Msg...

U+

+E















!!!









Regards,

cheer_dad

Dark operations

I'd hoped for some relief from the duties which came my way last week; but the cavalry has as of yet never arrived. Mine, nor my team's responsibilities would have been enviable during this time. It has been stressful, and it is taking its toll on me and on us all. During the few quiet times I've found over the past couple weeks, I have simply slumped down in the chair and stared off into space.

If anyone is listening, enough with the covert activities! I'd like to be able to look my co-workers and my friends in the eye sometime real soon. I'd rather NOT be working on my poker face here in the office. That unflinching stare is getting hard to keep up for such a long time.

Apologies to all for the emotional walls I've constructed and here's hoping they're torn down very soon. Apologies also for the lack of blogging. Today's post is a promise of future posts to come of a more enjoyable nature. Today's is for me and blog-therapy for a fragile state of mind.

Regards,

cheer_dad

Spy vs Spy... plus some poker

The secrecy and subversive nature of this week, has been a troubling return to work following my vacation. Hey, it's not been Jason Bourne kinda stuff exactly but I'm quickly honing my skills to the point that a rolled up magazine will serve equally well as a weapon in any knife fight that I might per chance encounter. Secret squirrel, covert ops, spook shit, whatever it is... I've played a role. I would say TGIF... but some of the wildest announcements and proclaimations were today, some which no one saw coming. Following a late night, last night with very little sleep the events of the day have certainly kept me more alert than I have a right to be. BUT, lest I should incite the wrath of my handlers... that's all I'm going to say. Know that a number of things have however weighed heavily upon my mind.

In other news... tonight July 24th, 7:00pm at the local Eagles Aerie 2407... we're having another of our famed No Limit Hold'em Tournaments. This is open to the public, capped at 50 players (for now.) $25 gets you in the game. Registration begins at 6:00pm. Hope to see you all there.

Beyond that, tomorrow night is poker tournament night at the Yanok's house. It's gonna be a great "lost poker weekend!" And trust me I'm gonna need it.

Regards,

cheer_dad

Slight Pause

So, the 2009 edition of the World Series of Poker, Main Event is on a break until November when the final 9 will return to end it and crown a champion. I took the opportunity at that pause to take one of my own. Hey, I was on vacation already I'm entitled. But I'm back home, of course dreading the return to work tomorrow, still I figured I should at least drop a line or so to the blog.

I'd like to thank all of you who visited my blog and hope that many of you return in the future. I may not be the best and most eloquent of writers, but I am quite the persistent hack you have to admit! The numbers did take a decided jump during the WSOP write ups and that was I'm sure due to Google picking up on some keywords. I don't want to shamelessly promote but I'm happy to get traffic when I'm posting about things that people actually want to read. Along those lines... what else do you the readers like hearing about, in addition to the Series? I throw in my poker playing antics, successes and even the dismal failures, and try to write up when the NDPT extended family comes together to play some Hold'em. A lot of the time what I'm really writing is the ins and outs of life and I'm surprised often to see how you all respond to these entries as well. So, drop me a line or a comment on what you'd like to see more of... or less as the case may be.

Thanks for dropping by, I really do appreciate it.

Regards,

cheer_dad

The November Nine...

The Main Event of the 2009 World Series of Poker now will pause until November 7th. The final nine players have been assembled. As was the case last year, to allow for "greater" media coverage of the Main Event, and to build anticipation for the ESPN airing the break will allow broadcast of the rest of the series and lead up to the final table play of the "November Nine."

Here they are:

Seat 1: Darvin Moon - 58,930,000
Seat 2: James Akenhead - 6,800,000
Seat 3: Phil Ivey - 9,765,000
Seat 4: Kevin Schaffel - 12,390,000
Seat 5: Steven Begleiter - 29,885,000
Seat 6: Eric Buchman - 34,800,000
Seat 7: Joe Cada - 13,215,000
Seat 8: Antoine Saout - 9,500,000
Seat 9: Jeff Shulman - 19,580,000

This assembly of players is certain to make for an exciting final table. All are to be congratulated for this amazing feat, but in this, the greatest of all poker tournaments there will ultimately be only one winner. $1,263,602 is the minimum that any one of them can go away with at this point, but at the top of the pile a champion will emerge to walk away with $8,546, 435 and the WSOP gold bracelet. Players, congratulations to you all!

And now for the long break...

Regards,

cheer_dad

WSOP 2009 Main Event Day 7 wrap-up

At the end of Day 7 of the WSOP 2009 Main Event only 27 players remained. Darvin Moon held on to the chip lead with a whopping 20,160,000 in chips. Phil Ivey remained in contention, in 4th place. Also, Jeff Shulman, James Akenhead, Joseph Cada, Ludovic Lacay, and Antonio Esfandiari.

Those who did not survive the night of note to me were: Blair Rodman, Eugene Katchalov, Dennis Phillips, Hung Pham, Tom Schneider, and Joe Sebok.

The field will play down on Day 8 to the final 9 players. Then of course the long break until November.

Sorry, I didn't get things posted until now.

Regards,

cheer_dad

WSOP 2009 Main Event, 64 players remain after Day 6

Heading into Day 7 of the WSOP 2009 Main Event only 64 players remain of the 6,494 who started, over a week ago. The current chip leader with 9,745,000 in chips is Darvin Moon, followed by Billy Kopp with 8,245,000, and in third position is Phil Ivey with 6,345,000. Others remaining include Ludovic Lacay Antonio Esfandiari, Jeff Shulman, Joseph Cada, Eugene Katchalov, Tom Schneider, Dennis Phillips, Blair Rodman, James Akenhead, and Joe Sebok.

Overnight casualties (since last night's post) include: Peter Eastgate, Matt Affleck, Kenny Tran, and Minh Nguyen.

I'm very excited to see the likes of Phil Ivey, Antonio Esfandiari, and Dennis Phillips going so deep in the Main Event! I can't wait to see it all unfold again when it airs.

Regards,

cheer_dad

Las Vegas Welcome Sign Vandalized

Is nothing sacred? http://www.lasvegassun.com/news/2009/jul/13/vandals-hit-fabulous-las-vegas-sign/ Thanks to Uncle June for the link.

The family and I are still beachside at Myrtle Beach, SC, soaking in sun, surf, and lotsa suds! Hope all is well with all my blogladytes...

Regards,

cheer_dad

WSOP 2009 Main Event Day 6, at the dinner break

Status of day 6 WSOP 2009 Main Event heading into the dinner break your chip leader is Darvin Moon with 5.7million in chips. There are only 101 players left in the running. The names which jump off the page at me are: Eugene Katchalov, Jeff Shulman, Phil Ivey (2.68), Ludovic Lacay, Antonio Esfandiari, Dennis Phillips (2.2), Tom Schneider, Peter Eastgate, Blair Rodman, Matt Affleck, Joe Sebok and Kenny Tran.

Bustouts on the day so far: David Benyamine, Joe Hachem, JC Tran, Bertrand 'LkY' Grospellier, Eric Cloutier, Blair Hinkle Nasr, El Nasr, and Joe Serock.

Guaranteed payout at this point is $40,288. Meanwhile that top spot looms off in the distance at $8,546,435. There's still a lot of star power left in this one. I'm excited over the action, stay tuned!

Regards,

cheer_dad

WSOP 2009 Main Event Day 5 "carnage"

Warren Zackey is the current chipleader following Day 5 of play in the Main Event of WSOP. He is currently just under 5 million in chips. Still many are right on his heels. There are now 185 players remaining, vying for that top spot. Let's go through the ones that jump off the page to me. In 5th place currently is Tom Schneider, James Akenhead in 7th, Matt Affleck 8th. Here's many of the others... Noah Boeken, Nasr El Nasr, Ludovic Lacay, Bertrand 'Elky' Grospellier, Phil Ivey, Theo Tran, Eric Cloutier, Blair Hinkle, Joe Sebok, Joe Hachem, Peter Eastgate, Blair Rodman, Joe Serock, Dennis Phillips, Kenny Tran, David Benyamine, Antonio Esfandiari, Lou Diamond Phillips, JC Tran, and Jeff Shulman.

Bustouts top to bottom, those I know: Nick Schulman, Amir Lehavot, Vitaly Lunkin, Andy Black, Kara Scott, Dan Harrington, Dan Shak, Rolf Slotboom, Burt Boutin, Sorel Mizzi, and Thor Hansen.

Everyone still in is guaranteed at this point $36,626 of course hoping for much more. But not a bad prospect to know that you will be more than tripling up. Good Luck to them all!

Regards,

cheer_dad

WSOP 2009 Main Event Day 4 results

Day 4 of the Main Event of the WSOP 2009 concluded just a few minutes ago. And now the 789 who started... 407 players are all that are left. Everyone is now in the money, in fact for the last couple of hundred they have been.
The current chipleader is Ludovic Lacay, with over 1.6 million in chips. Here's a quick rundown of other still in the hunt: Matt Affleck, Blair Hinkle, Bertrand "Elki" Grospellier, Phil Ivey, Theo Tran, Hung Pham, Kenny Tran, Nick Schulman, Lou Diamond Phillips, Nasr El Nasr, Dennis Phillips, Kara Scott, Joe Hachem, Eric Cloutier, Joe Sebok, Joe Serock, David Benyamine, JC Tran, Amir Lehavot, Antonio Esfandiari, Dan Shak, Sorel Mizzi, Bobby Baldwin, Vitaly Lunkin, and Rolf Slotboom.

Bustouts for the day: Mike Sexton, Victor Greeley, Phil Hellmuth, Justin Bonomo, Van Nguyen, Paul Wasicka, Chris Ferguson, David Williams, Kristy Gazes, Brian Lemke, Hevad Khan, J.C. Alvarado, and Greg 'FBT' Mueller.

407 players remain... and now I'm heading down to the beach!
Regards,
cheer_dad

WSOP 2009 Main Event Day 3, my impression after the fact

Apparantly whilst, I drove and slept but not at the same time (heading to the beach) the WSOP continued to play way far away in Vegas. 789 players survived Friday. Among those who survived and returned for Day 4 of the Main Event of the World Series of Poker 2009, here is my version of name dropping (short stacks to larger):

Chris Bell, Phi Nguyen, J.C. Alvarado, Tim Phan, CK Hua, Greg 'FBT' Mueller, Mark Gregorich , JC Tran, Van Nguyen, Vitaly Lunkin, Thor Hansen, Matt Molinari, Jeff Shulman, David Williams, Dan Harrington, Nick Schulman, Peter Eastgate, Paul Wasicka, Sorel Mizzi, Joe Sebok, Eric Cloutier, Joe Serock, Lou Diamond Phillips, Phil Ivey, David Benyamine, Brian Lemke, Mike Sexton, Kara Scott, Theo Tran, Phil Hellmuth, Dennis Phillips, Justin Bonomo, Blair Rodman, Blair Hinkle, Nasr, El Nasr, Kenny Tran, Matt Affleck, and Bertrand 'ElkY' Grospellier.
Follow up post regarding Day 4... is coming immediately after I post this one. I'm just now catching up.

Regards,

cheer_dad

WSOP 2009 Main Event Day 3 midway update

As the family and I are getting ready to leave for the beach, I took the opportunity to log back in one more time to check in on the WSOP Main Event. Some big names have already been sent to the rail on this Day 3. The names at the top, are recent bustouts, those at the bottom, were among the first to go. Take a look:

'Miami' John Cernuto, Liz Lieu, Jimmy Fricke, Marco Traniello, Pamela Brunson, Allen Kessler, Carlos Mortensen, Greg Raymer, Jean-Robert Bellande, Adam Schoenfeld, Bill Edler, Terrence Chan, Humberto Brenes, Kirill Gerasimov, Dario Alioto, Sam Farha, Ville Wahlbeck, Jennifer Harman, Matt 'HossTBF' Hawrilenko, Erik Seidel, Farzad Rouhani, Bill Gazes, and Roland de Wolfe. The PokerNews.com tally shows 1,134 players still remaining.

And with that, my drive begins southward.

Regards,

cheer_dad

WSOP 2009 Main Event Day 2b over, Friday is Day 3

***EDIT*** It seems my earlier information was flawed, by following the "Chip Counts" area of the PokerNews.com. The numbers of players still left and the chipleader are all different.
My corrections are marked below in RED! All of this is according to http://www.cardplayer.com/poker-news/7166-wsop-complete-day-3-chip-counts AND http://www.pokernews.com/news/2009/07/wsop-main-event-day-2b-lehavot-tops-massive-field-6921.htm...... BUT not what was reported elsewhere on PokerNews.com http://www.pokernews.com/wsop/2009/event-57/chip-counts/day2b/. Sorry I got it wrong...

Day 2b of Event 57 - $10,000 World Championship No Limit Hold'em concluded yesterday. The total # of players returning for Day 3 from 2a and 2b is 2,044. Today, the players enjoyed a lull in the action. They all got to take a much needed cleansing breath before heading back to the tables on Friday. So there will be no Main Event play going on today. 648 places get paid.

Amir Lehavot is now the chipleader with a whopping 610,500 in chips. He is followed next by Peter DeBaene with 465,000 in chips. These two weren't listed as being in the Top 10. According to the accurate articles here's the rundown:

Amir Lehavot 610,500
Peter DeBaene 465,000
Troy Weber 453,200
Dan Bilzerian 439,500
Franklin Grigsby 424,400
Gabe Walls 417,900
Mikael Thuritz 395,400
Andrew Gaw 386,800
Eric Cloutier 383,500
Jason Brice 376,100

***Beyond that I believe everything else is accurate. If I find out differently, you'll see it here!***

But back to Day 2b, and who survived and moves on to Day 3:

Phil Ivey (currently 14th), JC Tran, Kenny Tran, Josh Arieh, Jeff Shulman, Paul Wasicka, Bertrand 'ElkY' Grospellier, David Benyamine, Justin Bonomo, Lou Diamond Phillips, Dan Harrington, Jeff Lisandro, Brian Lemke, Antonio Esfandiari, Theo Tran, Jean Robert-Bellande, Blair Hinkle, J.C. Alvarado, Dutch Boyd, Nasr El Nasr, Phil Hellmuth, Havad Khan, Joe Hachem, Adam Schoenfeld, Dennis Phillips, Toto Leonidas, Lee Markholt, Minh Nguyen, Tuan Le, Peter Eastgate, Brandon Lee, Nick chulman, Jimmy Tran, Dan Shak, 'Miami' John Cernuto, Terrence Chan, Kristy Gases, Cyndy Violette, Robert Mizrachi, Tony Hachem, Chau Giang, Dario Alioto, Blair Rodman, David 'Devilfish' Ulliott, Alex Bolotin, Kido Pham, Hasan Habib, Lee Watkinson, Tim Phan, Amnon Filippi, Brandon Adams, Max Pescatori, Young Phan, Humberto Brenes, Scott Ian, John Juanda, Liz Lieu, Nam Le, Bryan Devonshire, Jennifer Harman, Brian Devonshire, Chad Brown, Steve Zolotow, Ville Wahlbeck, and Marco Traniello.

Now, to the bad news, and those who busted on Day 2b:

Nenad Medic, Marlon Wayans, Tom 'durrrr' Dwan, Ylon Schwartz, Daniel Alaei, Maya Geller (if Mr. Antonius doesn't console you enough... I'm here), Phil Tom, Adam Levy, David Sklansky, Gavin Griffin, Justin SMith, Lee Childs, Howard Lederer, Michael Mizrachi, Kathy Liebert, Scotty Nguyen, Vanessa Rousso (again, I'm here), Shannon Shorr, Victor Ramdin, Eric Froehlich, Lauren Kling (one more time, I'm here), Paul Darden, and Erick Lindgren.

There's still lots and lots of poker to be played. I, cheer_dad, your humble poker blogger will continue to follow along and share what I know. Thanks for following along with my take on the 2009 edition of the WSOP Main Event! Again, I'm sorry about the errors from the earlier posting, but my sources to verify were limited at work, and I didn't stumble across these other sources until I got home.

Regards,

cheer_dad

WSOP 2009 Main Event 2b underway

The cards and chips have been flying around at the WSOP on this 2b day of the Main Event... for a little over an hour now. 2,924 players are jammed around the tables hoping to chip up and be one of the survivors to move forward another day. According to the PokerNews.com crew, the 'all-ins and calls' have been coming in fast and furious already. One of these resulted in an early exit for one of my favorites... Erick Lindgren. Sorry 'E-Dog'!

Stay tuned for more action!

Regards,

cheer_dad

WSOP 2009 Main Event Day 2a done, 2b today

Day 2a of the WSOP's Event 57 - $10,000 World Championship No Limit Hold'em concluded a little over 3 hours ago. 1,476 began the journey yesterday but only 630 survived to play another day. The current chip leader is Eric Cloutier, sitting on 384,000 in chips. The best known name currently in the top 10 (7th) is Greg 'RBT' Mueller with a sizable stack of 311k. However, a much larger field will begin Day 2b today, and stacks may certainly swell. Patience, we'll just have to wait and see!

Other notable names who survived 2a are: Andy Black, Mike Sexton, Sorel Mizzi, Chris Ferguson, Jimmy Fricke, Thor Hansen, Pamela Brunson, Vitaly Lunkin, Tom Schneider, Kara Scott, Greg Raymer, Joe Sebok, Jason Alexander, Sam Farha, Van Nguyen, Dewey Tomko, Erik Seidel, Rolf Slotboom, Carlos Mortensen, Joe Serock, Bill Edler, Bruno Fitoussi, and Roland de Wolfe.

Casualties include: Eli Elezra, Juha Helppi, 'Amarillo' Slim Preston, Mike Matusow, Gavin Smith, Todd Brunson, Alex Kravchenko, Michael DeMichele, Mel Juday, Erik Cajelais, Hoyt Corkins, Beth Shak, Micheal Craig, Shaun Deeb, Jason Mercier, Barry Greenstein, Jennifer Tilly, Tony G, Phil Laak, Mike Caro, Katja Thater, Brian Townsend, Barry Shulman, Jon 'PearlJammed' Turner, Johnny 'frickin' Chan, and Gus Hansen.

There's still lots of poker to be played here people. Day 2b as I said returns today after which we'll be to the point at which the entire field of remaining players will be part of one big pool, which will be playing simultaneously. Players will get a day of rest, on Thursday, while instead a media event will take place, beginning at 1pm. Then, the action gets going again on Friday for Day 3.

I leave for family vacation Friday night, to Myrtle Beach, SC. So, yes the laptop will be packed and the idiocy that is my blogging will continue. I wouldn't want any of you to miss me! I'll be thinking of you all as I pickle my liver... and slowly turn myself into a Chicken Nugget while lying on the shore. Hope they don't mistake me for a beached whale again and try to roll my ass back into the ocean.

Right in the "brow hole!"

Regards,

cheer_dad

jjok and the girls...

jjok has a way with his kids. Throw out the Dr. Spock book, he's the new authority on Parenting!

Jacks R OK: Convos with Daughters.....B-Day Style.......And a Prank on Them....HAHAHA

I'm still laughing...

Regards,

cheer_dad

WSOP 2009 Main Event Day 1d done, today is 2a

Day 1d of Event 57 - $10,000 World Championship No Limit Hold'em is over now. A total of 2,809 players signed up and played while only 1,816 survived to advance on to Day 2 play. So... a total of 6,494 players entered the WSOP Main Event this year. This number might have swelled according to a number of reports had the Rio been able to accommodate additional players who showed up to play on this final Day 1 of the event. But every seat in the house was filled, and Commissioner Jeffrey Pollack ultimately had to put his foot down and close registration, when they reached capacity. Read the article here: http://www.pokernews.com/news/2009/07/wsop-day-1d-advance-sellout-leaves-hundreds-out-main-event-6908.htm. But the plain sad truth is that when players wait until the last minute there is a very real danger that they could be left on the outside, looking in. That was the case here. Ya snooze ya lose! Had the RIO and WSOP staff had prior commitments and $$$ in hand that players wanted to play, they might have been able to plan accordingly. But I agree with and support the decision which was finally reached to simply call it FULL and turn folks away. It might be the hard line, but it can and will be planned for in the future. It might also get a few players not to drag their feet in the future. I would support registration in advance... and being assigned randomly the day on which you play. Accommodation for day changes would be accomplished within reason and only on a first come first serve basis, but NEVER after the fact. Probably not necessarily an opinion that will be shared among the poker community, but hey it's my blog. Go get your own!

Back to the numbers... 6,494 players entered in the 2009 WSOP Main Event, which is down from the 2008 edition which hosted 6,844 players. 2007 was 6,358, and the record holder of 2006 still stands at 8,773. Arguably, the numbers from this year to last are down by 350 players. Top prize payout will be in the neighborhood of $8,548,435 (the % amount due to the November 9 delay notwithstanding.) That is down from the 2008 top spot of $9,152,416. BUT none of this points toward a "downturn" in poker. Sure we're down from last year and we haven't swelled to the 2006 glory year, BUT that was all pre UIGEA, Neteller, PartyPoker crackdown, and any number of other idiocies that have been thrown at the poker world. I'd say POKER is doing just fine, thank you very much. Take that and stick it in your bankroll! The toal prize pool for this year to be paid out to 648 players is still a whopping $61,043,600. Nothing to sneeze at!

Now, time for some comparisons... The chip leader of the Day 1D entrants, and frankly the overall leader at this point is Troy Weber with 353,000 in chips. Next closest is Tyson Marks (Day 1D too) with 196,500 in chips. In fact, the top four of Day 1D are out in front of the pack, until we come to the chip stack of Joe Cada on Day 1c. Day 1b game us Brandon Demes at 137,075, and 1a had Redmond Lee chime in at 134,275. You would have to go at least 20 players deep into the chip stacks for the Day 1D survivors to find sub 134k stacks. But what does it all really matter anyway... there's a helluva lot of poker yet to be played.

Recognizable names to have survived Day 1d, let's get to skimming the list: JC Tran, Josh Arieh (both in the top 20,) Bertrand 'ElkY' Grospellier, Dutch Boyd, Adam Schoenfeld, Tony Hachem, Phil Ivey, David Benyamine, Blair Hinkle, Nasr El Nasr, Antonio Esfandiari, Matthew Hilger, JC Alvarado, Bobby Baldwin, Cyndy Violette, Marco Traniello, Lou Diamond Phillips, Ping Chang Yung (just because that's a name that caught my eye,) Kenny Tran, Minh Nguyen, Jen Harman, Lee Markholt, Michael Mizrachi, Nam Le, Peter Eastgate, Max Pescatori, Jeff Shulman, Kathy Liebert, James McManus, Ville Wahlbeck, Bryan Devonshire, Chau Giang, Tom 'durrrr' Dwan, Erick Lindgren, Humberto Brenes, and Vanessa Rousso. I believe in miracles, but several of those I mentioned (particularly after Kathy Liebert, are in 'shove' territory at this point.

Victims who fell on Day 1d: Victor Ramdin, Brock Parker, Clonie Gowen (i'm here for ya honey if u need that hug, like I offered last year,) Daniel Alaei, David Chiu, Jimmy Tran, Kristy Gazes, Leif Force, Lisa Hamilton, Robert Iler, Scott Ian, Shannon Elizabeth, Phil Gordon, James Mackey, Scott Freeman, Michael Binger, Ray Romano, Chip Jett, Scott Clements, Scott Fischman, Shawn Sheikhan, Mimi Tran, Shirley Rosario, Adam Friedman, Svetlana Gromenkova, Ivan Demidov, Jeff Madsen, Mark Seikf, Phil 'OMGClayAiken' Galfond, Roy Winston, Huck Seed, Torrie Wilson, Lyle Berman, Scott Montgomery and Dario Minieri. Yes... yes... there were others and I'm sure some of 'em were even 'your' buddies but get your OWN! This blog's mine!

I'd like to see a list of "notables" who missed the boat (errr Main Event) by not getting registered in time, but that's all just hearsay and conjecture at this point. Anyway, HIGH NOON today, Day 2a of the Main Event will get started. The circus will continue!

Regards,

cheer_dad

P.S. Oh, I also wanted to mention the Ante Up For Africa charity tournament. Alex Bolotin won the top prize of $177,730, and donated half back to the charity as did nearly everyone who got paid in the event! 138 players ponied up the $5k entry, read more about it here: http://www.pokernews.com/news/2009/07/alex-bolotin-captures-ante-up-for-africa-charity-win-6890.htm.

WSOP 2009 Main Event Day 1c ends, Day 1d today

Day 1 c of Event 57 - $10,000 World Championship No Limit Hold'em has come to a close as the 1,696 players wrapped things up. No word yet on how many were dropped from the ranks. According to PokerNews.com there was a scheduling change which had the players of 1c and today's 1d play for 5 levels instead of mimicking the 4 levels that Days 1a and 1b did. This was necessary to level the field, and make the size manageable for when the "crowd" eventually comes together for "Day 3" play. To be fair the returners for Day 2a on Wednesday will be playing 5 levels to instead of a customary 4 to balance things out. Let it go... it really does make good sense. This step has caused some chip stacks to soar for a few players. Currently it appears that Joe Cada is first in chips for the Day 1c players. Around 6th place in chips currently is an all-too-familiar name in the form of Jeff Lisandro, who has already taken home an impressive 3 bracelets in this series. (I'm convinced he's borrowed my wife's horseshoe!)

Others remaining from the Day 1c encounter are: Justin Bonomo, Amonon Filippi, Alex Bolotin, Joe Hachem, Hevad Khan, Chris Bell, Lee Watkinson, Terrence Chan, Allen Kessler, Dennis Phillips, Isabelle Mercier, Hasan Habib, Dan Harrington, Justin 'Boosted J' Smith, Scotty Nguyen, 'Miami' John Cernuto, John Juanda, Howard Lederer, Di 'Urindager' Dang, Maya Gellar, Ylon Schwartz, Robert Mizrachiki, Matt Hawrilenko, Dan Shak, Steve Dannenmann, Gavin Griffin, Phil Hellmuth, Paul Wasicka, Liz Lieu, and Lee Childs.

Sadly, we had some notables go bust as well including: Matt Savage, Matt Matros, Marcel Luske, JJ Liu, Liv Boeree, Tom McEvoy, David Singer, Erica Schoenberg, Brandon Cantu, Annie Duke, Jamie Gold, Lacey Jones, David 'Chino' Rheem, Evelyn Ng, and Daniel Negreanu.

Phil Hellmuth, continued his bratty ways through the day after making the ENTRANCE that I still shudder to think about... On one of his last hands of the day, it looks like a little deception came back to bite him in the ass and took him down to 25k in chips and sent him from the table in a tirade. Poor Phil... : )

Stay tuned for more from the fine folks at PokerNews.com.

Regards,

cheer_dad

WSOP 2009 ...The Entrance of Phil...

~~Main Event of the World Series of Poker 2009~~
Event 57 - $10,000 World Championship No Limit Hold'em.
This 'guy' makes his entrance...


Okay, I think I threw up in my mouth a little there...

But keep on scrolling down, I've linked the ENTIRE Arrival Procession of Phil Hellmuth. Legend in his own mind!






Regards,

cheer_dad

P.S. I am soooo very sorry...

WSOP 2009 Main Event update Day 1b, 1c is today

Numbers were decidedly down for Day 1b of play in Event 57 - $10,000 World Championship No Limit Hold'em, with only 873 showing up to battle it out. Let's not get silly and say that poker is dead yet, okay?!? 655 players survived the day including these folks I recognized skimming along: Joe Sebok, Shaun Deeb, Michael Demichele, Alex Kravchenko, Amarillo Slim Preston, Rolf Slotboom, Hoyt Corkins, Greg Raymer, Mike 'The Mouth' Matusow, Thor Hansen, Todd Brunson, Pam Brunson, Chris Ferguson, Kara Scott, Barry Greenstein, Erik Seidel, Carlos Mortensen, and Mike Caro.

Casulaties of the day: Doyle Brunson, David 'The Dragon' Pham, and Chris Moneymaker. (ouch)

On tap for today will be Day 1c, and we'll have to wait what the numbers say today, which is usually a big day for big names and numbers in the Main Event. Stay tuned for more poker at PokerNews.com.

Regards,

cheer_dad

WSOP 2009 Main Event Day 1a update, and other ramblings

1,116 players showed up for Day 1a of Event 57 - $10,000 World Championship No Limit Hold'em. 821 of those remain to continue when Days 1b, c, and d are completed and we actually move on to a Day 2. Scanning through the returners I spot Eli Elezra, Tom Schneider, Joe Serock, Vitaly Lunkin, Jimmy Fricke, Phil Laak, Michael Craig, Erik Cajelais, Tony G., Gus Hansen, Barry Shulman, Taylor Caby, Greg 'FBT' Mueller, Dewey Tomko, Mel Judah, Roland De Wolfe, Sam Farha, Beth Shak, Jon 'PearlJammer' Turner, Jennifer Tilly, and Johnny Chan.

Some of the casualties of Day 1a include: Andy Bloch, Allen Cunningham, Men 'The Master' Nguyen, Steve Billirakis, David Grey, Isaac Haxton, Orel Hershiser, Gabe Kaplan, Mark Vos, Freddy Deeb, Matthew Glantz, and Nelly.

Hey, I'm sure I may have missed some of the advancers and some of the bustouts that may be of interest to you; but I just skimmed through things to get a feel for the way things went. If I didn't list you or your favorite "pony" get your own blog and follow along at PokerNews.com. : )

In other news, closer to home here in the hills of WV... Big Red and I played poker last night at the Stanwick's home. They opted for the hosting duty while Yanok's are having some basement remodeling done. Thanks again by the way! I was the first bustout, having a case of 2nd best on a number of hands and then ramming chips toward the middle against Jill, and she turned over her pocket rockets. OOPS! Still I had a great time as always with everyone who was there. Them's my peeps! I went ahead and came home early leaving Red to finish and play in the 2nd game. I was a little anxious to get back and repair the virus/malware damage I'd done to my computer earlier in the evening. In an attempt to download another album for the iPod from the newgroups (shhhhh) I zigged when I shoulda zagged and unleashed a number pesky trojans. I'm now happy to report that all infections have been cleared up. Mostly thanks to ComboFix, one of the few scanning/cleaning tools that I found that wisely does it's work following a reboot and before all of Windows is loaded. It got to the heart of the problems and cleaned everything up. I was dealing with 'b.exe,' 'c.exe,' 'systemsecurity2009,' 'sopidkc.exe,' and 'overclick' within the browser. So, if you run into any of this crap, save yourself some time and frustration and skip ahead and give Combofix a try.

Today, we are headed over to Teresa's aunt's house for a cookout, and then later to Ellen's for the City Park fireworks festivities. Surely, I can smuggle in a beer there somewhere! Have a Happy 4th of July everyone!

Regards,

cheer_dad

WSOP 2009 Event 56 winner, Main Event starts TODAY

Event 56 - $5,000 Six-handed No Limit Hold'em has ended and we find Matt Hawrilenko holding the WSOP gold and a nice $1,003,163 payday for his efforts. Congratulations.

This clears to way for the Main Event which will get underway today at HIGH NOON in the Amazon Room of the Rio. Can't you just feel the excitement in the air??? Okay, well maybe you can't, but I can and trust me it's there! : P

Regards,

cheer_dad

WSOP 2009 Event 54 & 55 winners, updates 56 & 57

The winner of Event 54 - $1,500 No Limit Hold'em is Tony Veckey. He bested the field of 2,818 players to take home the WSOP gold and a cool $673,276 for the effort. Congratulations.

The last man standing in Event 55 - $2,500 Limit Deuce to Seven Triple Draw is Abe Mosseri. He battled through the 257 player field to claim $165,521 his first WSOP bracelet. Congratulations.

Day 3 of Event 56 - $5,000 Six-handed No Limit Hold'em will get back underway at 1:00pm today, when the 16 remaining players of the 928 who started get moving again. Stay tuned.

That leaves only the Main Event... which gets underway on FRIDAY! It's gonna be a long haul, but I'll love every second of it, and every word written about it.

Regards,

cheer_dad

WSOP 2009 Event 49 H.O.R.S.E. 50k buyin is OVER!

We have a WINNER folks!!! David Bach has finally won Event 49 - $50,000 World Championship H.O.R.S.E.!!! Play has JUST ended at the epic final table. The final table action had played for more than 20 HOURS! 7 hours of that was Heads-Up between David Bach and John Hanson. 492 hands were played at the final table, which surpasses all previous records for final table battles, including last year's WSOPE which went for 484 hands. Both of these gentlemen are to be commended if for nothing other than their staying power. Bach takes home $1,276,802 for the effort. Hanson, comes in second but does take home $789,199. Bach of course takes the WSOP gold bracelet and the Chip Reese Memorial Tournament Trophy. Congratulations indeed!

Also, lest you forget. change100 and TassieDevil of the PokerNews.com crew are to be commended for the continued commentary of the 20+ hour battle in this event. You have our sincere admiration, thanks, and maybe even a little... pity!

Go get some sleep...

Regards,

cheer_dad

wsop 2009 Events 53 &54 winners, updates for 49, 55-57

As I said just before... Event 49 still continues... going into its 17th hour of play at this point. 4 hours of heads up play between David Bach and John Hanson... who are still nearly dead even... and sleepy!

Event 52 - $3,000 Triple Chance No Limit Hold'em has its champion, Jorg Peisert. He bested the 854 player field. He takes home $506,800 and WSOP bracelet number one. Congratulations to him.

We have a winner in Event 53 - $1,500 Seven Card Stud Hi/Lo 8-or-better, David Halpern. He bested a field of 467 players to take home $159,390 and the WSOP gold bracelet. According to reports on PokerNews.com he bought in to the event on a whim, when the cash game he was trying to get into was full, so he wanted something else to do. Nice Move Sir!!! Congratulations on the win.

Day 3 of Event 54 - $1,500 No Limit Hold'em will resume at 1:00pm with 28 of the starting 2,818 players remaining. All are guaranteed a $15,578 payday, but all are holding out for that juicy top spot of $ 673,276. I'd like to tell you I recognize some of the names of the remaining players, but I can't. Not to say that they're not all "stand-up" sorta guys!

Event 55 - $2,500 Limit Deuce to Seven Triple Draw will return for Day 3 today at 2:00pm with 10 of the starting 257 players remaining. Most recognizable name here is John Juanda currently 4th in chips. Abe Mosseri is the current chip leader. Top spot payout of $ 165,521 yet to be decided.

Day 2 of Event 56 - $5,000 Six-handed No Limit Hold'em will return at 2:00pm today, with 160 of 928 players remaining. The top 90 will see a payday in this event.

For now... that's it, no new events get under way now until the Main Event #57 - $10,000 World Championship No Limit Hold'em gets started on Friday.

Regards,

cheer_dad

WSOP 2009 OMG, Event 49 H.O.R.S.E. 50K still playing!

These folks are ANIMALS! David Bach and John Hanson are the only two left in Event 49 - $50,000 World Championship H.O.R.S.E. They have been at the table "today" for over 15 hours now. I'll post other updates but just wanted to get that out there. Hang in there guys!

Regards,

cheer_dad