Pretty sure something was close to done and may or may not have fallen apart, and that Harrah’s is still looking to unload the home of the WSOP on someone … with any serious offers of $300 million or more getting a real look. But I don’t really know even that. Meanwhile, any poker media who ran with the story needs to consider their willingness to rely on such unsavory sources, and should probably go sit in a corner and think about what they’ve done.

Related Posts

• Harry Reid Voices Support for Online Poker-Only Legalization

  Yeah for poker! But kick in nards for Big Casinos?

  (2)
• North Texas Championship Series Underway in Oklahoma!

  Guarantees, NLH/PLO, politics and fusterclucks @ “The River”

  (6)
• Hard Rock Shuttering Poker Lounge after Detox Series

  [Video] Sneak peak at new downsized poker digs

  (1)
• Everybody Loves Jess (2)

Related Posts

• Load Up Your Poker iPod, Part 1

  Instapoker – Video

  (0)
• Postmodern Trippy Poker Pop Art on Display at WPT-London (0)
• (Outside) the Tournament Circuit – August 30th (0)
• Searching for Poker (1)

WPT London :: 21-year old Jake Cody wins his 2nd major of 2010, WSOP win away from Triple Crown. PartyPoker million dollar man denied. PartyPoker Blog

WPT London High Roller :: Justin “Boosted J” Smith defeats Tony G heads-up in marathon final table, earning £141,000 WPT High Roller report

Partouche Poker Tour, Cannes :: Vanessa Selbst, Fabrice Soulier and Phil Laak near top of leaderboard as field plays down to final 18.

River @ Winstar :: Greg Raymer has a very good week: Finishes 6th of 101 for $760 in $330 Jack and Jill tournament with his mom in her first time playing, returns for final day 3rd of 20 for main event. Winner takes down over $600,000 Day 3 lineup from 2+2 WinStar’s Twitter providing updates

Beau Rivage Gulf Coast Poker Championship, Biloxi, MS :: Chad Brown holds the chip lead at final table of their $5,000 main event. Winner earns over $177,000 and 2011 Southern Poker Championship seat. BeauPoker Twitter

Commerce Holdem Series :: Guarantees in weekend tournaments go 1 for 2 as series enters week 2. Commerce Tournaments

Also …

Controversy in side event of Partouche Poker Tour regarding floorman’s decision, tales of alleged bias against non-French players.

PokerStars’ WCOOP continues with three more events today. PokerStars Blog.

World Poker Open underway at London’s Palm Beach Casino. Phil Laak defending champion of made-for-TV event, 48 players vying for $200,000 first place money. World Poker Open updates

Related Posts

• (Way) Outside the Poker World – Sept. 3 (0)
• (Outside) the Tournament Circuit – August 30th (0)
• North Texas Championship Series Underway in Oklahoma!

  Guarantees, NLH/PLO, politics and fusterclucks @ “The River”

  (6)
• (Outside) the Detox Poker Series – James Wheatley wins Main Event (0)

Taking the role previously played by Darvin Moon, Dennis Phillips, and Steve Dannenmann, Cuong “Soi” Nguyen is this year’s resident everyman.

read more

The first night of WCOOP action brought some exciting action, with Event 1 and its short-handed no-limit hold'em followed by Event 2 and the $10,000 buy-in high roller NLHE action. And the late-starting event was this, the $200 buy-in straight-up NLHE tournament with a whopping $2 million guarantee. And the players were more than ready for it, as registration showed 12,066 of them at the tables, which boosted the prize pool well past the guarantee to $2,413,200. What a way to welcome the 62-event series!

With a massive field and quite a bit of money at stake, the tournament took quite a few hours to reach the money bubble, at which time mwasta666 took the unwanted distinction of finishing the tournament in 1531st place, one spot outside of the cash. The rest of the 1,530 players were guaranteed a minimum payout of $361.98 for their $200 + $15 entries, and as the cashier began doling out the dough, some of the PokerStars team members were among those accumulating it. the first to cash out was Maria "Maridu" Mayrinck in 1435th place, and she was followed by George "Jorj95" Lind in 1310th place, Florian "F. Langmann" Langmann in 908th, Sandra "Naujoks" Naujoks in 826th, Andre "aakkari" Akkari in 659th, Andrew "Kid Nebraska" Goetsch in 372nd, Diego "vgreen22" Brunelli in 195th, Karlo "elmagopr" Lopez in 136th, and Nuno "nuno coelho" Coelho in 133rd. The last Team PokerStars Pro standing in the tournament was Martha "marene" Herrera, who ultimately went out in 53rd place for a $3,740.46 cash.

The final two tables picked up speed as the competitors were anxious to make it to the final table, and hand-for-hand play with 11 players didn't take long at all. It was short-stacked hotshotss21 who moved all-in preflop with [3c][3s], but Iteopepe88 called 443,868 more from the big blind with [9h][3h]. The board came [Qd][7h][Ac][6h][Kh], and the hearts gave Iteopepe88 the flush and eliminated hotshotss21 in tenth place with $10,135.44 in prize money.

The final table was then set amidst Level 42 with blinds at 80,000/160,000 and a 20,000 ante, and the players were seated as follows:

Seat 1: jampiriki (6,817,011 in chips)
Seat 2: Bdbeatslayer (6,972,227 in chips)
Seat 3: i need bond$ (8,997,220 in chips)
Seat 4: binhoeiji (13,135,436 in chips)
Seat 5: Twinshark (10,972,400 in chips)
Seat 6: Iteopepe88 (19,968,840 in chips)
Seat 7: joao bauer (11,768,624 in chips)
Seat 8: cmpjo (29,726,018 in chips)
Seat 9: Aleksei1990 (12,302,224 in chips)

Team PokerStars Pro Katja Thater chimed in to the chat box to wish the players the best of luck, as they were doing the same with each other. Cmpjo was firmly in the chip lead and had been for some time, but Twinshark had other plans. After Twinshark took a 5.38 million-chip pot from I need bond$, the next move was to double through cmpjo in a monster pot as follows:

Most of the following hour of play was filled with caution and thoughtful raises that induced folds. Clearly, no one wanted to be the first to leave the table, and with the top four spots paying out six figures, that was incentive enough to play tight and wait for prime hands.

Through that period of time, Bdbeatslayer was unable to gather any momentum and was relegated to a very short stack. With only 488,387 chips left, Bdbeatslayer pushed all-in preflop with [Ts][7h], but Iteopepe88 easily called with [Qd][Qh] from the big blind. The board was a rather uneventful [Js][2h][2s][6d][8c], and no help came for Bdbeatslayer, who became the first eliminated player from the final table with $15,203.16 to show for the ninth place finish.

Over the next while, Iteopepe88 climbed into the chip lead and didn't look back, putting over 2 million chips between that first place spot and second place maintained by Twinshark. Meanwhile, I need bond$ was able to double through cmpjo to stay alive.

Just after the 17-hour mark of the tournament, it was jampiriki on a short stack and pushing it with none other than [Ah][Ad]. It was the hand he undoubtedly waited for, and binhoeiji made the call from the big blind with [Ts][Tc]. When the flop appeared as [7s][Qs][Js], it gave pause because of the spade flush draw for binhoeiji, and the [3s] actually made that flush. A meaningless [2d] on the river ended the hand with aces cracked, and jampiriki was forced out in eighth place with $24,132.00 to help forget about the bad beat.

And to prove that pocket aces were having a bad day, another hand ensued, and it was a big one. It started with I need bond$ making a preflop raise and binhoeiji with the call, but when Twinshark reraised it, I need bond$ folded and binhoeiji called. After the flop came [3d][9d][Kd], Twinshark bet, binhoeiji raised all-in, and Twinshark called with [Ad][Ks] for top pair and the flush draw. But binhoeiji showed [Ah][Ac] for his tournament life, and the overpair was good as the [5h] appeared on the turn. But the [8d] hit on the river to give Twinshark the flush and the 35 million-chip pot. Aces were cracked again, this time sending binhoeiji out in seventh place with $48,264.00.

Aces decided to make a comeback, though, and prove that they could still be the best hand. I need bond$ doubled through cmpjo when aces held up to A-K, and joao bauer did the same through Twinshark with aces fending off nines. But then cmpjo used pocket fours to crack the aces of I need bond$, and the reputation of pocket rockets was again on the fence.

Aleksei1990 finally decided to make a move and did it with [Ah][Qh] preflop. Twinshark made the call with [Js][Jh], and the board only helped turn that pocket pair into a full house when it came [2c][2s][7s][Jc][8s]. That eliminated Aleksei1990 in sixth place with $72,396.00 in prize money.

As the tournament approached the 18-hour mark, the biggest climber was I need bond$, who tripled up from a short stack into fourth place, doubled through cmpjo to climb into third, and soon took over second place. Cmpjo did wage a bit of a comeback as well, doubling through Twinshark to stay alive and get off the short stack. And joao bauer doubled through chip leader Iteopepe88 to do the same. A while later, cmpjo doubled through Iteopepe88 to climb into a solid second place.

Meanwhile, many Team PokerStars Pros showed up in the chat box to, well, chat. Thater was still present in her hosting duties, and others like Andre Akkari, Veronica Dabul, Henrique Pinho, Nuno Coelho, and Joep van de Bijgaart came by to see some of the lengthy tournament action.

A while later, cmpjo doubled through Iteopepe88, and I need bond$ did the same, cutting Iteopepe88's lead down to a bare minimum. Joao Bauer doubled through cmpjo in a 32.2 million-chip pot, and players were looking more aggressive (exhausted) and ready to move (sleep).

Twinshark was the next player to risk tournament life, but the hand started with a raise from Iteopepe88. Twinshark reraised all-in for 12,837,687 chips with [9d][9c], but Iteopepe88 didn't hesitate to call with a dominating [Kd][Kc]. The flop came [8s][Ks][Js] to give Iteopepe88 the set of kings, and the [8d] on the turn made his hand into a full house. The [2s] on the river ended it for Twinshark, who departed in fifth place with $96,528.00.

With the very next hand, a new chip leader was born as joao bauer took the reins:

Iteopepe88 doubled through I need bond$ to climb back to second place, which left I need bond$ needing more chips. It wasn't long before I need bond$ moved all-in, and Iteopepe88 reraised all-in to isolate from the small blind, which worked. I need bond$ showed [Kd][Jc], but Iteopepe88 was in the lead with [As][Td]. The board produced [5c][4c][7d][Ad][4h], and Iteopepe88 improved to two pair to eliminate I need bond$ in fourth place, which was worth a payout of $120,660.00.

After cmpjo doubled through joao bauer and then Iteopepe88 to jump back into contention, the final three players decided to take a look at some chip-chop numbers. But once the figures were presented, all of the players had issues, and they chose to restart the tournament and play on.

It didn't take long from there. Joao Bauer took a 25 million-chip pot from Iteopepe88, and the latter's stack continued to shrink. Finally, Iteopepe88 pushed all-in for 16,437,116 holding [Ad][5h], and joao bauer called with [Ah][Jd]. The flop brought [Js][3s][Jh] to give joao bauer trips, and the [3d] only developed that hand into a full house. The [7s] on the river brought Iteopepe88's tournament to a close with $168,924.00 for the third place finish.

Heads-up play then began with the following counts:

Seat 7: joao bauer (89,632,684 in chips)
Seat 8: cmpjo (31,027,316 in chips)

And two hands into the action, they paused to make another attempt at discussing numbers. Finally, after much back-and-forth and several sets of numbers, they agreed that joao bauer would take $276,702.37 and cmpjo would receive $260,298.79, while an extra $40,000 was to be awarded the eventual winner.

The duo proceeded with caution. Cmpjo wasn't going out without a fight and continued to push at his opponent, but joao bauer had some aggression in him as well. The two got involved with a raise and reraise to see a flop of [5c][Jd][4h]. A bet from cmpjo was called to bring them to the [7c] turn card. Then it was joao bauer who bet and it was an all-in bet. Cmpjo check-called for his last 19,462,316 chips with [4s][6d] and the pair of fours, but joao bauer showed [8d][7s] for a pair of sevens. The [9s] on the river ended the tournament, and cmpjo accepted $260,298.79 for second place.

After 19.5 hours of intense tournament action, joao bauer won Event 3 and took home $316,702.37 and a gold WCOOP bracelet for the accomplishment. Congratulations!

2010 WCOOP Event 3 Results:

1st place: joao bauer ($316,702.37)
2nd place: cmpjo ($260,298.79)
3rd place: Iteopepe88 ($168,924.00)
4th place: I need bond$ ($120,660.00)
5th place: Twinshark ($96,528.00)
6th place: Aleksei1990 ($72,396.00)
7th place: binhoeiji ($48,264.00)
8th place: jampiriki ($24,132.00)
9th place: Bdbeatslayer ($15,203.16)

The 2010 WCOOP is now underway with a total of 62 events and $50K in guarantees. The official WCOOP website has a plethora of information about the entire series, and PokerStars TV offers tournament highlights. And as the next few weeks of excitement progress, check out the VIP Club page to learn how to pick up amazing rewards for simply choosing to play on PokerStars.