As another Saturday at the Rio commences, players were lining the hallways in eager anticipation of the events today. At noon began yet another $1.5K No-Limit Hold’em tournament, Event #39, for which more than 2,600 registrants have entered. Late registration will continue for quite awhile and we will certainly see another huge field this afternoon. All the available Amazon room seats are taken, the dealers are at their seats, and Journey is on the loudspeaker. Stay tuned for our coverage of the many PocketFives players!

This afternoon also marks the start of Day 2 for Event #38, the $2K Pot-Limit Hold’em tournament. They managed to break the bubble after substantial hand-for-hand play last night; 63 players remain and Shane “shaniac” Schleger is ranked 7th in chips. Play will resume at 2PM as they battle for the final table tonight.

At 3PM PST, the remaining 18 players in the quest for the $10K Omaha 8 championship fight down to a single winner; Stu “thedonator” Patterson remains in the contest for the bracelet but is looking quite short-stacked with 96K in chips.

And finally, 2PM PST marks the start time for the final table of Event #36’s $1.5K No-Limit Hold’em tournament, which is chock-full of PocketFivers. Cody “thugmoneymkr” Slaubaugh barely trails chip leader Jesper Hougaard with 1.4M in chips; Owen “ocrowe” Crowe sits in the middle of the pack with 674K, and Aaron “gotcha55″ Kanter is our short stack with 165K. First prize will take WSOP gold and $610,304; we will be sure to watch this exciting battle closely!

• June 21, 2008 -- He’s a Shaniac!
• June 22, 2008 -- Slaubaugh Takes 2nd
• June 21, 2008 -- Shaniac World
• June 21, 2008 -- Slaubaugh Not Afraid to Gamble