Wsop Day 2A

Tuesday saw the start of the Day 2 heats at the 39th World Series of Poker in Las Vegas, with 1 251 survivors from Day 1A and 1B gathering to commence the next round of attrition in Day 2A. Mark Garner of Little Rock, Arkansas held the chip lead on almost 195 000 chips, chased by Brandon Adams on 176 450.

The entry field included names like Kido Pham, Mark Vos, Alex Borteh, Svetlana Gromenkova, Chau Gian, Darrel Dicken, Joe Beevers and Toto Leonidas, World Champions Robert Varkonyi and Scotty Nguyen, Erik Seidel, Steve Zolotow, Bill Edler, Alex Kravchenko, Kathy Liebert, Billy Baxter, John Hennigan, Greg Mueller, Hoyt Corkins, Susie Isaacs, Paul Wasicka, Blair Hinkle and Patrik Antonius, along with his wife, Maya Geller-Antonius.

Surprise survivors making it into the star-studded Day 2A pack were Shane Warne, the former international cricket star now sponsored by Pacific Poker, and television comedian Ray Romano.

It didn't take long for the eliminations to start, with 100 players sent to the rail in the first hour of frenetic and exciting action at the tables. Among the departures were Bill Edler, Svetlana Gromenkova, Jimmy Fricke, Anna Wroblewski, Perry Friedman, Susie Isaacs, Scotty Nguyen, John Hennigan and Harry Demetriu.

Still in it so far today are Robert Mizrachi, Brandon Adams, Mark Vos, Kido Pham, Billy Baxter, Tony Hachem, Julian Gardner, Toto Leonidas, Erick Lindgren, Hoyt Corkins, Kathy Liebert, John Duthie and Chris Bell.

As we went to press the field was down to 513 players going into the last hour, with Brian Schaedlich holding the chip lead at a little short of 500 000. Brandon Adams, one of the day's chip leaders, is still giving a good account of himself on 210 000, but Michael Guzzardi, Dario Alioto, Peter Gould, and sight-challenged player Hal Lubarsky have all taken the exit door.

Cryptologic 14 top games to be provided to Loto-Quebec - 02/08/2012 : The companies have signed a multi-year agreement that will see Cryptologic providing a portfolio of quality games to the Societe du jeu virtuel du Quebec, the online gaming division of the provincial state lottery corporation Loto-Quebec, known as Espacejeux.

Utah : Online Gambling : HB108 - 02/08/2012 : An intrastate attempt by Utah politician Stephen Sandstrom to introduce state legislation banning any legalisation of internet gambling has failed at the start gate.

MORE U.S. DISCUSSION ON INTERNET GAMBLING DUE THIS WEEK - 02/08/2012 : Interest in online gambling in the United States is set to continue on Thursday this week when the US Senate Committee on Indian Affairs meets to hear the views of a wide cross section of interested parties on the possible impact of legalised internet gambling on tribal gaming.

Judge wont dismiss DoJ Black Friday charges - 02/08/2012 : Former Utah banker John Campos and e-processor Chad Elie, who face charges relating to the payment processing of online poker transactions, suffered a setback Tuesday when a Manhattan judge refused to allow their motion for dismissal of Black Friday indictments against them.

ANOTHER MAJOR INTERNET GAMBLING BUST IN MALAYSIA - 02/08/2012 : Police units in Malaysia raided a series of premises in a week long anti-online gambling operation, seizing 225 computers and detaining 47 men, according to reports from the Bernama news agency. All of the detained men were later released on bail.