End of Day 1 chip counts:

Day 1 is finished, and only 189 players survived the slaughter. More than 2300 eliminations in 10 hours of play means they averaged one bust every 16 seconds. Wow!

The bubble burst about 15 minutes before the end of the night. Isaac Haxton was one card away from becoming the bubble boy. He was all in with pocket 9s against Q-Q. The board came 7 6 5 4, meaning he needed an 8 or a 9. The 9 spiked on the river, saving his tournament life and doubling him to 36k.

In an incredibly anti-climactic moment, the bubble was not burst with an actual hand. One player had to leave for an unknown emergency and had been getting blinded down until he only had 300 left. On the last round of hand-for-hand, the player was all in by default. According to tournament rules, since he wasn't in his seat, his hand was automatically mucked. And everyone let out cheers as they made the money.

Bryan Micon's table was already in a celebratory mood. He bought a round of Coronas and shots of Patron for his tablemates to pass the time during the pauses between hands. Why not celebrate a little early? "You have to try to jinx it as much as possible," said Micon. He introduced himself to another player during one of the breaks, explaining, "I was kind of a big deal two years ago for like 30 seconds."

Owen Crowe is the overnight chip leader with a whopping 175,000 in chips. James Mackowiak, Danny Wong, and Richard Deeb all have around 98,000. The last 189 will lose 180 more beginning Friday at 2:00 pm PDT.

Down to 220 with 22 eliminations to go before the money. Players a getting a bit antsy since there is less than hour left to play in Day 1. Former chip leader Craig Gray is certianly out of the money. Mr. Casino called a 5k bet on a J J 4 flop to see a K on the turn. Gray checked, and his opponent shoved, putting Gray all in if he called. Craig debated for awhile, telling his opponent, "I believe you, but I don't belive you. This sucks." Still pondering a few minutes later, he told the man, "Oh sir, you made a very good bet." Gray closed his eyes to block out the gathering crowd. He opened them, said "Oh this is gonna look so bad if I'm wrong," and made the call, tabling 6 4. His pair of fours and flush draw was up against pocket Aces, but no dice for Mr. Casino. A 9 on the river sent him to the rail just out of the money. He left without saying a word.

Rolf Slotboom also finished on the wrong side of the bubble. Alex Jacob bet 2,400 pre-flop, and Slotboom shipped in all of his 10,900. Jacob tabled A 9 to Slotboom's Q T. An Ace on the river sealed Slotboom's fate. Jacob lost most of his stack a few minutes later when his J-J lost a race with A-K.

Owen Crowe has jumped out to a huge chip lead with 130,000. Richard Deeb is second with 96,000.

The remaining 250 players have just returned from break. With 52 eliminations before the money and two hours left to play, the bubble should burst before the night is over. The TD just announced that hand-for-hand play will begin when there are 200 players remaining.

Matthew Bucaric is the current chip leader, with around 60,000. Craig Gray and Bryan Micon are close behind.

380 and counting. Matt "All In At 420" Stout was sharing a table with chip-heavy Craig "Mr. Casino" Gray until Stout took a tough beat that sent him to the rail. Despite the fact that it was more than five hours past 4:20, Stout moved all in on an A 8 3 4 A board. He turned over A-T for a set of Aces, but his opponent made the call with pocket 4s, giving him a full house and all of Stout's chips.

Joining him on the rail are David Singer, Erica Schoenberg, Bertrand Grospellier, and Ray Henson.

Shannon Shorr has managed to take over the chip lead with a 60k stack. Gray is second with 53,000. Luca Pagano jumped up the leader board after eliminating Steve Paul-Ambrose. The hapless Paul-Ambrose ran his Queens into Pagano's K-K.

Elsewhere in the Amazon room, two players got heated in a "debate" about the ownership of a 900 stack of chips sitting between them on the felt. The floor stepped in to calm things down and went to check the video feed to see which player really owned the chips.

The field is back from dinner and down to 410 players. That's more than 2000 casualties in 7 hours. Wow. Among the latest busts are Vivek Rajkumar, Jason Potter, and Marco Johnson. Potter lost most of his chips when his opponent was all in with A-J against his K-T. The flop came A J J, giving his opponent a somewhat ridiculous flopped full house.

Craig Gray is sharing his chip lead with Garrick Lau. Both have 50,000. Freddy Deeb has chipped up to around 40,000 after doubling up three times in quick succession. Nice rush! The average chip stack is just under 18,500 with blinds at 300-600 and an ante of 75.

This event has been quite a rollercoaster for a few big names. J.C. Tran was out to an early lead but lost most of his stack and was back to around 2,000. He shipped it on a K Q 9 board to find his Q-J in bad shape against his opponent's A-Q. The Q on the turn made it even worse, but a Ten on the river gave J.C. a straight for the double up. The poker gods must appreciate that the Yankees logo on his hat is finally right-side-up.

Thierry Van den Berg has also been up and down, and after his last hand, out. Van den Berg was among the chip leaders when he bet 5k on a Q T 5 4 board. His opponent moved in for another 15k, and Thierry made the call. Van den Berg's Q-4 looked good compared to his opponent's Q-J, but a T on the river paired the board. Queens with Jack-high was good for the pot, sending Van den Berg to the rail.

Svetlana Gromenkova has a reason to be glum today. The "Glum Girl"' was all in with Tens against 8s, but an 8 on the river gave her opponent a set and Gromenkova the afternoon off. Sarah Bilney also ran into some bad luck. She shipped it with A-K after an A K Q flop only to discover that her opponent had pocket Aces. Erick Lindgren, Tony Dunst, J.C. Alvarado, and Vanessa Rousso are also out.

The surviving 550 players are off to dinner soon and should return around 8:15 pm PDT. Craig "Mr. Casino" Gray is the dinner-time chip leader by a wide margin with around 48,000.

The 900 players still alive have just returned from break. Nam Le and Joe Tehan didn't make it that long. Neither did Fabrice Soulier who had some difficulty navigating around tablemate Rolf Slotboom.

Tony Cosineau shipped it in with A-K and wasn't too disappointed to lose to an opponent with pocket Queens. Cosineau moved right over to the $10,000 World Championship Omaha Hi-Low Split-8 or Better event that starts at 5:00.

Julie Le is currently leading the No-Limit field with 25,000. Craig Gray and Nancy Todd Tyner are also in contention for the top spot.

Slow down! Is there some happening I don't know about tonight? Everyone seems to want to be somewhere other than the Rio. More than 1,500 people have already busted, and they've been playing for less than four hours.

Kathy Liebert sacrificed her stack when she ran her 6-6 into Dave Becker's pocket Kings. A few hands later, it was Becker's turn to have 6-6. They worked out a little better for him, though. Nenad Medic was all in against Becker with A-J and flopped an Ace to move ahead. But a 6 on the turn gave Becker a set and all of Medic's chips to go with Liebert's.

Also lost in the slaughter: Johnny Chan, Shankar Pillai, Anna Wroblewski, Beth Shak, Jean-Robert Bellande, and Shane "Shaniac" Schleger.

They have just announced that 198 people will cash in Event #36. The 198th finisher will take home $3,006, and 1st prize is $610,304.

So despite my last two posts, John Phan and Humberto Brenes are already out. That's what happens in theses $1,500 races. The official number of entrants is 2,447, and they're already down to 1,460. Players are midway through Round 3, with blinds at 100-200 and no ante. The pace of eliminations should pick up even more when an ante of 25 kicks in for Round 4.

Also not making it to the next round: Justin Bonomo, Eric "Rizen" Lynch, Roland de Wolfe, Gavin Smith, and Kenna James.

Thierry van den Berg jumped out to an early lead with around 14,000 in chips. That's almost five times the starting stack in under three hours.

Break time, and the sea of players has surged into the hallways. It's hard to move. Can't wait for the Main Event. I might to bring my riot gear. Unfortunately for them, several pros were out too early to experience the crush. John Juanda, Michael Binger, and David Williams made early exits.

Michael "Grinder" Mizrachi was right behind them. He caught an amazing 3-2 in the BB and managed two pair when the board ran out J 4 2 3 Q. Too bad the SB had 4-3.

Jennifer Tilly's A-T couldn't improve against an A-Q, sending her to the rail. Mark Seif was all in on the turn going for an open-ended straight flush draw, but he didn't get his wish and was eliminated by a flopped set of Aces. I guess if you're going to go...

John Phan discovered that he still has a direct line to the poker gods. In his amazing bracelet win on Tuesday, he needed any Ace, but asked specifically for the A on the river, and that's what he got. Today, he dropped a big pot early and was about out when he shoved with 8 7 on a K 9 8 flop. Phan was called by two players with Kings. Now Phan only needed a to survive and had 9 to pick from, but he specifically asked for the 5. Any guesses as to the turn card? 5. Phan trippled up, but he's still way below average.

The Rio is jammed with No-Limiters today. Close to 2,500 people are trying their luck at the latest $1,500 Hold'em tournament. The crowd stretches to every possible playing space in the hotel, including the main tournament area, the restart room, the satellite room, and even the actual poker room about a mile away from the rest of the convention center. Among the masses are quite a few recognizable faces (pretty much everyone who came to play poker and isn't still in another event.) As tables break, and they're doing that faster than I can type, stay tuned for the poker pro scouting report.

Kevin "BeLOWaBOVe" Saul and Roy Winston won't be part of that report since they've already busted. Humberto Brenes has jumped out to an early lead with 4,700 in chips.