With only nine players left before we're in the money, Dan Harrington failed to survive and has been eliminated from the 2010 Main Event.
There was already about 57,000 chips in the pot on a board reading 
when Harrington went all in for 42,000 more.
Harrington: 
Opponent: 
Harrington saw he was in rough shape, needing an ace to split the pot. When the river came 
he was eliminated and wished the rest of the players at his table good luck as they approach the money.
With hand-for-hand just moments away, players are inevitably stalling like an innocent man on death row. I just witnessed a player down to 40,000 kill as much time as possible before releasing his hand, including the clock being called and the countdown reaching five (one would be too obvious).
Stalling at this stage remains a gray area. Some frown upon it, whilst others consider it to be an acceptable strategy, but the truth is that with so much money up for grabs (especially for those who have qualified via a satellite), people are going do whatever is within their powers to evade the splash of the bubble and, as Anne Robinson would say, "go home with nothing."
Just as the announcement was coming over the PA telling dealers to stop after completing the hands they were on, we saw a hand on the secondary feature table in which Chris Bjorin opened for 15,000 from middle position, then Max Casal reraised to 53,000 behind. Brian Fite then reraised again all in over the top for about 110,000 total.
It folded back to Bjorin who also got out, and Casal quickly called. Casal showed 
, and Fite clapped his hands together once before tabling his 
.
The board ran out 
, and Fite survived with the double up. Casal still has a big stack with about 815,000.
We've got 753 players remaining, and that puts us six eliminations away from the money. As such, Jack Effel has ordered the dealers that they'll be dealing hand-for-hand from here on out. For those of you unfamiliar with this stage of a tournament, hand-for-hand play means that each table will play a single hand, and then the dealer will stand up to signal their table has finished.
Once a hand is done at each of the 84 tables in the room, everyone sits back down and we do it all over again. This format was put into place to keep the players from stalling and deliberating for twenty minutes over every decision.
For the next 90 minutes, the clock will paused with 1:15:44 left in Level 16 and 751 players remaining.
"We want you all to enjoy your dinner break," tournament director Jack Effel announced. "So we will break for 90 minutes and then return for hand-for-hand play."
The reaction from the players?
BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO OOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!
Four players are currently on dinner and will return to bubble the 2010 Main Event. Quite brutal.
Plenty of chips flew during the last few levels and ten players now have over a million. Theo Jorgensen leads the way with 1,325,000 and is immediately followed by Duy Le with 1,320,000.
Pieter De Korver, Corwin Cole, Andrew Brown, Rolf Slotboom and Joe Awada all made early exits, while Tony "Bond 18" Dunst (1,179,000), Phil "OMGClayAiken" Galfond (1,050,000) and Nick Niergarth (850,000) made major moves.
Only dealers and casino staff remain in the Amazon Room, but in 90 minutes the floor will certainly be abuzz again. Cya then!
With 15 minutes left in Level 16, the cards are back in the air and we are resuming hand-for-hand play.
Welcome to the 2010 Main Event bubble!
As the dealer bellowed, "All in and a call!" a buzz of excitement simmered through the orange section and players had to resist the temptation to leap from their seats.
The man all in was Mike Mercaldo, and with 
versus 
, he was in good shape to not only double through, but sneak into the money. But first, he had to dodge the board.
As the cameras closed in, the dealer reached for the deck and rolled out a 
flop, followed by a 
turn. Mercaldo held his breath as the river was summoned... 
. Mercaldo was safe!
A gentle sigh emerged from the surrounding tables and Mercaldo was forced to celebrate alone, clapping the air and exhaling as big a breath of relief as I've seen thus far. He's now on 80,000, and if he has hit wits about him, should be leaving the Rio with a minimum of $19,263.
Under the gun, Kido Pham moved all in for 35,000 with 
. Josh Brikis called across the table, and he showed down his 
, racing against Kido for his bounty.
The flop was a clean slate for Pham, coming 
. The turn left him sweating a little bit, though, as Brikis picked up another four outs to the knockout. Sure enough, the disastrous 
peeled off on the river, ending Pham's WSOP four places shy of a Main Event cash.
The gregarious Pham shook hands with his table mates and wished everyone luck as the eyes of the ESPN cameras were trained on the tournament's latest victim.
There was around 85,000 in the pot when we arrived - we think the player in mid position raised and then called a reraise from Amit Makhija on the hijack - and a flop reading 
. The mid-position player checked and it actually wasn't clear whether Makhija had gone all in or merely bet 50,000 with 55,000 behind - either way, the TV cameras descended on the table as Makhija's opponent tanked up, all the pressure in the world on him. Eventually he folded, and Makhija mock-wiped some imaginary sweat off his brow as he increased his stack to 190,000.
This time last year a young man by the name of Kia Hamadani was sitting quietly in the corner of the Amazon Room, minding his own business, during hand-for-hand play of the 2009 World Series of Poker Main Event. Unfortunately for Hamadani, there were three ESPN cameras, twenty poker reporters from various media outlets and 647 other poker players watching his every move.
You see, Hamadani was officially the "short stack" in the entire room as we all watched on, as his miniscule stack was slowly being blinded down, one ante at a time. We heard multiple stories of pocket kings being folded preflop on other tables while Hamadani sat there, praying that there would be a cooler of some description, somewhere, so that he could limp into the money.
It didn't happen, and the media were three-deep when Hamadani was all in for his single ante. He held a monstrous 
and was up against the 
of Reed Hensel. Running nines on the turn and river gave the pot to Hensel, the bubble burst and Hamadani's worst nightmare had come true. He'd just bubbled the WSOP Main Event.
The one shining light to come out of that day was that Hamadani received some small compensation for his misfortune, as the WSOP and sponsor Jacks Links offered to provide the entry for Hamadani into the 2010 WSOP Main Event.
Fast-forward twelve months and we're at that very moment once again. Are eyes on Hamadani this time? Well not exactly. In fact, it took us a while to recognize him. Perhaps it was because we're not used to seeing him with a mountain of chips! He has roughly 540,000 in front of him, and you'd think he would be pretty safe to avoid the same fate again this year. But then again, stranger things have happened!
Hopefully a deep cash is on the cards for Hamadani who is making the most of his second chance. He's experienced the very lowest point that poker imparts on a player, and is now well on his way to experiencing one of the highs.
