Well, this years Worlds Series of Poker has finally come to an end. It has been an exciting year with more players attending than ever before. The question is how big can it get? Close to 9,000 players attended the main event and many of the other events were packed.

$12 million, the first price of the big one, is an awful lot of money. The winner doesn’t only get the fame and glory and a considerable amount of money, he gets fantasy “quit your job and never look back” kind of money. And the money seems to be the big issue this year. Jamie Gold, this year’s champion, did not even managed get the cash from Rio before he was sued for half of it.

He is accused of promising half of the price money to Los Angeles television development executive Bruce Crispin Leyser. And Leyser has got a court order that prevents Gold from getting the money before the matter is settled in court. The argument Leyser uses is that Gold is a gambler and that he therefore cannot be trusted with the money, and we all off course know that gamblers are unreliable. But what is the case all about? Well, Leyser claims that he helped Gold to recruit celebrities to wear Bodog clothing during the WSOP and for that they got one seat to the main event. What then happened, according to Leyser, was that they agreed that Gold should take the seat, and the rest is as we say history.

We have to wait and see what happens; the matter will be settled in court in September. But one thing is for sure; when there is big money involved people are prepared to go a long way in order to get their hands on some.

Ok folks, we do not have to wait much longer; soon we all know who is the new World Champion of Poker. Yes, I know, the World Series of Poker main event is huger and ever and the chance of winning it is about as big as getting a ticket to the moon, but it is still the big one that all poker players dream about winning. With close to 9,000 entrants there is no coincidence that most of the well known pros already are eliminated from the contest.

When Umberto Brennes went the same way today there is only one person left in the tourney to hope for them who wants an established pro to win again. This has not happened since Carlos Mortensen won the prestigious title in 2001. In thirteenth place, still in good shape, we have one of my favorite players, Allen Cunningham. For those of you who do not know him I can tell you he already has three WSOP bracelets and have been voted best all-round poker player by his peers.

So maybe Cunningham is our guy, maybe the pros will reign the main event again, a well known name winning the big one will maybe give some flair back to this huge event. Hang in there Allen, you can do it.

I am not a person that is easily impressed, but one person has really been extraordinary in this year’s World Series of Poker. And no, I am not talking about Phil Hellmuth winning his tenth WSOP bracelet, sorry Phil. No I am talking about a kid winning his second bracelet this weekend. Well many players have two bracelets, what’s the fuzz about you wonder.

Let me tell you…Jeff Madsen, he won his first bracelet a little bit more than a week ago, being the youngest player ever to win one, and this Saturday he got his second title! This kid is really something special, he scraped together $9,500 and headed of for Vegas and in two weeks he managed to become a millionaire, winning two events and coming in third in one. I can’t really see how any one can top this and I am sure that we will get to see a lot more of this young California wiz-kid.

World Series of Poker is at full swing with several events already finished. Some of the poker greats are stepping up to the challenge. Phil Hellmuth was close to making history when he had the chance to win his tenth WSOP bracelet in a heads up battle against new comer, 22 year old Jeff Cabanillas. But in the end the youngster won in the end after a hard fight. Cooler than ever David Williams took home the $1,500 Seven Card Stud event, and his first bracelet. And an other well known face, fast talker Sam Farha, won the $5,000 Omaha Eight event. The stars are showing class in it will be really interesting to see how this year’s WSOP will progress. I can hardly wait for the $50,000 H.O.R.S.E event were we will truly find out who got game and who doesn’t.

I was watching this incredible clip again last night, where Phil Ivey shows once and for all how good he really is. Phil is playing Paul Jackson heads up during Monte Carlo Millions. He has a pretty big chip lead, but Jackson has made a bit of a comeback and is starting to build up his stack again when this amazing hand unfolds. Just sit back and enjoy the work of a master.

Check it out here.

Interpoker.com the poker room that has given us Extreme Poker, with team members such as Juha Helppi, athy Liebert, Robert Varkonyi and Pete “the Beat” Giordano, has got a new addition in Scott Fishman. The team has been playing Extreme tournaments under water and on ice. The next tournament is said to be held in an airplane, where the contenders have to jump out of the plane when they are knocked out. I hope Scott know what he is doing..

The thrilling heads-up battle between poker beauty Liz Lieu and online wiz Erik Sagstrom has been resolved at the Venetian this weekend.

The challenge was made by Liz after Sagstrom, known online as Erik123, had called her a fish (in Swedish) during the WPT Final. The match was sure to be something else. Liz has been a pro for four years mainly playing cash games. Now taking on tournament poker with impressive results belonging to word class team Martin’s Poker. Sagstrom, already an online legend, is considered one of the best high stakes online poker players in the world. So the match was sure to be something else.

The matches played for $200,000 a piece, has been exciting to follow. With both players making amazing comebacks after being down to their last few chips. In the end Liz won 2 to 1 after making a comeback from $26,000 (out of the $200,000 each player started with) to win the match. My respect to Liz, beating Erik123 is not bad at all, he is as good as they get when it comes to heads-up.

An exciting WPT final has come to an end at last. It was a great tournament to follow, with all the top players present. I feel bad for Vanessa Rousso, who got knocked out in seventh place and just missed the TV-table. But it’s not much you can do when you get AK cracked by AJ – I was cheering for you Vanessa.

Congratulations to Joe Bartholdi who managed to go the whole way and come out as the winner. $3,760,165 is a lot of money and I hope he put them to good use.

But I am also impressed with Canadian, David Mathew, who qualified for $25. Not bad to go home with almost 2 million in cash. I have a feeling that we will get to see more of both him and Bartholdi.

Today I want to honor a true poker legend that recently passed away. Walter Clyde “Puggy” Pearson, one of the most colorful characters in the world of poker, has ended his days at the age of 77. Pearson became WSOP champion 1973 and was the second person to be introduced in the Poker Hall of Fame. He was known as the “Rovin’ Gambler” and owned a mobile home with the same name. On the side of the bus he painted “I’ll play any man from any land, any game that he can name, for any amount that I can count (providing I like it),” which sums him up pretty well.

Puggy was one of the few players I have ever heard of that could come in to a poker room and say, “Deal me in”, for the highest game in the room, without knowing what game was played or who was in it. And that is how I want to remember him – as a great gambler with a big heart.

I have some big news I want to share with you today. On of my favorite books about playing poker is Anthony Holden´s “Big Deal” published 1990. The journalist and biographer Holden (who also has been a speech writer for Prince Charles) writes about the poker scene in the end of the eighties, when he made an attempt to play poker professionally for one year. We get to follow Holden’s adventures from London to Marrakesh and finally to WSOP in Las Vegas. It is a very entertaining book and if haven’t read it already, I strongly recommend that you do. I mean Holden was the man who came up with the immortal quote “Poker may be only a game, but it is not a matter of life and death. It’s a lot more serious than that.” Need I say more?

Well the big news is that a “Bigger Deal” is on its way. Where we get to follow Holden from WSOP 2005 during a whole year and the book will end with WSOP 2006. It will be released sometimes  2007 – I can hardly wait!