The buzz around the Amazon Room as players returned from break was how many chips Mike “SowersUNCC” Sowers (pictured at left).  The televisions broadcasting the leaderboard showed Sowers as having a whopping 270K at the end of the 2nd break.  Were it true, that would mean Mike had increased his starting stack more than tenfold in a mere four hours.  While we can neither confirm nor deny the 270K mark, when we last caught up with Mike Sowers he had around 13K in chips.

That is, until he got tangled up in a hand during the 150/300 blind level where a player limped in middle position, the small blind completed, and Sowers raised to 1,500 total out of the big blind.  The limper then reraised to 3K total, the small blind folded, and Mike quickly reraised all-in.  The other player called instantly and Sowers appeared to know what the other player had before his opponent turned over his hand.

“Aces, huh?”

Sowers waited for his opponent to reveal his AA before he turned up his KK.  The board ran out 8228Q and the large pot was pushed to the other player.  Thankfully for Sowers, he had his opponent covered and he was left with 6K at the conclusion of the hand.

It didn’t take long for Sowers to work his chip stack back up when he and another player got it all in on a flop of 10-10-3 with Sowers holding 10-8 to another player’s 8-8.  The turn was a Q and the river a 3 giving Mike a full house and the pot.  He is now back where we found him at 13K.

While his magical friend Blake “BallaB13″ Cahail was eliminated this level, Blair “blur5f6″ Hinkle (pictured at right) continues to increase what was already a healthy 45k stack heading heading back from the break.  Hinkle recently won a huge hand that increased his stack to 80k in the 150-300 level. Hinkle raised to 800 utg and got two callers. Hinkle checked the A5J flop and his opponent bet 2k and the third player called before it got back to Hinkle, who check-raised to 8k and both players called. Hinkle bet 22k on the T turn and the flop bettor folded and last player to act went all-in for his last 11k. Hinkle table JJ for a set leading his opponents JT for two-pair and a flush draw. The river brought the Q and Hinkle scooped a huge pot that seemed like an Omaha hand given the extreme strength of the players’ holdings in relation to the board.

Here are our most recent unofficial chip counts:
Craig “MrCasino” Gray - 36.5K
Adam “akat11″ Katz - 26.5K
Eric “jakz101″ Crain - 24K
Billy Westom - 19K
Mike “michnak” Michnik - 19K
Shannon Shorr - 18K
TJ “Doubles00ted” Slivka - 16K
Justin “looshle” Pechie - 15K
Josh “squintngo” Goldstein - 14.5K
Dan “wretchy” Martin - 12K
Jeff “yellowsub” Williams - 11K
Joe “Dyzalot” Morneau - 11K
Eric Liu - 10.5K
Faraz “The Toliet-0″ Jaka - 9K
Jon “apestyles” Van Fleet - 6K
Eric “E-Fro” Froehlich - 5K
Zac “iLLNuGWichee” Fronterhouse - 3K

Recent eliminations include Josh “pbdrunks” VanDuyn, Blake “BallaB13″ Cahail, Justin “jurollo” Rollo, and Kevin “WiCane” Pionkowski.

• July 3, 2008 -- The Wizard of Amazon
• July 16, 2008 -- So Long, Farewell
• June 26, 2008 -- Six-Handed Players Making Moves
• June 25, 2008 -- Pocket Fives No Good to Graham