First and foremost, we apologize for not realizing Brian “ship_the_perc” Lemke was a P5er until after he took down Event #15, the $5K NLHE event.  That being said, we do want to send out a heartfelt congratulations to Brian for toughing through an arduous day in which players had to return to the Rio at noon to play down from 17 players to a winner in order to accomodate the online television coverage schedule.  Players had less than ten hours between when play ended on Day 2 before they had to return and, as a result, the tournament became both a mental and physical game of endurance.

In the end it was Lemke who prevailed, battling back from an over 3 to 1 chip disadvantage to defeat Fabian Quoss heads-up for the bracelet and $692,658 prize.  While Lemke was clearly thrilled about his first bracelet win, he expressed in his post-win interviews he was perhaps most excited to honor his late cousin and beloved member of the poker media, Justin Shronk.  Prior to the televised final table, Lemke changed into his PokerRoad “Got Shronk?” shirt, which seemed to bring him the luck and strength he needed to take the tournament down.

Congratulations again Brian! That makes five bracelets out of 16 for P5ers and we have a chance to keep our momentum going if either Annie Duke or Scott “BigRiskky” Clements can take down Event #18, the $10,000 Omaha H/L Chamionship today.  The remaining 17 players will return this afternoon to play down to a champion.

Also set to return today is Event #19, the $2.5K 6-Handed NLHE Event.  We’ve got at least 25 P5ers left amongst the 199 players still in the event, including the tournament chip leader Brett “threatnasty” Switzer.  Action in that event will pick up at 2PM and play down to a final table or until 3AM.

There are also two new events on tap for today.  First, we’ve got the $1.5K PL Hold’em kicking off at noon.  On our way in here this morning we’ve alread spotted Devin “tranquilchaos” Porter, Matt “mattg1983″ Graham, Carter “ckingusc” King, and Joe Sebok making their way into the Amazon Room and we are predicting a field between 500 and 600 people for the event today.

The second new event for today is the $3K HORSE scheduled to kick of at 5PM.  We’ll have action and updates for all these events throughout afternoon, so those of you reading, please stay tuned, and those of you playing, let’s ship Bracelet #6 soon!

• June 10, 2009 -- Giddy Up!
• June 10, 2009 -- Alaei Bests Clements for $10K Omaha Title
• June 9, 2009 -- Sloppy Seconds
• June 10, 2009 -- Schultz Down;Parker Maintains Lead in $2.5K NLHE