First and foremost, we here would like to profusely apologize to Christian “Deckzor” Fockenberg (pictured at left).  Earlier today we reported that Christian had been eliminated during Level 7 of play.  Well, the details of Fockenberg’s demise have been greatly exaggerated and he is, in fact, alive and well with a hearty 79K.  With so many tables being broken and players being moved around sometimes the breaking order changes on us and mistakes are made.  Such was the case with Christian, so don’t worry friends and family of Fockenberg–he is just fine.

Now that we have reported on someone we lost, now it is time to tell you about someone we found amongst the 612 players remaining in the Day 2A field.  Hunter “The_Hunt_D” Frey, who is one of our chip leaders with 384K.  When we found Hunter, he kindly recalled the hand that launched him to the top of the leaderboard.  Frey was involved in an 8-way limped pot with the blinds at 400/800 ante 100 holding 2-3 when the flop came A-3-3 with two diamonds.  One of the other players led out for 6K and another player called before Hunter raised to 17.5K.  Both players made the call and the turn came Q.  The initial better then shoved all-in for his remaining 90K and the third player in the hand thought for some time before folding.  Frey told us he tanked on the decision before making the call.  The other player showed A-K, the river was no help to him, and Hunter shot up to 400K.

We have also lost our “Table of Doom” that featured Chris “SLOPPYKLOD” Klodnicki, Jamie “TheCronic420″ Rosen, Dani “Ansky451″ Stern, and Peter “number1pen” Neff.  Their table was recently broken, but not before Stern reraised one of the other players preflop inducing him to fold.  Before he threw his hand away he turned up K6 and joked, “I ought to show since the table is about to break.”

While that table may have disappeared, we may have another table of doom brewing over in the Blue section.  Mike “SirWatts” Watson had a fairly easy day when he played on Day 1B and seemed to flop sets at will during the early levels and he was hoping Day 2 would be in the same vein.  However, every time his table loses a player, they bring over yet another known pro to add to the already stacked table.  First it was the big stacked Jason Gray (pictured at right) and when we last checked on the table Brandon Adams, who started today 2nd in chips, was unpacking several racks of chips.  Mike also told us there are some other online players at the table as well.

Tim “tmay420″ West continued to sit at a table with Kevin “kice32″ Iacofano and remained steady throughout the last level, hovering around the 100K mark and taking relatively few risks.  When we caught up with Tim’s table, he was raising a min-betting opponent preflop to 6K more with 8K already in the pot.  After awhile in the tank, his opponent folded and he took the pot down to increase his stack to 105K.  Eric “jakz101″ Crain sat nearby, expressing frustration when his flopped straight flush draw bricked out and he lost a 100K pot.  Eric still has 210K in front of him and is confident he will reclaim his lost chips.

When PocketFives caught up to Bobby “gettindeep” Hodson (pictured at left), his strategy seemed to be similar - he reported that he got pocket kings twice in the last level and each time bet out to see what risks he faced.  In one situation, he said that he raised 5K under the gun with kings and was called by four other players preflop.  When the dealer spiked an ace, players checked around.  Hodson said he bet at the turn to see where he was, and was insta-raised by another player.  He folded and said though he’s gotten no value out of his kings, he minimized his loss and is happy with his 72K chipstack.  At a table full of recreational players, he said his strategy for the rest of the night was to play extremely tight through Level 9 and turn up the heat in the last level of the evening.

Here are some unofficial chip counts from midway through Level 9 of play:
Hunter “THE_HUNT_D” Frey - 384K
Eric “jakz101″ Crain - 210K
Chris “SLOPPYKLOD” Klodnicki - 200K
Jason Gray - 190K
Joe “LatestLines2″ Ward - 184K
Doug “resilient” Smith - 180K
Derek “arods33″ Buanomo - 172K
Jeff “YoungSupremacy” Hakim - 168K
Owen “ocrowe” Crowe - 160K
Jamie “TheCronic420″ Rosen - 155K
Paul “comeonphish” Lieu - 142.5K
Peter “number1pen” - 122K
Jan “Erdnase” Heitmann - 122K
Jeff “yellowsub” Williams - 118K
Jon “Pearljammer” Turner - 99K
Dani “Ansky451″ Stern - 90K
Tim “tmay420″ West - 90K
Mike “SirWatts” Watson - 87.5K
Christian “Deckzor” Fockenberg - 79K
Bobby “gettindeep” Hodson - 79K
Darrell “Gigabet” Dicken - 75K
Kevin “kice32″ Iacofano - 65K
Kevin “ImaLuckSac” Macphee - 49K
Justin “looshle” Pechie - 45K
Richard “Lee Nickel” Fohrenbach - 44K
Rami “arbianight” Boukai - 43K
Louis “MrBeeks” Werman - 42K
Mark “sideshowgil” Gilbert - 39K

Recent eliminations include Shaun Deeb, TJ “Doubles00ted” Slifka, Steve “McNallyville” McNally, and Barry Greenstein.

• July 8, 2008 -- Cox Loses Prop Bet, Then His Stack
• July 9, 2008 -- Hustle and Heartbreak
• July 9, 2008 -- Justin Time for a Double Up
• July 8, 2008 -- Bottom Set Not Eneff for Stern

The end of Level 5 for Day 1B of the Main Event started off in bizarre territory; as PocketFives caught up with play in the Amazon Room, Kenna James belted out a country ballad to all those within earshot. Meanwhile, Todd “nsxt2″ Arnold was doing Jerry Yang impersonations to the amusement of his table. And finally, at Paul “ComeOnPhish” Lieu’s table in the Blue section, his dealer was *definitely* an Elvis impersonator.

At Bobby “Gettin Deep” Hodson’s table, he spun a true tale of nearly doubling up after winning a clutch 20K pot. Ironically enough, it was with everyone’s favorite hand - pocket fives! He reported that a player in the hijack open-shoved and Bobby was in the big blind. Whether compelled by a tell or the power of the fives, Bobby called and his hand held against the other player’s A-K. He took down the pot and his stack rose to 30K.

Other players strengthening their stacks in the level included Paul “ComeOnPhish” Lieu who managed to take down plenty of small pots and work his way up to 85K at the end of the day. Mike “SirWatts” Watson also continued to dominate his table and walked away tonight with more than 100K. Another stellar performance was by Derek “arodss3″ Buonano (pictured at left), who worked his way up to 82K after a highly-televised table and subsequent media crew invaded his space for most of the evening. Apparently, there was a heckler at the table who was openly insulting Tom McEvoy who sat a table away.

Shaun Deeb had been sitting on a short stack for awhile and he and two other players saw a flop of KJ3. Shaun pushed all in on the flop and was called by one player whose QT open-ended straight draw was behind Shaun’s J5 pair of jacks. The turn was the 3 and the river brought the 6 and Shaun managed to double his stack.

Steve “gboro780″ Gross was one of the players that experienced a chip slide in the last level. When we caught up to him midway through the level, he guarded a 38K stack and was in a pot on a TQ6 board. He had bet out and was called; the 9 fell on the turn and he checked to his opponent, who bet out 3.4K. Steve called and the K fell on the river. He checked to his opponent, who made a river bet of 6K. Steve thought for quite awhile before folding AQ face up. He was down to 31K after the hand. Shortly after, he managed to swing up the chip counts to 42K when his KQ held on a queen-high board.

However, it seemed that the chip swings were beginning to tilt Gross, who later raised on the button in a hand. Both the big blind and a limper in early position called. When the flop came 332, one of his opponents bet 3.5K and Steve raised to 8K; his opponent called and the 3 came on the turn. Both players checked and the J fell on the river. His opponent bet out 8K and Steve folded after thinking quite awhile. After a series of downswing hands, Steve was was down to 17K.

Here is a collection of unofficial chip counts prior to the end of Day 1B. Congratulations to all players on a great day and good luck to them as they advance in the Main Event!

Mike “SirWatts” Watson - 106K
Paul “ComeOnPhish” Lieu - 85K
Derek “arodss3″ Buonano - 82K
Mark “sideshowgil” Gilbert - 42K
Jeff “YoungSupremacy” Hakim - 48.5K (pictured at right)
Steve “gboro780″ Gross - 15K
Stuart “zpaceman” Taylor - 26K
Bobby “Gettin Deep” Hodson - 30K
Greg “okstate345″ Cox - 21K
Marco “KILL-BILL” Liesy - 28K
Brian “Wing-n-prayer” Reingold - 27K
Stu “thedonator” Paterson - 18K
Jeff “jeffboski” Sluzinski - 17K
Shaun Deeb - 16K
Matt “SamENole” Smith - 8.5K

• July 4, 2008 -- Zpaceman Lifts Off
• July 5, 2008 -- SirWatts’ Tourney Future Bright
• July 4, 2008 -- ‘MrTim’ Remains Calm
• July 9, 2008 -- Lost & Found

Nearing the end of Level 4 this evening, play condensed further in the Amazon Room, yet the crowd of spectators remained ever large. Plenty of action for PocketFivers occurred in this last level. We caught up with Stu “thedonator” Paterson (pictured at left) who still contended with a small stack, hovering just over 13K. With a couple other players, he limped into a flop of 659 and bet out 1.4K after seeing the board. Another player in later position raised to 3.5K total; one other player called and Stu folded. It seemed he was looking for a good spot to double up at what seemed to be a tight table.

At a nearby table, Todd “nsxt2″ Arnold and Marco “KILL-BILL” Liesy protected their pre-dinner stacks, increasing their value by a few thousand chips each. While watching their table, which was right on a very spectator-filled rail, we saw Marco take down a small pot against one other player with K-Q. He chipped up to 26K while Todd accumulated to 41K.

PokerRoad’s own Haralabos Voulgaris has been increasing his chip stack as well; when we caught up to his table in the Green section, he was in the big blind and a few other players had entered play. The flop came 5J9 and players checked the flop. The A came on the turn, and one of his opponents bet out 1K. Haralabos called and the 9 came on the river. Both players checked and he flipped A8 to ship the chips his way.

In the Blue section of the Amazon room, many player have relocated and redrawn for seats, but Jeff “jeffboski” Sluzinski (pictured at right) informed PocketFives that no one’s left his table all day. “We’ve all become friends,” he said. “We’re just going to fold to the end of the day.” Except he did report to P5s that he managed to recently double up to 17K, so we’re not entirely sure his motives are all friendly!

At the table behind Jeff sat Mike “SirWatts” Watson who accumulated a huge chipstack - he was up to 102K in the last level. We’re not entirely sure how he keeps attracting chips to his stack since action is always calm when we watch; perhaps there are magnets under the table?

At the next table over, Jeff “YoungSupremacy” Hakim reported that he just wants to keep up with SirWatts — He’s convinced that’s his best strategy. In an effort to do this, in one hand, Jeff bet out in the cutoff for 750 before the flop with a chipstack of 52K. The player on the button raised it to 2,400 and pushed everyone else out of the pot. Jeff counted each chipstack and estimated that he had a 5:3 chip advantage over the other player, so he reraised him to 7,450. In what became a betting war, his opponent made it 14K total, 6,600 more. Jeff thought a moment longer before pushing all his chips in the middle. His opponent, clearly agitated, thought long and hard before folding. Jeff slid his cards to the dealer and chipped up to 63K.

Some unofficial chip counts at the end of Level 4:

Mike “SirWatts” Watson - 102K
Jeff “YoungSupremacy” Hakim - 63K
Todd “nsxt2″ Arnold - 41K
Stuart “zpaceman” Taylor - 40K
Shaun Deeb - 34K
Greg “okstate345″ Cox - 31K
Mark “sideshowgil” Gilbert - 31K
Steve “gboro780″ Gross - 28K
Matt “SamENole” Smith - 26K
Marco “KILL-BILL” Liesy - 26K
Bobby “Gettin Deep” Hodson - 24K
Brian “Wing-n-prayer” Reingold - 18K
Jeff “jeffboski” Sluzinski - 17K
Stu “thedonator” Paterson - 12.5K
Theo “pittrounder” Tran - 5.5K

• July 4, 2008 -- Zpaceman Lifts Off
• July 5, 2008 -- Viva Las Main Event
• July 8, 2008 -- Short Day for Ferguson
• July 4, 2008 -- Good Deeb

After being moved to his third table in as many levels, Shaun Deeb finally found himself surrounded by relatively unfamiliar faces.  The other players also appeared to be actively rooting against him when he got involved with the only female at the table.  With the blinds at 150/300, Deeb raised to 750 in early position and the woman in the small blind reraised to 2.1K total and Shaun made the call.  The flop came down 543 and she led out for 3.5K.  Deeb thought for a good minute before raising enough to put the other player all-in for her remaining 11K.  His opponent thought for a moment herself before calling with KK while Shaun showed 22.  The T on the turn brought even more outs for Deeb and the J on the river made his flush and won him the large pot.  That brought his chip stack up to 42K.  He appears to have taken a few hits since then though and has 26K headed into the dinner break.

Deeb and 908 other players will be on break for the next 90 minutes.  Stay tuned for more updates from the final two levels of today when play resumes at 8:30pm PST.  In the meantime, here are some pre-dinner chip counts to satiate your poker appettite:

Patrik Antonius (the unofficial chip leader) - 90K
Mike “SirWatts” Watson (pictured at right)- 74K
Paul “comeonphish” Lieu - 43K
Todd “nsxt2″ Arnold - 42.5K
Stuart “zpaceman” Taylor - 39.5K
Mark “sideshowgil” Gilbert - 39K
Mike “Schneids” Schneider - 36K
Jeff “YoungSupremacy” Hakim - 35K
Derek “arodss3″ Buonano - 35K
Steve “gboro780″ Gross - 28K
Blair Rodman - 20K
Brian “Wing-n-prayer” Reingold - 18K
Theo “pittrounder” Tran - 16K
Jeff “jeffboski” Sluzinski - 10K
Stu “thedonator” Paterson - 10K
Peter “Nordberg” Feldman - 8.5K

• July 5, 2008 -- Viva Las Main Event
• July 5, 2008 -- SirWatts’ Tourney Future Bright
• July 9, 2008 -- Lost & Found
• July 4, 2008 -- Luck of the Draw

Play in the $1.5K Limit Hold Em Shootout event resumed at 2pm and numerous players have been eliminated, including Jimmy “gobboboy” Fricke and Ben “bfineman” Fineman.

Another player who saw his day come to a close was Mike “SirWatts” Watson, who shared a table with Matt “mattg1983″ Graham, Jonathan “driverseati” Tamayo, and Kenna James.  Watson took a big hit to his stack when he and Graham got involved in the following hand:

With the blinds at 1K/2K, Graham raised in middle position and Watson 3-bet out of the small blind.  Matt made the call and after they saw the flop of QJ9.  Watson bet and Graham called.   Mike bet again when the J came on the turn and Graham quickly called again.  When the Q came on the river, Watson bet one more time and Graham raised.  Mike thought briefly before making the call and mucked his cards after Matt showed QT.

After that hand Watson was left with only 10K, which had dwindled down to 6.5K by the time Tamayo and Watson got involved in a blind versus blind confrontation that found Mike all-in and in bad shape with A8 against Jonathan’s AQ.  The board ran out T75A9 and Watson was eliminated.

A short-stacked Jordan “scarface79″ Smith also saw his tournament come to an end when he and another player got it all-in on a T96 flop with Smith holding 89 to the other player’s AT.  The turn and river came K2 and Jordan was sent to the rail.

Robbie “PlayaPlz” Lipkin (pictured at left) managed to get down to 3-handed play at his table, but after losing several chips when he rivered a set to his opponent’s straight, he found himself with less than 10K left.  He raised out of the small blind and the player in the big blind made the call.  The two then proceeded to get it all in after the flop came A74.  Lipkin showed 9T while the other player held A-6.  The pair of aces held and Robbie headed home.

Scott “ssitron” Sitron couldn’t have asked for a better start to his first WSOP final table. Sitron doubled up his 504k when he raised to 60k with QQ and Voitta Rintala went all-in for 544k behind him on the third hand. Sitron immediately called and his queens held up after the board ran out 42JJA. Sitron started the $1.5K No Limit Hold Em final table with the shortest stack and was relieved to get doubled up early.  “It was so nice to get that double-up right away,” Sitron said. “Now i can play poker.”  Sitron admitted to have a lot of jitters at the onset of the final table but added that after a few orbits it became rather normal and felt like any other tournament.

Sitron currently sits with 1.25 million, trailing only chip leader Matt Matros’ 1.4 million. David Daneshgar is the short stack at 430k with eight players left.

Meanwhile, Leo “SuperfluousMan” Wolpert is holding his own in the Ante Up for Africa event with 13K in chips and the rapidly increasing blinds at 800/1,600.

• July 2, 2008 -- Hold Your Fire
• July 3, 2008 -- Sitron Takes 2nd
• July 2, 2008 -- Graham 3-Handed in 1.5k Shootout
• July 2, 2008 -- Sitron Sitting Pretty