Jesper Hougaard was dominating the final table of event #36. He seemed to be impossible to beat as his cards seemed to match the flop every time a huge pot was at stake. While Hougaard got the chips in with the worst of it and outdrew to take out the 3rd and 4th place finishers in this event, the final hand had Hougaard ahead of Cody “thugmoneymkr” Slaubaugh. Slaubaugh battled back from a 7.5 to 1 chip deficit at the beginning of heads up play to take over the chip lead at one point but Hougaard fought back and retook the lead before the final hand occured.

They got all the chips in preflop with Slaubaugh’s AT behind the QQ that Hougaard held. Slaubaugh’s fans called for an ace, but the flop came with a much less pleasing Q82 to give Hougaard a set and leave Slaubaugh drawing to runner runner outs. While we here at P5s called for a king or jack on the turn to keep Slaubaugh alive, the 5 on the turn sealed Slaubaugh’s fate and sent him to the rail.

P5s congratulates 8th place finisher Owen “ocrowe” Crowe, 3rd place finisher Aaron “gotcha55″ Kanter, and 2nd place finisher Cody “thugmoneymkr” Slaubaugh on their amazing performances today!

A few hours back, Adam “Roothlus” Levy (pictured left) was embarrased for the P5’s staff to see his stack that had been reduced to 7 blue 500 chips and mentioned that “it wasn’t even worth counting” during the 400-800 level of the WSOP Event #39, 1.5k NL.

A few hours later in the bubble stage, Levy was proud to show off his stack that was up to 37k, 10k over the chip average with 285 players left.

Levy scooped a nice pot in the 500-1000-100 level when he raised to 2.5k from late position and got called by the big blind.

Both players checked a J67 flop. Levy’s opponent bet 4k on the 9 turn and Levy called. The 8 dropped on the river and Levy’s opponent bet 4k and Levy called making a straight with 75.

Scott “BigRiskky” Clements got eliminated when he flatted an early position raise from the big blind and went all-in for 15.5k on a 856 flop with 44. Clements’ opponent called with 99 and Clements failed to improve.

Here are some notable chip stacks left with 276 left. This tournament pays out 270 spots.

Barry Greenstein - 87k

Tristan “cre8ive” Wade - 86k

Garrett “GBecks” Beckman - 58k

Richard “Lee Nickel” Fohrenbach - 47k

Theo Tran - 44k

Kenna James - 40k

Jason “JCarver” Somerville - 27k

Joshua “pbdrunks” VanDuyn - 15k

• June 21, 2008 -- That’s the Way You Need It
• June 21, 2008 -- He’s a Shaniac!
• June 22, 2008 -- Slaubaugh Leading Heads-Up Battle
• June 21, 2008 -- Slaubaugh Not Afraid to Gamble

A massive field of 2,720 players began play at the Rio in today’s $1.5k NLHE event but only 350 remain after 8 levels of play. The players are currently on a 20 minute break but after they return eliminations are bound to slow down considerably as the infamous money bubble approaches. 270 players are going to cash in this event and we may well hit that number before play ceases tonight but as we’ve seen with these NLHE tournaments anything can happen so we’ll keep you posted as players continue to hit the rail.

Before the break started Theo Tran eliminated a player when his pocket aces held against his opponents pocket jacks. Tran now has around 45k while P5er Jeff “yellowsub” Williams (pictured right) hit the rail when his pocket deuces couldn’t outdraw his opponents pocket aces.

Garrett ”GBecks” Beckman scooped a few nice pots late in the 400-800-100 level, increasing his stack from 40k to 63k.

The rush started when Beckman busted two short stacks that moved in from late position. The initial raiser went all-in for 4500 and another short stack went all-in as well, shoving in for 8800.

Beckman called with AQ and was way ahead as he was up against A4 and A9. Beckman promptly flopped trip queens and busted the short stacks without much of a sweat.

Cody “thugmoneymkr” Slaubaugh is still playing heads up with Jesper Hougaard at the final table of event #36’s $1.5k NLHE tournament and while Hougaard has regained the chip lead, Slaubaugh is not far behind. The super agressive play Hougaard used earlier to push the short stacks around seems to be a thing of the past as Hougaard has 4.1 million to Slaubaugh’s 3.1 million in chips.

• June 22, 2008 -- Slaubaugh Takes 2nd
• June 22, 2008 -- Slaubaugh Leading Heads-Up Battle
• June 21, 2008 -- That’s the Way You Need It
• June 28, 2008 -- Seat Open!

Despite starting heads-up play with a 3-1 chip disadvantage, Cody “thugmoneymkr” Slaubaugh now has nearly has a 2-1 chip lead over Jesper Hougaard as players head to an hour dinner break in the 1.5k NL WSOP Event #36.

It’s been a dramatic run to heads-up play for Slaubaugh, who was all-in with a pair of sevens and a gutterball against two-overs and a flush draw on the flop with two tables left late last night. Slaughbaugh has 480k to Hougaard’s 250k.

Many P5er’s are making waves in the 1.5k NL WSOP Event #39 as 480 of 2,720 remain.

Scott “BigRiskky” Clements (pictured left) has been atop the leaderboard from the onset but has taken a hit to a stack that was over 45k as players returned from dinner break.

Clements got priced-in to losing a big pot when his 3-bet got 4-bet all-in preflop in the 300-600-75 level. Clements reraised a 2500 open to 5500 only to have a player from the cutoff go all-in for 7300 more.

After crunching some numbers, Clements called and his TT failed to run down his opponents QQ.

Clements currently has 22k, slightly more than the 17k chip average.

Here are some other notable chip stacks left.

Richard “Lee Nickel” Fohrenbach - 50k

Jason “JCarver” Somerville - 45k

Barry Greenstein - 43k

Joshua “pbdrunks” VanDuyn - 36k

Noah “fouruhaters” Schwartz - 31k

Theo Tran - 26k

Amit “amak316″ Makhija - 23k

Tony “Bond18″ Dunst - 6k

Adam “Roothlus” Levy - 4.5k

In WSOP Event #38, the $2k PLHE, there are only 12 players remaining. Unfortunately two of the latest casualties are P5ers Jeff “jeffboski” Sluzinski and Chris “cdbr3799″ Dombrowski.

Dombrowski was eliminated when his pocket jacks ran into another players pocket queens and he failed to improve finishing in 15th place.

Sluzinski pushed all-in on a board showing T926 and his opponent (with slighly less chips) quickly called with the 99 for 2nd set while Sluzinski was only able to show the A8 for a gutshot straight draw. The 6 came on the river and Sluzinski was crippled down to a mere 10k.

He later pushed all-in with the AJ and was called by the big blind who held the K8. The flop came K83 giving the big blind two pair and giving Sluzinski a flush draw. The turn was the 6 and the river the 9 and Sluzinski was eliminated in 13th place. Both Sluzinski and Dombrowski earn $11,562 for their efforts over the past two days. 

• June 22, 2008 -- Slaubaugh Takes 2nd
• June 21, 2008 -- NoLongerARook
• June 21, 2008 -- That’s the Way You Need It
• June 30, 2008 -- Little and Jaka Moving Up

Aaron “gotcha55″ Kanter was just eliminated from the final table of event #36, the $1.5k NLHE in a heartbreaking manner. Jesper Hougaard, the dominating chip leader at the table has been raising and betting at numerous pots pushing his opponents around. He knocked out 4th place finisher Danny Wong when Wong’s pocket kings couldn’t beat the A5 of Hougaard who flopped the nut flush.

After a little more than 10 hands passed, Hougaard raised and Kanter pushed all in with his QQ and Hougaard made the call with the KJ. The flop and turn ran out safely for Kanter showing the A437 but then the devastating K came on the river to knock Kanter out. Hougaard and his buddies jumped up and down and celebrated at his enormous luck. Kanter takes home $258,862 for his efforts today.

Cody “thugmoneymkr” Slaubaugh is now the lone P5er left to battle Hougaard in a heads up battle that judging from Hougaards play thusfar, may end up being rather short. Slaubaugh (pictured right) just doubled up when his AT held against Hougaard’s QT. After the hand Slaubaugh had 1.6 million to Hougaards 5.9 million in chips.

• June 22, 2008 -- Slaubaugh Takes 2nd
• June 21, 2008 -- That’s the Way You Need It
• June 21, 2008 -- He’s a Shaniac!
• June 21, 2008 -- Slaubaugh Not Afraid to Gamble

Shane “shaniac” Schleger has decided to take over as table captain in Day 2 of the $2,000 Pot-Limit Hold’em event, which got kicked off at 2:00 PT. Schleger has been very active early, raising and re-raising often and moving chips at a table which includes Chris “cdbr3799″ Dombrowski and current chip leader Michael Binger, who arrived late.

Schleger (pictured right) started the day with nearly 80K and had built his stack to 95K within the first 20 minutes of play before taking a hit. With the blinds at 800/1,600, a player in middle position raised to 5,600 (with less than 2,000 behind) and Schleger isolated by re-potting in the cutoff. The button then moved in for his last 18,000 and the short stack and Schleger made the call:

Short stack: 55
Schleger: KQ
Button: AQ

The board ran out A8272 and Schleger was left with 77K while the short stack was eliminated. Dombrowski has 33K and Jeff “jeffboski” Sluzinski has 34K a few tables over.

Eugene Todd and Vanessa Roussa tangled a table over from Schleger’s. With both at exactly 15K, all of the chips went in preflop, Todd with KK and Rousso QQ. The kings held for Todd, who is slightly below an average stack now with 30K. Rousso was eliminated and earned $3,744.

Cody “thugmoneymakr” Slaughbaugh sent the first player to the rail at today’s $1,500 No-Limit Hold’em final table. Slaughbaugh (pictured left) raised to 55K with the blinds at 10K/20K and short stack John Shipley moved in for close to 300K. Slaughbaugh made the call with JJ, which held against the KQ of Shipley, who picked up $56,782 for his ninth-place finish. Slaughbaugh is now second in chips with 1.52 million. P5ers Owen “ocrowe” Crowe (620K) and Aaron “gotcha55″ Kanter (370K) are sixth and seventh, respectively.

• June 21, 2008 -- That’s the Way You Need It
• June 21, 2008 -- He’s a Shaniac!
• June 20, 2008 -- Pressure Setting In
• June 22, 2008 -- Slaubaugh Takes 2nd