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Due to a lack of European in Day 2 of the $1,500 NLH F/O, we'll also be running mini-updates on Day 1 of the $2,500 PLH F/O.

$2,500 PLH F/O

How about this for a table?

Howard Lederer
Mike Sexton
Ben Roberts
Tony Chessa
Paul Jackson

$2,500 PLH F/O

This one's pretty dangerous too...

William Chen (only 2 time bracelet winner)
Devilfish
Carlos Mortensen

$2,500

More names...

An Tran
Thomas Wahlroos
John Kabbaj
Mickey Wernick
Willie Tann
Dewey Tomko
Jan Heitman
Stephen Ayeung (sp?)
Umberto Brenes
Bret Jungblut
Sam Wardlow
Lawrence Gosney
John Gayle
Greg Raymer
John Juanda
John Duthie
Bruno Fitoussi
Luco Pagano
Joe Hachem
Juha Helppi
Iwan Jones
Irish Denis

Also... Dave Colclough and Julian Thew.

Our focus today will be on the $2,500 PLH F/O

From the first row of tables:

John Hewston -- 5,500
Dave Colclough -- 2,725
Dave Ulliott -- 6,825
Lawrence Gosney -- 1,400
A Levi -- 1,450
Sam Wardlow -- 3,175
Mike Sexton -- 2,850
Tony Chessa -- 1,700
Paul Jackson -- 3,400
Ben Roberts -- 3,200
Howard Lederer -- 2,500

And from row 2:

Freddie Deeb -- 3,125
Dewey Tomko -- 3,100
John Kabbaj -- 2,200
Mohammed Baraktul -- 4,200
Chris Biggler -- 4,000
Carlo Citrone -- 8,500
Men The Master -- 1,375
Bruno Fitoussi -- 1,425

Row 3:

Allen Cunningham -- 4,175
Blair Rodman -- 3,475
Paul Woolfe -- 2,400
John Juanda -- 4,625
Greg Raymer -- 5,200
Roland De Wolf -- 2,500
Julian Gardner -- 6,400

I can't seem to see Tony Chessa, Chris Ferguson, or Dave Ulliott any more.

After winning 60k+ the other day, Roland De Wolf is in good spirits overall, but not too chuffed about the beat that knocked him back down to his starting stack.

K-K v A-Q

There's 5 or 6 tables lurking at the back too.

Among them is A Mr John Shipley, who final tabled earlier on in the week.

He's currently on 4,400

Daniel Negreanu -- 12,925

Also spotted... Liz Lui, Dave Welch, & TJ Cloutier

The latter of which has just joined the table of Sexton, Lederer, Roberts, Jackson and Chessa

Oh, it's that special time again....

CHIP COUNTS:

Bruno Fitoussi    OUT - ran into him climbing the other way over the tourney rope, he politely greeted me and calmly stated his out status.  How European.
Brian Wilson     OUT
Dave Colclough   4,425
Richard Redmond  8,300
Liz Lieu                3,900
Michael Mizrachi    14,750
Chris Bigler           2,600
Carlo Citrone        10,500
John Shipley         5,300
John Juanda         6,000
Freddy Deeb        3,025
John Gale            19,800
Chris Ferguson      6,700
Greg Raymer        4,500
Steve Zoine         7,600  (sitting on table next to Raymer's, jokingly complaining, "The guy wins one tournament, and suddenly everyone's interested...")
Karl Mahrenholz     8,200  (Gutshot hat-wearing dark horse who could do very well if he doesn't bluff the lot off after sitting calmly for ages ;)     )
Daniel Negreanu   13,000
Tony Chessa         2,600
Mike Sexton          4,700
Paul Jackson         2,125
TJ Cloutier            8,100
Howard Lederer    5,350
Kathy Liebert        10,500
Jan Heitmann        3,800
Casey Kastle          1,275
Henning Granstad   2,025

The table that no-one wants to go to.

Seat 1: Mike Sexton -- 3,400
Seat 2: Paul Jackson -- 950
Seat 4: Tony Chessa -- 2,575
Seat 6: Ben Roberts -- 3,400
Seats 7: Howard Lederer -- 4,400
Seat 9: TJ Cloutier -- 9,200

$1,500 Day Two

And Bhups is OUT!  57th spot not bad - several thousand and the satisfaction of playing through 2126 entrants... he did exactly what he was planning while on the last break - just moved in his 17k (having looked at one card - a Jack) and found an insta-call to his left, followed by a button re-raise all-in.  Oops.  Former called with Ac Ad, latter had busted himself, as it turns out, with Qd Qh.  Bhups' actual hand was AJ - a hand he would have moved with if he'd seen the lot at that stage, but the Aces crushed both of the smaller stacks and he can go and have a nap.  Or play cash.

Mickey lost a very large pot early on (to Chris Bigler, I think) when he got to see a flop with his big blind Qc 3d.  The flop:  Qs 3h 4c.
He bet the pot, and was called.  Turn: 7d  and again.
River: 6c.  Mickey just bet out 500 into the 2000+ pot, and received a call by the rivered set of Sixes!

One table has been playing with two Ace of spades in the pack.

Tony Gale is leading the way for the Brits with 20,750

Tony Chessa raises, Cloutier (sb) calls, so does Sexton (bb). Chessa bets 500 on flop. All fold. Chessa on 2,400.

Carlo Citrone calls an underthegun preflop raise of 400.

Flop = 8c 3h 6d

MB bets 800, Carlo calls.

Turn = 2d

MB checks, Carlo bets 1,525

MB folds

Paul 'Actionjack' Jackson is OUT.

A-9 suited vs A-K

No help

Not to totally disregard the $5k Stud event - some counts from the tables:

Andy Black        30,000
Garry Bush         8,500
Peter Costa        5,150
Todd Brunson    17,000
David Singer       22,000
Barney Boatman  7,500
Barry Greenstein  8,400
Paul Testud        3,000

Phil Hellmuth is OUT.

He limped on the button with K-9, Sexton raised the big blind with A-Q, Hellmuth moved all-in (?!) and Sexton called.

King on flop, but River brought Sexton a flush.

Renowned online player, John 'Decision' Hansmeyer from Canada, is on 5,500

Rob Hollink and Paul McKinney are still in ther $1,500 No Limit Hold 'Em Freezout, the latter running well with 45,000.

Found a couple Snoops spotted on his first run:
John Hewston     15,000
Vanessa Rousso    8,400
Julian Gardner      10,000
Iwan Jones          10,000

Daniel Negreanu eliminates an American Mateyboy.

All-in preflop.

MB = 5h 5c

Negreanu = Kd Kh

(second time he has found pocket kings - first one brought him a flopped set)

Board = Jh Td Qs 8h 3c

Negreanu's up to 19,250

Tony Chessa raises preflop, MB next door calls.

Flop = 8s Kc Jc

Chessa moves all-in for 825, last hand before the break.

MB takes an age to call, even though he only has about 500 left. (I am unsure as to why he didn't reraise preflop if was going to play the hand)

Eventually, he folds, leaving Chessa to flip over pocket Kings.

Howard Lederer is OUT.

All-in preflop with tens.

Outdone by Cloutier's queens.

Chessa folded Jacks.

Not sure if this was reported, but Dave Colclough exited a while back.

No sign of him now and he tends to make a quick exit.

Tony Chessa -- 3,500
Luca Pagano -- 1,750
Josh Arieh -- 4,650
Freddie Deeb -- 5,800
Chris Ferguson -- 3,000
John Gale -- 19,800
Kerry Taylor -- 3,700
Steve Zoine -- 3,850
Stephen Ayeung -- 2,600
John Hewston -- 11,900
Dewey Tomko -- 5,425
Dave Welch -- 1,975
Carlo Citrone -- 15,500
Umberto Brenes -- 2,200
John Juanda -- 6,500
John Shipley -- 2,700
Joe Hachem -- 10,800

Dave Ulliott, Dave Welch, Umberto Brenes, Dave Singer, Willie Tann, and Julian Thew are all OUT

Deeb (950), Flack (17,800) and Liebert (can't see chips) are now all on the same table.

562 started
180 (20 tables) left
Blinds = 150/300
Next Level = 200/400
Chips in Play = 1,405,000
Total Prize Pool = $1,292,600

Chris Ferguson surives an all-in.

J-T suited vs pocket ducks

Ten on the flop

John Shipley is on 27k after his 3.5k bet with A-7 was called on board of Q-7-2-7-8

Just 26 left in the $1,500 No Limit Hold 'Em Freezout.

Padraig Parkinson is comfortable on 150k, Rob Hollink less so with 75k. Average is around 100.

Roland De Wolf is down to 10k after experiencing the dizzy heights of 26.

He ran K-4 and 7-7 into A-A and J-J (not sure which way around)

Chip Counts (halted, say, 50% of the way through due to the 16th table breaking while I was counting - Grrrr)

Carlo Citrone      11,000
John Gale          24,000
Karl Mahrenholz   16,500
Daniel Negreanu  11,000
Tony Chessa        4,500
Mike Sexton       7,600
TJ Cloutier         12,000
John Hewston    28,000   
Iwan Jones        21,000

Mr. Texas has the large tower thing going again (picture coming if I can sneak one) - perhaps I was ungenerous in my 28k estimate - the megatower is the most tricky form to count... Anyway, he just benefitted from Kc Kd against Qh Qd.  I'm not sure what he was getting at when he told me, "the King came on the flop, but then...a Queen came!" but he seems happy.

Chris Ferguson is OUT

players are now on a dinner break

Now that we are excluded from the Rail, the highstack/lowstack divide is becoming greater... I can fit a few into each category though - -

Higher

Iwan Jones
John Gale
Karl Mahrenholz

Lower

John Juanda
Steve Zoine
Tony Chessa (down to 4,000 and making that "I'm a short stack" face...

Ben Roberts is OUT

The blinds are about to rise to 200/400. There are currently 99 players left, all fighting it out for that $374,849 1st prize.

John Shipley -- 34k
Joe Hachem -- 17k
Iwan Jones -- 19.5k
Mohammed Baraktul -- 21k
John Gale -- 19k
Mike Sexton -- 13k
John Hewston -- 20k

Deeb, Flack, Liebert and Negreanu are also still in, but I can't see their stacks from the rail.

TJ Cloutier is OUT

$1,500 News

Padraig Parkinson is in the last 16!  I arrived just in time to see Matey 1's 10 5 bust Matey 2's AK... Matey 2 was pretty resigned, just uttering those words which sum up a lifetime of bad beats (your way and others'): "That's poker."

Anyway, Padraig has 70,000 odd and looks confident - he's actually got a pretty good stare.  When he picked up a pot preflop, there was a cheer of "Go the Irish!" from the substantial rail.

Vanessa Rousso is OUT.

A-T v J-J

5-K-8-T-K

It's quietened down a little in there, not too much action.

I was just watching Shipley's table, and they appeared to be playing very passively.

The lats hand I saw, they all passed round to the big blind.

Both the $1,500 NL and the $1,500 PL are munching on a Kit Kat.

Still just two tables left in the former, with Padraig Parkinson running pretty well with 130k.

Meanwhile, in the PL, there are 8 tables of 68 players remaining with the Average Stack being 20,661. This may be the last level coming up.

$5,000 Stud

While everyone else is on a break, the Stud has seen a flurry of eliminations; I think they're down to just three tables, and I last saw both Andy Black and Garry Bush heading for the exit.  The latter made that international across-the-throat sign of the bust, and said "I was 25th or something.  And unlucky."

Julian Gardner is OUT.

MB raised with K-Q, Julian reraised with A-7, MB put him all in, and Julian called.

King on the flop

John Shipley -- 54.5k
Iwan Jones -- 30.5k
Joe Hachem -- 15.5k

Successful online player, Richard Redmond (aka 'Squelch'), is currently on 32k.

Hewston is sat next to Negreanu. Both are struggling. Hewston has 10k, Negreanu just 6k. Across the table from them is the confident figure of Citrone, who appears to be on around the 30k mark.

Meanwhile, we've hit bubble time in the $1,500. Padraig Parkinson and Paul McKinney are seated at that final table.

And poor Paul McKinney takes the dreaded bubble position in the $1,500 NLH F/O

I was really willing this fella to make the final, it's awesome to see guys of his age competing with the youngsters in these huge fields.

On a happier note, that means that Irishman Padraig Parkinson has made the final!

Last level (I think) of the $1,500 Pot Limit, everyone's made the money and have Cheshire Cat grins, especially John 'Decision' Hansmeyer, who's playing in his first ever WSOP Event.

54 left I think I heard the announcer say.

Still in:

Carlo Citrone
Richard Redmond
Joe Hachem
Kathy Liebert

And some chip counts:

Daniel Negreanu -- 12.5k
John Shipley -- 54k
John Gale -- 80k
John Hansmeyer -- 12k

Richard 'Squelch' Redmond loses a is down to 30k after losing a pot that would have shot him into a potential chip lead.

Redmond raises preflop with Q-Q, MB calls.

Flop = 2-3-6

Redmond check raises the guy all-in, he calls with 5-5 and spikes a third 5 on the river.

Just witnessed John Shipley's stack being sliced in half.

MB raises from the button, John reraised from the big blind, and MB moves all-in for his last 19k.

About 20k in the pot, John thinks for a lenghty period of time and then calls with Ac 9c

MB flips Ahrt Th

Board = 4s 2s 8d 8c Ad

Ten plays...

6 tables (47 players) remaining
Av Stack = 29,893
Blinds = 600/1,200
15 mintues left on the clock

John Hewston is OUT.

Ran his Q-7 on a Queen high board into Negreanu's A-Q

The Brits are suddenly dropping like flies.

Shipley is also OUT.

Big hit came with the A-9 v A-T hand, but it was a classic coinflip that finished him off, A-K v Q-Q (no help arrived).

Well, they about to bag up, and within those 47 players remaining, there are several familiar names...

Brits:

Richard 'Squelch' Redmond
Carlo Citrone
Iwan Jones
John Gayle

Others:

Daniel Negreanu
John 'Decision' Hansmeyer
Joe Hachem

Not to mention Padraig Parkinson who made it thorugh to tomorrow's $1,500 PLH Final

Robert Noopy -- 73,000
Richard Redmon -- 31,500

Play resumes at 3pm tomorrow.

We shall publish the chip-counts then.