20 poker league winners took their seat in WSOP event #52, a $1,500 NL Holdem tournament at the Rio in Las Vegas.  The tourney sold out with 2700 players, with first place paying over $700,000!  What a great opportunity...

Fittingly, the FPN National Champ Clay Lipke went the deepest, but unfortunately busted outside of the top 270 players needed to cash.  Ironically Clay was sitting right next to fellow league player Tim Johnson and eventually busted Tim late in the day.  This was a good warm up tournament for Clay, who will also play in the WSOP main event Day 1a on Thursday, July 3rd.  For the rest of the players, I'm sure it was an experience they will never forget. 

Read more for the play-by-play live updates from Pete Bushey, Steve Pris and Jason Drake.

PRIMETIME FOOD & SPIRITS SCORES AGAIN!  Unbelievably, with more than 15,000 players nationwide competing, the final two players left standing in the national championship happened to be from the same bar, Clay Lipke and Ryan Aldrich.  The same bar that produced the Minnesota Poker League runner up in last year's WSOP League contest, Troy Mattson.  Primetime Food & Spirits from Breezy Point, MN has now produced 3 WSOP entrants, including the league's first true National Champion, Clay Lipke. 

Clay came out on top, earning the coveted $10,000 WSOP Main Event seat in ADDITION to the $1,500 buy in seat he already earned. 

Minnesotans dominated the final with the top 3 players.

Read more for the play-by-play live blog from The Orleans Casino.

The hopes and dreams of cashing in on the $1 million first place prize for the poker league crew vanished at the end of day one of the main event.  The scene at the Bay 101 is a great experience, and definitely the most fan-friendly stop on the World Poker Tour that we have seen.

Continue to the next page to read a play-by-play live blog by league organizer Pete Bushey from San Jose, CA.

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Poker league champions Vinson Anenson and Joyce Whitmore both made it through their respective Day 1's of the Main Event. 

Vinson was eliminated early on Day 2A with a very short stack while Joyce had a long run on Day 2B but ended up busting out short-stacked to poker pro Bill Edler with 1 hour to go before Day 3.  Congratulations from the entire league on having a great run at this year's Main Event!!