And let the game begin.........But who wins the WSOP Crown will not be decided until November, that's when the final table will be played. This year, tournament officials are betting that delaying the tournament's final table moments will generate more interest and a leap in the ratings for the Championship. The hope is that this will lead to certain fame for the players who remain, and with all the hype that will be going on for the next few months I tend to think it will.

"This is probably going to be a watershed moment for poker," said series commissioner Jeffrey Pollack. Pollack,  Nascars former vice president, says the goal is to help the tournament build a reputation for poker similar to other mainstream sports leagues. To do that, Pollack says poker has to excite the fans.

"We've been very forthright in that ambition," Pollack said. "Change doesn't happen overnight but a change in intention can happen overnight and our intention here is to help more people experience our thrills and excitement."

In the past fans of poker got word of the main event winner long before the tape-delayed event aired on television by way of the written word and the web. This year the network telecast will not air until hours after someone cashes in.

"This will be poker's biggest night," Pollack said.

 The more I think on this, the more I believe Pollack may have just hit on something. If nothing else it keeps the WSOP in the media attention more, and it should bring the TV ratings way up when it's aired in November.

 And now for the latest 2008 WSOP standings:

# Winner of Event 49 - $1,500 No Limit Hold'em - JC Tran

# Winner of Event 50 - 10,000 Pot Limit Omaha Championship - Marty Smyth

# Winner of Event 51 - $1,500 H.O.R.S.E. Champion - James Schaaf

# Winner of Event 52 - $1,500 No-Limit Hold'em Champion - David Daneshgar

# Winner of Event 53 -  Limit Hold'em Shootout - Matt Graham

Looks like this is the year of the pros at the WSOP. It's great to see players such as Scotty Nguyen, Daniel Negreanu, Barry Greenstein and yes, even Mike Matusow winning bracelets in this years events  . Here is a list of the WSOP Bracelet Winners so far this year .

# Winner of Event 1 - $10,000 Pot-Limit Hold'em Championship - Nenad Medic

# Winner of Event 2 - $1,500 No-Limit Hold'em - Grant Hinkle

# Winner of Event 3 - $1,500 Pot-Limit Hold'em - David Singer

# Winner of Event 4 - $5,000 Mixed Hold'em (Limit/No Limit) - Erick Lindgren

# Winner of Event 5 - $1,000 No-Limit Hold'em w/ Re-buys - Michael Banducci

# Winner of Event 6 - $1,500 Omaha Hi-Low Split-8 or Better - Thang Luu

# Winner of Event 7 - $2,000 No-Limit Hold'em - Matt Keikoan

# Winner of Event 8 - $10,000 World Championship Mixed Event - Anthony Rivera

# Winner of Event 9 - $1,500 No-Limit Hold'em / Six-Handed - Rep Porter

# Winner of Event 10 - $2,500 Omaha/Seven Card Stud Hi-Low-8 or Better - Farzad Rouhani

# Winner of Event 11 - $5,000 No-Limit Hold'em Shootout - Phil Tom

# Winner of Event 12 - $1,500 Limit Hold'em - Jimmy Shultz

# Winner of Event 13 - $2,500 No-Limit Hold'em - Duncan Bell

# Winner of Event 14 - $10,000 Seven-Card Stud World Championship - Eric Brooks

# Winner of Event 15 - $1,000 Ladies No-Limit Hold'em World Championship - Svetlana Gromenkova

# Winner of Event 16 - $2,000 Omaha Hi/Lo - Andrew Brown

# Winner of Event 17 - $1,500 No-Limit Hold'em Shootout - Jason Young

# Winner of Event 18 - $5,000 No-Limit 2-7 Draw w/ Rebuys - Mike Matusow

# Winner of Event 19 - $1,500 Pot-Limit Omaha - Vanessa Selbst

# Winner of Event 20 - $2,000 Limit Hold'em - Daniel Negreanu

# Winner of Event 21 - $5,000 No-Limit Hold'em - Scott Seiver

# Winner of Event 22 - $3,000 H.O.R.S.E. - Jens Voertmann

# Winner of Event 23 - $2,000 No-Limit Hold'em - Blair Hinkle

# Winner of Event 24 - $2,500 Pot-Limit Hold'em/Omaha - Max Pescatori

# Winner of Event 25 - $10,000 Heads Up No-Limit Hold'em World Championship - Kenny Tran

# Winner of Event 26 - $1,500 Razz - Barry Greenstein

# Winner of Event 27 - $1,500 No-Limit Hold'em - Vitaly Lunkin

# Winner of Event 28 - $5,000 Pot-Limit Omaha w/ Rebuys - Phil Galfond

# Winner of Event 29 - $3,000 No-Limit Hold'em - John Phan

# Winner of Event 30 - $10,000 Limit Hold'em World Championship - Rob Hollink

# Winner of Event 31 - $2,500 No-Limit Hold'em Six-handed - Dario Minieri

# Winner of Event 32 - $1,500 No-Limit Hold'em - Luis Velador

# Winner of Event 33 - $5,000 Seven Card Stud Hi-Low World Championship -Sebastian Ruthenberg

# Winner of Event 34 - $1,500 Pot-Limit Omaha w/Rebuys - Layne Flack

# Winner of Event 35 - $1,500 Seven Card Stud - Mike Rocco

# Winner of Event 36 - $1,500 No-Limit Hold'em - Jesper Hoagaard

# Winner of Event 37 - $10,000 Omaha Hi-Low World Championship - David Benyamine

# Winner of Event 38 - $2,000 Pot-Limit Hold'em - Davidi Kitai

# Winner of Event 39 - $1,500 No-Limit Hold'em - David Woo

# Winner of Event 40 - $2,500 2-7 Triple Draw - John Phan

# Winner of Event 41 - $1,500 Mixed Hold'em - Frank Gary

# Winner of Event 42 - $1,000 Seniors No-Limit Hold'em World Championship - Dan Lacourses

# Winner of Event 43 - $1,500 Pot Limit Omaha Hi/Lo - Martin Klaser

# Winner of Event 44 - $1,000 No Limit Hold'em w/Rebuys - Max Greenwood

# Winner of Event 45 - $50,000 Horse Championship - Scotty Nguyen

# Winner of Event 46 - $5,000 No Limit Hold'em Six-handed - Joe Commisso

# Winner of Event 48 - $2,000 no limit hold’em tournament - Alexandre Gomes

I thought I'd share a little info about a good online friends web-site today. He goes by Wade79 at the poker forum and is one of the moderators there. He's always helping out when can, and has been a huge help to me with setting up sites and any banners that a person might need. Chris is a very trustworthy young man in my books by any standards and plays a pretty mean game of poker to boot.

Most of us have hobbies other than playing online poker all the time , or I do anyhow . One of Chris's is painting miniatures. For lack of a better term I call them medieval fantasy characters. I know a lot of folk collect this type thing...even have a couple of my younger brothers that are into the medieval collectables . Heck, we even have a Medieval Times Theatre Show bout an hours drive from here , so I know it's very popular.

Chris has named his latest site MaronMinis.com, and he's providing a professional and quick miniature painting service. He has a gallery full of pictures of these miniatures and a price list as well . I think you'll find that he can answer most of your questions right on his site, if not send him a mail and I'm sure he'll get back to you in no time. There's a sub-forum that's all his at the poker forum as well .

If you run across him at the poker felt beware though...he's no pushover. ;-)

Over at the forum we have a couple small private tourneys this week . We don't get a large amount of poker players for these games, but they're played in a friendly spirit and you'd be hard pressed to find tougher players at the felt.These games are password protected and you can find the password for them at the poker forum.

The first game is this Friday and the info is as follows;

Game to be played at Carbon Poker
Tournament Name: House of Poker Blues
Tournament Description: Friday Night Jam Session  
Tab Location: Tournament > Private > Scheduled
Limit Type: Pot Limit
Game Type: 5 Card Draw
Player Registration Start Date/Time (EST.): Immediately
Tournament Start Date/Time (EST.) June 27 @ 1600 lobby time
Buyin: $2.00
Entry Fee: .20
Password: Can be found at the forum in "Upcoming Games"

Saturdays game is at Timeless Poker and the info for that one is;

Location - Tournaments > House of Poker Blues             
Game Type - No-Limit Hold'em    ShortStack
Password - Can be found at the forum in "The League"   
Buy-in - 2.00 + 0.20                           
Registration begins - 2 days before tourney begins
Game Starts - June 28 @ 10am EST

Hope to see some new names this week , and if you have any questions just give me a holler. ;-)

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It's been a long road, or possibly a short one depending on the tournament. Regardless of how you got to the final table, you're there, where everybody wants to be in all poker tournaments. It is doubtful that you limped in, but there's a good chance that you may be limping out quickly if you let the situation root itself into your head. Instead, take a deep breath and set your eyes on the prize.

Mentally preparing for the final table of a tournament can be excruciating for the first-timer, no matter if it’s in the largest tournament in the world like the WSOP or in a cheap online tourney. For many seasoned players it may be the least of their expectations. One thing remains consistent in almost every tournament; everyone at the table is going to finish in the money. This should trigger a strategical move by the best players as they know that chip count and value become less important now than player elimination. Every time a player is eliminated, the remaining players make a bit more, thus it becomes so much more important to concentrate on the elimination of a player than finding yourself hoping to build your stack.

Of course stack size, chip count, position and all such variables are so very important when considering play at a final table, but focusing on the basics, a player's concern should lie in staying at the table for as long as possible! For anyone who's seen a final table in a televised event, someone will be going all-in early. It would be an uncommon occurrence not to see such a thing happen, and when this does, let someone call the action; it may be you if you've got something amazing to play. All too often players bringing large stacks to the final table targeting the smallest stack and trying to push them out quickly without having the goods to do so. The last thing you want to see at a final table is that the playing field once again becomes even.

Taking the elimination factor into consideration, you'll want to continue to focus on your competitors, just as you have throughout the tournament. In theory the final table should offer you the best play that you've experienced within any particular tournament, so be sure to just relax and observe when you fold out of the action early. One thing's for certain; you don't want to be unaggressive when it comes to attempting to steal blinds, etc., but just know that players that choose to meet your challenge will more than likely be drawing to a strong hand. Tight-aggressive styles seem to dominate the final table, but it goes without saying that whoever the winner eventually is, he or she didn't get there without some luck. Take your shots when luck is on your side, taking what you can and accepting any overly bold challengers. And most importantly, enjoy it, you're exactly where you'd hoped to be.

Yesterday we had a little private poker tourney at the forum. I was just coasting along and not doing too bad, not worried at all about placing in the money to be honest . There weren't but five of us players left and then I get dealt the cowboys. A strong hand by any standards, and with just five players at the felt a very strong hand indeed. Though I do always worry about anyone holding that dang Ace......

Novi49 Posts SB 100.00
YellowRose2 All In 170.00
dittodeano Folds
Hacksaw2000 Raised to 800.00 -  I put him on an ace high right off the bat with this raise.
skinski All In 1975.00 - I think I have him beat , pretty sure of it actually, it's push or just call.
Novi49 Folds
Hacksaw2000 Calls 1175.00 - Really didn't want the call just because of the aces, and this just confirms to me that I probably I made the right read...
skinski Shows K-K
YellowRose2 Shows A- garbage
Hacksaw2000 Shows A-K Ok, I'm still just a little worried because of the ace, but there's only two left in the deck so it's not too bad at all.
Flop comes garbage
turn comes garbage - Now with him having only two outs my odds are very good to win the hand .
and river is an Ace !
skinski Out
YellowRose2 Out
Hacksaw2000 Won 3610.00 from pot 2 with Pair of Aces
Hacksaw2000 Won 610.00 from pot 1 with Pair of Aces

Can't blame the call with Big Slick, and the only thing I see that I could have done different was just smooth call and push after the flop...just not too certain that would have worked either, they might have just seen that as an attempt to steal the pot.

Oh well , sometimes you just have to get your money in with the best hand and keep your fingers crossed that it holds........

Anyhow , I'll be playing another private $1000.00 tourney at Carbon tomorrow and hope to do well in it. I took the last one down that I played and won a cool $500.00 , so wish me luck !

I just want to let everyone know that everything is just about finished on the domain MyPokerBlues.com . The site will be used for poker rooms that offer a percentage of your rake back . If you play poker, you know that rake is something that you pay every hand you play. It is how the rooms get paid for hosting the games as well as providing the software if it's an online room and you'd be surprised at how much this adds up. You will find some of the same rooms we promote here, but with the rake back option for players. You must use the banners at MyPokerBlues in order to get rakeback, NOT here at the House.

I've also moved the forum over to the new host, so the link has changed now to www.mypokerblues.com/forum . No more freeforum.org. The new host is much quicker and I think everyone will see this as a major improvement . So be sure to come give a visit and let us know what you think. Bare in mind it's all still a work in progress . ;-)

We'll be hosting a "Friday Night Jam Session" very soon, so be sure to go read the upcoming games at the forum for all the details on those poker tournaments. There'll be a freeroll coupon issued to the leader of the series for each eight week season to one of the big tourneys at Carbon.

Anyhow, till next time, you all take care and good luck at the felt !