Tao of Poker: Dr. Pauly's WSOP Poker Blog and Sports Betting Discourses

WPT Invitational - Day 2

"Suck my fat one, you cheap dime store hood." - Wil Wheaton, Stand by Me

We're back for the second day of the WPT Invitational at the Commerce Casino located just outside of Los Angeles. There are 88 players remaining out of the original 317 who started. Only the top 6 places pay and first place gets a seat in the WPT Championhips at the Bellagio in April. Ugur Marangoz ended day one as the chipleader. Some of the biggest names in poker players are left in the hunt (Phil, Gus, Barry, and Isabelle) along with some of your favorite celebrities hanging around as well including Wil Wheaton, Jason Alexander, and Mimi Rogers.

Because of the accelerated blind structure, the tournament is a crap shoot. Anything can happen today. Action will not stop until we are down to 6.

Here's some notable players left: Scott Fischman, Gentleman John Gale, Joe Cassidy, Jason Alexander, Lee Watkinson, Alan Goehring, Quinn Do, Phil Hellmuth, Bill Edler, Isabelle Mercier, Steve Lipscomb, Chad Brown, Evelyn Ng, Gus Hansen, Amnon Filippi, Steven Dannenmann, Humberto Brenes, Barry Greenstein, Clonie Gowen, Allen Kessler, Todd Brunson, Noli Francisco, Mimi Rogers, Jesse Jones, Blair Rodman, Davood Mehrmand, Tuan Le, Paul Darden, Tony Cousineau, Jon Favreau, Hoyt Corkins, Kevin Weisman, Gavin Smith, Casey Kastle, Alexander Stevic, Nick "Takeover" Schulman, Danny Masterson, Wil Wheaton, Nam Le, Al Ardebili, Kathy Griffin, Tony Ma, Ben Roberts, Farzad Bonyadi, Marco Traniello, Dick Van Patten, Karina Jett, David Levi, and Mike Matusow.

End of Day 1 Chicpounts (Courtesy of Poker Wire):
1 Ugur Marangoz $ 96,800
2 Scott Fischman $ 94,600
3 John Gale $ 92,700
4 Shawn Buchanan $ 76,600
5 Joe Cassidy $ 68,400
6 An Lu $ 68,300
7 Jason Alexander $ 63,700
8 Lee Watkinson $ 62,100
9 Coley Laffoon $ 61,300
10 Alan Goehring $ 61,300
11 Judson Swimner $ 58,600
12 Quinn Do $ 55,000
13 Dante Oliveto $ 54,700
14 Phil Hellmuth $ 54,300
15 Matt Carboy $ 53,400
16 Jeff Liebster $ 53,100
17 Bill Edler $ 52,100
18 Will Alaimo $ 48,400
19 Isabelle Mercier $ 48,100
20 Steve Lipscomb $ 47,900
21 Adriano Zimonyi $ 47,300
22 Chad Brown $ 45,300
23 Evelyn Ng $ 42,700
24 Craig Hartman $ 42,200
25 David Prat $ 41,600
26 Gus Hansen $ 41,200
27 David Norrie $ 38,100
28 Denny Williams $ 36,200
29 Amnon Filippi $ 34,700
30 Tom Lock $ 34,600
31 Audrey Kania $ 34,100
32 Steven Dannenmann $ 33,200
33 Humberto Brenes $ 32,700
34 Barry Greenstein $ 32,300
35 Clonie Gowen $ 32,000
36 Johan Storakers $ 30,400
37 John Esposito $ 30,200
38 Allen Kessler $ 29,700
39 Todd Brunson $ 28,300
40 Noli Francisco $ 28,200
41 Scott Jensen $ 27,400
42 Mimi Rogers $ 26,500
43 Jesse Jones $ 26,500
44 Jimmy Tran $ 26,400
45 Blair Rodman $ 25,900
46 Steve Diamatas $ 25,600
47 Davood Mehrmand $ 24,700
48 Matt Smith $ 24,300
49 Andy Goetsch $ 24,300
50 Matt Lefkowitz $ 23,400
51 Herman Zango $ 23,200
52 Louis Drogin $ 22,900
53 Tuan Le $ 22,500
54 Paul Darden Jr. $ 22,400
55 Tony Cousineau $ 22,400
56 Jared Smith $ 22,300
57 Jon Favreau $ 22,000
58 Hoyt Corkins $ 21,700
59 Lynette Chan $ 21,200
60 Ali Sarkeshik $ 21,200
61 Kevin Weisman $ 21,100
62 Gavin Smith $ 20,400
63 Casey Kastle $ 19,300
64 Alexander Stevic $ 18,900
65 Sam Simon $ 18,400
66 Nick Schulman $ 17,700
67 Danny Masterson $ 17,700
68 Wil Wheaton $ 17,500
69 Rossi Morreale $ 16,200
70 Bob Van Horne $ 14,700
71 Nam Le $ 14,600
72 Joe Viceroy $ 14,600
73 Al Ardebili $ 14,300
74 Marko Trapani $ 13,400
75 Kathy Griffin $ 13,300
76 Chuck Pacheco $ 12,700
77 Philippe Rouas $ 12,600
78 Tony Ma $ 12,400
79 Jeannette Crandall $ 11,500
80 Ben Roberts $ 11,100
81 Doug Carli $ 11,100
82 David Welch $ 10,900
83 Farzad Bonyadi $ 10,300
84 Orlando Maldonado $ 10,100
85 Bart Hansa $ 9,900
86 David Cossio $ 9,800
87 Mark Tenner $ 9,100
88 Adrian de Carteret $ 8,600
89 Neil Wright $ 8,500
90 Marco Traniello $ 6,100
91 Dick Van Patten $ 5,800
92 Karina Jett $ 5,600
93 Charlie Donaldson $ 5,300
94 Andy Simpson $ 5,300
95 Danny Smith $ 4,600
96 David Levi $ 3,200
97 Mike Matusow $ 2,300
98 Steve Mould $ 2,100

***** Live Blogging Updates *****

5:45pm... Wil Wheaton frantically called me, "Doc, I'm on severe traffic tilt." Wil thought that today started at 6pm. Actuallty it's 6:30, so he's fine. Here's Wil's starting table:

Day 2 - Wil's Table:
Seat 1: Steve Lipscomb $47,900
Seat 2: Amnon Filippi $34,700
Seat 3: Wil Wheaton $17,500
Seat 4: Scott Fischman $94,600
Seat 5: Tom Lock $34,600
Seat 6: Adriano Zimonyi $47,300
Seat 7: Coley Laffoon $61,300
Seat 8: Judson Swimner $58,600
Seat 9: Blair Rodman $25,900

6:00pm... The Poker Wire girls confrotned me about my blog. "I have some issues," mentioned Poker Wire Heather. "About the Top 5 Things Tournament Reporters Do On Breaks... post." Yeah, they wanted me to set the record staright that they do not download German pissing porm, nor masturbate in the Men's room like Spaceman, nor do they do "hookers and blow" on dinner breaks. When everyone is on a break, the Poker Wire girls are hard at work on the floor getting chipcounts. They don't take breaks and are the hardest working media reps in the business.

6:15pm... Wil arrived and now he's ready to double up against some bigtime pros. I'm sitting in press row next to Foiled Coup and in front of the Poker Wire Girls.

6:25pm... Prop Bet Update: We have two. The O/U is set at 1:30am. BJ has the under. And I also have a last longer with BJ. He has Isabelle Mercier and I got Wil Wheaton. He's giving me 3 to 1. I also have a last longer with the crazy Norwegians who have been kicking my ass in Olympics prop bets. They are giving me 6 to 1 that Gus Hansen will last longer than Wil Wheaton.

6:31pm... Cards are in the air!

6:45pm... Recent Eliminations: Several quick bustouts. You can hear dealers announcing, "All in!" Karina Jett, Marco Traniello, Dick Van Patten, Ron Levi, Bob Van Horne, ared Smith, Jeannette Crandall, David Cassio, David Welch, and Adriano Zimonyi are all out. Dick Van Patten's 10-10 were cracked by A-4. The guy caught trips on him.

6:50pm... Wil Wheaton Update: Wheaton 1, Fischman 0. Phil Hellmuth was moved to Wil's table. With 3-3 Wil raised rpeflop and Scott Fischman raised him half his stack. Wil thought about it for a moment and called. Fischman had A-6. The flop had three clubs and Fischman had the Ace of clubs. Wil lead all the way and rivered a full house to double up. He has 37K now and looking strong.

6:56pm... Recent Eliminations: Jimmy Tran is out. Phil Hellmuth was sent to the rail by Scott Fischman. I'm bummed that Hellmuth got busted. I wanted Wil to drop the Hammer on him and get Hellmuth on uber-tilt.

7:11pm... Recent Eliminations: Jon Faverau, Evelyn Ng, Paul Darden, Sam Simon, Chad Brown, Louis Drogin, and Charlie Donaldson are all out.

7:12pm... Wil Wheaton Update: Wheaton 1, Anne Heche's husband 0. Wil Wheaton won a monster pot in a three way hand with pocket aces. He busted Amnon Filippi's 7-7 and doubled through Cooley Laffoon's J-J. Wheaton now has over 90K and has a shit eating grin on his face. We need to check his shorts for cum stains because I think he jizzed in his pants.

7:15pm... Wil Wheaton Update: Wheaton was just moved to a new table. He's got the stunning Lynette Chan to his right and Al Ardebili, Gus Hansen, and Tuan Le to his left. He's got 95K and looking good.

Lynette Chan, Wil Wheaton, Al Ardebili, and Gus Hansen (far right)
7:30pm... Recent Eliminations: Lynette Chan was busted by Al Ardebili. Cooley Laffoon, Steve Diamantas, and Ali Sarkeshik are also out.

7:37pm... Recent Elimination: I never had a chance to grope Mimi Rogers. She was just eliminated. There are about 56 players remaining. Probably less. Around 9 celebrities left.

7:42pm... Mike Matusow is singing a song called, "Alan Goehring is my hero."

7:45pm... Recent Elimination: Gus Hansen, JR Liebster, and Hoyt Corkins are all out. Gus Hansen was busted by Barry Greenstien. I just won 600 Euros. I had Wil Wheaton in the last longer against Gus Hansen. I was getting 6-1 which was a steal. Thank you Wheaton. You just got me unstuck from my Olympic prop betting with my friends in Norway.

Top 5 Chipcount:
1 Scott Fischman $200K
2 Ugur Marangoz $135K
3 An Lai Lu $110K
4 Will Alaimo $110K
5 Wil Wheaton $102K

8:00pm... Recent Eliminations: Kathy Griffin, Nam Le, Farzad Bonyadi, Kevin Weisman, Davood Mehrmand and Bob Van Horne are out. We're down to under 50 players.

8:15pm... Bouncin Round the Room: At the break, I got another interview with Wil and he introduced me to Jason Alexander. He lost a big pot early in the day to get crippled... boat over boat. Mike Matausow walked up to Alexander and said, "Good luck. What's your name again? Who are you?" I'm sure he was joking around.

Mike Matusow, Steve Dannenamann, and Jason Alexander

Wil Wheaton, Jason Alexander, and Danny Masterson
8:25pm... Recent Eliminations: Ben Roberts and Judson Swimner are both out.

8:30pm... Recent Eliminations: Jason Alexander, Matt Lefkowitz, Todd Brunson, and Gavin Smith are both out. Jason Alexander had 9-9 and lost a race to John Esposito's A-K. We're down to 5 tables and about 44 players remaining.

8:45pm... Shane Nickerson is in the house to sweat. Wil Wheaton. He has 100K.

9:00pm... Recent Eliminations: Al Ardebili, Tony Cousineau, Joe Cassidy, Quin Do, Doug "Rico" Carli, Alan Goehring, and Philippe Rouas are all out. Mike Matusow tripled up, busted Alan Goehring, and got a 10 minute penalty for dropping an F-bomb on the same fuckin' hand. With Q-8 he rivered a Queen to send Goehring's K-8 to the rail. Blair Rodman's A-K was no good too.

9:04pm... Smile Mean Gene. Isabelle Mercier just doubled up.

9:05pm... Recent Eliminations: Gentleman John Gale is out along with Shawn Buchanan. Danny Masterson is also out when Jesse Jones busted him. I think that there is just one other celeb in the field.... David Norrie. The celebrity who lasts the longest wins $10K for their favorite charity. Wil Wheaton said he was playing for my foundation... The Wayward Home for Sexual Promiscuous 19 Year Old Women.

9:15pm... Former Star Trek Actor Wins Celebrity Last Longer in WPT Invitational! Congrats to George Takei. Just kidding. Congrats to Wil Wheaton... for outlasting all the celebs. I can't wait to see how an evil corporation like AOL takes financial advantage of that future post and exploits Wil. Anyway, Wheaton has to outlast Isabelle Mercier so I can win my prop bet with BJ.

9:20pm... Recent Eliminations: 3 tables left. 26 players remaining. Johan Storakers, Craig Hartman, and David Norrie are all out.

9:25pm... Wil Wheaton Update: One of the tournament directors annoucned that Wil Wheaton won the celebrity last longer and that he won $10K for his charity... City of Hope. Everyone applauded and one player at his table joked, "Go all in now!"

Wil's New Table:
Seat 1: Jesse Jones
Seat 2: Wil Wheaton
Seat 4: Scott Jensen
Seat 5: Scott Fischman
Seat 6: Barry Greenstein
Seat 7: Tuan Le
Seat 8: Steve Lipscomb
Seat 9: An Lai Lu

9:35pm... Recent Eliminations: Steve Dannenmann and Will Alaimo are both out.

9:40pm... Recent Eliminations: Wil Wheaton is out. With 10-10 on the button, he moved all in and ran into Scott Jensen's A-A. He took 23rd place. 22 Players remain.

9:41pm... Time stamps have been fixed. Wil is doing a bustout interview with the WPT (minus Courteny Friel). He did mention poker bloggers int he interview and something about Otis having a nice ass.

Wil's bustout interview
10:45pm... Prop Bet updates: Sorry for the delay in updates. I was drinking in the sports bar with Wil and Shane. Stay tuned for a real update. I won a prop bet with Shane & Wil over the last digit of the tab. I had 1-3, Shane had 4-6, and Wil had 7-9. I came through in the cutch. I also settled my prop bet with BJ. Yes... BJ 1, Pauly 0. I'm still geeked out about nailing a 6-1 prop bet with a consortium of nihlist Norwegians from a smoky pub in Oslo, who all thought that Gus Hansen aka The Great Dane would outlast Wil "Fuckin" Wheaton. Little did they know that Wil harnessed the powers of the Monkey. That huge win almost unstuck me for the entire Olympics.

11:00pm... Recent Eliminations: Mike Matusow and Tuan Le are out. Tuan was busted by Steve Lispcomb. Isabelle Mercier was busted by a brutal river suckout. Her 10-10 was holding up until Audrey Kania spiked a Jack on the river with A-Js.

11:30pm... Recent Eliminations: Scott Jensen, Casey Kastle, John Esposito, An Lai Lu, and Matt Korby are all out. Clonie is the chipleader.

Recent Chicpount courtesy of Poker Wire:
1 Clonie Gowen $650K
2 Steve Lipscomb $380K
3 Tom Lock $350K
4 Ugur Marangoz $220K
5 Blair Rodman $215K
6 Barry Greenstein $210K
7 Scott Fischman $200K
8 Jesse Jones $180K
9 Humberto Brenes $160K
10 Lee Watkinson $130K
11 Herman Zango $80K
12 Allen Kessler $70K
13 Audrey Kania $23K

12:01am... Recent Eliminations: Lee Watkinson was busted by Barry Greenstien and Audrey Kania was sent tot he rail by Allen Kessler. Clonie lost a pot with A-K to Tom Lock's K-K. She slipped to $325K. With 11 players remaining, Tom Lock is the chipleader with $850K.

12:20am... Recent Elimination: Humberto Brenes is out. We're down to 9.

Final 9 Chicpounts:
1 Tom Lock $780K
2 Barry Greenstein $469K
3 Steve Lipscomb $397K
4 Blair Rodman $385K
5 Scott Fischman $296K
6 Clonie Gowen $237K
7 Jesse Jones $196K
8 Ugur Marangoz $162K
9 Allen Kessler $82K

12:30am... Recent Elimination: Steve Lispcomb was knocked out by Barry Greenstein. Bad beat too. Barry's K-3 beat Liscomb's A_10 when Barry flopped trip Kings. Barry is the new chipleader with 8 players left.

12:45am... Recent Elimination: Down to 6. Play is over for the night. Clonie Gowen's 10-10 was eliminated by Barry Greenstein's J-J. She took 8th. Scott Fischman finished in 7th place. Blair Rodman's 5-5 held up against Fischman's A-2s.

Final Table Chipcounts (courtesy of Poker Wire):
1 Barry Greenstein $1.119M
2 Tom Lock $740K
3 Blair Rodman $573K
4 Jesse Jones $279K
5 Allen Kessler $166K
6 Ugur Marangoz $64K

12:47am... Prop Bet Update: BJ 2, Pauly 0. I lost the O/U for finishing time. BJ's been hot during the last week!

12:48am... Stay tuned for a photo gallery of Day 2.