Sunday is shaping up to be a lucrative day for PocketFivers in the 2009 World Series of Poker (WSOP). The final tables in both the $40,000 buy-in No Limit Hold’em event (#2) and the $1,500 buy-in Omaha High-Low Split Eight or Better tournament (Event #3) will play out. PocketFivers make up half pf the final table of Event #2, as Lex RaSZi Veldhuis leads the way holding the third largest chip stack overall, 3.8 million. Players at the nine-man final table have their sights set on the $1.9 million first place prize in the tournament, which will air as part of ESPN’s coverage of the 2009 WSOP. Elsewhere, 19 players remain in Event #3, with PocketFivers Senovio Dorsal Fin Ramirez and Jordan Octavian_C Rich still in contention. PocketFivesLive.com, which provides WSOP coverage of online poker players, is at the Rio following every turn of the card.

A total of 201 players entered the $40,000 buy-in No Limit Hold’em tournament commemorating the 40th running of the WSOP. In the end, nearly half of the final table consists of players from the online poker community. Lex RaSZi Veldhuis (pictured at left) trails only Isaac Haxton and WSOP bracelet holder Vitaly Lunkin heading into the featured table. Haxton leads with nearly six million chips, while Veldhuis will come armed with a stack of 3.8 million. Alec traheho Torelli holds the fifth largest stack at the final table, having imposed the title of “Final Table Bubble Boy” on poker pro Tony G. Torelli and Lunkin had Tony G’s all-in covered pre-flop and checked the action down to the river on a board of 10-9-7-5-6. In the end, Tony G flipped up A-7 for a pair of sevens, but fell short of Torelli’s J-10 for top pair.

Also reaching the $40,000 final table was Bodog pro Justin ZeeJustin Bonomo (pictured at right), who has been near the top of the chip counts ever since the tournament began on Thursday. Bonomo holds a stack of 1.7 million entering Sunday’s final table, having doubled up Keith Lehr with 10-2 versus Lehr’s K-J to drop back slightly. Also remaining in the running are Dani ansk451 Stern, who sits with 1.3 million, and Noah fouruhaters Schwartz, one of the short stacks at the table with just 600,000 chips. They’ll be joined by two of the game’s top brand name pros, 2004 WSOP Main Event Champion Greg Raymer and five-time bracelet winner Ted Forrest. The action gets underway at 2:00pm PT today and can be found on PocketFivesLive.com. In case you missed it, finishing in the money in the high-stakes tournament were Brian tsarrast Rast (14th place for $128,666), David Bakes Baker (15th place for $128,666), and Andrew good2cu Robl (23rd place for $71,858).

A field of 918 players formed the largest Omaha High-Low Split Eight or Better tournament in WSOP history. Now, Event #3 is down to its final 19 players. Still in contention are two PocketFivers, Senovio Dorsal Fin Ramirez (pictured at left) and Jordan Octavian_C Rich. The latter was the executioner of Al Barbieri, who busted in 27th place. On a board of 10-7-3-4-2 with three spades, Rich exposed 6-5-4-2 for the qualifying low, while Richard Toth turned over A-J-J-X with two spades for the nut flush and the high. Rich sits at 185,000 chips, good for 11th place, while Ramirez owns 270,000 chips, seventh on the leader board.

The top prize in Event #3 is a healthy $263,000. Each of the nine players who reach the final table will receive at least $23,000 and the contest plays down to a winner tonight. PocketFivers who have already claimed a piece of the $1.2 million prize pool include Celebrity Apprentice runner-up Annie Duke (30th place for $6,566), Brock t soprano Parker (39th place for $5,651), Andre aakkari Akkari (48th place for $4,924), Marion MYBLUEDOG Busch (69th place for $3,796), and Chris SKOAL Falconer (85th place for $2,781). Ed Smith, who holds a stack of 433,000, currently paces the field.

Finally, action got underway on Saturday in the $1,000 buy-in No Limit Hold’em Stimulus Special. The least expensive open tournament of the series sold out shortly before play began at a staggering 6,000 runners. Half of the field battled yesterday on Day 1A, with Jonathan driverseati Tamayo (pictured at right) claiming the second largest stack when play wrapped up after ten levels at 107,500 chips, one of just two players to break the 100,000 plateau. PocketFivesLive.com Tournament Reporter Jessica Welman, who has been closely following the largest non-Main Event field ever, commented, “Tamayo has experience plowing through large fields, so it wasn't shocking to see him end Day 1A with over 100,000 in chips. You may remember that last year Tamayo was the runner-up in the $1,500 Mixed event.”

Hot on his heels is Jonathan FatalError Aguiar (pictured at left), who ousted Steve gboro780 Gross, the number one player on the PocketFives.com Online Poker Rankings. In Gross’ final hand, which occurred near the end of play on Day 1A, Aguiar led out for 3,800 on a flop of 7-6-3 rainbow. Gross pushed the action to 8,500 and Aguiar promptly shoved. Gross called for his tournament life, revealing J-7 for top pair. Aguiar showed pocket nines, which held when the board ran out 2-10. On Aguiar, Welman commented, “He is a player who makes smart decisions, knows where he is at in hands, and picks good spots to apply aggression. He is a guy you'll rarely see go out really early in an event not because he is playing too tight, but because you don't see him put his chips at risk recklessly.” Aguiar holds the third largest stack after Day 1A at 93,500.

Also near the top of the leader board is Justin lockdownpokah Allen, who sits with the sixth largest stack, 78,500. Allen went on a heater to wrap up play on Saturday, cracking kings with A-K down the stretch. Welman noted, “Every time I saw him, his chip stack was a little bigger than the last time. He went on a real tear during the last two levels and found himself on the winning end of several huge pots to put him in the top ten in chip counts.” The Texan now gets a day off while Day 1B of the $1,000 Stimulus Special plays out in the Amazon Room and adjoining areas of the Rio.

Visit PocketFivesLive.com, your source for the best WSOP coverage of online poker players.