It’s not every day that the Average Joe can play a game of poker alongside “Seinfeld” actor Jason Alexander. However, for eight players on Day 3 of the World Series of Poker (WSOP) Main Event, battling against George Costanza will be a reality.
Alexander will be seated at Table B2 to open play on Friday for Day 3. Joining him will be poker pro Marc Karam, a member of Team Eurolinx who won a $500 buy-in HORSE tournament in 2007 during a WSOP Circuit stop at Harvey’s Tahoe. Karam has final tabled the World Poker Tour’s (WPT) North American Poker Championship twice, once during Season V and once during Season VII. All told, he has nearly $400,000 in lifetime WPT earnings and will duke it out against Alexander for poker immortality. “Seinfeld” ended its run in 1998 and Alexander has since become actively involved in poker.
Three members of the cast of NBC’s “I’m a Celebrity, Get Me Out of Here” entered the 2009 WSOP Main Event. In the end, only Lou Diamond Phillips remains to see Day 3. Phillips, who gained a considerable amount of fame after appearing in “La Bamba” and the “Young Guns” franchise, can be found at Table R132, Seat 4. Joining “LDP” will be Team Betfair pro Peter Jepsen, who sits with a stack of 119,500, well below Phillips’ tally of 192,300. Jepsen won the 2007 installment of the European Poker Tour’s (EPT) Warsaw stop. The other two cast members of “I’m a Celebrity, Get Me Out of Here” to enter the Main Event, Torrie Wilson and John Salley, were each eliminated on Day 1. Phillips won the second season of the hit NBC reality show.
L.A. Lakers Guard Jordan Farmar sits with a stack of 75,500 entering Day 3 on Friday. The Lakers won the NBA title this season after defeating the Orlando Magic in five games, giving Farmar a championship ring. Farmar averaged 6.4 points per game and 2.4 assists per game during the regular season in 65 appearances to go along with 39.1% field goal shooting. Farmar will be seated at Table R105 today and will be flanked by Allen Kessler. The runner-up in a $2,500 buy-in Omaha High-Low Eight or Better event to Todd Brunson in 2005, Kessler has well over $400,000 to his name from WSOP and Circuit events. He also owns two final table appearances in WPT tournaments, most notably a sixth place effort in the Season V Foxwoods Poker Classic for $136,000.
“The Simspons” Co-Creator Sam Simon, who briefly appeared on the most recent season of GSN’s “High Stakes Poker,” sits with one of the event’s short stacks at 47,500. Simon finished 20th in the $10,000 buy-in World Championship of Pot Limit Hold’em this year for $24,000. In 2007, ESPN cameras closely followed his deep run in the Main Event, which ended with Simon busting in 329th place. “The Simspons” has been on the air for 20 years and, in 2007, the franchise rolled out a feature-length movie.
Australian cricket star Shane Warne also remains in the hunt for the WSOP Main Event title. He owns a sizable stack of 173,700, but will have his hands full at a talented table that also features recent WPT Foxwoods Poker Classic winner Vadim Trincher. Another non-U.S. celebrity who will take to the felts on Friday is French actor and singer Patrick Bruel. He owns a stack of 64,500 and can be found at Table B16, Seat 8.
A total of 2,044 players remain in the 2009 WSOP Main Event. The world’s most prestigious poker tournament will play down to its final table on July 15th. Then, the action will be paused for four months, with the feature table resuming on November 7th. Stay tuned to Poker News Daily for the latest news, notes, and nuggets from the Rio.
