Jesper Hougaard was dominating the final table of event #36. He seemed to be impossible to beat as his cards seemed to match the flop every time a huge pot was at stake. While Hougaard got the chips in with the worst of it and outdrew to take out the 3rd and 4th place finishers in this event, the final hand had Hougaard ahead of Cody “thugmoneymkr” Slaubaugh. Slaubaugh battled back from a 7.5 to 1 chip deficit at the beginning of heads up play to take over the chip lead at one point but Hougaard fought back and retook the lead before the final hand occured.

They got all the chips in preflop with Slaubaugh’s AT behind the QQ that Hougaard held. Slaubaugh’s fans called for an ace, but the flop came with a much less pleasing Q82 to give Hougaard a set and leave Slaubaugh drawing to runner runner outs. While we here at P5s called for a king or jack on the turn to keep Slaubaugh alive, the 5 on the turn sealed Slaubaugh’s fate and sent him to the rail.

P5s congratulates 8th place finisher Owen “ocrowe” Crowe, 3rd place finisher Aaron “gotcha55″ Kanter, and 2nd place finisher Cody “thugmoneymkr” Slaubaugh on their amazing performances today!

A few hours back, Adam “Roothlus” Levy (pictured left) was embarrased for the P5’s staff to see his stack that had been reduced to 7 blue 500 chips and mentioned that “it wasn’t even worth counting” during the 400-800 level of the WSOP Event #39, 1.5k NL.

A few hours later in the bubble stage, Levy was proud to show off his stack that was up to 37k, 10k over the chip average with 285 players left.

Levy scooped a nice pot in the 500-1000-100 level when he raised to 2.5k from late position and got called by the big blind.

Both players checked a J67 flop. Levy’s opponent bet 4k on the 9 turn and Levy called. The 8 dropped on the river and Levy’s opponent bet 4k and Levy called making a straight with 75.

Scott “BigRiskky” Clements got eliminated when he flatted an early position raise from the big blind and went all-in for 15.5k on a 856 flop with 44. Clements’ opponent called with 99 and Clements failed to improve.

Here are some notable chip stacks left with 276 left. This tournament pays out 270 spots.

Barry Greenstein - 87k

Tristan “cre8ive” Wade - 86k

Garrett “GBecks” Beckman - 58k

Richard “Lee Nickel” Fohrenbach - 47k

Theo Tran - 44k

Kenna James - 40k

Jason “JCarver” Somerville - 27k

Joshua “pbdrunks” VanDuyn - 15k

• June 21, 2008 -- That’s the Way You Need It
• June 21, 2008 -- He’s a Shaniac!
• June 22, 2008 -- Slaubaugh Leading Heads-Up Battle
• June 21, 2008 -- Slaubaugh Not Afraid to Gamble

Aaron “gotcha55″ Kanter was just eliminated from the final table of event #36, the $1.5k NLHE in a heartbreaking manner. Jesper Hougaard, the dominating chip leader at the table has been raising and betting at numerous pots pushing his opponents around. He knocked out 4th place finisher Danny Wong when Wong’s pocket kings couldn’t beat the A5 of Hougaard who flopped the nut flush.

After a little more than 10 hands passed, Hougaard raised and Kanter pushed all in with his QQ and Hougaard made the call with the KJ. The flop and turn ran out safely for Kanter showing the A437 but then the devastating K came on the river to knock Kanter out. Hougaard and his buddies jumped up and down and celebrated at his enormous luck. Kanter takes home $258,862 for his efforts today.

Cody “thugmoneymkr” Slaubaugh is now the lone P5er left to battle Hougaard in a heads up battle that judging from Hougaards play thusfar, may end up being rather short. Slaubaugh (pictured right) just doubled up when his AT held against Hougaard’s QT. After the hand Slaubaugh had 1.6 million to Hougaards 5.9 million in chips.

• June 22, 2008 -- Slaubaugh Takes 2nd
• June 21, 2008 -- That’s the Way You Need It
• June 21, 2008 -- He’s a Shaniac!
• June 21, 2008 -- Slaubaugh Not Afraid to Gamble

Shane “shaniac” Schleger has decided to take over as table captain in Day 2 of the $2,000 Pot-Limit Hold’em event, which got kicked off at 2:00 PT. Schleger has been very active early, raising and re-raising often and moving chips at a table which includes Chris “cdbr3799″ Dombrowski and current chip leader Michael Binger, who arrived late.

Schleger (pictured right) started the day with nearly 80K and had built his stack to 95K within the first 20 minutes of play before taking a hit. With the blinds at 800/1,600, a player in middle position raised to 5,600 (with less than 2,000 behind) and Schleger isolated by re-potting in the cutoff. The button then moved in for his last 18,000 and the short stack and Schleger made the call:

Short stack: 55
Schleger: KQ
Button: AQ

The board ran out A8272 and Schleger was left with 77K while the short stack was eliminated. Dombrowski has 33K and Jeff “jeffboski” Sluzinski has 34K a few tables over.

Eugene Todd and Vanessa Roussa tangled a table over from Schleger’s. With both at exactly 15K, all of the chips went in preflop, Todd with KK and Rousso QQ. The kings held for Todd, who is slightly below an average stack now with 30K. Rousso was eliminated and earned $3,744.

Cody “thugmoneymakr” Slaughbaugh sent the first player to the rail at today’s $1,500 No-Limit Hold’em final table. Slaughbaugh (pictured left) raised to 55K with the blinds at 10K/20K and short stack John Shipley moved in for close to 300K. Slaughbaugh made the call with JJ, which held against the KQ of Shipley, who picked up $56,782 for his ninth-place finish. Slaughbaugh is now second in chips with 1.52 million. P5ers Owen “ocrowe” Crowe (620K) and Aaron “gotcha55″ Kanter (370K) are sixth and seventh, respectively.

• June 21, 2008 -- That’s the Way You Need It
• June 21, 2008 -- He’s a Shaniac!
• June 20, 2008 -- Pressure Setting In
• June 22, 2008 -- Slaubaugh Takes 2nd

As another Saturday at the Rio commences, players were lining the hallways in eager anticipation of the events today. At noon began yet another $1.5K No-Limit Hold’em tournament, Event #39, for which more than 2,600 registrants have entered. Late registration will continue for quite awhile and we will certainly see another huge field this afternoon. All the available Amazon room seats are taken, the dealers are at their seats, and Journey is on the loudspeaker. Stay tuned for our coverage of the many PocketFives players!

This afternoon also marks the start of Day 2 for Event #38, the $2K Pot-Limit Hold’em tournament. They managed to break the bubble after substantial hand-for-hand play last night; 63 players remain and Shane “shaniac” Schleger is ranked 7th in chips. Play will resume at 2PM as they battle for the final table tonight.

At 3PM PST, the remaining 18 players in the quest for the $10K Omaha 8 championship fight down to a single winner; Stu “thedonator” Patterson remains in the contest for the bracelet but is looking quite short-stacked with 96K in chips.

And finally, 2PM PST marks the start time for the final table of Event #36’s $1.5K No-Limit Hold’em tournament, which is chock-full of PocketFivers. Cody “thugmoneymkr” Slaubaugh barely trails chip leader Jesper Hougaard with 1.4M in chips; Owen “ocrowe” Crowe sits in the middle of the pack with 674K, and Aaron “gotcha55″ Kanter is our short stack with 165K. First prize will take WSOP gold and $610,304; we will be sure to watch this exciting battle closely!

• June 21, 2008 -- He’s a Shaniac!
• June 22, 2008 -- Slaubaugh Takes 2nd
• June 21, 2008 -- Shaniac World
• June 21, 2008 -- Slaubaugh Not Afraid to Gamble

The pace in the Amazon room slowed to a crawl as 64 players remained in Event #38, the $2K Pot-Limit Hold’em tournament. Hand-for-hand play endured for 45 minutes of the last level as players eyed the guaranteed payout of $3,744. When the bubble still hadn’t burst at the end of Level 10, groans were heard everywhere. Tournament directors instructed the players that they would play through the bubble tonight before taking a quick ten-minute break to ease the burden of the news.

Unfortunately, several PocketFivers suffered at the whims of the bubble; Noah “Exclusive” Boeken was eliminated when his 55 were dominated by his opponent’s pocket nines. Other recent eliminations include Bertrand “ElkY” Grospellier, Eric “Rizen” Lynch, Shaun Deeb, Shannon Shorr, Chad “lilholdem954″ Batista, and Danny “THE_D_RY” Ryan, who was spotted talking with friends on the rail.

Building a stack, however, was Shane “shaniac” Schleger (pictured at right) who had 48K in chips. When P5s caught up with Shane’s table, he was raising to 3.4K preflop in early position and bullied his whole table into a fold. He remained aggressive as the last level of the day concluded, making sure that he stayed above the average stack of 36K.

After the ten-minute break, Shane managed to catch a couple of monster hands perfect for chipping up: in the first hand, Shane reraised preflop against one other opponent who folded queens; he showed pocket aces. The next hand, the same opponent raised and Shane re-raised once again. This time there was no fold and Shane called his opponent’s potted all-in. Shane held pocket queens to his opponent’s AK and he managed to catch a club flush on the river. The Shaniac was living large with 85K at the conclusion of play tonight after the bubble finally burst and the players were sent home. Play resumes at 2PM PST tomorrow afternoon.

Stu “thedonator” Patterson battled on in Event #37, the $10K Omaha 8 tournament. The field narrowed to 30 remaining players with average stacks of 142K as we caught up with Stu’s table showing the 37T4 on the board. Stu bet 8K after the turn and was called. The Q dropped on the river and Stu bet again, receiving a call. He showed down pocket aces for the win and was up to 112K in chips. Shortly after, Stu re-raised a limper and min-raiser to 25K preflop. The limper dropped out but the min-raiser called and the board came 4AK. Stu bet 8K, met a reraise and called. The 2 hit the river; when his opponent bet out, Stu folded and his stack dropped to 80K. At the next table over, Mike Matusow was making train noises for no apparent reason.

The field has since narrowed to 27 players who are all guaranteed $22,090 for making it this far. Players drew for new seats and have since returned from a short break; play will certainly continue late into the evening as all contenders compete for the $535,687 first-place finish and bracelet.

Across the Brasilia room at the Event #36 $10K, the final table for Event #36 has been set and play ended for the evening. Cody “thugmoneymkr” Slaubaugh is the acting chip leader with 1.59M after busting Bryan Micon (pictured at left), who walks away with $28,391 for his deep run. Owen “ocrowe” Crowe also earned his seat at the final table when he eliminated Tom “titantom32″ Braband. Braband’s pocket nines were dominated by Crowe’s AQ on a Q-Q-4 flop; he busted in 12th Place for $36,741. Aaron “gotcha55″ Kanter will sit at the final table as the 200K short stack. Play also resumes tomorrow at 2PM PST.

• June 21, 2008 -- That’s the Way You Need It
• June 21, 2008 -- Slaubaugh Not Afraid to Gamble
• June 21, 2008 -- Shaniac World
• June 21, 2008 -- Braband Wakes Up with Aces