Mark “sideshowgil” Gilbert has been able to block out the glitz and glamour of sitting at a table with Humberto Brenes and found some glory early on Day 1b. Seated directly to Humberto’s left and with cameras hovering around him constantly, Gilbert (pictured left) has built his stack to over 33K after picking up a decent pot in the past level. Gilbert limped in early position and three players saw a flop of 732. The big blind bet 300, Gilbert called and two players folded. The 2 came on the turn and the big blind check-called a bet of 700 from Gilbert. When the Q appeared on the turn, the big blind bet 1,800 and Gilbert raised to 4,000. The other player folded, showing a rivered two pair with Q7 and Gilbert flashed 77 for a flopped set.

We caught back up with Steve “MrTimCaum” O’Dwyer as he was facing another big reraise at his table. With 2K already in the pot, O’Dwyer had bet out 1.3K from under the gun on a flop of K97 and the other player had raised to 4K. Steve thought for minute before moving all-in for around 17K total. The other player looked noticeably frustrated, but eventually made the call with AA. O’Dwyer turned over 77. The other player was left drawing dead to an ace after the 3 came on the turn, but hit the A on the river to take down the pot and eliminate Steve in the process.

Micah “mordan” Hendrix (pictured right) informed us he sustained a big hit to his stack when he made a pot-sized raise on the button after two players limped in in front of him. The big blind and one of the limpers made the call and the three saw a flop of K-Q-10. The big blind bet out 375, the other player folded, and Micah raised to 1.2K. The big blind reraised to 5.6K and Hendrix thought before making the call. Both checked after a 2 came on the turn and the big blind checked again when an 8 came on the river. Micah bet 6.7K and his opponent moved all-in for 4K more. Micah told us he figured he was beat, but was pot committed to make the call with J9. His read was right, as his opponent held A-J. After the hand, Hendrix was left with 3.5K.

The players have just gone on their first break and the blind levels will increase to 100/200 when they return at 2:34 PT. Here’s a list of some unofficial chip counts as Level 1 came to a close:

Paul “ComeOnPhish” Lieu - 35K
Mike “SirWatts” Watson - 33K
Theo “pitrounder” Tran - 27K
Stu “thedonator” Paterson - 25K
Jeff “jeffboski” Sluzinski - 23K
Derek “arodss3″ Buonano - 23K
Scott “emptyseat88″ Fischman - 22.5K
Matt “SamENole” Smith - 22K
Blair Rodman - 21.5K
Peter “Nordberg” Feldman - 20.5K
Todd “nsxt2″ Arnold - 20.5K
Shaun Deeb - 20K
Tom “sbrounder” West - 19K
Todd “DanDruff” Witteles - 19K
Steve “gboro780″ Gross - 18K
Nick “gbmantis” Niergarth - 17K
Tim “EightLarge” Vansant - 15K
Brian “Wing-n-prayer” Reingold - 8.5K

• July 4, 2008 -- ‘MrTim’ Remains Calm
• July 4, 2008 -- WSOP Main Event Day 1b!
• July 5, 2008 -- Viva Las Main Event
• July 5, 2008 -- Beep, Beep: Who’s Got The Keys for the Deeb?