It’s finally here! The 2009 World Series of Poker (WSOP) kicks off on Wednesday with the traditional $500 Casino Employees event. On Thursday, the action starts in the $40,000 buy-in No Limit Hold’em event commemorating the 40th running of the WSOP. PocketFivesLive.com, which provides WSOP coverage of online poker players, will return to the Rio for its fourth year. This time around, we’ve assembled a crack team of four reporters to flank Court Harrington, who has been across the world covering the largest tournaments. You will soon be able to register for coverage on PocketFivesLive.com to keep your friends and family back home posted on your progress.

Last year was a monumental one for PocketFivers in the WSOP. Grant drossxyu Hinkle (pictured at left) emerged victorious in the tournament series’ second event, a $1,500 buy-in No Limit Hold’em affair. He banked a cool $831,000 for his efforts, defeated James Akenhead heads-up, and navigated a final table that also included Chris Ferguson and Theo Tran. When Event #23 rolled around, the poker world did a double take, as Grant’s brother, Blair blur5f6 Hinkle, took down a $2,000 buy-in No Limit Hold’em tournament. The PocketFivers promptly became only the second set of brothers ever to win bracelets, joining J.C. and Puggy Pearson, and were the first siblings to win in the same year.

Other PocketFivers who captured bracelets included Michael worldsgrtest Banducci (pictured at right), who emerged victorious from the pack in a $1,000 rebuy No Limit Hold’em tournament. These will be a distant memory in 2009, as all rebuys have been scrapped from the WSOP schedule. PocketFiver Barry barryg1 Greenstein won Event #26, a $1,500 Razz tournament, and pocketed $157,000. Shortly thereafter, another PocketFiver stormed to victory. This time, Sebastian miamivice Ruthenberg stole the show in a $5,000 buy-in Seven Card Stud High-Low contest for $328,000. Davidi legrouzin Kitai became the first bracelet winner from Belgium in Event #38, a $2,000 buy-in Pot Limit Hold’em tournament. PocketFiver Alexandre allingomes Gomes won a $2,000 buy-in No Limit Hold’em event and Matt mattg1983 Graham defeated Bodog pro Jean-Robert Bellande in the finals of a grueling $1,500 buy-in Limit Hold’em Shootout.

Scott r_a_y Montgomery (pictured at left) and Darus BejoMas Suharto reached the delayed final table of the WSOP Main Event as part of the November Nine, finishing fifth and sixth, respectively, for a combined $5.5 million. All told, PocketFivers won eight of the 55 bracelets up for grabs in 2008 for a total of over $25 million. This year, 57 bracelets will be on the line and the $10,000 buy-in Main Event will once again play out in November after its final table is determined on July 15th.

Harrington and four top-tier tournament reporters will staff PocketFivesLive.com in Las Vegas. Two new reporters have undergone a lengthy interview process and are among the best that the industry has to offer. You’ll recognize the other two from last year. We’re very excited to have all of them on board and are looking forward to a highly successful WSOP campaign. We asked each of them to tell us their poker story.

Rachel Crader: The beginning of my poker story is a little embarrassing, but I suppose it’s also self-explanatory. Gus Hansen (pictured at right) brought me into poker and poker is now taking me to Gus Hansen. I was still in high school when I saw Gus run over the table during the first Poker Superstars series and later watched him win a couple of World Poker Tour titles during the first season. Blissfully unaware of the game’s complications and with my typically self-assured attitude, I decided that I would play like Gus and be good at poker. Simple. More than five years later, I’ve moved past my singular interest in “The Great Dane.” I’ve become exceedingly interested not only in the game of poker and its nuances, but also in the people who play it well. To me, the opportunity to report from the WSOP means a chance to watch these people up close. It also gives me a chance to put my journalism education to use in conveying something about the players that other people want to know — from their current chip counts to their last-longer bets to the crucial hands they played during the last level and beyond.

Rich Ryan: The first time I played cards, I was a sophomore in high school. There were four of us in my friend’s basement and we played Follow the Queen for dimes. At first, it was the gambling that attracted us, but we soon took the game more seriously. Our skills improved over time and we all began playing Hold’em online. To this day, we try to hold weekly games during the summer. It’s a great excuse to be together and also to gamble it up. This year, I will be missing a few of the games because I am traveling to the Mecca of cards, the WSOP. I always told them that I would go and, despite many doubts, I will be there. After countless hours browsing forums, watching shows, and listening to podcasts, I will dive head first into the poker world with the PocketFives.com team. I can’t wait.

Jessica Welman: I first got into poker after watching the 2004 WSOP. I goofed around in some small games during college and eventually started playing with play money online. I racked up several million in play chips and my mom insisted on taking me to a casino to test my poker prowess. Being an enormous nit, I promptly lost my $1-$2 buy-in and decided to play smaller stakes home games around town instead. I've gotten better since then, but I've also realized that I will never be a full-time grinder. I will always love the game of poker though, so when an opportunity to cover the 2008 WSOP for PocketFives.com presented itself, I jumped at it. Last year was the single most fun experience of my life, so I can't wait to come back again see some old friends, make some new ones, and watch excellent poker from the best online players in the world.

Brett Collson: I got started playing poker in 2004 and quickly became fascinated with No Limit Hold'em after watching ESPN's coverage of the WSOP. I picked up a poker magazine one day and found the PocketFives.com Online Poker Rankings, which resulted in countless hours of watching the world's top online players and picking up pointers along the way. You can now regularly find me playing low- and mid-stakes tournaments as "bertminatti" on PokerStars and Full Tilt Poker. I appreciate that the game is always evolving and look forward to seeing both the familiar and fresh faces at this year's WSOP.

PocketFivesLive.com coverage begins on Thursday, May 28th with Event #2. Visit PocketFivesLive.com today!