WSOP Day 5 - Live Blog for Event #2 40K NL Final Table and Event #3 1K Donkulus Day 1B

By Pauly
Las Vegas, NV

The first significant final table of the WSOP is about to kick off shortly on an extremely busy day that features the final table of Event #3 Omaha 8, the second flight of the Donkulus, and the Main Event Champions Freeroll.

Event #2 40K NL - Day 4 & Final Table
Remaining Players: 9
Total Players: 201
Prize Pool: $7,718,400

Final Table Seating Assignments:
Seat 1: Ted Forrest
Seat 2: Noah Schwartz
Seat 3: Alec Torelli
Seat 4: Isaac Haxton
Seat 5: Greg Raymer
Seat 6:Justin Bonomo
Seat 7: Lex Veldhuis
Seat 8: Dani 'Ansky' Stern
Seat 9: Vitaly Lunkin

End of Day 3 Chip Counts:
1 Isaac Haxton - 5,955,000
2 Vitaly Lunkin - 4,565,000
3 Lex Veldhuis - 3,805,000
4 Greg Raymer - 3,345,000
5 Alec Torelli - 2,340,000
6 Justin Bonomo - 1,685,000
7 Dani 'Ansky' Stern - 1,300,000
8 Noah Schwartz - 660,000
9 Ted Forrest - 560,000

Final Table Payouts:
1 - $1,891,012
2 - $1,168,566
3 - $774,927
4 - $548,315
5 - $413,166
6 - $329,730
7 - $277,940
8 - $246,834
9 - $230,317

One of those nine players will win the 40th Anniversary bracelet. Stay tuned for live updates.

Ironically, I'm the chip leader at the final table of a private tournament hosted by Wil Wheaton. We both made the final table and I knocked him out in 7th place when my nines held up against his A-10. I actually finished in 5th place. At the final table, I ran into Aces three times and lost to quad Queens. Yet somehow, I managed to finished in 5th. Thanks for hosting Wil, and thanks for the kind words on your blog.

* * * * *
2:01pm... Final table has been delayed as ESPN's crew sets everything up. A waitress was spotted handing out free beef jerky to the final table players. Greg Raymer snagged a bag. I felt pretty jealous so I headed to the media room for a few bag of Steak Nuggets. I know that you're jealous. MeanGene and I are gonna start running a beef jerky racket and sell the free samples that I get in the media room. Black market jerky. Sometimes, I love Las Vegas.


Photo by Benjo
So MeanGene and I drafted final table players for a prop bet...

Team Pauly: Haxton, Raymer, asnky, Zee Justin
MeanGene: Lex, Lunkin, Torelli, Tedd Forrest.

Poor Noah was the odd man out looks like he'll win the entire fuckin' thing!

* * * * *
2:50pm... Cards in the air!

After an expected delay (TV tables are notoriously late to start), Jack Effel recycled the story about how the 40K came to be. His lovely wife suggested a 40K buy-in for the 40th Anniversary of the WSOP. Anyway, I'm investigating the rumor that the winner of today's event secures both a bracelet and a year's supply of beef jerky.

Be sure to listen to the latest episode of Tao of Pokerati featuring a cameo from Benjo! We discuss the final table for 40K NL and stray off topic and discuss the Frenchies recent trips to strip clubs.

Tao of Pokerati
Episode 11.8: $40K Final Table Dance (4:25)

* * * * *
3:23pm... Bonomo 1, Raymer 0

Event #2 40K NL - Final Table
Remaining Players: 9 out of 201
Prize Pool: $7,718,400
Chipleaders: Isaac Haxton
Shorties: Ted Forrest

Not much to report. There was only one flop through the first dozen hands.

And then we had our first potential elimination when Justin Bonomo was all in pre-flop against Greg Raymer. Justin held A-J versus Raymer's A-8. Raymer's hand did not improve and Justin doubled up to almost 3M.

* * * * *
3:38pm... Ansky Doubles; Ted Forrest Eliminated in 9th place ($230,317)

Event #2 40K NL - Final Table
Remaining Players: 8 out of 201
Prize Pool: $7,718,400
Chipleaders: Isaac Haxton
Busto: Ted Forrest

We had another all in with Ansky fighting for his tournament life. All in preflop. Lex called with Ac-Kc vs. Ansky's Ad-Js. By the turn Ansky picked up a flush draw. Although he missed on the river, he won the pot when a Jack spiked. Ansky doubled up. The Dutch press was rooting for their hometown hero, Lex, and they were pissed when Ansky rivered the jack. "Donk-a-shame!" they screamed.

On the nexthand, the two short stacks battled. Ted Forrest was all in with Jh-10d vs. Noah Schwartz's pocket trey's. Noah's treys held and Forrest eliminated in 9th place ($230,317).

* * * * *
3:52pm... Noah Schwartz eliminated in 8th place ($246,834)

Event #2 40K NL - Final Table
Remaining Players: 7 out of 201
Prize Pool: $7,718,400
Chipleaders: Isaac Haxton
Busto: Noah Scwartz

Short stacked Noah Schwartz moved all in w/ A-K against Greg Raymer's A-A. Raymer's Aces held up despite getting them cracked twice yesterday. Noah Schwartz headed to the rail in 8th place. Down to 7 with Haxton still the chipleader.

* * * * *
3:57pm... Raymer 1, Haxton 0

Event #2 40K NL - Final Table
Remaining Players: 7 out of 201
Prize Pool: $7,718,400
Chipleaders: Vitaly Lunkin

Isaac Haxton was all in with pocket Jacks vs. Greg Raymer's 6-6 on a flop of 9-6-5. Raymer's set held and he doubled up versus the chipleader. Raymer doubled up and Haxton still retained the lead despite the hit.

* * * * *
4:20pm... Smoke Break, Champions Invitational Annoucements, Fossilman = Chipleader

Event #2 40K NL - Final Table
Remaining Players: 7 out of 201
Prize Pool: $7,718,400
Chipleader: Greg Raymer
Shortie: Alec Torelli

The 40K NL is on an extended break.

Greg Raymer is the new chipleader with 6.4M. The Russian is not far behind in second place. Action was paused while all eyes in the Amazon Ballroom were focused on Jeffrey Pollack announcing the former Main Event champions. Jesus, Scotty Nguyen and Doyle Brunson got the loudest ovations.

Amarillo Slim played but Russ Hamilton obviously was not there.


Photo by Mean Gene
Peter Eastgate is currently AWOL. Nicholas Levi, a French pro on Team Winamax, knows Eastgate and called him to find out his whereabouts.

Anyway, the winner of the Champions Invitational gets a free car. No cash. But they also get a Binion's Cup. That would be cool to have on your mantle. Props to Greg Raymer for focusing on the 40K NL bracelet event instead of this PR freeroll.

Today's smoke break is brought to you by PokerStars...


And since it's 4:20pm... I want to let all the Phisheads out there know that I'm also live blogging the set list of Phish's epic show at Fenway Park in Boston. Head over to Coventry Music Blog for set list info and live updates of Phish in Fenway. Thanks to my boys Kid Dynamite and G-Rob for the set list info.

* * * * *
5:20pm... Lex 'RaSZi' Veldhuis eliminated in 7th place ($277,940)

Event #2 40K NL - Final Table
Remaining Players: 6 out of 201
Prize Pool: $7,718,400
Chipleader: Greg Raymer
Shortie: Alec Torelli
Busto: Lex 'RaSZi' Veldhuis

The Dutch Pro Lex, also known as Evelyn Ng's boyfriend, was one of the short stacks. He was all in with Ad-7d all in vs. Raymers Kc-Ks. Rayner's Cowboys hold up. Raymer runs good. Down to 7.

* * * * *
5:36pm... Alec Torelli Eliminated in 6th place ($329,730)

Event #2 40K NL - Final Table
Remaining Players: 5 out of 201
Prize Pool: $7,718,400
Chipleader: Greg Raymer
Shortie: Ansky

Short-stacked Alec Torelli was all in with Ah-2h vs. Isaac Haxton's As-10d. Haxton's hand held up. Torelli busted in 6th. Down to five.

Over in the Champions Invitational, Jamie Gold was the first player to bust out. Fitting said Benjo that he'd be the first world champion to head to the rail.

* * * * *
6:15pm... Ruskie Chip Leader; Omaha Final Table Set

Event #2 40K NL - Final Table
Remaining Players: 5 out of 201
Prize Pool: $7,718,400
Chipleader: Vitaly Lunkin
Shortie: Ansky

It's true. The Ruskie, aka Vitaly Lunkin, has taken over the chip lead from Greg Raymer. Aside from that, not much else has happened in the last hour or so.

Over in the Omaha event, Sebastian Ruthenberg bubbled off the final table in 10th place. A final table of nine is set.

Seat 1: Ming Reslock
Seat 2: Jordan Rich
Seat 3: Pascal Leyo
Seat 4: Ed Smith
Seat 5: Freddy Deeb
Seat 6: Senovio Ramirez
Seat 7: Thang Luu
Seat 8: Robert Price
Seat 9: Jim Gear

* * * * *
6:15pm... Dani 'Ansky' Stern Doubles Through Fossilman

Event #2 40K NL - Final Table
Remaining Players: 5 out of 201
Prize Pool: $7,718,400
Chipleader: Vitaly Lunkin

Short-stacked Ansky moved all in with As-10h. Greg Raymer called with 7s-7d and led until Ansky spiked a ten on the river to double up to almost 420K.

ZeeJustin has been rather quiet. Just sayin'.

* * * * *
6:50pm... ZeeJustin = ZeeGone; Eliminated in 5th Place

Event #2 40K NL - Final Table
Remaining Players: 4 out of 201
Prize Pool: $7,718,400
Chipleader: Isaac Haxton

Cooler. Justin Bonomo was all in with J-J against Isaac Haxton's A-A. Aces hold. Bonomo eliminated in 5th ($413,166)

We're down to the final four. Ansky. The Ruskie. Fossilman. Haxton.

* * * * *
7:27pm... Moneymaker Eliminated from Champions Freeroll

Event #2 40K NL - Final Table
Remaining Players: 4 out of 201
Prize Pool: $7,718,400
Chipleader: Greg Raymer

Over in the Champions Invitational, Chris Moneymaker was the last player to bust. He went out in 19th place. No car for Moneymaker. Down to 18 with Carlos Mortensen the chipleader.

Greg Raymer regained the chiplead after he flopped the Wheel with 5d-2d! Gotta love that Raymer was open-raising with Gus Hansen hands. The Ruskie is not far behind and also has 8M plus.

* * * * *
7:50pm... Dinner Break

Event #2 40K NL - Final Table
Remaining Players: 4 out of 201
Prize Pool: $7,718,400
Chipleader: Greg Raymer

The final four players are currently on a dinner break. Action resumses around 9:20pm.

* * * * *
7:50pm... Ansky Eliminated in 4th Place ($548,315); Greg Raymer Eliminated 3rd Place ($774,927)

Event #2 40K NL - Final Table
Remaining Players: 2 out of 201
Prize Pool: $7,718,400

Shortly after the dinner break, Ansky took a big hit when Isaac Haxton doubled up with a flush. Ansky busted out shortly after when his Q-10 lost to Haxton's Big Slick. Down to three players. Greg Raymer has a slight chiplead, but the remainign two... Haxton and Vitaly... all have similar sized stacks.

Just when it looked like action was going to slow down, there was another all in preflop. Haxton's 9-9 was ahead of Raymer's 5-5. Haxton's nines held and Raymer was dunzo.

Down to two players. The Ruskie and Haxton with Haxton holding the obvious chip advantage. with 16M to 7M.

Champions Invitational
Remaining Players: 16

Amarillo Slim was the last player to bust out in 17th place to a warm applause when his name was announced over the PA. According to Oliver Tse's twitter feed, Jerry Yang, busted out in 18th place when his Aces were snapped off by Scotty Nguyen's Queens.

* * * * *
11:44pm... 11 Champions Sitting on a Wall

Champions Invitational
Remaining Players: 11
Total Prize Pool: Just a car and a cup

And they're down to 11 players vying for the sweet car and the Binion Cup. Johnny Chan was the latest casualty as he headed to the rail in 12th when he ran into Jim Bechtel's pocket Aces. Jesus left the building in 13th and Scotty succummed in 14th place. Brad Daughtery was eliminated in 15th place. Daugherty is not the former UNC hoops player but the pro who wrote several books with TJ CLoutier. Obviously they were poker startegy books and NOT craps strategy books. Of Course, if I wrote a craps Strategy book, it would be one page cotaining two sentences... "The major key to NOT being a losing player in craps? Don't play."

Event #2 40K NL - Final Table
Remaining Players: 2 out of 201
Prize Pool: $7,718,400

26 hands of heads up play? Slow. Tedious. Haxton had almost a 2 to 1 lead to start, but the Ruskie chipped away within ten hands. He picked up a few small pots until he took over the chiplead on Hand #120.

* * * * *
12:11am.... Back-to-Back Luu

Congrats to Thang Luu for winning a bracelet in Event #3 $1,500 Omaha 8. He won the same event in 2008, and in 2007, Luu finished in second place in a $2,000 Omaha event. Talk about an amazing feat in the last three years. Fear Thang Luu. Can Luu threepeat in 2010?

Champions Invitational
Remaining Players: 10
Chipleader: Carlos Mortensen
Shortie: Phil Hellmuth

With Joe Hachem's elimination in 11th place, the final table is set. Action will resume at 3pm tomorrow. Winner gets a little red Corvette.

* * * * *
12:31am.... Bouncin?

I took a walk aound the Amazon Ballroom. The cash games are spilling over from the red section into the orange section. After all those broke-dicks busted out of the Donkulus, they headed straight to the cash games. Wasn't that the evil master plan all along? Churn 'em and burn 'em. Scarf Boy aka German pro George Danzer is playing nearby.

The Donkulus is on the verge of finishing up. The board lists 400 players but that number is a little lower. They will return tomorrow along with the 376 who survived Day 1A.

* * * * *
1:20am.... Swings and Swings; Ruskie Runs Good

Event #2 40K NL - Final Table
Remaining Players: 2 out of 201
Prize Pool: $7,718,400

Just when it looked like the Ruskie was on the verge of winning his first bracelet, Isaac Haxton caught some timely magic. He doubled through Lunkin when he snapped off Aces with K-10 to take lead. Yeah, he rivered a ten to double up and re-take the lead. Lunkin got it right back when he rivered a flush two hands later. The Ruskie has over 18M to Haxton's 6M.

Oh, and happy 4:20 to all of my East Coast readers.

* * * * *
1:34am... Vitaly Lunkin Wins $40K NL Bracelet

Event #2 40K NL - Final Table
Remaining Players: 1 out of 201
Prize Pool: $7,718,400

After a grueling heads-up match, we have a winner.... Vitaly Lunkin. Wait, who the hell is that guy?

Well, the guy I referred to as the Ruskie, Vitaly Lunkin, won the $40K NL bracelet and $1,891,012 for first place. Unfortunately, Isaac Haxton bused out in a disappointing 2nd place and collected $1,168,566. Not a bad pay day for a runner-up.

With the completion of the final table, the live blog is closed. Thanks for following along. I'll be back tomorrow for more live updates. Stay tuned for a Day 5 recap which I'll start writing as soon as I get home.


Original content written and provided by Pauly from Tao of Poker at www.taopoker.com. All rights reserved. RSS feeds are for non-commercial use only.

2009 WSOP Day 4: Nostrum Donkulus

By Pauly
Las Vegas, NV

Las Vegas is a city of contrasts and contradictions. We're technically sitting on the edge of Death Valley in the middle of the desert, yet a sprawling and pulsating city has been built up from scratch.

On one end of the Amazon Ballroom, the upper echelon of the poker competed for almost $2 million and bragging rights about winning one of the most expensive NL tournaments in Las Vegas. Several members of poker's established old guard battled it out with the new wave of young, brash, and seasoned veterans of the tempestuous world of online poker. New money vs. old money. But the one thing they had in common? The proper financial backing and the testicular fortitude to brawl with at least one hundred of the premier NL tournament players in the world.

And on the other end of the room, several thousand members of the proletariat and poker enthusiasts enduring economic hardships took advantage of a discounted donkament that otherwise became known as the Donkulus.

"WSOP Bracelets! Get your discounted WSOP bracelets! 33% off!"

The promotion worked so much so that the event was sold out. 6,000 runners took advantage of Harrah's bailout package. It was a sincere gesture of populist proportions to give the working class stiffs, tourists, amateurs, dreamers, broke dick poker players, and everyone else an opportunity to win a coveted WSOP bracelet. The sympathetic powers to be obviously understood that the WSOP had to creative something to address the ephemeral cycle of economic decline and at the same time attract more players and fans than in previous years.

The lower buy-in opening weekend tournament attracted plenty of riff raff. With six thousands players converging on the Rio, more than a handful were hostile individuals with questionable morals. It also meant that a high percentage of players were on tight budgets due to the credit crunch. A hearty reminder of players trying to save money included the procession of people walking down Flamingo from the Strip to the Rio on the overpass covering the I-15 freeway. They could barely scrape together $1K to buy-in to the Donkulus, let alone scrounge together some cab money.

The night before, instead of unfurling a wad of Benjamins, I spotted several disheveled runners counting out single dollar bills as they pushed a small pile of small bills towards the cashier. A couple of homeless-looking guys even paid with rolled-up pennies. Several desperate people took cash advances on their credit cards in order to pay for the buy-in.

Although the Donkulus event attracted a couple of top pros, they were anomalies among the scores of dead money that loitered around in the hallways starting an hour before the tournament kicked off at noon. A couple of players tried to sneak through the side door in an attempt to take their seats early. I commented on Twitter that, "If you show up 35 mins early to take your seat in a donkament, I can 100% guarantee that you won't be winning this tournament."

It's funny because it's true.

I've witnessed the bloodshed in different clashes including both the Main Events and $1,500 donkaments. It's virtually impossible to keep up with the inescapable slaughter. The rate of players falling on Day 1A was an astonishing five players for every minute.

Yes, every five minutes, the Killing Fields claimed another victim. Most of the media avoided the plight, especially ESPN who never considered covering the Donkulus for a second when a scintillating tournament transpired in a cloistered corner of the Amazon Ballroom. Security was super tight as surly guards roamed the areas surrounding the 40K NL event. It was a safe or green zone where the upper crust could cheer on their peers without being swarmed by the ravenous fans. The guards kept them out along with all the stray donkeys who lost their way.

In order to prevent myself from being attacked by any rabid donkeys that wandered up into the press box, I attempted to purchase donkey repellent before the WSOP began. Unfortunately, I was unable to acquire that item on such short notice. Alas, it was on back order so I picked up bear pepper spray. It's highly affective and stuns donkeys (and bears obviously) by simply squeezing the trigger.

And where did I get bear mace? From one of those 2012 Armageddon websites that suggested you use bear spray to thwart assailants in a home invasion during the impending apocalypse.

I apologize for the tangent. Moving on...

The popularity of the Donkulus forced the Rio to set up tables in the hallway in front of Buzio's, even though they promised that they would do their best to not have to utilize that spill over (and highly inconvenient space). The only good thing about that area? It's within walking distance to the Hooker Bar. Heck, as soon as you busted out of the Donkulus, you could make a bee-line for the pleasure consultants, which of course were the lowest rung on the harlot ladder since they were humping the afternoon shift of a donkament. It's not like the Bellagio hookers feasting on high rollers during the WPT Championships or the flock of high end working girls who arrived just around 50K HORSE began and hovered all the way through the Main Event.

Over in the 40K NL event, the action on Day 3 started out lightning quick with four eliminations. Despite Tony G's short stack, he avoided an early exit, but the same could not be said for Andrew "Good2cu" Robl, Frank Kasella, David Chiu, and Neil "Bad Beat" Channing. Andy Black, who was dressed more like a player in the Donkulus instead of the pseudo-high roller event busted out in 19th place.

When the final two tables were set in the 40K NL event, the carcasses from the Donkulus were grounded up and mixed with kangaroo meat, which the Poker Kitchen passed off as hamburgers. And the rest of the expired donkeys were left out to bake on the roof of the convention center, where the leftover entrails shriveled up in the scorching Nevada sun. Now, you know where all that free beef jerky came from, sort of like that shocking scene at the end of Soylent Green, when the Charlton Heston character discovered that the evil dystopian Government fed little green wafers to starving humans that were made up of human corpses. Soylent Green is people. Donkey jerky. You get the picture.

It took a couple of hours before the 40K NL field dwindled down from 18 to a final table of nine players. Matt Glantz, a bracelet hopefully this year, busted out in 17th place. The final ten players consolidated onto one table with five minutes to go before the dinner break. Several players wanted to finish out the level, take a twenty minute break (instead of an hour dinner), and then continue play until one more player busted out. They sought out an early day. However, a couple of players objected including Tony G.

"I can't wait to have some wine during dinner. It will loosen me up," said a jovial Tony G. "Oh and instead of a sixty minute break, I'd like to take ninety minutes."

The G was postponing the inevitable. He was short stacked for all of Day 3 and somehow bubbled off the final table in 10th place. With his departure, play was suspended and the final nine were set... Ted Forrest, Noah Schwartz, Alec Torelli, Isaac Haxton, Greg Raymer, Justin Bonomo, Lex 'RaSZi' Veldhuis, Dani 'Ansky' Stern and Vitaly Lunkin. When Day 3 of the 40K NL event was complete, Haxton held the chip lead with a shade under 6M.

And over in the first flight of the Donkulus, only 376 players survived out of 3,000 or so. Guess what? We get to repeat the liquidation of thousands of broke dick donks. More dead donkeys. More beef jerky.

* * * * *
Bouncin Round the Room on Day 4...

The Commish introduced me to Jack Binion in the press box. I shook Binion's hand. It was very cool to meet the legend himself. He uttered the famous, "Shuffle up and Deal." Jack created the first satellite to the WSOP. They should have cast a bronze statue of Jack and place it in front of the satellite room. Much like rubbing the belly of a lucky Buddha, on their way inside the satellite room at the Rio, downtrodden poker players would rub Jack Binion's statue to improve their poker karma.

Nelly was playing in the Donkulus. He could easily afford to play in the 40K NL, but his skill level of the more suited for the Donkulus. Heck he had two bodyguards with him that looked like NFL linemen. Their salaries alone were probably more than $40K a piece. And yes, Nelly busted out early. I am getting so hot, I'm gonna donk my chips off.


Photo by Mean Gene
Norman Chad tried to steal Annie Duke's thunder during a taped ESPN segment, where he challenged pros to different contests. On that instance, it was a lemonade stand against Annie Duke, who was fresh off of her runner-up performance on Celebrity Apprentice. Hundreds of fans lines up to buy lemonade from either Norm Chad or Annie Duke. Norm spiked his batch with booze and promised to pocket the proceeds, while Annie whipped up a booze-free batch with proceeds going to the charity of her choice Refugees International.

Poker Road's Joe Stapleton busted out of the Donkulus courtesy of a little bad mojo from his railbirds... myself and Joe Sebok. We stood behind him during his elimination hand. The Jacks in the Hole co-host went out when his Jacks lost to A-A in a multi-way pot. There was an Ace on the flop and a Jack on the turn, but he couldn't suck out with the case Jack and headed to the rail.

And yes, there was an Amarillo Slim sighting in the Amazon Ballroom. He was spotted in both the press box and lurking around the final two tables of the 40K NL. His appearance indicates that there's a strong chance he will play in tomorrow's Champions Freeroll featuring former WSOP Main Event Champions.

Plenty of railbirds sweated the final ten players in the 40K NL. Some of them waited an hour during the dinner break in order to get a good spot on the rail. Evy Ng sweated her boyfriend RaSZi and even held up a sign from time to time. Standing next to her was everyone's favorite spicy Brazilian dish, Maridu. Former champion Joe Hachem also hung out and rooted on Greg Raymer.

In addition to making the final table of the 40K NL on Sunday, Greg Raymer is also scheduled to play in the Champions freeroll at 4pm. With 1.9M and a bracelet on the line, Raymer will definitely focusing on the 40K NL. Besides, that tiny little match box car that they are giving away? Raymer barely fits in there. Yes, the Champions Event is a freeroll where the winner gets a car. No cash. Just a car. Oh and a month's supply of beef jerky.

There were whispers on the rail that Tony G declared that if he won the event, he'd double everyone's salary. A nice gesture, but a semi-bluff at best since he was super short-stacked to begin with. Regardless, the G busted out in 10th place. He won $172,120 which should cover his at-table-massage bill for the entire series.

Don't forget to check out Flipchip's WSOP photos.

And yes, back by popular demand...

The Last Five Pros I Pissed Next To....
1. Minneapolis Jim Meehan
2. Ray Davis
3. JC Tran
4. David Daneshgar
5. Johannes Strassman

Original content written and provided by Pauly from Tao of Poker at www.taopoker.com. All rights reserved. RSS feeds are for non-commercial use only.

WSOP Day 4 - Live Blog for Event #2 40K NL - Day 3 and Event #3 1K Donkulus Day 1A

By Pauly
Las Vegas, NV

Today is the first busy day at the Rio for the 2009 WSOP. There's two re-starts (40K NL and 1.5K omaha 8) and the first donkament, otherwise known as the donkulus because Stimulus + Donkament = Donkulus.

Today's live blog will focus on the remaining 23 players in the 40K NL event. However, I will be providing plenty of snarky commentary about all of the broke dicks playing in the reduced buy-in event.

To start off, here's some important stats for the 40K...

Event #2 40K NL - Day 3 Starting Chip Counts:
Justin Bonomo - 2,678,000
Ted Forrest - 2,586,000
David 'WhooooKidd' Baker - 2,367,000
Greg Raymer - 2,287,000
Lex 'RaSZi' Veldhuis - 2,103,000
Alec Torelli - 1,725,000
Keith Lehr - 1,257,000
Vitaly Lunkin - 1,166,000
Matthew 'adz124' Marafioti - 1,003,000
Brian 'tsarrast' Rast - 912,000
Doshi Suresh - 771,000
Dani 'Ansky' Stern - 762,000
Clark Hamagami - 691,000
Brian Townsend - 671,000
Matthew Glantz - 671,000
Noah Schwartz - 541,000
Isaac Haxton - 539,000
Tony G - 481,000
David Chiu - 318,000
Neil Channing - 270,000
Andy Black - 210,000
Frank Kassela - 167,000
Andrew 'good2cu' Robl - 112,000

And here's the starting seat assignments for the 40K NL Day 3...

Table 1:
Seat 1 - Frank Kassela - 167,000
Seat 2 - Brian Townsend - 671,000
Seat 3 - Justin Bonomo - 2,678,000
Seat 4 - Keith Lehr - 1,257,000
Seat 5 - Clark Hamagami - 691,000
Seat 6 - Ted Forrest - 2,586,000
Seat 7 - Andrew Robl - 112,000
Seat 9 - Greg Raymer - 2,287,000

Table 2:
Seat 1 - Doshi Suresh - 771,000
Seat 2 - Alec Torelli - 1,725,000
Seat 3 - David Chiu - 318,000
Seat 4 - Vitaly Lunkin - 1,166,000
Seat 6 - Neil Channing - 270,000
Seat 7 - Matt Glantz - 671,000
Seat 8 - David Baker - 2,367,000
Seat 9 - Isaac Haxton - 539,000

Table 3:
Seat 1 - Ansky - 762,000
Seat 3 - Brian Rast - 912,000
Seat 5 - Tony G - 481,000
Seat 6 - Noah Schwartz - 541,000
Seat 7 - Andy Black - 210,000
Seat 8 - Matthew Marafioti - 1,003,000
Seat 9 - Lex 'RaSZi' Veldhuis - 2,103,000

* * * * *
12:10pm... Here Come the Donkeys

I purposely arrived early because the crowds swell to uncomfortable amounts. Since this was a special "stimulus" event and Harrah's was generous to offer all those broke dick players a bailout package worth $500 per player. Instead of a $1,500 donkament to kick off the first weekend of the WSOP, the schedule included a $1,000 buy-in event. The result? A sold out tournament with almost 6,000 players.

The lower buy-in also meant that there was plenty of riff raff assembling in town for the event. I never saw so many people walking the bridge over I-15 from the Strip to the Rio. Those were the downtrodden souls who could barely scrape together $1K let alone cab money. Last night, I spotted some people paying for their buy-in with single dollar bills. A couple of homeless-looking guys paid with rolled-up pennies.

The donkulus players who couldn't afford hotel rooms camped out in the Rio's parking lot in a make-shift tent city. Unemployed donkeys in tents. Plight in America has not been that bad since shanty towns sprang up all over the States during the Great Depression. The media called those establishments Hoovervilles, which were named after President Herbert Hoover. In the spirit of that vernacular, I'm compelled to call the tent city in the parking lot... "Pollackville."

Yes, within a few minutes, the Amazon Ballroom will be covered in donkey blood. In order to prevent myself from being attacked by any rabid donkeys that wandered up into the press box, I attempted to purchase donkey repellent. Unfortunately, I was unable to acquire that item. It's on back order. Instead, I picked up bear pepper spray. It's highly affective and stuns donkeys (and bears obviously) with just one spray.


Bear mace that's highly effective donkey repellent

* * * * *
1:10pm... Annie Duke's Lemonade Stand

Norman Chad is trying to steal Annie Duke's thunder and as a part of a bunch of ESPN segments, he's challenging pros to different events. This one happened to be a lemonade stand against Annie Duke. Hundreds of fans lines up to buy lemonade from either Norm Chad or Annie Duke. Norm spiked his batch with booze and promised to pocket the proceeds, while Annie whipped up a booze-free batch with proceeds going to the charity of her choice Refugees International.

I wandered up to the casino and noticed that the tables in front of Buzio's were utilized even though there was a vague promise that those tables would never be used again for WSOP events. Oooops. Bill Chen, Maridu, Shaun Deeb, and Jason Mercier were among the pros stuck in the hallway. The other spillover rooms were also in full swing not to mention the Amazon Ballroom. There's a rumor that the Omaha 8 re-start will be pushed back to 3pm because the donkeys are not busting out as fast as they anticipated. The slaughter has been slowed down due to the triple-stack format of today's donkulus.

* * * * *
2:25pm... Down to 19 (aka That Was Quick)

Event #2 40K NL - Day 3
Remaining Players: 19
Total Players: 201
Prize Pool: $7,718,400
Chipleaders: Justin Bonomo and Ted Forrest
Shorties: Andy Black, Tony G
Busto: David Chui, Neil Channing, Frank Kassela, Good2cu

I stood around the re-start area for fifteen minutes and four players busted. They happened so fast that I couldn't even write down the hands. Thank God for using twitter as a notebook. The first to bust was Andrew "Good2cu" Robl in 23rd place. He went out against Greg Raymer in a battle of the blinds situation. Next up was Frank Kasella who hit the rail in 22nd when he ran into Brian Townsend's Aces. David Chiu was the next player to fall in 21st place. And everyone's favorite Brit, Neil Channing, is nolonger with us. Channing's run ended when he went out a minute later in a three-way pot. Bad Beat Channing busto in 20th place.

Down to 19. I anticipated the action to flow at an accelerated pace to start Day 3, but this was much faster than expected.

Alas, The G is shortstacked and looking for a spot to double up.

* * * * *
3:33pm... Andy Black Eliminated; Down to 18

Event #2 40K NL - Day 3
Remaining Players: 18
Total Players: 201
Prize Pool: $7,718,400
Chipleaders: Justin Bonomo, Greg Raymer, Alec Torelli
Shorties: Brian Townsend, Tony G
Busto: Andy Black

Tony G doubled up but he's still one of the short stacks.

After a rapid pace to start Day 3, action slowed down until Andy Black it the rail. Ansky took him out. Down to 18 and the final two tables.

* * * * *
4:20pm... Glantz Eliminated; Down to 17

Event #2 40K NL - Day 3
Remaining Players: 17
Total Players: 201
Prize Pool: $7,718,400
Chipleaders: Justin Bonomo, RaSZi, Alec Torelli
Shorties: Brian Townsend, Doshi Suresh
Busto: Matt Glantz

Just before the break, Matt Glantz hit the rail in 18th place. Down to 17. 8 more eliminations and we'll have a final table. Justin Bonomo is out to a substantial lead. Only two people have more than 3M.... Bonomo (3.6M) and Dutch pro RaSZi (3M).

At this point, ESPN's second unit has been filming the final two tables. Tucked away in the shadows of the stage, a small group of spectators are tightly packed on the rail watching the final 17 play down to a final table. Tony G has been rather quiet today.

Today's smoke break is brought to you by PokerStars...

* * * * *
5:30pm... Suresh and Hamagami Eliminated

Event #2 40K NL - Day 3
Remaining Players: 15
Total Players: 201
Prize Pool: $7,718,400
Chipleaders: Justin Bonomo, RaSZi, Alec Torelli
Shorties: Brian Townsend, tsarrast
Busto: Doshi Suresh and Clark Hamagami

Ansky took out Clark, while the best-dressed player in the 40K NL event just hit the rail. Doshi Suresh ran into Raymer's Queens and was elimianted in 16th place. Wasn't Suresh the name of the doctor in Hereos?

We're down to 15 players with Zee Justin out in fron.

MeanGene is a huge Penguins fan and just skipped out to watch some of the game in the sportsbook. Unfortunately, I never had that issue during the WSOP. My favorite hockey team is the NY Rangers, and they suck. In the previous five summers, I have never reached a point of conflict where I had to absolutely watch a game but had to work at the same time.

And yes, there was an Amarillo Slim sighting which indicates that there's a strong chance he plays in tomorrow's Champions Freeroll featuring former WSOP Main Event Champions. Winner gets a match box car and a year's supply of beef jerky.

* * * * *
6:30pm... Down to 12; Townsend Busted; I'm the Cooler

Event #2 40K NL - Day 3
Remaining Players: 12
Total Players: 201
Prize Pool: $7,718,400
Chipleaders: Justin Bonomo, RaSZi, Alec Torelli
Shorties: Keith Lehr, Tony G
Busto: Brian Townsend, tsarrast

Tough break for short-stacked Brian "tsarrast" Rast. He shoved with Kings but lost to Vitaly Lunkin's pocket fives when Lunkin flopped a boat.

Brian Townsend was next to go and busted in 13th. That pot pushed Torelli past the 5M mark.

Poker Road's Joe Stapleton busted out of the Donkulus. I think both Joe Sebok and I were coolers because we stood behind him during his elimination hand. The Two Jacks in the Hole host went out when his Jacks lost to A-A in a multi-way pot. There was an Ace on the flop and a Jack on the turn, but he couldn't suck out with the case Jack and headed to the rail.

In Event #3 Omaha 8, Matt Savage is clinging onto dear life and trying to make the money. He's sitting at a table that includes both Todd Brunson and Annie Duke.

* * * * *
7:50pm... The Almost Final Table; Ten to Go

Event #2 40K NL - Day 3
Remaining Players: 10
Total Players: 201
Prize Pool: $7,718,400
Chipleaders: RaSZi, Alec Torelli, Vitaly Lunkin
Shorties: Tony G, Noah Schwartz
Busto: Keith Lehr (11th)

The final ten players considlated ontoone table with five minutes to go before the dinner break. A couple of players wanted to finish the level, take a twenty minute break (instead of an hour dinner) and then play until one more player busted. A couple objected including Tony G.

"I'm waiting for the dinner break to get a glass a wine. It will loosen me up," he said. "Oh and instead of an hour, I'd like to take ninety minutes."

Here's the final ten seating assignments...

Seat 1: Ted Forrest
Seat 2: Noah Schwartz
Seat 3: Alec Torelli
Seat 4: Isaac Haxton
Seat 5: Greg Raymer
Seat 6:Justin Bonomo
Seat 7: Lex Veldhuis
Seat 8: Dani Stern
Seat 9: Tony G
Seat 10: Vitaly Lunkin

One more bustout and Day 3 will be complete.

* * * * *
9:05pm... Nothing to See Here

Event #2 40K NL - Day 3
Remaining Players: 10
Total Players: 201
Prize Pool: $7,718,400
Chipleaders: RaSZi, Alec Torelli, Vitaly Lunkin
Shorties: Tony G, Noah Schwartz

Nothing really happened during the first level after the dinner break. Greg Raymer picked up Aces again and found himself all in against Ted Forrest's Aces. Chop it up.

The G is super short and should be making a stand shortly. Isaac Haxton has taken over the chiplead with 5.5M. Plenty of railbirds sweating the final ten. Some of them waited an hour during the dinner break to get a good spot. Evy Ng is on the rail sweating her boyfriend RaSZi. Standing next to her is Maridu. Joe Hachem is also hanging out and rooting on Greg Raymer. At one point, Amarillo Slim was on the rail checking things out.

* * * * *
9:25pm... Tony G = Busto

Event #2 40K NL - Day 3
Remaining Players: 9
Total Players: 201
Prize Pool: $7,718,400
Chipleaders: RaSZi, Alec Torelli, Vitaly Lunkin
Shorties: Noah Schwartz

The G is nevermore. He failed to make the final table. There were whispers on the rail that Tony G declared that if he won the event, he'd double everyone's salary. A nice gesture, but a semi-bluff at best since he was super short to begin with. Regardless, the G made a stand and whiffed. He bubbled off the final table in 10th place. He won $172,120 which should cover his at-table-massage bill for the entire series.

The final table of nine is set. Action will resume tomorrow at 2pm.

Seat 1: Ted Forrest
Seat 2: Noah Schwartz
Seat 3: Alec Torelli
Seat 4: Isaac Haxton
Seat 5: Greg Raymer
Seat 6:Justin Bonomo
Seat 7: Lex Veldhuis
Seat 8: Dani Stern
Seat 9: Vitaly Lunkin

End of Day 3 Chip Counts:
1 Isaac Haxton - 5,955,000
2 Vitaly Lunkin - 4,565,000
3 Lex Veldhuis - 3,805,000
4 Greg Raymer - 3,345,000
5 Alec Torelli - 2,340,000
6 Justin Bonomo - 1,685,000
7 Dani 'Ansky' Stern - 1,300,000
8 Noah Schwartz - 660,000
9 Ted Forrest - 560,000

Greg Raymer is also scheduled to play in the Champions freeroll at 4pm. With 1.9M and a bracelet on the line, Raymer is definitely focusing on the 40K NL. Besides, that tiny little match box car that they are giving away? Raymer barely fits in there.

* * * * *
11:11pm... German Leads Pack in Omaha, Annie Duke and Erick Lindgren Still Lurking

Event #3 1.5K Omaha 8 - Day 2
Remaining Players: 52
Total Players: 918
Chipleaders: Sebastian Ruthenberg
Shorties: Andre Akkari
Busto: Chip Jett, Julie Schneider, Matt Savage

DonkeyBomber's lovely wife, Julie, went deep in the Omaha event. Sadly, she just busted out in 58th place and made the money. She outlasted Matt Savage, Robert Goldfarb from Team Pokerati, Toto "Please Don't Call Me Doug Lee" Leonidas, Fabrice Soulier, Greg "Flash" Pappas, Todd Brunson, and David Daneshgar. They all cashed as well.

Plenty of familiar faces left... Layne Flack, Annie Duke, My main Man Freddy Deeb, Erick Lindgren, and Eli Elezra. German bracelet winner Sebastian Ruthenberg leads the pack.

* * * * *
1:05am... After Midnight Edition: Lindgren Eliminated

Event #3 1.5K Omaha 8 - Day 2
Remaining Players: 30
Total Players: 918
Chipleaders: Alex 'Dracula' Michaels
Busto: Erick Lindgren

Yeah, the golden boy is busto And some dude named Dracula is the chipleader.

FYI... My buddy Wil is hosting a private tournament on PokerStars on Sunday. You're invited...

What: The Wil Wheaton Invitational
When: Sunday, May 31. 11am PDT
Where: PokerStars.com
Tourney Number: 168008111
Buy-in: $5.50
Password: Monkey

I think that's it for tonight's live blog. I have a potential content thief to chase down and a recap to write. Thanks for following along. Hope to see you tomorrow.


Original content written and provided by Pauly from Tao of Poker at www.taopoker.com. All rights reserved. RSS feeds are for non-commercial use only.

Tao of Pokerati - The Poker Kitchen Episodes

By Pauly
Las Vegas, NV

Here's two more episodes of the shortest podcast in the poker world featuring yours truly and Michalski. We taped these inside the Poker Kitchen on Day 1...

Tao of Pokerati at the 2009 WSOP

Episode 11.3: High School Musical (2:50) - Pauly and Michalski compare the first day back to returning to your old high school.

Episode 11.4: Getting Pissy (3:19) - We almost killed this episode thirty seconds into the recording, yet held on strong and gutted it out. I'm glad we did because the listeners will catch a glimpse of our off-the-air personalities and the ribbing and shit we routinely give each other.

To listen to older episodes, visit the Tao of Pokerati archives.


Original content written and provided by Pauly from Tao of Poker at www.taopoker.com. All rights reserved. RSS feeds are for non-commercial use only.

2009 WSOP Day 3: The Valley of Ashes

By Pauly
Las Vegas, NV

Poker is a selfish and lonely pursuit and played in Las Vegas, a city swamped in moral decay, there's the potential for disaster in the quest for wealth and indulgent pleasures. Sin City corrupts people and leads them down a path of self-destruction. The end result? Their intoxicating hopes and unattainable dreams were annihilated. Burnt to a crisp in a valley of ashes.

It's absurd to pony up $40,000, compete against the elite NL tournament players in the world, and then 36 hours later end up with absolutely nothing. That's what happened to quite of few players in Event #2 $40,000 NL whom did not make the money. Only 27 players were fortunate enough to guarantee a cash out of the original 201 runners. 89 of them began Day 2 with Chris Moneymaker among the chip leaders. By the time Day 2 ended, Moneymaker's march towards glory came to a shocking halt and only 23 players survived. They each advanced to Day 3 and have to fade 22 more players to win a bracelet.

Chris Moneymaker represented a modern day Jay Gatsby. Much like the main character from F. Scott Fitzgerald's novel The Great Gatsby, Moneymaker and Gatsby both were self-made millionaires. They earned their money in unconventional ways; Moneymaker through poker and Gatsby through bootlegging in the 1920s. They achieved a status of fame and fortune that epitomized the fulfillment of the American Dream and became the center of the party.

However, Jay Gatsby's fate included a tragic ending when he was unable to come to grips with his past. While Moneymaker's future has been slowly unraveling before us, the $40,000 NL event gave him a chance at redemption. He wanted to prove that he wasn't like the "monkey on the grinder" while paraded all over the world by PokerStars like some sort of carnival side attraction like Siamese Twins or the Bearded Lady.

Chris Moneymaker has been chasing his own shadow since 2003. Every single person in poker today has been effected by his monumental victory inside Benny's Bullpen, and as poker continues to grow, more and more pressure gets thrust upon his shoulders. Folks like me and other results-oriented-obsessed media types constantly write about what he hasn't done in the last few years, instead of bestowing him with accolades for achievements off the felt by inspiring thousands and perhaps millions of people to play poker and actually believe that they too have a chance of taking down the best pros in the game.

I've seen him carry the burden as far away as Monte Carlo and Argentina. He's walked in jam-packed poker rooms all over the world and chuckled as he said, "I kinda started all this." Yet he also knew that he had a target on his back no matter where he went.

Moneymaker began Day 2 second in chips to Bruno Fitoussi. At one point Moneymaker snagged the lead and for most of the afternoon, he was consistently in the Top 5 in chips. He had been diligently working on his game and plugging leaks (especially blowing huge chip leads and playing smarter in the early stages of tournaments). It seemed as though his tweaked game plan was working, until his run abruptly ended. Inside of a short period of time, Moneymaker went from the penthouse to the outhouse. He crashed and burned way before the money bubble broke. A dejected Moneymaker wandered by the press box as he left the Amazon Ballroom. He, more than anyone in this world, knows how vital it is to get an opportunity of a lifetime. He was well within reach of making poker history but the poker gods had other things in mind.

As Moneymaker faded away, Greg Raymer flew under the radar and emerged as the chip leader shortly after the dinner break. He lost and regained it a couple of times. But when Day 3 ended, Raymer found himself fourth in chips and trailed the leader by 400,000. Justin Bonomo finished up Day 2 with 2.67 million. Ted Forrest, aka the Suicide King, was sitting in second place despite missing a substantial amount of Level 15. He took a nap on his dinner break and overslept. Even though he was being blinded off, he woke up and returned to the tournament. He managed to have a late night surge and finish up with almost 2.6 million in chips. David 'WhooooKidd' Baker was third, Raymer fourth, and young Dutch pro Lex 'RaSZi' Veldhuis found himself fifth overall. RaSZi (also known as Evelyn Ng's boyfriend) held a share of the lead at one point on Day 2.

OMGClayAiken busted out in 29th place which set up a somewhat lengthy bubble. When it finally broke, Neil Chriss found himself heading to the rail in a disappointing 28th place. Once the bubble broke, a couple of eliminations ensued including Vanessa Rousso (27th), JC Tran (26th), Sorel Mizzi (25th), and The Dragon (24th).

23 players remain including a couple of familiar faces. $1,891,012 and a bracelet are both on the line. There's still two more days of poker left (action on Day 3 will stop once they get down to the final nine) and anything can happen.

* * * * *
Bouncin Round the Room on Day 3...

When I arrived in the morning, I noticed the car wash being set up in the parking lot. Several strippers from the Sapphire pool were doing some sort of promo with a local radio station. The concept was simple... bikini car wash. The girls were not the cream of the crop and leftovers from the afternoon shift, yet they still managed to catch the attention of different media types. God bless Mean Gene for snagging several photos.

I stepped away from the press box and when I returned, I found an entire bag of beef jerky sitting next to my laptop. Benjo picked it up for me. Supposedly, the folks at Jack Link's dropped off several free bags of beef jerky (retail value? $10 in the Poker Kitchen) in the media room. Heck, the schwill merchants at Milwaukee's Beast never gave us a sip of free beer. But, times have changed and we were given free beef jerky. Those devious suits at Jack Link's are purposely giving us free beef jerky so we'll all get addicted on it and then we'll be forced to buy overpriced jerky in the Poker Kitchen. I smell conspiracy. I'm gonna get Oliver Tse and Alex Jones on the case.

I watched Game 6 of the Lakers/Nugs series at the All American Bar. During halftime, Jerry Buss shuffled by without a care in the world. Surreal.

Benjo spotted someone who looked like Vinny Vinh and he asked me to confirm his appearance. Indeed, it was Vinny. He sweated The Dragon from inside the ropes for several minutes. When he was done, we followed Vinh all the way back to the cash game section where he returned to his seat at a 2/5 PLO table. As Benjo said, it's officially the WSOP when you have a Vinny Vinh sighting.

And yes, don't forget to follow me on Twitter.


Original content written and provided by Pauly from Tao of Poker at www.taopoker.com. All rights reserved. RSS feeds are for non-commercial use only.

WSOP Day 3 - Live Blog for Event #2 40K NL - Day 2

By Pauly
Las Vegas, NV

201 players entered the Amazon Ballroom for the $40,000 buy-in NL special event. Only 89 players remain. Among them? The legendary Chris Moneymaker. Yesterday, he grinded his way towards the top of the leader board. Can he maintain his position or will the pack (mixed with seasoned pros and some of the top internet players in the world) swallow him whole?

The top 27 players win prize money. They should reach the money around Midnight tonight.

Event #2 40K NL - Top 10 Chip Counts:
Bruno Fitoussi - 812,500
Chris Moneymaker - 805,000
Justin Bonomo - 738,000
Lex 'RaSZi' Veldhuis - 646,500
Kyle 'krisqueen' Wilson - 611,500
Brian Townsend - 609,000
Michael DeMichele - 519,500
Emil 'whitelime' Patel - 494,500
Alan Sass - 491,000
Andy Black - 449,500

Familair Faces Still Playing: David Baker, Ali Eslami, OMGClayAiken, Sorel Mizzi, Mark Seif, Ted Forrest, Isaac Haxton, Ansky, adz124, CrazyMarco, Nam Le, Alex Jacob, MrSmokey1, Frank Kassela, Josh Arieh, Jason Mercier, Tony G, Neil Channing, Antonio Esfandiari, Phil Ivey, Huck Seed, Humberto Brenes, good2cu, David Chiu, Doyle Brunson, Matthew Glantz, Markus Lehmann, Kenny Tran, Greg Raymer, mig.com, The Dragon, Dale Pinchot, John Duthie, Lee Markholt, Matt Giannetti, Steve Zolotow, Vanessa Rousso, JC Tran, Kirill Gerasimov, Adam Junglen, Johannes Strassmann, Bill Chen, Chad Batista, tsarrast, Robert Suer, LarsLuzak, Jeff Lisandro, Scott Seiver, Terrence Chan, William Molson, Hoyt Corkins, SirWatts, amak316, Chau Giang, Mike Matusow, Raptor, Chris Moorman, and Devilfish.

Payouts:
1: $1,891,012
2: $1,168,566
3: $774,927
4: $548,315
5: $413,166
6: $329,730
7: $277,940
8: $246,834
9: $230,317
10-12: $172,120
13-15: $128,666
16-18: $96,171
19-27: $71,858

* * * * *
1:01pm... Eat Me

Um.... yeah. It's true. When I was walking into the Rio this morning, the strippers from the Sapphire Pool were setting up a car wash promotion in the employees parking lot. When I spotted the Poker Shrink, I asked him if he was going to get his car washed by the vixens, he responded, "How about the girls wash me?"


Photo credit: MeanGene

Anyway, the Milwaukee's Beast girls are back and they are cute as ever. I gotta say, I'm digging the Alice in Wonderland look. I's love to eat them. I'd follow them down a rabbit hole any day of the week.

Photo credit: MeanGene

* * * * *
2:15pm... 40K Day 2 Begins; Down to 84

Event #2 40K NL - Day 2
Remaining Players: 84
Total Players: 201
Prize Pool: $7,718,400
Chipleaders: Bruno Fitoussi, Chris Moneymaker
Shorties: Chris Mooran, Raptor
Busto: John Duthie, Bill Chen, Barry Schwartz, and Hoyt Corkins

About 10 minutes in, a couple of players already busted on Day 2 including EPT founder John Duthie. Most of the railbirds are in the corner of the orange section checking out the 40K while virtually ignoring the Event #3 $1,500 Omaha 8.

Prop Betting Tales: I already took a small bet from AlCantHang. He wanted to take under 800 for the number of runners in the Omaha 8 event. I picked 801 because I figured there would be more players in the field in 2009 because this is the only $1,500 o8 event this year. Last year, there were two chances to play the lowest buy-in Omaha 8 event. I figured 801 was a lock and even figured the nu,bers would surpass 900. At last check, it's at 918 runners.

* * * * *
3:15pm... Dolly Down; No Drugs

Event #2 40K NL - Day 2
Remaining Players: 76
Total Players: 201
Prize Pool: $7,718,400
Chipleaders: Bruno Fitoussi, Chris Moneymaker
Shorties: Devilfish, Chris Moorman
Busto: Texas Dolly, amak316, Kenny Tran, SirWatts, Russell Rosenbloom

The legendary Texas Dolly hobbled out of the Amazon Room in front of the press box ans he headed to the VIP lounge. Dolly tweeted his displeasure... "got knocked out....never drug one chip...i beat 128 players, spent a 16 hour day playing. lost 40K..that's why i hate tournaments!!"

According to Matt Glantz, on the breaks of the 40K, he's been playing Chinese Poker with Brunson, Eli Elezra, Mike Matusow, and Phil Hellmuth.

"Mike is firing on all drug cylinders today," explained the Poker Shrink. "The new meds are working wonderful." Matusow switched up his meds and they seem to be working. He doubled up and he's sitting on 225K.

* * * * *
4:20pm... Smoke 'Em If You Got 'Em

Event #2 40K NL - Day 2
Remaining Players: 65
Total Players: 201
Prize Pool: $7,718,400
Chipleaders: Brian Townsend, tsarrast, Chris Moneymaker, RaSZi, The Dragon
Shorties: Devilfish, Raptor, Kirill Gerasimov
Busto: Devilfish, Michael DeMichele, Adam Junglen, Devilfish, Chris Moorman, Shawn Buchanan, Jess Yawitz, Lee Markholt, Matt Giannetti, Andrew Lichtenberger, David Singer, Josh Arieh, Ville Wahlbeck

Did I forget to mention the free beef jerky in the media room?

Yes, it's true. I take everything back that I said about the beef jerky sponsorship. Shit, those schwill merchants at Milwaukee's Beast never ever gave us free beer! The kind folks at Jack's links hooked us up with Jack Link's Premium Cuts. Benjo scored me a bag of spicy Peppered Beef Jerky. Gotta love it.

Despite taking a couple of hits, Chris Moneymaker still remains in the Top 5 in chips. Frenchman Bruno Fitoussi slipped out of the top spot which is now occupied by Brian Townsend.

Omaha Chicks Update: I found Shirley Rosario. She's sitting on a 5.5 stack (starting chips were 4.5K ... triple chips) and fresh off of her win at Commerce last week when she took down the California State HORSE championship. She's in the hunt for her first bracelet. Meanwhile, Kristy Gazes is also in the Omaha 8 event. I bumped into her in the hallways and she said she was going to focus on the juicy cash games and play in only a handful of tournaments. She also has 5.5K.

Yes, it's 4:20, which means it's time for a good old fashioned smoke break. Today's smoke break is not brought to you by beef jerky, but rather by PokerStars!



* * * * *
5:20pm... Channing Alive

Event #2 40K NL - Day 2
Remaining Players: 58
Total Players: 201
Prize Pool: $7,718,400
Chipleaders: Brian Townsend, Justin Bonomo, OMG Clay Aiken, RaSZi, Matt Glantz
Shorties: Kirill Gerasimov, Robert Suer
Busto: Andrew Barta, Mark Seif, krisqueen, Steve Billirakis, Antonio Esfandiari, Raptor, Scott Seiver

I forgot to mention that they will be playing eight levels tonight or if they reach 18 players... whichever comes first. The top 27 pay and I'm thinking we'll reach the bubble, but not get below 20. This is the second day of a four day event.

The Bad Beat Watch: A shout out to the Brits following along with today's coverage. Neil "Bad Beat" Channing is still alive and in the middle of the back with almost 365K. He has Jeff Lisandro to his left along with Alex Jacob at his table.
* * * * *
6:20pm... Ivey & Matusow Out; Moneymaker Surges

Event #2 40K NL - Day 2
Remaining Players: 45
Total Players: 201
Prize Pool: $7,718,400
Chipleaders: Justin Bonomo, Chrsi Monemaker, OMG Clay Aiken, RaSZi
Shorties: Kirill Gerasimov, Jeff Lisandro
Busto: Phil Ivey, Mike Matusow, Bruno Fitoussi, Terrance Chan, Chau Giang, Jason Mercier, Markus Lehmann, Huck Seed, whitelime, Steve Weinstein, William Molson, Robert Suer

Down to the final five tables.

Phil Ivey got taken out my Sorel Mizzi, while Terrance Chan was taken down by whitelime. Chris Moneymaker has been chipping up. He got up to 700K and then surged towards 1M after he busted German pro Johannes Strassmann. Moneymaker has a couple of big guns at his table including Ted Forrest, Justin Bonomo, OMGClayAiken, and JC Tran. Meanwhile, ZeeJustin became one of the first players past the 1M chip mark.

Omaha Chicks Update: Shirley Rosario has Roy Winston to her left.She slipped to 3K. Have heard from Kristy in a while. Been too busy watching Moneymaker's table and haven't had a chance to head over to the Brasilia Room.

AC Boys: Matt Glantz dragged a monsterpotten and jumped up to 1.1M, while Dale Pinchot is holding as one of the shortest stacks.

Players will be going on a one hour dinner break. Play will resume around 7:30pm local time.

* * * * *
7:30pm... Dinner at the Bar

During dinner break of the 40K NL event, I headed to the All American Bar & Grille for a meal with Benjo, Change100, and Mean Gene. I kept a keen eye on the Lakers/Nugs game. During halftime, Lakers owner Jerry Buss wandered by. Kinda surreal. He looked more like a retired local slumming around at the Midnight tournament at Binion's and didn't look like the guy who owned the Lakers.

During our meal, I bumped into DonkeyBomber. He told me that I was looking pretty sharp.

"DonkeyBomber is the most famous person that Dan Michalski knows," said Benjo about the two-time bracelet winner and former Player of the Year winner who was a previous contributor to Pokerati.

On my way back to the Amazon Ballroom, a lengthy line began to form at the registration desk for the $1,000 NL Donkulous. That's exactly what poker needs... more dead money. Rumor suggest that the event will get around 5,000 runners. There will be two opening flights and you have a chance at playing on Saturday or Sunday.

There will be blood shed tomorrow.

* * * * *
8:20pm... The Fossilman Emerges

Event #2 40K NL - Day 2
Remaining Players: 40
Total Players: 201
Prize Pool: $7,718,400
Chipleaders: Greg Raymer, RaSZi, Ted Forrest, Matt Glantz, Chris Moneymaker
Shorties: Kirill Gerasimov
Busto: mig.com, Alex Jacob, Dale Pinchot, Chad Batista, Jeff Lisandro, Chance Walker

Wow, how about Greg Raymer coming from out of nowhere? All eyes were on his fellow Team PokerStars Pro Chris Moneymaker, but Raymer flew under the radar and snagged the chiplead in the first half hour after the dinner break.

The money bubble bursts at 27 and they will be playing three more levels tonight.

Omaha Chick Watch: Shirley Rosario is back to 4.5K or her starting stack. Kristy Gazes slipped to 2.7K.

* * * * *
8:50pm... Moneymaker Bankrupt

Event #2 40K NL - Day 2
Remaining Players: 38
Total Players: 201
Prize Pool: $7,718,400
Chipleaders: Greg Raymer, RaSZi, Matt Glantz, Keith Lehr, adz124
Shorties: Kirill Gerasimov, Chris Moneymaker
Busto: Chris Moneymaker, Humberto Brenes, Chris Moore, Mark Dickstein

Moneymaker went from the penthouse to the basement. He mentioned on the Twittertubes that he was card dead and slipped to under 700K, before he lost a race with Queens versus Big Slick. He bottomed out at 250K as one of the short stacks. Moneymaker busted out shortly after when he ran into ted Forrest's pocket Kings.

Humberto Brenes just hit the rail when he was taken out by Greg Raymer, who still retains the chiplead.

Ted Forrest was AWOL for most of the level after the dinner break, but is back now. He went up to his room and took a nap. He turned off his phone and never heard his friends calling to wake him up. Forrest was being blinded out while he overslept.

* * * * *
9:00pm... Raymer = 2 Million Dollar Man

Event #2 40K NL - Day 2
Remaining Players: 36
Total Players: 201
Prize Pool: $7,718,400
Chipleaders: Greg Raymer, RaSZi, Justin Bonomo, Vitaly Lunkin, Brian Townsend, Tony G
Shorties: David Chui, Ali Eslami, Frank Kassela
Busto: Steve Z

Greg Raymer is en fuego. He's the first player in the 40K to pass the 2 million chip mark, which he did after he sent Steve Z to the rail.

Tony G built his stack up courtesy of Chris Moneymaker. The G is closing in on one million chips.

Bad Beat Channing Update: It's early Saturday morning right now and good news for all of you Bad Beat Channing fans. Well, he's still alive and among the final 36 players. He managed to survive this long with his modest stack.

* * * * *
10:40pm... Zee Justin Chasing Down Fossilman

Event #2 40K NL - Day 2
Remaining Players: 33
Total Players: 201
Prize Pool: $7,718,400
Chipleaders: Greg Raymer, RaSZi, Justin Bonomo, Ted Forrest, Vitaly Lunkin,
Shorties: David Chui, Frank Kassela, Kirill Gerasimov
Busto: Ali Eslami, Crazy Marco, Alan Sass, LarsLuzak

Justin Bonomo passed the 2M mark when he outflopped Crazy Marco. The result? Crazy Marco headed to the rail while Bonomo adde dmore chips in pursuit of Greg Raymer's 2.6M stack.

Bad Beat Channing Update: Channing is almost considered a short stack. He's still alive as action approaches the bubble, but needs a double up before the night is over.

Oh and for your Tao of Pokerati fans who can't get enough of your favorite poker podcast (the shortest in the business...), check out the Tao of Pokerati archives.

* * * * *
11:40pm...

Event #2 40K NL - Day 2
Remaining Players: 28
Total Players: 201
Prize Pool: $7,718,400
Chipleaders: Justin Bonomo, Greg Raymer, RaSZi, Ted Forrest, Vitaly Lunkin
Shorties: David Chui, Frank Kassela
Busto: OMGClayAiken, Nam Le, Evan McNiff, and Kirill Gerasimov

Vinny Vinh was spotted inside the 40K area. He was sweating David The Dragon Pham. Benjo mentioned, "He's looking a lot better than last year."

Benjo and I followed Vinh outsode the ropes and we trailed him all the way to the cash game section. Sow hat is Vinny Vinh playing? 2/5 PLO. Vinh craves the action.

OMGCLayAiken busted in 29th place and action went hand-for-hand as we reach the bubble.

The Bubble Boy? Stay tuned...

* * * * *
12:04am...

Event #2 40K NL - Day 2
Remaining Players: 27
Total Players: 201
Prize Pool: $7,718,400
Chipleaders: Justin Bonomo, Greg Raymer, RaSZi, Ted Forrest, David Baker
Shorties: Tony G, Good2cu
Busto: Chris Neill

Neil Chriss = Bubble Boy

We're in the money. Everyone is guaranteed to win at least $71,858.

* * * * *
12:23am... Day 2 Complete

Event #2 40K NL - Day 2
Remaining Players: 23
Total Players: 201
Prize Pool: $7,718,400
Chipleaders: David Baker, Justin Bonomo, Greg Raymer
Shorties: Frank Kassela, Good2cu
Busto: Vanessa Rousso (27th), JC Tran (26th), Sorel Mizzi (25th) The Dragon (24th)

The following players advanced to Day 3... David Baker, Justin Bonomo, Greg Raymer, Lex 'RaSZi' Veldhuis, Ted Forrest, Keith Lehr, Vitaly Lunkin, Brian Townsend, Matthew 'adz124' Marafioti, Noah Schwartz, Alec Torelli, Dani 'Ansky' Stern, Doshi Suresh, Brian 'tsarrast' Rast, Clark Hamagami, Isaac Haxton, Matthew Glantz, Andy Black, David Chiu,Tony G, Neil Channing, Frank Kassela, and Andrew 'good2cu' Robl.

The final 23 players will return at 2pm local time on Saturday. They will play down to the final table of nine. I'll be here providing live updates. See you then.


Original content written and provided by Pauly from Tao of Poker at www.taopoker.com. All rights reserved. RSS feeds are for non-commercial use only.

Tao of Pokerati - Bowling for Dollars Episodes

By Pauly
Las Vegas, NV


The other night, Michalski and I headed down to South Point and recorded a couple of episodes during a heated heads-up bowling match. You probably saw the video already, but here's the audio portion and the first episodes of the summer.

Tao of Pokerati at the 2009 WSOP

Episode 11.1: How We Roll (2:42)

Episode 11.2: Questionable Tactics (2:57)

To listen to older episodes, visit the Tao of Pokerati archives.


Original content written and provided by Pauly from Tao of Poker at www.taopoker.com. All rights reserved. RSS feeds are for non-commercial use only.

2009 WSOP Day 2: It Was the Best of Times, It Was the Worst of Times

By Pauly
Las Vegas, NV

Foreclosures. Layoffs. Declining revenue. The collapse of capitalism on the horizon. None of that mattered to the 201 players who paid $40,000 (only the second highest buy-in event in the history of the WSOP) during the middle of the global credit crisis and as the once almighty U.S. dollar continues to lose value. You know it's bad when Bloomberg financial writers are using the declining prices of Latvian hookers to demonstrate that a recovery is nowhere within sight.

$40,000 is a significant amount of money. That number for some poker writers, teachers, and plumbers represents a year's salary. But to an elite group of poker players, that was their ticket towards a shot at a bracelet and bragging rights for winning the highest buy-in NL tournament at the WSOP. All they had to do was fade a field of 201 runners.

TD Jack Effel quickly explained the origins behind the $40,000 event. He wanted to create something to commemorate the anniversary of the WSOP and decided upon an event with a $40,000 buy-in. The amount of the by-in combined with the faltering economy almost guaranteed a short, yet packed field.

I looked out over the majestic Amazon Ballroom from high up in the press box. The unwashed masses gawking on the rail were held back behind the ropes by overzealous security guards. Their sole job? Keep spectators away from the pros flinging chips around the perfectly smooth green felts. They represented the best NL poker players in the world, while the handful of dilettantes in the crowd were obviously some of the more wealthier individuals in Las Vegas. Supposedly, the 4th richest man in France played in the 40K along with Japanese millionaire Masaaki Kagawa who amassed his fortune after creating the equivalent of eHarmony matcmaking site in Japan. And there's been whispers about how much money Howard Lederer and the Full Tilt posse have accumulated in the last couple of years.

In these harsh economic times, only a small percentage of players boasted a large enough bankroll to dole out $40,000, especially at the beginning of the WSOP. A couple of fortunate players satellited into the event, while a few players were good enough to receive the proper funding, a near miracle in an era when large staking syndicates have shrunk to only a handful of backers. And even those horse owners with the cash were reluctant to put a half of million dollars in play especially on the second day of the WSOP. One well-known staking syndicate offered to put players into a $1,500 satellite but refused funding the full 40K buy-in.

And a few wise folks like Rafe Furst skipped the tournament at the last second. Gus Hansen was also noticeably absent. The Great Dane has a 900K bet on Rafael Nadal to win the French Open. He's watching the games live from Roland Garros. As soon as Hansen collects his winnings, he'll show up in Las Vegas. Until then, Hansen's mind is on two things... playing the French version of Guess Her Muff and Sweating his bet.

The big dogs played. As expected. Texas Dolly. Phil Ivey. Barry Greenstein. Daniel Negreanu.

The former world champions were in also attendance... Johnny Chan. Phil Hellmuth. Chris Moneymaker. Greg Raymer. Joe Hachem. Jesus. Jim Bechtel. Scotty Nguyen. Peter Eastgate. Huck Seed.

And as expected several young internet players were well represented... durrrr, amak316, Adam Junglen, ActionJeff, BoostedJ, westmenloAA, r1nnyraid, Chris Moorman, LarsLusak, ansky, whiteline, tsarrast, adz124, Vivek Rajkumar, good2cy, crazymarco, krisqueen, RaSZi, Alex Jacob, mig.com, MrSmokey1, David Baker, and OMGClayAiken.

And of course, there were a few pros (cough, Doug Lee) who you looked at and thought, "How the hell did you find $40,000 to buy into this event?"

It was a festive moment as players took their seats at the start of Event #2. Many of them had not seen each other in months. It was a reunion of sorts as the biggest sharks in poker returned to the Rio in search of a bracelet and a victory in one of the few events recorded by 441 Productions and televised on ESPN. For some unknown reason, there was a nasty rumor floating around the internet forums that ESPN was skipping both the $40K NL and the 50K HORSE. Although the HORSE event will not be on ESPN, the $40K will be televised as scheduled.

Anyway, while the pros were giving each other hugs and joking around, Jeff Lisandro's outfit was the first thing that caught my eye. The always-intimidating Aussie pro via Salerno, Sicily looked like the bag guy who used to collect debts for the local bookie at my old man's favorite bar in the Bronx. Lisandro wore a silk striped shirt. I couldn't tell if he was a referee for the Lingerie Bowl or a member of Vito Corleone's crew. He wore an old school bowler hat and I wondered if he carried around a wad of cash or a pair of brass knuckles underneath.

Tony G made jumped out to an early lead when he crippled a French-Canadian pro named Erik Cajelais. The G had a 300K stack before Phil Hellmuth made his way to the Rio. The G would remain in the front of the pack for the entire afternoon and most of the evening. At one point, the G challenged Corey Zeidman to a $100K basketball prop bet involving a three-point and free throw shooting contest.

Hellmuth finally arrived several hours late but shockingly without any sort of pomp or circumstance. Supposedly, Hellmuth underwent sensitivity training with Harrah's staff in order to improve his behavior at the tables. Perhaps that included a lesson in low-key entrances. Although Hellmuth didn't exactly sneak in the Amazon Ballroom, he carried along a copy of his latest book.

Hellmuth was one of 112 casualties on Day 1. Chris Moneymaker was not one of them. He was more than a survivor and ended Day 1 second in chips behind Bruno Fitoussi. Moneymaker's performance was one of the stories that developed late in the evening. Despite getting Aces cracked in the early going, he slowly grinded his way towards the front pack. When play was stopped, Moneymaker had over 800K in chips.

With the top 27 players getting paid prize money with $1,891,012 going to the winner. Moneymaker would love to get his hands on that loot along with a second bracelet and chance to get the monkey off his back. Was 2003 a total fluke? Or can Moneymaker conjure enough mojo to go deep and make the final table where anything can happen.

* * * * *
Bouncin Round the Room on Day 2...

"I was just offered $5K to shave half the beard," bragged Andy Black.

Andy Black almost considered taking the bet from an extremely vocal Bobby Suer. Black showed up with a bushy beard and wearing Birkenstocks with baby blue socks underneath. He could have walked right out of the parking lot of a Grateful Dead concert. Shit, I might have even bought a hit of liquid sunshine off him on Phish tour. It looked like Andy Black had not shaved in a year.

Andy Black seriously looked like a member of the Irish-Taliban. I'm shocked that he was able to bypass our stringent immigration officers. They must have been poker fans otherwise they would have tossed Andy Black into Gitmo at the first glimpse of him.


Photo credit: PokerNews
Eskimo Update: One of the French reporters mentioned that he spotted a languid Eskimo sitting on a bench in front of the Everest Poker suite. Supposedly, the suite serves free breakfast every morning. Last year, Eskimo was always one of the first people in line to eat. This year, he has serious competition. He's not the only one waiting on free food. Hundreds of broke-dick players camped outside the Rio in tents while waiting to play in the $1K Donkulus (Stimulus Package + Donkament = Slaughter). They can't afford hotel rooms (even though there are plenty of cheap deals all around town) and they barely scratched together the buy-in for the reduced $1K event. They have been standing in lines resembling bread lines from Communist Russia or in America during the height of the Great Depression. Eskimo usually waited at the head of the lengthy line.

* * * * *
Don't forget that I'm also covering the WSOP via Twitter. You can follow me by clicking here.


Original content written and provided by Pauly from Tao of Poker at www.taopoker.com. All rights reserved. RSS feeds are for non-commercial use only.

WSOP Day 2 - Live Blog for Event #2: 40K NL

By Pauly
Las Vegas, NV

Five summers ago, Flipchip and the Poker Prof hired me to write for LasVegasVegas.com and they put me up at a short-term place that I dubbed The Redneck Riviera. Times have changed over the last half of the decade. I lived all of Las Vegas since then including the quaint suburban drudgery in Summerlin and Henderson. And this year? We're slightly south of the Strip in a place that we've been calling Stripper Central. The place is swarming with random girls who work on the pole. In the mornings, they are working out in the gym. Usually Change100 is flanked by strippers during her early morning workouts. I told her to befriend the strippers so they can pop on by for cups of sugar and to watch episodes of The Simpsons.

Every morning, I sit out on our terrace and I write. Mean Gene lived in the same complex last summer and said that there were lots of strippers around. He wasn't joking. When we moved in Garry told us that all the strippers walk their little yapping dogs around the complex at 10:30am. He was accurate. Every morning, pole dancers let their purse poodles shit on the front grass.

Change100 and a bunch of us carpooled from Stripper Central to the Rio. Ah, the dreaded walk of shame ensued as I trudged across the already hot asphalt of the Rio's parking lot. Flashbacks of WSOP past flooded my memory banks. I wandered inside the Amazon Ballroom and saw the crew from 441 setting up their gear. They laughed at the rumors on the poker intertubes of their demise. Thank God for Oliver Tse's twitter confirmation that those rumors were false.

The quiet before the storm. Eskimo Clark wandered by and shook the hand of one of the floor staff. I wondered if he was seeking backing into the 40K NL event? Today is a special event to commemorate the 40th anniversary of the WSOP.

Stay tuned for live blogging updates of the 40K NL.

* * * * * *
10:55am... Food Tilt

Yeah, I haven't been here an hour and I'm already on food tilt. In a previous post, I wrote about different WSOP food options. I loved Capriatti's sandwiches last summer and I recommended them... until I saw the new incarnation of my favorite turkey sandwich.


The above photo indicates the sign of the financial times. Harrah's and Capriatti's reduced their sandwiches by 33%. What the fuck?

The good news is that the kangarooburgers are back and there's plenty of beef jerky available. The bad news? The beef jerky is not free to members of the media. We don't even get a discount.

* * * * *
12:05pm... And We're Off....

22 tables were set up. Nine-handed.

The sharks are circling. This field is stacked with a hundred of the top NL players in the world. Texas Dolly. Ivey. Greenstein. Negreanu. Raymer. Hellmuth. Hachem. John Duthie. Mike Matusow. Peter Eastgate. Humberto Brenes. Ivan Demidov. Annie Duke. Elky. Dennis Phillips. Tony G.

Jeff Lisandro looks like a mobbed up zebra. Andy Black is sporting a beard and looked like he walked off the parking lot of a Phish concert. I'm gonna hit him up for heady nugs.

Also here... Chris Moneymaker, Eric Mercier, Terrance Chan, Brandon Adams, Gavin Griffin, Shaun Deeb, Jon Little, Nicholas Levi, Bruno Fitoussi, Dale Pinchot, David Einhorn, JC Tran, Ansky, mig.com, Vanessa Rousso, SirWatts, Adam Junglen, Bill Chen, Ted Lawson, Jim Bechtel, Japanese industrialist Masaaki Kagawa, Russ Rosenbloom, ActionJeff, Kathy Lieert, Freddy Deeb, Kirill Gerasimov, John Juanda, The Dragon, David Benyamine, Eli Elezra, Eric Liu, Mark Seif, Sorel Mizzi, Dan Shak, Vivek, Unabomber, and Ludovic Lacay.

The tournament was not even started when John Duthie was already getting a massage.

TD Jack Effel spoke rapidly for a few moments. "He sounds like he's on Adderall," said the Poker Shrink. I then asked the Shrink for a prescription.

Jack introduced Jeffrey Pollock who introduced Main Event champion Peter Eastgate who uttered the famous line, "Shuffle up and deal!"

Cards are in the air. And for the first time in a very long time, the clattering of chips began to echo.

160+ is the unofficial number to start. I had 188 and under 200 in a series of bets.

* * * * *
12:55pm... Sick Tables

189 players and counting. I just lost one prop bet.

I gotta give Harrah's credit. They finally figured out a perfect table set up to allow space in between the tables to allow ESPN cameras and poker media to move without crushing the players.

I took a quick stroll through the tournament area and noticed several stacked tables.

Here's a couple of sick tables...

Peter Eastgate, Humberto Brenes, Barry Greenstein, Joannes Strassberg, Andy Black

Scotty Nguyen, John Dutie, Tony G, Chris Moneymaker, Terrance Chan.

Chris Moorman, Ansky, Gavin Griffin, Andy Bloch, Brain Rast, Yevgeniy Timoshenko, Luke Staudenmaier, J.C. Tran.

Shannon Shorr, Nicolas Levi, Doyle Brunson, Greg FBT Mueller, Brian Townsend,
Huck Seed.

mig.com, Vanessa Rousso, John Juanda, Ivan Demidov, Johnny 'Fuckin' Chan.

Jeff Lisandro, Matt Glantz, Dale Pinchot, Daniel Negreanu, Dennis Phillips, and Dario.

Joe Sebok is not playing but he's sweating his dad, Barry Greenstein.

* * * * *
1:55pm... Fear the G

Total Players: 196
Remaining Players: 192
Chipleaders: Tony G, Unabomber, David Chui
Shorties: Peter Jetten
Busto: Scott Montgomery, Erik Cajelais, and Jim Becthel.

Tony G is among the early chipleaders after Erik Cajelais spewed chips to the G's pocket Aces early on. Cajelais busted shortly after along with former WSOP champion Jim Bechtel.

November Niners are giving back some of their booty to the poker community when the Rain Man.... Scott Montgomery was eliminated. Chino, Dennis Phillips, Demidov, and Eastgate are all in today's field.

I spotted Rafe Furst in the hallway. If you don't know, Rafe is like the 12th smartest human on the planet. I always feel smarter when I read his blog. He was considering buying into the event and has until the end of the second level/beginning of the third level to register. Then again, maybe Rafe is so smart that he's avoiding the pool of hungry sharks.

FYI, Late registrations get a full stack. Starting stacks today? 120,000. This is the triple stacked version of the WSOP. 40K buyin = 120K. As AlCantHang said, "This is a deep stack donkament."

There was a Dan Michalski sighting in the hallway as well. He skipped the first day of the WSOP and finally made it today. He's been on wifi tilt.

The fans have flocked. Chris Moneymaker was walking down the hallway and taking on his phone while a group of amateur paparazzi followed behind frantically snapping cell phone pics of the former champion.

Mike Matusow is a rare form. The garrulous musings of Matusow have been wafting up to the press box. He's been teasing Elky, ripping on Pizza Hut, and talking overall smack. Vintage Matusow.

Phil Hellmuth is late. As per usual.

* * * * *
3:15pm... Officially 201

Total Players: 201
Remaining Players: 189
Chipleaders: Vivek Rajkumar, Tony G, Unabomber, Sandor Demjan
Shorties: Jean Gaspard, Daniel Negreanu
Busto: durrrr, gboro780, Jonathan Little, Dario Minieri, Christian Harder, Ted Lawson, Per Ummer, Peter Jetten,

Hellmuth is still AWOL. We're awaiting his grand entrance.

Howard Lederer was the 201st and final player to buy into the 40K event. Jesus has finally taken his seat in between Barry Greenstein and Andy Black. Talk about a lot of facial hair on all three.

Rafe Furst decided to keep his 40K and not play in today's stacked event. Wise man.

* * * * *
4:20pm... No Gus

Remaining Players: 180
Total Players: 201
Prize Pool: $7,718,400
Chipleaders: Ted Forrest, Antonio Esfandiari, Justin Bonomo, Scott Seiver, Vivek Rajkumar, Tony G
Shorties: Daniel Negreanu, Nicolas Levi, Peter Eastgate
Busto: Sergey Rybachenko, westmenloAA, Eric Liu, John Juanda

201 is official. The top 27 will get paid. First place wins $1,891,012.

Gus Hansen will not be here. According to Benjo, Gus has a 900K bet on Rafael Nadal to win the French Open. The Great Dane is in Paris sweating the games live at Roland Garros.

Phil Hellmuth arrived late but not with the pomp and circumstance that he had arrived with in previous years. He was sporting his new book but only had one copy to show his friends which included Phil Ivey and Chau Giang. This is the season for poker books. The Poker Shrink is around and he co-wrote (with Amy Calistri) the Mike Matusow autobiography called Check Raising the Devil. And of course, Lost Vegas comes out later this year.

And for all you NBA bettors.... Cleveland is a 7.5 favorite tonight over Orlando.

And yes, it's 4:20pm. Today's smoke break is brought to you by....


* * * * *

5:25pm... Two Champions Eliminated

Remaining Players: 171
Total Players: 201
Prize Pool: $7,718,400
Chipleaders: Matthew Glantz, Antonio Esfandiari, Scott Seiver, Justin Bonomo
Shorties: Nicolas Levi
Busto: Daniel Negreanu, David Williams, Johnny Chan, Peter Eastgate

Approximately 10 players busted out during the last hour of play including two former WSOP Main Event champions in Johnny Chan and Peter Eastgate. Negreanu and David Williams are both gone as well.

AC pro Matt Glantz is the current chipleader.

We've been betting on women's softball all afternoon. Spelling bee is starting soon. Action is action.

* * * * *
6:25pm... The Dull Lull

Remaining Players: 161
Total Players: 201
Prize Pool: $7,718,400
Chipleaders: Matthew Glantz, Antonio Esfandiari, Scott Seiver, Justin Bonomo, RaSZi
Shorties: Nicolas Levi, Michael Binger
Busto: Annie Duke, FBT Mueller

I wish I had some exciting things to report. Lots of folks are bitching about the intertubes. There is no longer free wifi for everyone at the Rio. And the media feed has been slow and spotty. I'm fortunate that I have an air card, but a few friends have been on slight tech tilt.

The NBA game is on and the players asked for the TVs to air the game instead of the women's softball game.

Somewhere, Joan Rivers is laughing at Annie Duke's elimination. Too bad we can't actually see her laughing with all of the frozen botox injected into her face.

* * * * *
8:50pm... Back from Dinner and Down to 149

Remaining Players: 143
Total Players: 201
Prize Pool: $7,718,400
Chipleaders: Antonio Esfandiari, Justin Bonomo, Matt Glantz, Chris Moneymaker, Bruno Fitoussi
Shorties: Nicolas Levi, pr1nnyraid, Unabomber
Busto: Shaun Deeb, Mikael Thuritz, Phil Tom, Barry Greenstein, Chris Ferguson, Brandon Adams, David Benyamine, Ivan Demidov

Players went on a dinner break and are back. I went across the street to a combo check cashing joint/taco stand with Mean Gene. 99 cent tacos in these humbling times is quite a value. Plus we forged a couple of traveler's checks we stole from Benjo and they gave us a coupon for two free tacos.

A couple of familiar names hit the rail since the last updated. Jesus has left the building along with Barry Greenstein and Shaun Deeb, who I read about both eliminations on Twitter.

La French Update: According to Benjo, Benyamine is out, but three fellow Frenchman are still alive. Nicholas Levi has been short-stacked all day yet managed to stay alive. Ludovic Lacay has been hanging around while Bruno Fitoussi has a decent stack.

And yes, that's Chris Moneymaker surging to the top of the leaderboard.

* * * * *
9:50pm... The Greatness of Level 8

Remaining Players: 129
Total Players: 201
Prize Pool: $7,718,400
Chipleaders: RaSZi, Antonio Esfandiari, Justin Bonomo
Shorties: Nicolas Levi, pr1nnyraid, Unabomber
Busto: Sandor Demjan, Aaron Been, Gavin Griffin, Matt Woodward, Jay Kinkade, Eli Elezra, Gavin Smith, Jennifer Harman, and ActionJeff

Los hombres at Wicked Chops Poker have been busting on Michael DeMichele's get up today. They threw in not-so-obvious gay jokes alluding to that freaky guy on American Idol. Change100 was appalled at his choice of outfits. Meanwhile, MeanGene wondered if he lost a prop bet or something.

My snarky comment? Dario called. He wants his scarf back.


Photo courtesy of PokerNews
Right in front of the pressbox is an interesting table...

Seat 2: LarsLusak
Seat 2: Kirill Gerasimov
Seat 3: John Duthie
Seat 5: Adam Junglen
Seat 9: Nenad Medic

* * * * * *
10:50pm... Down Goes Hachem

Remaining Players: 120
Total Players: 201
Prize Pool: $7,718,400
Chipleaders: RaSZi, Antonio Esfandiari, Justin Bonomo
Shorties: Nicolas Levi, pr1nnyraid, Unabomber
Busto: Dennis Phillips, Joe Hachem, Ludovic Lacay, Andy Bloch, Erick Lindgren, Yevgeniy Timoshenko, Doug Lee, Bill Edler

I know that Ludovic Lacay busted because I saw Benjo talking to him in the press box. Pros might be friends with random members of the media, but they don't actively hang out with us during a tournament, especially a $40,000 buy-in. Alas, it was safe to say that Ludovic Lacay sleeps with the fishes.

There has been a little bit of a ruckus at Andy Black's table. He was offered $5K to shave half of his beard by Bobby Suer.

The Toolbox is nevermore. I have no clue how Doug Lee found $40K to play in the event. But he's one of the latest causalities.

* * * * * *
11:50pm... The G Looking for Action

Remaining Players: 106
Total Players: 201
Prize Pool: $7,718,400
Chipleaders: RaSZi, Michael DeMichele, Alan Sass, Chris Moneymaker
Shorties: Scotty Nguyen, Chirs Morman, pr1nnyraid, Unabomber
Busto: Steve Sung, Dan Shak, Doug Mackinnon, Jean Gaspard, Ludovic Lacay, Philippe Rouas, Shannon Shorr, BoostedJ, Brett Richey, Daniel Alaei, Howard Lederer

This is the end of Level 9. We will play one more level tonight and then call it a night. There should be less than 100 players when the remaining players bag up their chips.

Tony G has been doing well since the first hour or so when he doubled up. Since then he's been near the top of the leaderboard. The former hoops pro down under challenged Corey Zeidman to a prop bet for $100K. The G wanted to demonstrate his deft hoops skills and offered upa three-point and free throw shooting contest.


* * * * * *
1:05am... The After Midnight Edition - Day 1 Complete

Remaining Players: 89
Total Players: 201
Prize Pool: $7,718,400
Chipleaders: Bruno Fitoussi, Chris Moneymaker, Emil "whitelime" Patel, RaSZi, Michael DeMichele
Busto: pr1nnyraid, Phil Laak, Raymond Faltinsky, Richard Geyer, Phil Hellmuth, Nenad Medic, David Einhorn, Marco Traniello, Sami 'LarsLuzak' Kelopuro, Tim Phan, ElkY, Nicolas Levi, Vivek Rajkumar, Hasan Habib, and Luke 'IWEARGOGGLES' Staudenmaier

And we're done for the night. There are approximately 89 players remaining. The top 27 get paid and we should hit the money tomorrow night. Maybe.

Hellmuth left the building at the beginning of Level 10 when Phil Ivey sent him packing. He arrived late, but in an unusually low key manner. He also left without making a huge scene. He posed for a few pictures with fans and quietly left through the side door.

The big story involved Chris Moneymaker's run as he ended the day as one of the chipleaders. He started at a tough table, yet managed to stay ahead of the pack for most of the afternoon and evening. I gotta say, if Moneymaker goes deep, I'm gonna be rooting for the guy. If it wasn't for Chris Moneymaker, I'd be back to slinging beers to douchebags in the East Village. Because of him, I've had the chance to travel the world and cover tournaments in exotic places.

Anyway, thanks to everyone for tuning in and linking up the coverage on Tao of Poker, or following my half-baked thoughts on Twitter. You've been a great crowd. See ya tomorrow when this event resumes at 2pm local time.


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