2009 WSOP Is Underway

The 2009 WSOP is finally underway! Whether you’re playing in any of the events or just following it online, this is the most exciting time of the year. This is when we start rooting for our favorite players, and rooting for Phil Hellmuth to get crushed! There’s nothing better than watching a guy pull a 2 outer on the river against ‘The Poker Brat’ at a final table. That my friends is called ‘good tv’.

Every year someone new creates a name for himself, and someone with a big name creates some sort of controversy. A couple years ago it was Vinnie Vinh who created news when he left his chip stacks unattended not once, not twice, but three times! In two of those events Vinh had strong chip stacks going into day two with a good chance of making the final table or winning the events. Instead of giving himself a shot at the titles, his chip stacks were blinded down and eventually made it low into the money. After rumors about his possible death, it later became know that Vinh had been off on a drug binge, incapable of making it to the tables. The third time Vinh went MIA was during the main event on day one, surely upsetting his backers.

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The 2008 WSOP provided us with a variety of fun controversies, including a Phil Hellmuth penalty, Scotty Nguyen drunk and beligerant at a final table, and former PokerNews.com reporter Tiffany Michelle involved in a sponsoring mess.

What will happen this year is anyones guess, but history tells us that some fun (if not disturbing) stories will surely develop.

For a while there it looked like we might have a great, positive story to report. Chris Moneymaker was doing well in Event #2, the $40,000 NL Hold’em event. As the man who brought poker to the forefront of millions of people worldwide, we were rooting for Moneymaker to make the final table. Unfortunately, after a great start, Moneymaker was eliminated in 38th place when his pocket 10’s ran into the pocket kings held by Ted Forrest. Moneymaker missed the money by only 11 spots, as the top 27 get paid.

Going into Day 3 of this event, the remaining field of 23 players includes 2004 WSOP Main Event champion Greg Raymer, 5-time WSOP bracelet winner Ted Forrest, Justin Bonomo, and Brian Townsend.

Keep coming back for updates on the 2009 WSOP results, controversies, and more!

* There is still time to qualify for the 2009 WSOP Main Event! Use Pokerstars deposit bonus PSP2175 and go to Pokerstars to qualify now.