The six players to exit Sunday and their respective winnings are:

4th Matt Giannetti $3,011,655
5th Phil Collins $2,268,909
6th Eoghan O’Dea $1,720,396
7th Badih Bounahra $1,313,851
8th Anton Makiievskyi $1,009,910
9th Sam Holden $782,115

That left Pius Heinz, Martin Staszko and Ben Lamb left from the starting field of 6,865 players to fight it out for the title on Tuesday night.

It didn’t take long for the fireworks to begin. On hand #1, Ben Lamb on the short stack, pushed all in with KJ off suit and was called by Staszko’s pocket sevens. The sevens held up and Lamb is crippled with just 10 big blinds left.  On hand #4 Lamb has little choice but to shove with Q6 off and is called again by Staszko’s pocket pair, this time jacks. They hold up and Lamb finishes in third.

Heads up between the 22 year old Heinz and the 35 year old Staszko then begins on hand #5 with the blinds at $800,000/$1,600,000 and a $200,000 ante. Heinz, the more aggressive of the two is looking to become the 2nd youngest player to win the WSOP main event. (Joe Cada age 21 in 2009)

Heinz had trouble making hands in heads up play and fell behind to Staszko but the aggressive Heinz hung in and eventually pulled ahead.

The final hand saw Staszko,  down to just over $44,000,000 in chips, pushing all in with 10c-7c  against the As-Kc of Heinz. When neither player hit a pair, Heinz was the champion, winning $8,715,618. Staszko collected $5,433,086 for second.

The chip leader, Martin Staszko (40.1 million in chips) — A professional poker player for about one year, is 35 years old and admits that he plays much more online than live. In fact, since arriving in Vegas on June 2, he has played 15 tournaments, which he says is more than he has played in his entire life. He is the first player from the Czech Republic to make the final table.

In second is, Eoghan O’Dea (33.9 million) — He is a 26-year-old pro who has cashed in big tournaments before and his father, Donnacha, has also won a bracelet and cashed in the main event six times.

Next is Matt Giannetti (24.7 million) — A 26-year-old pro from Las Vegas, Nevada well-known in poker circles for his cash game play.

Phil Collins (23.8 million) — another 26 year old from Las Vegas, is in 4th place.

In fifth place is Ben Lamb (20.8 million) — He is considered by many, the best player at the table. He has already won a bracelet, made two other final tables and taken home $1.2 million before the main event.

In the sixth place is Badih Bounahra (19.7 million) — who at 49 is the oldest player of the nine. He is also an amateur and strictly a live player. He’s also the first player from Belize to make the final table at the WSOP.

In seventh is Pius Heinz (16.4 million) — He is 22 years old and is the first German player to reach the November Nine.

In eighth is Anton Makiievskyi (13.8 million) — The youngest player at the final table, the 21-year-old Ukrainian can become the youngest WSOP main event champion if he wins in November.

In ninth is Sam Holden (12.3 million) –a 22-year-old native of Canterbury, England who survived being short stacked for most of Days 6 and 7.

Seating for this year’s November Nine are as follows:

Seat 1:  Matt Giannetti (Las Vegas, NV) – 24,750,000 in chips

Seat 2:  Badih Bou-Nahra (Belize City, Belize) – 19,700,000 in chips

Seat 3:  Eoghan O’Dea (Dublin, Ireland) – 33,925,000 in chips

Seat 4:  Phil Collins (Las Vegas, NV) – 23,875,000 in chips

Seat 5:  Anton Makiievskyi (Dnipropetrovsk, Ukraine) – 13,825,000 in chips

Seat 6:  Sam Holden (Sussex, UK) – 12,375,000 in chips

Seat 7:  Pius Heinz (Cologne, Germany) – 16,425,000 in chips

Seat 8:  Ben Lamb (Tulsa, OK) – 20,875,000 in chips

Seat 9:  Martin Staszko (Trinec, Czech Republic) – 40,175,000 in chips

The players are now on a three and a half month break before play resumes on November 5th. They will then play until only two players left and after a day off, will resume to determine the next No-Limit Hold’em World Champion.

The latest session finished March 29, 2011 with almost 1,100 hands being played. Jungleman 12 came out slightly ahead by about $40,000.  So far, 19,335 hands have been played out of the 50,000 to be played (with almost $130,000,000 having been bet to this point) and Daniel is winning the overall poker challenge by a little over $1,251,000.

For those unfamiliar with the Tom Dwan Full Tilt online poker challenge challenge, Tom puts up prize money at 3 to 1. If he wins, he gets the amount won at the tables and $500,000 from his opponent. If he loses,  his opponent gets the amount won at the tables and $1,500,000 from Dwan.

The first match (which hasn’t continued since August, 2010 ) has Tom Dwan playing Omaha Hi against Patrik Antonius. So far, 39,436 hands have been played out of the 50,000 hands to be played with Tom up a little over $2,000,000. Amazingly, over $342,000,000 has been wagered over those 39,000+ hands.

The totals so far in the 11 sessions played are: 11,569 total hands played out of the 50,000 hands to be played, with Daniel up a little over $580,000.  $580,000 doesn’t represent a very big hole for Dwan to dig out of when you consider that over $70,000,000 has been wagered so far.

For those unfamiliar with the Dwan poker challenge,”durrrr” is putting up prize money at 3 to 1. If he wins, he gets the amount won at the tables and $500,000 from his opponent. If the opponent wins, they get the amount won at the tables and $1,500,000 from Dwan.

The first match (which has been going on for some time) has Tom Dwan playing Omaha Hi against Patrik Antonius. So far, 39,436 hands have been played out of the 50,000 hands to be played with Tom up a little over $2,000,000. Amazingly, over $342,000,000 has been wagered over those 39,000+ hands.

The chip leader, Jonathan Duhamel (65.9 million in chips) is a 22-year-old from Montreal who finished 10th last December in EPT Prague.

Next is John Dolan (46.2 million in chips) who is a 24-year-old from Bonita Springs, Fla. He is in great position to win, especially considering that starting Day 8, he had only 2 million in chips and was 24th out of 27 players.

In third place is Joseph Cheong (23.5 million in chips) and another young full-time player who is only 24 years of age. Joseph said he has played over 10,000 poker tournaments the last few years and feels this experience plays to his advantage. He says, “There are a lot of solid guys here, but I think I’m going to win this tournament.”

In fourth place is John Racener (19.0 million in chips) has been traveling the poker circuit for the past few years and has already had success, including  11 WSOP cashes (including this main event)

Fifth place is occupied by Matt Jarvis (17.6 million in chips) a 25-year-old Canadian, who’s been making his living online and has only one five-figure cash in live play to his credit, but is still confident about his chances at the final table.

In sixth is Filippo Candio (16.4 million in chips) who is a 26 year old well-respected pro from Sardinia, Italy. He plays in a number of events and he won the Italian Poker Tour Campionato Italiano in 2009.

Seventh place is held by Michael Mizrachi (14.4 million in chips) who is a Miami native and one of the best known players in the world, with more than $8.8 million in live tournament earnings. Michael has already had a great 2010 WSOP by virtue of his winning the $50,000 Players’ Championship.

In eighth place is Soi Nguyen (9.6 million in chips) who is a 37-year-old amateur from Santa Ana, Calif. This is only his fourth live tournament and he is soaking up the experience.

The final seat is occupied by Jason Senti (7.6 million in chips) is a 28 year old Minneapolis native who has been playing poker professionally for three years.

Congratulations to all nine.

Here is the 2010 November Nine Seating Chart with Chip Counts followed by the Payouts:

Seat 1: Jason Senti — 7,625,000
Seat 2: Joseph Cheong — 23,525,000
Seat 3: John Dolan — 46,250,000
Seat 4: Jonathan Duhamel — 65,975,000
Seat 5: Michael Mizrachi — 14,450,000
Seat 6: Matthew Jarvis — 16,700,000
Seat 7: John Racener — 19,050,000
Seat 8: Filippo Candio — 16,400,000
Seat 9: Soi Nguyen — 9,650,000

Main Event Final-Table Payout:

1: $8,944,138
2: $5,545,855
3: $4,129,979
4: $3,092,497
5: $2,332,960
6: $1,772,939
7: $1,356,708
8: $1,045,738
9: $811,823

The 41st annual World Series of Poker (WSOP) is set to begin on Thursday, May 27, 2010. As every poker fan knows the WSOP is
an annual event that began back in 1970.

That year, Johnny Moss was awarded the championship by votes of the other players in the event. It became the freeze-out event that it is today in 1971 and Moss won again.

Today the fields are considerably larger and the number of events have grown over the years to the current total of 57, with a gold bracelet being awarded to the winner of each event.

This year’s events will run from May 27 to July 17, 2010. The World Series of Poker will have the following events and more;  limit, pot-limit and no-limit hold ‘em, seven-card stud, pot-limit Omaha, Omaha high-low split eight-or-better, seven card stud high-low eight or better, 2-7 triple draw, HORSE, Razz and of course, the main event which will be held from July 5 to
July 17, 2010.

The main event will not conclude on July 17, but it’s expected that on that date the final table will be determined, at which time play is halted and the players who make up the final nine (now known as the “November Nine”) will be brought back together in early November to play for the championship.

What do you need to be able to play in an event? Twenty-one or more years on your age meter and of course, the buy-in. If you don’t have the full amount you need for the buy-in, you could always try to satellite your way in. What do you need to win a bracelet? All of the above and a lot of skill, focus, determination and endurance. And oh, yes, a little more than an
average amount of luck.

If you’re even a little serious about poker, then winning one of the many gold bracelets that are awarded each year has to be at the top of your poker wish/want list, so if you decide to play in one of this year’s events, good luck! And if you can’t get to Vegas, you can always watch the events on ESPN with the rest of us.

If you’re not familiar with the challenge, check out the “durrrr” online Poker Challenge that I posted previously that explains many of the rules and details of the challenge.

As of today, there have now been 27,185 hands played of the 50,000 hands to be played as part of the challenge. At this point Tom is ahead by  $779,248.00, even though Patrik won $167,620.50 in their last session where 470 hands were played.

Of course, Tom’s lead is not much when you consider that the total bet so far is over $217,037,000.

The total time played up to this point over the 42 sessions is 3 days 14 hours 50 mins.

It begins with Guy Laliberte limping in with the ace five of hearts. Jamie Gold then calls with the jack of diamonds and seven of spades. Doyle Brunson follows by raising to $11,200 with ace ten of diamonds. Sam Farha calls with king of clubs and jack of hearts and David Benyamine follows by calling with the king five of spades. Laliberte and Gold call.

   Guy Laliberte               Jamie Gold              Doyle Brunson

           Sam Farha          David Benyamine

 The pot is $57,100 going to the flop, which is the ace of clubs, jack of spades and four of diamonds.

Doyle, playing the hand fast, bets $40,000. Farha and Benyamine fold, Guy calls and Gold folds. The pot is now $137,100.

The turn is a deuce of diamonds.

Doyle, with aces and the nut flush draw, bets $110,000 to make the pot $247,100. Guy, who also has aces, but with a lousy kicker and an inside straight draw, doesn’t fold, but raises $200,000 more to $310,000.

This is a great play and against most players holding ace queen or worse, would more than likely move them off of their hand. But Doyle makes an even greater play by calling Guy’s $200,000 raise and reraising all in for another $30,500. Guy calls and the pot is now $818,100, one of the biggest ever on High Stakes Poker.

They agree to run it twice and when a queen of spades hits the river on the first run and a ten of hearts hits on the second, Doyle wins the entire pot,  proving once again why he is one of the best to ever play the game.

Playing card clipart courtesy of Dave Schloss

Drop in on their home page and you will see a list of all of the top online poker sites. You also will find a wealth of information including the number of cash players playing on these sites at this very moment. Poker Scout’s home page also includes information on some of the high-stakes online games that are currently in progress and which sites they’re on at this moment. Included in this information is the type of game, stakes, and even how many players are at that table right now.

Their StarFinder page tells you which pros are online playing at this moment and which sites they are playing on. Also included is the pro’s screen name and the type of game they are in along with the limits. You can also find a list of many of the pros from Poker Stars and Full Tilt Poker along with their screen names and when they were last spotted playing.

The also have one of the most complete and current list of poker rooms (more than 500 sites) on the Internet with over 300 poker site reviews submitted by the players themselves. Poker Scout also has a list of online poker sites that allow U.S. players.

Their GameFinder software allows you to find a game by type, betting structure, limit/blinds, table size, and/or U.S. policy. Looking for a more uncommon game, like 5-Card Draw, Razz, 5-Card Stud, Triple-Draw Lowball A-5 or others, they have a page listing those too!

All this and online poker news from around the world. Next time you need virtually any type of poker information, check out Poker Scout.com

Their poker school covers everything from poker lingo to poker rules, as well as hand rankings and strategies.  Cool Hand Poker even has a section regarding the best starting hands to play for those new to the game.

Cool Hand Poker’s section on Top 10 Poker Tips won’t help you win every hand, but should certainly reduce your number of losses.  Because the better you play, the more poker becomes more about  skill and less about gambling.

Their site offers play in the following games:
Texas Hold ’em and Omaha is offered in both cash games and tournaments while 7 Card Stud and 5 Card Stud is offered only in tournament play.

They also have a $2,500 Guaranteed Sunday Fun-Day Tournament. The $20 + 2 buy-in gets you 1500 chips to start with re-buys only $5.00. And, Cool Hand Poker is giving away 3 golden tickets away to the winners of the main event in the Sunday Fun-day Tournaments for July, August and September, which qualifies the holder for an exciting opportunity to win €1,000,000.

Along with all of this, they offer additional promotions to add to the fun. You’ll have the opportunity to be playing regularly for such prizes as;

• MP3 player
• Music vouchers
• Gaming consoles
• Laptops
• Online shopping vouchers
• Trips to your favorite destinations
• Land tournament entries
• And more!

They also have a rather unique sign-up bonus. While most sites match only your initial deposit, Cool Hand Poker will match the first $350 even if it takes several deposits to get to the $350 total. The minimum deposit amount is $20 so they make it easy to get started. Once you’ve made your purchase, simply start playing and they’ll release your bonus to you in $10 increments every time you play 100 raked hands.

Please see Cool Hand Poker for full details. If you have any questions they have live chat to go along with normal email service.