Mike Sibulkia has emerged as the first player above 80,000 in chips and the new chip leader.
"I've just been chipping away," he told PokerNews, when asked if he'd been involved in any big hands.
Some of that chipping away likely came at the expense of former chip leader Andy Redleaf. The famed hedge fund manager once had over 70,000 and he now sits across the table from Sibulkia under 30,000.
Minneapolis, MN's Tam Le has vaulted into a spot near the top of the counts after a five-hand flurry that saw him pick up pair after pair.
In one of the big hands, his pocket kings actually got outflopped by a shorter stack with pocket queens. Le simply made a bigger set on the river to continue his ascent.
Joel Klipping and MSPT Pro Matt Kirby just got into a bit of a raising war heads-up on an flop with about 10,000 in the middle.
Kirby put his stamp on the hand, shoving all in for some 20,725 more than the 9,000 Klipping had bet.
Klipping, who won a regional event at MSPT Mahnomen this summer, eventually folded and both players now appear to be jockeying for position near the top of the leader board.
The ink was still fresh on the post showing Mark Sandness as the first player past the 100,000-chip mark when he lost a massive pot to local hedge fund manager Andy Redleaf, handing him the chip lead.
With about 15,000 in the middle already, heads up on a board, Sandness sat with a bet of 5,800 in front of him and Redleaf had raised to 12,000. Sandness made the call and then checked the river.
Redleaf wasted little time shoving in for 20,650 and although it appeared he didn't like it, Sandness made the call. Redleaf sheepishly turned over the and collected the pot after Sandness mucked, leaving the table for a moment to cool off.
Orno, MN's Carl Carodenuto is writing his own zero to hero story right now.
It wasn't too long ago he was all in for less than 10,000 preflop with versus . He found a miracle king on the river to survive that and has been on fire ever since.
He managed to blind bet his way into a full house, picked up pocket kings and has been playing well and running well on the way to 70,000 and a spot among the bigger stacks now heading into the break.
With nine levels now behind them, the players are off on a 10-minute break. In the meantime, the tournament staff is coloring up and removing the T25 green chips from play.