• December 18, 2009 -- And Then There Were Six
• December 18, 2009 -- Making Mistakes
• December 18, 2009 -- King Konged
• December 18, 2009 -- Elpayaa and Waxman Out Early

After getting to the money during day 4 play the action stalled out and the shortstacks won their all in hands to double up.  Action finished up for day 4 play with 16 players still in the tournament but the first few minutes of play on day 6 saw two quick eliminations.  Joe “BigEgypt” Elpayaa (right) was the first to go when he lost a flip to John Juanda.

The action folded to Juanda in the small blind and he bet enough to cover the 425k Elpayaa had in his stack.  Joe called with pocket sevens and had a shot to double against the A-8 of Junada but an ace hit the flop to send Elpayaa to the rail in 16th place for $38,092.  Not long after that Matt Waxman was headed to the payout cage when his AK ran into the king of Joe Cassidy.  The two were all in preflop and after his kings held up Joe Cassidy was up to over 2.2 million chips while Waxman was out in 15th place for $47,615.

The 14 left are spread across two table of seven and will continue to play today down to the final 6.  Once only 10 players are left the two tables will be consolidated down to just one and play will then continue until only 6 remain.  Curt Kohlberg still leads the way with Faraz “The-Toilet” Jaka, Danny Alaei and Joe Cassidy not far behind.

• December 18, 2009 -- And Then There Were Six
• December 18, 2009 -- Making Mistakes
• December 18, 2009 -- King Konged
• December 18, 2009 -- Five Diamond 2009 Day 5 Gallery

It was a level filled with double ups and eliminations. The field dwindled down to 16 by days end and some P5ers fell by the wayside during the homestretch of Day 4:

Falling into the “busto” category are Jamie “TheCronic420” Rosen (pictured left) and Brent “BHanks11” Hanks. Rosen’s demise came when he got it all-in preflop holding Q-J against Danny Alaei’s pocket aces. No miracle flop came for Rosen and he was eliminated in 18th place. Hanks would make his exit next, running pocket deuces into Chad “lilholdem954” Batista’s queens to bust out in 17th.

Falling into the “robusto” category is Mike “SowersUNCC” Sowers, Carter “ckingusc” King, Steve “MrTimCaum” O’Dwyer and Faraz “The-Toliet” Jaka who all doubled up during this past level. King picked up pocket kings, got called by Matt Waxman with A-Q and the cowboys held to double King up to 825,000. O’Dwyer also picked up a huge pot with pocket kings. Curt Kohlberg opened for a raise to 55,000 with the blinds at 12,000/24,000 ante 3,000 and Shawn “buck21” Buchanan reraised to 172,000 total. O’Dwyer was in the big blind and moved all-in for just over 400,000. Kohlberg folded, but Buchanan elected to call the additional amount with 79. O’Dwyers KK held as the board ran out A538K to effectively triple him up to 890,000.

Jaka’s (pictured right) double up was one of the biggest pots of the tournament. Scotty Nguyen raised to 70,000 from under the gun and Jaka called from middle position. The flop fell QT3 and Nguyen checked. Jaka bet out 100,000 and Nguyen called. The turn brought the 8 and Nguyen checked a second time. Jaka fired out a 250,000 chip bet and Nguyen check-raised an additional 400,000. Jaka paused momentarily, then moved all-in for 372,000 more. Nguyen deliberated before calling with KJ for the open-ended straight draw. Jaka showed TT for a set of tens, which held as the turn and river came 8 then 7. Jaka doubled up to 2.35 million and Nguyen fell from atop the chip counts.

Sowers would take another chunk out of Nguyen’s stack a little while later when he got it all-in preflop holding JJ to Nguyen’s AQ. The board ran out KQJ4A and Sowers’ set of jacks doubled him up to 1,170,000. He fell off a bit towards the end of the level though and ended the day with 661,000.

Here are the unofficial end of day counts and seat assignments for Day 5:

• December 17, 2009 -- BigEgypt off to Big Start
• December 17, 2009 -- Bubble Bursts, Makhija Busts
• December 17, 2009 -- Picking Up the Pace
• December 17, 2009 -- Slow Goings

After an extremely slow third level of the day, Level 19 saw the pace pick up quite a bit. The field shrank down to 18 players and we are now left with just two tables. Along the way, Matt “AllInAt420” Stout (pictured right) was eliminated at the hands of Curt Kohlberg. The two both made an appearance at last month’s Foxwoods final table and were clashing again here at Bellagio.

Kohlberg got the last of Stout’s chips when Carter “ckingusc” King raised to 52,000 from the cutoff with theblinds at 10,000/20,000 ante 2,000. Kohlberg called from the button, Stout shoved all-in from the big blind for 350,000 or so and King folded. Kohlberg called with JJ, which was ahead of Stout’s 44. The board ran out Q32Q7 and Stout was eliminated in 20th place.

Before play could be paused for hand-for-hand, a huge hand was brewing at one of the other tables. Joe “BigEgypt” Elpayaa raised from the button, Jeremy Brown called from the small blind and Faraz “The-Toliet” Jaka called from the big. The flop fell KJ4 and action checked to Elpayaa, who bet out around 110,000. Brown then moved all-in and Jaka reraised all-in behind him, having Brown covered. Elpayaa asked for a count of Jaka’s stack and the dealer determined he had 546,000 chips. Elpayaa was frustrated with the situation and voiced it to the table:

“This is an absurd spot.” He eventually folded his pocket aces face up, which ended up being a smart move as Brown showed KQ for top pair of kings, but Jaka held KJ for kings up. The 6 on the turn brought a spade draw for Brown, but the 8 on the river sent the pot to Jaka and eliminated Brown in 19th place.

Other P5ers in the field include Jamie “TheCronic420″ Rosen, Brent “BHanks11″ Hanks, Steve “MrTimCaum” O’Dwyer, Shawn “buck21″ Buchanan, Mike “SowersUNCC” Sowers and Chad “lilholdem954″ Batista.   Jaka and Buchanan are the only players of that group above average, while O’Dwyer is the smallest stack left in the field with around 400,000.

• December 17, 2009 -- Slow Goings
• December 17, 2009 -- BigEgypt off to Big Start
• December 18, 2009 -- Day Four Over and Out
• December 17, 2009 -- Bubble Bursts, Makhija Busts

Action stalled tremendously this past level and the field only lost two players over the course of the past hour and a half. One of those eliminations came at the hands of Matt “AllInAt420” Stout, who eliminated Steve Brecher when Brecher shoved all-in with A-10 and Stout called him with pocket queens. The queens held up and Stout crossed the million chip threshold.  He would drop a chunk of those chips to Curt Kohlberg before the level was over though and is now down to 350,000.

There were a few othersbig pots over the course of the level as well. Carter “ckingusc” King (pictured left) had a hard time building up his stack during the early stages of Day 4 play, but he got a much needed double up when he shoved all-in for 300,000 and Curt Kohlberg thought for a minute or two before calling. King’s AJ was trailing Kohlberg’s AK, but the J85 flop favored King and the pair of jacks held to double him up to just over 600,000.

Shawn “buck21” Buchanan is also trending upwards thanks to busting out a player and taking down a big pot against Steven Landfish. The two sparred in a blind versus blind confrontation. We caught up on the action when Landfish checked to Buchanan on a board of K43Q and Buchanan bet out 25,000. Landfish raised to 60,000 total and Buchanan called. The river brought the 9 and Landfish bet out 110,000. Buchanan raised an additional 300,000 and Landfish called, wincing in disgust when Buchanan revealed JT for a rivered king-high straight. Landfish flashed his Q-3 for two pair before mucking and pushed the chips Buchanan’s way. After the hand, Buchanan was up to 1.8 million chips.

Brent “BHanks11” Hanks took a hit to his stack when he called an all-in shove from Josh Arieh on the river with the board reading 98562. Hanks thought a while before calling the additional 250,000 and seemed relatively unsurprised when Arieh showed 7T for the nuts. Hanks still has some chips to work with though, having 450,000 left after the hand wrapped up.

• December 17, 2009 -- Picking Up the Pace
• December 18, 2009 -- Day Four Over and Out
• December 16, 2009 -- Day 2 Ends with an Assault
• June 17, 2008 -- Shorr Doubles, Dario Ascending