Now that play has reached the money, the all-in paddles are once again flying through the air as players are putting all their chips on the line. Though many PocketFives players continue to protect their stacks, plenty are also making decisions for their entire stack and getting sent to the rail. Now that players have made the money, they are dropping at a rate of nearly 1.5 players per minute; exactly 100 players were eliminated in the last level’s hour.

One recent elimination was Jason Gray (pictured at left), whose A-Q couldn’t catch up to the pocket kings of his opponent. Darren “DABADESTCHIC” Nelson’s solid run throughout the 2008 WSOP officially came end minutes ago as well. Nelson busted out in a blind versus blind battle when the action folded around to him in the small blind. Short-stacked with 65K in the 2K-4K-500 level, Nelson looked at the K and moved all-in. Cort “thecorster” Kibler-Melby woke up with 66 in the big blind and called with a 400K-plus stack. Nelson held the 5 as a kicker and was eliminated when he didn’t improve. This is Nelson’s third cash this series. He also had two deep finishes prior to the Main Event with a 16th and 17th place finish.

Senovio “DorsalFin” Ramirez was also one of many players who busted shortly after the bubble burst when he raised under the gun to 11K with the blinds at 2K/4K ante 500. The player in the hijack reraised the minimum, making it 22K total. The player in the cut off called the 22K and Senovio pushed all-in for his remaining 20.5K. The reraiser made the call and the other player, who was also shortstacked with less than 100K thought for a minute before eventually folding. Ramirez showed KK and the other player turned over AJ. The flop came down JT6 giving his opponent two more outs. The A on the turn left Senovio drawing very slim and the 2 on the river saw him eliminated shortly after the last level of the night began. He receives 622nd place for his efforts.

On the flip side of the coin are the players that continue to chip up and increase their stacks. Jamie “TheCronic420″ Rosen (pictured at right) continues to play aggressive poker at his table when a player in middle positoin raised to 11K, the player in the hijack called, and Rosen reraised out of the blinds for 31K total. The initial raiser folded and the other player made the call. The cards on the flop ran out T98 and Jamie led for 26K, which the other player called. Both checked the 5 on the turn and checked again when the 9 hit on the river. Rosen announced, “I have a ten”, as he flipped over 5T and the other player mucked. After the hand, Rosen was up to 460K.

Doug “Resilient” Smith was among the short stacks moving up as he turned his earlier 60K into 85K. When PocketFives reminded him that’s what his nickname was for, he jokingly asked his tablemates, “Can you even spell resilient?” He singled one of his opponents out, teasing, “Just getting you back, man. ” His opponent retorted, “Well, yeah, you’re just that Bill Murray look-alike guy, right? I didn’t even know you played poker.”

Jokes aside, here are some of the more recent unofficial chip counts:

Dag Martin Mikkelsen - 780K
Jonathan “therookieqq9″ Plens - 720K
Cort “thecortster” Kibler-Melby - 550K
Adam “Roothlus” Levy - 505K
Jamie “TheCronic420″ Rosen - 420K
Thayer Rasmussen - 400K
Jon “PearlJammer” Turner - 400K
Paul “comeonphish” Lieu - 385K
Aaron “NDGrinder” Steury - 328K
Derek “arodss3″ Buonano - 280K
Aditya “Intervention” Agarwal - 250K
Zelong “freeman” Dong - 230K
Jeff “jpapola” Papola - 205K
David “Raptor517″ Benefield - 230K
Bertrand “ElkY” Grospellier - 175K
Hevad Khan - 170K
Devin “TranquilChaos” Porter - 150K
Hunter “THE_HUNT_D” Frey - 140K
Garrett “GBecks” Beckman - 135K
Brent “Astrolux85″ Roberts - 123K
Brian “Like7″ Lamanna - 115K
Tim “tmay420″ West - 110K
Chris “SLOPPYKLOD” Klodnicki - 105K
Brian “Like7″ Lamanna - 100K
Doug “Resilient” Smith - 80K
Clayton “clayton27″ Newman
Justin “truesyalose” Truesdell - 30K

Recent Eliminations:
Jason Gray
Frank “Round42″ Rusnack
Darren “DABADESTCHIC” Nelson
Senovio “DorsalFin” Ramirez
Frank “Round42″ Rusnak
Jeff “YoungSupremacy” Hakim
Justin “truesyalose” Truesdell

• July 11, 2008 -- People Don’t You Know It’s About Time?
• July 10, 2008 -- Crowe’s Chips Riding a Roller Coaster
• July 10, 2008 -- Levy’s Ruthless Pursuit of Chips
• July 10, 2008 -- Clements At Risk Early

As hand-for-hand play continued well past the end of Level 14, players were either anxiously awaiting the money bubble or falling asleep at their tables. Play was frenetic as camera crews ran up and down the aisles, trying to capture players’ best and worst moments. However, cheers recently erupted in the Amazon room, signifying that 666 remain and everyone has made the money and are now guaranteed $21,230. Congratulations to all! As soon as hand-for-hand completes, players will take a 30-minute break to color up and take a breather.

Some players, like Senovio “DorsalFin” Ramirez (pictured at right) were trying to take advantage of the bubble to semi-bluff players off their chips and getting burned in the process. Senovio reported that he managed to lose 100K in chips over the last two levels, but spoke to his daughters for good luck once again at dinner and hopes it would charm his play going into the bubble.

Paul “comeonphish” Lieu decided to put his big stack to use bullying other players at the table while hand-for-hand play was underway. With the blinds at 1.5K/3K ante 400 it folded around to Lieu who raised to 10K from the hijack. The player on the button then reraised to 35K and Paul eyed his stack before making the call. The flop was A76 and Paul led for 20K. The other player thought for moment before making the call. As soon as the 2 hit on the turn, Lieu grabbed a stack of orange 5K chips large enough to put his opponent all-in. The other player thought briefly before announcing, “Well, you better get a camera over here.” Another player asked if he was calling and he paused before verbally announcing his call. The player then turned over AA while Lieu showed 28. Paul needed a diamond on the river, but instead he got the 6 and he paid off the other player’s remaining 64.4K.

Other players were making extremely solid moves and chipping up. Jeff “jpapola” Papola has been on a rush approaching the money bubble, doubling up twice. He went from 50K to 100K when his A-J held up against K-J and later went from 100k to 230k when his kings held up against A-Q. Thayer “THAY3R” Rasmussen also chipped up when he won a 400k pot off of Hunter “THE_HUNT_D” Frey (pictured at left) when his A-K beat Frey’s jacks in an all-in preflop hand. The hand left Rasmussen with 420k and Frey with 60k.

Other players were making strong plays and getting completely flattened. As we reported earlier, the table where Jeremiah Smith sits with Jon “PearlJammer” Turner was incredibly dangerous. Jeremiah built his stack up to more than 1.2M in the last level and was apparently still on his heater.

One of his latest victims is David “davidp18″ Peters (pictured at left), who has been struck by lightning. After Peters opened under-the-gun to 8k, tournament chip leader and former poker reporter Jeremiah Smith put him all-in for his last 160k after he stuck out two orange 100K stacks. Peters called with the QQ and was way ahead of Smith’s 96. Or at least he thought. Smith apologized in advance and jokingly referred to it as a standard race situation before the flop dropped. Smith’s optimism was understood when the flop came T87, flopping Smith a straight with a flush draw. Peter’s dire situation caught a ray of hope when the T peeled on the turn but the A on the river capped off what has been a Jamie Gold-like run of cards for Smith, who was awestruck in the aftermath of an incredible scene which captured in its entirety by the ESPN crew.

Here are some more unofficial chip counts at the bubble:

Keith “damurdera3″ Ferrera - 600K
Owen “ocrowe” Crowe - 530K
Andy “tufat23″ Teng - 500K
Adam “Roothlus” Levy - 485K
Matthew “Burton1080″ Jensen - 480K
Paul “comeonphish” Lieu - 480K
Cort “thecortster” Kibler-Melby - 440K
Thayer Rasmussen - 420K
Jamie “TheChronic420″ Rosen - 370K
Jonathan “therookieqq9″ Plens - 330K
Aaron “NDGrinder” Steury - 260K
Aditya “Intervention” Agarwal - 260K
Devin “TranquilChaos” Porter - 245K
Tracey “XtrACEy” Nguyen - 235K
Bertrand “ElkY” Grospellier - 217K
Zelong “freeman” Dong - 193K
Leo “Superfluous Man” Wolpert - 160K
Garrett “GBecks” Beckman - 160K
Clayton “clayton27″ Newman - 145K
Hunter “THE_HUNT_D” Frey - 145K
Frank “Round42″ Rusnack - 140K
Cliff “JohnnyBax” - 110K
Jason Gray - 100K
Ben “astrolux85″ Roberts - 95K
Tim “tmay420″ West - 80K
Jan “Erdnase” Heitmann - 80K
Brian “Like7″ Lamanna - 80K
Darren “DABADESTCHIC” Nelson - 63K
Justin “truesyalose” Truesdell - 62K
Senovio “DorsalFin” Ramirez - 46K

• July 11, 2008 -- Olly Olly Oxen Free!
• July 11, 2008 -- Money Makin’, Super Tables Breakin’
• July 10, 2008 -- Levy’s Ruthless Pursuit of Chips
• July 10, 2008 -- Clements At Risk Early

Adam “Roothlus” Levy’s (pictured left) resurrection from a short stack last night to 230k at the start of Day 3 of the Main Event has continued escalate. Levy scooped a 280k in the last level in a cutoff vs blind battle when Levy raised in late position and got reraised by his opponent out of the blind. Levy put in another raise, resulting in the massive all-in pot with his AK trailing his opponents pocket jacks. Levy clipped a pair and currently sits with 400k.

Matthew “Burton1080″ Jensen has also been on an enormous tear today, starting with the second hand of the day.  A player opened for 4K and Jensen raised to 14K out of the big blind with A-K with the king of clubs.  The flop came out {ac]72 and Matt led for 20K.  The other player raised to 55K and Jensen moved all-in.  The other player then folded and Matt picked up a nice sized pot. 

Leo “SuperfluousMan” Wolpert has been treading water all day but has managed to keep his 160k starting stack intact. Increasing that stack will be much more difficult after Wolpert drew an extremely tough table with Owen “ocrowe” Crowe (300k) and “Bodog” Ari Engel (130k).

Aaron “NDGrinder59″ Steury continues to ride the roller coaster he boarded last night as his stack continues to fluctuate in six-figure swings. Steury started the Day 3 with 121k after getting up to 250k late in Day 2. Steury ran his starting stack up to 250k again but got back down to 185k after losing a big pot post-flop with pocket jacks.

Senovio “DorsalFin” Ramirez continues to build a big stack and recently just busted a player in an all-in preflop confrontation. Ramirez re-raised a 10k open to 25k out of the blind with blinds at 1k-2k-300. Ramirez’s opponent went all-in for an additional 40k and Ramirez called with his AK way ahead of his opponents A-10. The board ran true for Ramirez, who has 225k.

Mohsin “chicagocards1″ Charania was fighting the deck most of the day and eventually hit the exit when his kings ran into pocket aces on a ten high flop. Charania started the day with 65k and was able to get up to 125k before his bustout.  Others eliminated recently include Bobby “gettindeep” Hodson, Mike “RunScreamin” Herder, Kevin “kice32″ Iacofano, Mark “sideshowgil” Gilbert, and Darren Elias.

• July 10, 2008 -- Strasser vs. Nguyen
• July 11, 2008 -- Crowe Pecking Away
• July 10, 2008 -- Crowe’s Chips Riding a Roller Coaster
• July 11, 2008 -- Double Double (or Toil and Trouble)

Starting with a below average stack of 65k on Day 3 of the Main Event, Scott “BigRiskky” Clements (pictured right) wasn’t wielding the big stack he’s accustomed to bludgeoning on his opposition.

Clements position got bleaker after getting down to 49k in the first hour with blinds at 800-1600-200. Then Clements finally scooped a pot that will perhaps enable him to play more of his aggressive style that’s been so successful for him.

Clements raised to 4700 under-the-gun and got re-raised all-in by his opponent for an additional 36k, costing Clements the majority of his chips. Given the position Clements raised from, he wasn’t exactly ecstatic about getting raised all-in for most of his chips by this particular opponent.

“I thought about folding,” he said.

Clements eventually made the call and his AK was trailing his opponents pocket tens.
Clements picked up a two extra outs when the flop came Q-J-x, but was bad shape until he clipped a king on the river, elevating his stack to 87k.

Another PocketFiver whose built his stack early is Senovio “DorsalFin” Ramirez, who started the day with 124k. Ramirez’s opponent raised to 5k from middle position and Ramirez called out of the blind. On a flop of A86, Ramirez check-raised his opponent’s overbet of 20k to 55k. His opponent went all-in for an additional 10k and Ramirez called with AK, way ahead of his opponents AQ. The board ran true for Ramirez, who now has 190k.

Darrell “Gigabet” Dicken played a big all-in preflop hand with his opponent, both with approximately equal stacks. Dicken held the QQ but found he was behind his opponents AA. Behind until the flop came KQ3 to catapult Dicken into the lead. Ah but the poker gods can be cruel sometimes and in a classic “suck-out re-suck-out” the A hit on the turn to put the other player back into the lead. As the river was being dealt the player with aces nearly jumped out of his seat seeing it was a face card but it was just the K. No quads for Dicken and he was sent to the rail.

Devin “TranquilChaos” Porter and another player saw a flop of 997. The other player checked over to Porter who bet 7k only to be check-raised to 15k. Porter made the call and when the 9 fell on the turn both players checked. The T came on the river and the other player bet out 12k which Porter called. The other player showed the 66 for nines full of sixes which was good enough and Porter mucked his hand. As his table broke he said he was down about 30k from the start of the day but is looking to get it back soon!

Some early chip counts we spotted include Thayer “THAY3R” Rasmussen (125k), Nachman “thelandlord” Berlin (60k), Ryan “Daut44″ Daut (40k), and Christian “Deckzor” Fockenberg (11k).

Early eliminations include Noah “exclusive” Boeken, Kevin “ImaLucSac” Macphee, Michael “benvo123″ Benvenuti, and Jeff “yellowsub” Williams

• July 7, 2008 -- By the Numbers: 2008 WSOP Main Event
• July 11, 2008 -- Money Makin’, Super Tables Breakin’
• July 11, 2008 -- People Don’t You Know It’s About Time?
• July 10, 2008 -- Levy’s Ruthless Pursuit of Chips

As the final installment of Day 1 of the Main Event came to a close just before 1AM PST, nearly 1,400 players remain from today’s field of 2,461. After calculations from Rio tournament staff, the net prize pool now stands at $64,333,600 with total registration of 6,844 entrants. This figure is almost 500 more than 2007, and amazingly, more than the first 34 years of the Main Event COMBINED. Pretty amazing stuff. First prize will walk away with the coveted bracelet and a cool $9.1M dollars; all players at the final table will make $900K or more.

Overall, PocketFivers fared well in today’s event and many live on to compete in Days 2A and 2B. Tomorrow, all players will take a rest day as the media will compete in a charity tournament. Before we retire for a day, however, there are plenty of stories remaining before the break.

Playing his entire day at one of the featured side tables with Phil Ivey, Garrett “GBecks” Beckman (pictured at left) recently doubled his stack up when his ace-high flush dominated his opponent’s jack-high flush on a paired board. His A8 was good enough to propel him up the chip counts.

On the last hand of the evening, Garrett was on the button when the player under the gun bet 1K. Garrett called it down and the big blind followed suit. The flop came A92 and the big blind checked. The player under the gun bet 1.5K and both Garrett and the big blind called. The 5 on the turn induced a check from both his opponents and he took the opportunity to bet 3K. Both folded and he showed 22 for the flopped set. He ended the night with 53K in chips and will come back fighting after a restful two days.

Ryan “youngluck” Young also made a run in the last hour of play; PocketFives saw him flop top set and a king-high flush, increasing his stack to 85k near the end of the day.

Some PocketFivers took a hit before the end of the day but will return to play in Day 2. One of our chip leaders, Tom “titantom32″ Braband, took a near-30k hit in the last level of play, but still was sitting comfortable with 90k. Also taking a hit was Scott “BigRiskky” Clements, who was hovering around 45k until he got a bluff snapped off on the river, taking a 10k chunk out of his stack in the last 30 minutes of play. Senovio “DorsalFin” Ramirez also lost a big pot to an opponent who held pocket eights when the board ran out 4-3-3-8-X. His stack dipped to 12K after peaking at 26K after the dinner break.

Sitting with about 70k near the end of the day, Jason “treysfull21″ Mercier (pictured at right) appeared to be heading to Day 2 with a solid stack. But then came along a hand that he’ll surely be thinking about the rest of the night, a hand Mercier just recently explained to PocketFives. Mercier hit a monster flop when his 64 connected to the Q67 board. Mercier and his opponent got all-in on the flop, resulting in a 90k pot. Mercier just happened to be up against the 85, one of the few hands against which he could in bad shape. The board bricked out for Mercier and improved his opponent and he’s left with 19k nearing the end of Day 1D.

Meanwhile, though Ladbrokes team pro Azad Pirooti sat with only 5K when we last reported on him, he managed to increase his stack through well-picked pots all the way up to 24K. Andreas Hoivold, however, went the opposite way and was sent to the rail despite chipping up early.

Here are some notable unofficial chip counts at the end of the day. Congratulations to all players!

Tom “titantom32″ Braband - 90K
Ryan “youngluck” Young - 85K
Scott Pendergrast - 61K
Garrett “GBecks” Beckman - 53K
Bryan Micon - 51K
Bodog Ari Engel - 46K
Tony “Bond18″ Dunst - 41K
James “POKERPRO33″ Campbell - 40K
Scott “BigRiskky” Clements - 35K
Daniel “voff” Deveau - 33K
Eric “sheets” Haber - 27K
Ladbrokes pro Azad Pirooti - 24K (pictured at left)
Grant “drossXYU” Hinkle - 13.5K
Senovio “DorsalFin” Ramirez - 12K

• July 7, 2008 -- ComptonMasta Like Woah
• July 10, 2008 -- Clements At Risk Early
• July 7, 2008 -- The Titan Can’t Sink
• July 6, 2008 -- Strasser Delivers Cooler in Level 1