With a paltry 120k stack to start Day 5 of the Main Event, Jon “pokertrip” Friedberg (pictured right) lasted a few hours before bowing out.

Frieberg doubled in the first orbit of play and got to 350k in the second level. Without many hands and stack well below the 900k average, Friedberg busted when he reraised a 30k open for all of his 170k. Friedberg’s AJ was up against AQ and was eliminated when he didn’t improve.
Pocketfives caught up with Friedberg after he exited in 148th place, cashing in for 41k.

Friedberg said he was happy with his first Main Event cash, and given the situations he was dealt, he didn’t leave the Amazon Room with any major misgivings about any of his plays.

Garrett “GBecks” Beckman was the recent beneficiary of a flop that hammered he and his opponents hand when it came AJ8. Beckman’s opponent bet 90k and Beckman shoved for about 450k total and his opponent called. Beckman revealed the AQ in a flip against his opponents AJ. Beckman promptly clipped a 2 on the turn and won the hand, boosting his stack to 970k, his highpoint of the day. Beckman started with 515k and got down to 200k rather in the first hour of play.

Cort “thecorster” Kibler-Melby won a huge hand off of Jeremiah Smith before the last break when he raised the from the hijack and Smith called in position. Kibler-Melby played for stacks on a Q-5-5 flop, outflopping Smith’s A-Q with K5, resulting in a 860k pot which was the stack he took to the break about twenty minutes ago. The hand left Smith with about 50k in chips and he busted shortly after that.

Andy “BadgerPro” Schultz was eliminated in 142nd place despite getting his money in ahead. Schultz and another player saw a flop of AT6. Schultz led out, his opponent raised and Schultz moved all in with AK. The other player called with 79. The 9 came on the turn, but the 3 on the river knocked Andy of the tournament.

• July 12, 2008 -- Norris Busts, Beckman Dips
• July 12, 2008 -- Kibler-Melby Doubles
• July 12, 2008 -- Tuf Break
• July 13, 2008 -- Reunited

Jeff “jpapola” Papola was the last roommate standing in the WSOP Main Event after his good friend Russell “rcrane082985″ Crane (pictured at right) busted out in Level 4. Crain raised his opponents turn bet all-in with a gutterball on a Q-5-5-9 board and ran into A-Q. Crain got 3-bet preflop and called his opponent’s bet on the flop in position.

Since Papola and Crane registered at the same time, the former roommates at Rutgers got placed at the same table on Day 1D. Crane had been short all day and never got any higher than 26k, which was in the first few levels of the tournament. Papola has consistently been over 30k and currently has 50k.

Jon “pokertrip” Friedberg continues build his stack after sitting with over 45k in the first few levels. Friedberg has been on a bit of a rollercoaster the past few levels, going from 62k down to 46k back up to his current stack at 72k.

The action at Tom “titantom32″ Braband’s (pictured at left) table has been thrilling. He reported to PocketFives that earlier this evening, he doubled up when he bet out preflop with 34 and both the button and the big blind called him. The flop came 56-A for an open-ended straight flush draw. He led out for 1,700 and the button made it 4,500. Tom four-bet to 15K and both had 35K behind them. His opponent called, the turn was another ace, and Tom shipped it in for 18K more. His opponent called him with AQ and a black seven on the river gave him the straight he needed to scoop the 70K pot.

His stack kept growing over the last level and his recent elimination of Todd Brunson elevates him past the 120K mark. On a board of 4266 and first to act, Tom took a stand and put a stack of orange chips into the middle, putting Todd to a decision for all his chips. Todd took awhile to think before making the call with 56 for trip sixes. While the ESPN mob came rushing over with their cameras and boom mics, the dealer laid out the A and Tom’s AJ nut flush held up. He scooped the huge pot and was up to more than 120K. Tracey “xtrACEy” Nguyen, also at the table, made the understatement of the year, “Well, aren’t you on a heater?!”

Chip counts midway through Level 5:

Tom “titantom32″ Braband - 120K
Mike “BraveJayhawk” Jensen - 65K
Darren “DABADESTCHIC” Nelson - 60K
Ryan “youngluc” Young - 57K
Gary “Debo34” Debernardi - 55k
Jeff “jpapola” Papola - 50K
Steve “MrSmokey1″ Billirakis - 48K
Danny “THE_D_RY” Ryan - 45K
Jeremy “chipsteela” Menard - 40K
Tony “Bond18″ Dunst - 39K
David “ComptonMasta” Barter - 37K
Tracey “xtrACEy” Nguyen - 29K
Ryan “Daut44″ Daut - 27K
Frank “Round42″ Rusnak - 19.5K
Senovio “DorsalFin” Ramirez - 18K
Brett “Gank” Jungblut - 16K
Evan “Oakplayer” Schwartz - 14K
Nathan “darkcheck” Tuthill - 8K

• July 7, 2008 -- By the Numbers: 2008 WSOP Main Event
• July 6, 2008 -- Friedberg Paid Off with P5s
• July 13, 2008 -- Papola Bows Out
• July 12, 2008 -- Friedberg Busts, Beckman Builds Stack

Jon “pokertrip” Friedberg (pictured at left) has never had any luck in the WSOP Main Event. Not only has he not cashed in any of his four attempts in the Main Event, he’d never gotten any higher than 12k in chips when the Main Event started with 10k and never much more than the initial 20k starting stack last year.

So to see Friedberg with 48k in Level 3 of Day 1D in the Main Event, it’s quite a start for a man who’s hardly even dragged a significant pot in the Main Event until this year. Don’t feel too sorry for Friedberg, however, he did win a bracelet in a huge No-Limit Hold’em field in 2006, taking home $526K.

Senovio “DorsalFin” Ramirez had been stuck in neutral today before scooping a big pot that he wishes would have been bigger. Ramirez check-raised his opponent’s 1,100 bet to 2,800 on a T4T flop and his opponent called. The K peeled off on the turn and Ramirez bet 2K and his opponent called. Ramirez went all-in for over 8K on the river when the 8 dropped. After tanking for a few minutes, his opponent mucked and showed the T. Ramirez later told PocketFives that his opponent made a great lay-down as he turned a boat with K-10. Ramirez’s stack moved up to 18K after the hand.

Devin “TranquilChaos” Porter took some time away from his Phil Jackson novel to win a nice pot in the past level. With blinds at 150/300, Porter raised to 800 in middle position and two players called. On a T76 flop, Devin led out for 1,300 and one player called. The 3 came on the turn and Devin bet 3,000. His opponent made the call and watched the A fall on the river. Devin threw out an orange 5K chip and his opponent thought for two minutes before finally calling. Devin flipped over a monster, the 89 for a flopped straight, which caught the other player by surprise. Porter is up to 29K.

James “POKERPRO33″ Campbell is having a difficult time even staying awake today, but has still managed to pick up blinds here and there in between naps. He is currently at 25K.

Ladbrokes team pros Azad Pirooti and Andreas Hoivold were seated in the Green section of the Amazon room, neck-deep in a sea of players clad in Ladbrokes polo shirts. Though his stack remains healthy compared to the 150/300 blinds, Azad Pirooti was sitting a bit short-stacked compared to his tablemates with only 10K - half of his starting stack. Regardless, when we caught up with his table, he remained aggressive, taking down a couple of pots preflop in position and increasing his stack by a few chips each time. Meanwhile at a few tables over, Andreas Hoivold guarded a 38.5K stack, playing tight and conservatively after nearly doubling up.

Here are some other chip counts midway through Level 3:

Ben “bfineman” Fineman - 65K
Gary “Debo34” Debernardi – 60K
Gus Hansen - 44k
Bryan “bparis” Paris – 43K
Mike “BraveJayhawk” Jensen - 40K
Scott “BigRiskky” Clements - 40K
Ryan “Daut44″ Daut - 39K
Clayton “clayton_27″ Newman - 38.5K
Aaron “ndgrinder59″ Steury - 36K
Shane “shaniac” Schleger - 35K
Glen “choron” Chorny - 32k
Ryan “youngluc” Young - 32K
Cliff “JohnnyBax” Josephy - 30k
Scott “mindwise” Pendergrast - 30K
Tom “titantom32″ Braband - 30K
Kyle “kwob20” Bowker – 28K
Tony “Bond18″ Dunst - 27k
Jeff “jpapola” Papola - 27k
Brandon Schaefer - 25K
Brett “gank” Jungblut - 22K
Frank “Round42” Rusnak – 21K
Russell “rcrane082985″ Crane - 20k
Sasha “bikocruz” Rosewood - 20K
David “ComptonMasta” Barter - 18k
Adam “adamoos” Elpayaa - 18K
Mark “AceSpades” Rodoja – 18K
Tracey “xtrACEy” Nguyen - 11K
Mike “theredbaron” Beaton - 9K

• July 12, 2008 -- Friedberg Busts, Beckman Builds Stack
• 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

Jon “pokertrip” Friedberg hit the flop of all flops near the end of Level 1. With the board reading KQ5, the big blind led out for 1K and Friedberg and another player called. The 4 fell on the turn and the big blind bet 2K. The player under the gun folded and Friedberg raised to 7.5K. His opponent called and both players saw the T hit on the river. Friedberg shoved his last 11K into the pot, having his opponent covered, and he called quickly with KQ. Friedberg, however, showed 55 for a flopped set and raked a massive pot to increase his stack to 40K.

Here’s a look at some other chip counts as Level 1 came to a close:

Mike “BraveJayhawk” Jensen - 35K
Ben “BSUChamp” Grise - 33K
Adam “adamoos” Elpayaa - 30K
Annie Duke - 28K
Mike “shipitthisway” McNeil - 27K
Dag Martin “dmmikkel” Mikkelsen - 27K
Scott “BigRiskky” Clements - 27K
James “POKERPRO33″ Campbell - 25.5K
Eric Sonstegard - 25K
Devin “TranquilChaos” Porter - 24K
Ian “IanJ” Johns - 24K (pictured right)
Eric “sheets” Haber - 23K
Grant “drossxyu” Hinkle - 23K
Russell “rcrane082985″ Crane - 23K
Aaron “ndgrinder59″ Steury - 23K
Matt “plattsburgh” Vengrin - 23K
Ben “bfineman” Fineman - 22K
Jon “FatalError” Aguiar - 21.5K
Tony “Bond18″ Dunst - 21.5K
Jonathan “Coachuck” Marshall - 21.5K
Scott “steely” Wyler - 21.5K
Chris “LUHMAN” Martin - 21K
Dan “voff” Deveau - 20K
Carl “colson10″ Olson - 20K
Shane “shaniac” Schleger - 20K
Mike “theredbaron” Beaton - 19.5K
Nick “snowman2k6″ Young - 19K
Ryan “youngluc” Young - 18K
Bryan “bparis” Paris - 18K (pictured right)
Tracey “xtrACEy” Nguyen - 18K
David “ComptonMasta” Barter - 16.5K
Tom “titantom32″ Braband - 16K
Cliff “JohnnyBax” Josephy - 15.5K
Noah “fouruhaterz” Schwartz - 15.5K
Senovio “DosalFin” Ramirez - 15K
Frank “round42″ Rusnak - 15K
Brett “gank” Jungblut - 14K
Ryan Daut - 13K
Mario “Deuce2High” Silvestri - 10.5K
Sasha “bikocruz” Rosewood - 8.5K
Jeff “mrrain” Banghart - 6K

• July 7, 2008 -- The Titan Can’t Sink
• July 12, 2008 -- Friedberg Busts, Beckman Builds Stack
• July 6, 2008 -- Finally Friedberg’s Time
• July 7, 2008 -- WSOP ME Day 1D End of Day Chip Counts

Play in Event #53, the $1.5K Limit Shootout tournament is now down to mostly two- and three-handed tables, with several PocketFivers engaged in heads-up play. Contenders still in the running just paused for a 20-minute break to clear their heads before getting back in the game tonight.

We caught up with Tim “tmay420″ West (pictured at right), who was defying his 8:1 underdog status and hanging in there with 3.5K in chips. Meanwhile, Jon “pokertrip” Friedberg battles Andy Bloch and his beat-up hat, also an underdog with 3:1 odds. However, two other P5ers were making extraordinary moves and fighting up the chip counts to dominate their tables.

Matt “MattG1983″ Graham sat behind a fortress of chips with 22.5K, bullying his opponent, who was on life support. In one hand, the board ran out K5364 with Matt betting and his opponent calling on every street; Matt’s king was enough to take down the pot. The hand just before the break commenced, however, managed to nearly double his opponent. On a board of 487A, Matt bet the turn, his opponent reraised, and Matt called. The 2 on the river was irrelevant, as his opponent held A7 for two pair and took it down. Matt will return after the break to try and polish off his opponent.

As we reported earlier, Darren “DABADESTCHIC” Nelson (pictured at left) rallied his short stack up to 12K; in the last level, he went on a run of cards and worked it back and forth, managing to achieve 20K in chips at one point. His opponent kept making crying calls on river bets - in one hand, he bet 800 after the river and his opponent called on a 96T82 board. Darren showed down the QJ for the nut straight and raked in his chips. He also picked up several suit combinations of A-7 in the last level, showing it down three times to win pots.

Darren’s opponent jokingly accused the dealer of having romantic inclinations towards DABADESTCHIC as she switched places with an incoming dealer since his run of cards had been so good. “I swear you’re going out with the guy,” he said. “You gotta give her a kiss when she leaves, for goodness’ sakes!” Dan “wretchy” Martin and Faraz “The Toilet-0” Jaka were on hand to rail Darren, who apparently had a deep run in the Bellagio tournament last night.

Good luck to all players remaining in the event as play continues!

• July 1, 2008 -- Sitron Making a Run in 1.5k NL
• July 10, 2008 -- Crowe’s Chips Riding a Roller Coaster
• June 29, 2008 -- Katz and Cahail Bust Out
• June 28, 2008 -- Katz’s “Moment of Truth”