Rheem came to the final table on Friday afternoon as the overwhelming chip leader with his 5.49 million stack, but another player had the attention of much of the rail. Erick Lindgren, making his return to the tournament poker world after a difficult 2012, was sitting in second place with 3.42 million and seemed to have every bit of his tournament game in his arsenal. The other players at the table – Jonathan Roy, Matt Hyman, Brandon Steven and David Peters – all had less than 1.8 million chips each and they faced an uphill struggle to get into the game.

While Rheem and Lindgren could afford some patience, the other players on the baize were not afforded such luxury. On the 14th hand of action, Roy would put out a min-raise of 80K and Peters pushed out a three bet to 165K. After some thought, Roy made the call and the duo saw a monochrome J♠ 6♠ 2♠ flop. Roy would check raise Peters at this point, pushing his remaining chips to the center and Peters made the call, turning up pocket tens (with the 10♠) for a potential four flush. Roy, however, clipped Peters in revealing his J♦ 9♦ for top pair of Jacks and just needed to fade any spades or tens on the turn and river. An Ace kept Roy in the lead and, once the Q♣ came on the river, Roy had outrun Peters to eliminate him in sixth place and move up to the 2.5 million mark.

Steven, now the short stack, tried to push his way back into the game. He would flop a Jack high straight flush against Lindgren, but was unable to get any further action from him after the flop. As the next level began, he and Hyman were jousting for the bottom rung of the ladder, while Rheem still rode high with Lindgren and Roy in pursuit.

After Steven’s straight flush, the players settled into a slow grind, with no player taking and extreme chances. It would take 34 hands before fortune eventually would push Steven to make a move, which he did after Roy raised in front of him, Steven moved all in and Roy made the call. Putting his pocket tens on the line against Roy’s A-4, Steven was dismayed to see an Ace come on the flop and the board pair fives on the turn. Looking for a two outer to take the hand, Steven would blank on the river to be eliminated in fifth place.

Once Steven had taken the walk from the WPT stage, Rheem began to up the aggression. He pushed his way over the eight million mark within six hands of Steven’s departure, but doubled up Hyman to come back to the pack a bit. After that double, Rheem still held almost seven million in chips, while Roy had moved into a comfortable second place, Hyman was alive with almost 2.5 million in chips and Lindgren was suddenly on the short stack.

Lindgren would patiently wait for an opportunity to get back in the tournament and, while he did, another player would exit the arena. In an exciting Hand #92, Hyman would raise from under the gun, but he would get a host of action as Rheem reraised and Roy made it four bets to go. Hyman moved all in and Rheem folded what the WPT Update crew said were pocket tens, but Roy wasn’t going anywhere as he made the call and tabled his pocket Aces. Hyman was the victim of the ultimate cooler, rolling over his pocket Kings, and after an uneventful Queen high board, he was eliminated in fourth place why Roy rose to challenge Rheem for the lead.

The trio was pleasantly happy to trade blinds and antes over the next 20 hands, but Lindgren would get back into the match at that point. He first doubled up through Roy, his pocket Kings holding over Roy’s A-8, and took a three million chip pot against Rheem to suddenly be back in the midst of the battle. As the 115th hand of the final table ended, the three men were only separated by a million chips.

Over the next 45 hands, the players would joust with each other as Rheem slowly moved out to a lead. That lead would be further solidified when he raised from the button and Roy three bet the action out of the small blind to 670K. Rheem made the call and, after a K♦ 10♣ 8♦ flop, pondered and made the call on a Roy bet. On a Q♥ turn, Roy fired a second bullet and, using the same preponderance, Rheem would look him up. A 3♦ on the river brought a third (and what would prove tournament fatal) bullet from Roy as he moved all in and Rheem immediately called, turning up his A♦ 10♦ for the nut flush; Roy had been ahead all the way to the river with his pocket eights for a flopped set, but the third diamond proved to be his downfall as he exited the WPT Championship in third place.

By winning that huge pot against Roy, Rheem entered the heads up battle against Lindgren with a huge advantage (11.02 million to 3.585 million). Lindgren fought valiantly over the next two hours (and nearly 100 hands), pulling to within a couple million of Rheem at one point. In the end, however, Rheem’s overwhelming stack starting heads up play became too much for Lindgren to overcome.

On the final hand, Rheem pushed all in on the button and Lindgren agonized over the decision. “This is close,” Lindgren commented as he looked his stack over. After that internal debate, Lindgren made the call and showed Q♦ 9♦ while Rheem did him just one better with his K-9 off suit. Stating to his friends on the rail, “I got this,” Rheem would watch as the board failed to bring a Queen or diamonds for Lindgren, ending the epic battle and pushing Rheem to the WPT World Championship.

1. David “Chino” Rheem, $1,150,297
2. Erick Lindgren, $650,275
3. Jonathan Roy, $421,800
4. Matt Hyman, $289,988
5. Brandon Steven, $223,203
6. David Peters, $173,993

The victory marks an important milestone for Rheem. He is now a two-time champion in the annals of the WPT and the ducats he earned for the title pushed him over the $7 million mark for career earnings (pushing him into the Top 50 in all-time earnings). Lindgren, for his part, has shown that he is back after his sojourn from the game last year and looks to be in shape for the remainder of 2013.

The completion of the WPT Championship also brings the battle for the WPT Player of the Year title to a close. Although he had to sweat Roy’s appearance (and deep run) at the final table, Matt Salsberg will take down that title by 175 points over Roy. Salsberg joins such luminaries as Lindgren, Daniel Negreanu, Gavin Smith, Jonathan Little, Bertrand Grospellier, Faraz Jaka and 2012 POY Joe Serock with the honor of being the WPT Player of the Year.

The lights have now dimmed on the WPT final table for the last time for Season XI and congratulations to all the winners. Before we know it, however, Season XII will be upon us and the WPT merry-go-round will begin once again.

21 of the deepest pocketed pros stepped to the table on Tuesday and, after two days of battle, the final six combatants lined up as such:

Seat 1: Joseph Cheong, 1.646 million
Seat 2: Andrew Robl, 169,000
Seat 3: James Courtney, 1.69 million
Seat 4: Steven Silverman, 1.339 million
Seat 5: Daniel Perper, 164,000
Seat 6: David “Doc” Sands, 1.286 million

With only 21 entries into the Super High Roller (with its $100,000 buy in), only the top three players would take down any of the $2 million-plus prize pool. That meant three men would have nothing to show for their three days of work in Las Vegas except some airtime on television when the tournament is broadcast as a part of the Season XI WPT schedule.

Sands was aggressive in the early going, taking four of the first eight hands to take over the lead, while Perper was able to get a double up through Silverman. Perper continued to slowly work his stack upwards, doubling up again a few hands later through Cheong to move up to 674K in chips. It wasn’t until nearly 30 hands had been played that the first elimination occurred.

Robl, coming in on one of the two short stacks at the start of the final table, could never mount any type of offense. After seeing Cheong raise in front of him, Robl moved all in from the button and Courtney made the call from the small blind. Cheong decided to get out of the way and, once the cards were on their backs, Robl’s K-Q was way behind Courtney’s pocket Kings. Although the flop brought some hope for Robl with its 10-9-4 arrangement (a gut shot straight draw), the eight on the turn and six on the river didn’t provide any help and Robl was out in sixth place.

Over the next 40-plus hands, the players were happy to shift chips between each other before a massive hand saw the leaderboard shuffle. After a Silverman limp, Perper moved all in and chip leader Sands moved all in over the top of Perper and Silverman folded. Perper would show a K♥ Q♥ that was in tough shape against Sands’ pocket Jacks, but the 9♥ 6♥ 3♠ flop brought even more outs for Perper (flush draw with two over cards). One of those outs came home on the 8♥ turn, giving Perper an unbeatable flush and, once the chips were shifted, put Sands down the leaderboard in fourth and gave Perper new life.

Just prior to the 100th hand of the final table, the next player would depart the Bellagio. Cheong made a min-raise from the button, leading to Silverman moving all in from the small blind and Perper going over the top of him from the big. After Cheong backed out, Silverman showed a measly K-5 that was in tough shape against Perper’s pocket Queens. The Jack high board brought no help for Silverman, sending him out of the tournament in fifth place.

With extremely deep stacks, the final four men – now on the money bubble – took their time determining the next man out. Cheong would double through Sands, who would double back against Cheong, and Cheong came back to double again through Sands to keep the chips circling the table. After that flurry of activity, Sands took his attack to the other players on the felt to build up a nice chip lead. By the time Level 19 started at nearly 11PM in Las Vegas, Sands was leading, while Cheong, Courtney and Perper were looking to catch up.

After almost 150 hands, the final three players were determined. Perper, Cheong and Courtney would see a J-8-6 rainbow flop, which saw the action checked to Perper. He would fire a bet and, after Cheong folded, Courtney made the call. The fireworks came on the nine turn, when Courtney moved all in and Perper immediately made the call. Perper turned up J-8 for two pair, while all Courtney could muster was pocket sevens for a straight draw. After a King came on the river, Courtney was out in fourth place and the remaining three men were in the money.

Courtesy of that elimination, Perper surged into the lead, but it wouldn’t last long. He doubled up Cheong and, after Sands won three consecutive hands, Perper dropped to second behind Sands. It still would be almost an hour before the next elimination would occur.

Perper would move all in from the button for over a million in chips and Sands looked to his hold cards and moved all in over the top. Cheong folded and Perper showed his K-7 for battle against Sands’ pocket fives. A five on the flop virtually ended the hand and, once the turn and river failed to bring any salvation for him, Perper was out in third place and Sands went to heads up play against Cheong with a more than 3:1 lead.

Heads up lasted for all of four hands before Sands would emerge victorious. Cheong made the all-in move and, after Sands made the call, he found his A-3 was behind Sands’ A-8. Although both would hit an Ace on the turn, Sands’ eight kicker would play on the Q-5-2-A-9 board to earn Sands the championship of the WPT Super High Roller.

1. David “Doc” Sands, $1,023,750
2. Joseph Cheong, $614,250
3. Daniel Perper, $409,500
4. Jim Courtney*
5. Steven Silverman*
6. Andrew Robl*

* – outside the money

With the victory, Sands now has over $5.5 million in career earnings and, with the World Series of Poker on the horizon, has to be viewed as a favorite in many of the bigger events.

Eight men were in the hunt when the cards hit the air on Wednesday and several of them were looking at adding another WPT title to their mantles. Rocco Palumbo, Daniel Negreanu, Jonathan Roy, Erick Lindgren and Rheem had all previously won WPT events (Negreanu and Lindgren have won two), while Matt Hyman, Brandon Steven and David Peters were looking for their first WPT crown. With only two players to knock out to set the final table, it was a fairly quick afternoon’s work for the men involved.

Rheem continued to put his foot on the gas, bumping his chip stack up to near the five million mark after taking a hand against Hyman. Negreanu, however, was more aggressive than even Rheem, taking four consecutive hands to more than double his stack in the early going. Less than an hour into play, the first departure of the day would occur between two of the shorter stacks at the start of the day.

Palumbo had come into the day as the short stack and, looking down at a J-8, pushed his stack of 500K into the center from the small blind in an attempt to steal. Steven, in the big blind, looked down to find a K-J of hearts, which he felt was good enough to take to battle. Dominated, Palumbo would be teased with a 10-9-5 flop that brought an open ended straight draw and a flush draw, but the turn and river would not bring any of his outs home to send Palumbo out of the tournament in eighth place.

The players would shuffle their chips around for the next ten hands before the next big move. Negreanu raised from the button and Rheem defended his big blind to see a 10♦ 7♣ 6♣ flop. Both men would check their options and an 8♣ peeled off on the turn. Rheem would bet out at this point, which Negreanu called, and an 8♦ popped on the river. Rheem doubled his turn bet, putting 150K in the center and Negreanu made the call. Rheem showed down a Q♣ 9♣ for the turned flush, while Negreanu showed an 8♠ as he sent the other card into the muck and saw his chip stack slide down to 625K.

The bleeding continued for Negreanu as he saw his stack slide down under 350K; even a double by “Kid Poker” through Hyman wasn’t enough to get his stack out of the basement. In the end, it was his old friend Lindgren who would administer the coup de grace and send him out of the tournament.

After a raise from Rheem, Lindgren made the call on the button and Negreanu defended his big blind. A 10-8-5 flop brought checks from both Negreanu and Rheem, but Lindgren pushed out 120K in chips to continue the action. Negreanu made his move at this point, pushing his final 600K into the center and, after Rheem folded, Lindgren made the call and tabled pocket Jacks, which were easily ahead of Negreanu’s A-10. Looking for an Ace or another ten, Negreanu instead saw another eight and a seven come on the turn and river to eliminate him on the official final table bubble in seventh place.

When the final six men step to the table on Friday afternoon at 4PM (Pacific Time), here’s how they will line up:

Seat 1: Jonathan Roy – 1,900,000
Seat 2: David Peters – 1,085,000
Seat 3: Erick Lindgren – 3,355,000
Seat 4: Brandon Steven – 1,210,000
Seat 5: Matt Hyman – 1,560,000
Seat 6: Chino Rheem – 5,495,000

Rheem’s massive chip stack is going to be difficult to overcome, but the other five players against him have definitive skills of their own that might take him down. Lindgren, back on the tournament circuit after a difficult year, might be the sentimental choice of most of the railbirds, but Roy could be the player to watch; if he can gain some momentum and cut some chips off of Rheem with his position, he will be a dangerous player.

The WPT Championship final table on Friday isn’t the only action going on in the Bellagio. The WPT Super High Roller final table is currently in action and Poker News Daily will have a full report on that event tomorrow after its conclusion.

This year, WSOP Europe will move from Cannes to Enghien-les-Bains, a suburb 13.5 kilometers (8.4 miles) north of the center of Paris. This is the second venue change for the Series; it was held in London its first four years, followed by Cannes for the last two years. Back when the move was announced, WSOP Executive Director Ty Stewart said, “Part of our vision for WSOP Europe is to mix poker and pleasure – and introduce players to some of the most exciting destinations in Europe. Barrière’s facilities in Enghien are amazing and there are likely 12 million Parisians all trying to make sure ‘Phillipe’ Hellmuth doesn’t win another bracelet on French soil.”

Casino Barrière d’Enghien-les-Bains will be the host casino for WSOP Europe, though most of the tournament play will be held across the street at the convention center. Players are being directed to book hotel reservations at the Grand Hotel Barrière or the Barrière Hotel du Lac, which flank the casino and convention center.

The slate of tournaments is a bit different than last year. Out are six-handed events, in are Mixed-Max events. The shootout event is also gone, replaced by a €25,000 + €600 high roller tournament.

Below is the complete 2013 WSOP Europe schedule, courtesy of WSOP.com.

Today’s final eight has heads spinning in the poker world. Sitting atop the leaderboard are two of the most despised players in poker over the last couple years, Chino Rheem and Erick Lindgren. Rheem, lording over the field with 4.8 million chips, fell out of favor about two years ago when it was revealed that he had racked up debt to several fellow players with no apparent intention of paying anything back. Will Molson started the string of stories when he posted on Two Plus Two about how he agreed to transfer Rheem $20,000 online to use for tournament buy-ins, but after accidentally sending $40,000, Rheem refused to pay him back.

Joseph “subiime” Cheong said that he gave Rheem $40,000 in exchange for a piece of Michael “The Grinder” Mizrachi’s action in the 2010 WSOP Main Event (where Mizrachi placed 5th for $2.3 million), but it turned out that though Rheem did have a piece of Mizrachi, he had sold it to multiple people in a scam akin to that in The Producers.

Ben “benba” Lamb and others also told the poker community of their financial problems with Rheem.

It all came to a head in August 2011 when the Epic Poker League placed Rheem on probation just a week after he won its Main Event, citing violations of the league’s code of conduct.

Rheem has reportedly paid down portions of his debts.

Erick Lindgren, who enters Wednesday with 2.518 million chips, is coming off a stint at Morningside Recovery to treat his gambling addiction, which makes the fact that he is playing in a $25,000 buy-in poker tournament all the more interesting.

Early last year, stories began surfacing (again on Two Plus Two) about Lindgren’s failure to meet his obligations in several fantasy football leagues. When the debts were tallied, it was determined that he owed people over $100,000 in fantasy football winnings.

Later, famed NBA sports bettor and successful poker player Haralabos Voulgaris revealed that Lindgren has owed him a sum totaling in the upper-six figures for years, stemming from Lindgren’s sports betting debts that Voulgaris ended up assuming. When Full Tilt Poker went under, so did Lindgren’s ability to pay Voulgaris back.

Speaking of Full Tilt, in the famous post-Black Friday interview conducted by PokerNews.com, Howard Lederer revealed that Chris Ferguson had agreed to loan Lindgren $2 million from Full Tilt’s coffers, but accidentally transferred him the money twice. Lindgren pocketed the excess.

In an interview published in the January issue of Bluff, Lindgren admits to his debts and that it was his sports betting, not poker, that was out of control. He said he wants to pay back what he owes, but as he doesn’t have much left, it is going to be a slow process. For him, it starts with getting his life back in order and getting back to making money at the poker tables.

It sounds like there might be a long line of railbirds waiting for Rheem and Lindgren at the cashier when this tournament is over.

On a more positive note, also in the final eight is Daniel Negreanu, who is gunning for his third consecutive official final table in a major event. He previously won the World Series of Poker Asia Pacific Main Event in April and placed fourth in the European Poker Tour Grand Final earlier this month.

Play resumes at noon Pacific time on Wednesday as just two eliminations are needed to reach the televised six-handed final table at the WPT World Championship.

2013 World Poker Tour World Championship – Day 4 Chip Counts

1.    Chino Rheem  -  4,839,000
2.    Erick Lindgren  -  2,518,000
3.    Jonathan Roy  -  1,987,000
4.    Matt Hyman  -  1,940,000
5.    Brandon Steven  -  1,235,000
6.    David Peters  -  858,000
7.    Rocco Palumbo  -  680,000
8.    Daniel Negreanu  -  545,000

Mentioned in the recordings were long-time UltimateBet spokespeople Phil Hellmuth and Annie Duke. The participants in the meeting talked about leaving Hellmuth in the dark about what was going on, thus essentially clearing him of any direct wrongdoing. Duke’s involvement was left a little murky, as it was said that she knew about the “God Mode” cheating tool, but only had access to it on a 15-minute delay.

Since the recordings were made public, both Hellmuth and Duke have issued public statements professing their innocence and lamenting their association with those who cheated and those who allowed it to happen. While both statements were well written and believable, neither satisfied the poker community.

And therein lies the problem. Whenever there is any sort of poker scandal, no matter how big or small, those involved are damned if they do and damned if they don’t when it comes to explaining themselves. If they don’t say anything, they are automatically considered guilty. If they come out and make statement, very few people believe them or accept their apology. Very few people are able to shed a scarlet letter once it has been attached.

As such, both Hellmuth and Duke need to do more if they care at all about their reputations in the poker community. And though he is much less hated than Duke, this should be more important to Hellmuth because his brand revolves entirely around poker. Duke at least has an audience outside of the poker world, largely due to her strong performance on The Celebrity Apprentice, that probably doesn’t know much about her issues with UltimateBet and the Epic Poker League. The two at the very least need to pen much more detailed statements, going through everything they knew about the cheating and when. I mean exactly what they knew and on exactly what dates. Of course, this is assuming they are guilt-free (if they are guilty of cheating or the condoning of cheating then, well, screw ‘em).

Beyond that, they must talk in great detail about their decision process and timeline for their departures from UltimateBet. One of the greatest sources of frustration for many in the poker community was that both Hellmuth and Duke continued promoting UltimateBet (and presumably continued to get paid) after the cheating scandal broke and even after evidence came out that pointed to the involvement of Russ Hamilton and other higher-ups. If Duke and Hellmuth were truly in the dark about the cheating until evidence was made public, people want to know what, if anything, they did to use their influence to try to help those that were cheated. What discussions did they have with their buddies in power at UltimateBet? Why did they keep touting the poker site? What could they have done differently?

Going further, it would be great if they would be willing to sit down to an interview (preferably on video) in which any question is fair game (as long as the line of questioning remains professional). They need to be open books and not be defensive about anything. If they screwed up, admit it.

Even if they do everything right, even if they decide to go beyond their current statements and be honest about every tick mark on the scandal timeline, I still have my doubts that they will be viewed any differently by the poker community. As I said, once that scarlet letter is on, it is hard to tear it off. They need to try, though. But hey, if they don’t care about their images, then I guess neither should we.

Leading the charge to the final table after Day 3 is Amir Babakhani, who with 1.220 million chips is one of just three players with over a million (the others are Brandon Steven with 1.091 million and Matt Hyman with 1.042 million). Despite having just four live tournament cashes on his resume (thank you, TheHendonMob.com), Babakhani has an interesting history. All four cashes have come this calendar year, all are top ten finishes and he is already a member of the WPT Champions Club. Earlier this month, the Toronto resident won the WPT Canadian Spring Championship, taking down the $430,986 prize. In February, he had a fourth and eighth place finish in two preliminary events at the WPT L.A. Poker Classic, while he came in third in a preliminary event at the WPT Seminole Hard Rock Showdown.

Should Babakhani hold onto the top spot and end up winning the tournament, he will also win the World Poker Tour Player of the Year (POY) race for Season XI. That is the only way he can take that title, though, just as it is the only way Jonathan Roy, who currently sits in sixth place, can win it. If neither of those men wins the WPT World Championship, Matt Salsberg, who was eliminated yesterday, will be the WPT POY.

The plan for Tuesday’s Day 4 is to play five more levels before calling it a night. Play will pick up at noon Vegas time as the remaining 24 players look to make a profit and, better yet, progress towards the final table.

2013 World Poker Tour World Championship – Day 3 Chip Counts

1.    Amir Babakhani – 1,220,000
2.    Brandon Steven – 1,091,000
3.    Matt Hyman – 1,042,000
4.    Hyon Kim – 891,000
5.    Alex Phahurat – 878,000
6.    Jonathan Roy – 824,000
7.    Andy Frankenberger – 811,000
8.    Steven Silverman – 749,000
9.    Jeffrey Ishbia – 705,000
10.    Dan Shak – 698,000
11.    Rocco Palumbo – 666,000
12.    Byron Kaverman – 656,000
13.    Jason Mercier – 583,000
14.    Emil Olsson – 573,000
15.    Andrew Mackenzie – 483,000
16.    Sam Goldman – 470,000
17.    Erick Lindgren – 467,000
18.    David Peters – 369,000
19.    Jake Cody – 365,000
20.    Daniel Negreanu – 329,000
21.    Chino Rheem – 270,000
22.    Richard Harroch – 193,000
23.    Andrew Lichtenberger – 137,000
24.    Zach Hyman – 130,000

Bidding for both items will begin on “approximately” July 13th, with a live auction August 1st and August 2nd as part of the Sports Signature Auction in Rosemont, Illinois. The watch and bracelet are amongst thirteen items that are highlighted as “featured” items in the auction, including a Lou Gehrig game-worn baseball cap from the 1930’s, a 1912 Major League Baseball World Series press pin, a 1958 Roger Maris game-worn jersey from when he was on the Cleveland Indians, and a 1962 Stan Musial game-worn jersey.

The auction house describes the physical styling of the WSOP bracelet as follows:

The bracelet features 259 stones including over seven carats of diamonds and 120 grams of white and yellow gold. Rubies are inset to create the red of the heart and diamond suits, while a sapphire represents the spade and three black diamonds the clubs. The clasp is stamped “14K.”

From the provided photographs of the bracelet, it appears to be in very good condition. It does look like Jamie Gold wore it quite a bit, as the back shows signs of wear and tear, but nothing unusual considering it was made seven years ago.

While the bracelet, as the Main Event bracelets tend to be, is quite gaudy, the watch is what might be considered “cheesy” looking. The background is poker-table-felt green with a stack of fanned cards – Ten through Ace of hearts – sitting in the middle. According to the auction site, the watch appears to have never been worn and even has the “protective stickering still applied to clasp and verso.”

Jamie Gold’s WSOP Main Event victory was the richest of all time, earning him $12 million. In years since, the payout structure of the tournament has been flattened somewhat, narrowing the jump in payouts for the top finishers and adding more money at the bottom of the payout ladder. His was a controversial victory of sorts, as he was seen as frequently getting lucky, hitting the exact cards he needed, no matter the hand. Gold also took the art of table talk to a whole new level during that tournament. He constantly chatted with his opponents, and like it or not, seemed to have a skill of getting them to do exactly what he wanted. If he wanted them to fold, somehow he was able to say the right thing to get it to happen. If he wanted a call, he got it.

Gold had one of the most dominant victories ever seen in the Main Event, amassing a gigantic chip lead in Day 4 and using it to roll over the field the rest of the way.

Jamie Gold is not the first Main Event winner to sell his championship bracelet. 2008 winner Peter Eastgate auctioned off his on eBay in 2010 for $147,500, giving the proceeds to UNICEF. 2007 champ Jerry Yang was to have his bracelet and other personal items auctioned by the IRS in April to pay for some of his delinquent tax bills, though details of whether the auction actually took place or how much the bracelet sold for are not known. 1991 Main Event champ Brad Daugherty also put his bracelet up for bids on eBay in 2010, but it never reached his desired minimum, so it did not sell.

Annie Duke was one of the people mentioned in the conversation, though she was never outed in the tapes as someone who was directly involved in the cheating scandal. Hamilton said that she had used the “God Mode” tool on a few occasions, but only on a 15-minute delay.

In the beginning of her statement, which was posted on her Facebook page, Duke wrote:

Listening to the leaked audio that describes an elaborate attempt by some of UltimateBet.com’s founders, including Russ Hamilton and Greg Pierson, to cover up cheating reminds me once again how much I regret having been associated with the people that were involved in this conspiracy. The release of this audio has spurred accusations and I want to make it clear that I have never used a tool on a delay or otherwise that gave me or anyone else access to hole cards for use during real money play nor was I aware that such a tool existed until the scandal broke.  

She goes on to say that she is sorry that it took so long for those who were cheated to receive their money back and that she never would have encouraged people to play on UltimateBet had she known what was going on. Duke then uses much of the rest of her statement to defend herself against the accusation that she had used the “God Mode” tool, even if it was on a delay.

“…the data dump from Travis Makar and others also make it completely clear who the perpetrators of the UltimateBet.com cheating were, and that I was not involved in their scheme in any way,” she wrote. “…at one point Russ Hamilton mischaracterizes my legitimate role as a commentator as he tries to concoct a cover story for his scheme. I can only assume that he is referring to the several times that I commentated on tournaments in which a delayed broadcast was provided to the public, as this was the only delay that I was ever aware of.”

In describing exactly how her tournament commentary went, Duke wrote:

The facts are that during commentary, what I saw as the hands were being played was exactly what every other spectator of the table was able to see. I and other co-commentators were providing commentary as we watched live play, and the broadcast of our comments was delayed as is standard practice to avoid affecting play. The screen that I saw was captured and streamed onto the internet along with my commentary so anyone who tuned into the broadcast saw exactly the same screen that I saw. The broadcast delay was designed to protect the integrity of the game by making sure that the hands my co-commentators and I were commenting on would be finished BEFORE our commentary was broadcast on the Internet. The existence of the delay was made public during the broadcasts. And we were never shown any non-public hole card information, during or after hands.

After that, Duke talks about the discussion of an “h_curtis” account that was brought up in the recording meeting and why the people in the meeting did not want it to appear on any public list of cheating accounts. She said it belonged to her friend, Houston Curtis (in the tapes. Hamilton acknowledges that Duke knows Curtis). If that account was outed as one which was involved, Duke hypothesized, Hamilton knew that she would’ve asked Curtis about it, who would have, in turn, informed her that Hamilton was the only other person who had access to the account. Hamilton would have then been in the spotlight. This intentional hiding of the “h_curtis” account proves, according to Duke, that Hamilton and his cohorts were actively trying to hide the cheating from her.

Annie Duke’s statement concludes with brief paragraphs from friends John Vorhaus and Joanne Priam, who were involved in the commentary Duke discussed. They backed her story.

93 players came back on Sunday with Will “The Thrill” Failla holding down the lead over such players as Cliff Josephy, Jake Cody, defending champion Marvin Rettenmaier and recent WPT Montreal champion Amir Babakhani. These survivors had to contend not only with some players who came back for a second shot via the one re-entry rule on this $25,000 event (Jeremy Ausmus, Ben Lamb and Ben Hamnett all fired a second bullet, among others) but also a whole other list of newcomers entered the tournament. Brian Rast, Dan O’Brien, Galen Hall, Brock Parker, David “Chino” Rheem, Scotty Nguyen, Phil Hellmuth and Jason Mercier would all make it in under the cutoff for registrations, with varying degrees of success.

Making an early move on Sunday for the chip lead was a player who has had an outstanding first half of the 2013 tournament poker season, Dan Shak. After seeing a 7-5-2 flop, Joseph Ruzick bet out from the small blind and Shak three bet the action to 60K. Ruzick decided to take a stand after that, moving all in, while Shak made the call. Ruzick had an outstanding pair of Kings in the pocket, but Shak had the ultimate cooler in pocket Aces. The board would run out with no King on the turn or river and, after the chips were counted, Shak had doubled into the lead with 362K in chips and Ruzick was on life support.

Shak would not be seriously challenged until Mike Linster emerged from the pack. On a multi-player hand, Linster moved all in pre-flop and only found Allyn Jaffrey Shulman ready to look him up. Shulman held a strong Big Slick, which was racing against Linster’s pocket fives, and the board would not cooperate with Shulman. Once Linster raked in Shulman’s chips, he skyrocketed to 460K in chips and would continue to dominate throughout the night.

As Level 9 began, the registration for the event was closed and the numbers began to flow in regarding the entries as well as the prize pool. 146 entries were received for the tournament, falling short of last year’s 152, but the prize pool of over $3.5 million would make the effort worth it for those who cashed. The top 15 players will take down a minimum payday of $49,210, with the eventual champion walking off with a $1,150,297 bankroll boost.

After the registration period closed, the shorter stacked players began to take their long walk from the Bellagio tournament room. Nick Schulman, Chris Bjorin, Dominik Nitsche and Barry Shulman were some of the eliminations, but Hellmuth seemed to thrive on the conditions and improve on his late registration stack as the night wore on.

Hellmuth would first get a bump from eliminating Bill Klein in a pocket pair battle. Klein held Jacks but Hellmuth’s Queens were better as the board ran out without any surprises. Hellmuth would continue to add to that stack in finishing the day with over 300K in chips, potentially positioning himself for a nice run during Monday’s Day Three play.

The true story of the day, however, was the battle between Shak and Linster. Shak would work his way into the lead during the final hands of the night, making a Broadway straight against Matt Waxman’s two pair, but Linster would strike back. He rivered a pair of Aces against David “Doc” Sands on the next to last hand of the night, then tapped some more into his stack against Steve Silverman to end the night as the Day Two chip leader.

1. Mike Linster, 744,000
2. Dan Shak, 617,300
3. Antonio Esfandiari, 536,100
4. Steve Silverman, 513,200
5. Amir Babakhani, 491,000
6. Jake Cody, 453,500
7. Richard Harrock, 399,600
8. David “Chino” Rheem, 396,500
9. Rocco Palumbo, 395,200
10. Will Failla, 386,000

Hovering just under the Top Ten going into tomorrow’s Day Three are Faraz Jaka (385,300), AP Phahurat (314,500), Hellmuth (307,000), Jonathan Roy (290,000), Yevgeniy Timoshenko (237,100), Andrew Lichtenberger (232,100) and Rast (228,700), while such players as Lamb, Rettenmaier, Andy Frankenberger, Sands and Matt Giannetti hover under the average chip stack. Noah Schwartz (36,900), Jonathan Aguiar (49,100), Tom Marchese (52,500) and John Hennigan (64,900) have their work cut out for them on the short stacks.

On the Player of the Year battle, Matt Salsberg is still in the tournament with his 130,800 in chips, but several of his potential rivals are out in front of him. Esfandiari would need to make the final table and finish third or better to take the crown, while Babakhani, Roy, Schwartz, Marcin Wydrowski, Josh Hale and Ravi Raghavan would have to win the tournament to take over the top slot (and this is considering Salsberg doesn’t cash). The current second place player, Paul Volpe, is not in action at the WPT Championship.

The remaining 66 men will return to the felt at noon on Monday (Pacific Time) to continue the fight for the crowning achievement on the World Poker Tour schedule. The action will continue on throughout the week to the final table on Friday afternoon when the WPT Championship victor will be crowned, but for some it is on to the WPT Super High Roller (scheduled for Tuesday) and the beginning of the World Series of Poker later this month.