WSOP Schedule released

Well, I lied. Harrah's released the 2009 WSOP sched today, a week before it was anticipated. Here are the details:

Schedule Announced for 40th Annual World Series of Poker® at the Rio® All-Suite Hotel & Casino

World’s Longest-Running, Largest and Most Prestigious Poker Tournament Set to Run From May 26 - July 15, 2009

LAS VEGAS (January 26, 2009) – The 40th annual World Series of Poker® (WSOP®) -- a set of poker tournaments open to anyone 21 years of age or older -- will commence Wednesday, May 27 with the first of 57 gold bracelet events, and the next day a special $40,000 buy-in No Limit Hold’em tournament will commemorate the gaming industry’s most illustrious event.

The annual poker extravaganza, which dates back to 1970, is televised exclusively on ESPN from the Rio All-Suites Hotel & Casino in Las Vegas and consists of a comprehensive slate of the game’s most popular variations.

The 40th annual WSOP will conclude with the $10,000 buy-in World Championship No-Limit Hold‘em Main Event which begins play Friday, July 3, 2009 and reaches its final table (nine players) on July 15, 2009, at which time play will be halted. The famed tournament’s culmination will be held with the “November Nine” from November 7-10, 2009, before a live audience with special primetime coverage from ESPN.

The landmark WSOP comes on the heels of a record year in 2008, when the WSOP generated the most entries ever (58,720) from the most countries ever (124) that competed for the largest prize pool ever ($180,774,427) while awarding 55 championship gold bracelets, globally recognized as the sport’s top prize.

Among the highlights of the 2009 schedule:
• 57 gold bracelet events over 50 days.

• A “stimulus special” $1,000 buy-in No-Limit Hold’em tournament on the opening weekend, May 30-31, 2009, which is anticipated to draw the largest-ever live tournament field outside the Main Event and offer a prize pool approaching $5,000,000.

• 10 “World Championship” $10,000 buy-in events (“World Championship” refers to tournaments with a buy-in of $10,000 in each of the various disciplines of poker).

• The third annual $50,000 buy-in H.O.R.S.E. tournament, with an enhanced gold bracelet and the Chip Reese Memorial Trophy awarded to the winner.

• A one-time commemorative gold bracelet event, a $40,000 buy-in No-Limit Hold’em tournament to help mark the 40th annual WSOP on Thursday, May 28, 2009.

• Seven open $1500 buy-in No Limit Hold’em tournaments, the most popular events in poker.

• The 3rd annual Ante Up For Africa $5,000 buy-in No-Limit Hold’em celebrity and charity tournament on Thursday, July 2, 2009, (the day before the Main Event begins) featuring the opportunity for anyone age 21 or older to enter and be seated at the same table as A-list celebrities and top poker pros.

• The Ladies Only No-Limit Hold’em World Championship on Sunday, June 7, 2009, featuring a $1,000 buy-in and helping to raise awareness for the Nevada Cancer Institute, the official community relations partner of the World Series of Poker.

• The Seniors Only No-Limit Hold’em World Championship on Monday, June 22, 2009 for all poker enthusiasts 50 years of age or older.

• The return of the “November Nine” where the nine finalists of the Main Event (July 3-15) return to the Rio on November 7-10, 2009 to vie for the multi-million dollar prize and the title of 2009 World Champion of Poker in front of a live audience with special primetime coverage on ESPN.

"Whether you play poker around the kitchen table or consider yourself a professional, you will find a comfortable seat at the 2009 World Series of Poker," said Jeffrey Pollack, commissioner of the World Series of Poker. "This year's schedule offers more variety than ever before and we look forward to welcoming players from around the world to the Rio for our 40th annual extravaganza this summer."

The famed Amazon Room in the Rio Convention Center once again will serve as the center of the poker universe this summer, featuring the same highly popular blueprint as last year.

Gold bracelet tournaments will begin at 12 noon or 5 PM Pacific Time each day, with a maximum of 10-one hour levels being played for the noon starts, while the 5 PM events will play a maximum of 8 one-hour levels. For those fortunate enough to advance past the first day, re-starts for noon bracelet events will begin at 2 PM, and 5 PM tournaments will restart at 3 PM with a maximum of 10 levels being played each day until a champion is crowned.

Pre-registration for the 2009 WSOP will begin in late February on-site at the Main Cage of the Rio in Las Vegas and online through www.worldseriesofpoker.com. Players will be encouraged to register through a streamlined online process in advance of coming to Las Vegas to avoid being shutout of their favorite events. Any foreign entrants who wire transfer monies will receive the exchange rate into U.S. dollars at the time of the wire transfer, thus locking in their exchange rate in advance.



Wed, May 27th
12:00 PM
2-Day Event Casino Employees No-Limit Hold'em (Event 1)
No Rebuy/Add-ons $500

Thu, May 28th
12:00 PM
4-Day Event 40th Annual No-Limit Holdem (Event 2)
No Rebuy/Add-ons $40,000

Fri, May 29th
12:00 PM
3-Day Event Omaha Hi-Low Split-8 or Better (Event 3)
No Rebuy/Add-ons $1,500

Sat, May 30th
12:00 PM
4-Day Event No-Limit Hold'em (Event 4)
No Rebuy/Add-ons $1,000

Mon, Jun 1st
12:00 PM
3-Day Event Pot-Limit Omaha (Event 5)
No Rebuy/Add-ons $1,500

Mon, Jun 1st
5:00 PM
3-Day Event World Championship Seven Card Stud (Event 6)
No Rebuy/Add-ons $10,000

Tue, Jun 2nd
12:00 PM
3-Day Event No-Limit Hold’em (Event 7)
No Rebuy/Add-ons $1,500

Tue, Jun 2nd
5:00 PM
3-Day Event 2-7 Draw Lowbal (Event 8)
No Rebuy/Add-ons $2,500

Wed, Jun 3rd
12:00 PM
3-Day Event No-Limit Hold’em / Six Handed (Event 9)
No Rebuy/Add-ons $1,500

Wed, Jun 3rd
5:00 PM
3-Day Event Pot-Limit Holdem/Omaha (Event 10)
No Rebuy/Add-ons $2,500

Thu, Jun 4th
12:00 PM
3-Day Event No-Limit Hold’em (Event 11)
No Rebuy/Add-ons $2,000

Thu, Jun 4th
5:00 PM
3-Day Event World Championship Mixed Event (Event 12)
No Rebuy/Add-ons $10,000

Fri, Jun 5th
12:00 PM
3-Day Event No-Limit Hold’em (Event 13)
No Rebuy/Add-ons $2,500

Fri, Jun 5th
5:00 PM
3-Day Event Limit Hold'em / Six Handed (Event 14)
No Rebuy/Add-ons $2,500

Sat, Jun 6th
12:00 PM
3-Day Event No-Limit Hold’em (Event 15)
No Rebuy/Add-ons $5,000


Sat, Jun 6th
5:00 PM
3-Day Event Seven Card Stud (Event 16)
No Rebuy/Add-ons $1,500

Sun, Jun 7th
12:00 PM
3-Day Event Ladies No-Limit Hold’em World Championship (Event 17)
No Rebuy/Add-ons $1,000

Sun, Jun 7th
5:00 PM
3-Day Event World Championship Omaha Hi-Low Split-8 or Better (Event 18)
No Rebuy/Add-ons $10,000

Mon, Jun 8th
12:00 PM
3-Day Event No-Limit Hold'em / Six Handed (Event 19)
No Rebuy/Add-ons $2,500

Tue, Jun 9th
12:00 PM
3-Day Event Pot-Limit Hold'em (Event 20)
No Rebuy/Add-ons $1,500

Tue, Jun 9th
5:00 PM
3-Day Event H.O.R.S.E. (Event 21)
No Rebuy/Add-ons $3,000

Wed, Jun 10th
12:00 PM
3-Day Event No-Limit Hold'em Shootout (1,000 player max) (Event 22)
No Rebuy/Add-ons $1,500

Wed, Jun 10th
5:00 PM
3-Day Event World Championship 2-7 Draw Lowball (Event 23)
No Rebuy/Add-ons $10,000

Thu, Jun 11th
12:00 PM
3-Day Event No-Limit Hold’em (Event 24)
No Rebuy/Add-ons $1,500

Thu, Jun 11th
5:00 PM
3-Day Event Omaha/Seven Card Stud Hi-Low-8 or Better (Event 25)
No Rebuy/Add-ons $2,500

Fri, Jun 12th
12:00 PM
3-Day Event Limit Hold’em (Event 26)
No Rebuy/Add-ons $1,500

Fri, Jun 12th
5:00 PM
3-Day Event Pot-Limit Omaha Hi-low Split-8 or Better (Event 27)
No Rebuy/Add-ons $5,000

Sat, Jun 13th
12:00 PM
3-Day Event No-Limit Hold’em (Event 28)
No Rebuy/Add-ons $1,500

Sat, Jun 13th
5:00 PM
3-Day Event World Championship Heads Up No-Limit Hold'em (Event 29)
No Rebuy/Add-ons $10,000

Sun, Jun 14th
12:00 PM
3-Day Event Pot-Limit Omaha (Event 30)
No Rebuy/Add-ons $2,500

Sun, Jun 14th
5:00 PM
3-Day Event H.O.R.S.E. (Event 31)
No Rebuy/Add-ons $1,500

Mon, Jun 15th
12:00 PM
3-Day Event No-Limit Hold’em (Event 32)
No Rebuy/Add-ons $2,000

Mon, Jun 15th
5:00 PM
3-Day Event World Championship Limit Hold'em (Event 33)
No Rebuy/Add-ons $10,000

Tue, Jun 16th
12:00 PM
3-Day Event No-Limit Hold’em (Event 34)
No Rebuy/Add-ons $1,500

Wed, Jun 17th
12:00 PM
3-Day Event Pot-Limit Omaha (Event 35)
No Rebuy/Add-ons $5,000

Thu, Jun 18th
12:00 PM
3-Day Event No-Limit Hold’em (Event 36)
No Rebuy/Add-ons $2,000

Thu, Jun 18th
5:00 PM
3-Day Event World Championship Seven Card Stud Hi-Low Split-8 or Better (Event 37)
No Rebuy/Add-ons $10,000

Fri, Jun 19th
12:00 PM
3-Day Event Limit Hold’em (Event 38)
No Rebuy/Add-ons $2,000

Sat, Jun 20th
12:00 PM
3-Day Event No-Limit Hold’em (Event 39)
No Rebuy/Add-ons $1,500

Sat, Jun 20th
5:00 PM
3-Day Event World Championship Pot-Limit Omaha (Event 40)
No Rebuy/Add-ons $10,000

Sun, Jun 21st
12:00 PM
3-Day Event No-Limit Hold'em Shootout (1,000 player max) (Event 41)
No Rebuy/Add-ons $5,000

Sun, Jun 21st
5:00 PM
3-Day Event Mixed Event (Event 42)
No Rebuy/Add-ons $2,500

Mon, Jun 22nd
12:00 PM
3-Day Event Seniors No-Limit Hold’em World Championship (Event 43)
No Rebuy/Add-ons $1,000

Mon, Jun 22nd
5:00 PM
3-Day Event Seven Card Razz (Event 44)
No Rebuy/Add-ons $2,500

Tue, Jun 23rd
12:00 PM
3-Day Event World Championship Pot-Limit Hold'em (Event 45)
No Rebuy/Add-ons $10,000

Tue, Jun 23rd
5:00 PM
3-Day Event Omaha Hi-Low Split-8 or Better (Event 46)
No Rebuy/Add-ons $2,500

Wed, Jun 24th
12:00 PM
3-Day Event Mixed Hold'em (Limit/No-Limit) (Event 47)
No Rebuy/Add-ons $2,500

Thu, Jun 25th
12:00 PM
3-Day Event Pot-Limit Omaha Hi-low Split-8 or Better (Event 48)
No Rebuy/Add-ons $1,500

Fri, Jun 26th
12:00 PM
5-Day Event World Championship H.O.R.S.E. (Event 49)
No Rebuy/Add-ons $50,000

Fri, Jun 26th
5:00 PM
3-Day Event Limit Hold’em Shootout (1,000 player max) (Event 50)
No Rebuy/Add-ons $1,500

Sat, Jun 27th
12:00 PM
3-Day Event No-Limit Hold’em (Event 51)
No Rebuy/Add-ons $1,500

Sun, Jun 28th
12:00 PM
3-Day Event Triple Chance No-Limit Hold’em (Event 52)
No Rebuy/Add-ons $3,000

Sun, Jun 28th
5:00 PM
3-Day Event Seven Card Stud Hi-Low-8 or Better (Event 53)
No Rebuy/Add-ons $1,500

Mon, Jun 29th
12:00 PM
3-Day Event No-Limit Hold’em (Event 54)
No Rebuy/Add-ons $1,500

Mon, Jun 29th
5:00 PM
3-Day Event 2-7 Triple Draw Lowball (Limit) (Event 55)
No Rebuy/Add-ons $2,500

Tue, Jun 30th
12:00 PM
3-Day Event No-Limit Hold'em / Six Handed (Event 56)
No Rebuy/Add-ons $5,000

Thu, Jul 2nd
2:00 PM
1-Day Event Ante Up For Africa Charity
No Rebuy/Add-ons $5,000

Fri, Jul 3rd
12:00 PM
13-Day Event World Championship No-Limit Texas Hold'em (Event 57)
No Rebuy/Add-ons
July 3,2009 12:00 PM Day 1A (3,000 players)
July 4,2009 12:00 PM Day 1B (3,000 players)
July 5,2009 12:00 PM Day 1C (3,000 players)
July 6,2009 12:00 PM Day 1D (3,000 players)
July 7,2009 12:00 PM Day 2A
July 8,2009 12:00 PM Day 2B
July 9,2009 12:00 PM Media Event
July 10,2009 12:00 PM Day 3
July 11,2009 12:00 PM Day 4
July 12,2009 12:00 PM Day 5
July 13,2009 12:00 PM Day 6
July 14,2009 12:00 PM Day 7
November 7-10,2009 TBD FINAL TABLE

$10,000



Satellites Schedule


All of our Mega and Single-Table Satellites will begin on May 26th, 2009
Mega Satellite Schedule:
$330 Mega Satellites Sunday - Thursday at 3 PM.
$550 Mega Satellites Friday - Sunday at 3 PM.
$550 Mega Satellites Sunday - Thursday at 8 PM.
$1060 Mega Satellites Friday & Saturday at 8 PM.

Mega Satellite Days July 1 - 5:
$550 Buy-In Mega Satellites at 10 AM and 4 PM.
$1060 Buy-In Mega Satellites at 1 PM and 8 PM.

Turbo Mega Satellite July 6:
$1060 Turbo Mega Satellite at 8AM

$40k No-Limit Hold'em Mega Satellite Days May 26-27:
$1570 Mega Satellites at 6 PM.

$50k H.O.R.S.E. Mega Satellite Days June 22-25:
$2250 Mega Satellites at 6 PM.

Nightly Tournaments From May 26 - July 14:
$340 Buy-In No-Limit Hold'em tournaments nightly at 7 PM.
$200 Buy-In No-Limit Holdem tournaments nightly at 11pm

World Series of Poker news

I had typed most of a recap for the last of the Biloxi trip before my internet went dead in the Beau's media room so I haven't gotten it up yet. Overall, it was a good trip, both from a poker playing and poker writing standpoint. I'll share the stories in the next couple of days.

But for now let me share some juicy WSOP gossip. Here are some bullet points of info from an inside source about the scheduling for this summer:

* The schedule is likely to be released on Feb. 1.

* The dates will be about the same as in 2008, so from June through mid to late July again.

* Rebuy events are not completely dead. There had been discussion of cutting them out of the WSOP completely, but at least the $1K with rebuys NLHE event will remain. That event continues to have strong support to stay.

* Badugi is not on the schedule, BUT there was strong support for it. My inside source expects it to be on the schedule in 2010.

If any of these statement are proven incorrect in a couple of weeks, I will kill my Deep Throat and find a better one.

At the Beau

As Amy keeps reminding me, I have been lax in my blog postings of late so I will try to do better in 2009. I've spent the better part of two weeks at the Beau Rivage in Biloxi for the newly named Southern Poker Championship. They've had a WPT tournament event down here before in 2006, but then it was called the Gulf Coast Poker Championship.

As you probably know, the big January tournament in Mississippi used to be the World Poker Open in Tunica. A brief history of that event for the unenlightened (and if I get any of this wrong pleae write to correct me)-- it was started as the Jack Binion World Poker Open close to a decade ago back when the Binions still owned all of the Horseshoe casinos. Since it was discovered that the convention area of the Horseshoe was not over water (and thus illegal for gaming activities according to Mississippi law) the Horseshoe partnered with the Gold Strike to jointly hold the WPO. So you would see players in tournaments split between the Gold Strike ballroom and poker room and the Horseshoe poker room and gaming area in the back of the casino and shuffling back and forth as fields were condensed. At some point a few years ago the rights to the WPO were obtained by the Gold Strike and the entire tournament moved over there.

After Harrah's purchased the Grand Casino and started holding its World Series of Poker Circuit events there in January (in effect piggybacking on the popularity of the WPO), MGM-Mirage (the current owners of both the Gold Strike and the Beau Rivage) decided to move its signature WPT event to Biloxi and name it the Southern Poker Championship. The WPO is now relegated to second-tier status in October with a $5,000 main event, which is interesting because when it was begun the WPO was one of the must attend events in the country in a time when there weren't a lot of big tournaments.

The move seems to have drawn more poker's A-listers to the scene. The fact that the PokerStars Caribbean Adventure just took place in the Bahamas and Biloxi is an easy plane ride from there has probably helped the cause too. Some of the notables here include Barry Greenstein, Ted Forrest, Layne Flack, Vanessa Rousso, Chad Brown, Scott Clements, Robert Williamson, Clonie Gowen, Hoyt Corkins, Tiffany Michelle, Brandon Cantu, David Pham...you get the idea. Tougher field than one might have expected.

I've been running around the last few days trying to get some work done for the next issue. I have interviewed Hevad Khan and Matt Graham (winner of a LHE Shootout WSOP bracelet in 2008 and a $5K event at the Five Diamond last month) for profiles, did the Ask Hoyt with you know who and gotten numbers for future interviews with Brown, Gavin Smith, Clements and Ted Lawson. I did, however, find time to get some poker playing in and took third in the nightly $200 second chance tournament on Tuesday for a $1,040 or so profit. That tournament was won by Ut Nguyen, younger brother of Men. I may have busted him earlier in the final table, but didn't want to gamble. As I like to say, you love to be the one putting in the third bet, but you sure hate to be the one calling it for most of your chips.

I broke this trip into two parts, the first one being last Tuesday through Saturday to mostly play poker before coming home to see Amy for a couple of days and then the second leg being this Tuesday through Sunday to mostly work on the magazine. The first leg was also profitable, with a profit of nearly $400. I stuck to satellites and 10-20 Omaha Hi-Lo for the most part. I did OK on sats this trip, going 2 for 8 (remember that these are two winner affairs so 1 out of 5 would be average), and did better in O8, winning $830 in one lengthy session, before giving up $500 the next day. I didn't play much NLHE because as I think I've mentioned before I hate playing games with the time charge instead of the standard rake structure because I feel I am penalized for playing TAG poker. Case in point, the one session of $1-$2 NLHE I did play I took two small pots, but paid $24 in rake for two hours of time. So that likely cost me $15-$20 in extra rake.

Saying goodbye to 2008 and a good morning to 2009

I am back from being MIA. Over the past month I was first busy putting together articles for The Season, a special pub by Crimson Tide Sports Marketing documenting 'Bama's 12-0 regular season (they certainly fell flat at the end there, didn't they?). After finishing that I spent the next week getting all of my stuff done for the January issue of Rounder. And by then it was Christmas time.

Hope you kids got everything you wanted from Santa.



If you're like me, you're eager to get the new year off to a good start. I am still in that gray area between full-time job hunting and seeking more freelance work/playing better, winning more at poker (all options that seem more difficult than they should be). Jobs are tough to come by these days...good ones, anyway. But so is freelance work.

I recently tallied my poker earnings for 2008 and I came out a little better than I thought, but they were still in the low five figures. You may recall that earlier in the year I had a goal of winning in the neighborhood of $25K to $30K from poker, but I ended up about half of that. It's funny how poker comes in streaks and spurts. Last year, I was up close to $5K after the first WEEK of 2008 after winning my share of satellites my first day in Tunica for the World Poker Open and then taking down a big daily tournament at the next-door Horseshoe the following day. Although most of the rest of the year was slow I did finish well by winning a small $11+R PLO tournament on PokerStars in mid-December for nearly $1K.

Now I'm off again, headed to the Beau Rivage in Biloxi this afternoon for the Southern Poker Championship, which is now the January World Poker Tour event in Mississippi. I'm going down for a few days, mainly to play, and then headed back to Tuscaloosa for the weekend. Then it's back down there for a week mostly to cover things for Rounder.