Phil Hellmuth made his customary Main Event grand entrance, coming in on a Roman sedan chair as multitudes of toga-wearing and body-painted models escorted the 11-time bracelet winner to his seat. Also in the field was “Miami” John Cernuto, who returned to WSOP action, after collapsing during a preliminary event this summer.

The larger field meant more big names busting out, and some of the early eliminations included David Saab, David “Chino” Rheem, Evelyn Ng, and Daniel Negreanu. Negreanu’s stay at the featured table was much shorter than he had hoped, as he was sent home well before dinner break. All the money went in on the    flop, and Negreanu opened   for two pair. He was in deep trouble when his opponent made the call and tabled   for the bigger two pair, and when the turn brought the  Negreanu was left with only two outs. The  on the river wasn’t one of them, and Kid Poker was finished.

Jamie Gold was another Day 1c casualty, busting later in the afternoon when he got it all in with   to an opponent’s pocket jacks. Gold missed the    flop entirely, and when the turn brought the  , he was drawing dead. Other Day 1c eliminations included John Caldwell, Al “Sugar Bear” Barbieri, and Annie Duke.

One thing players didn’t want to see at their table at any point during this WSOP was the trademark fedora of triple bracelet winner Jeff Lisandro. Lisandro’s winning ways continued all through Day 1c, as he racked up an impressive stack to finish the day among chip leaders. In an early pot, Lisandro checked his big blind to see the flop. Lisandro bet out and the small blind called. The   hit the turn, and both players checked. The small blind fired a bet when the   hit the river, and Lisandro quickly raised. After a moment’s hesitation the small blind called and showed   for eights full of aces. Lisandro tabled   for jacks full of eights, and scooped yet another big pot.

1983 Main Event champ Tom McEvoy won the Champions’ Invitational event earlier this summer, but couldn’t make it through the minefield of Day 1c. He made his exit after the dinner break and was soon joined on the rail by late eliminations Brandon Cantu, David Singer, and recent “Rumble Nowhere Near the Rio” winner, Liv Boeree.

Joe Cada

As play drew to a close, WSOP Media Director Nolan Dalla took a moment to recognize one player in particular who would move on to Day 2. Kent Senter was diagnosed in March with multiple myleoma, a rare cancer of the plasma cells, and given anywhere from six months to two years to live. Senter, a father of four, had always dreamed of playing in the WSOP Main Event, and with his diagnosis and the expensive treatments, that dream seemed unlikely to ever come true until Bluff Magazine publisher Eric Morris contacted PokerStars, who put up the USD 10,000 entry fee, so that Senter could live out his dream. Senter made it through Day 1c with a medium stack and received an ovation from the entire room when Dalla introduced him.

Joe Cada was the man sitting with the most chips when the final pot was pushed, his stack of 187,225 establishing him as the overall chip leader of all the Day 1 flights so far. Tyler Patterson, Sebastian Stier, and Chance Kornuth also finished with hefty stacks. Other notable Day 1c survivors included Phil Hellmuth, Joe Hachem, Terrence “Not Johnny” Chan, Marc Naalden, Justin Bonomo, Hevad Khan, Isabelle Mercier, Dennis Phillips, and Howard Lederer.

Phillip J. Hellmuth AKA “Poker Brat”

dressed up as Julius Caesar and paraded through the entrance to the World Series of Poker last Sunday. He arrived in a car outside the Rio All-Suite Hotel & Casino in Las Vegas, and was accompanied by dozens of women and trumpeters, which drove the fans into frenzy.

11-time gold bracelet winner Hellmuth had won the WSOP main event 20 years ago and now appears again at the event’s poker table. Female gladiators with body paint and muses carrying rose petals in bags accompanied him throughout. “When you dress as Caesar you actually feel more powerful. Kiss my ring!” Hellmuth’s said while speaking to the AP, and continued “Hail Caesar!”

The television cameras showed how Phil was rolled in, greeted Jeffrey Pollack, the World Series of Poker Commissioner, and then had a quick change into standard attire for the tournament start.

During last year’s WSOP, Hellmuth surprised everyone with his Gen. George S. Patton attire, and this year it’s Caesar, and so the guess is that this annual dress up will become a tradition. “It’s a kind of fun. I think it’s great for poker” were his words.

Compared to Hellmuth, the other players had everyday attire without a bombastic entry but some players did have some gimmicks up their sleeve during the tournament of 2008, trying to draw attention to themselves and may be distract competition. Such as last year’s number three, Dennis Phillips, who won USD 4.5 million at the series’ final table and had a dozen supporters dressed in a white collared shirt and a St. Louis Cardinals hat.

Meanwhile, the WSOP sell-outs are looking great this year with almost 1,700 players entering this year’s tournament last Sunday. Many are expecting a bigger sale by today, one to reach a record of 2,600 players. In fact, July 6 is the last day and entries to the tournament are accepted with hopefuls guessing on an additional 800 new tournament applicants. Last year it was the turn of Peter Eastgate to win the event with a prize of USD 9.15 million. Eastgate had entered the event through a USD 10,000 buy-in tournament contested by another 6,844 players.

Jeffrey Lisandro

commented that he wanted to win a fourth. Anybody you thought he was kidding you should have been in the Amazon Room at the Rio on Sunday afternoon.

From the start of the day the man currently leading the WSOP Player of the Year race was at the top of the chip counts, and when play wrapped for the night Lisandro had bagged 147,000 chips, good enough for a sixth on the day. After winning his three bracelets in Seven-card Stud events Lisandro found the action in Hold’em to be just to his liking.

“(In one pretty big pot) I had two aces and someone flopped a set and I got a bit lucky — I made runner-runner straight. Most of the other time I was just grinding down small pots, stealing a few antes,” said Lisandro. “It was a slow, slow grind. I think I finished in front at almost every stage. I was just grinding. I didn’t want to risk any chips.”

“A couple of people tried to bluff me. I wasn’t playing that fast, and I was expecting them to try and bluff me because I was playing pretty weak. They were all easy calls.”

The five players to eclipse Lisandro on Sunday were Joe Cada, Tyler Patterson, Sebastien Stier, Chance Kornuth and Ariel “Da_Evils” Schneller. Cada holds the unofficial overnight chip lead with an astonishing 187,000 but right on his heels is Tyler Patterson with 179,500. Patterson, a professional poker player from Everett, Washington found a rush of cards in the last level after coming back from the break with 42,000.

“I just went on a massive rush. I flopped a set against ace-king and an overpair. The ace-king kind of went crazy and the overpair was just stuck,” said Patterson, who stacked both players on that hand. ”Nobody goes wire-to-wire though, there’s going to be bumps in the road. Hopefully I’m still there in the end.”

The day marked the return of a majority of the inaugural November 9 as six of the nine started their quest for another final table appearance. Craig Marquis, Darus Suharto, Ylon Schwartz, Dennis Phillips, Chino Rheem and Kelly Kim all returned to the scene of last summer’s glory, and with the exception of Rheem all will return on Day 2a with chips.

The field for Day 1c was the largest of the Main Event so far with 1,696 players taking to the felt. A near capacity field is expected for Day 1d with 2,500 players registered as Day 1c wrapped up for the night. Action resumes at 12 Noon PT.

The 2009 Series saw Rep. Shelley Berkley accompany D’Amato for his second annual trip to the Rio. But on July 5, poker’s staunchest supporter in Congress, Rep. Barney Frank, took time out of his busy schedule as Chairman of the Financial Services Committee to become more familiar with the WSOP with a first-hand perspective.

After being escorted to the Amazon Room at the Rio in Las Vegas just before noon by WSOP Commissioner Jeffrey Pollack, Frank was introduced to the room full of poker players and fans. He spoke to the crowd with enthusiasm about current poker legislation and the importance of people getting involved by contacting their representatives in Congress to demand action on the issue of online poker. He then issued the “shuffle up and deal” command, toured the Rio Convention Center, and proceeded to hold a scheduled press conference early afternoon.

Frank was one of the many in the Congress appalled by the passage of the UIGEA in 2006 and almost immediately went to work on legislation to repeal the law. While his first attempt was unsuccessful due to the Republican-controlled Congress and promise of the Bush Administration to veto any such efforts, Frank continued to pursue change and introduced the Internet Gambling Regulation Consumer Protection & Enforcement Act of 2009. In addition, he added a second piece of legislation to delay enforcement of the UIGEA until December 2010, and Rep. Jim McDermott followed up with a companion bill to add taxation to the legalization and regulation of internet gaming.

The current status of the bills is that they are awaiting committee hearings, which were recently pushed back to September due to financial regulatory priorities ordered to the top of the hearing schedule by the Obama Administration. Frank discussed the process and his own ideas with regard to the forward movement of the legislation at the July 5 press conference.

“I plan to move this bill,” he said. “As Chairman of the Financial Services Committee, I am now pretty vigilant to adopt a set of rules that will keep us from getting in trouble again… The committee could be done with that by September, so it is my intention this fall to bring up, in the committee, the bills I’m sponsoring, one to suspend the [UIGEA] regulations, the other to repeal the whole ban and substitute a sensible regulatory scheme. I think they’re going to pass.”

Frank did add that although he hopes to get both of his bills passed right away, he is aware of the potential obstacles and understands the need for priorities. If it looks as if the repeal effort will be delayed whatsoever, he will work on “getting the regulations suspended while we work on the other bill.”

During the waiting period for committee hearings, Frank hopes to obtain as many co-sponsors for the bill as necessary. With Ron Paul as the bill’s primary co-sponsor and the number of supporters growing consistently, one name was floated as to her support, Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi. Frank responded that he hadn’t spoken to her about it as of yet, but noted, “I would be surprised if she wasn’t supportive.”

On another topic, a member of the press asked Frank about the recent seizure of online poker funds by the Southern District of New York’s assistant U.S. attorney. Specifically, in response to the notion that the Obama Administration ordered the actions, he responded, “I hope the Obama Administration and Justice Department wouldn’t be part of it. I’m pretty sure that’s the case… But the bottom line is that you can’t have the Justice Department order a subordinate to overlook things. I do intend to pursue with them clarification of what the policy is here.”

Frank’s visit to the World Series of Poker indicated, as does his movement on pro-gaming legislation, that his pursuit of change to the current law is serious and without reservation. 

His commitment to the passage of his bills to regulate online gaming in order to keep it safe and legal is a priority as a powerful member of Congress, and his advocacy on the issue will continue.

WSOP 09

2009’s World Champion. But their dreams were shattered at the cashier’s cage, when they were told that the World Series of Poker Main Event had sold out.

Day 1d of the Main Event had reached capacity with every available table being used in the Amazon, Brasilia and Miranda rooms. There were even 13 tables set up all the way back towards the casino in the area by Buzio’s Seafood restaurant.

At the beginning of Level 1 a semi-angry mob assembled outside the 7 Star & Diamond registration office. A line of nearly 100 people snaked around a hallway at the general registration office. Notable pros, amateurs and every type of player in between started to gather. It seemed that Mickey Appleman, Minh Ly and Capt. Tom Franklin would be shut out of the biggest tournament of the year.

Tension in the hallway grew as one player said, “I have USD 10,000 that I won in satellite chips that are now completely useless. Is the WSOP going to give me a refund?”

Josh Sorenson, an amateur, said, “I don’t understand why there is no communication between the players and WSOP staff. We’re not being told anything, apart from the message that tournament is closed.” He continued, “Sometimes we need a gray area in life. Nothing is ever simply black and white.”

As players gathered and griped, somehow Mike Sexton found his way into the middle of the group. Several members of the shutout group asked Sexton if he would talk to WSOP Commissioner Jeffrey Pollack or WSOP Tournament Director Jack Effel. Having already played on Day 1a, Sexton was a reluctant spokesperson, but he held true to his “Ambassador of Poker” title and agreed to speak for the crowd.

At issue was the fact that players believed that 3,000 entrants had been advertised for Day 1d to play.  Sexton invited Franklin to accompany him to meet with Effel. The three found a quiet spot near the feature table to discuss the matter. With a large crowd of disgruntled players building by the rail, the three moved into a back hallway for privacy.

After about 30 minutes Sexton and Franklin emerged and told the growing group that Pollack had agreed to meet them. All concerned players who were shutout were to go to the Pavillion in the Rio, and Pollack had a prepared statement.

About 100, mostly angry, players gathered to see if their Main Event dreams would come true. Pollack and the senior staff of the WSOP all gathered for the explanation.

Pollack opened his statement, “We are sorry, I am sorry. The last thing we wanted to do is deny entry to any player for the Main Event. But we are unable to accommodate any more people.”

“We pledge this won’t happen again and will be the first topic we discuss for next year. This is the biggest challenge we have faced in four years,” he continued.

The crowd was clearly displeased with Pollack’s statements. One requested if they could start at midnight and play all night to join Day 2a. Another asked why they couldn’t be accommodated and play ten-handed at some tables or allow alternates.

Pollack said, “We have not had alternates for the 56 previous events and the first three days of the Main Event and we’re not going to start now. We’ve had sellouts already this series.”

The hostile crowd grew louder as each player wanted Pollack to hear their complaints. Melissa Hayden grew impatient with the crowd and urged them to quiet down and speak gentlemanly to Pollack.

Pollack dismissed the rumor that two very high profile players were allowed entry after registration had been closed. He furthered his point saying,”The decision has been made. Operationally, we cannot accommodate any more players.”

Pollack answered questions for several minutes and the crowd seemed unwilling to accept anything he had to say. Pollack stepped away from the podium and exited the room. One very angry Australian player shouted “Shameful!” as Pollack left.

The players who were officially told they would not be able to play lingered upset. None of them appeared to be happy with the explanation. The previously mentioned Aussie even suggested that they could sue the WSOP.

On a good note this year was the amount of entries compared to last year. There were a total of 138 players who ‘anted up’ the USD 5,000 to play in the No Limit Hold’em game this year. With a price pool of over USD 670Million, the first place winner would receive USD 177,730.

Alex Bolotin

Alex Bolotin was the lucky player to win this year’s Ante up for Africa event. Bolotin donated half of his winnings to the ENOUGH Project and International Rescue Committee, the charity that has benefited from this poker event. Other celebrites and poker players raised USD 362,000 for the Crisis in Darfur. Of the 18 players who finished in the money, 17 donated at least a portion of their winnings to the cause.

The tournament lasted 10 hours this year and was held in the Rio Pavilion’s Amazon room, with hundreds of spectators trying to get a glimpse of all the celebrities in attendance.

How long have you been playing poker?

Winky Wright

Well, I’ve known how to play for a while, I just don’t play in tournaments. I’m friends with Phil Ivey and I’ve been watching him play, so I though I’d get in here and try my luck.

Is this your first WSOP tournament?

This is my first poker tournament. But I like it, there’s a lot of game going on.

Did you win a qualifier for this event?

No. I bought straight in.

What similarities do you see between boxing and poker?

No similarities. There’s no bluffing in boxing, either you got it or you don’t. In poker you can bluff, check-raise, there’s things you can’t do in boxing. Poker’s a lot easier on your body than boxing.

Can you tell me a little bit about your charity work?

I’m involved with the Winky Wright Foundation. We try to help educate our youth and community to learn how to live healthier lives. The urban community has a lot of people suffering from diabetes, so we’re trying to educate our kids how to eat right.

What other boxers do you think would make good poker players?

My man Antonio Carver is playing Day 1c, he’s a good poker player. It’s just that you can’t be scared. Phil (Ivey) told me one day when I first started watching him play “You can’t count the money, you just have to play your hand. The chips are what they are.” So I think anyone without fear would be a good poker player.

Should your opponents be scared of your jab if they beat you in a big pot?

They better be scared of my jab. (Laughing) No, I’m playing with some great poker players, I’m sitting right beside Doyle Brunson. It’s ridiculous.

Boris Becker

men’s singles final almost 25 years back. Now at 42, he is showing his never ending competitive spirit in the poker game and tables and has turned into a pro.

Becker’s tryst with Poker started after a tennis match was cancelled due to heavy rain and he started playing card games with his tennis colleagues. Becker now, looks forward to playing in Dortmund, his hometown, and then in the Tour de grand final at Monte Carlo.

According to reports, Becker had been trying to enhance his poker skills for a while with the aim of becoming a real international poker star. We believe he has what it takes as Becker is used to pressured tennis and Poker is certainly a pressure game. Poker might coincide with tennis skills as they are both sports that require a clear and calm head, collected and continuous anticipation of your opponent’s moves. It also, like tennis involves a lot of traveling.

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

John Kabbaj

field of 85 took to the felt at the beginning of Day 2, and by end of play on Wednesday evening only 14 were left standing.

At the end of the night it was John Kabbaj who sat at the top of the leader board with a massive stack of 2,026,000.  JC Alvarado and Billy Kopp were not far behind with healthy stacks of 924,000 and 772,000 respectively.

Kabbaj has made his second cash of the 2009 World Series of poker and will be aiming to take his first WSOP gold bracelet.

Tucked away in a far corner a stacked tabled developed which included Isaac Haxton, Bertrand “ElkY” Grospellier, Darryll Fish and Bobby Firestone.

Haxton shot himself up the board when he led-out with a bet of 53,000 on the turn of a board that read [10s] 8  Q  9 . Action folded all the way around the table to Dmitry Gromov, who was seated to Haxton’s right. The bet sent Gromov into the tank for several minutes and a small crowd of players gathered around the table. Gromov eventually slid his remaining 135,000 into the middle and Haxton snap-called. Gromov flipped over [Jx] [10x] for gut-shot straight but Haxton turned over the nuts, J  K , making the higher straight. Gromov’s hope for one of three outs for a chopped pot ended when the 5  hit on the river. Gromov made his way to the rail and left Haxton with a healthy stack of 410,000.

Grospellier was severely short stacked when he was dealt Q  Q . He moved his small stack of 10,000 into the middle and was called by Firestone who showed A  K . The very first card on the flop, the A  set the stage for Grospellier’s exit. The remainder of the board ran out 7  5  8  9  and the current number one ranked player was done for the day.

Firestone’s victory did not last long. Ten minutes later he ran his pocket nines into Haxton’s pocket tens. Haxton raised from under the gun, Firestone moved all-in on the button and Haxton made the call. The board of 7  A  4  6  3  failed to improve either player’s hand and Firestone was wheeled away.

Michiel Brummelhuis of Netherlands began Day 2 as the chip leader and stayed in the lead till around 9 p.m. Brummelhuis lost his lead when Bryn Kenney took down a monster pot against Andrew Feldman at another table.

Once his lead was lost Brummelhuis was unable to reclaim it and was eventually sent to the rail by Alvarado. Alvarado dealt Brummelhuis his first serious blow of the tournament a few hands earlier, when Alvarado moved all-in with pocket Jacks. Brummelhuis made the call and showed A  6  but the board ran dry and Alvarado’s Jacks held up. Brummelhuis made his fourth cash of the 2009 WSOP.

The remaining 14 players will return Thursday at 1 p.m. to play for top prize of $633,335 and a WSOP bracelet.