Despite a hefty 50k buy-in, a handful of online kids are making a run at perhaps the most prestigious bracelet in the WSOP in the 50k HORSE Championship WSOP Event #45.

Although the majority of online players in this tournament are those with a high stakes cash game background, a few players more known for their NL tournament games are playing like James “mig.com” Mackey, Justin “zeejustin” Bonomo and Dario Minieri.

The 148 player field is stacked with incredible tables as expected. No table featured a better lineup of elite players than the one that included two of the biggest winners online in Phil “OMGClayAiken” Galfond (pictured left) and Tom “durrrr” Dwan with two of the biggest live game winners in Daniel Negreanu and Phil Ivey. Dwan, Galfond, and Ivey play each other often in nosebleed NL and PLO game online as well.

Mackey has faired very well at his table that includes a tough cast of characters in David Oppenheim, Andy Bloch, Lyle Berman, Jennifer Harman, David Singer, and online cash game player Brian “tsarrast” Rast. Mackey’s stack has been over the average for most of the tournament and is at 209k as play nears to an end.

Here’s a list of notable online players chip stacks with the average at 105k.

Phil Galfond - 185k

Patrik Antonius - 180k

Dario Minieri - 140k

Brian “tsarrast” Rast - 100k

Justin “zeejustin” Bonomo - 81k

Nick Schulman - 70k

Matt “Hoss_TBF” Hawrilenko - 55k

• June 26, 2008 -- Top of the Chip Counts or Bust!
• June 26, 2008 -- Mackey Riding High
• June 27, 2008 -- A Player Makes a “FatalError”
• June 27, 2008 -- Stud Players Wanting Tang

In the 10k PL event, things have not been going well for the majority of the remaining women in the field.  With the blinds at 1500/3000 Anna Wroblewski pleaded with Nenad Medic to keep it friendly while she was in the small blind.  He ignored her request and raised to 8,500.  Wroblewski thought for a moment before reraising to 20,000.  Medic reraised, putting her all in, and she made the call.  Anna held A K to his pocket aces.  The board came K 9 6 5 T and she was eliminated. 

Just a couple of minutes later at the next table over, Jennifer Harman was also in the small blind when Chris Bell raised in the cut off to 9,600.  She moved in for around 30k and Bell called.  Harman showed J J while Chris held A K.  Bell hit not just one, but two aces when the board came A 2 7 4 A, sending Harman to the rail.  All hope is not lost for the ladies though, as two women, Jerri Thomas and Kathy Leibert, remain in the field.

Another recent elimination was Mario “Deuce2high” Silvestri, who moved all-in preflop on the button with 77.  Called by a player in early position who showed KQ, the board brought a full house with Kings full and Mario quietly left the table. 

Meanwhile, on Table 12, Marco “CrazyMarco” Johnson led out with a 36K raise in middle position.  A short stack called for the rest of his chips, showing 66 but the board was no help and Marco’s TT held.  Several hands later at the same table, Mike Sexton raised pre-flop, meeting an immediate reraise from Vivek “psyduck” Rajkumar. After giving Vivek a hard time for his predictability, Sexton pushed all in with AT.  Vivek called with A9, the board was no help, and Sexton doubled up.  Afterwards, Eli Elezra laughed at Vivek’s “garbage hand.”

Other major chip movers in the event include Matt “mattg1983″ Graham who started the day with around 37K and is now up over 250K, Amit “amak316″ Makhija who is sitting at just over 300K, and Patrik Antonius.

Matt Graham got involved in two enormous pots. On a board of 654, Graham got it all in with Chris Ferguson holding KK and Graham 78 — a flopped straight. The 2 on the turn earned Graham the pot and he doubled to over 150K. Only a few minutes later, Graham took a huge pot off Tuan Le. Le opened with 8500 from the button, and Graham and Andy Bloch called from the blinds. The flop brought 975 and Graham and Bloch checked. Le bet 22K and Graham counted his chips and reraised to 67K. Bloch folded and Le called. Graham moved all in on the turn when the 5 appeared and Le folded, increasing Graham’s stack to around 260K.

Meanwhile, in Event #2 several P5ers remain in the field.  Here are some recent chip counts:

Jason  “JCarver” Somervile - 11k
Eric “Rizen” Lynch - 6K
Eric “basebaldy” Baldwin - 5K
Brent “bhanks11″ Hanks - 7K
Jason Gray - 3.5K

Brent Hanks recently doubled up.  In a 4-way limped pot, Brent shoved from the big blind with pocket sevens and another player snap called with KQ.  Hanks’ hand held and he was sitting at 7k going into break.

• June 1, 2008 -- Marco, Graham, and Rajkumar Eliminated
• May 31, 2008 -- The Bubble Finally Bursts
• June 12, 2008 -- All’s Quiet On the Amazon Front
• June 2, 2008 -- More Players Disappearing as Day 1B Wraps up