Seidel wins eighth WSOP bracelet; Main Event set to begin today

Erik Seidel won his eighth career World Series of Poker bracelet on Thursday night, moving into a tie for fourth with Johnny Moss on the all-time bracelet list behind Phil Hellmuth, Doyle Brunson and Johnny Chan.

Seidel won the $5,000 World Championship No Limit 2-7 Draw with Rebuys title, defeating Chad Brown heads up to take the title and the $538,835 first-place prize. Seidel also won a 2-7 title in 1998.

Hellmuth holds the all-time lead with 11 WSOP bracelets, while both Brunson and Chan have 10.

The final table was an impressive group, with Shawn Sheikhan finishing third, Andrew Black fifth, Freddy Deeb sixth and Todd Brunson seventh.

Deeb, who won $2.3 million and the $50,000 H.O.R.S.E. title last week, has been performing quite well in tournaments recently.

"I was never a bracelet man in the past," Deeb said, referring to his penchant for cash games.

Deeb, who might blame his sixth-place finish on the lack of his lucky shirt, played next to Barry Greenstein prior to the final table. He said playing next to Greenstein is hard work, "but it's always hard work playing."

Main Event set to begin today
The number of entries in this year's Main Event has been a subject of speculation ever since Harrah's announced that it would not accept third-party registrations from Internet poker rooms.

While there's no way to know for certain how many people will enter until all the "Day 1s" are complete, it seems that the dire predictions that numbers would fall below the 2004 watermark of 2,576 may have been premature.

WSOP officials announced that they were adding a fourth "Day 1" to take the place of an off day on the schedule, indicating that the numbers may even eclipse the 2005 number (5,619).

Today will be a good indication, but it will still be impossible to know just how many people are playing in this year's Main Event until registration for the fourth Day 1 is complete.

Ante up for Africa winners donate prize pool to charity
The "Ante up for Africa" charity tournament hosted by Annie Duke and Don Cheadle was a huge success, with 167 entries in the $5,000 buy-in tournament. When Dan Shak and Brandon Moran got to heads up play, the two decided to donate all of their winnings to the Enough Project and the International Rescue Committee, and the two were declared co-winners.

Read amore on the Ante up for Africa tournament.