If you have an extra $5,200 to spare, PokerStars' WCOOP Main Event takes place this Sunday at 2:30 p.m. (Vegas time).

The two-day tourney is hosted by Steve Paul-Ambrose

The cost is $5,000 plus a $200 tourney fee, with a guaranteed prize pool of $10 million.

As we write this, 540 people have entered, giving you a $7.3 million overlay! Okay, we're sure it won't be that much come tourney time, but it could be significant. Last year's prize pool was $10,925,000 with player ckingusc winning first place for $1,265,432.23.

Satellites are running around the clock, where you can enter for as little as $1 (but must win multiple times to get an entry to the Main Event).

We will be sitting this one out (unless our friends at Stars want to float us a buy-in... hello? hello?), but best of luck to all entrants.

So you invest $5 into a 50,000-player tournament on Sunday, win 1st place for $45,000, and what do you do?

Go back to grinding a $10 heads-up sit'n'go.

That's what Chicago-based breo40 did, coming down off Full Tilt's largest tournament in their history, which lasted almost 9 hours (the final table alone was 90 minutes).

That's dedication. We don't know if we'd have that much restraint and discipline not to jump into a higher limit game, you know, to parlay.

But the 30-year-old will continue to play his regular low-limit sit-n-go games, though he conceded he'd go as high as $100... non-turbo.

During the marathon session, he never fell below average stack and his Aces held up. He led the final table with a 3:1 chip lead, and his final hand was A9 vs. 34. A9 held up.

He doesn't yet know what he'll do with his newfound windfall, but for now he's content playing the same games he did before.

And trying to get the money out of his account as fast as possible.

Full Tilt informed breo40 that at least a dozen players attempted to hack into his account after his win. His account is currently being monitored for any fraudulent activity.

Asking the instant online poker celebrity what he did as soon as he won, breo40 said: "bout crapped my pants."

And by the way, he lost the heads-up SnG but jumped into a 6max $6 SnG.

photo by flipchip • lasvegasvegas.com

It took more than four hours of heads-up play before a champion was declared in the World Series of Poker Circuit Main Event at Caesars Palace Las Vegas. When the final river hit the felt Justin Bonomo had all of second place finisher, Michael "The Grinder" Mizrachi's chips, thus ending the 2009 WSOP Circuit Tournament at Caesars Palace for 2009.

The two seasoned pro poker players provided hours of exciting poker with each mounting a considerable chip lead over the other, then watch as they went back across the table again and again. For his victory Justin Bonomo received $237,692 in cash, the gold Championship ring, and a $10,000 seat in the 2009 WSOP Main Event at the Rio Resort in Las Vegas beginning at the end of May.

Michael Mizrachi takes home $143,512 as the first runner up. Men "The Master" Nguyen was eliminated in third place for $91,937, Jeremiah DeGreef grabbed $71,756 for fourth and Matt Graham collected $56,059 going out in the fifth spot.

photo by flipchip • lasvegasvegas.com

photos by flipchip • lasvegasvegas.com

It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas, all around the Bellagio. The Conservatory is changing into holiday clothes and the Fontana Room is filled with poker tables full of pros and other hopefuls playing in the 2008 Five Diamond World Poker Classic. This is the holiday poker tournament, the one that is capped by the WPT Doyle Brunson Classic, a $15,000 buy-in No Limit Hold'em championship event.

The Bellagio has always been one of our favorite places to play poker and cover tournaments. it just wouldn't be the same without the Five Diamond holiday events. The tournaments continue daily through the TV final table for the championship event on December 19th. All events begin at noon. A second event is held at 7:15 nightly plus plenty of satellites offered daily and $1,500 super-satellites for seats in the $15K Championship event.

Check out the tournament schedule for details of events and satellites then make plans to play in the best holiday poker tournament in Las Vegas. As usual, Master TD, Jack McClelland, is directing the action and keeping the show running seamlessly. I made a couple of orbits through the Fontana Room on Monday afternoon and found many of the well known pros playing and watching. More photos direct from Monday's tournament floor after the jump.

photos by flipchip • lasvegasvegas.com

Thanksgiving blues getting you down?

If you're in Vegas over Thanksgiving -- even Turkey Day itself -- how about a poker tournament?

Golden Nugget runs their Grand Fall Classic Poker Series from Nov. 24 through Nov. 30, with 7 events, only one of which is no-limit! (Fear not, $125 no-limit tournaments run twice daily at 2 p.m. and 6 p.m. with 8000 chips and 30-minute levels.)

All events are $230, begin at noon, start with 8000 chips (with 2000 bonus chips), and have 40-minute levels:

Monday, 11/24: Ladies no-limit
Tuesday, 11/25: HORSE
Wednesday, 11/26: Pot-limit Omaha H/L
Thursday, 11/27: Limit Omaha H/L
Friday, 11/28: HORSE
Saturday: 11/29: Mix -- 2-7 Triple Draw, 7 Stud H/L, Crazy Pineapple
Sunday, 11/30: Limit Omaha H/L

For more info, call John Colville at (702) 386-8164 or email jcolville@goldennugget.com.

photos by the flipchip • lasvegasvegas.com

How do you open a brand new Harley-Davidson dealership with a 104,000 square foot store? If you're Red Rock Harley-Davidson in Las Vegas you schedule a "Rock-Hard, Ride Harder" three day party and cap off the grand opening festivities with a Charity Poker Tournament to benefit the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation (JDRF). That's how we do things in Las Vegas.

The Hoyt Corkins Celebrity Poker Tournament will get underway on Saturday at 3 PM at the H-D dealership located at 2260 S. Rainbow on the west side of Las Vegas. Players will be competing for a 2008 105th Anniversary Edition Harley-Davidson motorcycle, a WORLD model Curtis & Co watch plus the obligatory trophy. Other prizes include a bunch of great H-D merchandise.

There will be plenty of poker pros on-hand and competing in the affair including poker legends Doyle Brunson and Phil Hellmuth plus newcomers from the upcoming 2008 WSOP final table, David Rheems and chip leader Dennis Phillips. The buy-in for the Saturday tournament is $500 and everyone is cordially invited to participate. Satellites will run all day Friday for a very affordable $60 entry fee. WPT Boot Camp will be conducting free poker seminars for players wanting to improve their game. Ring games will be offered on Saturday in addition to the Hoyt Corkins Celebrity Poker Tournament. There will be complimentary drinks from Hogs & Heifers Saloon for all players. You must be 21 years of age to play.

Use this direct link for more details and to pre-register for the event. On-site registration starts at noon on Friday, November 7th. Seating is limited.

photos by the flipchip • lasvegasvegas.com

photos by flipchip • lasvegasvegas.com

Caesars Palace announced the addition of six Mega Satellites for the 2008 Caesars Palace Classic championship event. Player demand for more opportunities to enter the $10,000 buy-in event was the reason behind the decision to offer the additional satellites. For every $10,000 in the prize pool one seat will be awarded.

The added events are scheduled for Friday, Saturday, and Sunday (October 24 - 26). A 4 PM $1,060 buy-in satellite and a 7 PM $550 buy-in will be held on the three days. Four previously scheduled satellites for the guaranteed $1 million championship event will be held on Monday, October 27. Two $550 buy-in satellites at 1 PM and 5 PM and two $1060 buy-in events at 3 PM and 7 PM offer players an altenative route to entry in the final Caesars Palace Classic event. Single table satellites for $1,040 run around the clock.

The Championship event begins on Tuesday, October 28, at High Noon. Players start the event with 100,000 in play money and 75 minute blind levels. Additional details are available at the Caesars Palace website or by calling the poker room direct at 702.785.6566.

photos by flipchip • lasvegasvegas.com

PokerStars is offering a chance to win a piece of the November 9.

The November 9, of course, is the World Series of Poker's final table comprising the nine remaining players that will duke it out on Nov. 9.

Stars has invested in six of the players, and will be hosting a $100,000 freeroll (500 FPP required for entry) for each player every Sunday beginning Oct. 5 at 4 p.m. ET.

In addition, if you make it to the top 100, you'll receive 0.01% of that player's eventual winnings from the final table.

Freeroll schedule (all begin 4 p.m. ET):

Oct. 5: David "Chino" Rheem
Oct. 12: Darus Suharto
Oct. 19: Ylon Schwartz
Oct. 26: Peter Eastgate
Nov. 2: Ivan Demidov
Nov. 9: Dennis Phillips

Let's see... every player is guaranteed to take away $900,670. So if you make the top 100 in any of the six tournaments, you'll receive an extra $90.07.

First place to this year's WSOP winner is $9,119,517, so if you're in the top 100 for that player's tourney, you'll get $919.52 extra.

photos by flipchip • lasvegasvegas.com

Caesars Palace is running daily drawings in their poker room, giving away completely free entries to their Caesars Palace Classic poker tournament. Each seat is worth $10,000.

From now through Sept. 30, just play in the Caesars poker room. Every time any player gets quads or better, they receive a ticket. One ticket will be drawn the following day at 7 p.m. and awarded a seat. If you don't live in town, no worries -- you don't even have to be present to win!

For the locals, however, there's an extra benefit. If you play every day trying for those tickets, you'll probably have accumulated enough hours to qualify for their freeroll. Play 40 hours of poker (live cash games only, tournaments excluded) between Oct. 1 and Oct. 26, and you'll get entered into a freeroll on Oct. 27 that awards 10 seats to the Caesars Palace Classic.

The total value of all seats being given away is $400,000.

The Caesars Palace Classic begins Oct. 28.

photo by flipchip • lasvegasvegas.com

Former NBA player Charles Barkley is $440,000 lighter after repaying his Wynn Las Vegas marker (including attorney fees). And after promising not to gamble for the next couple years, he'll be back in Vegas soon to play poker.

But this time it's for charity.

The annual celebrity poker tournament "Ante Up for Africa" takes place July 2 at Rio amidst the World Series of Poker. Half a player's winnings on a $5,000 buy-in is requested to be donated to the cause that will help Darfur.

Barkley plans to play, and if he cashes, he will give all his winnings to the charity.

photos by flipchip • lasvegasvegas.com

Get ready for three hours of great TV poker featuring four of the the world's best poker professionals. It's the 2008 NBC's National Heads-Up Poker Championship on NBC TV today at Noon. Better check listings in your area, here in Las Vegas it starts at 3 PM. Four poker super stars remain from the elite field of 64 players invited to do battle for the prestigious 2008 NBC National Heads-Up Poker Championship.

Andy Bloch, Chris Ferguson, Phil Ivey, and Huck Seed make up today's final field of four. There are 14 WSOP gold bracelets and 2 WSOP Main Event Champions among this very talented quad of poker players. Today's 3 hour show is the final installment of the heads-up mini-series for 2008 and a champion will be crowned.

A mini-gallery of previously unpublished Flipchip photos from the 2008 National Heads-Up Poker Champiopnship after the jump.

photos by flipchip • lasvegasvegas.com

Poker players will be wishing for clones next month. There's that much scheduled tournament poker in Las Vegas during the coming month of June. The 2008 WSOP at the Rio Resort serves as the giant magnet drawing more than 50,000 poker players from around the world for the 39th annual World Series of Poker. Last year, the 2007 WSOP registered more than 57,000 poker players from around the world for the 55 poker events offering golden bracelets. The original and longest running annual poker tournament on Earth, the WSOP. Nothing in tournament poker compares to the big poker show World Series of Poker.

photos by flipchip • lasvegasvegas.com

Running from May 29 through July 16, the Venetian Deep Stack Extravaganza III. The 3rd annual Deep Stack Extravaganza offering the lower buy-in ($330 - $2,500) events. The original larger starting stacks and longer play levels format tournaments have proven to be very popular with tournament players guaranteeing large fields and nice payouts. Check out the schedule of events for the Venetian Deep Stack Extravaganza III Tournament.

photos by flipchip • lasvegasvegas.com

The Orleans has $5 bounties, but $50?

TI (Treasure Island) in Las Vegas has a Head Hunters bounty tournament that runs every Wednesday at 11 a.m. and every Sunday at 7 p.m.

The tournament attracts about 30-40 players and 1st place averages $600.

Buy-in is $125 with a $50 bounty on each player (so technically a $75 tourney). If you bust someone out, you not only get their chips, you also get $50. If you win the tournament, you get your own $50 bounty.

Starting chipstack is 5,000 and levels are 30 minutes.

For more information, call (702) 894-7291.

photos by flipchip • lasvegasvegas.com

Golden Nugget's upcoming Grand Poker Series in downtown Las Vegas will host a celebrity poker tournament on the first night of the series, June 6.

Buy-in is $1,080 with half going into the prize pool and half going to the Montel Williams MS foundation.

Golden Nugget will host a pre-tourney cocktail reception at 4 p.m., including live music and showgirls and plenty of photo and autograph opportunities.

Later that night will be a tourney after-party upstairs in Golden Nugget's new indoor/outdoor nightclub Gold Diggers.

Satellites into the charity event will also be available, and total players are capped at about 400.

To register, call (702) 386-8164.

The Venetian Deep Stack event in February was so popular, they're doing it again!

While not as big as the first Deep Stack Extravaganza, this sequel will still provide lots of play to practice for the WSOP (or the next DSE, which is May 29-July 16).

The event runs from April 4-25 in the poker room at The Venetian, with daily registration at 4 p.m. for the 6 p.m. tournament. Note that this will substitute for the regularly scheduled evening tournament.

Cost is $330 and players start with 4500 chips (plus $10 to the dealers for 1500 more chips). A food credit will also be given.

Satellites into the tournament will run every day, with winners receiving tokens that can be used to buy into not only the DSE but any poker tournament at The Venetian.

The Venetian's website does not yet list the DSE, but you can email poker@venetian.com for more information.

photos by flipchip • lasvegasvegas.com

Caesars Palace knows how to run a tournament according to the number of players entering the events. Event #4, $550 Buy-in HLHE, a total of 358 players started the tournament. One of our favorite Las Vegas ladies, Connie Kim, finished 5th and collected $9,818. Jeff Suh topped the field and received $50,718 plus a $10K seat in the Championship.

Event #5, $1060 Buy-in NLHE, 188 players showed up for the Noon start. Ben Fineman was the last man standing and collected $55,845 plus a $10K seat in the Championship.

Check out the Flipchip photos from the Bellagio Conservatory on the Prof's Las Vegas News Blog.

photos by flipchip • lasvegasvegas.com

Caesars Palace appears to have a winner with the Caesars Palace Classic Poker Tournament. The daily events are proving popular with tournament poker players. The first three events have pulled in almost a thousand players and already has awarded hundreds of thousands in prize money. Event winners get a seat in the $10K Championship event starting on Oct 22. The winner of the Championship is guaranteed a minimum of $1 million dollars.If you're ever going to do it, the time is now, and the place is Caesars Palace Las Vegas.

WSOP multi bracelet winner Mark Seif notched a cash by finishing 5th in the $1000 NLHE event #2. He collected $14,707. Stop by the Classic at Caesars Palace Poker Room because you never know whom will sat down at your table. It's a great oppotunity to rack up some major tournament experience against some of poker's best.

photos by flipchip • lasvegasvegas.com

photo by Gene Bromberg / lasvegasvegas.com

The UltimateBet Aruba Poker Classic has a different feel than other tournaments. First of all it's in Aruba, one of the most beautiful places on Earth, and once you get knocked out there's always the beach to console you. No matter how bad a beat you suffer, taking a dip in the Caribbean is a sure way to ease the pain.

For many players heading to Aruba is a yearly poker pilgrimage, a chance to reconnect with friends they've made during previous events. People who don't play in many live tournaments often make Aruba their one stop for the year, because they can combine poker with a tropical vacation. It's not a bad way to pay back your poker widow (or widower) for a year of patiently listening to you babble about the game.

photo by flipchip/lasvegasvegas.com

Complete information for the Ocean's 13 Charity Poker Tournament to aide the people of Darfur can be found by clicking here. Scheduled for today, Sunday May 27th at 3:30 pm ET, the tournament has a goal of at least a thousand entrants. Show the world that online poker players are much more than a bunch of degenerates that spend their days (and nights) gambling on the computer. By playing online at Poker Stars on Sunday for this most noble cause you'll be sending a message that online poker players are good citizens with a sense of compassion for the genocide occurring right now in Darfur. You will be offering a much needed helping hand to the humanity caught up in the dire straits and despair of war in the Darfur region of the African Sudan.

photo by flipchip/lasvegasvegas.com

photo by flipchip/lasvegasvegas.com

Complete information for this Poker Stars charity tournament to aide the people of Darfur can be found on Dr Pauly's Tao of Poker Blog. Scheduled for this Sunday the tournament has a goal of at least a thousand entrants. Show the world the true grit of online poker players by playing online at Poker Stars on Sunday for this most noble cause. You will be offering a much needed helping hand to humanity caught in the dire straits and despair of war in the Darfur region of the Sudan.

The money raised in this event can be the difference between life and death for some of these desparate people. Do your part...join your fellow online players, bloggers and friends to spread the word about this tournament next Sunday. Talk about, write about it, and blog about it. Get the word out and the number of entrants up.

Flipchip 2004 vintage WSOP photos after the jump...

photo by FlipChip/LasVegasVegas.com

Sunday, November 5th is a day to remember. The Hard Rock's night club, The Joint, will be the site of a charity poker tournament hosted by Motley Crue's Vince_Neil. The 2nd Annual Off Strip Poker Tournament will benefit the T.J. Martell Foundation, an organization that does fund raising for cancer, Luekemia and AIDS research. Last year's first Vince Neil's Off Strip Poker Tournament raised $170,000 for this worthy cause and it is the direct result of the Skylar Neil Foundation established by Vince Neil in 1995 to honor the daughter he lost to cancer that year.

photo by FlipChip/LasVegasVegas.com

Another photo trip from the Festa Al Lago Poker Tournament championship event now into the second day of play at the Bellagio. The field of 433 players will be trimmed down to a final table scheduled for play on Friday before the television cameras of the World Poker Tour. The popular tournament's $10,000 final event attracted a large number of poker professionals playing for the million dollar first place money plus a $25,000 seat in the WPT Championship event scheduled for April, 2007 at the Bellagio. If you are in Las Vegas this Friday stop by the Bellagio on Friday afternoon and watch poker history in the making as a member of the TV audience.

photo by FlipChip/LasVegasVegas.com

The $10,000 Championship event of the Festa Al Lago at the Bellagio Resort kicked off today at High Noon with 433 players vying for a prize pool of $4,200,100. The event continues through Friday when another poker millionaire (winner gets $1,090,025) will be created on national television. The WPT sanctioned tournament had a top heavy roster of poker professionals, all gathered in the Fontana room for the annual event. A photo journey through Monday's tournament follows.

photo by FlipChip/LasVegasVegas.com

The first event of 151 tournaments planned for the coming year got under way today in the tournament area of Binion's Poker Room. The Ultimate Poker Challenge is back for its' third season in a new and expanded format that appeals to all level of poker players. Today's inaugural event attracted 128 entrants for the $300 + $40 buy-in No-limit Hold'em tournament.

photos by flipchip/lasvegasvegas.com

I cruised over to the Tropicana Resort and Casino and got a guided tour of the Mansion Poker.net/Fox Sports Network (FSN) joint venture known as the Poker Dome. The Poker Dome tournament production has taken-up temporary residence in the Grand Ballroom at the Tropicana while waiting for the construction crews to complete the show's permanent quarters at Neonopolis in downtown Las Vegas.

Harrah's New Orleans hosted the Bayou Poker Classic main event final table on Sunday evening. After the dust cleared from a marathon session of play the day's chip leader and 2006 Poker Player of the Year, Gavin Smith, had lost all his chips to Peter Feldman. Peter is a 28-year-old player from Harper Woods, Michingan. the win was worht $532,950. gavin returns to Las Vegas with $293,930 for second place. Matt Russell of Houston, Texas completed the top three taking $161,500.

Nolan Dalla, World Series of Poker Media Director, was there and filed his final report from the "Big Easy." Click below for the complete report with complete order of finish.

I'm going through emails that have accumulated during my absence and am getting caught up on what's happening in the poker world. The big news is out of New Orleans where the WSOP-C is winding up the Bayou Poker Challenge at Harrah's New Orleans. Gavin Smith completed Saturday's action with the chip lead going into Sunday's main event final table with $645,800, a more than 2-1 chip lead over the second place chip leader. I guess this Canadian player and the recently crowned Poker Player of the Year is serious about a repeat win in 2007. He's been playing some great poker lately, appears the success is fueling his game to an even higher level. I was the first photographer to identify him as a future great taking photos before he had won anything.

World Series of Poker media director Nolan Dalla is in New Orleans and filed a report covering the final table ten. Click on continue reading for Nolan's list with complete stats and comments.

And on the fourth day it came down to a five of diamonds for a first place prize of more than a million dollars. Stan Weiss was holding a King of spades and the five when he declared all-in. Harry Demetriou was holding a King of hearts and a Six of clubs when he decided to call after an hour of heads up play with Stan Weiss who was holding a slight chip lead. Harry was ahead by virtue of a Six and he stayed in the lead when the flop brought a 9d, 9s, Js. The turn was a 3s and Stan was down to catching a spade or a five for the win or anything over a six for a split pot. Lighting struck Harry down when the Five of hearts showed on the river giving Stan a winning pair of Fives and the Championship of the first WPT event of the season. Stan Weiss from Nashville, Tennessee won his seat in the WPT Championship after entering and winning a $50 satellite. His family was in the audience cheering him on then sharing in the victory and the $1,294,755 in winnings. Stan also gets a diamond and gold championship bracelet and a seat in the $25,000 WPT Season Championship at the Bellago in 2007.

Harry Demetriou heads home across the Atlantic to London, England with $673,272 for his second place outing. Devin Porter of Riverton, Utah finished third to bag $322,937. Las Vegas professional David Williams went out in fourth taking $221,958, Steve Federick of San Mateo, California was fifth and received $166,469 while the Grinder's brother, Robert Mizrachi, was eliminated in sixth place and pocketed $129,476.

The final table played six handed for over two hours before the first player was out. Some of the action was of the fast and furious variety but most of the evening the play was solid, cautious...well slow actually, no one taking a risk that could become a fatal mistake. Stan Weiss came into the final table as the chip leader and at one point in the night's play he was the short stack with only a few chips, but he got enough lucky boards to get back into the game and go on to win it all.

This was my first look at the World Poker Tour's new season, new set, new host and new rules for media. The new set is a slimmed down version of its old self, but it does retain some of the polished metal and translucent panel look. Gone is the old squared off stage, replaced by sweeping circles and curves lending the new final table set much more integrated feel, nothing like the disjointed, angled, flat geometry of old. Some of the new lighting appeared to bother the players when they would get a face full of an automated, articulated flood light sweeping around the table.

The latest WPT host, Sabina Gadecki, was doing her first show and my first impression says she's a good choice to replace the departing Courtney. No word yet on why Courtney Friel decided to pursue her happiness somewhere else. Sabina is the third blond in four years to host the WPT Poker Championships.

The media rules are still being worked out and some of the WPT people were actually interested in hearing what members of the media thought. What a concept. Most of us doing the media thing are usually the last consideration for input of any kind.

Caesars Palace Poker Room is once again the center of the poker universe with today's Noon start of the $10,000 buy-in championship event of the WSOP Circuit series. With about thirty minutes remaining in the registration period, 204 players had paid and were playing during the first hour. The list of professional players is another who's who coup for the Caesars poker room. I saw most of the top names in the business quietly waiting for cards while trying to stay awake since most are asleep at this time of day. Poker is a game that's typically played at night, usually all night.

A high turnout of Full Tilt players were scattered about the tables, quite a difference from a World Poker Tour(R) event. Speaking of the WPT, I saw the WPT quarterly report declaring a slight profit for the first three months of 2006, a first for the company. The report also noted the failure of the Travel channel to renew the Professional Poker Tour(TM) series of poker tournaments. Poker broadcast are now in the third spot of popularity among broadcast TV sports. Only the NFL and NASCAR pull higher audience ratings, so that's enough said about poker's imminent demise at this time. Being third is a tough spot with none of the previous TV fad sports capable of hanging on. Anyone remember when Bobby Fisher put chess in the popularity spotlight for a day or two? How about the tennis craze when we all learned to keep score? Televised poker must continue improving the presentation while adding innovations to retain and build the audience. Oh yea, one final thing, this WSOP Circuit Championship will not be seen on television since it is not being filmed.

The following photos were taken a short time ago at the WSOP Circuit series Championship event first day at Caesars Palace on the fabulous Las Vegas strip.

Watching CNN this morning I noticed poker is back in main stream media with the arrest of Snoop Dogg in London on Wednesday. Showing those stiff upper lip Bobbies at Heathrow Airport that it takes a bus load of heat to arrest one Big Time American Rapper and his entourage, Snoop Dog and friends were arrested and charged with "violent disorder and affray." Read the complete story here including a translation of "affray."

I'm reporting the peripheral fallout this unfortunate incident has had on tournament poker. The cancellation of The Rapper's Challenge Texas Hold'Em Tournament to be held on a cruise ship out of Miami in early May has now been cancelled. Snoop Dog's tournament has suffered one other earlier cancellation after the divine intervention of a hurricane.

In other poker news closer to Las Vegas, the first scheduled stop of the WSOP Circuit Tournament is scheduled to get under way later today at Caesars Palace Poker Room. Most of the professional poker community stayed in town after the close of the Bellagio's Five Star Event last week for this WSOP events. The Roman realm will be filled with poker people until May 11, final table day for the $10,000 Championship Event. This will be the first major test of the recently opened Caesars Palace Poker Room and its adjoining dedicated tournament room. World Series of Poker tournaments are always a popular poker venue attracting a high number of poker's "A" list players to the bigger buy-in events. If you like poker and enjoy mixing it up with the many characters playing the game then stop by Caesars in the next two weeks and enter one of the fifteen different No-limit Hold'em events with buy-in ranging from an affordable $550 up to the $10K big one. Ladies day is April 30 and the seniors play on May 2. If you've been living on peanut butter and crackers and can't afford even the $500 buy-in there's still a window of opportunity? Enter one of the many satellites offered daily and you might parley a fee bucks into poker super stardom.

Dr. Pauly's wrap of the 2006 WPT Five Star Poker Championship at the Bellagio in Las Vegas.

2006 WPT World Championship: Final Table

The Tower Room at the Bellagio was the locale for the final table of the WPT World Championship where dozens of media reps and hundreds of die hard poker fans showed up to soak in the largest event in the history of the World Poker Tour. Six players survived a field of 606 who all bought in for $25,000. After six days of intense poker, they were ready to play for the record $3.7 million first place prize.

The seven day event started last Tuesday as some of the top pros in poker showed up to the Fontana Room overlooking the Bellagio fountains, hoping to cash record prize pool worth over $14 million. James Van Alstyne ended Day 5 and Day 6 as the chipleader. He gave it up a few times on both days, but managed to survive the day at the top in chips. Men the Master started Day 6 as one of the short stacks and hung on to make it to the final table. England's Roland de Wolfe won the WPT Paris event at the Aviation Club in July. He's seeking his second victory on the WPT this year.

Here's the payouts for the final table:
1 $3,760,165
2 $1,903,950
3 $1,025,205
4 $659,120
5 $439,375
6 $292,915
Here's the final table seat assignments with chipcounts:
Seat 1: Joe Bartholdi (Dan Diego, CA) $7.135M
Seat 2: Roland de Wolfe (London, England) $1.86M
Seat 3: Men "The Master" Nguyen (Bell Gardens, CA) $1.490M
Seat 4: Claus Nielsen (Aarhaus, Denmark) $5.875M
Seat 5: James Van Alstyne (Las Vegas, NV) $8.07M
Seat 6: Davidson Matthew (Toronto, Canada) $5.765M

James Van Alstyne won the first pot, but lost the first monster pot of the day to Joe Bartholdi. It was worth over $7.2 million. On a board of 4-4-3-A-6, Van Alstyne mucked after Bartholdi showed 8-8. After he won that pot Bartholdi took over the chipleader with over $9M in chips, while Van Alstyne slipped to $5M.

Men the Master moved all in and uttered his trade mark phrase, "All you can eat, Baby!" He didn't get any action and only picked up the blinds and antes. Roland de Wolf's tight image hurt him early. He did not get any action with his pocket Kings.

James Van Alstyne would lose the majority of his stack when he made a move with K-6 and pushed all in. He was called by Roland de Wolf's K-K, which held up. Van Alstyne would be eliminated when he moved all in with A-K a few hands later. Joe Bartholdi called and flopped a 10 with J-10. Van Alstyne busted out in 5th place and picked up $439,375. Joe Bartholdi increased his stack to $11.3M.

Roland de Wolfe went on a rush and built up his stack until he tangled with Claus Nielsen. Roland de Wolf had A-10 and doubled up Nielsen's 9-9. Claus Nielsen jumped to $6M in chips but he wouldn't last too much longer. Joe Bartholdi rivered a flush with Kd-9d against Nielsen who caught a Queen on the river with A-Q. He finished in 4th place and won $659,120.

Dr. Pauly reporting direct from the WPT Five Star Poker Championship at the Bellagio.

WPT Championship Day 6: The Final 6

The Fontana Room at the Bellagio was the center of attention in the poker universe for a sixth straight day at the 2006 WPT Championship. Out of 606 daring players who bought in for $25,000, just 19 remained fighting over the $14 million purse. Those 19 players started Day 6 trying to be one of the 6 players who'd make the final TV table in search of the coveted $3.7 million first place prize. The remaining players were positioning themselves for a shot at the final table and played tentative for most of the day. They did not want to come this far and bubble out of the final TV table.

1 James Van Alstyne $8.07M
2 Joeseph Bartholdi $ 7.135M
3 Claus Nielsen $ 5.875M
4 Davidson Matthew $ 5.765M
5 Roland De Wolfe $ 1.86M
6 Men "The Master" Nguyen $1.49M

Dr. Pauly reporting direct from the WPT Five Star Poker Championship at the Bellagio.

WPT Championships Day 5: Sharks Dead, Chicks Rule

As the fifth day of the WPT Championship began, 71 players entered the Fontana room at the Bellagio looking to survive another day in their quest to win $3.7 million for first place. Everyone at this point made the money, so the short stacks were looking to double up while the big stacks were hoping to maintain their lead. WPT Foxwoods Champion Victor Ramdin started the day as the chipleader and was looking to win back-to-back events on the WPT, something that has never been done before. The big sharks were all eliminated before dinner time. Doyle Brunson, Johnny Chan, and Phil Hellmuth won 29 WSOP bracelets combined between them, yet they all failed to advance to Day 6.

Play began at Noon with eight tables as the media and spectators huddled around the remaining players. Originally the tournament director was going to stop play when 27 players remained but he kept the clock going until the full five levels were complete. Since 25 players were eliminated in the first two hours, the field thinned out quickly. Action slowed down once the final three tables redrew for seats.

Unlike the first few days, pocket aces were holding up on Day 5. Patrik Antonius found A-A and sent David Grey to the rail. Doyle Brunson made a move with A-3, but ran into A-A and was busted. Chad Brown flopped a full house with 10-10 to send Johnny Chan home. Patrik Antonius got some revenge against fellow European Rhene Pedersen. At the WPT Bellagio last December, Antonius had his AK snapped off from Pedersen's dominated hand. This time his J-J held up against Pedersen's 10-10.

Phil Hellmuth was eliminated on a bad beat, when he flopped a set of 7s against James Van Alstyne's flopped nut flush draw. All the money went in on the flop and Van Alstyne turned his flush as Hellmuth shouted out like a wounded animal and screamed, "God dammit!"

Carlos Zambrano (the poker pro, not the baseball player) took over the chiplead at one point with over $3 million until James Van Alstyne jumped ahead with over $4 million in chips. He took a huge pot off of Patrik Antonius when his K-10s cracked Antonius' Hilton Sisters.

Bursting the Money Bubble at the WPT Championship

Day 4 of the WPT Championship started with 204 players trying to survive the money bubble, as the top 100 players would win a piece of the record $14 million prize pool. Hordes of camera happy spectators and autograph seeking railbirds flocked to the outskirts of the majestic Fontana Room at the Bellagio on a lazy Friday in Las Vegas to watch some of the best poker players in the world battle it out for a $3.7 million first place prize.

Patrik Antonius from Finland started the day as the chipleader and had everyone in the room trying to take him down. Antonius added to his massive stack early on when he busted Dan Harrington's KQs when he flopped an ace with A-9. Antonius maintained most of his stack as the day progressed and ended 7th overall in chips.

WPT Day 3: Antonius Takes the Lead

The young gun from Finland Patrik Antonius likes playing at the Bellagio. The former model from Helsinki took second place at the WPT Five Diamond Classic in December. He made two final tables on the EPT in 2005 with a victory at the Baden Classic in Austria. He won $1.6 million in tournaments in 2005 and is looking for his first cash in a major tournament in 2006. Antonius is currently the chipleader with over $554K. He won a few big pots including winning a coinflip when he busted Mark Seif. With the average stack about $154K, he's looking good at the end of Day three of the WPT Championships.

Here's the unofficial Top 10 Chipcounts at the end of Day 3 (courtesy of PokerWire):

1 Patrik Antonius $554,500
2 Greg Fondacaro $540,400
3 David Williams $497,500
4 Erick Lindgren $472,300
5 Shawn Buchanan $462,100
6 Brad "Yukon" Booth $443,200
7 Abdul Fadeyi $398,000
8 Vinny Vinh $391,800
9 Mimi Tran $367,300
10 Marc Durand $366,300

463 players began the third day and just 204 remain. The Fontana Room could not hold the entire field, so tables in the poker room had to be used for the majority of the day. Actor James Woods ended the day in the Top 15 in chips. Max Pescatori took the bad beat of the day when his A-A were cracked by Brad Berman's K-K after he caught a four flush.

WPT Championship Begins

The final event of the fourth season of the World Poker Tour started today at the Bellagio in the prestigious Fontana Room. Some of the best players in the world will be playing in the $25,000 buy in WPT Championship event, along with every winner on the WPT this year. The first round is broken into two flights with the first flight starting Monday and the second flight starting on Tuesday.

The big story surrounded Gavin Smith, who entered the event as the leader for WPT Player of the Year. The Grinder and Barry Greenstein trailed Smith in points and were his only competition. He needed a good showing to ensure the title. Sadly, Smith was busted out on the first day when his Hilton Sisters ran into Ray Davis' set of 7s.

Other noteworthy bustouts on day one included: Joe Sebok, Sammy Farha, David "The Dragon" Pham, Gus Hansen, Stuart "The Donator" Patterson, Robert Williamson, David Colclough, and JC Tran.

CBS Sports is the latest major television network to jump on the sport of tournament poker. PartyPoker.net and CBS Sports have partnered to produce the first annual Intercontinental Poker Championship. A Thursday evening meet and greet was followed with a blind draw for the 21 available seats. The Lounge at the Palms Hotel was filled with the invited professional poker players representing 21 countries. The evening was capped off with a photo op on the production set. Play in the double elimination format tournament begins tomorrow at 11:00 AM with 7 players making up table 1. Table 2 is scheduled for 4:00 PM and table 3 will begin at 7:30 PM so the action should last throughout the afternoon and probably into the late evening.

The loosers will return on Saturday and play a second time for an opportunity to join Friday's winners at the final table on Sunday. CBS Sports will be filming the entire show for later broadcast in a series of installments. This is a freeroll tournament offering the invited players an opportunity to collect some corporate prize money a welcomed bonus. Doyle Brunson will be representing the US. Daniel Negreanu will be carrying the Canadian flag and Carlos Mortensen is fronting for Spain. And all of them drew the same table #3.

The following list the table seat assignments.

Table 1
Seat 1-Eli Elizra, seat 2-Chris Bjorin, seat 3-Johnny Chan, seat 4-Thor Hansen, seat 5-Yosh Nakano, seat 6-Sam Farha, seat 7-Hasssan Habib

Table 2
Seat 1-Humberto brenes, Seat 2-Steve Wolff, Seat 3-David Benyamine, Seat 4-Refugio Quintero, Seat 5-Jimmy Cha, Seat 6-Chau Giang, Seat 7-Marco Traniello

Table 3
Seat 1-Antanas Gudga, Seat 2-Don O'Dea, Seat 3-Doyle Brunson, Seat 4-Daniel Negreanu, Seat 5-Ralph Perry, Seat 6-David Ulliott, Seat 7-Carlos Mortensen

The Intercontinental Poker Tournament has everything to required to stay the course and build the sport. The CBS Sports Network is a major plus bring their years of experience in producing sporting events plus deep pockets squared with the addition of PartyPoker.net.

Want a Lotus Elise exotic sports car just like the one the Venetian Resort offered as the prize in the winner-take-all inaugural poker tournament held as part of the grand opening celebrations for their new mega-poker room? Would you settle for a yellow one just like the machine that set outside the Venetian's poker room until driven away by tournament winner, Beatrice Stranzinger? How about if it's the very same Lotus?

Check out the auction on eBay for the Lotus Elise claimed by "Bea the Slayer" after she methodically knocked off former World Series of Poker Main Event Champion , Carlos Mortensen, in a classic come from way, way behind (down to 4 chips and a chair!) march to victory. Beatrice proved she is a contender even when playing poker with the big kids; but apparently, she has no plans to roar around Las Vegas in the exotic British bullet and we find the Lotus for sale on eBay.

In additional Las Vegas news how about the recent Rock, Paper, Scissors championship held at the House of Blues located in the Mandalay Bay Resort on the Las Vegas Strip? How can they crown a world champion of R-P-S without inviting the best players in the world? No where was there even one representative of the Tilt Boys, the original kings of Rock, Paper, Scissors, so how could this be an undisputed championship? Remember, the Tilt Boys, led by poker star Phil Gorden, have made R-P-S the mainstay when faced with a major life decision. Want to know why Phil decided to become a pro poker instead of his first choice of occupations, astronaut and all-around good ole boy? Then, look no further than R-P-S. He should have gone with paper instead of rock (research shows males are more prone to choose rock) and maybe he would be standing on the moon instead of sitting at a poker table. Holding a Rock, Paper, Scissors World Championship without inviting the Tilt Boys would be the equivalent of holding a Heads-Up Poker World Championship and not inviting Andy Beal. Unthinkable!

A few photos from the opening day of the Bellagio's Five Star poker classic. Amid the plush surroundings of the Fontana Room is the tournament poker room filled with players hoping to cash in this first event. Even with major east coast tournaments attracting many of the professsional players the event attracted 450 players and offered a winners share of $214,275 from the $654,750 prize pool.

A leisurely lunch stop at Noodles in the Bellagio Resort on the Las Vegas Strip, then a stroll through the glamorous trappings of a by-gone Wynn moment. A strip trip to check out the activities of Tuesday's first day single table satellites for the Bellagio's Five-Star World Poker Classic. For the next three weeks the Bellagio is the place to be for anyone into tournament poker. The world's top poker professionals, some damn good poker players, another group of novice hopefuls and the allotment of dead money are already gathering in town for the big-time poker event. The Fontana Room has once again morphed into the Bellagio's Five-Star Poker Tournament's five-star poker room that is supplemented by additional tables in the Bellagio's European-plush main poker room. An outdoor veranda with super views of the famous dancing fountains water and sound shows adds to the excitement of the events, also the only place most laptop aircards can get a signal so a favorite roost for the poker journalist.

A trip to the Bellagio isn't complete without a visit to the Dale Chihuly Glass sculpture, Fiori di Como, featured centerpiece art hanging from the ceiling of Bellagio's lobby, then into the adjacent Conservatory & Botanical Gardens. More Chihuly glass art assails the eye as huge, colorful springtime flowers have are in full bloom. The famous Banyan Tree takes up one end of the room after it was moved from Palm Beach, Florida and installed in the conservatory. Whimsical fountains form an archway for visitors to enjoying in their tour of this fantasy world. The gardens are one of the most photographed spots in all of Vegas and deservedly so, with the vibrant colors of the huge flowers, butterflies, dragonflies, birds and animals surrounded by thousands of live flowering plants and it all changes with the seasons.

The Bellagio is home to some world class shopping with names synonymous to a lifestyle of the mostly rich some famous beautiful people. Want a pair of thousand dollar denium hiphuggers? How about buying the girlfriend an estate diamond necklace for a mil, and if you really like her add the bracelet, earrings and ring for another 3 and a half mil to complete the set. A night you'll remember forever, guaranteed. Thinking about replacing the wardrobe with the latest spring fashions then the shops can have you looking like a million bucks as fast as you say, "Put it on my gold-pressed latinum express card." Lugging around all those shopping bags through the corridors of shops will make you hungry and there's no better place to be than the Bellagio for a meal; but, bring your visa card since most places are on the pricey side. The higher cost is directly related to the quality of the food and the overall dining experience, the Bellagio provides guest with some of the best cuisine and service in town, well worth the extra couple of bucks. How many coffee shops offer a faboulous chocolate raspberry dessert souffle that must be order first since they require more than half an hour prep time? Enough romancing the joint; but, it is one great place to cover a poker tournament, a favorite of the LasVegasVegas.com bunch.

Bellagio's Jack McClelland will once again be serving as the Tournament Director for the Five-Star events. Jack's the guy that invented poker TD's and is considered to be the best in the business. Jack provides the players and fans with a smooth operation and a well trained, professional staff. The Bellagio's elegant poker room has always been the player's favorite for cash games and the tournaments draw the best from all over the globe including a large number of well known European pro players making the journey to compete. The final event of the Five Star poker meet is the World Poker Tour $25,000+$500 No-Limit Hold'em Championship. Filmed for broadcast on the Travel Channel's WPT Series the event will crown the year's WPT Champion. More than 600 players are expected to enter this event making it the richest WPT purse offered to date. Defending 2005 WPT champion, Tuan Le, will be defending the title that paid him almost $3 million last year. He also won a WPT event in 2004 that paid more than $1.5 million making Tuan Le the highest money winner in WPT history.

I've provided a scheduled of events for your convenience when deciding what events you plan to play.

2006 Bellagio Five-Star Poker Classic Event Schedule
Wed Apr 05 No Limit Hold'em $1,500+$70
Thu Apr 06 No Limit Hold'em $2,000+$80
Fri Apr 07 No Limit Hold'em $2,500+$100
Sat Apr 08 No Limit Hold'em $3,000+$100
Sun Apr 09 No Limit Hold'em $5,000+$150
Mon Apr 10 No Limit Hold'em $1,500+$70
Tue Apr 11 No Limit Hold'em $2,000+$80
Wed Apr 12 No Limit Hold'em $2,500+$100
Thu Apr 13 No Limit Hold'em $3,000+$100
Fri Apr 14 No Limit Hold'em $5,000+$150
Sat Apr 15 SENIORS $2,500+$100
Sun Apr 16 SUPER SATELLITE $2,500+$100
Sun Apr 16 SENIORS DAY 2
Mon Apr 17 SUPER SATELLITE $2,500+$100
Mon Apr 17 SENIORS DAY 3
Tue-Mon
Apr18-24 WPT No Limit Hold'em Championship $25,000+$500

Note: All event winners receive a $25,000+$500 seat in the WPT Championship at the Bellagio in 2007.

Make plans now to become a participant in the making of some poker history. Get to Las Vegas and into one of the No-limit Hold'em events. Even if you don't win it's still a win since it got you to Vegas and you're handing out at one of the most elegant spots on earth and everywhere you look there is a gaggle of pro poker players, the very same people you see on TV, the super stars of the sport.

Just a reminder that Iggy set up the next WPBT WSOP Satellite! Hope to see you there. Gracie won the first one and she won a seat into a $1,500 WSOP event of her choice.

What: WPBT WSOP Satellite #2
When: Monday, April 3rd @ 9PM EST
Where: Poker Stars
Tournament #: 21868191 (see private tourney tab)
Buy-in: $30 +3
Format: NL freezeout
Password: socoshot
Restrictions: Bloggers only

A lot of noise is coming out of Washington lately above the evils of gaming, especially the online poker rooms where millions of people from around the world meet to enjoy a card game as old as the US. These highly refined public servants know what is best for you and ipoker is not one of the approved past times. Rep Goodlatte has introduced legislation that will require Internet Service Providers (ISP), upon orders from a court of law to remove hyperlinks to poker sites. Further, such mandates will require the ISPs to remove or disable any access to online sites that the US government deems a violator. The same control and censorship Russia practiced during the cold war when they would jam Radio Free America so their citizenry would not be subjected to the ideas of a free democracy, something the Russian government deemed morally wrong.

In a related DC rumor that says Rep Goodlatte, so sure he is right about this gambling thing, is laying 8-5 odds that his anti-poker, Internet censorship law will steamroll right over the house. He's even rumored to be offering up some prop bets for the vote on his bill-over/under, by party, by religion, lobbyist picks-you know, just a little good natured sweat bet stuff, nothing serious. This all seemed like a good thing to do with all those lawmakers worried they will have to regurgitate all of that Abramoff sway money. Getting rid of demon ipoker will help distance the lawmakers from the evil law-breaking cash-bloated lobbyist.

I continue hearing things out of Texas about the mighty-rights, the self-appointed keepers of the moral code are once again running all out to stamp out all of the evil, morally corrupting charity poker tournament playing. Poker blogger, poker player and fellow Texan, Dan Michalski, at pokerati.com, reports his first hand experiences in the Texas poker legality situation. Pokerati.com is the place to get all the latest developments of the continuing saga of the great state of Texas turning its poker loving citizens into criminals, one poker room at a time. My interest was piqued when I realized that even non-cash poker tournaments being used as a charity fundraiser for needy children are routinely squashed. Arrests, fines and possible imprisonment await those participating in a charity poker tournament in the Lone Star State. Raising money for even the best of charities is difficult work at best, but, many fundraisers have learned that the highly popular charity poker tournaments are a great way to raise money for a cause and then send everyone home happy. The needy kids stack a big pot while the real winners, the players, contribute money to a good cause and in exchange, they feel good about contributing; plus, a seat with a shot at winning the bragging rights of as a poker tournament champion. Apparently, you cannot do any of the above in Texas, without fear of reprisal from local law enforcement. There will be no poker tournaments for children's charities or any other charities. There will be no poker playing in Texas. So, why do we continue to call the game Texas Hold'em when Texans are forbidden to play Hold'em in Texas?

Tao of Poker's Dr. Pauly is in Los Angeles after getting an invite to the Playboy Mansion for the Urbane Health Institute charity poker event. He shares his experiences and CJ of UpforPoker provides a photo of himself with two of the bunnies.-FlipChip

Don't ask me how it happened, but I stumbled into the Playboy Mansion in Los Angeles, CA on Saturday night with seven random bloggers. It sounds like the punchline to a joke, but it really happened. Actor Don Cheadle went on to win a charity poker tournament at the Playboy Mansion in support of the Urban Health Institute (http://www.uhinstitute.org/). The tournament featured plenty of celebrities who participated in the tournament and silent auction. Also on hand were L.A. Lakers owner Jerry Buss, New York Yankees manager Joe Torre, Shannon Elizabeth, Kim Coles, Tara Reid, Kevin Wiseman, Oliver Hudson, Morris Chestnut, and Anthony Anderson.

The Playboy Mansion was also flooded with several of the top players in poker such as Erick Lindgren, Chad Brown, The Grinder, Gavin Smith, Daniel Negreanu, Mel Judah, Cyndy Violette, Amir Vahedi, Ted Forrest, Hoyt Corkins, Josh Arieh, Steve Dannenmann, John Phan, David Williams, and Jean Robert Bellande. Both John Caldwell from Poker News and Lacey Jones were also in attendance.

PokerRoom.com, held the final table of their "Become a Poker Pro Tournament" aboard the Royal Caribbean's Majesty of the Sea cruise ship during a three day cruise out of Miami to Nassua, Bahama with an outbound day stopover at CocoCay. Ten qualifiers from the online PokerRoom.com met around the final table for a live championship match offering a Quarter of a Million Dollars to the winner and a year of sponsorship in major poker tournaments around the world. Jim Davenport, an investment banker from Corona Del Mar, California, claimed the $250,000 when the final hand was dealt and his trip Aces ruled, giving him the win.

The championship round held on the cruise ship was the finale of the Become a Poker Pro Tournament. Last September thousands of entrants played at PokerRoom.com for one of the ten final table seats. If you are one of those players that didn't make the list of ten because of a horrific bad beat or maybe lady luck forgot you even exist, then this article is for you. Your journey by proxy to the PokerRoom.com's "Become a Poker Pro Championship" final table held on a luxury ship cruising around the Caribbean. We left the port of Miami mid-afternoon on Friday and sailed over night to CocoCay, a small Caribbean island owned by the ship company, Royal Caribbean International.

CocoCay was warm and sunny, very sunny. The "Become a Poker Pro Tournament" final table's ten players were scheduled to do an afternoon photo shoot on the island. A PokerRoom.com table was set up in the sand and grass on the beach with a panaoramic view of the brilliant blue waters of the Caribbean serving as the natural background. Unfortunately, little in the way of shade was available for the four hour event and when this lack of natural sun protection was combined with my lack of a hat, then add into the mix my lack of sun exposure (I'm always in front of computer screens managing a diverse, growing network...my life is mouse in one hand cell phone in the other.) and you have third degree sunburn...humbling. The PokerRoom.com group had a great time on the island with many of the entourage sampling the feel and look of the Caribbean for the first time. The small, low CocoCay is ideal to experience the vastness of the ocean while standing on terra firma. Waterscapes reaching to the horizon encircle you and the small spit of sand where you're standing...even more humbling.

An early evening departure and we are again cruising under a partly cloudy star filled sky, something we never see in Las Vegas. Another overnight run takes us into Nassua, the premier Caribbean tourist port and home to the spectacular Atlantis Resort and Casino. Luxurious accommodations in one of nature's most plush tropical settings pushed the Atlantis Resort beyond what I expected. I come from the city with the world record for 'A' list destination resorts, Las Vegas, so I found the Atlantis Resort to be equal to the best. Tall twin towers are skybridged together and present a striking silhouette high above the luxurious tropical grounds surrounding the huge property. Inside, the look is even more Vegas with some very distinctive glass art sculptures from the studios of Dale Chihuly. Dale is the International artist and master art glass blower that did the world acclaimed Fiori di Como, a colorful garden of blossoms formed from 2000 hand blown glass flowers serving as the central ceiling of the Bellagio's lobby. The Atlantis Resort in Nassua commissioned Chihuly to produce artworks including two large centerpieces of glass art for their resort and he created the Temple of the Sun and the Temple of the Moon. I immediately recognized the Chihuly artistic signature, even from afar, of the two room-size works of art. Chuhuly's distinctive style of glass art has no equal. So, what can a resort like the Atlantis, one that has everything in abundance, not have? It has a luxurious Casino, gourmet restaurants, yacht parking, world class accommodations, elite shopping, museum-class art, beach front private luxury apartments, perfectly manicured tropical grounds, world class spa, simply too many things to list; but, you can't play live poker at the Atlantis. The one thing atlantis doesn't have is a poker room.

The day in Nassua restored my faith in my ability to deal with street vendors and shop merchants. My day in Nassua was also a relaxing, enjoyable handful of hours in tropical paradise, mon. Hanging with the PokerRoom.com crowd gave me the opportunity to spend time with some of the ten players qualified to play in this championship round of the Become a Poker Pro Tournament. Most had not played a major money tournament, especially a live table, before making this BAPP Tournament final table. One of the players definitely did not belong in the live tournament newbie category, Dragon2. Dragon2 is well known around Internet Poker Rooms and PokerRoom.com. A seasoned online specialist that also plays a mean live tournament game. Dragon2, aka Jack Arnold of Tulsa, Oklahoma, made it to the featured TV table at the 2004 WSOP main event on the first day. You can see him on ESPN in episode 1 of the 10 episodes of the 2004 main event. Jack's bad beat was so bad it was featured in the 2005 WSOP "The Nuts" segment on bad beats. I had an opportunity to tape an interview with Jack. Another high profile PokerRoom.com player, MarvinGarden, made the BAPP championship round along with arttu5, Arttu Poikolainen of Helsinki, Finland, winner of Grand Tournament 1.

Jim Davenport is a 25 year old investment banker that comes from the Newport Beach area of greater Los Angeles. He, along with the other nine final table players, made it into the Become a Poker Pro tournament when PokerRoom.com held a freeroll tournament last September for the online poker room's top players. The cards went into the air at Noon on Sunday at the final table located in the casino on the Majesty of the Sea. The eliminations continued throughout the afternoon and early evening while the ship sailed on into the night for Miami. Jim won the tournament when he called an all-in with an A,Q offsuit and caught an Ace on the flop, another Ace on the turn gave him the winning top set.

Jim Davenport, screen name JDtrojan3, will now compete for a year in major poker tournaments under the sponsorship of PokerRoom.com. The $250,000 package includes a buy-in in the 2006 WSOP Main Event, WPT Championships, WSOP Circuit events and European Poker Tour events as he lives the life of a poker professional traveling the major tournament circuit playing with the best poker players in the game while traveling the world. Congratulations to Jim for his victory in the inaugural Become a Poker Pro Tournament. PokerRoom.com did a terrific job of hosting this event aboard the luxury ocean liner, Caribbean International's Majesty of the Sea. A great time was had by all of the players, fans and friends that spent three marvelous days cruising the Caribbean, relaxing, partying, eating, tanning, talking poker and playing poker.

A complete list of the Become a Poker Pro Tournaments ten championship round finalist with hometowns, screen names and finish in the Championship round.

Seat #1: Arttu Poikolainen, Helsinki, Finland, arttu...9th place
Seat #2: Dustin Goff, Aspen, Colorado, HustlerPoke...4th place
Seat #3: Bill Pero, Bridgewater, Massachusetts, BillyBluff13...2nd place
Seat #4: Christropher Birchby, Las Angeles, California, MarvinGardens...10th place
Seat #5: Jack Arnold, Tulsa, Oklahoma, Dragon2...7th place
Seat #6: Jim Davenport, Corona Del Mar, California, JDtrojan3...Champion
Seat #7: Kyle Morse, Abingdon, Maryland, KMO2...6th place
Seat #8: John Wachter, Takoma Park, Maryland, mdjohnny...5th place
Seat #9: Robert Zack, Matuchen, New Jersey, mav98911...8th place
Seat #10: Ryan Rufe, Parma, Ohio, rufebert...3rd place

Poker players looking for one of the best online poker rooms with great promos and specials running continuously should check out PokerRoom.com. Maybe I'll be interviewing you at next year's Become a Poker Pro Tournament final table aboard a luxurious Royal Caribbean ship cruising the beautiful Caribbean. The first step to becoming a Poker Professional on the world's major tournament circuit begins at PokerRoom.com, your online poker home. I'll be closely watching the 2006 Become a Poker Pro Tournament Champion, Jim Davenport, when he's in Las Vegas this August for the 2006 World Series of Poker Main Event, make this final table and you become one of poker's millionaires, maybe even a multi-millionaire. World Poker Tour stops in Las Vegas add even more opportunities for Jim to gain poker wealth and stardom.

Two major poker tournaments are on their way to Las Vegas for an April 5 start of the Bellagio Five Star World Poker Classic that continues through April 26. Two days later on April 28, the World Series of Poker Circuit stops at the new poker facility at Caesars Palace. This kind of scheduling makes it easy for the poker party to continue almost uninterrupted next door at Caesars Palace for more major tournament poker action through May 11. This kind of marathon scheduling will make April a most interesting month in Las Vegas.

The WPT sanctioned final event at the Bellagio runs April 18-24 and it is the big one. This is the WPT Championship Event for the season. The buy-in is $25,500 with upwards of 600 entrants expected to enter. The prize pool could easily top out at $15 million or more. All the greats of the game will be at the Bellagio for this special event. Last year's champion, Tuan Le, will be on hand to defend his title along with most of the pro poker crowd. The event is expected to set a new prize pool and pay out record with the winner receiving more than three million dollars. It could be you hauling out the big bucks and poker's newest star player; but, you'll have to show up at the Bellagio with the $25.5K ticket in hand and take your seat.

The World Series of Poker Circuit will be the first major poker tournament for the new Caesars Palace Poker facility. I know the NBC Heads-Up national Championship was major nut it was also by invitation and limited to 64 entrants. The WSOP Circuit events will draw thousands of poker playing hopefuls. The final event of the tournament is a WSOP trademark $10,000 buy-in No-limit Hold'em Championship. This is the inaugural for this WSOPC series stop at Caesars Palace and I'm looking forward to hanging out at the state-of-the-art tournament poker facility located center strip. This is another warm up for the coming 2006 WSOP at the Rio Resort. Rumors are floating about that additional first day tables for the main event could be set up at the Caesars poker facility has the potential to push the increase the number of entrants higher than the currently assumed 8800 cap.

Happy Friday

The Jeff Gordon Foundation Poker Classic ended Wednesday evening with Mike Sugg facing Ali Nejad for the championship and the $17,500 first place money. The match ended when Ali went all-in after losing most of his chips and the lead to Mike. Ali showed a 8,9 of diamonds and was called with Mike holding an A,5 off suit. The flop four flushed Ali, but the turn was a black Ace giving Mike the lead and Ali only left with a diamond out. The river was red, but it was a heart. Mike Sugg had defeated Ali Nejad. Ali Nejad was the MC for the NBC National Heads-Up that just concluded at Caesars.

The matched ended early this evening after an early 10:00 AM start. The sole female to make the final table was Anna Bravo leaving in seventh place. Chris Moneymaker made the final table and finished in fifth. The tournament offered a prize pool of $51,000. The Nascar people are in town for the Sam's Town 300 on Saturday and the Chrysler Diamler 400 on Sunday. The race crowd jams Las Vegas with gamblers, people wearing hats and acres of multi-colored leather, motor homes, 200,000 faithful race fans, and the worst traffic jams of the year. It's a wonderful time to be in Las Vegas and even more so if you are a poker player. The race people are hard partying types that love to play cards, keeping the poker rooms filled for the entire week of NASCAR. The premier Las Vegas Motor Speedway becomes the center of attention during the day while the neon glitter of the Las Vegas strip rules the nights.

The weather is not cooperating with the Chamber of Commerce and we may have one of the coolest days of the winter Sunday with the high not even making fifty. It could also rain and delay the race for a day keeping the crowd in town through Monday guaranteeing crowded poker rooms and pockets filled with dead money. During the large events the scheduled daily tournaments are especially lucrative for the solid tournament players. A great time for a road trip to Vegas. Come anytime, we never close.

Check out the Poker Prof's photo gallery from the PokerRoom.com Bahama cruise.

Caesars Palace is once again the setting for a major poker tournament, the 2006 Jeff Gordon Foundation Poker Classic. The tournament was scheduled to begin on Tuesday, but was moved to today. The festivities got underway with a red carpet introduction of NASCAR drivers, sports stars and professional poker players. Jeff was joined in the Caesars Place tournament poker area by Tony Stewart, Robbie Gordon, Scotty Nguyen, Chrtis Moneymaker, Chris "Jesus" Ferguson, Robert Williamson III, Steve Dannenmann, George Rogers, Samantha Cole and Harry Morton along with many others for a No-limit Hold'em tournament to benefit the Jeff Gordon Charity Foundation.

The table winners in the shoot-out style tournament will combine into a final table at 6:00 this evening to determine the champion of the event. The crowds were lining the rails and the red carpet, even at the early hour of 10:00 AM (Remember, this is Las Vegas and 10 in the morning is damn early unless you stayed up all night). Professional players remaining at mid-afternoon are Chris Moneymaker, Steve Dannenmann and Chris Ferguson. Jeff Gordon was eliminated after a good showing while the 1998 WSOP Main Event Champion, Scotty Nguyen, was one of the first players to leave when his all-in pocket Kings were defeated by an Ace on the turn for pocket Aces and it was a quick exit for Scotty.

More Photos and details from the final table later this eventing.

Ted Forrest is the 2006 NBC national Heads-Up Poker Champion. Overcoming a loss in the first of three games with Chris "Jesus" Ferguson Ted used the break between games to collect himself and he apparently did that quite well since he got runner, runner wins to take the championship. This is Chris Ferguson's second time to be runner-up, in 2005 he finished second to Phil Hellmuth.

The tournament ran late, almost fifteen hours long, and finished at 1:30 this morning. Sam Farha and Ted Forrest battled for almost four hours in their semifinal match before Forrest finally eliminated Farha and advanced to the semifinal round where he faced Sean Sheikhan. The match with Sean didn't require the long hours of the previous duel but it was another come from behind win for the eventual champion. Three and a half hours were required for the final table play between Ted Forrest and Chis Ferguson. Chis took the early lead when he won the first match after getting down to only 125,000 in chips to Ted's over a million (each player begin the match with 640,000 in chips). It was just another marathon day of big-time tournament poker, and you thought your work day was tough. Ted had to play three matches (really 5, the championship round is 3) today to earn a half million dollars and the National Heads-Up Poker Championship trophy. Congratulations to Ted Forrest for another major poker tournament championship.

The stage is set for the crowning of a champion at the 2nd Annual NBC National Heads-Up Poker Championship. Caesars Palace and NBC have teamed to produce a dazzling poker show from the poker capitol of the universe, Las Vegas. Beginning with a match-Up Draw Party meet and greet, then moving to the large production stage set up in the Tournament Poker Room at Caesars Palace, this event has been a first class affair for players and fans. The elite of the professional poker world is in Las Vegas for this tournament. NBC will broadcast the national Heads-Up Poker Championship tournament in a series of six installments beginning Sunday April 16.

The structure of the tournament follows the college basketball's national championship format, 64 starting players going heads-up in single elimination match-ups. The players were assigned, by random drawing, to four brackets-Clubs, Spades, Hearts and Diamonds and must win their backet then the color division matches to make the final table. The final table is a best-of-three No-Limit Hold'em match-up between the Clubs/Spades bracket winner (black) and the Hearts/Diamonds bracket winner (red).

The blacks play at 11:00 AM Monday with the following two match-ups:

The reds are scheduled to play at 12:50 PM, but actual start time is dependent upon the completion of the earlier match-ups. The two match-ups:

The Final Four advances to play the semi-final round and then the red and black winners will meet for the 2006 NBC National Heads-Up Poker Championship. This group of professional poker’s elite is playing for some of the $1.5 million prize money.

The prize pool payout:

$500,000..Champion
$250,000..2nd place
$125,000..semifinalist (winners of four matches)
$75,000...quarterfinalists (winners of three matches)
$25,000...round of sixteen (winners of two matches)

I am favoring Daniel to top this list. All of his heads-up experience from the Wynn gig has to be a deep well to draw from. Everyone in this group is capable of winning it all. Huck Seed, Barry Greenstein, Ted Forrest, Sam Farha, Sean Sheikhan, Jim McManus and last year's runner-up, Chris Ferguson.

Professional poker player Paul Phillips was matched with 2005 WSOP Champion, Jennifer Tilly, for the first round of the National Heads-Up Poker Championship. Paul donned a grey hooded sweatshirt and danced around shadow boxing, doing push-ups and levitating, ala Phil "Unabomber" Laak (well maybe not the levitating part), while waiting for the final board of the all-in that took Jennifer's chips. Wonder if maybe Paul got a magic sweatshirt from the magician guy, Antonio Esfandiari. Watch the Heads-Up Tournament on NBC beginning April 16 as I'm sure this will be shown...it got the day's best crowd reaction. The NBC Poker Series has been expanded to six installments that run every Sunday from April 16 through May 21, when the best of three matches determine the 2006 Champion. The road to the 2006 National Heads-Up Championship ends at Caesars Palace in Las Vegas on Monday.

Paul was victorious on this day and moves on to face Ernie Dureck on Sunday. Phil "the real Unabomber" Laak also won, defeating Gavin Smith to advance to Sunday's second round where he will face off with veteran TJ Cloutier. Should Phil Laak win his Heart flight and Paul wins his Diamond flight, then the two would meet in round four playing for a final four berth. Will they both wear hooded sweatshirts giving the match the feel of a face-off between two minor Grim Reapers (major Grim Reapers carry a scythe). Defending 2005 Heads-Up Champion, Phil Hellmuth, was eliminated by Chip Reese who goes against the 2005 Heads-Up runner-up, Chris "Jesus" Ferguson, on Sunday. NBC Poker at its best.

Thanks Paul for providing the best entertainment seen on Saturday. The crowd loved it. I wonder what you'll do on Sunday?

Friday night in Las Vegas and Caesars Palace is hosting one of poker's most prestigious events, the Second Annual National Heads-Up Poker Championship, in their new poker room. A select group of 64 players, all known professionals except for a couple of Caesars Palace Poker Room qualifiers and one Internet player that had to outlast a field of thirty thousand other players to win his $20,000 seat in this tough toe-to-toe competition, and he's twenty-one.

A meet and greet with finger foods and an open bar opened the 2006 Heads-Up Championship and the room was crowded with the who's who of poker. You could start a jewelry store chain with the inventory of WSOP bracelets this crowd owns, 29 bracelets between Chan, Brunson and Hellmuth, and we have many more players with bracelets.

The crowd was a star studded mix with actors Woods, Jennifer Tilly and Gabe Kaplan plus poker's superstars including Doyle Brunson, Phil Hellmuth, Johnny Chan, Greg Raymer, Scotty Nguyen, Chris Ferguson, T.J. Cloutier, Mike Matusow, Daniel Negreanu, Phil Laak, Chris Moneymaker, Men Nguyen, Jennifer Harman, Cyndy Violette, Antonio Esfandiari, Freddy Deeb, Huck Seed, Evelyn Ng and many more. The drawing for the first round pairs was held after the party. The players were paired up in 4 groups of 16 each. The eliminations will begin Saturday morning at 11:00 AM. I am providing some images from Friday night's gala event.

Friday is here and so is the first day of elimination for the NBC Heads Up Championship at Caesars Palace. This major poker tournament is limited to 64 players including many of the top professionals. The organization of the event and the subsequent elimination rounds are patterned after the college basketball championship.

Last year's winner, Phil "the Brat" Hellmuth, will be defending his title in the second annual installment of this very popular event. In 2005 we remember watching Phil Hellmuth come back from the brink of disaster to take the title and force Chris "Jesus" Ferguson to accept being the first runner up. Who can forget the match between Jerry Buss and Daniel Negreanu or Mike Caro and Scotty Nguyen? The setting in 2005 was up-close and exciting. NBC sports filmed the namesake tournament for national broadcast and apparently they liked the rating returns so much they decided to do it again this year. This year's venue is the recently opened Caesars Palace tournament room located adjacent to the Poker Room. The Poker Room is located in the sports book area.

I covered the Nicky Hilton New Year's Celeb/Pro event and working the plush, spacious room is a pleasure for players, fans and media.

The event is scheduled for broadcast on NBC beginning on Sunday, April 16, 2006 at Noon ET. The six episode series will run in the same Noon timeslot on Sunday. This series provides some great exposure for the sport of poker and will be one of the most watched of televised poker tournaments. I will be there for the three days the tournament is scheduled to run.

Most of the tournament poker action has moved south to Los Angeles for the LA Poker Classic at the Commerce Casino. All of the action from the $10,000 buy-in WPT Championship event is being closely watched, recorded and reported by our favorite poker writer, Dr. Pauly. Did I mention that Pauly also plays the game and plays it well? He made the final table at the 2005 WSOP Media Event and collected some money for his charity of choice. On Wednesday he added another final table appearance with a third place finish to collect in the LA Poker Classic Media Event. For a real treat read Dr. Pauly's postings direct from the LA Poker Classic. Visit with poker's premier writer anytime at Tao of Poker.com for a fix of unfiltered, often gritty Pauly views of the players, places, politics, philosophies, booze, blogs, boozers, bloggers and of course, the music. The online poker experience is not complete without Dr. Pauly.

The old Bourbon Street Casino location on Flamingo Avenue just east of the Las Vegas strip is now a vacant lot with a pile of rubble after the vacant structure was imploded Tuesday morning. The latest victim of the Las Vegas perpetual renewal machine disappeared when 179 pounds of high explosives reclaimed the property.

Las Vegas is talking about the charge being led by the city's top lawman, Sheriff Bill Young, to ban gangstra rap music from performing on the Las Vegas Casino scene due to the apparent violence these performances attract. The Sheriff's efforts gained momentum when a Las Vegas heavyweight in the person of Steve Wynn publicly weighed in, agreeing with the Sheriff that gangstra rap has no place within the Las Vegas Resort entertainment business. The ACLU said the Las Vegas lawman was playing with gun fire on this one.

A rumor heard on the strip says the Aladdin Resort is looking for a new poker head honcho after the purported exit of Edna Dalton. The story goes that Edna was expected to staff her operation with no-poker-experience managers and she wisely refused. The Venetian poker room has yet to open.

Dr. Pauley From Tao of Poker is live blogging the WPT Borgata Winter Open poker tournament. Click on over to read his best-of-the-web live blog tournament reporting direct from the Borgata in Atlantic City and take a look as his photos direct from the tournament floor. The action begins at 11:00 AM EST.-Flipchip

Congratulations are in order for Ryan from Absinthe's Troubles for his $113,583 first place win in event #1 of the LA Poker Classic now playing at the Commerce Casino in Los Angeles.

The Poker Prof and I have spent the last three days preoccupied with the Beat the Pros Tournament at the Las Vegas Gold Coast Hotel & Casino. I've included a selection of images from the Beat the Pros three days of poker tournaments available below in the continue reading section. Complete results from the first two events are available on PokerPlayerNewspaper.com.

Nolan dalla, WSOP Media Director and author, sent his report from the World Poker Open at the Gold Strike Casino in Tunica, Mississippi. The complete report appears below from one of my favorite poker authors and probably the most knowledgeable tournament poker historian on the planet. Nolan chronicled the tragic life of the greatest poker player of all times, Stu Unger. The book titled One of a Kind : The Rise and Fall of Stuey "The Kid" Ungar, The World's Greatest Poker Player makes for a great, if emotional read. I remember seeing Stuey hanging out at the Horseshoe and I was there the day he won his third WSOP championship outside in the heat under the canopy.

I added the hyperlinks and photos to the article.

2006 World Poker Open
Gold Strike Casino Resort Tunica, Mississippi
Official Report

Day Two
No-Limit Hold'em
Buy-In: $10,000 (+200)
Number of Entries: 327
Number of Players Remaining: 52
Total Prize Money: $3,171,900

Gavin Smith Dominating World Poker Open After Day Two

Former WPT winner and tournament pro leads with nearly 400,000 in chips with 52 players remaining

For the seventh straight year, Tunica, Mississippi evolved into the center of the poker universe as the World Poker Open returned to the Gold Strike Casino-Resort. After two consecutive weeks of preliminary tournaments, satellites, and cash games, Tunica's crown jewel--the $10,000 buy-in championship event--began with 327 players and a prize pool exceeding $3 million.

"The World Poker Open has become the second-largest poker tournament in the world," said Robin Fisackerly, Poker Room Manager and Tournament Coordinator at the Gold Strike Casino-Resort. "I believe this is because we have established a great tradition here in Tunica. We treat our poker players like they are specia...because they are. People attend this tournament from all over the world and we want to make sure we make it worthwhile for them to keep coming back year after year."

Indeed, Tunica is noted not only for being one of the largest casino markets in the United States. It has also become the center of poker action in the South. With 76 poker tables filled to capacity, limit, pot-limit, and no-limit games run virtually around the clock. But for the next three days and nights, all eyes will be focused on the World Poker Open main event, featured as part of the highly-successful World Poker Tour to be broadcast later on The Travel Channel.

At the end of Day Two, the chip leader is Gavin Smith. The former Canadian who now lives in Las Vegas has become a familiar face on the World Poker Tour. He has finished high in several major tournaments over the past two years and won a $1 million first prize at the Mirage (Las Vegas) in 2005. Smith started the day second in the chip count. However, it took only a few hours on Day Two for Smith to establish his dominance in this event and seize the chip lead, becoming the first player to rocket above the 300,000 mark. Now guaranteed an in-the-money finish, it remains to be seen of Smith's momentum will continue; or will the winds of change blow and end his dream of winning another huge prize and becoming one of a small elite group of players to win two WPT events.

Smith sat down to an interview and gave his thoughts about the World Poker Open and his ultimate chances for victory:

Question: You have been the chip leader in this tournament most of the day. What has the competition been like?

Smith: It's been pretty good. I had a tough table the last few hours, with 'The Grinder' (Michael Mizrachi) on my left. But we both managed to move up in chips and did not tangle much. I was very fortunate. I had lots of people push in chips with me. I'm not the easiest guy to bluff. I made a few big calls and everything is going well so far.

Question: Let's talk more about having the two biggest stacks in the tournament not only at the same table, but side by side. That is highly unusual, with 80 or so player left. How did that affect your strategy?

Smith: I really thought we were going to play some pots (together). Since I had him outchipped, I could normally dictate when we were going to play a big pot. I had the luxury of knowing I could bust him, but he could not bust me. But since he had position on me, he was able to have some control. If Grinder had decided we were going to do some gambling, then I was ready to do some gambling (with him). But for the most part, Grinder played in a fashion that indicated he did not want to play any big pots with me. When he had big hands, he made big raises. He didn't try to suck me in. He only got one pot off me, worth about 50,000, when I called him down when I thought he was bluffing. But he won. Other than that, we did not tangle much.

Question: One thing that is striking about your composure is that you always seem to be smiling at the table. You never let your emotions get out of control. How do you maintain such a positive attitude?

Smith: I try to have fun no matter what I do. I like playing poker. That's what it is all about. I just want to have fun when I play.

Question: You are the chip leader. How does that affect your strategy for tomorrow?

Smith: It's really not going to affect me at all. I am pretty much going to play the same way I have played so far. I plan on putting people to some decisions. That's how you build a stack.

Question: Do you think there is more pressure on you going into the final stages of the tournament with the chip lead, since your expectations might be higher?

Smith: I do not think there is any more pressure, because I put a lot of pressure on myself to win. Whenever I go to a final table, I think I am the favorite. I don't care what the chip count is. I'm always disappointed to lose. I do think there are higher expectations from other people when you in this spot. But in terms of internal pressure, I do not think there is any more (because of the chip lead).

Question: You have been in this spot before. Do you think it is more difficult to win that first big tournament, or win a second or third and maintain a high level of play once you've achieved your first victory?

Smith: I think it is tough no matter what. It's always tough to break through for the first time. I knocked on the door a lot of times before it opened. So, I guess I would say winning the first one is toughest. Also, after you win your first one, you get a lot more respect from people. They tend to give you more walks in your blinds. They tend to respect your raises more. They do not want to tangle up with you as much, because they know you have won before.

Question: There are many talented players left in this field. Who do you like besides yourself to make it to the final table?

Smith: There are a lot of great players left. Chris Bell, The Grinder, and others...these are players who are very dangerous. Scotty (Nguyen) has chips and he is always a threat. I predict we will see a lot of big names late in the tournament and the final table will be something for everyone to watch.

On Day Three--play resumes at 12 noon CST.

Gold Strike Poker Room Manager...Robin Fisackerly
Tournament Director...John Nieznanski
Director of Poker Operations...Ken Lambert

The Beat the Pros Tournament staged the first event at the Gold Coast Casino in Las Vegas. The four day event is sponsored by Poker Player Newspaper, the definitive poker news source. Thursday's event #1 was a $60 + $10 buy-in No-limit Hold'em tournament that attracted 181 entrants. The prize pool received an added bonus of $1,000 added and paid 20 places with the winner receiving $3,400, an engraved glass trophy plus an entry into Sunday's $15,000 free roll tournament.

Day #2 of the three day event is another $60 + $10 buy-in No-limit Hold'em tournament that begins at 6:00 PM in the convention facility on the second floor. This event offers one $50 rebuy the first hour and the prize pool will also have $1,000 added so players are receiving good value for their buy-in money. Head on over to the Gold Coast and sign up for the event. As the tournament name "Beat the Pros" implies, the crowd is seeded with guest pros that all have a bounty. Eliminate one of the marked players and receive an entry into Sunday's $15,000 freeroll tournament.

The third day of the event on Saturday is a $100 + $20 buy-in No-limit Hold'em contest with one $100 rebuy offered during the first hour of play. $1,500 is added to the prize pool making this event another good return for the small buy-in. Saturday's event #3 will get under way at 4:00 PM. The winner of the Saturday event will receive cash, a trophy and an entry into the Sunday freeroll. Selected pros will be playing in each of the events all will carry a bounty. Beat one of the pros and get an entry into the $15,000 freeroll no-limit tournament that is scheduled for Sunday. Complete details are available at the Gold Coast Poker Room or by calling by calling the poker room at 702.367.7111.

Plenty of time remains to plan and play in the Gold Coast Poker Room's "Beat the Pros" Tournament scheduled for January 19-22, 2006. The tournament is sponsored by Poker Player Newspaper and offers three nights of tournaments preceding the special $15,000 Free Roll No-limit Hold'em final event at Noon on Sunday the 22nd for qualified players.

Three nights of Beat the Pros events featuring WSOP Champion and publisher Stanley Sludikoff, poker journalist and author Debbie Burkhead, poker columnist George Epstein, Aussie Millions Tournament champion Peter "the Poet" Costa, are currently scheduled to compete with more players to be named. This series of low dollar buy-in tournaments that will include proven professional talent is a great and inexpensive opportunity for all players to gain valuable "live in Las Vegas" No-limit Hold'em tournament experience. Each of the first three events have a rare money added prize pool making the tournaments even more attractive plus the $15K FreeRoll final event for qualified players makes this one a must do.

The "Beat the Pros" Tournament is structured and scheduled as follows:

Event #1 at 6:00 PM on Thursday, January 19th, a $60 +$10 buy-in (no rebuy) No-limit Hold'em contest. The prize pool is sweetened by a $1,000 added bonus so good value for your $70 investment.

Event #2 scheduled for 6:00 PM on Friday the 20th is a replay of the first with one added option, one $50 rebuy. This tournament also offers an enriched prize pool with $1,000 added.

Event #3 gets underway at 4:00 PM on Saturday the 21st, another No-limit Hold'em tournament with a $100 +$20 Buy-in and one optional $100 rebuy. The prize pool gets $1,500 added money.

Players can qualify for the $15K Sunday Free Roll Final Event via three options...

1. Play in all three of the scheduled events.

2. Collect a bounty by eliminating one of the tagged players.

3. Play 50 hours in the Gold Coast poker room ( qualifying period ends today so no chance).

The number of players qualified through the fifty hours of play will be posted in the Gold Coast poker room on January 15th. Complete tournament details are available by calling the poker room at 702.367.7111.

The dates for the Heavyweight Championship of Poker have changed to December 18-23, 2006 at sam's Town Hotel & Gambling Hall in Las Vegas.."-FlipChip

The Heavyweight Championship of Poker (HPC) has found a home at Sam's Town Hotel & Gambling Hall on the Boulder Strip in Las Vegas. Stanley R. Sludikoff, Editor & Publisher of Poker Player, officially announced the signing of the contract in the current issue of Poker Player (vol. 9 number 14 January 9, 2006). The tournament will be the highest buy-in poker event ever offered in a scheduled, open poker tournament. Entrants will have to pony up $100,000 to play in this tournament. The first HCP has been scheduled for April 5,6,7 and 8, 2006. Super satellites will be held on April 3rd and 4th. All of the action and final table will be filmed for later broadcast on national television.

The event will limit the entrants to 100 and approximately 40 seats will be available for direct buy-in while the remainder of entrants will win their way into the event from scheduled satellites held around the country. Many of the direct buy-in seats are already filled with professional poker players but some slots are available. Interested players can contact Stanley Sludikoff direct at 310.674.3365 (e-mail: srs@gamblingtimes.com) or contact Jerry Reed at 650.327.4810 (e-mail: jr105@sbcglobal.net). E-mail is the preferred method of contact as it will provide a time stamp of your contact for the limited seats. Casinos interested in staging satellites for this event should contact Stanley or Jerry direct.

The first annual Heavyweight Championship of Poker has been formatted along the lines of professional boxing and will require the champion, after the first three months of winning the title, to defend the HCP title once every thirty days in a heads-up contest against players that put-up the $1,120,000 challenge fee. The winner of a challenge match will take away the $2 million purse and the loser will receive a buy-in in the next annual HCP event. Another interesting note for this tournament will be those players winning their way into the championship event via a satellite will share 32% of their winnings, 5% will got to the casino that staged the satellite and 27% will be divided equally among the nine other players at the satellite's final table. Additionally, satellite winners will be required to wear the logo of the sponsoring casino. Direct buy-in players can wear one logo of their choice. More details as they become available.

The tournament will be under the direction of veteran Poker Tournament Director, Dick Gatewood. Dick is the Manager of Poker operations at Sam's Town and has many years in the poker industry. He brings a level of professional expertise commensurate with the status of this exciting event. The prize pool will be $10,000,000 with the winner receiving $5,000,000 of which $1,000,000 will be held in escrow for the heads-up challenge matches.

Shannon Elizabeth wins the first ever Nicky Hilton Caesars Palace New Years Eve poker tournament. Outlasting all the top name pros and watching the celebrities and walk-ons fall aside, Shannon left little doubt she was the champion this day. Photos of the tournament plus some bonus ones of the Vegas midnight fireworks have been added to the photo gallery.

Shannon is no stranger to major poker tournament play, having entered events in the Rio's 2005 WSOP including the main event, where she lasted past the brutal first day. The actress and producer is a serious tournament poker player, probably as a result of her Texas origin. Shannon is a native Texan, born in Houston, an area that has produced many accomplished actors and even more accomplished gamblers...especially high-dollar poker players, so no surprise she can play. Howard Hughes was another gambler/movie mogul born in Houston.

Half of the new tournament poker room at Caesars Palace was cordoned off for the players, dealers, fans, media, well-wishers, friends, one of the Hilton sisters, actress Jennifer Tilly, friends of Nicky Hilton, bodyguards and the generally curious. The 92 players in the tournament included an 'A' list of poker professionals attracted mostly to the exposure and fun, the event being a part of Nicky Hilton'[s New Years Eve party at Caesars' Pure Nightclub. The event offered an approximate $120,000 prize pool.

The tournament was officially named the Nicky Hilton & Kevin Connolly host a New Year's Eve Poker Tournament. At least, that was the name on the glossy flyer. The tournament got under way about a quarter past eleven Saturday morning, kind of early for some of the nocturnal poker pros. They often play through the night, so some of them had come to this tournament after playing all-night in a cash game, no sleep. The tournament was under the direction of Caesars Palace Tournament Director, Paul Lord, present on the floor to referee the tables and keep the tournament moving. The ego-enriched crowd full of New Year's holiday cheer remained docile, reserved and often strangly quiet, probably a result of the early hour. Even the crowd of camera toting onlookers was unusually hushed. The tournament ran smoothly from start to final hand, a tribute to the professional staff of the poker room at Caesars Palace.

Tournament namesake, Nicky Hilton, has apparently been exposed to some poker lessons. She played for more than two hours outlasting many of the pros that started the contest. Maybe its a result of her lineage from great-grandfather and the Hilton Hotel empire founder, Conrad Hilton. He was born in San Antonio, New Mexico (just south of Socorro, New Mexico) and it has long been rumored around New Mexico that her great grandfather was a skilled poker player.

The pro player community included 2005 World Series of Poker Tournament of Champions winner Mike Matusow experiencing a New Years Eve card mugging, then walking away after not winning a race. Layne Flack, Jim Miller, David Williams, Evelyn Ng, Chip Jett, John Phan, Scott Fischman, Antonio Esfandiari and Cyndy Violette playing in the tournament. One by one the players were eliminated, then Shannon Elizabeth won the last all-in of the tournament and was crowned the champion of the Nicky Hilton New Years Eve Poker Tournament.

I cover many of the major tournaments including WPT Championships and all the events of the WSOP. One of the differences I noticed with this crowd was the steady stream of catered service food coming to the tables, some of which was nibbled, then forgotten. This is something I don't see much of at the major tournaments. Food is delivered to players but it is always consumed by someone. The tournament was a great test for the new Caesars Palace Poker Room and they get high marks. I thought it a fitting event for the opening the poker room after a sixteen year absence of live poker at Caesars Palace.

The World Series of Poker Tournament of Champions will be broadcast on Saturday, December 24, 2005, beginning at 1:00 PM PST on ESPN. Three hours of some of the best tournament poker played this year. This one has everything including the Mouth, Mike Matusow and the Brat, Phil Hellmuth. The invitations went out to qualified poker players that had already won championships in the WSOP's series of tournaments. The list of entrants is a who's who of professional poker players. The WSOP TOC crowns a champion of champions and is one of poker's most coveted awards.

I've covered many tournaments this past year and this one was the most exciting and well attended. The all-star list of 119 players insured some great poker from the sports great players. The grand ole master of poker, Doyle Brunson, was in the crowd and finished on the final table bubble. The audience really got into the final table and no one left the standing room only final table held at Caesar's Palace over three days with the final table played on November 9th. Our complete final table wrap up is available here. Photos from the event are available in our TOC Photo Gallery. A complete list of money finishers in the 2005 WSOP Tournament of Champions is available at PokerPlayerNewspaper.com.

This tournament will provide a real treat for poker players and fans, a great way to spend Christmas Eve. The final table includes the two bad boys of the sport, Mike Matusow and Phil Hellmuth. Check out the "donkey" Christmas present Matusow and Steve Dannenmann gave to Hellmuth at the start of the play. Mike received a small world globe card protector from Dan and used it as a prop when he would serenade the players and audience with "He's got the whole world in his hands..." Hoyt Corkins, David Levi, Tony Bloom Grant Lang, Keith Sexton and Brandon Adams complete the final table roster. TOC final table participant Steve Dannenmann, the second place finisher in the 2005 WSOP Main Event, was interviewed recently by wickedchopspoker.com.

Set aside the time or set the TiVo so you don't miss any of the show. You'll be entertained throughout the three hours of poker. The show is scheduled for 1:00 PM PST on ESPN, but check local listings for times in your area.

Looking like a gathering of poker's who's who, the Fontana Room at the Bellagio wasn't big enough to hold all the inflated egos. The Bellagio's main poker room was pressed into service to handle the overflow from the 555 players that paid $15,000 + $500 for the opportunity to play in the championship event of the Fourth Annual Five Diamonds. The prize pool topped out at $8,075,250, a number attesting to the popularity of this prestigious poker event. Scheduled continue for five days the tournament will create two more WPT millionaires on Friday when the final table is played before the television cameras for later broadcast on the Travel Channel. The Champion will receive $2,078,185, a championship bracelet and a $25,000 + $500 seat in the 2006 WPT Championship scheduled for April 18 at the Bellagio in Las Vegas.

Both tournament areas were packed with all the well known professionals from the sport. The man himself, Doyle Brunson, holder of a record ten WSOP bracelets was cruising along at his table, comfortable behind his stacks of chips. Doyle should charge the players at his table the going rate for a playing lesson. I'm not sure of the collective number of WSOP bracelets today's crowd owns but you could easily stock a jewelry store. Co-holder of the bracelet record with ten of his own, Johnny Chan. Phil Ivey sitting at the feature table on the stage holds 5 bracelets, T.J. Cloutier in the main room has 6 and three tables over is 7 bracelet man Eric Seidel. The list goes on and on, so you get the idea, this is one tough crowd with a winning pedigree.

The atmosphere on the first day of play was upbeat with a holiday spirit much in evidence, at least for those still in the hunt. Play began today a few minutes after Noon and five hours later 476 players remained. The quota for eliminations was reached a few minutes before 9 PM and play was suspended for the remaining 350 or so players that still had any of the $30,000 in play money they started with. The contest will resume at Noon on Tuesday.

Obvious by their absence was professional's Andy Bloch and 2000 WSOP Champion Chris "Jesus" Ferguson. Both of the players from the Full Tilt stable are passing on WPT events until problems are worked out with the WPT people concerning the release forms players must sign in return for the privilege to participate in WPT events. Additional details of the problems are available at Andy's website.

I included a mini photo gallery in the 'continue reading section' below of some of the sights from Monday's first day of the Five Diamonds WPT Championship.

The Senior's No-limit Hold'em event #9 was especially crafted to allow the seniors a more leisurely pace. The event was spread out over three day's instead of the usual two and play was suspended promptly at 8:00 PM each day. This is a most welcomed privilege for some of the toughest players around. Unlike sports such as tennis or golf where senior's tournaments translate to easier; poker seniors are the toughest poker players around. Many of the senior legends have age related issues that preclude sitting for long hours so this is a thoughtful consideration.

The Five Diamond Senior's Event #9 attracted 135 entrants and offered the winner $137,375 from the $327,375 prize pool. The second day of the scheduled three reached a final table well before the 8:00 PM scheduled stop time and was down to heads-up by the 8PM quit time; but, by mutual agreement the surviving two players, Minneapolis Jim Meehan and Tommy Lock, continued until a winner was finally crowned almost three hours later. Both played the end game mistake free. Even though this was Tommy Lock's first major tournament win he brought years of experience to the table and battled with Minneapolis Jim, both players practicing a tight, cautious game. At one point in the heads-up play Tommy got dangerously short stacked, but a small run of cards allowed him to double up a couple of times, then coming all-in over the top of Jim to collect the blinds and raise money. Tommy's big break came when he doubled up and took the chip lead going all-in with suited Ace, Queen, called by Jim's suited Ace, Four. The final hand came when Tommy's Ace, Queen eliminated Jim's all-in King, Queen. Congratulations to Tommy Lock for the win and to all the eighteen players that collected money. As always, Minneapolis Jim kept the fans and players entertained with his stories and table overviews.

Complete results of all the events from the Five Diamonds World Poker Classic are available online at www.PokerPlayerNewspaper.com, poker's easiest to read source for all major tournament results plus thousands of pages dedicated to all things poker.

The $15,000 + $500 WPT Championship No-limit Hold'em event begins its five day run on Monday. The final table will be played before the WPT cameras for broadcast on the Travel Channel's WPT Series. More than a hundred seats have been awarded in the super satellites so expect a large field for this one. All of poker's elite will be here in Las Vegas chasing the millions that will be offered from the prize pool. The cards go in the air at Noon.

The WPBT Winter tournament is under way at the Imperial Palace in Las Vegas. The welcome introductions begin at 9:30AM and in order of appearance we heard from Tournament organizer Bill Rini, IP Poker Room Manager Mike Fay, Professional Poker Player Barry Greenstein, writer and poker pro Charlie Shoten, Austin Blogger Amy Calistra and author Michael Craig-The Professor The Banker & The Suicide King. The cards went into the air a few minutes before Noon in the $50 buy-in No-limit Hold'em . A capacity crowd filled the available 100 seats and seven of the alternates made it into the contest. Poker Stars provideed plenty of give aways and added a couple of thousand to the prize pool, a rare poker tournament overlay.

The room is crowded with more than one hundred of poker blogging heavy weights. Looking around the tables are Wil Wheaton, the Poker Prof, Iggy, Dr. Pauly and his brother Derrick , Hank Hdouble, Amy Calistra, Mr. and Mrs. Al Can't Hang, our own April (Week in review), and many, many more. We will provide a mini photo gallery of the event.

We have the winner of the fast draw award, Tanya 'Miss T74.' Tanya has the honor of being the first player to be eliminated and for this dubious honor she received the Dr. Pauly 'Gigli' video. Many thanks to the poker room staff and especially Mike Fay for hosting the unruly crowd of scribes. Oh yea, the open bar ran out of SoCo rather early and had to get an emergency delivery of that liquid tribute to all those Southern Greek Planter Estates. More from this event later today.

The 2005 WPBT Winter Classic is two days away. The poker blogging community descends upon Las Vegas and the Imperial Palace Hotel and Casino in mass on Thursday and Friday in anticipation of the 9:30AM start of festivities on Saturday, December 10, 2005. The early morning meet and greet, then the cards in the air at 11:00AM. The tournament is a roaring success and sell out with all 100 seats filled. The one hundred plus poker playing bloggers can thank Volunteer Tournament Organizer and poker blogger extraordinaire, Bill Rini, for all his hard work and perseverance to make this event a realty. Poker blogging royalty will be in the house and some of professional poker's royalty will also be mingling with the crowd after taking time away from the Bellagio's Five Diamond World poker Classic.

I do hope the bar at the IP has laid in some extra stock of SoCo, they'll need it. I also wish to thank the Imperial Palace for having the fortitude to host this fun-loving bunch. The Imperial Palace poker room is one of the more popular tourist poker hangouts on the strip. The Imperial Palace daily poker tournaments are typically filled with players.

I'll be wandering around toting the lbs of photo gear to document another important chapter in the history of America's most popular past time, blogging poker. It is always a pleasure to visit with the bloggers, listen in on the talk and feel the pulse of the poker blogging community.

Some Las Vegas information for those traveling from afar. The weather here is currently cool, below normal with daytime max near sixty and night lows in the thirties and forties. Bring something warm to hike around in and if you're staying at the Imperial Palace you can easily walk to many of the major strip casinos and some of the world's most exclusive shopping malls. Of course, the whole of Las Vegas is one big party, but it pales in comparison to the party aura that surrounds Al Can't Hang. Remember, Al's not the life of the party, he is the party.

See you at the IP on Saturday. Have a safe journey to Vegas.

"...and our winner is David Plastik, a player that hasn't won a tournament since 1947," Tournament Director Jack McClelland jokingly announced when the river hit the board of the final hand of event #7 on Tuesday evening. David's pocket Jacks were never behind when Gioi Luong went all in with A,8o. The flop brought the 9s,5d,7c giving Gioi a few outs with a 6 for a straight or an Ace for top pair or runner-runner 8; but, he remained behind needing to catch to stay alive. The turn brought a 9, the river was a 4 and David had won the top prize of $212,730, plus an engraved 2005 Five Diamond gold bracelet and a $25,000 + $500 buy-in seat in the 2006 WPT Championship at the Bellagio next April. Gioi Luong of Westminster, California received $115,645 for second. Robert Durant takes third place money of $57,820 back to Los Angeles, California. Clonie Gowan, the only female at the final table, was eliminated in the 4th spot for $33,035.

The complete order of money finishers in all of the events of the Bellagio's Fourth Annual Five Diamonds World Poker Classic are available at PokerPlayerNewspaper.com. A small gallery of photos from Tueday's Five Diamonds is offered in the continue reading section below. The 2005 Five Diamonds Photo Gallery is now being populated with images of the tournament.

Marcel Luske is now in-town and playing in events at the Five Diamond's tournament. He told me about a charity tournament for the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation that is happening this week at the Morongo Casino in California. Marcel and his 'Circle of Outlaws' will be hosting and playing in the event to support the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation. Marcel is one of the most recognizable poker pros in Europe and America, always giving of his time for projects that benefit the greater good.

Event #4 of the Fourth Annual Five Diamonds World Poker Classic at the Bellagio completed play of the final table Saturday. Quinn Do of Seattle, Washington outlasted the field of 266 players to take home the $266,935 first place money from the $678,030 prize pool. He eliminated final table chip leader Ben Roberts of the UK to claim the victory and the loot. Quinn also received a custom engraved gold bracelet and a $25,000 + $500 seat in the 2006 WPT Championship scheduled for next April. Ben heads back across the pond with an extra $143,555 in winnings. Vernon Martin of Severna Park, Maryland finished third and received $71,780. A complete list of the finishers in this and all of the Five Diamond events is available at PokerPlayerNewspaper.com.

Saturday's $5,000 + $150 No-limit Hold'em event started at Noon with 200 paid entrants vying for a piece of the $970,000 prize pool. By 7:00Pm the field had been reduced to 69 players with chips and a chair. Seen at the tables was Barry Greenstein, Davood Mahrmand, Dan Alspach, Mike Mizrachi, Gavin Smith, Layne Flack, Mimi Tran, Men 'Master' Nguyen, David Levi, Minh Ly and 2005 WSOP Champion, Joseph Hachem, all hoping to make the 3:00 PM final table on Sunday and go on to win the $374,965 first place money. The event will pay the top 18 players.

Sunday's event is another $1,500 + $70 No-limit Hold'em that gets under way at Noon in the Fontana Room at the Bellagio. A great opportunity to plkay in a major tournament with many of the professionals at a minimum price. Give yourself an early Christmas present and get to the Bellagio for a shot at becoming a part of poker history. The experience alone is worth the price.

Many of the professional players from around the world are in town for the Five Diamonds which runs through the 16th of December. Satellites are held daily for the events and super satellites for the championship $15,000 + $300 WPT Championship event scheduled to start on Monday, December 12 at Noon.

The final table of Event #3 was played Friday at the Bellagio. The start time for all final tables of the Fourth Annual Five Diamonds Poker Classic is 3:00PM. The players coming to the final table included 1998 WSOP World Champion Scotty Nguyen and common to most of the WSOP Main Event winners they are dangerous adversaries with any number of chips and Scotty had plenty. J.C. Tran, a smart young champion with a calculated aggressive style of play, can take your chips away. A tough bunch of poker players with the common goal of eliminating everyone else. The last player sitting at the end of the afternoon's play was Orlando Maldonado of Tampa, Florida.

Orlando had to square off with Scotty Nguyen in the heads up after another Florida player, Jeff Cohen of Parkland, was eliminated in the third spot and received $62,015. The two way session came to a quick end after both players saw the flop come 4s,10d,7d giving Orlando two pair with his 10h,4c and Scotty making a pair holding of 4's with his 4h,5h. Orlando bet and Scotty called. The turn was a 5c giving Scotty two pair, he moved all-in and Orlando quickly called. The 9d on the river didn't change anything and Orlando wins his first Bellagio Five Diamond gold bracelet. He also receives a $25,000 + $500 seat in the 2006 WPT Championship at the Bellagio next April and a nice pile of cash, $234,095. Scotty collected $124,030 for his second place finish. A complete list of Five Diamond event results including payouts are available at PokerPlayerNewspaper.com.

Friday's Event #4, $3,000 + $100 buy-in No-limit Hold'em, attracted 266 players and offered a prize pool of $678,030 with $266,935 slated for the winner. The final table will be played on Saturday at 3PM. Saturday at Noon event #5, a $5,000 + $150 No-limit Hold'em tournament is expected to draw many of the top pros.

The Fourth Annual Five Diamonds World Poker Classic at the Bellagio Resort in Las Vegas completed the second event on Thursday. Steve Diamantas of Tampa, Florida bested the field of 261 players in the $2,000 + $80 buy-in no-limit Hold'em event and takes down the top prize of $188,985 from the $506,340 prize pool. Steve also received a $25,000 + $500 buy-in in the 2006 WPT Championship at the Bellagio and one of the custom engraved Five Diamond gold bracelets. Ken Einger of Las Vegas placed second in the tournament and received $100,975 in cash while Keith Gipson of Huntsville, Alabama was third and goes home with $50,490.

Ken Einger is the 2005 World Champion Blackjack player. The sixth place finisher, John Hoag, has made 17 final tables in major tournaments. Men "Master" Nguyen, taking a leave from his seat in event #3 went out in seventh place in event #2. Liz Liu came to the final table with the short stack and was eliminated in the ninth spot. A complete order of finish for all of the Five Diamonds events and prize money won is available at PokerPlayerNewspaper.com.

Thursday's event #3, a $2,500 + $100 buy-in No-limit Hold'em contest began at noon with a field of 243 player vying for a piece of the $589,275 prize pool. The winner will receive a $25,000 + $500 seat in the 2006 WPT Championship, a gold bracelet and $234,095 in cash. Seen among the 73 surviving players late in the afternoon was T,J. Cloutier, Tony Ma, James Van Alstyne, Tom McEvoy, Captain' Tom Franklin, and Ted Forrest. The final table will be played on Friday beginning at 3:00PM. Event #4, a $3,000 + $100 buy-in No-limit Hold'em tournament has a Noon start time. A great time to visit the Five Diamonds and watch all of poker's stars playing for the big money.

The first event of the 4th Annual Five Diamond World Poker Classic at the Bellagio ended late this afternoon when Lars Bonding of Denmark took advantage of pocket rockets during the final hand of Heads-up play to take all of Tony Ma's chips. Lars received $199, 870 in cash plus a $25,000 + $500 seat in the WPT Championship at the Bellagio in April, 2006. Tough Tony Ma received $107,700 for his afternoon of Five Diamond's poker at the Bellagio resort.

Lars overcame a field of 370 players including many of poker's elite to claim the victory. He also received one of the Fourth Annual Five Diamond World Poker Classic engraved gold bracelets. The 5 Diamond's events are drawing crowds of players, even more than last year's well attended tournaments. Everyday the events cater to a room full of tough, talented poker players.

Today's event #2, a $2,000 + $80 buy-in No-limit Hold'em tournament began at noon with 261 paying customers playing for a prize pool of $506,340. The winner will receive a $25,000 + $500 buy-in in the 2006 WPT Championship at the Bellagio, a custom engraved Five Diamonds gold bracelet and $188,985 in cash. Moving through the room today I photographed some of the poker talent that only comes around for the big ones. WPT Tournament of Champions' Champion, Ron Rose, playing at one of the tables. Liz Liu was holding down the end of her table while James Van Alstyne was looking very determined in his quest for another big win. Event #2 will pay 27 places.

Thursday's noon event is a $2,500 + $100 buy-in No-limit Hold'em tournament. The final table for event #2 will get under way at 3:00 PM. All of this is happening in the Fontana Room at the Bellagio in Las Vegas. A great time to be in the poker capitol of the Universe. Come to the 4th Annual Five Diamonds World Poker Classic with your "A" game and play live Las Vegas tournament poker with the big kids.

Amir Vahedi wins the Ultimate Poker Challenge III Championship at the Plaza Hotel in downtown Las Vegas. Going into Tuesday's final table with an imposing chip lead and then playing mistake free poker allowed Amir to stay atop the field of fifty-five. The final hand was a fitting end to the run of cards Amir had enjoyed on his way to the championship. Pre-flop Amir raised $34K from the button and Chip Jett re-raised all-in for $74K. Amir immediately called and turned over two red Kings to Chip's Ad,5s. The flop was Q,7,6 with two spades giving Chip another couple of outs with runner-runner spades for the flush or a straight. He also had a straight flush draw. The turn showed 10 of clubs and Chip was down to one out, only an Ace could save him. The river brought the Jack of clubs and the tournament was over. Amir Vahedi was the champion. Amir takes home $181,390 in cash and the diamond/gold Ultiamte Poker Challenge III bracelet. Chip Jett received $106,700 for second place. Bill Elder was eliminated in the third spot and paid $58,685. Doug Carli finished fourth and takes $42,680 while Luke Neeloy goes home with $37,345 for fifth place. Blair Rodman, Ultimate Poker Challenge II second place finisher made it to sixth and picked up $32,010 while short stack Thomas Koral was the first player eliminated from the final table, receiving $26,675 for seventh place.

The first event of the Fourth Annual Five Diamond World Poker Classic began at noon on Tuesday at the Bellagio Resort on the Las Vegas Strip. All of the tournaments for the Five Diamond event are No-limit Hold'em. Tuesday's event #1, a $1,500 + $70 buy-in contest attracted 370 entrants and built a prize pool of $538,350. The winner is slated to receive $199,870 from the prize money and a $25,000 + $500 entry into the 2006 WPT Championship at the Bellagio. The field had been cut to 83 after almost six hours of play. Included in the remaining field are well known professionals David Williams, Tony Ma, Chad Layne and Scotty Nguyen. The play will continue until nine players remain or they reach 2 AM. The final table will be played on Wednesday with a 3 PM starting time.

The Wednesday event #2 is a $2,000 + $80 No-limit Hold'em tournament with a noon start time. The Five Diamond World Poker Classic tournament area is located in the Fontana Room.

Poker tournaments are filling the calendar in Las Vegas. The Ultimate Poker Challenge at the downtown Plaza Hotel and Casino is down to its final day of play on Tuesday when the 7 surviving players from the starting field of 55 begin the final table at 2:00 PM. Professional Amir Vahedi comes to the contest with the most chips, $598,000, giving him more than a 2-1 advantage over Chip Jett, second in the chip count with $259,000. Blair Rodman starts the day with $168,000 while Doug Carli begins with $164,000. Bill Elder is holding $160,000 and Luke Neeloy has accummulated $143,000 of the play money. The short stack of $63,000 belongs to Thomas Koral. The event pays ten places with the winner receiving $181,390 from the $533,500 prize pool.

Jason Cotray of New York City went out on the bubble in eleventh place and will be returning home with none of the prize money. Jason is primarily an online player and has been a student of the game for about three years. Considering his lack of live tournament poker experience Jason made a very good showing for himself in a field crowded with poker's super stars. The defending champion of the Ultimate Poker Challenge II Championship, Andy Bloch, was eliminated on the final table bubble going out in the eight spot after Chip Jett called Andy's all-in and showed pocket Aces to beat Andy's Kings. Andy takes home a token $21,340 from the half mil prize pool. Andy doubled when he pushed all-in with Q,J of spades and was called by Blair Rodman holding pocket 6's. Andy furthur enticed Blair by adding his Ultimate Poker Challenge Championship diamond/gold bracelet to the pot. The flop of 6s,4s,3s gave Blair a set and Andy a flush draw; but, the turn brought the 8 of spades and Andy's jewelry was safe. Blair's only shot at wearing a championship bracelet is to win the championship.

Tuesday is the first day of the Bellagio's Fourth Annual Five Diamond World Poker Classic. The event will run through December 16th and offer no-limit hold'em tournaments daily with buy-ins from $1,500 up to the $15,000 WPT sanctioned Championship. Satellites have already begun and will continue throughout the event. The Five Diamond World Poker Classic is a great time to visit Las Vegas and play in one of the most prestigious poker tournaments of the year. Even if you don't play bring the camera and a sharpie pin for autographs because its a poker fan paradise with everyone that's anyone in the world of poker gathered at the Bellagio Resort. The Bellagio is wearing its festive holiday look and presents the visitor with a dazzling display of holiday extravagance.

The following schedule for the Five Diamond World Poker Classic can help you with your travel plans. Don't forget that the number one reason for visiting Las Vegas is shopping so bring money and allow plenty of time. Las Vegas is the city that invented adult themed playgrounds so make this holiday season a truly memorable one.

*Champion receives $25,000 + $500 entry (non-negotiable, non-refundable, and non-transferable) into the 2006 WPT at Bellagio.
**Super Satellite will award as many entries as possible.

The Ultimate Poker Challenge at the Plaza Hotel and Casino in downtown Las Vegas began the Championship with 55 players entered in the $10,000 buy-in No-limit Hold'em event. Many of poker's well known professional community were vying for some of the $533,500 prize pool. Play continued today for approximately 13 hours until 28 players remained from the starting field.

When the cards flew at about 12:30 PST Sunday the professional laden field included previous WSOP World Champions Phil Hellmuth and Scotty Nguyen. WPT Championship winner Martin de Knijff was joined by Barry Greenstein, David Williams and Kido Pham, none of whom survived the day. Neither did Phil Hellmuth; but, Scotty Nguyen will be returning on Monday at noon when play is resumed.

Players that will be there for the second round are chip leader, Patrik Antonius with $241,400. Chip Jett, Men 'Master' Nguyen, Amir Vahedi, Michael 'the Grinder' Mizrachi, Layne Flack, Captain' Tom Franklin, Ted Forrest, John Pham and the sole surviving lady, Kristy Gazes. The 2004 Ultimate Poker Challenge defending champion, Andy Bloch, will begin the second day of play fifth on the chip count list at $78,400.

The play on Monday will continue until 9 remain to fill the final table roster. The championship final table will be played on Tuesday and filmed for later broadcast on national television throught the syndicated Ultimate Poker Challenge Series. I wandered around the tournament area today watching the poker, visiting with players and old friends. Shot some photos of the event and have ioncluded a mini gallery in the continue reading section below.

Thanksgiving Day is just another working holiday in Las Vegas. Many of the people I know work in the gaming industry and none of them will be home for the traditional turkey day feast. Instead, they are providing the thousands of tourist packed into town for the holiday a wonderful, fun time. Great food, good spirits, luxurious accommodations, continuous partying and plenty of big time tournament poker are more than enough reasons to come to Vegas for the Thanksgiving Holiday.

The tournament poker is happening at the Plaza Hotel and Casino in downtown Las Vegas. The Ultimate Poker Challenge, the highly rated poker TV series, is here for the third season. Everyday at high noon you can sit down with locals, tourist and professionals to play for a spot on national TV. And you can do it all for a low $500 + $50 buy-in into any of the daily events. The remaining four events will be filmed for later broadcast on national television. There is no cheaper ticket to poker stardom than the Ultimate poker Challenge. The tournament area is in the Plaza's large poker room so if you've always wanted to play on TV then stop by the Plaza Hotel before noon on Thursday, Friday or Saturday, bring $550 and your "A" game and maybe I"ll be shooting a winner's photo of you.

All of us at LasVegasVegas.com and the Poker Prof's Blog wish everyone a safe and fun Thanksgiving Holiday. If you can't get to Vegas you can still watch some big-time poker tournament action Live, courtesy of Fox Sports Network. The FullTilt.net Invitational is being telecast live direct from Monaco. With final table personalities Mike Matusow, John Juanda, Gus hansen, Phil Ivey, David "Devilfish" Ulliott, Chris "Jesus" Ferguson and Phil Hellmuth it promises to be a great show. Be sure to check your local listing since times vary and some areas may have a tape delay.

Dr. Pauly is live blogging all the action at Foxwoods Casino where the World Poker Finals 2005 Championship Event is playing the final table. The championship event attracted a crowd of 783 players and collected a prize pool of $7,855,000. The winner will receive $2,167,000.

Dr. Pauly provides the best poker tournament live blog reports to be found on the Internet, period. You always get all the player stats, plenty of photos and a generous helping of his unique take on the tournament, players, fans and everything else that goes into a big poker production. Dr. Pauly is sitting ringside at Foxwoods so click on over to TaoPoker.com and join the fans for today's final Championship table.

Dr. Pauly is live blogging all the action at Foxwoods Casino where the World Poker Finals 2005 is into its fourth day. The championship event attracted a crowd of 783 players and collected a prize pool of $7,855,000. The winner will receive $2,167,000.

Dr. Pauly provides the best poker tournament live blog reports to be found on the Internet, period. You always get all the stats, plenty of photos and a generous helping of his unique take on the tournament, players, fans and everything else that goes into a big poker production. Dr. Pauly is sitting ringside at Foxwoods so click on over to TaoPoker.com and join the crowd.

The stage is set for Tuesday's final table of the World Series of Poker 2005 Tournament of Champions at Caesar's Palace. Yesterday I posted how the final table could become one of the more interesting television poker shows on the season. This one is filmed by ESPN, exclusive broadcast partner of the WSOP, for broadcast on Christmas Eve, December 24th, 2005. I listed the three very vocal players that remained at the time, Phil Hellmuth, Mike Matusow and Jean Robert Bellande, since these players draw ratings because they are great poker players and they are entertainers. Like them or hate them doesn't seem to matter, we continue to watch them to see what they are going to do or say next. Unfortunately, Jean Robert was eliminated and didn't make the final table; but, Mike Matusow and Phil Hellmuth will be there.

In a repeat of day #2, Phil Hellmuth comes into the table with $281,500 and a 3-2 chip lead over Mike Matusow, second on the chip list at $179,000. David Levi is the short stack at $41,000. The final table players are listed with seat assignment, hometown and chip count. Play gets underway on Tuesday at 2:00pm PST.

Phil Hellmuth (4) Palo Alto, CA $281,500

Mike Matusow(9) Las Vegas, NV $179,000

Brandon Adams (7) New Orleans, LA $135,500

Tony Bloom (8) London, England $130,000

Steve Dannenmann (1) Severn, MD $122,000

Keith Sexton (6) Dayton, OH $95,500

Hoyt Corkins (5) Gleenwood, AL $95,000

Grant Lang (2) Brookfield, CT $61,500

David Levi (3) Las Vegas, NV $41,000

Poker's legendary Doyle Brunson, two time World Series of Poker Champion and the owner of a record ten WSOP bracelets. How could you possibly have a Tournament of Champions if you don't include Doyle Brunson? You certainly couldn't crown an undisputed Champion if Texas Dolly isn't in one of the seats.

Doyle plays a brutal, chip vanishing (yours, not his) level of poker that is orders of magnitude above the average 'good' player. Even though the years are catching up and his health has declined he continues to endure the hours of stress and extreme fatigue that comes with major tournament poker play while bulldozing the young card wizards as if they were nothing more than grade schoolers at recess. When he made it into Day #2 of the 2005 WSOP Tournament of Champions and then outlasted most everyone to make the ten handed final table no one was very surprised, it's what we expect Doyle to do. Even being the short stack today didn't change much, there isn't a player out there that's ever shared a table with Doyle that doesn't know that he is one dangerous man with any amount of chips.

When Doyle was eliminated in the ten spot by Brandon Adams (Doyle had an Ace and outs to the river) someone said, "Doyle is the Bubble Boy." Yes, Doyle did go out on the bubble, but calling hin the Bubble Boy justs sounds wrong.

The 30 finalist for day #2 of the World Series of Poker 2005 Tournament of Champions began play today at noon. The top two chip stacks belonged to Hellmuth and Matusow. Each were at separate tables until the group was finally trimmed down to one table of ten players. Phil Hellmuth came into today's play as the chip leader with a slight edge over Mike Matusow. As expected from a crowd of poker egos there was plenty of adrenalin and testosterone flowing in the room on this day.

Mike Matusow was holding J,Qo when Mark Hanna pushes his remaining chips into the pot. Mike has Mark way out-chipped so quickly calls. Mark turns over big slick and we'e off to the races. The flop brings 4,J,8 rainbow, so there will be no runner-runner flush. Mike has grabbed the early lead with his pair of Jacks leaving Mark hoping he catches one of his few outs. He must pair either of his overcards and no more Jacks or Queens. The turn is a 9 giving Mike a draw at the nut straight. The river is a...that's right, an Ace giving Mark the higher pair and the win. Mark also got to double-up his chips from Mike's stack. Race over.

A Matusow meltdown? Hardly...

Mike continued to play solid "A" game poker and he will be at the final table on Tuesday with guaranteed prize money. Mark didn't make the final table, didn't get past Hellmuth and didn't collect any money.

The Tournament of Champions began a three day run at Caesar's Palace with 114 invited players taking their seat. The tournament is a $2,000,000 Invitational Freeroll for those players that have earned points on the WSOP Circuit Series or the final table nine from the 2005 WSOP Main Event even some players are there by special invitation, but all are accomplished poker players.

The $2,000,000 prize pool will be divided among the final table nine with the winner becoming WSOP poker's latest millionaire. The payout schedule:

1. $1,000,000
2. $325,000
3. $250,000
4. $150,000
5. $100,000
6. $75,000
7. $50,000
8. $25,000
9. $25,000

The three days of the WSOP Tournament of Champions will be filmed by the WSOP's broadcast partner, ESPN, for broadcast on Christmas Eve, December 24, 2005. Considering the large amount of talent in the room this poker show could be one of the more entertaining offerings of the year. The players that draw a crowd and the TV ratings were playing around the room. Mike Matusow, Phil Hellmuth and Jean Robert Bellande would make one interesting final table. Doyle Brunson's white hat could be spotted from anywhere in the room, so could the black hat belonging to Chris "Jesus" Ferguson. WSOP ten bracelet man, Johnny Chan, adds another WSOP World Champion to the mix. Tony Ma and David Levi were holding their own at another table. The young guns were well represented with Mike Mizrachi, David Williams, Scott Fischman, and Antonio Esfandiari. Jennifer Harmon was the only female left in the tournament after the early elimination of Mimi Tran. All the way from Ireland, fifth place at the 2005 WSOP Main Event, Andy Black, another WSOP millionaire. Allen Cunningham, the first player to earn a million at the 2005 WSOP, playing his solid game of poker. Everywhere you look in the room there are the familiar faces of the top professionals in the sport.

The action continues on Monday at noon with the surviving 30 players. The chip leader going into day #2 will be Phil Hellmuth followed closely by Mike Matusow. Monday's Tournament of Champions could be a day of big time poker worth watching. I included a mini gallery of photos of today's tournament action in the continue reading section below.

The tournament poker scene as outlined in yesterday's post didn't include the WSOP Tournament of Champions scheduled for November 6-8 at Caesar's Palace. The top nine finishers from the 2005 WSOP Main Event along with top top finishers from 2005 WSOP Circuit Series will be competing in the $@ million freeroll. I have it on the calendar but forget to include it in my Las Vegas tournament's post for the month of November.

I continue to rant about the prize money poker players receive when they survive into the pay positions. My bitch is the well known fact that players are playing for their money with no added prize money from sponsors or tournament organizers. This fact alone would not be enough to go off on, but, it gets worse. The players also have to pay out of that prize pool a substantial fee to the tournament organizers so they will be allowed to play and the "lucky" final table players will be on national TV while receiving no share directly or indirectly of the broadcast revenues. Anyone have any idea how much revenue is produced when you have the number one show on a major cable network? Not difficult info to find with a web search. The bottom line here is the players are not even receiving the full value of their own money used to build the prize pool.

A similar situation in another sport would have professional basketball players each paying into a common prize pool, and then subtracting the expenses of renting a forum and hiring refs and all the other expenses while the television networks continue to televise the games and reap the revenues. I know it is bad practice to compare poker and anything else. Poker is reporting it is now the third most watched sport on television and that's what is creating the problem. When poker tournament were played for the players, a small crowd of fans and non-existent video coverage until the final events days playing for the buy-in money was more than enough. Even having the house cut and then another cut for the dealers and staff it was more than enough to play for the championship and the jewelry. Along comes the Internet with virtual poker rooms that mimic live casino poker rooms. The online poker crowd was a natural for a prime time poker tournament TV show. This was especially true because of the new hole card cameras, professional video production sets staffed by a crack production crew. Big time poker had finally joined other televised sports that produce big ad revenues for networks. Like other televised sports the poker industry has become flush with cash. It is this very cash that allows other sports to pay the players big bucks, win or lose. Forgot to add to the above comparison that the nuvo Bling Bling-less roundball guys won't get a salary either, just like in big time tournament poker, they're only playing for some of their original out-of-pocket buy-in money, less expenses.

How do we fix this apparent unequitable money situation that exist in the major tournament poker industry? How would we do this without some governing body making up a book full of rules that are basically self-serving and the body would be well funded by receiving its cut of the money; but, this money includes some of the broadcast revenue cash as a direct benefit from the presence of the Poker Association, or League, or Federation, or whatever this negotiating body chooses to call itself. I don't think the governing body should ever have the power to sanction players. Poker is a professional sport that welcomes and accords amateur players with the same opportunities as the pros. I don't ever see professional players receiving salaries like team sports but I can see substantial additions to prize pools of sanctioned events providing many more players some level of pay and offering even more money to the top finishers. Of course the players will be allowed to get a small share of the broadcast revenue through sponsorship money by displaying their sponsor's recognizable logo on camera. We could begin implementing a very limited proof of concept version with some money added (enough to substantially increase the number of places paid. Of course with money added, a rule would have to be added that the tournament must be played to a conclusion realizing a single champion. I am aware that some televised invitation only events do include big added money.

In other stuff around Las Vegas the undocumented news appears to be on target about Daniel Negreanu's split from the Wynn, at least for now. I'm not surprised about this. Daniel is over at the Wynn while the big game is across the strip at the Bellagio. Daniel has always struck me as the type that needs to be in the thick of it with the best. I've heard talk on the strip that there exist a dealer-less poker table designed for live casino poker rooms. The rumors say invited testers have been amazed at the functionality of the table which relies on the latest RFD technology to replace the dealer with a computer controlled machine. This would certainly make some forms of cheating impossible; but, I'm sure the old cheat will be replaced with an even more insidious digital cheat. Technology guarantees that.

Dr. Pauly shot all of the photos illustrating this Final Table Recap. Additional photos and a detailed accounting of the play by play from start to finish of the Final Table is available at Taopoker.com.-FlipChip

After four grueling days of poker at the Las Vegas Bellagio Resort's Casino in Las Vegas, the World Poker Tour crowned it's newest champion when Minh Ly beat Dan Harrington heads up to win $1 million in the Doyle Brunson North American Classic for the main and final event of the Festa al Lago IV poker tournament.

The final table was held in the prestigious Fontana Room overlooking the lake in front of the Bellagio where the spectacular water show could be seen every fifteen minutes. 420 players entered the $10,000 event with hopes of winning one million dollars and a free seat in the $25K WPT Championships at the Bellagio to be held in April 2006. Some of the top names in poker bought into the event and it was great to see some familiar faces at the tables like Howard Lederer, Jennifer Harman, Johnny Chan, Doyle Brunson, Chip Reese, Chirs "Jesus" Ferguson, Erik Siedel, Phil Hellmuth, Daniel Nergeanu, Gus Hansen, Max Pescatori, Andy Bloch, Barry Greenstien, and Erick Lindgren.

With three big stacks and three small stacks, the final table was going to be interesting. There was also the possibility that we'd see Dan Harrington and Minh Ly play heads up of for the title since they were the top two stacks. Minh Ly ended Day 3 as the chipleader and Dan Harrington has plenty of final table experience and should never be overlooked. However, the young gun from Canada, Gavin Smith, was seeking his second win on the WPT. Jan Sorensen might be one of the best players out of Denmark and tried to overcome a short stack. The former soccer player won a bracelet at this year's WSOP. Tony Grand is an amazing story. At 81 years old, he's the oldest player ever to make it to a WPT final table.

Here's who made the final table including seat assignments and chip counts:

Seat 1: Tony Grand $118K
Seat 2: Minh Ly $3.056M
Seat 3: Dan Harrington $2.937M
Seat 4: Don Zewin $552K
Seat 5: Gavin Smith $1.368M
Seat 6: Jan Sorensen 370K

Here the payouts:
1st place = $1,060,000
2nd place = $620,730
3rd place = $327,610
4th place = $189,630
5th place = $137,940
6th place = $96,560

Tony Grand found 10-10 and moved all in. Don Zewin had A-Q and flopped an Ace. That pot was big enough for him to take over the chip lead. The turn and river did not help Tony Grand and he finished in sixth place, winning $96,560. Tony Grand made history when he became the oldest player to make a WPT final table. Less than an hour into the tournament, Jan Sorensen was eliminated in 5th place. Don Zerwin moved all in with 7-7 and Sorensen called with 5-5. Sorensen's hand did not improve and he was eliminated in 5th place, winning $137,940.

With four players remaining, Dan Harrington moved into the chip lead with $3.16M. He wouldn't hold onto his lead for too long. He lost a hand to Gavin Smith and that started the wave of revolving chip leaders. With an Ace on the flop, Gavin Smith moved all in with A-Q against Dan Harrington's A-10s. Gavin Smith's hand held up and he doubled up against Harrington. Smith would eventually take over the chip lead but give it back to Harrington when he won a hand against Minh Ly with 9-9.

One hour later, Gavin Smith built his stack to over $4M in chips, while Harrington slipped to the short stack with $800K. By Midnight, Gavin Smith would cough up the lead to Minh Ly and Don Zerwin became the short stack. Five hours into the tournament, with the blinds escalating, the table finally saw some action. Minh Ly raised on the button and Dan Harrington came over the top all in with K-J versus Minh Ly's 9-9. The flop didn't help Harrington, but he turned a King and his fans in the crowd went wild. The river did not help Minh Ly and Dan Harrington doubled up.

Minh Ly moved all in with his shortstack with J-J against Dan Harrington's 8-8 and it held up. Minh Ly got most of his chips back. About ten minutes later, Dan Harrington moved all in with 9c-7c. Don Zewin called with 9-9 and had Harrington dominated. The flop contained a 7 and two clubs. The Harrington-heads went wild because Action Dan picked up a flush draw. When the 10 of clubs spiked on the river, the room erupted in applause. Harrington survived his all in attempt and Don Zewin was eliminated in 4th place. He won $189,630. That hand ended a good four plus hours in between eliminations. After that pot, Dan Harrington moved back into the chip lead with $3M to Gavin Smith's $2.7 and Minh Ly's $2.6M.

Minh Ly made a move and pushed all in with K-8o. Gavin Smith took several minutes before he eventually called with A-7s. Minh Ly flopped a King and won the pot when Gavin Smith's hand did not improve. Smith was crippled. Minh Ly became the chipleader with over $5M.

Shortstacked, Gavin Smith moved all in with 10-2o, which was a fitting hand since he was playing in the Doyle Brunson North American Classic. The 10-2 was nicknamed after Brunson when he won back to back WSOP main events with 10-2. Dan Harrington called with 8-4s and was behind. He flopped an 8 and turned a 4 to send Gavin Smith home in 3rd place. Smith won $327,610 for 3rd place.

The Bellagio Babes entered for the money presentation. They wore sexy black cocktail dresses and carried cash in the Stetson hats, much like the one often seen on Texas Dolly's head. As the Bellagio Babes emptied the cash onto the table, the anticipated heads up match between Minh Ly and Dan Harrington began. Minh Ly is one of the best cash game players in the world and can be found playing in Doyle Brunson's Big Game. And Dan Harrington is considered one of the best tournament players in the world after making four final tables at the WSOP main event. Minh Ly held a chip lead of $5.02M to $3.375M.

On the first hand of heads up play, both players moved all in preflop. Minh Ly showed K-J and Dan Harrington flipped over A-J. Dan Harrington's hand held up and he doubled up. Minh Ly was crippled and had only $1.6M to Harrington's $6.75M. Minh Ly would quickly close the gap when he moved all in with 10-9o. Dan Harrington quickly called with A-9o and was outflopped. Minh Ly came from certain defeat to take over the chiplead.

Thirty minutes later, and the two almost even in chips. Dan Harrington moved all in with A-5 against Minh Ly's J-3. The flop was: 3-6-9 and Minh Ly took the lead. The turn was a King and the river was a Jack and Minh Ly won the WPT Doyle Brunson North American Classic. Minh Ly will take home a cool $1,060,000 for first place along with a seat in the WPT Championships next April at the Bellagio. Dan Harrington won $620,730 for second place.

Congrats to Minh Ly!

The Bellagio Festa al Lago IV WPT Doyle Brunson North American Poker Championship has come to an end. Minh Ly is the Festa al Lago IV Doyle Brunson North American Poker Tournament Champion for 2005. Minh Ly eliminated Dan Harrington after the two went heads up at the final WPT TV table. Going into the two way play Dan had a commanding 4 to 1 chip lead after eliminating Gavin Smith in third; but, Minh held his own as they traded blinds and antes then doubled through Dan to even the count.

The final hand came a little before 2:00am when Dan went all in with A,5 and Minh called with J,3. The flop of 3,6,9 gave Minh the lead with the pair of treys, the turn was a King and the river was a Jack giving Minh Ly two pair and the championship. Minh received $1,060,000 in cash, a $25,500 seat in the WPT Finals Championship scheduled for April 18, 2006 at the Bellagio. He also received the special gold and diamond bracelet made especially for the Doyle Brunson North American Poker Championship.

Dan Harrington takes away $620,730 for second and Gavin Smith settles for $327,610. The Festa al Lago was another great poker tournament enjoyed by the players and fans. The media had complete access to the events and players for the run of the show making it a pleasure to provide the tournament news. Jack McClelland, Bellagio Tournament Director, and his crew at the Bellagio ran another outstanding poker tournament and congratulations are in order.
Thanks Jack!

Dr.Pauly at TaoPoker.com live blogged throughout the final table so go there for all the details of the of the live action plus Pauly's observations and thoughts on things happening close to a major poker tournament, some very interesting reading. Dr. Pauly's Final Table Recap of tonight's Championship will be available soon so stop back.

The Dr. Pauly Recap for Day 3 of the Bellagio Festa al Lago IV WPT Doyle Brunson North American Championship. Don't forget to go to TaoPoker.com for a Pauly Live Blog of tonight's 10:00pm EST final table.-FlipChip

Day 3 of the Doyle Brunson North American Classic continued at the Bellagio with 39 players with several top pros still remaining such as Dan Harrington, Gus Hansen, Young Phan, Chris "Jesus" Ferguson, Barry Greenstein, Gavin Smith, Mike Gracz, Jan Sorensen, Bob Feduniak, Eskimo Clark, and writer Jim McManus. The action was moved from the Fontana Room to the poker room where media and fans squeezed in to catch a glimpse of the final event of the Festa al Lago IV poker tournament. Ernie Scherer ended Day 2 as the chipleader and was looking to hold onto his chip advantage.

Gus Hansen did some damage early when he cracked Matt Lefkowitz's A-A. Hansen flopped a set of Kings. Eskimo Clark was eliminated by 2005 WSOP bracelet winner Jan Sorenson from Denmark, when Eskimo's A-K lost to Sorenson's K-10 on the river. Jim McManus was the next player to be eliminated. The author of Positively Fifth Street finished in 37th place and won $17,245.

Wayne Lewis was eliminated when his 10-10 and ran into Minh Ly's A-A. Lewis finished in 36th place. He won $17,245. Minh Ly continued his run on Day 3 and knocked out his three players by mid-afternoon. He climbed up to the top 5 in chips. Jesus Ferguson made a run as well after he knocked out Arnold Spee finished in 32nd place. He was second in chips to Ernie Scherer for a while.

Gus Hansen took 21st place when he got caught on a steal with 9-3o. Gavin Smith woke up to find Big Slick from the blinds and busted the Great Dane. Jesus' stack took a major hit when he doubled up Barry Greenstien and Bob Feduniak. Feduniak rivered a set against Jesus.

When play reached the final two tables, Ernie Scherer was still the chipleader with $1.1 million. He added to his stack after he found pocket Aces and busted Thom Wherthmann's K-K. Young Phan took 17th place after he was knocked out by Tony Grand. Steve Brecher was out in 15th place when he ran into Action Dan Harrington's K-K.

Kathy Liebert started the day as the only remaining female. She had a short stack and doubled up against Jan Sorenson when her A-A held up. While Ernie Scherer 's stack was severely dented when he doubled up Gavin Smith. He lost the chip lead and faced elimination with one of the short stacks. Meanwhile, Tony Grand and Dan Harrington were among the two chipleaders.

Kathy Liebert's shot at making consecutive WPT final tables fell short when her 5-5 ran into Ernie Scherer's K-K. Liebert finished in 13th place and won $34,485 for an amazing effort. Liebert finished 3rd at the Borgata in Atlantic City last month.

Action slowed down substantially and it took two hours before Bob Feduniak was eliminated in 12th place. Minh Ly eliminated Chris "Jesus" Ferguson in 11th place when Ly's Hilton Sisters held up against 4-4. By the dinner break, 10 players remained. Ernie Scherer regained the chiplead with $2.16M after he won a monster pot off of Tony Grand. Scherer picked off Grand on a bluff. Dan Harrington was a distant second with $1M.

After the dinner break, it was almost another hour before anyone went home. Barry Greenstien was eventually knocked out in 10th place by Gavin Smith, who flopped a set of 2s against Greenstien's pair of Kings. Greenstien won $41,380. Abraham Gray was eliminated soon after when his 10-10 was outflopped by Ernie Scherer's A-K. Gray won $48,280 for 9th place. Play reached the bubble when Dan Harrington knocked out Danny Shiff in 8th place. Shiff won $55,175.

Play slowed down at the TV bubble. Ernie Scherer continued to be the chipleader at $2M, while Minh Ly slipped to the short stack. Minh Ly would eventually be involved in two big hands. He doubled up with Q-10 against Scherer's 5-5, but lost most of those chips to Tony Grand when his Hilton Sisters were outflopped by Grand's A-8. Jan Sorenson's stack was crippled by Don Zerwin. Sorenson's A-K could not beat Zerwin's K-K, and his stack shrunk to $300K. Sorenson bounced back when he was all in against Ernie Scherer and caught a card on the river to double up.

With Minh Ly as the short stack again, his A-A held up and he double up against Gavin Smith. Dan Harrington won a monster pot off of Tony Grand when his Q-Q held up against Grand's 10-10. Grand slipped to the short stack while Harrington's stack grew to over $2.5 million as he moved back into the chiplead. A few hands later, Harrington found Q-Q again and won a pot against Ernie Scherer to increase his chip lead by even more.

After 14 hours of play on Day 3, Ernie Scherer was knocked out by Minh Ly in 7th place. Both players were all in on the flop of A-J-9 with two clubs. Minh Ly had a gutshot straight draw and a King-high flush draw, while Scherer flopped two pair. Minh Ly made his flush on the river, which sent Scherer home on the TV bubble. Scherer entered the day as the chip leader and won $68,970 for his excellent effort.

Here's who made the final WPT TV table including chip counts:

Seat 1: Tony Grand 118K
Seat 2: Minh Ly 3.056M
Seat 3: Dan Harrington 2.937M
Seat 4: Don Zewin 552K
Seat 5: Gavin Smith 1.368M
Seat 6: Jan Sorensen 370K

Here's the final 6 payouts:

1st Place: $1,060,000
2nd Place: $620,730
3rd Place: $327,610
4th Place: $189,630
5th Place: $137,940
6th Place: $96,560

The final table will begin at 7pm on Friday in the Fontana Room at the Bellagio. See you there!

You're seeing the all new, better Poker Prof's Blog. The same old stuff we've always had plus some new features yet to be introduced that we've never had. We have been busy building some entirely new features, rebuilding the old, intergrating and interfacing everything into a seamless presentation that will result in the most complete and always up-to-date Las Vegas dedicated blog that will be everything Vegas. We have completed most of the build, the beta testing phase is well underway and today is the day for the first look at the new look of the Poker Blog.

Complete coverage of the Bellagio Festa al Lago IV WPT Doyle Brunson North American Championship final table being played on Friday will be available once the match is complete and a champion is found. Dr. Pauly will be ringside with his laptop live blogging for you as it happens, live from the floor of the tournament. If you want to be there live as it happens then go to TaoPoker.com for Pauly's unique take on big time final table tournament poker. You'll be there for the making of another WPT millionaire. The final table is scheduled to begin around 10:00pm EST. The final table six with seat assignment and chip counts follows:

Seat 1: Tony Grand 118K
Seat 2: Minh Ly 3.056M
Seat 3: Dan Harrington 2.937M
Seat 4: Don Zewin 552K
Seat 5: Gavin Smith 1.368M
Seat 6: Jan Sorensen 370K

This final table includes some exceptionally tough professionals so expect to see some great poker.

Read the Day One Recap of the WPT event at poker player by our expert online poker blogger Dr. Pauly. Also, watch for some of Curtis K's excellent photos. [-Prof]

Tuesday marked the first day of play at the WPT Doyle Brunson North American Championship at the Bellagio Resort in Las Vegas. The cards were in the air at noon to the 420 seated players competing for the Festa al Lago IV's $10,000 World Poker Tour championship event. The prize pool of $4,074,000 will create another WPT millionaire on Friday when the last remaining player with chips is awarded the Championship, the bracelet pictured above, a $25,500 seat in the WPT Finals in April, 2006 at the Bellagio and $1,060,050 in cash.

I was there with camera when this poker-star-rich field hit the felt. The dark, dreary and wet day outside did little to dampen the upbeat mood of the crowds of spectators watching many of the best professional players in the world play no-limit hold'em poker. Seated at the feature table on the dais in the Fontana Room was the tournament namesake and living poker legend, Doyle Brunson. Wearing his signature gray western hat, Texas Dolly was playing his "A+" game. Doyle Brunson is one of the last of the breed of that have made a lucrative living playing poker, even when it wasn't the world's most popular and favorite game. Doyle Brunson has a record ten WSOP gold bracelets after having won his last one at the 2005 World Series of Poker at the age of seventy-two. I was there for this moment in poker history with Dr. Pauly. He posted an event wrap-up and I provided the photos of Doyle's tenth bracelet win.

That's it for word descriptions of the Festa al Lago IV's first day of the WPT Doyle Brunson North American Championship. I decided to run some photos from the event today and added them into the post via the continue reading section below. The photos are larger for image quality, thus, file size is large and may load slow for some; but, if you want to be close to action at the Bellagio today it's worth the wait.

The last scheduled event #9 of the Bellagio Festa al Lago IV Poker Tournament played the final table Monday. Twelve players returned from the field of 259 entries that began the first day of play after time was called early in the morning before a final table nine had been determined. The dozen players soon got down to a final table nine and rising star, Max Pescatori, had made another final table.

The action was reduced to heads-up in a relatively short play time pitting Anthony Newman of Brooklyn, New York against Matt Glantz from Lafayette, Pennsylvania after Max was eliminated in third place, having to leave with another $76,460 in his pocket. Congratulations are in order for the Italian Pirate for his remarkable performance at the Festa al Lago IV.

Anthony Newman prevailed and eliminated Matt Glantz to take the biggest first place money to date, $273,085, plus a seat in the WPT Finals championship in April, 2006 at the Las Vegas Bellagio Resort. He also gets his very own gold engraved Bellagio champion's bracelet. Matt Glantz received $152,920 in cash for second from the $753,690 prize pool.

Other notable players making the money included Scott Fischman in 14th ($7,280), Paul Wolfe out in 20th ($4,370) Chad Brown in 22nd ($4,370) and Nam le 24th ($4,370). Today's other tournament was the $1,000 + $60 Super Satellite with a field of 406 players and a prize pool of $393,820 resulting in the award of 37 seats in the championship event and one $9,020 buy-in. Seen in the crowd of those making the cut were James Van Alstyne, my choice to win it all, and Kenna James. Complete results from event #9 and all the Festa al lago IV events can be found on PokerPlayerNewspaper.com.

The action in the WPT Doyle Brunson North American Poker Championship begans tomorrow at noon and runs for four days with Friday being the filmed for TV table finale.

The eighth event of the Festa al Lago IV was played on Sunday. The final day got under way with twelve players that decided to quit at 3:00am since they hadn't gotten down to the final table nine. The nine survivors from the starting field of 292 was reached and the final table begin and quickly began losing players. The heads up action began after Vadim Trineher was eliminated in the third slot and received $71,675 from the prize pool of $708,100.

Bryan Kim from LA and Texan, Larry Well, played heads-up until Wells went all-in with pocket sevens and Bryan called his raise with A,Qd and caught another bullet to take the lead and take the tournament. Larry Wells goes away with $143,345 in cash for second place. Bryan Kim received the largest prize of the meet, $257,585, for his win. He will also receive a $25,500 buy-in to the April, 2006 World Poker Tour Finals at the Bellagio Resort. Bryan now has a shiny new, gold Bellagio championship bracelet to impress his poker buddies back in Los Angeles.

The last scheduled event before the Doyle Brunson North American Poker Championship begins on Tuesday. Event #9, a $3,000 + $100 buy-in No-limit Hold'em tournament began on Sunday with 259 players and a prize pool of $753,690. The winner will receive $273,085 from the purse plus a $25,500 seat in the WPT Finals Championship in April, 2006 and one of the gold bracelets.

Late on Sunday a number of well known professionals remained in the contest. Scott Fischman seemed to have most of the chips at his table and probably some other tables, too. Max Pescatori was playing at another table while Carlos Mortensen, 2001 WSOP Champion, was building a large collection of chips and at the same table Eric Seidel was in good shape. Dan Alspach, winner of event #8 the day before, was adding to his pile of chips. T.J. Cloutier remained in the chip-and-a-chair crowd. The familiar faces of Chad Brown, Jim Savage and event #2 winner, Nam Le, could be seen among the 50 or so players remaining.

The $10,000 WPT Doyle Brunson North American Championship begins on Tuesday and runs for four days. The final TV filmed table will be on Friday at 4:00pm. This event provides a great opportunity for fans to experience all the excitement of a major televised Poker Tournament at a major Las Vegas Resort. Come to the Bellagio and become part of the audience for the show where you will watch the players competing to become the next World Poker Tour millionaire, and best of all, it's live. If you are one of those people that would rather be playing than watching, then bring your $10,000 and buy a seat or if you'd rather try to get a seat at a bargain price you can enter the $1,000 + $60 buy-in No-limit Hold'em Super Satellite scheduled for noon on Monday. Buy into this tournament, make the final television table and change your life.

The seventh final table of the Bellagio Festa al Lago IV Poker Tournament was played on Saturday. The final table nine included professional poker players Dan Alspach, John Phan, and Chip Jett. The chip leader coming to the table was Dan Alspach with $251,000 and Mike Burns was second in the count with $179,000. The short stack of $48,000 in chips was owned by Justin Gaines, he was also the first player eliminated from the final table taking $8,220 for ninth place back home to Boca Raton, Florida.

Event #7, $2,000 + $70 buy-in No-limit Hold'em, began on Friday with 278 entries and a prize pool of 539,320 with $200,200 going to the winner. The play lasted well into the evening before the heads-up match began. The day's chip leader, Dan Alspach, had lost most of his chips and at one time he was down to five chips. He doubled up and then went all-in for a half a dozen hands to rebuild his stack. He then doubled through Chip Jett to take the lead and then got heads-up with chip for the event championship. The two played cautiously, trading antes and blinds until Chip went all-in with pocket Sevens. Dan called Chips all-in raise with an Ace, Jack of clubs. The flop came 10,J,5 giving Dan the lead with a pair of Jacks. The turn was a Ten; no help to either player. The river was a Queen and Dan Alspach’s pair of Jacks won all of Chip's chips and ended the tournament. He received $200,200 in cash, a gold Bellagio champion's bracelet and a $25,500 seat in the World Poker Tour Finals scheduled for April 18, 2006 at the Bellagio in Las Vegas. Professional player Chip Jett received $107,900 for second. The complete list of finishers and money won are available at PokerPlayerNewspaper.com.

Throughout the final table, 1983 World Series of Poker Champion Tom McEvoy was always close now that he is Dan Alspach's poker coach. Considering the performance of his pupil at today's final table, I have to believe that Tom must be one exceptional poker coach.

Saturday's other tournament, a $2,500 + $100 buy-in No-limit Hold'em event, got under way at noon with 292 players competing for the $257,585 first place money from the prize pool of $708,100. The top twenty-seven players will receive some of the prize purse. Late on Saturday professional player's Chris Ferguson, Evelyn Ng, and Robert Mirazchi remained in the hunt to make tomorrow's final table.

Sunday's tournament is the last scheduled event before the $10,000 WPT Doyle Brunson North American Poker Championship. Event #9, a $3,000 + $100 buy-in No-limit Hold'em tournament, starts at high noon in the Bellagio's Fontana Room. The final table for Event #8 will begin at 3:00pm and continue until a champion is crowned. The final table for event #9 will be played on Monday at 3:00pm. Monday will also see a $1,000 + $60 buy-in No-limit Hold'em Super Satellite for the championship event. Winning players will receive a $10,000 + $200 buy-in seat in the championship event. The event will award as many seats as the number of entries allow.

Many hours of great, top flight championship tournament poker remains to be played at the Bellagio Festa al Lago IV; so, come to the Bellagio for your share of the action.

The sixth event of the 2005 Festa al Lago IV at the Bellagio played the final table on Friday. The surviving nine players from the 325 entries buying into the $1,500 + $70 No-limit Hold'em began play at 3:00pm and had a champion by 6:00pm. Bill Seber of Houston, Texas came into the final table as the chip leader $210,000 in play money with Sang Pham second in the chip count at $203,000 and that's the way they finished. Bill and Sang got to heads up play and traded chips then the cards favored Bill on the final showdown. Bill called Sang's K,Q of diamonds all-in bet with a J, 8 offsuit and caught the top two pair on the flop of J,8,7...all black. The turn was a King giving Sang outs with a river King or Queen; but, it wasn't to be, the river showed an eight and Sang became the first runner-up. Bill Seber was the winner of event #6 sending Sang Pham home to Fountain Valley, California with $93,950 for second place. Bill Seber takes his $177,610 back home to Houston, Texas. Anatole Parthes of Paris, France was eliminated in the third spot and received $46,975 for his efforts. A complete list of money finishers in this and all events of the 2005 Festa al Lago IV is available at PokerPlayerNewspaper.com.

The three handed final table had Frenchman, Anatole Parthes, with a comfortable chip lead over both Bill Seber and Sang Pham, then Sang went all-in and doubled through Anatole, taking the bulk of his chips. Sang became the new chip leader and Anatole was eliminated a few hands later when he pushed the remaining chips into the center and lost. Winner Bill Seber is no stranger to tournament poker at the Bellagio, having won a gold Bellagio bracelet at the 2004 Bellagio Five Diamonds tournament last December for his first place finish in event #5, a $1,500 + $70 buy-in Pot-limit Hold'em, he also pocketed $142,587.

The 1983 World Series of Poker Champion, Tom McEvoy, went out on the bubble in tenth ($5,370) and Professional Poker Player Yohannes Muruz finished twelfth ($5,370). Liz Liu of Los Angeles cashed for the second time in the Festa al Lago IV going out in the sixteenth slot ($3,580).

Friday's other tournament, event #7, is a $2,000 + $80 buy-in No-limit Hold'em contest with 278 players, a prize pool of $539,320. First place receives $200,200 and the top twenty-seven finishers go home with money. The final table will play on Saturday with a 3:00pm start time.

Saturday's event #8, a $2,500 + $100 buy-in No-limit Hold'em tournament begins at noon and will probably offer the largest purse to date. The annual Bellagio's Festa al Lago Poker Tournament is a proven drawing card for professional poker players including those currently at the top of the game; so if you need another reason to come to Vegas, this is it. The Bellagio is the place to be for big time tournament poker and professional poker player watching, all the poker stars you know from TV. It's the weekend, so treat yourself to a Las Vegas trip, then stay over next week for the Doyle Brunson North American Poker Championship, three days of world class tournament poker with all the poker stars from around the world.

The fifth event of the Bellagio Festa al Lago IV Poker Tournament completed play today and crowned a champion for the $1,000 + $60 buy-in No-limit Hold'em tournament. A young Joe Hertel of Boynton Beach, Florida outlasted the field of 435 entrants to take the $ 144,435 first place money, a gold Bellagio Festa al Lago IV bracelet and a $25,500 value seat in the WPT Finals Championship scheduled for April, 2006. The final hand between winner, Joe Hertel, and second place finisher Mike Carson had Joe winning when he paired Tens to Mike's Eights. Game, set, match and this event is now in the book. Mike Carson came into today's final table as the chip leader with $187,000 accumulated during the first day of play on Wednesday while Joe Hertel had less than half the number at $80,000. Raul Paez of Barcelona, Spain began the final table day with the second short stack at $50,000; but, he consistently built his chips, finally reaching the third spot. He returns to Europe with $37,665 for the show. Complete results of event #5 are available at Poker Player Newspaper.

Max Pescatori made his second final table of the tournament going out in 8th place to pick up another $6,345. Max has been playing a sharp game of late and he is consistently surviving the large fields to make it to the pay window. Max already owns two World Series of Poker Circuit championship rings and I'm sure his ever increasing skills and dedication will add to the hardware he has already accumulated.

The second event happening at the Bellagio today, Thursday, is the first day of Event #6, a $1,500 + $70 buy-in No-limit Hold'em tournament that got under way at noon in the Fontana Room. The event attracted a crowd of 325 players and is offering a prize pool of $472,875 to the top 27 finishers. First place will receive $177,610; a bracelet, and a $25.5K seat in the April 18, 2006 WPT Finals. Walking through the room, I noticed a good mix of professionals all with serious chips including John Phan, David Williams, Tom McEvoy, Mel Judah, TJ Cloutier, John Pham, and event #2 winner, Nam Le. Liz Liu was still in the action though a little short on chips late this afternoon after her final table appearance in event #4 where she finished fourth and collected $23,295.

The seventh event of the 2005 Bellagio Festa al Lago IV Poker Tournament scheduled for a first day of play on Friday is a $2,000 + $80 buy-in No-limit Hold'em contest. The players were lined up at the registration window for this one so another good crowd is expected.

Super satellites are held daily at 7:15pm each evening. The buy-in into the satellites if $1,000 + $60 for a seat and the opportunity to get a bargain priced seat in the $10,000 Championship, The Doyle Brunson North American Championship that begins on Tuesday at noon and runs for three days. This is a WPT sanctioned event that will be filmed for television broadcast in the World Poker Tour Series on the Travel Channel. The Super Satellites award as many seats as the number of buy-ins allow. A great way to begin your big time professional poker career, become a household name and live the good life. You even become a TV star.

The Festa al Lago Poker Tournament at the Bellagio Resort on the Las Vegas Strip handed out a bunch of money to the players in Wednesday's final table for event #4. The 175 entrants that began the $2,500 +$100 buy-in No-limit Hold'em event was down to the final table nine. A tough table that included pro David Levy, short stacked at $38,000, but dangerous with chips. Another professional, Alan Goehring from the local Vegas area, went into the day in the chip count second spot holding $174,000. Webber Kang of Dallas, Texas brought to the table the chip lead, $201,000 in play money. The rapidly rising Liz Liu was the only female to make this table. Damon Ramirez was the short stack with $6,000 and he was the first eliminated, going out in ninth, to collect $6,380 for the short day's work.

The table was down to heads-up play between Webber Kang and Brad Booth after Bryan Kim was knocked out in third place, taking $43,875. Webber Kang had a better than 3 to 1 chip lead and used it to his advantage to increase his lead. The final hand began with Brad all-in with Q,4 of Diamonds and Webber calling and showing a red 9,10 off suit. The flop came 2, J, 4 all black cards to give Brad the lead with a pair of 4's. The turn brought another black card, the spade 10, pairing Webber's 10 to regain the lead. The river was a blank, the 5 of Hearts, Webber Kang from Dallas, Texas had just claimed the $173,085 prize money, a $25,500 value seat in the April, 2006 WPT Finals and one of the heavy gold 2005 Bellagio Festa al Lago bracelets. Brad Booth will be returning to Yukon Territory, Canada with $87,755 second place money. The complete results of this event and all the events of the 2005 Bellagio Festa al Lago Poker Tournament at Poker Player Newspaper.

Event #5, $1,000 + $60 buy-in No-limit Hold'em, began at noon Wednesday with 435 players and a prize pool of $421,950. The winner of the event will receive $144,435 in cash plus one of the WPT Finals Championship Tournament April, 2006. The professional poker community was well represented in the remaing players. Chris "Jesus" Ferguson, Charlie Shoten, Max Pescatori, and Men "Master" Nguyen with chips and a chair.

Thursday's scheduled event #6 is a $1,500 + $70 buy-in No-limit Hold'em tournament with a noon start time. The final table for event #5 plays on Thursday at 3:00pm in the Bellagio's Fontana Room.
John Smith, Las Vegas historian, author ( Running Scared ) and columnist for the Las Vegas Review Journal, takes a look at modern poker in Las Vegas in his column today. Read the article titled, Poker craze serving up endless school of fish to Vegas sharks, for his special take on the sport.

The Bellagio Festa al Lago Poker Tournament crowned another event champion Tuesday evening. The final table of the surviving nine from event #3, $2,000 + $80 buy-in No-limit Hold'em, completed play early this evening when players such as WSOP bracelet holder and professional poker player, Mike Sica of New Jersey, departed in 8th place soon followed by the day's chipleader, Rami Boukal, leaving in the forth spot.

John Esposito had most of the chips in his stack when he played Richardo Festejo heads-up for the championship and a gold 2005 Bellagio Festa al Lago bracelet. The two players traded chips with John continuing to pad his substantial lead. The end came when John and Richardo got all-in, and John was holding a K, 3 of Spades. The board showed two more Kings giving John the lead over Richardo's 10, 3 of Hearts. Ricardo caught a forth heart on the turn for a shot at a winning heart flush, any heart that doesn't pair the board gives him life. Any four on the river would give both players the straight and a tie, no change in chip counts. The river card, Six of Spades, meant John's tripped up Kings came through giving for the few remaining chips he didn't already have in his stacks. Richardo Festejo of Margate, New Jersey receives $87,005 for his second place finish. Denis Ethier completed the top three and collected $43,505. Complete Festa al Lago event results are available at Poker Player Newspaper.

John Esposito, Las Vegas based professional poker player, had a great day and collected $171,830 cash, the gold Bellagio Festa al Lago bracelet and a $25,500 buy-in to the World Poker Tour Finals scheduled for April 18, 2006. The event began with 217 players.

Event #4, a $2,500 + $100 buy-in No-limit Hold'em tournament was playing down to the final table nine with 48 players from the starting field still in the action. The prize pool for this event is $424,375, a bracelet and a $25.5K seat in the April 18, 2006 WPT Finals championship. Ron Rose, Joe Awada, Max Pescatori and David Levi all had chips. Ron Rose had gathered some large chip stacks. The final table for this event will be played on Wednesday in the Fontana Room tournament area.

Event #5, $1,000 + $60 buy-in No-limit Hold'em gets under way on Wednesday at high noon. The Bellagio Festa al Lago is an ideal tournament to play against many of the highly ranked pros. Really test your poker skills and if you do well you'll be leaving with six figures. Poker is one of the few venues that gives non-professionals equal seating. You believe you'll ever end up playing head-up with Tiger Woods playing for the money? Not likely; but, you may be sitting next to tough professionals Phil Ivey, or Phil Hellmuth, or Phil Gordon. I think this is one of the great appeals of modern casino poker. You call go straight to the big leagues and play among high paid professionals you have seen on TV, all you need is the buy-in.

Event #2 of the Bellagio Festa al Lago Poker Tournament completed the final table early Monday evening. Professional poker player, Nam Le, went into the final table with the chip lead of $233,000. The only female to survive to the final table, Jane Hughes from Las Vegas, had the second largest chip stack at $192,500, while Walter Chambers of Baton Rouge, Louisiana held a distant third spot in the chip race with $97,000.

Monday's second event final table was a $1,500 + $70 buy-in No-limit Hold'em tournament that began on Sunday with 265 players and a prize pool of $385,575.

The play got to heads-up when Mark Fleddermann of St Louis, Missouri eliminated Jane in the third slot for $37,810. Nam and Mark went into the two way match with Mark a slight favorite in the chip count. Mark continued to slowly grind through Nam's chips until he had an almost 2 to 1 chip lead, then the cards turned and Nam came alive to play his aggressive style, finishing the match with two quick, big wins. The final hand and the championship was won by Nam Le when his pocket K,7o caught another seven to Mark's A,6o that paired the sixes. Mark goes home to St Louis $75,615 richer. Nam Le receives the championship title, a gold 2005 Bellagio Festa al Lago bracelet, a $25,000 + $500 buy-in in the championship event and $147,925 in cash. The complete results of all the events from the 2005 Festa al Lago are available at Poker Player Newspaper.

Event #3 began today at noon with 217 paid customers donating to a prize pool of $420,980. The winner of this $2,000 + $80 buy-in No-limit Hold'em contest will receive $171,830, a gold bracelet and a $25,500 value buy-in in the Championship event. Tomorrows start of event #4 at noon will be a $2,500 + $100 buy-in No-limit Hold'em tournament.