We're Not Quite in the Money

Eighty-one players just left the Amazon room for the evening, and nine will leave again tomorrow without picking up a check. Nicholas Levi and Amir Vahedi are extremely short stacked and will need to make a move quickly tomorrow if they want to finish in the money.

Mike Sowers, Craig Gray, and Justin Newton don't have to worry about the bubble. They burst their own bubbles shortly before the end of the night. Newton was all in pre-flop with Jacks against Ryan Young's K-T. Remarkably, Young flopped trip Tens to eliminate Newton and chip up to 145,000. Young is now second in chips behind Alex Zaslavsky, who has 173,000.

John "Razor" Phan is close behind after using his bullets to knock out an opponent with A-K. Alex Melnikow and Matt Vengrin are also near the top of the leader board.

The final 81 return tomorrow to play down to nine. With only a few eliminations left before the money, the atmosphere will be tense inside the Brasilia room at 2:00 pm PDT on Monday.

Slow Money, Mo' Problems

An hour left in play for the night, and we're still more than 30 out of the money. Play has come to a standstill as all of the short stacks want to hang on just a little longer. If they begin hand-for-hand play before the end of the tenth level, they will keep playing to under 73 people. But it looks like they might have to spend the night with the bubble intact.

Alex Zaslavsky isn't too worried about the money. The new chip leader has 166,000, around four times the average stack. David "the Dragon" Pham isn't worried either. He shoved on the turn with top pair against an opponent's nut straight to end his night early.

Break in the Action

With 54 busts to go before the money, the last 126 standing have just cleared out for their last break of the night to clear their heads and tighten their games. They'll come back to play on less cluttered tables as the green 25 chips are being raced now. 

Jon Little took his break a little early, hitting the rail after running his 5-5 into Steve Dwyer's Aces. CK Hua also had an unfortunate run in with Aces to end his night. David Levi couldn't hang on any longer, nor could Bertrand Grospellier or Frank Vizza.

Alex Melnikow is currently in the lead with 120,000, followed by Jimmy Fricke and Matt Vengrin. Kathy Liebert is on the rise with around 80,000. Five other women are still alive, including Beth Shak and Kristy Gazes. Beth currently has around twice as many chips as husband Dan.

Fricke Fricke Now

With 153 players remaining and three hours left, the hunt for the money is on. Jimmy Fricke is enjoying the chase, sitting on 112,000. Fricke took out two players in consecutive hands, first with J-J and then with A-K, to chip up to 80,000. He's been running hot since then.

David Levi is not having quite the same luck. He lost more than 27k and has been trying to work his way back. He was below 10,000 when he invested a chunk of his stack in a A J T 6 board. His opponent bet enough to put Levi all in, and he tanked for several minutes. Eventually, the player called the clock on David, who let it run out without once looking up from the table. He's now working with around 5k.

The list of recent busts is pretty long: Svetlana "Glum Girl" Gromenkova, Allen Kessler, Barry Johnston, Mike Sica, Greg Raymer, Minh Nguyen...

Tables are breaking pretty fast, and the field is moving to a smaller and smaller corner of the Blue section. With slow live action, less than 100 left in the PLO tournament, and only a three-handed final table and a heads-up final table playing in the Amazon room, this is the emptiest the floor has been since the first few days of the WSOP. A brief calm before the storm.

Dinner Time

Only 206 players woke up enough to make it through the first six rounds. Jimmy Tran, David "Devilfish" Ulliott, and Shannon Shorr won't be back after the dinner break.

John "Razor" Phan will be though. He accumulated so many chips that even after Ryan Young doubled through him, Phan is still the chip leader. The Razor is sitting on around 76,000 chips.

Ryan Young is in second with 53,000. On a J 7 7 flop, he bet out 5,000, and Phan pushed him all in. Young called with A-K, and Phan showed Q-J for top pair. The turn was a T, and then Young rivered an Ace to stay alive and double up.

Heading off to dinner, Mike Sowers is right behind Young with 52,000 in chips.

The action will begin again around 8:30 pm. Players will return to Level 7, with blings at 300-600 and an ante of 75. With four more hours of play and 134 eliminations to go before the money, it is possible that they'll burst the bubble tonight.

Tilly on Tilt

Jennifer Tilly was third in chips, but she gave up her entire stack in a few minutes. David Singer doubled through her twice. The second time, on a 9 7 5 flop, Tilly bet 5k, and Singer shoved for around 11,000. Jennifer made the call with A-5 for bottom pair, top kicker, and Singer showed pocket Jacks. The Jacks held up, and Tilly was down to 5,000. She put them all on the line after a 6 6 5 flop holding K-5. Cliff Pappas called with A-T and spiked a Ten on the river to bounce Tilly.

Scott Clements, Tom Schneider, and Hevad Khan have also hit the rail. Young Phan was busted when an opponent flopped a set of ducks to crack his 8s. John "the Razor" Phan, on the other hand, is on fire. He's currently the big stack in the room with 60,000.

Ladies Day (to be) Out

It was really not a good hour to be female in this tournament. Erica Schoenberg and Anna Wroblewski were eliminated. Clonie Gowen moved all in with A-K after pairing the Ace on the flop, but her opponent with A-Q turned a Queen to bust Gowen.

Joining them in the ladies room is Evelyn Ng. Ng got it all in pre-flop with K-Q against Zelong Dong's A-J. (It's taking all of my restraint to leave the puns alone here.) An Ace on the flop was enough to take out Ng.

The trend didn't spread to Jennifer Tilly, who is still dominating at her table. She took most of David Singer's chips with big slick on a Q 7 6 Q A board. Singer mucked and is left with 2,700 while Tilly has 27k. Beth Shak, Kristy Gazes, and Kathy Liebert are also still alive.

Amit Makhija, Justin Bonomo, and Huck Seed are out, along with T6ers Anthony Chatelaine and Mats Rahmn.

Busting Out to Take a Nap

I think some of these guys are donking off their chips because they're so zonked. It must have been some party last night. The official number of entries today is 716, not a large crowd on this sleepy Sunday. You can play Sunday tournaments online in your pajamas - a big selling point.

More than 200 people have already left and gone back to bed. Joe Sebok, Robert Mizrachi, and Jared Hamby are out. Michael Binger ran his pocket Jacks into David Pham's pocket 3s. Wait? What? Pham turned a 3 for the set and the elimination. Tom McEvoy and Chau Giang might not have been at a wild party last night, but they're out too.

Maybe the smell of money will be enough to wake up the field. The payout structure has just been announced, and 72 places will be paid. The minimum cash is $5,533, and the winner will take home $434,789.

At least we know Steve Sung is awake. The chip leader has around 28,000 in chips. Everyone started with 6k.

We hope PokerSchoolOnline member Jerry Garver got his coffee this morning. Jerry "xxPiratexx" Garver redeemed his sponsorship points to earn PSO's backing in today's tournament.  Good luck Jerry!

Not Ready to Move, Let Alone Rumble

The field is up to 715, and maybe five of them are awake. This is the groggiest group of poker players I've ever seen. They've just left for break, and the line for coffee is around 715 people long.

Scattered throughout the exhausted masses are some seriously stacked tables. Nam Le, Clonie Gowen, and Mike Sowers are all sharing the felt. Unlike the rest of his table, Sowers actually appears to be awake.  He busted one opponent in short order, insta-calling his shove with pocket Queens to beat Q-T on a J X 2 flop.

Jennifer Tilly, Anna Wroblewski, and David Singer are also at a terrifying table. Jennifer Tilly was busting people so fast that play had to stop while they waited for new players to join the table.

Kristy Gazes, Eric Cajelais, and Dario Minieri were also sharing a table until Gazes flopped a set of 6s to eliminate Minieri. Chad Brown, Roland de Wolfe, Lee Watkinson, and Kevin Saul join him on the rails.

Are You Ready to Rrrrumble?

Chips are in the air, 698 players are in their seats, and the day is off to a roaring start. Ok, so there aren't 698 players still in their seats.

Isaac Haxton got up pretty quickly, in fact. He shoved on an A T 7 flop. With K 4, he was looking for the nut flush, but it was not to be. His opponent held T 7 for two pair. A 7 filled his boat on the turn, and Ten on the river just made it a better one. Haxton hit the rail, and will have to wait for another event to make his mark on the Series.

Theo Tran is also gone already. After folding to an opponent's bluff and folding his bullets face up, Tran was a little miffed. He moved all in with pocket Queens and lost the race to A-K. Phil Laak is gone as well, discovering that his set of 3s couldn't beat a flush.

Also making early departures: Mike Matusow, Jeff Madsen, and Eugene Todd.