The final three players of the $1.5k HORSE tournament have been trading chips back and forth but Phil Hellmuth, who has been short stacked for the past few hours is (somewhat) patiently waiting for good spots to rebuild his stack. We haven’t seen too many of the “typical” Hellmuth tantrums but there have been a few. In one hand of razz Hellmuth was dealt paint after paint while his opponent kept catching baby cards. On 5th street Hellmuth threw his sunglasses down onto the ground before mucking his hand. He doubled up once and continues to steal little pots but with the blinds getting high he is having a tough time getting his stack moving in the right direction against the aggressive chip leader.

Over in the $1.5k NLHE tournament only 16 players remain including Cody “thugmoneymakr” Slaubaugh and Scott “ssitron” Sitron. Cody had lost a little ground in the past couple hours until he was in the big blind and the player on the button pushed all in. Cody looked down and saw the QQ and quickly made the call. We missed what his opponent was holding but the board ran out K973Q and Cody’s set of queens was good enough to boost his stack back up to 425k.

Sitron was recently crippled in a hand with Corwin Cole and Eric Jolly. With the blinds at 8K/16K, Elliot Smith raised to 40K from middle position and Sitron, sitting directly to Smith’s left, reraised to 110K. Cole then moved in for 350K on the button and it folded around to Jolly in the big blind, who called off his last 160K. Smith folded and Sitron instantly called, setting up a dramatic three-way all in:

Sitron: AA
Cole: QQ
Jolly: JJ

The 862 flop looked good for Sitron, and the K on the turn left him needing to fade only four outs. His nightmare came to life on the river, however, when the Q peeled off, sending a pot of 950K over to Cole and leaving Scott with only 150K. Jolly was eliminated in 18th place.

• July 2, 2008 -- Slaubaugh Slowrolled, Exits in 15th
• July 2, 2008 -- The Splendor of Slaubaugh
• July 2, 2008 -- Sitron Sitting Pretty
• July 1, 2008 -- Sitron Making a Run in 1.5k NL

Play concluded in Event #52, the $1.5K No-Limit Hold’em tournament just before 1AM PST with 228 players remaining in the field. Several PocketFivers will return at 2PM tomorrow to contend for the bracelet and the $625,443 payout; amongst them are Cody “thugmoneymkr” Slaubaugh, Josh “pbdrunks” Van Duyn, Danny “THE_D_RY” Ryan, and Alvin “alsmooth” Zeidenfeld.

We caught up to Cody (pictured at left) during Level 10; Cody sported one of the biggest stacks at the table with 82K and was drinking Coronas with the biggest stack at the table. His strategy of chumming it up with the big guy seemed to be working as he made a big preflop raise to 3.2K in middle position and induced the table to show some respect and fold around to him.

Cody did, however, tangle in a pot with another PocketFiver, Joe “JonesJ1″ Jones, who sat with a small stack. He joked to PocketFives that it would be pretty embarrassing to have to return for Day 2 with so few chips, but he managed to pick up a hand shortly after and shove his 5,900 chips in the middle before the flop. Cody reraised to 10.6K total, isolating against the blinds that were still in the hand. They folded and Cody flipped over A9 to Joe’s TT. The board ran out JJQ78 and Joe more than doubled to 14K. Cody’s stack sat at a very comfortable 82K, nearly triple the average.

Alvin “alsmooth” Zeidenfeld, however, was the standout of the evening and bagged up 180K in chips. He returns tomorrow as the above-and-beyond chipleader. Danny “THE_D_RY” Ryan took a hit to his chip stack and will return with 17K, while Josh “pbdrunks” Van Duyn managed to double up through several uncalled shoves to 18K.

Though we didn’t witness first-hand the miraculous comeback that Kevin Saul reported to us, apparently another PocketFiver, George Butler, had 125 chips going into the dinner break after his pocket queens ran into pocket aces. Butler now has 45K in chips, has made the money, and continues on to play in Day 2. This is the stuff that urban legends are made of, people.

In the Brasilia room, the $1.5K HORSE tournament continues, with 33 players left all vying for a spot at the final table. The large field has been condensed to a shark tank of live players; Phil Hellmuth, Allen Cunningham, Joe Hachem, and Chad Brown all contend for the bracelet alongside short-stacked Alex Jacob. Play is expected to continue late into the evening; all players are now guaranteed $5,042.

Event #50, the $10K Pot Limit Omaha tournament has now moved from Brasilia to the Amazon room because ESPN wanted to get down to filming. Play is now down to 16 remaining and all are guaranteed $35,814. Recent eliminations include Dario Alioto (19th), David Williams (26th) and Nikolay Evdakov (28th), who has cashed a record ten times in this year’s WSOP. Apparently, his opponents were not unhappy to see him go; his legendary stalling continued well into this evening’s play.

• July 1, 2008 -- Ryan Doubles Twice in 1.5k NL
• July 1, 2008 -- Seiver Busts Before the Bubble
• July 1, 2008 -- Crain Drained
• July 1, 2008 -- No D_RY Spell for Danny Ryan

Several players in the $1.5K HORSE event decided to try to kill a couple of hours before Day 2 of play began by signing up for the $1.5K No Limit Hold Em event.  Unfortunately, the double dipping didn’t appear to work out well for most of them.  Shannon Shorr made early exits in both events while Bryan “badbeatninja” Devonshire (pictured at right) lasted a mere 3 hands in Day 2 of the HORSE event before returning to the $1.5K No Limit event.  Doug “Resilient” Smith, on the other hand, was too late to register for the Hold Em event, but remains in the HORSE event with 9K.  Meanwhile, Alex Jacob continues to alternate back and forth between the two events.

Luckily for Bryan, he has already built up a big stack to return to in the $1.5K event.  He was recently moved to the right of Ben “bfineman” Fineman and, when we caught up to Devonshire, he had raised to 550 under the gun with the blinds at 100/200 ante 25.  The player in the small blind reraised to 1750 and Bryan thought momentarily before making the call.  The flop came J86 and the player in the small blind bet out 2.5K.  Devonshire immediately moved all-in for his remaining 9K, which more than covered the other player’s chip stack.

The other player eventually folded and the table called for Devonshire to reveal his hand.  He declined, but did let Pocket Fives have a peek at his 89 before he tossed it in the muck.  After Bryan gave us permission to post it on Pocket Fives, but made us promise not to tell anyone on the floor, Fineman called out, “anyone have the internet on their phone?”

Another player making moves in the $1.5K Hold Em event is Andy “BKice” Seth (pictured at left), who recently doubled up when he moved all-in for his remaining 3.8K on a board reading Q6223 and his opponent thought momentarily before making the call.  Seth showed AQ for the nut flush and the other player mucked, sending the 16K pot Andy’s way.

Faraz “The Toliet-0″ Jaka’s table has been extremely active, with numerous all-ins on almost every hand.  While his tablemate TJ Cloutier is staying out of the all-in fests, Jaka recently got tangled in an enormous pot when he picked up pocket aces.  With the blinds at 100/200 Young Phan shoved all-in under the gun for 550 and a player in early position reraised to 1,100.  Faraz then shoved all-in for 2,875 with his aces, and the button moved all-in for 6K right behind him.  The player who reraised to 1,100 made the call and they all turned over their hands:

Phan: A-10
Early Position Player: Q-Q
Jaka: A-A
Button Player: A-K

The board ran out T82T5 and Phan took the main pot with trip tens, while Jaka scooped the side pot for 6,700.

Pocket Fives recently learned that Danny “THE_D_RY” Ryan and yesterday’s $2K No Limit Hold Em runner up Marco “CrazyMarco” Johnson (pictured at right) were also in today’s enormous field.  With registration maxed out, players were put in every corner of the Rio and Johnson and Ryan spent the first three levels of play outside of the seafood restaurant Buzio’s–nearly one-third of a mile away from the Amazon Room.  Ryan told us he was “happy to get out of the ghetto” and into the main room.  He is sitting in good shape with 8.5K while Johnson is holding steady at his 3K starting stack.

Here are some chip counts of some of the other 1,620 players still in the event:

Scott “gunning4you” Seiver - 14K
Ken “isuck123″ Goldin - 10.5K
Ben Fineman - 8.5K
Nick “fu_15″ Maimon - 6.5K
Vivek “psyduck” Rajkumar - 5K
Shaun “Cougars4444″ Hendrickson - 3.5K

• June 30, 2008 -- Monday, Monday
• August 27, 2008 -- Amit Doubles, Graham Crumbles
• July 1, 2008 -- Thugmoneymkr Makes Money (Ahem.)
• June 25, 2008 -- Pocket Fives No Good to Graham

After a marathon day of hold ‘em yesterday, Eric “jakz101″ Crain (pictured below) played another grueling day of cards today in the $1.5K HORSE event.  Eric promised Pocket Fives he was either going to end the day as the chip leader or out.  Looks like it is going to be the latter.  After playing virtually every hand for the last level of play, Eric got the last of his chips in the middle during a 3 way Razz hand showing Q-3-3.  After 7th was dealt out, Crain showed A-2-3-4-10, but his opponent had him bested with A-5-6-7-8.  Eric was in high spirits though and left with a smile on his face and informing us he will be taking a much deserved day off tomorrow.

As play was wrapping up, we spotted the following unofficial chip counts of a few players:
Michael Binger - 18K
Doug “Resilient” Smith - 13K
Alex Jacob - 12K
“Bodog” Ari Engel - 9K
Bart Hansen - 7K
Allen Cunningham - 6K
Brett “Gank” Jungblut - 5K
Shannon Shorr - 4K
Bryan “badbeatninja” Devonshire - 1K

The other HORSE Event, the $50K World Championship, continued 3-handed play.  Michael DeMichele currently maintains his chip lead with 7 million chips, but Erick Lindgren has worked his way back from the short stack and is now second in chips with 4.6 million.  Scotty Nguyen is the shortest stack with 3.4 million.

• June 30, 2008 -- Nguyen Wins 50k HORSE
• June 29, 2008 -- Crain Wrecks
• June 28, 2008 -- The HORSE Race Continues
• June 29, 2008 -- Saddling Up for HORSE

Bryan Micon (pictured at right) took a big hit in the $1.5K HORSE Event when his low draw didn’t materialize and pretty much everyone at his table and the tables surrounding him knew it.  His tablemate, Mike Matusow, finally proclaimed, “Bryan: you are allowed to talk non-stop about anything you want, anything at all, but you are not allowed to talk about that hand anymore.”

Mike continued his table banter with Micon by explaining to him the power of positive thinking.  Bryan was down to just 3 chips, 1,100 total, and Matusow was attempting to inspire him to make a comeback.

Micon made his last stand when he raised on 3rd street with a K up in Stud 8.  Both Matusow and the player who was the bring in made the call.  By 5th street Micon was showing K-10-10 and the third player bet, inducing Matusow to fold.  The other player held a pair of aces, but he made aces up on 6th and left Bryan, who had kings and tens, drawing very thin, especially since one of the kings was folded on 3rd.  Micon failed to improve and he was eliminated as Level 7 came to a close.

Other players making an exit in the event recently include Barry Greenstein and Kenna James.  Here are some chip counts of a few of the players still hanging around in the event:

Bryan “badbeatninja” Devonshire - 15K
Eric “jakz101″ Crain - 14K
Brett “Gank” Jungblut - 13.5K
Shannon Shorr - 8K
Doug “Resilient” Smith - 6.5K

Eric “Rizen” Lynch made his exit from the $10K Pot Limit Omaha Championship when, with the blinds at 800/1,600 a player in late position raised and Lynch moved all-in for 11.8K more.  The player made the call with 4-5-6-8 and Eric showed AA23.  The flop came88-X and, with no help on the turn or river, Lynch was eliminated.

Play has ended for the day and 86 players will be returning tomorrow.  Here are some unofficial chip counts we spotted as the level was coming to a close:

Josh Arieh - 368k (chip leader)
Shawn “buck21″ Buchanan - 240k
David Williams - 160k
Michael Mizrachi - 160k
Scott “BigRiskky” Clements - 118k
Noah “Exclusive” Boeken - 95k
David “Raptor517″ Benefield - 90k
Nenad Medic - 75k
Thayer “THAY3R” Rasmussen - 75k
John D’Agostino - 48k
Rafi Amit - 34k

• June 30, 2008 -- Clements Holding Steady in 10k PLO
• June 30, 2008 -- Gomes, Johnson Go 1 and 2 in $2K Event
• June 29, 2008 -- To Reload or Not to Reload?
• June 30, 2008 -- Daut Busted in 10k PLO