Scott “BigRiskky” Clements (pictured left) continues to yield an above average stack in the 10k PLO WSOP Event #50. Clements currently sits at 115k and recently just scooped a nice pot that has left John D’Agostino’s head spinning.

D’Agostino raised to 3,600  and Clements called on the button. Both players checked a T39 flop, and the action picked up on the 7 turn. D’Agostino bet 5k and Clements raised to 13k and D’Agostino called. D’Agostino checked the 8 and Clements bet 25k, sending D’Agostino into over a few minutes of deliberation. D’Agostino, who had about 60k behind, eventually found a fold and was visibly unnerved by the sequence of events following the hand.

Eric “Rizen” Lynch has somehow found a way to maintain around a ten big blind stack in a game known for huge swings during the past three hours.

Lynch currently sits at his apex during that stretch at 24k. Lynch got as low as 9k in the previous level.

“I finally got my starting stack back,” he said. ”It only took me nine hours!”

Shawn “buck21″ Buchanan has remained a healthy stack over 140k the past few hours although the arrival of overwhelming chip leader Josh Arieh to his table may drastically change that trend.

Arieh currently sits with 380k with blinds at 800-1600 with the average stack at 70k.

Here’s some other notable chip counts

David “Raptor517″ Benefield - 150k

Noah “Exclusive” Boeken - 135k

Rolf Slotboom - 45k

Tom “durrrr” Dwan - 28k

The $1.5K has already lost over half of its 803 person field, but 360 players still remain with a couple of hours left in Day One.  One such player is Doug “Resilient” Smith (pictured right), who recently picked up some chips when he eliminated another player in a razz showdown. 
 
Barry Greenstein brought the hand in for 75 with a K up and the player to his left completed the bet to 300 with the 8 showing.  Smith then raised to 600 with his A up, and his opponent thought momentarily before 3-betting.  Doug capped the betting and the other player called.  Doug picked up the 4 on 4th while his opponent showed a K.  Doug bet and his opponent called.  When both players picked up Qs on 5th street Smith bet again, which was enough to put his opponent all-in.  As the other player made the call and they turned their cards face up, Doug informed the other player he wasn’t in that bad of shape against Smith, as Doug had paired his four.  The players showed the following hands:
 
Smith (5)(4)A4Q
Opponent: (6)(4)8KQ

On 6th Doug improved to the better low with the 2 while his opponent was dealt the 9.  The 3 on the river sealed the deal for Smith by giving him the wheel, as well as the nearly 5K pot.  He was up to 9K at the conclusion of the hand.

While some players, like John “jdawg0913″ O’Brien, Jimmy “gobboboy” Fricke, and David “seal” Eisenstein have been eliminated, several others remain.  Here are some unofficial chip counts:

Brett “gank” Jungblut - 11K
Eric “jakz101″ Crain - 11K
Alex Jacob - 8.5K
Bryan “badbeatninja” Devonshire - 5K
Shannon Shorr - 4K
Barry Greenstein - 3.5K
Bryan Micon - 2.5K
“Bodog” Ari Engel - 2K

Jon “pokertrip” Friedberg was eliminated in 28th place in the $1.5K No Limit Hold Em event when his pocket eights failed to hold against another player’s A-K.  He will earn $13,727 for the finish.  Andy Black and Men “The Master” Nguyen were also sent to the rail recently.  21 players remain, including David Tran, Tommy Vu, “Jumpin” Joe Pelton, and JC Tran.
 
The $50K HORSE event is nearing closer to a champion as only three players remain at the final table.  Michael De Michele is the current chip leader with over 7 million, but Scotty Nguyen is within striking distance with 5.3 million.  Erick Lindgren is the short stack of the trio; he is just shy of the 2 million chip marker.

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

• July 2, 2008 -- Hellmuth Battling to Win #12
• July 1, 2008 -- Thugmoneymkr Makes Money (Ahem.)
• June 30, 2008 -- No Double Dipping
• June 30, 2008 -- Crain Event

Event #51, the $1.5K HORSE tournament is well under way with a strong online presence. Play continued to spread across multiple sections of the Amazon room as well as the Brasilia room. PocketFives spotted Shannon Shorr, Brett “Gank” Jungblut, Matt “SamENole” Smith, Justin Bonomo, and Eric “jakz101″ Crain amongst the field.

David “seal” Eisenstein and Bryan Micon (pictured at right) were seated next to each other, but there was a mix-up about where Micon was supposed to sit. The dealer called the floor staff over to help resolve the situation, and the woman who came knew not what she was getting herself into. “Who are you, now?” she asked Micon. “Who am I?” he replied. “I’m Bryan Micon. I’m very, very, very famous.” The table laughed before Micon assumed the correct seat and play began.

Meanwhile, we spotted Jimmy “Gobboboy” Fricke, Alex Jacob, and Stu “thedonator” Paterson, all of whom busted out earlier from the $10K Pot Limit Omaha tournament. We caught Stu yawning a number of times, so it looks like they have a long night ahead of them in this big field.

When PocketFives caught up with play in Event #49, Gerry “TheGatherer” Kane (pictured at left in his Scottish gear) continued to use his lucky kilt to accumulate chips; his stack was up to 110K and growing as he was taking down small pots. Taylor “tdomeski” Douglas was short-stacked with 20K and recently moved to Vivek “psyduck” Rajkumar’s table, where he had worked his stack up to a respectable 95K. Jon “pokertrip” Friedberg, however, was looking healthy and happy with a stack of 170K.

In the $10K Pot Limit Omaha event, Sorel “Imper1um” Mizzi got involved in an interesting hand. We caught up with the action on the turn with the board reading 652K. Sorel checked over to his opponent who bet 9.1K. Sorel tanked for a couple of minutes before tossing out two pink 5K chips to make the call. The river brought the K and Sorel again checked over to the other player who bet 13K.

Sorel went into the tank yet again and after a few minutes had passed another player called the clock. Sorel had 60 seconds to make a decision and as the floor counted 3…2…1… Sorel mucked his hand, conceding the pot. His opponent showed two of his hole cards, the 75 which, by themselves, would have been good for two pair - kings and fives. Players are now on a 90 minute dinner break and some unoffical chip counts are listed below.

Noah “Exclusive” Boeken - 48k
Scott “BigRiskky” Clements - 46k
Rolf Slotboom - 46k
Sorel “Imper1um” Mizzi - 40k
Ryan “Daut44″ Daut - 36k
Thayer Rasmussen - 33k
Tom “durrrr” Dwan - 20k
Eric “Rizen” Lynch - 18k

• June 16, 2008 -- Get Your Fricke On
• June 29, 2008 -- Mueller Makes a Massive Call
• June 30, 2008 -- Daut Busted in 10k PLO
• June 30, 2008 -- Gomes, Johnson Go 1 and 2 in $2K Event

It seems everywhere you turn some player is making a bad call to put their tournament life at stake. This definitely wasn’t the case for Greg “FBT” Mueller (pictured at left). We caught up with the action on the flop with the board reading T72. A short stacked player was already all in and Greg and another player were tangled up in a side pot. Both players on the side had large stacks that were similar in size and when the other player pushed all in Greg went into the tank.

He talked out his entire thought process over a period of time that lasted nearly ten minutes. “You must have aces or kings” he said… followed by “Would you make that move with nines or eights? You could be on a flush draw.” Jon Friedberg got up from the table and whispered to a PocketFives reporter that he was sure Greg had the best hand and the other player probably had A-K or maybe the flush draw. Greg apologized to the table for taking so long to make a decision, but no one seemed upset. Eventually Greg said “I really think I have the best hand. I call.” His opponent said “Nice call” as he flipped over the 99 for a pair of nines and Greg proudly flipped over his KT for a pair of tens. The all in player showed KQ and Greg was set to win the entire pot. The turn came with the 5 and the river was the Q which gave the short stacked all in player the main pot of around 40k, but Greg’s tens took the side pot which totaled nearly 250k.

Gerry “TheGatherer” Kane has also been accumulating chips. He busted a player with his pocket queens and then on a hand not long afterwards the cutoff raised to 9k and Gerry re-raised to 23k from the small blind. The cutoff made the call and the flop came 532. Gerry pushed all in and his opponent folded and Gerry’s stack grew to around 115k.

With 90 players remaining Jon Friedberg has around 180k, Vivek “psyduck” Rajkumar has almost 100k, and Hevad “RainKhan” Khan has a little less than 50k.

The $1.5k HORSE event #51 got started at 5 pm tonight and with the smaller buy-in we’re sure we’ll see a large number of online players dipping their toes into this mixed game event even if they aren’t as experienced at all of the games. This is sure to make for some exciting action and we’ll keep you posted as the tournament progresses.

The $50k HORSE final table is still progressing. Barry Greenstein is currently the short stack with 1.3 million while Scotty Nguyen is the current chip leader with 4.4 million.

• June 29, 2008 -- Clements Takes an Early Lead
• June 29, 2008 -- Saddling Up for HORSE
• June 30, 2008 -- Clements Holding Steady in 10k PLO
• June 30, 2008 -- Daut Busted in 10k PLO