As the final installment of Day 1 of the Main Event came to a close just before 1AM PST, nearly 1,400 players remain from today’s field of 2,461. After calculations from Rio tournament staff, the net prize pool now stands at $64,333,600 with total registration of 6,844 entrants. This figure is almost 500 more than 2007, and amazingly, more than the first 34 years of the Main Event COMBINED. Pretty amazing stuff. First prize will walk away with the coveted bracelet and a cool $9.1M dollars; all players at the final table will make $900K or more.

Overall, PocketFivers fared well in today’s event and many live on to compete in Days 2A and 2B. Tomorrow, all players will take a rest day as the media will compete in a charity tournament. Before we retire for a day, however, there are plenty of stories remaining before the break.

Playing his entire day at one of the featured side tables with Phil Ivey, Garrett “GBecks” Beckman (pictured at left) recently doubled his stack up when his ace-high flush dominated his opponent’s jack-high flush on a paired board. His A8 was good enough to propel him up the chip counts.

On the last hand of the evening, Garrett was on the button when the player under the gun bet 1K. Garrett called it down and the big blind followed suit. The flop came A92 and the big blind checked. The player under the gun bet 1.5K and both Garrett and the big blind called. The 5 on the turn induced a check from both his opponents and he took the opportunity to bet 3K. Both folded and he showed 22 for the flopped set. He ended the night with 53K in chips and will come back fighting after a restful two days.

Ryan “youngluck” Young also made a run in the last hour of play; PocketFives saw him flop top set and a king-high flush, increasing his stack to 85k near the end of the day.

Some PocketFivers took a hit before the end of the day but will return to play in Day 2. One of our chip leaders, Tom “titantom32″ Braband, took a near-30k hit in the last level of play, but still was sitting comfortable with 90k. Also taking a hit was Scott “BigRiskky” Clements, who was hovering around 45k until he got a bluff snapped off on the river, taking a 10k chunk out of his stack in the last 30 minutes of play. Senovio “DorsalFin” Ramirez also lost a big pot to an opponent who held pocket eights when the board ran out 4-3-3-8-X. His stack dipped to 12K after peaking at 26K after the dinner break.

Sitting with about 70k near the end of the day, Jason “treysfull21″ Mercier (pictured at right) appeared to be heading to Day 2 with a solid stack. But then came along a hand that he’ll surely be thinking about the rest of the night, a hand Mercier just recently explained to PocketFives. Mercier hit a monster flop when his 64 connected to the Q67 board. Mercier and his opponent got all-in on the flop, resulting in a 90k pot. Mercier just happened to be up against the 85, one of the few hands against which he could in bad shape. The board bricked out for Mercier and improved his opponent and he’s left with 19k nearing the end of Day 1D.

Meanwhile, though Ladbrokes team pro Azad Pirooti sat with only 5K when we last reported on him, he managed to increase his stack through well-picked pots all the way up to 24K. Andreas Hoivold, however, went the opposite way and was sent to the rail despite chipping up early.

Here are some notable unofficial chip counts at the end of the day. Congratulations to all players!

Tom “titantom32″ Braband - 90K
Ryan “youngluck” Young - 85K
Scott Pendergrast - 61K
Garrett “GBecks” Beckman - 53K
Bryan Micon - 51K
Bodog Ari Engel - 46K
Tony “Bond18″ Dunst - 41K
James “POKERPRO33″ Campbell - 40K
Scott “BigRiskky” Clements - 35K
Daniel “voff” Deveau - 33K
Eric “sheets” Haber - 27K
Ladbrokes pro Azad Pirooti - 24K (pictured at left)
Grant “drossXYU” Hinkle - 13.5K
Senovio “DorsalFin” Ramirez - 12K

• July 7, 2008 -- ComptonMasta Like Woah
• July 10, 2008 -- Clements At Risk Early
• July 7, 2008 -- The Titan Can’t Sink
• July 6, 2008 -- Strasser Delivers Cooler in Level 1

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

The pace in the Amazon room slowed to a crawl as 64 players remained in Event #38, the $2K Pot-Limit Hold’em tournament. Hand-for-hand play endured for 45 minutes of the last level as players eyed the guaranteed payout of $3,744. When the bubble still hadn’t burst at the end of Level 10, groans were heard everywhere. Tournament directors instructed the players that they would play through the bubble tonight before taking a quick ten-minute break to ease the burden of the news.

Unfortunately, several PocketFivers suffered at the whims of the bubble; Noah “Exclusive” Boeken was eliminated when his 55 were dominated by his opponent’s pocket nines. Other recent eliminations include Bertrand “ElkY” Grospellier, Eric “Rizen” Lynch, Shaun Deeb, Shannon Shorr, Chad “lilholdem954″ Batista, and Danny “THE_D_RY” Ryan, who was spotted talking with friends on the rail.

Building a stack, however, was Shane “shaniac” Schleger (pictured at right) who had 48K in chips. When P5s caught up with Shane’s table, he was raising to 3.4K preflop in early position and bullied his whole table into a fold. He remained aggressive as the last level of the day concluded, making sure that he stayed above the average stack of 36K.

After the ten-minute break, Shane managed to catch a couple of monster hands perfect for chipping up: in the first hand, Shane reraised preflop against one other opponent who folded queens; he showed pocket aces. The next hand, the same opponent raised and Shane re-raised once again. This time there was no fold and Shane called his opponent’s potted all-in. Shane held pocket queens to his opponent’s AK and he managed to catch a club flush on the river. The Shaniac was living large with 85K at the conclusion of play tonight after the bubble finally burst and the players were sent home. Play resumes at 2PM PST tomorrow afternoon.

Stu “thedonator” Patterson battled on in Event #37, the $10K Omaha 8 tournament. The field narrowed to 30 remaining players with average stacks of 142K as we caught up with Stu’s table showing the 37T4 on the board. Stu bet 8K after the turn and was called. The Q dropped on the river and Stu bet again, receiving a call. He showed down pocket aces for the win and was up to 112K in chips. Shortly after, Stu re-raised a limper and min-raiser to 25K preflop. The limper dropped out but the min-raiser called and the board came 4AK. Stu bet 8K, met a reraise and called. The 2 hit the river; when his opponent bet out, Stu folded and his stack dropped to 80K. At the next table over, Mike Matusow was making train noises for no apparent reason.

The field has since narrowed to 27 players who are all guaranteed $22,090 for making it this far. Players drew for new seats and have since returned from a short break; play will certainly continue late into the evening as all contenders compete for the $535,687 first-place finish and bracelet.

Across the Brasilia room at the Event #36 $10K, the final table for Event #36 has been set and play ended for the evening. Cody “thugmoneymkr” Slaubaugh is the acting chip leader with 1.59M after busting Bryan Micon (pictured at left), who walks away with $28,391 for his deep run. Owen “ocrowe” Crowe also earned his seat at the final table when he eliminated Tom “titantom32″ Braband. Braband’s pocket nines were dominated by Crowe’s AQ on a Q-Q-4 flop; he busted in 12th Place for $36,741. Aaron “gotcha55″ Kanter will sit at the final table as the 200K short stack. Play also resumes tomorrow at 2PM PST.

• June 21, 2008 -- That’s the Way You Need It
• June 21, 2008 -- Slaubaugh Not Afraid to Gamble
• June 21, 2008 -- Shaniac World
• June 21, 2008 -- Braband Wakes Up with Aces

Down to the final two tables in the 1.5k NL WSOP Event #36, Cody “thugmoneymkr” Slaubaugh (pictured left) came across a tournament defining moment on the final hand before the break.

Facing a 70k bet from his opponent in the big blind on a 965 flop in a hand Slaubaugh raised to 35k preflop, Slaubaugh faced a dilemma that a lot of players would probably be split on holding 77.

With about 350k behind on an incredibly drawy board for his pair, Slaubaugh could either play a big pot for his tournament or fold and try to chip up without being all-in when he was likely a small favorite at best if called.

After tanking for about a minute, Slaubaugh made it 270k, effectively putting his opponent all-in, having him covered by 10k.

Slaubaugh’s opponent went all-in and flipped up the AJ, putting Slaubaugh in a coin-flip for his tournament.

After the 4 and the T peeled off, Slaubaugh effectively doubled up, moving his chip stack to 787k.

Minutes earlier at another table, Tom “titantom32″ Braband bricked out on a gamble that would have placed him with one of the bigger stacks in the tournament when his open-end straight draw missed, leaving him with a short stack of 130k instead of 710k.

Such are the breaks that often determine a player’s fate deep in tournaments.

Danny Wong continues to steamroll the field and is the chipleader with 1.1 million. After opening a pot from early position to 35k, Wong faced an all-in from his opponent for an additional 112k.

Wong called and his T9 ran down his opponents 77 when he clipped a ten on the turn.

Duncan “pumper” Bell, winner of the 2.5k NL WSOP Event #13, was eliminated when his pocket eights ran into pocket tens, finishing in 20th place.

Here’s a list of notable chip counts with 15 players left.

Bryan Micon - 230k

Aaron Kanter - 350k

Bryan “bparis” Paris - 160k

Owen  “ocrowe” Crowe - 130k

• June 21, 2008 -- Braband Wakes Up with Aces
• June 21, 2008 -- He’s a Shaniac!
• June 21, 2008 -- Back from the Break
• June 22, 2008 -- Slaubaugh Takes 2nd

On the final hand before players went on a 25 minute break in the 1.5k NL WSOP Event #36, Tom “titantom32″ Braband didn’t need to do much thinking when a player moved all-in for 70k and he looked down at AA.

Braband’s aces held up against his opponents queens capping off what he coined as a “rollercoaster” day thus far as he talked with Cody “thugmoneymakr” Slaubaugh during the break right outside the Amazon Room.

Slaubaugh was also the beneficiary of an all-in preflop confrontation when he busted an opponents AK with his 77 when his opponent moved all-in preflop for 67k.

Braband’s stack is at 350k with Slaubaugh just beneath him at 300k with the average stack at 230k with 32 players left.

Danny Wong is the chip boss with 720k in a field with a handful of notable live and online players left including Owen “ocrowe” Crowe (pictured left), who has a slightly above average stack at 285k.

Here’s a list of notable chip stacks.

Bryan Micon - 310k

Duncan “pumper” Bell - 200k

Brian “bparis” Paris - 200k

Can Kim Hua - 115k

• June 21, 2008 -- Slaubaugh Not Afraid to Gamble
• June 21, 2008 -- He’s a Shaniac!
• June 21, 2008 -- Back from the Break
• June 22, 2008 -- Slaubaugh Takes 2nd