The young pro bested a field of 963 that included most of the big names in the international game as he fought through the quality field and ultimately a final table to claim his first WSOP bracelet and a prize worth $289,283 in Event 17.

The third and last day of the event saw 17 survivors taking their seats, with Adam Friedman holding the lead and the field still carrying significant opposition in players such as David Chiu, Allen Bari, Svetlana Gromenkova, David Bach, Ryan Hughes, Victor Ramdin, Cyndy Violette, Max Pescatori, Brett Jungblut, and Todd Brunson.

By midnight Vegas time Sunday night it was down to the wire at level 29 with three players left in the hunt for the bracelet: Aaron Steury (2,400,000); Michael Chow (1,400,000) and Adam Friedman (500 000).

The culmination of the five hour final table was a heads up between Steury and Michael Chow, which the Indiana pro managed to carry by leveraging an almost 3 million chip advantage, leaving his opponent with a $178,691 take-home.

Event 18, the $1,500 buy-in No-Limit Hold’em, attracted the biggest entry field yet at this year’s World Series as 3 157 players registered, but by Day 2 less than 15 percent of the field was left, and when Day 3 play re-started on Monday that was down to just 34 survivors, led by Foster Hays.

Late Night Monday Vegas time action was well into level 28 and the field was down to the final nine, led by Allen Le.

To get this far, the nine finalists have had to best the likes of David Vamplew, Zach Gruneberg, Scott Montgomery, Jerry Yang, Jason Mercier, Kathy Liebert, Victor Ramdin, Jeff Madsen, Eric Baldwin, David Benyamine, Scott Clements, Kara Scott, Jennifer Tilly, Michael Mizrachi, Faraz Jaka, Humberto Brenes, Jon Turner, Erick Lindgren and Valdemar Kwaysser - no mean feat in itself.

When we went to press, WSOP officials were anticipating that play would go over midnight in the quest for a winner.

130 players survived the first day’s action in event 19: $2,500 Limit Hold’em - Six Handed after a hectic first day in which two thirds of the original field of 354 hopefuls was eliminated. It took ten levels of play to arrive at a final table of twelve led by Alexander Kuzmin, when play was discontinued until Monday.

The 12 survivors were split into two tables of six when the action recommenced, with Matt Matros the sole remaining bracelet holder from a field that had included a liberal sprinkling of the highly respected symbol of WSOP success.

Kim Nguyen did exceptionally well, maintaining her position right through the field to become the third woman this year to make a final table…and she was still in there slugging at level 25 late Monday night in a tough heads up against Darren Woods, albeit at a hefty 650 000 chip disadvantage.

If Kim does manage to pull a win this event, she’ll join a short list of women players who have achieved a WSOP bracelet in an open event: Annette Obrestad (2007 WSOP-Europe Main Event), Katja Thater (2007 Razz), Kathy Liebert (2004 Limit Hold’em Shootout), Cyndy Violette (2004 Seven Card Stud Hi Lo Split 8 or Better), Annie Duke (2004 Omaha Hi Lo Split 8 or Better), Jennifer Harman (2002 Limit Hold’em & 2000 No Limit 2-7 Lowball), Nani Dollison (2001 Limit Hold’em), Jerri Thomas (2000 Limit Seven Card Stud), Maria Stern (1997 Limit Seven Card Stud), Linda Johnson (1997 Limit Razz), Barbara Enright (1996 Pot Limit Hold’em), and Vera Richmond (1982 Limit Ace to Five Draw).

Event #20: $1,000 No-Limit Hold’em started with a star-studded field of 3 175 players on Sunday, but the action on the first day was frantic to say the least, with only 342 players still at the tables when officials called it a night just 20 places short of the money bubble.

The second day commenced Monday with Doug Lang in the lead but plenty of firepower still in contention, including Lex Veldhuis, Amnon Filippi, Yuval Bronshtein, Hoyt Corkins, John Phan, Scott Montgomery, Tim West, Shaun Deeb and Gavin Smith.

Among the less fortunate who did not survive a particularly bloody first day were Matt Jarvis, Randall Flowers, Galen Hall, Joe Cada, Faraz Jaka, Jeff Sarwer, Antonio Esfandiari, Josh Brikis, Scotty Nguyen, Justin Young, Jeff Madsen, Liv Boeree and Eric Baldwin.

With play at level 18 and approaching midnight Monday Vegas time there were 49 players left with Yashar Darian holding the lead.

Event 21: $10,000 Seven Card Stud Championship attracted only 126 players this year - well down on 2010’s 150 registrations. It nevertheless generated a useful prize pool of $1.18 million and pulled in a rewarding selection of top poker pros that included Ted Forrest, John Cernuto, Erik Seidel, Jeff Lisandro, Mike Sexton, Eli Elezra, Al Barbieri, Daniel Negreanu and Jennifer Harman.

The first day saw few eliminations, leaving a competitive 87 survivors re-starting Monday, led by Sebastien Sabic, who was chased by Joe Cassidy, Mike Sexton, Jennifer Harman, Alexander Kostritsyn and Steve Zolotow.

By late Monday night there were 19 players still competing at level 16 with Sorel Mizzi in the lead, but some tough opposition still in a field that includes Alexander Kostritsyn, Matt Glantz, Chris Tryba, Chad Brown, Men Nguyen, Ville Wahlbeck and Jason Mercier - all in the top ten.

The first day’s action in event 22: $1,500 Pot-Limit Omaha started on Monday with 1 071 entries - well up on last year’s 885 registrations.

Heading into midnight Monday level 10 had been reached and there were still 134 players left with Juha Vilkke in the lead but a strong pack chasing him that included Nick Binger, Michael Moore, Jeff Sarwer, Michael Binger, James Akenhead, Melanie Weisner, David Chiu, Tommy Vedes, Dan Heimiller, Joe Serock, Shannon Shorr, and Dave Ulliott.

Event 23: $2,500 Eight-Game Mix also started Monday with 489 entries generating a prize pool of $1.11 million.

The Eight-Game Mix format calls for players to alternatively play Triple-Draw 2-7, Limit Hold’em, Omaha 8, Razz, Stud, Stud 8, No-Limit Holdem, and Pot Limit Omaha, and is a popular competition for the pros. This year’s field is an improvement of 36 registrations over last year.

This year’s starting lineup included a host of recognisable names like Phil Hellmuth, Vitaly Lunkin, David Williams, Joseph Cheong, Allen Bari, Eugene Katchalov, Marco Traniello, Jon Turner, Daniel Negreanu, Vanessa Selbst, Justin Bonomo, Ted Forrest, John Cernuto, defending champ Sigurd Eskeland, Eric Buchman, Alex Kamberis, Jonathan Spinks, Gavin Smith, John Juanda, Jeff Shulman, Brandon Cantu and many more.

Going into midnight Monday the action was at level 7 in a planned night of 8 levels, with 280 players still surviving and a top ten chip count list that looked liked this: Abraham Mourshaki, Eric Buchman, Greg Mueller, KC Carlston, Nikolay Evdakov, John Racener, Nikolay Edvakov, Bryan Colin, Marco Traniello and Brett Richey.

Ireland’s gambling laws are seriously in need of updating in both a land and internet sense, and in the country’s current parlous economic situation such a revision could bring over 13 000 new jobs to the nation and up to Euro 300 million in additional tax revenues.

Following an extensive enquiry, a consultation paper on legislative options for the gambling sector was published in December by then minister for justice for Ireland Dermot Ahern.

The paper outlined sweeping changes to the land sector, including a framework for licensing and regulating small-scale casinos which operate as members’ clubs, and a proposal to allow a “resort” casino similar to that proposed for Tipperary.

It proposed the framing of legislation to allow for the establishment of registered land casinos with up to 15 gaming tables and about three times as many gaming machines.

The Options for Regulating Gambling report also looked at the issue of licensing online betting and proposed the reinforcing of the ban on fixed-odds betting terminals, gaming machines that offer casino-style games such as blackjack and poker in bookies shops.

However, and more than six months on, the current minister of justice, Alan Shatter, is apparently still considering whether the proposals outlined in the Options report represent the best choices for the Irish government.

A spokesman told that Irish Times that the review was “being undertaken on an entirely objective basis to put in place a modern legal framework to regulate gambling, taking account of the various forms of gambling that exist both online and offline and having regard to the public interest.”

Since 2000, Pegler, a frequent speaker at industry conferences, has advanced through the online gaming industry achieving leadership positions with his results-driven management style. His accomplishments include creating, implementing and executing business initiatives from start-up level companies to the negotiation, structuring, and ongoing account management of B2B relationships with some of Europes largest and most successful gaming brands.

Peglers resume includes serving as Senior Commercial Director at Sky Interactive (BSkyB) and most recently, Commercial Director of the Jadestone Group AB. Throughout his career, the marketing executive has consistently displayed his ability to develop business-to-business partnerships with a broad range of gaming brands that include Betfair, Unibet, Gala Coral and Nordicbet.

Pegler is a MBA graduate with distinction from Warwick Business School.

We are delighted to welcome Andrew to our team, said Daniel Phillips, chief executive of Chartwell Games. He is a seasoned operator in our industry and his experience, knowledge and leadership will be a valuable asset to our company moving forward as we strengthen current business relationships and create new revenue opportunities in our core and emerging markets.

Pegler said that he was excited about joining Chartwell at a time when the company was rolling out some outstanding games and features.
“There is a real buzz within the company and the operators who previewed the new casino platform at the ICE show in January have provided ringing endorsements of Chartwell’s strategy and focus for 2010 and beyond, Pegler said.

The two had battled through a field that attracted the likes of Eric Liu, the CardRunners pro, Betfair’s Annette Obrestad, Texas Dolly Brunson, EPT champ Marc Goodwin and Liv Boeree to make it through to the heads up.

Turenic, who hails from Sweden, took home a second placing prize worth GBP 121 815.

Tarzan is a 20 line, five reel branded slot game licensed from Edgar Rice Burroughs Inc based on the adventures of Tarzan, the Lord of the Jungle. The game features fully animated artwork based on the original Joe Kubert illustrations, a story bonus round, a Tarzan wild scatter which sees Tarzan swing across the screen and turn random symbols wild and a stampede free-spin bonus.

Multi-Hand Blackjack Pro is an update to Party Casino.com’s blackjack product and features new customisation options. Players can choose between a classic table, a laid back beach bar and a futuristic metallic look. Table colour and card backs can be further customised. Multi-Hand Blackjack Pro also features a new Turbo mode where players can increase the speed of their play.

Party recently released two other brand themed slots in Resident Evil and The Naked Gun, along with High Noon and Bejeweled. The company now offers over 130 games, including 93 slots, and pays out over $10 million each day to players, a spokesman claimed.

Both Tarzan and Multi-Hand BlackJack Pro were developed in-house by Party Gaming’s specialist unit ‘The Games Studio.’

The European Sports Security Association (ESSA) came out strongly against the punishment - a suspended sentence allowing Renault to continue to compete to the end of the season - which it described as ‘lenient.’ The security association suggested the creation of an independent global body to tackle corruption in sports.

In elaborating on its position, ESSA said the measures taken against Renault reflected the dangers of self-regulating sports bodies, and emphasised an urgent need for a global body with similar independent powers to those wielded by the World Anti Doping Agency.

“It’s in the interest of all sports bodies to promote their own sports and engage in damage limitation when a scandal breaks,” observed ESSA secretary general Khalid Ali “This means that they often don’t apply the rules as rigorously as they could or should, or hand down the tough penalties that would act as effective deterrents. This latest episode is a prime example.”

Ali added: “It is unacceptable for sport federations to use the issue of sports integrity as a pretext to seek additional revenues from the gaming industry, when it is the members of sports federations themselves - whether players, coaches or officials - who are routinely found to be the origin of corruption in sports.”

And inevitably, industry observers are speculating whether the Senator was placed under pressure by fellow Democrats anxious to avoid yet more controversy around President Obama’s already contentious initiative on healthcare.

In a statement to The Hill, Wyden’s communications director said the Senator from Oregon did not want to introduce another controversial issue into the healthcare debate, and would pull his amendment from consideration.

Senator Wyden had offered the amendment to the healthcare bill the Senate Finance Committee began considering on Tuesday this week, suggesting that a tax on legalised online gambling could contribute toward health insurance subsidies.

“The last thing Senator Wyden wants to do is make it more difficult to expand subsidies for working families by introducing a new contentious issue to the debate,” said Jennifer Hoelzer, the Senator’s communications director. “So when he offers the amendment, he will do it with other funding mechanisms.”

The Hill reports that while senior Democrats in the House also have offered support for the concept of taxing Internet gambling to pay for healthcare, the issue is unlikely to move forward.

The healthcare debate is already heated, and Democratic leaders in the Senate have signaled they do not want to introduce another controversial issue to the mix.

Regan LaChapelle, a spokesman for Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid from Nevada told The Hill: “Changing the laws regarding online gaming is a significant detour from healthcare, a detour that Senator Reid agrees is not appropriate at this time.”

Internet gaming supporters in Congress, many of them Democrats, said they would consider similar measures. Representative Jim McDermott, who has already submitted a companion tax bill to complement online gambling legalisation proposals by the Democrat Barney Frank, said that he would consider such a tax.

Representative Frank himself said: “It’s a great idea. Why should we leave all that money untaxed?”

Frank, chairman of the House Financial Services Committee, added that once his panel is done with reforming regulations governing the financial-services sector, he wants to bring his online gambling bill before the panel.

The Hill speculates that McDermott and other House Democrats could move to add the Wyden provision in conference, as members work to find a compromise between Democrats who want to provide generous insurance subsidies and those who want to contain the healthcare bill’s costs.

Conservative Christian groups oppose the Wyden idea, saying that legalised online gambling will degrade family life.

Tom McClusky, vice president of Family Research Council Action said: “It is congressmen trying to take advantage of the situation,” adding that the tax on Internet gambling would be paid by gamblers who need help.

“The $1.28 million in gross terminal revenue ranked as the third highest opening day in the state, behind Sands Bethlehem’s $1.6 million on May 22 and The Meadows’ $1.48 million in April.

“Of the Rivers’ $1.28 million in revenue, 55 percent of that will go to the state in taxes. The crowds that jammed the North Shore venue Sunday wagered $14 million in all, with $12.6 million of that returned to players in winnings. The numbers represent the wagering and revenue from the time the casino opened at noon yesterday to 6 a.m. today.

“State Gaming Control Board spokesman Richard McGarvey said it is difficult to compare first-day numbers because Pennsylvania stand-alone and racetrack casinos have opened at different times on different days. Sands Bethelehem, for example, opened on a Friday, typically one of the busiest days of the week for a casino…”

Too many bettors got it wrong, however, as much of the wagering action was on Mir. The fight was one-sided in favor of Lesnar, who won by second-round technical knockout at Mandalay Bay Events Center.

Lesnar closed as a minus-220 favorite at MGM Mirage sports books.

“We need Lesnar to win the fight. There has been money on Mir,” Mirage sports book manager Jeff Stoneback said.

Lesnar pinned Mir to the mat early in the second round, unleashed a barrage of shots at Mir’s head, and the fight was stopped at the 1:48 mark. Mir was beat up and bloodied and unable to turn his rematch with Lesnar into a mirror image of their first bout in February 2008.

Mir won that meeting by kneebar submission in the first round. Lesnar called the result a fluke, and he delivered on his promise to pound Mir and exact revenge.

Lesnar walked into the octagon at about 275 pounds, giving him about a 30-pound advantage, and the difference showed.

The main event failed to live up to the hype, but wagering on UFC 100 met high expectations.

“It probably has been our biggest handle on the UFC,” Stoneback said. “I was surprised that we didn’t get as many large wagers as usual, but the number of bets have been significantly more than we usually take.”

Stoneback said action was heavy on all the underdogs.

Upsets are commonplace in the UFC, but favored fighters won nine of the night’s 11 fights.

Georges St. Pierre retained his welterweight title by winning a tough five-round decision against Thiago Alves. St. Pierre’s popularity made it surprising the betting action was mostly on the underdog. St. Pierre closed as a minus-220 favorite after the line soared as high as 330.

“We can’t get anybody to bet St. Pierre,” Stoneback said.

The star of the show was Dan Henderson, who threw a right-handed bomb that knocked out England’s Michael Bisping in the second round. Henderson closed as a minus-210 favorite, down from the opening number of 270.

The biggest upset of the night was staged by 44-year-old Mark Coleman. The betting public and MMA experts barely gave Coleman a chance, but he encountered few problems with the much younger Stephan Bonnar, a minus-350 favorite.

Coleman took Bonnar down in the first round, bloodied Bonnar’s face in the second and had the stamina to finish strong. All three judges scored the fight 29-28. Coleman cashed as a plus-275 underdog.

Tom Lawlor also won as an underdog, using a guillotine choke to beat CB Dollaway in the first round. Dollaway was a minus-250 favorite.

The bloodiest fight ended with underdog Mac Danzig on the losing end. Danzig and Jim Miller, a minus-190 favorite, hooked up in a lightweight brawl, and Miller opened a gash on Danzig’s head early and won by unanimous decision.

A fighter to watch is 21-year-old Jon “Bones” Jones, who defeated Jake O’Brien by submission in the second round. Jones, a rising star in the UFC, delivered as a 4-1 favorite.

Yoshihiro Akiyama, Jon Fitch, Shannon Gugerty and Dong Hyun Kim also won as favorites.

“The prestige of the bracelet is a little overwhelming,” Schulman said to the WSOP. “This is the term when it comes to winning in poker. They say these tournaments are not about the money, and I never used to think like that. But I know what they mean now. The bracelet is a little sweeter than the cash.”

The cash was nice, too. Schulman earned $279,742 when he eliminated Wahlbeck, who had won the $10,000 mixed-games world championship last week.

“There wasn’t a weak spot in the field,” Schulman said. “I feel really fortunate. I feel the cards came my way, and I was able to capitalize on that.

“He’s a great player,” Schulman said about Wahlbeck. “I am happy for him [doing well at this year's WSOP]. He deserves it. He’s a very tough player.”

This was Schulman’s sixth WSOP cashing and second final table. He started the final table in fourth place and was able to pull out the victory in six hours. In a great way to end the tournament, Schulman won holding the game’s best hand and called Wahlbeck’s all-in with a 2-3-4-5-7.

Below are the complete results of Event 23:

Event 23: No-limit 2-7 lowball world championship
Buy-in: $10,000
Entries: 96
Prize pool: $902,400
Players in the money: 14

1. Nick Schulman ($279,742)
2. Ville Wahlbeck ($172,864)
3. Steve Sung ($112,042)
4. John Juanda ($75,964)
5. Archie Karas ($53,783)
6. Vince Musso ($39,697)
7. David Benyamine ($30,492)
8. Michael Binger ($24,545)
9. Justin Smith ($19,871)
10. Roland de Wolfe ($19,871)
11. Herezel Zalewski ($19,870)
12. Max Pescatori ($17,885)
13. Daniel Harmetz ($17,885)
14. Jason Gray ($17,885)