Top News – WSOP Final Table and the London Festival

So the 2010 World Series of Poker is down to its final table and the winner will be crowned the poker champion after the whole gang comes together for one final game in November. The biggest final table star is, of course, Michael “The Grinder” Mizrachi. And although the winner of this year's $50,000 Players Championship and contender for the player of the year award is not the chip leader, he's still considered to be one of the November Nine favorites.

In other news we've got Phil Ivey who was very close to the World Poker Tour Bellagio Cup VI title, but went down with only 2 to go, and there's the whole Top 10 list of the tournament as well. We will also tell you a bit about the month-long London Poker festival starting at the end of the summer and hosting lots and lots of poker action and will also show you a WSOP-special Poker Face video.

The November Nine

So after seven weeks of non-stop live poker action at the Rio in Las Vegas, Nevada we've got 9 players who will come back after more than 3 months from now to compete for the WSOP main event title and the $9 million cash prize. And here are the names of the nine finalists (in order of their chip stack): Jonathan Duhamel, John Dolan, Joseph Cheong, John Racener, Matthew Jarvis, Filippo Candio, Michael Mizrachi, Soi Nguyen and Jason Senti.

7,319 players have taken their chance at the $10,000 No-Limit Hold'em Championship aka the Main Event and only 9 of them have made it all the way to the final table. All of the contestants have already got richer by $811,823 and will come back in November with hopes of increasing this amount by $9 mill and collecting the WSOP Main Event bracelet along with the 2010 World Series of Poker title.

“I'm so happy. I started my career three or four years ago. I won an Italian Championship in 2009. I worked hard for this career and I think it's important for my mission. Young guys try to become professional poker players, they say all is possible, if I do it, they can do it,” said Filippo Candio – the first-ever Italian player to make the WSOP final table in a press conference which was held on Sunday, July 18, to introduce the world to the 2010 WSOP November Nine.

The all-fan favorite Michael Mizrachi had a very interesting theory about his chances on winning the final table: “Every time when I don't have any chips, I end up winning the tournament, and it seems like it's going to go this way again”.

Another one of the November Nine – Soi Nguyen is second from the end in chips, but making it to the final table is already a huge success for him as this is just his fourth live tournament. Nguyen said that he was inspired by Moneymaker's win in 2003 WSOP and decided to go for it himself: “I saw it on ESPN and Chris Moneymaker, figured, if he can do it, why can't I?”

So here's the full 2010 WSOP November Nine list of players, their seats and the amount of chips in their account:

Seat 1: Jason Senti (7,625,000)
Seat 2: Joseph Cheong (23,525,000)
Seat 3: John Dolan (46,250,000)
Seat 4: Jonathan Duhamel (65,975,000)
Seat 5: Michael Mizrachi (14,450,000)
Seat 6: Matthew Jarvis (16,700,000)
Seat 7: John Racener (19,050,000)
Seat 8: Filippo Candio (16,400,000)
Seat 9: Soi Nguyen (9,650,000)

We'll come back to the topic in November to see who will become this year's Main Event Champion. And, of course, we will bring you all the most important final table issues during the three month period.

WPT Bellagio Cup VI

Phil Ivey set a new World Poker Tour record last week by making the ninth final table, but was not able to secure the second-carrier WPT title as he came down in third place. Justin Smith had also made the name for himself as he final-tabled the event for the second consecutive year, but he also wasn't able to make it all the way to the title as he fell in the heads-up match against Moritz Kranich.

Ivey had a chip lead at one point during the final table, but wasn't able to keep up to it and had to hit the felt in third collecting $363,650. The heads-up battle between Smith and Kranich started with the German leading 2-to-1 in chips. However, Smith did not want to end it just yet and almost leveled with Kranich after he doubled-up by beating his opponent with a pair of threes.

However, Smith wasn't able to hold on much longer and soon lost to Kranich finishing second and collecting $594,755. Kranich got $875,150 for the first place along with the World Poker Tour title and a ticket to the 2011 WPT World Championship.

Here are the WPT Bellagio Cup VI final standings:

1. Moritz Kranich – $875,150
2. Justin Smith – $594,755
3. Phil Ivey – $363,650
4. John Caridad – $237,902
5. Robert Akery – $169,930
6. Eric Afriat – $118,950
7. Zach Hyman – $84,965
8. Eric Panayiotou – $67,972
9. Rick Salomon – $54,378
10. Maria Ho – $40,783

Poker Festivities

The biggest poker festival in the world will be held in London from August 28 to September 28. Over 100 events along with the World Poker Tour London inaugural event, the World Series of Poker Europe and the English Poker Open will take place during the month of live poker in the English capital.

£10,000,000 in combined prisepools will be given away and if you want to get your share of that 10 million, pack your bags and book yourself a room for a month, because there's gonna be a lot of poker action in London this September. Awards shows, poker academies, and plenty of parties for you to participate in are also a part of the festival.

And talking about awards, the British Poker Awards will be held on September 13, a night before the 2010 World Series of Poker Europe event. The winners will be voted by the public in an online vote which will start on August 1. The nominations include Best Overall Poker Player, Best Cash Player, Best Tournament Player, Best Online Player, and the Best UK Card Room.

“We think the idea of a British Poker Awards – poker's very own Oscars – is long overdue. This will be a prestigious annual event and gives us the opportunity to pay tribute to the outstanding achievers in our game,” said the organizers of the Awards.

You can also submit your vote from August 1 by visiting TheBritishPokerAwards.com

Another part of the London Poker Festival is Poker in the Park – the world's biggest poker fair taking place in Leicester Square in London on September 2 to 3. The event will feature loads of turbo s-n-g's running around the clock in two Poker Domes one of which will be sponsored exclusively by Bodog Poker.

Here's what Magnus Olby, the Marketing Manager for Bodog Europe had to say: “Bodog is about providing entertainment and poker players love the chance to play live, and that's what we're offering right in the heart of London. Obviously we'll add a few Bodog touches too, so watch out for some hot girls and great freebies.”

Gaga Ma-ma-ma-ma

Everyone knows Lady Gaga's hit single Poker Face. The PokerNews live reporting team have decided to see whether some of the pros playing at the WSOP know the lyrics to the song and how do their poker faces really look like. Enjoy!