There's Lance Armstrong, Tiger Woods, Michael Phelps ... and Joey Chestnut

OK, time for some housekeeping. Firstly, Joey Chestnut set a new world record beating famed eater and rival Takeru Kobayashi at Nathan's Famous Fourth of July International Hot Dog-Eating Contest in Coney Island, N.Y. Chestnut ate 68 hot dogs to retain the Yellow Mustard Belt, becoming a consecutive three-time champion.

Kobayashi started off strong and looked to regain the top dog title. Before the competition he said he had figured out a way to inhale the buns. After the first minute, Kobayashi had the lead setting a blazing pace with 11 hot dogs. At the seven-minute mark, Kobayashi still had the lead with 29 hot dogs.

Halfway through the contest at five minutes, Chestnut took the lead with 42 dogs to Kobayashi's 40 dogs. Chestnut still had a two-dog lead with three minutes remaining eating 52 to Kobayashi's 50 dogs.

Chestnut maintained his two-dog lead in the last minute with 63 dogs. In that last minute he took down another five dogs to set the world record and take the $20,000 top prize.

Which leads us to today’s Only in America. As it is the Fourth of July and this is the land of the free, God’s chosen country, etc, we thought this story encompassed everything that’s great about this country – preach all you like, but we wary of the consequences …

"Police in Texas said they used a Taser on a pastor and pepper spray on his congregants after the man interfered with a traffic stop in the church parking lot.



You never know when the hand of God will strike

Police said the traffic stop last Wednesday morning involved a member of the Iglesia Profetica Peniel church in its parking lot in Webster, south-east of Houston.

The department's incident report says Officer Raymond Berryman tried to calm 42-year-old Jose Elias Moran and arrest him, but he pushed the officer, entered the church and returned with 40 other congregants.

The family said Moran did not touch the officer. Moran's son Miguel said 30 witnesses saw the police officer turn aggressive and repeatedly kick the church door. Moran was charged with interfering in the duties of a police officer.

Day 1B is done and dusted in the 2009 WSOP Main Event, with 873 players taking the two-day total to 1989. The Fourth of July passed with plenty of spectators outside the rail but surprisingly few in the Amazon ballroom, although hopes are high of big fields tomorrow and particularly Monday.

The line-up featured several past WSOP Main Event winners, including Chris Ferguson, Carlos Mortensen, “Amarillo Slim” Preston, Greg Raymer, Chris Moneymaker, Jim Bechtel and Doyle Brunson, who issued the order to shuffle up and deal.

Moneymaker and Brunson hit the rail, as did David Pham, Vicky Coren, Ralph Perry and Aussie duo David Steicke and Andrew Scott, but most of the other big names will be back on day 2A.

Aussies to progress included Sam Khouiss, Grant Levy, Chris Levick, Rayan Nathan and a short-stacked Billy “The Croc” Argyros, who arrived after two of the four levels had been played.

Other notables who’ll return on Tuesday are Joe Sebok, who stormed back into contention after a horror start to the day, Jeff Hakim, Shaun Deeb, Barny Boatman, Alex Kravchenko, Hoyt Corkins, Todd Brunson, Barry Greenstein, Erik Seidel, Mike Matusow, Mike Caro, Eddy Sabat and 96-year-old Jack Ury.

Jack's back ... for day 2A ... nice work old-timer

According to www.worldseriesofpoker.com, the top five chip stacks belonged to Brandon Demes (140,000), Nick Maimone (122,500), Samer Rahman (122,400), Jim Bookstaff (120,750) and Max Casao (120,700).

We’ll be back from noon tomorrow for day 1C of the 2009 WSOP Main Event. In the meantime, we have a fireworks display to watch!

Posted by Sean Callander, 11pm, 4/7/09

We’ve heard of some bizarre exits from the WSOP Main Event, but we reckon this takes the cake. During level three, a player apparently decided it was time for a toilet break after imbibing in more than his share of Independence Day spirit/beer/whatever.

For some weird reason, he decided that his tablemates could not be trusted and collected all but a single 100 chip from the table for the trip to the men’s room. Sadly, those chips were removed from play when he returned and needless to say, that 100 didn’t go far either.

Late yesterday evening, we ran through some of the amazing hands from day 1A – royal flush over straight flush; straight flush over quads, etc. Here’s one we just watched that was just as amazing. There was betting all the way on a board that ran out Kh-Qh-Qd-Jd-3c, but at showdown it was 9s-8s against 9h-7c.

We just discovered that the spot next to Grant Levy has been vacated by Andrew Scott – Levy said Scott just couldn’t get anything going today and never made it above the starting stack of 30,000. Levy had a tough level three but is steady on 40,000 and holding firm.

It's been a lean Series, but Andrew Scott is still smiling

Chris Levick has also been picking his way carefully through the myriad of unusual plays to be on a similar stack, while Billy “The Croc” Argyros, just under the chip average, has settled into his typical banter on a table shared with Greg Raymer and Alex Kravchenko.

As we tick down to the end of day 1B, it’s great to see that Marlon Shirley is still hanging tough. The story of the US Paralympian is as inspirational as they come – abandoned by his mother at four, he lost his left foot in a lawnmower accident aged five, and lived in foster homes until he was adopted by a Mormon couple at the age of nine.

His sporting career was just as tumultuous – he lost the rest of his left leg below the knee after a football injury became infected, so he turned to wheelchair sports which culminated with a gold medals at the 2000 Sydney and 2004 Athens Paralympics. His hopes of a third successive gold medal were dashed when he tore his Achilles tendon in the 2008 Beijing final.

Now 31, Shirley plans to be back on the track for the 2012 London Paralympics, and has shown today that he has the drive and dedication to one day make a WSOP Main Event final table. He’s down to about 12,000, but who knows, maybe it will be this year.

Posted by Sean Callander, 9.30pm, 4/7/09

We were disappointed with the lack of characters in the field yesterday – no bizarre costumes, no outlandish behaviour (which has been partly curtailed by the so-called “Hevad Khan” anyway) and no stupid hats.

Thank you, Fourth of July. It’s great to see there are still players who are happy to spend $10,000 to perform for the ESPN cameras. Funny, we generally don’t see them later in the tournament.

Yep, his head is the same shape!

David Icke turned up today with Eeyore hat and ears and declared that anyone at table 41 who played like a donkey would have to wear the headgear for an orbit. “But you wear it so well,” came the priceless reply from one player.

The hats are certainly de rigueur today – from giant foam US and Canadian flag numbers to the famous cowboy hat of Chris Ferguson, which only appeared in the last 30 minutes before the dinner break.

But he beat Billy “The Croc” Argyros to the table, with the ever-popular Aussie arriving just after the dinner break. And yes, he’s made a significant contribution to the list of outrageous hats on display today.

Midway through the third level of day 1B, www.worldseriesofpoker.com is reporting that Vadim Gruzglin is the chip leader on 125,000 ahead of Jim Bookstaff (115,000), Jesse Rios (103,000) and Sydney’s Sam Khouiss (80,000). Grant Levy is up to 67,000, Chris Levick holds 44,000, Rayan Nathan is on 23,000 and Andrew Scott has approximately 22,000.

Sam Khouiss is now among the chip leaders on day 1B – our next world champ?

Some of the bigger names sent to the rail so far today have been Chris Moneymaker (after an agonising wait with the ESPN cameras hovering nearby), David Pham, Ralph Perry, Jeremiah Smith and boxer Winky Wright.

It’s coming up to dinner break on day 1B – remember, that’s just two levels into the day’s play – and the news is mostly good for the Aussies playing today.

Grant Levy has been the most impressive performer early, charging to 55,000 after being paid off in two big hands. Seated next to Levy is fellow Australian Andrew Scott. The pair are getting along like a house on fire although Scott, who cashed in the $1500 No Limit Hold’em Shootout, has snuck more than one greedy look at Levy’s chips (he’s on about 27,000).

Chris Levick comes into this WSOP Main Event riding the crest of a wave after winning the ANZPT Melbourne title and final-tabling the $3000 No Limit Hold’em event at the Venetian Deep Stack Extravaganza.

He put the table on notice early when he shoved with pocket aces (the player with pocket queens wisely stepped aside) and has since amassed a stack of 38,000, comfortably above the average.

Sam Khouiss cashed in the 2006 and 2007 WSOP Main Events and has started strongly in pursuit of a third in-the-money finish. Khouiss, who was 12th in the $10k Omaha Hi-Lo World Championships event a few weeks ago, has about 50,000 in chips and looks in cruise control.

Rayan Nathan has six WSOP cashes to his name, including a top-200 finish in the biggest poker tournament ever held – the 2006 WSOP Main Event. He’s down to about 21,000, but rightly pointed out that’s still more chips than he started with last year!

But the 2009 WSOP is over for David Steicke. The Hong Kong-based Aussie has had a lean Series, which ended when his remaining chips went in with A-K on an ace-high board, only to find himself up against a set of queens. The three ladies stayed ahead, and Steicke was out.

Posted by Sean Callander, 4pm, 4/7/09

After yesterday’s appearance from the Sasquatch, it was a far more dignified start to day 1B at the 2009 WSOP Main Event with 1976-77 champion Doyle Brunson giving the order to shuffle up and deal.

Welcome to our Fourth of July coverage of the $10,000 No Limit Hold’em World Championship. It’s brutally hot outside but the air-con is thankfully cranked up to max in the media centre. A quick scan of the Amazon Ballroom reveals that it’s almost certainly a smaller field than yesterday’s 1116.



WSOP commissioner with dual Main Event winner Doyle Brunson

Today’s field includes Brunson, son Todd and daughter Pam, Mike “The Mouth” Matusow, past Main Event winners Chris Moneymaker, Jim Bechtel, “Amarillo Slim” Preston and Greg Raymer, Mike Caro, Erik Seidel, Barry Greenstein, Shaun Deeb, David Pham, Alex Kravchenko, Jason Lester, EPT host Kara Scott, Joe Sebok, Carlos Mortensen, Hoyt Corkins, Vicky Coren and Eddy Sabat.

It’s also great to see 96-year-old Jack Ury back this year, which means the record for the oldest player in WSOP history moves up one more year. The celeb line-up is a bit leaner than yesterday, but we were thrilled to see the former undisputed light middleweight champion of the world Ronald "Winky" Wright in action today.

The list of Aussies in action today features 2007 APPT Grand Final winner Grant Levy, 2008 APPT Macau High Roller champ Andrew Scott (they’re seated next to each other), Sam Khouiss, Chris Levick, Rayan Nathan, Billy "The Croc" Argyros, Newcastle online qualifier Dave Haas and 2009 Aussie Millions $100k Challenge winner David Steicke.



Grant Levy is back for his second shot at the WSOP Main Event crown

It didn’t take long for a player to earn the unfortunate title of first elimination when Kim Sherlin committed his chips with two-pair, aces and jacks (!) against the flopped queen-high straight of Dave D'Alessandro – just five minutes into the first level. Wow.

As per day 1A, the structure for today’s play is four levels with a 90-minute dinner break after level two:

Level 1: 50/100
Level 2: 100/200
Level 3: 150/300
Level 4: 150/300 (ante 25)

• Remember, you can keep up to date with the latest happenings from the 2009 World Series of Poker by following twitter.com/bluffaussie.

Posted by Sean Callander, 2.25pm, 4/7/09