Event #16 NL Shootout Day 1 -- Event #15 Limit Shootout Final Table -- Event #14 $1K Stud Hi/Lo Final Table

I needed to take the first part of today off to preserve my sanity. You can read all about my shitty day in the post after this one. I shall apologize to any readers who were looking to follow the progress of one of their friends or loved ones if they were playing in any of the final tables. Don't forget that I'm working almost everyday between now and the Final Event. I need to blow off a few half days if I want to be fresh once the Big One hits in mid-July. There will be very little specific hand-to-hand updates. I will be floating around a lot this afternoon and tonight. My goal is to spend more time out on the floor than in front of the computer.

I got paid today. Yep, the Poker Prof gave me my first payment of this year's WSOP. And what did I do with the money? I hit the craps able with TJ Cloutier. Ah, just kidding. But I did hit the bar with Otis and Amy during the dinner break. Damn, I love watching those hot waitresses shake their ass on the mini-stage. Amy Calistri and I have been getting into a bad habit... having cocktails during dinner break. But heck, I'm here to get some great stories and Amy is full with them. She is the WSOP Gossip Queen.

Otis gave me a good talking to about covering poker tournaments. It was refreshing to get some of his advice, especially on pacing myself.

Flipchip took me to Smith's which is the local grocery store chain. And yes, they have slot machines in the super market. In New Orleans, you can buy hard liquor in supermarkets. In Vegas you can piss away your grocery money. I had to buy laundry detergent ($3.09) and a new notebook.

Anyway, here are the events I was supposed to be covering today:

1. Event #14 $1,000 Stud Hi/Lo Final Table = Red font
2. Event #15 $1,500 Limit Hold'em Shootout
3. Event #16 $1,500 NL Shootout = Green font

The Stud Hi/Lo event started with 595 players who are competing for a prize pool of $541,450. The Limit Hold'em Shootout started with 450 players and they are gunning for a prize pool of $621,000. Kathy Leibert is the defending champion in this event. She made the final table and is looking to repeat. 780 players signed up for the NL shootout.

****** Live Blogging Update ******

8:15pm... Stud Hi/Lo Final Table update: We started with 8 players today. Here they are with chipcounts:

Seat 1: Sheila Gralak $37.5K
Seat 2:Giacomo D'Agostino $17.5K
Seat 3: Men The Master $46K
Seat 4: Steve Hohn $53.5K
Seat 5: Mike Wattel $155.5K
Seat 6: Peter Phillips $74K
Seat 7: Jonathan Paul $151K
Seat 8: Al Ruck $61.5K

Giacomo D'Agostino was knocked out first in 8th place. Men the Master was next in 7th place. Marie St. Michael took 6th place. Peter Phillips finished in 5th place. Jonathan Paul came in 4th. In 3rd place, it is Al Ruck. We're now heads up between Mike Wattel and Steve Hohn.

8:35pm... Limit Hold'em Shootout update: Here are the seat assignments. All the players start with the same amount of chips... $75K.

Seat 1: Aram Zerounian
Seat 2: M.J. Partin
Seat 3: Quinn Do
Seat 4: Robert Mizrachi
Seat 5: Sam Siharath
Seat 6: Bill Shaw
Seat 7: Kathy Liebert
Seat 8: Mark Seif
Seat 9: Alex Borteh

On hand 72, M.J. Partin was knocked out in 9th Place. He collected $12,420. Samrane Siharath was knocked out by Mark Seif's AA. He took 8th place and won $18,630.

9:30pm... NL Shootout update: We started with 780 and each table played down until one person had all the chips. Here's a list of players who won their table and survived the first round: Erick Lindgren, Scott Jones, Ted Lawson, Greg Stein, Anthony Piscato, Paul Wolfe, Robert Yong, Ezra Teitellbaum, John Myung, The Grinder, Annie Duke, Marco Traniello, Allan Dvorkis, Alan Groehing, John Juanda, Johan Storkers, Rodeen Talebi, Chris Massicot, Jim Worth, Joseph Haddad, Jay Heimowitz, Richard Hayden, Syracuse Chris Tsiprailidis, Raoul Paez, Greg Alston, Bret Jungblut, Andrew Krivenko, Charlie Sewell, Cecilia Reyes, Theodore Grose, Phil Gordon, Chris McCormack, Brian Mogelefsky, Lauery Aamer, Sam Arzoin, Michael Gambong, Young Phan, Hoan Ly, Anthony Reategui, Michael Sgrai, Tomer Bebvenisti, Yubia Tao, William Vechnak, Andrew Barret, Joseph Boldstein, Clint Baker, Kenneth Robbins, Noah Boeken, Darrin Fogel, Mike Davis, Peter Alson, William Jenson, Melissa Hayden, Jack Rosenfeld, Peter Costa, Joseph Golins, Paul Kroh, Nash Rizk, Richard Phillips, David Pham, Matthew Bates, Jesse James, Bobby Sanchez, Kenneth Berg, Justin Tran, Eugeny Kafelnikov, Jeff Camprell, Joe Chang, Gabriel Robles, Lee Wilson, Donald Barton, Keith Quilty, Randy Lorensen, Minh Nguyen, John Monnette, Dariush Imani, Frank Miceli, and Kirill Gerasimov.

10:00pm... NL Shootout update: A couple of big names have been knocked out of Round 2: John Juanda, Annie Duke, The Grinder, Minh Nguyen, David Pham, and Melissa Hayden. Phil Gordon has a huge chiplead.

10:21pm... Limit Hold'em Shootout: Have I mentioned how boring Limit events are to cover?

11:10pm... Bouncin' Around the Room Update: I chatted with Felicia's friend Jean Gaspard. He told me that his AK ran into JJ and he was KO'd of the NL Shootout. I also talked to Shirley for a while too. She lost heads up to "Brett Favre" at her table. She tried to slow play JJ and ran into K3 when Favre flopped trips.

11:16pm... Limit Shootout Final table update: Kathy Liebert was elimianted in 7th place. She collected $24,480 for her work. I was rooting for Kathy to repeat this year!

11:30pm... Bouncin' Around the Room update: I hung out and chatted with Nolan Dalla for a few minutes in the media room. He recanted tales about his first job out of college, when he was selling insurance in Fort Worth, Texas.

Modnight Update... I have nothing to report. The Stud event is still heads up. Nothing to report at the Limit final table. It's official, we have lost it here in press row. Flipchip is making Levitra jokes.

12:10am... NL Shootout update: Round 2 is complete. We started with 13 tables and we have 13 winners. Here is who advanced: Allen Goldstein, Kenny Robbins, Paul Kroh, Erick Lindgren, Phil Gordon, Alan Goehring, Bret Jungblut, Anthony Reatgul, Ted Lawson, Young Phan, Dariush Imami, Chris McCormack, and Keith Quilty. Play will resume at 2pm on Saturday.

1:00am... Stud Hi/Lo update... We have a winner! After five hours of heads up play, Steve Hohn eliminated Mike Wattel to win his first WSOP bracelet. Wattel won $88,800 for second place. Steven Hohn won $156,985.

1:07am... Limit Shootout Final Table: It had been two hours since we had someone knocked out. Arman Zerounian was knocked out in 6th place. He won $28,255 for his efforts. We're down to 5 players and it looks like we're going to be playing until dawn.

1:47am... Limit Shootout Final Table: Tournament Director Johnny Grooms put the Over/Under for the completion of the final table at 4:30am. I'm guessing it will be 6am. Anyway, we have another player eliminated. Quinn Do was kncoked out in 5th place. He wins $34,465.

2:20am... Bouncin Around the Room: I needed to go on a walk to clear my head. I wandered over to the deli near the sports book. They have great curly fries. It was so yummy and tasty. I was yapping with Joanne on the phone while I walked through the casino. Damn, the Rio was hopping for a Friday night!! I've been living in this surreal bubble called the WSOP and I forgot that I work in a freakin' casino. Man, some of the chicks were dressed up and looked smoking hot. I grabbed a bottle of water in the gift shop and told Joanne that they had Corona's in a can. She refused to believe me. I noticed a young, nubile black woman wearing a short short skirt. It was so short you could almost see beaver. Anyway, she stood in line in front of me but I didn't see any items in her hands that she was buying. It turned out that she was with the guy in front of her. He was your typical middle-aged tourist with a beer guy, a nice $200 watch, and a golf shirt. He was buying condoms. Yeah, she was a "pro" and my man was just ten minutes away from getting his "Jimmy waxed." Yes, I've definitely lost it. I'm blogging about hookers at the Rio. Flipchip told me that they bus hookers in for the WSOP and that they come from all over. Hey, even Jen at Poker Wire is completely bored. She's shopping for shoes online. BJ was explaining the origins of his name and it has nothing to do with fellatio.

2:30am... Limit Shootout Final Table: Robert Mizrachi (aka The Grinder's brother) was finally knocked out by Mark Seif. His railbirds were not cool. The Grinder was OK, but the other people in his group were blantantly ignoring Johnny Groom's pleas to not step onto the platform area while hands were in progress. It is media access only and it was difficult to see the action while they crowded the table. I've been covering final tables for almost two weeks now, and they were the most annoying by far. I was glad to come back and see them gone. Mizrachi won $40,675 for fourth place. Mark Seif, who is friends with Shirley Rosario, is the chipleader. She's on the rail rooting her good friend on.

2:35am... Limit Shootout Final Table update: Alex Borteh was knocked out in 3rd place. He won $51,440 for his efforts.


2005 WSOP Limit Shootout Champion: Mark Seif
4:20am... Limit Shootout Final Table update: Both players played heads up for about ninety minutes before they took a short break to discuss a deal. When they came back, Mark Seif won his first bracelet. William Shaw took second place. He won $93,770. Mark Seif took down $181,330 for the victory.