LITTLE, MCBRAYER WSOP POKER RING WINNERS

BRUCE LITTLE SHORT-HANDED CHAMPION: Bruce Little won the 6 Handed No Limit Texas Hold’em poker event for 6.5k. He bested Dustin Wertz of New Orleans (2nd 4k), Charles Morris of Harahan (3rd 2.5k), Joshua Billingsley of Houston (4th 1.6k), Owen Bradley of New Orleans (5th 1.1k) and Ruven Rivera of Houston (6th 843). Little has proven again he is one of the better local tournament players. After a 9th place finish in event one Little has been on a bit of a heater, and figured out which side of the Sit’n go he wants to be on.

A WIN FOR BJ: BJ McBrayer (pictured) won his fourth tournament title and denied Metairie’s Curtis Lee his second of the series (keep reading to find about his first). McBrayer pocketed 7k for first, Lee 4.4k for 2nd. Bill McClary was fifth for 1.6k.

Caufman Talley also came up just short of another bracelet finishing in sixth for 1.3k. Ruven Rivera cashed again (7th for 1.1k). Two other locals Hedgemann Carter (Slidell) and Danny Dorcey (pictured and from Chalmette) came in 8th and 9th.

CURTIS LEE TAKES RING IN EVENT 1: Curtis Lee of Metairie, LA, ended up with the ring after a deal was made with second place Huy Nguyen. This is the tournament Gene D kicked off with a cash. Congrats also to Blake Barouse of the APP who finished 10th. The final table was a locals affair with Bruce Little of New Orleans first one out for just over 1k. Brian Champagne of Metairie, Josh Rosto of Baton Rouge, and Ralph Reid of Meridian, MS went out 8th, 7th, and 6th. William Prejean of Gonzales, LA, Ron Held of Metairie, and Danny Doucet of Lafayette were 3rd, 4th, and 5th.

NO RALLY FOR TALLEY TO WIN EVENT TWO TITLE: Lafayette, LA’s Caufman Talley won 14.8k for first in the $500 buy-in No Limit tournament. He pretty comfortably went wire to wire with the chip lead at the final table. He edged Frank Alpandinar (Baton Rouge 8.9k) in heads up play. Bill Hobbs (New Iberian) finished third for 5.7k. Congrats to APPer Alex Tassin for coming in 14th. Corrie “Slim” Wunstel of Baton Rouge was 5th for 2.8k, Michael Dufrechou (Baton Rouge) 6th for 2.2k, Kip Scarsone (Plaquemine, LA) 7th for 1.8k, Gerard “Tree Dr” Rodriques of NOLA 8th for 1.5k, Greg Benoit of Lake Charles 9th for 1.2k. Wendell Salley of Mobile won 1.2 for 10th.

VANESSA ROUSSO AND JOHN RACENER HEADLINES DOYLE BRUNSON 5 STAR DIAMOND WPT CLASSIC FINAL TABLE: The all star affair is the best WPT TV table in a long, long, long time. Fans of live poker will enjoy seeing Antonio Esfandiari, Ted Lawson, Kirk Morrison, and Andrew Robl duke it out for the title. Speaking of Duke, Vanessa went there, and Annie Duke may have to accept that Vanessa has surpassed her as the World’s best female poker player. The two Floridians, Rousso and Racener have 5.8 million and 3.3 million respectively and are 1st and 2nd in chips.

ONLINE POKER BILL IN CONGRESS: We tend to ship you to Pokerati a lot because they seem to have a better grasp on the bills than anyone else. The latest tidbit they offer is that Reid’s Bill would block the existing online offshore sites, like FullTilt and Pokerstars, from legally getting into the American market for two years. Meanwhile the land based casinos will have first crack at the American gamblers. Hardly seems fair right? On one side, you could argue they are punishing the existing poker sites for operating when maybe they shouldn’t have, though skilled lawyers at Full Tilt and elsewhere would tell you it’s legal to play online in the States.

So, the other side is they are giving their fat cat casino friends first crack at an enormous market. Wonder how high the rake will get to when the land base corporations take over? To be an optimist, perhaps this just increases competition and actually favors the players over the next two years. Realistically, it just means in two years the online sites will be merging with land based casinos. For better, more informed analysis head over to Pokerati.