Online Poker Digest

On Friday, Aug. 20, the World Poker Tour (WPT) began its Championship Event. 462 participants were involved when the event began but that number has been whittled down quickly.

The pack up until the very end of day two was lead by the Poker strategy.com video producer, Jonathan Little. Andrew Frankenberger who now has a stack of 1,958,000 chips overtook Little. at 1,314,000 in chips, Jonathan’s stack is hovering.

Tensions are high, as the tournament will once again cut out huge amounts of participants, as Day 4 began. until there are only six people competing, they will play Aug 25.

In 2007 and 2008, Jonathan Little has taken home two WPT titles and he is hopeful of his chances in this series. However, with chip counts close enough to steal a victory, there are a few competitors. With a mere 114,000 chip difference from Jonathan, Steve Reitzfeld has 1.2 million chips. Also close behind are John Smith and Tom Braband.

Like Phil Hellmuth, Daniel Negreanu and Jennifer Tilly, some famous players have already been knocked out of the tournament.

As the players gear up for another day in the tournament, the excitement is thick. a prize of over ten thousand dollars and the hope of even more cash is on the line is guaranteed for each of the remaining players.

On Friday, within the San Francisco 49ers organization, Running back Glenn Coffee surprised many when informed Head Coach Mike Singletary that he was retiring from football. Coffee only played professionally for one season.

Coffee’s sudden retirement should not temper the 49ers expectations or betting odds for the upcoming season. To battle for the NFC West title, San Francisco fans are expecting their team to battle and are hoping a strong playoff run will follow.

San Francisco has odds of -1110, making them the favorites currently. For the past couple of years, Arizona had been the favorite, reaching the Super Bowl just two seasons ago. However, the Cardinals have lost their top receiver in Anquan Boldin and starting quarterback, Kurt Warner.

Of odds makers with odds of +250, Arizona is the second choice. The Cardinals still have a capable head coach in Ken Whisenhunt and have a top defensive unit.

Seattle made many changes to their organization in the off-season and have +300 odds. Become the head coach, Pete Carroll left USC.

St. Louis Rams is the long shot to win the West. In the league in Steven Jackson, the Rams have one of the top runners, but the offense has few weapons outside of Jackson. Their youth could serve as a spark plug for an exciting season, although the defense was shredded several times last year. To win the division, St. Louis is a 10/1 choice.

At this year’s World Series of Poker, Day 5 of the 2010 WSOP Main Event was another exciting day. Only 205 will be moving on to day 6 and 574 players started the day. In this year’s Main Event, the more notable poker pros still alive is, Johnny Chan. At the top of the bracelet leader board, Chan is hoping to earn his record-tying 11th bracelet to join Phil Hellmuth. As the only players, Stu Ungar and Johnny Moss, to win 3 Main Event titles Chan would also tie with them. If Chan can keep up his current success, it should be pretty exciting to see.

At the Main Event, the Mizrachi family is also having an exceptional time. Two of the four brothers will be back for day 6, as they have survived the day 5. Eric and Danny failed on days 4 and 5 respectively and were not as lucky. Although it was an exceptional main event for the four poker players, every Mizrachi family member was able to make the money.

After day 5, Josh Brikis, Matt Affleck, Adam Levy, Bryn Kenney, John Racener, Jesper Hougaard and Phil Galfond were the other notables who were still alive. On day 5, Vanessa Selbst, Jason Somerville, Allie Prescott, Allie Prescott, Sam Farha, and Scotty Nguyen and Scotty Nguyen are some players who were not as lucky and saw their tournament end.

Day 6 – July 15th

As day 5, day 6 saw just as much action at the Main Event. There is a great chance that some of poker’s biggest names will be at this year’s final table, with only 78 players remaining. With 7.535 Million chips, Michael Mizrachi is in 2nd place overall, heading the list of potential poker stars. John Racener, Alexander Kostritsyn, Theo Jorgensen and William Thorson are the other notables in the top 10.

Of the November Nine, one famous poker name that will not be a part is Johnny Chan. on day 6; Chan was eliminated after running into pocket aces twice. With pocket kings, being the first and the second time was with a pocket jacks and short stack. Until next year, to earn the11th World Series bracelet, Chan will have to wait.

Day 2B is finally in the books and there was no shortage of action during the second flight of day 2’s at the 2010 World Series of Poker Main Event. The players who were lucky enough to survive day 2B will combine with the remaining players from 2A for the first time this tournament after a scheduled day off on Sunday. These two groups of players will form the remaining player pool and start day 3 on Monday.

While there was a ton of action during day 2B at the 2010 Main Event, this day 2 is sure to be remembered for the large number of notable poker pros who saw their luck run out. Players and texas hold’em poker stars such as Roy Winston, Layne Flack, Chris Ferguson, Marco Traniello, Jeff Shulman, Phil Ivey and Doyle Brunson will have to wait another year in order to chase poker’s most prestigious title. Brunson received a standing ovation from players in his section when he was eliminated holding pocket 7s against his opponent’s pocket jacks.

Even though there were a large number of notable players who hit the rail there were some big names that were able to navigate the massive field of players and escape day 2. Vanessa Selbst, Brynn Kenney, JJ Liu, Alexander Kostritsyn, David Sands, Florian Langmann, Phil Galfond, David Benyamine, and Jon Van Fleet will all be coming back on Monday for day 3.

Approximately 1,500 players survived day 2B while just about 1,200 players made it through day 2A. These 2,700 hopeful poker players will return from a day off on Sunday with their attention focused on the $8.9 Million first place prize.

After four long, grueling days all of the day 1 flights have concluded for the 2010 World Series of Poker Main Event. Thursday’s day 1d saw a total of 2,391 entrants plunk down the $10,000 buy-in, making this year’s world championship the second largest field in World Series of Poker history. Combined with Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday’s total of 4,928 the 2010 Main Event drew a whopping 7,319 players.

The turnout for this year’s Main Event has to be a welcomed site for poker enthusiasts as player pool numbers had been down in recent years. The large field of over 7,000 poker players generated a $68.8 Million prize pool in which the first place finisher will receive a little over $8.9 Million. Anyone who finishes in the money will be guaranteed a $19,000 payday.

Day 1d saw some of the best poker action from this year’s Main Event. Many notable poker pros are amongst the chip leaders after their respective day 1. Bracelet winner David Benyamine is one of those leaders with approximately 130,000 chips. Other notable players who finished day 1 in good shape include Vanessa Rousso, Jason Mercier, Archie Karas, Matt Keikoan, Brett Richey, and Steve Billirakis.

Noteworthy eliminations from the last starting day include Sorel Mizzi, Allen Kessler, Joe Cassidy, John Juanda, Joe Hachem, and Emmitt Smith. The first of two day 2’s will get under way tomorrow as the players continue to work their way to the final table.

At the 2010 World Series of Poker, Day 1c of the Main Event is complete. It was an increase from Monday’s and Tuesday’s day 1 flights as 2,314 players entered the $10,000 No Limit Hold’em Championship event. at least 1,567 players will need to show up for day 1d, the last flight, in order for the 2010 main event to surpass the size of the 2009 main event and so far a total of 4,928 players have signed up for this year’s main event.

For some former main event winners, the third first day of competition was a good day. Johnny Chan, after his day 1 with about 150,000 chips, is among the chip leaders. To have his set over set hold up early in the day to increase his stack size to about 60,000, Chan was fortunate enough. From there he was able to put together an impressive first day of competition and gather more chips.

David Williams, the 2004 main event runner up, sits at about the same stack size of 150,000 and also had a nice first day. Joe Cada, last year’s winner, doubled his chip count heading into day 2, and survived day 1 of the 2010 main event. Michael Mizrachi, Sam Farha, Patrik Antonious, Michael DeMichele, and Hoyt Corkins are some other notable poker pros that are near the top of the chip counts.

It was not accommodating to some of the best pro poker and online poker players in the world even though day 1c was kind to some players. Men Nguyen, Phil Hellmuth, Isabella Mercier, Dario Minieri, and Jeff Madsen were some notable eliminations from yesterday.

July 1st was just the opposite, if June 30th was a calm day at the World Series of Poker. This was one of the busiest days at this year’s World Series of Poker, with 5 tournaments happening simultaneously. Of those 5 tournaments only one champion was crowned, this was in event #51 ($3,000 No Limit Hold’em Triple Chance).

A long time internet poker pro, Ryan Welch, finally won his first live tournament, which happened to be the $3,000 No Limit Hold’em Triple Chance tournament at the WSOP. Against fellow internet pro ands online poker star, Jon Eaton to take down the title, Welch won a 3 hour heads up match. For his efforts, Welch will receive $559,000 bringing his lifetime winnings to just under $2 Million.

Two others continued towards their respective final tables, while there was only one tournament that wrapped up today. With its second day of play, event #52 ($25,000 No Limit Hold’em 6 Handed) continued. Famous poker pro Daniel Negreanu was one of the chip leaders after day one. So far, Negreanu has had a relatively disappointing Series, and he would love a deep run in this high profile event.

Also entering its second day of competition is event #53. For this $1,500 No Limit Hold’em Shooutout tourney, 548 players have signed up. First place will receive $185,000 when the final table happens on July 2nd. Today, event #55 $10,000 Pot Limit Omaha Championship and Event #54 ($1,000 No Limit Hold’em) both got started. Play will continue through the weekend with each tournament ending on July 4th and July 3rd respectively.

In an oddity at this year’s World Series of Poker in Las Vegas, NV there was not a single WSOP bracelet awarded today. Event #47, a $1,000 No Limit Hold’em tournament, was supposed to hold its final table today but there were so many entrants that this tournament needed two day 1s, which pushed back the final table to the 30th. 9 players will return tomorrow to battle for the first place prize and that coveted World Series of Poker bracelet.

Even with the absence of a final table there was still a ton of action today at the 2010 World Series of Poker. Event #49 ($1,500 No Limit Hold’em) played its way down to 23 players before breaking for the night. 2,543 players had signed up for this tournament generating a $3.43 Million prize pool. Each of the remaining players is guaranteed a $17,000 payday.

Poker pro Robert Mizrachi is the chip leader in event #50 ($5,000 Pot Limit Omaha.) This tournament started with 460 players and has worked its way down to just 31 remaining combatants. Play will resume on June 30th where a new WSOP champion will be crowned.

With 3 other tournaments wrapping up there was only one other event that got started today. Event #51 ($3,000 No Limit Hold’em Triple Chance) saw 965 players pony up the $3,000 for a chance at poker history. 189 lucky competitors will return tomorrow looking for a chance to add a $560,000 payday and WSOP bracelet to their poker resume.

With the passing of another summer day, two more poker players have reached the plateau for poker’s elite. Steven Kelly and Frank Kassela scored a pair of huge paydays to go along with coveted World Series of Poker bracelet. Steven Kelly, the winner of Event 39 ($1,500 No Limit Hold’em Shootout) will be taking home $381,000 for his efforts. This was only the second major score in a poker tournament for Kelly. His first major cash came earlier in the WSOP when he cashed in Event #16. In his second deep run of this year’s series Kelly outlasted experienced poker pros J.C. Tran, Annette Obrestad and Jeff King.

In event 40, a $2,500 Seven Card Razz tourney, online poker star, Frank Kassela became the first player of this year’s World Series of Poker to win a second title. Kassela’s first win came back in event #15 (($10,000 seven card stud 8 or better championship) where he won more than $447,000. However, with this victory Kassela only wins $214,000 for beating notable poker players Chris Bjorin, Jen Harman and Vladimir Shchemelev.

Three events are still ongoing today. Event #41 ($1,500 Pot Limit Omaha 8 or Better) drew 847 Players, and enters day 2 of competition. With a prize pool of $1.14 Million the winner of this event will be taking more a nice payday of $245,000. Other events getting started on June 23 include Event #42 ($1,500 No Limit Hold’em) and Event #43 ($10,000 HORSE Championship). Both events will hold their final tables on June 25th while Event #41 will wrap up play on the 24th.

On June 18th at the World Series of Poker, two events reached their conclusion. For a prize pool of $3,231,900, event #30 ($1,500 No Limit Hold’em) drew 2,394 entrants, with $580,000 going to eventual winner Mike Ellis. Ellis was able to overcome the difference in chip stacks when he beat Christopher Gonzales heads up, although he started the final table in 7th place. Poker room favorite, Ellis took down the tournament title when his nut flush cracked Gonzales aces.

event #31 ($1,500 HORSE) is the other event that came to an end today. For Konstantin Puchkov‘s first ever WSOP cash and first WSOP title, he was able to outlast 828 players. Heads play between Puchkov and Al Barbieri took 3.5 hours to complete with only one all in moment occurring during that time. For his hard earned efforts, Buchkov will take home $257,000.

On 18th June, two more events started as well. These events are Event 35 ($10,000 No Limit Hold’em Heads Up) and Event 34 ($1,000 Seniors No Limit’em). The $1,000 Seniors event drew 3,142 players for a huge prize pool of $2,827,800 while the $10,000 Heads Up event drew a more modest 256 entrants for a prize pool of $2,406, 400. From the 18th to the 20th of June, both of these events are slated to run. There is no lack of notable poker pros in the $10,000 Heads Up event. For the chance at one of the more prestigious events at this year’s world series, Phil Ivey, Kido Pham, Vanessa Rousso and Antonio Esfandiari all ponied up the $10k. Heads up events have grown in popularity over recent years so it will be interesting to see who come out the winner in this event.