Three down, one to go – day 1C is history at the 2009 World Series of Poker Main Event with 1697 taking to the felt in the Amazon and Brasilia ballrooms at the Rio Hotel and Casino here in Las Vegas.

It was a banner day for Australia’s two highest profile players – 2009 WSOP triple bracelet winner Jeff Lisandro finished within a whisker of the chip lead (sixth overall with 146,950) while 2005 Main Event champ Joe Hachem was among the bigger stacks all day and finished well within the 10 per cent of the field on 84,550.

Other Aussies to take to the felt today included Joel strongplay Dodds, Andrew adgee Jeffreys, Steve “The Big Show” Topakas and David Saab. Topakas progressed with 34,275, as did Mike Comer (93,000), Mark De Martino (64,125), Daniel Neilson (54,100), Robert Jackson (50,175), Aaron Lim (49,050), Matt Downing (46,975), James Bills (39,175), Steven Mac (33,525), Dhiya Majeed (21,900) and Dodds (21,500)

The official chip leader was Joseph Cada from Shelby Township, Michigian with 187,225, ahead of Tyler Patterson (179,500), Sebastian Stier (160,050), Chance Kornuth (150,025), Ariel Schneller (147,275), Lisandro (146,950), Timothy Little (133,650), Kelly Kim (132,475), Raul Mestre (131,575) and Matthew Palmucci (131,550).

The attrition rate among the bigger names seemed greater today, with the long list of players to be KOed including Marcel Luske, famed tournament director Matt Savage, Brett Richey, JJ Liu, Alex Jacob, Liv Boeree, Tom McEvoy, David Singer, Erica Schoenberg, Brandon Cantu, Annie Duke, Chad Batista, former world middleweight champ Antonio Tarver, Jamie Gold, Lacey Jones, Matt Graham, Daniel Negreanu, David “Chino” Rheem, Evelyn Ng and David Chicotsky.

We look forward to returning to the Rio tomorrow for what promises to be a massive field for the final day one flight in the 2009 WSOP Main Event.

Posted by Sean Callander, 12.30pm, 6/7/09

 
We thought it appropriate to keep to the theme of cards (and questionable small-town politics) for today's edition of Only in America, detailing a recent council election in Arizona – maybe this is how Australia ended up with Kevin Rudd:

"The election came down to the high card. With the final Town Council seat in the small Phoenix-area town of Cave Creek on the line, two candidates who tied with 660 votes apiece in a May runoff cut cards to decide the race.

The winner was 25-year-old Adam Trenk, whose king of hearts beat out former Councilman Thomas McGuire's six of hearts.

An obscure Arizona law dating to 1925 says that election ties should be broken "by lot." It applies to all elected offices but the governor, secretary of state, attorney general, treasurer and superintendent for public instruction. Ties in those seats are determined by the Legislature.

While a first for Cave Creek and relatively rare, such events do happen from time to time in Arizona. Last year, two local school-board candidates rolled dice to decide a winner. In 1992, a game of poker resolved a stalemate in the primary for a state Legislative seat.

"It was pure Cave Creek," longtime Mayor Vincent Francia said of the tie, and the decision to draw cards to settle the dispute. "Since we couldn't do a paintball showdown, we did something that is traditionally associated with the West, which is a card deck."

As camera crews and bystanders crammed into the town hall last Monday night, Francia drew one of three decks from a cowboy hat. A judge shuffled and McGuire drew first. When Trenk displayed the winning card, cheers erupted from the crowd.

"It went smoothly. That's what I was hoping for," Francia said. "The candidates were nervous and they wanted to see this come to an end."

Trenk was sworn in immediately and took his seat for the evening's council meeting. He said he was "honoured and humbled" to win."

Posted by Sean Callander, 11.30pm, 5/7/09

So why do you have to tip for appalling service in this country? One of the many questions to muse over as we tick into the second half of level four on day 1C of the WSOP Main Event.

The official numbers have just arrived with today’s field numbering 1697, brining the three-day total to 3686. With the field expected to be capped at 2700 tomorrow, we’ll almost certainly fall short of last year’s tally of 6844 but any tally over 6000 would represent a solid result given the economic climate.

Ron Blaskett is nowhere in sight, but it's great to see Gerry Gee here today

Speaking of climate, we’ve always been amazed by the micro-climates in the Rio, which clearly mess with the minds and bodies of many players.

Walk into the main gaming area of the Rio from the blistering heat outside and it’s immediately refreshing, but stake a single step into the hallway leading to the function rooms, including the Amazon Ballroom, and the mercury plummets.

Even within the main tournaments areas of the Amazon and Brasilia ballrooms, it can bitterly cold on one table and comfortable on the next. Needless to say the WSOP store does a raging business in hoodies, catering to the unfortunates who’ve packed for a Vegas summer!

Of course, here's another way to counter air-con overdose in the Amazon Ballroom

There are some familiar names on the overall chip count, according to www.worldseriesofpoker.com. Jeff Lisandro has bolted to 132,000, signalling the four-time WSOP bracelet winner’s intentions of a serious charge at an unprecedented fourth bracelet for 2009.

The top five is filled out by Andy Seth (108,000), Tsai Chen (96,000), 2007 WSOP Main Event sixth-place finisher Hevad Khan (94,000) and Leonard Cortellino (90,000). Joe Hachem has also maintained his momentum, climbing to 76,000 since the dinner break, while another past WSOP champion, Jamie Gold, has hit the rail.

And we’d like to give a quick shout out to George Theofanopoulos. No, he’s not a Manila whiz from Melbourne’s northern suburbs – George is a sports journalist and poker writer from Greece.

George Theofanopoulos, doin' it for the Hellas!

We met him last year and became good mates. George has swapped a keyboard for the green felt today, and we’re thrilled to see he’s hanging tough late on day 1C. You’ll be the pin-up boy in every Melbourne fish and chip shop if you pull this one off George!

The World Series of Poker has achieved a major milestone today, officially crossing the $1 billion mark in prize money awarded. Official 2009 tournament figures will be released Tuesday, July 7, after the close of Main Event registration, but running tallies confirm the landmark.

For the fourth consecutive year, the total WSOP prize pool will be more than $155 million – compared with a total of $354 million in prize money awarded during the WSOP’s first 36 years. Comparing the WSOP’s prizemoney to some of the world’s leading sports events: 

• The Daytona 500 has awarded its winners some $21,327,256 since 1959. In just the past three years, WSOP Main Event champions have received $29,402,416.
   
• Wimbledon awarded a total of £12,550,000, or roughly $20.5 million, in 2009, less than a quarter of what the WSOP will award this year.
   
• The Kentucky Derby has paid its winners a total of approximately $16.7 million since 2001 – less than the nearly $17.5 million taken home by the 2007 and 2008 WSOP Main Event champions.

If we could nominate one place for a slice of that massive pool to be directed this year, it would be to Team Pruitt. Over the past two days, several players have been wearing shirts with the slogan “Playing for Pruitt”, along with the names of each member of the U.S. Army's 2nd Battalion, 503rd Infantry Regiment, 173rd Airborne Brigade.

The son of the one of these players, Frankie Gay, was in the final days of his second tour of duty in Afghanistan when his unit came under attack. Cpl Pruitt Rainey and 10 others were killed.

A huge poker fan, Rainey is being honoured by his father and four other players – Bill Sineth, Earl Holmes, Roy Swindle, Allen Kennedy – from their regular Tuesday night home game in Georgia.

The clock is ticking down to the dinner break on day 1C, a little later this evening due to the decision to play five levels today (four levels were played on days 1A and 1B).



The Big Show is back ... Steve Topakas is now up to 36k

A quick round of the Aussie players revealed that Jeff Lisandro has resumed his spot near the top of the chip count in a WSOP event with 80,000, Joe Hachem has charged to more than 50,000 after arriving late in the opening level, Steve “The Big Show” Topakas has recovered from a tough second level to be above average on 36,000, but Andrew Jeffreys is finding a mega-tough table difficult to counter, and is down to 11,000.



It's time to ship some justice in the direction of Andrew adgee Jeffreys

Players eliminated so far today include the new face of Absolute Poker Lacey Jones, Thomas Dwan (father of Tom durrrr Dwan), Matt Graham, David “Chino” Rheem, Evelyn Ng, David The Maven Chicotsky and Daniel Negreanu.

Posted by Sean Callander, 6.30pm, 5/7/09

Kudos to the two people attracting the most media attention in the Amazon Ballroom today – Phil Hellmuth and Dennis Phillips.

The scale of pomp and ceremony surrounding Hellmuth arrival at the WSOP Main Event increases exponentially every year – from his NASCAR crashing exploits of 2007 to the General Patton-esque entry atop an army jeep last year.

In honour of Ultimate Bet’s 10^th birthday and 20^th anniversary of Hellmuth’s WSOP Main Event victory in 1989, scores of models escorted “Emperor” Hellmuth from his chariot carried by four muscle men (well, two muscle men and two chubby blokes) down the hallway to his Main Event seat. But that Roman tunic might get a bit drafty!

The girls at UB obviously enjoyed the casting process for Phil Hellmuth's slaves!

Memo to the Poker Players Alliance: don’t organise a media conference just 30 minutes before Hellmuth’s arrival – the poker media operate to a set of priorities that places a 10-time WSOP bracelet winner wearing a toga well ahead of the latest legislative news from Washington DC.

Meanwhile, Phillips is being cheered on by scores of supporters wearing the same outfit he made during his charge to third place in the 2008 WSOP Main Event, worth $4.5 million.

The red caps and white shirts can be seen across the Amazon Ballroom, and their man is responding to the support. He’s up to 42,000, with even the smallest pot heading in his direction being greeted by an enormous cheer.

Organisers have given the supporters of Dennis Phillips a ringside stall today

The Aussie contingent has just been boosted by one with the arrival of 2005 WSOP Main Event winner Joe Hachem. It’s safe to say that Joe’s entry paled in comparison to Hellmuth … I can’t see one of the most respected figures in the poker world ever donning a costume.

His stack is down 24,000, less than half that of Jeff Lisandro, who has started day 1C strongly to be up to 52,000. Joel Dodds is up to 35,000, Mike Comer has 30,000, Andrew Jeffreys and Steve Topakas are sitting around their start stack of 30,000 while David Saab has just been eliminated when his pocket fives filled an eight-high straight, only to find his opponent making a higher straight.



Kryptonite will bend your straight every time ... David Saab is out of the 2009 WSOP Main Event

Posted by Sean Callander, 3.30pm, 5/7/09

Bluff Australasia is delighted to welcome TeamAPL to Las Vegas for the 2009 World Series of Poker Main Event. We had a chance to catch up with the team this morning ahead of their moment in the spotlight tomorrow.

After some pics at the Monte Carlo Hotel and Casino – much to the interest of the early morning sunseekers sitting by the pool – we loaded up everyone or the short trip down Las Vegas Boulevard to the famous “Welcome to Fabulous Las Vegas” sign.

TeamAPL is ready to roll!

Thankfully, we didn’t keep the black shirt brigade in the blazing morning sun for too long – the team quickly retreated to the Monte Carlo where we suspect several of them returned to bed to recharge the batteries for their midday start on Monday (local time).

There’s a quiet confidence in the camp – although some of the boys have been quick to sample the sights and sounds (and everything else) that has Vegas has to offer, their game faces quickly return when talking about their Main Event dreams.

Team APL captain Craig Ivey said the experience of playing in big APL fields should provide a small edge in tomorrow’s massive field.

“I suppose it’s easy to awestruck by the scale of this event, but I’m think our guys will quickly put that out of their minds and get down to business,” the South Australian said.

Several of the team members are wandering around the Rio this afternoon to get a feel for the atmosphere with which they’ll be confronted in what is expected to be a capacity field of approximately 3000. Rest up guys, it promises to be a day you’ll never forget.

Remember, we'll be following the fortunes of TeamAPL in day 1D of the WSOP Main Event here tomorrow.

Posted by Sean Callander, 5/7/09, 2.30pm

Amid a city full of Fourth of July hangovers and indigestion, players have started filing through the halls of the Rio Hotel and Casino for day 1C of the 2009 World Series of Poker Main Event. It was Congressman Barney Frank who gave the order to shuffle up and deal, in recognition of his efforts on behalf of online poker players in the US as the sponsor of legislation to licence and regulate the game.

Before we get to today’s action, here’s a brief recap from yesterday (apologies it took so long, someone forgot to feed the monkeys that drive our email at Bluff HQ).

Saturday was a record setting day at the WSOP but it wasn’t exactly the sort of record that Harrah’s will be celebrating. The 873 players who took to the felt Saturday comprised the smallest opening day flight since multiple day ones were introduced in 2004. With the struggling economy and the July 4 holiday, the low turnout was hardly a surprise.

When the day wrapped up the unofficial chip leader was a 22-year-old making his WSOP Main Event debut. Brandon Demes, known online as ih8pp, bagged up 137,075. Despite the huge chip stack Demes didn’t have one big hand that lead him to the top but a slow gradual chip up process.

“People were just playing really tight. Every time I raised people would just fold or call and fold,” Demes said. “My table was pretty soft so it wasn’t that bad. Luck of the draw I guess.”

Behind Demes were Andrew Gaw (126,100), Nick Maimone (122,500), Samer Rahman (122,400), Max Casao (121,100), Jim Bookstaff (120,750), Craig Hopkins (118,850), Aaron Fang (118,725), Jesse Rios (117,150) and Vadim Gruzglin (116,100).

The list of Aussies through to day 2A featured Chad Awerbuch (76,875), Stewart Davidson (60,975), Grant Levy (52,225), David Haas (35,750), Chris Levick (18,050), Michel Bouskila (14,475), Billy 'The Croc' Argyros (8575) and Alex Kostic (6400), while Sam Khouiss failed to report. The list of eliminations included Sam Capra, Peter Longmore, Jason Pritchard, Reza Vakili, David Steicke and Andrew Scott.



Vote for player most likely to annoy his tablemates today goes to ...

  SO to today’s action, where the list of notables includes Daniel Negreanu, John Juanda, Terrence Chan, Marc Naalden, Gavin Griffin, Liz Lieu Eric Lynch, Alex Jacob, Lee Watkinson, Antonio Tarver, Evelyn Ng, Annie Duke, Liv Boeree, Maya Gellar, Kevin Saul, 1995 WSOP Main Event winner Dan Harrington, Scotty Nguyen, David Sklansky, Matt Graham and Dennis Phillips (complete with supporters in matching white shirts and St Louis Cardinals baseball caps).

We’ve also spotted Howard Lederer, Ylon Schwartz, “Captain” Tom Franklin, “Miami” John Cernuto (after a brief stay in hospital – welcome back), 1983 world champion Tom McEvoy, 2006 Main Event winner Jamie Gold, David Chicotsky, Justin Bonomo, Shawn Buchanan, Bill Chen and Kirill Gerasimov. We’re also expecting Phil Hellmuth to make a typically understated entry in the next hour.

Triple 2009 bracelet winner Jeff Lisandro leads the list of Aussies playing today, with Steve “Big Show” Topakas, David Saab, Andrew Jeffreys and Joel Dodds also in the field.



Press your fingers into your eyes, let go and hey presto – Jeff Lisandro's shirt!

In a highly unusual move, WSOP tournament director Jack Effel has announced that days 1C and 1D will be playing five levels, as will players on day 2A while day 2b will play only four levels. Then when the field combines on Day 3, everyone will be on Level 10.

So the structure for today’s play is five levels with a 90-minute dinner break:

Level 1: 50/100
Level 2: 100/200
Level 3: 150/300
Level 4: 150/300 (ante 25)
Level 5: 200/400 (ante 50)

And to complete the day’s first update, how about the day’s first elimination? It took just seven minutes for the cry of “all-in and call” to go up – with a flop of J-10-5, one player showed bottom set and another middle set (a third player with pocket aces had wisely stepped aside). The 10s were good, and a player’s WSOP experience ended, which worked out to have cost him $23.80 per second!

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

Posted by Sean Callander, 1pm, 5/7/09