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We are halfway into the 43rd World Series of Poker (WSOP) and Phil Ivey is currently in the lead of the WSOP Player of the Year contest, followed by Andrew Frankenberger and John Monnette.

Phil Ivey

Phil Ivey returned to the World Series after a year’s break and, despite not making it past even Day 1 in most of the early events he entered, now he is warmed up and performs great, sitting at the final table of 3 events so far: he finished 7th in the $5,000 Seven Card Stud Hi/Lo, 2nd in the $10,000 Pot Limit Hold'em and 3rd in the $5,000 Omaha Hi/Lo. Moreover, he made in the money in the $1.500 No Limit Hold'em – Shootout event (118th). His total WSOP 2012 winnings are now at $451,495.

Following a prolonged Day 3, the heads-up of WSOP Event #24 $5,000 Omaha Hi-Low Split 8-or-Better remained to be played yesterday, with Joe Cassidy and Scotty Nguyen behind the stacks.

Scotty Nguyen

Cassidy: 3,000,000
Nguyen: 845,000

Only 18 players were left when the cards hit the air on Day 3 of WSOP Event #18 $2,500 Seven Card Razz. Brandon Cantu started as chipleader with 298,500, followed closely by Brendan Taylor (288,500) and Phil Hellmuth (287,500). Of course, the greatest attention was paid to the performance of the 11 times WSOP champion.

Cantu's Wife looking at things

The 8-handed final table was set when David Rosenau was eliminated.

Day 3 of the WSOP Event #16 $1,500 No Limit Hold’em – Six-Handed started with Robert Muzzatti in the chiplead and Mike Matusow in 3rd place, going for a 4th golden bracelet. A total of 1,604 players entered Day 1 and amassed a prize pool of $2,165,400.

The Final Table

Already on blind Level 22 (2,000/8,000/16,000), the 6-handed final table was set, with the elimination of Jonathan Currle, Mike Matusow and Matt Glantz. Matusow was railed, following the loss of a pot of half a million in chips, when he shoved preflop:

Robert Muzzatti: K K
Mike Matusow: A T

Board: 3 9 K A Q

19 players started Day 3 of WSOP Event #15 $5,000 Seven Card Stud Hi-Low Split 8-or-Better, with Adam Friedman in the lead with 323,500 in chips. Event #10 $5,000 Seven Card Stud winner John Monnette was slightly behind with 314,500. A total of 212 players started Day 1 of the event for a prize pool of a handsome $996,400.

WSOP Event 15 Final Table

The stars who made it to the final day included Eli Elezra, Phily Ivey and Phil Hellmuth, not to mention poker legend Doyle Brunson’s son Todd. The three tables melted down to the final one with the elimination of Eli Elezra, Marco Johnson, Allen Bari, Tuan Vo, Phil Hellmuth, Ben Yu, Nicholas Verkaik, Christopher George, Alexander Krapivinsky and Jesse Martin.

Day 3 of Event #12 $10,000 NLHE Heads-Up in the World Series of Poker 2012 featured the semi-finals and the finale of the tournament with Tommy Chen against Brian Hastings and Jason Mo against Brock Parker.

Tommy Chen

Players started the semi-finals of WSOP 2012 Event #12 $10,000 NLHE Heads-Up with 640,000 in chips plus two add-ons for stacks of a total of 1,920,000 each.

16 players were still in at the second day of the $5,000 Sevent Card Stud Event at this year's WSOP. Jeff Lisandro started the day as chipleader with 276,000 in chips.

Keeney: T 3/A 8 J Q/4

Vinh: K 7/7 J A 5/J 
 

MicroMillions II will kick off on the 12th July at PokerStars, offering big money to the smaller stakes players. 100 tournaments will be organized during the 10-day event.

Daniel Negreanu is, of course, currently at the 43rd World Series Poker in Las Vegas. In these videos, he shows us around his luxurious trailer he lives in during the championship and also reports on that in his latest vblog rant.

Daniel’s trailer interior in the Rio parking lot...

Following a review conducted by the new leadership, it has been revealed that the financial position of Purple Lounge is no longer tenable. The staff of the poker room has been made redundant and Media Corp. seeks a solution to the compensation of players.

Purple Lounge parent company Media Corporation PLC announced on 31 May that the financial position of the room revealed by a recent review requires the liquidation of the Purple Lounge companies.

Four days into the 43rd World Series of Poker (WSOP), two events have already been completed. Event #1 $500 Casino Employees NLHE was won by Chiab Saechao, while Event #2 $1,500 NLHE victory went to Brent Hanks. Phil Ivey was eliminated early in the tournament.

Phil Ivey

On 27 May, the 43rd WSOP launched with Event #1 $500 Casino Employees NLHE, the traditional opening event of the championship. The first bracelet went to Chiab ’Chip’ Saechao, along with the $70,859 first prize, besting a field of 732 that included WSOP Executive Director Ty Stewart. The results were as follows:

On 27 May, the 43rd Annual World Series of Poker (WSOP) launched with Event #1 $500 Casino Employees NLHE. A total of 732 players registered, accumulating a prize pool of $329,400.

2011 WSOP Event #1 Winner Sean Drake

This year’s WSOP kicked off yesterday, on 27 May with Event #1 $500 Casino Employees NLHE. Compared to 2011’s 850 entrants, the 732 buy-ins paid is a bit of a drop but the total prize pool is still nothing to be ashamed of: a handsome $329,400. Last year’s champion Sean Drake also entered but has been eliminated since, shoving with J8 and getting called with a pair of 6s on a neutral board. 46 players made it to Day 2.

Marvin Rettenmaier started the World Poker Tour (WPT) $25,000 World Championship main event 6-handed final table with a major edge in the chiplead and he did not miss out on winning it either.

Marvin Rettenmaier

Only the 6-handed final table remained to be played on Day 7 of the WPT $25,000 World Championship main event, with Marvin Rettenmaier in the chiplead:

Finnish high stakes pro Jens Kyllönen (Jeans89) will also take part in the most expensive tournament of all time.

Jens "Jeans89" Kyllönen is doing great at the high stakes tables this year, having led the profit list for quite a long time, and currently being placed fourth with a profit of $1,109,215. The young PLO specialist has also proven his abilities in tourneys, his biggest success so far being a first place at the 2009 EPT Copenhagen. His all-time tourney winnings make $1,393,900.

Jeans89

Kyllönen would like to increase his all-time results at this years WSOP, and has decided to take part in the million dollar tourney. He announced this in an interview given to the Finnish magazine Pokerisivut. 

Bwin.party may be the first to get a Spanish licence. The company announced on Monday they would pay €31 million as back-tax for the government.

About three weeks prior to the opening of the legalized online poker market on 1 June in the country, the Spanish government announced that they had altered the gambling act, requiring licensed rooms that had previously offered their services in Spain (which basically means all of them) to pay back-taxes for the period between 2008 and 2012. For some of the major operators, this could mean a not so small fortune, which rendered it uncertain if any of those would still be willing to enter the market.