It’s been said many times before that this year’s WSOP was in danger of being a runt with Black Friday, causing some nay-sayers to claim that the 2011 WSOP would be thinned down as Poker players the world over would have the assets unavailable leading to Spartan tables on  the floors of the Rio All Suite Hotel and Casino in Las Vegas, Nevada. But it was a case of “No way Jose!” 2011 WSOP might just’ve been the best yet!

There was no excuse to not watch as  55 of the Bracelet Tables were streamed live (ish) on a five-minute delay via the internet on WSOP.com and the remainder (the $25K Heads Up, $50K Poker Players Championship and the Main Event) were streamed on ESPN3. Plenty watched as the average number of viewers watching the live WSOP Main Event was a stonking 416,000; a double digit increases over last year’s WSOP coverage on ESPN.

With so many mighty men of the cards in attendance it seems unfair to pick out just one of the stars, but one guy deserve it. Mr Ben Lamb. Lamb had a mythical run, at the 2011 World Series of Poker, with four in the money finishes, he also won a WSOP bracelet in the 361-player $10,000 Pot Limit Omaha Championship and a prize of $814,436; he finished 2nd in the 685-player $3000 Pot Limit Omaha Event 31 pocketing a prize of $259,918, he finished 12th in the 474-player $10,000 No Limit Hold ‘em / Six Handed Championship Event 46 making $56,140 and finished 8th in the 128-player $50,000 Poker Player’s Championship Event 55 for a prize of $201,338.  Lamb won his first bracelet this year, but he’s hardly a dark horse, before that, he was runner up in a $3,000 PLO event and made the final table of the $50,000 Poker Player’s Championship. He is the current leader in the 2011 World Series of Poker Player of the Year points standing, plus he’s certain of at least another $700k to add to the $1.3 million he’s already pocketed this summer, as one of the November Nine?

The big WSOP story is that we’re down to the last nine of the main event will get underway in November.  On that table there’ll be;  gong all-in for a full house.

• Seat 1 – Eoghan O’Dea
• Seat 2 – Martin Staszko
• Seat 3 – Ben (see above) Lamb
• Seat 4 – Phil (not the singer)  Collins
• Seat 5 – Pius Heinz
• Seat 6 – Anton Makiievskyi,
• Seat 7 – Samuel Holden
• Seat 8 – Badih Bounahra
• Seat 9 – Matt Giannetti.

If you have the desire to pick over the stats of WSOP2011, you should know that there have been 57 Bracelets awarded. Brian Rast continued the 11-year streak of someone winning multiple bracelets in the WSOP, (Ben Lamb has a chance to join him, if he picks up the most coveted of bracelets of all by winning the Main Event). Howard “Tahoe” Andrew made it 38 consecutive years played at the WSOP his is the longest streak of activity in WSOP history, as Tahoe has had a seat at every one since 1973.  Poker is truly an international joy, twenty-two of the bracelets winners were non-Americans this year, with the final nine showing just  how diverse the game has become. There were actually 105 different countries represented this year.

At the 2009 WSOP a one-off $40,000 tournament started the longest running poker festival in the world to celebrate the series’ 40^th anniversary. That particular event attracted 201 players and was eventually won by Vitaly Lunkin of Russia who netted $1,989,120.

This year Harrah’s, owner of the World Series of Poker, have introduced the $50,000 Poker Player’s Championship which will see some of poker’s elite battle it out over eight different poker variants. The games to be played are fixed-limit Hold’em, fixed-limit Omaha hi/lo split, Razz, Seven Card Stud, Seven Card Stud hi/lo split, no-limit Hold’em, pot-limit Omaha and 2-7 Triple Draw. Games will rotate every eight hands although the final table will be solely no-limit Hold’em.

Harrah’s have decided to use this tournament to replace the $50,000 HORSE event which attracted only 95 entries last year, down from 148 in 2008. Much of the blame for the reduced figures must go down to the decision to not air the final table on ESPN so many of the player’s sponsors refused to buy their players into the tournament. This mistake will not be repeated in 2010 as the final table of the $50,000 event will be broadcast by ESPN who have the rights to the WSOP for the next couple of years. Tournament poker videos of the event should also be available.

Another new tournament that is sure to draw in the crowds, especially the internet tournament specialists, is Event #52 – the $25,000 6-max no-limit Hold’em tournament. Each of the players will start with 75,000 chips and play to blind intervals starting at 150/300/25, increase every hour. The short-handed format should generate a lot of action and the coverage of the event should boost ESPN’s viewing figures as thousands will tune in to see some super-aggressive poker.

Doyle Brunson and Scotty Nguyen also made a nice run in this tournament and at one point, it looked like the possibility of 4 previous bracelet winners fighting it out. Scotty went card dead and Doyle slowly faded and went out in 7th position. This may have been his best shot of the WSOP for number 11 because we are now only 2 weeks away for the circus. The fields are starting to get larger and larger and the pros will continue to have trouble working their way through these humongous fields of amateurs that put targets on their heads the moment they see a pro seated next to them.

The other bracelet winner on the evening was Jordan Smith who outlasted 1694 other players to take down Event 36 and the $586,212 that goes along with it. At one point, this tournament seemed like it was never going to end as day 2 was just brutally slow. However, Jordan Smith stuck to his guns and continued to wear down the field until he has a massive cheap lead and the other player’s fates were sealed. This was his first bracelet, but he is no stranger to the WSOP with 12 other cashes to his credit.

In other tournaments…

At one point, it looked like there was no stopping Phil Hellmuth, but after making a humongous comeback and getting atop the leader board, the cards went the other way on his and he made his way to the rail. The played down to the final table on Saturday Night and will get back at it at 2pm to decide a winner. Marc Naalden is the current chip leader with 755,000 in his stack.

Day 2 of Event 39 will get under way with a lot of work to come before they see a final table. This was an amateur dominated field as most of the pros were eying up the Pot Limit Omaha Championship later in the evening. Mohsin Charania is the current chip leader with 144,100.

Event 40, the World Championship of Pot Limit Omaha got underway and as predicted, it was packed with all the superstars of poker. The leader board is littered with names like David Williams, Josh Arieh, Steve Zolotow and Barry Greenstein. Nate Lindsay currently leads the way with a huge chip lead of almost 200,000 over the second place player. He will start the day off with 482,200 and he is going to need every last one of them to fight off this hungry field of professionals.

In other tournaments…
Event 36 is moving along very well and as of this posting, there were only 66 players remaining. The bubble was 171 and after it was reached, they never looked back. Chips are continuing to fly and Jonathon Plens holds a small chip lead with 520,000 in his stack. Still a long way to go in this one though and lots of players are well within striking distance.

“You know it baby” is probably being heard quite often in Event 37 as the ever enjoyable Scotty Nguyen holds the chip lead with 317,000. As stated yesterday, this field is packed with superstars and they are all still hanging around. Both Doyle and Todd Brunson have worked their way up the leader board and are only 5,000 in chips apart. Some other notables that are stacking chips are Greg Raymer, Dutch Boyd and Howard Lederer. With only 36 players remaining, this final table is starting to shape up to be an all-star cast.

Event 38 was the only event kicking off today and it is still a little early for overall chip counts, but Kid Poker is making some noise early on in the $2,000 Limit Hold’em event. Erick Lindgren looks to be in trouble and Hellmuth’s stack seems to be growing at a steady pace. This is far and away the slowest day we have had in a while and it seems as though a lot of these players are starting to wear down. This is the break that a lot of them needed, except of course for those in the limit tournament and Stud Championship.

For those of you in the fantasy WSOP leagues, start taking the long days into account as a lot of these old-timers are starting to wear down. Frustration is also taking its toll on a lot of the cash players that are wasting days at a time only to get knocked out right before the bubble. If you want some insight, start reading the Tweets from the players and you can see that these big fields and multiple day tournaments are starting to wear thin. Look for a lot of the younger players and the season tournament pros to really start to shine.

The final hand did not hold much drama. A nominal raise was made before the flop and both players watched a flop of 10c8c4d. After De Wolfe checked, Richey made a move on the pot, but was rewarded with a pot bet by De Wolfe. Richey continued the action with an all in and the cards were turned. Richey showed a QdJsw10h9h and De Wolfe showed AdQc8d4h. De Wolfe was in the lead, but Richey has a lot to root for on the turn and river. Both fell harmlessly and Richey only walked with the $152,618 second prize.

Event 26 ended not long after as the $1,500 Limit Hold’em Event did not take long at all to decide a winner. This is far and away the earliest evening so far for the WSOP bracelet events. The tournament came down to Tomas Alenius and Jason Tam. Tam held a considerable chip lead when they went heads up, but Alenius make a Parkeresque comeback and ended up winning the event.

The final hand had Tam raising from the button and Alenius coming right back over the top. Tam was committed at this point and put the rest of his chips in the middle for a 4 bet. The cards were turned and Alenius was way ahead with A4 to Q5. The board didn’t hit either player and Alenius had made the comeback complete by putting on a new piece of jewelry and fattening up his back account with $197,488. Tam received $122,000 for second place.

In other tournaments…

Event 28 still has a rather large field left and while it is early, getting down to a final table will definitely take until the 3am limit. If they don’t get there, they will more than likely have to come back early tomorrow to finish off the event. Joe Simmons is the current chip leader with 485,000.

They are down to the Sweet 16 in the Heads Up Championship and there are still two major names floating around. Both Johnny Chan and Jason Mercier are still alive and playing well. The bubble was 32, so these guys are deep into the cash. At stake would be record tying bracelet for Chan and of course the little matter of the $625,682 for first place. The money really starts to jump from this point forward, so expect some tightening up by the less experienced players.

Parker and Serock had a great heads up battle, but when the pots were big, Parker was the one that was holding onto the winning hand. This was pretty much the same thing that happened in Event 14 as he didn’t want all the hands, but he won the ones that shifted the chips. Here is the recap of the final hand.

Brock had just won a big hand and had Serock on the ropes. Serock was on the button and raised it to 200,000. Brock came right back over top of him to make it 1,000,000 and Serock pushed all in. Brock made the immediate call and turned over QQ to Serock’s 1010. The board came out 7sAs2cKc and a Qc on the river just added insult to injury. Brock takes down the tournament, the bracelet and a huge payday of $552,745.00. Serock will get $341,783.00 for second place.

In other tournaments…

Event 20, $1,500 Pot Limit Omaha, has finally achieved their final table. Someone that we have not heard much from lately in the world of poker is still alive in this and the res t of the table better watch out. Eric Seidel is sitting in third place with about as much as the leader, but he is easily the best player left at this table. The players will pick it up at 2:00pm on Thursday to decide the bracelet winner. Here is your final table:

John-Paul Kelly – 627,000
Jason Dewitt – 476,000
Eric Seidel – 337,000
Kyle Carlston – 320,000
Marc Tschirch – 268,000
Andrew Radel – 250,000
Kirk Steward – 231,000
Aaron Virchis – 191,000
Ravi Raghavan – 145,000

The $3,000 H.O.R.S.E. event still has 21 players remaining and Gavin Smith (121,000) is still alive, but far down the board. The leader at the end of the day was Zac Fellows (471,000). These guys have a long day ahead of them as they will play till they have a winner on Thursday. There are coming back a little earlier to get it going and will start play at 1:00pm.

Event 22, the $1,500 NL Hold’em Shootout was a pure bloodbath with 900 of the 1,000 entrants hitting the rail on day one. Day 2 will start with 10 tables and everyone is at 45,000. If you are unfamiliar with how the shootouts work, they must play down to a winner at each table before the next round wins. Once this round is over, we will have our final table and everyone will have 450,000 in chips when they start play.

Event 23, the World Championship NL 2-7 Draw Lowball has also gotten underway and it is packed with pros. Featuring the smallest field of any event, only 96 players, everyone wanted in for a bracelet shot. There are still 60 players remaining and they should have no problems making a quick day of it down to the final table. Roland de Wolfe leads the way with 180,300 in chips.