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Tournament Recap for WSOP Main Event Day 2A

By Jessica Welman - July 14th

1,250 players returned to the Rio for the first of two "Day 2s". Day 2A, which kicked off yesterday and, by the end of the evening, only 466 players remained. The survivors of Day 1A and Day 1B convened at 12pm PST led by Day 1A chip leader Mark Garner with 194,900 and Day 1B chip leader Ben Sarnoff with 177,500. The players all easily fit into the confines of the Amazon Room and when the day was done they did not even completely fill one of the four 50-table quadrants. Read more »

World Series of Poker

Tournament Recap for WSOP Main Event Day 1D

By Jessica Welman - July 14th

Over 40 hours of poker were played before Day 1 of the World Series of Poker officially came to a close. When all was said and done 6,844 players registered to play in this year's Main Event. While it does not exceed the record set in 2006, it does beat last year's field of 6,358. Players were crammed in every corner of the Rio in order to accommodate what was the largest of the Day 1 fields. Over 2,000 players filled up three rooms in the Rio Convention Center, tables set up in front of the Buzios seafood restaurant, and even ten tables in the Rio Poker Room, which is a good 15 minute walk away from the Amazon Room. Read more »

World Series of Poker

PartyGaming earnings down slightly

By Jay Lakin - July 12th

Party Gaming, parent company of Party Poker, gave its stockholders a sneak peek into its finances the other day. According to a press release issued on July 8th gross revenues have fallen slightly since late April due to seasonality and competition for players’ leisure time from the Euro 2008 football tournament. Party’s casino business has… Read more »

Poker Stocks

Mark Seif – Poker Player Profile

By Nick Laurrell - July 11th

It's a good thing for Absolute Poker to have Mark Seif in their stable of pros. Not only is the two time WSOP bracelet winner a world-class poker talent (particularly in NL Hold'em) but he's a former attorney. Read more »

Player Bios

Johnny Chan – Poker Player Profile

By Nick Laurrell - July 11th

The legend of Johnny Chan began in 1957 in Guangzhou, China, where Johnny was born. Before Johnny's 16th birthday, his family had migrated to the US and moved from Phoenix, AZ to Houston, TX in the pursuit of growing the family restaurant business. Johnny worked hard for the family business and at the age of 16, the Chan clan took a trip to Vegas. Read more »

Player Bios

Men Nguyen – Poker Player Profile

By Nick Laurrell - July 11th

Men "The Master" Nguyen is an unlikely messiah. He is loud, brash and borders on abusive at times at the poker table. He is a smoker and a drinker and has even left a WSOP Final Table in no condition to legally drive. But according to Card Player Magazine Men Nguyen has also been the best card player in the world over the past decade. Read more »

Player Bios

Josh Arieh – Poker Player Profile

By Nick Laurrell - July 11th

After Josh Arieh took down his first WSOP bracelet in the 1999 $3,000 Limit Hold'em event, he was asked if he had been intimidated by a final table that included Humberto Brenes, Howard Lederer and John Juanda (link all 3). He said that he didn't know who any of them were so he didn't even have a reason to be intimidated. Read more »

Player Bios

T.J. Cloutier – Poker Player Profile

By Nick Laurrell - July 11th

Thomas James Cloutier was born in October 13, 1939 in Albany, California. He attended the University of Berkeley on an athletic scholarship for baseball and football. Read more »

Player Bios

WSOP $10,000 Main Event Kicks Off

By Jessica Welman - July 11th

What better way to kick one of the most notorious events in Las Vegas than with Wayne Newton? The singer was on hand yesterday to kick off the festivities at the 2008 World Series of Poker Main Event. On hand with him was the Universiy of Nevada at Las Vegas marching band, who roused the field of 1,297 players as they settled in for a day of exciting poker. Read more »

World Series of Poker

WSOP Ante Up For Africa Event

By Jessica Welman - July 11th

While the Brasilia Room in the Rio Convention Center is far from a glamorous setting it served as the stage for yesterday's 2nd Annual Ante Up For Africa charity poker tournament. The event, co-hosted by Annie Duke and actor Don Cheadle drew a number of famous faces from both the poker world and Hollywood. Notable pros in attendance included Phil Hellmuth, Greg Raymer, Erik Seidel, and Howard Lederer and some of the non-poker celebrities included Ray Romano, Adam Sandler, Matt Damon, Ben Affleck, Charles Barkley, and Jason Alexander. Read more »

World Series of Poker

The 2008 WSOP: By the Numbers

By Dan Cypra - July 11th

The 2008 WSOP: By the Numbers In poker, it's all about the numbers. What percentage of the time do my opponents raise? How often will I flop a set with pocket sixes? What are the odds that the big blind will call if I put him all in? What are the odds that my opponent makes her flush on the turn? How often will the board pair on the river? Questions like these go through a poker player's head constantly. It's the key to winning and the key to losing. The 2008 World Series of Poker has been a winning endeavor for Harrah's and for the players involved. Let's take a look at some of the key stats from one of the most successful tournament series in history. Read more »

World Series of Poker

World Poker Association Board of Directors Resigns

By Dan Cypra - July 11th

World Poker Association Board of Directors Resigns In an unusual move that occurred just a few weeks into the 2008 World Series of Poker, a number of members of the World Poker Association Board of Directors resigned. The move followed the promotion of former Chairman and Founder Jesse Jones to Chairman Emeritus in the Spring. Now, Jones has returned to his former role as Chairman and poker pro Blair Rodman is the lone remaining Board member. The World Poker Association aims to develop a set of standards as well as a code of conduct for poker players. The WPA also aims to develop an economic framework for poker players to compete in similar to that of the Professional Golf Association. Let's take a look at the recent developments. Read more »

Other Poker News

Eric “Rizen” Lynch Interview with Poker News Daily

By Dan Cypra - July 11th

Poker News Daily: How did you get started in poker? Lynch: Like most people, after Chris Moneymaker won the 2003 Main Event, everyone was playing. I got invited to a lot of home games and I stunk. I got tired of losing money, so I started learning the game and tried to figure out what to do. One of my friends pointed me towards Party Poker and I put $50 on there and got really lucky at first. I ran my bankroll up to $300 and then it fell back down to $50 before I realized that I wasn't very good. I started studying and started to take poker fairly seriously. Eventually, I got into tournaments. When I first started playing online in 2004, there were mainly just cash games available. I won an $11 rebuy on PokerStars in 2005 and it snowballed from there. I can't point to any one incident that made things click. I just started running well. Read more »

Interviews

Kenna James Interview for Poker News Daily

By Dan Cypra - July 11th

Poker News Daily: When you first started playing poker, did you have any aspirations of it becoming anything other than a hobby? James: I didn't know what to expect. It's a game. I grew up playing games with my family. I just had regular jobs and I just kind of fell into it. This was way before television or anything like that. It was an exciting game and I took to it like a fish to water. Read more »

Interviews

World Poker Tour Bellagio Cup Starts Friday

By Dan Cypra - July 11th

The 2008 World Series of Poker is slowly coming to an end. The $10,000 buy-in Main Event started over one week ago and plays down to the final nine contestants on Monday. The Rio is literally the center of the poker universe right now. However, one tournament across town is about to kick off. The World Poker Tour is about to launch the Bellagio Cup IV, its first tournament of Season VII held on U.S. soil. The $15,000 buy-in event starts with Day 1A on Friday. The event will continue with Day 1B on Saturday and Day 1C on Sunday. Where you can catch the action from Season VII is still up in the air, as the WPT has yet to secure a television partner. Let's travel to the Bellagio to check out last year's Bellagio Cup tournament. Read more »

WPT

WSOP Main Event Day 1c

By Brett Collson - July 11th

Henning Granstad finished a frenzied Main Event Day 1c as the chip leader with 249,950 as play concluded Saturday night. Granstad surpassed Day 1a chip leader Mark Garner's 194,900 to become the overall leader going into Day 2. Read more »

Featured World Series of Poker

WSOP Main Event Day 1b

By Brett Collson - July 11th

2007 Main Event Champion Jerry Yang got Day 1b underway with a speech along with the customary "Shuffle up and deal!" as 1,158 players began play on Friday. The field was smaller than day 1a, as was expected with it being July 4th. Americans, along with players from countries all over the world, wore flags in their caps provided by the staff to celebrate the holiday. Read more »

Featured World Series of Poker

Erick Lindgren Wins WSOP Player of the Year

By Dan Cypra - July 7th

As if millions of dollars on the line weren't enough, the WSOP also offers a Milwaukee's Best Light Player of the Year award to one person during each World Series of Poker. This is typically someone who has dominated play throughout the entire tournament schedule. In hold'em, points are awarded based on a person's finish, with 100 points going to the first place finisher, 75 to the second place finisher, 60 to the third place finisher, and continuing down to five points just for cashing. Different point structures exist for different types of poker. Play is only tracked during the Las Vegas WSOP (the WSOP Europe and Circuit Events do not count). The Main Event, Seniors Event, Ladies Event, and the Casino Employees tournament do not count. With that in mind, let's take a look at the top finishers in the 2008 Player of the Year standings. Read more »

World Series of Poker

Matt Graham Wins Marathon WSOP Limit Shootout

By Dan Cypra - July 3rd

One of the staples of World Series of Poker tournaments are marathon matches. I remember covering the 2006 World Series of Poker Main Event (the year that Jamie Gold won). Play would start every day around noon and wrap up 16-17 hours later. The next day, everyone would stumble back to the Rio All-Suites Hotel and Casino to start all over again. In shootout events, advancing through the tournaments works slightly differently. Instead of collapsing tables, each step in the process becomes the equivalent of a sit and go tournament. If you win your table, you move on. If you don't, you're knocked out of the tournament. There were 823 entrants into Event 53 of the 2008 WSOP, a $1,500 Limit Shootout tournament. In the end, Matt Graham defeated Jean-Robert Bellande to take home his first WSOP bracelet. Read more »

World Series of Poker

Records Set at the 2008 WSOP

By Dan Cypra - July 2nd

The 2008 World Series of Poker has been the focus of the poker universe for the past six weeks. There have been 53 tournaments completed and the 54th, the $10,000 buy-in Main Event, is in full swing from Las Vegas. Given that online poker in the United States has become complicated with the passage of the Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act in 2006 as well as the recent failure of HR 5767, it's refreshing to see that poker continues to remain popular. Let's take a look at some of the superlatives reached at the 2008 WSOP just days into the Main Event. Read more »

World Series of Poker

Marty Smyth Wins $10,000 PLO Event

By Brett Collson - July 2nd

Michael "The Grinder" Mizrachi was unable to make history Monday evening. Mizrachi was attempting to claim victory in the same event that his brother Rob won last year, the $10,000 Pot-Limit Omaha World Championship, but his goal fell short as took home third place for $331, 279. Read more »

Featured World Series of Poker

Weekend Online Tournament Recap – July 1st, 2008

By Dan Cypra - July 1st

Until this weekend, I don't think I've ever seen almost every Sunday tournament sport an overlay. If you've read these online tournament recaps before, you'll know how important an overlay is to extracting the maximum amount of value from a tournament. An overlay means that the guaranteed prize pool of a tournament exceeds the actual prize pool. For example, if 1,000 poker players bought in for $200, the actual prize pool would be $200,000. If the tournament guaranteed $250,000, it would sport a $50,000 overlay. Now that you're caught up on these definitions, let's take a look at the action from this past weekend across the major online poker sites. Read more »

Online Poker

J.C. Tran Wins First WSOP Bracelet!

By Brett Collson - July 1st

J.C. Tran finally accomplished Monday night the one thing that had avoided him during his professional poker career: He earned his first World Series of Poker bracelet. Read more »

Featured World Series of Poker