Mike Matusow Chipleader on Day 2 of WSOP TOC

Mike Matusow finished day 2 of the World Series of Poker Tournament of Champions as chipleader with an impressive 85,500 in tournament chips. But all is not good news for Mike since the original schedule had players coming back on July 4th for the final table. The only problem is that not enough players have busted out (I guess that's the risk you take having a field of some of the best pros in the world) so July 4 was looking like it would be an all-day event which would have put a serious damper on Mike's plans to party it up on Independence Day.

Currently they're talking about playing July 3rd to get the field down to 9 but nothing has been announced yet.

Click here for a $600 sign up bonus on Full Tilt where Mike plays.

Full Tilt Pro Gavin Smith Wins First WSOP Bracelet

You gotta give it up for this one-time taxi cab driver who has battled the poker world to become not just a well respected Full Tilt pro but now a WSOP bracelet winner. Gavin took down the $2,500 buy-in mixed holdem event for a prize of $268K.

Smith who is known for crazy prop bets with his PokerRoad partner Joe Sebok is one of those good guys in the poker community. Always good for a laugh, willing to hang out with fans, and hasn't allowed any of his success at the tables go to his head.

In addition to his WSOP bracelet win Smith has racked up an impressive $5 million in career tournament wins and was the 2006 WPT Play of the Year.

If you want to play with Gavin Smith online or maybe just railbird him and throw him a "congrats" he can be found playing on Full Tilt Poker.

Want to play live poker against Full Tilt Pros?

This week saw the first airing of Full Tilt Poker's, The Poker Lounge, in the UK market (Channel 4). One Full Tilt qualifier matched wits with Team Full Tilt players like Phil Ivey and Gus Hansen.

The format is a $20K buy-in where six players battle it out for a chance at a winner-take-all $120K prize pool. Each week one online qualifier will play against a table of sharks supplied from Full Tilt Poker's pro lineup.

If you want to catch the show it airs weekly starting at 00:05.

Find out more about The Poker Lounge

Phil Ivey Top Vote Getter in WSOP Tournament of Champions Voting

It should come as no surprise that one of the best and most liked players in the world received the most votes for to be included in the WSOP Tournament of Champions event. Phil will join other top pros such as Daniel Negreanu, Doyle Brunson, Phil hellmuth, Chris "Jesus" Ferguson, Johnny Chan, Howard Lederer, Greg Raymer, Mike Matusow, Annie Duke, and Barry Greenstein for a chance to win the $500,000 first place prize (runner-up gets $250,000, third gets $100,000, and fourth through ninth get $25,000 each).

Play will start at the Rio on Sunday, June 27 at noon. Players will play until they bust out or complete four one-hour levels (whichever comes first). At that point the players will go home and rest for the evening and the remaining players will return on Money, June 28th at noon. Again the players will play until they bust or four one-hour levels. All remaining players will return on Sunday, July 4 for the final showdown.

Vote Getters

Phil Ivey (16,267 votes)

Daniel Negreanu (16,239 votes)

Doyle Brunson (13,796 votes)

Phil Hellmuth (12,637 votes)

Chris Freguson (11,585 votes)

Allen Cunningham (10,486 votes)

Johnny Chan (10,434 votes)

Scotty Nguyen (9,834 votes)

Barry Greenstein (9,806 votes)

John Juanda (8,835 votes)

Erik Seidel (8,802 votes)

Jennifer Harman (8,206 votes)

Huck Seed (8,180 votes)

Dan Harrington (7,342 votes)

TJ Cloutier (6,281 votes)

Sammy Farha (6,085 votes)

Howard Lederer (5,596 votes)

Greg Raymer (5,404 votes)

Joe Hachem (5,272 votes)

Antonio Esfandiari (5,129 votes)

Automatic Entries

Annie Duke - 2004 TOC Champion

Mike Matusow - 2005 TOC Champion

Mike Sexton - 2006 TOC CHampion

Joe Cada 2009 WSOP ME Champion

Barry Shulman - 2009 WSOPE ME Champion

Exemptions

Bertrand "ElkY" Grospellier - WSOP Academy Playoff Winner

Andrew Barton - WSOP.COM UK Qualifier

Want to play with pro players like Phil Ivey, Allen Cunningham, Chris "Jesus" Ferguson, John Juanda, Erik Seidel, Jen Harman, Huck Seed, Howard Lederer, and Mike Matusow? Check out Full Tilt Poker for more details!!

Full Tilt Poker WSOP Main Event Week

Until Sunday June 20th you can get in on Full Tilt Poker’s WSOP Main Event Week which has more than 200 WSOP seats up for grabs. At least five WSOP Main Event prize packages will be available daily. The finale of the WSOP Main Event Week will be a $640 buy-in 150 Seat Guarantee on Sunday June 20th at 18:00 ET.

The prize packages include a $10,000 Main Event buy-in plus $2000 in spending money for a total value of $12,000.

Package winners will also have access to the Full Tilt Poker hospitality suite at the Rio Hotel. They’ll also receive free off-Strip accommodations during their stay in Las Vegas.

More information on the Full Tilt Poker Main Event Week

Ted Forrest and Mike Matusow Prop Betting

A few years back Mike Matusow and Ted Forrest entered into a prop bet that stipulated that Matusow had to lose 60 pounds. Mike's prize was a nice $100,000 for his efforts.

Fast forward to the 2010 WSOP and Forrest and Matusow are at it again. At stake is up to $2 million except this time around it is Forrest who has to shed some poundage. Forrest who is 5' 11" and weighs 188 pounds bet Matusow that he could drop down to 139 pounds before the end of this year's WSOP. If he does it Matusow and a cadre of other professional players will fork over $2 million to Forrest.

If he's still north of 139 at the end of the WSOP he has until Sept 15 to get to the magic number. If he makes it to 139 before Sept 15 he'll collect $1 million. And if he misses the mark completely he has to pay Matusow $150,000.

Matusow seems confident in his bet telling the press that the only way Forrest can do it is if he dies. He said that he has asked Forrest to sign a document saying that Matusow gets his bet paid off in the event of his death.

Meanwhile Forrest seems equally confident saying that he thinks that he can cut back on eating junk and fast foods and hit the 139 pound mark.