Friday, June 30, 2006

Three World Series of Poker events (WSOP) will run simultaneously today, a
sign that the momentum is building here at the Rio All-Suites Hotel and
Casino as players gear towards the Main Event and poker immortality. The
final table for Event # 2, the 3-day $1,500 No Limit Hold'Em tournament that
began on Tuesday, will be the main draw for the rail birds. Former Main
Event winner (2001) Carlos Mortensen will vie for his third bracelet from
the sixth chip position. The Spaniard, who is nicknamed "El Matador" was the
chip leader after day one, but suffered consecutive devastating hands to
lower his position late on day two.

Mortensen has 337,000 chips going into the final table. The buzz around the
gallery is that Mortensen's big tournament experience makes him a viable
candidate to take home the bracelet. He also has one World Poker Tour (WPT)
title on his mantle.

Professional poker player Ron Stanley, in 8th position with $283k also has a
WSOP bracelet, winning his first piece of hardware in 1991. The long-time
pro has multiple final table appearances in WSOP Circuit Events and WPT
tournaments.

Don Zewin, in 6th place with $342,000 chips also has some big-time final
table experience, placing 4th at the WPT Doyle Brunson North American Poker
Championship in 2005.

The final table looks like this:

1.) Brandon Cantu $753k

2.) Lee Padilla $753k

3.) Drew Rubin $573k

4.) Mark Ly $516k

5.) Mark Swatz $359

6.) Don Zewin $342k

7.) Carlos Motensen $337k

8.) Ron Stanley $283k

9.) Brent Roberts $260k

WSOP Event # 3, a $1,500 Pot Limit Hold'Em affair, is also scheduled to
start today at 2 p.m. PST with 71 players to battle all day until only nine
player remain for tomorrow's final table.

John Juanda and Victor Ramdin sit near the top of the leader board in 3rd
and 6th place respectively. Juanda is the owner of three WSOP bracelets and
is currently one of the top ranked players in the world on most media outlet
polls.

Ramdin is having a life-changing year, winning $1.3 million at the 2006 WPT
Foxwoods Poker Classic and finishing 11th this spring at the Bellagio in the
WPT World Championship.

The final major tournament of the day is Event # 4, a $1500 Limit Hold'Em
Tournament. Play began today at noon and will continue until there are less
than 100 players. It will conclude sometime this evening. The tournament is
a three-day event.