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

The energy jolting through all paths leading to the Amazon Room is palpable.

The halls are packed with people, security guards are influx, and camera crews are around nearly every corner.

This must be the unveiling of the biggest spectacle in poker, the WSOP Main Event.

With four starting days to accomodate what will be the largest field in this year’s WSOP, the 10k NL WSOP #54 Main Event will play five 2-hour levels, with a dinner break after the third level of play.

A host of P5′ers have already confirmed their seat assignment for Day 1A including Craig “MrCasino” Gray, Nick “fu_15″ Maimone, Dan “wretchy” Martin, Blake “Balla -B13″ Cahail, Justin “looshle” Pechie, Ken “isuck123″ Goldin, and Andrew “fergwrx” Ferguson to name a few. 

• July 4, 2008 -- Peter Cries De Wolfe
• June 29, 2008 -- Katz and Cahail Bust Out
• June 16, 2008 -- Winner, Winner! Chicken Dinner?!
• June 14, 2008 -- Gray Done For the Day

Shortly after Adam “akat11″ Katz managed to double up, he found himself hitting the rail in the 2k NL WSOP Event #48.  Katz was eliminated in 25th place when he ran his pocket jacks into another player’s pocket kings.  He earned $20,241 for his efforts and we are hoping Erin the Lucky Masseuse pocketed another hefty tip despite Adam failing to make the final table.
Right on Katz’s heels was Blake “BallaB13″ Cahail, whose J-9 didn’t improve against his opponent’s pocket fours and he was eliminated in 23rd place.
18 players remain including Marco “CrazyMarco” Johnson (570K), Eric “jakz101″ Crain (500K), Darren “DABADESTCHIC” Nelson (270K), and Dan “Wretchy” Martin (200K) (pictured below).

The $50K HORSE Event is down to just 11 players after the elimination of Phil Ivey in 12th place.  Erick Lindgren has a commanding chip lead with 2.5 million chips.  The next closest competitor is Scotty Nguyen with 1.9 million.  Barry Greenstein continues to hold on with 825K.

Day 1 of the 1.5k NL WSOP Event #49 concluded minutes ago as the 2,718 player field whittled down to 215 players, reaching the money bubble earlier with 270 players left.

P5er Alex “42oneverloses” Case continued to shoot up the ranks and will start Day 2 with one of the top stacks at 93k.

This is Case’s first WSOP tournament and is the biggest buy-in tournament he’s ever played in. Early on Case said he was quite nervous, especially after he got down to 1800. After shoving his way up to 5k, Case hasn’t looked back as his stack has ascended to the top.

“I’m having a great time,” Case said. “Feels good to run like this, especially in a tournament that’s like 3 times as big as anyone i’ve played in.”

Indeed.

Greg “FBT” Mueller’s stack hasn’t dipped a bit and remains as one of the top stacks at 95k. Mueller’s stack has been near the top since players returned from dinner break.

P5er “shortyjacksn” cashed with a 258th place finish, earning $2,783.

Here’s a list of other notable chip stacks.

J.C. Tran - 112k

David Pham - 85k

Andy Black - 47k

Jon “pokertrip” Friedberg - 42k

Joe Pelton - 45k

Minh “TheMaster” Nguyen - 35k

Kristy Gazes - 29k

Eugene Todd - 24k

• June 28, 2008 -- Katz’s “Moment of Truth”
• June 28, 2008 -- No Way, Jose!
• June 29, 2008 -- CrazyMarco Running CrazyHot
• June 28, 2008 -- The HORSE Race Continues

Shortly before the most recent 20 minute break Blake “BallaB13″ Cahail (pictured at left) picked up a big pot when he eliminated another player.  The other player bet the flop of KQ6 and Blake made the call.  When the Q came on the turn, the other player moved all-in for the remainder of his stack and Cahail quickly made the call with KK.  The other player held AK and the meaningless 3 on the river meant Cahail’s stack built back up to 350k.

After players returned from their most recent twenty minute break, several players made ascents up the chip counts while others, like David “DavidP18″ Peters, headed for the door.  A short stacked Jose “head2782″ Severino moved all-in from the cut off and the player on the button quickly moved all-in behind him.  The players in the blinds folded and the two players turned up their hands.  Jose showed KQ while his opponent held AK.  The other player made a flush as the board came J8392 and Severino was eliminated.

Ibuki “bukithepro” Fukui was eliminated by Marco “CrazyMarco” Johnson when Johnson raised in late position and Fukui reraised all-in for a little over 100K total.  Marco made the call with pocket jacks, which held against Fukui’s A-10.  After the hand Marco had 340K.

Here are our most recent chip counts:
Eric “jakz101″ Crain - 440K
Darren “DABADESTCHIC” Nelson - 365K
Adam “akat11″ Katz - 295K
Dan “Wretchy” Martin - 220K

The $50K HORSE is down to its final 13 players and after beginning the day at the top of the leaderbaord, both Barry Greenstein and Daniel Negreanu are now two of the shorter stacks remaining in play.  Currently, Huck Seed is the chip leader with 5 more players to lose before play concludes for the night.

Finally, here are some notable chip counts in the 1.5k NL WSOP Event #49 with the blinds at 400-800-100 with 350 left and the average stack at 23k:
Greg “FBT” Mueller - 65k
John Murphy - 52k
Hevad Khan - 42k
David Pham - 30k
Andy Black - 27k
Chris “sooooted” Vaughn - 27k
Vivek “psyduck” Rajkumar - 23k
Jeff Madsen - 21k
Jon “pokertrip” Friedberg - 12k
Jonathan “FieryJustice” Little - 7k

• June 30, 2008 -- Gomes, Johnson Go 1 and 2 in $2K Event
• June 29, 2008 -- Katz and Cahail Bust Out
• June 28, 2008 -- The HORSE Race Continues
• June 29, 2008 -- To Reload or Not to Reload?