The changes, as always, have been met with a mix of praise and criticism, especially the new registration rules. Many players like to turn up to their event late, Phil “The Poker Brat” Hellmuth the eleven-time bracelet winner is famous for this, but it appears he will have to be in his seat on time for the upcoming series.

A new rule states that any player who is not in their seat and has not been dealt a hand by the start of the third blind level will have their chips removed and be counted as a no-show. Their buy-in will also be removed from the prize pool and given back to them.

This rule in particular has drawn much criticism as many players believe it is open to abuse. A poster on a popular poker forum said that a savvy player may register for an event, keep an eye on his or her table and, if it looked too tough, not take their seat, essentially unregistering from the tournament.

One change that shows the popularity of social networking sites is the rule allowing players to send text, emails and use Twitter while at the table. As in previous years all mobile phones need to be switched off at the table but now players who have put their cards into the muck are free to use their devices until they receive a new hand. Chip counts and important hand recollections were common themes during the 2009 World Series of Poker, with fans tuning in to the like of Doyle Brunson and Daniel Negreanu’s pages for progress updates.

Perhaps the biggest change for the 2010 WSOP is the $50,000 H.O.R.S.E event being scrapped and replaced with the $50,000 Player’s Championship. Entries to the H.O.R.S.E event plummeted last year from 148 to just 95, mainly due to the event’s final table not being televised, so the tournament directors have decided to mix things up. After all, WSOP poker videos are now big business and what player doesn’t want to bask in the limelight?

Instead of H.O.R.S.E the players will engage in 8-game, which will see them play a mix of 2-7 Triple Draw, Limit Hold’em, Omaha Hi/Low, Razz, Seven Card Stud, Seven Card Stud Hi/Low, No-limit Hold’em and Pot-limit Omaha. The winner will still receive the Chip Reese Memorial Trophy, which used to be awarded to the winner of the $50,000 H.O.R.S.E event.

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.

This table is actually loaded with talent as Scotty Nguyen, Jeff Lisasandro and Lyle Berman are all still loaded for bear in what should be a great final day. Abe Mosseri managed to hold onto his chip lead for one more day, but the odds are against him holding off this talented field. There are only 12 players remaining and you know every person in the room is going to be pulling for Big Papa.

Event 36 missed making the final table by 8 players. This tournament appeared as though it was on a good pace to continue down, but the brakes were hit as the money started growing and play has once again come to a grinding halt forcing the final table to play a much longer day than anticipated. Corwin Cole is the most experienced player at the table with a whopping 4 WSOP cashes, but Steven Tabb is holding the lead with just over a million chips in his stack.

Event 38 kicked off on Friday and it still has a mountain of players remaining. Phil Hellmuth made an early run as did Kid Poker, but both are nowhere to be seen on the leader board now. The overall leader is David Baker with 72,100 in chips.

There are two more events kicking off on Saturday and you can expect to see a monster field in Event 39. With only one event going yesterday, players may be a little antsy, well rested and looking for action. The second tournament of the day will be the World Championship of Pot Limit Omaha. The $10,000 buy in assures us of two things: a small field and a lot or professionals. Expect to see Negreanue, Ivey, Clements and several other big names to made a deep run in this tournaments.

It all came down to Somerville and Carris, but the two players did not waste any time in settling this one. After only a few hands of heads up play, Somerville threw all his chips into the middle of the table with Qs6d. Carris took a few seconds to think about it but then decided correctly that his Kc6d was a big enough hand to make the call. The board fell harmlessly and totally missed both players’ hands and Carris got the jewelry and $313,913 to go with it.
In other tournaments…

The story of the day on Saturday so for is easily Phil Ivey. He has been dominating the Omaha/ Seven Card Stud Hi/Low 8 or better tournament from close to the beginning and is still not letting up. At this point, they are down to only 3 players and he has a huge chip lead of almost a half million chips over second place. As impressive as that is, he is also about to make the money in the Pot Limit Omaha Hi/Low Split 8 or better tournament as well.



The truly amazing thing is that he has barely played a hand in the second tournament. As chip leader of the other mixed tournament, he has been unwilling to leave the table and risk his position in the second tournament. He has only been over there when he is on break. Once he reached the final table, he was barely noticeable, but on every break he seemed to win a key hand that kept him alive. There currently 22 players remaining with only 18 getting paid and while he is one of the short stacks, he continues to make an appearance at precisely the right time to stay alive. This will be a huge accomplishment if he somehow stays alive in that tournament long enough for his final table to be over and then make a run here as well. More to come on this one as soon as it is available.

Event 24 is also on its final table, but it would appear to have quite some time left to go as the chips are pretty event. Panayote Vilandros is the current leader with 5 players remaining. Event 26 is now down to 34 players and should be able to get down to the final table tonight as well as Event 27 with only 22 players remaining. Event 28 has already lost about 75% of the starting field and Event 29 is just getting underway. No chip counts or leader information is available as they are both on Day 1.

Barbara Enright is the first woman to ever make the final table of the World Series of Poker Main Event. In 1995, Barbara Enright headlined a final tabled that featured Chuck Thompson, Captain Tom Franklin, and eventual champion Dan Harrington. It took an unlucky outdraw by Brent Carter to eliminate her from the event, but her legend remained.

Enright followed up her performance in 1995 by becoming the first woman to ever win an open event at the World Series of Poker. She took down the 1996 Pot Limit Holdem event for $180,000 and the coveted gold bracelet. This was her third overall bracelet. She won bracelets in the Women’s Seven Card Stud event in both 1986 and 1994.

Enright is known around the poker world for her ability as a stud player. In fact, many of her earlier tournament wins and cashes were in Stud. She has proven herself as a competent No Limit Holdem player as well, holding numerous cashes and 4 titles in No Limit Holdem. In 2007, Enright was inducted into the Professional Poker Hall of Fame with 11 time bracelet winner Phil Hellmuth.

2008 has been a banner year for Enright. She has 10 cashes so far this year in tournaments, including 6 final tables and 3 wins. Earlier in 2008, Enright was inducted into the Women’s Poker Hall of Fame. A tournament was held as part of the induction festivities. Enright showed the field why she was in the Hall of Fame by winning the event.

I actually know Barbara from traveling around the tournament circuit and she is one of the friendliest professionals that you will ever meet. She can play every game inside of a casino and she plays them better than most men. Her friendly personality is not just an act she puts on either. Whether I see her in LA, Las Vegas, or wherever, she always is friendly to anyone that approaches her and is very gracious in either victory or defeat. Barbara also was gracious enough to teach me a thing or two about the game of Razz and her advice got me started on becoming a solid Razz player.

Some of us were sitting with Enright in the 2006 Orleans Open discussing the issue of Women’s Only No Limit Holdem events. Barbara spoke up and said that she enjoys playing in them for the fact that she can go in them and be very aggressive. She says that most women play the game too soft and that when a woman goes into a tournament and plays aggressive like a man, they can do very well.

Barbara Enright is an old school professional poker player that has been around the block quite a few times. Even at her age, she is more than a match for many of the players that she faces. Regardless of the fact that people claim poker to be a young person’s game, Enright proves that anyone at any age can play this game at a high level.

The World Series of Poker (WSOP) originally started back in 1968 as an invitational event at the Holiday Hotel and Casino in Reno, NV. The event was won by Crandell Addington. The World Series of Poker as we know it today started back in 1970 as a set of cash games that drew the best Poker players in the world together to compete for the title of WSOP. Binion’s Horseshoe in Las Vegas, NV was the venue for this new World Series of Poker. The champion was determined by a vote and Johnny Moss emerged as the winner. For his win, Moss received a silver cup.

The next year, the champion was determined by a freezeout tournament and Johnny Moss again emerged the victor. 1973 saw the introduction of the first preliminary WSOP tournament. Bill Boyd won the Five Card Stud event for a grand prize of $20,000. Every year through 2003, the event was held at Binions. Many champions emerged victorious throughout the years including Doyle Brunson, Stu Unger, “Amarillo Slim” Preston, Johnny Chan, and Phil Hellmuth.

The Main Event was not the only poker tournament held at the World Series of Poker. Over the years bracelet events have been held in all forms of poker including Seven Card Stud, Pot Limit Omaha, H.O.R.S.E. and Lowball. Some games that have come and gone over the years include Five Card Stud, Five Card Draw, Ace to Five Draw, Match Play, Mixed Doubles, and Women’s Seven Card Stud.

The Rio – Home of the World Series of Poker

In 2004, Harrah’s Entertainment purchased the Horseshoe and the rights to the World Series of Poker. The event was then moved to the Rio All Suite Hotel and Casino with the last two days played at Binions downtown. 2004 was the last year that any portion of the WSOP was held at Binions. Since then, the even has been held at the Rio. 2004 also saw Chris Moneymaker parlay an online satellite into a world title. Since then, the popularity of poker has exploded and ushered in the current Poker Boom.

By the time of the 2006 World Series of Poker, the fields had grown to such epic size that the Main Event was view much like a lottery. A new event was created to showcase the elite of the poker world and try and bring back some of the old school luster of the World Series of Poker. This event was the $50,000 H.O.R.S.E. event. Chip Reese emerged as the first champion of the event and since then the event has showcased the best of the poker world.

The Main Event is still the World Championship of Poker. Each year thousands of players make the journey out to Vegas to try and put their name in the record books. This year’s World Champion is still to be determined. Harrah’s decided to delay the final table until November to allow for increased coverage of the event. The “November Nine” will reconvene on November 9^th and play down to the final two. Those players will return on November 10^th to play for the title and the $9 Million top prize.