May 21 2012, Donnie Peters

After a nice and easy Day 1 at the $25,000 World Poker Tour World Championship on Saturday, the field was back in action on Sunday at noon for Day 2. The total field size grew to 135 players throughout the course of the day and registration will remain open until approximately 1700 PDT (0100 BST) on Day 3. From the 98 Day 1 survivors and 30 late registrants, 95 players advanced. Leading the pack was former WPT champion Michael “The Grinder” Mizrachi as he bagged up 428,200 in chips.

Mizrachi proved to be the only player able to finish above the 400,000-chip mark and will be looking to add WPT title number three to his collection. Previously, Mizrachi won the 2005 L.A. Poker Classic for $1,859,909 and the 2006 Borgata Winter Open for $1,173,373. Coming in behind him on the leaderboard was another former WPT champion Rinat Bogdanov with 381,000. Bogdanov won this season’s WPT Venice Grand Prize for “229,800.

Of those players who were eliminated on the day, were Isaac Baron, Hasan Habib, Dan O’Brien, Vanessa Selbst, Ryan D’Angelo and the WPT’s own Tony Dunst. Also falling were WPT Champions Club members Morten Christensen, Tommy Vedes, Matt Giannetti, Andrey Pateychuk, David Benyamine, James Demsey and Daniel Negreanu.

According to the WPT Live Updates Team, Negreanu fell in the last level of the night with the blinds at 600/1,200/200 in a hand that saw three players get all the money in.

It was reported that Negreanu had opened from middle position with a raise before Lance Steinberg reraised behind him. On the button, Guillaume Darcourt made the call before action folded back to Negreanu. Negreanu reraised all-in for 33,400. Steinberg and Darcourt both made the call.

The flop produced the and Steinberg moved all-in for around 80,000. Darcourt quickly made the call with the for middle set, but was behind the for top set from Steinberg. Negreanu was well behind, but still alive holding a straight draw with his . The turn and river both failed to give Negreanu the straight he needed and he was eliminated. Steinberg’s set of queens held up, allowing him to scoop the entire pot and double up through Darcourt.

Although some big names hit the rail on the day, plenty of them built nice stacks to take into Day 3. David Steicke, Isaac Haxton and Day 1 chip leader Steve O’Dwyer all finished above 300,000, while John Hennigan, David Chiu, Joe Serock and Nick Schulman bagged up plenty of ammo.

WPT World Championship Day 2 Top 10 Chip Counts

The remaining players will start back up on Monday at 1200 PDT (2000 BST) for another day on the grind. You can expect another batch of late entrants to jump into the fray as registration will remain open until Level 12. Be sure to stay tuned for the daily recap right here on PokerNews.

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May 11 2012, Brett Collson

Buddhist monks busted playing high-stakes poker? Yes, that actually happened this week. We’ve got that story, plus more action taken by PokerStars against third-party tracking sites, in this edition of the Nightly Turbo.

In Case You Missed It

Viktor “Isildur1″ Blom was eyeing a third SCOOP title on Thursday. Was he able to lock it up? Find out in the Day 5 SCOOP recap.

How was the high-stakes action at the PokerStars tables this week? Read the Online Railbird Report to find out the week’s biggest winners and losers.

Daniel Negreanu released his Weekly Rant on Friday. This week, Kid Poker discussed SCOOP, the World Series of Poker conference call, and more.

@AsianSpa was back with his latest blog on Friday. This week he talks about the new Palms poker room, the Iceman’s absence from the Aria cash games, and more.

To honor the return of celebrations at this summer’s WSOP, Rich Ryan listed the 10 greatest celebrations ever filmed at the WSOP. Visit The Muck to see the list.

Did you miss anything from the past week? Don’t worry, we’ve got you covered. Kristy Arnett and Sarah Grant break down all the big stories in the PokerNews Weekly.

Don’t Mess with PokerStars

PokerStars’ crackdown on third-party poker tracking websites continued this week when Sharkscope and Official Poker Rankings (OPR) complied with requests to operate only as an opt-in service for customers.

PokerFuse reports that Sharkscope and OPR have already implemented the new policy after making announcements on their websites. Both popular services have tracked online tournament results for years across a multitude of online poker rooms. PokerStars, however, has determined that the ability for players to extract information about new opponents ultimately creates an unpleasant environment, especially for the novice player. SharkScope and OPR had been using the opt-in method on a trial basis since 2009.

Earlier this year, PokerStars issued a cease and desist notice to data mining site Poker Table Ratings, which removed the profiles and statistics of all players on the site. Poker-Edge, another tracking site, followed suit a short time later.

PokerFuse has more.

European Sites Added to Belgian Blacklist

Internet service providers in Belgium have been ordered to block more online gambling providers from offering services to residents in the country.

The Belgian Gaming Commission has blacklisted Bwin, Betsson, Betfair and William Hill, along with several other operators that offer online poker and other forms of online gambling. Those providers join the likes of 888, TitanPoker, EverestPoker and ChiliPoker in being blocked in Belgium.

Under the new Belgian Gambling Act, players are only allowed to play on licensed sites, and the nation’s four largest Internet service providers are in the process of barring unauthorized domains. PartyPoker.com and iPoker, two of the biggest online poker sites in the world, have called the Gambling Act “unenforceable” because it leaves issues of taxation unresolved.

Three sites were granted licenses in February: PokerStars.be, Partouche.be and Casino777.be. PokerStars secured a license after developing a partnership with online casino operator Circus Groupe, allowing the world’s leading poker site to operate under the regulation of the Belgian Gaming Commission.

Read more at eGaming Review.

Buddhist Degens

Six monks have resigned from South Korea’s largest Buddhist sect after they were discovered drinking, smoking and playing illegal high-stakes poker in a luxury hotel last month.

The incident allegedly happened after a gathering for a fellow monk’s memorial service. Video footage of the game found its way to television stations after a fellow Jogye monk named Seongho released it to the media. Seongho told Reuters that the gambling monks played for 13 hours and wagered more than $875,000 during the poker game.

Gambling is illegal in South Korea outside of licensed casinos and racetracks. The activity is especially frowned on by religious leaders.

To our delight, The Micros shined some humor on the scandal:

Reuters has more on the story.

Eyewear for the WSOP

The World Series of Poker has extended its deal with Blue Shark Optics through 2015. The partnership allows Blue Shark to resume its role as the “Official Poker Eyewear of the WSOP.”

“We are extremely pleased to be able to extend our current sponsorship agreement with the WSOP” said Blue Shark Optics executive director Kerry Karoutsos. “Being able to extend our relationship with the WSOP is a development that our company views as a significant affirmation that we provide a quality product to the poker community.”

The Florida company manufactures eyewear designed specifically for poker and even designs sunglasses specifically for poker players. Chris Moneymaker, Hoyt Corkins, Jonathan Little and Humberto Brenes are among the players who endorse the company and its products.

For more information, visit the Blue Shark Optics website.

Isildur’s Double Duty

Viktor “Isildur1″ Blom’s second SCOOP win was uploaded to PokerStars.tv on Friday. Blom collected $160,000 after besting a tough final table that included Clark “snake8484″ Hamagami, Iulian-Georgian “Ruxandescu” Ruxandescu and Alexandre “BiatchPeople” Luneau. Here’s the recap of the action:

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