Eight players will take their seats for the final table of the $50,000 H.O.R.S.E. World Champioship today and four of those players are members of Team Full Tilt.  Carrying the flag today will be Vitaly Lunkin who starts the day second in chips followed by Huck Seed, Chau Giang, and Erik Seidel.  With 50% of the remaining players, we’re coin flipping to add an eight bracelet to the FTP count.  As expected it will be a stacked final table with 18 bracelets amongst the 8 players.

Erik Siedel – 8 wins
Huck Seed – 4 wins
Chau Giang – 3 wins
Vitaly Lunkin – 2 wins
Ville Wahlbeck – 1 win

Lunkin and Wahlbeck have a chance to add to the number of multiple bracelet winners at the 2009 World Series of Poker.  Four players have accomplished that feat this year, it could move us into uncharted waters trying to tie/pass the record of six multiple winners in 2003.

There will also be two other bracelet awarded by the end of the day.  Eric “Rizen” Lynch is the premier name remaining in the Triple Chance No Limit Hold’em Event.  Allie Prescott and Tournament Director extraordinaire Matt Savage are lining up to win some WSOP gold in the $1,500 Stud/8 tournament.

Today brings us the final “open” tournament before the Ante Up for Africa and Main Event.  The $5,000 6-max No Limit Hold’em should draw a nice crowd of grinders and pros looking at their next to last shot at WSOP glory.  Those who have not had the best series so far may turn desperate, others will be looking to add more to their 2009 WSOP earnings.

The halls of the Amazon Room have begun their final transformations.  Over the last 5 weeks things have been pretty standard.  Munchie stations, a few bar setups for adult beverages, the odd booth featuring bikini clad girls to distract the grinders.  The Main Event is right around the corner so we’re seeing more displays and hucksters.  The Rio staff has begun preparing the convention center for the World Series of Poker Life Expo.  I may be able to do an entire post just reviewing each booth.

The clock is ticking for our players this year.  Time to make moves.

Restart chip counts after the jump:

Event #49 H.O.R.S.E. World Championship
Buyin: $50,000
Number of Entries: 95
Net Prize Pool: $4,560,000
First Place Prize: $1,276,806
Total Spots Paid Out: 16
Players Remaining: 8

Event #52 Triple Chance No Limit Hold’em
Buyin: $3,000
Number of Entries: 854
Net Prize Pool: $2,357,040
First Place Prize: $506,800
Total Spots Paid Out: 81
Players Remaining: 16

Event #53 Seven Card Stud/8
Buyin: $1,500
Number of Entries: 466
Net Prize Pool: $636,090
First Place Prize: $159,048
Total Spots Paid Out: 48
Players Remaining: 14

Event #54 No Limit Hold’em
Buyin: $1,500
Number of Entries: 2,818
Net Prize Pool: $3,846,570
First Place Prize: $673,276
Total Spots Paid Out: 297
Players Remaining: 376

Top 50 chip stacks:

Event #55 Deuce to Seven Draw
Buyin: $2,500
Number of Entries: 257
Net Prize Pool: $591,100
First Place Prize: $165,521
Total Spots Paid Out: 24
Players Remaining: 73

Top 50 chip stacks:

Post from: Poker From The Rail

2009 World Series of Poker Day 35 – Coin Flip for the H.O.R.S.E.

No related posts.

While all this is going on, the good folks at Image Masters continue to provide us with some great action shots during the tournaments.  Every morning I receive pictures from the day before that I use to enhance the stories I try to bring the readers.  I hope they’ve added to the experience.

Today I bring you some photos from Week 2 of the 2009 World Series of Poker without my ramblings.  A small taste of what we have available, look for a full gallery coming in the next few days.  All pictures courtesy of Image Masters.

Pictures after the jump, click to enlarge:

The Two Faces of Andy Black
Andy Black started off the 2009 World Series of Poker with players talking about his play AND his appearance. He seemed to be rocking the beard and laid back look at the beginning and looked completely different during Week 2. Your investigative blogger will get to the bottom of this before the end of the series.

Phil Ivey collects World Series of Poker bracelet #6 at the daily ceremony from WSOP Commissioner Jeffrey Pollack.

Phil Ivey wasted no time after winning his 6th WSOP bracelet. He hopped right back into action.  Full Tilt pro Beth Shak in the foreground and may be the recipient of the Ivey stare.

Legends side-by-side.  Erik Seidel and Mike Sexton grinding away in Event #15 of the 2009 World Series of Poker.  Seidel came close to winning his 9th WSOP bracelet in the Pot Limit Hold’em tournament had to settle for a seventh place finish.  Seidel is tied with another legend, Johnny Moss, with 8 WSOP bracelets.

Svetlana Gromenkova and Karina Jett were just a few of the Full Tilt pros to represent in the 2009 World Series of Poker Ladies Championship. Gromenkova won this event in 2008 but was unable to defend her title.

“Miami” John Cernuto and John Juanda playing in Event #16 $1,500 Seven Card Stud tournament.  “Miami” John would put up a great fight ending up in 11th.  Juanda had his first shot at bracelet number 5 by making the final table. Juanda’s run ended with a 5th place finish.

Howard Lederer playing in the $10,000 Mixed World Championship.  It’s been a slow start to the series for “The Professor” this year with only one cash to date.  No doubt he’ll be a factor as the series progresses.

Both David Chiu and Huck Seed won their way to the final table of the $10,000 Mixed Championship with a chance to add to their jewelry collection.  Seed collected over $102,000 for his 5th place finish and Chiu was the runner up for $304,000 but no new trophies on his wrist.

Erica Schoenberg only has one cash in the 2009 World Series of Poker but continues her search for a WSOP bracelet.  As a railbird favorite, she is always easy to find in the poker room.

It’s never a dull moment when Perry Friedman is in the poker room.  He started the series by sporting a “Full Tilt Poker grill” (gold hip hop teeth things for us uncool folk) and he added a little twist in Week 2.  It’s tough to see but he rocking the cornrows on each side of his head with Full Tilt spelled out in beads.  Who knows what to expect in Week 3.

Post from: Poker From The Rail

2009 World Series of Poker – Week 2 in Pictures

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Huck Seed won the 2009 National Heads-Up Poker Championship
Photo credit: Flipchip at LasVegasVegas.com

It was fine timing by the powers that be who run the National Heads-Up Poker Championship.  Here in the states, fans are starting to pick up their NCAA College brackets not long after they a field 64 poker players ran through their own tournament bracket.  It could not have been easy to narrow so many top players down to just 64, and I’m sure there were some players who felt passed over, but you can’t argue with too many of the selections.

The official list from NBC after the jump.

1. David Benyamine
2. Andy Bloch
3. Chad Brown
4. Doyle Brunson
5. Johnny Chan
6. Don Cheadle
7. Glen Chorny
8. Fred Collins (online qualifier)
9. Allen Cunningham
10. Annie Duke
11. Tom Dwan
12. Peter Eastgate
13. Eli Elezra
14. Antonio Esfandiari
15. Sam Farha
16. Chris Ferguson
17. Scott Fischman
18. Layne Flack
19. Ted Forrest
20. Brad Garrett
21. Blandino Gines (online qualifier)
22. Jamie Gold
23. Clonie Gowen
24. Barry Greenstein
25. Gavin Griffin
26. Bertrand Grospellier
27. Joe Hachem
28. Gus Hansen
29. Jennifer Harman
30. Phil Hellmuth
31. Orel Hershiser
32. Jeffrey Ishbia (Caesars qualifier)
33. Phil Ivey
34. Nicholas Joy (online qualifier)
35. John Juanda
36. Gabe Kaplan
37. Hevad Khan
38. Phil Laak
39. Howard Lederer
40. Erick Lindgren
41. Jonathan Little
42. Mike Matusow
43. Dario Minieri
44. Chris Moneymaker
45. Daniel Negreanu
46. Scotty Nguyen
47. David Pham
48. John Phan
49. Greg Raymer
50. Vanessa Rousso
51. Ilari Sahamies
52. Huck Seed
53. Vanessa Selbst
54. Erik Seidel
55. Mike Sexton
56. Gavin Smith
57. Jennifer Tilly
58. J.C. Tran
59. Kenny Tran
60. Paul Wasicka
61. David Williams
62. Jerry Yang
63. Leon Yanovski (online qualifier)
64. Kenny Yeh (Caesars qualifier)

Huck Seed continued the Full Tilt domination of this event since it’s creation. Seed defeated Vanessa Rousso 2-0 in the Championship match to make it the third year in a row a Full Tilt pro has lifted the trophy, joining Paul Wasicka (2007) and Chris Ferguson (2008). Ferguson also made the final match in 2005 and 2006.

For fantastic play-by-play along the action, Full Tilt blogger Michael Craig was there for all the action.  It’s worth your time to go through the archives.

Post from: Poker From The Rail

Huck Seed wins 2009 National Heads-Up Poker Championship

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It’s been a crazy week in exhile where internet access has been sketchy, travel situations bordering on unbelievable, and my final destination which might prove harmful to my mental health.  But that doesn’t mean things have ground to a halt in the poker world.

Since my sudden disappearance fromn the online world we’ve seen Huck Seed win the NBC Heads-Up Poker Championship (continuing the domination of Full Tilt pros in the event), the Battle of the Bloggers 4 rolls along like a beast,  Big Money Sunday continues to draw huge numbers for the guarantee events and the Full Tilt Poker Academy is really taking off.

Then there is the continuing epic battle between Tom “durrrr” Dwan and Patrik Antonius in the durrrr Challenge.  With some other monster stakes games going on recently, their number of HU hands hasn’t been huge but they are nearly 10% into the required 50,000 hands.  Dwan currently leads Antonius by over $140,000 but that can change quickly at these stakes.

As always, the best source for keep up to date on the action is the durrrr Challenge Stats Tracker page.  The data is pulled directly from the game servers with only a few minutes delay.  The hand replayer is also on the page showing the top 10 biggest hands of the Challenge so far.  They’ve also added a feature, you can listen to interviews with Antonius about the challenge and the first interview is now up.

Post from: Poker From The Rail

durrrr Challenge update and Patrik Antonius interview

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Category	Huck Seed	Keith Sexton	Survey Says
Career Earnings	Almost $4 million	More than $520K	This category is getting a little stale, don’t you think? It’s just too straight forward. I’m thinking of replacing it with something like “if this pro was an animal, what animal would he be?” On second thought, let’s not.. Oh well, some ideas are better left unsaid. Seed leads 1-0.
Major Titles	4 WSOP bracelets, including the 1996 Main Event	None	If 7-card stud were as popular as NLH, Sexton might be ahead in this category. Then again, if I took a writing class I might be a better blogger, but that ain’t never gonna happen neither. Seed takes down another category.
Tournament Play	Yes please!	Is it 7-card stud?	To be fair, Sexton really only started getting in on the NLH action a few years ago, so he’s a bit behind in the game. On the other hand, Seed is one of the most dangerous tourney players out there when he’s on his game. Don’t call it a beat down, Seed leads 3-0.
Cash Game Play	Why not?	Is it 7-card stud?	OK, so you might’ve guessed by now that I don’t know much about Sexton beyond the fact that he’s an avid 7-card stud baller. And yes, I just said 7-card stud baller – sue me. I’m also pretty certain that he makes most of his poker profit playing the cash games, probably 7-card stud. Let’s be nice and give this category to him, the score is now 3-1 in favor of the Seeded One.
Best Game	NLH	Do I even need to say it?	Well, by this point we should all know my feelings toward any poker game that isn’t No-Limit Hold ‘em. If you can’t push all your chips into the middle on hand one it ain’t poker, it’s just boring. Sorry 7-card stud, you lose again. Seed now leads 4-1.
Nickname	When your real name is Huckleberry, do you really need a nickname?	I don’t believe Sexton has a nickname, so we’ll have to make one up. I know! How about Keith “7-card stud” Sexton? It’s original, right?	Maybe Seed’s nickname should be “Huckleberry Hound.” Then again, maybe not. There’s something not quite right about a blue dog with a Southern drawl, it’s kind of freaky. Super freaky (cue Rick James – thank you). At any rate, since neither of these players actually have a nickname, the winner is naturally Seed. He’s on cruise control as we head into the final frame.
Outside Poker	Insane prop bet partaker.	Fathered Full Tilt Poker pro Paul Sexton.	As great as a contribution that Paul Sexton (and thus Keith) has made to the world of poker, this one has to go to Seed. He’s been involved in many a great prop bets in his time, including standing in the ocean up to his shoulders in water for eight hours (he bailed after three hours) and playing four rounds of golf in one day with only three clubs and having to break 100 each round. Simply put, the man is insane and will do anything to take your money.

So that’s that folks, Seed takes down Sexton by a score of 6-1. Be sure to check back next week for more breath taking, mind blowing action. Until then…

Post from: Poker From The Rail

Heads Up: Huck Seed Versus Keith Sexton

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1. Huck Seed wins 2009 National Heads-Up Poker Championship
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3. Heads Up: David Chiu Versus Barny Boatman

We may just be getting older and crankier (it’s certainly not wiser), but it seems that every day there’s some new Internet whiz-kid tearing up cash games and earning more in a month than the GDP of some small Caribbean countries. Frankly, it’s getting hard to tell them all apart because:

• Everyone looks the same on the Internets and
• We’re much too uncool to understand all the pop culture references and l33t h@X0r language embedded in all their screen names.

Thankfully, some of these young whippersnappers have gotten themselves organized into an easy-to-identify group, which means the big wigs upstairs wasted no time in adding them to our roster of red pros.

So please join us in giving a big Poker From The Rail welcome to Team CardRunners who we hope will provide us with better advice than the Captain, who suggests taking a shot with each new orbit. (Don’t get us wrong, the Captain’s games are fun, but our bankrolls and our livers seem to suffer a little bit more after each session.)

Anyway, look for Taylor Caby, Brian Townsend, Mike Schneider, Brian Hastings, Cole South, Andrew Wiggins and Eric Liu playing under their real-life names on FTP.

Ziigmund (believed to be Finnish pro Ilari Sahamies, who looks like this) is the proud winner of our biggest pot of the week at FTP. The hand went down at one of our $200/$400 Pot-Limit Omaha tables when Ziigmund clashed with TheOcean0 in a hand worth a tidy $319K. Take that lol donkament players.

Just in case you’re wondering what this has to do with poker, Chuck Norris is a real-life poker player. Of course this profile seems to be a little inaccurate, seeing as Chuck Norris would have roundhouse kicked his way to every WSOP, WPT, EPT and any remaining poker tournament titles known to man.

We also found this fact about his poker ability on the Internet – which means it must be true:

"Chuck Norris owns the greatest poker face of all-time. It helped him win the 1983 World Series of Poker despite him holding just a joker, a 2 of clubs, a 7 of spades, a green number 4 from Uno, and a monopoly ‘get out of jail free’ card.”

Well that’s it folks, stay tuned for next week when we sign Mikey the poker-playing monkey, and reminisce about our favorite scenes from Walker: Texas Ranger.

*Huck Seed did win the Canadian Open Poker Championship Main Event this past week – a $5K buy-in Heads Up tournament that we would normally mention but then we realized, Huck was playing in Canada. Huck also recently finished third in the National Heads-Up Poker Championship – a proper poker tournament on which we congratulate him for his fantastic result.

Post from: Poker From The Rail

The Week at FTP: LOL CardRunnerments

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