“I can’t fold,” was what Russell “rdcrsn” Carson had to say when the action got back around to him, and his statement summed up the situation. After some preflop raising Carson had added 14,400 to what was out there, representing about half his stack and Tyler “brainwash” Cornell had moved all in having Carson covered. Another player called all in for about 24k and the action was back to Russell who then put the rest of his chips in for a total of 28,100.

Carson (left) had the AK, the other all in player the QQ and Cornell was in rough shape with the AQ. The KT4 flop gave Cornell a little hope and put Carson in the lead. The A turn gave Tyler more outs but with the 5 on the river Russell was able to eliminate a player and nearly triple up.

While the pig 3 way pot went Carson’s way and put him up to around 90k chips, Cornell was still left with a very playable 50k.

In another AK versus QQ situation, though without the third player involved, Barry “barryg1″ Greenstein was able to double up to 60k. Barry was all in with the AK against his opponents QQ and after a board of AJ5TJ Barry counted out his 30,300 in chips and the other player matched them.

Phil “USCPhildo” Collins (right) also had most of his chips in the middle with a 20k bet into a pot of around 25k on a 865. The other player gave up his hand and Phil was able to build his stack up to around 60k.

After raising to 3k from early position, Matt “All In At 420″ Stout was called by the player in the small blind and the flop came AKT. It was checked to Matt and he bet 5k. The other player called very quickly and the 5 hit on the turn. Again it was checked to Matt and he bet 12k this time. Before his hands were off the chips the other player had said call and was putting chips in the pot. With the Q on the turn both players checked and Matt showed his AT for two pair. The other player showed KT for a smaller two pair and Matt raked in a nice pot.

A short stacked Tim “Tmay420″ West (left) has been eliminated from the tournament. Tim was in the big blind with 11k (blinds at 500 / 1k) and the action folded to the small blind who moved in. Tim called with QJ and had two cards in the middle of the small blinds A8. An ace flopped and West couldn’t hit his gutshot straight draw to catch up.

Almost 100 players have already fallen out of competition today.  The goal is to get down to 99 by the end of the day, and at the rate they are going it shouldn’t be too hard to get there.

• October 13, 2008 -- Sorel Rallies, Youngblood Ousted
• October 12, 2008 -- Lots of Chips
• October 11, 2008 -- Top To Bottom
• October 10, 2008 -- North American Poker Championship

With the first level of day 3 under way, it didn’t take long before all ins started flying and some players hopes of making it to the money and competing for a final table were crushed. While Amit “Amak316″ Makhija and Barry “barryg1″ Greenstein were able to gain ground in the first 30 minutes of play, Jared “TheWacoKidd” Hamby and Matt “All In At 420″ Stout were eliminated.

Hamby (right) had raised and a short stacked Greenstein moved in over the top. Jared called with pocket eights, but Barry’s pair of tens held up for him to double and leave Jared in short stack position. Not long later Hamby was all in with AQ against a pair of nines. The nines improved to a set on the flop and Hamby saw his 3 day tournament run at the Bike fall short of making the money.

Stout was eliminated in brutal fashion when his pocket aces fell to KQ. The AJT gave Matt a set but the other player a straight. The board did not pair, though the other player did make a straight flush when the K hit on the river. After mounting a comeback late in the day yesterday, Stout’s run was cut short today.

In a pot that was raised and reraised preflop, Amit “Amak316″ Makhija (Left) finally moved in over Esther Taylor’s raise to 18,200. Esther thought for a while before quietly saying “call.” She had just over 100k behind and Makhija had her covered. After taking off his headphones and checking to make sure she had actually called, Amit then showed his AK. Taylor had the QQ and the two were in the classic race situation. The K75TT board paired the king for Amit and left Esther shaking her head as she exited the tournament area.

Marco “CrazyMarco” Johnson raised to 16,100 after a player opened for 6,600. Kathy Leibert then moved in from the big blind for a total of 22,800. The player that had opened the pot folded his hand and Marco called the 6,700 more. Marco’s 76 was up against Leibert’s AK and Kathy was able to double up on the Q-Q-3-K-6 board. Right after the hand their table was broken and the players were sent to fill in open seats at the 8 remaining table.

• August 26, 2008 -- Final 50, No Bear
• August 27, 2008 -- Amit Doubles, Graham Crumbles
• August 26, 2008 -- Makhija To The Top
• October 13, 2008 -- Carson Triples

Jamie “Chronic420″ Rosen (pictured right) seemed to be on a path destined for a deep final table finish as he went to ten-handed play with one of the top stacks at little over one million after being in the top 3 stacks most of the day.

He’d been running good and playing well and was sitting to the left of chip leader Scott “SCTrojans” Freeman, who had 1.4 million.

Life was good for Rosen until he got dealt a hand he wouldn’t have even played had he not been in the blind and had it been raised.

Unfortunately for Rosen, in one of the few limped pots of the night, he saw a multiway flop out of the blind and hit what seemed to be a dream flop when his 43 connected to the 733 board.

Rosen led out for 42k and got raised to 100k by Phung Ngo and Jesse Chinni called. When it got back to Rosen, he moved all-in for around 700k more and Chinni called, tabling 77.

The board bricked out for Rosen and unlike a handful of players that would have bemoaned their fate numerous times in disgust, Rosen was rather unemotional in a very trying time. Rosen’s 10th place finish earned him 39k.

Before Rosen’s unlikely bustout, Freeman’s fall from grace had been the story of ten-handed play as his stack went from 1.4 million to 675k as play heads to the final table.

Freeman got crossed up on a 98855 board in a pot raised by his opponent under the gun. Freeman called all three streets in position when his opponent bet 40k-100k-210k in succession. Freeman’s opponent won revealing KK and Freeman claimed to have just been nipped with pocket queens but didn’t show.

Freeman lost a hand later when a short stack moved all-in from early position for 113k and he called with 88, ahead of his opponents AT. Freeman’s opponent turned broadway, capping off what had been a rough stretch of hands for Freeman where he didn’t drag one significant pot.

Here’s a list of chip counts of the final nine left.

Jesse Chinni - 2.16 million

Rene Mouritsen - 1 million

Albert Iversen - 912k

Max Greenwood - 728k

Scott Freeman - 675k

Phung Ngo - 556k

Alex Bolotin - 308k

Curtis Kohlberg - 209k

Aliaksandr Dzianisau - 186k

Day 2 of the $50K HORSE, WSOP Event #45 is in the books and a little over half the field has been eliminated.  Sixty-seven of the the original 148 players will return tomorrow to continue playing down to the prestigious bracelet.  Barry “barryg1″ Greenstein is towards the top of the leaderboard with over 400K in chips.  Greenstein made a remarkable comeback today after sitting on a short stack for a portion of Day 1.  Yesterday’s chip leader, James “mig.com” Mackey left today with less chips than he started with.  He ended play this evening with right around 180K after starting off with 214K at the beginning of play today. 
 
Other players climbing up the leaderboard include Justin Bonomo (325K), Daniel Negreanu (310K), and Tom “durrrr” Dwan (240K).  Meanwhile, some of the players who will not be returning for Day 3 include Patrik Antonius, Nick Schulman, Brian “tsarrast” Rast, and last year’s winner Freddy Deeb.

• June 28, 2008 -- Players Continue to Hit the Rail
• June 28, 2008 -- The HORSE Race Continues
• June 28, 2008 -- Basebaldy Bullies Bubble and Whiffs
• June 27, 2008 -- A Player Makes a “FatalError”

Adam “Roothlus” Levy (pictured right) couldn’t fade the cards all day and was eliminated right before the dinner break of the 1.5k NL WSOP Event #39.

Levy had been all-in around 20 times according to his table, most of which didn’t get any callers. Once Levy would double up and appear to get near the chip average he’d loose a key hand and get down again well below the average. Levy was never able to string together the successive double ups necessary to be a factor and eventually fell victim to the chip magnet that has been Garrett “GBecks” Beckman.

Beckman raised from middle position to 11k and Levy went all-in for another 42k more out of the blind. Beckman called with AJ and ran down Levy’s pocket fives when the board ran out 8-9-9-9-J. Beckman is the current chip leader with 390k.

Former chip leader David “ComptonMasta” Barter missed out on an opportunity to have a ridiculous chip stack over 500k when his pocket jacks lost a 260k pot on a ten high flop when his opponent was all-in and clipped a flush with his gut-shot straight and flush draw. Barter is still second in chips with 290k.

Richard “Lee Nickel” Fohrenbach was eliminated when his late position all-in steal attempt with 92 was called by KQ in the big blind and his opponent flopped a queen that held.

Here’s a list of notable stacks left.

David “DavidP18″ Peters - 95k

Luke “JohnnyCashOut” Priour - 55k

The 1.5k Mixed Hold-em WSOP Event #41 is underway and a slew of online players were spotted playing in it throughout the Amazon Room, although many showed up after the 5pm start.

Glen “choron” Chorny (pictured right) has made an early exit from the mixed event.  After doubling up an opponent who flopped 2 pair with A-6 against Chorny’s A-Q, Chorny was short stacked going into the limit section of Level 2 with around 600.  With the blinds at 50/100 a player in middle position raised and Chorny 3-bet behind him.  It folded back around to the intial raiser who made the call.  The flop came AT8 and the initial raiser checked-called Chorny’s bet.  When the 5 came on the turn the first player checked again and Chorny bet 200, leaving only 75 behind.  The other player then raised to put Chorny all-in and Glen made the call with AQ.  The other player turned over K-J and a Q hit on the river, giving the player Broadway and sending Glen home for the night.

Barry “barryg1″ Greenstein quickly entered in the Mixed Hold Em event after busting out of Day 2 of the $1.5K No Limit Hold Em Event, but he has already been sent packing.  Other early departures include Scott “gunning4you” Seiver, Justin Bonomo, Jared “TheWacoKidd” Hamby, and Eric “Rizen” Lynch. 

Let’s hope that Richard “Lee Nickel” Fohrenbach, who immediately registered for Event #41 upon his elimination in the $1.5K NLHE event, doesn’t have a similar fate to Greenstein.

• June 22, 2008 -- Beckman and Leonard Shooting Skyward
• June 22, 2008 -- Barter and Beckman Bulldozing
• April 22, 2008 -- Around The Room
• June 28, 2008 -- Seat Open!