Aaaah the Michael Mizrachi blow. WSOP had just ended and all anyone could talk about was the stellar performance of Mizrachi throughout the professional season. He enjoyed his victory with new endorsements, getting his debts paid and starting his own poker tip blog.

The WSOP Women’s Dilemma. Last year’s women’s event at the WSOP became quite a controversial affair overshadowing much of the Main Event’s air time. Annie Duke stood up for her rights to be treated as an equal with specialty minority status in the world of poker. Pretty sure she remains one of the best players in the world.

Speaking of Annie Duke, the queen of poker went before congress last summer to plead the case of an online gaming bill that would offer consumer protection to players. Well, don’t we all wish that bill had passed a little sooner huh? Oh we’re still waiting? Sheesh.

The London Poker festival took place in late summer attracting players from all over the world. Back then it wasn’t the virtual dilemma players faced it was the cost of parking in downtown London.

Poker’s Social Network. New poker apps and being able to play online poker at your social networking sites was all the rage this time last year. It was all about bigger, better and more ways to connect with the virtual casino. Weird. Many folks these days are actively avoiding it.

And my absolute favorite news worthy event from last summer was the announcement of Pokerstars new CEO. Talk about sitting at the captain’s table of the sinking ship right? These days all we hear from Pokerstars is “the check’s in the mail.”

Funny how quickly the worm turns huh?

Poker News.com was lucky enough to sit down with this year’s WSOP champion 23 year old Jonathan Duhamel from Canada. He explained to the reporter that he felt a lot of pressure during the four months between the July game and the November final table. Since the start of the November Nine Table, the chip leader going in has never come out on top. This added an extra level of pressure to Duhamel. He explained that he played a number of smaller tournaments early in the break but spent the last two weeks before the table just mentally resting for the big event. This was an historic win for the young professional and in the weeks to come many more interviews may shine a light on how this young man become a legend in two days.

After complaints from players the World Poker Tour has created a number of regional contests. These contests will be open and have reasonable buy ins so more layman can play poker. Despite the fact that winners in these regional events would not be entered into the professional point system, they would receive WPT prestige. The first event takes place in Florida at the end of this month. Following that there are events in Indiana also in November and Paris at the beginning of the New Year. Both the European games and American games would be accessible to a wider variety of poker fans.

Upcoming poker tournaments include the European Poker Tour in Barcelona beginning on November 22 until the 27^th. Also on the agenda is the WPT tournament in Marrakech beginning on November 27^th and running through until the end of the month.

Peter Eastgate,  a poker pro who took home a WSOP bracelet in 2008 is currently auctioning said bracelet for charity on Ebay. The bracelet, consisting of 18 K gold and diamonds has already bid up to over $60,000. Many professional and fans are convinced that the bracelet will fetch at least six figures at auction end. Eastgate is semi retired from professional poker after making enough money to live out the rest of his life comfortably. Selling his bracelet is not just for fun but to benefit the UNICEF charity that aids children all over the world.

Yes it’s been quite a week in the world of poker with Monday being the culmination of the 2010 WSOP Main Event. He wasn’t the favorite and he wasn’t expected to win but Jonathan Duhamel took home the right million dollar first place prize and became the first Canadian to hold the WSOP champion title. It was quite a battle to first place but a healthy initial chip count and the careful judging of when to strike against opponents paid off for this young poker professional.

Poker fans waited months for the final table of the WSOP 2010 main event. The final table known as the November Nine made for great viewing and reading. Play by play reports buzzed around the Internet keeping fans out of the online casinos and glue to their favorite poker blog. Play was surprising with Mizrachi and Cheong going all in at the wrong moments. The final two played heads up for just a short time, a scant 43 hands, before Duhamel made his victory certain.

Duhamel sealed the deal with an Ace Jack combo against Heads up partner John Racener. Duhamel had a comfortable chip lead and went all in. Racener decided it was time to put up or shut up and called Duhamel with his King Eight. The flop was 9-4-4 and the crowd waited. Then the turn was 6 and the river 5. Sometimes all it takes is an Ace.

Oh and don’t feel bad for Racener; he went home with over five million dollars in his pocket.

When it was clear Duhamel had sealed the deal, the Canadian supporters in the crowd went into a frenzy. Duhamel lifted money above his head and celebrated with his fellow countrymen. Last year’s main event winner Joe Cada presented Duhamel with his bracelet. What a day in this young player’s life.

Now we all sit back and wait for next year final table action to see if one of the past winners can make it a double up or if more new fresh players will dominate the professional poker scene.

Well, we’ll do that in between playing our on games. Well done Mr. Duhamel.

Well, I know everyone was watching ESPN 3 or reading the WSOP blog Saturday to find out who the final two players in WSOP main event game 57 would be. Here’s a recap of how we got down to two.

There were a couple of early outs in the November Nine. Soi Nguyen left the game at hand 28 pocketing over $800,000. Matthew Jarvis, a personal favorite left the game at hand 43 taking home just over a million dollars.

Hand 116 saw the elimination of Jason Senti. He was sent packing by Cheong who called him on an all in hand. He took home over $1.3 million so I don’t feel too bad for him. The players take a quick break after Senti’s departure. Joseph Cheong dominates the play for a few hands with occasionally contributions from Mizrachi and Duhamel.

John Dolan is eliminated by Duhamel and a pair of fours. He went home with over $1.7 million for his troubles. All is quiet until hand 139 when Racener manages to double his money through Mizrachi who could well afford to lose a few chips. Racener goes all in with an Ace King and wins against Mizrachi’s Ace Eight. Ten hands later Racener doubles his money again, this time facing down Jonathan Duhamel.

The shock of the evening was Michael Mizrachi’s elimination in hand 185. Mizrachi went all in and got called out by Duhamel who was holding pocket aces. Because of this early elimination MIzrachi handed the WSOP Player of the Year award to Frank Kassela. Just a few hands later Filippo Candio makes his exit after a showdown with Cheong. We are down to three players.

By hand 192 it looked as though Joseph Cheong was destined to win, extending his lead against the other two players. He goes up against Duhamel in hand 197 and drops to 80 million in chips. He looks like he has it all until hand 219 when he is eliminated battling for the chip lead. He took away over $4 million for his play.

So that’s it. We are down to the final two players in the final table of WSOP 2010 Main Event. Monday’s play will decide whether its John Racener or Jonathan Duhamel that takes home the bracelet.

So we all know the 2010 WSOP in Vegas is pretty much over except for that final televised table in November. Here’s a little background on those final nine players.

Filippo Candio: 25, Italy. Recent credits include his win at the 2009 Italian Pro Championship and past sponsorship from PokerStars.net. Considered a strong favorite by those actually watching him play in the casino during this year’s tournament.

Joseph Cheong: USA. Recently came first at the Harrah’s No Limit Holdem event back in March and has been on the professional circuit for a few years.

John Dolan: 24, USA. First two place finishes to his name and 14 money wins makes Dolan a viable contender for that final gold bracelet. He hails from Florida and usually does his winning online.

Jonathan Duhamel: 22, Quebec.  Has placed or won series money in professional tournaments since 2008. With two cash wins from the 2010 WSOP, let’s hope the third time is a charm for this young but talented player.

Matthew Jarvis: 26, Canada. Despite playing poker for the last six years, this is Jarvis’ first final table. A relative unknown Jarvis has dreamed of this day for years. Let’s hope all that wishing comes true.

Michael Mizrachi: 29, USA. Known as the Grinder on the professional circuit, Mizrachi has already won during this year’s WSOP tournament and had a heads up battle. He seems to be playing at full strength this year. Poker has been a passion for Mizrachi since he was a young child so let’s hope the years of practice pay off.

Soi Nguyen: 37, USA. A non professional and the oldest of the final nine. Ngyuen has no professional record to speak of so could be considered the long shot in this one.

John Racener: 24, USA. A few wins in the past but nothing that compares to the final nine at the WSOP. Racener has been around for a few years and has done well in the circuit tournaments. Let’s see how things pan out for him in late fall.

Jason Senti: 25, USA. A professional player and instructor, Senti is well known in the online casino world. In real life Senti won event 29 in last year’s WSOP.

Personally I favor Mizrachi for this one. He’s having quite a tournament with a couple of close ones, a few heads up and even a bracelet. He’s on a roll and if he doesn’t lose that energy or edge while he waits four months to get back at his opponents, it may be his year to shine.

But then, they all have four months to perfect their poker skills so in the end it’s still anyone’s game.

And that’s the fun thing about poker right?

This data is compiled from the WSOP home page and Pokernews.com

And despite the final game the results of the 2010 WSOP are in and what a ride it has been. For those who like recap without too much drama here are the results of events 53 through 56.

Event 53: $1,500 Limit Hold ‘Em Shootout tournament. . It didn’t take long to thin the herd from an acceptable 548 players down to an acceptable 64. Brendan Taylor from the United States came out on top taking home a modest but certainly acceptable $184.950 not to mention a gold bracelet. It was Aces everywhere and despite Ben Yu having A 9 he still lost out to Taylor’s A 7.

Event 54: Another $1,000 No Limit Hold’em event kept fans going over the holiday weekend. Marcel Vonk from the Netherlands took home the bracelet and the nice pot of $570,960. He won against David Peters who’s final hand was an acceptable K8. This was the first time a Dutch competitor won a WSOP bracelet. Certainly a great way to balance that World Cup loss.

Event 55: It was Daniel Alaei that took home the win and a beautiful $780,599 in this $10,000 Pot Limit Omaha Championships. His final hand was a clean 7655. Miguel Proulx took second place in this game. There were a total of 346 entrants for four days of play. It was Alaei better known as Steamraise hails from Los Angeles and now has three WSOP bracelets to his name.

Event 56: The $2,500 No Limit Hold’em was taken home by Tomer Berda along with $825,976 in prize money.  It was a heads up finish full of intensity as Vladimir Kochelaevskiy rode Tomer Berda for a little while before losing his 10 6 to Berda’s A 4. It always comes down the right Ace at the right time doesn’t it?

The final event is still underway as I write but of course any final event deserves its own blog so stay tuned.

Last week we discussed the events up to the 47^th tournament. Now let’s recap the five following. There was a lot of action, a lot of plays and a few surprises.

Event 48: This was the $2,500 Mixed Event. The game consisted of eight different styles of poker. There were a total of 453 entrants but only 192 players came back for the second day of play. The winning hand was an A 9 and belonged to Sigurd Eskeland of Norway. It’s was Steve Sung who’s pairs of Queens got knocked out in the heads up competition and allowed Eskeland to go home with $260,497.

Event 49: Another round of $1,500 No Limit Hold ’Em took place at the end of June. There were a total of 2,543 entrants but in the end in came down to the heads up match between Michael Linn and Taylor Larkin. It was three days of hard slog for the winner Michael Linn. But Linn survived several problems low chip counts and terrible river cards to bring home a whopping $609,493.

Event 50: $5,000 Pot Limit Omaha took place the last two days in June and started out with 460 days. The end of the first day took out some big players such as Vanessa Selbst and Daniel Negreanu leaving only 45 in play for day two. It ended up in a heads up match between Chance Kornuth and Kevin Boudreau with Kornuth’s 6 Q 8 9 beating Boundreau K 4 4 A. Kornuth earned himself a hefty $508,090.

Event 51: The $3,000 Triple Chance No-Limit Hold ‘Em was the first event of the third month of the WSOP.  Ryan Welch took home the gold (or more exactly the gold bracelet and over half a million in cold hard cash) after beating Jon Eaton in the heads up game.

Event 52: The $25,000 No Limit Hold’em/Six Handed brought out the big guns. There were only 191 entrants including some well known names such as Daniel Negreanu, Isaac Haxton, Dan Kelly and Nick Schulman. 69 players went on to finish out day 2. Day 3 saw only 18 players. The final table had the crow and the media on pins and needles. It all came down to heads up play between Dan Kelly and Shawn Buchanan. Unfortunately Buchanan’s pair of Jacks was not enough to beat Dan Kelly’s A 10.  That humble A 10 gave Kelly a whopping $1,315,518 as well as a gold bracelet.

It’s the second full week of play at the WSOP 2010 main event and we still have five more weeks of professional poker playing to enjoy. I’ll get right to this week’s results.

The week started event 16 or No Limit Hold’em six handed with a three day schedule and a $1,500 buy in.  Over 1,600 players took part with Carter Philips of North Carolina taking home the first place win. Samuel Gerber of Switzerland came in second and Craig Bergeron of Michigan coming home third. It’s always nice to hear that some money is going to the car making state right?

Event 17 began Tuesday and consisted of a $5,000 buy in for a game of good old fashioned no limits. It was Jason Dewitt that pocketed the $818,959 in first place earnings and Sam Trickett of England who took home the half million dollar second place finish. Jeff Williams of Georgia took home a healthy $328,762 for third place.

The buy in for Limit Hold em event 18 which started on Wednesday had a $2,000 buy in and Americans taking first, second and third place. It was Eric Buchman of Hewlett, NY that took home the bracelet. Brent Courson from poor old Michigan came in second and Steven Hustoft of Washington who came in third.

Also on Wednesday the 2-7 Draw Lowball no limit world championship began with a hefty $10,000 buy in and 101 entrants. David Baker of Michigan took home the bracelet as well as $294,321 in earnings.  Eric Cloutier of Louisiana came in second and George Danzer of Germany came in third.

Thursday began events 20 and 21. The Pot Limit Omaha with its $1,500 buy in went to John Barch of Texas. Klinghammer Thibaut of France got second place and Trai Dang of California came in third. There were a total of 885 entries. The Seven Card Stud event had 408 entries with Richard Ashby of Great Britain taking home first place. Christine Pietsch of California came in second and Darren Shebell of Las Vegas took third place.

As I write this on Sunday evening the results for events 22, 23, 24, and 25 are not yet known. 22 began Friday with the Ladies No-Limit Hold’em Championship. Event 23 is a four day Limit Hold’em tournament and event 24 in a No Limit hold’em game. The Omaha Hi-Low Split 8 or Better World Championship started Saturday night and will go on for three days.

We are enjoying the mixed results so far and continue to wish all the players great cards and loose opponents.

Praz Bansi from London, England took event 5’s No limit Hold ‘em tournament win home with a pretty new bracelet and over half a million in earnings. Vincent Jacques, the Canadian came in second and Alaska native Calvin Kordus came in third.

The three day No Limit Hold’em  Shootout started on Tuesday and lasted for three days. Maximum number of players was set at 2,000. The $5,000 buy in didn’t stop 358 from participating. This one went to the Americans with Joshua Tieman of Chicago, IL taking home the win with a total of $441,692.000 in his pocket. Second and third place went to the Brits with Neil Channing and Stuart Rutter placing respectively.

Event 7 was the 2-7 Triple Draw Lowball had a $2,500 buy in and had Americans (aka the home team for this blog) placing in all but two of the first 20 slots. Despite gallant efforts by Don Mcnamara who came in third and Raphael Zimmerman who placed second, Peter Gelencser from Budapest Hungary went home with the win and over $180,000 for the effort. Wonder what that is in Hungarian bucks?

Another No Limit Hold em was event number eight with a “low” $1,500 buy in. Pascal LeFrancois from Canada took home the $568,974.00 in first place winnings. Max Steinberg of Oakland, CA came in second and Kevin Howe from Glasgow, Scotland came in third. Quite a mixed bag. But with a quarter million being the third place winnings I wouldn’t really care as long as I placed in the top three right?

Events nine and ten got underway on Thursday June 3. The Pot Limit Hold ‘em three day event had a $1,500 buy in.  British player James Dempsey won this bracelet with Steve Chanthabouasy and JJ Liu from the United States taking second and third place. Event ten was the seven card stud world championship with a hefty $10,000 buy in. This three day event was an American win with Men Nguyen taking first, Brandon Adams of England taken second and Steve Billirakis of Illinois brining up the rear.

On Friday it was events 11 and 12 No Limit and Limit hold’em both with $1,500 buy ins. It was kiwi Simon Watt of New Zealand who took home first place and $614,248.00 in the No-Limit event and Matthew Matros of Brooklyn, NY who put $189,870 as well as a gold bracelet in the bank after the Limit Hold’em game.

Saturday began with another No limit Hold ‘em game with the $1,000 buy in attracting 3,042 players. Steven Gee of Sacramento took home that one. Saturday evening was the 2-7 Draw Lowball no limit tournament with another California Yan Chen winning the bracelet.

The week ended with the seven card stud hi low split 8 world championship taking place Sunday night with a $10,000 buy in. Americans took first, second and third place with Frank Kassela of Memphis coming first, Allen Kessler of Las Vegas coming second and Jennifer Harman of Reno taking third place.