We just made another pass of the tournament floor and noticed a number of notables were gone. Former NBA player Earl Barron was missing, and he's not easy to miss as he towers over the room.
Likewise, last year's Harrah's Tunica final tablist Preston Derden made his exit after making a stand with only to run into .
A similar tale can be told by Matthew Chang, who got short and moved all in with and was up against . A queen on the flop quickly put an end to Chang's day.
Finally, we can confirm that former November Niner John Dolan has been eliminated. We're not sure of the details, but Dolan told a friend, with a bit of sarcasm we might add: "I just had the most absurd bustout hand ever. It's hilarious."
We just discovered a familiar face in the field with a lot of chips. Marco Palacios, last year's fifth-place finisher, started the say with just 21,200 but has already managed to chip up to 183K! He has the experience, and now has some chips, so we expect Palacios to make another deep run here in Tunica.
We just saw "Captain" Tom Franklin wandering outside the tournament floor, which led us to believe he had been eliminated. Sure enough, a quick check of his former seat confirms the worst.
Dantonio Brown, who began the day with a massive chip lead, hasn't had the greatest of starts as he has lost around 100,000. In a recent hand, he opened for 3,500 from the hijack and was called by Traci Brown in the big blind. When the flop fell , both players checked and the was put out on the river.
Again Traci checked, but this time Dantonio bet 7,000. His opponent folded and he took down the small pot. It wasn't much of a hand, but it gave us the opportunity to update their chip counts.
A.P. Phahurat informed us that he had dropped to just 5,000 in chips only to hit a heater and run it up to 50,000. Not long after, we saw Phahurat exiting the tournament area. It appears his comeback was cut short and that he has been eliminated from the tournament.
and Thompson amassed a considerable number of chips.
only to run into 
and was up against 
, both players checked and the 
was put out on the river.