Play in the $1.5K NLHE event is on their 90-minute dinner break (and so are we). Some players were able to chip up before heading out to get some grub. Craig “MrCasino” Gray picked up a nice pot at the 150/300 ante 50 blind level when he raised to 900 from middle position and the player in the big blind called, leaving 1.3K behind. The flop came down 642 and the other player checked to Gray who moved all-in, having his opponent well-covered. The other player called and showed 5-6 for an open-ended straight draw while Craig held A-10 for ace high. The ace high managed to hold as the turn and river came 92 respectively. The other player headed to dinner a little early and Gray built his stack up to close to 30K going into dinner.

Jason “treysfull21” Mercier chipped up to 17K before the break without a showdown. We walked up to his table just in time to see him stacking his new chips, but he gave us the details of the hand.

Mercier said he raised to 775 before the flop and was called by the big blind. The flop was 8-6-2 rainbow. The big blind checked and Mercier bet 1,050. The other player called and the turn was the Q, putting two hearts on the board. The other player checked again and Mercier bet 1,875. The river was a non-heart 7. This time the big blind led out for a bet of 1.5K and Mercier moved all in for 5.9K. The other player folded and Mercier raked in the pot.

Here are some other chip counts we spotted shortly before the dinner break:

Hevad “Rain” Khan - 70K
Theo “pittrounder” Tran - 42.5K
Carder “PlusToTheEV” England (pictured right)- 37K
Joe “Dyzalot” Morneau - 35K
Craig “MrCasino” Gray - 30K
Ben “shankingyou” Palmer - 22.5K
Vivek “psyduck” Rajkumar - 20K
Jack “doctor_fun” Powell - 19.5K
Hunter “The_Hunt_D” Frey - 18K
Amit “amak316″ Makhija - 16.5K
Kyle “thetruth503″ Zartman - 15K
Frank “Round42″ Rusnak - 14K
Zachary “CrazyZachary” Clark - 14K
Jonathan “FieryJustice” Little - 13.5K
Jon “pokertrip” Friedberg - 12K
Alex “Kadabra” Keating - 10K
Lauren “locoenlacabeza” Kling - 9.5K
Matt “ch0ppy” Kay - 9K
Cody “thugmoneymkr” Slaubaugh - 8.5K
Marco “CrazyMarco” Johnson - 8K
Jordan Morgan – 6.5K
David “Doc Sands” Sands - 5.5K
Tim “TMay420″ West - 5K
Brent “bhanks11″ Hanks – 5K
Amanda “Mandy B” Baker - 4.5K

WSOP EVENT #53: $1.5K STUD H/L

WSOP 2009 Event #52: Triple Chance NLHE

We’d give you a more detailed update of this event, but hand-for-hand play has been going for at least half an hour as they try to burst the money bubble and media are not allowed inside the tournament area. Players will be taking their one hour dinner break at around 7:30PM and should resume play around 8:30PM.

WSOP 2009 Event #51: $1.5K NLHE

They are down to nine players in the other $1.5K NLHE event and they too are currently on dinner break. Both Steven Levy and Owen Crowe are at the final table, sitting in second and sixth place respectively.

• June 29, 2009 -- One More Time! The Final $1.5K Event
• June 30, 2009 -- From One Rail to Another
• June 29, 2009 -- He Feels Bad…But He’ll Take Your Chips
• June 29, 2009 -- Blow a Tire, Blow Up the Table