WSOP 2010: The First Week – Rule Britannia

It’s been a fascinating week of poker at the 2010 WSOP in Las Vegas. We’ve had scandal in the form of chip stealing and, ultimately, a lifetime ban. We’ve seen the big names go deep in most events too. However, if the opening week of the “big dance” belonged to anybody it was the British.

UK players had a fine 2009 with dozens of cashes and bracelets galore, but it looks like 2010 could eclipse that as the British invasion of Las Vegas pays dividends once again.

Most recently, James “Flushy” Dempsey picked up the $1,500 Pot Limit Hold’em bracelet. The Brighton based pro’ picked up $197,470 for his efforts.

WSOP $50,000 Players Championship: Michael Mizrachi Leads after Day 3

Michael “The Grinder” Mizrachi is currently chip leader with an impressive 1.48 million in chips going into Day 4 of the Player’s Championship at the 2010 World Series of Poker. There are just 21 players left in the event which continues tomorrow at the Rio Hotel and Casino in Las Vegas. Vladimir Schmelev isn’t far behind Mizrachi taking 1.43 million chips into the next day of the event.

Notables such as Phil Ivey, Doyle Brunson, Barry Greenstein, Scotty Nguyen, Scott Clements, Scott Siever, Jeffrey Lisandro and the defending HORSE champion David Bach were eliminated during the six levels of poker played during Day 3 of the event.

Brunson’s Beer Pong Starts Today

The serious business of poker at the WSOP gets underway in a few days time but, perhaps unsurprisingly, not everything that happens in Las Vegas is of a serious nature. Over at Hogs and Heifers, at 201 North Third Street in Las Vegas, the Doyle Brunson sponsored “Brunson Beer Pong” gets started later today.

Some of the top names in poker are expected to turn up (and probably make fools of themselves) to the old frat party game favourite.

If you haven’t played Beer Pong before it involves tossing ping pong balls into plastic cups which are half filled with an alcoholic beverage (usually beer).

Personalised Bracelets to be awarded to WSOP winners

For the first time ever, the World Series of Poker (WSOP) will be awarding unique personalised bracelets to the winner of each of the 57 official WSOP tournaments to commemorate the 40th anniversary of the WSOP.

On Tilt Designs Pty. Ltd will be creating branded apparel, headwear and accessories to cover players from “head to wrist”. The centrepiece of marketing the collection is the sponsorship of WSOP bracelets for the Las Vegas and European events, for which On Tilt selected Master Artisan and jewellery designer Steve Soffa.

“It’s a tremendous honor to be tasked with creating the foremost trophy for poker players worldwide,” said Soffa.

World Team Poker begins Tomorrow

40 top poker players representing eight different countries will be arriving at the Golden Nugget in Las Vegas tomorrow for their chance to be crowned World Team Poker champions.

They will be participating in five table shootouts for the filmed event comprising rounds of limit Hold’em, pot limit Omaha and no limit Hold’em. The last two players from each shootout will compete in a final table showdown. Each team’s buy-in will be set at $50,000.

An assortment of poker stars are set to play including team captains Phil Hellmuth (Team USA), co-captains Johnny Chan and David Chiu

WSOP Alternative at Binions

The World Series of Poker is fast approaching in Las Vegas and, if you miss out on a seat in one of the lucrative events, Binion’s could the place for you this summer.

The fourth annual Binion’s Poker Classic starts on May 26th and offers a variety of tournaments to appeal to the smaller bank rolled tournament player.

Binion’s Gambling Hall in downtown Las Vegas was the original venue for the WSOP and the Binion’s Poker Classic is fast becoming one of the most popular “alternative WSOP” poker festivals each year.

WSOP 2010 Qualifiers at BlueSq Poker

The WSOP is fast approaching and if you have claimed to seat to one of the events at “the big dance” yet then now is the time to head over to BlueSq Poker.

BlueSq Poker have a comprehensive list of WSOP packages which you can qualify for at their online poker room. They include a main event package (of course!) worth $13,000, some side event packages worth $6,000 each, a Pot Limit Omaha event package worth $13,000 and an extra special Jackpot SNG WSOP Executive package worth a mouth watering $25,000.

So, what do you get from each package?

Phil Ivey puts Las Vegas Home up for Sale

2010 has been an interesting year for Phil Ivey so far. Following the break up of his marriage, the high stakes pro’ has notched up the usual impressive tournament results, including a 2nd place at the Aussie Million in January worth $553,776.

Ivey has also taken on a bizarre vegetarian prop bet worth $1 million alongside continuing to be one of the most feared plays on the high stakes tables at Full Tilt Poker.

Now it seems Ivey has his sights set on a new home after putting up his Las Vegas mansion for sale. The asking price? A cool $1.995 million according to the Los Angeles Times.

New Date for Bellagio’s Five-Star World Poker Classic in 2011

The $25,000 Five-Star World Poker Classic, part of the WPT, will be moved to May in 2011 following the lowest turnout in the event, earlier this month, since Season 1 with just 195 players taking part.

The $25,000 no-limit hold’em World Poker Tour Championship event will run from May 21-27, 2011. The event ends just one day before the WSOP begins, so it appears the WPT are trying to capture some of the earlier arrivals in Las Vegas for the World Series of Poker next year.

Bellagio tournament director Jack McClelland cited the EPT’s in San Remo and Monte Carlo as reasons for the low turn out. He said; “We have hosted this tournament in the same time slot for a number of years and they scheduled right on top of us. I couldn’t overcome it.”