It’s almost as if the poker world wanted to give the middle finger to every judge or jury that has ever ruled poker isn’t a game of skill. Six of the nine players at the final table of the 2009 WSOP Europe Main Event are previous bracelet winners and two are members of this years November Nine.

Leading the way is 2009 bracelet winner Jason Mercier with 3,198,000 chips. Mercier, who also has a European Poker Tour title to his credit, eliminated six of the final 15 players sent packing on Wednesday including final table bubble boy Eric Liu. Not surprisingly Mercier held the chip lead for the final seven hours of play.

James Akenhead, who will return to Las Vegas in November as the official November Nine short stack, won’t have that problem at this final table. The 23 year old Brit sits in second with 1,398,000 chips. He took out three players on his way to that stack including Doyle Brunson.

The other member of the November Nine to make the final table in London is Antoine Saout. The Frenchman sits sixth with 701,000. The biggest name left though is that of Daniel Negreanu. The four-time bracelet winner, who collected his fourth last summer, is the short stack with 438,000.

Other bracelet winners to make the final table were Matt Hawrilenko, Praz Bansi, Chris Bjorin and Barry Shulman. Shulman is the father of November Niner Jeff Shulman.

Play started with 36 players and after 12 hours was down to the final nine. Those who busted out included WSOP-cashes-without-a-bracelet record holder Tony Cousineau (13th - £40,481), Ram Vaswani (15th - £40,481), Brunson (17th - £31,198) and Liz Lieu (22nd - £25,918).

The star studded final table will began Thursday at 2 pm BST.

WSOP Europe Main Event Final Table Chip Counts

1. Jason Mercier - 3,198,000
2. James Akenhead - 1,398,000
3. Praz Bansi - 1,160,000
4. Barry Shulman - 1,090,000
5. Markus Ristola - 784,000
6. Antoine Saout - 701,000
7. Matt Hawrilenko - 674,000
8. Chris Bjorin - 518,000
9. Daniel Negreanu - 438,000

Welcome to the BLUFF Daily Buzz, where we scour the entire internet for all the latest news in and around the world of poker. If it involves chips and cards, or people known to associate with chips and cards, we’re there.

This Just In: Deal was a bad, bad movie

Remember Deal? It’s the poker movie with Burt Reynolds and Shannon Elizabeth. C’mon you remember the one … No? Well okay then, quick reminder for you from the ploy synapsis provided by RottenTomatoes.com:

Set against the world of high stakes poker, DEAL follows the story of TOMMY VINSON (Burt Reynolds), an ex-gambler who quit the game of Texas Hold’em over 30 years ago after missing a family emergency and swearing to his wife, HELEN, “never again”.

Right, so you know it had to be an Oscar-nominee right? Not so much. The folks over at RottenTomatoes have declared it the 35th worst movie of the last ten years. RottenTomatoes.com - Worst of the Worst 2009

The cash games at the International Space Station just got real juicy

Guy Laliberte, founder of Cirque de Soleil, took care of a lifelong dream today when he rocketed off into space to spend two weeks at the International Space State. Travelling with a Russian cosmonaut and American astronaut Laliberte spent close to $35 million US to make this happen. Laliberte frequents the big game at Bellagio and is said to be one of the biggest losers in that game. With a lot of the games biggest names in London for WSOP Europe and European Poker Tour events the big game won’t see too much in the way of a decline but you have to wonder if Tom Dwan and Doyle Brunson might not make a short trip to the ISS just to get in a few hands of PLO. CTV - Canadian circus billionaire blasts into space

Sammy Farha wins $750,000 Blackjack Tournament

According to one poster at 2+2 it appears that Sammy Farha is not only a casino whale but a good blackjack player and all around nice guy. According to “mdc” the Bellagio hosted a $750,000 winner-take-all blackjack tournament for some of its, ahem, more active pit patrons. After winning eight straight matches the 2003 WSOP Main Event runner-up had himself a win but that came after being the last holdout amongst the final eight players to agree to an even chop. Still an $83,333 pay day isn’t bad. Take that Chris Moneymaker! Original 2+2 thread

WSOP Academy wants to test your IQ

According to a press release issued Tuesday the World Series of Poker Academy “has developed two types of tests to individually assess players’ cash poker skills and tournament poker skills. The Free Poker IQ test is a simulation of a cash game or tournament environment and is comprised of twenty No-Limit Hold’em hands.” So let’s get this straight, shall we? A poker school is going to tell me how dumb I am and then encourage me to sign-up for instructions based on my level of, ahem, knowledge? Sounds like a good plan - the next WSOP Academy is October 10 - 11 at Caesars Palace Las Vegas. For more information visit www.WSOPacademy.com.

Matt Hawrilenko could add another WSOP bracelet to his collection in a little less than 48 hours.

Earlier this summer Matt “Hoss_TBF” Hawrilenko won his first World Series of Poker bracelet in the $5,000 Six-handed No Limit Hold’em event. After Tuesday’s play at the 2009 World Series of Poker Europe Main Event he’s in position to add a second to his collection.

Hawrilenko wrapped up play sitting atop the 27 remaining players with 701,500 chips. Steven Fung is Hawrilenko’s closest competition with 648,000 chips. The distance between those two and the rest of the pack is significant. A group of five players are bunched together with between 409,000 and 471,000.

At the top of that chase group is Praz Bansi with 471,000. The Londoner has been near the top of the leaderboard at the conclusion of each day so far. Arnaud Mattern, Barry Shulman, John Kabbaj and Peter Gould make up the rest of that group. Shulman is the father of November Niner Jeff Shulman - the player who said due to issue’s with Harrah’s he would throw away the Main Event bracelet should he win.

Speaking of the November Nine Antoine Saout is still in contention with 202,000 chips and James Akenhead is short-stacked with 153,500. Those two and the rest of the November Nine might be the big stars in a few months but the biggest names in the game are still shining in London. Daniel Negreanu finished with 314,500, Doyle Brunson will unbag 246,500 on Day 5 and Men “the Master” Nguyen survived with the shortest stack at 63,000.

Youngsters are also making some waves. Yevgeniy Timoshenko, Christian Harder and Jason Mercier are all still cashing Hawrilenko. Play wrapped up for the night when John Tabatabai was eliminated on the money bubble in 37th place. Joining Tabatabai on the outside of the rail Tuesday with nothing to show for it were Amnon Filippi, Andrew Lichtenberger and the player who started the day with an overwhelming chip lead Ian Munns.

The 36 players who will start Day 5 will all be in the money with the first nine players to hit the rail all cashing for £21,142. The average chip count is 279,000 and the final 36 players will return at Noon BST to play down to the nine-handed final table.

2009 WSOP Europe Main Event Top 10 Chip Counts

1. Matt Hawrilenko - 701,500
2. Steven Fung - 648,000
3. Praz Bansi - 471,000
4. Arnaud Mattern - 469,500
5. Barry Shulman - 452,500
6. John Kabbaj - 448,500
7. Peter Gould - 409,000
8. Shandoi Demjan - 367,500
9. Keith Hawkins - 330,500
10. Eric Liu - 330,500

Welcome to the BLUFF Daily Buzz, where we scour the entire internet for all the latest news in and around the world of poker. If it involves chips and cards, or people known to associate with chips and cards, we’re there.

Darvin Moon and Lacey Jones on ESPN Inside Deal

When the November Nine broke back in July chip leader Darvin Moon swore he was heading back to Maryland to disappear back into his daily routine as a logger. Up until now he’s done just that but just before a Washington Post feature on the man hits the newsstands he traveled to Bristol, Connecticut to be a part of ESPN Inside Deal. If baby-boomer loggers aren’t your thing this week’s episode also features Lacey Jones and she’s oh-so-easy-on-the-eyes. Watch the full episode here.

Unconfirmed: Pitbull Poker Closes Down 

Pitbull Poker, the first poker network developed entirely in Flash, has apparently shut down with owners arriving in the middle of the night with a moving truck to load up the computers and office supplies while the night shift customer service staff looked on. According to one report the night shift staff phoned police and arrests were made. Former employees are hoping that the Costa Rican court system sees the owners as potential flight risks and doesn’t allow them to leave the country.

Over the summer some players began to complain about some irregularities with the site.

Regulators! Mount Up. Dragonfish working with Tsogo Sun Gaming in South Africa

More and more countries are moving to a regulated model for online poker and South Africa is no different. Dragonfish, the group working with Harrah’s on the World Series of Poker online gaming component, announced Tuesday they have signed on to work with Tsogo Sun, one of South Africa’s largest casino and hotel companies. The partnership will see Dragonfish provide TSG with comprehensive gaming solutions; including games, technology, payment processing systems, call center, customer relationship management, online marketing and business analytics. While initially only a sportsbook will be offered the contract calls for poker, casino and bingo to be added to the mix.Read more: Dragonfish Enters South Africa

Ian Munns finished Day 2 of the WSOP Europe Main Event with the biggest stack but there's a bigger name lurking for a shot at a record-tying bracelet.

A  Day 2 shortened to allow players and fans alike to observe Yom Kippur turned out to be a real blessing for Ian Munns at the 2009 World Series of Poker Europe Main Event.

Munns finished the day with an astonishing 528,300 and he’s 229,300 ahead of his nearest competitor, Praz Bansi who bagged up 299,000. That’s right, no other player finished with a stack larger than 300,000 but Munns managed to crest the 500,000 chip mark on Day 2.

Munns’ lead is quite impressive but there is one name in the top ten that will have poker fans and historians excited. Doyle Brunson finished with 210,900. The day started with 178 players and ended with only 92 survivors including the 76-year-old Godfather of Poker.

 Also in the top ten are Amnon Filippi (4th - 216,500), Ram Vaswani (9th - 202,500) and Jason Mercier (10th - 202,300). Mercier would be the fifth player to win two bracelets this year should he manage to navigate the remaining 78 players and go on to win.

Two members of the November Nine still have a shot at the Ivan Demidov-like double. James Akenhead finished with the 17th largest stack (178,000) while Antoine Saout has some work to do from the 50th spot (90,100). The average chip stack at the start of Day 3 will be 109,000. With half the field being sent home on Monday there had to be some casualties.

Despite a grand entrance and a seat at the ESPN feature table on Day 1b Phil Hellmuth will have to wait to conquer London. The 11-time bracelet winner was sent to the rail on Day 2 along with Howard Lederer, Erik Seidel and Mike Matusow.

The players will return for a full six levels of play on Tuesday at Noon BST.

2009 WSOP Europe Main Event Top 10 Chip Counts

1. Ian Munns - 528,300
2. Praz Bansi - 299,000
3. Oyvind Riisem - 255,300
4. Amnon Filippi - 216,500
5. David Docherty - 216,200
6. Doyle Brunson - 210,900
7. Shandoi Demjan - 209,000
8. Markus Ristola - 205,000
9. Ram Vaswani - 202,500
10. Jason Mercier - 202,300

Welcome to the BLUFF Daily Buzz, where we scour the entire internet for all the latest news in and around the world of poker. If it involves chips and cards, or people known to associate with chips and cards, we’re there.

Tiffany and Maria survive week one on The Amazing Race … barely

The first episode of CBS’ Amazing Race aired Sunday night and poker pros Tiffany Michelle and Maria Ho made it through the first episode even though at one point they were sure they had been eliminated. After struggling to complete one task the girls were last to check in with host Phil Keoghan only to find out it was a non-elimination competition. The Race continued and Michelle and Ho rebounded nicely to earn the nickname “The Comeback Kids”. 

PokerStars adds another Guinness record to its collection

This will probably come as no surprise to any online poker player out there but PokerStars.com is now officially the busiest online poker room of all time. So say the good folks at Guinness Records who declared that PokerStars now holds the record for hosting “the most players at an internet poker room”.  On Sunday September 6 the online poker giant recorded 307,016 players at 42,814 tables – beating their old record by over 100,000 players.

Lady Gaga invited to be part of poker festival

One hit wonders come and go in the world of pop music and for many of them they just need to find a way to capitalize on the instant fame. Lady Gaga has done just that. The good folks at Ladbrokes Poker have gone and invited the rumored hermaphodite to perform her hit song “Poker Face” at the Irish Poker Festival. They’ve also extended an invite for her to sit at the tables and play. Lady Gaga is on our tour with Kanye West but according to tournament organizers there is an opening in the schedule. Read more at The Daily Star.

The six players on Poker After Dark this week will have national pride and $120,000 to play for as Team USA takes on Team Italy.

Americans Howard Lederer, Chris Ferguson and Erick Lindgren line up for Team USA while Dario Minieri, Marco Traniello and Max Pescatori don the red, white and green of Team Italy. The first of six episodes will air early Tuesday morning on NBC and will continue until early Saturday morning when a winner is crowned.

Producers promise an entertaining week of action with all six players agreeing that anytime a player wins a pot they must show one of their hole cards. The only member of Team Italy with any previous PAD appearances is Traniello while Pescatori and Minieri are making their debuts. Traniello is winless in his previous two appearances.

Ferguson won last week’s “Magnificent Six” showdown where he eliminated Phil Hellmuth, Daniel Negreanu, Phil Ivey, Doyle Brunson and Lederer to become only the third player in PAD history to knock off all five of his opponents. Lederer and Lindgren have both appeared on PAD before with Lindgren still without a win in his two matches.

A special “Director’s Cut” will air Saturday night following Saturday Night Live with Leeann Tweeden giving poker fans a behind the scenes account of the week that was.

Player “upay4mykidzdiapers” took down the week two leaderboard prize in the Team Bluff promotion at Carbon Poker. “Upay” hopes to pay for some diapers this weekend in the Carbon Poker Weekly $50k, where he will be freerolled into the tournament courtesy of Carbon Poker by virtue of being the top player for the week. The top four runners up in the weekly Team Bluff leaderboard for last week will all get a piece of “Upay” in the big tournament, just for finishing in the top five!

The Week One leaderboard winner, “cdbsoftball” played his freeroll at Carbon Poker yesterday. While he played valiantly, he missed the money, and an opportunity for him and his Team Bluff teammates, all of whom had a piece of ‘cbdsoftball’ in the big tournament because they finished in the top five of the weekly Team Bluff leaderboard.

“cdbsoftball” is also out in front on the Team Bluff monthly leader board. If his lead holds up, he’ll play Team Bluff member and online phenom David “TheMaven” Chicotsky heads up for $500. In addition, if he wins, the players in the top five of the monthly leaderboard will also win cash.

While the leaderboard is an appealing function of the Team Bluff promo at Carbon Poker, let’s not forget about the scores of players who participated in the ‘KamiKaze’ freeroll Sit n’ Goes last week. These players got a shot at free cash just for having Carbon Poker open when the freerolls were announced.

All of the above free cash is just for signing up at Carbon Poker through the exclusive Team Bluff links. Sign up today and get your chance at the free cash. Even if you don’t finish first, you could be rooting for the leaderboard winner, with a piece of him in the big tournament. So much value – sign up today!

You would think after the seventeen-day grind that was this year’s World Championship of Online Poker (WCOOP) players would take a weekend off before getting back in the swing of things. That was not the case though as almost all of the major Sunday tournaments met their guarantees and the players appeared to be out full force one week removed from the WCOOP Main Event.

Thanks to a chop, the final four players in the PokerStars Sunday Million took down six-figure scores, the biggest of which went to “nommaddman” who netted $189,233. Full Tilt’s $750K Guarantee also ended in a four-way chop, but in that event the players decided to split the money evenly despite the chip stacks ranging from 1.9 million to 4.3 million. Each of the players banked almost $80,000 while the eventual winner, “want2bedomnated“, took home an extra $10,000 for the win.

The Sunday 500 on PokerStars proved to be the final table with the most recognizable screeennames this weekend. Scott “stpauli11″ Hall, Bluff Online Player of the Year contender Ryan “ryanbluf” Karp and Peter “Belbacsi” Traply all survived to the final nine, but it was Jim “Mr_BigQueso” Collopy who booked the win worth $87,680.80.

Here are the final table results from yesterday’s major tournaments:

PokerStars Sunday Million
Prize Pool: $1,503,000
Entrants: 7,515

1st: nommaddman ($189,233)
2nd: mikal12345 ($133,000)
3rd: jas42 ($149,000)
4th: Ronald Kosh ($120,002.11)
5th: jgrhajsj ($61,623)
6th: Nativebounty ($46,953)
7th: doulas82 ($32,314.50)
8th: SooSavage ($18,036)
9th: TheRealMT ($11,648.25)

PokerStars Sunday Warm-Up
Prize Pool: $883,400
Entrants: 4,417

1st: KenT351 ($138,587.80)
2nd: Sn0wb4ll ($102,916.11)
3rd: Beto777 ($72,881.50)
4th: El ibero ($49,912.11)
5th: krash778 ($37,544.11)
6th: cabby123 ($28,710.51)
7th: CoachConrad ($19,876.51)
8th: Alexandre “allingomes” Gomes ($11,042.51)
9th: MVital23 ($7,067.21)

PokerStars Sunday 500
Prize Pool: $508,00
Entrants: 1,016

1st: Jim “Mr_BigQueso” Collopy ($87,680.80)
2nd: newg_choier ($63,500)
3rd: Peter “Belabacsi” Traply ($48,260)
4th: caecilius ($35,356.80)
5th: Ryan “ryanbluf” Karp ($25,146)
6th: Scott “stpauli111” Hall ($20,066)
7th: ramondemon77 ($14,986)
8th: Percussion ($9,906)
9th: Big_Nemo ($5,588)

Full Tilt $750,000 Guarantee
Prize Pool: $801,600
Entrants: 4,008

1st: want2bedomnated ($89,229.80)
2nd: Amazing Miss ($79,405.50)
3rd: cataron ($79,405.50)
4th: CooLJohN22222 ($79,405.50)
5th: colsha ($33,106.88)
6th: The Good Life11 ($24,528.96)
7th: CiderSipper ($18,436.80)
8th: goodvibe ($14,428.80)
9th: StickyIckyEarl ($10,741.40)

Full Tilt Sunday Mulligan
Prize Pool: $237,000
Entrants: 1,185

1st: Ton Lacosta ($53,325)
2nd: Rollie_416 ($33,772.50)
3rd: PrishChips31 ($25,003.50)
4th: domino20 ($19,552.50)
5th: Caranqui ($14,812.50)
6th: joaoMATHIAS ($10,665)
7th: IzoKala ($7,110)
8th: bcpjr ($5,332.50)
9th: HustlerGrune ($3,792)

Full Tilt Sunday Brawl
Prize Pool: $478,200
Entrants: 2,391

1st: seigo74 ($97,528.89)
2nd: Flexicom ($63,122.40)
3rd: matt126912 ($46,863.30)
4th: ItalianCrusher ($35,386.80)
5th: Eunjong Byun ($24,866.40)
6th: sachalin2 ($16,258.80)
7th: 13th BASS PRO ($10,998.60)
8th: sintik222 ($7,651.20)
9th: buriedatsea ($5,738.40)

November Nine Antoine Saout is looking to pull an Ivan Demidov by making both WSOP and WSOPE final tables in the same year. After Day 1b he's got a chance and a chip stack.

Some 30 years ago Steve Zolotow made a name for himself by dominating the games at the Mayfair Club in New York City. Sunday he made strides towards making a name for himself on the other side of the Atlantic.

Of the 178 players who made up the Day 1b field in the World Series of Poker Europe Main Event Zolotow rose to the top and wound up as the chip leader for the day. With a late flurry Zolotow finished with 166,825 good enough for 11,375 lead over Praz Banzi (155,450).

Last year Ivan Demidov made waves by making the WSOPE Main Event final table while a member of the November Nine. Frechman Antoine Saout is looking to repeat that performance and finished Day 1b with the third largest stack at 144,000. Apart from Saout there were a few other familiar faces to make it to Day 2.

Ram Vaswani bagged up 113,625  while Daniel Negreanu had a good day finishing with 88,925. Not everything went well for the famous pros though. Jean-Robert Bellande, Carlos Mortensen, JC Tran, Alec Torelli, Joe Sebok, Howard Lederer and 2008 World Champion Peter Eastgate all saw their tournament come to a close relatively early.

After the six levels of play 107 players were still in the running for the £801,603 first place prize. The 334 total entries puts the prize pool at £3,340,000 ($5,348,677 US). The field size is down slightly from the 362 players that played in both 2007 and 2008.

 When the survivors from Day 1a and Day 1b combine on Monday at the Casino of the Empire Brian Powell will have the most chips to unbag, count and restack. The Day 1a chip leader finished 194,600 chips. The day will start at 5:30 pm BST to allow those who wish to observe Yom Kippur to do so. Players will only play four levels due to the late start time.

 2009 WSOP Europe Main Event Day 1b Top 10 Chip Counts 

1. Steve Zolotow - 160,000
2. Praz Bansi - 130,000
3. Antoine Saout - 121,000
4. Noah Boeken - 118,000
5. Ram Vaswani - 110,000
6. John Tabatabai - 85,800
7. Daniel Negreanu - 82,450
8. Matt Hawrilenko - 82,000
9. Antonio Esfandiari - 78,000
10. Keith Hawkins - 76,000

Phil Hellmuth survived Day 1a of the 2009 WSOPE Main Event after arriving on a horse-drawn chariot dressed as Caesar.

The last bracelet of 2009 is up for grabs now as Day 1a of the World Series of Poker Europe Main Event wrapped up late Saturday with Brian Powell holding the chip lead after six levels of play.

The £10,000 buy-in event attracted 156 players to the Casino at the Empire including November Nine hopeful Phil Ivey, 2009 WSOP Player of the Year Jeffrey Lisandro, Mike Matusow, Erik Seidel, Doyle Brunson and of course Phil Hellmuth.

The 11-time bracelet winner took care of another carefully staged entrance riding up to the casino dressed as Caesar. The entrance came complete with a horse-drawn chariot, roman gladiator guards and of course the group of barely-dressed women. From his crazy entrance Hellmuth went straight to the ESPN feature table where he joined Brunson as the star attraction.

But the day wasn’t just about Hellmuth and his entrance. The day was about the cards. Powell holds a chip lead of only 4,875 over 2009 WSOP bracelet winner Jason Mercier. Those two players are clear at the top of the leaderboard by by nearly 30,000 with Jonathan Aguiar (156,000), Viktor Blom (150,000), Tommy Pavlicek (149,625) and Sami Kelopuro (142,000) making up the chase group.

Brunson managed to make it to Day 2 and will start the second day with 92,900. Hellmuth finished with only 17,000. Seventy-nine players made it to Day 2 and will join up with the players who survive Day 1b action on Sunday. Included among those who are out of the Main Event are Jeff Madsen, Ben Grundy, Roland de Wolfe, Patrik Antonius, Ivey and recent Brunson 10 signee Chris Moorman.

Action gets underway Sunday at 12 pm BST.

WSOP Europe Main Event Top 10 Day 1a Chip Counts

1. Brian Powell - 194,600
2. Jason Mercier - 189,725
3. Jonathan Aguiar - 156,400
4. Viktor Blom - 150,000
5. Tommy Pavlicek - 149,625
6. Sami Kelopuro - 142,000
7. Martin Hansen - 135,000
8. Alex Wice - 129,800
9. Sandor Demjan - 120,000
10. Peter Gould - 110,000

Jani Vilmunen's first WSOP bracelet came after a quick heads-up battle with Howard Lederer.

Jani Vilmunen has his very first World Series of Poker bracelet after winning the £5,000 Pot Limit Omaha event in London late Friday. And to get it he had to battle, and beat, one of poker’s most respected players in Howard Lederer.

Making his second consecutive final table Lederer held a 3:2 chip lead over Vilmunen but over the 71 minutes of heads-up play Vilmunen closed the gap and eliminated Lederer on a hand that could be considered a bit of a cooler.

Vilmunen opened with a raise to 120,000 from the button and Lederer re-raised to 360,000. The Finn made the call and the two players saw a flop of 8 7 6. Lederer bet 600,000 and Vilmunen, who had Lederer covered by this point, moved all-in. Lederer called and tabled A Q 5 4 for a flopped straight with a backdoor flush draw. Vilmunen flipped over Q T 9 7 for a higher straight. The T on the turn left Lederer drawing dead and sent Vilmunen into the winner’s circle.

“When I had just 400,000 (to Lederer’s 2,500,000) the game was not good. I could not concentrate. I made some big mistakes. I made two calls that I would not make normally. I felt bad when I made calls I should not make….But when I was at 400,000 I still thought I was going to win this,” said Vilmunen of his heads-up battle with Lederer.

Finnish players actually took three of the top five spots with Aarno Kivelio coming in third and Ville Haavisto finishing fifth. The hearts of the locals were broken when Hendon Mob member Ross Boatman was eliminated by Kivelio in fourth spot.

Vilmunen is known as “KObyTAPOUT” online where he regularly plays in some of the biggest PLO stakes around. While Texas Hold’em is the game many of the games current stars excel at Vilmunen prefers the action created by PLO.

“The new generation is playing Texas Hold’em, of course. Because of the Internet. But when I started to play, we just played PLO and cash games. It’s a fast game over here.”

2009 World Series of Poker Europe £5,000 Pot Limit Omaha

1. Jani Vilmunen - £204,048 
2. Howard Lederer - £126,134
3. Aarno Kivelio - £93,293
4. Ross Boatman - £69,030 
5. Ville Haavisto - £51,890
6. Daniel Hindin - £39,193
7. Roberto Romanello - £29,830
8. Jeff Kimber - £22,869  
9. Robert Williamson III - £17,772

Welcome to the BLUFF Daily Buzz, where we scour the entire internet for all the latest news in and around the world of poker. If it involves chips and cards, or people known to associate with chips and cards, we’re there.

74 hours, 20 minutes, 21 seconds … World Record

Paul Zimber has done it. The English poker pro set out earlier this week to post a world record heads-up poker session as part of the 2009 World Series of Poker Europe festivities. It took him a little more than three days to accomplish the feat and he did by playing anybody willing to make a minimum £10 donation to the Make-A-Wish Foundation. Zimber started on Monday and along the way played the likes of Doyle Brunson and Mike Matusow. Betfair, who sponsored the record attempt, donated £5,000 to the charity.

Apparently everybody needs an agent

IMG, the agency that represents Peyton Manning, Jeff Gordon and Joe Montana among others, has signed an extension to continue to represent the World Series of Poker. Yup, the WSOP has an agent. The agreement, according to a press release, will IMG to “activate its global network to help guide the international expansion of the brand, including sponsorship, event management, licensing and television distribution.” In the past IMG has helped the WSOP land mainstream sponsors Jack’s Link Beef Jersey, Hershey’s Chocolate and Planters Peanuts.

Official Press Release

Olivier Busquet should see a doctor. His graph is just that sick.

The man who won the World Poker Tour Borgata Poker Open on Thursday has one of the most impressive SharkScope graphs around. Following his win, in which he erased a 19 - 1 chip defecit while heads-ip, a few smart people decided to see how good he was at heads-up play. Our friends at WickedChopsPoker were one of those groups and they even grabbed a screenshot for you viewing pleasure. It looks a lot like George W. Bush’s approval rating over the course of his term - in reverse.

Olivier Busquet’s SharkScope graph

From the category of WTF dude?

Let’s face it, there can be periods of complete boredom when sitting at a poker table. Some players bring iPod’s, some read books, some enjoy the game on the TV but for one player at Borgata recently those were apparently not on his mind. According to 2+2 user “plsPayMyBillz” he was sitting at a table when, well, in his own words:

“a few weeks ago I was sitting at a 2/5 nlhe table at borgata … and there was this dude who was acting very strange and it appeared he was playing ‘pocket pool’ … I was sitting at other end so I didn’t notice anything , but the ppl at the table thought he was taking some chips off the table and into his own pocket…. after a little longer the dude next to him stands up and screams ’stop jerking off’ … floor guy came over and removed the guy and handed out wetnaps to everyone…”

The thread at 2+2 of course turned into complete chaos but the winner for best response might just be the very first one out of the gate thanks to “Bonified” who asked, most likely in light of Negreanu’s recent comment about another poker pro’s love of the Borgata, “It wasn’t Roy Winston was it?”

Read the entire 2+2 thread here.

Ten days ago Olivier Busquet was in the semi-finals of the $25,000 buy-in World Championship of Online Poker on PokerStars going head-to-head with Jonathan Jaffe for a shot at the $315,000 first place money. That didn’t go so well as he lost to the eventual champion. Thursday went much better for Busquet.

The Frenchman maneuvered his way through the World Poker Tour Borgata Poker Open TV final table to claim $925,514 and the title. Busquet eliminated Jeremy Brown after a 3.5 hour duel between the two that started with Brown holding a 3:1 chip lead. During the duel Busquet doubled up numerous times to stay alive before finally taking the chip lead.

Prior to the epic battle between the final two players Brown had done almost all of the heavy lifting. He ended the tournament for Keith Crowder, Yanick Brodeur, Ivan Mamuzic and Jeremy Brown. The only player eliminated by Busquet on Thursday was sixth place finisher Kenny Tran and that came on the third hand of the day.

The next WPT stop is the first event in Morocco as the non-televised WPT Marrakech takes place October 11 - 18.

WPT Borgata Poker Open Final Table Payouts

1. Olivier Busquet - $925,514
2. Jeremy Brown - $453,519
3. Ivan Mamuzic - $251,955
4. Yanick Brodeur - $216,681
5. Keith Crowder - $188,126
6. Kenny Nguyen - $156,212

Howard Lederer appears to be a man on a mission at the 2009 WSOP Europe. After busting out in ninth place of the £2,500 Pot Limit Hold’em/Pot Limit Omaha event Lederer slept of that disappointment, woke up and sat down to play the £5,000 Pot Limit Omaha tournament.

On Thursday he navigated through the second day of that event to make it to his second consecutive final table. He finished third in chips with 320,000 but finds himself well behind the top two players. The chip leader is Jani Vilmunen with 899,000 and Aarno Kivelio sits in second with 608,000.

The day started with 35 players vying for the WSOP bracelet and £204,048 in first place prize money. It took almost ten hours to get down to the final table of nine including a final table bubble that lasted over three hours. Robert Williamson III nursed the short stack during the final table bubble and found himself with chips when Sandra Naujoks busted out in tenth place.

Tied with Lederer for third is Dan Hindin with 320,000. Roberto Romanello isn’t far behind with 306,000. Ville Haavisto joins Kivelio and Vilmunen as Finns at the final table with 249,000. Ross Boatman (180,000) and Jeff Kimber (133,000) round out the final nine

There were some well known players who saw their run end a little earlier than they had hoped on Thursday. Chris Bjorin, who holds the record for most PLO cashes in WSOP history, busted out in 11th and Tom “durrrr” Dwan scored a 14th place finish. Defending champ Theo Jorgensen had his night end just before players made the money.

Action resumes at 2 pm BST.

2009 WSOP Europe £5,000 Pot Limit Omaha Final Table Chip Counts

1. Jani Vilmunen - 899,000
2. Aarno Kivelio - 608,000
3. Howard Lederer - 320,000
4. Dan Hindin - 320,000
5. Roberto Romanello - 306,000
6. Ville Haavisto - 249,000
7. Ross Boatman - 180,000
8. Jeff Kimber - 133,000
9. Robert Williamson III - 64,000