Event #31 came to a close when heads-up opponents Dario Minieri (pictured at right)and Seth “grtwhitehoop” Fischer both got it all in preflop after seeing nearly 200 hands at the final table. Fischer flipped KT to Minieri’s QQ and the board came AA523, which was no help to Fischer. Minieri won the bracelet, the bragging rights, and a cool $528,418. Fischer goes home with $330,519 - not bad for the 25-year-old Emory grad’s first year at the WSOP.

As the Event #32 $1.5K No-Limit Hold’em tournament reduced down to three tables, Scott “ssitron” Sitron sat with 175K and was aggressively playing position from the hijack. The next hand, Sitron raised 27K and took down a limped pot with no show. Shortly afterwards, Sitron raised 30K preflop under the gun, which was quickly called by the hijack and both of the players in the blinds. The flop came 629 and Sitron moved all in. The player in the hijack position called and both of the blinds folded. Sitron couldn’t conceal his disappointment when he showed KQ to his opponent’s pocket nines; when the turn and river came A8, he was eliminated in 20th place. Sitron takes home $15,095 for his efforts.

PocketFivesLive’s own Court Harrington (pictured at left) remained in the bracelet running shortly after Sitron’s elimination; after two subsequent eliminations, players redrew for seats at the two final tables. With about 140K in chips and the blinds at 6K/12K, Harrington needs to make a move soon as the average stack is 460K. Good luck, Court!

• June 18, 2008 -- Let the Belittling Begin
• June 18, 2008 -- Sitron’s Good With the Ladies
• June 19, 2008 -- An Evening of Studs
• June 18, 2008 -- BigRiskky Business as Usual

Things just got even tougher at Scott “BigRiskky” Clements’ (pictured at right) table, but the Omaha expert seems to be taking his rough table line up just fine.  Since we last reported on the $1.5K PLO w/ rebuy event, Jamie Gold has busted and a few new faces have been added to this already tough table.  Here is a partial rundown of the current line-up:

Seat 2 - Bruno Fitoussi
Seat 3 - Jared “TheWacoKidd” Hamby
Seat 4 - Scott “BigRiskky” Clements
Seat 7 - Jordan Morgan
Seat 9 - Phil “OMGClayAiken” Galfond

Clements recently got into a hand with several of the players when, with the blinds at 300/600, Hamby and another player limped into a pot and then Clements raised to 2.5K total.  The player on the button called, as did Hamby and the other limper.  The flop came A64 and it checked to Clements who paused as if he was going to bet before electing to check.  The player on the button checked as well and when the turn came 6 it checked around to the player on the button once again.  This time the player bet out 6.5K and everyone folded except for Scott, who made the call.  The river was the T and both players checked.  Clements pulled out K-K from his K-K-10-4 for two pair, kings and sixes, and the other player mucked.  Scott is now up to 48K.

Here are the chip counts of some of the other remaining players in the event:

Tim “Tmay420″ West - 110K
Sorel “Imper1um” Mizzi - 95K
Jeff “yellowsub” Williams - 50K
Jared Hamby - 24K
Jordan Morgan - 22K
Eric “Rizen” Lynch - 12K

In the Brasilia room, the $1,500 No-Limit Hold’em event is down to 56 players and Scott “ssitron” Sitron and Court Harrington are adding chips to their stack as the evening moves forward. Harrington began Level 15 with 60K and his built has stack to over 100K without having to show a hand down. Sitron is up to 225K despite sitting at a tough table that includes Morgan Machina, Ray Henson and Fabrice Soulier.

The $5,000 Seven Card Stud Hi-Low Championship is also taking place there. Sixty-four of the world’s best players are still battling for the crown. Thayer Rasmussen is still representing the online community with 30K — slightly below the average stack.

Over at the ESPN Feature Table, play continues 3-handed at the final table of the $2.5K 6-handed NLHE event. Dario Minieri has relinquished the chip lead to Seth Fischer, but all three players are relatively even stacked.

Minieri took a huge hit when he and Justin “fluffdog” Filtz (pictured right) got it all in on a flop of AT2 with Justin holding 35 to Dario’s QJ. Filtz appeared to be in bad shape until a 4 on the turn made him the wheel. The 4 fell on the river and he doubled up to over 1.5 million chips.

• June 18, 2008 -- Let the Belittling Begin
• June 20, 2008 -- Omaha Field Shrinks
• June 19, 2008 -- An Evening of Studs
• June 18, 2008 -- Slow Day

Fabrice Soulier, Morgan Machina and Phil Hellmuth have all been moved to Scott “ssitron” Sitron’s table in the $1,500 No-Limit Hold’em event — all of whom made the final table of the same event last year. Hellmuth (pictured left) is the defending champion and earned $637,254; Machina took fourth for $161,425 and Soulier seventh for $64,570. The table banter picked up right as soon as Phil sat down:

Hellmuth: “Me, Fabrice and Morgan are all back here again and you know why? Because we play good.”
Ray Henson (also seated at the table): “Why am I here, Phil?”
Hellmuth: “You probably sucked out.”

Sitron has remained quiet, picking up a few small pots here and there and is now sitting with 215K with the average stack at around 90K. He recently knocked Lisa Rosenbloom out of the tournament when she moved in for her last 14K with QJ and was unable to improve against Sitron’s AK. Michael “worldsgrtest” Banducci and Court Harrington are seated side-by-side at a nearby table. Banducci has 100K and Harrington is still hovering around 60K with 75 players still in fighting for the first place prize of $573,734.

The antics continued at Phil “OMGClayAiken” Galfond’s table after players returned from the most recent break in the $1,500 Pot-Limit Omaha w/Rebuys. The table still includes Galfond, Jared “TheWacoKidd” Hamby, Scott “BigRiskky” Clements, and Jamie Gold. Gold and Galfond recently tangled in a hand. Both players checked the flop of 5-5-3 with two clubs and checked again then the T came on the turn. After the 2 came on the river, Galfond checked and Gold made a pot sized bet of 4,050. He then became unusually engrossed in his Card Player magazine while Galfond contemplated his options. At one point Gold even turned to his right and started showing one of the articles to Clements and the two hovered over the magazine together.

Galfond eventually made the call and showed the king high flush and Jamie quickly mucked. He then began to mock Galfond for taking so long to make the call with the second nut flush. He added “I know we haven’t played together a lot, but it is me. I mean, come on, that is a pretty easy call.” Gold was left with less than 2K in chips.

Here are some other unofficial chip counts from the event:

Tim “tmay420″ West - 48K
Brock “t_soprano” Parker - 35K
Jimmy “gobboboy” Fricke - 28K
Dan “Stainley88″ Adams - 20K
Scott “BigRiskky” Clements - 19K
Jared “TheWacoKidd” Hamby - 19K
Eric “Rizen” Lynch - 16.5K
Jamie “TheNew” Robbins - 15K

In the $2.5K 6-handed NLHE event, the final table has been cut in half and Dario Minieri, Scott “grtwhitehoop” Fischer and Justin “fluffdog” Filtz remain. Minieri is still the chip leader, but Filtz made up some ground recently after Dario doubled him up.

• June 19, 2008 -- Super Dario Powers Up!
• June 18, 2008 -- BigRiskky Business as Usual
• June 18, 2008 -- Slow Day
• June 18, 2008 -- Sitron’s Good With the Ladies

Now that the rebuy period in the $1.5K has ended, some of the loose, erratic plays we have spotted around the room is likely coming to an end.  Some players, like Alex “AJKHoosier1″ Kamberis and Matt “mattg1983″ Graham, decided to cut their losses and call it a day before the rebuy period was even over. 

Several other players remain in the field, but had to decide whether it was a worthwhile prospect to add-on.  Someone who probably didn’t bother with adding on is Jamie “TheNew” Robbins (pictured at right) who has already built up over 20K in chips.  Phil Ivey leads the pack with 90K and Sorel “Imper1um” Mizzi isn’t far behind with 78K. Marco “CrazyMarco” Johnson, Jared “TheWacoKidd” Hamby, and Scott “BigRiskky” Clements also continued to accumulate chips.

At one point early on in the event Kevin “BeL0WaB0Ve” Saul had more rebuy chips than tournament chips as he sat with the minimum starting amount of 3K.  He has since worked his way back up over the 10K marker.

In the $2.5K NLHE 6-handed event, play is already 4-handed and Dario Minieri continues to build on his substantial chip lead. Seth “grtwhitehoop” Fischer and Justin “fluffdog” Filtz 3rd and 4th in chips respectively.

Scott “ssitron” Sitron (pictured left) has just vaulted toward the top of the $1,500 No-Limit Hold’em leaderboard by busting a player and chipping up to 190K. A player moved all in from the hijack for his last 19K and Sitron called from the small blind with AT, which was way behind AK. That is until the flop of KQJ gave Sitron a straight. “I saw the king in the window and hoped a queen or jack would show up to give me more outs,” Sitron joked after his hand held. Someone is running well…

Clayton “Clayton_27″ Newman was knocked out of the event during the last level, but Michael “worldsgrtest” Banducci (119K), Court Harrington (58K) and Shawn “buck21″ Buchanan (50K) are still alive with 98 players left.

• June 18, 2008 -- Slow Day
• June 20, 2008 -- “Crzysavage” Beat
• June 19, 2008 -- Patience Pays Off
• June 19, 2008 -- How To Remedy Boredom at the Poker Table

The last time we talked at length about Scott “ssitron” Sitron he had just folded pocket queens after four players moved all in ahead of him only to find out they were way the best hand.  Scott may not have cashed in that event, but in today’s $1.5K No Limit Hold Em event he soared past the money bubble and appears to be in great shape going into Day 2.

Scott’s day got off to a quick start when he eliminated a player early in the day after his pocket queens held against his opponent’s A-K.  Sitron saw the hand as a good omen and told Pocket Fives, “there is no folding pocket queens this time”.  Ever since then, Sitron has been steadily building his stack and as play was winding down he ran into yet another altercation with the ladies.

With the blinds at 600/1200 with a 100 ante, Clayton “Clayton_27″ Newman raised to 3.2K in middle position and Sitron then re-raised to 8.3K total.  The big blind shoved for around 11K, Newman folded, and Sitron quickly called with his AA and the big blind showed…pocket queens.  The ladies were kind to Sitron once again and his aces held, sending his stack up over the 100K mark.  Scott will start Day 2 with 115K while the average chip stack is 41.5K.

Though Clayton Newman may have conceded that hand with Scott Sitron, the architectural battle between he and Court Harrington (pictured at left) continued.  As Court continued to build his chip stack to 94K, he elected to simply add depth and breadth to his tower of chips while Newman earned points for effort and creativity as he completely rearranged his chip stack approximately every fifteen minutes.  Unfortunately for Newman, he has dropped a bit since we last checked in with him and has around 60K in chips to put to use tomorrow.

After dropping as low as 11K after the dinner break Shawn “sbuck21″ Buchanan has rebounded quite nicely and now sits at 75K.  Andrew “tiltedjacks” Lee managed to nurse his small 10K stack past the money bubble, but busted quickly after the bubble burst when his 44 failed to crack his opponent’s KK.

Right as play was wrapping up in the $1.5K event, the $2.5K 6-handed set its final table when Scotty Nguyen (pictured at left) was eliminated by Seth “grtwhitehoop” Fischer in 7th place.  It folded around to Fischer in the small blind who then raised enough to put a short-stacked Nguyen all in for his remaining 160K with the blinds at 5K/10K and a 2K ante.  Scotty made the call with TT and Fischer showed 79.  The flop came Q65.  The J on the turn was no help to Fischer, but the 4 on the river made his flush and sent Scotty on his way.

 Tomorrow, Fischer and Justin “fluffdog” Flitz and will join chip leader Dario Minieri at the final table where they will play down to a champion.

• June 19, 2008 -- Super Dario Powers Up!
• June 18, 2008 -- Let the Belittling Begin
• June 18, 2008 -- BigRiskky Business as Usual
• June 18, 2008 -- The Sowers Taste of Defeat