 David Kronick Maple Grove Minnesota $27,020
471 Ken Holcombe Cerritos California $27,020
472 Max Troy Los Angeles California $27,020
473 Scott Zakheim Davie Florida $27,020
474 Gregory Peters Owasso Oklahoma $27,020
475 Keir Fitz-Gibbon $27,020
476 Aaron Steury Fort Wayne Indiana $27,020
477 Markus Golser Anthering $27,020
478 Oskar Silow $25,090
479 Leroy Spires $25,090
480 Roger Pruzansky $25,090
481 Benjamin Sprengers Plantation Florida $25,090
482 Jason House $25,090
483 Rolf Slotboom Amsterdam Netherlands $25,090
484 Edmund Chan $25,090
485 Daniel Barlin New York New York $25,090
486 Jeffrey Palarino Pittsburgh Pennsylvania $25,090
487 Jeffrey Norman Encinitas California $25,090
488 Judith Raney $25,090
489 Edmond Mekertichian Winnetka Illinois $25,090
490 Gary Herstein Chicago Illinois $25,090
491 Andreas Jorbeck Stockholm Sweden $25,090
492 Ruben Juarez $25,090
493 Beisheng Chen Scottsbluff Nebraska $25,090
494 Albert Riccobono Ossining New York $25,090
495 Daryn Firicano Woburn Massachusets $25,090
496 Gerald Macleod $25,090
497 Sean Fennessey Glenrothes Fife Scotland $25,090
498 Howard German North Las Vegas Nevada $25,090
499 Christophe Gross Saarbruecken Germany $25,090
500 James Peera $25,090
501 Lei Cai Alhambra California $25,090
502 Ronald Jenkins $25,090
503 Francesco De Vivo Rivoci Torino Italy $25,090
504 David Silk New York New York $25,090
505 Joe McGowan Las Vegas Nevada $25,090
506 Bryan Bevis Savage Minnesota $25,090
507 James Grimes Houston Texas $25,090
508 James Maltz Island Pk New York $25,090
509 Luke Vrabel West Hartford Connecticut $25,090
510 David Stucke Henderson Nevada $25,090
511 Robert Jarman Las Vegas Nevada $25,090
512 Michael Vonada Shingle Spgs California $25,090
513 David Gee Gilbert Arizona $25,090
514 George Wedemeyer Chicago Illinois $25,090
515 Todd Pierce Hoboken New Jersey $25,090
516 James Eccles $25,090
517 Chris Grigorian Panorama City California $25,090
518 Chau Giang Las Vegas Nevada $25,090
519 William Smith $25,090
520 Hamid Jahangard Marietta Georgia $25,090
521 Serj Markarian Burbank California $25,090
522 Asher Derei London England $25,090
523 David Sacks Beverly Hills California $25,090
524 Michael Perez Carlsbad California $25,090
525 Brian Montag Basking Ridge New Jersey $25,090
526 Bob Slezak Omaha Nebraska $25,090
527 Vimy Ha Brooklyn New York $25,090
528 Wendell Olsen $25,090
529 Vlad Teposu Brasov Romania $25,090
530 Wooka Kim Osaka Japan $25,090
531 Gjorgji Chuchuk $25,090
532 Jason Kang $25,090
533 Rory Chinn Kingston Jamaica $25,090
534 Dan Glimne $25,090
535 Robert Kovar Toronto Ontario, Canada $25,090
536 Farzad Rouhani Gaithersburg Maryland $25,090
537 Janne Runtti $25,090
538 John Strzemp Las Vegas Nevada $25,090
539 Mark Tenner Henderson Nevada $25,090
540 Matthew Mezvinsky $25,090
541 Stephen Landrum Folson California $23,160
542 Rene Refsgaard $23,160
543 Eugenio Neto Rio De Janeiro Brazil $23,160
544 Soren Jensen $23,160
545 Michael Johnson $23,160
546 Jesse Kremer $23,160
547 Soren Knudson Kolding Denmark $23,160
548 Michael Offerman Joliet Illinois $23,160
549 Valdemar Kwaysser $23,160
550 Jason Ashley $23,160
551 Andreas Torbergsen $23,160
552 Stephen Austin La Quinta California $23,160
553 Henning Granstad Oslo Norway $23,160
554 Ernesto Margolis Recofe $23,160
555 Adam Grovenstein $23,160
556 Zelong Dong Vestavia Hills Alabama $23,160
557 John Kapovich $23,160
558 Alex Smith Highland Park New Jersey $23,160
559 Henrik Thuesen Frederiksberg Denmark $23,160
560 Gary Hamilton $23,160
561 Paul Coles $23,160
562 Si Vo St Louis Missouri $23,160
563 Jody Garaventa Raleigh North Carolina $23,160
564 James Lowe Blacklick Ohio $23,160
565 Michael Grabmugg $23,160
566 Robert Crawford Henderson Nevada $23,160
567 Yonghui Jiang Greenville Kentucky $23,160
568 Rickey Welch Bartow Florida $23,160
569 Karen Mengden Chadds Ford Pennsylvania $23,160
570 Kermit Mallette Pensacola Florida $23,160
571 Brian Brubaker $23,160
572 Michael Frandsen Aalborg Denmark $23,160
573 Steven Levy Peabody Massachusets $23,160
574 Va Watkins $23,160
575 Jason Nadeau Surrey B.C., Canada $23,160
576 Jerome Mercado Petaluma California $23,160
577 Martyn Sands $23,160
578 Brett Houghton Ontario Canada $23,160
579 David Rosenbloom $23,160
580 Thomas Culberson Ellisville Mississippi $23,160
581 Justin Truesdell $23,160
582 Pierre Marceau Meudon France $23,160
583 Robert Anderson Naperville Illinois $23,160
584 Jeremy Symington Onsted Michigan $23,160
585 Jan Heitmann $23,160
586 Nathan Doudney Rockwall Texas $23,160
587 Izakron Young Shoham Israel $23,160
588 Olivier Decamps St Orens De Gameville France $23,160
589 Bijan Shahbaz $23,160
590 Jesper Anderberg $23,160
591 Brandon Foster $23,160
592 Brett Richey New York New York $23,160
593 Rubens Bicalho Minas Gerais Brazil $23,160
594 Daniel Marchand $23,160
595 Age Spets $23,160
596 Raymond Yee Alhambra California $23,160
597 Matthew Kennedy Mcallen Texas $23,160
598 Rasmus Vogt $23,160
599 Wilbur Futhey Crossville Tennessee $23,160
600 Thor Hansen El Segundo California $23,160
601 Benjamin Zamani Boca Raton Florida $23,160
602 Magnus Persson Gothenburg Sweden $23,160
603 Johan Slutter Enschede Nederlands $23,160
604 Sharon Levin Aventura Florida $21,230
605 Darren Nelson Las Vegas Nevada $21,230
606 Ryan Monastyrski Burnaby B.C., Canada $21,230
607 Matthew Bucaric Brentwood Tennessee $21,230
608 Weiwen Liang Galloway New Jersey $21,230
609 Emad Tahtouh $21,230
610 Berk Aydin Palm Harbor Florida $21,230
611 Jeffrey Hakim Wexford Pennsylvania $21,230
612 Alioscia Oliva $21,230
613 Jonathan Lane Menasha Wisconsin $21,230
614 Cuong Nguyen Richmond Virginia $21,230
615 Milan Andrejkovics $21,230
616 William Gazes New York New York $21,230
617 Francis Rusnak Chicago Illinois $21,230
618 George Adams Pensacola Florida $21,230
619 John Henck $21,230
620 Allen Bari W Orange New Jersey $21,230
621 Jose Santos La Cuesta $21,230
622 Senovio Ramirez $21,230
623 Nadav Benjosef $21,230
624 Adam Richardson Poway California $21,230
625 Vanessa Rousso Las Vegas Nevada $21,230
626 Ryan Jones $21,230
627 Les Jesudason Hammonds Plains Nova Scotia, Canada $21,230
628 Wolbert Bartlema $21,230
629 Todd Jatras Brooklyn New York $21,230
630 Mats Clavell Västerås Sweden $21,230
631 Julian Meer Santa Barbara California $21,230
632 Nicholas Goodall Esher England $21,230
633 Nathaniel Eaton Belpre Ohio $21,230
634 David Trinh Markham Ontario, Canada $21,230
635 Jason Gray Troutdale Oregon $21,230
636 Brian Pinkus Covina California $21,230
637 Michel Leibgorin Paris France $21,230
638 Shan Jing Arcadia California $21,230
639 Michael Berea St Louis Missouri $21,230
640 Patri Forwalter-Friedman Mountain View California $21,230
641 Douglas Janney Fredericksburg Virginia $21,230
642 Claudio Rinaldi Rancate CH $21,230
643 Messaoud Bouchaib Ekerö Sweden $21,230
644 Walter Bizzarro Dilliugen $21,230
645 Patrick Pezzin Bari Italy $21,230
646 Kenneth McKusick Baltimore Maryland $21,230
647 Rui Cao Paris France $21,230
648 Juan Hernandez South Plainfield New Jersey $21,230
649 Bryan Tiffin $21,230
650 Carl Restifo Waretown New Jersey $21,230
651 Men Nguyen Bell Gardens California $21,230
652 Pascal Guerillot Paris France $21,230
653 Matthew Clark Nashville Tennessee $21,230
654 Tam Gourlay $21,230
655 Roy Vandersluis London England $21,230
656 Fernando Gordo San Pedro Brasil $21,230
657 Sasa Stancic Etobicoke Ontario, Canada $21,230
658 David Gallis Cedar Park Texas $21,230
659 Robert Parkin Royden Essex England $21,230
660 Robert Melnyk $21,230
661 Lorenz Roder Schindellegi Switzerland $21,230
662 Dale Sing Roper North Carolina $21,230
663 Tommy Brown Auburn California $21,230
664 Henrik Abrahamson $21,230
665 Justin Phillips Oregon City Oregon $21,230
666 Joe Conti Boynton Beach Florida $21,230

Bodog Announces Its Biggest Guaranteed Poker Tournament to Date

Bodog Poker
Bodog is rolling out a $250,000 Guaranteed poker tourney


Bodog has recently announced that its usual Sunday $100,000 Guaranteed poker tournament coming up on August 10th is getting a serious upgrade to $250,000 guaranteed.

The quarter of a million dollar guaranteed prize pool will be the richest Bodog poker tournament to date.

Between July 14th and the week of August 4th they will be offering hundreds of qualifiers with buy-ins ranging from $1+$0 to $54+4. Players will also be able to buy directly in for $250 + $20. No matter how many players show up first place will be guaranteed at least $55,000!

Get the complete details on Bodog's biggest guaranteed poker tournament to date.

July 15, 2008

2008 WSOP Reflections

photos by flipchip • lasvegasvegas.com
2008 WSOP
2008 WSOP has left the building


Having spent the last 47 days camping out in the Amazon Room at the Rio Resort in Las Vegas I filled my notebook with a long list of trivial happenings, sights, overheard comments, facts, rumors, miracles, controversy, bad beats, obscene piles of money, dead money, four dollar coffee, insanity, and images. In fact, more than thirty thousand images. That's almost one third of the life expectancy of a pro digital camera shutter.


photos by flipchip • lasvegasvegas.com
Rain Khan
A much refined Rain Khan


I thought this year's Big Poker Show was well organized and managed by the Harrah's WSOP staff, guess they are learning from past mistakes. The "no excessive celebration" rule kept the player crowd at bay and at times the Amazon Room was as quiet as a golf tournament when Woods is putting for the win. This brings up an interesting question, what footage will ESPN use to pimp the 2008 WSOP TV series? Considering the committee created drought of any spontaneous jubilation could mean we'll be watching yawn-fest 2008 promos this time next year.


photos by flipchip • lasvegasvegas.com
Phil Hellmuth
Phil Hellmuth scarfs up some Ultimate Bet money


When is the "decision of the floor is final" rule not really a rule or final? When the decision is directed toward one of poker's elite stars that can speed dial the Poker Commish and demand a reversal. Such was the case when Hellmuth was assessed a one orbit sit out penalty for excessively berating a fellow player after suffering a bad beat. Turns out, as Hellmuth explained, he was just beefing up his bad boy image for the ESPN cameras. I wonder if a "no excessive whinning" rule should be added to the don't-do-it list? Probably yes, if the WSOP corporate owner's pursuit of sanitizing the event is carried to completion.

Most of us know the root cause for excessive anything at the poker show...money. Chomp, chomp, chomping sharks ala Humberto Brenes or Crazy Man impressions from Rain Khan may have been a bit over the top last year; but, they certainly attracted the attention of the ESPN cameras and that guarantees airtime for sponsor logos and that delivers bonus money to the player. And that brings us to what will probably be the biggest story to come out of this year's WSOP. The last day feud between Tiffany Michele and her original sponsor and employer, Poker News, plus the untouchables at Ultimate Bet.


photos by flipchip • lasvegasvegas.com
Tiffany Michele
Tiffany Michele, sponsored by Poker News?


The young lady is alleged to have entered into an agreement to pimp Ultimate Bet unbeknown to Poker News. Ultimate Bet apparently was out-biding the other online rooms in their efforts to convince the online poker community that the dirty rotten scoundrels that absconded with zillions taken from unsuspecting players in a cheating scheme were now nothing more than a bad memory. Why else would such big names as the Poker Man himself identify with known cheats?


Apparently without consulting anyone at Poker News Tiffany showed up on day 6 all decked out in Ultimate Bet logos from top to toes. As an event photographer for Poker News it became apparent a shot of her that included visible Poker News logos was going to be difficult. The damage had been done and as we all know its not nice to fool with the G. All sides will probably lawyer up to decide this one in the courts. Anyone have an over/under on the amount Tiffany will end up with from the $334,534 she won for 17th place? Depending on the claimed damages to Poker News she could possible end up owing money.

For much more detailed and way better researched information click over to Dr. Pauly's Tao of Poker. Read the Official Statement from Poker News Here.

photos by flipchip • lasvegasvegas.com
Tiffany Michele
Tiffany Michele's Poker News credentials

Main Event Day 7 Recap

photos by flipchip • lasvegasvegas.com
November Nine
2008 WSOP November Nine


It was the moment that everyone was waiting for. After 46 days of the World Series of Poker, the $10,000 Main Event championship played down from 27 to the final nine. Those lucky nine players were dubbed The November Nine since the final table will not be played out until November.

The Buzz: Action on Day 7 of the Main Event started out with 27 players and was complete when nine players remained. The November nine includes... Dennis Phillips, Craig Marquis, Ylon Schwartz, Scott Montgomery, Darus Suharto, David 'Chino' Rheem, Ivan Demidov, Kelly Kim, and Peter Eastgate. Sadly, Dean Hamrick bubbled off the final table in 10th place.

The Back Story: In the age of poker agents and endorsement deals, one of the subplots involved what online site would each player wear.... Poker Stars, Full Tilt, or Ultimate Bet.


photos by flipchip • lasvegasvegas.com
Dom Perignon
Dom Perignon is served on table II


Sight of the Day: Joe Bishop had several festive friends on the rail who bought him an expensive bottle of Dom Perignon which he shared with his tablemates and the players on the featured TV table.

Quote of the day: "Year of the pros? This is more like the year of the marginal pro," said Shane 'Shaniac' Schelger.


photos by flipchip • lasvegasvegas.com
Tiffany Michele
Tiffany Michele has left the building


Day 7 Eliminations: Joe Bishop, Chris Klodnicki, Nicholas Sliwinski, Gert Andersen, Owen 'ocrowe' Crowe, Anthony Scherer, Tiffany 'Hot Chips' Michelle, Jason Riesenberg, Albert Kim, Brandon Cantu, Paul Snead, Judet Toni Cristian, Tim Loecke, Aaron Gordon, Niklas Flisberg, Phi Nguyen, and Michael Carroll.

That's it for now. The 2008 WSOP Main Event is currently on hiatus until November.

Stay tuned for some Flipchip photos of the November Nine.


photos by flipchip • lasvegasvegas.com
Dennis Phillips
Dennis Phillips is the November Nine Chip Leader

July 14, 2008

Main Event Day 6 Recap

photos by flipchip • lasvegasvegas.com
Phil Hellmuth
Phil Hellmuth has left the building


79 players returned to the Rio Sunday afternoon and by day's end, the final nine tables had shrunk to the final three. 27 players will return tomorrow to determine who will be the "November Nine."

The Buzz:The one-round penalty Phil Hellmuth received at the conclusion of Day 5 was overturned at the start of play today. Hellmuth met with Harrah's executives and WSOP Commissioner Jeffrey Pollack, claiming that he was beefing up his "Poker Brat" act for the cameras. They bought it, and let him off with a severe warning. Had Hellmuth sat out his entire penalty, he would have lost 81,000 in blinds and antes, or approximately 11% of his remaining stack.


photos by flipchip • lasvegasvegas.com
Tiffany Michelle
Tiffany Michelle has almost ten million in play money


The Back Story:Tiffany Michelle is making an incredible run and hopes to become the first woman in over 13 years (and the second woman ever) to make the final table of the WSOP Main Event. Tiffany boasted one of the biggest stacks all day and along with Mike Matusow, the only remaining "name" professional, commanded the majority of the media attention. Matusow, however ended his Main Event run shortly after the dinner break with a 30th place finish.

Sight of the Day: After Phil Hellmuth busted out in 45th place, hordes of tourists streamed out of the final table area, leaving the Amazon Room relatively deserted for the remainder of the day.

Quote of the Day: "ESPN has spiritual people from all over the world praying for Tiffany. It would make for great TV if she made the final table," said Flipchip.


photos by flipchip • lasvegasvegas.com
Mike Matusow
Mike Matusow was the last remaining poker professional


Day 6 Eliminations: Mike Matusow, Phil Hellmuth, Peter Neff, Andrew Rosskamm, Felix Osterland, Craig Stein, Mauro Lupo, Kido Pham, Jonathan Plens, Jason Glass, Chris Crilly, Nhan Le, Adam 'Roothlus' Levy, Aaron Keay, Allen Kennedy, Alfredo Fernandez, Mark Ketteringham, Alan Gould, Alex Outhred, Rafael Caiaffa, Eric Bamer, Jeremy Joseph, Jeremy Gaubert, Justin Sadauskas, David Saab, Mark Owens, Thomas Keller, Geert Jans, Brian Tatum, Victor Ramdin, Larry Wright, Chris Zapf, Justin Scott, Suresh Prabhu, Sean Davis, Terry Lade, James McManus, Daniel Buzgon, David Benefield, Jamal Sawaqdeh, Keith Hawkins, Lisa Parsons, Mark Wilds, Matt Matros, and Bob Whalen.


photos by flipchip • lasvegasvegas.com
Dennis Phillips
Dennis Phillips is the Day 6 chip leader with just under 12 million


Big Stacks: Brandon Cantu jumped out to over 10 million to take the chip lead early in the day after making a full house against Nikolay Losev only to lose almost all of it on an ill-timed bluff against Craig Marquis. Marquis ended the day with 11.5 million, while Dennis Phillips is the leader with 11.9 million. Tiffany Michelle ended the day third in chips with a shade under 10 million.


photos by flipchip • lasvegasvegas.com
Craig Marquis
Craig Marquis is second on the leader board with eleven and a half million

July 13, 2008

Main Event Day 5 Recap

photos by flipchip • lasvegasvegas.com
Tiffany Michele
Tiffany Michele, fifth in chips with 3,438,000


189 players returned to the Rio on Saturday afternoon, still in the hunt for the $9.1 million first place prize. Play was halted after four levels with 79 players remaining.

The Buzz: Today was the day that previously unknown and unaffiliated players started showing up to play with logos for online poker sites and energy drinks plastered onto their shirts and caps.


photos by flipchip • lasvegasvegas.com
Mike Matusow and Phil Hellmuth
Mike Matusow and Phil Hellmuth side-by-side at the ESPN feature table


The Backstory: Phil Hellmuth is the only former Main Event champion remaining in the field. Late in the day, he was moved to the ESPN Featured Table, joining Mike Matusow, who spent the duration of Day 5 playing under the glare of the TV lights. A huge crowd gathered in the bleachers to watch these two legendary trash-talkers match wits. Just when it looked like it was going to be a boring matchup, Hellmuth imploded on the last hand so much so that TD Steve Frezer had to issue him a one orbit penalty which he will serve at the start of Day 6.


photos by flipchip • lasvegasvegas.com
Kara Scott
Once thriving with WSOP poker players, now a big empty place


Sight of the Day: Once a sea of poker tables, most of the Amazon Room was broken down today, signaling that this year's WSOP is nearly at an end.


photos by flipchip • lasvegasvegas.com
Mike Matusow
Mike Matusow, feature table color commentator


Quote of the Day: "I shifted gears at the right time baby! I feel GOOD!" bellowed Mike Matusow after doubling up with 10c-5c against Sean Davis' Ad-Kd when a 5 hit the flop.

Big Dogs:Three of the biggest marquee names remaining in the tournament, Gus Hansen, Chip Jett, and Hoyt Corkins busted out in rapid succession, finishing in 160th, 161st, and 162nd places respectively. Allen Cunningham and Jeff Madsen were soon to follow. Phil Hellmuth is still in it but slipped to under 900K to end the day.


photos by flipchip • lasvegasvegas.com
Robert Action Bob Hwang
Robert "Action Bob" Hwang when he had chips and a chair


Day 5 Eliminations: Shawn "Sheiky" Sheikhan, Kara Scott, Jeff Madsen, Allen Cunningham, Jeremiah Smith, Jon Friedberg, Gus Hansen, Lou Esposito, Ben Roberts, Hoyt Corkins, Chip Jett, Chad Layne, Alexander Kostritsyn, Mark Vos and Robert "Action Bob" Hwang.


Big Stacks: Brandon Cantu remained near the top of the pack for most of Day 5, as did James McManus (not the poker author, but a quiet young man from Ireland). Tiffany Michele also made huge strides today, and ended the day near the top of the leaderboard with 3.8 million. Mark Ketteringham ended the day as the overall leader.


photos by flipchip • lasvegasvegas.com
Mark Ketteringham
Mark Ketteringham finished the day as the chip leader with 5.8 million

July 12, 2008

Main Event Day 4 Recap

photos by flipchip • lasvegasvegas.com
Kara Scott
Kara Scott survives Day 4


Day 4 of the $10,000 buy-in World Series of Poker Main Event championship was underway at the Rio Casino. 474 players began the day and when it was all over 189 remained.

The Buzz: The field was thinned even more. Action progressed so fast that Jack Effel ended play one level early.


photos by flipchip • lasvegasvegas.com
Tiffany
Tiffany Michele returns for Day 5




The Backstory: As the last batch of pros busted out, the few that remained got most of the media attention including Phil Hellmuth, Mike Matusow, and Gus Hansen.

The Ladies: Tiffany Michele knocked out Hevad "Rain" Khan as she advanced to Day 5. EPT hostess Kara Scott also made it. Sadly, Evelyn Ng busted out.


photos by flipchip • lasvegasvegas.com
Phil Hellmuth
Phil Hellmuth devours fish at WSOP


Sight of the Day: Phil Hellmuth took time out to feast on the fish.

Quote of the Day: "Idiot from Northern Europe calls a raise with 5-7!" screamed Phil Hellmuth.Yes, the poker brat went on tilt when he lost a pot to an opponent from Scandinavia.


photos by flipchip • lasvegasvegas.com
entropy of poker
Mike Matusow and Gus Hansen discuss the entropy of poker


Big Dogs: Johnny Chan busted out early in the afternoon. Phil Hellmuth was in trouble early on but doubled up. Mike the Mouth and Gus Hansen were at the same table and the two were engaged in lots of banter, some trash talk, but both looked like they were having fun.

Day 4 Eliminations: Johnny Chan, Elky, Maya Geller-Antonius, Hasan Habib, Bill Blanda, Magnus Petersson, Chris Bjorin, PearlJammer, Evelyn Ng, Thierry van den Berg, Tracey Nguyen, RainKhan, Tino Lechich, Van Nguyen, Dag Martin Mikkelsen, Mike Souza, and Alan Jaffray, Pat Poels, Carmel Petresco, Thayer Rasmussen, Jani Vilmunen, Iggy, Johnny Bax, Iwan Jones, Frankie O'Dell, Adam Schoenfeld, TMay420, Dave Colclough, Mike Wattel, Jean-Robert Bellande, Kirill Gerasimov, Robert Mizrachi, Jason Lester


photos by flipchip • lasvegasvegas.com
Jeremy Joseph
Jeremy Joseph, Day 4 chip leader


Big Stacks: Brandon Cantu was second in chips most of the day. Jeremy Joseph took over the lead early and never looked back. He was the first player past the 2M and 3M mark.


photos by flipchip • lasvegasvegas.com
Brandu Cantu
Brandu Cantu has over a million and a half in play money

July 11, 2008

Main Event Day 3 Recap - Money Bubble Breaks!

photos by flipchip • lasvegasvegas.com
All-in
All-in and a call during the hand-to-hand race to the money


The $10,000 buy-in World Series of Poker Main Event championship finally reached the third day of action. It would be the first time that all of the remaining players were in the same room. 1,307 players began Day 3. Just before midnight, the money bubble broke. The top 666 players would win at least $21,230 in prize money.

The Buzz: Everyone wondered if the money bubble would break by the end of Day 3, so much so that every was betting on the exact time. At the dinner break, less than 750 players remained. Eliminations were happening at a rapid pace before they slowed down as the money bubble approached. Official time of money bubble burst... 11:25pm.


photos by flipchip • lasvegasvegas.com
Steve Chung
Steve Chung is the 2008 WSOP money bubble boy


The Backstory: The big stacks started to develop and the big named pros all started to drop out. Those who remained garnered the majority of the media attention. Former champions Phil Hellmuth and Johnny Chan went deep and both cashed.


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Jeremiah Smith
Jeremiah Smith relaxing behind a mountain of chips

Sight of the Day: Jeremiah Smith sat over a castle of chips as he took the chip lead late in the day and became the first player to pass the one million chip mark.


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Jack Effel
Jack Effel gives players the good news

Quote of the Day: "Congratulations, you all made the money!" said Jack Effel when the money bubble finally broke.

Celebrities: Aussie cricket god Shane Warne ended his run at the WSOP when he busted out on Day 3. Also out was country singer Andy Grigs and Heidi Northcutt (who is Jose Canseco's girlfriend). But famous poker blogger Iggy made the money in his first ever WSOP main event.


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Andy Grigs
Andy Grigs left us on Day 3


Day 3 Eliminations: Chris Moneymaker, Jen Harman, Patrik Antonius, Noah Boeken, Giagbet, Arnold Spee, Russell Rosenblum, Liv Boeree, YellowSub, Heidi Northcott, Barny Boatman, Anthony Rivera, Scott Clements, Erik Seidel, Paul McKinney, Mandy Baker, John D'Agostino, Will Durkee, Matt Sexton, Brandon Schaefer, Tony Hachem, Tex Barch, Matt Glantz, Phil Gordon, Andy Griggs, Steve Z, Eric Morris, Josh Prager, Dennis Waterman, Juan Maceiras, Richard Ashby, Shane Warne, Toto Leonidas, and Anahit Galajian.

Big Stacks: Jeremy Joseph, Jeremiah Smith, Sigurd Eskeland,Alberto Font, Robert Georato, and Karle Wilson.


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Jeremy Joseph
Jeremy Joseph, Day 3 chip leader

July 10, 2008

Main Event Day 2B Recap

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Johnny Chan
Two Time WSOP Main Event Champion Johnny Chan returns for Day 3


Wednesday at the Rio Casino featured the second flight of Day 2 of the World Series of Poker main event championship. There was a record number of Day 2 runners with 2,678 entrants. When the day was over, almost two thousand players were eliminated. What a massive wipe out!

The Buzz: With the record-setting field, every possible area was used for the restart of Day 2B. The areas used included the poker room, the hallway in front of Buzio's, the Tropical Room, the Brasilia Room, and the Amazon Room. By dinner, all of the remaining players had been confined to the Amazon Room.


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WSOP Day 2B
Phil Hellmuth returns on Day 3 in his quest for WSOP bracelet #12


Quote of the Day: "All in and a call? Another donkey down," said Benjo, a writer from the French press, commenting on the rapid pace of eliminations.


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Gary Clark
Gary Clark


Sight of the Day: Gary Clark made spectators, players, and dealers alike turn their heads because they thought they saw McLovin from the film Super Bad. The Irish McLovin look-a-like advanced to Day 3.

Celebrities: Andy Griggs, Sully Erna, Shannon Elizabeth, and the famous poker blogger Iggy were in the mix.

Day 2B Eliminations:Bryan Micon, Liz Lieu, David Singer, Amir Vahedi, Burt Boutin


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Carmel Petresco
Carmel Petresco among Day 2B chip leaders


Big Stacks: Just before midnight Carmel Petresco made a run an jumped into the Top 10 in chips. Alex Outhred, Peter Biebel, Raja Kattamuri , Victor Ramdin, and Reagan Silber ended the day among the leaders.


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Alex Outhred
Alex Outhred, Day 2B chip leader with 486,800

July 9, 2008

Main Event Day 2A Recap

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WSOP Day 2A
WSOP tournament floor Day 2A


Day 2 of the 2008 WSOP was split into two flights. Day 2A kicked off on Tuesday with 1,252 players returning to battle it out in the Amazon Room. When it was over, less than 500 players remained. Day 2B starts on Wednesday at Noon.


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Isabelle Mercier
Isabelle Mercier


The Buzz: As much as Day 2A was underway, most of the chatter was about what happened away from the tables at the PokerStars Party at Rain from the night before. 2008 WSOP bracelet winner Dario Minieri and Isabelle Mercier were lip locking at the bar and having a blast.

Quote of the Day: Madeline Ungar, Stu Ungar's widow, started Day 2A with "Shuffle up and deal!" But before she started the day, she spoke to the crowd for a few moments about a new foundation she started in Stu's name. She said that there's not a day that goes by where someone doesn't bring up a Stuey Ungar story. She also said that it's almost ten years since he passed away.


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Shane Warne
Shane Warne, Aussie cricket legend


The Celebrities: "Everybody Loves Raymond" star Ray Romano ran Kings into Aces and got crippled before he was moved to the featured TV table. Ray hung on with a short stack but eventually busted. French actress Alexia Portal also hit the rail early on Day 2A. Aussie cricket legend Shane Warne had a decent stack for most of the day.


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Erick Lindgren
Brian Schaedlich's three quarters of a million in WSOP play money




Sight of the Day: The first of many big stacks started to develop late in Day 2. Guys like Brian Schaedlich, Jeremiah Smith, and Hunter Frey were all past the 400K mark by Midnight and rushing towards 500K.


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Ray Romano
Ray Romano's WSOP Main Event quest ended late on Day 2A


Day 2A Eliminations: Erick Lindgren, Barry Greenstein, Billy Baxter, Jesse Jones, Shaun Deeb, Cathy Liebert, Billy the Croc, Ted Lawson, Trond Eidsvig, Robert Varkonyi, Alex Bolotin, Gabe Thaler, Sweet Svetlana, Scotty Nguyen, Alexia Portal, Perry Friedman, John Myung, Greg "FBT" Mueller, The Eggman Thomas Wahlroos, Lee Markholt, Harry Demetriou, Barry Shulman, John Shipley, Paul Wasicka, David Grey, Susie Isaacs, Steve Brecher, Michael Criag, Mark Karam, Ray Romano, Johnny World Hennigan, Vicky Coren, Sverre Sundbo, Nick Schulman, Ciaran O'Leary, Dan Schmiech, Haralabos Voulgaris, and Julian Gardner.

Big Stacks: Brian Schaedlich was one of the first players to pass the half a million chip mark. Also with lots of chip? Jeremiah Smith, Hunter Frey, and Brandon Adams.

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Brian Schaedlich
Brian Schaedlich finished Day 2A as chip leader with 745,000
July 8, 2008

WSOP Day 2A Today at Noon

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Erick Lindgren
Erick Lindgren, 2008 WSOP Player of the Year


Monday was an off-day for the WSOP with no event play scheduled other than the daily tournaments. The Pokernews WSOP crew held it's annual freeroll in the Amazon room at the Rio and that was about the most excitement of the day; but, that all changes on Tuesday at Noon. The remaining players from Day 1A and 1B are combined into a crowd of 1,251 players taking a seat for Day 2A.

The overall chip leader in today's contest is Mark Garner from Day 1A with 194,900. Second in chips is Day 1B chip leader Ben Samoff with 177,500. Two former WSOP main Event Champions, Robert Varkonyi 2002 and Scotty Nguyen 1998,l survived their Day 1 play and will be the only former world champions playing Day 2A.


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Susie Isaacs
Susie Isaacs survived to play Day 2A


More random facts from the 2008 WSOP main event follows. Day 1 A and B players totaled 2,455 and included 56 females or approximately 2.23% proving once again that most females would rather be doing anything else. Erick Lindgren was declared 2008 WSOP Player of the Year which means he will have a billboard size portrait hung on the wall of the Amazon Room. Poker players from 104 countries entered events at this year's WSOP. This is the fourth year the Big Poker Show has been played at the Rio Resort.


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Scotty Nguyen
Scotty Nguyen, 1998 WSOP Main Event Champion

July 7, 2008

Main Event Day 1D Recap

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WSOP crowd
A small part of the 2,461 WSOP poker players at the Rio on Day 1D


The fourth and final flight of Day 1 for the 2008 WSOP Main Event kicked off on Sunday. It was the busiest flight of the opening round with 2,461 runners partaking in the hectic festivities.

The Buzz: After lots of negative speculation, the final numbers were released. 6.844 total runners bought into the 2008 WSOP Main Event. $9.1 million would go to the winner and the top 666 players would get paid prize money.


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Heather Wells
Heather Wells, Bodog poker player


Quote of the Day: "We're here as friends of poker. Two years ago under a Republican controlled Congress, they took your right to play poker on the internet away. With your help, we're going to change that wrong law," said Congressman Robert Wexler (D-FL) as he spoke to the crowd before Day 1D started.

Sight of the Day: The entire Amazon Room was filled along with the Tropical Room (former used for satellites), the Brasilia Room, the poker room, and even the hallway in front of Buzio's restaurant held tables.


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WSOP crowd
Heidi Northcott, poker player


Celebrities: Two UFC fighters Chuck Lidell and Forrest Griffin were in the mix along with Sam SImon (The Simpsons), Jen Tilly, golfer Paul Azinger, and former baseball players David Wells and Jose Canseco,

Day 1d Eliminations: Phil Ivey, DonkeyBomber, Jesus, Mario Ho, Jen Tilly, Grant Levy, Chainsaw Kessler, Vinny Vinh, Eskimo, Andy Bloch, Patrick Bruel, Phil Tom, Jose Canseco, Noel Furlong, Paul Wolfe, Scott Lazar, David Williams, Joe Pelton, Forrest Griffin, George Danzer, Chuck Liddell, Sam Simon, Annie Duke, John Murphy, Shaniac, CK Hua, Eugene Todd, Fabrice Soulier, Cyndy Violette, Layne Flack, Melissa Hayden, and Ray Davis.


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Phil Hellmuth
General Hellmuth holding court at the ESPN feature table


Big Stacks: Pros Victor Ramdin, Carlos Mortensen, and David Oppenheim all had big stacks at one point after the dinner break.


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Carlos Mortensen
Carlos Mortensen 2001 WSOP Main Event Champion

July 6, 2008

Main Event Day 1C Recap

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Mike Matusow
Mike Matusow survived Day 1C's field of 1,928 hopefuls


The WSOP Main Event was in full swing at the Rio. The third flight of Day 1c attracted 1,928 runners.

The Buzz: Although Harrah's tried to hide the exact number of the main event, word got out that the number finally passed 6,000 and last year's number. Day 1c was the largest flight to date and helped pushed the over all totals.


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Garry Gates
Garry Gates playing poker in his toga

Sight of the Day: Garry Gates lost a prop bet to Evelyn Ng in Guitar Hero. He had to dress up in a toga and fan her and feed her grapes for 30 minutes.


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Lacey Jones
Lacey Jones playing poker


Hotties in the Field: Lacey Jones, Evelyn Ng, Kara Scott, Isabelle Mercier, Michele Lewis, Tiffany Michelle, and Liz Lieu were all playing on Day 1c.

Day 1c Eliminations: Marcel Luske, Andre Akkari, Tony G, David Plastik, Paul Darden, Jonathan Kalmar, TJ Cloutier, Kirk Morrison, Mark Gregorich, JC Tran, Bryan Devonshire, Steve Paul-Ambrose, Kevin O'Donnell, Anthony Lellouche, Marco Traniello, Bart Hanson, Joe Tehan, Sam Khouiss, David Chiu, Jesper Hougaard, Issac Haxton, ZeeJustin, Matt McCullough, Jeffrey Lisandro, Gavin Griffin, Vivek Rajkumar, Dmitri Nobles, Joe Reitman, Mimi Tran, Terrence Chan, Edward Moncada, Joe Commisso Scott Seiver, Mike Sexton, Daniel Alaei, Davidi Kitai and the Italian Pirate Max Pescatori.

Big Stacks: David Singer, Evelyn Ng, Brad Booth, Kara Scott, and Henning Granstad.


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Evelyn Ng
Evelyn Ng among Day 1C chip leaders

July 5, 2008

Main Event Day 1B Recap

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Tom McEvoy
Patriotic Tom McEvoy, 1983 WSOP World Champion


The 2008 WSOP Main Event continued with Day 1B which featured only 1,158 runners. The 2007 WSOP Champion Jerry Yang kicked off festivities by uttering the famous words, "Shuffle up and deal!"

The Buzz: It was the Fourth of July and as America celebrated a birthday, the second flight of Day 1 of the 39th Annual World Series of Poker Main Event was underway. Andy Griggs, a country western singer, sang the National Anthem and thanked current and former members of the military for their dedicated service.

The Back Story: Everyone speculated about the impending low numbers for the Main Event. Yesterday everyone was confident that they would break last year's record. But after Friday's lackluster turnout, everyone is wondering if it will reach 6,000.


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Tony Hachem
Tony Hachem shows his Australian allegiance


Sight of the Day: Since it was Independence Day, the staff handed out miniature American flags in addition to various flags of other nations. The German players picked up German flags, while the Canadians had theirs and so on...

Quote of the Day: "Yes, America is indeed the 'land of the free'. You're just not free to play online poker," said MeanGene about the hypocrisy of the Fourth of July.

The Celebrities: Australian cricket god Shane Warne, boxer Jeff Fenech, and former major league baseball player Orel Hershiser were among the celebrity players in Day 1b.


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> Kristy Gazes
Kristy Gazes was eliminated in the final hour of Day 1B


The Eliminations: Greg 'Fossilman' Raymer, Daniel Negreanu, Andy Black, Ted Forrest, Tom McEvoy, Jamie Gold, Kristy Gazes, Kenna James, Olga Varkonyi, WIlliam Thorson, DanDruff, and Ross Boatman, Nordberg, Orel Hershiser, Kenny Tran, and Dewey Tomko failed to advance to Day 2.

The Big Stacks: Marc Karam, Mike "SirWatts" Watson, and Patrik Antonius all had big stacks when Day 1b ended.


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Tom McEvoy
Patrik Antonious is among the Day 1B chip leaders

July 4, 2008

Main Event Day 1A Recap

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2008 WSOP
2008 WSOP Day 1A crowd


The 39th Annual World Series of Poker Main Event kicked off at the Rio Casino. The $10,000 buy in event attracted players from all over the world who converged on poker's Mecca for the most prestigious poker tournament in the world. Day 1 was split up into four flights. 1,297 players bought into Day 1A which is up 10 entrants from last year's number.


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Mike Matusow
ESPN TV feature table on Day 1A


The Buzz: Everyone was wondering if the Main Event numbers would be down. The small field on Day 1a worried some, while others still have high hopes that the weekend flights will attract more runners. No official numbers have been released but there are signs suggesting that this year's mark will fall short of last year's mark.


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Ray Romano
Ray Romano playing Day 1A




Celebrity Players: Jason Alexander (aka George Costanza), Mekhi Phifer, and Ray Romano were all in the field on Day 1.

Quote of the Day: "Shuffle up and deal!" said the famous words to begin this year's event

Sight of the Day: The legendary Wayne Newton kicked off festivities followed by the UNLV marching band performing 'Viva Las Vegas'.

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JJ Liu
JJ Liu had chips and a chair late in the day


Day 1a Eliminations: Gavin Smith, Erica Schoenberg, Mekhi Phifer, Dan Harrington, Jason Alexander, Shawn Rice, Tuan Lam, David 'The Dragon' Pham, Freddy Deeb, Devilfish, David Benyamine, Young Phan, Phil 'OMGClayAiken' Galfond, Chad Brown, Ralph Perry, Joe Sebok, Juha Helppi, Roland de Wolfe, Berry Johnston, Jon Little, Josh Arieh, Jeff 'YellowSub' Williams, Miami John Cernuto, JJ Liu, Tony Ma, Bob Feduniak, Roy Winston, Katja Thater, Taylor 'Green Plastic' Caby, Lyle Berman, Raymond Rahme, Jan Von Halle, Shirley Rosario, Maureen Feduniak, Vanessa Selbst, John Gale, and Tom 'Durrrrr' Dwan.

End of Day 1a Big Stacks: Brandon Adams, Jon "PearlJammer" Turner, and Mark Vos.

Approximately 657 players advanced to Day 2.


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Brandon Adams
Brandon Adams among Day 1A chip leaders

July 3, 2008

Mike Matusow is Flipchip's Pick to win it all

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Mike Matusow
Mike Matusow...the next WSOP World Champion?


Mike Matusow is the player that has best demonstrated the skills and attitude required to become the 2008 World Series of Poker Main Event Champion. From my casual observations through the viewfinder I've detected a major change in the attitude and demeanor of the sometimes caustic "Mike the Mouth." Matusow has never been one to hide his feelings at a poker table and this has more than once proven to be his Achilles heel; but, this year there appears to be a new downsized Mike that gained a lot of self confidence and maturity while losing a lot of weight.

He has played with a focused determination to win and it has paid off with a 2008 WSOP bracelet in event #18. Mike has always been overloaded with natural talent for the game and is considered to be one of the great Omaha players; so, if everything comes together and he remains committed to the "new Mike" we could see him in the winners circle come November. Of course, he must survive the next couple of weeks to become one of the final table nine. Barring an unforeseen run of bad luck Mike Matusow could very well be the next WSOP World Champion.

Matt Graham Wins 2008 WSOP Event #53

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Matt Graham
Matt Graham 2008 WSOP $1,500 Limit Hold'em Shootout Champion


A field of 823 players entered the final event before Thursday start of the 2008 WSOP Main Event. The two day affair saw all but 75 players eliminated on day 1 with the lucky survivors returning Wednesday at 2:00 pm and playing until there was only one to take the final gold bracelet of the 2008 WSOP (FYI: the Main Event bracelet is platinum). After more than 17 hours of tough poker the winner was decided a little after 7 this morning when Matt Graham made a miraculous come-back from near disaster to defeat Jean Robert Bellande in heads-up play and take the gold bracelet plus $278,180 in cash. Jean Robert Bellande received $173,564 for second place while Joe De Niro completed the top three to receive $107,845 for third place.


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WSOP Gold Bracelet
The final WSOP Gold Bracelet of 2008


Jean Robert Bellande of the Survivor Show fame was at the final table and as expected the outspoken poker pro insured the game was never boring. 1996 WSOP World Champion Huck Seed was seen at the rail conferring with Jean-Robert during the all-night poker fest. Bellande took charge of the table and the chips and then the cards turned to favor Graham. This is Matt Graham's first WSOP bracelet and title.

Congratulations to Matt Graham for hanging tough and taking down Event #53 at the 2008 World Series of Poker. The first day of the Main Event will be getting underway today at Noon. Don't forget to stop by the WSOP Lifestyles exhibition opening at 11:00 am today in the Rio Pavilion.


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Jean-Robert Bellande
Jean-Robert Bellande chats with 1996 WSOP Main Event winner Huck Seed

David Daneshgar Wins 2008 WSOP Event #52

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David Daneshgar
David Daneshgar, 2008 WSOP $1,500 No-Limit Hold'em Champion


David Daneshgar stayed alive with a chip and a chair in the final $1,500 No-Limit Hold'em event of the 2008 World Series of Poker. Considering the capacity crowd of 2693 poker players that begin the event three days ago proved this to be a monumental task for the Westlake Village, California poker player. Daneshgar came to the final table in the middle of the chip leader board and hung on to his position as the other players were eliminated.

In the heads-up play David Daneshgar (3,265,000 in chips) faced Scott Sitron (4,874,000 in chips) and begin moving chips across the table until the final hand when he called Scott's all-in bet with a pair of pocket Tens. No help came for Scott Sitron and David Daneshgar becomes the final $1,500 NLHE champion for 2008, collecting his first WSOP bracelet and $625,443 in cash. Scott Sitron heads home to Milwaukee, Wisconsin with an extra $385,974 and third place finisher Dan Heimiller received $275,695.


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David Daneshgar
David Daneshgar is presented with his first WSOP bracelet

July 2, 2008

James Schaaf Wins 2008 WSOP Event #51

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James Schaaf
James Schaaf, 2008 WSOP $1,500 H.O.R.S.E. Champion

James Schaaf will be heading back to Torrance, California with a WSOP gold bracelet and $256,412 in cash for his first ever venture into big-time World Series of Poker poker. The bracelet on Schaaf's arm had Phil Hellmuth name all over it when the "Poker Brat" made the final table with a big pile of chips; but, missed winning bracelet #12 when he went out in the third spot. Both James Schaaf and second place finisher Tommy Hang breathed a collective sigh of relief watching the intimidating Hellmuth head to the rail.

After having been almost eliminating and finding himself down to a chip and a chair Shaaf caught a few breaks and rebuilt his chip stacks to go into the heads-up play with 880K to Hang's 1.5 million in play money. A few more lucky breaks and mistake free poker saw Shaaf pull ahead and finally eliminate the always tough Tommy Hang. Hang received $158,933 for second and Hellmuth collected $93,168 for his $1,500 investment. Phil Hellmuth's last opportunity to claim a 12th bracelet this year will be the $10K Main Event which gets under way with day 1A on Thursday.

Congratulations to James Schaaf for his first WSOP bracelet and cash.


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James Schaaf
Phil Hellmuth got within two players of bracelet #12

Marty Smyth Wins 2008 WSOP Pot-Limit Omaha World Championship

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Marty Smyth
Marty Smyth, 2008 WSOP $10,000 Pot Limit Omaha World Champion


The final 2008 WSOP World Championship before the Main Event is now in the record book and we have a winner from down under. Australian Marty Smyth collected the gold bracelet and $859,532 in the $10,000 Pot Limit Omaha World Championship. He outlasted a field of 381 Omaha players to take down WSOP event #50. He defeated Peter Jetten in heads-up play when the river produced a club to give him the winning club flush. It took a few moments for Smyth to realized he had won after he overlooked the club draw in all the excitement.


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Marty Smyth
ESPN's Norm Chad interviews Marty Smyth


As expected anytime there is an Aussie in the thick of it the crowd was consuming copious amounts of brew and loudly demonstrating their support for a fellow countryman...anyone remember when Joe Hachem won the main event in 2005? Peter Jetten enjoyed a nice payday for second place when he received $528,257. Poker super star Michael "The Grinder" Mizrachi finished in third place for $331,279. Michael had his own cheering section that shouted their approval when he would take down a pot.

Congratulations to Marty Smyth.


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Marty Smyth
Marty Smyth checks out all that cash

July 1, 2008

J.C. Tran Wins 2008 WSOP Event #49

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JC Tran
JC Tran, 2008 WSOP $1,500 No Limit Hold'em Champion


Poker Pro JC Tran joined the exclusive club of WSOP gold bracelet owners when he capped the field of 2,718 starters in event #49, $1,500 No Limit Hold'em. Tran came to the final table in the #2 spot on the chip count list with 1,438,00 making him a 2-1 underdog behind chip leader Rasmus Nielsen holding 2,998,000 in play money. The two would play heads-up for the gold and cash after the elimination of the seven other final table players.

During the heads-up Tran took charge of the game and although he was holding 2.3 million to Neisen's 5.9 million he aggressively and surgically moved the chips to his stack. In the end his A,Q paired when a Queen came on the flop and Nielsen was down to needing a miracle. There was no miracle on this day and JC Tran had his first WSOP win.


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JC Tran
Rasmus Nielsen and JC Tran play heads-up


JC Tran takes down his first WSOP solid gold bracelet plus a very nice $631,170 in cash. Rasmus Nielsen heads across the pond with his $389,557 for second place and John Conroy leaves with the third place money of $278,255.

JC Tran said to watch for him at the Main Event final table and I promised I will be there with the camera to document his win. Congratulations to JC Tran for winning his first WSOP bracelet.


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JC Tran
JC Tran shows the world his first WSOP gold bracelet