It took a few weeks and thousands of players but the 2010 WSOP has finally been narrowed down to a elite group of nine. The nine will play the final round of poker in November on television. Apparently, even today with the popularity of poker, main stream media still doesn’t get why anyone would want to watch all 57 events of the WSOP on TV; but hey, at least we get this final table.

Here’s the lineup:
Filippo Candio

Joseph Cheong

John Dolan

Jonathan Duhamel

Matthew Jarvis

Michael Mizrachi

Soi Nguyen

John Racener

Jason Senti

The final event of the WSOP consisted of good old fashioned No Limit Texas Holdem which, despite the numerous variations that exist in poker, remains the most popular way to play our favorite game of skill. Perhaps the popularity of Holdem was why there were over seven thousand entrants into this year’s events and 1,125 folks who handed over their $10,000 buy in for one last chance at gold.

The week long final event of the tournament cut down around 200 players at the end of every day. Early leaders quickly faded into non existence and major celebrity players didn’t make it to the final table. One of my personal old favorites and former champions, Greg Raymer left the competition on the very first day, in the very first plays. Poker is mostly a game of skill but the final game of the WSOP also reminds us that luck still plays a role in who wins the big one.

Michael Mizrachi seems to be having quite a tournament having already won the Player’s Championship. He’s my current favorite to win in November. As play ended for the four month break Jonathan Duhamel led the chip lead with 65,975,000 according to the WSOP homepage and Jason Sneti came in last place with 7,625,000.

We all know things could change quickly in the first round of play and I for one can’t wait for that final table to get underway.

Well, here are the results and rankings as research by me and based on the actual; resu;ts from this year’s tournaments and don’t include any ranking system. I’m taking in the results of this tournament only.

COUNTRY	BRACELETS	PRIZE MONEY (for bracelet winners only)
America	40	$19,652,046
United Kingdom	5	$1,681,160
Canada	4	$1,991,917
Hungary	2	$797,944
New Zealand	1	$614,248
Norway	1	$260,497
Russia	1	$256,820
France	1	$192,132
Vietnam	1	$71,424

Like the world cup there are some unexpected results. Perhaps the Americans thought they would get them all. Maybe the French thought one of their up and coming male players would represent their nation and perhaps Vietnam is stunned to be on the board. It’s been quite a race. There’s still one more bracelet and one more pot to go.

How will the final hours go? We’ll have to wait and see.

Every time I turn around, or at least refresh my page, someone else has a poker pro sponsorship deal. Here are just the latest poker players to get that contract.

Shannon Elizabeth (the cute actress who is one awesome poker player) signed up with Carbon Poker this week. The deal includes her playing online exclusively at their casino, writing a blog for the company and represent them in tournaments.  When she isn’t appearing in cult classic like “American Pie” and “That 70s Show,” Elizabeth is playing her favorite game. She has a number of cash wins under her belt and came third at the NBC National Heads Up Event. Shannon Elizabeth is a coy player, great at bluffing and entertaining to watch.

PokerStars.net now has Vanessa Selbst (seven money finishes and one bracelet to her name) as a professional on their site. Selbst has been making her name lately winning the Main Event at Mohegan Sun earlier this year. Professional  poker player, Yale graduate and wannabe human rights lawyer Selbst is one of the younger female pro players at just 25 years old and she continues to take the poker world by storm. Definitely worth watching.

David Williams also signed up with the PokerStars folks  and will be meeting with the media in Vegas this week to confirm. He used to be associated with the Bodog team but after all their controversy he decided to leave. Williams has 17 money finishes as well as bracelet. He loves to play poker as well as Magic The Gathering.

Yup seems everyone is signing up with professional poker sites these days. But that’s okay. Sponsorship in the world of poker keeps the game in the spotlight and attracts new players.

Coming up this July 3^rd is the fourth annual charity event at the World Series of Poker in Las Vegas.  Organized by poker professional Annie Duke and actor Don Cheadle, the event will help support relief efforts in Africa’s most hard hit regions such as the much talked about Darfur. The charity organizers work with the WSOP I marketing and coordinating the event.

The event is not officially a part of the 2010 WSOP Main Event, it is housed in the same hotel at the same time to help ensure maximum attendance. The combination of poker professional and Hollywood faces should encourage all large bankrollers to participate in the hope of both helping those less fortunate and enjoying some big payouts. The rumor is the winner of the tournament could walk away with six figures in earnings.

Online reports indicate that Annie Duke and Don Cheadle will definitely attend along with Ben Affleck, Matt Damon, Ray Romano, Phil Hellmuth and poker pro and commentator Phil Gordon. The event is set for this coming Saturday and the $5,000 buy in helps the group meet their giving goals. They have so far raised over three million dollars to help African communities.

Those wishing to attend the event can register anytime from now until the event begins. You must be at least 21 years old to enter.  Anyone who comes up with the buy in can take part. So if you have a spare five grand laying around, get down to Vegas and make a difference.

Event 25: Omaha Hi-Low Split 8 or Better Championship. This one went to Sam Farha of Houston, Texas and gave him not only a bracelet but $488,237. This was a three day tournament with 212 entrants and a $10,000 buy in.

Event 26: Six Handed No Limit Holdem. William Haydon from the United States won this event against Jeffrey Papola of New York. Both men held aces but Haydon’s Jack beat Papola’s six of hearts and brought him a whopping $630,031 in prize money. There were 1,245 entrants with a buy in of $2,500.

Event 27: Seven Card Stud H-Low-8 or Better.  There was a $1,500 buy in and winner David Warga of Tempe who took home $208,682 as the last one standing of 208 competitors.

Event 28: Pot Limit Omaha. It was Miquel Proulx of Canada with a pair of Queens who took this victory back to his hometown of Quebec. He earned over $315,000 in prize money and came out on top over the 596 entrants.

Event 29: The Limit Holdem Championship. With a $10,000 buy in the event attracted 171 players. It was Matt Keikoan of California who took home the bracelet and a nice chunk of change ($425,969) with his Ace-Seven.

Event 30: No Limit Holdem. The $1,500 entrance fee attracted 2,394 players but it was clever play by Mike Ellis of London, England who came out on top. He won against his heads up opponent Christopher Gonzales who had a pair of aces. Ellis had an Ace-ten but made it work to the tune of $581,851.

Event 31: HORSE. Konstantin Puchkov of Moscow, Russia took home a cool quarter million dollars after winning this tournament against Al Barbieri.

Event 32: No Limit Holdem Six Handed. An almost winner in event 26, Jeffrey Papola took home his bracelet after winning against Men Nguyen with a pair of Jacks. The win gave him a hefty $667,443 as well as a shiny new bracelet.

Event 33: Pot Limit Holdem/Omaha. A $2,500 buy in didn’t put off American Luis Velador from winning $260,517 with a measly 7-6 hand. His opponent David Chiu couldn’t get it over him with an Ace-Ten pairing so good for him right?

Event 34: Seniors No Limit Holdem Championship. One for the retired folks, the Senior championship was won by Harold Angle of Florida. Angle beat out 3,142 players and his heads up opponent Michael Minetti. The win gave him a nice $487,994 to put in his savings account.

Event 35: Heads Up No Limit Holdem Championship. The $10,000 buy in fee didn’t dissuade 64 professionals taking the chance in this heads up challenge. It was  Ayaz Mahmood of the U.S. That took home the prizes in the form of a bracelet and $625,682.

Twenty events to go!

I’m all in favor of the fans getting a say in the poker line up. The game of poker is so all about chance and skill that opinion doesn’t usually come into play. But for some of us, the professional poker players are celebrities in their own right, people that got famous for something other than looking pretty, being rich or being able to act or sing. Players are known by their skill and their fans are well aware of those abilities.

So when it was decided that the fans would vote for the players in this year’s WSOP Tournament of Champions to take place on June 27, 28 and July 4^th. It’s the only time the fans have a say and the fans have certainly spoken.

Thousands upon thousands of votes were cast and the results as publish on the WSOP home page are as follows:

Everyone in the top five received over ten thousand votes each. The race between first and second place between Ivey Negreanu was pretty tight. Phil Ivey received a total of 16, 267 votes and Daniel Negreanu received 16,239 votes. Both players must be pleased with their popularity and how the fans view their skills.

There are a lot of big names in this year’s tournament, making it hard for me to decide who I would like to see win the event. I mean, you are deciding who gets to go home with a million bucks. Well, that’s what will happen to the winner anyway.

The Tournament of Champions includes a few of the event’s previous winners including Annie Duke and Mike Sexton. There are two entrants included by sponsors. That means that 20 out of the 26 total players were chosen by you the poker fans of the world.

I just can’t wait to see how the cards fall.

Whether you are a Brit, an American, a Canadian, South American or European, your home country has brought home a bracelet and an event win at the 2010 WSOP tournament in Las Vegas. We’re just over half way through the poker playing event of the year so it seems prudent to have a look at the stats. Basically, let’s see which country leads in wins and who the top players of the tournament are so far.

Clearly the United States holds the most gold medals or bracelets as you will in this year’s main poker event. Even if every other bracelet goes to someone not from the United States, the nation of poker players will continue to hold sway.

After three days of play the women’s championship with over a thousand entrants comes to an end. Vanessa Hellebuyck won the heads up game against early chip leader Sidsel Boesen after seven hands of play and a pair of fives. This was Hellebuyck’s first bracelet and the first WSOP bracelet among French females. The winner goes back to her native land with over $192,000 in prize money.

Here’s the top ten placers for the ladies final as reported by highstakesnews.com:

1 Vanessa Hellebuyck   $192,132

2 Sidsel Boesen   $118,897

3 Timmi Derosa   $74,389

4 Allison Whalen   $53,994

5 Kami Chisholm   $39,860

6 Holly Hodge   $29,880

7 La Sengphet   $22,728

8 Bonnie Overfield   $17,520

9 Loren Watterworth   $13,688

10 Ronit Chamani   $10,833

Besides men entering the tournament to make a point, some professional female players boycotting, those who chose to participant seemed to have a great time. For a while it looked like La Sengphet would win doing well in the first day. Kami Chisholm was dominating play for most of Sunday but by the end of play it was down to just a few players with Hellebuyck dominating the chips.

Vanessa Hellebuyck had only participated in three professional tournaments before the 2010 WSOP and had no first place finishes. Her grand total in winnings was just over $10,000 until this evening. Now Hellebuyck has the poker media spotlight and a pretty new bracelet on her wrist.

Let’s hope next year’s female championship manages to start and finish without the protest, politics and problems that plagued this year’s events. Many don’t agree with a female designated tournament but as many women are still trying to break the glass ceiling of professional poker it seems the event still has a valid place in the WSOP world.

I mean, I don’t think Ms. Hellebuyck is complaining right?

Kami Chisolm: professional poker player from San Francisco, CA, Chisolm has six cash finishes and two first place finishes at the start of the event. From all accounts and sources, Chisolm has only been playing professionally for two years. As of this blog writing, she has made it to the final table of the Ladies’ event.

Sidsel Boesen: This Danish player has two cash finishes and one first place win to her name. Like Chisolm she only seems to have joined the professional ranks in the last few years.

Bonnie Overfield: 32 year old Overfield hails from Washington State and has yet to finish first in the professional events. She does have seven cash wins to her name and seems to be doing well in the current game.  Overfield has played professionally since 2006.

Loren Watterworth: Playing professionally now for five years, Watterworth is a bit of a dark horse but still may take it all in this event.

Timmi Derosa: Derosa started placing in professional tournaments back in 2006. With only one first place finish to her name, this could be the year for Derosa to improve her playing statistics.

Holly Hodge: Hodge is from Canada and has one first place finish to her name. Could this be her event?

La Sengphet: starting the event strong, Sengphet hails from Texas and has three cash finishes to date.

Vanessa Hellebuyck: French professional Hellebuyck has three cash wins and has played in three professional tournaments. As I write she is holding strong at the final table and may make a bracelet at WSOP her fourth cash win.

According to Daniel Negreanu’s poker blog on the event a number of professional poker playing female are very against this newer tradition at the WSOP. Negreanu’s own assistant Patty is playing today and he and the thousand plus ladies and their fans don’t seem to have a problem. Of course for some women it may be a step backward in the professional poker world but for many it’s a platform to jump into the big pool of poker.

I say good luck ladies whether you play this event or the others at the 2010WSOP. We need more women in the game and every player helps.

Friday was opening day and say 722 players sat down for the beginning of the $500 casino employee No limit Hold ‘Em tournament. By the close of action that first day there were only 53 that made it into the second day of play. 2008 winner Jonathan Kotula was one of my favorites and was in the high chip count with Kent Washington who was in first. Washington was far ahead of the others and looked good going back into battle. In the end it was Hoai Pham and his pocket Aces that took home the bracelet as his heads up opponent Arthur Vea lost it with a pair of fours. Pham went home with over $70,000.

Friday evening saw the beginning of the $50,000 Poker Player’s Championship when the poker heavyweights had their first shot at a bracelet. With multi game play, the first day saw only six of the 116 players going down. Swedish player Erik Sagstrom closed out the first day on top with over 329,000 chips. At the end of day two of play Sagstrom dropped to fifth position with the new leader Kirk Morrison holding on to a healthy 741,000 chips. Before thee dinner break on day three there are approximately 35 players left.

Event Three started Saturday. It is a $1,000 buy in No Limit Holdem. Day one came to a close with the following chip leads:

Terry Fleischer 119,300

Nancy Todd Tyner 103,000

Jerrymee Jose 96,100

Drew Crawford 95,000

Anders Taylor 93,200

The day started with 2061 players and ended with around 208 going through to the second day of play. They are still playing as I write this so we’ll check tomorrow for chip counts.

Event Four started today (Sunday) and is $1,500 Omaha Hi/Lo.  Thang Luu is the obvious favorite for the event with two previous wins and one second in the last three years. There are 780 players in today’s play. We’ll check back on this game tomorrow.

Its starting to get good.