Ben Affleck (foreground, left) is one of the many A-listers expected to appear at the Ante Up for Africa charity event today.
Hard to believe we’re just a day away from the
2009 WSOP Main Event. The big buzz around the Rio today of course will be the
Ante Up for Africa charity event. Lots of A-listers expected in attendance, including
Matt Damon,
Ben Affleck,
Charles Barkley, and
Sarah Silverman.
Here’s the rundown of yesterday’s tournament action.
:: Event #49 ($50,000 H.O.R.S.E.): As (briefly) reported yesterday, David Bach won an epic final table, defeating John Hanson. Bach banks $1,276,802 for the win. Vitaly Lunkin finished fourth and Huck Seed fifth. Get full payouts here.
:: Event #54 ($1,500 NLH): Blah.
:: Event #55 ($2,500 2-7 Lowball Limit): Abe Mosseri breaks through to win his first bracelet, banking $165,521. John Juanda finished fourth. Get full final table results here.
:: Event #56 ($5,000 NLH Six-Handed): There are 16 remaining, with Rory Matthews as the chip leader, stacked at 1,358,000. He’s followed by Peter “Nordberg” Feldman with 1,328,000. Surprising lack of recognizable names after that. Get full chip counts here.
Tagged as: 2009 WSOP, Ante Up for Africa, main event, Poker News
Max Pescatori (bottom with headphones) was one of the many big names who departed us on Day 1C at the 2008 WSOP.
We’ve covered Day 1C of the 2008 WSOP Main Event ad naseum at this point, and we have some big news to break, so we’ll keep this post brief.
Henning Granstad ended the day as chip leader stacked at 228,000. While we have no idea who this so-called "Henning" is, he does have two cashes so far this year.
Among some of the big name big stacks making it to Day 2 include David Singer (128,000), Brad "Yukon" Booth (110,000), Evelyn Ng (104,000), Nenad Medic (91,000), Jeff Madsen (85,000), Isabelle Mercier, or as we like to now call her, "Va Va Va Voom" (58,000), seriously Chris Moneymaker (62,000), Liz Lieu, a woman (57,000), Poker News hottie Tiffany Michelle, a woman (49,000), Mike "The Mouth" Matusow (48,000), Shawn Sheikhan (42,000), Archie Karas (40,000), that guy who played with his foot from a few years ago William Rockwell (30,000), Poker News editor-in-chief John Caldwell (18,400), and the hottest girl in poker Lacey Jones (17,000).
2008 WSOP Band of Bloggers: Get full recaps and payouts from WorldSeriesofPoker.com here. Get Dr. Pauly’s take on WSOP happenings here. Please please don’t forget Pokerati here. And get Poker Prof’s recap and more photos here.
Get full chip counts here.
Tagged as: 2008 WSOP, main event, Poker News
This is pretty much what the Rio looked like yesterday, and last year, and two years ago, and three years ago, except with different banners.
First of all, our apologies. We would’ve gotten this recap up sooner but apparently the World Wide Internets, or as we like to call trademark it, "The Information Super-HighwayTM," was down this morning. Or at least our connection was. Maybe Canada was behind it, trying to get some of that Internet money. Who knows.
Anyway, this is our fourth year covering the World Series of Poker Main Event. While it is without a doubt the most exciting day in poker each year, it’s also pretty much the same damn thing every year.
Shuffle up and deal…AA vs KK all-in on the first hand…some requisite pro among the early big stacks.
The honor of "requisit pro early big stack" goes to Brandon Adams, as he finished the day second overall with 176,450. Adams trails Mark Garner, who has a stellar if somewhat limited track record in WSOP events, with 194,900.
In all, the 1,297 entrants to Day 1A played down to 636 last night. Some notable big stacks include the where-have-you-been-the-past-three-years Kido Pham (120,650), Mark Vos, a ginger (113,200), "Glum Girl" Svetlana Gromenkova (94,125), and let’s not forget about the uber-present Blair Hinkle (58,275).
And sadly, the following list is of people who will not win the 2008 WSOP Main Event. They will be missed but surely not forgetton: Shannon Shorr, Josh Arieh, Gavin Smith, Mekhi Phifer, Dan Harrington, Joe Sebok, half-man, half-amazing Freddy Deeb, David Benyamine, Tom "durrrr" Dwan, Eli Elezra, Lyle Berman, Davidson Matthew Club founder Davidson Matthew, Erica Schoenberg, a woman, Phil "OMGClayAiken" Galfond, Kevin "BeL0WaB0Ve" Saul, J.J. Liu, a woman, and last year’s runner-up, Tuan Lam, who actually now will probably be forgotten.
Get full chip counts here.
2008 WSOP Band of Bloggers: Get full recaps and payouts from WorldSeriesofPoker.com here. Get Dr. Pauly’s take on WSOP happenings here. Please please don’t forget Pokerati here. And get Poker Prof’s recap and more photos here.
Tagged as: 2008 WSOP, Brandon Adams, main event, world series of poker
In a recent interview with The New York Times, Patrick Byrne, the new attorney for the embattled Jamie Gold, said, "We don’t believe Mr. Leyser is entitled to any money as a matter of law."
The operative words here, of course, are "as a matter of law."
Because if it was "as a matter of Jamie’s word," or "as a matter of principle," or "as a matter of not fucking with poker’s longstanding tradition of handshake deals," then Crispin Leyser would likely already have his half, and we’d be able to watch the Main Event on ESPN with at least some sense of enjoyment and a modicum of respect for Jamie Gold’s confident table talk and spectacular big stack play (and yes, his fortunate flops).
Instead, we watch the ESPN broadcast hoping somehow, someway it was all just a bad dream, that the past has miraculously changed and someone else like Allen Cunningham or Paul Wasicka (and definitely not Richard Lee) goes on to become the face of poker for the coming year. Someone who would rather talk poker than pitch crap reality TV shows. Someone who would rather stand behind his word than stand behind his lawyers. And someone who didn’t let money get the best of him before it was even his to claim.
Regardless of our opinion of Gold’s actions and the ugly lawsuit that has ensued, this isn’t a one-sided, black-and-white argument. Jamie Gold, himself, isn’t totally to blame…
[click to continue…]
Tagged as: court, Crispin Leyser, Jamie Gold, lawsuit, main event, WSOP
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