69 of our 191 starters returned to the Amazon Room this afternoon and within the first four levels, we lost more than half the field before the inevitable slowdown kicked in. Phil Galfond, Sorel Mizzi, Ivan Demidov, Erick Lindgren, Nick Schulman, Erik Seidel, Freddy Deeb, Scott Seiver, Barry Greenstein and Phil Ivey all met their tournament end tonight, while an eclectic group of old-school pros, young internet wizards and loose-cannon amateurs saw their chip stacks rise.
Bryn Kenney ended play as the dominant chip leader with 2,425,000 and has his closest competitor, Brian Hodhod by almost a million in chips. Also finishing near the top of the leaderboard were Sam Trickett, Abe Mosseri, and Frank Kassela, who took the lead in the WSOP Player of the Year race when John Juanda, the man he was tied with for first, was eliminated on the bubble. On the other end of the spectrum, Dan "djk123" Kelly, last woman standing Heather Sue Mercer, and the always-colorful Billy Jordanou are on the short stack and will be looking to make a move early tomorrow.
We'll be back at the Rio at 3 p.m. Friday as we play our way down to a final table of six. For all of us here at PokerNews, thanks for following along. Good night and good luck from Las Vegas.
After getting crippled down to just about two big blinds, John Juanda had to post the big blind for 20,000 of his stack. Brian Hodhod raised under the gun to 52,000 and Martins Adeniya called from the small blind. Juanda squeezed out his cards tight and then called all in for 40,000 total.
The flop came down and both Adeniya and Hodhod checked. They also checked the turn which was the . After the fell on the river, Adeniya checked and Hodhod fired a bet of 44,000. Adeniya folded.
Hodhod held the and Juanda the second best . Hodhod won the pot and Juanda was off to the $10,000 Pot-Limit Omaha Championship across the room.
Frank Kassela returned to his seat from the PLO event to bag up when he heard the bubble broke and was ecstatic about Juanda bubbling and him taking over the lead in the race for Player of the Year.
John Juanda open-shoved for 216,000 and Mikael Thuritz called all-in for 173,000.
Thuritz
Juanda
Thuritz's queens held on the board and he let out quite the anamailstic yelp as he doubled up to 375,000. Juanda was crippled, and has only a little over two big blinds remaining with 43,000.
Shawn Buchanan raised from the cutoff seat and Eugene Katchalov called from the button. Isaac Haxton also called from the small blind and it would be three players to the flop.
The flop came down and Haxton checked after pausing for a moment. Buchanan fired 81,000 next up. Katchalov folded and action fell back on Haxton. He thought for a minute or two and then raised to 175,000. Buchanan almost instantly shoved in for about 450,000 total and Haxton snap-mucked his hand.
Although there are less than fifteen minutes remaining in what is supposed to be the final level of the day, this event will continue to play out until our bubble boy hits the rail and the remaining 18 players are in the money.
Considering we've only had one elimination in the last two hours, we could be here a while.
Isaac Haxton raised from the button and Justin Bonomo called from the big blind. Both players checked the flop. The turn came the and Bonomo bet 75,000. Haxton called. The river was the and Bonomo checked. Haxton bet 125,000 and after a long tank, Bonomo mucked.
Bonomo is down to 405,000 while Haxton is up to 960,000.
Frank Kassela raised before Heather Sue Mercer moved all in for about 360,000. Kassela folded pocket nines and commented that he doesn't want to bust Mercer just yet.
"I don't want to bust you, I need Juanda to bubble," said Kassela. Kassela and Juanda are neck in neck for the 2010 WSOP Player of the Year as both have 225 points. It'll be interesting to see how this plays out with both knowing the other player is still in and we're on the bubble. A cash is worth five points and if one bubbles, the other will take the lead with a chance to go deep and really increase the gap.
and both Adeniya and Hodhod checked. They also checked the turn which was the 
. After the 
fell on the river, Adeniya checked and Hodhod fired a bet of 44,000. Adeniya folded.
and Juanda the second best 
. Hodhod won the pot and Juanda was off to the $10,000 Pot-Limit Omaha Championship across the room.
and Haxton checked after pausing for a moment. Buchanan fired 81,000 next up. Katchalov folded and action fell back on Haxton. He thought for a minute or two and then raised to 175,000. Buchanan almost instantly shoved in for about 450,000 total and Haxton snap-mucked his hand.
flop. The turn came the 
and Bonomo bet 75,000. Haxton called. The river was the 
and Bonomo checked. Haxton bet 125,000 and after a long tank, Bonomo mucked.