Several notable online players returned for Day 2 of the $1.5K NLHE event only to make an early exit shortly after play began.  One such player was Phil “USCPhildo” Collins (pictured at right) who found himself in a race situation pre-flop with pocket jacks versus another player’s A-Q.  The A-Q ended up victorious and Phil busted in 131st place.  Here is a list of notable players who were recently eliminated:

Aaron “NDGrinder59″ Steury - 163rd for $3,340
Kevin “ImaLuckSac” Macphee - 140th for $3,340
Phil “USCPhildo” COllins - 131st for $3,340
Daniel “voff” Deveau - 130th for $3,340
Dag Martin “dmikkel” Mikkelson - 128th for $3,340
Justin “jurollo” Rollo - 117th for $4,008
Gary “GB2005″ Bogdanski - 114th for $4,008
Jordan “scarface79″ Smith - 112th for $4,008

While those players are now free to roam the halls, as we saw Annette “Annette_15″ Obrestad doing earlier today, several other players remain in contention for the bracelet and are continuing to build their already large chip stacks.  Owen “ocrowe” Crowe is still the chip leader with 170K, but Chris “SLOPPYKLOD” Klodniki (100K) and Cody “thugmoneymkr” Slaughbaugh (95K) are towards the top of the leaderboard as well.

Over in the Amazon Room, Kevin “BeL0WaB0Ve” Saul (pictured at left) was among the casualties in Level 3 of today’s $2,000 Pot-Limit Hold’em event.  First, Saul lost the majority of his stack to Dario Minieri.  With the blinds at 75/150, Minieri raised to 700 in a limped pot from middle position and Saul re-raised to 2200 on the button. Action folded around to Minieri, who asked Saul, “You always think I have nothing?,” before moving in for his last 4000.  Saul made the call with JJ, which was way behind the QQ of Dario. The board ran out AK66A and Minieri added “This is the same hand I won my bracelet with” as he raked in a pot worth over 9K.
 
Saul was left with close to 800 chips following the hand and got the rest of it in two hands later. He raised to 450 preflop and got calls from Eli Elezra and another player.  Saul pushed in his last 350 on a flop of 983 and both players called.  By the river, he was holding his cards directly above the muck, waiting for Elezra to turn over his straight, and Saul was eliminated.
 
Others exiting Event #38 during the past level were Jon “FieryJustice” Little, Chris “moorman1″ Moorman and Justin Bonomo.

• June 21, 2008 -- Back from the Break
• June 20, 2008 -- Gary vs. Gray
• June 19, 2008 -- Bowker Goes Busto
• July 10, 2008 -- Levy’s Ruthless Pursuit of Chips

Gary “GB2005″ Bogdanski took the tournament chip lead from Craig “MrCasino” Gray in Level 8 of the $1,500 No-Limit Hold’em, and minutes later watched Gray take a seat next to him after his table broke. Bogdanski (pictured left with Gray) is sitting with 65K and Gray, who seems refreshed after taking a few days off, has 56K with the blinds at 400/800. The two didn’t know either previously but have quickly bonded.

Also working with a lot of chips is Cody “thugmoneymakr” Slaughbaugh, who had close to 50K before he lost a pot to Alex Jacob. Jacob raised to 2,025 in the cutoff and Slaughbaugh called in the big blind. Both players checked the flop of 864 and Slaughbaugh led for 2,900 when the Q fell on the turn. Jacob raised to 6,300 Slaughbaugh called. The K came on the river and Slaughbaugh check-called a 6,300 bet from Jacob, who showed QQ for the flush. Slaughbaugh mucked, leaving him with 35K.

Garrett “GBecks” Beckman had the benefit of good timing when he picked up AA and got all of his 5.6K in preflop. The aces held and he doubled up to a little over 12K.

PocketFives caught up with Phil “USCPhildo” Collins on a board of TQJ9Q, engaged in heads-up play with Duncan Bell. Phil explained that he flat-called Duncan’s raise preflop, then both players checked on the turn. On the river, however, Duncan bet out 4K and Phil moved all in. After a long time in the tank, Duncan folded and Phil flipped over the best hand in poker — POCKET FIVES! He joked to the PocketFives staff that he felt compelled to play the hand. Why? Because he loves us. After winning the big pot, Phil’s stack was up to 44K and he grinned mischeviously.

With 300 players remaining and the average stack at 24K, here some other chip counts of notable P5ers in Event #36:

Shannon Shorr - 55K
Dan “voff” Deveau - 47K
Bryan Micon - 43K
Chris “Moorman1″ Moorman - 33K
Tom “titantom32″ Braband - 29K
Richard “Lee Nickel” Fohrenbach - 22K
Justin “jurollo” Rollo - 21K
Dimitri “Skanky980″ Valouev - 20K
Eric “basebaldy” Baldwin - 19K
Matt “SamENole” Smith - 19K
Carol “colson10″ Olson - 15K
Aaron “ndgrinder59″ Steury - 15K
Dag Martin “dmmikkel” Mikkelsen - 14K
Scott “mindwise” Pendergrast - 12K

• June 20, 2008 -- Rough Day at the Office
• June 19, 2008 -- How To Remedy Boredom at the Poker Table
• June 28, 2008 -- CrazyMarco, Roothlus Chip Up
• June 19, 2008 -- Bowker Goes Busto

It was cold.

With the blinds at 6K/12K and 13 players remaining in the $5K NLHE Event, Anders Henriksson raised to 33K from early position and Jon “apestyles” Van Fleet reraised to 100K, with 200K behind in his stack. Action folded back to Henriksson, who shoved for a total of 229K and Van Fleet quickly called, only to find that his QQ was way behind the KK of Henriksson. The board ran out 742K and, of course, Q on the river to leave everyone wondering what could have been.

Van Fleet was left with 68K, but then doubled up on the very next hand. He shoved in early position with A2 and was called by Adam Geyer with 44. Van Fleet hit the A on the flop and managed to dodge a two-outer to stay alive.

Scott “SCTrojans” Freeman (pictured left) lost a crucial race in what has been a rough hour for the remaining online stars. Freeman raised to 31K from under the gun and Chuck Sklar moved all in from the small blind for 140K more. Scott quickly called with AK and was unhappy to see Sklar’s 33. Freeman shook his head as the board revealed QT867 and he was left with around 350K.

Scott “gunning4u” Seiver is still the commanding chip leader with 1.4 million. He took out the last player, Humberto Brenes, whom spectators were sad to see go.

Speaking of which, P5er Eric “basebaldy” Baldwin was eliminated in 15th place for $25,767 and Cody “thugmoneymakr” Slaughbaugh was out in 19th place for $19,583. Both are still hanging around to watch.

Be sure to stick around tonight as we cover Event #21, as well as the $3K Horse Event, all the way to the final table.

• June 13, 2008 -- Money Makr
• June 12, 2008 -- All’s Quiet On the Amazon Front
• June 13, 2008 -- Home Run for Baldwin
• June 12, 2008 -- Robbins Takes 8th in PLO

Cody “thugmoneymakr” Slaughbaugh has been on a tear in Level 16 of the $5K NLHE Event. Slaughbaugh began the level with roughly 170K and has since built his stack to 350K, putting him near the top of the leaderboard.

Slaughbaugh (pictured right) first got involved in a pot with Danny Smith. At 3K/6K blinds, Slaughbaugh raised to 17K from the button and got calls from Smith and Anna “VietCutie” Wroblewski in the blinds. On a flop of 553, Smith and Wroblewski checked to Slaughbaugh, who bet 28K. Smith called and Wroblewski folded. The 6 fell on the turn and again Smith checked to Slaughbaugh, who instantly shoved for 122K. Smith thought for two minutes before calling with 88, which was way behind Cody’s QQ. Slaughbaugh faded the two outer as the K came on the turn and he picked up a pot of 360K.

On the very next hand, Slaughbaugh raised to 18K from the cutoff and Wroblewski raised to 42K from the small blind. Scott Seiver then raised enough to put Anna all in, Slaughbuagh folded and Anna called immediately with KK. Seiver flipped up AJ, and then outdrew her when the A spiked on the turn. Wroblewski finished in 39th place, good for $12,712.

Scott “SCTrojans” Freeman (pictured left) has just crept over the 200K mark after busting Sam El Sayed. El Sayed shoved his last 35K from the cutoff and Freeman, being the wizard he is, figured he was priced in and made the call with K3, which was ahead of Sayed’s QT. The board ran out J52A4 and El Sayed was eliminated.

Alex “AJKHoosier” Kamberis has also just been taken out in 34th place for $16,147, but there are still a handful of notable online stars still left in the field. Here are some recent chip counts:

Scott “gunning4u” Seiver - 700K
Jon “Apestyles” Van Fleet - 225K
Eric “basebaldy” Baldwin - 220K
Adam “Roothlus” Levy - 210K

A loud roar came from the ESPN Tournament Arena just before players in the $5K NLHE went on dinner break. A large crowd had gathered to watch Daniel Negeanu win his fourth WSOP bracelet as he defeated Ugur Marangoz heads up in the $2K Limit HE Event. He’s in a $200,000 bracelet race with Phil Ivey for this year’s WSOP, and as he hoisted bracelet #4 into the air, he yelled, “Me 1, Ivey 0!”

• June 12, 2008 -- All’s Quiet On the Amazon Front
• June 13, 2008 -- Home Run for Baldwin
• June 13, 2008 -- The Cooler
• June 12, 2008 -- Robbins Takes 8th in PLO

Scott “SCTrojans” Freeman recently picked up a pot worth 10K to pull himself near the top of the leaderboard with 40K chips in the $2.5K NLHE event. With the blinds at 150/300, Freeman (pictured right) raised to 825 in middle position and the small blind called. The flop ran out T54 and Freeman bet 1325. The small blind check-raised all in for 2900 more and Freeman called without any hesitation with JT. He had his opponent’s 66 in deep trouble and the turn 5 and river 7 earned Freeman the pot.

Marco “CrazyMarco” Johnson and Matt “mattster24″ Sterling are also hovering near 40K as Level 5 ends. Marco picked up an enormous pot earlier in the day with quad threes and has been bullying his table around since — not an easy task considering Sorel “Imper1um” Mizzi is seated two spots to his left (Mizzi has just 6K, however).

Danny “THE_D_RY” Ryan (left) was just eliminated after shoving his last 2.8K into the pot with KQ and running up against AQ. The flop revealed 822, but the K made it interesting, giving Ryan top pair and his opponent a flush draw. Unfortunately the 7 peeled off on the river and Ryan was sent packing.

Cody “thugmoneymkr” Slaughbaugh was also just hit hard, losing a 33K pot when his QQ ran into AA with all of the chips going in preflop. The board ran out 886T5 and Slaughbaugh was left with 5K.

A slew of online stars are still staying strong in the event. With 550 players remaining and the average stack at 12.5K, here’s a look at the chip counts of some notable P5ers:

Phil “USCPhildo” Collins - 14K
Matt “AllInAt420″ Stout - 14K
Andy “BKiCE” Seth - 13K
Jared “TheWacoKidd” Hamby - 12.5K
Bryan Micon - 12K
Court Harrington - 11K
Craig “MrCasino” Gray - 10K
Steve “gboro780″ Gross - 9K
Stu “thedonator” Patterson - 9K
Chad “lilholdem954″ Batista - 8K
Ryan “daut44″ Daut - 7K
Anna “VietCutie” Wroblewski - 7K

• June 16, 2008 -- Greenstein Wins Third Bracelet
• June 8, 2008 -- Bubble Bursts in $2.5K NLHE Event
• June 8, 2008 -- Babes in Pokerland
• June 30, 2008 -- No Double Dipping