End-of-day chip counts were as follows:

A player was complaining loudly to the floorperson that he had been cheated out of a pot.  According to him, he tabled the winning hand and the dealer mucked his hand, awarding the pot to his opponent.  The dealer, the floorperson, and the other players seemed uninterested in his plight, so I'm uncertain whether he remembered his hand incorrectly or what.  Either way, when his table broker right after that, he went steaming to his new table and immediately told everyone there about how he was robbed horribly.

Fabrice Soulier was on the super short stack and looked super unhappy.  When I walked back there a few minutes later, his chair was unoccupied, so I hope he went to get a cocktail and de-stress.

Annie Duke sneezed at her table and explained, "I'm allergic to this room.  I get home and an hour later I'm fine.  I get here and an hour later I'm coughing and sneezing.  It was the same thing last year too."

Tim Phan put out a bet on the river with the final board reading K-4-8-Q-2 with no possible flush.  His opponent raised and Tim went into the tank.  Since he had far more chips than his opponent, Tim took the chance and called the raise.  "Oops," said his opponent.  "Oops is good!" said Phan, showing K-Q-J-2 for kings and queens.  His opponent mucked and repeated, "Oops."

Phil Hellmuth has just 12K left.  When I walked by, he was complaining to the floor that the dealer was overdue to be pushed (replaced by a new dealer).  The floor explained that it would be at the conclusion of the current hand.

67 players remain in this tournament.  36 will get paid.

Play will suspend for the night in about 15 minutes.  We will get chip counts posted as soon as they are available.

Players who have left the PLO tournament to seek out other more profitable endeavors: Mel Judah, Allen Cunningham, Chris Ferguson, Ted Forrest, and Bill Gazes. There are less then 100 players remaining and the players continue to bust out at a rapid pace.

Phil Hellmuth lost a $1,000 side bet when he folded to an opponent's pot sized raise on an ace high flop. The player to Hellmuth's right said "he had three aces" and Hellmuth said "no way, you want to bet?" The wager was made and the raiser (who must have wanted to see Hellmuth lose a grand) flipped over two aces. "I had an ace," Hellmuth said as he started to peel off $1,000 to pay off the wager. He might be the worst prop better in history.

A few chip counts:

Patrik Antonius 180K
Tim Phan 155K
Fabrice Soulier 125K
Scotty Nguyen 120K
John Duthie 110K
Kido Pham 95K
Todd Brunson 85K
Jordan Morgan 80K
Doyle Brunson 75K
Huck Seed 75K

Some craziness going on... gotta love PLO. First Todd Brunson won a huge pot against Fabrice Soulier when he flopped a set of tens and Fabrice decided to get frisky with a pair of aces and nothing else. No runner runner miracles and Brunson doubled up. Fabrice was still sitting in decent shape. Hoyt Corkins was eliminated when he got it all in with A443 with the ace suited in clubs on a 752 two club flop. His opponent had 77 for top set. The turn was a red king and the river a red 9 and Hoyt missed all of his many outs.

Eric Froehlich doubled up a player when he called a player's preflop all in reraise with KKQJ against the opponents AAJ9. The flop came J85 meaning Froehlich needed a queen or a king to take the lead. The 8 on the turn reduced his outs to one of two kings. It didn't come on the river and Froehlich took a big hit to his stack.

In what might have been one of the most roller coaster hands of the tournament, Robert Mizrachi, Sam Grizzle, and John Phan saw a K 6 4 flop. Mizrachi bet 6K and Grizzle called. Phan potted it, Mizrachi thought about it but decided not to tangle with Phan and folded, but Grizzle called. The 7 came on the turn and Grizzle stuck the rest of his chips in. Phan said "ok you got me" and called.

Grizzle had Q 7 7 5. He had flopped an open ended straight flush draw and turned a set. Phan had A K Q 6s and had flopped top two with the nut flush draw but was now behind. He still had outs to diamonds or a king. Phan pleaded with the dealer to give him a diamond and the dealer was gracious and did so. The 8 hit the river. "Yes," Phan said as he pumped his fist before realizing the card had given Grizzle the straight flush. Grizzle had Phan covered barely and Phan was left to go tell his friends about his misfortune.

Payouts for this event are as follows:

Players have returned from dinner. There are just over 140 players remaining.

On a hand right after the break Chau Giang and Joe Beevers got all their money in on a T853 three club board. Beevers had JT98 for top two and the straight draw but Chau had the nut flush. Omaha is a sick, sick game sometimes though and that was the case here when a ten hit the river. "Are you kidding me," Chau says looking at the board in disbelief. The dealer counts out Beevers chips and tells Chau how much he owes. Chau throws the chips into the middle, not happy, and starts muttering to Doyle who is sitting immediately to his left. Chau still has about 25K left while Beevers is nearing the 75K mark.

Andy Black was eliminated shortly before the dinner break and almost came to blows with Davood Mehrmand. Apparently the two had been exchanging words for sometime and when Black was knocked out Davood taunted Black. Black became irate and brought his arm back to hit Mehrmand but the floor intervened in time to prevent anything from happening. Davood joined Black on the rail soon after play resumed. Maybe they're meeting on the playground to settle this like real men? Whatever happened to Andy Black the calm and serene Buddhist? John Juanda has joined them... not in the playground... but on the rail.

Len Ashby is the current chip leader with approximately 140K. Patrick Antonius continues to sit atop the leaderboard. He currently has 135K. The only two other players above 100K are John Duthie and Chris Reslock.

Players are on dinner break until 9 p.m.

	Chris Reslock

On a 974 flop Chris Reslock led out for 7K into a 8K pot. His opponent, a young European, pushed the remainder of his chips in, 15K more on top of the 7K. Reslock thought for a while and somewhat reluctantly made the call (he still had at least 30-40K behind him) with AQQ9. His opponent turned over KK74 for bottom two pair and is a 7:3 favorite to take down the pot. The turn flips the odds though when another 9 hits the turn. To make matters worse a queen comes on the river giving Reslock queens full and he scoops the large pot. The European mutters "nice call" and Reslock offers his hand. The European refuses and walks away disgusted and visibly upset.

Eliminated since the last update: Dustin Woolf, Rolf Slotboom (again just proof how quick fortunes can turn in this game as these two had doubled up rather early in the event), Mike Wattel, Jeffrey Lisandro, Barry Greenstein, Devilfish (see Devilfish I told you not to worry), John Cernuto, and Humberto Brenes.

Three Europeans lead the way right now. Patrick Antonius has 140K, Fabrice Soulier 120K, and John Duthie 115K. Doyle Brunson is looking good with nearly 75K in chips.

314 players entered this event, exactly 100 more then last year. First place, however, will only take home 150K more then the winner did last year... something David "Devilfish" Ulliott did not seem to be too pleased about when he talked with the floor. Don't sweat it Devilfish, you're not going to win anyway. 36 spots will be paid with the bottom money spots receiving $22,137. First will receive $768,889. Complete payouts will be posted when they become available.

Players are dropping pretty quick now... it's amazing the swings you can encounter in this game. You can be sitting pretty one moment and out the next... I'd say the swings might be even more volatile then NLHE. Jim Bechtel, Mike Sexton, Phil Ivey, Jennifer Harman, Tony Cousineau, Phil Laak, Tex Barch, Paul Magriel, Kirk Morrison, and Gavin Smith have all been removed non-forcefully from the premises. Laak and Ivey were sitting on healthy stacks just an hour ago.

John Duthie, Patrik Antonius, and Terrence Chan are all over 100K. Others doing well at the moment with over 60K in chips include Chan Ping, Sam Grizzle, Annie Duke, Bruno Fitoussi, Chris Reslock, John Cernuto, Marco Traniello, and Davidson Matthew.

	Hmmm take the money and run or be nice?

Daniel Negreanu turned around as I walked by his table and looked as if he was bothered by my standing there so I apologized. "Oh no it's alright," he said. "I'm just looking for someone that isn't busy." Me being the nosy, curious (and nice) guy that I am I had to ask, "Do you need something?" "Yea," he answered. "I need someone to sign me up for the S.H.O.E." I'm so easy and Daniel is really trusting as he handed me $1,000 to go buy him in. If he knew that was about almost two weeks pay for me he might not have done that although I suppose I do have my name on my badge and he knows Mark and Tina well. Ah well, maybe he'll try to have me buy him in for the main event. I might run then. Just kidding. (I think). Daniel was eliminated shortly thereafter (he only had 5K or so when I went to buy him in).

	A picture of Phil Hellmuth... no really... I swear it is.

Guess who showed up. I don't even need to say his name. The funny thing was he shook everyone's hand at his table. At his table are Dewey Tomko and Phil Ivey. Both of them cracked up before The Ego explained that he likes to shake everyone's hand before he starts acting like a jerk. He said it not me.

There are some great tables in this event. Here are a couple for you: Table from hell #1: Allen Cunningham, David Williams, Toto Leonidas, Sam Grizzle, John Phan, Daniel Alaei. Table from hell #2: Chris Reslock, Tony Cousineau, Young Pham, Sammy Farha, Bruno Fitoussi, Phil Laak, and Tony G.. Table from hell #3: John Juanda, John D'Agostino, Thor Hanson, Alex Jacob, Scott Clements, and Mike Sexton.

	John Phan

Speaking of John Phan... he just doubled up when he got it all in against one opponent on a 7 6 2 flop. Phan had A 4 K 6 for the flush draw and gutshot straight draw. His opponent had Q Q 7 6. The 5 came on the turn and the river was a beautiful card for Phan... the 8.

Eliminated in the last hour and a half: Gus Hansen, Sherkhan Farnood, William Thorsson, Amnon Filippi, Erik Seidel, Allen Kessler, and Howard Lederer. Patrik Antonius is the first player to top the 100K mark. Sam Grizzle and John Duthie are over the 70K mark.

Negreanu finally showed up... no Hellmuth though. Negreanu is down to about 12K. Rolf Slotboom is off to an excellent start with nearly 40K in chips. Players who have been eliminated thus far include Men Nguyen, Josh Arieh, Marcel Luske, PLO specialist Robert Williamson III, Kevin O'Donnell, Bill Edler, and Vanessa Selbst. Some of the early chip leaders are Annie Duke with 67K, Johan Bergquist with 61K, Patrik Antonius with 53K, Phil Ivey with 42K, and Greg Raymer with 41K. Riding the short stack and in need of some help are Juha Helppi, John D'Agostino, Bill Edler, and Erik Seidel -- those four all have under 10K.

	Dustin Woolf

Dustin "Neverwin" Woolf is quietly having an excellent World Series. He has cashed in 4 events thus far including a 14th place finish in the $5,000 PLO with rebuys (a feat he accomplished without rebuying once). He made it deep in the 6 handed NLHE event the other day but was busted by Ram Vaswami when he called Ram's all in with QJ. Ram had 53o and hit a 5 to eliminated Dustin in 16th place. So it was perhaps a bit of irony when he found himself at Ram's table in this event and the two ended up tangling in a huge pot where all the money got in pre-flop. It was obvious they both had aces so it was a matter of what they were freerolling to. Vaswami had AA32 none suited while Woolf had AA54 with diamonds. The flop came Q T 8 and Woolf was freereolling to the diamond flush. The turn was a black 7 and now Woolf added a gutshot draw. He hit just that on the river when a 6 came to eliminate Vaswami. Poetic justice.

	Allen Cunningham and David Williams

As I figured a few latecomers have shown up although no Negreanu. He must have other commitments or is gonna pull a Hellmuth and show up at 2 (speaking of... Hellmuth is not here either). Allen Cunningham took his seat next to David Williams and immediately added the additional 10K to his stack. "Sweet, I only have to bust you once." said Williams. Cunningham just laughed.

	Lee Watkinson

Lee Watkinson won this event last year. It'd be impressive to do it again but given the size and quality of this field he is going to have his work cut out for him. Already a number of players have fallen by the wayside including Jeff Madsen, Brad Berman and his dad Lyle (awwww family suckage, how sweet), and the aforementioned Vaswami. Phil Laak won a monster pot with 2nd set against two double draws (straight and flush draws) all in on the turn. Amazing enough he faded all the draws on the river when a 2 hit and tripled up.

	Rolf Slotboom

Play has started for the day and there are a couple of things that stand out immediately. First the field is going to be bigger then last years... as I expected. They have at least 30 tables of 8 or more going, so I would guess at least 250 participants and probably closer to 300. I'm sure there will be stragglers coming in as well because I did not see a couple of players I would expect to be playing in this event (for example Negreanu). The second thing that is interesting is the fact that they don't start the players out with 20,000 in chips. They give them 10,000 and a red rebuy chip. The rebuy costs nothing and can be used at anytime and if you have not taken it by the end of level 3 you receive it automatically. Huh? That makes completely no sense.

It's a very international field... more so then any other event I've seen thus far. There is a very heavy European contingent here; which is to be expected considering this is a game that the Europeans hold near and dear to their heart. I know for instance that Rolf Slotboom, a pokerpages writer and www.pokerschoolonline.com contributor feels this is his best game. He of course is playing in the event and I expect him to do well. Hope I'm not jinxing him by saying that.

	The calm before the storm

Last, it's very quiet here at the Rio. Most days you can hardly navigate your way through the hallway or tournament area because there are so many players and spectators here. That is not the case today. The halls are empty and most of the tournament area is clear with a sea of empty tables. This will change soon when the $1,500 starts their second day but for now it's actually kind of nice.

	The Bermans

One interesting table has Bradley Berman in Seat 1 and his father, Lyle Berman, at the opposite end of the table. I interviewed Lyle a few years ago for pokerpages but I don't think he remembers me because when I said hello and mentioned that to him he just looked at me dumbfounded. Ah well I thought I was a memorable chap (damn the Europeans are already rubbing off on me).

	Greg Raymer, David Chiu, and Josh Arieh

Here is a partial list of who is playing: Robert Williamson III, Annie Duke, Erik Seidel, Scotty Nguyen, Huck Seed, Barry Greenstein, Men Nguyen, Humberto Brenes, Mark Vos, John D'Agostino, Bill Chen, Bill Edler (who won his first bracelet yesterday), Greg Raymer (who is sitting near his main event nemesis Josh Arieh), JC Tran, Marcel Luske, Gavin Smith, Doyle Brunson, Annie Duke, David "Devilfish" Ulliott, Phil Ivey, Erick Lindgren, Mike Sexton, Dewey Tomko, Phil Laak, Bill Gazes, David Grey, Ram Vaswani, Burt Boutin (winner of the $5,000 PLO rebuy event), Kristy Gazes, Bruno Fitoussi, Tony G., Ted Forrest, William Thorsson, and Vanessa Selbst.

If there is anything you would like to talk about or see covered, please send me an e-mail at ajhendrix@hotmail.com.

	Lee Watkinson, 2006 champion

With a $10,000 entry fee the biggest names in poker are sure to come out for the World Championship of Pot Limit Omaha event at the 2007 World Series of Poker. An event that usually has a heavy international flavor due to it's popularity overseas will be contested by the biggest names in big stakes poker. If it is anything like the $5,000 PLO rebuy event that took place earlier this year there will be laughing and joking at the beginning but before the day is over the players will realize there is a significant amount of money at stake... not to mention a World Series of Poker bracelet.

Last year there were 214 entrants in the event and Lee Watkinson came out on top and took home the $655,746 first place money. My guess is there will be even more participants this year. With 20,000 in chips there will be plenty of play for all involved which should make this one of the more skillful events we've seen at this years World Series.

Play starts at noon and pokerpages.com will be there to bring you all the exciting action.