Our chip leader....with 386K....Cliff "Johnny Bax: Josephy

	Cliff "Johnny Bax" Josephy

We are down to less than half the field; 165 players.  The day is over and we are in the process of bagging the chips and checking them in for the night.  A chip count will be forthcoming.... I just cant promise when.

David Levi just flopped broadway .He raised all in  for 52K on the turn.  Cliff Josephy called. He held the A Q and the flop brought the T J K.  Cliff Josephy, who is on  a tear flopped two pair, holding the J T.  The river brought the J and took David Levi out.  That is just brutal.  Cliff now sits with 376K and Lord knows ya dont want to tangle with him tongiht!

	David Levi takes a killer beat!

Well, if ya gotta go...not that anyone wants to....but I just watched a played get his aces cracked by Scotty Nguyen and his J Q.  He made the King hight straight and eliminated this man...this very, very sad man.

Kenna James 50K
Erik Seidel 98K
Denis Ethier 35K
John Spadavecchia 62K
Richard Tatalavich 44K
Ted Forest 72K
Stephen Benton 40K
Carlos Mortensen 45K
Ylon Schwartz 55K
Gavin Smith 30K
Barry Greenstein 100K
Louise Francouer 90K
Scotty Nguyen 35K
Lisa Pickell 10K
Rich Murnick 60K
Mike Borovetz 38K
Matt Glantz 32K
Cliff Josephy 280K
David Levi 47K
Allen Kessler 43K
Joe Sebok 82K
John Juanda 32K
Bill Edler 60K
Don "Final Table" Mullis 60K
Steve Dannemann 26K
Freddy Deeb 65K
Tex Barch 40K
Mike Sica 45K
Kenny Schylar 90K

 OK...going in for a chip count...back in a few.

Cliff "Johnny Bax" Josephy has a commanding lead at over 200K

	Cliff "Johnny Bax" Josephy

Steven Jacobs and Josh Arieh leave the field.  Surinder Sunar is finished too.

	Steve Jacobs

	Surinder Sunar

Kenny Schuyler was down to 6K and is back to 71K.  I dont think he could be grinning any bigger.  The poker gods had a turn around and doubled him through several times and he is right back in the hunt.

	Kenn Schular

Scott Paston fans, he is sitting healthy with 78K and is happy as a pig in slop.

Players take the final break of the evening.  When they return, we will play for 75 more minutes at level 8. The ante will be 100 with 500 / 1000 blinds. 

Lots of people walking up to the table now with that "forlorned " look.   "fun while it lasted"...."well, I shoulda..woulda...coulda...."  "if only".....        But also, while I hear all the undertow and grumbling, I hear a lone voice occasionally stand and scream "YES YES YES"........ and clapping like a small boy at Christmas.

Getting close to 200 players.

David Pham is gone as well as Neal Gersony.

Alan Goehring and his KK stay tight against the AJ held by Neal Gersony.

	Neal Gersony

Steve Dannemann takes out Nick "da kid" Schulman.  Nick made  a move with A 6 and Steve woke up with big slick and danced the dance with Nick.  No help and we lose another champion.

	Nick Schulman

A few more

Steve Dannemann - 70K
Rich Murnick - 56K
Matt Glantz - 10K
Neal Gersony - 11K
Lisa Pickell - 16K
Louise Francouer - 71K
Allen Kessler - 44K
Don "Final Table" Mullis - 76K
Kenny Schuyler - 18K
John D'Agostino - 66K
Tex Barch - 37K
Mick Sica - 45K
Michael "The Grinder" Mizrachi - 45K
Freddy Deeb - 58K

I just walked up on a great hand.  UTG raised to 5,800.  Folded around to the cutoff, he raised to 25K and all in status.  Barry Greenstein, in the small blind answers with a 25K call.  UTG hates to do it, but he folds and later says he had jacks.  It is now heads up.  The cutoff said he knew he had UTG beaten but not Barry.  He turned over the T T  and Barry two red aces.  The board was a beaut for Barry as it came the 5 A 4 3 4 .  Barry takes his once ailing stack to close to 70K now.

A few more.

Bill Edler - 36K
John Juanda - 11K
David Pham - 16K
Cliff Josephy - 115K
David Levi - 25K
Joe Sebok - 60K
Barry Greenstein - 27K

I just snagged these chip counts

Erick Seidel - 102K
Denis Ethier - 35K
Stephen Benton - 63K
Carlos Mortensen - 15K
Ylon Schwartz - 40K
Gavin Smith - 34K
Steve Brecher - 25K
Allen Cunningham - 51K
Jean-Robert Bellande - 38K

Joe Sebok came and sat with me a while after dinner.  He is such a nice guy.  Always smiling and friendly.  He has a blog on www.pokerpages.com , check it out!  Incidently, he is doing quite well right now, sitting pretty at about 75K.

	Joe Sebok

Players take a dinner break. We will return to level 7. 100 antes with 400 / 800 blinds.

Hey Boomba...your Dad, Rich Murnick is doing super. He is up to about 70K and flyin' high!

	Rich Murnick

Bill Gazes goes home as does Chad Moore.

Billy Boy Gazes moved all in with the best of it, a fat pair of kings and ran up against a smaller pair, the nines. With only two nines left in the deck, the opponent found one on the turn and took Bill out.

Chad Moore tried to make a move with a 7 8 suited and was called by an A T held by Dan Alspach. An ace found its way to the board and no help ever came for Chad.

Phil Ivey takes the hike home. With a flop showing a ten high, Jimmy Cowin makes an all in move and Phil Ivey calls with top pair. Jimmy had him out pipped with a pair of hooks and they stay golden.

	Phil Ivey

Erik Seidel can breathe easier now as he just eliminated a player and buffed up his stack.

Say goodbye to Chip Jett and Michael Gracz

Looks like we have lost Daniel Negreanu. He said he is just frankly tired out. Congrats on your big win in Tunica Daniel. See ya at the next one!

	Daniel Negreanu

We take a break and move to level 6. (I have no trouble keeping up with the level number now. We now have a 75 ante with 300 / 600 blinds. Less than 275 left. Average stack is about 34K.

OK. Close your eyes and imagine this. The room is full of poker players, dealers, media, etc. etc. etc. The chips are riffling, the drone is a low mumbling with an occasional 'FLOOR!!' We take a break and it starts to look like an ant farm from here. But, the fun part is that when the next level is due to start, all these burly guys get to have the beautiful young ladies shown above "prance" through their tables with big ole placards announcing the level number. Now......during this time, the room is the quietest it gets in here. Any thoughts on why?

A double through for Erik Seidel as he beats Jean-Robert Bellande with his mighty 9 6 over Jean-Robert's J 3 . The flop brought the 9 6 J . Erik made a huge move and took it all to the middle. Jean-Robert called. With the 7 K following, Erik and his two pair hold up.

We are under 300 players.

News flash.....Michael "The Grinder" Mizrachi has topped the 100K mark.

Wth the board showing the 9 5 4 ,Louise Francouer bet 3K and got a call. The turn came the 3 . Her opponent checked and she bet 6K leaving her only 12K. Her opponent thought for a bit and moved all in. She gave him quite the stare down and then decided to call. She turned over the K K and her opponent the 7 9. Louise sighed a huge sigh of relief and took down a very nice sized pot.

	Louise Fracnouer

The next hand Gavin raised to 1300 and was reraised by the next player to act to 2600. Ylon Schwartz called the 2600 and Gavin gave the extra 1300 as well. The flop came the 4 3 9 . Gavin checked, a bet of 6500 was made, Ylon folded and Gavin called. On the turn, the 8 came and Gavin checked again. Heads up the opponent bet 11K and Gavin gave it up.

I watched Gavin Smith get involved in two hands. One great taking him to about 85K in chippage. Gavin gave it a raise preflop and was called. The flop came the J Q K . Gavin made a big bet and his opponent called him again. The turn brought the 8 . Once again, Gavin bet and the opponent pushed his stack to the center. Gavin called. Gavin had the A T and the opponent, who had a pair with, the K J was in the lead. The river came the 6 to flush up Gavin and take his opponent out of contention.

Manny Minaya and John Gale head home.

After the right cross Gavin gave Antonio Tarver in an earlier hand, he came back with a kiling undercut that took Antonio to the showers. Antonio made it the whole ball of wax with the board showing the 8 J 7 8 6 . Gavin called right behind him. Gavin turned over the cards from hell, the AK of spades for the nut flush. Antonio mucked and was finished for today.

David Singer just dropped by to say he was out. David made the raise and his opponent came over the top. At that point, David pushed all in for a total of about 8K and was called. David had pocket sixes and his opponent the K J. With a K on the the flop and a J on the river, David's sixes looked pretty sad.

We're back. Looks like Freddy Deeb is leading the pack with about 90K. Gavin dumped a bunch of chips to Allen Cunningham when his straight got walloped by Allen's full boat.

Back in 15 and we move to level 5. 50 ante and 200 / 400 blinds

Down to 316 according to the timekeeper software. We have a break in 5 min. Thank you to everyone for emailing me regarding the time and date issue. I just didnt think to look at it. It is 5:04pm here in New Jersey. I hope it is now saying that.

In a tough hand against Gavin Smith, boxing pro Antonio Tarver loses a bunch. Gaving took down over 50K leaving Antonio looking a only a few chips at about 6K. Gavin is happy as he now is up to over 70K.

Layne Flack got here late, warmed his seat, made his hellos and then just as quickly made his exit.

Eric Haber is no longer in the building.

James Van Alstyne is finshed.

Arnold Spee has had no luck at the Borgata this week. Just on a bad run and he is done for the day.

Sorry, I have a new computer and didnt realize the time and date were incorrect. Thank you Marcia for the heads up on that.

Down to about 345 players now.

Players take a break and we return to level 4. It will add an ante of 25 to the 100 / 200 blinds.

Looks like Joe Sebok finally made a hand work for him. His 8 3 (perhaps he was going for a double down?) found three of a kind and he scooped a pretty one.

My good friend Don Mullis is doing well and has his count up to 60K.

	Don "Final Table" Mullis

John Phan could never recover from the big hit he took at the beginning of the event and leaves early today. Sitting at a little under 5K, John was happy with his A Q with the flop brought the Q J 5. In an all in move, he got a caller who held the K J and when the river brought the 3rd out, John stood and left.

James Salters and Victor Ramdin are finished.

Both big winners are here straight from Tunica Mississippi. Scotty Nguyen took the World Poker Open WPT event at the Goldstrike for about $969K along with a $25K seat to the WPT Main event. Daniel Negreanu comes from Tunica too after a nice win at the WSOP Circuit for right at $755K.

Down to under 360 players

Total Prize Pool - $3,695,700

Official Payout Schedule

1 $1,173,373
2 $591,312
3 $282,721
4 $184,785
5 $147,828
6 $110,871
7 $73.914
8 $55,436
9 $46,196
10-12 $27,718
13-15 $22,174
16-21 $18,479
22-30 $16,631
31-50 $14,738
51-75 $12,935

Players take a 15 minute break and we move to level 3 for 100 / 200 blinds.

Suckout abound today. Rober Varkonyi gets his flush on the river to double up against Billy Boy Gazes who flopped a set. Sam VonDuhn gets his set snapped off with a gutshot straight fill on the end.

Arthur Azen picked up a brand new Cadillac Escalade in the drawing but lost his bid at placing in the main event today. He has been elliminated. We lose Frank Kessela early in the game as well.

Ah ha....we are now at an official 381 players. There is a list out so let me see who I missed.

Stephen Benton
Steve Brecher
Manny Minaya
Feming Chan
Matt Hilger"
Olga Varkonyi
Daniel Shift
Paul Snead
Eric Haber
Alex Jacob
Neal Gersony
Nam Le
Lisa Pickell
Ylon Schwartz
Eric Froehlich
Chris Reslock
Chad Moore
Doug Carli
James Van Alstyne
Robert Varkonyi
Tony Cousineau
Action Bog Hwang
James Salters
Frank Vizza
Chad Brown
Layne Flack
Alan Goehring

John Phan flopped a straight and got snapped of when Chris Tsiprailidis makes a house on the river. John is short now, but, he has comeback power.

Each round is 75 minutes today. We move to round 2 after this break. The blinds will be 50 / 100.

Players take a 15 minute break

Tom Sipes got a taste of victory yesterday taking down 1st in the $2500 event. David "The Dragon" Pham teaches Tom a lesson and finishes him early in this event.

	Tom Sipes

We get underway today with 373 players. The cards are in the air. Let's see who is here. Looks like the gang's all here, the list is lengthy but coming soon. I dont think too many pros missed this event.

The contenders get to start today with a hefty chip stack amounting to 25,000 chips. They begin with 25 / 50 blinds.