Nearly 100 players have already been eliminated in the $10K Pot Limit Omaha World Championship, Event #50, despite the reload chip requiring mandatory usage after Level 3. Registration topped at 381; 288 players remain in the tournament.

Scott “BigRiskky” Clements was one of the recent chip leaders in the last few levels, but his stack kept shrinking with some sick hands. In one recent example, we caught up with the action as Scott bet out 2.8K after the turn on a board of 33JA. Another player moved all in and Scott called. Scott exclaimed, “Don’t tell me you have quads!” just before his opponent flipped over two threes for the nuts. Scott’s pocket aces made a boat, but nothing could catch him up on the river and he was down to about 30K.

Recent eliminations include Phil “OMGClayAiken” Galfond and Vanessa Selbst; Jamie “TheNew” Robbins (pictured at right) and Stu “thedonator” Paterson were also suspiciously missing from their old tables, replaced by other players. Here are some unofficial chip counts of notable players who remained in the event:

Steve “MrSmokey1″ Billirakis - 94K
Dario Minieri - 40K
Noah “Exclusive” Boeken - 36K
Jimmy “Gobboboy” Fricke - 34K
Eric “Rizen” Lynch - 28K
Tim “tmay420″ West - 16K
Alex Jacobs - 14K
Tom McEvoy - 14K
Tom “durrrr” Dwan - 11K

Meanwhile, the final table of Event #45, the $50K HORSE World Championship has begun after the unveiling of the Chip Reese Memorial Trophy. The house is standing-room only in the Amazon Room and spectators fill the gallery with applause after every hand. Michael DeMichele managed to win several of the last few pots and is on an upswing in the Razz rotation; Patrick Bueno has already busted in 9th place and Erick Lindgren retains his chip lead. More on this exciting conclusion as it develops!

• June 29, 2008 -- To Reload or Not to Reload?
• June 27, 2008 -- Stud Players Wanting Tang
• June 30, 2008 -- Clements Holding Steady in 10k PLO
• June 28, 2008 -- CrazyMarco, Roothlus Chip Up

The $10k World Championship of Pot-Limit Omaha got started at noon today here in the Amazon room with around 240 entrants when play began. The field has since grown to more than 320 players and registration will stay open until the end of level two. We’ve already spotted some P5ers in this smaller field including Jamie “TheNew” Robbins, Phil “OMGClayAiken” Galfond, Eric “EFro” Froehlich, Eric “Rizen” Lynch, Jimmy “Gobboboy” Fricke, Stu “The Donator” Patterson, and Scott “BigRiskky” Clements.

While in most of the other WSOP events this year the starting stack has been double the buy-in for the event, players begin this tournament with 10k in tournament chips plus a red reload chip (pictured left) that is good for another 10k chips whenever the player chooses to use it. Players can elect to use it right at the beginning, to make their starting stack 20k while others may wait until they need the extra chips. At the end of level three, the extra 10k will be added to any player’s stack that hasn’t already used their reload chip.

The final tables of both the $50k HORSE event #45 and the $2k NLHE event #48 will start this afternoon. The HORSE final table is fileld with big name pros including P5’s own Barry Greenstein who comes into the final table with the 3rd largest chip stack as he tries to win his 2nd bracelet this year and his 4th overall  bracelet.

The $2k NLHE final table will be led by chip leader Marco “CrazyMarco” Johnson who has more than 2.1 million. The final table will begin play at 3 pm where Marco hopes his amazing run in this event will lead straight to his first WSOP bracelet.

• June 30, 2008 -- Gomes, Johnson Go 1 and 2 in $2K Event
• June 29, 2008 -- Omaha Stakes Rise
• June 16, 2008 -- Get Your Fricke On
• June 30, 2008 -- Clements Holding Steady in 10k PLO

After losing chips in several confrontations with Marco “CrazyMarco” Johnson, Eric “jakz101″ Crain was left shortstacked with only around 175K with the blinds at 12K/24K ante 3K.  The player to Eric’s right was eliminated on the previous hand, resulting in a dead small blind and Eric in the big blind.  Knowing his opponents would likely take advantage of the opportunity to pick on the short stack, Eric attempted to remind his tablemates how much fun he’s been and how much they would miss him if he was eliminated.  At one point, Eric jokingly said, “why’s everybody always picking on me?  I’m looking at you there in the 2 seat.”  The man in the 2 seat?  None other than Eric’s newfound nemesis, Marco Johnson.

Johnson opted to fold, but the player on the button raised to 65K and Eric moved all in for his remaining 175K.  The other player thought briefly before making the call with A3 and Crain was in better shape than he expected with his 55.  However, after the flop came A-Q-Q, Eric was drawing thin and when the turn and river were no help to him, he was eliminated in 13th place, earning $35,843.

11 players remain and Johnson continues to hold the chip lead as play continues.  They will still need to lose two more players tonight before play concludes. 

Play has concluded for the day in the $50K HORSE event and the final table is set.  Erick Lindgren is currently the chip leader with Scotty Nguyen hot on his heels.  Barry Greenstein, Huck Seed, and Lyle Berman will also be duking it out for the coveted bracelet tomorrow starting at 3pm.

• June 28, 2008 -- The HORSE Race Continues
• June 30, 2008 -- Gomes, Johnson Go 1 and 2 in $2K Event
• June 29, 2008 -- To Reload or Not to Reload?
• June 29, 2008 -- CrazyMarco Running CrazyHot

Shortly before the most recent 20 minute break Blake “BallaB13″ Cahail (pictured at left) picked up a big pot when he eliminated another player.  The other player bet the flop of KQ6 and Blake made the call.  When the Q came on the turn, the other player moved all-in for the remainder of his stack and Cahail quickly made the call with KK.  The other player held AK and the meaningless 3 on the river meant Cahail’s stack built back up to 350k.

After players returned from their most recent twenty minute break, several players made ascents up the chip counts while others, like David “DavidP18″ Peters, headed for the door.  A short stacked Jose “head2782″ Severino moved all-in from the cut off and the player on the button quickly moved all-in behind him.  The players in the blinds folded and the two players turned up their hands.  Jose showed KQ while his opponent held AK.  The other player made a flush as the board came J8392 and Severino was eliminated.

Ibuki “bukithepro” Fukui was eliminated by Marco “CrazyMarco” Johnson when Johnson raised in late position and Fukui reraised all-in for a little over 100K total.  Marco made the call with pocket jacks, which held against Fukui’s A-10.  After the hand Marco had 340K.

Here are our most recent chip counts:
Eric “jakz101″ Crain - 440K
Darren “DABADESTCHIC” Nelson - 365K
Adam “akat11″ Katz - 295K
Dan “Wretchy” Martin - 220K

The $50K HORSE is down to its final 13 players and after beginning the day at the top of the leaderbaord, both Barry Greenstein and Daniel Negreanu are now two of the shorter stacks remaining in play.  Currently, Huck Seed is the chip leader with 5 more players to lose before play concludes for the night.

Finally, here are some notable chip counts in the 1.5k NL WSOP Event #49 with the blinds at 400-800-100 with 350 left and the average stack at 23k:
Greg “FBT” Mueller - 65k
John Murphy - 52k
Hevad Khan - 42k
David Pham - 30k
Andy Black - 27k
Chris “sooooted” Vaughn - 27k
Vivek “psyduck” Rajkumar - 23k
Jeff Madsen - 21k
Jon “pokertrip” Friedberg - 12k
Jonathan “FieryJustice” Little - 7k

• June 30, 2008 -- Gomes, Johnson Go 1 and 2 in $2K Event
• June 29, 2008 -- Katz and Cahail Bust Out
• June 28, 2008 -- The HORSE Race Continues
• June 29, 2008 -- To Reload or Not to Reload?

The 2,718 player field of the $1.5K NLHE tournament has already been reduced to less than 1,200 after a mere four hours of play. That means during these first four hours, an average of more than six players were eliminated every minute. Among those that have been knocked out are Jordan “iMsoLucky0″ Morgan, Anna Wroblewski (pictured below), Alex Jacob and Shannon Shorr. Shorr got the remainder of his chips in with A-7 only to run into another player’s pocket jacks. The board brought no help for Shorr and he was eliminated.

Players just went on their second break of the day; here are some notable unofficial chip counts at the beginning of the break:

Taylor “tdomeski” Douglas - 16K
Scott “thebasher007″ Stubbs - 11K
Matt “SamENole” Smith - 11K
Vivek “psyduck” Rajkumar - 10K
Carter “ckingusc” King - 10K
Hevad Khan - 9K
William “gptbigguy” Looper - 8K
Brent “bhanks11″ Hanks - 7.5K
Eric “Rizen” Lynch - 7K
Scott “ssitron” Sitron - 7K
Micah “mordan” Hendrix - 4.5K
David “seal” Eisenstein - 4K
Jon “pokertrip” Friedberg - 4K

Starting the day short-stacked, James “mig.com” Mackey hadn’t been able to get any momentum in the $50k HORSE event and finally got the last of his chips in preflop during a round of Omaha High-Low with the J754 against Farzad Bonyadi who held the AA72. The board ran out T3592 and Bonyadi’s pair of aces was best for the high and his 7532A was good for the low knocking Mackey out in 22nd place. Barry Greenstein is currently in the top five in chips with 943k while chip leader Michael DeMichele holds more than 1.5 million.

• July 4, 2008 -- Short Stacked Shorr Looking to Chip Up
• June 28, 2008 -- The HORSE Race Continues
• June 28, 2008 -- Basebaldy Bullies Bubble and Whiffs
• June 27, 2008 -- A Player Makes a “FatalError”