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Today’s mini-tirade will focus on a particular pet peeve of mine at the poker tables: Tanking. While I completely understand that some decisions are extremely difficult, and you may not want to snap-fold every single time you get raised and have an absolute airball, there is something to be said for keeping a game that is inherently slow and boring moving at least at a snail’s pace.

For one thing, you’re not giving away information when you snap-fold pre-flop with a deuce-five offsuit, so just look at your cards and muck them. Additionally, you don’t have to pretend that every-single-time you get your hand caught in the cookie jar you actually have a tough fold to make; go ahead and pretend you’re making a difficult lay-down from time-to-time, but please don’t do it every single time.

Imagine a catcher who framed every single pitch for the umpire no matter how badly it misses the plate. It would drive you nuts right? Actually, it would probably lead to riots in stands. Well, this is exactly what this unnecessary tanking in poker is doing. To be honest, it’s actually worse than framing every pitch; for some players it’s more like a pitcher throwing over to first base five times in between each pitch when nobody is on base!

What aggravates the most about this is that virtually every hand –before you’ve even had a chance to collect your hole cards—the dealer is pointing at you or saying it’s on you, but after you look at your hole-cards you can basically take as much as time as your heart desires to act on your hand. It seems counterintuitive, we are rushing each player along when everyone has something to do –from collecting their cards to peeking at them if they desire—but when only a single person has an action to make we all get to sit there with our thumbs up our ass while they count to 30 before mucking their Jack-Deuce.

It seems as though poker players of the Internet generation have lost their way when it comes to creating a friendly, accommodating, atmosphere. In some ways it’s simply not their fault since they’ve never had to keep a game going, and know very little about the lean years –the term Prop Players come to mind—and why it’s sometimes more important to make the game fun and inviting, even if it means you might just possibly be giving off the slightest little piece of usable information to players who have 10,000 hands logged with you.

I’m not asking for a shot clock or anything of that nature; more so I want poker players to be aware that what they think is helping their bottom line (it may add a very minimal amount if looked at in a vacuum) is probably costing them a ton of money in the long-run by turning off potential players.

A new online gaming bill has been introduced in the US House of Representatives by Congressman Joe Barton (R-TX) which is eerily similar to the bill he introduced last year –which went nowhere. For the most part the poker insiders that follow the legislative efforts around the country consider these federal efforts futile, but also acknowledge that anything is better than nothing.

Like last year’s bill, the “Internet Poker Freedom Act” (you just got to love Congress and their way with words) is seeking to carve out online poker from online gambling, creating an opportunity to license and regulate online poker rooms while at the same time strengthening restrictions on other forms of online gambling, most notably UIGEA.

Here are some of the other parts of the IFPA worth mentioning:

• The bill contains a “Bad Actors” clause, shutting out any poker sites that have operated in the US since the passage of UIGEA for five years
• States that do not wish to participate can opt-out of the IFPA
• States that have passed Internet gaming laws prior to IFPA will not fall under IFPA, nor will Internet lotteries
• The bill also covers the usual Underage and Problem Gambling, US servers, and other requirements
• In order to receive a license under IFPA operators must adhere to a number of regulations and meet the approval of the to-be-created “Office of Internet Poker Oversight”

You can read the full 110-page bill here, or if you want to avoid having your head explode I suggest the following Cliffs/Highlights proffered by two of the best in the business when it comes to poker legislation:

• Barton Introduces the Internet Poker Freedom Act by Chris Grove
• Poker Freedom Act Details by John Mehaffy

Representative Barton has been at the forefront of the Poker Players Alliance (PPA) lobbying efforts in Congress since Republicans came into power in 2010 and then PPA darling Barney Frank (D-MA) lost his committee chair, and ability to set the agenda for, the House Financial Services Committee. Frank had been doing most of the leg work for online poker efforts at the federal level, but with the ultra-conservative Spenser Bacchus (R-AL) now heading the Financial Services Committee an online poker bill would never see the light of day.

Representative Barton sits on the House Energy and Commerce Committee which would also play a role in online poker oversight (the Energy and Commerce Committee deals with telecom and inter-state commerce), and therefore allows him to introduce a bill of this sort.

We are just about through all 61 preliminary tournaments at the 2013 World Series of Poker, so now is as good a time as any to take a look at my pre-WSOP predictions and see how I’m doing so far. Granted a few things could still change, but for the most part my predictions are now in, so let’s see how I did:

Prediction #1: Phil Hellmuth will make two final tables but wins ZERO bracelets

Through 61 tournaments Phil has three cashes and a single final table.

I was off a bit on this one as I believed Phil was going to have a strong WSOP without winning a bracelet. It turns out Phil had his worst WSOP tournament series since 2002, when he cashed twice and made two final tables.

Prediction #2: Germany will win at least three bracelets

Another prediction that almost got there (although I still have three Germans alive with about 30 runners to go in the $10k PLO tournament) as we have seen two German bracelet winners in 2013:

• Martin Finger in Event #21, the $3,000 No Limit Holdem tournament
• Nikolaus Teichert in Event #56, the $2,500 No Limit Holdem tournament

Prediction #3: Two open bracelets will be won by women

With virtually every tournament now in the books the ladies have one open-event win, which belongs to Dana Castaneda who won Event #54, a $1,000 No Limit Holdem tournament. We still have the Main Event, but after last year’s slew of final tables, 10^th and 11^th place showings in the Main Event, and wins in an open-event and the Seniors Tournament, this has to be seen as a disappointing year for the ladies at the WSOP.

*Late update: Loni Harwood won Event #60, making my prediction come to fruition. Harwood was easily the top-performing female of the series with three final tables and one win.

Prediction #4: A recent (2003-now) WSOP Main Event Champion will win a bracelet

We had some close calls with this one; most recently Jonathan Duhamel’s 8^th place finish in the $50k Poker Players Championship, but it looks like WSOP Main Event champions will once again be shutout from bracelet ceremonies, unless Duhamel can pull off a win in Event #61, where he is near the top of the leader-board with just over 30 players remaining.

Prediction #5: The WSOP Main Event attendance will be 6,022.

Still not there yet, but I don’t have a very good feeling about this prediction as the 2013 WSOP has been well-attended from start to finish. Even though Day 1a attendance was down a touch from 2012, I still think this is looking more like a 7,000 player filed now.

It was a big day for UK poker fans as Matthew Ashton (who was already having an incredible 2013 World Series of Poker) captured the second most coveted bracelet handed out every year, the $50k buy-in Poker Players Championship. The 25 year-old British poker pro has come a long way in the three short years he has been competing at the WSOP, and has put together one of the most impressive starts to a WSOP career in poker history.

With his run in the Poker players Championship Ashton was appearing at his fourth final table of the 2013 WSOP, and already had a 2^nd and a 3^rd place finish to his credit (along with a 7^th place showing) before winning the Poker Players Championship on Thursday night. Overall, Ashton has seven Top 10 finishes over the last three years at the WSOP.

The victory also propelled Ashton to the top of the WSOP Player of the Year race, jumping over Daniel Negreanu and David “Bakes” Baker, and over the magical 500-point threshold needed to win the award (the Main Event winner receives 500 points):

1. Matthew Ashton — 649.75
2. Daniel Negreanu — 475.84
3. David (Bakes) Baker — 475.35
4. Donald Nguyen — 466.13
5. Marco Johnson — 439.38
6. Tom Schneider — 438.51
7. Chris Klodnicki — 400.80
8. Jared Hamby — 395.73
9. Anthony Gregg — 390.00
10. Steve Sung — 369.50

*Leader-board powered by BLUFF Magazine

Ashton also became the youngest winner of the Poker Players Championship at 25, and was the first non-US player to win the tournament. Ashton now joins the following list of players to have won the tournament, and since 2008 hoist the Chip Reese Memorial Trophy:

• 2012: Mike Mizrachi
• 2011: Brian Rast
• 2010: Mike Mizrachi
• 2009: David Bach
• 2008: Scotty Nguyen
• 2007: David “Chip” Reese

The Poker Players Championship saw a bit of resurgence this year, as the tournament attracted the biggest field since 2008 (which was the largest in the seven year history of the tournament), pulling in 132 entries, a huge jump from last year’s 108, and just 16 off the all-time mark of 148.

• 2013: 132 players
• 2012: 108 players
• 2011: 128 players
• 2010: 116 players
• 2009: 95 players
• 2008: 148 players
• 2007: 143 players

Here is a look at the final table payouts from the tournament:

1. Matthew Ashton – $1,774,089
2. Don Nguyen – $1,096,254
3. John Hennigan – $686,568
4. David Benyamine – $497,122
5. George Danzer – $388,523
6. Minh Ly – $309,830
7. Mike Wattel – $251,602
8. Jonathan Duhamel – $207,630

*Resources: www.wsop.com, www.thehendonmob.com, www.wikipedia.org

Now is your chance to get involved in the nomination process for the Poker Hall of Fame. For the past three years the Poker Hall of Fame has opened the nomination process up to the general public, allowing fans to vote for the people they feel are the most deserving to join the ranks of the Poker Hall of Fame.

While you can conceivably nominate anyone you like, there are certain restrictions on who can eventually become one of the official nominees –who will then be voted on by a preselected panel that includes poker media and the living Hall of Fame members. The criterion for selection includes:

• A player must have played poker against acknowledged top competition
• Played for high stakes
• Be a minimum of 40 years old at time of nomination
• Played consistently well, gaining the respect of peers
• Stood the test of time
• Or, for non-players, contributed to the overall growth and success of the game of poker, with indelible positive and lasting results.

You can make your nomination for the 2013 Poker Hall of Fame here: http://www.wsop.com/phof/

Last year saw the induction of Eric Drache and Sailor Roberts made the cut, and the recent trend has been toward older players and pioneers, with Linda Johnson and Mike Sexton added to the Poker Hall of Fame rolls in 2011.

My list hasn’t changed very much from last year (since none of my choices were inducted) but I have removed some of the younger players who are eligible that I feel can wait their turn, so here are my Top 10 picks for the 2013 Poker Hall of Fame:

1. Barry Shulman
2. Terry Rogers
3. Marcel Luske
4. Nolan Dalla
5. Jack McClelland
6. John Duthie
7. Mike Caro
8. Titanic Thompson
9. Andy Glazer
10. James McManus

Some other deserving people include Carlos Mortensen, Jennifer Harman, Ted Forrest, David Sklansky, Antanas “Tony G” Guoga, Gabe Kaplan, Lucy Rockah, Lee Jones, Al Alvarez, Bob Stupak, Bruno Fitoussi, and David Chiu.

And here is a look at the current members of the Poker Hall of Fame:

• Johnny Moss
• Nick “The Greek” Dandolos
• Felton “Corky” McCorquodale
• Red Winn
• Sid Wyman
• James Butler “Wild Bill” Hickok
• Edmond Hoyle
• Blondie Forbes
• Bill Boyd
• Tom Abdo
• Joe Bernstein
• Murph Harrold
• Red Hodges
• Henry Green
• Walter Clyde “Puggy” Pearson
• Doyle “Texas Dolly” Brunson
• Jack “Treetop” Straus
• Fred “Sarge” Ferris
• Benny Binion
• David “Chip” Reese
• Thomas “Amarillo Slim” Preston
• Jack Keller
• Julius Oral Popwell
• Roger Moore
• Stu “The Kid” Ungar
• Lyle Berman
• Johnny “The Orient Express” Chan
• Bobby “The Owl” Baldwin
• Berry Johnston
• Jack Binion
• Crandell “Dandy” Addington
• T.J. Cloutier
• Billy Baxter
• Barbara Enright
• Phil Hellmuth
• Dewey Tomko
• Henry Orenstein
• Mike Sexton
• Dan Harrington
• Erik Seidel
• Linda Johnson
• Barry Greenstein
• Eric Drache
• Brian “Sailor” Roberts

A new thread –with an extremely interesting and attention grabbing graphic that puts the old ***OFFICIAL  xxx*** to shame—hit the 2+2 poker forums about a week ago detailing a policy change that will go into effect on July 1, 2013 for users of the Staking Forum on the popular site.

According to the original post by 2+2 Moderator Bobo Fett:

… We are going to split this forum into two. We will have a forum for those seeking stakes – this will remain a free forum. We will also have a forum for offering stakes, which will become a paid forum.

Basically 2+2 will start charging major stakers in poker who are looking to attract clients to their stable. These staking sites have become the norm in poker over the past four or five years, and now instead of trying to police threads created by these staking groups 2+2 will basically allow them to do what they need to do in terms of advertising their staking groups to bring in new players along with the following benefits according to the post:

• Full commercial site names, links, etc., will be permitted.
• Anyone with a paid thread will be able to have a “See my staking forum thread” undertitle.

It should be noted that players looking to sell shares of themselves or find a backer will still be able to do so free of charge on 2+2; the change is aimed at staking groups who up to this point, have been for all intents and purposes advertising their product on 2+2 free of charge.

According to Bobo Fett’s post, pricing for a thread in the Staking Forum will be:

• 1 month – $150
• 3 months – $400
• 6 months – $600
• 12 months – $1,000

It will be interesting to see if the decision by 2+2 pays off for them (It should be pointed out that they have been offering this service –which has others plenty of money over the years– for free up until now) or if the stakers move on to other forums or find other ways to bring in new recruits.

Staking has become big business in the poker world since a few pioneers (most notably Cliff “JohnnyBax” Josephy and Eric “Sheets” Haber) realized that the current staking model, which was usually a 100% stake for 50% of the profits, was foolish. Since the mid-2000’s staking deals have tipped more and more in favor of the backer, and with all of the hard-luck cases, up-and-coming players, and external forces like Black Friday, there is never a shortage of players looking to be put into tournaments, regardless of the split in profits.

Going into the World Series of Poker Paul Volpe was leading all three major Player of the Year leader-boards, but with a rather pedestrian WSOP up to this point Volpe has seen his star fade after being ousted from the #1 spot in the Bluff Magazine POY race, and his lead on both the Cardplayer Magazine and Global Poker Index leader-boards shrink.

One player threatening Volpe is Daniel Negreanu, who has had a lackluster WSOP in his own right, while other challengers have also emerged like Steve “zugwatt” Silverman and even a resurgent Erick Lindgren. In fact, the race is so tight on Bluff that a mere21 points separates the Top 5, which should make for one of the most interesting finishes to a POY race in recent memory.

In addition to the Player of the Year races, there is also the World Series of Poker Player of the Year leader-board which is now starting to come into focus with less than 10 events still to be played (along with the WSOP Europe series as well). We’ll get you updated on all four of these leader-boards below: Here is a look at the current POY races:

Bluff Magazine 2013 Player of the Year leader-board (accurate as of 7/1/2013):

1. Daniel Negreanu – 670.36 points
2. Paul Volpe – 668.07 points
3. Steve Silverman – 652.86 points
4. Scott Seiver – 652,57 points
5. Mike Watson – 649.04 points
6. Aaron Lim – 606.65 points
7. Dimitar Danchev – 578.55 points
8. Erick Lindgren – 576.88 points
9. Blake Bohn – 575.30 points
10. Ole Schemion – 556.20 points

Cardplayer Magazine 2013 Player of the Year leader-board (accurate as of 7/1/2013):

1. Paul Volpe — 3,530 points
2. Daniel Negreanu – 3,198 points
3. Steve O’Dwyer – 2,848 points
4. Erick Lindgren — 2,800 points
5. Dimitar Danchev — 2,676 points
6. Jason Duval — 2,386 points
7. Anthony Gregg – 2,330 points
8. Kevin Eyster – 2,280 points
9. Michael Watson – 2,224 points
10. Martin Finger – 2,168 points

Global Poker Index 2013 Player of the Year leader-board (accurate as of 7/1/2013):

1. Paul Volpe – 767.76 points
2. Steven Silverman – 670.01 points
3. Daniel Negreanu – 656.41 points
4. Ole Schemion – 651.74 points
5. Igor Kurganov – 617.18 points
6. Michael Watson – 579.07 points
7. Scott Seiver – 569.77 points
8. Daniel Shak – 568.57 points
9. Sorel Mizzi – 564.45 points
10. Jason Mercier – 564.05 points

All three ranking systems use a different criterion to determine the Player of the Year:

• Cardplayer Magazine focuses on a player’s results over the course of the entire calendar year.
• Bluff Magazine takes into account a player’s results from the previous calendar year (weighted at about 50% of the current year)
• The Global Poker Index uses a players top cashes from different quarters of the year only, all other results are discounted

http://www.cardplayer.com/poker-players/player-of-the-year/%20

http://www.bluff.com/poker-player-of-the-year

http://www.globalpokerindex.com/player-of-the-year/

WSOP Player of the Year Leader-Board (accurate as of July 1, 2013):

1. David (Bakes) Baker — 475.35 points
2. Daniel Negreanu — 470.53 points
3. Tom Schneider — 438.51 points
4. Marco Johnson — 430.63 points
5. Chris Klodnicki — 400.80 points
6. Anthony Gregg — 390.00 points
7. Jared Hamby — 368.73 points
8. Daniel Kelly — 344.70 points
9. Jason Duval — 328.85 points
10. Mark Radoja — 327.75 points

As we near the home stretch of the 2013 World Series of Poker the poker community is now looking ahead to the start of the World Poker Tour and European Poker Tour schedules, but also at an unprecedented $10,000,000 guaranteed tournament that will be taking place at Seminole Hard Rock Casino in Hollywood, Florida in early August.

The Seminole Hard Rock Poker Open Main Event will feature a $5,300 buy-in with at least $1.5 million going to the winner of the tournament. The tournament series will begin on August 8, 2013 and run through August 29, 2013, with the Main Event taking place from the 22^nd to the 28^th. The full schedule for the tournament series can be viewed here: http://www.seminolehardrockhollywood.com/poker/SHPO.pdf

Pulling off a $10 million tournament is no easy feat, so the organizers have brought in some of the best minds in poker to insure a smooth ride. Among the people involved with the event is tournament director Matt Savage, who has been front and center in promoting the event and helping to bring in the 2,000 players needed to hit the guarantee.

Florida has become a major hotspot for poker tournaments since the state expanded their land-based gaming in 2010, with attendance for major tournaments in the Sunshine State have been among the best on the World Poker Tour over the past few seasons. Still, a $10 million guarantee is nothing to scoff at, and puts organizers in a difficult bind should the event fail.

Here is a look at the press release for the event:

HOLLYWOOD, Florida — (PRESS RELEASE) — Seminole Hard Rock Hotel & Casino Hollywood has announced it will host the Seminole Hard Rock Poker Open August 8 – 29, 2013 carrying a $10 million Main Event guaranteed payout – the largest guaranteed payout in the world. The Main Event will be held August 22 – 28.

“This destination deserves a tournament like this,” said Larry Mullin, Seminole Gaming COO. “Ten million dollars was the right number for what would be most interesting to the player; designed for the player. The Hard Rock and the Seminole Tribe of Florida serve as a global brand that will always be striving to bring the best in games, hospitality and entertainment to South Florida. As that leader, we want to remind people about the great products we have.”

William Mason, Seminole Hard Rock director of poker, elaborated that the $10 million Main Event guarantee, which expects to award more than $1.5 million to the winner, will be part of a 33-event series in August. In addition, poker rooms at Seminole Hard Rock Hotel & Casino Tampa, Seminole Casino Coconut Creek and Seminole Casino Immokalee will host satellite tournaments.

A $5,300 buy-in will secure a spot in this groundbreaking $10 million guaranteed Championship Event. The series will be highlighted by some other key events including Event #1 ($350 buy-in, $500,000 guaranteed prize pool) and Event #7 ($560 buy-in, $1 million guaranteed prize pool).

On-site registration for Seminole Hard Rock Poker Open is now open. (Registration fee is non-refundable.) To participate, players must obtain a free “Wild Card” at the Player’s Club or in The Poker Room at Seminole Paradise.

The Poker Room at Seminole Paradise offers poker players a comfortable setting with live sports action with its large 80″ LED TV and flat-screen televisions throughout the poker room. New 24/7 high stakes poker allows players to go “All In, All The Time.” The Poker Room includes more than 40 tables offering various games and tournaments of Limit and No Limit Texas Hold ‘em, Omaha Hi-Lo and 7-Card Stud.

For more information, please visit The Poker Room webpage. Follow The Poker Room on Twitter at @SHRThePokerRoom, hashtag #shrpo.

The first 46 events of the 2013 World Series of Poker were relatively uneventful, with only the Millionaire Maker and the Seniors Tournament generating any kind of buzz of their own, but over the course of the final 15 or so tournaments of the WSOP it’s going to be one big day after another.

Beginning today with the $111,111 buy-in One Drop High Roller tournament, and going straight through to the Main Event (and even a little beyond) the 2013 WSOP will see several new and/or high-profile tournaments take place. Of the 16 remaining bracelet tournaments I would classify a full seven of them as high-profile events. The 2013 WSOP will also see the non-bracelet Open Face Chinese Poker tournament run on the 13^th of July.

The upcoming 11 days of the WSOP is going to be intense for the players and intense for the media, Five of the seven tournaments with a buy-in of $10,000 or more will be played during that 11-day run, including the only three WSOP events on the 2013 schedule with buy-ins above $10,000: The $111,111 One Drop High Roller, the $50k Poker players Championship, and the $25k NLHE Six-Max tournament.

Here is a look at the upcoming tournaments of interest at the 2013 WSOP:

• June 26^th: Event 47: $111,111 One Drop High Rollers No-Limit Hold’em
• June 28^th: Event 51: $10k/$1k (Ladies Discount $1K) Ladies No-Limit Hold’em Championship
• June 28^th: Event 52: $25,000 No-Limit Hold’em / Six Handed
• June 30^th: Event 55: $50,000 The Poker Players Championship
• July 3^rd: Event 58A: $1,111 The Little One for One Drop No-Limit Hold’em (unlimited re-entry first four levels)
• July 5^th: Event 61: $10,000 Pot-Limit Omaha
• July 6^th: Event 62: $10,000 No-Limit Hold’em Main Event Day begins
• July 13^th: $5,000 Open Face Chinese (non-bracelet)

What to watch for over the final week and a half of the 2013 WSOP

• Will any men play in the Ladies Tournament now that it sports a $10k buy-in with woman receiving a $9,000 discount?

The short answer is no; no men will play.

• Will the One Drop High Roller tournament hurt or help the Poker Players Championship?

In a matter of five days the WSOP will run a $111,111 tournament, a $25,000 tournament, and a $50,000 tournament, so either players are going to have make some difficult decisions on which events they play, or perhaps the non-pros will stick around after One Drop to play the other high buy-in events. Only time will tell if the WSOP schedulers are geniuses or made a major mistake.

• How many players and rebuys will the Little One for One Drop produce?

This event could very well end up being the talk of the 2013 WSOP.

*Resources: www.wsop.com

Team Canada is putting together one of the most impressive performances of any country not named the United States in World Series of Poker history. The contingent of poker pros that crossed the northern border with the US to play in the WSOP have now won nine bracelets in 39 tournaments at the 2013 WSOP, and have made countless final tables.

For a little perspective, The US has won 867 WSOP bracelets, Canada is #2 with 42, and the UK sits in the #3 spot with just 26. The nine bracelets by Team Canada is a WSOP record for a non-US country in a single WSOP, and that number still has a good chance to rise with over 20 events left on the WSOP schedule.

Here is a look at the nine Canadian victories at the 2013 WSOP:

Event #3: $1,000 No Limit Holdem with single Reentry

1. Charles Sylvestre– $491,360
2. Seth Berger – $303,952
3. William Guerrero — $215,107
4. Michael Cooper — $155,706
5. Binh Ta — $114,017
6. Ryan Olisar — $84,459
7. Darren Rabinowitz – $63,273
8. Ruben Ybarra – $47,925
9. Ping Liu — $36,705

Event #6: $1,500 No Limit Holdem Millionaire Maker tournament

1. Benny Chen — $1,198,780
2. Michael Bennington — $741,903
3. Jonathan Gray — $534,506
4. Justin Liberto — $400,408
5. Dan Kelly — $302,104
6. Chris Hunichen — $229,575
7. Upeshka Desilva — $175,714
8. Robert McVeigh — $135,467
9. Theron Eichenberger — $105,154

Event #8: $2,500 8-Game Mixed

1. Michael Malm — $225,104
2. Steven Wolansky — $139,034
3. Greg Mueller — $89,673
4. Eric Crain — $64,975
5. Michael Hurey — $47,771
6. Dario Alioto — $35,634
7. Mike Wattel — $26,966
8. Marco Johnson — $20,699

Event #11: $2,500 No Limit Holdem 6-Max

1. Levi Berger – $473,019
2. Scott Clements – $292,339
3. Ben Palmer – $185,426
4. Eddy Sabat – $121,711
5. Jacob Bazeley – $82,297
6. David Gonia – $57,282

Event #16: $10,000 No Limit Holdem Heads-Up Championship

1. Mark Radoja – $331,190
2. Don Nguyen – $204,648
3. Justin Bonomo – $110,485
4. Ben Sulsky – $110,485

Event #20: $1,500 Omaha 8 or better

1. Calen McNeil – $277,274
2. Can Kim Hua – $171,577
3. Todd Brunson – $107,349
4. Joe Ford – $77,917
5. Tony Ma – $57,521
6. Stephen Chidwick – $43,120
7. John Monnette – $32,798
8. Won Goag – $25,283
9. Dao Bac – $19,753

Event #28: $1,500 No Limit Holdem

1. Jason Duval — $521,202
2. Majid Yahyaei — $324,442
3. Masayuki Nagata — $225,521
4. James Lee — $162,420
5. Tommy Townsend — $118,707
6. Dan Martin — $87,813
7. Stephen Bartlett — $65,813
8. Daniel Bishop — $49,952
9. Joseph Cappuccio — $38,360

Event #38: $2,500 No Limit Holdem 4-Max

1. Justin Oliver – $309,071
2. Nick Schwarmann – $191,434
3. Jared Jaffe – $129,447
4. David Pham – $89,736

Event #39: $1,500 Seven Card Stud 8 or better

1. Daniel Idema — $184,590
2. Joseph Hertzog — $114,109
3. Raul Paez — $71,736
4. Matt Vengrin — $51,488
5. Mike Leah — $37,552
6. Tony Gill — $27,834
7. Fei Chu — $20,964
8. Artie Cobb — $16,037

*Resources: www.wsop.com, www.thehendonmob.com