Luongo staying alive at WSOP main event

Roberto Luongo has lived to sit and shuffle his chips another day at the main event of the World Series of Poker in Las Vegas.

From the Vancouver Sun:

Luongo finished his fifth level of play Tuesday night with 142,400 chips and was in 253rd place. Gaelle Baumann of France led with 505,800 chips. Luongo’s brother, Fabio, stood in 130th place with 186,000 chips. Players began the tournament with 30,000 chips.

Luongo will resume play Thursday when the huge field is condensed into one group. Up until now, the field has been split into three groups — A, B and C.

The main event runs until July 16, save for the final table which is played in October. The winner will take home $8,527,982.

As odd as it sounds, it’s worth wondering if the WSOP is holding up a Luongo trade. Considering how seriously he takes poker, it would be pretty unfair if the Canucks pulled the trigger on a deal while he was participating in the world’s most famous tournament.

Not to mention, press conferences always accompany major trades, and he’s not going to do one in Vegas.

On June 29, it was reported that the Florida Panthers were “internally getting ready for the return of Roberto Luongo.”