As the Seniors No-Limit Hold’em Championship, Event #42, enters the single-digit early-morning hours, 17 players remain in the battle for the bracelet and a grand prize of $368,832. One recent elimination was four-time bracelet winner Tom McEvoy (pictured at right), who went all in with A-J against his opponent’s pocket kings. Tom takes home $7,669 for his 28th place deep run. Now down to the final two tables, Dale Eberle is the chip leader in the tournament with a nearly 2:1 advantage over the next biggest stack.

Event #41, the $1.5K Mixed Hold’em tournament, continued in heads-up warfare between Frank Gary and Jonathan “driverseati” Tamayo. Their heads-up session went into its second hour after a brief pause; more than six hours have elapsed since the tournament entered its epic three-handed play. After flopping a straight and losing to Frank Gary’s rivered full house, Tamayo was outchipped 4:1, but unwilling to concede. Several hands later, Tamayo shoved all his chips in the middle with Q-7 and lost when Gary’s A-3 flopped a pair of aces.  Gary wins the bracelet and $219,508, while PocketFiver Tamayo takes home $140,093.  Congratulations to both players for their amazing performance!

Meanwhile, hand-for-hand play began in Event #43, the $1.5K Pot Limit Omaha 8 tournament. As the number of remaining players dropped on the LCD screens in the Amazon room, the tension was perceptible; players paced the floor in anticipation of the bubble bursting. Yet Chris “SKOAL” Falconer could be heard at his table challenging others: “You can’t be afraid to bubble!”

In all likelihood, Chris had one of the best reasons to be afraid, despite his positive outlook. After building his stack up to 26K over the last two rounds, a bad beat dropped him down to 9K and he was sweating it. Involved in a hand as the big blind for 1200, Chris dropped a chip protector on his hand and calmly observed his table. A player in middle position raised to 4,200, a player in late position reraised, and Chris promptly folded.

However, the reraise put the other player at a decision for his chips and the table laughed uncomfortably at his frustration — there were at least three other extremely short-stacked players, so fear was in the air. Each glanced up at the LCD, which read 73 players remaining. Other players less afraid of the bubble included Dan “Stainley88″ Adams who had 39K and Shannon Shorr, who was quite comfortable with three times the average stack at 70K.

Fortunately, just before the end of the last level of the evening, the bubble did burst and players were heard cheering for their successful entry into the ranks of WSOP cashers. All players are guaranteed $2,751, but only one will be crowned champion of the event and win the coveted gold. On the first hand after the bubble burst, Chris managed to get all his chips in and double up to 13K, while Shannon accumulated aggressively and worked his stack up to 87K. Congratulations to all players for making the money and good luck tomorrow in Day 2 when play resumes at 2pm.

• June 25, 2008 -- Shorr Thing
• June 25, 2008 -- Busting Before the Bubble
• June 25, 2008 -- Bad Moon Rizen
• June 25, 2008 -- Shorr Silences Minneapolis Meehan