July 2005 Archives

Note: One of the greatest PokerStars stories to come from the World Series of Poker was that of Bernard "Dogger9" Lee, a Frequent Player Point qualifier who caught everybody's eye as the real deal. Lee has agreed to chronicle his journey for the Official PokerStars Blog. His trip report will...more

Note: One of the greatest PokerStars stories to come from the World Series of Poker was that of Bernard "Dogger9" Lee, a Frequent Player Point qualifier who caught everybody's eye as the real deal. Lee has agreed to chronicle his journey for the Official PokerStars Blog. His trip report will...more

Note: One of the greatest PokerStars stories to come from the World Series of Poker was that of Bernard "Dogger9" Lee, a Frequent Player Point qualifier who caught everybody's eye as the real deal. Lee has agreed to chronicle his journey for the Official PokerStars Blog. His trip report will...more

Note: One of the greatest PokerStars stories to come from the World Series of Poker was that of Bernard "Dogger9" Lee, a Frequent Player Point qualifier who caught everybody's eye as the real deal. Lee has agreed to chronicle his journey for the Official PokerStars Blog. His trip report will...more

Note: One of the greatest PokerStars stories to come from the World Series of Poker was that of Bernard "Dogger9" Lee, a Frequent Player Point qualifier who caught everybody's eye as the real deal. Lee has agreed to chronicle his journey for the Official PokerStars Blog. His trip report will...more

If you're looking for the continuing WSOP story of PokerStars Bernard Lee, you'll have to wait until tomorrow. The Sunday $500,000 Guaranteed tournament is getting a little to big to ignore. Bernie will be back on Tuesday.I had logged on to PokerStars Sunday afternoon to watch the heads-up match between...more

Note: One of the greatest PokerStars stories to come from the World Series of Poker was that of Bernard "Dogger9" Lee, a Frequent Player Point qualifier who caught everybody's eye as the real deal. Lee has agreed to chronicle his journey for the Official PokerStars Blog. His trip report will...more

Note: One of the greatest PokerStars stories to come from the World Series of Poker was that of Bernard "Dogger9" Lee, a Frequent Player Point qualifier who caught everybody's eye as the real deal. Lee has agreed to chronicle his journey for the Official PokerStars Blog. His trip report will...more

Note: One of the greatest PokerStars stories to come from the World Series of Poker was that of Bernard "Dogger9" Lee, a Frequent Player Point qualifier who caught everybody's eye as the real deal. Lee has agreed to chronicle his journey for the Official PokerStars Blog. His trip report will...more

This just in: PokerStars is offering a limited time deposit bonus. Make your next deposit before Thursday, July 28 at 11:59PM ET and receive a 20% bonus worth up to $120.Click here for complete bonus details....more

Note: If you've come here looking for World Series of Poker coverage, please see the WSOP section on the right for a list of WSOP links. --B"O"WMany of you already know about PokerStars weekly heads up match between our Tournament Leader Board leader and PokerStars' Tom McEvoy. Well, as it...more

With the World Series of Poker come and gone, we're left with dozens of great stories and a lifetime of memories. I've attempted to index most of the WSOP posts here. Thanks again to all the players and the members of our WSOP Team Blog for making it a great...more

There was a time many, many days ago when these players could not have thrown a football and hit each other across the tournament floor. The vast expanse of tables was too wide, too crowded with the thousands of players, and too full of early-day jitters. But this was a...more

Well, the poker world has a new champion. Joe Hachem took down the whole shooting match just after 7am this morning. There is a lot to report, but being human (or some human-shaped shell), Team Blog needs to sleep. Badly. While I consider blogging an immediate medium, sleep is going...more

Joe Hachem wins 2005 WSOP for $7.5 million Our two PokerStars qualifiers have finished their run at the WSOP. While we here at Team Blog would like to go drown our sorrows, we figure this is the biggest event in poker history. So, we remain and will let you know...more

PokerStars qualifiers make the WSOP final table and become millionairesBrad Kondracki being interviewed by CardPlayer magazineDaniel Bergsdorf lets it all sink inGetting there, and those left behindThere was a point during the day when two longtime card players and I stood and stared across the legendary Benny's Bullpen and asked...more

TWO POKERSTARS QUALIFIERS ARE MILLIONAIRES. Brad Kondracki and Daniel Bergsdorf make final table at WSOP!Today, we find ourselves back at the 'Shoe. Team Blog will be on top of things and will post updates as they come in (and as the limited technology here at Binion's allows). The most recent...more

I saw it in my mind's eye before I saw it through a lens. I saw it as a vision after the 2004 WSOP. I thought--no, hoped with every ounce of my being--that a reunion of Greg Raymer and Mike Matusow would happen someday. Some fine day, I thought, there...more

If you hadn't already guessed, Day 5 is over with 27 players remaining. A full recap is coming. In the meantime, you should know that Greg Raymer, Brad Kondracki, Bernard Lee, and Daniel Bergsdorf have all survived. Raymer, Kondracki, and Bergsdorf are all in the top ten in chips. More...more

Okay folks, another day of substance over style. Here's your play-by-play for the day. Today, the most recent updates will be posted directly below the chip counts. Good luck to our 11 remaining players. HEY LOOK: The WCOOP schedule is out.Chip counts (updated when available)Blinds $20,000/$40,000 with $5,000 anteDaniel "berka"...more

The final half-level of the night was just about to begin. A man was barking across the room for another bloody mary. Phil Ivey was staring. Mike Matusow was talking. Chips were clacking. In short, the same things were happening that ha been happening for the past several days.Across the...more

Okay folks...for the rest of the night, it is substance over style. No pictures, no fancy wordplay. Just hard core numbers and hands. These are the players we know for sure are playing right now in the 92 remaining. Continue to click refesh and scroll down for the next few...more

Larry Prugh, Radu Butan, Shane Bartholomew, player departures, and how some of our winners qualified to get hereLarry Prugh is a frustrating subject for photographers. When we're looking for a wide range of emotions to shoot, Prugh just sits there stone-faced, no matter whether he is winning or losing. Of...more

The media here have been graciously allowed what I've termed "The Trough." It's a walkway between the rail and the railbirds and allows us to get a little closer to the players.As I walked though The Trough, WSOP Media Director Nolan Dalla was just finishing up an interview with a...more

"That is scary."Phil Hellmuth had appeared around the featured table and was chatting people up. He does that from time to time. He was talking with Neverwin and walking in between in the ESPN cameras. Someone said, "What about that Raymer?"Hellmuth looked over the rail where Raymer was sitting in...more

Greg Raymer's day started with one massive hand and no one is sure how it will end. But, to be sure, everyone is talking about the 2004 World Series of Poker Champion. He began this day with the chip lead and maintains it to this moment. With the action just...more

No, we do not. Not yet. This should speak for itself.Chip leaderLet's just say this for now:Heading into Day 4, PokerStars still has 30 people with chips out of the remaining 185. The man you see above has more chips than anybody.These PokerStars qualifiers have already cashed in the main...more

With only a few minutes on the floor at a time, Mad and I have divided the duties. She's chatting up the players while Howard and I snap some photos. Here's what we, as a group, came up with as the night drew to a close:The new media rules here...more

When the story gets big, the vultures fly in. With more than 500 media badges in the Rio, there are now more "reporters" than players left in the event. The situation has resulted in a near black-out of media coverage from inside the rail. The remaining media have been relegated...more

Well, sorry about the lack of posts today folks. So many of you had been coming to check out the action, we had a few problems. It appears we're back. The good news is that the down time allowed me to keep up with the PokerStars winners of the day....more

Let us speak of torture. Not the truly ugly kind that we don't speak about over intimate dinners, but the kind of torture than can only be experienced in the realm of poker.It begins with either playing in the first flight of Day 1 and having to wait two days...more

With one hour remaining before the end of play, we are getting close enough to the money for the players to start smelling it. Defending champion Greg Raymer has accumulated nearly $300,000 in chips. The media pool has agreed that he and Russ Hamilton are the only remaining WSOP champions...more

Five people descended into a field of 800 to find the remaining PokerStars players. We believe this to be the most comprehensive list of the remaining PokerStars players in the main event of the WSOP. Chip counts were recorded as of 9pm Vegas time, Sunday July 10.Graeme "sacrifice" Harrison -...more

Within the next 30-40 minutes you'll have a comprehensive chip count from every PokerStars player on the floor. Standby....more

We're heading into the dinner break in just a few minutes. The PokerStars story of the day continues to be Graeme "Sacrifice" Harrison. While saying nary a word, he has taken his Day 2 starting stack of around $150K, fallen down to around $80K, and now sits at an estimated...more

Raymer, Sacrifice, RagdeWe've sent blog correspondent Mad Harper to the pool to get a bit of sun. PokerStars own Conrad Brunner is on the floor in her place and has just reported back to Blog HQ.Brunner has seen Greg Raymer's stack and it is large. The chip count now numbers...more

Team Blog has returned from the floor with two reports. Mad Harper and I have been stalking John "JAMAPLAYS" Harrington. He's one of those players who came over to PokerStars and played for real money for the first time just before the WSOP. Mad Harper chatted him up.Amongst the cynical,...more

The breaking of Day 2 has done something to this room. After three days of Day 1, it was beginning to feel like a long baseball season in which the World Series was still months away. Now, each all-in means something. Now, the money is in sight.The Amazon Ballroom, now...more

Things are moving a little too quickly at this hour. We may have to start doing quick updates here until things slow down a bit.Briefly:* 2003 WSOP champ Chris Moneymaker has been eliminated. He started the day with a short stack and the stack never grew.* WPT PokerStars Caribbean Adventure...more

It started a bit late, but it's happening. The words "all in" are like an echo that never stops as the shortstacks work to double up and stay ahead of the advancing blinds. Today is where things start to move a little bit.With that in mind, Team Blog's audio blogger...more

It would seem a bit tacky to call this "The Longest Day." To liken this grueling three days to a 1962 film about the D-Day invasion is beyond the pale of good taste. Nonetheless, this 72-hour "first day" of poker has seen more than 5600 people, each with $10,000 in...more

Just before the dinner break, we talked about a common phenomenon. Dinner seems to inspire chip-movement. Sure, it has something to do with the blinds increasing and such, but I think there is some psychological shift that occurs over a philly cheese steak and potato wedges. Maybe it's the starch.So,...more

We're headed off to dinner for a while. In case you're just logging in for the day, here's a recap of the day so far.Europeans invade--Hartigan's Audio BlogFlying the flag at the WSOPMeet Team BlogFinal WSOP numbers and payouts releasedFeatured and familiar faces in the crowd...more

The World Series of Poker at this stage is a giant game of "Where's Waldo?" Only in this game, we don't even have the benefit of a candy-striped shirt to act as a beacon. Twenty percent of the field is decked out in PokerStars gear and finding one person among...more

The final numbers are in.Right click here and save to your hard drive to hear the announcement and the crowd's reaction.Total players: 5619Total prize pool: $52,818,000In the money: 560 players are getting paidEveryone at the final table is a millionaireNinth place will pay $1 millionFirst place is $7.5 million...more

You might have noticed some different voices here on the Official PokerStars Blog. We realized early on that the Main Event of the WSOP would be too big for one man to cover. Hence, we formed Team Blog to take care of business.Team Blog: (from left to right) Howard Swains,...more

Poker players, by definition, are individualists. They are paid to look out for only themselves. Yet, I've found, some players who hail from countries other than the United States carry a certain patriotism in their chip racks. Take, for instance, Scotsman Graeme Harrison, the PokerStars player with the most chips...more

After two days of running hard, Team Blog is catching up with some unfinished business this morning. We've been out on the floor and running hard for a few hours. A full report is due in shortly. Saturday's flight will see many European PokerStars qualifiers taking to the tables. Among...more

Big action again here on Day 1C. We'll be back here in a bit with fresh photos and stories.Until then, please see the updated chip counts from Days 1A and 1B....more

As the evening again winds toward morning, Team Blog (tonight assisted by the venerable Dave and Kevin) has been working the floor to get some notable chip counts before the final level of the evening begins. A birdseye view of the room shows us with somewhere in the neighborhood of...more

Roving (and very understanding of her tired and cranky co-blogger) correspondent Mad Harper pulled me aside a few moments ago and said, "Table 122."I'd been by Table 122 several times in the past hour and seen nothing. My eyes are set to look for the familiar PokerStars logo on a...more

Messages home, Team PokerStars standings, audio blogIt seems a touch odd, I suppose, to measure Day 1 in terms of, well, days. Day 1 is three days long and this very moment marks the halfway point. It's the dinner break in Day 1B. The room, which had risen to near-outside...more

Yesterday, it seemed everybody I saw had their hand over their mouth. It seemed involuntary, an innate reaction to some latent fear. Today, the poker faces seem stronger, more blank, sometimes even frightening. The bloodshot, bleary eyes of the working media are no match for the frozen-vegetable-cold stares that sit...more

You know how you know there's a break at the Poker Warehouse? The non-smoking room smells like an ashtray. When hundreds of people smoke in the hallway, a light air conditioned breeze can blow in the smoke like a gale force wind over a forest fire.I hid in the poker...more

PokerStars audio blogger James Hartigan has been out on the floor, microphone in hand. Moments ago, he ran back to Blog HQ on press row with a fresh audio blog from the floor. Pleae save this file to your hard drive then have a listen....more

Editor's note: Just in case my wife is reading, while I was out talking to smelly poker playing males, female correspondent Mad Harper took care of this report. Just in case my wife isn't reading, I have this picture saved to my hard drive if anyone wants it.From blog correspondent...more

It was like a battle scene from a war movie. Hundreds of warriors, running through the smoke and to the battlefield. Here, the smoke come from the cigarettes in the corridor instead of bombs. Here the battlefield is green felt instead of jungle. Here the warriors are WSOP competitors, soldiers...more

Go here for the latest chip count updates from Day 1A...more

As this day ends with around 650 players remaining in the first flight, Team Blog has run around looking for PokerStars players with big stacks. I guarantee we didn't get them all, but we have some. Please see the post below this one for a list of all the posts...more

Managing a field as large as this year's main event of the World Series of Poker is beyond daunting. The cards hit the felt just after 11 am on Thursday morning. At 1:41am, the chips are still clacking. We've almost played through seven levels. Seventy-one tables remain. Tournament Director Johnny...more

Team PokerStars vs Team PokerStars, "twins" at the table, and Neverwin blindIn the jungle, when the food runs out, when a band of lost travelers is looking for for any nutrition it can find, the members sometimes turn to each other in a none-too-appetizing way. I'm not saying it's a...more

More from Europe (the jinx is passed on), Hartigan's Audio Blog, and a survivor's story from dinnerIt's just after 8:30pm in Vegas and the room has taken on a comfortable air. Just nine hours ago, the room fell nearly silent when the cards went in the air. When the first...more

Good luck Siren, Wil Wheaton Departs, Raymer rocks, Neverwin still winning, and hitting one downthelineI've been known to call myself a jinx. On the European Poker Tour, I had dinner with three people on three consecutive nights who busted out just after our meal. Today, I'm re-thinking the concept.In the...more

Raymer's rivers, The Big Table, The Audio Blog, The European ReportHere at the end of level two, I find myself thinking of thermometers.You ever break a thermometer and watch the mercury bounce and scoot its way across the floor? You ever break a thousand thermometers and watch everything you see...more

Insta-photo gallery, Wil Wheaton begins play, and a big hand for John GaleOh. My.To walk through the room, one requires a steady mind, a quick foot, and an electric cattle prod. Registration is still open for another few minutes. Thousands of people (this must be a fire hazard of some...more

The lobby is thick with smoke. The room is as packed as it's been in weeks. And Tournament Director Johnny Grooms just announced, "The f-bomb rule is in effect. Do not use that naughty word."Just seconds ago, the words echoed through this cavernous warehouse of poker.Shuffle up and deal.Within seconds,...more

As I stepped out of the Mirage Hotel and Casino ballrom to take a phone call, I looked back inside and realized something. There were more PokerStars WSOP qualifiers in that room than the entire field of players in the 2003 World Series of Poker. And, that friends, is something.Tonight,...more

Something was different today. The click-clack of chips was distant. The tables were empty and the expanse of green felt stood out under the overhead lights. Like the Penn and Teller show on Tuesday nights, the action was dark today as players recovered in advance of the main event.That left...more

As a tournament reporter, especially one who reports on the same people frequently, it's quite possible to become emotionally invested in a player. It's even easier to fall into that emotional investment when you're writing about hometeam PokerStars' players. So far, during this WSOP, I've found myself inordinately interested in...more

PokerStars players Terrence Chan and Carl Olson both made it to day 2 of the $1000 rebuy No-Limit Hold'em event.Terrence ChanCarl Olson 3:41pm--Carl Olson departed in 40th place and cashed for $6,815. I met Carl earlier this year when he traveled to Deauville, France and took second place in the...more

PokerStars player to miss WSOPThe World Series of Poker is an environment like none other I've ever witnessed. Pure energy, mainline adrenaline, wanton rain squalls of hundred dollar bills that sometimes--quite literally--rain down from the hands of chair-perched gamblers. At any given time, two thousand people are wagering for millions...more

Your final guide to the Official PokerStars Blog before the World Series of Poker Main Event beginsHere in America, it's Independence Day. I've made it a point not to discuss it much with from friends from England. Nonetheless, it's an American holiday, fully complemented with giant, colorful explosions and much...more

Please scroll down for all the latest PokerStars World Series of Poker newsSunday was a really big day at PokerStars.com. While the last WSOP satellites granted the last few players seats in the main event, the $500,000 Guaranteed tournament drew more than 2400 players. In a heads-up battle for the...more

It's funny. John Duthie, European Poker Tour creator and PokerStars friend, got to this final table after pushing in on a steal last night with 83o and getting called by PokerStars player Morten Jensen. Last night, Duthie's hand got there. Today, Jensen tried a steal from the small blind with...more

You might have noticed we had some technical difficulties today. It appears they have been resolved. Keep an eye on this space Sunday for the final table of the $3000 NL Hold'em event. It should be quite interesting......more

The following Q&A is made up of real questions from readers of this blog. The answers are a mix of my experience, advice from tournament directors, and the wisdom of our in-house expert Lee JonesSure, you're experienced. Aren't we all? Still, this may be your first time at the WSOP....more

He stood at Pinehurst, more than half of the final round of the U.S. Open behind him. He had just moved within four shots of the lead. He was a mere eight holes away from the possibility that he might just win the whole thing. Winning would've put a million...more