Main Event update

The World Series of Poker Main Event has come to its first break. With 4 days called day 1 (A, B, C and D) and 2 second days (A and B) behind us, it's finally some more clear who's doing well and who has already left us. A total of 6494 players entered the event, making the first prize a sweet 8.5 million dollar. We already see some big names in the top chipcounts, but even more have been eliminated so far.

Day 2A had only a relatively small field. As players from day 1A and 1B continued to 2A, only 1476 started this day. Players like Gus Hanson, Mike Matusow, Gavin Smith, Phil Laak (joined by Jennifer Tilly), Barry Greenstein, Dewey Tomko and many more left the field. Only 630 survived day 2A and we had Eric Cloutier as chipleader.

This was much different from day 2B. As day 1D was already completely sold out, and many of them survived to day 2, it gave the staff a hard time getting the tables right. Normally, they anticipate for up to 2800 players, but with the 2,924 players that made it to day 2B some extra tables had to be dragged in. About 10 hours later, more than half of them had left the room and it got a lot easier to manage. At the end of the day, we saw Amir Lehavot arise as the chipleader, but amongst the top 10, Phil Ivey was the most notable name. And he's not the only famous player that survived. Bertrand "ElkY" Grospellier was also in the top chipcounts, as were Jeff Lisandro, Justin Bonomo and David Benyamine.

With the 1094 survivors, added to the 630 from day 2A, it got to a total of 1724 players that will be playing day 3 today. We're unsure how much of them are actually LiquidPoker players, the field is just still too big to go through so if you're still in, or know fellow LP-players who are still in, please post it below and we'll be sure to watch them for the next days. We wish all players who are playing today the best of luck, and let's hope we'll see many of them in the money later today or tomorrow

For the chipcounts, take a look at the survivors of day 2A and day 2B.

i'm in =]

Mipwnya has 124 at first break today. Pooruser had 29k to start the day.

A MillY for ElkY
We just caught the tail end of a sleeper pot that developed over on Table 150. With the board already spread in the middle of the table, the community cards showed and there were about 40,000 chips in the pot. It was heads up with Jerry Wong first to speak, and he bet 33,000. His opponent, Bertrand "ElkY" Grospellier, came back with a raise to 133,300. After taking some time to consider, Wong moved all in for an additional ~250,000 on top. ElkY was clearly pained by the decision he faced. After carefully considering his predicament though, he did indeed make the call, having Wong slightly covered. ElkY tabled for middle set. Wong had been caught with his hand in the cookie jar, sheepishly turning over for just second pair. After spending most of the day riding a huge stack, Jerry Wong has been snapped off by Grospellier, headed out the door here toward the latter stages of Day 3. ElkY, on the other hand, has become the second player to cross the million-chip mark. He's right around 1,100,000 now, though it'll be nearly impossible to get a perfect count until the floor colors up the Great Wall of Chips sitting in front of him.

Lacay's Laydown

A middle position player made it 6,800 to go from the cutoff position and Ludovic Lacay made the call in the small blind. They saw a flop of and Lacay checked to his opponent who fired 7,600. Lacay made the call. The turn was the and Lacay check-called the bet of 18,700, to see the complete the board. Lacay checked and his opponent fired for the third time with a bet of 32,300. Lacay thought for a few moments before folding face up. A big fold by Lacay but it proved to be the wrong one as his opponent flashed for nothing but imagination. It shouldn't worry Lacay too much as he's still with our chip leaders at 870,000 chips.

Day 3 In The Books
After five long levels of play, we have finally reached the end of the night. We kicked off today with a total of 2,044 players and by the end of the day we ended with approximately 800 players. We're creeping ever so close to the money which is hit when we reach 648 players. Our rising star and overnight chipleader is Bertrand 'ElkY' Grospellier. His big boost came from Jerry Wong who moved all in on the river after he had raised. Grospellier made the call with middle set and with that pot, broke the one million chip mark. Since then he's been raking in pot after pot and controlling his table. He ends the day with a whopping 1,380,500. Some other notables ending the day with a healthy plot in front of them include Ludovic Lacay, Jordan Morgan, Alex Kostritsyn, Phil Hellmuth and Kenny Tran. While some were shining bright, others wouldn't share the same gleam. Not making it through the day are such names as Jason Alexander, Josh Arieh, Bryan Micon, Dutch Boyd, Greg Raymer and Aussie superstar Shane Warne. We will return tomorrow at 12:00 PM PDT and play another scheduled five levels. With plenty of big names still in good shape, this looks to be an exciting journey. Join us tomorrow for more bad beats, sick coolers and unbelievable rivers. Thank you for following the action with us!