BluffMagazine.com is helping poker fans get excited for the 2009 World Series of Poker Main Event final table with the launch of a new video player and exclusive content from the 2009 WSOP.

The video player, which is sponsored by UltimateBet, will give fans the chance to see the 24 final tables which were broadcast by BLUFF Media in an edited format complete with all bustouts and heads-up battles.

“Between now and November 7 we’ll add a new final table each day,” said Eric Morris, BLUFF Magazine publisher. “On top of that we’ll be adding all the interviews from the 2009 WSOP as well.”

Fans will be able to see the final table of the $50,000 H.O.R.S.E. event, the $10,000 Heads Up World Championship and both of Phil Ivey’s bracelet wins. Also available will be a Phil Hellmuth channel featuring the footage from his historic 11th bracelet win in 2007.

On the day Ivey and the rest of the November Nine regroup to determine a new world champion fans will be able to tune into BLUFF’s live audio broadcast from tableside. Fans will also be given live chip counts and graphics throughout the final table.

“Our radio coverage of the November Nine will give hardcore poker fans the chance to step inside the ropes for poker’s biggest event,” said Morris.

To check out the new video player for yourself visit http://www.bluffmagazine.com/videoplayer.asp

Daniel Negreanu barely made the final table of the 2009 World Series of Poker Europe Main Event but he battled throughout the day Thursday only to finish as runner-up. Barry Shulman, father of November Niner Jeff Shulman, outdueled Negreanu over the five-hours of heads-up play to win the Main Event, £801,603 prize money and his third WSOP bracelet.

The day started with Negreanu, who unbagged only 438,000 chips, being involved in a number of pots. After a little more than 45 minutes Negreanu had chipped up to nearly 700,000 and move out of the short stack zone. From there he was able to manuevre his way to get heads-up with Shulman.

The first elimination took over four hours and Negreanu claimed the scalp. After Chris Bjorin raised to 85,000 pre-flop, James Akenhead moved all-in and Negreanu moved all-in behind him. Bjorin folded and Negreanu showed K K and found himself racing against the A Q of Akenhead. The board ran empty for Akenhead and the November Nine shortstack was out in ninth while Negreanu moved up to the third largest chip stack.

After Shulman eliminated Matt “Hoss_TBF” Hawrilenko in eighth place Negreanu went on a tear. He eliminated the next five players to steadily climb the chip counts and get heads-up with Shulman. In order of elimination he snuffed out November Niner Antoine Saout, Bjorin, Markus Ristola, Jason Mercier and Praz Bansi.

When heads-up play began Negreanu had 6,180,000 chips to the 3,855,000 of Shulman. The heads-up battle though proved to be the one Negreanu couldn’t win. Over the course of five hours the two players went back and forth with both players holding the chip lead for an extended period of time. Twice Shulman was all-in for his tournament life and twice he managed to survive. The first time he cracked Negreanu’s aces with A 5 when he made the ace-high flush on the turn. The real drama came very close to the end though and might just be hand of the year. Nobody caught the action better than the official WorldSeriesofPoker.com updates team:

Our final two saw a 5 8 J flop and Shulman bet 300,000. Negreanu responded by raising to 900,000. And Shulman responded to that by moving all in.

Negreanu turned to the rail in the hope that they might help him with his decision. “So you all wanna go home, right?” he asked them. “I’m not saying I’m gonna lose…”

“Ah, I shouldn’t listen to the rail. I call.”

On their backs.

Negreanu: Q J
Shulman: A A 

Oh dear.

But wait!

Turn: to massive screaming from the suddenly very awake crowd — J

But wait some more!

River: …

…

…

A!

The hand gave Shulman the chip lead for the final time and the two players each picked up a pocket pair on the next hand. Shulman made a set with his pocket tens to make Negreanu’s pocket fours the second best hand. The win by Barry Shulman gives the Shulman family a rare opportunity to win both WSOP Main Event bracelets in the same year.

The £495,589 second place money for Negreanu was enough to make him the all-time tournament winnings leader with over $12,000,000 to his credit.

2009 WSOP Europe Main Event Final Table Payouts

1. Barry Shulman - £801,603
2. Daniel Negreanu - £495,589
3. Praz Bansi - £360,887
4. Jason Mercier - £267,267
5. Markus Ristola - £200,367
6. Chris Bjorin - £150,267
7. Antoine Saout - £114,228
8. Matt Hawrilenko - £87,074
9. James Akenhead - £66,533

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

Erik Cajelais was all smiles after eliminating the four players standing in the way of his first WSOP bracelet.

It only took 2.5 hours Wednesday afternoon for Erik Cajelais to realize a lifelong dream. The Canadian poker pro doubled up early and rode that wave of momentum to victory, and the WSOP bracelet, in the £2,500 Pot Limit Hold’em/Pot Limit Omaha event at the 2009 World Series of Poker Europe.

Cajelais started the day with the second smallest chip stack but doubled up off chipleader Mats Gavatin five minutes into the start of the day. He then took a big pot from Richard Gryko before eliminating him two hands later. He claimed his second victim of the day when he busted Men “the Master” Nguyen in fourth spot. With two scalps in his collection Cajelais was suddenly the chip leader for the first time since Day 1.

Cajelais didn’t stop there however. With play three-handed Robin Keston raised, Cajelais re-raised the pot and Keston moved all-in. Cajelais called and tabled K K while Keston held 2 2. The K on the flop sealed Keston’s fate and gave Cajelais and even bigger chip lead when heads-up play began.

Gavatin started the day as the chip leader but even that couldn’t prepare the Swede for the whirlwind that became Cajelais. Outchipped 5-1  when the 1-on-1 battle began Gavatin lasted little more than five minutes. Holding T T 9 8 Gavatin moved all-in and was called by Cajelais with Q J 9 7. The board ran out A Q Q A J to give Cajelais a full house and the title.

The win comes 28 months after a heartbreaking runner-up finish at the 2007 WSOP where he just missed out on a bracelet eventually won by Burt Boutin.

“It was extra motivation. I felt like I really, really, really wanted to win it. I had to do everything I could to win and today I played well and the cards came out my way,” said Cajelais following the win.

The day started with only five players after tournament officials decided to stop play late Tuesday. There had been some thought that the tournament, which had 158 runners, would wrap up in two days but after 12 hours of play they decided to stay with the original schedule.

The half PLO/half PLHE form attracted some big names and many of them went on to cash. The orignal nine-handed final table included Chris Bjorin (6th - £20,106), Hoyt Corkins (7th - £15,302) and Howard Lederer (9th - £9,117). Others who cashed were WSOP-cashing machine Nikolay Evdakov, Allie Prescott and Vitaly Lunkin.

WSOP Europe Event #2 Final Table Payouts

1. Erik Cajelais - £ 104,677
2. Mats Gavatin - £ 64,705
3. Robin Keston - £ 47,858
4. Men Nguyen - £35,412  
5. Richard Gryko - £26,619  
6. Chris Bjorin - £20,106  
7. Hoyt Corkins - £15,302  
8. Ian Frazer - £11,732  
9. Howard Lederer - £9,117

Only five players remain in the hunt for the second bracelet of WSOP Europe 2009.

The second event of WSOP Europe 2009 is down to five players and play has wrapped up for the night. That’s right, five players.

The day actually started with 22 of the 158 players still alive after Day 1 action of the £2,500 Pot Limit Hold’em/Pot Limit Omaha tourament. With so few players remaining there was a possibility that they could have played down to a winner on Tuesday evening. After ten hours of play and with five players remaining the players and tournament organizers took some time to come to the decision to return at 2pm BST Wednesday and play for the bracelet.

Leading the pack is Mats Gavatin who went all Machine Gun Kelly with rapid eliminations on his way to the chip lead. In a span of what felt like seconds rather than minutes Gavatin sent Allie Prescott, Michel Abecassis and Nikolay Evdakov packing. That left the tournament with nine players. Once the final table started Gavatin kept the heat on by eliminating Howard Lederer in ninth place.

Thanks to that string of eliminations Gavatin will return to a stack of 448,000 good enough for a 119,000 chip lead over Richard Gryko who currently sits in second place. Men “the Master” Nguyen sits in third with 268,000 while the player who started the day with the chip lead, Erik Cajelais, sits in fourth with 81,000. The short stack is Robin Keston with 63,000.

Gryko’s chip stack can be largely attributed to his string of eliminations following Lederer’s exit. Chris Bjorin went out in sixth at the hands of Gryko during a round of Omaha, Hoyt Corkins fell victim to Gryko and went out in seventh during a round of Hold’em and Ian Frazer went out in eighth during a Hold’em round thanks to Gryko.

Players are playing for the WSOP bracelet and top prize of £104,677.

There’s another WSOP bracelet up for grabs in London on Tuesday and if Day 1 of Event #2 (£2,500 Pot Limit Hold’em/Pot Limit Omaha) is any indication than it just might belong to Erik Cajelais.

The Canadian poker pro leads the event after the first day of play with 144,900 chips but there are 21 other players chasing him including one going for his second bracelet of the year. Russian Vitaly Lunkin, who took down the $40,000 Special No Limit Hold’em event in June, sits in 11th spot with 53,900. But between Lunkin and Cajelais are three Americans and a Londoner who held the chip lead for most of the day.

Tristan Clemencom bagged up 118,400 when play ended for the night, good enough for second spot as the only other player to break the six-figure mark. The players sitting third through fifth are some very common names to poker fans on this side of the Atlantic Ocean. Allie Prescott (88,100), Hoyt Corkins (80,600) and Men “the Master” Nguyen (75,800) are all hoping that when Tuesday’s play ends they’ll be rocking a new piece of wrist jewelry.

The field of 158 played down to 22 on the first of the event and tournament organizers have decided that if all players agree they’ll play down to a winner on Tuesday. The event was originally scheduled for three days of play with the final table taking place on Wednesday. This would allow players to register for Event #3 which kicks off on Wednesday.

Some of the 136 players who were eliminated on the first day include Doyle Brunson, Annette Obrestad, John Juanda, Phil Hellmuth and Chris Ferguson.

Action resumes at 2 pm BST (6 am PT) and you can follow the Live Udpates and Chip Counts at BluffMagazine.com.

For the second time in two years a player has managed to win a WSOP bracelet on both sides of the Atlantic Ocean. J.P. Kelly captured the first event of the 2009 World Series of Poker Europe Monday in London to take home £136,803 and the gold bracelet. Kelly won his earlier bracelet in a $1,500 Pot Limit Hold’em tournament (Event #20) in Las Vegas.

Given his pedigree Kelly’s win is hardly a surprise but the first few hours of final table looked and felt more like a coronation for Fabien Dunlop who entered the day with the chip lead. Dunlop held onto that lead throughout the day and even when heads-up play began he was well in front of Kelly.

The first elimination of the day came after only six minutes of play. James Tomlin, the shortest stack at the start of the day moved all-in from middle position and then things got a little bit crazy. William Martin moved all-in over the top and Thor Drexel called from the big blind. Tomlin found himself in bad shape with A 7 against the A K of Drexel and A K of Martin. The board ran out K J 4 4 8 and despite flopping the nut flush draw Tomlin wasn’t able to complete the flush and was sent packing in ninth place with a £13,115 payday.

Despite surviving that hand and chipping up a bit, Drexel didn’t last much longer. Adnan Alshamah opened with a raise, Drexel called all-in and Anthony Roux also called from the big blind. The flop came A J T, Roux checked and Alshamah moved all-in. Roux folded, Alshamah showed A K and Drexel showed Q Q. The J on the turn paired the board and gave Drexel more outs to stay alive but the 3 on the river ended his night. He cashed for £14,835.

Dunlop captured his first scalp of the night by eliminating William Martin in seventh place. Dunlop opened with a raise, Martin moved all-in for just over 100,000 and Dunlop made the call. Martin showed A J and found himself racing against the 7 7 of Dunlop. The K 9 4 flop brought no relief for Martin and when the 4 hit the turn and 3 hit the turn his run at the bracelet was cut short with an extra £17,535 in his pocket.

Neil Suarez was the next player eliminated. With a short stack he moved all-in from the button. Dunlop called from the big blind and revealed K K while Suarez showed 4 4. The flop, turn and and river all failed to help Suarez win with a bad beat and he was ousted in sixth place for £21,700.

A little while later pocket kings again meant the end of the night, and the tournament, for another player. Roux moved all-in and J.P. Kelly called. Roux revealed T T and found himself unfortunate enough to run into Kelly holding K K. The board brought A 9 2 Q 2 and Roux, the last remaining player at the table not from the United Kingdom, was eliminated in fifth position.

With Dunlop holding more than half the chips in play Dunlop began to make things a little more interesting by picking up another elimination. With action folded to him on the button Kelly opened with a raise and Richard Allen responded by moving all-in from the big blind. Kelly called and tabled 9 9 while Allen showed A 4. The community cards ran nearly dry for Allen and despite pairing his four on the turn he was unable to overcome Kelly’s hand and was out in fourth for £38,499.

That elimination by Dunlop meants heads-up play began with him holding 1,365,000 chips to Kelly’s 498,000. But while the previous seven eliminations all lacked in any real drama the heads-up battle more than made up for it.

On the first significant pot of heads-up play Dunlop raised to 31,000 and Kelly responded by making it 90,000 to go. As he had done in a few hands of heads-up action Dunlop moved all-in. Kelly called and showed A T while Dunlop turned over A 5. The J T 8 flop brought the sweat level up a notch with Kelly flopping a pair and Dunlop catching the nut flush draw. The 4 on the turn and J on the river gave Kelly the hand and a much needed double up.

The drama continued a few hands later as Kelly slowplayed pocket queens to perfection to take even more chips from Dunlop. But his slowplaying ways cost him a few hands later. Dunlop raised from the button and Kelly called. The flop came 9 3 2, Kelly checked, Dunlop bet less than the pot and Kelly then announced raise. After watching his opponent put in the check raise Dunlop moved all-in. Kelly snap-called and showed A A while Dunlop tabled 7 3. The turn brought disaster for Kelly though when the 3 hit giving Dunlop trip three. Unable to improve on the end Kelly was back to being the underdog.

After doubling up a few hands later and putting the two Brits on nearly even terms Kelly put the tournament to its end. After a Q T 7 flop Kelly bet, Dunlop raised, Kelly re-raised all-in and Dunlop called. Kelly showed K 8 for the second nut flush draw while Dunlop tabled J 2 for no pair and a worse flush draw. The 5 on the turn helped neither player but the 2 on the turn gave both players a flush with Kelly winning. The hand didn’t quite eliminate Dunlop but left him with a little more than one big blind. The next hand sealed the deal for Kelly who captured his second bracelet of 2009.

When three-handed play began Dunlop held 65% of the 1,830,000 chips in play with Alshamah hanging on with only 190,000 to his name. Alshamah’s night didn’t last much longer. He opened for 70,000 from the button and after Kelly folded his small blind, Dunlop moved all-in. Alshamah called and showed K Q and Dunlop flipped over A 8. The flop came K 5 2 giving Alshamah top pair but the A on the turn left him drawing to only five more outs. The 4 on the turn wasn’t one of those outs and his night was over with a respectable third place finish good enough for £55,468.

2009 WSOP Europe Event #1 Final Table Payouts

1. J.P. Kelly - £136,803
2. Fabien Dunlop - £84,512
3. Adnan Alshamah - £55,468
4. Richard Allen - £38,499
5. Anthony Roux - £28,181
6. Neil Suarez - £21,700
7. William Martin - £17,535
8. Thor Drexel - £14,835
9. James Tomlin - £13,115

The second event, a £2,500 Pot Limit Hold’em/Pot Limit Omaha mixed event, is already underway at the Casino at the Empire. You can follow all the Live Updates and Chip Counts until the second bracelet has been awarded.

Casino at the Empire

The Casino at the Empire in Leicester Square was jumping for Day 1a of Event #1 of the 2009 World Series of Poker Europe.

Day 1a of Event #1 (£1,000 No Limit Hold’em) is in the books at the Casino at the Empire in London as the 2009 WSOP Europe kicked off with 295 players showing up. By the end of the day however that field was reduced significantly and one name stood atop the leaderboard far from any of his competitors.

An astonishing 254 players hit the rail before the day was out including 11-time WSOP bracelet winner Phil Hellmuth along with Barry Greenstein, Jeff Madsen, Andy Bloch and Erik Seidel. While there was some big names being bounced the story of the day is the name at the top of the leaderboard and his commanding chip lead.

JP Kelly sits atop the leaderboard with 98,825 chips, over 31,000 more than his closest competitor. Richard Kellett, a fellow Brit, sits in second with 67,225. Kelly’s lead is so impressive that if David Stucke, who sits in third, and Ian Frazer, fourth place, added their chips together they’d still trail Kelly. Stucke has 45,875 while Frazer has 43,625.

The most well known name near the top might be South Africa’s Raymond Rahme. The 2007 WSOP Main Event 3rd place finisher sits in 14th with 24,000. Another top pro who survived the day was Roland De Wolfe (10,000).

The second starting day kicks off Saturday at Noon BST (4 am PT) and the 41 players from Day 1a will join the Day 1b survivors on Sunday. Follow all the action live on WorldSeriesofPoker.com.

Nearly three weeks have gone by since the Day 8 of the 2009 World Series of Poker Main Event and the nine players who will take their seats at the Penn and Teller Theater at the Rio All-Suite Hotel and Casino in November to wrangle for the bracelet have headed back to their respective homes.

Phil Ivey, Darvin Moon, Joseph Cada, Jeff Shulman, Eric Buchman, Steve Begleiter, Kevin Schaffel, Antoine Saout and James Akenhead have about three months before they meet again.

Chip leader Moon, who has only been playing Texas Hold ‘em for about three years and usually plays in friendly home games, will spend the interim doing what he normally does. Moon has returned to his logging business in Maryland and is not planning anything major until the Main Event is over. Being guaranteed at least $1 million, Moon has plans to visit  Alaska and buy his father a Cadillac.

Ivey said simply that he “has some things in mind” when asked what he would be doing until November. As soon as the final table was set Ivey was ready to make his way to the Bellagio for some cash game play. It seems the next three months will be business as usual for the pro of few words who is close to cinching the title as the top tournament winner of all-time.

Akenhead has caused a buzz among poker bloggers in the United Kingdom, all throwing out mass speculation about what it means for Brits to have a player at the Main Event final table and what will happen if the young gun takes the whole thing down.

Frenchman Saout, having made his first career cash by making the November Nine, plans to play the European Poker Tour in order to gain experience. Saout began playing poker just over a year ago and wants to improve his skills even more before the table re-convenes.

Cada, the youngest of the nine, intends to take some time to relax. ”I’m going to spend a Michigan summer on the water,” he said.  

Like Moon, Begleiter is headed back to his day job. The corporate strategist at an investment firm in New York said he has no immediate plans to quit his day job but will take a vacation with his family in Europe before he returns to Las Vegas.

Schaffel said his life has been “surreal” since he made the Main Event final table. Since returning home he has received hundreds of phone calls and text messages from friends and fans.

Buchman will spend his time relaxing. He will not be keeping tabs on the other players or playing more than usual just to get “practice.”

Shulman has somewhat recanted his statements from the first part of the Main Event when he said he would “throw it in the garbage” when asked what he would do if he won the bracelet. Shulman has since said that his comments had nothing to do with Card Player no longer having exclusive rights to the WSOP but were directed at how the WSOP is conducted.

The November Nine will meet again November 7. By November 10 one of the them will be the newest addition to a list of champions dating back 40 years.

Steve Schirripa of “The Sopranos” will host NBC’s first ever poker-themed game show “Face the Ace.”

The show that gives qualifiers the chance to play heads up against some of poker’s best players will debut with back to back Saturday showings on August 1, at 9 p.m. ET. The remaining seven episodes will air Saturday afternoons.

“Face the Ace” contestants have been selected from a group of qualifiers at facetheace.net and fulltiltpoker.net. Each contestant will get the chance to battle against three professional players for top prize of $1 million.

Contestants will select a pro from behind smoked-glass doors to play an initial heads-up No Limit Hold ‘em match with a prize of $40,000. If the contestant wins that match they will go on to another match with a different pro to play for $200,000. If the second match is won the contestant can play a third match against a third pro for $1 million. The contestants can choose to walk away with the money after each match. If they lose at any point, they walk away with nothing.

The pros will secure $10,000 for their charity of choice for each match they win.

The “Aces” will consist of Patrik Antonius, Andy Bloch, Allen Cunningham, Chris Ferguson, Phil Gordon, Gus Hansen, Jennifer Harman, Phil Ivey, John Juanda, Howard Lederer, Erick Lindgren, Mike Matusow, Huck Seed, Erik Seidel and Gavin Smith.

As a group the “Aces” have won 41 World Series of Poker bracelets, 11 World Poker Tour titles and amassed nearly $100 million in tournament winnings.

“Most people don’t get to compete against their favorite athletes in sports like football or basketball,” Schirripa said. “This show gives contestants and incomparable opportunity to test their skills against some of the best poker players in the world. The same people they’ve read about or watched on TV are the ones they have to defeat for a chance at life changing money.”

In addition to Schirripa, Ali Nejad of “Poker After Dark” will serve as tournament director and Megan Abrigo, Breifcase Model Number 6 on “Deal or No Deal” will be the hostess.

Tuesday July, 28 will mark the beginning of ESPN’s weekly coverage of the 2009 World Series of Poker. The action will get underway at 8 p.m. ET with the broadcast of the $40,000 No Limit Hold ‘em, an event special to the 2009 WSOP.

The 201 player field made up the biggest non-Main Event prize pool in WSOP history with a total of $7,700,000. The winner walked away with $1,900,000 after three days of play.

Coverage will begin with commentators Norman Chad and Lon McEachern walking viewers through the final table that featured 2004 Main Event winner Greg Raymer and five-time bracelet winner Ted Forrest.

ESPN will air coverage of the 2009 WSOP every Tuesday until the Main Event live final table on November 10.

Leo Margets was presented with the Last Woman Standing Cup by WickedChopsPoker.com at the end of Day 6.

At the end of Day 6 of the 2009 World Series of Poker Main Event 98.4 percent of the field was made up of X and Y chromosomes. The other 1.6 percent, the lone player with two X’s in a field of 64 players, was Leonor “Leo” Margets of Barcelona.

Playing in her first major tournament Margets now has the distinction of being the last woman standing in the WSOP Main Event. With her stack of 3,410,000 chips in front of her, Margets joins the ranks of Barbara Enright, Susie Isaacs, Marsha Waggoner and Annie Duke.

“I am playing the best poker I have ever played and it is paying off, I’ve actually never played so good. Sometimes you can play good and it doesn’t pay off but this time it is,” Margets said.

She was aware that she was one of two women remaining when it came down to her and Nichoel Peppe. “Everyone was commenting on it and I saw the last hand Nichoel played.” But Margets was not in it to be the last woman standing. “I would rather lose to Nichoel heads up, because she is a great player, than finish in 100th and be the last woman in,” she said.

The petite beauty from Spain outlasted former Main Event winners Phil Hellmuth, Scotty Nguyen, Greg Raymer and reigning champion Peter Eastgate. For her commendable achievement Margets was awarded a special trophy from the Entities at WickedChopsPoker.com. The trophy is a gold cup with the names of all the last ladies standing since 1986 when Wendeen Eolis came in 25th.

When play concluded for the day Margets was presented with her prize just after she finished bagging her chips. She smiled and held the trophy above her head. “This is my cup,” she proclaimed as she showed it to her friends who had been fixed at the rail all day cheering her on.

There are two years missing from the trophy, 2001 and 2002, because not a single woman cashed those years. With her deep run in 2009 Margets has added one more year to the list for ladies in the Main Event.

In order to break the record for the highest finishing woman in the Main Event Margets will need to finish in fourth place or higher. If she busts in fifth she will tie the record set by Enright in 1995.

If she has the unfortunate distinction of bubbling the final table she will not be the first female to come so close but not go all the way. Tenth place belonged to Barbara Samuelson in 1994, Isaacs in 1998 and Duke in 2000.

Margets has only been playing poker for three years and said it was “satisfying” to be doing so well in such a big event. Her only other cash was on June 12 at the 2009 Venetian Deep Stack Extravaganza III when she came in 39th in the $500 No Limit Hold ‘em (Event 16).

She will return for Day 7 on Tuesday at 12 p.m. and continue in her attempt to become the first female Main Event winner.

Redmond Lee is in position to become the first English-born player to win the WSOP Main Event.

When Day 2a kicked off Tuesday afternoon Englishman Redmond Lee was at the top of the leaderboard. BluffMagazine.com caught up with Lee and found out a little bit about him.

Do you have an online name that your are known by?

Himclop85.

How did you qualify for the Main Event?

I bought straight in.

Is this your first Main Event?

No, it’s my third.

How old are you?

I’m 23. No really I’m 15, just kidding.

Do you have a favorite casino here in Las Vegas?

Probably the Wynn. The Wynn is my favorite yeah.

Any really big hands on Day 1 or any hands that you thought you were going out on?

I made a really nice call into a three spot with king-high on a paired board and he bet the river, he overbet the river and my king-high was good. Aside from that no, I never really got my money in behind. I had to make some big calls, the flop came jack high and I had ace-jack and I led out. He called, the turn came a ten, so it was like Tx 7x Jx, I led out and he shoved on me, so I was like ‘marvelous.’ I didn’t think he would play a straight draw like that, I didn’t think he would float me in like that, so that was pretty nice. And I think the other good part was the guy raised out with ace-king and I had the 9, I flopped a flush, I checked to him, he bet, but it was really weird cause he was such a tight guy. I guess he just went mad or something, I checked raised and he instantly went all-in, I snapped his head off, he had ace-king.

What will you do until Day 2?

I’m just going to hang out, yeah just relax.

Do you have any friends and family here with you?

I know people within the poker world but not anyone in particular.

What will you do if you make it all the way?

Buy a million candy bars. No, I will probably invest it in some property. I’d probably be very smart with it. Maybe if the Rio would accept it I could go and put it all on black and double my money. We’ll see how it goes right?

The winner of the final$1,500 No Limit Hold ‘em tournament of the 2009 World Series of Poker is Tony Veckey. Veckey outlasted 2,817 other players over three days to take home his first WSOP bracelet and the top prize of $673,276.

The software engineer was playing in his first ever WSOP event and was just looking to make a minimum cash. “I came out this year because I liked the photos of all the money you see on TV,” Veckey said. “I’ve been playing for a couple of years now.” In 2010 Veckey will make his debut in the Main Event.

It came down to a heads-up battle betweenVeckey and Jason Wheeler. On a board of 7 Q [10d] 8 Veckey moved all-in with 9 J. Wheeler called and flipped over A Q. The Q fell on the river giving Wheeler a set but it was not enough to beat Veckey’s straight. Wheeler earned $418,122 for his efforts.

Three hours into the final table all nine players were still seated at the felt. The bubble broke when Miha Remicof Slovenia shoved his stack into the middle from the button with J 9. Andrew Malottmade the call and flipped over pocket fives. Remic was unable to connect on a board of 2 2 A 6 3 and went to the cash cage to collect $81,970, his first WSOP cash.

About 30 minutes later Frenchman David Jaouiwas sent to the rail when he moved all-in pre-flop for 650,000 from middle position holding A 9. Sergey Konkinmade the call and felted pocket Queens. Jaoui was able to hit a pair on the flop of K 4 9 but never found the Ace he was looking for when the board finished 8 6. He made his second cash of the 2009 WSOP for $87,855.

Ten minutes after busting Jaoui, Konkin sent Christopher DeMaci to the rail in seventh. DeMaci pushed all-in for 525,000 from the small blind and Konkin made the call from the big blind. Konkin showed Q J, DeMaci turned over Q 5 and the board ran out 5 J 4 4 K, giving Konkin top two pair. DeMaci earned his third WSOP career cash for $98,993.

It was not the prettiest of days for Chris Bonita, he spent most of the day on a roller-coaster and was eliminated in fifth place for his fourth WSOP cash. After a flop of 3 9 8 Bonita check-called a bet by Wheeler for 210,000. After the turn brought the J Bonita check-raised all-in after Wheeler bet 425,000. Wheeler showed 7 [10s] and Bonita turned over 5 6. The 5 fell on the river and sent Bonita away with $147,131 but no bracelet.

Less than ten minutes later Malott followed Bonita to the cash cage to collect $195,213. Malott raised from under the gun to 115,000, Joe Chaplin re-raised to 500,000 and Malott moved all-in. Chaplin showed A J, Malott flipped over K K and the board ran out Q A 4 2 9c]. After being the loudest player at the table the entire day Malott made a quiet exit.

Konkin was eliminated in fourth place and earned $195,213. After being crippled by Veckey, Konklin was forced all-in on the big blind. Veckey, Chaplin and Wheeler checked down a board of 4 A 3 2 J. Veckey won with A [10c], Konkin mucked his hand and left to an applause from the crowd for a game well played.

Chaplin was sent packing in third when he raised to 200,000 from the button and was called by Wheeler and Veckey from the blinds. Veckey led out for 450,000 on a flop of 8 9 6, Wheeler called and Chaplin moved all-in for 1.6 million. Veckey folded, Wheeler called and showed Q 2 and Chaplin turned over 7 8. The Q fell on the turn giving Wheeler a pair and the river brought the K. Chaplain was sent away $279,029 richer and two places shy of his first bracelet.