The first thing you hear when entering the Amazon Room at the Rio Hotel and Casino, home to the 2007 World Series of Poker, is the chip shuffling. Thousands of discs, rattling nervously between the fingers of the best poker players & women poker pros in the world. And then you see the crowds. And then you try to dodge the crowds. Alas, the chip-shuffling continues unabated, snobbishly indifferent to the half-ton behemoth who just stepped on your toe.

Sunday at noon, the WSOP kicked off its most high-profile event of the 2007 competition - Event #39, the $50,000 buy-in HORSE poker tournament.

Only 148 competitors summoned up the courage to pony up the 50 grand. The winner will receive $2,276,832, and considering this particular event comprises a who's-who of the poker world, he or she will deserve every penny of it. Download poker wallpapers.

An example of the talent pool: At one table alone sits Phil Ivey, T.J. Cloutier, Dewey Tomko, David Singer, Todd Brunson and Mike Sexton. Online poker.

The collection of poker royalty has brought out both the media and fans in droves. While the fans have been well-behaved, the same cannot be said for certain members of the media. On more than one occasion photographers were chastised for using flash photography, a big no-no at the WSOP. Play route 66 poker.

Overheard by this blogger by a member of the WSOP security team: "I'm gonna kill that little twat." The future murderer then motioned towards a member of the media who was darting between tables like a slalom skier. In this blogger's opinion, the security was correct to threaten homicide. Play $500 match poker bonus.

Poker News Source: Bodog Poker

Bodog poker pros David Williams and Josh Arieh are both in the field of the $1,500 Pot Limit Omaha with Rebuys event today at the 2007 World Series of Poker.

The $1,500 Pot Limit Omaha with Rebuys event began today at the 2007 WSOP and Bodog poker pros Josh Arieh and David Williams are both in the field. This poker tournament has turned out poker's big names and with only a small number of poker players & women poker players able to afford the rebuys necessary to play this game, there are more than a few at each table.

At one of the toughest tables is where DW found himself, with Robert "Mr. Omaha" Williamson and Andy Bloch sitting to his right. Also at the table are Erik Seidel and Dewey Tomko. Just for the record, that's four WSOP bracelets in Omaha, three in Pot Limit, all at the same table. Two of them belong just to Erik. Download poker wallpapers.

Josh found himself sitting at a table with Sammy Farha and Tom Schneider. There are three Omaha bracelets between those two, and Tom just won his a week or so ago, so he's on an Omaha streak and looking to extend it. Sammy won his second Omaha bracelet last year, so while he's no spring chicken he's still at the top of his poker game. Online poker.

The bust-outs have been coming quick as pros try to build their stacks as much as possible for the next round when the rebuys end. They've been throwing $1,000 casino chips around like they're candy in their efforts to accomplish this. Stay tuned for their progress in this event as the rebuy levels have just ended and the rubber now hits the road. We will bring it to you live from the 2007 World Series of Poker.

Bodog Poker Pros Advance To Third Round of World Series of Poker Event

Team Bodog poker pro Josh Arieh took down Phil Laak to advance to the third round of the World Championship $5,000 Heads-Up No Limit Hold’em event at the 2007 WSOP.

We’re down to 128 players & women poker pros after the second round of play in the World Championship $5,000 Heads-Up No Limit Hold’em event and the logistics are now a little easier to handle. We at least have less tournament area to walk around trying to keep track of things, so that’s cool. Play online poker.

Bodog pros David Williams and Josh Arieh both advanced through to the next round of play in this bracket-style event. Josh took down Phil “Unabomber” Laak in a back and forth poker battle that lasted the best part of almost two hours. David was the next Bodog pro through just a few minutes later, defeating an opponent whom PokerNews.com just calls “the button” in their only reference to him. Well fought, “button”, well fought. Play route 66 poker.

Women poker star Evelyn Ng by far had the longest match and, at one point, had her opponent down to about 1,000 in chips. However, she hit a bad run of cards and her opponent clawed his way back in. Finally, Evy got her cards in with the best hand she had seen in over an hour and lost a race to put an end to her poker tournament (her opponent just barely had her covered). Play $500 match poker bonus.

Lock onto our poker blog for more live updates on Josh and DW’s progress live in the third round from the 2007 World Series of Poker.

Poker News Source: Bodog Poker & Eye on Gambling

Team Bodog poker pro Josh Arieh is one of the big name pros still in the field for Day 2 of the $5,000 H.O.R.S.E. event at the 2007 World Series of Poker Tournament.

We’re gonna go ahead and knock these updates out for you so we can get out in the poker room. There is only one Day 1 today, but it’s a doozy. The $1,500 No Limit Hold’em event is already packing out the hallways. So here’s the latest action:

Event #22 - $5,000 No Limit Hold’em - James Mackey has captured the bracelet in this event along with the $730,740 and the Corum watch. Mackey is the third-youngest event winner in WSOP history, although he looks to be about 15 and bears a striking resemblance to Opie Taylor. The online poker phenom known as “Mig.com” is the second 21-year-old bracelet winner so far this year.

Event #23 - $1,500 Pot Limit Omaha - Scott Clements won this event last night taking home the $194,206 first-place prize, bracelet and Corum watch. The other finishers are as follows: Eric “Rizen” Lynch - $119,508; Dau “Tommy” Ly - $78,624; Will Durkee - $52,285; Jason Newburger - $38,133; Mark Davis - $29,877; Andy Black - $22,408; Anthony MacCanello - $16,511; K.U. Davis - $11,794; Richard Olofsson - $7,862. Play online poker.

Event #24 - $3,000 Seven Card Stud Hi Lo - An absolutely stacked final table has been set for this event. Of the 236 poker players & women poker players who entered into this event, the cream has definitely risen to the top. Here are the players: Dutch Boyd, George Hardie, Eli Elezra, David Sklansky, Scotty Nguyen, John Harkness, Thor Hansen and Marshall Ragir. Play will begin at 3pm PDT today. Download poker wallpapers.

Event #25 - $2,000 No Limit Hold’em - 130 player & women poker pros are left and will have to fight through the rest of their own field as well as the crowds in the Amazon Room today. First-place prize is $599,467 and players still hunting for it and the WSOP bracelet include Amnon Filippi, Liz Lieu, Jared “TheWacoKidd” Hamby, Steve Dannenmann, Kevin “beLOWaBOVe” Saul and Rene Angelil (Mr. Celine Dion). Play will start back up at 3pm PDT. Play route 66 poker.

Event #26 - $5,000 H.O.R.S.E. - As you can tell by the headline, Bodog poker pro Josh Arieh is one of the 115 players left out of the original field of 192. They will wade through the poker room to their tables at 4pm today to get started on Day 2 of the tourney. Josh will be going up against a field that includes women poker star Cyndy Violette, Gavin Smith, Phil Ivey, Erik Seidel, John Juanda, Doyle Brunson, Men “The Master” Nguyen, Chris “Jesus” Ferguson….you know what? There’s really not a name on the leader board that we don’t recognize so we’ll just leave it at that.

And now into the wilds that is the poker blog, Amazon Room at the Rio to bring you live updates from the 2007 World Series of Poker.

Play $500 match poker bonus.

Poker News Source: Bodog Poker

Arieh Still Playing Poker, Williams Watching Wii

A quick dinner break update on Team Bodog:

Josh Arieh is seated at a table with WSOP bracelet winners Freddy Deeb and Jeff Madsen, picking up a few pots here and there and waiting patiently. That patience paid off handsomely when he doubled up through Madsen on a set of flopped jacks. Then, just before the break, he proceeded to take most of some poor guy’s stack with quad fives.

David Williams has busted out and was looking more than slightly irked about it. However, he seemed to have found something to cheer him up in the Poker Royalty lounge where we saw him watching Arieh, Daniel Negreanu and Michael “The Grinder” Mizrachi play Wii bowling while on a break.

There are 270 players remaining in this tourney, of which 45 will cash with $536,287 going to the winner.

Long lines for registration continue to plague the tournament officials in this first day. The casino employees event was scheduled to start at 5pm and did not actually get underway until an hour later. When the tournament director called out “shuffle up and deal”, he was answered with a chanting chorus of “bullshit” from employees apparently still in line waiting to register.

Stay tuned for more updates from the Beat at the WSOP.

News Source: Bodog Poker