Chip Reese. Freddy Deeb. Scotty Nguyen. All three men have captured the $50,000 HORSE World Championship at the World Series of Poker and on Tuesday evening one of the eight remaining players at the 2009 final table will join that illustrious list.

Leading the way is Sweden’s Erik Sagstrom with 3,675,000. He began the day second in chips and along with Russia’s Vitaly Lunkin and American David Bach he spent time throughout Day 4 at the top of the leaderboard. Lunkin (2,490,000) and Bach (2,345,000) round out the top three. John Hanson, who finished 3rd in this event in 2007, sits fourth with 1,700,000.

The final four players are all WSOP bracelet winners. Huck Seed, Chau Giang, Erik Seidel and Ville Wahlbeck will all have to come from behind if they hope to add to their bracelet collection on Tuesday. For Wahlbeck this marks the sixth cash of the 2009 WSOP for him with five cashes coming in World Championship events. Seed is making his second consecutive appearance at the final table of this event.

Monday’s action began with 19 players. Todd Brunson, Brett Richey and Frank Kassela were all eliminated before the money kicked at #16. The final eight eliminations to get down to the final table took just over five hours. Gus Hansen was the final table bubble boy walking away with $123,895. Mike Wattel, Ray Dehkharghani, David Chiu, Tony G, Freddy Deeb, Steve Billirakis and John Kabbaj all made the money but fell short of the final table.

Action gets underway at 2 pm PT on Tuesday with the final table being broadcast live on ESPN360.com.

Down to two tables in the $3,000 Triple Chance No Limit Hold’em (Event 52).

Sixteen players remain going into the third and final day of play in the event where players were given three stacks of chips, which they could use as they went bust or to add to their stack at the end of the buy-in period.

Jason DeWitt leads as the only player with more than 1 million in chips, holding 1.25 million, over the rest of the field, which will return to play for the gold World Series of Poker bracelet and $506,800 at 1 p.m. Tuesday in the Amazon Room of the Rio Hotel.

Also coming back in the afternoon is Alex Millar, who holds 862,000 and sits secind to DeWitt, Joe Patrick, in third with 520,000, and Michael Katz, who has 440,000. Vladimir Kochelaevskiy has the shortest stack of those remaining with 125,000, well below the 480,375 average.

Could Tuesday be the day Chad Brown captures that elusive first World Series of Poker bracelet?

Brown goes into the final day of the $1,500 Seven-card Stud 8-or-better (Event 53) at the top of the chip counts with 311,000 over the remaining 14-player field.

Those remaining will return to the Rio Hotel at 2 p.m. Tuesday in the Amazon Room to play for the championship and $159,390.

“I’ve got to make the final table first,” the goal-oriented Brown said at the end of play around 3 a.m. Tuesday morning. “Trying once again to go for that bracelet.”

Brown has cashed in 26 events WSOP events, dating as far back as 1993, for $995,487, but has yet to finish at the top.

The players he will continue to play against for the bracelet include Brian Swinford, second in chips with 300,000, William Kohler, in third with 232,000. Zak Gilbert is surviving on the short stack with 40,000. The average chip stack is 149,786.

So far, however, Brown has outlasted most of the 466 players who registered for the event on Sunday. Of those who were eliminated today, includes Daniel Negreanu, Barry Greenstein and Norman Chad, who cashed, and Mike Matusow and Bryan Micon, who missed the money. Andy Bloch, who is also on the list with Brown for multiple cashes but no WSOP championships, also finished in the money.

The 51st bracelet of the 2009 World Series of Poker belongs to Germany’s  Carsten Joh. Joh won his first bracelet in the $1,500 No Limit Hold ‘em (Event 51) at 1:52 a.m. Tuesday morning after nearly 13 hours of play and beating Canada’s Andrew Chen heads up.

“This bracelet is something that I will have for the rest of my life, so it is very special,” Joh said.

“I don’t know the impact this will have on my country,” Joh said. “Poker is not as popular there, but it feels good to win.”

Joh beat out 2,780 other players to take home top prize of $664,426 and a gold bracelet. The final table came down to nine players with no bracelets and few final table appearances. Only three of the nine had ever been seated at a WSOP final table previously. Joh, at 45, was the oldest player at the felt.

The final hand happened when Chen moved his stack to the middle with [10d] 9 after a raise from Joh on the button. Joh instantly called and flipped over pocket sixes. The flop gave Chen hope for a flush when it came Q 4 3 and the turn of 5 strengthened his hand even more. But the 6 on the river gave Joh a set and sent Chen packing with $412,426 but no bracelet.

Nathan Page of Happy Valley, Oregon was the first player eliminated, taking home his first career WSOP cash for $80,894. Page raised to 110,000 pre-flop from the cut-off and Chen moved all-in. Action folded back around to Page who also moved all-in for 580,000. Page flipped over A Q and Chen showed pocket nines. The flop caused a stir in the crowd when it came Q 9 2 causing Chen’s fans to yell for a nine. None other than the 9 landed on the turn leaving Page drawing dead to the useless river card of 7.

Pocket nines played a factor in Jason Helder’seighth place elimination as well. Helder, who started his first WSOP final table with the chip lead pushed his stack of 575,ooo into the middle pre-flop and was called by Owen Crowe. Crowe tabled the nines and Helder showed A K. The board ran out J J 4 5 6, giving the Pennsylvanian nothing and sending him to the cash cage for $86,702.

Greece’s Georgios Kapulasleft his first WSOP final table in seventh with his first cash of $97,634 when Joh put him all-in. Joh felted 7 7 and Kapulas turned over J 7. Kapulas failed to get the outs he needed on a board of K [10d] 8 6 A.

Thibaut Durandof France was sent packing next when he he put himself all-in pre-flop with J 7. Steven Levy made the call with Q 7. After a board of [10s] 6 3 2 [10c] Durand made his exit from his first WSOP final table to collect his first WSOP cash of $115,817.

Crowe, of Canada, came up short of his first WSOP bracelet but was able to make his fifth WSOP career cash, his first of the 2009 WSOP. Crowe’s A [10h] failed to hold to a pre-flop raise on the button by fellow countryman Chen. Crowe three-bet, Chen shoved his stack to the middle and Crowe went into the tank for several minutes. Crowe said “I’m probably going to hate myself for this” before he announced the call. Crowe showed his cards and Chen flipped over pocket eights. The eights were enough to send Crowe left to collect $145,199 after the dealer turned over Q 7 3 7 4.

Levy, of Massachusetts, made his fifth WSOP cash and his second of 2009 but left the table in fourth, three places shy of his first WSOP bracelet. Levy raised to 220,000 from the small blind and David Walasinskipushed his stack to the middle. Levy snap called and turned over A 9. Walasinski flipped over A J and the board ran out Q [10h] 6 8 6, sending Levy home with $192,650.

Walasinski, from Ohio, walked awy from his first WSOP final in third and took home his first WSOP cash for $272,405. Walasinski moved all-in from the button with K 7 and Joh called with K [10c]. The flop caused the crowd to come to their feet when it landed J [10d] 6, giving Joh a pair. When the 9 hit on the turn giving Walasinski some outs with the flush and straight draws the crowd began to yell. The river gave Walasinski a pair of sevens, not enough to win the pot and he made his way to the rail with $272,405.

It was a Monday morning like most others during the 2009 World Series of Poker, as poker players sat grinding in cash games and satellite tournaments and fans wandered the halls wondering looking at the setup of the infamous WSOP. The halls were typically sparse with people prior to the noon start time of the events, but June 22 found the weary poker media seated in a ballroom at 11:00am for a press conference hosted by the Poker Players Alliance.

The announcement of National Poker Week came with the support of PPA Chairman and former Senator Alfonse D’Amato and Nevada Rep. Shelley Berkley, both of whom spoke about their passion for working toward the legalization and regulation of online poker. They will be joining other PPA members, including poker pros like Greg Raymer and Linda Johnson, in Washington, D.C., during the week of July 19-25 to express their support of the cause.

BluffMagazine.com caught up with Rep. Berkley just prior to her words of encouragement and the “shuffle up and deal” instruction to the Amazon Room full of senior poker players who awaited the start of the $1,000 Seniors No-Limit Hold’em World Championship (Event 43).

You obviously bring a long background in gaming to the online poker fight.

Gaming is the major industry in my Congressional district, and I have hundreds of thousands of constituents who depend on a strong gaming economy to make a living, so if it’s important to my constituents, it’s important to me. I also used to be vice-president of the old Sands hotel, so I know gaming. I think of the 435 members of Congress, I’m probably the only one with any gaming background, so I think my colleagues look to me when it comes to information about gaming matters.

But there are members of the gaming community fighting against Rep. Frank’s pro-gaming bills, like Steve Wynn and others.

There is a definitely a split in the gaming industry. There are those who are very much in favor of online gaming and those who are opposed to it and think it will hurt brick and mortar casinos. My personal opinion is that of a representative of Las Vegas. I think it would be disingenuous of me to pick and choose which type of gambling I prefer or don’t, so I support all forms of gambling. It’s worked very well in Nevada. I grew up here, I turned out alright, I raised a family here, my kids turned out alright… I’m a big proponent of gaming.

Have you had any discussions with Senator Harry Reid, who opposes Frank’s proposed legislation?

Often! (Laughs) I don’t think he was a great fan. I don’t want to speak for him, but I think he understands now that there are built-in controls and ways of insuring the integrity of the game, which he was very concerned about as the former chairman of the Nevada Gaming Commission. Obviously, there isn’t anyone who knows more about gaming than Senator Reid, but I think a lot of his questions have been answered, and while I can’t tell you where he is on any of these pieces of legislation, I know he has an open mind.

Are you going to be participating in National Poker Week?

Of course; that’s where I work, in D.C.. I have a job there with a very long commute! (Laughs) I come home to Las Vegas on weekends and go back during the week to work. And yes, I will be helping with National Poker Week.

Do you play poker?

I’ve been known to play a hand or two! (Laughs) Now my dad is a great poker player; he’s 84 and still plays everyday - not online, though. He likes the live action poker games. As for me, I don’t play live or online because I don’t have time for too many recreational activities period!

Did you consider playing the Seniors event with Mr. D’Amato?

What?! Why would I think of playing the seniors event?! Actually, I more than qualify, but I have a ridiculous schedule and go back to Washington tomorrow. It’s for everybody else to enjoy and for me to advocate for them to enjoy.

Thibaut Durand surged ahead of the field late in Day 2.

The World Series of Poker $1,500 No Limit Hold’em (Event 51) saw one of the biggest fields for a $1,500 event with 2,781 original entrants. Only 349 players survived Day 1 and only 30 would see the end of Day 2. Thibaut Durand will enter Day 3 as the chip leader with nearly a half million chip lead on 2nd place following a series big hands late in the day.

Day 2 started with a lot of all-ins with around 30 players hovering around only ten big blinds. The top 297 players made the money. Approaching the money bubble, three players were eliminated on one hand and the tournament did not have to play hand for hand.

Amnon Filippi had trouble gaining momentum to start the day; he started with 80,000. Sitting in the small blind, the big blind raised to 6,000 and Filippi shoved for his last 11,000. The player on the button called and the big blind folded. Filippi tabled A 5 and his opponent tabled 8 8 to see the board run Q 7 3 Q 2. Filippi’s tournament was done with just above a min cash.

Joe Reitman, Annie Duke’s boyfriend, reraised a player that raised from middle position for all of his chips. His opponent called and tabled 5 5 and Reitman needed help holding A J. The board ran 8 K 2 4 T and Reitman’s tournament was over.

In a crazy pot three players all moved all-in preflop. A late position player opened for 7,500, the cutoff raised all-in for 27,000 and Matt Brady moved in as well for 54,600. The initial raiser called and had both players covered and tabled T T. The cutoff had A K and Brady held J J. The board ran K 4 9 7 A giving the main pot to the cutoff and the side pot to Brady. He ultimately lost 2,000 in the whole ordeal and as the cutoff tripled up.

Josh Schlein jumped up the leaderboard during the final seven hands of play. He raised to 32,000 in early position and Georgios Kapalas called from the big blind. The flop came 8 8 6 and they both checked to see the Q on the turn. Schlein check-called a 45,000 bet from Kapalas to see the river 3. After a Schlein check, Kapalas bet 110,000 and Schlein went into the tank. He found the courage to call with only A J and Kapalas mucked his hand.

The remaining 30 players will return tomorrow at 1 p.m. PST to play down to a winner. The final table will be broadcast live on BluffMagazine.com

Top Ten Chip Counts for Day 3 $1,500 No Limit Hold’em (Event 51)

1. Thibaut Durand - 1,650,000
2. Owen Crowe - 1,003,000
3. Josh Schlein - 875,000
4. Georgios Kapalas- 782,000
5. Steven Levy - 657,000
6. Jason Helder - 589,000
7. Eric Lupovich - 548,000
8. Diego Vilela - 425,000
9. Rafael Belloso - 410,000
10. Andrew Chen - 390,000

Erik Sagstrom is in contention for his first live title in the $50,000 HORSE event. He trails only Vitaly Lunkin after Day 3 action.

Every year poker prognosticators go to great lengths to handicap the online poker superstars making their inaugural apperance at the World Series of Poker. Long before Tom “durrrr” Dwan, Justin “BoostedJ” Smith or Justin “ZeeJustin” Bonomo made headlines in the online poker world a Swedish kid was making waves.

Erik “Erik123″ Sagstrom was one of the first of the online poker generation to make the transition to live play. Only he wasn’t quite as succesful as the most recent “internet kids” have been. That is until Sunday afternoon and his performance on Day 2 of the $50,000 HORSE event where he soared to the chip lead early in the first level and stayed there until near the end of the day when he was passed only by Vitaly Lunkin.

Sagstrom bagged up 1,315,000 at the end of the night. With only 19 players remaining the now 26 year old has some competition and most of it comes from his side of the Atlantic. Russia’s Lunkin, who scooped the $40,000 No Limit Hold’em bracelet earlier this month, is in the lead with 1,527,000. Freddy Deeb, who won the event in 2007, sits in third with 1,300,000.

Another player who has had a strong 2009 WSOP, Ville Wahlbeck, wound up with 842,000. Should he go on to cash it will be his sixth of 2009 with five coming in World Championship events.

The day started with 53 players sitting down to play five levels. Gus Hansen, who started the day as the chip leader survived, and finished with 801,000. Some of the players who didn’t survive included Day 1 chip leader Hasan Habib, defending champion Scotty Nguyen, Patrik Antonius, Justin Smith and Doyle Brunson.

Sagstrom became the first player to crack the one million chip mark shortly after the start of Level 13 after he had briefly conceded the chip lead to Hansen. Day 4 action begins at 2 pm PT and Live Updates and Chip Counts will be available throughout the day.

It’s Limit Hold ‘em WSOP bracelet number two for Greg Mueller . Mueller won his second career bracelet in the same year in the same game Sunday night at the 2009 World Series of Poker in the $1,500 Limit Hold ‘em Shootout (Event 50).

Along with bracelet number two Mueller left the table with the top prize of $194,854.

Mueller Naalden beat Marc Naalden after 3 hours of heads up play in a unique battle of Limit Hold ‘em specialists. Both players won their first WSOP career bracelets within the past two weeks just fives days apart in Limit Hold ‘em events.

The two traded position as chip leader throughout their heads up battle and Mueller was quick to acknowledge Naalden was a tough opponent to beat. “He has a reputation as being a really good Limit player,” he said.

The duel for the bracelet ended when Naalden raised from the button and Mueller called to see a flop of [10d] 4 3. Mueller checked, Naalden bet, Mueller called and the turn brought the K. Mueller checked, Naalden bet, Mueller check-raised and Naalden moved his stack to the middle. Mueller made the call, showed K 5 and Naalden turned over K 2. The river landed the J sending Naalden away with $120,614 but without bracelet number two.

An experienced player, Mueller attributes his success in the past few weeks to what he has learned from the past. “I’ve learned that I don’t have to win the tournament in the first 20 hands,” Mueller said.

A second bracelet is a nice trophy for Mueller, who was originally schedueled to play in the $50,000 HORSE (Event 49) but changed his mind at the last second and registered for the Shootout instead.

Jose “Nacho” Barberowas the first player gunned down when he got all his chips in the middle against Mueller. Mueller raised pre-flop holding A [10s], Barbero made the call from the big blind and the flop turned over A 7 [10c]. Mueller check raised Barbero’s bet, Barbero made it three bets and Mueller set him in with his remaining short stack. Barbero showed K 2 for the flush draw but the 6 on the turn and the J on the river failed to give him the outs he needed. Barbero made the fourth cash for Argentina at the 2009 WSOP and walked away with $13,655.

Joep Van Den Bijgaartmade his exit from his first WSOP event in seventh place when he got into a Dutch Civil War with fellow countryman Naalden. Van Den Bijgaart raised from late position, Naalden three bet from the big blind and Van Den Bijaart called. After a flop of A 2 7 Naalden led out and Van Den Bijgaart raised all-in. Naalden called and showed A [10d] while Van Den Bijgaart turned over Q 8. The K fell on the turn, but the river brought the 7, giving Naalden two pair. Van Den Bijgaart collected $18,136 for his first WSOP event.

Flaminio Malagutiwas sent to the cash cage in sixth place to collect $24,824. Malaguti raised from the small blind holding A K and was called by David Williamsin the big blind who held A 5. After a flop of 2 6 [10h] Malaguti fired off another bet and Williams again made the call. After the 5 hit on the turn Malaguti bet and Williams raised him all-in. Malaguti made the call but his night was over when the 4 landed on the river.

Matt Sterlingmade his eighth WSOP cash but came up five places short of his first WSOP bracelet. Sterling had been sitting on the short stack of the table for quite a while and things only got worse when he ran his pocket Aces into Mueller’s J [10d]. Mueller was able to river a straight and shoot Sterling down to just a few chips. On the very next hand Sterling was committed pre-flop with Q 8. After a flop of 4 7 5 Mueller bet and Williams called. When the [10h] hit on the turn Mueller bet again, Williams folded and Mueller showed 9 7. The 9 on the river gave Mueller two pair and Sterling nothing.

Williams’ tournament ended with him hitting the rail in fourth when he moved all-in after a pre-flop raise by Millie Shiuand a re-raise by Mueller. The flop gave away K 8 4 and Mueller and Shiu continued to bet down the remainder of the board which turned over the J and the 7. Mueller showed pocket Jacks, Shiu turned over pocket Aces and Williams’ tabled 4 5 before making his exit to collect $51,145.

The last woman standing, Shui, beat the boys during Day 1 and Day 2 but was unable to become the first female bracelet winner of the 2009 WSOP. Shui was short stacked after losing her chips to Mueller in an earlier hand and was all-in from the big blind. Mueller called from the button and Naalden called from the small blind to see a flop of 5 8 [10h]. Naalden checked, Mueller bet, Naalden folded, Mueller showed 8 7 and Shiu turned over 4 2. Before the turn card hit the felt Shiu began to collect her purse and concede her run at her first bracelet was over. The board ran out K 5, Shui hugged the two remaining players and gracefully made her exit to collect $77,138.

The 2009 World Series of Poker Main Event is right around the corner, and the World Series of Poker Academy is ready to help players gain an extra edge with its Main Event Primer.

The three-day event, to be held this June 29 - July 1 at Caesars Palace Las Vegas, is designed to prepare aspiring Main Event competitors for the kind of super-sized fields the tournament has become known for in the last few years. The all-star team of instructors features former WSOP Main Event champions Phil Hellmuth and Greg Raymer, WSOP bracelet winners Annie Duke and Mark Seif, WPT title winner Phil Gordon, FBI counter-terrorism and poker tells expert Joe Navarro, and noted poker pro and instructor Alex Outhred.

“Like the WSOP Main Event itself, our Main Event Primer only comes around once a year and is unrivaled in its level of instruction as well as the interaction participants have with the biggest names in poker,” said Brandon Rosen of Post Oak Productions, the company that produces the WSOP Academy. “It truly is a unique opportunity to learn optimal strategy from the pros who have won it all.”

The three-day Main Event Primer will drill attendees with question-and-answer seminars, WSOP tournament footage video analysis, and live demonstrations with a focus of advanced No Limit Hold’em tournament strategy. Among the topics covered will be advanced poker mathematics, late-stage tournament strategy, pre-flop and post-flop strategy, table dynamics, intimidation and control of your opponents, and heads-up strategy. There will also be a special seminar with Joe Navarro on decoding poker tells.

Main Event Primer participants will also get the chance to compete in two private poker tournaments, with the winner of each going on to compete for a World Series Of Poker Main Event seat at the WSOP Academy Tournament of Champions, held on July 1.

A seat in the WSOP Academy Main Event Primer will set players back $2,499. Space is limited, and the event is expected sell out. Additional details for the Main Event Primer and all other Academy events are available at www.wsopacademy.com.

Day 1 of the $50,000 HORSE event had four players eliminated over six levels of play. When the 91 remaining players returned to the felt Saturday afternoon they treated things a little different. A total of 38 players were sent packing over the five levels of play.

Standing atop the leaderboard at the end of the night was Ray Dehkharghani with 643,000. He’s followed closely by Gus Hansen with 540,000 and Erik Sagstrom with 500,000. Hasan Habib, who had the chip lead after Day 1, sits fifth with 440,000.

With so many eliminations it should come as no surprise that some of the game’s biggest names were among the casualties. Daniel Negreanu, triple bracelet winner Jeff Lisandro, 2006 runner-up Andy Bloch, Mike Matusow and John Juanda were among the 38 players sent packing. The only two females to enter the tournament, Jennifer Harman and Annie Duke, were both ousted on Day 2.

Action will resume at 2 pm PT on Sunday afternoon as the remaining players are expected to play down to sixteen players. Those players, all of whom will be in the money, will return on Monday to play down to the final table of eight.

When the smoke cleared at the conclusion of Day 1 Friday in the $1,500 Limit Hold ‘em Shootout (Event 50) 64 players were left standing. Those 64 returned Saturday with guns drawn to fight for a spot at the final table. When the night was over only eight remained.

Josephus Van Den Bijgaart, of the Netherlands, was the first player to shoot down his seven opponents and secure his seat at the final table. A short-stacked Qinghai Pan raised from the button, Bijgaart re-raised and Pan three bet all-in. Bijgaart called and showed K 6. Pan turned over J 3 and the board ran out Q 5 9 A K. 

David Williams took aim at his tablemates early in the day and was the second player to advance to Day 3. Williams took out his final opponent when he flopped a flush holding 8 4. When the turn revealed the 2 the opponent was drawing dead holding K 7.

After winning his first World Series Of Poker bracelet just six days ago in the $2,000 Limit Hold ‘em (Event 38), Marc Naaldenwill join fellow Dutchman Bijgaart, at the final table. 

2009 $10,000 World Championship Limit Hold ‘em (Event 33) winner Greg Mueller advanced to the final table after taking down  2007 WSOP Player of the Year Tom Schneider in a heads up battle that lasted just over two hours.  

Naldeen and Mueller will both be aiming to be the first 2009 WSOP player to take home two Limit Hold ‘em bracelets. Brock Parker will not join the two in the race to double up on Limit Hold ‘em bracelets as he was eliminated by Schneider. 

Jose Barbero of Buenos Aires, Argentina will look to bring home the first bracelet of the Series for his country. Barbero advanced to the final table when Johnny  Neckar got all-in after a flop of 9 5 K. Barbero called and showed K [10s] and Neckar turned over J J. The 7 on the turn and 6 on the river cemented Barbero’s spot at his first WSOP final table.

Sweden’s Ken Lennaard was the first to be shot down during Day 2. Lennaard made his exit when committed his remaining short stack to the middle after a flop of J 6 Q. Betting continued between Keith Ray, Steve Kim and Antonio Patelidas and the board ran out 9 7. The other players folded and Ray turned over Q 8 for the flush. Lennaard mucked and made his way to the cash cage.

Some notable players who did not survive Day 2 include 2008 Runner-Up Jean-Robert Bellande, Nick Binger, Humberto Brenes and Dan Heimiller.

The eight players will return Sunday at 2 p.m. to play for a WSOP bracelet and top prize of $194,854.

1. Josephus Van Den Bijgaart
2. David Williams
3. Marc Naalden
4. Greg Mueller
5. Jose Barbero
6. Matthew Sterling
7. Millie Shiu
8. Flaminio Malaguti

Brandon Cantu with his 2nd WSOP bracelet.

The World Series of Poker final table for $1,500 Pot Limit Omaha HiLo 8-or-Better (Event 48) saw lots of action in a volitile variation of Omaha. Seasoned pros Lee Watkinson and Brandon Cantu arrived at the table as heavy favorites and ended up in an epic heads-up battle for the bracelet. But it would be Cantu that would won his 2nd WSOP bracelet.

The first elimination came when Tommy Vedes open-raised and William McMahan reraised to 84,000. Vedes then raised enough to set McMahan all in and got a call. McMahan tabled A A K Q and looked good against Vedes’ A T T 4, but the flop hit Vedes with 8 4 4. The turn and river came 5 J and McMahan was sent home in 9th place.

Ronnie Hofman found himself all-in against Watkinson after a flop of 7 4 2 and held A K Q J. Watkinson had a high and low hand with A K 4 2 and had two pair with the only low draw. The 7 turn and 3 river did not help Hofman and he was free to collect his 8th place payout.

Aaron Sias opened from UTG for 56,000 and Ted Weinstock put him all-in from the big blind. Sias called with A 3 7 8 and would need help against Weinstock’s A A K 6. The board ran A 2 T K 9 and Sias’ day was done with a 7th place finish.

Vedes raised from the button and Steve Jelinek raised it to 222,000 from the big blind. Vedes called and they saw a flop of K 6 6. Jelinek moved the rest of his stack into the middle and Vedes called with A 2 T 6. Jelinek tabled A 2 K Q and saw a A turn and 2 river. Vedes’ full house bounced Jelinek from the final table in 6th place.

Mathieu Jacqmin made a 90,000 raise preflop and Vedes called. The flop came 8 7 8 and Jacqmin check-raised all-in and Vedes called with K Q 9 T and Jacqmin tabled A 5 8 J. The turn came 9 and river came 2 and Jacqmin’s set was good to send Vedes to the cashier’s cage in 5th place.

The biggest pot of the tournament came during four-handed play. Cantu opened with a raise and Jacqmin reraised to 100,000, which Weinstock called. The flop hit 6 7 Q and Cantu potted for 300,000. Weinstock moved in for 500,000 total and then Jacqmin reshoved to isolate Weinstock. Cantu obliged and got out of the way and Jacqmin tabled A A 2 4 while Weinstock held A 2 K 6. The turn 9 sealed the high for Jacqmin with a flush and the 6 on the river couldn’t make a low for Weinstock. He left the feature table with a 4th place showing.

From the chip leader to 3rd place finisher is how Jacqmin ended the last ten minutes of his tournament. He raised from the small blind and Watkinson called from the big blind. The flop came 9 5 Q and Jacqmin check-raised all in after Watkinson potted. Watkinson called immediately and tabled Q Q 6 2 and Mathieu tabled A 7 7 2. The turn came 8 and the river came K and Jacqmin’s day was done in 3rd place.

Heads-up play started with Watkinson at 2,485,000 and Cantu at 945,000. Watkinson started heating up and had Cantu down to 570,000. The players opted to not take a dinner break because of Watkinson’s huge chip lead. But Cantu’s hungry stomach worked well for him because he doubled up and then a won a series of smallish pots that swung the chip count in his favor.

Cantu opened to 150,000 on the button and Watkinson called to see a flop of 6 4 Q. Watkinson moved in with 2 3 5 7 hoping to fill his low, flush and straight draws. Cantu called holding A T 7 4. The turn came 9 and the river was the 4 giving Cantu a set and failed to give Watkinson a low. Cantu won his second bracelet at the first final table of the 2009 WSOP that saw two bracelet winners battling heads-up for a bracelet.

Final Table Payouts for $1,500 Pot Limit Omaha HiLo 8 or Better (Event 48)

1. Brandon Cantu - $228,867
2. Lee Watkinson - $141,873
3. Mathieu Jacqmin - $92,946
4. Ted Weinstock - $74,727
5. Tommy Vedes - $47,617
6. Steve Jelinek - $36,893
7. Aaron Sias - $30,028
8. Ronnie Hofman - $25,618
9. William McMahan - $22,862

Hasin Habib is the clubhouse leader at the end of Day 1 of the $50,000 HORSE event.

Since its inception in 2006 the $50,000 HORSE event at the World Series of Poker has been one of the crown jewels of the poker tournament schedule. The 2009 event kicked off Friday and the talk instantly tured to the impact the economic downturn has had on the poker world.

Just 15 minutes before cards were to be in the air the registration clocks showed only 26 players registered. Some of those players began to gather in the Amazon Room and just before the schedule Noon start time. Only four minutes before the biggest buy-in event in the history of the WSOP was to kick-off tournament officials announced the start time had been pushed back an hour due to a lack of players.

Greg Mueller, who had registered for the event and arrived on time, was less than happy with the lack of players and decision to push the start time back to 1 pm. Rather than wait for more players to register Mueller unregistered himself and entered the $1,500 Limit Hold’em Shootout starting at 5 pm.

When the tournament finally did kick off at 1 pm 62 players were registered.  Tournament officials admitted that a rule permitting late registrations to receive a full chip stack rather than be blinded off from the start of the tournament may have contributed to players not registering prior to Noon. Commissioner Jeffrey Pollack ensured that once the WSOP is over the rule would be reviewed.

In all 95 players ponied up the $50,000 to play for the bracelet and the Chip Reese Memorial Trophy including defending champion Scotty Nguyen, 2007 champ Freddy Deeb and a collection of poker’s biggest names. Last year 148 players entered the tournament, one more than the 2007 field. The inaugural event, won by Chip Reese, had 143 players. After the six 90 minute levels though there was one name at the top of the leaderboard nearly by himself, Hasan Habib. The 47 year old bagged up 387,000 chips at the end of the night.

The momentum swung for Habib on a hand of Seven-card Stud 8-or-better. In a three-way pot with Justin “BoostedJ” Smith and Jason Gray, Habib caught an ace on seventh street to make the wheel and scoop the pot. The 100,000 pot put Habib in control for the rest of the night and took some momentum from the 21 year old Smith who had been near the chip lead early on.

“It was a great card for me, for sure,” said Habib. “I was trying to represent a full house to get (Smith) to lay down his kings so I bet blind on the end. As it turned out I needed an ace or a six to win anything and lucky for me it was the ace and I scooped.

Habib, who has a single bracelet to his name, admitted that coming out on top of the prestigous tournament would easily be the highlight of his career. “(Winning this) would be huge for me,” said Habib at the end of the night. “A dream for sure. It would be unbelievable and I’m shooting for it for sure.”

“Hopefully the momentum carries over.”

Other players who had strong starts were Martin Vallo (347,200), Matt Glantz (300,000), Justin Smith (295,000) and David Benyamine (262,000). Of the 95 players who started the day only four were unable to survive to the second day: Steve Zolotow, David Singer, Alexander Kostritsyn and just before play wrapped for the night, Dan Shak.

One player who was very vocal about throughout the day was Mike Matusow. The Mouth was one of the more vocal players complaining about the late start time and the perceived advantage for players registering late and receiving a full stack. However as play wrapped up for the night and Matusow bagged up 112,000 chips - 38,000 less than the starting stacks - he was more interested in talking about how great he played throughout the day.

“I won one pot and one pot on fourth street. Those were the only two hands I won in seven hours,” said Matusow. “When I won a big pot right at the end they all went berserk. Like ‘How could I have gotten there?’, ‘How could I have called this?’”

“I never gave away one bad chip all day. I played so far above the rim. Nobody in the world could have played better than I did today. Then I get lucky on a hand that they say I should’ve folded on (fifth street) but I was down to my last 50,000 and I decided I was going to hit it. And I called and I won it.”

Despite having less chips to start Day 2 with than he started Day 1 with Matusow firmly believes he’s got them right where he wants them in only a way that Matusow can.

“I’ve got 112,00 and I ran like shit and they’re all fucked come tomorrow.”

Action resumes with the first of five scheduled levels at 4 pm Saturday. Follow the Live Updates and Chip Counts throughout the day.

Five hundred and seventy one players began Day one of the $1,500 Limit Hold ‘em Shootout (Event 50) on Friday. When chips were bagged for the night only 64 remained. In order to advance to Day 2 players had to win the table they were seated at.

Most tables had ten players but a few had only nine. The tables with less than ten players started with ten chip stacks and the empty seats were blinded off. This ensures that when the players begin Day 2 they all have equal chips stacks.

Reining champ Matt Graham was eliminated late in the night but Jean-Robert Bellande, who came in second to Graham in 2008, will get another shot at the WSOP bracelet this year.

$10,000 World Championship Limit Hold ‘em (Event 33) winner Greg Mueller beat his table to advance to Day 2. Mueller was registered in the $50,000 World Championship HORSE (Event 49) but decided to play the shoot out instead after seeing the low turnout for HORSE.

Some of the bigger names in the field made early exits including Michael Binger, Michael “The Grinder” Mizrachi and Allen Cunningham.

Mizrachi was crippled by “Minneapolis” Jim Meehan early on and was forced to commit the remainder of his short stack to the middle holding [10d] 2. He was up against Dylan Linde who was showed A [10s]. The board ran out Q 6 J 8 Q and Mizrachi was sent to the rail.

Meehan caused a commotion later in the evening when the player in seat one took two smaller denomination chips out of the middle and threw in a 1,000 chip for a raise. The player did not verbally say he was raising and Meehan insisted it was not a raise but a call. The dealer said it was a raise and Meehan must call, raise or fold. Meehan disagreed and cited the over-chip rule. The floor was called and ruled that the player in seat one, had in fact raised. “No hard feelings but that’s 100 percent the wrong ruling,” Meehan told the floorman.

Mike Thorp had the distinction of being the first winner of the night and guranteeing himself a cash of no less than $4, 350. Thorp had his opponent in his cross-hairs when he had him out chipped four to one. The opponent was all-in with Q 5, Thorpe made the call with Q J. Thorp hit a Jack on the flop and the rest of the board failed to improve the opponents hand.

The younger Binger brother, Nick, Swedin’s Ken Lennaard, Dan Heimiller and David Plastik will be among the 64 players returning Saturday at 2 p.m.

Brandon Cantu controlled the action for most of the day.

The World Series of Poker finds new ways to offer interesting formats for tournaments priced for value. The $1,500 Pot Limit Omaha HiLo Split-8 or Better (Event 48) attracted players ranging from an amateur playing his first WSOP event to the all-time WSOP bracelet winner Phil Hellmuth. Day 2 saw 87 players return to play down to the final table and Brandon Cantu will enter the final table as chip leader.

Day 2 play started slowly needing only 14 eliminations until the money bubble. Carlos Citrone had the unfortunate, but necessary task of being the last player to bust without getting paid. His A Q 4 2 fell short against A K 9 9 on a board of  T J 9 T 2.

A short-stacked Hellmuth seemed frustrated for most of the night, crediting himself with many good folds. On his final hand he moved all-in and was called by Jacqmin Mathieu on the button and Lee Watkinson from the big blind. The flop came 5 4 Q and both live players checked, then the A hit on the turn and Mathieu bet Watkinson out of the pot. Hellmuth tabled A T 6 2 and Mathie showed T 4 3 2. The J came on the turn and Hellmuth said, “He called a raise with deuce, three fucking four.” As Hellmuth made his exit he muttered, “Nice hand buddy.”

Cantu’s huge rush on Day 2 gave him a comfortable cushion to work with. At one point, he had more chips than the 2nd, 3rd, 4th and 5th place players on the leaderboard combined. He flirted with the 1,000,000 mark for most of the later part of the night and finally broke it in the last twenty minutes of play.

Watkinson made a slow steady rise up the leaderboard throughout the day. He surged from a beginning stack on Day 2 just under 20,000 to 3rd in chips with 400,000.

During the last two hours the players sat ten-handed until one more player busted out so the final table would be set for a 2 p.m start. The final table bubble boy was Sean Getzwiller when he was scooped by Tommy Vedes.

Play resumes tomorrow at 2 p.m. PST at the Feature Table area.

Final Table Chip Counts for $1,500 Pot Limit Omaha HiLo Split-8 or Better (Event 48)

1. Brandon Cantu - 1,020,000
2. Jacqmin Mathieu - 520,000
3. Lee Watkinson - 410,000
4. Aaron Sias - 360,000
5. Steve Jelinek - 280,000
6. William McMahan - 268,000
7. Tommy Vedes - 202,000
8. Ted Weinstock - 130,000
9. Ronnie Hofman - 102,000