Bellagio billowing star dust for WPT final

Without a hint of exaggeration, the Fontana Room at the Bellagio in Las Vegas is, as we speak, the epicenter of the poker world. The list of big name poker pros squaring off at the World Poker Tour $25,000 Championship is, almost literally, a mile long, and they're just settling in for a multi-million dollar throwdown.

Yesterday's Day 1a guest list: Phil Ivey, Phil Hellmuth, Jamie Gold, Barry Greenstein, Dan Harrington, Jennifer Harman, T.J. Cloutier, David Williams, Kristy Gazes, Scott Fischman, Joe Sebok, Gavin Smith...

With that, at best, only a crib sheet.

Today's Day 1b murderer's row: Patrik Antonius, Daniel Negreanu, Clonie Gowen, Huck Seed, Erick Lindgren, Mike "The Mouth" Matusow, J.C. Tran, David Benyamine, Erica Schoenberg, Gus Hansen, Michael Mizrachi, Phil Laak and Jennifer Tilly, Doyle Brunson, Scotty Nguyen, Allen Cunningham...

Well, you get the idea. It's a heavy-hitter.

And rightly so: It's the World Poker Tour Season 5 finale. The prize pool is expected to be in the neighborhood of around $4 million.

And the setting is the opulent, iconic Bellagio casino in the heart of Las Vegas.

It's a can't miss event.

And Owen Laukkanen and Matt Showell, PokerListings.com's intrepid tournament reporters - a little bit opulent and a whole lot iconic in their own right - are smack dab in the middle of it.

Among their coverage highlights already: A side-bet between 2006 WSOP Main Event winner Jamie Gold and the Hellmuthian one, a shocking beat on poker icon Ted Forrest and a host of remarkably loose and crazy play for a deep stack tournament.

And your Day 1a chip leader: Rapidly rising 21-year-old unknown Anna Wroblewski- the recent winner of a $3,000 No-Limit Hold'em qualifying event who sat down yesterday at a table with Ivey, Jeff Madsen, and Padraig Parkinson and made no qualms about taking their money.

courtesy of Christopher Hunt

News Added: 22 April, 2007

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