WSOP: Michael Davis Wins Seniors Championship

Michael Davis had plans to move to Las Vegas due to its warmer winters compared to home state Iowa. Talk about making a statement when coming to town.

Davis was able to beat Scott Buller and his impressive chip lead to win the USD 1,000 Seniors No Limit Hold’em World Championship (Event 43), USD 437,358, and the World Series of Poker gold bracelet Wednesday night.

“I sold my (home inspection) business last week, now I don’t have a job to go home to,” Davis, 58, joked after the win.

Davis won the championship when his A 9 was able to beat out Buller’s A J . The flop came down 4 3 5 , but the 9 on the turn put Davis ahead. A jack or a deuce would keep the game going, but the 4 on the river ended the tournament and gave Davis the win.

The 2-1 chip lead Buller had as he and Davis began heads-up play quickly swapped. Davis raised from the button with A A and Buller went for the knock out, re-raising all in with 9 9 . Davis jumped even further ahead hitting the A on the flop, and Buller was unable to catch up.

Davis was able to pull closer to Buller’s massive chip lead by eliminating Barry Bounds to face Buller heads up. Bounds moved all in with A 6 and Davis called with A Q . The flop came down 4 2 7 and Bounds would need a six or runner-runner for a straight. The 5 hit on the turn to give him a two-way straight draw on the turn and when the 8 came on the river he turned around and gave former Main Event Champion Tom McEvoy, who had been sweating him the entire day, a high five, not realizing the card gave Davis a flush. Bounds left with USD 179,210 for finishing third.

“I got lucky,” Davis said. “Both those guys played great. Everybody at that table deserved to win. “I feel I was lucky during the entire tournament,” he said. “It was unbelievable fun.”

The tournament, held specifically for players at least 50 years old, had a record field with 2,707 creating a prize pool of USD 2,463,700. This was the second time Davis entered in the event, finishing 115th last year.

“I figured I’m not getting any younger,” he said. “Make it a yearly pilgrimage.”

As with most final tables at the WSOP, the last 10 were going to combine, but as one table said good bye to Ted Garner in 11th, Mitch Garshofsky was all in at the other table and lost the hand. So, instead of playing down to the official final table, Davis, Buller, Bounds, Dan Delatorre, Robert Beck, Michael Morusty, Richard McCall, Art Duncan, and Charles Simon made their last table change to play for the gold bracelet.

The group played only for a few minutes before going on dinner break, and played only a few hands before losing three players.

Beck was the first eliminated when he moved in with top pair against a set. Holding K J , he pushed on the J 6 8 flop and Morusty instantly called, holding 6 6 . Needing another running cards, the turn and river came 9 and Q , sending Beck out in ninth, collecting USD 53,208.

Then, almost immediately after, McCall was knocked out, again, with top pair. He made his move with Q J on the board of Q 7 2 , but DeLatorre made the call with K J . Like Beck, McCall would need runner-runner for a full house, but the K and 6 eliminated him in eighth. He won USD 56,903.

The third elimination of the table came about 20 minutes after play resumed when Duncan was knocked out. He re-raised Simon, who opened from under the gun, with K J , and Simon made the call with K Q . The A Q 6 flop gave Simon a pair, but Duncan was able to improve his odds to win by picking up the straight draw with four outs instead of the three he would have had with the jacks. The next two streets, however, came 3 , 9 , and Duncan was sent to the rail in seventh, winning USD 64,047.

After the Razz tournament wrapped up at the feature table, the seniors made their move to the stage. The bright lights, however, were unkind to DeLatorre as he was the next to leave. He made a push from under the gun with Q 4 hoping to get the blinds and antes, but Morusty, to his right, had kings. The board ran out 8 3 2 6 8 and the K K of Morusty stood up. Delatorre took USD 76,118 for the sixth place finish.

Simon was eliminated soon after as well. He moved all in from the small blind after Buller raised from under the gun. Simon’s A Q was the underdog to Buller’s A K going to the flop, which came down J 6 2 . The K gave Simon a straight draw to a ten, and the 9 on the river gave him and the crowd some excitement, but was ultimately not enough. He finished in fifth for USD 95,332.

But the excitement and disappointment from that hand was no match for the next elimination. Morusty re-raised Buller’s under the gun raise from the big blind and Buller moved all in, which Morusty instantly called. The crowd went insane when Morusty flipped over A A , which was a huge favorite to Buller’s A K . The audience was much calmer when the flop came K 3 8 . They almost cried when the 4 hit on the turn, and Buller channeled the excitement they used to have. The river came with another club, 7 , and Morusty was out. He took USD 126,863 for the fourth-place finish, and Buller took a dominating chip lead three-handed.

Final table results and payouts
1. Michael Davis - USD 437,358
2. Scott Buller - USD 268,507
3. Barry Bounds - USD 179,210
4. Michael Morusty - USD 126,863
5. Charles Simon - USD 95,332
6. Dan Delatorre - USD 76,118
7. Art Duncan - USD 64,047
8. Richard McCall - USD 56,903
9. Robert Beck - USD 53,208

WSOP: Mark Tenner Grabs Lead As Day 2 Ends

Day 2 of the USD 2,500 Omaha Hi-Low Split-8 or Better (Event 46) ended with Mark Tenner in the lead. Play began Monday with 425 players but only 196 returned for play on Tuesday. When the chips were bagged at the end of the night only 23 remained.

Tenner ended the night with 285,000 in chips and made his eighth World Series of Poker career cash. Tenner will be aiming to take down his first WSOP bracelet.

The underdog story of the night went to Frenchman Patrice Boudet who was playing in his first Omaha 8 tournament. Boudet began Day 2 with the shortest chip stack, a mere 2,500. After many ups and downs throughout the day he was sitting on one of the biggest stack in play at 205,000.

Something was amiss in the Amazon Room as players seemed to be out of sorts, confused and argumentative throughout the tournament.

At table 77 a shouting match ensued when Fabio Coppola insisted he should have won the low half of the pot that was awarded to John Juanda. With four cards on the board Juanda had two pairs with a bad low, but was awarded the pot when Coppola mucked his cards. Coppola insisted he had Ace-deuce, which would have given him the low and that half the pot was his.

The dealer, Juanda and most of the table argued that it did not matter what Coppola may have had in his hands, when he did not show his cards his hand was dead. Coppola refused to concede and the floor was called. “It’s real simple,” the floorman told Coppola. “If you don’t table your cards, you don’t have a live hand. You must table your cards. The whole pot goes to John.”

When moved to table 80 Coppola accused the dealer of cold-decking him. “It’s obvious you’re setting me up. I haven’t won a hand since you sat down,” he yelled. The dealer insisted he was not cold-decking or cheating in any other way but it was not enough. Coppola soon started mucking every hand dealt to him, and did not let up until a new dealer took a seat at the table.

Later at table 72 the issue of tabling hands came up again. A player claimed he was entitled to half the pot, but the dealer insisted the hand was dead because the player did not table the cards.

The floor was again called and this time took to reviewing the tapes to determine if the player had tabled the cards. In the end the floor ruled the cards had not been tabled and the hand was dead. Like Coppola, the player was not awarded half the pot he claimed to have won.

More drama was found at table 86 when Todd Brunson and an opponent were in a pot on a board reading 9 6 5 Q K . Brunson turned over Q Q [10d] 9 and the opponent proclaimed “I have a straight” as he flipped over A 2 [10s] 7 . The dealer double checked the hand before telling the player “You have nothing.” The player was sure he had Brunson beat and insisted “I have a straight. Five, six, seven, nine. Oh, wait.” The dealer then slid the chips to Brunson.

The remaining 23 players will return tomorrow at 1 p.m. to play down to a final table. The winner will take home an amount just shy of USD 230,000 and a WSOP bracelet.

2009 WSOP: Tom Thomas Tops Seniors #43

It’s down to the last 28 in the 2009 World Series of Poker Event #43, $1,000 Seniors World Championship. Tom Thomas leads the 50-and-over set with 917,000 in chips, followed by Charles Simon with 626,000, Scott Buller with 541,000, and John Bennett with 487,000. Each remaining competitor is already guaranteed cash of at least USD 10,149. Those making the final table will receive a minimum of USD 53,208, while the winner gets USD 437,358 and a WSOP bracelet.

Day 2 began at 2:00 p.m. with 397 of the original 2,707 veteran players left. The usual practice this year is to play down to a final table or until 3:00 a.m., whichever comes first. However, in deference to the reduced average stamina that comes with advancing years, tournament officials made a last minute decision to end play at the end of Level 20, which occurred at about 2:15 a.m.

David Tuffing took an early chip lead, being the first to pass the 100,000 mark, after he flopped a set in the hole and the flop. He was paid off handsomely by an opponent who couldn’t get away from top pair/top kicker. The money bubble was reached just before 5:00 p.m. Two players — Mark Dolan and Charles Glorioso — went out at the same time during hand-for-hand play, but from different tables, meaning that they split the 270th-place prize money of USD 1,921, for USD 960 a piece.

As it usually happens, there was a flurry of bust-outs after that point. In fact, the players were exiting at such a clip that the field lost another 170 over the next four hours — just under one per minute, on average. “Minneapolis” Jim Meehan was eliminated in 206th place (USD 2,044). With blinds and antes at 100/2000/300 in Level 14, he pushed his last 21,000 chips into the pot from the button and was called by the small blind. Meehan couldn’t pair either of his overcards when the board came and he hit the rail.

1986 Main Event champion Berry Johnston was taken out in 185th place, good for USD 2,044, though details of his final hand were not recorded. Similarly, we know that Barbara Enright took USD 2,621 for her 76th-place finish, but not how the hand went down. Noted tournament director Jack McClelland took a rough road to the exit. He took his stand preflop with A-K against a player holding just A-J. He didn’t want to see his namesake card hit the board, but that’s just what happened, and that jack sent McClelland to the exit in 132nd place, worth USD 2,414. Overnight chip leader Lloyd Shinn couldn’t keep up the pace and went out in 130th, taking home USD 2,414.

This is not the crowd in which one would expect to see official penalties handed out for lack of decorum. But Adolfo “Speedy” Gonzalez was given one for excessive celebration. At least he had a good reason for his exuberance when he hit a two-outer on the river. His , all in preflop, was way behind his opponent’s after the flop came , and the turn didn’t help either. It was the river that launched Gonzalez into a screaming outburst of “Oh yeah! Ship it! I told you! Ship it!” as he ran around in circles and hugged random onlookers. In one of the last hands of the night, Gonzalez won another race, beating the exact same , this time with in the hole, receiving a much-needed double-up. Nevertheless, he will return for Day 3 as one of the shortest stacks, at 107,000.

The remaining players will reassemble at 1:00 p.m. PDT Wednesday and continue until a winner is determined.

2009 WSOP: Tom Thomas Tops Seniors #43

It’s down to the last 28 in the 2009 World Series of Poker Event #43, $1,000 Seniors World Championship. Tom Thomas leads the 50-and-over set with 917,000 in chips, followed by Charles Simon with 626,000, Scott Buller with 541,000, and John Bennett with 487,000. Each remaining competitor is already guaranteed cash of at least USD 10,149. Those making the final table will receive a minimum of USD 53,208, while the winner gets USD 437,358 and a WSOP bracelet.

Day 2 began at 2:00 p.m. with 397 of the original 2,707 veteran players left. The usual practice this year is to play down to a final table or until 3:00 a.m., whichever comes first. However, in deference to the reduced average stamina that comes with advancing years, tournament officials made a last minute decision to end play at the end of Level 20, which occurred at about 2:15 a.m.

David Tuffing took an early chip lead, being the first to pass the 100,000 mark, after he flopped a set in the hole and the flop. He was paid off handsomely by an opponent who couldn’t get away from top pair/top kicker. The money bubble was reached just before 5:00 p.m. Two players — Mark Dolan and Charles Glorioso — went out at the same time during hand-for-hand play, but from different tables, meaning that they split the 270th-place prize money of USD 1,921, for USD 960 a piece.

As it usually happens, there was a flurry of bust-outs after that point. In fact, the players were exiting at such a clip that the field lost another 170 over the next four hours — just under one per minute, on average. “Minneapolis” Jim Meehan was eliminated in 206th place (USD 2,044). With blinds and antes at 100/2000/300 in Level 14, he pushed his last 21,000 chips into the pot from the button and was called by the small blind. Meehan couldn’t pair either of his overcards when the board came and he hit the rail.

1986 Main Event champion Berry Johnston was taken out in 185th place, good for USD 2,044, though details of his final hand were not recorded. Similarly, we know that Barbara Enright took USD 2,621 for her 76th-place finish, but not how the hand went down. Noted tournament director Jack McClelland took a rough road to the exit. He took his stand preflop with A-K against a player holding just A-J. He didn’t want to see his namesake card hit the board, but that’s just what happened, and that jack sent McClelland to the exit in 132nd place, worth USD 2,414. Overnight chip leader Lloyd Shinn couldn’t keep up the pace and went out in 130th, taking home USD 2,414.

This is not the crowd in which one would expect to see official penalties handed out for lack of decorum. But Adolfo “Speedy” Gonzalez was given one for excessive celebration. At least he had a good reason for his exuberance when he hit a two-outer on the river. His , all in preflop, was way behind his opponent’s after the flop came , and the turn didn’t help either. It was the river that launched Gonzalez into a screaming outburst of “Oh yeah! Ship it! I told you! Ship it!” as he ran around in circles and hugged random onlookers. In one of the last hands of the night, Gonzalez won another race, beating the exact same , this time with in the hole, receiving a much-needed double-up. Nevertheless, he will return for Day 3 as one of the shortest stacks, at 107,000.

The remaining players will reassemble at 1:00 p.m. PDT Wednesday and continue until a winner is determined.

Poker Players Alliance Bares National Poker Week, Other Steps

The Poker Players Alliance has unveiled several new initiatives as part of its build-up for this year’s National Poker Week, set for July 19-25, 2009. The new measures were unveiled at a press conference at the Rio All-Suite Hotel and Casino on Monday. In addition to debuting several new online sites designed to increase poker players’ participation in the political process, the conference also announced plans for this year’s PPA “fly in” to Washington DC, where dozens of high-profile professionals and state PPA representatives are expected to lobby for the game.

The midday conference included participation by several major PPA figures, with PPA Executive Director John Pappas opening the meeting and returning to detail several new PPA programs. In between came brief but energetic speeches from PPA Chairman Alfonse D’Amato and US Representative Shelley Berkley (D-NV), plus short appearances by PPA board members Linda Johnson and Greg Raymer.

D’Amato, who also took part in Monday’s Seniors Event at the 2009 World Series of Poker (his first-ever WSOP appearance), detailed some of the history of the legislative fight over online poker and Internet gaming in his talk. Berkley, who after her appearance gave the traditional “Shuffle Up and Deal!” command to the Seniors players, outlined the manner in which the 2006 Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act (UIGEA) was shoved through Congress, attacking the act’s insertion into an unrelated “must pass” port-security measure as a blatant attempt by then-Sen. Bill Frist (R-TN) to buttress his own presidential aspirations, which fell apart only weeks after UIGEA’s passage.

The majority of the conference, though, was spent looking forward, with the PPA's Pappas outlining several new initiatives, including hinting at the near-future reintroduction of a “skill games” bill by Sen. Robert Menendez (D-NJ). This possible second go-round for the bill would provide an exemption for games of skill to be played over the Internet, specifically separating them from “house” forms of gambling. Games like poker, backgammon and mahjongg would be included in the proposal.

Progress on Congressman Barney Frank’s own ongoing legislative efforts to overturn the UIGEA was also detailed, with the possibility of a hearing by Frank’s Finance committee to be held during the late-July PPA fly-in.

The PPA also announced three separate participatory programs designed to increase poker’s awareness on the federal and state level, continuing the organization’s overriding theme of helping poker players to organize and help themselves. Each of the three programs contains a dedicated web site. The first, at nationalpokerweek.com, includes a summary of planned events surrounding the July Washington D.C. fly-in, and includes methods for players to contact their own elected officials on poker’s behalf.

The second site, at pokerpetition.com, includes an online petition designed to be delivered to President Obama during the National Poker Week. While the existence of the online petition was leaked a couple of days before Monday’s official unveiling, around 7,500 players quickly signed up in the first few hours of the petition’s formal existence, with hundreds of thousands of poker players expected to take part.

The third site, at mypokerstory.com, is an attempt by the PPA to humanize and modernize poker as an everyman’s form of entertainment, and dispense with decades old, false stereotypes of backroom gamblers and con artists. The mypokerstory.com includes a contest for PPA members as well, with each participant invited to share a story about how he got involved in poker and what the game means to him. The contest winner will receive a trip for two to Las Vegas, donated by Harrah’s. Participation can be done either online or at the PPA’s Rio Convention Center booth for the duration of the 2009 WSOP.

Marc Naalden Wins WSOP USD 2,000 Limit Holdem Event

The Netherlands’ Marc Naalden has won the second World Series of Poker (WSOP) bracelet in the history of his country. Marc Naalden dominated final table play, suffered a slight setback during heads-up action, and came back to win Event #38, the USD 2,000 Limit Hold’em tournament.

The final table was determined early Sunday morning from the original 446 runners. Naalden, who had dominated the field since it was around 25 players, came to the featured table with a sizeable chip lead. His two closest competitors, Danny Qutami and Steven Cowley, didn’t even have as many chips combined as Naalden with his stack of 755,000. When play began at 2:00 p.m. Sunday afternoon, the players went to work quickly, with Cowley eliminating pro Rep Porter in the ninth place after an hour of play.

Naalden extended his lead when he crippled Jared O’Dell with pocket aces, jumping up over one million in chips. O’Dell was eliminated soon afterwards in the seventh place and was immediately followed by Naalden’s elimination of Qutami, who bled chips at the final table. After Naalden eliminated Alex Keating in the fifth place, he held over half of the chips in play.

Once Tam “Tommy” Hang (who finished in third place in last year’s USD 10,000 World Championship of this discipline) was eliminated in the fourth and 2006 WSOP bracelet winner Ian Johns dropped in third, heads-up play came down to Naalden and Cowley. While it seemed that it would be a quick ascension to the bracelet for Naalden, who had Cowley dominated by over 7:1, it would actually prove to be one of the more exciting battles of this year’s WSOP.
Over the first 30 minutes of heads-up play, Cowley put on a surge that actually pushed him into the lead. In that time span, he either won or chopped every pot that was contested and had the Scandinavian scratching his head. After an hour, Naalden gathered himself and pushed back the Cowley assault, retaking the lead that he had held for much of the late action in Event #38. Naalden continued to batter the valiant Cowley until after two hours of heads-up play, he was able to catch a queen against Cowley to win the gold WSOP bracelet and USD 190,770 first place payday.

Two tournaments enter their final day of action with quite a bit of work to be done. Event #39, a USD 1,500 No Limit Hold’em tournament that started with 2,715 players on Saturday, could only get down to 26 by the 3:00 a.m. WSOP curfew. There is some controversy as to the chip count of the player at the top of the leaderboard, Michele Iacovone, as he has quoted his stack at 1,605,200 and there are no tournament chips of the 100 denomination in play. Nevertheless, he is atop the remainder of the field, with former World Poker Tour (WPT) champion Joe Bartholdi, veteran Raymond Davis, Alex Jacob, Nam Le, and WSOP bracelet holder Brandon Cantu in hot pursuit of the USD 657,787 first place prize.

The stacked tables of professional players remain in Event #40, the $10,000 World Championship of Pot Limit Omaha, and they were also unable to work their way down to the final table on Day Two. There are still 43 players remaining in the fight from the original 295 starters. Noah Schwartz is at the head of the field, which also includes bracelet holders such as Full Tilt Poker’s Howard Lederer, PokerStars’ Barry Greenstein, Bodog’s David Williams, and Josh Arieh. The USD 40,000 Anniversary Special champion, Vitaly Lunkin, and Padraig Parkinson are a couple of the European players also in the mix. At the end of the rainbow when the tournament ends tonight: a highly prestigious gold WSOP bracelet and a USD 679,379 bankroll boost.

A total of 280 players stepped up to take part in Event #41, the USD 5,000 No Limit Hold’em Shootout, and after the carnage of Day One, 30 players remained on five tables. There are some notable names that are alive as Day Two starts, like Peter “Nordberg” Feldman, Mark Teltscher, Barney Boatman, Jennifer Harman, Amit “amak316” Makhija, Jean “Prince” Gaspard, and David “The Dragon” Pham. Even with this much star power, the attention of fans gathered at the Rio will be on 2009 double bracelet winner Phil Ivey as he aims for a third this year, a feat no one has accomplished since Ivey in 2002.

Day One of the USD 2,500 Mixed Game tournament, Event #42 on the WSOP schedule, drew a 412 player field eager to attack the eight disciplines of poker that it features. The combination of games could conceivably be a more difficult challenge than HORSE and the quality of some of the remaining players in the tournament shows the skill necessary to battle in this arena. 2009 WSOP double bracelet winner Jeff Lisandro, David Sklansky, John Juanda, Robert Williamson III, Marcel Luske, and Michael “The Grinder” Mizrachi are some of the top names that are still in contention for this championship.

Two tournaments will start play today in the Amazon Room at the Rio: the USD 1,000 Seniors No Limit Championship and the USD 2,500 Razz tournament, Events #43 and 44 respectively. Stay tuned to Poker News Daily for the latest from the 2009 WSOP.

Tran bags Second Career Bracelet, Confirms Bid for Asian Poker Tour Title

Las Vegas: With fellow Poker Pack member Steve Sung already winning a bracelet this year, everybody knew that it would not be long before J.C. Tran followed suit. 

Tran picked up the second WSOP® bracelet of his career Wednesday by winning the USD 2,500 Pot Limit Omaha event (Event #30) at the 40th annual World Series of Poker®. His dominating heads-up performance was completed when his full house on the final hand left runner-up Jeff Kimber’s pocket pair and failed straight draw in the dust. With the victory, the Poker Pack pro picked up USD 235,685 in prize money – his third cash win at this year’s WSOP® – and the coveted gold bracelet.

“Wow! It’s been great for us so far!” said a jubilant Tran after the event. “Steve’s won one and made another final table and today I got my second bracelet. Now we’ll look to keep this up all the way to the main event.” 

Aside from the rest of the WSOP® events, J.C. Tran said that the win he is looking forward to getting is at the Asian Poker Tour Macau tournament this August.

“It’s definitely going to be fun in Macau. The Asian Poker Tour has some great events planned that you won’t see anywhere else. We are also ambassadors of the APT. So it would be twice as good to win there.”

The Poker Pack is a team of specially selected players of Asian origin who are ambassadors for the Asian Poker Tour. The group is composed of J.C. Tran, Nam Le, Quinn Do, David “Chino” Rheem, Steve Sung, and Kwang Soo Lee. Together, the six have approximately USD 24 million in live tournament winnings.

Asian Poker Tour Macau 2009 will be held at the Galaxy StarWorld Hotel and Casino in Macau from August 12 to 23, 2009. Buy-in is set at HKD 32,000 + USD 2,400 (approximately USD 4300).

Team UB signs up Brandon Cantu

Ultimate Bet, which constitutes one-half of the CEREUS Network, has signed up World Series of Poker (WSOP) bracelet winner Brandon Cantu as the latest member of Team UB. He can be found playing under the screen name “brandon cantu” on the USA-friendly site.

Cantu burst on to the live poker scene by winning a USD 1500 buy-in No Limit Hold’em tournament during the 2006 WSOP for USD 757,000. He stormed through the 2,776 player field, and a final table which also included Carlos Mortensen. He finished 20th in the 2008 WSOP Main Event for USD 257,000 and has a total of eight in the money finishes in the Las Vegas tournament series. Cantu is also a World Poker Tour (WPT) event winner, having taken down the Season VI Bay 101 Shooting Star tournament for USD 1 million. In that event, Cantu defeated WSOP Stimulus Special winner Steve Sung heads-up and squeaked by John “The Razor” Phan and Jennifer Harman at the final table. He’s one of only a handful of players to have won WSOP and WPT events.

“This is an exhilarating time for Team UB. We’re constantly on the lookout for poker players who have real integrity, unquestionable talent, and an incredible passion for the game and we’ve found it all in Brandon Cantu,” Ultimate Bet Card Room Consultant and “Celebrity Apprentice” runner-up Annie Duke said in a press release. 

Cantu’s poker resume also includes a victory in a USD 300 buy-in tournament held as part of the 2006 Ultimate Poker Challenge for USD 9,000 and a runner-up showing in the Scotty Nguyen Poker Classic USD 1,000 buy-in No Limit Hold’em event in 2007.

Cantu will be donning Ultimate Bet gear in this year’s tournament series, including the Main Event, which kicks off on July 3 with the first of four starting days. In a trend that began last year, the 2009 WSOP Main Event’s final table will once again be pushed back until November in order to coincide with television coverage on ESPN. Among those in the field also sporting Ultimate Bet gear will be Duke and Phil Hellmuth. The former finished as the runner-up to comedian Joan Rivers in the finale of NBC’s second season of “Celebrity Apprentice.” The reality show helped raise USD 730,000 for Refugees International, Duke’s chosen charity. Hellmuth is an 11-time WSOP bracelet winner, the most all-time.

Team UB also includes online poker aficionado Adam “Roothlus” Levy, blackjack expert “Hollywood” Dave Stann, Gary “Debo34? DeBernardi, Mark “P0ker H0” Kroon, Anthrax’s Scott Ian, Tracy “Fatcats” Scala, and Tiffany Michelle. The latter was the last woman standing in the 2008 WSOP Main Event, where she earned USD 334,000 for her 17th place. Scala won the first season of Ultimate Bet’s “Best Damn Poker Show,” which airs on Fox Sports Net and recently completed its second season. Patrick Karst won the series’ newest installment.

Ultimate Bet is fiercely qualifying its members to head to the 2009 WSOP Main Event. To date, it has stamped the entry forms of 113 players to the USD 10,000 buy-in tournament. A 50 Package Guaranteed event will take place this Sunday, that is June 21, at 5:30 p.m. ET. The tournament boasts a USD 530 buy-in and a bevy of satellites are available.

Players who qualify through Ultimate Bet and win the WSOP Main Event by wearing the site’s gear at the final table will qualify for an extra USD 10 million prize. Online qualifiers will also receive 15 per cent off their stay at the MGM Grand and free shuttle service to and from the Rio, and will be included in the exclusive guest list for the Ultimate Bet party at Studio 54 on June 29. Finally, players will receive access to the Phil Hellmuth Suite at the Rio to unwind during breaks at the Main Event.

James Van Alstyne bags WSOP bracelet

After finishing second in Event 21, the USD 3,000 HORSE event, James Van Alstyne wasted little time in making his way back to a WSOP final table. Not letting another opportunity to win his first bracelet pass him by, Van Alstyne defeated 770 players in the USD 1,500 HORSE event to finally break through with a WSOP win.

"It feels really good to win," said Van Alstyne. "Last time, I was a little bit disappointed. Also, you do not want to have the chip lead when we get down to two players and then not win. By closing this out, I feel a sense of relief."

It was validation for Van Alstyne, who won USD 247,033 in first-place prize money. The 42-year-old poker pro had 12 WSOP cashes and five final tables prior to Tuesday's win. With both final tables this year in HORSE, Van Alstyne reconfirmed that he's more than just a hold 'em player and that he can find the leaks in the games of his opponents.

"A lot of the other games are full of specialists, particularly hold 'em," he said. "But in HORSE, you can see a lot of errors being made. I know I make my own errors, of course. But throughout the tournament, there are a lot of mistakes being made. But in no-limit hold 'em, you see a lot of really good play."

Joining Van Alstyne was some very talented competition. Farzad Rouhani was the only bracelet winner heading into the final table, but Fabrice Soulier (who has five cashes so far in 2009), Bryan Micon and Shannon Shorr were also big names hoping to break through this year. 

Other notable finishers include Chris Bjorin (16th), Vanessa Rousso (19th) and Paul Darden (22nd).

Below are the complete results of Event 31:

Event 31: HORSE
Buy-in: USD 1,500
Entries: 770
Prize pool: USD 1,051,050
Players in the money: 72

1. James Van Alstyne (USD 247,033)
2. Tad Jurgens (USD 152,654)
3. Mitch Schock (USD 100,165)
4. Bryan Micon (USD 69,505)
5. Shannon Shorr (USD 50,881)
6. Brian Malcolm (USD 39,183)
7. Fabrice Soulier (USD 31,657)
8. Ronald Schiffman (USD 26,780)
9. Farzad Rouhani (USD 19,265)
10. Lana Maier (USD 19,265)
11. Sabic Sebastien (USD 13,831)
12. Phillip Marmorstein (USD 13,831)
13. Peter Gelencser (USD 10,205)
14. Paul Evans (USD 10,205)
15. Dustin Bryan (USD 7,903)
16. Chris Bjorin (USD 7,903)
17. Joseph Serock (USD 5,906)
18. Alan Myerson (USD 5,906)
19. Vanessa Rousso (USD 5,906)
20. Kathy Raymond (USD 5,906)
21. Torstein Iverson (USD 5,906)
22. Paul Darden (USD 5,906)
23. John Racener (USD 5,906)
24. Peter Moore (USD 5,906)
25. Vasili Lazarou (USD 4,540)
26. Robert Lewis (USD 4,540)
27. Bryan Devonshire (USD 4,540)
28. Andrew Black (USD 4,540)
29. Leland Silveira (USD 4,540)
30. Matt Grapenthien (USD 4,540)
31. Carlos Fuentes (USD 4,540)
32. Rodney Pardey (USD 4,540)
33. Clyde Hinton (USD 4,372)
34. Richard Brodie (USD 4,372)
35. Lawrence Birke (USD 4,372)
36. Ronnie Hofman (USD 4,372)
37. Kenneth Krouner (USD 4,372)
38. William Buckley (USD 4,372)
39. Bonnie Damiano Leinhos (USD 4,372)
40. Tim Acker (USD 4,372)
41. David Singer (USD 4,330)
42. Keith Sexton (USD 4,330)
43. Edward Fishman (USD 4,330)
44. David Schneyer (USD 4,330)
45. David Taylor (USD 4,330)
46. Ryan Plusch (USD 4,330)
47. Thor Hansen (USD 4,330)
48. Jeff Wagner (USD 4,330)
49. Peter Feldman (USD 3,689)
50. Damon Shrader (USD 3,689)
51. Frankie Odell (USD 3,689)
52. Adam Kipnis (USD 3,689)
53. Amir Nematinia (USD 3,689)
54. Ari Bluman (USD 3,689)
55. Keith Ezykowich (USD 3,689)
56. Marco Traniello (USD 3,689)
57. Reginald Simmons (USD 3,163)
58. Jason Yano (USD 3,163)
59. Doug Saab (USD 3,163)
60. Rolando Lozano (USD 3,163)
61. William Eichel (USD 3,163)
62. Vincent Lonardo (USD 3,163)
63. Alan Dvorkis (USD 3,163)
64. David Golding (USD 3,163)
65. James Schaaf (USD 2,848)
66. Tom West (USD 2,848)
67. Eric Kurtzman (USD 2,848)
68. James Wheatley (USD 2,848)
69. Frank Selberis (USD 2,848)
70. Faud Koubi (USD 2,848)
71. Quincy Crawford (USD 2,848)
72. John Comer (USD 2,848)

Former pro Leo Wolpert wins Event 29

Scratching your head because of that headline? Well, that’s the truth. The best part of the story is that the winner of Event 29, the USD 10,000 no-limit hold 'em heads-up tournament, is just 26!

Leo Wolpert, a former professional poker player, won USD 652,682 in the heads-up tournament by winning eight matches against some of the best in the world. This was his eighth WSOP cash and second final table with a third-place finish in a shootout event in 2008. Third place wouldn't be good enough this year, and Wolpert defeated the co-founder of the European Poker Tour, John Duthie, in the finals to win his first bracelet.

"I can't really even describe it," Wolpert said. "I actually didn't really expect to win. I mean, I always enter a tournament hoping to win. But with a tough field like this I wasn't even really thinking about it until today. The goal was to just play against whoever I was going to play and run good against them, see if they had some leaks, and try to exploit those, and I happened to run really, really good during the tournament. Now here I am."

Wolpert lost the first match in the best-of-three finals but was able to come back and win the next two.

"I was steaming a little bit," he said after the loss in the first match. "I'm not going to lie. I just decided, 'I have to grind back and get the best two out of three.' So I stayed calm and remembered there was another match coming up. And hopefully I could run a little better the next time. I would not say it strengthened my resolve. I would say I was already pretty resolute."

The former professional poker player is now in law school at the University of Virginia. After graduating from the University of Michigan, he spent two years playing professionally online and used his winnings to pay for law school.

"The University of Virginia is a top-ten school," Wolpert said. "I had a big score last year, so that has been helping to finance my education." 

While many of the world's best players entered the event, the biggest name was eliminated in the Elite 8. During the event's broadcast on ESPN360.com, Johnny Chan was eliminated by Jamin Stokes after a long battle. Stokes has a WSOP Circuit event title on his résumé, and now he can add that he beat one of the best heads-up.

Other notable finishers include Alec Torelli (12th), Justin Smith (13th) and Yevgeniy Timoshenko (14th).

Below are the complete results of Event 29:

Event 29: Heads-Up World Championship
Buy-in: USD 10,000
Entries: 256
Prize pool: USD 2,406,400
Players in the money: 32

1. Leo Wolpert (USD 625,682)
2. John Duthie (USD 386,636)
3. Jamin Stokes (USD 214,289)
4. Nathan Doudney (USD 214,289)
5. Johnny Chan (USD 92,580)
6. Dustin Woolf (USD 92,580)
7. Stephen O'Dwyer (USD 92,580)
8. Bryan Pellegrino (USD 92,580)
9. Roberto Romanello (USD 38,424)
10. Clavet Mathieu (USD 38,424)
11. Ben Sprengers (USD 38,424)
12. Alec Torelli (USD 38,424)
13. Justin Smith (USD 38,424)
14. Yevgeniy Timoshenko (USD 38,424)
15. Mike Caro (USD 38,424)
16. Jason Mercier (USD 38,424)
17. Andrew Lichtenberger (USD 17,987)
18. Ben Lamb (USD 17,987)
19. Matt Woodward (USD 17,987)
20. Dmitry Lesnoy (USD 17,987)
21. Jason Senti (USD 17,987)
22. Benjamin Tollerene (USD 17,987)
23. Brian Lemke (USD 17,987)
24. Albert Iversen (USD 17,987)
25. Benjamin Spindler (USD 17,987)
26. Steve Zolotow (USD 17,987)
27. Jonathan Jaffe (USD 17,987)
28. John Brock Parker (USD 17,987)
29. Evan Roberts (USD 17,987)
30. James Dambrosio (USD 17,987)
31. Nathanael Poysti (USD 17,987)
32. Dragan Galic (USD 17,987)

Mike Eise Wins WSOP USD 1,500 No Limit Holdem Event

After a six hour long final table, Mike Eise, a 30 year-old pipe fitter from St. Louis, took down Event #28 of the 2009 World Series of Poker (WSOP), a USD 1,500 buy-in No Limit Hold’em tournament. Eise’s win was worth USD 639,331 and he got his first WSOP bracelet.

Eise regularly plays in the same cash game as inaugural WSOP November Nine member Dennis Phillips. He’s also part of a poker club called the Wanna’ Be Poker Series. Eise stormed through a talented nine-handed final table that became official when Joey Brattole was eliminated in the tenth place. Then, Mike Zulker pushed all-in pre-flop with K-Q of hearts and was called by online poker pro Jason “JP_OSU” Potter, who showed K-J of diamonds. A flop of K-7-7 gave both players kings-up, but kept Zulker in front with a queen kicker. The six of diamonds on the turn gave Potter a flush draw, but a jack on the river paired both of his hole cards and sent Zulker home in the ninth place.

The next player ousted from the final table was Jose Luis Franco, who earned USD 83,180 for his eighth place finish. Franco shoved pre-flop with A-3 of clubs, but ran into Rico Ramirez’s A-J. The flop came 9-K-10 with two clubs, giving Franco outs for a flush. However, a red jack and a red seven ended his tournament run. Shortly thereafter, Avi Braz was bumped in the seventh place. Braz pushed on a board of A-2-10 with A-J, but Eise woke up with A-K. No help came to Braz, who banked USD 93,622 in his first WSOP cash.

The sixth place in the USD 1,500 buy-in No Limit Hold’em tournament went to Zack Fritz, who earned USD 111,266. Eise called the all-ins of Jeff Chang and Fritz, who held pocket kings and A-K, respectively, while Eise showed A-Q. The board came 10-high, preserving Chang’s win in the hand with cowboys and tripling him up. Chang had Fritz covered. Barry Berger was the next to depart, pushing with pocket jacks on a board of 8-Q-6 with two spades. Ramirez called with 10-9 of spades for flush and straight draws. The turn came a jack, improving Berger to a set, but at the same time, the card gave Ramirez a queen-high straight. Needing the board to pair on the river for a full house or quads, Berger watched as a harmless four fell. He took home USD 139,353 for his fifth place effort.

Potter was ousted in the fourth place for USD 185,444. One of his hole cards was foiled when his Q-10 of spades ran into Chang’s pocket tens pre-flop. The flop came Q-4-10, giving Potter one of his three outs, but also improving Chang to trips. Official WSOP coverage noted that, upon seeing the action-packed flop, “the crowd erupted with an ear-splitting and deafening display of claps and stomps.” The ace of spades on the turn gave Potter a flush draw, but the seven of clubs on the river sent him out of the Amazon Room nearly USD 200,000 richer for his wear.

Ramirez was eliminated in the third place after calling for his tournament life with J-4 on a board of K-J-J-9. However, Eise tabled pocket nines for a full house. The river was a 10 and Ramirez earned USD 261,963 for his efforts. After scooping the healthy pot, Eise entered heads-up play with a 9:2 chip lead. In the event’s final hand, Chang put his tournament life on the line with A-J on a board of 3-6-3. Eise showed just 8-7 for just eight-high, but spiked a seven on the turn to move out in front. Needing one of the six remaining aces or jacks in the deck, Chang watched as the river fell a five, ensuring Eise would take home his first WSOP bracelet. Chang settled for a USD 392,494 consolation prize.

Here are the results from Event #28 of the 2009 WSOP, a USD 1,500 buy-in No Limit Hold’em tournament:
1. Mike Eise - USD 639,331
2. Jeff Chang - USD 392,494
3. Adolfo Ramirez - USD 261,963
4. Jason Potter - USD 185,444
5. Barry Berger - USD 139,353
6. Zachary Fritz - USD 111,266
7. Avi Braz - USD 93,622
8. Jose Franco - USD 83,180
9. Michael Zulker - USD 77,778

WSOP: JC Tran Runs Over Final Table, Wins 2nd WSOP Bracelet

The World Series of Poker USD 2500 Pot Limit Omaha (Event 30) saw big bet action as players potted and repotted each other attempting to win the bracelet. After five hours it was J.C. Tran who survived the experienced table and won his 2nd career WSOP bracelet, and first Omaha tournament win.

Action started early when a short-stacked John Juanda looked for a spot to gamble and double up or run to the Brasilia room to play his unattended chips in the USD 10,000 World Championship Limit Hold’em (Event 33). Juanda called a cutoff raise from Dallas Flowers and after seeing a flop of 6 2 T he moved all-in. Flowers called with the best hand holding K K 5 5 . Juanda needed a spade, Ace or hit his gutshot straight draw holding A Q 8 9 . The board ran 6 Q and Juanda ran to play in Event 33.

Tran opened to 55,000 from UTG and Theo Jorgensen potted for 14,000 more. Tran called to see a flop of 3 3 5 and bet about half the pot. Jorgensen raised all-in with A K K 7 and Tran called holding 8 T 9 7 . A 4 gave Tran more outs, but not the advantage, but the 6 gave Tran the flush and eliminated Jorgensen in the 8th place.

Tran’s hot run continued when he entered the pot for 60,000 raise on the button and Chad Layne raised to 200,000 in the small blind. Tran pushed in enough chips to put Layne all-in and he called. He held A J T 8 and Tran was ahead with K K J 5 . The board did not hit Layne’s draw heavy hand when it ran T 3 3 5 4 and Tran won with only his pair of Kings.

The biggest hand of the tournament came on a three-handed pot when Tran again opened for 60,000 and Jean -Phillipe Leandri potted to 216,000, which was enough to cover Ram Boukai. Boukai called and was all-in with the action back to Tran. Tran called to see the flop of 7 2 Q and Leandri moved all-in. Tran called hoping to knock out two players in one hand with K 9 J 7 , Leandri held A A Q 2 and Bouke was drawing dead with 5 6 8 4 . The turn and river came A K and Leandri tripled up and Boukai’s day was done with a 6th place finish.

Jeff Kimber raised from UTG to 85,000 and Flowers moved in behind him and Kimber called. Flowers held A K Q 3 and Kimber tabled A K Q 3 . Kimber made two pair on a board of 5 4 3 K Q and Flowers was gone from the tournament in 5th place.

Tran’s control of the table came when he and Ross Boatman saw a limped flop of 8 3 2 . Boatman check-raised all-in and Tran called. Boatman was ahead with A T 9 8 and Tran held Q 9 8 3 . The turn gave Boatman two pair, but also gave Tran a flush draw with A and then the 3 fell on the river and Tran filled his flush. Boatman’s boat sailed as he walked away from the feature table area in the 4th place.

Leandri tried to avoid Tran’s rush and saw a three-way limped pot with a flop of 2 3 A . Leandri led out with 90,000, Kimber folded and Tran raised enough to put Leandri all-in. He called and showed 2 3 J Q and Tran tabled Q J J 5 . The T came on the turn not helping either player, but the 4 made Tran another flush and another elimination as Leandri’s day was done in the 3rd place.

Entering heads-up play Tran had a 2-1 chip lead on Kimber and continued to chip away at him. With the momentum heavily on Tran’s side Kimber opened for 120,000 and Tran called. The flop hit 9 7 7 and Tran check-called a bet of 75,000. The turn came 8 and Tran bet enough to put Kimber all-in and got a call. Tran turned a full house holding K Q 8 8 and Kimber’s hand was dead holding 6 4 4 3 . The river 3 was of no difference and Tran wins his second career bracelet.

Final Table Payouts for USD 2,500 Pot Limit Omaha (Event 30)

1. J.C. Tran - USD 235,685
2. Jeff Kimber - USD 145,656
3. Jean-Phillipe Leandri - USD 95,387
4. Ross Boatman - USD 66,936
5. Dallas Flowers - USD 49,387
6. Rami Boukai - USD 38,407
7. Chad Layne - USD 31,427
8. Theo Jorgensen - USD 26,955
9. John Juanda - USD 24,207

WSOP: Leo Wolpert downs John Duthie, Wins Heads-Up Bracelet

Leo Wolpert once went head-to-head with Jeopardy demigod Ken Jennings and got his ass handed to him like everybody else. Over the past four days, however, the 26-year-old Wolpert held his own against the best poker players at the World Series of Poker and walked away with his first gold bracelet and USD 625,682.

Wolpert defeated his final opponent John Duthie two matches to one and claimed the title.

The first match, which Duthie won, lasted 96 hands and saw the 47-year-old Englishman consistently chip away at Wolpert’s early lead before finally getting all the chips in play. Duthie had the button and raised to 150,000 and Wolpert moved all-in behind him for 920,000. Duthie called and found himself in a dominating position with A Q against the K Q of Wolpert. The flop was dry for Wolpert and when the A fell on the river Wolpert was down one match to none.

If the first match was a marathon of epic proportions the second was a spring that Usain Bolt would be proud of, and may be too slow for. On the ninth hand of the match Wolpert raised from the button to 90,000 and Duthie called. The flop came A 9 6 , Duthie checked and Wolpert bet 130,000. Duthie then announced a raise to 300,000 and Wolpert checked. The turn was the [2] and Duthie checked once more. Wolpert took the opportunity to bet 420,000 and Duthie again check-raised this time putting all of his chips in the middle. Wolpert snap-called and revealed 6 6 for a flopped set while Duthie showed A K for top pair. The river was a meaningless 2 and with Wolpert having Duthie covered the match was even.

The win gave Wolpert some momentum heading into the winner-take-all third match and he carried it through the first 50 hands. Duthie was unable to muster any sustained momentum and the pots he did drag were small and inconsequential. Wolpert on the other hand took control of the chip lead and never let up until the 96th hand, when Duthie managed a double up.

After Duthie rasied to 125,000 the two players saw the flop of K 7 5 . Wolpert checked to Duthie who bet 300,000. Wolpert responded by moving all-in and Duthie called. Wolpert revealed K J for the top pair and Duthie showed 8 6 for an open-ended straight draw. The 8 on the turn gave Duthie more outs to the river and when the 4 hit he completed his straight and doubled through. The hand moved Duthie up to 3.18 million and dropped Wolpert to 4.25 million.

That was as close as Duthie would get though. It took a total of 191 hands before the two found a flop worth fighting over. Wolpert completed, Duthie checked and the flop came T 5 3 . Duthie checked, Wolpert bet 120,000 and Duthie responded by moving all-in. Wolpert called and showed 3 5 for two pairs and Duthie was behind with T 2 . The turn and river failed to give Duthie trips or a second pair and his tournament was over.

Duthie, who now has 10 WSOP cashes on his resume, is best known for being the creator of the European Poker Tour and many consider him responsible for the growth of the game there. He advanced to the finals by beating Steve O’Dwyer in the quarter-final and Nathan Doudney in the semi-final. On his opening day of action he eliminated Robert Starkey and Stuart Marshak. His three victims on Day 2 were Terrence Chan, Andrew Lichtenberger and Benjamin Sprenger.

Wolpert had a much tougher field to wade through than Duthie. His first two opponents were Michael Mizrachi and Claudio Rinaldi. He showed up on the second day and had to dispatch David Pham, Matthew Woodward and Clavet Mathieu. In the quarter-final he defeated Dustin “Neverwin” Woolf and then sent Johnny Chan-slayer Jamin Stokes to the rail in the semi-final.

Both players had support on the rail. Sweating Wolpert were Jeff “ActionJeff” Garza and Scott Seiver while Duthie had fellow Brits Victoria Cohen and Andy Black lending support. The event was originally scheduled for three days but with the semi-finals running late into Monday night tournament organizers decided to allow the final two players to return on Tuesday to play for the bracelet.

WSOP USD 10,000 Heads-Up World Championship Payouts

1. Leo Wolpert - USD 625,682
2. John Duthie - USD 386,636
3. Nathan Doudney - USD 214,289
4. Jamin Stokes - USD 214,289
5. Johnny Chan - USD 92,580
6. Bryan Pellegrino - USD 92,580
7. Steve O’Dwyer - USD 92,580
8. Dustin “Neverwin” Woolf - USD 92,580

WSOP: Joe Simmons Gets First Cash, Looks For First Bracelet

Day 3 of the USD 1500 No Limit Hold ‘em (Event 28) at the 2009 World Series of Poker ended with Joe Simmons in the lead. Players battled it out for a spot at the final table until 3 a.m. Monday morning, but were unable to reach the final nine when the floor called it a night. The remaining 27 players will return later on Monday to play down to the final table.

327 players returned for Day 2, and after the first two hours of play 270 players remained hoping to take home the biggest piece of the USD 3,600,870 prize pool.

Jason “JP OSU” Potter was able to gain ground late in the evening and ended the night with 929,000 in chips. He had briefly gained ground as the chip leader, reaching over 1,000,000 in chips, but was unable to hold on to it, and ended the night in second.

Potter gained most of his stack when an opponent open shoved pre-flop for 310,000 holding A 4 . Potter called and tabled pocket sixes. The board ran out K 7 K 6 J , giving Potter a set, and pushing him to the top of the leader board.

Mats Gavatin of Sweden, began Day 2 as the chip leader and earned his fourth cash at the 2009 WSOP. Once play got underway Gavatin was unable to hang on to the lead, and his chips slowly slipped away for the rest of the day.

Gavatin was eliminated when an opponent moved all-in with 181,000. Another opponent made the call and Gavatin raised all-in for his tournament life. Gavatin held A Q , opponent number one held A 8 and opponent number two held 2 2 . The board ran out [10c] 9 5 2 6 , leaving Gavatin with nothing.

Joe Simmons, Zach Fritz and Marco “CrazyMarco” Johnson raked in the pots and kept the stacks bigger than most of the field for much of the day. Johnson, Simmons and Fritz made their first cashes of the 2009 WSOP and lasted longer than most of the bigger names in the tournament.

Simmons ended the night as chip leader after losing some of his chips a few hours earlier. Simmons was able to regain his stack in the final hands of play. Simmons will return for Day 3 with 1,120,000 in chips and will be the only player with a stack greater than 100,000.

David Levi, Liv Boeree and Clark Hamagami were unable to hold on to their chips long enough to make a return for Day 3 and a final table.

The top chips counts returning for Day 3 are:
1. Joe Simmons - 1,120,000
2. Jason Potter - 929,000
3. Rico Ramirez - 789,000
4. Mehdi Alaei - 505,000
5. Marco Johnson - 275,000

WSOP: Roland De Wolfe Wins 1st Bracelet, Completes Triple Crown

The World Series of Poker final table for the USD 5,000 Pot Limit Omaha 8 or Better (Event 27) was stacked with experienced players used to playing on the biggest of stages. But it was Roland De Wolfe, sporting a Union Jack track jacket, who won his first WSOP bracelet and became the second player ever to win poker’s triple crown, EPT title, WPT title and a WSOP bracelet.

Scott Clements, Alex Kravchenko, Andy Black and Brett Richey did what they could, but De Wolfe completed his trifecta and took home his first bracelet. Gavin Griffin is the only other player to win poker’s triple crown.

The first to leave the feature table area for the short walk to the cashier’s cage was Anthony Lellouche. Clements raised from middle position and Lellouche called. The flop came T 8 6 and Lellouche led out and Clements raised the pot and Lellouche called all-in. Clements held A 9 7 2 for the nut high and a draw to the nut low. Lellouche held A Q T 2 and needed help, the turn was T which gave him some hope, but the J on the river was of no help.

A short stacked Armando Ruiz raised to 56,000 and Richey raised enough to put Ruiz all-in. He called with A Q 3 2 and Richey was ahead with A A 9 7 . The board ran K K 8 8 J and Ruiz’s day was over with an 8th place finish.

John Racener bet 40,000 on a flop of T 4 2 and Robert Campbell called. A 9 came on the turn and Racener moved in with the rest of his stack and Campbell with live cards - A 7 3 2 . Racener was ahead with A 3 9 8 and the 3 on the river completed Campbell’s flush and gave him a better low. Campbell scooped the pot and Racener was out in 7th place.

A rather quiet Black raised the pot, which was most of his chips, and Campbell re-raised to put Black all-in. Black called and tabled A A 4 3 and Cambell showed A A 5 4 . They went to the flop with almost identical hands and the board ran Q J 9 7 6 which gave Campbell a flush on the river. Black collected over USD 42,000 for his 6th place finish.

Clements had nearly half the chips in play and called Kravchenko’s pre-flop all-in. Clements held A 9 7 5 and Kravchenko held 8 7 5 4 . The board bricked for Kravchenko with J T 5 K 6 and Clements won the pot with only a pair of fives. Kravchenko was never able to gain any momentum and ended the day in 5th place.

Campbell bet 140,00 on a flop of 7 5 3 and De Wolfe called. Campbell moved in on the 4 turn and De Wolfe called with A 9 7 6 . Campbell was behind and needed a club to stay alive, but the 8 on the river gave the whole pot to De Wolfe and Campbell was out in 4th place.

Clements, who some some consider the best tournament Omaha player on the planet, looked to be sailing smooth, and in complete control of the final table. But Clements raised to 80,000 and De Wolfe re-raised the pot. Then Clements re-pots with another raise only to have De Wolfe move all-in. The Brit showed A 2 2 3 and Clements tabled A A 5 4 . The board ran Q J 9 6 7 giving De Wolfe the flush and the chip lead.

Only a few moments later, Clements raised the size of pot and De Wolfe called. The flop came 9 7 2 and again Clements potted. De Wolfe re-raised the pot and Clements moved all-in. De Wolfe held A 9 8 3 and Clements held A A 6 4 . The turn was the 5 , which gave De Wolfe the low and the river was K which scooped the pot for De Wolfe. Clements lost the largest pot of the tournament, about 2,500,000, and was eliminated in the 3rd place.

Richey raised pre-flop and De Wolfe called to see a flop of T 8 4 . De Wolfe checked and Richey bet, and then De Wolfe raised the pot and Richey went all in. De Wolfe was ahead with A Q 8 4 and Richey held Q J T 9 for top pair and a straight draw. The turn and river came 2 A and De Wolfe won his first WSOP bracelet.

Final Table Payouts for USD 5,000 Pot Limit Omaha 8 or Better
1. Roland De Wolfe – USD 246,616
2. Brett Richey - USD 152,618
3. Scott Clements - USD 101,063
4. Robert Campbell - USD 72,121
5. Alex Kravchenko - USD 53, 881
6. Andy Black - USD 42,993
7. John Racener - USD 36,200
8. Armando Ruiz - USD 32,105
9. Anthony Lellouche - USD 29,965

Schulman, Carris take down bracelets WSOP June 13

Nick "The Takeover" Schulman won his first World Series bracelet Friday, but Ville Wahlbeck continued his tremendous run at the 2009 WSOP.
Schulman finished first in the USD 10,000 World Championship 2-7 final table with Wahlbeck taking the second place to grab control of the WSOP Player of the Year leaderboard with 255 points.
An especially impressive feat considering Erick Lindgren won POY last year with only 245 points.
Both players outlasted a stacked final table which included Steve Sung, John Juanda, David Benyamine and Rolande de Wolfe.
Here's a look at what else happened on another busy day at the WSOP:

Event 22 USD 1,500 Shootout Final Table

The USD 1500 Shootout final table didn't have a lot of star power, but you wouldn't have known that by looking at the railbirds.
Around 20 fans donned orange Jeff "Wildcat" Carris T-shirts to cheer on their horse while Chris Moore and Jason Somerville also drew a large crowd of fans.
The screaming was near Main Event level as Carris proceeded to outlast all his competition, including WPT Five Diamond winner Eugene Katchalov, to take down the bracelet and the USD 313,673 that came with it.

Event 24 USD 1,500 No-Limit Day 2

Event 24 was of particular interest to two of our bloggers, Martin Derbyshire and Olle Sundin, were looking to go deep.
Both players made it past the 40-player mark but Sundin busted soon after and Derbyshire ended up coming in 29th. Not bad for the PL.com crew.
Pretty much everyone was excited to see EPT Hostess Kara Scott go deep in the event, but she also busted out at around 1 a.m.
By the end of the day, 19 players remained with no big-name pros in the running, although Dean Hamrick did bubble the 2008 Main Event final table.
Also trying to win the bracelet are Michael Greco, Panayote "Pete" Vilandos and Andy "BKiCe" Seth. Day 3 of Event 24 starts at 1 p.m. sharp tomorrow.

Event 25 USD 2,500 Omaha/Seven-Card Stud HL/Eight or Better Day 2

Day 2 of Event 25 began with 153 players including pros like Jennifer Harman, Phil Ivey, Gavin Smith and Chau Giang all vying to make another WSOP final table.
They made it all the way down to 14 players before opting to bag up the chips and come back tomorrow for what could be a long Day 3.
Jon "Pearljammer" Turner is your overnight chip leader with 365,000 chips. It could be an epic final table with Ivey, Blair Rodman, Chad Brown, Carlos Mortensen and Dutch Boyd still in the running.
Play resumes at 1 p.m. tomorrow.

Event 26 USD 1,500 Limit Hold'em Day 1

Event 26 drew 643 players, which once again proves that the No-Limit variant of poker is easily the more popular of the two.
That said, the field was rather compelling with actress Shannon Elizabeth, Lakers owner Jerry Buss and all the usual suspects with Teddy "Iceman" Monroe, Erica Schoenberg, Brock Parker and Barry Greenstein all in the building.
By the end of the day there would still be 124 players remaining with Bill Chen, Justin Bonomo and Nikki Harris all wielding big stacks.
Play resumes at 2 p.m. tomorrow.

Event 27 USD 5,000 Pot-Limit Omaha Hi-Low Split Eight-or-Better Day 1

For an obscure event with a buy-in of USD 5,000, Event 27 did very well to bring in 198 runners.
Among the field were well-known pros like Phil Ivey, who multi-tabled Event 25, Barny Boatman, Shannon Shorr, Amnon Filippi, Clonie Gowen, Kathy Liebert, Erick Lindgren and many others.
By the end of the day 60 players were left with the money starting at 18. Daniel Negreanu, Jeffrey Lisandro and Roland De Wolfe were all stacked.
Day 2 starts at 2 p.m. tomorrow.

Playboy TV to telecast rowdy poker games

Sam Simon, a television producer, says that he had heard that private poker games are so entertaining that they should be on TV.

Simon is putting that concept to the test Thursday night on Playboy TV with ‘Sam’s Game.’

Some of the players in ‘Sam’s Game’ will be World Series of Poker bracelet winner and actor Jennifer Tilly, Norm MacDonald, Artie Lange and Brande Roderick, former Playmate of the Year and contestant on ‘Celebrity Apprentice.’ Some poker champs will also play in the games.

According to Simon, the Texas Hold 'Em games may not always be stellar, but they will be funny, and that's comedy of the raw sort, along with unfiltered language to match.

"Sam's Game" was filmed at The Palms casino and resort in Las Vegas.

Brock Parker Wins Back-To-Back WSOP Events

Brock “t soprano” Parker achieved a seemingly unachievable goal Wednesday evening by winning the USD 2,500 Six-Handed No Limit Hold’em event at the World Series of Poker (WSOP), and picking up his second bracelet in four days.

Parker bested a field of 1,068 players to win his first ever No Limit Hold’em event at the WSOP. He overcame a chip deficit to defeat Joe “floes” Serock heads up, and take home another massive payday of USD 552,745. With the victory Parker has now staked his claim as the king of short-handed events, as he defeated PokerStars Team Pro Daniel Negreanu on June 8 heads up to win the USD 2,500 Six-handed Limit event.

“I like to play more hands,” said Parker about his short-handed success. “Playing nine-handed is pretty boring. I guess Six-Handed gets me more motivated because I get to play in a lot of pots. It’s more fun.”

Parker, called an “online legend” by friend and fellow poker pro Alex Bortah, has been playing tournaments at the WSOP since 2004 but hadn’t made a No Limit final table until Wednesday. He considered himself a better Limit Hold’em player after having reached the third final table last week, but following his win last night he said he might put more time into No Limit Hold’em events in future.

Youth is starting to become a theme at the final tables of this year’s WSOP. Four of the top six finishers in the USD 2,500 Six Handed No Limit event were aged 23 or below, including runner-up Joe Serock. The online heads-up specialist was the chip leader going into the final day but was terrorized by Parker in the format he knows best. Serock made several attempts to take pots away from Parker by three-betting preflop but Parker always came back with a four-bet, forcing Serock to fold. According to Joe he was card dead throughout most of the heads-up play.

When Serock finally did pick up a good hand it was trumped by Parker’s better hand. On the final hand of the tournament Serock raised to 200K at 40K/80K blinds and Parker re-raised to one million.

Parker’s hand held up, as he made a set of queens on the river and captured the title. Serock was sent home with USD 341,783. Online star Russell Crane took third place in the event for USD 220,633. After being short stacked for most of the day Crane moved all in over the top of a Serock raise with J-T and Serock called with A-9. Joe made two pairs on the turn and was able to dodge a straight draw to send Crane to the rail.

Jesse Rios was the fourth place finisher when he got his entire stack in preflop with A-J against Parker’s A-Q. Parker’s hand held up and Rios, at age 33 the oldest player at the final table, left with USD 148,661. It was his fourth cash at this year’s World Series of Poker.

Alex Wilson (fifth place) and Clayton Newman (sixth place) were the other members of the final table. It took three hours to finally eliminate a short-stacked Newman, who moved all-in with pocket twos and was called by Jesse Rios with pocket tens.

Parker took over control of the WSOP Player of the Year lead with the victory and plans on playing Thursday’s USD 1,500 No Limit Event #24. “I’m excited about the Player of the Year,” he said during a post-tournament interview. “I want to try for that, for sure. Especially now that they are making a big deal out of it.” Here are the final results from the USD 2,500 Six-Handed No Limit Hold’em event:

1. Brock Parker – USD 552,745
2. Joe Serock - USD 341,783
3. Russell Crane - USD 220,633
4. Jesse Rios - USD 148,661
5. Alexander Wison - USD 104,323
6. Clayton Newman - USD 76,123

Two more bracelets will be awarded on Thursday as the USD 1,500 Pot Limit Hold’em and USD 3,000 HORSE events will play down to a winner. Twenty-one players are still alive in the USD 3,000 HORSE field, making for what should be a long day at the tables. Those remaining include Matt Hawrilenko, Chau Giang, Gavin Smith, Ylon Schwartz, and James Van Alstyne. They are all chasing chip leader Zac Fellows, who goes into the final day with 470,000 chips. A first-place prize of USD 311,899 will be awarded to the winner of that event.

Erik Seidel misses 9th bracelet bid

Erik Seidel missed out on a chance to win his ninth World Series of Poker bracelet on Thursday. His consolation, however, is that he was able to donate nearly USD 25,000 to charity.

The Gentle Giant busted early at the final table of the USD 1,500 Pot Limit Hold'em tournament Thursday afternoon, despite having entered the day third in chips.

Before the final table began, Seidel said that he would donate any money won at this event to children's charities. His seventh-place finish means USD 24,919 for children in need.

Seidel told PokerListings he wasn't particularly happy with his finish. “You are never satisfied unless you win, so I'm not that excited." Seidel said. "I wasn't thrilled with how I played."

He came in to the final table the marquee name amidst a group of young and mostly unknown finalists, but he said his rivals were anything but fish.

"They're all very good players," he said. "All those young players were very strong and I knew it wasn't going to be a cakewalk. "You would like to go in knowing there are two or three dead spots, but everyone at the table was very good."
Among Seidel's tablemates were online pro Ravi "govshark2" Raghavan (a Sunday Million winner) and WSOPC Hammond finalist Jason DeWitt, the latter of whom sent Seidel to the rail with a flopped set of eights.

"I really thought they all played well," Seidel said. "It wouldn't surprise me to see any of them win."

That said, the Full Tilt pro suggested chipleader John-Paul Kelly, a poker professional out of Aylsebury, England, had to be considered the favorite simply because of his dominating chip lead.

At the time of writing, Kelly was on 1.1 million and leading the pack with four players remaining.
Dewitt, Marc Tschirch and Kyle Carlston also remain alive in the hunt for a USD 194,434 first prize.