As Level 27 comes to a close with the blinds at 30K/60K and an ante of 10K, players are really tightening up their games. Though the first two levels of the day saw the field decrease from its starting point of 79 all the way down to 44 remaining, the last two levels have only seen the elimination of 11 additional contenders. All players are guaranteed $193,000, though the final table is so close it’s nearly palpable.

Craig Marquis is the currently chipleader with nearly 11.5 million chips, properly representing for internet poker. Team Ladbrokes player Peter Eastgate (pictured at left) is also in the top three with 8.9M in chips.

Several PocketFivers tried to continue hanging on as the blinds escalate, but were facing stacks quite short of the 4.5M average. Garrett “GBecks” Beckman (pictured at right) recently doubled up when it folded around to him and he shoved all-in for his remaining 870K. Dennis Phillips quickly called and everyone else folded. Phillips turned over QQ and Beckman appeared to be in bad shape with his KJ. The flop came J44 and Garrett picked up two more outs to take down the pot. The J on the turn put Beckman in the lead in the hand and the K on the river doubled Garrett up to 1.95 million.

However, in an unfortunate turn of events for Garrett, the last hand at the featured table made him head for the exit. Garrett got it all in on the turn with the 6-7-T-9 board showing three clubs. Garrett held AQ for the nut flush draw, but his opponent held Q8 for the made straight. The river bricked out and Garrett was sent home in 31st Place, receiving $193,000 for his efforts. Many congratulations for the deep run!

• July 13, 2008 -- Reunited
• July 12, 2008 -- Double Trouble
• July 12, 2008 -- Kibler-Melby Doubles
• July 12, 2008 -- Tuf Break

Chris “SLOPPYKLOD” Klodnicki and Peter “number1pen” Neff can’t seem to get enough of each other.  If you’ve been following our coverage throughout the Main Event, you may recall that both Klodnicki (pictured left) and Neff were seated at Day 2A’s Table of Doom together.  They have been reunited as a result of the latest table redraw and spent the last level of play seated in the 9 and 7 seats respectively. 

Both have also chipped up during this last level.  First, Neff raised to 65K on the button with the blinds at 12K/24K ante 3K and the player in the small blind called.  The flop came down 973 and the small blind checked.  Peter contemplated his options before moving all-in.  The other player thought momentarily and called with AQ.  Neff turned over 89 for top pair with a flush draw and, when the turn and river came 97, he eliminated the player, known as Cedric the Realtor, and increased his stack to over one million chips.

Despite having somewhat of a turbulent day where his stack went up and down, Neff scooped a solid hand right before the bell on the last hand of the night.

Action was folded around to the big blind who raised to 66k. Neff re-raised out of the big blind to 208k and his opponent called. Neff shoved all-in on the 652 flop and his opponent folded.
Neff later told Pocketfives that he had the QQ.

Chris “SLOPPYKLOD” Klodnicki doubled up when James McManus raised to 65K in middle position and Chris reraised to 185K.  When it folded back around to McManus he bet enough to put Klodnicki all-in.  Chris, who had a million chips behind, thought for some time before he called with JJ.  McManus held QT.  Klodnicki managed to dodge a queen as the board ran out A645A and double up to 2.5 million chips.

Garrett “GBecks” Beckman joined the table with Neff and Klodnicki toward the end of the night but did most of his damage at his first table coming back from the dinner break. Beckman called a preflop raise of 72K by Alexander Kostritsyn on the button and the two saw a flop heads up. It came T64 and Kostritsyn checked to Beckman, who bet 90K. Alexander then moved all in for nearly 300K more and Garrett went into the tank for five minutes. He eventually made the call with 77 and had to dodge six out against Kostritsyn’s AK. The turn and river brought the 2 and J, shipping a pot of more than 800K to Beckman and increasing his stack to 2 million.

With 79 players remaining and the average stack at 1.73 million, here’s a list of some P5′ers left:

David “Raptor517″ Benefield - 2.49 million (right)
Chris “SLOPPYKLOD” Klodnicki - 2.4 million
Jonathan “therookieqq9″ Plens - 1.9 million
Garrett “GBecks” Beckman - 1.86 million
Peter “number1pen” Neff - 1.275m
Owen “ocrowe” Crowe - 950k
Adam “Roothlus” Levy - 767k
Jeremy “thechemist83″ Gaubert - 578k
 

• July 12, 2008 -- Double Trouble
• July 12, 2008 -- Kibler-Melby Doubles
• July 13, 2008 -- KLOD Nicks More Chips
• July 9, 2008 -- Lost & Found

Garrett “GBecks” Beckman doubled his stack in the last level before dinner break. And while he is still below the average stack of 1.4 million, the mere thought of Beckman with enough chips to maneuver should have his tablemates concerned. Just ask Adam “Roothlus” Levy, who is still at his table.

With blinds at 10K/20K/3K ante, Beckman raised to 50K on late position and a player reraised to 180K from the small blind. Beckman shipped his last 423K in and the player called:

Beckman: AK
Small Blind: AQ

The board KT2K3 board was kind to Beckman, who increased his stack to over a million.

Not quite as fortunate in Level 22 were Cort “the cortster” Kibler-Melby, Aditya “Intervention” Agarwal and Peter “number1pen” Neff. Kibler-Melby pushed the remainder of his chip stack in from the button and was called by the small blind, who held the AQ. Cort’s K9 was going to need some help. The flop came 333 and Cort was still behind. The Q came on the turn leaving Cort drawing to only a king but when the 8 fell on the river he was eliminated. One positive note about his elimination is it came right after a nearly $10K pay jump so Cort will take home $51,466 for his 99th place finish.

Agarwal was short-chipped at the ESPN table in the Milwaukee’s Best Arena that featured Mike Matusow and Owen “ocrowe” Crowe. Agarwal had moved all-in twice without getting covered, hovering around a ten big blind stack. Agarwal had been pacing back and forth, conversing with his friends Chris “cbdr3799″ Dombrowski and Jim “MrBigQueso” Collopy about shoving hand standards.

Agarwal got action on his third shove for 234k with blinds at 10k-20k-3k but was in woefull shape when his AJ was up against AQ. Agarwal stormed into the lead when the flop came J83 and held up the board bricked out for his opponent. A few orbits later, he re-reaised Crowe’s 53k open, going all-in for his last 450k. An opponent behind Agarwal called and Crowe folded. Once again, Agarwal was up against a better ace with his AT trailing his opponents AQ. It appeared Agarwal caught another miracle when the flop came TK8 but the J on the turn ultimately eliminated him as he wasn’t able to catch another queen for a chop. Agarwal’s 96th place finish was good for 51k.

Neff (pictured right) found himself in the middle of a button vs. blinds setup, as the button raised and Neff reraised enough to put the player all in. The button called with KK and Neff’s AT would need to come from behind. The K on the flop sealed the win for his opponent and Neff lost a pot worth 925K.

We’ve also found Jonathan Plens again! And who could miss him? Jonathan is seated next to Phil Helmuth with 1.6 million chips. Here’s a look at some other chip counts heading into the dinner break:

David Benefield - 2.5M
Jonathan “therookieqq9″ Plens - 1.6M
Chris “SLOPPYKLOD” Klodnicki - 1.2M
Owen “ocrowe” Crowe - 1.1M
Adam “Roothlus” Levy - 700K
Jeff “jpapola” Papola - 255K
Jeff “thechemist83″ Gaubert - 405K

• July 13, 2008 -- Reunited
• July 12, 2008 -- Kibler-Melby Doubles
• July 12, 2008 -- Tuf Break
• July 13, 2008 -- Papola Bows Out

Cort “thecortster” Kibler-Melby had been on life support for quite awhile with his stack as low as around 180k. Cort (pictured right) recently got all his chips in the middle with the A2 against another players Q9. The board ran out J546K and Cort’s ace-high was good enough to boost his stack up to around 375k.

Garrett “GBecks” Beckman recently was involved in a huge pot against Alex Kostritsyn. Alex open-raised to 52k preflop and Garrett reraised to 177k total. Alex made the call and the flop came T74. Alex checked the flop over to Garrett who bet 150k. Alex asked how much Garrett had behind and the dealer counted around 700k more in chips in Garrett’s stack. Alex made the call and the turn brought the 2. The deuce was an action killer as both players checked to see the A fall on the river. Alex again checked but Garrett pushed out a bet of 300k. Alex thought for a bit, playing with his chips before finally making the call. Garrett instantly mucked his cards, caught trying to steal and Alex won the massive pot as Beckman’s stack dropped to around 400k.

Two PocketFivers collided at table 13 during the past level. David “raptor517″ Benefield raised to 55K in middle position and he was called by the button and Chris “SLOPPYKLOD” Klodnicki in the small blind. On the 653 flop, Klodnicki opened the betting for 100K and Benefield called. The button folded and two players saw the Q fall on the turn. Klodnicki checked and Benefield bet 225K. Klodnicki made the call and both players checked the T on the river. “Pair of sixes,” Benefield said as he flipped over 86. Klodnicki mucked and Benefield added more than 450K to his gigantic stack.

Here are a few recent chip counts we were able to grab.

David “raptor517″ Benefield - 2.6M
Chris “SLOPPYKLOD” Klodnicki - 1.1M
Peter “number1pen” Neff - 900K
Adam “Roothlus” Levy - 800K
Jeremy “thechemist83″ Gaubert - 650K
Garrett “GBecks” Beckman - 400K
Cort “thecortster” Kibler-Melby - 375K
Jeff “jpapola” Papola - 250K

• July 13, 2008 -- Reunited
• July 12, 2008 -- Tuf Break
• July 12, 2008 -- Double Trouble
• July 12, 2008 -- Friedberg Busts, Beckman Builds Stack

Andy “tufat23″ Teng went through the gamut of emotions on the hand that ultimately ended his run on Day 5 of the Main Event. With blinds at 8K/16K/2K, Shawn Sheikhan opened and another opponent reraised to 150k. Teng (pictured left) reraised to 400k, a move tantamount to moving all-in with about 500k behind. Sheikhan folded and the 3-bettor put Teng all-in and Teng called. Teng tabled the AK but was trailing his opponent’s KK until the flop came A35. Another player at the table announced that he had folded an ace before the 7 peeled on the turn. The gallery of fans standing around the table nearly fainted when the K dropped on the river, shipping a pot over 1.8 million away from Teng.

“I was like I am not even going to celebrate when the ace hit,” Teng told Pocketfives later. “Plus, I don’t want to rub it in to some guy that looks like he’s about to lose a monster pot with kings either.”

At one point during Day 5 Cort “the cortster” Kibler-Melby’s stack had grown to nearly 1 million. He’s got some work to do to reach that mark again here in Level 21. Cort is seated to the left of Phil Hellmuth and saw a cheap flop with Phil out of the big blind. Both checked the 953 flop, and Hellmuth led out for 62K when the A hit on the turn. Kibler-Melby min-raised to 124K and Hellmuth made the call. The 9 fell on the river and Hellmuth bet 200K. Kibler-Melby decided to make the call and mucked when Phil showed 33 for a full house. The hand dropped Cort to 400K.

A battle between two titans of online poker resulted in a swing of chips for Adam “Roothlus” Levy (pictured right) and Garrett “GBecks” Beckman. Alex Kostritsyn opened to 40k from early position and Levy called from middle position and Beckman called from late position. Both players checked the A35 flop to Beckman, who bet 80k and Levy called. The turn was the 9 and Levy checked and Beckman bet 125k and Levy moved all-in for an about 250k more and Beckman folded.

Ladbrokes pro Jeff Kimber was quiet for most of the day and finally busted when he ran his pocket kings into a pair of nines and his opponent flopped a full house. Kimber earned $41,816 for his 120th place finish. Keith “damurdera3″ Ferrera was eliminated just moments before in 121st place and will take home the same amount.

Raja “tiger76″ Kattmuri was eliminated when he shoved all-in preflop and was called by a player holding the 88. Raja held the KQ and needed some help but unforunately for him the flop came 8-5-2 giving his opponent a set and left Raja drawing dead. He was eliminated in 123rd place for $41,816.

Now that we’ve been able to make our way onto the tournament floor, we have some updated chip counts! With the average stack at 1.1 million and 120 players remaining, here’s a look at the notables still hanging around:

David “raptor517″ Benefield - 2.4M
Owen “ocrowe” Crowe - 1.2M
Aditya “Intervention” Agarwal - 1.1M
Garrett “GBecks” Beckman - 950K
Peter “number1pen” Neff - 900K
Adam “Roothlus” Levy - 815K
Matt Jensen - 780K
Jeff “jpapola” Papola - 620K
Jeremy “thechemist83″ Gaubert - 620K
Chris “SLOPPYKLOD” Klodnicki - 550K
Dan “Wildman75″ Buzgon - 450K
Cort “thecortster” Kibler-Melby - 400K

• July 12, 2008 -- Kibler-Melby Doubles
• July 12, 2008 -- Double Trouble
• July 12, 2008 -- Friedberg Busts, Beckman Builds Stack
• July 12, 2008 -- Norris Busts, Beckman Dips