From a press release last year announcing their annual partnership with the WSOP and their two seat give away promotion, Milwaukee’s Best Light marketing manager, Stefan Dinwiddie, stated the following:

“The WSOP Main Event is undoubtedly the world’s premier poker competition, and Milwaukee’s Best Light is proud to give amateur poker players a shot at playing against the best of the best and winning millions. Serving as official beer sponsor of the World Series of Poker gives us a chance to acknowledge and reward loyal drinkers, because Milwaukee’s Best Light is also the unofficial beer of poker games everywhere.”

Unofficial beer of poker games everywhere, huh? Let me break this down and translate it for you. What Stefan really means is:

“It would be an honor for our beer to be considered the least bit average because we put as little effort as we can as brewers into producing and marketing it for people who can only hope and ultimately expect their entire lives to be just that–average. We hope that in marketing our frothy peasant ale to an inbred, inferior race of burger flippers and car mechanics by dumbing it down to a sissy-hating, estrogen abusing audience, we too will be able to cash in on poker and the hopes and dreams of blue collar workers praying to one day win it big and move out of their double-wides.”

Yah, I said it, and I didn’t even have to mention how it tastes, which if you were wondering is like the diesel fuel their target audience puts into their Hemi trucks. If this is “Milwaukee’s Best,” I don’t even want to know about their worst.

Too late…

Besting a six-handed final table with notable poker phenoms Jason Mercier (recently mentioned World Series of Poker (WSOP) Europe final tablist/WSOP bracelet winner) and Daniel Alaei (World Poker Tour champion/WSOP bracelet winner), Seiver (WSOP bracelet winner himself) climbed to the top of the heap, staking his claim in the $425,334 first-place prize and trophy.

Heads-up play concluded when Seiver’s AsJs held against the pre-flop all-in of Alaei’s QdJd. Seiver faded Alaei’s flopped straight and diamond flush draw to become the champion. With his win, he moves just under $2 million in lifetime tourney winnings.

Now I use the term “champion” loosely because he is really just a “winner”. While these events bring out some of the biggest names in the game, with all due respect, it’s tough for me to call a 41-man event a “tourney” and the person coming out the other side a “champion”. Truth be told, it’s really just a rich man’s sit-and-go, which with the inflated buy-in, replaces the need for an additional 3000+ players in the field to have a huge payout for the top prizes. Don’t get me wrong–these are some of the greatest players in the world and combating their skill probably negates having to wade through a sea of no-names in your way to the top, but is that truly an accomplishment? I won a 45-man sit-and-go once. When is my trophy arriving in the mail?

The $420 + $40 buy in tournament brought in 33 players, including some of Carbon’s best players. There were numerous seat winners in attendance, including a stacked final table.

In the final 11 players we had heavy hitters like:

LTUFlawless – 2nd (Aus Mills, WSOP)

bullitpete – 5th (WSOP – EPT – Aus Mills)

vader46 – 6th (Aus Mills – MTT LB winner)

foxyuk – 10th (Aus Mills – EPT – WSOP)

1GOLDENBEAR1 – 11th (Aus Mills)

DrextheTex – 12th – (Aus Mills – WSOP)

All of them had already won a live seat through Carbon Poker tournaments, and many of them have done it more than once.

LTUFlawless won $952 in second place.

Congrats to mesut5400. We’ll be sending more players to represent CarbonPoker at the WSOP, so don’t miss out on your chance to hit the tables and come out with a $12,500 prize.

Lunkin really stepped his game up this year after earning $2,743,441 and a second World Series of Poker bracelet.  The Russian player cashed a total of six times in the 2009 WSOP, and highlighted his incredible performance with a win in the $40,000 No-Limit Hold’em 40th Anniversary event.  Before 2009, Vitaly’s previous best year was in 08’ when he won his first WSOP bracelet and earned $629,714 in live winnings.  He wasn’t as involved before 2008 since he was primarily known as a backgammon and Renju player.

Other awards given out at the 2009 European Poker Awards included Internet Player of the Year (Patrik Antonius), Rookie of the Year (Antoine Saout), Europe’s Leading Lady (Sandra Naujoks), Poker Staff Person of the Year (Edgar Stuchly), and Outstanding Tournament Performance of the Year (Jeff Lisandro).

Lisandro figured to be Lunkin’s closest competition to see who would be named the European Poker Player of the Year after he captured 3 different WSOP bracelets and won the WSOP Player of the Year.  Lisandro also became the first person to win a WSOP bracelet in all 3 Stud variations at the same Series. However, Lunkin’s all-around finishes, which included a couple of high EPT cashes, helped him to earn the title in 2009.

Mershon spoke about his new song by saying, “It’s just my way of saying ‘thank you’ to those fans who like my new song.”  Mershon continued by saying, “I wrote the song to humorously tell what it’s really like being a professional poker player, the sarcastic attitudes of many professional poker players, and the monotony of actually playing poker for a living and grinding out the long hours in a casino card room.”

And while the tone of Jason Mershon’s song may not be serious, the actual song itself is definitely getting some good praise from players and poker insiders who say it’s the best poker song in years.  Mershon has spent most of his working career in the entertainment industry, and he has already put out a hit song called “Rock and Roll Heaven”, which won two awards at the 2006 Los Angeles Music Awards.

Since winning the awards for Rock and Roll Heaven, Mershon has put much of his focus towards his professional poker career.  Jason commented on his poker abilities by saying, “I probably spend 90% of my time playing in cash games, but I’m also considered a pretty good tournament player as well.  So, I don’t want people to think I’m dead money in the World Series of Poker.”

Mershon finished summing up his chances at making a run in the 2010 WSOP by saying, “I think I’ve got as good a chance as any in making the Final Table.  I used to play with World Series of Poker champ Jerry Yang on a regular basis in California before he won the Main Event in 2006, and I’ve also held my own with many of the other well-known pros in tournaments and cash games alike.  I think the past few years have proven that almost anyone has a chance in The Main Event.”

The World Series of Poker recently released its rulebook for the upcoming 2010 series. New to this year, players arriving after the start of the third level of play (cough cough Phil Hellmuth) will be pleasantly surprised to see they’ve been removed from the tourney and are left to drown their sorrows in crab legs and prime rib at the casino buffet. This “no show” policy removes a players chip from play and money from the prize pool, holding it at the registration cage until it is collected by the entrant.

The 2009 logo policy is still in place, which bans the promotion of firearms, drugs, tobacco, lotteries, defamatory or obscene content, pornography, libel, or “advertises any online gaming site that conducts business with U.S. residents.”

Thanks largely in part to the impact Twitter has had on the poker community, the most profound change for 2010 is  that cell phones are once again permitted back on the tables, but only for those players with cards in the muck. Guidelines state:

“All cell phones and other voice-enabled and “ringing” electronic devices must be turned off during tournament play. Players not involved in a hand (cards in muck) shall be permitted to text/email at the table, but shall not be permitted to text/email any other player at the table. If Rio, acting in its sole and absolute discretion, believes a player is communicating with another player at the table, both parties will be immediately disqualified from the tournament and face imposition of additional penalties as described in Rule 37. All players desiring to talk on a cell phone must be at least one table length away from their assigned table during all said communication. Those individuals who talk on a cell phone not at least one table length away from their assigned table shall be subject to a penalty to be determined by Tournament Staff. No cell phones or other electronic communication device can be placed on a poker table.”

View all eight pages of WSOP regulations here (Adobe Acrobat reader required). 

Harrah’s is no stranger to debt in these hard times, being approved for a $17.7 billion private equity buyout in 2008. The purchase of Planet Hollywood is Harrah’s attempts at a foot in the right direction, buying property unloaded by the downswing while staking their claim on the southern most end of The Strip.

The following was sent via e-mail from Harrah’s CEO Gary Loveman to Harrah’s employees:

“The Planet Hollywood resort is currently in default to its lenders. As a result of our purchase of their debt, we are working on a plan that also would allow Harrah’s to own and manage the property. This is an attractive proposition because of Planet Hollywood’s proximity to our other resorts on the Strip, its high-quality product offering and its strong brand name.”

Fresh out of the rumor mill, it has been alleged that after 2010’s World Series of Poker, the events are being moved from the Harrah’s owned Rio to PH. While it has all been speculation up to this point, sources close to the matter are suggesting that the move is an attempt to revitalize the Planet Hollywood brand while promoting vacancies at the Planet Hollywood condos that recently opened.

So to be clear, Harrah’s now owns:

·         PH
·         Paris
·         Bally’s
·         Rio
·         Flamingo
·         Imperial Palace
·         Harrah’s

Boys and girls, your word for the day is mo⋅nop⋅o⋅ly, noun. A monopoly is the exclusive control of a commodity or service in a particular market, or a control that makes possible the manipulation of prices. All Harrah’s needs now are the title deeds to Park Place and Boardwalk and you won’t be able to move your thimble on The Strip without stepping on their properties.

The most glaring change to the WSOP schedule is that the $50,000 H.O.R.S.E. tourney has been removed.  This is a very interesting move since many of the world’s top pros enjoyed playing the $50K H.O.R.S.E. event.  However, the amount of entrants decreased from 148 players in 2008 to just 95 entrants in 2009, which showed waning popularity for the prestigious tournament.

Taking the $50k H.O.R.S.E. tournament’s place will be another $50k event in the $50,000 Mixed Event.  This tournament will consist of Seven Card Razz, Seven Card Stud, Omaha Hi-Lo, Seven Card Stud Hi-Lo, No Limit Hold’em, Limit Hold’em, Pot Limit Hold’em, and 2-7 Triple Draw Lowball.  In addition to the announcement of this new $50k tournament, ESPN will also be broadcasting the final table.

Another big move by Harrah’s involved getting rid of some of the mid-level Omaha and Stud events, and replacing them with more $1,000 No-Limit Hold’em tournaments.  The obvious reason for this move is because the mid-level buy-in Omaha and Stud tourneys didn’t draw many entrants.  On the other hand, last year’s $1,000 Stimulus Special was very popular and brought in over 6,100 players.  Harrah’s is hoping to recreate this level of enthusiasm with their additional $1,000 buy-in tournaments.

One more change to the 2010 WSOP from previous years is that Harrah’s will be taking more rake from the $1,000 and $1,500 buy-in tourneys.  Last year, Harrah’s Entertainment took a 9% rake while this year, they will be increasing that rake to 10%.  It will be interesting to see if these tournaments still draw big numbers with the increased rake.

TLC Enterprises, which owns Binion’s Gambling Hall and Hotel in Las Vegas, made the decision to close down the aging casino after some recent financial trouble.  Company spokeswoman Lisa Robinson told reporters that Binion’s hotel rooms just weren’t pulling in enough money to remain competitive in the market.  However, she also mentioned that TLC Enterprises hopes to reopen Binion’s doors in the future.

The company will keep the casino, poker room, steakhouse, and sports book open to visitors, but they have closed down the hotel, coffee shop, and keno parlor for an indefinite amount of time.  In addition to closing several areas of Binion’s Gambling Hall and Hotel, TLC Enterprises will get rid of 100 out of their 800 employees.

The recent closure of several Binion’s areas is the result of financial problems which date back to 1998, when Benny Binion’s daughter, Becky Behnen, acquired the business.  The hotel and casino was eventually closed in 2004 when US marshals seized money to give to Binion’s employees.  Harrah’s bailed the company out when they bought Binion’s and the WSOP; they later sold Binion’s to the MTR Gaming Group.

After the closure of Binion’s facilities, many poker personalities were disappointed such as WSOP tournament director Matt Savage.  Savage reminisced via Twitter by writing, “Binions Horseshoe was both hated and loved by poker players over the years, but it is definitely missed by those that played the WSOP there!”  The current Binion’s poker room has 10 tables, according to the casino’s website, and 11 televisions.  It’s well-known for its Gallery of Champions, which portrays the history of the 40 year-old WSOP.”

There is no word on the immediate future of Binion’s as of now.  However, people will still be able to play poker there in the meantime.

The Final Table was the longest in the event’s history – logging over 17.5 hours of play until only two remained.

Joe Cada was the eventual winner – beating out Darvin Moon in heads up action last night.

Here’s the breakdown of the Final Table Winners:

Joe Cada – $8.55Million

Darvin Moon – $5.18Million

Antoine Saout – $3.48Million

Eric Buchman – $2.5Million

Jeff Shulman – $1.95Million

Steven Begleiter – $1.59Million

Phil Ivey – $1.4Million

Kevin Schaffel – $1.3Million

James Akenhead – $1.2Million