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