As Level 4 comes to a close and players anticipate the blinds increasing from 150/300 to 200/400 for the last level of play this evening, many players were making moves and chipping up before the break. We caught up with Jimmy “Gobboboy” Fricke as he called a river bet with T9 with two tens on the board to take down a good-sized pot and increase his stack from 22K to 30K.

Two tables over, Faraz “The Toilet-0″ Jaka (pictured at left) called an all-in bet on a flop of 443 against one opponent. He flipped over pocket kings to his opponent’s pocket nines; the dealer waved the magic “All-In” sign and the media descended on the table. The turn and river came 22 and Faraz increased his stack from 32.5K to 61K. His good-natured opponent shook everyone’s hand and exited the Amazon room.

In the Orange section, Jason Gray and one opponent saw a flop of QJ7 and both decided to check. When the 8 fell on the turn, Jason checked and the other player bet 2K. Jason made the call and the river brought the 2. Jason led out with a bet of 5K and his opponent called. Jason flipped over his 87 for two pair and the other player angrily mucked his hand and said “nice catch.” Jason just smiled and scooped up the pot. Jason is now sitting with a little more than 30K.

At the other end of the Amazon Blue section, PocketFives watched as Jamie “TheChronic420″ Rosen raised to 4.2K preflop with 23K behind. One opponent called after the rest of the table folded and the flop came JT6. His opponent pushed all in and Jamie snap-called him; he showed KK to the other player’s A-K. Jamie’s pocket kings held up effortlessly when turn was the 5 and the river the 4; he scooped the pot and was up to 67K, which he informed us was where he sat about ten minutes prior to the confrontation.

Other unofficial chip counts prior to the break:

Blair “blur5f6″ Hinkle - 86K
Jamie “TheChronic420″ Rosen - 67K
Faraz “The Toilet-0″ Jaka - 61K
Louis “MrBeeks” Werman (pictured at right)- 50K
Doug “Resilient” Smith - 40.3K
Brendan “moe86″ Mahoney - 35K
Jason Gray - 30K
Jimmy “Gobboboy” Fricke - 30K
Justin “looshle” Pechie - 17K
JC “PrtyPSux” Alvarado - 17K
Adam “akat11″ Katz - 10.5K
Jeff “yellowsub” Williams - 8K

• June 26, 2008 -- Rosen Rises in Event #44
• June 26, 2008 -- Mackey Riding High
• July 9, 2008 -- Lost & Found
• July 4, 2008 -- Short Stacked Shorr Looking to Chip Up

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”

Because play ended last night in the $2k NLHE event #48 right after the bubble burst, the “all-in fest” that usually occurs immediately following was saved for today. Less than 30 minutes after play began two tables had already been broken and David “ComptonMasta” Barter and Matt “plattsburgh” Vengrin are amongst the early casualties.

Bryan “Devo” Devonshire was also eliminated when his pocket fives ran into pocket jacks and failed to improve.

60 players have been eliminated in the first 75 minutes of play today and the other short stacks will obviously be looking to make moves soon so the high number of eliminations is likely to continue through the early part of the afternoon.

In the $1.5k NLHE event that started at noon today Justin Bonomo (pictured right) has jumped out as one of the early chip leaders with 14k while Theo Tran, Jeff ”yellowsub” Williams and Kevin “BeL0WaB0Ve” Saul have already been eliminated.

Eric “Rizen” Lynch was guarding a short stack when PocketFives caught up to his table on a T-7-4 flop.  Eric moved all in with Q-8 after the flop and managed to double against pocket jacks when he spiked a queen on the turn.  Another player at his table asked, “Is there a bounty on you or something?” before Eric laughed and collected the pot.  Other players faring less profitably include Dave “davyg” Gyarmti, who had accumulated up to 5.2K in chips until his pocket kings were cracked by pocket nines.  He was down to 1.8K at the break.

Other PocketFives members spotted in the event include David “seal” Eisenstein, Scott “thebasher007″ Stubbs, Nick “FU_15″ Maimone, William “gptbigguy” Looper, Joseph “Dyzalot” Morneau, Micah “mordan” Hendrix, Faraz “The Toilet-0″ Jaka, Chris “sooooted” Vaughn, Steve “willywoo” Nolan, Matt “All In At 420″ Stout, Eric “erbloore” Bloore, and Matt “SamENole” Smith. Some chip counts for other players are listed below.
Amit “amak316″ Makhija - 3.5K (pictured left)
Eric “Rizen” Lynch - 4K
Stuart “zpaceman” Taylor - 5.2K
Chris “big huni” Hunichen - 4K
Andriy “tormos” Pavlyuk - 6K
Shawn “raptorfan” Morris - 4.5K

• June 28, 2008 -- Rizen Out
• June 25, 2008 -- Shorr Silences Minneapolis Meehan
• June 16, 2008 -- Pop Goes the Bubble
• June 29, 2008 -- Saddling Up for HORSE

Jamie “TheChronic420″ Rosen, who built up an impressive stack yesterday, has just doubled up to join the chip leaders of the $1,000 No Limit Hold’em w/Rebuys event. Sitting on the button with blinds at 1500/3000, Rosen re-raised a player in middle position preflop with J5 and the player called. On a flop of J43, Rosen was check-raised all in by his opponent and he called instantly. Jamie was in excellent shape to pick up one of the biggest pots of the tournament as his opponent revealed his 77. The 5 on the turn and 4 on the river helped earn Rosen a pot worth more than 350,000.

Faraz “The Toilet-0″ Jaka was just seen smiling as he raked in a monster pot to join Rosen at the top of the leaderboard. Jaka got involved in a three-way preflop all in against AK and 65, having both players covered, and his AT got the best of it in the end as the board came T9335. He is now up to 340,000 chips.

Justin “looshle” Pechie and Jeff “yellowsub” Williams have also increased their stacks in the past level. Williams raised to 7,200 under-the-gun and was re-reaised all in by a player in late position for 26,000 more. Williams called with AJ after working through the math and pumped his first when his opponent showed A6. Both players missed the board completely but Williams’ ace-jack high was best and he chipped up to 105,000.

Pechie got his QQ in preflop and was able to hold as he flopped top set and is now at 150,000.

Michael “mossified84″ Skomack and Mike “SirWatts” Watson were eliminated in the past hour.

Here’s a look at some other chip counts as we’re now down to 72 players left in Event #44:

Eric “E-Fro” Froelich - 120K
Brent “bhanks11″ Hanks - 116K (pictured right)
Keven “Stammdogg” Stammen - 115K
Scott “SCTrojans” Freeman - 87K
Stu “thedonator” Patterson - 80K
Randy “Randers” Haddox - 49K

• June 26, 2008 -- “Whoa! Who Won that Pot?”
• June 25, 2008 -- “The Toilet” Makes Flush
• July 4, 2008 -- The Toilet-0 Dethrones His Opponent
• June 28, 2008 -- Seat Open!

After day 1 of the massive $50k HORSE event, James “mig.com” Mackey (pictured right) is the chip leader going into day two with 214k. In a field filled with big name pros, online players are definitely making their presence known such as recent bracelet winner Phil “OMGClayAiken” Galfond who starts today with 161k. Other players still in the hunt include Brian “tsarrast” Rast (132k), Tom “durrrr” Dwan (109k), Justin “zeejustin” Bonomo (80k), and Matt “Hoss_TBF” Hawrilenko (41k). Well known pros David Williams and Phil Hellmuth weren’t able to make it past day 1 and were among the few players eliminated last night. Play resumes at 2 pm today and we’re sure to see eliminations start coming at faster rate as the blinds and antes continue to rise.

Also restarting this afternoon is event #44, the $1k NLHE w/Rebuys tournament. Day 2 will begin with 115 players including Brent “bhanks11″ Hanks and Faraz “The Toilet-0″ Jaka who are near the top of the chip counts with 154k and 116k. Stu “TheDonator” Patterson had a good first day as he comes into day 2 with 95k and Keven “Stamdogg” Stammen will start the day with 80k.

Just getting started in the Amazon room is event #46 the $5k NLHE six-handed event with over 550 players registered so far. These short handed events have tended to play out fast and furious at this year’s WSOP and we expect this event to be no different. We’ve already spotted numerous P5ers in the field such as Danny “THE_D_RY” Ryan, Jimmy “Gobboboy” Fricke, and Ryan “Daut44″ Daut. We’ll keep you updated on their progress as the day moves forward.

• June 26, 2008 -- Top of the Chip Counts or Bust!
• June 26, 2008 -- Online Kids Get on Their HORSE
• June 27, 2008 -- A Player Makes a “FatalError”
• June 27, 2008 -- Stud Players Wanting Tang