Poker Blog and Poker Gossip

Was checking out the Cardplayer.com live updates and came accross this funny little blurb:

A hilarious moment developed later in the day when one of the few unknown players in the field took a seat at Table 12 and found himself facing a pretty tough lineup. Victor Ramdin, seated next to him, made the introductions, and named everyone at the table along with some of their poker accomplishments.

The player looked at the table in a shocked state of awe, and then quickly realized the bad beat he was dealt on the redraw.

Here are the top 10 players at the end of Day 2 of the WPT Championship at the Bellagio Hotel and Casino in Las Vegas, Nevada:

1. Robert Mizrachi – 523,200
2. Jayde Tran – 406,700
3. Eric Richards – 399,500
4. Bryan Devonshire – 393,400
5. Cory Carroll – 384,700
6. John Celii – 376,800
7. Carlos Mortensen – 371,600
8. Kenny Tran – 367,400
9. Michael Gracz – 364,800
10. Jonathan Kalmar – 333,900

The WPT has made it official today, Sabina Gadecki is out and Layla Keyleigh is in to host the 6th Season of the World Poker Tour (WPT).

Kayleigh will make her debut with the WPT today at the final table for the Mirage Poker Showdown.

“From the first casting interview with her, we knew Layla would be a great fit for Season 6,” said Robyn Moder, WPT Studios executive vice president.

“Not only does she have an impressive TV background hosting in the sports and entertainment world, but she is energetic, intelligent and strikingly beautiful – the perfect combination to engage WTP fans.”

Specializing in celebrity interviews, video game industry events, and pop culture trends, 23-year old Layla is already well-versed in television and media. Her vast resume includes being an on-air correspondent for Fox Sport’s “Best Damn Sports Show Period” and The Vegas Insider, as well as co-hosting G4’s Attack of the Show and hosting “The Feed” news segment.

WPT Season 6 episodes will begin airing in early 2008 as part of GSN’s Monday night casino lineup where the network has built a substantial following in the casino game genre. Season V currently airs every Wednesday night on the Travel Channel at 9PM Eastern/Pacific.

For more information, please visit World Poker Tour or Layla’s personal website.

Here is a great video of Layla where she was voted as #15 hottest woman on the web:

The results are in, and Carlos Mortensen is the winner of the WPT Championship. 

Mortensen eliminated Kirk Morrison on the final hand when he called an All-in with his KhJh.  The flop came 7c4h3c.  A J of clubs came on the turn, giving Mortensen the best hand, and a 3d came on the river beating Kirk Morrison’s As4d.  Congratulations to Carlos, enjoy that 4 Million dollars!

WPT Championship Final Table Results

1. Carlos Mortensen – $3,970,415
2. Kirk Morrison – $2,011,135
3. Paul Lee – $1,082,920
4. Guy Laliberte – $696,220
5. Tim Phan – $464,110
6. Mike Wattel – $309,405

The final table for the WPT championship has been decided. Yesterday’s leader, Paul Lee, remains as the chip leader of the tournament with a massive $11,828,000 in chips.

Some of the notable eliminations included Phil Hellmuth leaving in 18th, taking home $123,670.  Hellmuth explained the hand in his blog, after beating Laing in a hand with pocket Qs…

“The very next hand I picked up J-J, and made it $90,000 to go.  Thomas Walhrus made it $230,000 to go, and I called.  The flop was 8-6-2, and I checked.  Walroos bet out $300,000, and for the first time in five days, I moved all-in.  Imagine that!  In five days, not only was I never called all-in, I never even moved all-in!!!  Walroos insta-called, showed pocket aces, and I hit the door.  It was 100% my fault. Only 20 minutes earlier I had heard that Walrous was all-in with 9h-6h, on the turn, vs. a set of nines.  Walroos hit his flush to survive.  This influenced me.”

Jimmy Tran took 10th position and won $185,645, Tommy Vu placed 9th for $216,585, Scott Fischman was eliminated in 8th receiving $247,525.  The last player to be eliminated to end the day was Thomas Wahlroos.  He went all in with AsTs after Mike Wattel raised 420K pre-flop and chip leader Paul Lee had simply just called behind.  Lee thought about it for a while, then called showing AdQs domainting Wahlroos.  The flop came Jh8s2s giving Wahlroos a spade out, but the remaining cards were both diamonds (2 and 5) which sent him packing to the rail.

Here are the official chip counts for tomorrow’s 5pm WPT Final Table at the Bellagio:

Seat 1. Kirk Morrison – 4,194,000
Seat 2. Guy Laliberte – 4,690,000
Seat 3. Carlos Mortensen – 6,501,000
Seat 4. Mike Wattel – 2,887,000
Seat 5. Paul Lee – 11,828,000
Seat 6. Tim Phan – 2,162,000

Will Paul Lee’s massive lead hold up for a victory or will he be taken down by Full Tilt Pro, Carlos Mortensen.  Stay tuned as we will provide an update on all the action tomorrow.

Paul Lee, the winner of the $2,000 buy-in 2007 5th Annual Five Star World Poker Classic just a few weeks ago on April 8th, now currently leads the pack at the WPT Championship.  Lee took home over $206,000 just a few weeks ago and is currently in good position for another huge cash.

Yesterdays leader, Raymond Davis is now on the brink of elimination as he is second to last in chips.

Ultimate Bet‘s Star, Phil Hellmuth also took a massive hit in his stack and now sits in 19th place.  Hellmuth explains what he calls his personal “train wreck” in his blog.

Patrik Antonius was eliminated in 52nd place after entering the day very short in chips.  He made about $40K, which is equivelant to one of his raises on Full Tilt Poker.

So it is now down to the final day with 27 players remaining.  Here is the current leaderboard:

1st – Paul Lee – $3,601,000
2nd – Kirk Morrison – $2,980,000
3rd – Carlos Mortensen – $2,429,000 (Full Tilt Poker Pro)
4th – Sorel Mizzi – $2,256,000
5th – Thomas Wahlroos – $1,847,000

The payouts for the tournament winners are as follows:

1    $ 3,970,415
2    $ 2,011,135
3    $ 1,082,920
4    $ 696,220
5    $ 464,110
6    $ 309,405

Raymond Davis (seen here from the Poker News Blog) is the current leader at the end of Day 3 of the 2007 WPT Championship.
Davis eliminated Barny Boatman, Eric Kesselman, Steve Wong and Chip Reese to build his stack up to $1,710,000 and take the lead at the Bellagio in Las Vegas today.

Some other notable eliminations included Anna Wroblewski (the recent winner of the 5-Star Bellagio World Poker Open) who went out in 70th place, Full Tilt Poker Pro Ram Vaswani was eliminated in 71st place, 2004 WPT 2nd place finished Humberto Brenes was eliminated in 62nd position, and the always entertaining Sammy Farha was eliminated in 83rd position.

The current leader board at the end of Day 3 stands as follows (unofficially):

Place Name                     Chip Count
1 Raymond Davis              1,710,000
2 Loi Phan                        1,440,000
3 Kirk Morrison                 1,282,000
4 Roland De Wolf              1,230,000
5 Thomas Wahlroos          1,225,000
6 Phil Hellmuth                  1,180,000
7 Grant Lang                    1,095,000
8 Carlos Mortensen           950,000
9 Tom Pniak                     750,000
10 Praz Bansi                   740,000