Online Poker Digest

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.

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.

June 15 was another eventful day at the 2010 World Series of Poker. Day 20 saw cash game pro Sam Farah, online poker room star, win his 3rd WSOP of bracelet, this time claiming the top spot in the $10,000 Omaha 8 or better Championship. With the win Farah denied James Dempsey, the winner of event #9 ($1500 Pot Limit Hold’em) a chance at his second bracelet of the 2010 WSOP.

Sam Farah joins several other 3 time bracelet winners such as Barry Greenstein, Mike Matuasow, and Chip Reese. While Farah is primarily a cash game player, and claims that he does not really like playing tournaments, he has proven once again that is one of the best poker players around.

2 other events got under way on day 20 of the 2010 WSOP, these events are a $2500 buy in Pot Limit Omaha tournament and the $10,000 Limit Hold’em Championship. The $10k Limit Hold’em event has drawn quite a list of notable entrants, with many famous pros sitting at the top of the leader board. Among the chip leaders for this event are poker pros Shaun Deeb, Phil Ivey, Justin Bonomo and Michael Mizrachi. This is a 3 day event that is scheduled to conclude on June 17th, 2010 with more than $425,000 going to the first place finisher along with the coveted World Series of Poker bracelet.

The $1,500 buy-in Omaha High-Low Split (Eight or Better) tournament will be held as part of the 2010 World Series of Poker, on Sunday, May 30. It will take place in Las Vegas and at Rio All Suites Hotel. It is the fourth event of this year’s World Series of Poker.

At 5:00 p.m., play will begin. With 4,500 in Tournament Chips, they will start out Chips and will play for eight rounds on Day 1. The following day, they will play down to the final table or for 10 levels, whichever comes first. To the final table, the third and final day will be dedicated, and play will continue until someone wins. The tournament director can suspend play and resume the following day if 10 levels have been completed and the event is running long.

For an hour each level lasts. After every two levels, there will be a 20 minute break. There will be a 60 minute break following the first four levels of each day.

Level 1 has limits of 50-100 and blinds of 25-50. Blinds will increase to 300-500 and limits will increase to 500-1000, by the end of Day 1. Players will be asked to remove a certain amount of chips following levels 6, 14, 16, and 22.

In 2009, in the tournament, 918 people participated. By Thang Luu, the event was won, a Vietnamese American professional poker player. He ended up winning $263,135 and his second WSOP bracelet. In the recent years, Luu has dominated this event, winning it the past two years and finishing second in 2007.

Given the large number of expected participants, it has two starting days (Day 1A and Day 1B) and may take four playing days and five calendar days to complete.

Players begin with 3,000 in Tournament Chips. The field will be split between Days 1A and 1B and they will play ten levels. On Day 2, the field will be combined and play will resume at 2:30 p.m. They will again play ten levels. Day 3 will also begin at 2:30 p.m. and they will play ten levels unless a winner is declared. Day 4, if needed, will start at 2:30 p.m. and will continue until someone wins. The tournament director has the option to suspend play after ten levels on Day 4 and resume the following day.

All levels will last an hour. There will be a 20 minute break after every two levels. Players will have a 90 minute dinner break on the first day of play after six levels and there will be a 60 minute break after four levels on subsequent playing days.
The blinds start out at 25-25 and will grow to 400-800 by the end of the first day. Players will be required to ante starting with level 6. They will be asked to remove a certain amount of chips following levels 9, 15, 17, and 24.

There were 6,012 entrants into the $1,000 No Limit Hold’em tournament last year. It was won by internet betting star, Steve Sung, a South Korean professional poker player. He walked away with $771,106 and his first WSOP bracelet.