Hevad Khan

Play has concluded for the day and Day 3 is shaping up to be an exciting one for sure. Approximately 459 players made it through the day and they will join the 349 from yesterday as they play down to the money. Here are just a few of the names at or near the top of the Day 2B leaderboard and their unofficial chip counts:

Hevad "Rain" Khan 580K
Gus Hansen 530K
Brent Sheirbon 525K
Bill Edler 510K
Richard Weisman 510K
Markus Gonzales 500K
Sorel Mizzi 410K
Carl Olson 400K
Dario Minieri 370K
Fabrice Soulier 340K
Chad Brown 320K
Carlos Mortensen 260K
Chip Jett 260K
Ted Forrest 255K
Darrell Dicken 250K
Mickey "Mouse" Mills 250K
Rolf Slotboom 240K

	Hevad Khan

The chip leader is Hevad Khan, aka RainKhan. He is to put it mildly a bit on the whacky side. He made a big call against an opponent on an A-J-4 flop with A-9. His opponent had K-J and did not improve and Hevad started singing and dancing much to his eliminated foe's chagrin. "Show a little class," he said as he left. There are even more players still in the running including J.C. Tran, Harley Hall, Peter Feldman, John Murphy, Daniel Alaei, Thor Hansen, Lee Watkinson, Chris Ferguson, Robert Varkonyi, Nick Binger, Todd Brunson, and Humberto Brenes.

A few updates: Isaac Haxton 100K, PSO member nvflag 110K, and Rich Murnick 245K.

	Markus Gonzales

Maria Ho lost a big pot with set over set shortly before play ended and sent 125K in chips to her opponent. She was still around the 250K mark though so she's still in good shape. Two of the chip leaders Brent Sheirbon and Markus Gonzales were sitting right next to each other and Markus joked "We're going to start dating."

This concludes our coverage for the evening. Day 3 will start tomorrow at noon Pacific and pokerpages.com will be there from start to finish.

Here is a horrible way to make an exit from the Main Event. You nurse your short-stack skillfully all freakin' day and finally pick up aces, move in, and get called by a big stack who holds jacks. Then the flop comes J-4-4. Two more blanks and everyone at the table is telling you how great you played all day, sir, nice playing with you, good game, great meeting you, have a terrific evening, tough beat, sir.

Ugh.

	Maria Ho

"Guess the book was right. The fourth raise is aces."

"Everyone at this table knew you had aces except for him."

Chris Ferguson got moved over to a new table, right next to the Milwaukee's Best Light stage. The fans that were gathered there gave him a raucous welcome and began snapping photos right and left. His new table-mates were not as ecstatic, as summarized by one comment: "I demand a recount of those seat cards."

Ed Fernandez knocked out a player with aces against jacks, building his stack to about 245K.

In one of the biggest pots I've seen so far in this tournament, one player was all-in preflop and two other players did battle after the flop. With the final board of 5 Q 7 K 6 and a sidepot of about 180K, Hooman Nikzad moved all-in for his final 92K. His opponent went deep, deep into the tank and was going over the hand again and again out loud. "You hit a set?" he asked several times, but got no response. Finally, they had to call the clock on him. With just one second remaining out of that minute, he impetuously flung out a handful of orange 5K chips, indicating the call. Nikzad flipped over 7 7 and his opponent went berserk, tossing in his K Q. He cursed, left the table, threw something across the room, and just generally tortured himself. Only after a couple minutes did he calm down enough to return to the table and say "nice hand" to his opponent. Nikzad won the huge sidepot and the main pot against the all-in player, who held A T. With that, he has about 400K now.

Players are now on a fifteen-minute break.

	Rain Khan, Gus Hansen, and Sorel Mizzi

There are 549 players remaining.

I am amazed ESPN has not moved the action table to the feature table or the secondary feature table (which now stands empty). They might as well... they have two camera men and two boom mic men there the entire time. What is this action table? Well it started with Gus Hansen... that's a bit of action in and of itself. Add in a wild and crazy guy who goes by the name of Rain Khan and couple on the fact that the two of them both have over 400K in chips and you're going to have some fun. Then break a table and add Sorel Mizzi and his newly accumulated 400K in chips and you won't know what to do with yourself (well ok so maybe I'm stretching it just a little).

	Sorel Mizzi

Needless to say if you are sitting at that table and need to go to the bathroom... tough sh** (bad pun intended)... you aren't going anywhere because there is a line three deep standing behind you. One hand did go down while I was taking it all in. Gus limped in and Sorel joined him. It was Rain Khan's big blind. The flop came K 7 4s. Khan checked, Hansen bet 6K, and Mizzi made it 16 to go. Khan folded and Hansen thought about it for ten seconds before making a flippant toss of two 5K chips into the middle. The turn was the 4 and Hansen checked to Mizzi who bet 27,200. Hansen mulled this one over a bit longer but eventually made the call. On the 2 river both players checked, Hansen turned over K-J offsuit and Mizzi mucked.

A few updates: Isaac Haxton 95K, Nick Binger 200K, Michael Binger 35K, Rich Murniak 220K, nvflag 125K, Rolf Slotboom 280K. Brent Sheirbon is the new chip leader right now with 520K.

	Brent Sheirbon

Jon "PearlJammer" Turner picked up a nice pot when his pocket queens hit the Q-5-A flop squarely. He is now over 65K.

Five minutes into the new level, Mike Laing was not in his seat, again getting blinded off. A little later, I saw that he was there. I just can't see how players can miss this many hands in a big tournament without impairing their overall chances. I mean, how many double-ups do you get per day? One or two? And if one of those double-up hands would have occurred but you were off chatting on the phone or hitting the restroom?

Leif Force doubled up an opponent. All the chips went in on the J 9 T flop. Force had Q 9 for middle pair and the open-ender, and his opponent held A J for top pair, top kicker. The 6 4 turn-river were big disappointments for Leif, who is now down to about 65K.

Joseph "Ferrari" Hunter moved all-in with his short-stack and pocket fours. A big stack with some gumption called him with 6 7. The flop came ... cough ... 8-9-T. Ouch. Oh, but the turn was a four! Now Hunter had ten outs to win this thing and stay alive! But the king on the river was anticlimactic, and he was eliminated.

Jonathan Depa, my fellow Indiana University business school alumnus, moved all-in for 13.5K. "This is it, Michael!" he exclaimed. One gambler called him and turned over J 9. Depa showed A K and by the look on his face, I'd say that he would have been fine just taking it down there. But the board dropped A 7 7 6 6 and Depa doubled up to fight again.

Michael Binger raised to 5.5K and one of the blinds re-raised a huge amount, well enough to put Binger all-in. Michael took another look at his hole cards, gave it some brief consideration, and tossed them in. He is down to around 40K or so.

Well, I’ve had a chat with Gary Thompson, and I’m only still slightly on tilt about the ESPN crews. I’ll take up my issues with ESPN another day/time.

Jon “Pearljammer” Turner was just moved to the table with Carl Olsen and Thor Hansen. The three heavy-hitters now sit in a row. Intimidating.

Some more eliminations that have occurred this evening: Rene Angelil, Eric Hershler, and Paul Magriel.

Side note: My coworkers say, “Poker is fun."

	Amy "OilDoe" Calistri

Coming back from liquid din-din I ran into Amy Calistri talking with Danny "Buncher" Hall at the infamous "hooker bar." Danny is still hanging in there but is on the short stack with about 20K. I've known Amy for quite some time. We have both been long-time members of www.pokerschoolonline.com and run into each other whenever there is a PSO convention. She works for the enemy but that doesn't mean I still can't like her. :)

	Bill Edler and Jennifer Newell

In other news (well not really news), here is a picture of Jennifer with Bill Edler whom Jenn says is the nicest guy in poker. I'd be the nicest guy in poker too if girls just randomly came up to me and let me put their arms around them. Hmmmmppppffffff.

Sorel Mizzi took down a huge pot on a semi suck-out. Sorel raises under the gun and it was reraised by Todd Terry to 17K. Sorel called. The flop came A Q 6. Sorel led out for 20K and Terry popped it to 60K. Sorel had Terry slightly covered and moved all in and Terry insta-called with A Q.

Sorel couldn't have liked what he saw as he probably had thought any king or queen were outs of his since he had K Q but now he was drawing solely to the flush. The river was the J meaning Mizzi had one of 9 cards or he was going to be crippled. And just like online it comes! The 2 and Terry is done while Mizzi now has topped the 400K mark. Hard to believe he was walking away from the table on Day 1 thinking he was out only to hit runner runner flush. It's been all uphill since.

	Liquid dinners rule!

Play has resumed. Liquid dinner. Yummy.

Ted Forrest took a big hit when his T T got run down by A K, when the board came 4 Q K A 8. When they completed the count for the all-in player, it was 78K and Forrest cut that out of his stack and shipped it over.

I didn't see the hand, but J.C. Tran must have taken a hit too, as he is down to about 110K.

Rolf Slotboom managed to double up again. This time, his Q Q was just better than his opponent's J J. As soon as he saw those jacks, he jumped up and said, "No crazy stuff, dealer! No crazy stuff!" Out came the 4 7 5 flop. "Concentrate!" yelled Rolf. "Lots of queens!" Lots of queens!" The 5 turn and T river assured his double up. That mass of chips was impossible to count, but I am certain it is well over 200K.

The last time I glanced at the tournament board, it said that 657 players remain of the 1303 who started this session.

Players are on dinner break until 8:30pm.

	Andrew Barton and Amnon Filippi

They are 10 minutes away from dinner break.

Couple quick e-mail updates... I'm also going to have to cut back for at least today on doing these, I'll try and continue to do them tomorrow though. Sorry! Isaac Haxton 65K (he just sucked out on Nick Binger to get there), Joe Cutler 25K, Frank Szabo 19K, Andrew Barton 185K, nvflag from PSO 110K, Sorel Mizzi 240K, Rich Murnick 200K. I also saw two former PSO members Desmond Portano (aka JCastle) and Danny Hall (aka Buncher) playing. Des has 125K and Danny 55K.

	Danny "Buncher" Hall

Eliminated recently: Chris Moneymaker, Prahlad Friedman, Taylor Caby. and Steve Dannenman.

A few notable players and their chip counts: Bill Edler 350K, Gus Hansen 400K, Peter Feldman 275K, Darrell Dicken 250K, Chip Jett 250K, Ted Forrest 225K, Carlos Mortensen 225K, Carl Olson 210K, and J.C. Tran 200K.

On a 2 5 T flop, a player bet 12K and Andreas Krause raised to 35K, leaving 27K behind. The other player seemed highly doubtful of Krause's hand, but he folded and let him have it. After that hand, Andreas was up to 90K.

Between hands, Gus Hansen, who has an imposing heap of chips (250K+), is dictating into a recorder. Naturally, I have no blooming idea what he is saying, but it has me wondering. Is he going to send an audio message to someone? Is he recording his thoughts to post on a blog later? Is he under contract to write a Harlequin romance and the deadline is looming? Dammit, I'm curious.

Ciaran O'Leary, the a bracelet winner in this 2007 WSOP, moved his last 15K all-in with A 5 and got called by a player with Q Q. The board came aceless: 8 J 8 K K and O'Leary is out.

You may remember that on one of the Day 1 sessions, there was a guy reading a book between hands. Now there is a different guy doing a crossword puzzle. I'm going to go out on a limb and predict that from Day 4 on, we will have no readers or puzzle-solvers left in the field.

	Dario Minieri

An early position player moved all-in for 7K and stared down Todd Brunson, who was considering making the call. Normally, that would be a sign of weakness, but you just never can tell with some of these geniuses. Brunson, on the button, moved all-in over the top for about 55K and the blinds folded. Todd had A K but found himself up against A A. The aces held up and Brunson took a small hit.

Dario Minieri, the Italian online pro, started the day with a modest 36K. Now he has an immodest 180K and looks to be running things at his table.

729 players left.

Some good news for the PSO peeps following nvflag's progress. Moments ago he got all his chips in pre-flop. When the cards were turned over Steve was way ahead with pocket kings to his opponent's 6's. The kings held and Steve now has 100K. I tell ya... this man is a master with a short stack and a slow structure (I watched him in the Big One that he won and he was almost always short but when it ended he had all the chips).

E-mail requests: Isaac Haxton is almost out. He had 23K when I walked by his table last. Joe Cutler has 50K and Rich Murnick 260K. They are breaking tables pretty fast so if you requested me to check on a player whose table # is higher then 70 there is a good chance they won't be there.

With a raise to 4200 and two callers, Gus Hansen made it 22K more to go from the big blind. The initial raiser and caller folded but the small blind decided it was time to risk his tournament life. He obviously did not believe Gus because he pushed all in for another 35K+. Gus had them count down his stack and made the call. The small blind -- A-Q of spades. Gus -- Q-Q. No 3 outer or flush for the small blind and he was eliminated. I can understand the initial call, but I hate, hate, hate the all in reraise. Gotta fold A-Q there, suited or not. Gus was at 350K after the hand.

Todd Brunson just doubled up. I think he had K-Q, and his opponent had 10’s. However, as soon as I began to write watch the action and write things down, the ESPN crew physically pushed me out of the way so they could film the hand. When I said that I couldn’t see the action (which was the only phrase I could muster without cuss words), the guy “in charge” looked at my media badge and told me that ESPN has priority over everyone else.

I left the area on tilt, then walked back to see Brunson scooping the pot. The ESPN guy approached me again to recite the media rules to me about how ESPN rules the roost, and the rest of us can stand around picking our noses as long as we don’t get in their way. (That was a paraphrase.) I told him that the words “excuse me” go a long way, and he insisted he said that. Ummm, no. Anyway, I’m on super-uber-mega-seething-tilt right now.

I’ll try to regroup and calm myself, then see if I can get any tournament updates without infringing upon the rights of God ESPN.

	J.C. Tran

Sorry for the slow start. Took many photos and it takes a little time to edit and upload them all. Here are some chip counts I took about 30 minutes ago so it's possible they could have changed by now.

Michael Binger 60K
Chris Moneymaker 70K
J.C. Tran 250K
Bernard Lee 50K
Gavin Smith 105K
Ralph Perry 60K
Ted Forrest 220K
Carl Olson 250K
Humberto Brenes 50K
Rolf Slotboom 100K
Carlos Mortensen 175K

	Bill Edler

Bill Edler 240K
Nick Binger 100K
Isaac Haxton 80K
Amnon Filippi 60K
Gus Hansen 195K
Thor Hanson 160K
Chris Ferguson 165K
Chip Jett 290K
Lee Watkinson 140K
Mike Laing 150K
Fabrice Soulier 85K
Chad Brown 200K
Darrel Dicken 110K

	Rich Murnick

Rich Murnick recently took 2nd in a NLHE event and I've gotten to know him over the course of the last few weeks. He started today with 73,500 and was seated at the same table with Jon "PearlJammer" Turner and Daniel Alaei... both of whom had position on him. That didn't pahse Murnick one bit. He doubled through Alaei twice and took a big pot off of Turner and now has 300K.

On my way here xxPiratexx called me to tell me he was out, courtesy of jacks against A-Q. He was short at the time (only 5,500 in chips) but if he had won the hand he would have been at almost 20K. nvflag, however, is off to a good start. He came into action today with under 15K in chips but had 47K when I stopped by to see him. Go Steve!

	Richard Weisman

Richard Weisman is the early Day 2B chip leader. He called a raise in position pre-flop. The flop came 6 high. His opponent bet 6K, Weisman made it 15K, his opponent made it 40K, and Weisman pushed all in for a total of 200K. His opponent called... with pocket aces... and found he was way behind (DUH) when he saw that Weisman had 6's for a flopped set. "Keep it low," Weisman pleaded. "No ace! No ace!" The dealer obliged and Weisman ended the hand with almost 440K.

Here are some photos for everyone. If you would like me to check on a player I will do the best I can but I MUST have table and seat # (current, beginning of day does not help me much since many of the tables have broken)... e-mail me at ajhendrix@hotmail.com.

	Bernard Lee

	Carl Olson

	Chip Jett

	Gavin Smith

	Gus Hansen

	Isaac Haxton

	Carlos Mortensen and Michael Binger in a hand against one another

	Rolf Slotboom

	Sorel Mizzi

	Ted Forrest

	Thor Hanson

	Jeff Parker

Jeff "J.P." Parker got all-in with another player on a J-7-3 flop. Parker had J-5 for top pair, but his opponent had 7-3 for two pair. The turn was a brick but the five on the river gave Parker a higher two pair, eliminating the other player and pushing an enormous stack to Jeff. It took him a long time to stack and count his mountain of chips, which ended up being right about 400K. The tournament staff even came to remove two full racks of 100 chips from him and give him 20K in orange chips in exchange.

Fifteen minutes later, at that same table, Amnon Filippi checked a flop of 4 3 A and when his opponent bet 10K, Filippi moved all in for 60K total. Clearly, his opponent put Amnon on a bluff or semi-bluff, as he called him with T T. Filippi, though, had A 3 for two pair. With the Q 7 turn-river, Amnon doubled up to about 135K. That table just may be the table with the most chips in play. There are four stacks with at least 200K and most of the others have at least 100K.

When a late-position player pushed all-in for 17K holding K J, Chris Ferguson decided to take a shot at him with 7 7. But the other guy won the race when the board came 2 T J 4 A. Ferguson could afford taking the hit, as he still has 150K behind.

Michael Binger has been moved to Carlos Mortensen’s table.

Gavin Smith put his stack up against an opponent – Gavin had pocket A’s, and his opponent had K-J. The board was 9-J-2-8-4, and Gavin was quiet but clearly relieved as he counted up his chips.

Some of the most recent eliminations include James Van Patten (Vince’s brother), Jason Alexander (of Seinfeld fame), Steve Dannenman, Phil Gordon, Bill Gazes, Padraig Parkinson, Brad Daugherty, and Anahit Galajian.

Since I seem to be the most hip-hop knowledgeable here, I have to mention (if there are any hip-hop fans reading this at all…) that Bishop Don Juan was here a few minutes ago, sweating a player he calls “Ferrari.” I don’t know the player’s real name, but the Bishop said he had over 400k in chips. And for those who don’t know who the Bishop is, you’ll have to google him. He’s quite the character!

And we have broken the 1000-player mark and are somewhere in the 900's. We should lose players at a regular pace until about 6pm, when it will slow down before the dinner break.

My buddy Scott Ritchey played the short stack admirably today, but he finally succumbed when he check-raised all-in with J T on a Q 7 T flop. It probably would have worked if his opponent hadn't been sitting on K K. The 9 turn gave Scott a gaggle of outs: any eight or king for the straight, a ten for trips, or any heart for a flush. Unfortunately the 5 river ended his hopes. Have a safe trip back to Miami, Scott, and we'll see you next year!

Anytime you gather a thousand-odd people in a room, you're going to see and hear some funny stuff. This hour's example is the guy who is wearing a T-shirt that reads: I booty.

Walter Browne, who made two final tables in this 2007 Series, was eliminated when he called off all his chips with Q-9 on a board of 2 9 8 Q. His opponent had J-T for the straight.

Rolf Slotboom just made one of the biggest calls of his WSOP life. With the final board reading 2 8 A A K and about 40K in the pot, the player from the small blind moved all-in. Slotboom, who had 46K left, said, "Big bet, sir!" In obvious consternation, Rolf thought back through the hand, saying out loud, "Maybe I fell into my own trap." After several minutes, he announced that he was calling. The other player turned over K 8 for aces and kings and Slotboom let out a big sigh of relief, turning over A Q. "I didn't think you had it," remarked his opponent. Rolf, clearly emotional over his call and double up, exclaimed, "I fought very hard for it!"

Michael Lynn raised to 3.6K from the cutoff and found callers in Robert Varkonyi on the button and the player in the big blind. All three checked the T 4 6 flop. On the 2 turn, the big blind bet 6K and Lynn raised to 20K. Varkonyi cleared out but the big blind called. On the 8 river, the big blind checked, Lynn pushed out 20K, and the big blind, after some wavering, tossed in the 20K. Lynn showed Q 8 for the rivered pair of eights, and the big blind mucked in disgust. "Very nice," he said, shaking his head, "a value bluff." Lynn just smiled at his failed bluff and good fortune that he got called by a hand that could not beat second pair, decent kicker.

At the ESPN feature table, Susie Isaacs had been moved there recently to join Daniel Negreanu and the others. As I approached, I saw that the flop was A-5-2, Daniel was all-in with pocket 2’s for his 37,200, Susie was all-in with A-J, and another player had them covered with his A-K. The turn and river came 6-3 in that order. Susie Isaacs had been eliminated, and Daniel Negreanu nearly tripled up to around 100k.

David Plastik had a rough start to the day as he came in with 17,700. In a very early hand, he took his 8 9 into battle with another all-in player who had 10d10s. If I’m not mistaken, they got in after the flop (8 10 K ) when Plastik had bottom pair and a flush draw and his opponent was confident in his trip 10’s. The board completed with A 4 . Plastik was left with only 2,300, and he was eliminated a short time later.

Allen Cunningham seems to have been eliminated, as Melissa Hayden is seated with her remaining opponents and 28k in chips.

Sully Erna of Godsmack is still in the tournament and having fun, especially when the cameras are around. He just generally seems to have fun when he’s playing poker, which is refreshing to see.

And when the ESPN cameras get around to some of the other players, it just becomes a freak show. One woman doubled up when the cameras were on her, and she started screaming, “Thank you God! Yaaaaay!” And she followed it up with some jumping up and down, screeching, and all the while smiling at the camera. Not only was it annoying behavior, but it wasn’t even good acting.

And ESPN can never get enough of Humberto Brenes, who lights up like his shark when he gets attention. Oh yes, he has the shark on the table again today, and it is a show. The funny thing is that he’s so far away from the spectators that they can’t see it. And the media is so bored with the show that we tend to run away when it gets going.

(Do I sound cynical? It’s been a long series! Please forgive.)

The board shows that 1,080 players are remaining, which means about 250 have been eliminated in the first two hours of play.

Players are now on their first 20-minute break of the day.

John Phan moved all-in preflop for 10K and when no one called, he flipped over one card: 4. "Come on, we're gambling now!" He must have gambled one too many times, though, as he was gone when I next walked by.

Overheard at one table: "Sir, I need to tell you about a new rule. It says that for every five raises you make, you have to show your cards once. So that was the fifth time, now you have to show your cards to the table." The player to whom these words were directed just smiled and continued stacking.

Gary Styczynski, who came in to today's session with a very healthy 169K, is out already. I didn't catch all the action, but on a board of T 8 J 9, he moved all-in and got called. Gary showed 7 6 for the "ignorant" end of the straight, but his opponent tabled Q 8 for the higher end of the straight.

Anahit Galajian got all-in for her last 13K with A A and was up against J J. The board came 6 7 5 6 Q. When she saw that paint card hit on the river, Anahit flinched and she told the table, "That's what happened to me last tournament. I was all in with aces against jacks and a jack on the river knocked me out." She now has over 30K.

	Sally Stohler

Dario Minieri, the young Italian online professional, doubled up when his A K was all-in against 8 6 on a A 2 A board. No heart came for the flush draw and Dario is up around 90K now.

The field is noticeably larger than yesterday, but what strikes me is that there are fewer women today. I realize that they are generally 5% or less of any given tournament field, but today seems to be much lighter. I’ll be curious to know the final numbers of female participants this year.

Also, this is an open field with amateurs galore. Scanning the seating line-up and walking around the tables, there are few with even two recognizable pros, and the only one I saw with three pros included Lee Watkinson, Fabrice Soulier, and Rene Angelil.

	Allen Cunningham (l) and Melissa Hayden

Allen Cunningham and Melissa Hayden are sitting at the same table, with only one seat between them. They have long been a couple, and for them to draw the same table out of 1,303 players today is strange. They seem to be trying not to talk to each other at the table, but how awkward is that?

Michael “The Machine” Binger is playing today, trying to cash one more time in this WSOP and tie the all-time record for most cashes in a World Series. His brother is playing today, too.

I noticed a name on the line-up today – Jesse Newell from Falls View, VA. I rarely meet anyone with my last name, and though I don’t believe we’re related and I know no one in Virginia, I was curious to see him. He’s a young player, probably in his early 20’s, and just as I walked to the table, I saw that he had his short stack all-in with A-Q against an opponent’s pocket 5’s. The board came J-A-A-2-4, and Mr. Newell doubled up. Go, Newell! :)

Cards went into the air at 12:07pm with considerably less fanfare than the Day 1 sessions. No Jeffrey Pollack, no special guest introuductions, no celebrity or VIP telling them to shuffle up and deal. Just a few tournament announcements and reminders. As soon as play began, the room became eerily quiet. That lasted about two minutes, while the dealers completed the riffle and shuffle process and then got the players their first hands. Then the silence was interrupted with the "all-in and called" chirps, often followed with the "seat open table x" sounds.

Obviously, after reaching their initial goal of surviving Day 1, several players had determined that it was time to either double up or head home. Just one example of many: William Gaffney moved all-in with Q T for his 11K and got called by Billy Willis, who held K K . The board came T K J 2 5 and Gaffney is out.

	Vinnie Vinh - Eliminated

The ESPN main feature table has America's darling, Daniel Negreanu. The secondary feature table, mostly for the railbirds' benefit, has Steve Dannenmann at it.

Dave McCune, at table 224, seat 7, wanted me to let everyone know that he is still alive in the tournament, despite not being listed in the end-of-day chip counts for his Day 1 session.

I just had a wildly unusual experience. As I was winding my way between the tables during my normal pursuit of stories, I looked down to see an orange 5K tournament chip lying on the floor between two tables. I stood over it and caught the attention of one of the floor staff, who came over, picked it up, and declared it out of play. Several of the nearby players caught on as to what happened and a few of them claimed (jokingly) that they were just storing it there, could you please give it back to me now? I have found small denomination chips (25, 100) on the floor during other big tournaments, but never such a significant deonomination. The orange 5K chips are the biggest in play right now and a single one represents 1/10 of the average stack. Wow.

Play is getting ready to begin with 1,303 players trying to make it to Day 3.

Yesterday, 350 people made it through a grueling Day 2 to return tomorrow, and since today's starting field is larger than yesterday's, we anticipate approximately 450 being left when play ends tonight. Remember, payouts begin with the 621st place finisher, so tomorrow will be the day when the money bubble is broken, and the final table will seem ever closer.

Speaking of play ending tonight, they will stop at the exact same level and time as they did last night, so if the break times and color-ups remain the same as yesterday, the anticipated end-time tonight is midnight.

The tournament play drew to a close earlier than anticipated, with the mark of 350 players remaining being met much sooner than anyone could have guessed.

A full list of the remaining players from day 2A will be posted as soon as it becomes available.

Until then, here is a list of some of the notable and known ins and outs for 2A:

STILL IN
Robert Mizrachi
Tobey Maguire (yes, that Tobey Maguire)
Berry Johnston
Todd Phillips
Kenny Tran
Adam Weiss
Huck Seed
Tintin Olivier
Minh Ly
Cliff Josephy
Billy Baxter
Lamar Wilkinson
Julian Gardner
Lee Markholt

OUT
Jane Gold
Hoyt Corkins
Tony G
Doug Kim
Paul Wasicka
Alan Smurfit
Montel Williams
Barry Greenstein
Paul Clark
Tom Schneider
Sabyl Cohen
Mark Seif
Lou Krieger
Tom McEvoy
Joe Sebok
James Van Alstyne
Evelyn Ng

The second day two flight begins today at 12pm Noon (PDT). After play ends, we will have a clear chip leader for the entire event, prior to all remaining players contending in the same room at the same time on Thursday.

Live coverage begins today at 12pm Noon.