Event #57: $10,000 No-Limit Hold'em Championship Day 1d | 2010 World Series of Poker

For a moment, I thought Freddy Krueger had burst through the felt as a piercing scream emanated from the center of the room. Although I'm not a believer in such boogie men, there had indeed been a butchering, and the victim wouldn't be sleeping easy tonight.

It was Lyle Berman who started the nightmare, raising it up as he had done many times before. Another player then pushed all in for 18,000 leaving the decision on Ross Boatman who held pocket nines. Boatman, who later claimed that the man could easily have been steaming from previous hands, made the call, only to be shown picket aces.

But despite the predicament, Boatman spiked a nine in the window (hence the scream), and so eliminated his foe. As a result, Boatman will be joining his brother in Day 2 (although different days, if that makes sense) with 44,675.

Tags: Ross Boatman

The fourth and final Day 1 flight has come to a close. Today saw the largest field of all four flights -- 2,391 -- fill the Amazon and Pavilion Rooms. Added to our first three days, the overall total of 7,319 players means this year's Main Event is the second-largest tournament in live poker history (behind the 8,773-player 2006 Main Event).

That field together creates a $68,798,600 prize pool to be divided up between the top 747 finishers. And come November, the one player from this group who manages to accumulate every last chip will claim $8,944,138, the gold bracelet, and poker immortality.

A number of notables chose the last starting day, and for some their starting day was also their finishing day. Phil Gordon was an early exit, as were John Tabatabai, Justin Smith, Michael Craig, Jose "Nacho" Barbero, and the top two finishers from the 2005 Main Event, Steve Dannenmann and Joe Hachem. Others failing to survive to Day 2 included John Juanda, Allen Kessler, Cliff Josephy, Sorel Mizzi, and Wendeen Eolis.

Meanwhile, David Benyamine, Bill Chen, Phil Ivey, Kara Scott, and Jason Mercier all jumped out to good starts today, though they were soon overtaken by Khamsy Nuanmanee. She would be the first to six digits, then would spend much of the evening near or at the top of the leaderboard.

At night's end, though, it was Steve "MrSmokey1" Billirakis making a late charge to claim the lead, with Steven Tabb, Julian Foussard, Dan Springfield, and Lestor Martinez also ending the night filling their bags with extra chips. And a quick glance down the leaderboard shows other familiar names such as Archie Karas, Vanessa Rousso, Josh Arieh, and probable 2010 WSOP Player of the Year Frank Kassela having done especially well for themselves today, too.

Of the 2,391 who started today's Day 1d, about 1,700 made it through, meaning we're still looking at more than 5,000 players whose 2010 WSOP Main Event dreams remain alive. Tomorrow those who made it through Days 1a and 1c will come back for Day 2a, with the rest (from Day 1b and Day 1d) continuing their tourney journeys on Day 2b.

Thanks for following our coverage today! And be sure to come back tomorrow at noon Vegas time when the cards go back in the air once again.

Player	Chips	Progress
Steve Billirakis	187,150 187,150	187,150

Khamsy Nuanmanee	170,525 170,525	170,525
Steven Tabb	170,275 170,275	170,275

Nestor Martinez	158,825 158,825	158,825
Roger Pruzansky	155,700 155,700	155,700
Daniel Springfield	150,100 150,100	150,100
Theodore Bort	146,825 146,825	146,825
Frank Gu	144,800 144,800	144,800
Aaron Gustavson	143,950 143,950	143,950
Andras Koroknai	142,250 142,250	142,250
Archie Karas	137,775 137,775	137,775
Eric Blair	137,550 137,550	137,550
Cole Miller	137,325 137,325	137,325
Samuel Oberlin	136,925 136,925	136,925
David Benyamine	130,800 130,800	130,800

Daniel Collins	130,100 130,100	130,100
Jamin Stokes	126,925 126,925	126,925
Benjamin Patterson	126,675 126,675	126,675
Jack Ellwood	126,500 126,500	126,500
Craig Swinney	126,200 126,200	126,200
Gary Brown	126,000 126,000	126,000
Paul Scaturro	125,325 125,325	125,325
Kenneth Baldrey	120,950 120,950	120,950
Elia Ahmadian	120,575 120,575	120,575
Thomas Johnston	118,300 118,300	118,300

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