2,378 players returned to start Day 2B, but only 842 will continue on Day 3. 2007 main event champ Jerry Yang busted out today, so there will be no repeat. John Juanda, Howard Lederer, Bill Chen, Joe Hachem, and Barbara Enright are some of the bracelet holders who were sent home early today. Peter Biebel took the chip lead late in the day, finishing with about 530K, well behind Day 2A chip leader Brian Schaedlich's 801K. The 2B survivors will return Thursday at noon PDT joining the 2A players for Day 3.

Click here for the official chip counts and seat assignments for the start of Day 3 (combined from end of Days 2A and 2B).

Official chip counts and seat assignments at the end of Day 2B:

Mike ‘the Mouth’ Matusow raised to 3,800 and got called by the player in seat 7. They checked down the board of K 9 7 4 3 and Mike announced “one pair”, showing A4 suited for a pair of 4s. His opponent showed pocket 8s and took the pot.

Seat 6 raised to 3,400 and all folded to Nikolay Evdakov in the big blind. He counted out the additional 2,200 chips to call, then counted his remaining chips (just under 40k). The he sat there for a while. Another player eventually called the clock on him, which has happened quite a bit during the series. He waited until the countdown got to “two” and then mucked his hand.

‘Hollywood’ Dave Stann’s luck finally ran out. He got all-in pre-flop with pocket 9s and ran into Bertrand ‘ElkY’ Grospellier’s pocket Queens. No suckout for Dave and he was busted. ElkY, who was all-in earlier today, is now up to a healthy 170k.

Bryan Micon called all his chips off on a King-high flop with KJ. His opponent held KQ to out-kick him and kick him out of this tournament.

Tiffany Michelle was all-in with pocket Queens against A7. An Ace hit the flop, but there was a Queen with it and Tiffany doubled up to ~120k.

Alex Outhred called a re-raise from seat 4 and the flop came K T 8 rainbow. Seat 4 took his time, but eventually bet something in the neighborhood of 65k. Alex announced “all-in” and seat 4 insta-mucked. Alex continues to build his stack.

Level 10 came to a close and the ~842 survivors began the bag & tag process. They will return Thursday at noon to join the day 2A survivors for day 3. When the end of day chip counts are available, they will be posted here.

Alex Outhred’s late day surge boosted his stack up to 486,800, making him the end of day 2B chip leader -- he must be smarter than a 5th grader after all. The overall chip leader going to day 3 will be the day 2A chip leader Brian Schaedlich, who has 810k.

Seat 1 raised 2,200 and after about a minute, Liz Lieu made the call from the big blind. The flop came Q T T and Liz checked. Seat 1 bet 4,500 and Liz took another minute, then called. Turn was a 5. Liz quickly moved all-in for about 21k. Seat 1 folded and Liz plucked the pot.

Victor Ramdin (middle position) saw a flop with two other players: 9 8 4 rainbow. The big blind checked to Victor, who fired 6,500. The button folded, as did the big blind, and Victor picked up some additional chips. He’s sitting on about 300k now.

The short-stack in seat 9 got all his chips in the middle, only to run into Alex Outhred’s pocket Aces. The Aces held and another one bites the dust. Alex chipped up to about 360k and as he was stacking his chips, he said “with this kind of rush today, I have no chance tomorrow – I’ll probably be the 8^th one out.” Nothing like the power of positive thinking.

Hollywood Dave Stann limped, then called a raise from seat 4. On the flop of J 4 2, both checked. Turn was a 7 and Dave fired 5k. Seat 4 folded and Dave picked up an orphan pot. Coach Annie Duke would be proud. A bit later, Dave moved his short-stack in and Bertrand ‘ElkY’ Grospellier looked him up. Dave’s AJ was dominating ElkY’s KJ and it held up to chip him up to ~20k.

Will ‘Monkey’ Souther has landed at the table with Jennifer Harman, sitting on her left. The short-stacked player in seat 2 fiddled with his few chips, then just called the 1,200 big blind. When the action got to Will in the 5 seat, he said “I was going to raise, but now I’m confused, so I’ll just call”. The small blind called and the big blind checked his option. On the flop of Q Q 7, Seat 2 bet 2,300 (about a quarter of his remaining chips). Everyone folded and he picked up the pot. The other three started comparing notes. Will claimed he held AJ; the big blind claimed he had AK.

David Tran got his last chips in with pocket Tens and got called by a player holding AK. A King hit the board and David hit the road.

On a board of T 5 2, David Daneshgar shoved for 20k and got called. His pocket 9s couldn’t beat his opponent’s AT (top pair) and David will have to settle for the bracelet he won in event #52.

Cliff Joseph got all in pre-flop from the big blind and the small blind called all-in, showing pocket Kings, Cliff’s pocket 9s were in bad shape, until an 9 hit the flop, giving Johnnybax the set and the pot.

Raja Kattamuri is currently the chip leader with 410k. Peter Biebel is second with 380k.

Bertrand ‘ElkY’ Grospellier got his chips all in with pocket 7s and was looked up by a player holding AJ suited. ElkY stood up to sweat the board cards as they came K 4 3 3 Q. ElkY took his seat and stacked up his double-up to ~34k.

Todd Pierce called a short-stack’s all-in showing KQ off. The short-stack held pocket Tens and was ahead, until a Queen landed on the river, shipping the pot to Todd and sending yet another hopeful soul home.

Ray Henson opened for 2,800 from the middle and then lady in seat 7 re-raised. When it got back to Ray, he jacked it up another 25k, which had the lady covered. She thought about it for a while, then mucked. Ray showed her his pocket Aces.

A few hands later, Ray again opened for 2,800. Seat 6 called and the lady in seat 7 moved all-in for 20k. Ray and the other player folded and the lady showed her pocket Ladies, QQ.

Tiffany Michelle raised to 3,500 from up front and ElkY called from the middle. On the flop of 9 7 5, both checked. Turn was a 3. Tiffany bet 5k and ElkY folded. Tiffany was kind enough to show her pocket Aces.

Andrew Robl got his short-stack in with KT off and was racing against pocket 6s. The board brought no help for Andrew and he was busted.

Bernard Lee got his chips in with a baby flush, only to have his opponent show him a bigger flush. Bernard had one out to a straight-flush, but it failed to materialize and the Nicest Guy in Poker has left the building.

Fireworks over on Phil’s table: Seat 7 raised to 2,700 and Phil Hellmuth called, as did Tony Clark in seat 9. The flop came A T 9  and seat 7 fired 5,200. Phil again called and then Tony raised to 16k. Seat 7 folded quickly and Phil eyed Tony’s stack, then called and immediately checked. Turn was the 4 . Tony moved all-in. Phil asked for a count, (49,100) and starting chatting. “You know I limped in with the nuts, right? Buddy, what do you have? Did you flop a set? Ace-Queen you’re dead. I was trapping him” (pointing to the 7 seat).

As the crowd of onlookers continued to grow, Phil continued talking to Tony, who sat stoic and quiet: “You overplayed so many hands today…pocket 6s...”. Finally someone at the other end of the table called for the clock. Before the countdown got going very far, Phil made the call, showing the AK offsuit we were all expecting. Then Tony turned over pocket Tens for the set. The river was the 2  and Phil jumped up out of his chair and starting having a regular Phil Phit, ranting about his opponent’s overplaying hands throughout the day today. Tony chuckled and shook his head as he stacked Phil’s chips.

Phil then went on a tear, moving in over Matt Vengrin’s raise. Matt looked him up with AK and Phil’s AQ was behind, but the flop brought a Queen and the river brought another one and Phil doubled up. Then a few hands later, he played a pot with Ryan Hughes and on a final board of Q T 5 9 Q, Phil showed Q9 for the full house to pull another nice pot. His next hand he got called to the river and showed pocket Queens to pick up another pot. Phil is back to ~145k.

During the previous break, Chris Moneymaker’s table was demoted from the ESPN feature table and replaced by Gus Hansen’s table. The second feature table was loaded up with Phil Laak’s table. I guess they are going for crazy and crazier. (Phil Hellmuth must really be steamed that his table wasn’t selected. )

Brian Micon raised from the middle and after the button re-raised him, Brian moved all in. He jumped up out of his chair and seemed to be extremely happy with his situation. This may have affected his opponent’s decision, as he decided to release his hand. Brian slid his cards carefully to the dealer as he collected the pot.

Evelyn Ng led the betting the whole way as the board cards came A K 5 3 4. She got paid off on the end when she showed A4 for Aces-up to take the pot. Steve Billirakis chipped up to ~185k after getting called on the river with a board of Q J J J 5. Steve showed AJ for quads to take the pot.

Barbara Enright, the only woman in the Poker Hall of Fame, got her chips in good with pocket Queens, but found herself in the classic race situation against AK. Her opponent found a pair while Barbara’s hand did not improve and she was busted.

Sorel Mizzi got his chips in with AQ suited, only to run into Brett ‘gank’ Jungblut’s pocket Kings. The board blanked out and Sorrel hit the rail.

James Cain got his chips in behind with AK suited against pocket Kings. Then the board came A Q 9 7 A and James doubled up to stay alive.

David Sklansky seems to have been cursed with a table full of ‘youngsters’ over on Red-3, in addition to big stack Henning Granstad. David was schooling the player in seat 3 when he fired 3k on a flop of K 7 6 rainbow. After about a minute, he got the reluctant call. The turn was a 4 and David fired 5k. This time his opponent let it go and David picked up some much-needed chips.

Antonio ‘the Magician’ Esfandiari got his last chips in good with pocket Kings, but got looked up by a player holding pocket Queens. Normally that would be a good thing, but in this case the board came J 7 2 Q 7 and the WPT Poker-Made Millionaire was magically busted out of the tournament.

End of level 8 and players have been sent on a 90-minute dinner break. Play will resume at 8:41pm. That means our next update will be at 9pm.

A tough table draw may have done both Lee Childs and Isabelle Mercier in. Both found themselves on the same felt as both Nenad Medic and Lee Markholt.

Childs soon found himself short and looked down at A-J. That looked good enough to shove, until a caller showed him Q-Q. Childs couldn't improve and will not find himself at another Main Event final table this year.

Mercier got the rest of her chips in with J-J on a 6-5-6 board. She was quickly called by a player holding 6-5. Her overpair had been crushed by the miracle flop. Mercier couldn't find the two-outer on the remaining streets and her day is done.

Danny "The_D_RY" Ryan had a raise to 6K to deal with. Ryan decided to shove his last 20K from the BB. The female who put in the original raise would call. Ryan tabled J-J, but was drawing thin after his opponent showed K-K. The 6-5-7-Q-4 board iced it. "The_D_RY" is d_one.

Day 2B starting chip counts and seating information can be found here.

A little excitement on Phil Hellmuth’s table that doesn’t involve Phil Hellmuth: Jeffrey Colpitts got his last chips in with pocket 9s, only to have Jeremy Kottler show him pocket Aces. The Aces held up and Jeffrey was dispatched.

On the river with a final board of A Q 5 5 T, seat 2 and Jean-Robert Bellande checked it down. Seat 2 showed A9 suited for Aces-up and J-R mucked.

On the turn with a board of T 3 3 6, seat 6 fired 4k and David Oppenheim, currently enjoying a massage, tanked for a bit. He finally decided to release his hand.

David Gent put his last 1k chip in pre-flop. Kevin Asquith gave him some protection by raising to 3k. Everyone else folded, but it was to no avail. David’s unimproved King-high fell to Kevin’s unimproved Ace-high and Kevin hit the rail.

Over on Green-10, seat 5 raised, seat 8 called from the cutoff, and Matt Graham, winner of event #53, raised 7k on top. After the other two players released their hands, Matt said “I can say it this time, Good Laydown” as he showed his pocket Aces.

On Orange 43, Alexander Kostritsyn (button) raised 12k on a board of J 9 4 Q. Seat 2 tanked for quite a while before finally releasing his hand.

Bernard Lee raised and called the all-in of the player in the big blind. Bernard Lee’s pocket Tens were ahead of his opponent’s AK suited, but it was post-time at the races. The board came K T 7 9 7 and despite his opponent catching a bigger pair in the window, Bernard setted up, then boated up on the river to take the pot. He’s up to ~67k.

Carey Dukes, one of my poker buds from the Atlanta area, is doing well with about 78k in chips and sends a “Howdy” to all the folks back home.

Steven ‘nvflag’ D’Argenio and Jimmy ‘AirborneDaddy’ Burgess are both PokerSchoolOnline members who earned their seats in the main event playing on PokerSchoolOnline.com. They are both playing today and we wish them the best of luck. Jerry ‘xxPiratexx’ Garver is another PSO member who won his seat on a different site, but we wish him all the best of luck also!! Check out PokerSchoolOnline.com to see how you could be the next player to earn a seat!

In the ‘Strange but True’ category, Wim Broers started the day with 20,075 in chips, but as of the middle of level 7, has not shown up to play. More than half his chips are gone and he will be blinded off before much longer.

Sean Sheikhan flopped a full house with his pocket 8s to take a nice pot from Johnny Chan, who is down to ~57k. Sean chipped up to 115k.

Terry Lade is currently leading the field with 310k. Henning Granstad is second with 277k.

Goners: Jason Somerville, Strong Wang, (hold the jokes -- that’s really his name) Matt Hawrilenko and Josef Berec.

Level 7 came to a close at about 4:38pm and players were sent to enjoy 30 minutes away from the felt. This break is extra-long as they are coloring up the green 25 chips. Play will resume about 5:08pm.

At least he's not busto. The following players are:

Danny Wong
Ben Fineman
John Juanda
Beth Shak
Eric "Rizen" Lynch
Ryan Young
Alex Jacob
Clonie Gowen
Jerry Yang

Alex Jacob saw his A-K come up short in a race with J-J and couldn't recover. He would toss the rest of his chips in with 4-5, but couldn't top A-Q.

Clonie Gowen had a short stay at the feature table. She ran her pocket eights into tens and couldn't get there.

Jerry Yang is out, guaranteeing us a new champion. Yang had his tournament prayers resting on A-Q, in good shape against the A-9 of his opponent. Sadly, the 5-9-6 flop took the lead away from Yang. No miracles on the remaining streets and the 2007 champ is history.

We are minutes away from the firest break of the day. Play will resume at about 2:30.

The combined survivors of Days 1C and 1D will get back into action at noon Wednesday for Day 2B. 2,378 players will return, straining the capacity of the Rio's convention center. If Day 2A was any indication, that number will be nearly cut in half by dinnertime. Henning Granstad is the chip leader, but Victor Ramdin, David Singer, David Oppenheim, Brad Booth, and Evelyn Ng are also high on the leader board. Be sure to stay right here at PokerPages.com as we bring you all of the live wire-to-wire action from the 2008 WSOP Main Event!

To see official combined (Days 1C and 1D) chip counts and seat assignments to start Day 2B, click here.