Shortly after play in the $2K NLHE combined to three tables, we watched as two P5ers simultaneously faced tough decisions for their tournament life.

At one table, Jordan “Octavian_C” Rich got involved in a big pot with tournament chip leader Warren Woodall.  With around 60K in the pot already, Jordan bet out 35K on a KK8 flop and Woodall called.  The turn was the 3 and Rich checked to Woodall, who bet 55K.  Rich thought for a minute or two, counted down his stack, and eventually called.  The river was the 7 and Jordan checked once again.  Woodall quickly reached for 8 green 25K chips and bet 200K–enough to put Jordan all-in.  Jordan tanked for a few minutes before calling and mucking when his opponent revealed 88.

Christian “charder30″ Harder (pictured left) was facing a raise of 26K with the blinds at 5K/10K ante 1K from Laurence Grondin, the same girl who had been tangling with Harder in pots for the past couple of hours.  With the redraw of seats, Harder went from having Grondin on his immediate left to being seated two to her left.  It didn’t take long for them to tangle once again, as Christian decided to reraise her and moved all-in for 240K.  She called with pocket queens, which had Harder’s pocket tens in bad shape.  The AAK didn’t help Harder much, but the Q on the turn did give Christian a royal flush draw to best Grondin’s boat.  Sadly for Harder, the river was the 8, not the J, so he headed to the rail as well.

Joe “Dyzalot” Morneau is still alive and kicking in the event, but he did take a big hit recently when he doubled up one of the other players at his table.  The player on the button raised to 30K and Joe reraised to 90K total out of the small blind.  The other player, who started the hand with around 270K, thought for a minute and moved all-in.  It didn’t take long for Morneau to call with QJ, which was racing with his opponent’s 99.  The board ran out A7585 and Morneau failed to improve, lost the pot, and dropped down to 455K.

Jack “doctor_fun” Powell (550K), Jordan “scarface_79″ Smith (338K) and Jonathan “therookieqq9″ Plens (221K) are still in the field as well. 

WSOP 2009 EVENT #38 $2K LHE

Day 1 of Event #38 has come to a close here at the Rio. After ten levels of play the remaining 109 players are bagging and tagging their chips for the restart tomorrow.

Brock “t soprano” Parker (pictured right) took a hit on the second to last hand of the night when he raised from middle position. Marcel Luske called before the button and the blinds folded. The flop came A73 and Parker immediately bet. Luske called, and the turn brought another spade, the 4. Brock checked and Marcel thought before betting. Parker frowned and then folded, only to smirk when Luske tabled T9. Brock will return tomorrow on the short stack with 7.6K.

Here are the other end of the night chip counts:

David “Doc Sands” Sands — 28K
Alex “Kadabra” Keating — 22K
Shannon Shorr — 12K

Play will resume tomorrow at 2 p.m. here at the Rio.

• June 20, 2009 -- Barry’s Bounty
• June 19, 2009 -- “He’s Got Me Beat”
• June 20, 2009 -- Shorr Nuff
• June 20, 2009 -- Bustos, Big Hands, and Blind Versus Blind Confrontations