Play has concluded for the night. Please join me tomorrow at noon (pacific time) for day four of the Five Diamond World Poker Classic main event. I'll have chip counts up on my blog either late late tonight or first thing tomorrow (around 11 am pacific).

The Grinder opens for 6k and two players call. The flop is 9 5 2 . Grinder bets about 12k and his opponent moves all in for around 100k total. The Grinder calls with A J and his opponent shows 9 9 . The turn and river are bricks and Grinder is down to around 300k.

Chip Reese just drew an eight, so every table will play eight more hands then we are done for the night.

In the final hand before the quick break, Violette got all in on a A T 9x flop. She held pocket aces and her opponent showed K 2 . No spade came and Violette doubled her stack. She now has around 75k.

The clock has just haulted. Someone is about to draw a card to see how many more hands we play tonight. Then we will break for the night. Tomorrow @ noon we begin 1,500-3k blinds with a 400 ante.

I have a thing for funny T-shirts. A band posted a bulletin on Myspace with some shirt designs, and one of them said "Haikus are easy - but sometimes they don't make sense - refrigerator." I bought it immediately. I would also buy this one off of Mike Matusow's back (and wash it) but I don't think it's for sale.

Clonie Gowen came into the day in the top three in chips. She's clawed her way to over 320k in chips, hanging among the leaders.

Scott Fischman has around 390k, and Toto Leonidas has about 65k.

The board shows 143 players remaining. Just 26 minutes until we break for the night.

I had someone email me wishing that I would get overnight chip counts up quicker. I'll do my best to get them up sooner, but it's entirely out of my hands. The Bellagio staff counts the bagged chips after everyone leaves, which generally takes an hour or more. After that one of the staffers here emails the media with the chip counts in a spreadsheet. That generally doesn't happen until at least 3 or 4 am, sometimes all the way until 8 or 9 am. Usually I'm asleep by then, so I have no control over that. Other poker media outlets who have chip counts up overnight don't have "official" counts, because those are just eyeball estimates. The real counts are the ones that come out in the early morning, done by the floor people.

Daniel Negreanu just more than doubled up. He held pocket aces, and Kevin O'Donnell, with A Q (no pair no draw) pushed on the flop after a series of raises. Negreanu made the easy call and the aces held. He's now sitting with over 150k. O'Donnell is down to 10k.

Joe Hachem has had a rocky day. He was hovering around 100k most of the day and recently took a dip to around 50k. He just opened for 5,500 and Kevin O'Donnell called on the button, as did Daniel Negreanu. The flop was J T 8 . Negreanu checked and Hachem pushed for around 50k. Both players folded and Joe showed A J .

The board shows 146 players. It is unlikely in the next 38 minutes that we'll lose 46 players, so tomorrow we'll crack the money.

Zach Stewart just made the call of the tournament. An asian gentlemen in the eight seat at his table had just lost a large pot. The very next hand he opened for 6k, and Stewart called 4k more from the large blind. The flop was Ax 9 5 . Stewart checked and called a 10k bet. The turn was the K , and both players checked. The river was the A . Stewart checked, and called a 30k bet. Stewart showed K 9 , and his opponent mucked. He's now back up to over 100k.

Erik Cajelais has around 240k now.

Jean-Robert Bellande gets moved to a new table and looks around. "Oh man, I get moved from the juiciest table ever to this one?" Devilfish & Violette are seated here along with a lot of large stacks.

The Grinder has looked exhausted & slightly pissed off all day. Everytime I walk by, he tells me his chips, and his tone sounds like someone ran over his dog. Clonie Gowen asks, "Oh you were at 450k and now you're only at 400k? You poor thing." Everyone has a laugh.

Michael "The Grinder" Mizrachi 405k
Amnon Filippi 40k
Isabelle Mercier 35k
Chris McCormack 270k
Ted Lawson 100k
Keith Lehr 390k
Devin Porter 360k
Cliff "JohnnyBax" Josephy 70k
Shane "Shaniac" Schleger 65k
Liz Lieu 60k
David Sklansky 85k
Mimi Tran 30k
Brent Sheirbon 275k

David "The Devilfish" Ulliott 95k
David Gray 105k ("A very sad 105k")
Scott Linden 196k ("A very happy 196k")
Dan Harrington 80k
Haralabos Voulgaris 190k

Joe Hachem 40k
Minh Ly 85k
Daniel Negreanu 75k
Jesse Jones 50k
Kevin O'Donnell 100k
Liz Lieu 70k
David Oppenheim 160k

The board shows 162 players.

Players have returned from break. This is the final 90-minute level of the night. The blinds are 1k-2k with a 300 ante.

The board shows 163 players. They are now on a 15-minute break. When they return, the blinds will be 1k-2k with a 300 ante. The avg stack right now is 107,300.

Daniel Negreanu 50k
Joe Hachem 55k
David Sklansky 100k
Can Kim Hua 90k
Jeff Shulman 110k
Justin Bonomo 175k
Chip Reese 80k
Devin Porter 330k
Amnon Filippi 20k
Chris McCormack 250k
Freddy Deeb 30k

Seat nine checks from the small blind to Zach Stewart, who raised preflop. The flop is T 9 9 rainbow. Stewart bets 6k, and seat nine calls. The turn is a queen. Both players check. The river is a deuce. Seat nine bets 6k, and Stewart reluctantly calls. Seat nine shows 3 3 for one pair, and Stewart shows 8 8 for a better pair. Stewart rakes the pot.

The board shows 167 players remaining. In 21 minutes, the tournament will go on a 15-minute break. Then there will be one 90-minute level remaining in the day.

Mike Matusow 220k
Elia Ahmadian 220k
Clonie Gowen 290k
Michael "The Grinder" Mizrachi 430k
David Benyamine 150k
Cliff "JohnnyBax" Josephy 115k
Shane "Shaniac" Schleger 60k

Liz Lieu moves all in under the gun for around 25,800. The button calls and shows 9 9 , racing against Liz's K Q . The board comes 3 3 J K A and Liz Lieu doubles up.

Chip Reese 40k
Justin Bonomo 160k
Can Kim Hua 70k
Jeff Shulman 120k
John Gale 100k

Chris McCormack has gone on a rush and is up to 105k. Ted Lawson is at around 100k. Isabelle Mercier has ground down to 20k in chips. Allen Kessler just won a decent pot and has a little under 70k.

Devin Porter just shoved with a nine-high flush draw against a set of jacks. "I thought he had ace king, I thought wrong," he said. Of course he spiked his flush, and has 330k in chips now.

CrazyMarco just put in his last 40k or so with A K against David Benyamine's K Q . The flop came K 9 x , leaving Benyamine drawing to a queen or diamond. No help came and CrazyMarco doubles up.

Haralabos Voulgaris was just all in for 80k in chips with Q Q against Zach Stewart's A K . The AK missed and Stewart is down to around 90k.

Mark Newhouse has been eliminated.

Shane "Shaniac" Schleger is up to around 90k.

Peter Gould 80k
Keith Lehr 320k
Joe Awada 70k
Lee Markholt 130k
Hans "Tuna" Lund 65k
David Levy 115k
Tom "SBRounder" West 30k
Chau Giang 70k
Tony Ma 115k
Bob Feduniak 30k

Peter Gould just doubled up. Dewey Tomko opened the pot for 3,300 (100 more than the minimum). The ten seat called on the button, and Gould called from the large blind. The flop was Q T 2 . Everyone checked, and then turn was the 8 . Gould bet 4,700 and the button called. The river was the 3 . Gould bet 8k, and his opponent moved in. "If you have a flush I'm broke," Gould said, and put his chips in. He showed 2 2 for a set of deuces. His opponent was bluffing with A J offsuit.

With the board showing K 4 5 5 6, Devilfish's lone opponent bets 30k on the river, enough to put him all in. Devilfish thinks for a bit, then folds K Q face up. He asks to see a bluff, and the table begins prodding the player to show his cards. He lifts them up, and the players on either side see them, so he shows A Q for a total bluff.

Michael "The Grinder" Mizrachi 400k
Scott Fischman 145k
Chau Giang 75k
Chris McCormack 45k
Isabelle Mercier 26k
Amnon Filippi 78k
Kristy Gazes 150k
Devin Porter 190k
Daniel Negreanu 60k
Minh Ly 110k
Joe Hachem 100k

Play has resumed. The blinds are 800-1,600 with a 200 ante. The board shows 197 players.

Zach Stewart wanted to let his mom know... he's up to 155k!

Raj Kattamuri is out.

Players are now on a 15-minute break.

We just cracked 200... the board shows 199 players. All of them are in the Fontana Lounge. In six minutes the blinds increase. There's two more levels tonight and then we break. We'll get very close to the money if not in it by the end of the night.

Dutch Boyd was just eliminated with A 8 against Zach Stewart's A T.

Haralabos Voulgaris 50k
Dan Harrington 120k
David Baker 70k
Erik Cajelais 147k
Raj Kattamuri 15k
Justin Bonomo 90k
Prahlad Friedman 40k

Can Kim Hua 32k
Johan Storakers 65k
Jeff Shulman 100k
John Gale 85k
Darrell "Gigabet" Dicken 40k
Chip Reese 20k
Shane "Shaniac" Schleger 90k
Cliff "JohnnyBax" Josephy 30k

The board shows 215 players remaining. There's a half-hour left at this level. The next level is 800-1,600 with a 200 ante.

Cindy Violette just doubled up with aces against ace king.

David "The Devilfish" Ulliott 130k
Michael Binger 180k
David Oppenheim 50k
Fabrice Soulier ("Am I the chip leader?" he asked as I walked by) 17k
Jean-Robert Bellande 70k
John Hoang 60k

Dutch's drama continues. He opens for 2,500 under the gun, and Zach Stewart reraises to 7,500. Dutch moves all in--but before the big blind has acted. Zach calls instantly and shows aces, but the big blind has still yet to act. Dutch's actions are not binding because they were out of turn, and he folds his hand (obviously). He is now serving a 20-minute penalty.