From the hijack seat, 13-time World Series of Poker gold bracelet winner Phil Hellmuth raised to 4,000. Play moved to Brian Rast on the button, and he called. Everyone else folded, and before the flop came out, Hellmuth checked in the dark.
The flop was 
, and Rast opted to check it back, giving Hellmuth a free card on the turn, which was the 
. Hellmuth led with a bet of 7,200, and Rast folded.
The eliminations are picking up as a slew of players hit the rail shortly after the break. Jeff Lisandro an Connor Drinan were both eliminated in unknown action, but we did happen to catch the bust of Emanuel Seal.
It happened when Daniel Neilson raised to 3,500 from the cutoff and Greg Merson called from the button. Seal opted to three-bet all in for 13,600 from the big blind, Neilson called, and Merson got out of their way.
Neilson: 
Seal: 
Seal had some kicker problems, but the 
flop made things interesting as he picked up a flush draw. He had two pulls at it, but neither the 
turn nor 
river would give him what he needed.
Level: 9
Blinds: 800/1,600
Ante: 200
The players are now on their last 15-minute break of the day. We'll be back shortly with the final two levels of Day 1.
David Steicke raised to 3,500, and then Phil Hellmuth reraised to 10,000 from the next seat. Steicke reraised to 27,000, and Hellmuth folded. Steicke showed him the and scooped the pot.
Mike Leah just got done busting Antonio Esfandiari when he got involved with Dan Heimiller in a pot that saw Leah collect another scalp.
This time, Heimiller had bet 7,000 on the 
flop, and Leah raised to 16,000. Heimiller took some time to think about things, and then he moved all in for around 82,000. Leah slid the chips forward to make the call and showed the for top pair. Heimiller had the 
for bottom pair and a diamond draw.
The turn was the 
, and the river was the 
. Both of those kept Leah's hand best, and he sent Heimiller out the door.
"All in and a call Table 10," we heard a dealer shout. We made our way over to discover Antonio Esfandiari had gotten his stack of 54,000 all in preflop against Mike Leah.
Leah:
Esfandiari:
Esfandiari got it in good, but his lead was only temporary as the 
flop gave Leah a pair of jacks. Neither the turn nor 
river helped Esfandiari and he wished the table luck before taking his leave.
Jonathan Karamalikis was short on chips and all in with the 
. The good news for him was that Andy Lee had the 
and Karamalikis had him dominated. The bad news was the board ran out 
, and Karamalikis was eliminated.
Brian Rast and Phil Hellmuth have a lot of history dating back to 2011 when the former defeated the latter in heads-up play to win the $50,000 Poker Players' Championship. The two are seated together at Table 8 and it was no surprise to see the two mix it up.
It began when Hellmuth opened for 3,000 from the hijack and Rast three-bet to 7,800 from the button. The blinds both folded, and Hellmuth called before checking dark. Rast continued for 9,000 on the flop, Hellmuth quickly called, and both players checked the turn. When the 
completed the board on the river, Hellmuth bet 7,500 and Rast thought for a few moments before making the call.
"Ace no kicker," Hellmuth said and flung over the 
. It was good as Rast sent his cards to the muck.
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