Local poker professional Nadim “Ned� Shabou has raised his rake from the 2008 World Series of Poker to $23,095 after finishing 39th in the $1,500 Limit Hold’Em event that concluded late Sunday night.

Shabou earned $4,324 for that finish, combining with the $18,771 he collected for getting 34th in the $1,500 No-Limit Hold’Em event May 31-June 2.

With two cashes in the first 12 completed events, Shabou is tied for eighth place in cashes, and has earned 10 points toward the 2008 WSOP Player of the Year standings.

The cash in the limit event made Shabou 2 for 3 in WSOP tourneys so far, having busted early from the $2,000 NL event earlier on the same day he entered the limit event.

When asked late last week, Shabou said he plans on playing a much more heavy schedule for the remainder of the 55-tournament series, especially now that his wife and daughter have returned to Tucson.

Shabou is also doing a blog for Nuts Poker, the European poker Web site that sponsors him. His blog can be found at http://www.nutshouse.com/problog.html.

In more general WSOP news, any talk of the poker boom being done has been totally shot out of the water by some numbers from the first 10 days of the 2008 series.

At least four records have been set so far, all related to field size or total amount of prize money in an event.

The first $1,500 NL event drew 3,929 people, 778 more than the previous high of 3,151 set last year.

The $1,500 Omaha Hi-Lo field of 833 was also a record, up from 690 in 2007. Same goes for the $2,500 Omaha/Stud Split field, which had 388 people this year after drawing 327 in its inaugural rendition in 2007.

In fact, the only game that appears to have any sort of waning interest is straightforward Limit Hold’Em. The $1,500 event drew 883 runners, down from 910 in 2007 and 1,069 in 2006. But we all know that’s not because of the economy, it’s because Limit Hold’Em is a crummy game.

That’s all for now, pokers lovers! – BJP