Here are the end of day 1 chip counts and day 2 seat assignments for the remaining 175 players:

	Esther Taylor - chip leader

Level 5 has ended and players are now bagging & tagging their chips. When the official counts are available, they will be posted here.

178 (or fewer) players remain and will return tomorrow at noon to continue play.

It appears that Esther Taylor is the chip leader with 139,475.

	Tiffany Michelle

Hoyt Corkins made it 2,500 from the button and Tiffany Michelle (bb) decided to defend her big blind. The flop came A 4 2 -- all diamonds. Tiffany check-called Hoyt's 1,200 bet. Turn was the 6. This time Hoyt bet 3,200 and Tiffany called. River was the Q and again it went check, bet 5,000, call. Hoyt showed AJ offsuit for top pair, but Tiffany showed A 2 for two pair to take the pot. She was up to ~53k after that hand.

Esther Taylor has vaulted into the chip lead with over 130,000 chips. Hevad Khan is over 120,000.

	John Racener

On a flop of Q J 7 John Racener moved in. Ted Lawson quickly called all-in, showing Q J for top two pair. John held Q 9 for only top pair and was drawing slim to runner-runner. The last two cards came 2 4 and those were not the runners John was looking for. He was left with less than 11k while Ted chipped up to ~47k.

Tom McCormick reported that thanks to timely pairs of Queens and Kings, (that held up) he's now sitting on about 56k.

Among the recent departures:  Men 'the Master' Nguyen, Layne Flack, Shane Schleger, Carter Gill, and Ted Forrest.

I finally have the payouts for you. There is a bit of a story here, so bear with me.

The total prize pool was $2,662,747. $25,500 is withheld from that amount to pay for the seat in the WPT Championship that goes to the winner. Based on the payout schedule, the first place prize money would be $975,781 (not counting the $25,500 seat).

The Beau Rivage wanted to have a $1 million first prize and based on the payout schedule, they needed 288 players to reach this number. Since they were five players shy of that mark they needed an extra $24,219 to make first place pay an even million. Rather than adjusting the payout schedule and taking that money from the lower places, the Beau Rivage is kicking in the $24,219 themselves even though there was no published guarantee! Needless to say, when this was announced earlier today, it was met with a hearty round of applause from the players.

Thus, the final 27 players will get paid as follows:

Level 5: Blinds 200/400 with 50 antes. Play has resumed. This will be the last level of the day.

About 204 players remain. Here are some rough chip counts for the leaders:

	Shannon Shorr - aced

End of level 4 and players are enjoying their last 15 minute break of the day.

Just before the break, Shannon Shorr raised then shoved after getting re-reraised.  Shannon held pocket Jacks and got the look-up from a player holding AQ.  The race ended abrubtly when an Ace flopped.  Shannon was unable to catch a third Jack and was jacked right out of this tournament.

	Mark Seif - sacked

Kristy Gazes took a hit earlier today when her pocket Aces got cracked by an opponent's runner-runner two pair (instead of the flush draw he was after). That loss set the tone for her whole day. Her last chips went in with pocket Queens, getting action from a player holding AK. Big Slick won the race and Kristy hit the rail.

Also headed for the departures lounge: Mark Seif and Scott Montgomery.

	Hoyt Corkins

TJ Cloutier has busted out and disappeared. We'll have to watch his blog to find out how it went down.

On a flop of 8 7 6 Hoyt Corkins moved all-in for 33,250 -- a significant overbet -- and got the call from seat 9. Hoyt held A T for the nut flush draw with gutshot. Seat 9 held K J for a worthless second-nut flush draw and two overs. The turn was the 3 completing the flush and seat 9 was drawing dead. Hoyt doubled up to ~70k.

	Curt Kohlberg

Here's one for the super-sick-beat list: Just before level three ended, Curt Kohlberg opened for 625 and got a couple of takers before Shaun Deeb popped it to 3,825. Curt then kicked it on up to 13,925 straight. The others dove for cover and Shaun moved in for a few thousand more. Curt made the call, showing 5 3 (I don't make this stuff up, folks). Shaun was way ahead with pocket 9s. The flop was K 6 4 giving Curt the open-ender, but leaving Shaun in the lead. Then the turn brought the K adding a flush draw to Curt's suckout options. River was the 2 completing the 6-high straight for Curt and completing the tournament for Shaun.

Level 4: Blinds 150/300 with 25 antes. Play has resumed. The board says 234 players remain.

	Hevad Khan waits while BJ McBrayer considers his flop bet

With the flop of A 3 2 Hevad Khan fired a bet and after a bit of thought, BJ McBrayer made the call. Turn was the 8 and Hevad fired 6,550, which was enough to put BJ all-in. After a few seconds, BJ tossed his last chips in, showing A J for top pair. Hevad rolled over pocket deuces for the set. BJ was drawing dead and headed for the door.

That's the end of level 3 and players have headed out for their third break of the day.

	Kevin 'BeLOWaBOVe' Saul - kut

Kevin Saul was the short-stack and got his last 2,600 chips all-in and called by Curt Kohlberg, then Gary Kainer moved in over the top for another 18,925. Curt tanked for a bit, then made the call showing A K. Gary's A Q was badly dominated and Kevin's K Q was in even worse shape. The flop came A T 5 which gave Kevin some hope with the flush draw, but the board ran out 6 7 shipping both the main and side pots to Curt. Kevin and Gary both hit the rail.

Jonathan 'Fiery Justice' Little, David 'the Dragon' Pham, and Erick Lindgren have also reported to the rail.

	Scott Montgomery

Scott Montgomery is the only member of the 'November Nine' playing in today's event. He's apparently stuck in reverse as he's down to ~11k in chips.

At the other end of the spectrum, Nick Schulman appears to be the chip leader with ~95k.

Level 2: Blinds 100/200 with 25 antes. Play has resumed.

259 players are still in the hunt and Jon Friedberg is not among them.  He was reportedly spotted borrowing a laptop to book a flight out of here. 

End of level 2 and players are enjoying fifteen minutes away from the felt.

	Barry Greenstein

Some big names who snuck into the field late: Steve Billirakis, John 'Tex' Barch, Glyn 'ratchet' Banks, and Gabe Costner.

The final player count is 283, creating a prize pool of $2,662,747. We should get the payouts soon.

Due to table breaks, Barry Greenstein has landed at table 58 with Devin Porter, Peter Feldman, Allen Kessler, Matt Stout, and David Singer. This table has now been promoted to my pick for 'table I would least like to be seated at'.

It looks like Keven 'stam dog' Stammen is the early chip leader with ~84k in chips.

	Brandon Cantu catches a Ten on the river

First big action I was able to catch today: On a flop of 8 6 3 with about 6k in the pot, Brandon Cantu (utg) moved all in for ~18k. Dan Mitnik (middle position) insta-called, showing pocket 8s for top set and the current nuts. Brandon held pocket Tens for the overpair and was drawing slim. The turn was the 5 which gave Brandon many more outs with a flush draw, as he held the T. Then the dealer burned and turned the river card, which was the T giving Brandon the better set and the double up. Dan was left short-stacked.

Level 2: Blinds 100/200. Play has resumed.

End of level 1 and players are pouring out of the tournament room and lighting up. The convention center lobby area is now a cloud of toxic second-hand smoke.  They've got 15 minutes to inhale all the carcinogens they can handle before returning to the felt.

	Jonathan 'FieryJustice' Little

More tough tables:
Table 49: Dan Heimiller, Bach 'B' Vu, Ryan Young, and Mark Seif.
Table 52: Shaun Deeb, Brandon Jarrett, and Hilbert Shirey.
Table 58: Devin Porter, Peter 'nordberg' Feldman, Allen Kessler, Matt 'Allinat420' Stout, and David Singer.
Table 57: Tony Cousineau, Doug Lee, Bryan Devonshire, and Vanessa Rousso.
Table 55: Michael Binger, Mike 'GoLeafsGoEh' Leah, Jordan Morgan, and Jena Delk.
Table 59: Brett Faustman, Matt Glantz, and Kristy Gazes.
Table 61: Rodeen Talebi, Hevad Khan, BJ McBrayer, Bill Gazes, and Bill Edler.
Table 67: Shane Schleger, Bernard Lee, and Jonathan Little.
Table 77: Men 'the Master' Nguyen, Jon Friedberg, and Wilbur Futhey.
Table 78: Tom McCormick, Clonie Gowen, and Soheil Shamseddin.

	TJ Cloutier

Things are slow in the early going, but we have already heard the cry of "seat open on table 52" so at least one player has already donated his 30,000 chips to the other players at his table.

There are some extremely tough tables scattered around the room:
Table 63 holds Hoyt Corkins, Brandon Cantu, Erick Lindgren, and Tiffany Michelle.
Table 64 features Poker Hall of Famer TJ Coutier, Matt Graham, Yosh Nakano, and Mike Gracz.
Table 65 contains Kevin Saul, Curt Kohlberg, Nick Ceci, Chad Brown, and Gary Kainer.
Table 68 - David 'the Dragon' Pham, Scott Montgomery, Adam Lippert, and Lee Markholt.

Table 80 gets my vote for 'table I would least like to be seated at'. This table is heavily loaded with Layne Flack, Jimmy Tran, Gavin Smith, John Spadavecchia, and Nick Schulman.

Level 1: Blinds 50/100. Cards are in the air. Players are starting with 30,000 chips and levels will last 90 minutes.

There was a bit of a delay due to the large number of late arrivals, but cards and chips are now flying here at the Beau Rivage. Estimates put the player count in the neighborhood of 280, but entries will be accepted through the end of level one.

Main Event action will get underway just after noon central time here at the Beau Rivage.

	Kaelaine in the 2006 WSOP Main Event

Kaelaine Minton Reporting

Contact Kaelaine