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

Blake “Balla-B13″ Cahail (pictured left) doesn’t typically dress in a mythical blue robe with long whispy white hair.

It’s just that Cahail is a man of his word.

Cahail lost a WSOP bracelet bet to good friend Blair “blur5f6″ Hinkle, who won a bracelet a few weeks back.

So now Cahail has to wear his wizard costume on Day 1A of the WSOP Main Event and even routine things like grabbing a cell phone out of his pocket underneath his robe become a laborsome chore.

Cahail currently sits with perhaps the most influential NL tournament author in Dan Harrington. Cahail (22k) is sitting a few seats to Harrington’s (16k) left.

Wearing ordinary street clothes, Hinkle is off to a fast start with 54k.

Hinkle won a nice pot early when he flatted a preflop raise with AK. Hinkle bet 600 a 10-2-2 flop and Hinkle’s opponent called. Hinkle bet 800 when he turned a royal flush draw when the J peeled and his opponent called. He bet 1.5x the pot for 4k when another club dropped and Hinkle’s opponent called and tabled pocket queens.

Just when it appeared Brock “t_soprano” Parker’s table got a little easier with the busting of David Benyamine, it got even harder with the appearance of former WPT player of the year Gavin Smith. Peter “number1pen” Neff and Roland De Wolfe started and remain at the table as well.

Marco “CrazyMarco” Johnson was eliminated from the event when, with the blinds at 100/200, a player raised to 575 in the cut off and Marco reraised to 1,800 from the blinds. The initial raiser then raised again, this time to 6,575. Marco then pushed all-in for the remainder of his chips with AK and the other player quickly called with AA. The board was no help to Johnson and he headed home midway through Level 2. James “mig.com” Mackey got short stacked early on and was eliminated when he flopped a set to Joe Sebok’s flush draw. They got it all-in on the flop, Joe hit his flush, and he is now up to 30.5K.

Here are some other chip counts we spotted heading into the 2nd break:
Louis “MrBeeks” Werman - 44K
Jamie “TheCronic420″ Rosen - 42K
Jon “Pearljammer” Turner - 33K
Craig “MrCasino” Gray -32K
Richard “Lee Nickel” Fohrenbach - 32K
Anthony “D1rtyR1v3r” Nardi - 31.5K
Tim “TMay420″ West - 29.5K
Kevin “BeL0WaB0Ve” Saul - 29K
Steven “CornellFiji” Ware - 24K
Aaron Been - 23K
Carter “devinr12″ Gill - 21K
Shannon Shorr- 21K
Jonathan “FieryJustice” Little - 20.5K
Doug “reslient” Smith - 20K
Jason Gray - 19.5K
Alex “AJKHoosier1″ Kamberis - 19K
Peter “number1pen” Neff - 17.5K
Ken “isuck123″ Goldin - 16K
Brock “t_soprano” Parker - 15K
Matt “AllInAt420″ Stout - 14.5K
Jordan Morgan - 13.5K
Larry “larrygold” Goldstein - 9.5K
Taylor “GreenPlastic” Caby - 9K
JC “PrtyPSux” Alvarado - 7K

• July 3, 2008 -- Sweet and Sowers
• July 4, 2008 -- 2008 WSOP Main Event, Day 1A Concludes
• July 4, 2008 -- Short Stacked Shorr Looking to Chip Up
• July 4, 2008 -- The Toilet-0 Dethrones His Opponent

Craig “MrCasino” Gray’s (pictured at left) stack was dwindling in the $1.5k Razz tourney as antes and bring-ins continued to eat away at his chips. He got all his chips in on 3rd street against one opponent and after the draw was complete the other players 8-7-4-3-A was good enough to best Gray’s T-6-5-4-2, sending him to the rail.

Also in the Razz event, Kevin “BeL0WaB0Ve” Saul’s stack was moving in the opposite direction after he knocked out Michael Binger. They got all the chips in early, and in the end, Saul had a T-8-7-4-2 while Binger held a J-8-3-2-A (the result of being dealt trip 2s during the hand). Binger was eliminated and Saul added a few more chips to his stack which is now around 11k putting him near the top of the current chip count.

After the last painful beat in Sorel “Imper1um” Mizzi took in the $2.5K Pot Limit Hold’em/Omaha tournament, it wasn’t long before he was knocked out of the tournament by another. In late position, Mizzi bet 6500 and was called by Max Pescatori who was on the button. The flop came 3QJ. First to act, Mizzi bet 8500 of his short stack and was called; when the 7 came on the turn, he thought for quite awhile. Mizzi raised once again, but Pescatori pushed all-in. Mizzi didn’t hesitate to call with Q-T for top pair, but Pescatori caught the A on the river and improved his A-J to win the pot.

Meanwhile, plenty of PocketFivers continued to succeed in Event #25, the $10K Heads Up No-Limit Championship. Anna “VietCutie” Wroblewski won a huge hand and a massive chip advantage in her match. Her opponent raised pre-flop and Anna smooth called to see the flop come A9A. Anna checked, her opponent bet out and Anna called. The 5 came on the turn and Anna checked, her opponent bet, and she called. When the T came on the river the action went similarly with a check and a bet but Anna spent a much longer time contemplating whether to call or not. She shuffled her chips over and over and counted out her stack a few times before eventually making the call. As soon as she threw her chips into the pot, her opponent shook his head in defeat as Anna flipped up the AJ and scooped a huge pot.

Other PocketFivers remained armed to the teeth in battle; Michael “worldsgrtest” Banducci took down a big pot with a jack-high diamond flush, increasing his stack to more than double his opponent’s. He continued to chip away as P5s looked on. Alex Jacob was also close to winning, continuing his aggressive play. Phil “OMGClayAiken” Galfond (pictured at right), however, looked quite short with 25K, but managed to represent a couple of flushes and convince his opponent, Jonas Entin, to fold. The pair constantly joked at the table, Entin reporting that they are friends, as Galfond increased his stack to 50K.

Advancing to the next round, Michael “shipitthisway” McNeil defeated his opponent when he turned and rivered two pair. Isaac Haxton defeated his opponent when his AK improved against pocket jacks. Matt “hazards21″ Giannetti also crippled his opponent by flopping a set of fives and then later eliminating him when he turned a pair of twos. On the other side of the coin, Blake “Balla-B13″ Cahail was eliminated when his opponent, Thomas Lutz made quad tens on the river.

• June 13, 2008 -- Wolpert and Gray Get Coolered in 10k Heads-Up
• June 14, 2008 -- A Blair Affair
• June 14, 2008 -- He Might Be a Little Sore-l After a Beat Like That
• June 16, 2008 -- Get Your Fricke On