The World Series of Poker final table has been going for about three hours and for Kevin Schaffel of Coral Springs, it's been pretty uneventful.

That's good news and bad news. He sits in seventh place with about 9 million chips; it'd be nice to move up but it'd also be nice not to get knocked out. No one has so far, at the three-hour break the players took at the Rio All-Suite Hotel in Las Vegas.

Schaffel's brother, Jordan, called me just before the cards flew today. He said he couldn't sleep, so he got up at 5 a.m. Las Vegas time. He texted Kevin, who also couldn't sleep. So they came down and played Texas Hold 'em Bonus poker, a gimmicky kind of game that's at the Hard Rock and other places, where players try to beat the dealer, not each other.

Who else shows up? Darvin Moon, the chip leader. Moon, a logger from West Virginia, and Schaffel yukked it up, playing $10 a hand, and drew a crowd, Jordan said.

I'll do an update before I go to bed tonight, and hopefully one early Sunday morning.

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So we finally got up online a big story I wrote about Kevin Schaffel -- and the overall poker boom -- that ran in Sunday's Sun-Sentinel.

(Had a few computer problems, sorry.)

The chip count:

Darvin Moon: 58,930,000
Eric Buchman: 34,800,000
Steven Begleiter: 29,885,000
Jeff Shulman: 19,580,000
Joseph Cada: 13,215,000
Kevin Schaffel: 12,390,000
Phil Ivey: 9,765,000
Antoine Saout: 9,500,000
James Akenhead: 6,800,000

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The best player in the game, a logger with no credit card or cell phone and the possiblity of the youngest champion in World Series of Poker history.

“Those three storylines alone are facscinating,” ESPN’s Norman Chad said Thursday at the network’s pre-series press conference.

He's referring to Phil Ivey, who has won seven WSOP bracelets; Darvin Moon, the chip leader, a logger from West Virginia; and 21-year-old Joe Cada.

ESPN will show a feature at 7 p.m. Tuesday on Ivey in its show, E-60. Coincidentally (?) he's on the cover of this week’s ESPN The Magazine. Then the final table narrows to nine in the 9 p.m. telecast.

Part of the conversation focused on Tuesday's telecast, where Ivey mucked his hand, although it was a winner. He had a pair of eights, and four spades hit the board. He mucked when he saw an overpair, costing him about 2.1 million chips.

"On the tape; my first reaction wwas something’s wrong with the tape; I just couldn’t believe it was happening," Chad said. "It was like watching Michaelangelo drop his paint brush.".

The November Nine meet Saturday, play down to two, who vie at 10 p.m. Vegas time Monday night.

Other topics: Jeff Shulman apparently is the only player with a coach, and he has Phil Hellmuth.

"It’s either the greatest move in history or the greatest mistake in history," Chad said. "He could win the main event and be overshadowed by his coach."

Lon McEachern on Kevin Schaffel of Coral Springs: "He’s not a flash in the pan. He’s been playing longer than anybody else. He carries himself well and is very charismatic."

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ESPN.com's new 30-minute poker show, ESPN Inside Deal, focuses on Coral Springs' Kevin Schaffel in its next webisode, which airs at noon Tuesday.

He's in sixth place in th World Series of Poker, which resumes Nov. 7.

The Inside Deal crew will ask him about preparations and how the recent deep runs will affect his confidence heading into the final table. Fans can submit a question via e-mail at insidedeal@espn.com and watch previous episodes of ESPN Inside Deal at http://espn.com/insidedeal.

As far as the TV show goes, it resumes at 9 p.m. Tuesday on ESPN and focuses on Phil Ivey and Jeff Shulman at the feature table, as well as Darvin Moon, a logger from Maryland.

Meanwhile, bracelet winner Antonio Esfandiari is at table two, and out in the field sits the last woman left, Leo Margets whose hope is to become only the second woman ever make the Main Event final table.

So, not much air time for Schaffel this week, either. But his brother, Jordan, says that could be an advantage. For example, on last week's show, chip leader Darvin Moon flopped a straight, and his opponent folded. Moon told him "good fold, I flopped a straight. You'll see it on TV. I'm an honest guy."

Could that info help everyone else? Or are we thinking too much?

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Jason Mercier faltered in the final table at the World Series of Poker Europe, but still came home in fourth in the field of 334.

Card Player magazine CEO Barry Shulman, whose son, Jeff, is one of the November Nine, won the tournament, collecting £801,603 for first place. The cash prize is equal to about $1,283,687 in U.S. dollars.

The final table included six former WSOP gold bracelet winners: Daniel Negreanu, Chris Bjorin, Praz Bansi, Matt Hawrilenko, Shulman and Mercier. And two November Nine players, James Akenhead and Antoine Saout.

Mercier, from Fort Lauderdale, has been one of tournament poker’s most successful players over the past year. Mercier, who won the $1,500 buy-in Pot-Limit Omaha event earlier this year, also won the EPT championship at San Remo (Italy) as well as the £1 Million Showdown, in London. He entered the day with the chip lead but lost his lead and was eliminated with £267,267 in prize money, about $400,000.

He is sponsored by PokerStars.net, which made news because it is starting a poker show after NFL football on Oct. 11. The release is below (only lightly edited):

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"Sunday Night is Football Night" worked for NBC, as it attempted to create new patterns after Monday Night Football left ABC.

Now ESPN is trying "Tuesday Night is Poker Night."

Nothing like keeping things simple for us guys.

ESPN begins its coverage tonight of the World Series of Poker, with three weeks of pre-Main Event coverage, then hitting the Main Event hard. Tonight at 8 is the $40,000 buy-in tournament; the Champions Invitational airs at 8 p.m. Aug. 4 and Ante Up for Africa is at 8 p.m. Aug. 11.

The Main Event gets started Aug. 18 and will run each Tuesday through Nov. 3, showing us how it got to the final nine, which includes Kevin Schaffel of Coral Springs.

The players reconvene on Nov. 7 andl play down until two remain. The final two will finish play early on Nov. 10, and ESPN does a quick edit and shows it at 8 p.m. that night.

Poker isn't the easiest activity to convert to TV. There were 6,494 players in the Main Event, and getting the nine who make it from the first hand on is quite improbable.

"We record everything,” ESPN coordinating producer Jamie Horowitz said. “It is hours upon hours of (production) time in New York City, going through the logs and trying to re-create the tournament.

"It’s funny because you reverse engineer," he said. "You have to wait to see who made the final table, then you try to find their hands. But once they make the final table you scurry around and say 'Did we have (chip leader) Darvin Moon covered?'"

At the ESPN press conference last week, I asked specifically about Schaffel, who is as unknown as they come to the poker world, and never was a chip leader, always hanging around at No. 15 or so the last two or three days.

Announcer Lon McEachern said: "Again you hope and you go back and go through logs and see if you can find Kevin at an early part of the main event.

"You’re doing the legwork out there, the producers, they’re all trying to talk to players, families and friends to try to discover a strong story.

"Certainly his whole story will be told now."

And if you think the WSOP is weighting its coverage more toward the main event, you're right. This year they'll have 24 hours of main event coverage, compared to 18 last year and just six five years ago.

"Every off-season people tell us 'More main event,’" Horowitz says. "They especially like more of the latter stages of the final table."

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Jeremy Schaffel didn’t want to give his dad an ordinary Father’s Day card. He wanted to motivate him for the upcoming World Series of Poker.

So he found a picture of 2008 WSOP winner Peter Eastgate and his $9.1 million prize and went to work on the computer. He replaced Eastgate’s face with his father’s.

“I had been reading the book, The Secret, and the money portion said to visualize the money,” said Schaffel, a 2007 graduate of Everglades High School in Miramar.

Something must have worked: Jeremy’s father, Kevin, reached the final table in the WSOP main event last week.

Kevin Schaffel kept the picture in his wallet and even pulled it out when Eastgate himself sat next to him midway into the tournament. Schaffel said he asked: “Are these your arms?”

“The table had been pretty quiet until then, but everyone got a good laugh,” he said.

Jeremy Schaffel lives with his mother in Pembroke Pines but spends a lot of time with Kevin, who lives in Coral Springs. He flew out to Las Vegas when his dad reached the final 64.

“He was a huge help,” Kevin Schaffel said. “He helped me stay focused and stay positive.”

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One day your residence is a buddy’s spare bedroom, the next you’re a TV star with $1.2 million in your pocket.

That’s how fast life changed this week for Kevin Schaffel of Coral Springs.

“Surreal,” says Schaffel, who has received almost 100 calls and texts since Thursday. “I’m not exactly certain what’s in store, but I’m sure looking forward to it.”

Late Wednesday, Schaffel won one of nine seats at the final table of the World Series of Poker in Las Vegas. He got a check for $1.2 million, an endorsement deal with PokerStars.net and a shot at $8.5 million more in the finals, on Nov. 7, where he’ll get as much ESPN air time as Dwyane Wade.

On Aug. 18, ESPN will start airing the poker action that narrowed the field from 6,494 players to the final nine.

Schaffel grew up in North Miami Beach, divorced in 2006, and has been on the road playing poker more in recent years as his printing and direct mail business faded. He has played in the World Series since 2004 but wants to stay in South Florida because his two college-age children and his friends are here.

So he has crashed at a friend’s house near the TPC at Eagle Trace, where he plays golf (he’s a former club champion). It works out because both are often away.

“I think I’ll be able to afford a place of my own now,” he says.

At 51, Schaffel also is a poker anomaly. It’s a young man’s game, with an aggressive tone spawned by the rapid-fire style on the Internet. Six of the nine at the final table are 34 or younger.

Schaffel, tapping into the gentlemanly nature of golf, is different.

“I was watching Wimbledon and they asked Serena Williams what helped her perform well under pressure,” Schaffel says. “She used two words: ‘calm’ and ‘patient.’

“I wrote them down and it stayed with me the entire tournament,” says Schaffel, who played for eight 10-hour days before making the finals.

Says his son, Jeremy, who lives with his mother in Pembroke Pines, but joins him for games at the Seminole Hard Rock Hotel & Casino: “I’ve never seen him yell or get upset over a poker hand, even when he’s getting bad cards.”

Early in the first day in Las Vegas, Schaffel was one card away from elimination after betting all his chips with three 10s against a straight. (The flop was 8-10-J; the player had raised and then pushed with 7-9.)

But after 4 on the turn the final card was a jack for a full house, winning the pot.

"In the past, I'd stand up at the table and reach for my bag if I were behind like that," he said. "But this time, I just knew. I can't describe it."

He had a few “all-in” moments later in the tournament, but always when the odds appeared to be well in his favor.

The 2009 final table is one of the most decorated in recent World Series history. Schaffel’s table mates will include Card Player magazine editor Jeff Shulman and Phil Ivey, called “The Tiger Woods of Poker,” who has won seven World Series events.

Schaffel is considering hiring a top pro to coach him until November, which would cost him at least $50,000, or he may just go with patience and good instincts.

“There are lots of decisions to be made,” he says. “But then, I don’t want to over-think things.”

But he had breakfast Friday with Dennis Phillips, who finished third in last year's World Series, about how to handle the upcoming days and how to make the most of "other opportunities."

You could see how those two would get along. They have similar demeanors.

Schaffel said he was a cash-game player who hadn't had a losing year until this one, and was starting to doubt himself. But a tournament hot streak, with four out of five cashes, helped right him.

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Kevin Schaffel has made the November Nine.

Schaffel, of Coral Springs, played his way to the final table at the World Series of Poker late Wednesday night, meaning he's among the nine players remaining who have a chance at the $8.5 million first prize. (He's the eighth from the left, or second from right.)

As happened last year, the World Series now stops play for 115 days, while ESPN airs footage of what has happened so far in the 6,494-player main event. Then in November, Schaffel and the eight others will play it off while ESPN does a quick live-to-tape edit and same-day coverage (like in the Olympics).

Schaffel sits in sixth place with about 13 million chips, well behind leader Davin Moon with 58 million. There's also two noted poker pros alive: Jeff Shulman is in fourth and Phil Ivey in eighth. Schaffel, who had been battling the flu slept in Thursday (can't blame him), then had a WSOP 2-hour meeting in Las Vegas in the afternoon. He'll fly home Friday, and I'll try to catch him before he gets on the plane.

That WSOP orientation also includes issuing a check to all nine players for ninth place, the worst they can finish. They get $1,263,602 right now.

Schaffel's brother, Jordan, said Kevin has been playing poker since age 11.

"We played for nickels and dimes," Jordan said, noting that Kevin also is a scratch golfer who has won the club championship at Eagle Trace Country Club in Coral Springs.

They both graduated North Miami Beach High (Kevin in 1975) and helped in their father's print shop, The Mail Man. When the direct mail industry went south last year, Kevin began playing in more professional events in Las Vegas and California. That included a run where he finished in the money in four out of five events in 2008-09.

Jordan, who now lives in Washington, D.C., received updates from Kevin's son, Jeremy, who also is in Las Vegas, and via the internet. He then relayed info to friends and family.

"It's been unbelieveable," he said. "I have an email list, a Skype list, a text list and a phone list."

Last night Jordan set up a "conference bridge" for four cousins, two sisters and friends, scattered across Texas, central Florida and Maryland.

"Everybody has carpal tunnel from clicking the refresh button every 10 seconds," he said, about following the results on poker sites.

Jeremy called often, including about 2 a.m. Thursday, when the players were down to 10, and Darvin Moon was trying to knock out Jordan Smith. Jordan Schaffel patched in the call to everyone.

When the river card came up a blank, eliminating Smith and cutting the field to nine

"All I hear is pandemonium over the phone," Jordan said.

For more info, go to www.worldseriesofpoker.com.

Also, PokerStars.net did this interview with him.

> Discuss this entry

Kevin Schaffel went into the nighttime with a good chance still to make the final table at the World Series of Poker main event.

Schaffel, a South Florida native, is No. 8, with 14 players still alive. He has 9.5 million chips; the leader has 27 million, and the No. 14 player has 2 million. The No. 15 player was just knocked out and earned more than $633,000.

They just took a 90-minute dinner break, starting about 10 p.m. Eastern time. They're playing tonight in Vegas until they reach the final 9.

(material from an earlier post is below)

As I wrote earlier, a final table at the World Series of Poker would make Schaffel, of Coral Springs, a media star. ESPN follows you, blogs and poker magazines tell your story and, oh, you'll win at least $1 million.

The World Series plays down to the final table today, then delays the rest of the action until November to a.) give it some build-up and b.) air all the play leading up to the final table. (If you're new to all this, poker is a bear to edit for TV, with tons of dead time. So it's difficult to show 'live.')

Meanwhile, Ryan Fair of Fort Lauderdale busted out at No.31, but he can't feel too bad: he earned $253,941. Plus, Tuesday he was at ESPN's "featured table," meaning he'll get some air time. He went all-in with ace-king, against Jeff Shulman's king, and didn't get an ace on the flop, turn or river.

Schaffel has lived in Pembroke Pines, Weston and Coral Springs in recent years, is 51 years old and is divorced with two children, according to poker web sites. He also is a pretty good golfer, according to our clips, winning the club championship at Eagle Trace and being in the running for the U.S. Mid-Amateur qualifying.

I have some more bio that I'll likely put up on Thursday.

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Kevin Schaffel is now fifth in the World Series of Poker main event, and there's only 27 players still left.

That means he has a better-than-average chance to (shhh!) reach the final table.

A final table at the World Series of Poker would make Schaffel, of Coral Springs, a media star. ESPN follows you, blogs and poker magazines tell your story and, oh, you'll win at least $1 million.

The World Series plays down to the final table today, then delays the rest of the action until November to a.) give it some build-up and b.) air all the play leading up to the final table. (If you're new to all this, poker is a bear to edit for TV, with tons of dead time. So it's difficult to show 'live.')

Meanwhile, Ryan Fair of Fort Lauderdale busted out at No.31, but he can't feel too bad: he earned $253,941. Plus, Tuesday he was at ESPN's "featured table," meaning he'll get some air time. He went all-in with ace-king, against Jeff Shulman's king, and didn't get an ace on the flop, turn or river.

Darvin Moon leads with 20 million chips, and Phil Ivey is in fourth with 11.3 million, just ahead of Schaffel's 11.2 million.

Average stack: 7,215,555

Schaffel has lived in Pembroke Pines, Weston and Coral Springs in recent years, is 51 years old and is divorced with two children, according to poker web sites. He also was a pretty good golfer a few years back, according to our clips, just missing out on the club championship at Eagle Trace and being in the running for the U.S. Mid-Amateur qualifying.

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Looks like we're down to two from Broward-Palm in the World Series of Poker, but they're in good shape.

Kevin Schaffel of Coral Springs, who has been among the leaders since the tournament started, completed Day Five on Sunday in 16th place, with 2.1 million chips.

The field, which started with 6,494, is down to 185 players.

Ryan Fair of Fort Lauderdale is in 46th place, with 1.3 million chips.

5 p.m. Monday Update: Schaffel has slipped to about No. 30, losing 250,000 chips; meanwhile Fair is at ESPN's "second featured" table, meaning he'll likely get some air time when the telecast hits in a couple of months.

And the field is down to 145.

Schaffel has been playing in the World Series just as poker started to grow; his biggest cash was in the 2004, WSOP, when he earned $60,000 for finishing 40th.

Matthew Waxman of Parkland got his fourth cash of this year’s Series, finishing with just shy of $200,000 in prize money. He came in 399th, after his pocket jacks were called by an A-K and an ace hit the board. He earned $27,469.

Day two chip leader Amir Levahot of Weston busted out in 226th after he bet his 364,000 stack with K-J and ran into pocket aces. He took home $32,963.

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Looks like Steven Feren, the Broward circuit court judge, met his goal.

He finished in the money at the World Series of Poker . He came in 472nd, earning $25,027.
As I posted below, he won the seat in a charity event, then made it through Friday and into Saturday before being eliminated.

"I'm very happy," said Feren this afternoon, from the Los Angeles airport. He's returning to work Monday. "This is something I have wanted to do for a long time."

Feren entered Saturday play in 633rd place; 648 of the remaining 789 would cash.

"I tried to conserve my chips, and I just kept my ahead above water," he said. "Meanwhile, it seemed like someone was dropping every 45 seconds."

He'll give $2,500 to the Boys and Girls Club of Hollywood, he said. He won the seat -- which normally costs $10,000 -- in a Boys and Girls Club charity event in spring 2008, when he was mayor of Sunrise. He then deferred playing in the 2008 WSOP because he was busy running for judge.

Meanwhile, other Broward-Palm players still alive as of Sunday's start are:

Kevin Schaffel, Coral Springs, in 17th, with 1.2 million chips;
Amir Lehavot, Weston, in 169th, with 472,000;
Ryan Fair, Fort Lauderdale, 250th, 307,000;
Matthew Waxman, Parkland, 286th, 252,000.

They're kind of getting shorted in my print story for Sunday (sorry, guys!) but I'll write a new update them on Monday morning.

Also cashing:
507th: Kenneth Weiner, Wellington, who won $23,196;
552nd: Terry McKerchie, Davie, $23,196;
571st: Kyle Brown, Fort Lauderdale, $23,196

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Broward Circuit Court judge Steven Feren is one day closer to meeting his goal at the World Series of Poker.

He sits in 633rd place after play ended late Friday night, Vegas time. The top 648 finishers get paid.

There are 789 players left in the tournament, which started with more than 6,000 players. Feren entered Friday's field of 2,044 remaining in the top one-third, and apparently has hung on. (It's real early out there, so no way I'm calling him, and I'm going to be away from the computer until tomorrow.)

Feren has 104,500 chips, down from the 108,000 he started with. (See post below for full story.)

Meanwhile, Amir Lehavot of Weston, who entered Friday as the chip leader, slipped but is still in good shape. He's in 128th, with 387,000 chips.

The new South Florida leader is Kevin Schaffel of Coral Springs, with 649,000 chips. He's in 24th place.

Play will likely tighten up today as players on the bubble of making the money will throw away marginal hands, hoping those around them get knocked out. Play slows down so much that as the "bubble" approaches, they play only one table at a time, to cut out the stalling.

More info at www.WorldSeriesOfPoker.com.

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Ante Up Magazine took the time to troll through all the results, and has them. (I'd like to have done it, but in this case, I'll just thank them and move on to the next story.)

In addition to Amir Lehavot from Weston, the chip leader, two other South Floridians are in the top 100: Kevin Schaffel of Coral Springs at No. 40; and Matthew Waxman of Parkland at No. 72.

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The World Series of Poker — the one you see on ESPN — makes stars out of people who play their cards right.

If his luck holds up, you might be seeing Broward Circuit Court judge Steven Feren.

He has done quite well so far.

Feren will sit down at the World Series main event’s third round today in the top one-third (No. 667) of the 2,044 surviving players.

Starting field: 6,494.

“I’m thrilled,” said Feren, who was a Sunrise mayor for 12 years before become a judge this year. (He also was a commissioner and state legislator.) “So many great pros are out and I’m still here.”

Feren, who is burning his vacation time, didn’t tell many people he was going to Las Vegas. He didn’t want to open his mouth, then get sent home early.

A main event entry costs $10,000, but Feren is playing on house money: He won a seat in a charity event.

“I’d never spend $10,000 of my own money to play,” he said.

Feren made news earlier this year when he asked the city to bump the $200-a-month health insurance check for retiring city leaders up to $350 a month, to match what the city’s general employees get. He makes $145,080 as a circuit court judge.

He won the seat in a Boys & Girls Clubs of Broward County charity tournament in spring 2008. But he was busy running for circuit judge, so he deferred until this year.

Feren’s goal today is to finish in the money. That’ll be the top 648, and pay at least $20,000.
“To be in the poker records for all time, to me that would mean something,” he said.

If he cashes, he’ll give a portion to the Boys and Girls Club — after he clears the unexpected expenses of staying in Las Vegas longer.

“I really didn’t expect to make Day 3,” he said.

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11-time WSOP gold bracelet winner Phil Hellmuth made another grand entrance into the Main Event at the World Series of Poker.

Last year, Hellmuth came adorned as General George S. Patton, rolling into the Rio parking lot atop an army tank. This year, the “Poker Brat” was carted into the Rio while sprawled out across a special platform carried by several centurions, according to the WSOP's Nolan Dalla.

Hellmuth, decked out as Roman Emperor Julius Caesar, made his way into the Rio as flocks of scantily-clad “servants” threw rose petals on the ground. When Hellmuth finally assumed his throne on the ESPN stage, hundreds of poker fans engulfed the area. Then he gave this interview with WSOP media:

Question: Last year it was Patton. This year, it’s Caesar. Why Caesar?

Hellmuth: We are just having as much fun as we can have. Caesar was one of the ideas on our list. We actually talked about me being a gladiator or Caesar, and even Uncle Sam was an idea we wanted to do. We just decided on Caesar. You know that Caesar is going to be the main theme at WSOP-Europe. When you do Caesar, you want to do him big and you want to do him right.

Question: How did you think things went today – with your grand entrance on the red carpet? And how many girls were with you?

Hellmuth: I thought it went great. They hired a hundred models is what I heard. And, having the girls with the body paint is just really fun. I mean, c’mon, how often do you see girls with just body paint on?

Question: What do you think about when you see hundreds of fans, with cameras and lights following your every move?

Hellmuth: Part of it is adoration. Part of it is curiosity. And some people still don’t like me. So, there is surely a mixture of people that are out there. If you are too into the fans and adoration and the world thinking you are the greatest, then you do not perform well. So, being in character as Caesar is just fun. When I shot a television commercial and dressed up in this, I got so into character, I really thought I was Caesar. They have me lying there, with girls all over me and rose petals and food all over the table. Caesar is just such a unique individual. Here we are talking about him over 2,000 years later.

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With the 40th Annual World Series of Poker starting, WSOP officials have begun their nomination process for the 2009 Poker Hall of Fame class.

The public, for the first time ever, has the opportunity to nominate inductees. Log on to http://www.worldseriesofpoker.com/pokerhalloffame/halloffamevoting.asp and nominate away.

Each submission will allow for a nominee name as well as up to 250 words supporting that nominee’s worthiness.

During the Main Event of the WSOP, Harrah’s will announce the Top Ten list of nominees by the public. These ten names become the players among consideration for induction in 2009.

In August, the Hall of Fame committee will then spend the month reviewing the public’s nominations and determine if any others should be added (such as non-poker players who have contributed greatly to the game, any glaring omissions, etc.) and determine the final list.

In September, a finalist ballot will be sent to the current Hall of Famers (16 living) who will each rank the nominees in order of preference – yet only ranking those they deem worthy of admission in 2009. Each Hall of Famer will also have the ability to add a write-in candidate, whom won’t be eligible for admission in 2009, but will automatically be added to the consideration list for 2010.

In addition, a select group of media members (not to exceed the number of HOF voting members) will also be sent a ballot for ranking the finalists. All votes will be cast in private, with each HOF and media member entitled to keep their vote secret but not obligated to.

After receiving back all ballots, the HOF committee reviews the selections and helps finalize any tiebreakers or errors.

Any finalist receiving 75% or more of the votes will be inducted during the enshrinement ceremony at the Final Table of Main Event in November.

The main criteria for the Poker Hall of Fame are as follows:
A player must have played poker against acknowledged top competition
Played for high stakes
Played consistently well, gaining the respect of peers
Stood the test of time
Or, for non-players, contributed to the overall growth and success of the game of poker, with indelible positive and lasting results.

Maybe we should have a local hall of fame. Nominees?

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He's been on fire for more than a year, and now Jason Mercier is a World Series of Poker bracelet winner.

Mercier, a 22-year-old professional poker player who attended Florida Atlantic University for one year, won the $1,500 Pot-Limit Omaha tournament Wednesday night at the World Series of Poker. There were 809 entrants.

Mercier collected $237,462 for first place. He graduated from Sheridan Hills High in Hollywood and he and his parents still live in South Florida. I wrote about him back in October.

Mercier has enjoyed an astounding 14-month run. He cashed for the first time ever in a major poker tournament in April 2008. Since then, he has won five tournaments -- including two European Poker Tour championships and a WSOP gold bracelet. He already has accumulated $3,069,194 in career earnings, at age 22.

“Winning always feels good,” Mercier stated in a post-tournament interview. “Especially after last year (2008 WSOP). I played in 22 events. I went deep in just one of them. I finished 13th and that made me sick. I cashed three times and all three times I busted out with the worst (starting) hand, in marginal spots. I was really upset with how I played last year. Now, it feels great to win a gold bracelet, especially so early in the Series.”

“Every time I enter a poker tournament, I think I can win it,” Mercier said. Of course, you have to win some key pots.”

Mercier’s online poker name is “treysfull21.”

> Discuss this entry

Two card rooms on opposite ends of the South Florida map are taking opposite approaches to giving away seats at the World Series of Poker main event.

The Palm Beach Kennel Club conducts tournaments that involve just the commitment of an entry fee; Gulfstream Park Casino & Racing will reward three seats from a pool of its 50 most loyal players.

The first of the World Series of Poker’s 57 events begins May 27. The main event is July 3. So card rooms across the country hook up with the WSOP to offer seats in the tournament, although anyone can buy their way in to the main event for $10,000.

The Palm Beach Kennel Club is having tournaments at 1 p.m. Saturdays. For every 66 players who pay the $200 entry fee, the card room awards a seat and $1,000 spending money. So far, it has enough interest to conduct a tournament every Saturday in April and this month.

“What poker player doesn’t dream about going to the World Series?” poker room manager Noah Carbone said.

The card room also has a $30 satellite tournament at 6:30 p.m. Thursdays. For every 10 players who sign up, one gets a spot in the Saturday tournament for the seat.

Meanwhile, Gulfstream is in its third round of keeping a tournament points leader board and offering a prize at the end. The first promotion was in December, when the casino gave away a Mercedes-Benz; the second ended in April with a Rolex watch.

Players accumulate points for finishing well in the casino’s daily 6:30 p.m. multi-table tournaments, or in one-table tournaments, which take place whenever there’s enough interest.

The top 50 top play off for the three World Series seats. Also, first place on the leaderboard gets an automatic $2,500, second $1,500, third $1,000 and fourth and fifth $500.

“This format has increased our tournament play here, as well as increased our player loyalty,” Gulfstream poker room manager Scott Poole said.

The list of players winning points is at 550 — up 200 from the end of the Rolex tournament.
Gulfstream’s battle for the WSOP seats is June 7.

Gulfstream has a $150 tournament on Saturday, a $60 on Sunday and Monday, an $80 on Tuesdays and Thursdays and a $100 on Wednesday and Friday. The top 10 finishers get points. Sit-n-goes are $120 and $60, and the top three get points.

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Registration for the 2009 World Series of Poker is now open.

Players can pre-register online at www.worldseriesofpoker.com.

The 40th edition of the WSOP will run from May 26 through July 15, 2009, and will include 57 bracelet tournaments, the WSOP said in a news release.

Buy-ins for open events will range from $1,000 to $50,000. The buy-in for the Main Event – the No-Limit Hold’em World Championship – remains at $10,000. The November Nine, the final nine participants of the Main Event, return Nov. 7-10 to declare a champion.

If you sign up, send me an email, so I can track you down when you get a bracelet.

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Gambling site Bodog.com says:

Leading the way at the November final table with 26.2 million in chips is the amatuer poker player from Illinois, Dennis Phillips, and Bodog is giving him 3 to 1 odds that he can take it down. Less than 2 million in chips behind Phillips is Muscovite Ivan Demidov (24.4 million), who is also sitting at 3 to 1 odds as he's just a pot or two out of the chip lead.

Next up is Canadian poker player Scott Montgomery and his 19.7 million chip stack. Due to his recent final table appearance at the WPT LA Poker Classic and the fact that he is one of the most experienced players at the final table, which unfortunately isn't saying much, his odds are currently running at 4 to 1. Montgomery is followed by Danish poker player Peter Eastgate, who will start with 18.3 million in chips and odds of 11 to 2 that he can overtake the top three spots to win.

The next two WSOP final tablists have almost identical chip stacks but different experience levels. Ylon Schwartz only has a 5,000 chip lead over Darus Suharto but the odds for the two are 8 to 1 and 17 to 2, respectively -- comment by Nick here: You know, those odds aren't that far apart Bodog, get over yourselves! -- mainly because Schwartz is a known veteran of the Brooklyn poker scene while Suharto is an unknown player with very limited live poker success, up until now.

Toward the bottom of the posted odds is the most experienced player at the final table, David "Chino" Rheem. Unfortunately, despite his live tournament success, his short chip stack of 10.2 million leaves him with a lot of work to do and a 19 to 2 chance of getting that work done. Below him is Craig Marquis at 10 to 1. The shortest stack at the table is Kelly Kim with 2.6 million and is thus the long shot to win the title at 25 to 1.

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I followed locals in the World Series of Poker this month, and got to get more details on three of them.

I enjoyed hearing their 'regrets,' because we all have them.

Lots more poker this week, and into August. May all of your cards be live.

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