So you want to win a million bucks, huh?

Well, here's how you do it. First, you manage to make it to the final table of the World Championship of Online Poker. Then you do exactly what you see below.

To cap off our WCOOP coverage, PokerStars.tv has put together the final highlights reel.

Below you can see the final table of the Main Event play out with all the hole cards exposed. Enjoy!

Watch WCOOP Highlights: $5,200 Main Event on PokerStars.tv

ckingusc takes down the WCOOP Main Event

Day 2 of the World Championship of Online Poker Main Event began with 60 players vying for the $1.775 million first prize. Those were the survivors of 2,185 runners who started the event on Sunday. The number of entrants created an online poker record prize pool of $10,925,000.

That record prize pool was a fitting end to the largest WCOOP ever. The final tallies – 33 events, 55,758 buy-ins and $39,958,000 in prize money – exceeded expectations in every way. Players from 118 countries participated in the 2008 edition of the WCOOP. PearlJammer and thedonator each had 10 cashes to lead the field. Dorinvandy was the top earner prior to the Main Event, with $652,529.95 in winnings. But everyone knew that record would go down on Monday.

August35 came into the final day of play as the chipleader, but with plenty of play in each player’s stack (an average of more than 36 big blinds) it was still anybody’s game.

Play began quickly on Day 2, with the short stacks praying for double ups. In fact, 10 players of the 60 remaining were gone in the first 20 minutes of play, and we were down to 32 after the first hour of play. Not surprisingly eliminations slowed after that as the remaining participants had enough ammo in their stacks to fire a few bullets and dodge a few mortars.

August35 suffered a major freefall and finished in 23rd. The last remaining Team PokerStars Pro, Bertrand “ElkY” Grospellier, who had a heck of a series with seven cashes and more than $400,000 in winnings, exited in 21st.

Final table play began just after 8:30pm EST after nearly 15 hours of play over two days. The seating and chip counts heading into the final were:

Seat 1: kovi99 561,348
Seat 2: klslcz 4,828,175
Seat 3: ckingusc 8,056,086
Seat 4: liberace 13,111,107
Seat 5: AJKHoosier1 3,700,250
Seat 6: BOLLDOZER 3,310,739
Seat 7: Sumpas 2,959,856
Seat 8: ShoesRDurrty 6,547,232
Seat 9: Markush13 11,433,207

With blinds of 65,000/130,000 and antes at 13,000, the short-stacked players didn’t have time to wait. Kovi99 got right at it and managed to triple up early by getting all-in twice as an underdog and winning (K-3 versus K-6 and K-Q versus A-3). Kovi99 wasn’t so lucky a third time when while playing with blinds of 80K/160K he raised to 320K under the gun and Markush13 called from the big blind. After a flop of 3d-Kc-8s, Markush13 checked and kovi99 bet 640K. Markush13 put kovi99 all-in for his last 300K and he made the call with Ah-Js. Markush had him dominated with Kh-7h and won the pot after the turn and river came 9h-Th.

BOLLPOKER would exit in 8th only two hands later. He shoved all-in for 1.3 million with 3h-3d and ckingusc (who has the South Carolina Gamecock as his avatar photo) made the call in the big blind with Ad-Qh. The race looked good for BOLLPOKER at first, but didn’t end well on a board of 5d-9s-Jd-Kh-Tc.

Klslcz would go out in 7th place in disgusting fashion only a few minutes later. He raised to 420K from under the gun and Markush13 re-raised to 1.3 million from the big blind. Klslcz flat called and the two players saw a flop of 9h-9s-Qc. Here is how that hand concluded:

This WCOOP Main Event was not to be for klslcz when the final two cards came 8c-Ks to give Markush13 a set and a nice 15.78 million stack.

Sumpas was the next to go in 6th with blinds still at 80K/160K. ckingusc raised to 404K and liberace called from the cutoff. Sumpas pushed all-in for 4.74 million from the small blind. Ckingusc folded, but liberace called. Sumpas was well behind with Ac-Qd versus Ad-Kh and the board didn’t help him with Td-Ts-3c-8d-Jh. The hand put liberace in a dominating position over the final five with 28.5 million of the 55 million chips in play.

The table knew liberace was running good when he put AJKHoosier1 all-in a short time later with Qd-Kh versus 7h-7c, the flop came 8d-7d-6c and he still didn’t lose the hand. That’s because the turn and river came 9c-Tc to put a straight on the board.

The players then discussed and finally agreed to a deal after a few tries. AJKHoosier1, a tournament force in the online poker scene, managed to carve out an additional $100K in the arrangement. He then proceeded to double up with 7-7 versus the 2-2 of ShoesRDurrty, leaving ShoesRDurrty crippled.

ShoesRDurrty was next to go in 5th. Ckingusc raised to 487K and ShoesRDurrty re-raised all-in for 1.1 million from the big blind with 3s-3c. Ckingusc made the call with Qh-Qd and won when the board came 4h-8h-6c-7d-Jh.

Markush13 was able to wrestle the chip lead away from liberace when he hit a set with his pocket sevens to crack liberace’s pocket eights, and a few hands later when he pushed liberace out of a 10 million pot with an all-in bet on the flop. However, over the next 20 minutes liberace regained the lead and finally put an end to Markush13 in 4th place. Liberace, sitting with 23.3 million chips, raised the 200K big blind to 600K preflop. Markush13, with about 12 million, re-raised to 1.8 million in the small blind. Liberace called and the two chipleaders saw the flop of Qs-9s-9d heads-up. Both checked. The turn brought the 6d and Markush13 led out for 2.33 million. Liberace called. The river was the 7h and Markush13 fired again – this time for 9.31 million, or all of his chips. Liberace quickly called with Th-8h for the rivered straight and had amassed 37 million chips after all Markush13 could produce was ace high with Ad-Ts.

After play got down to three handed, ckingusc made a move. First he doubled through AJKHoosier1 with kings versus A-T and then he played aggressive poker with liberace to take down a couple of pots uncontested. Ckingusc then put out AJKHoosier1 when AJKHoosier1 pushed over the top of a ckingusc 600K raise from the button for 4 million all-in from the big blind. Ckingusc called with 9h-9c and was well ahead of the Ad-7c of AJKHoosier1. The nines held and we were down to two.

When heads-up play began, liberace held the lead 34.5 million to 20 million, but that would change very quickly. Liberace raised to 500K from the button and ckingusc called. After a flop of 8c-3d-7d, ckingusc checked, liberace bet 1 million and ckingusc check-raised to 3 million. This didn’t sit well with liberace who immediately shoved all-in. ckingusc made the call with Kd-Jd for two overcards and a flush draw while Liberace held Qh-7s for second pair. The Kc on the turn did the trick, making the 6d on the river overkill. Regardless, ckingusc now had control with 40 million chips.

The match would end just a few hands later. Here is the final hand of the 2008 World Championship of Online Poker:

Liberace can take solace in the fact that he made the most money thanks to the five-handed deal in this marathon final event that lasted close to 17 hours over two days. So concludes two and a half weeks of the biggest online poker event in history. See you next year!

WCOOP Main Event Final Table Results (payouts reflect five-way chop based on chip count)

1. ckingusc $1,265,432 and bracelet
2. liberace $1,375,249
3. AJKHoosier1 $782,542
4. Markush13 $961,718
5. ShoesRDurrty $801,153
6. Sumpas $415,150
7. klslcz $305,900
8. BOLLPOKER $196,650
9. kovi99 $121,267

Day 2 live blog coverage of the WCOOP Main Event, $5,200 No-Limit Hold'em is brought to you by Johnny Kampis and Martin Harris.

Have a story? E-mail to blog@pokerstars.com. Click refresh to see the latest information. For a look at previous coverage, see the Main Event Day 1 live blog and the Day 1 recap.

10:34pm--It's over! liberace eliminated in 2nd place; ckingusc wins 2008 WCOOP Main Event bracelet!

It was just the 12th hand of heads up play. ckingusc had 39,992,242, a huge lead over liberace's stack of 14,632,758. With the blinds 125,000/250,000, ckingusc raised to 600,000 from the small blind/button, and liberace reraised to 1.5 million. ckingusc shoved, and liberace called.

ckingusc showed 8c-Ac, and liberace Kd-Jd. The flop brought a pair to both: As-Kc-Th. The turn was the 4c, and the river the 9d. ckingusc's ace gave him the pot and the bracelet!

According to the earlier deal, liberace takes home a pretty nice consolation prize -- a whopping $1,375,249! And with the extra $200,000, ckingusc ends up with $1,265,432. Congratulations to both!

10:28pm--ckingusc grabs huge pot, chip lead

A huge swing in just the 7th hand of heads up! liberace raised to 500,000 from the button/small blind, and ckingusc called. The flop came 8c-3d-7d. ckingusc checked, liberace bet 1 million, ckingusc check-raised to 3 million, and liberace shoved all in. ckingusc called with his remaining 16,933,621.

liberace: Qh-7s
ckingusc: Kd-Jd

This could be it for ckingusc! But the Kc on the turn changed the situation. And a 6d on the river gave him the flush and the 40 million-plus chip pot!

ckingusc now has a better than 3-to-1 advantage over liberace!

10:25pm--Chip counts as we begin heads up play

1. liberace 34,666,379
2. ckingusc 19,958,621

ckingusc: gl
liberace: u2 sorta

10:24pm--AJKHoosier1 knocked out in 3rd; heads-up play begins

AJKHoosier1 had battled valiantly with the short stack ever since play had become five-handed. Then came a hand where ckingusc raised to 600,000 from the button, and AJKHoosier1 shoved all in for 3,869,354 from the big blind.

AJKHoosier showed Ad-7c, and ckingusc 9h-9c. The board came 2d-3c-4s-Qh-2h, and AJKHoosier goes out in third place, collecting $782,542 as agreed upon earlier.

We are down to heads up!

10:21pm--Special request may require special delivery

ckingusc: when i cash out can i get a big novelty check?
StaffBryanS [Host]: I'm not sure that a giant foamboard check will fit through the post, ck. ;)
ckingusc: ship it freight imo

10:14pm--Chip counts at 16-hour mark (fifth break of Day 2)

Level 33
Blinds 125,000/250,000, antes 25,000
Players remaining: 3
Average chip count: 18,208,333

1. liberace 35,021,944
2. AJKHoosier1 11,121,200
3. ckingusc 8,481,856

10:10pm--Markush13 eliminated in 4th place

liberace, with 23.3 million, raised 3x to 600,000 from UTG/the cutoff, and Markush1 reraised to 1.8 million from the small blind. It folded back to liberace who called.

The flop came Qs-9s-9d, and both checked. The turn was teh 6d. Markush13 bet 2,333,111, and liberace called. The river brought the 7h, and Markush13 pushed all in for 9,310,895. liberace called, turning over 8h-Th for the straight. Markush13 just had Ad-Ts for the failed bluff, and he is out in 4th place, collecting $961,718 according to the earlier deal.

10:06pm--Higher denomination chips in play

With blinds of 100,000/200,000 and an average chip stack of 13.65 million, we are routinely seeing million-chip plus pots, even when there is little action.

The short stack, AJKHoosier1, has shown the most aggression thus far, with his 7.5 million-chip stack being enough to worry the bigger stacks.

9:59pm--The fantastic four

They have outlasted 2,181 opponents and nearly 16 hours' worth of play (not counting the breaks). Here are the chip counts here halfway through Level 32:

1. liberace 21,520,216
2. Markush13 15,086,228
3. ckingusc 11,512,366
4. AJKHoosier1 6,506,190

9:51pm--A whole new ball game

Markush13 just doubled through liberace in a battle of pocket pairs. Preflop, Markush13 had the worst of it with 7d-7c versus liberace's 8d-8c. Was looking bad after that Js-2d-2h flop, too. But a seven on the turn changed everything.

Markush13 now has almost 12.7 million, and liberace maintains the lead with 19.7 million.

9:48pm--Check out live WCOOP coverage on PokerStars.tv

Don't forget, you can also follow all of the action right up until the final hand over on PokerStars.tv. Click here to watch live video with commentary.

9:44pm--Baby pair fails ShoesRDurrty again, knocking him out in 5th

Four hands after being crippled by AJKHoosier1, ShoesRDurrty shoved with 3s-3c and ckingusc called him with Qh-Qs. The board came 4h-8h-6c-7d-Jh, and ShoesRDurrty ends in 5th place. He takes home $801,153, as agreed upon by the earlier deal.

9:41pm--ShoesRDurrty stubs toe as AJKHoosier1 doubles up

Coming back from the deal-making, the first ten hands or so were reasonably quiet, then came an all in confrontation between AJKHoosier1 -- who held 7h-7c -- and ShoesRDurrty -- who had 2h-2d. AJKHoosier1 had raised to 411,111, ShoesRDurrty reraised to 1,444,444, AJKHoosier pushed, and ShoesRDurrty called.

A seven flopped, and AJKHoosier's hand held up, giving him the 8.5-plus million chip pot. Meanwhile, ShoesRDurrty now has just 1.17 million.

9:34pm--Players come to terms; play continues for $200K and bracelet

Discussion began with Bryan S., the Tournament Director, providing pay outs according to a "chip chop" agreement -- i.e., with the prize pool reapportioned according to players' current stack sizes. Remember, no matter what deal is reached, at least $200,000 remains on the table to go to the eventual winner (along with the coveted WCOOP bracelet).

Here were the figures Bryan came back with reflecting such a deal:

liberace: $1,600,249
ckingusc: $1,065,432
Markush13: $866,718
ShoesRDurrty: $781,153
AJKHoosier1: $672,542

Players immediately expressed reservations, especially AJKHoosier1. After a lengthy discussion -- including a second set of figures being refused by AJKHoosier1 -- a new arrangement was proposed:

liberace: $1,375,249
ckingusc: $1,065,432
Markush13: $961,718
ShoesRDurrty: $801,153
AJKHoosier1: $782,542

All five agreed, and are thus guaranteed these payouts. They now play on for the remaining $200,000 and the bracelet!

9:19pm--Let's make a deal?

With five players remaining -- and a whopping $5.18 million in prize money still up for grabs -- all have agreed to discuss a possible deal.

Here are the chip counts at the moment:

1. liberace 24,858,660
2. ckingusc 12,501,128
3. Markush13 7,909,641
4. ShoesRDurrty 5,932,571
5. AJKHoosier1 3,423,000

9:11pm--Sumpas out in 6th; liberace increases lead

Player liberace is starting to take over this final table. He had just won a 9.7 million pot without a showdown against Markush. Then came this hand versus Sumpus.

ckingusc raised to 404,250 from UTG+1, and liberace called behind him. Then Sumpas raised all in for 4,736,518 from the small blind. ckingusc folded, and liberace made the call.

Sumpas: Qd-Ac
liberace: Ad-Kh

Tough spot for Sumpas. The board came Td-Ts-3c-8d-Jh, and Sumpas is out in 6th place, earning $415,150. With that 10.1 million-chip pot, liberace now has over 28 million -- nearly half the chips in play with five players left!

9:02pm--Another nasty river sends klslcz out in 7th

After all nine players survived the first half-hour or so of final table play, we've had our third bustout in ten hands.

klslcz raised to 420,000 from UTG, then Markush13 reraised to 1,300,999 from the big blind. klslcz called. The flop came 9h-9s-Qc. Markush13 bet 1,899,999, and klslcz promptly shoved all in for 4,861,175. Markush13 made the call, creating a 12 million-plus chip pot.

Markush13 showed Kh-Kc, but klslcz had Ad-Ac. "omg" typed AJKHoosier1, looking on. The turn was the 8c, but the Ks on the river gave the huge pot to Markush13 and knocked klslcz out in 7th, for which he gets $305,900.

8:57pm--Tough river eliminates BOLLPOKER in 8th

Just two hands after kovi99's elimination, we had our second final table bustout. BOLLPOKER open-shoved all in for almost 1.3 million from middle position, and ckingusc -- having 7.35 million with which to play -- called from the big blind.

ckingusc: Qh-Ad
BOLLPOKER: 3h-3d

The race was on. The board came 5d-9s-Jd-Kh... Tc! That ten on the end gave ckingusc the hand and knocked out BOLLPOKER in 8th. He earns $196,650.

8:53pm--kovi99 first to go at final table

In the second hand back from break, kovi99 minimum-raised to 320,000 from under the gun, and it folded back around to Markush13 who called from the big blind.

The flop came 3d-Kc-8s. Markush13 checked, and kovi99 considered for a good while before betting 640,000, leaving himself just 408,392 behind. Markush13 quickly check-raised to 160,000, and kovi99 had little choice but to make the call.

Markush13 showed Kh-7h for top pair, while kovi99 had Ah-Js. The turn was the 9h and the river the Th, and kovi99 goes out in 9th place, collecting $121,267.50.

8:47pm--Chip counts at 15-hour mark (fourth break of Day 2)

Level 31
Blinds 80,000/160,000, antes 16,000
Players remaining: 9
Average chip count: 6,069,444
First prize: $1,775,312.50

1. liberace 16,257,107
2. ckingusc 7,398,086
3. Markush13 7,364,175
4. klslcz 6.546,174
5. ShoesRDurrty 6,224,571
6. Sumpas 4,604,517
7. AJKHoosier1 2,667,500
8. BOLLPOKER 2,162,478
9. kovi99 1,400,392

8:38pm--Nine lives

All nine of our players are still alive after the first 15 hands of final table play. Our short-stack entering the final table, kovi99, has survived three all ins and has nearly tripled up to 1.46 million. liberace continues to maintain the chip lead here in the early stages of final table play with 14.8 million, with Markush13 his nearest competitor with 9.23 million.

8:26pm--Final table is set

We have reached the final table of this historic WCOOP Main Event! Here was the scene as the first hand was being dealt:

Chip counts and seat assignments at start of final table:

Seat 1: kovi99 574,348
Seat 2: klslcz 4,841,175
Seat 3: ckingusc 8,069,086
Seat 4: liberace 13,124,107
Seat 5: AJKHoosier1 3,713,250
Seat 6: BOLLPOKER 3,323,739
Seat 7: Sumpas 2,972,856
Seat 8: ShoesRDurrty 6,560,232
Seat 9: Markush13 11,446,207

8:24pm--Fluffdog87 out in 10th place

After that crippling hand versus ShoesRDurrty, Fluffdog87 pushed his last 510,516 all in with Ad-2h and was called by klslcz who had 5c-5d. The board came Qh-3h-4d-Ts-7d, and Fluffdog87 is our final table bubble boy, earning $87,400 for a 10th place finish.

8:21pm--Fluffdog87 takes a big hit

Huge hand just went down here at one of our five-handed tables. Fluffdog87 raised to 355,575, then ShoesRDurrty repopped to 3,273,616. Fluffdog87 called, leaving himself 757,516 behind.

ShoesRDurrty had pocket sixes, and Fluffdog87 Ad-Kc. The flop brought a six, and the hand held, moving 6.67 million into ShoesRDurrty's stack.

8:14pm--charder30 out in 11th

With 1.744,239 chips to start the hand, charder30 pushed all in from UTG and liberace called from the small blind. liberace showed Ad-Td, while charder30 turned over 4d-4c.

The flop was okay for charder30 -- Jh-Qd-8d. But the turn was the Ah and he was in trouble. The river 2h sealed it, and charder30 goes out in 10th place, $87,400 richer.

We are now down to 10 players and are playing hand for hand until we reach our final nine.

8:10pm--Who needs a kicker?

ShoesRDurrty pushed for 1.5 million and BlueDevils09 came over the top to get play heads-up with Kd-3d for ShoesRDurrty and As-Kd for BlueDevils09. Unfortunately for BlueDevils09 the board ran out Jd-Qd-2c-Td-6d to give ShoesRDurrty the flush.

Two hands later after BlueDevils09 had doubled up once, but then he lost a flip for all of his chips with ShoesRDurrty with 7-7 versus Q-K and went out in 12th, collecting $87,400.

8:02pm--Live coverage at PokerStars.tv

Remember you can head over to PokerStars.tv to follow coverage of the last two tables of tonight's historic WCOOP Main Event.

Currently the hosts are interviewing Team PokerStars pro Vicky Coren in between describing all of the action.

Check it out! Live audio and video of the play!

Tune in by clicking here.

7:58pm--Double knockout sends cbsplash & KingKobeMVP to rail

As we came back from the break, we had some fireworks at Table 105. It began with cbsplash raising to 266,554 from middle position. Markush13 called from the button, then KingKobeMVP raised all in for 2,433,056 from the small blind. It folded back around to cbsplash who committed his last 1,482,000. And, as we discovered, Markush13 was only too glad to make the call as well...

KingKobeMVP: 6c-6h
cbsplash: 8d-8c
Markush13: As-Ad

As he had both covered, Markush13 had an opportunity to kill two birds with one stone here. The board came out 7h-4d-Qc-4c-Qs, and we were down to 12.

As cbsplash had the smaller stack when the hand began, he ends in 14th, with KingKobeMVP taking 13th. Both win $65,550.

7:49pm--Chip counts at 14-hour mark (third break of Day 2)

Level 29
Blinds 50,000/100,000, antes 10,000
Average chip count: 3,901,785
Players remaining: 14
First prize: $1,775,312.50

1. liberace 11,489,959
2. AJKHoosier1 9,417,974
3. Markush13 7,226,370
4. Sumpas 4,579,889
5. charder30 3,687,981
6. cbsplash 3,428,572
7. BlueDevils09 3,174,808
8. Fluffdog87 2,173,323
9. BOLLPOKER 2,104,845
10. klslcz 1,746,467
11. kovi99 1,713,848
12. ShoesRDurrty 1,710,276
13. ckingusc 1,309,446
14. KingKobeMVP 861,242

7:42pm--That's some serious cabbage

With just 14 players left, we are getting close to that final table where a whopping $6.2 million of the prize pool awaits. The pay jumps are becoming considerable here -- indeed, if one thinks about it, the biggest pay jumps in online poker history!

The next two to go out earn $65,550. Then the next three will each get $87,400.

Not bad. But look what comes next...

9th: $121,267.50
8th: $196,650
7th: $305,900
6th: $415,150
5th: $524,400
4th: $633,650
3rd: $941,735
2nd: $1,311,000
1st: $1,775,312.50

This schedule of payouts doesn't take into account any possible deals at the end, of course. Incidentally, if any deal is done, at least $200,000 will have to be set aside for the eventual winner.

7:37pm--BillieD out in 15th after losing flip

BillieD raised to 210K from the cutoff and BlueDevils09 pushed all-in for 1.2 milliion from the button. The rest of the table folded and BillieD made the call for his tournament life with Qs-Qh. BlueDevils09 held Ac-Kc.

The flop looked safe with the 8s-5c-2d, but the turn 4c gave BlueDevils09 18 outs and one of those -- the 2c -- came on the river to send BillieD packing with $65,550 for 15th.

7:34pm--For the love of the railbirds

Observer chat has been turned off for awhile now, but Fluffdog87 wanted to remind them of his appreciation:

Fluffdog87: shoutout to all of the people railing me right now!

7:26pm--WCOOP Highlights on PokerStars.tv

Highlight reels of several WCOOP events have been compiled and are ready for viewing over on PokerStars.tv. A similar highlight reel will be compiled for today's event as well. For now, though, enjoy this one from Event 31, the $1,050 Limit Hold'em event won by assezz:

Watch WCOOP Highlights: Event 31 - $1,050 FLHE (6-max) on PokerStars.tv

7:19pm--Want to know how to win the WCOOP?

The first step is to win an 8-million chip flip.

AJKHoosier1 just got it all-in against KingKobeMVP with 9-9 versus A-K and survived to put himself into second place with 8.1 million. KingkobeMVP fell to 246K.

7:18pm--Current chip leaders

There are 15 players remaining. Your top five...

1. liberace 11,195,179
2. AJKHoosier1 8,156,414
3. Markush13 6,542,320
4. Sumpas 5,998,188
5. charder30 5,237,299

7:16pm--Reminder: Check out coverage of the last two tables over on PokerStars.tv!

They've begun their coverage over on PokerStars.tv of the endgame of PokerStars' WCOOP Main Event. Live commentary and video! Click here to check it out.

7:13pm--ViP_MoDee out in 16th

With blinds 30,000/60,000, chip leader liberace raised to 180,000 from middle position and ViP_MoDee reraised all in for 1,357,825 from the small blind. liberace called, showing 7s-7d. ViP_MoDee was in a race for his tournament life with Ah-Jc.

The board came 4d-8c-3c-4h-Qs, and ViP_MoDee hits the rail in 16th place, earning $43,700 for his efforts.

Meanwhile, liberace currently remains atop the leaderboard with about 10.6 million.

7:10pm--ShiP ThA $$$ ships his stack to no avail, out in 17th

ShiP ThA $$$ shoved his last 569K into the pot preflop and AJKHoosier1 re-raised from the small blind to isolate and the two went heads-up.

ShiP ThA $$$ was dominated with Qh-7c versus the Ah-7d of AJKHoosier1. The board ran out harmlessly with 9s-Ks-6h-Kc-3c and ShiP ThA $$$ collected $43,700 for 17th place. AJKHoosier1 chipped up to 4.3 million.

7:04pm--Kicker advantage shoots liberace above 11-million mark

Forza Parma got the rest of his chips in the middle with A-Q. His problem was that liberace was holding A-K. Here is the hand that put Forza Parma out in 18th and with $43,700 in hand:

7:03pm--Nice pay bump

Now that we are down to two tables, all remaining players are guaranteed $43,700 -- a nice bump up from the $22,942.50 those finishing 19th-27th received. But you can be assured any of them would be disappointed with that result at this point.

7:01pm--JBlaze20 extinguished in 19th

JBlaze20 was down to 582,187 when his final hand began. It was a blind-vs.blind showdown with BOLLPOKER, with JBlaze20 completing from the SB and BOLLPOKER checking his option from the BB.

The flop came 5c-6s-Kc. JBlaze20 checked, BOLLPOKER bet 180,000, JBlaze20 check-raised to 420,000, and BOLLPOKER repopped it all in. JBlaze20 called, and we saw he was gunning for a flush with Jc-7c. Meanwhile, BOLLPOKER had flopped top two. As you can see here, the flush didn't arrive, and JBlaze20 is out:

6:58pm--McMang can't crack aces and leaves in 20th

McMang shoved his last 524K into the pot with Ah-7c, but ran into the As-Ad of KingKobeMVP to his left. The board ran out 4d-5s-5d-9h-Jh and the outcome was never in doubt. McMang earned $22,942.50 for his work while KingKobeMVP sits with a stack of 4.9 million.

6:52pm--It's raise, re-raise and take it

At this point in the tournament, few hands see the flop. Most hands lately have played out in a simple formula:

1) Raise
2) Re-raise
3) Fold

Big stacks don't want to collide to risk missing out on a six or seven figure paygay, but when they do the sparks can fly...

6:45pm--Unlucky seven knocks ElkY out in 21st

Team PokerStars pro Bertrand "ElkY" Grospellier has just been eliminated in 21st, culminating a terrific WCOOP for ElkY.

Fluffdog87 had raised to 152,575, and ElkY, down to 655,381 (20th out of 21 players remaining), reraised all in. Fluffdog87 made the call, showing 7d-7h. ElkY was in good shape with 9d-9h.

Good shape until the flop, anyway -- 2d-7s-6c. The 8c on the turn gave Grospellier added hope, but the 3d on the river sent him to the rail in 21st. He earns $22,942.50 for his efforts in Event No. 33.

Today's cash marks the seventh cash overall for Grospellier in this year's WCOOP.

6:38pm--Chip counts at 13-hour mark (second break of Day 2)

Level 27
Blinds 30,000/60,000, antes 6,000
Average chip count: 2,601,190
Players remaining: 21
First prize: $1,775,312.50

Top ten players:
1. Liberace 6,814,954
2. KingKobeMVP 6,706,763
3. Markush13 5,712,324
4. cbsplash 4,958,829
5. Sumpas 4,449,613
6. klslcz 2,977,513
7. AJKHoosier1 2,970,295
8. charder30 2,784,299
9. Forza Parma 2,775,895
10. kovi99 2,007,073

Team PokerStars pros remaining:
Bertrand “Elky” Grospellier 613,381 (21st)

6:31pm--Ace on the river sens lucky_aces08 home in 22nd

ElkY raised to 124K from UTG, klslcz made it 300K to his left and lucky_aces08 shoved for 701K from the button.

ElkY got out of the way, but klslcz was priced in and made the call with Ah-5h. lucky_aces08 had to like the flop and turn of 8h-9s-Td-3d, but the river was the As to send him away in 22nd place and $22,942.50 richer. klslcz now has about 2.8 million in his stack.

6:29pm--Day 2 chip leader out in 23rd

august35 entered Day 2 as our commanding chip leader, and maintained that lead for most of the first half-hour or so today. But a failed bluff on the last hand of the first level robbed august35 of a big chunk of chips, and after continuing to slide he finds himself out of the tourney in 23rd place.

On the final hand august35 had 1.29 million to start. Forza Parma raised to 125,700, and august35 called from the cutoff. ViP_MoDee also called from the small blind. The flop came 8s-Qh-Jd. ViP_MoDee checked, Forza Parma bet 195,000, august35 called, and ViP_MoDee got out of the way.

The turn was the 2h. This time Forza Parma checked, and august35 bet 450,000. Forza Parma reraised all in, and august35 called. Forza Parma showed Ts-9s for the flopped straight, and august35 8c-8d for a set of eights. The river was the Tc, and august35 was history.

6:24pm--liberace looking for a bracelet to go with all of those rings

When asked about critics' unfavorable reviews, the real Liberace famously responded "I cried all the way to the bank."

It is doubtful that player liberace -- our current chip leader with about 6.48 million -- is doing much crying at the moment, though he's certainly angling toward a trip to the bank.

liberace is followed by KingKobeMVP with 5.78 million.

6:19pm--All hail the King

KingKobeMVP was back at it, cracking the pocket kings of mcstuntz and sending him home in 24th place with $22,942.50. Here is how that happened:

6:17pm--Congrats to kudos1017, out in 25th

Down to 292,123, kudos1017 open-shoved from middle position with Js-7d and Markush13 called behind him with Ks-Qh. The board came 3h-Kd-Jh-Tc-9s, giving Markush13 the straight and knocking out kudos1017 in 25th place.

6:15pm--Follow final table action on PokerStars.tv!

Don't forget, coming up in just a little while we will have live coverage of the final few tables of the 2008 World Championship of Online Poker Main Event.

PokerStars.tv coverage should begin around 6:30 ET -- just about 15 minutes from now.

Don't miss your chance to watch and listen! Tune in by clicking here.

6:10pm--Flopped set does in m3tph

m3tph raised to 150K from UTG, klslcz called from the cutoff and liberace called from the big blind.

The flop was 2d-7s-Td and liberace checked. m3tph bet 700K, more than the 520K pot, and klslcz folded, but liberace check-raised enough to put m3tph all-in for his last 1.78 million.

m3tph made the call and couldn't have liked seeing the 7c-7d of liberace for the flopped set. m2tph held Qh-Qs and did not improve on the 6h turn and Jh river to finish in 26th place and earn $22,942.50. liberace, meanwhile, jumped into the chip lead with a stack of 6.4 million.

6:04pm--River saves BillieD

BillieD was just now all in with Qc-Tc versus JBlaze20's pocket jacks. The flop came Ad-Jh-3s, giving JBlaze20 a set. The turn was the 8s, but the Kc on the river saved BillieD, giving him Broadway and a 1.636 million-chip pot. JBlaze20 now has about 916,000.

5:56pm--baloo1962 departs in 27th place

baloo1962 limped in the cutoff for 40K and McMang raised to 130K from the button to eliminate the rest of the field. baloo then re-raised to 300K and McMang called.

After a flop of Td-9d-5d, baloo1962 pushed all-in for 535,818 and McMang thought and called. The hands:

baloo1962: Kc-Kd
McMang: As-Th

baloo1962 was in great shape, but the board ran out 2s-Ah to create an unlikely victory in the hand for McMang, who chipped up to 1.8 million. baloo1962 received $22,942.50 for 27th place.

5:55pm--27 remain

We just had a rapid rush of three eliminations. First abreid went out in 30th, followed closely by abreid in 29th. Then we saw Herr_Jude was knocked out in 28th after losing a race with pocket kings against Sumpas' As-Qc. The flop was fine, but an ace on the turn meant Herr_Jude was out.

Of course, that consolation prize might help Herr_Jude take a sad song and make it better. Here are all of those who will be receiving $20,757.50 for two days' work:

28. Herr_Jude
29. Cowb0y$4Life
30. abreid
31. ahh_snap
32. capinhabr
33. austinlewis
34. Daut44
35. Cobra234
36. astarisborn

And these will receive $19,665:

37. xmrstyle
38. Miss Pretty
39. PieOhMy
40. x-13

5:49pm--Kobe makes play for MVP

Not that Kobe, but KingKobeMVP, who just won a monster pot to put him near the chiplead and bust abreid in 30th place. Here is that hand:

5:46pm--ahh_snap snapped off in 31st

We just saw a huge 4.4 million-plus chip pot go down over on Table 251, with the result being the elimination of ahh_snap in 31st place. The flop looked -- Jd 3s 2s -- looked fairly innocuous. But that's when the action really started. Check it out:

5:41pm--capinhabr sails home in 32nd place

Markush13 raised to 100,000 from UTG+1 and it folded back around to capinhabr who shoved all in for 521,391 total from the big blind. Markush13 made the call.

capinhabr showed Kc-Qc, and Markush13 Kd-Js. About as good as capinhabr could hope for here. Alas, a jack came on the flop -- 5s-Jh-8c -- and capinhabr was suddenly way behind. The Ac on the turn and the 9s on the river sent capinhabr out in 32nd place.

5:36pm--Chip counts at 12-hour mark (first break of Day 2)

Level 25
Blinds 20,000/40,000, antes 4,000
Average chip count: 1,707,031
Players remaining: 32
First prize: $1,775,312.50

Top ten players:
1. AJKHoosier1 3,473,225
2. klskcz 3,449,985
3. Markush13 3,099,702
4. august35 2,818,114
5. KingKobeMVP 2,401,975
6. Fluffdog87 2,386,207
7. ahh_snap 2,378,196
8. cbsplash 2,306,365
9. Sumpas 2,254,275
10. ShoesRDurrty 2,222,552

Team PokerStars pros remaining:
Bertrand "ElkY" Grospellier 1,407,994 (19th place)

5:29pm--Sumpas bumps off austinlewis

In a hand right near the end of Level 24, august35 raised to 75,000 and ShiP ThA $$$ called behind from the cutoff. Then austinlewis reraised all in from the button for 613,650. Suddenly Sumpas, having apparently woken up in the small blind with a hand, repopped it all in for 1.48 million, and the other two got out of the way.

Sumpas: Ah-Qh
austinlewis: Ac-9h

Sumpas had austinlewis in a bad spot. The board came 7h-6d-4c-4h-2h, and austinlewis was eliminated in 33rd place. Sumpas meanwhile heads into the break with 2.25 million, good for ninth place at present (out of 32).

5:28pm--Daut44 down

Daut44 was just eliminated in 34th place. Daut44 open-shoved his last 456,959 from the small blind with Ac-2s, and ahh_snap called from the BB with Kc-Jc. A jack flopped, and when another came on the turn, Daut44 was drawing dead.

5:27pm--Playing back at Indiana

AJKHoosier1 is being aggressive at Table 105, raising many pots, but he's feeling the effect of his play as many players are three-betting him to make him lay down some mediocre holdings.

Despite having to surrender chips in two recent pots, AJKHoosier1 is still in second place with 3.25 million.

5:25pm--High attrition rate

As we approach the first five-minute break of day two, we're already down to 35 players. That means we've been losing players at a clip of about one every two minutes or so during the first hour of play today.

klskcz has assumed the chip lead at the moment with a little more than 3.5 million, followed by AJKHoosier1, august35, Markush13, and Fluffdog87.

5:21pm--More eliminations

We had just lost x-13 in 40th place, and PieOhMy in 39th. Then came this not-so-pretty hand involving Miss Pretty.

Sumpas raised to 70,000 from the button, and Miss Pretty, down to 331,620, called from the big blind. The flop came 3s-Qc-Td. Miss Pretty checked, Sumpas bet 75,000, and Miss Pretty reraised all in. Sumpas called, showing Kc-Qh. Miss Pretty was in tough shape with Qd-5d.

The turn was the 2c and the river the 3c, and Miss Pretty was eliminated in 38th place.

All three earn $19,665.

5:17pm--Down to 40

Here are recent eliminations and payouts:

$19,665 each --

41. sprocket94
42. psuNYY51
43. neverwin
44. LoneHixx
45. pokerhahntas

$18,572.50 each --

46. DooshDotCom
47. cpfactor
48. styroben33
49. BalkanGhost
50. Michank

5:14pm--neverwin can't win a race, is eliminated

neverwin is out in 43rd place, after having lost two races with pocket pairs versus overcards.

First came the loss of a 1.2 million-plus chip pot to lucky_aces08. neverwin open-raised from middle position to 66,666 (note bet size when you read his hand), and lucky_aces08 reraised to 225,000 behind him. neverwin then pushed all in, and lucky_aces08 called with his last 355,308.

neverwin showed 6d-6s, while lucky_aces08 turned over Jd-As. The board came Jh-Kh-Qc-Jc-8d, and neverwin was down to just 170,196.

Just two hands later, neverwin pushed with pocket fours and was called by Team PokerStars pro Bertrand "ElkY" Grospellier who had As-Kd. Both an ace and a king flopped, then an ace on the turn meant neverwin's day was done. ElkY meanwhile has chipped up to 1.52 million.

5:06pm--Aggressive play rules the day

You can expect plenty of three-bet shoves like this one throughout the day:

Fluffdog87 raised to 78,575, AJKHoosier called on the button and xmrstyle re-raised to 244K from the small blind. Fluffdog87 folded and then AJKHoosier1 shoved all-in for 2.3 million. xmrstyle, who had about 650K behind, thought for a long time and folded.

After the hand, AJKHoosier1 chipped up to 2.8 million for third place on the leaderboard.

5:03pm--Failed river bluff costs chip leader

In the very last hand of Level 23, chip leader august35 just took a massive hit, losing half of his stack and slipping back to 5th place overall.

august35 raised 3x to 75,000 from UTG+1, and Markush13 called from the cutoff. The flop came 2h-8s-Kh. august13 bet 135,000, and Markush13 called. The turn was the 2c, pairing the board. This time august35 bet 325,000, and Markush13 again called.

The river was the 3c. august35 bet 1,002,500, and Markush13 made the big call with his last 958,900. august35 showed Ac-Qh for nothing but the pair of deuces on board, while Markush13 turned over Ks-Qd for kings and queens.

Markush13 begins Level 24 (blinds 15,000/30,000, antes 3,000) with 3,045,300, good enough for second place at the moment, while august35 slips to 2,271,542.

4:55pm--A stack is born

astarisborn, who can now count the Main Event as his eighth cash of the 2008 WCOOP, just won a big three-way pot for his tournament life to vault into the top 15. Here is how it happened:

4:51pm--Fifty remain

We have lost ten players here in the first 20 minutes of play today. These four each received $18,572.50 for a little over a day's work:

51. C13Greentumb
52. brendol
53. ADZ124
54. Cabriovr6

And these six each earned $17,480:

55. diemaus36o
56. sandler1860
57. PowerRanger
58. PokerNoob999
59. sshyshadow
60. THEROBBOB20

4:49pm--Tune into WCOOP Main Event coverage on PokerStars.tv!

Be sure to click over to PokerStars.tv starting around 6:30pm ET today for coverage of the final stages of this historic online poker event!

4:44pm--Aces versus kings equals action

PS pro Bertrand "ElkY" Grospellier just got some of those chips back in a three-way all in confrontation in which he held pocket rockets, kovi99 had Kh-Ks, and sandler1860 had Ad-6d. Not a good spot for sandler1860, who goes out in 56th on this hand:

4:41pm--august35 maintains big advantage

Our chip leader to begin play today, august35, has been predictably aggressive here at the start, picking up a few pots as the others don't wish to get too involved with him. He currently has about 4.17 million chips, which is more than 1.6 million ahead of his nearest foe at the moment, klslcz.

4:38pm--ElkY stumbles

PS pro Bertrand "ElkY" Grospellier just lost about two-thirds of his stack in another preflop all in gamble. This time he open-shoved from the cutoff with Ah-7h and got called by JBlaze20 in the big blind who committed his last 404,467 with Ac-Tc.

The board came 3h-Qc-Qs-9d-4s, and ElkY is back down to a little more than 200,000. JBlaze20, meanwhile, is up to 891,434.

4:35pm--Double or nothing

We've seen no less than four all in bets within the first seven hands over on Table 77, as the short stacks are trying to grab some chips with which to work here in the early going.

The only shorty not to survive was sshyshadow who pushed for 140,421 with Ah-3c and was called by Team PokerStars pro Bertrand "ElkY" Grospellier who held As-Ts. The needed trey didn't come for sshyshadow who goes out in 59th, picking up $17,480 for doing so.

Grospellier currently has 630,222 (39th of 57 remaining players).

4:30pm--Day 2 is underway!

The first hands of Day 2 are being dealt to our remaining 60 players, assembled around 7 tables. Play begins with Level 23. The blinds are 12,500/25,000 with 2,500 antes.

At the start of play today, the average stack size is exactly 910,416 -- that's almost 36.5 big blinds.

Day 2 coverage to begin at 4:30pm ET

Join us here at 4:30pm ET for Day 2 coverage of the 2008 World Championship of Online Poker Main Event. Sixty players remain in the hunt for the $1.7 million first prize. Full chip counts are below.

august35 3,865,986
Cobra234 2,378,526
Fluffdog87 2,242,203
Forza Parma 2,204,820
AJKHoosier1 2,184,184
liberace 2,073,469
klslcz 1,822,775
PieOhMy 1,382,118
Markush13 1,381,400
ViP_MoDee 1,375,402
capinhabr 1,262,891
Sumpas 1,160,506
Cowb0y$4Life 1,137,334
Herr_Jude 1,119,064
BillieD 1,068,206
cpfactor 1,036,775
ShoesRDurrty 1,036,402
abreid 1,027,391
ShiP ThA $$$ 977,595
xmrstyle 963,432
lucky_aces08 952,074
austinlewis 910,230.
charder30 901,740
BlueDevils09 900,113
baloo1962 880,068
brendol 867,244
m3tph 794,381
Daut44 793,280
ckingusc 789,130
ahh_snap 779,928
McMang 762,914
Michnak 708,462
KingKobeMVP 687,178
sprocket94 677,958
psuNYY51 641,990
cbsplash 637,172
LoneHixx 608,020
sshyshadow 607,067
x-13 564,946
Miss Pretty 515,810
mcstuntz 511,464
astarisborn 493,044
ElkY 482,177
sandler1860 475,000
styroben33 462,970
THEROBBOB20 445,937
JBlaze20 431,079
pokerhahntas 425,516
kudos1017 424,611
neverwin 417,001
DooshDotCom 413,258
ADZ124 404,146
C13Greentumb 399,128
PokerNoob999 371,757
cabriovr6 347,988
kovi99 344,430
diemaus36o 342,715
BalkanGhost 296,656
BOLLPOKER 235,953
PowerRanger 219,986

The big one. The 2008 World Championship of Online Poker main event. Thirty-two events of all shapes, sizes, and buy-ins led to this - the main event extravaganza. Players logged in from around the world so as not to miss the online championship that started it all and continues to set the bar for the online poker world.

Scheduled as a two-day event, the $5,200 NLHE Main Event was advertised with a $10 million guarantee, and the registration of 2,185 players surpassed that to create a stellar $10.925 million prize pool, of which 324 finalists would take a piece. And the first place prize set aside for the winner? $1,775,312.50! The WCOOP Main Event today became the largest online poker tournament ever, eclipsing the 2007 event by more than $3 million. In sum, more than $30 million was up for grabs in the 2008 WCOOP. History-making milestones, indeed!

Team PokerStars Pros were in the field en masse, including Andre Akkari, who had only the night before finished second in the $10,300 HORSE event, playing alongside players who had qualified for seats through low buy-in satellites, and everyone had a chance at fame and fortune in this event. All competitors began with 25,000 in chips, and several notables jumped out to early leads. Event #24 winner Tom “luvgamble” Schneider, won a sizable hand, and acclaimed author Tony Holden took down two big pots in a row. But on the opposite end of the spectrum, early exits were handed out to Noah Boeken and Raymond Rahme. By the end of the first hour, Schneider sat stop the leaderboard with Holden in tenth, followed by Akkari in 23rd place and Hevad Khan holding down the 40th spot.

Bertrand “ElkY” Grospellier was in this tournament looking for the win, but at the very least his seventh cash of the 2008 WCOOP. The Team PokerStars Pro had a successful series thus far but missed the win in Event #19 by only one place. He started strong in this event, taking two big pots and eliminating an opponent during the fourth level. And as the day progressed, despite roller coaster-like levels, he consistently chipped back up to stay in contention.

Three and four hours into the tournament, other big names began to depart, such as Chris Moneymaker, Isabelle Mercier, Dario Minieri, Greg Raymer, Vicky Coren, and WSOPE reigning champion Annette Obrestad. Following in the next few levels were Gavin Griffin, Alexandre Gomes, John Duthie, Tom McEvoy, Hevad Khan, Joe Hachem, Tuan Lam, Alex Kravchenko, Luca Pagano, Bill Chen, Lee Nelson, and Barry Greenstein.

Going into hour six of the action, only 517 players remained, and still maintaining some chip stacks were four members of Team PokerStars - Grospellier, Vanessa Rousso, Katja Thater, and Humberto Brenes. Event #24 winner Schneider bowed out when his A-K came up against the A-K of his opponent who made a flush with his Big Slick, and Thater soon left the Main Event as well when her pocket eights looked up at pocket aces and didn’t improve.

Just past 1:15am ET, the bubble finally burst, courtesy of online pro Tmay420 whose pocket nines lost the race with A-K when the board fell J-3-Q-T-8. From two straights came one winner; Michnak successfully sent Tmay420 out in 325th place. Players left the tournament in relative droves, with about 28 of them leaving in the first five minutes of payout guarantees. Humberto Brenes followed the trend a bit later, falling in 234th place.

But among those still playing was Grospellier. ElkY put the pressure on his opponents and began to climb the leaderboard, eventually becoming one of the few players to reach the one million chip mark. And famous baseball player turned poker enthusiast Orel Hershiser was playing to win as well, doubling up when necessary to stay in the game. Rousso also chipped up by eliminating a player with pocket aces versus the sevens of her opponent. But in one fail swoop, Rousso was suddenly ousted when her A-Q went in on a 4c-3d-As-Tc flop against the pocket fours of x-13. The river could only bring an 8h, and Rousso took leave of the tournament in 160th place. Humberto Brenes also found his way to the rail

Hershiser continued to play an aggressive game, winning some races and losing others but doubling up when he needed to do so. The most amazing one of those came when Hershiser got all-in preflop with 8c-7h against the pocket kings of Danny98765. The flop came a miracle Td-6c-7s-4c-8h, and he could only say what the other players were thinking. Hershiser typed, “WOW.” But as luck would - or would not - have it, Hershiser was finally benched with his A-8 when AJKHoosier1’s 5-4 found two other fives on the flop. Hershiser left the tournament in 89th place for a $16,387.50 payout.

By the end of the night, after 22 levels of play, the field had been reduced to only 60 players. The clock was stopped to end the first day of action, and august35 was so far atop the leaderboard that the other players could hardly see him. With 3,865,986 chips, the nearest competitor, Cobra234, was more than 1.4 million behind the leader.

Fluffdog87 was holding down a solid third spot on that board when play stopped. He and others like AJKHoosier1, Liberace, Markush13, ViP_MoDee in the top ten had been no strangers to that status throughout the last few levels, and others remaining had made a strong showing for hours as well, i.e. cpfactor, Herr_Jude, and ahh_snap. Daut44 also made a showing in 28th place when play ended, and none other than Team PokerStars Pro Bertrand “ElkY” Grospellier was in the final 60. With ElkY already having achieved his seventh 2008 WCOOP cash and hungry for a bracelet, no one knows what ElkY will be capable of when play resumes.

Speaking of further action, the Main Event is scheduled to restart at 4:30pm ET on Monday, September 22nd. Online poker history will be made, and the competition among the final 60 players will be fierce, as they all shoot for that $1,775,312.50 first prize and the most coveted title in online poker as WCOOP champion.

For all of the action as it happened during Event #33, the $5200 NLHE Main Event, read through the Live Blog.

Full chip counts are below:

august35 3,865,986.00
Cobra234 2,378,526.00
Fluffdog87 2,242,203.00
Forza Parma 2,204,820.00
AJKHoosier1 2,184,184.00
liberace 2,073,469.00
klslcz 1,822,775.00
PieOhMy 1,382,118.00
Markush13 1,381,400.00
ViP_MoDee 1,375,402.00
capinhabr 1,262,891.00
Sumpas 1,160,506.00
Cowb0y$4Life 1,137,334.00
Herr_Jude 1,119,064.00
BillieD 1,068,206.00
cpfactor 1,036,775.00
ShoesRDurrty 1,036,402.00
abreid 1,027,391.00
ShiP ThA $$$ 977,595.00
xmrstyle 963,432.00
lucky_aces08 952,074.00
austinlewis 910,230.00
charder30 901,740.00
BlueDevils09 900,113.00
baloo1962 880,068.00
brendol 867,244.00
m3tph 794,381.00
Daut44 793,280.00
ckingusc 789,130.00
ahh_snap 779,928.00
McMang 762,914.00
Michnak 708,462.00
KingKobeMVP 687,178.00
sprocket94 677,958.00
psuNYY51 641,990.00
cbsplash 637,172.00
LoneHixx 608,020.00
sshyshadow 607,067.00
x-13 564,946.00
Miss Pretty 515,810.00
mcstuntz 511,464.00
astarisborn 493,044.00
ElkY 482,177.00
sandler1860 475,000.00
styroben33 462,970.00
THEROBBOB20 445,937.00
JBlaze20 431,079.00
pokerhahntas 425,516.00
kudos1017 424,611.00
neverwin 417,001.00
DooshDotCom 413,258.00
ADZ124 404,146.00
C13Greentumb 399,128.00
PokerNoob999 371,757.00
cabriovr6 347,988.00
kovi99 344,430.00
diemaus36o 342,715.00
BalkanGhost 296,656.00
BOLLPOKER 235,953.00
PowerRanger 219,986.00

Live blog coverage of the WCOOP Main Event, $5,200 No-Limit Hold'em is brought to you by David Aydt, Stephen Bartley, Martin Harris, Jennifer Newell, and Dave Behr.

Have a story? E-mail to blog@pokerstars.com. Click refresh to see the latest information.

5:08am--Day 1 of the Main Event is a wrap!

Upon reaching the end of Level 22, play has been stopped as scheduled to give the final 60 players the opportunity to rest. Action will resume tomorrow (later today, really) with the following pertinent information:

Level 23
Blinds: 12,500/25,000, ante 2,500
Average chip count: 910,416
Players remaining: 60

Top ten chip counts:

1. august35 3,865,986
2. Cobra234 2,378,526
3. Fluffdog87 2,242,203
4. Forza Parma 2,204,820
5. AKJHoosier1 2,184,184
6. Liberace 2,073,469
7. klslcz 1,822,775
8. PiePhMy 1,283,118
9. Markush13 1,381,400
10. ViP_MoDee 1,275,402

Team PokerStars Pros remaining:

Bertrand “ElkY” Grospellier 482,177 (43rd place)

And the following payouts will be in play when the tournament resumes:

55th-72nd place: $17,480.00
46th-54th place: $18,572.50
37th-45th place: $19,665.00
28th-36th place: $20,757.50
19th-27th place: $22,942.50
16th-18th place: $43,700.00
13th-15th place: $65,550.00
10th-12th place: $87,400.00
9th place: $121,267.50
8th place: $196,650.00
7th place: $305,900.00
6th place: $415,150.00
5th place: $524,400.00
4th place: $633,650.00
3rd place: $941,735.00
2nd place: $1,311,000.00
1st place: $1,775,312.50

Tune in at 4:30pm ET on September 22nd to see online poker history with the playdown to the final table for all of the PokerStars action and the one player who will walk away with more than $1.7 million!

4:59am--august35 hits one final river

august35 has been playing well and running well all night, so it was no surprise that he should hit one final river. He was part of a three-way raised flop with DooshDotCom and ViP_MoDee. Each player checked the 3c-Ac-8c flop and the Ts turn. On the river 5h, DooshDotCom went for a bet of 200,000. that folded ViP_MoDee, but august35 had spiked a set with 5c-5c and called. He had a winner; DooshDotCom was on a stone bluff with Kh-Qd.

4:54am--cpfactor pushed back up to more than 1 million

cpfactor looks to be ending the night on a high note. From the button, he called a raise to 45,678 made by Team PokerStars Pro Bertrand "ElkY"Grospellier. The tournament chip leader, august35, also called from the big blind.

The flop was small and raggedy, 2d-7h-4d. Action checked to cpfactor on the button, who fired out for 79,775. He was called in one spot, by august35. cpfactor tanked the turn Qc for forty-five seconds after august35 checked to him, then simply checked behind. The river was another face card, the Js. Again august35 checked, and this time his check brought a quick bet of 80,000 from cpfactor. august35 wasn't curious enough to call.

4:50am--Down the stretch they come

Eleven minutes remain until play is halted for the night. We expect a general tightening of play to take place as players battle to make it through to tomorrow's re-start.

4:36am--neverwin triples up to stay alive

neverwin is doing his best cockroach impression. He moved all-in for 105,438 and was called by diemaus36o before Supernova Elite player DutchSlugger raised all in himself for a total of 398,067. diemaus36o didn't want to play for the much and folded. neverwin opened two live cards, 7s-9d against DutchSlugger's Ad-Qh. The flop was 7h-8h-9s, making two pair for neverwin. DutchSlugger never improved, allowing neverwin to triple up to 342,314.

4:32am--Oh, there will be highlights

Anytime you can take the final table of an online tournament as jam-packed with skilled players as a WCOOP event and see some analysis of it, it can be a tremendous learning tool for players looking to improve their online games. (And who isn't, right?) The folks at PokerStars know that and are providing highlight reels of many of the WCOOP tournaments from this season, and the Main Event final table will certainly have one of its own. Being able to watch the final table with the in-depth analysis provided, it is an opportunity to learn. For example, check out this epic final table from Event #27 that took place only a few days ago:

Watch WCOOP Highlights: Event 27 - $530 NLHE Triple Shootout on PokerStars.tv

4:24am--Wretchy eliminated in 76th place

It was a two-minute tank for Wretchy. He faced a raise that was enough to put him all-in, on the turn of a board that read 9s-2d-5h-2c. His opponent was august25, the chip leader who had shown an earnest willingness to splash chips around and put his opponents to the test. Finally, Wretchy called all-in with Ah-Jh. It was a mistake; he was in very bad shape against august25's 9c-8s. The river bricked out 6s, sending the 926,000-chip pot to august25 and sending Wretchy to the rail.

4:16am--We'd settle for a few beers

It's been a long day of poker, with scant time for chowing down on anything more substantial than a granola bar and the smoking consumable of each player's choice. It stands to reason that players might be hungry:

Wretchy: i need some terryaki chicken right now
Wretchy: with rice

4:14am--Hershiser benched

It was a stellar showing for the famous Orel Hershiser, who finished this tournament in 89th place out of 2,185 starting players.

Despite having doubled during the last level with pocket aces versus the A-K of dpeters17 and sitting with nearly 400,000 in chips, a few lost subsequent pots put him back down on the leaderboard. He found a hand with which to risk his last 220,372 chips with, and went with the Ad-8s by calling it all-in after AJKHoosier1 pushed first. AJKHoosier1 had Hershiser covered by a longshot, but his cards didn't look promising - 5c-4c. Yet and still, the board came Tc-5s-5d-2c-Ac, and that underdog hand turned into trips for AJKHoosier1, relegating Orel Hershiser to the rail with an extra $16,387.50 in his PokerStars account.

4:07am--DutchSlugger can't outdraw atlantic17

SuperNova Elite player DutchSlugger reraised all-in after atlantic17 opened for 45,000. He had atlantic17 well-covered and probably wouldn't have minded a fold. Instead, atlantic17 called all-in for 125,940 total with pocket jacks. DutchSlugger held ace-jack and couldn't find an ace on the board by the time the river came down.

3:56am--Twenty levels of poker have produced these stats

Level 21
Blinds 7,500 / 15,000, ante 1,500
Average chip stack: 575,000
Players remaining: 95
First prize: $1,775,312.50

Top ten chip counts:

1. august35 2,780,871
2. Fluffdog87 2,167,956
3. ViP_MoDee 1,872,541
4. m3tph 1,653,680
5. Markush13 1,434,105
6. Cobra234 1,183,167
7. klslcz 1,136,317
8. LoneHixx 1,117,520
9. xmrstyle 912,932
10. Miss Pretty 886,634

Team PokerStars Pros and Notables Remaining:

Bertrand "Elky" Grospellier 835,845 (17th)
Orel Hershiser 256,372 (76th)

3:44am--ElkY closing in on one million

Bertrand "ElkY" Grospellier was all in a few hours ago, needing to win a flip to remain in the tournament. He won that flip and now is near the top of the chip counts with more than 900,000 in chips. He called a raise to 36,000 from the small blind that was made by earl-position player august35. Both players checked the Ts-8s-9d flop. ElkY made a feeler bet of 48,000 when the turn fell Kc. august35 called. When the river came another king, the Kh, ElkY bet 78,965. august35 raised to 209,275 but he couldn't shake ElkY, who called with the best hand -- pocket jacks. august35 showed pocket sevens for a smaller two pair. Don't worry about him, though. He still has more than 3 million in chips.

3:39am--Hershiser knows his curveballs

And he threw one here. In some aggressive preflop action, AJKHoosier1 put in a raise from the button, and Orel Hershiser came over the top with an all-in move for his last 181,822. Danny98765 pushed all-in from the big blind to get AJKHoosier1 out of the pot, which was successful. Danny98765 showed pocket kings, and Hershiser showed 8c-7h. But Hershiser wasn't meant to be pulled from the game quite yet, as he watched the board come out Td-6c-7s-4c-8h. He made his two pair on the river to stay alive.

Hershiser's own comment said it all. "WOW."

3:36am--Trading places

ahh_snap, meet ViP_MoDee. ViP_Modee, meet ahh-snap. They traded spots in the chip counts after a preflop all-in confrontation that created a pot with 1.1 million chips. ahh_snap started things off with a raise to 29,450 from middle position. ViP_MoDee was the last person to act, in the big blind, and reraised to 88,000, leaving himself about 500,000 behind. ahh_snap quickly moved all-in for over 1 million and ViP_MoDee called all-in just as quickly. He had ahh_snap dominated, Ah-Kc against As-Qs. Two kings on the flop made trips for ViP_MoDee; he sealed the deal with the 5c turn and now has more than 1.1 million in chips. ahh_snap fell back to the pack at about 451,000.

3:33am--neverwin hangs on

With only 65,463 chips, it was "pick a hand and go" tie for neverwin. The hand he chose was pocket fours; MezmerizePLZ called with ace-queen. Despite his moniker, neverwin won the hand on a small board, 3s-6c-2h-2d-Jc, to double to 156,126. He's still short, though.

3:26am--dr.Cooley cooled off

m3tph led the bettng the whole way against dr.Cooley, betting 30,000 preflop and 50,000 on the turn after the flop was checked through. On the river, the board showed Qc-9d-2c-Js-Kc, and m3tph bet 740,000. dr.Cooley quickly called all in for 265,020 with Th-Ac, having rivered a gutshot to Broadway. The river, however, was a club that also filled m3tph's flush draw, 7c-8c. He took the whole pot, 713,040 chips total, and eliminated dr.Cooley. m3tph moved to 1.4 million in chips.

3:15am--We have a chip leader

Say hello to your new chip leader, august35. With blinds currently at 5,000 and 10,000 and the average chip stack at 437,000, august35 is sitting behind 2,650,814 in chips. His next closest competitor, m3tph, has 1,072,072. He's at a table loaded with chips, Table 77:

Seat 1: ahh_snap (1,002,452 in chips)
Seat 2: august35 (2,650,814 in chips)
Seat 3: ztesch (791,162 in chips)
Seat 4: ViP_MoDee (849,242 in chips)
Seat 5: Se7enTr3y (91,317 in chips)
Seat 6: Wretchy (164,700 in chips)
Seat 7: Sussie Smith (488,156 in chips)
Seat 8: ElkY (404,584 in chips)
Seat 9: cpfactor (669,449 in chips)

Expect some fireworks.

3:11am--Baron busted

It happened a short time ago after Isaac "westmenloAA" Baron had already taken some hits to his stack. He became embroiled in a sizable pot with his A-K versus the pocket nines of atlantic17 and K-Q of iwearsandals. The board showed Q-5-4-2-K, and iwearsandals collected the main pot of 384,030, while westmenloAA could only gather the 8,864 from the side pot.

That 8,864 went all-in on the next handwith Ah-6h, but achen was in with Kd-Jd, and the board came Tc-Kh-4s-7s-2c. westmenloAA was ousted from the Main Event in 158th place with $13,110 for his efforts.

3:09am--Lee takes a different tack

With Bernard "Dogger9" Lee not able to find any callers for his preflop open-raises, he needed to approach the problem from a different angle. He reraised all-in after Doctor_Fun opened for 25,000. Doctor_Fun was the only caller, showing two overcards (Jc-Kh) against Dogger9's pocket tens. The flop and turn were both safe for Dogger9 (5s-As-4s-3h) but the river Ks ended his tournament. He's out in 132nd place.

3:01am--Dogger9 getting short

Bernard "Dogger9" Lee was having trouble finding customers for his raises earlier, but blinds were small. He had time. Now blinds are up to 5,000 and 10,000, making Lee's 110,000-chip stack seem much smaller by comparison. He recently open-raised all in from early position but still couldn't find any callers. At some point soon, someone is going to take him on.

2:57am--He's got jokes, folks

Orel Hershiser is in good spirits and spending some time in the chat box, amusing fellow players with some jokes. This one carried over from Table 251 to where he was moved a short time ago, to Table 30.

O. Hershiser: Batman and Superman were hanging out
O. Hershiser: Batman says whats going on
O. Hershiser: Superman said the other day I was at 15000 feet and look down and saw wonder woman in her back yard
O. Hershiser: so Batman says what did you do
O. Hershiser: So Superman flew down and landed on her
O. Hershiser: Batman says that must have scared the blank out of her
O. Hershiser: Superman says not as much as the Invisible Man

That table move, however, just put him to the left of AJKHoosier1, so it might be time to focus on that poker game.

2:54am--A short pause in the action for break-related activities

Level 19
Blinds: 5,000/10,000, ante 1,000
Average chip stack: 364,166
Players remaining: 150
First prize: $1,775,312.50

Top ten chip counts:

1. august35 1,097,373
2. jediael 968,192
3. ViP_MoDee 889,242
4. KingKobeMVP 831,030
5. brendol 828,387
6. klslcz 808,524
7. ztesch 793,687
8. Malmbilen 761,480
9. ahh_snap 757,562
10. cpfactor 731,424

Top PokerStars Pros & Notables in Top 100:

Bertrand “ElkY” Grospellier 609,454 (22nd place)
Orel Hershiser 274,609 (85th place)

2:45am--ahh_snap's turn to give some back

There are no more million-chip stacks on Table 77. ahh_snap raised to 19,200 before the flop and was called by cpfactor's tormentor, ViP_MoDee. The flop was very coordinated, coming down 7s-8h-Td. ahh_snap checked, then called a bet of 29,500. When the turn came Ad, ahh_snap led out for 64,000. ViP_MoDee called that bet then bet 149,500 after ahh_snap checked the 7h river. ahh_snap called, but it was a mistake -- he couldn't beat ViP_MoDee's Ah-Kh for two pair, aces and sevens. That pushed ahh_snap back down to about 757,000 in chips.

2:44am--Rousso hit the rail

It was too good of a hand to lay down, we thinks. It started calmly, as LadyMaverick simply called x-13's raise from the small blind. Upon seeing the 4c-3d-As on the flop, x-13 bet 16,000, and LadyMaverick check-raised to 32,000, which was called by x-13. The turn was a Tc, and LadyMaverick led out with a 72,000 bet, but x-13 came over the top all-in. LadyMaverick called for her last 151,680 all-in with Ad-Qs and top pair, but x-13 showed pocket fours for that pesky three-of-a-kind. The river was 8h, and that was LadyMaverick's tournament.

Team PokerStars Pro Vanessa Rousso was eliminated in 160th place for a $13,110.00 payday.

2:35am--That's one way of dealing with a big stack

cpfactor was one of the two one-million-chip stacks on Table 77. That's not the case anymore. He called a raise to 17,500 by Sussie Smith along with two other people. The flop was Js-4h-4d. Sussie Smith bet 28,000, a bet that cpfactor called before ViP_MoDee raised to 64,000. Everyone folded back to cpfactor, who immediately moved all-in for over 1 million chips. ViP_MoDee snap-called another 200,000 chips, delighted to turn over Ac-4c. cpfactor had slowplayed pocket kings and paid the price when the turn and river bricked. He's down to 750,000.

2:27am--Rousso rises

LadyMaverick knew exactly where she was going with this hand. When matate came in raising all-in to 113,333, she didn't hesitate to reraise all-in to isolate. Her hand? Pocket aces. And they were up against the pocket sevens of her opponent. The board ran out 2c-Qc-9d-Kh-Td, and without much drama, matate was ousted from the tournament.

Team PokerStars Pro Vanessa "LadyMaverick" Rousso has worked her way into the top half of the field.

2:22am--What are the odds?

There are 187 players remaining in the tournament, only three of whom are over one million in chips. Two of those players -- cpfactor and ahh_snap -- are seated next to each other on Table 77. They are directly to the left of Bertrand "ElkY" Grospellier. ElkY has been rising to challenges all throughout the WCOOP. We'll watch how he handles this latest one.

2:17am--Getting to know ElkY

As Bertrand "ElkY" Grospellier continues on in this Main Event, having secured his seventh 2008 WCOOP cash by making it to the money tonight, it might be time to learn a little more about him. PokerStars.tv caught up with the pro player, and this was the result:

Watch EPT 3 Copenhagen - Elky Profile on PokerStars.tv

2:15am--ElkY drinks your milkshake

Bertrand "ElkY" Grospellier just doesn't want the WCOOP to end. He opened with a raise to 16,789 from middle position before THEDUTCH4141 reraised to 41,000 out of the small blind. When action passed back to ElkY, he shipped it all in, 173,575 chips total. THEDUTCH4141 made the call and it was off to the races, ElkY's ace-king against THEDUTCH4141's pocket queens. An ace on the flop held for Grospellier, doubling him up to about 356,000.

2:10am--Rapid exits

Since we hit the money almost two hours ago, there has been the typical flurry of bustouts with 120 players hitting the rail. That also means we have jumped several payout levels and are now in the fourth, wherein players leaving through 181st place will receive $12,017.50 for their efforts.

2:01am--THAY3R hits the rail

As these things often do, the tournament came down to a flop for THAY3R. He moved all-in preflop for 49,335 after psuNYY51 had raised to 14,250 from early position. psuNYY51 called with ace-queen against THAY3R's pocket tens. When the flop came 5s-Kc-Jd, THAY3R didn't want to hit his set. But that's exactly what he did when the turn came Ts, making a set for THAY3R and a straight for psuNYY51. THAY3R had one shot to fill up and didn't do it -- the river was the 6d. He finished the Main Event in 224th place and collected $10,925 as a result.

1:59am--westmenloAA doubles to see the top ten again

Isaac "westmenloAA" Baron took the opportunity to double up in a monstrous hand and a battle of the blinds. Though achen came in raising, it was westmenloAA who reraised it to 48,000, then liberace who pumped it up to 125,000. With a big pot already brewing, westmenloAA took it to another level by pushing all-in for 334,149 with pocket queens, and liberace called with pocket jacks.

The board ran out innocently enough: Tc-3d-5c-9s-7c, and westmenloAA took the 688,698 pot and soared back into the top ten.

1:51am--ClockWyze may want to turn back time

Hindsight is 20/20, they say. Perhaps if ClockWyze knew then what he knows now, he might have played his final hand differently. He raised to 12,000 preflop from middle position and was called by the player on his left, ahh_snap. On the 6h-8s-6s flop, ClockWyze bet 19,999 and was raised by ahh_snap to 42,000. ClockWyze responded with a raise of his own to 132,676 that was ahh_snap-called. ahh_snap had slowplayed pocket kings to perfection against the 8c-7c of ClockWyze. He had to sweat a little when the turn came 9d, but the river was a harmless 2s. ClockWyze was eliminated from the tournament as a result of the hand.

1:43am--It's that time again - break time!

Level 17
Blinds: 3,000 / 6,000, ante 600
Average chip stack: 229,516
Players remaining: 238
First prize: $1,775,312.50

Top ten chip counts:

1. ahh_snap 1,054,404
2. august35 1,030,178
3. cpfactor 903,860
4. ztesch 674,909
5. liberace 662,444
6. Herr_Jude 643,929
7. AJKHoosier1 630,986
8. mindgamer 629,097
9. Holdemkillah 594,264
10. Aboubacar 585,296

Team PokerStars Pros and Notables Remaining:

Bertrand "Elky" Grospellier 144,425 (153rd)
Vanessa "LadyMaverick" Rousso 101,348 (199th)
Humberto Brenes 51,236 (234th)
Orel Hershiser 129,510 (172nd)

1:46am--Hershiser doubles to play on in the 17th inning, errr, level

After having slipped to little more than 60,000 in chips, it was time for Orel Hershiser to make a move. First, he simply called Aboubacar's initial raise from the small blind to see the flop come 7c-Jd-5s. Hershiser then immediately pushed all-in with 9s-7s, for middle pair, and Aboubacar called with only As-Qs. The turn and river were Ts and 2h, respectively, and Hershiser doubled-up to 129,510.

1:35am--THAY3R runs into royalty

THAY3R must have been willing to take a flip after reraising Petor preflop to 34,600. beaverFEAVER moved all in behind him for 115,150 total. THAY3R made the call with pocket nines but found himself up against pocket kings. He never improved, slipping to 85,000 in chips as a result.

1:30am--ElkY rockets up the counts

Team PokerStars Pro Bertrand "ElkY" Grospellier has had a great WCOOP, and it's not over yet. ElkY was dealt pocket rockets in the small blind and was gifted with the opportunity of action when dupie20 moved all in for 66,863 from early position. Grospellier made a snap-call and found himself up against dupie20's Ah-Qh. dupie20 didn't improve and was eliminated as a result of the hand. ElkY now has about 242,000 in chips.

1:28am--Table45, hang-out spot for chipleaders

Birds of a feather... At least that's the case in this tournament. Two of the three players at the top of the leaderboard are seated together - cpfactor and ahh_snap. Each one has the other players at the table dominated to say the least. The highest chip stack in comparison to the two big ones is ThePokerBody with just under 200,000.

1:24am--No stampeding, please

In approximately five minutes since the bubble burst, 28 players have rushed to the virtual cashier cage to get their piece of the prize pool.

1:23am--ElkY wins game of chicken

Team PokerStars Pro Bertrand "ElkY" Grospellier refused to blink in a showdown with the player on his immediate left, ClockWyze. ElkY put in the first preflop raise, to 13,456. Clockwyze reraised to 28,000 straight. That folded all players back to ElkY, who made it 98,765, committing himself to the pot. ClockWyze finally blinked and folded his hand.

1:19am--Back-to-back hits for Lee

Fortunes are changing on Table 187, and Bernard "Dogger9" Lee is taking the worst of it. He lost a flip for almost 38,000 chips to El-Gribbo when Lee's Ts-Ad couldn't connect with the board against El-Gribbo's 38,000 pocket deuces.

The very next hand, Lee called another all-in bet, that of jpmetalman, for almost 60,000 chips. He showed Ad-2s against jpmetalman's pocket jacks. Although Lee managed to flop an ace, jpmetalman rivered a jack to take down the pot.

Lee is finding customers for his action now, but it's not helping him out. He's down to about 62,000 in chips.

1:18am--Players hear the *pop* and most of them play on

Sometimes, hand-for-hand play can be the prime opportunity to make a move. For pro player Tmay420, this was it.

Michnak came into the hand preflop raising to 9,520, and Tmay420 raised to 37,775. Michnak pushed all-in with Ah-Kc, and Tmay420 called all-in for his last 121,470 with pocket nines. It was off to the races until the board came Jd-3c-Qc-Td-8s, and though the straight hit both players, Michnak had the ace-high straight and took it.

Tmay420 became the WCOOP Main Event's bubble boy, finishing the tournament in 325th place.

1:09am--Dogger9 doggin' it

It's been slow going for Bernard "Dogger9" Lee for the last level and a half. The only pots that he has been winning consist of only the blinds and antes, staying level at around 160,000 chips. It doesn't seem that Lee has lost his aggression, more that he hasn't been able to find any customers. With forty big blinds in his stack, he can stand for business to be slow for a little while.

1:04am--Watch out, the bubble is near...

With only 334 players left in the field, play has slowed just a tad as the money bubble approaches. Only the top 324 survivors in this amazing 2,185 field will receive a portion of the $10.925 million prize pool. The first payout level will be worth $8,740 for 289th through 324th place, which is quite significant as compared to...well...nothing.

Hand-for-hand play will begin shortly.

12:57am--Beware the Shark

Humberto Brenes has been hanging around this tournament with a playable stack, waiting for his spots. He found one when Miss Pretty raised to 12,000 and Brenes called from late position. The flop was all deuces, 2d-2d-2h. Miss Pretty made the minimum bet of 4,000 there, on the 7h turn and on the 4s river. Brenes called each time, showing 8d-8h. That beat Miss Pretty's As-Qd and pushed Brenes up to 150,000 in chips.

12:54am--Blazing the trail

JBlaze20 has been on the rise for several levels and just put some distance between him and the others in the top ten on the leaderboard. How, do you ask, does JBlaze20 keep climbing? Most aggression, it seems, with a little luck thrown in.

JBlaze20 raised the hand preflop, and Cowboy40x reraised all-in for 41,649 from the small blind with pocket sevens. JBlaze20 considered for a few moments and called with Kd-Th. The cards fell just right - Kh-3d-Ad-8s-4s, and JBlaze20 eliminated another opponent.

12:51am--Clockwyze all wound up

If there's one player who has been driving the action on Table 77, that player is ClockWyze. After losing almost 150,000 in chips on a hand right before the break where ClockWyze was forced to fold to a river raise, he has raised more than his share of pots after the break. Enough of his raises have been successful that ClockWyze chipped back up above 200,000 in chips, but he has also been forced to fold a three-bet at least three times.

12:45am--Take five, everyone

Level 15
Blinds: 2,000/4,000, ante 400
Average chip stack: 148,841
Players remaining: 367
First prize: $1,775,312.50

Top ten chip counts:

1. JBlaze20 569,349
2. ahh_snap 562,904
3. cpfactor 543,854
4. Xaston 506,214
5. RonaldKosh 472,129
6. Liberace 454,934
7. pokerhahntas 429,638
8. wetmenloAA 427,374
9. m3tph 416,113
10. Malmbilen 403,832

Top PokerStars Pros in Top 100:

Vanessa “LadyMaverick” Rousso 259,850 (44th)

Team PokerStars Pros and Notables Remaining:

Bertrand “ElkY” Grospellier 169,517
Humberto Brenes 111,002
Orel Hershiser 109,405

Team PokerStars Pros eliminated this hour:

Katja Thater (417th place)

12:32am--SirWatts loses half his stack

Pocket kings is a great starting hand. It's even better when it flops a set. Yet somehow Mike "SirWatts" Watson still lost in just that scenario. He moved all in for 112,927 preflop after KAG1 had open-raised all in for 59,820 from early position. KAG1 had pocket sevens, and also flopped a set on the flop of Kh-Td-7h. That left KAG1 drawing to a single out, which he promptly hit with the 7s turn. Watson was unable to return the favor when the 4h hit the river. He was left with about 53,000 in chips.

12:26am--Herr_Jude finishes what he started

In no-limit hold'em, one hand you're in, and the next you're out. The newly short-stacked mig.com open-raised all in for 43,780 from the button and was called by Herr_Jude out of the small blind. Herr_Jude had the slightest of edges with 3h-3d against mig.com's 9c-Th. mig.com paired on the 9d-7d-Js flop but Herr_Jude got his set on the turn with the 3s. That left mig.com drawing at a straight that didn't fill with the 4c river. He's out.

12:23am--mig.com loses royal rumble

mig.com and Herr_Jude got into a preflop raising war that ended with Herr_Jude all in for 122,608. mig.com had a good starting hand, Qs-Qc, but Herr_Jude had a better one with Kh-Kc. The board added two tens, two jacks and a trey, none of which helped either player. That was a big hit for mig.com, pushing him down to about 45,000 in chips.

12:18am--ClockWyze wins race to the pressure bet

No-limit poker is sometimes about who makes the pressure bet first. ClockWyze made the first raise preflop to 7,777, bringing a re-raise to 22,222 from Mike "SirWatts" Watson. ClockWyze called for time and tanked for about forty seconds before reraising to 45,000. With only 120,000 chips behind his re-raise, this was a pressure bet back to Watson. He could only raise all in or fold; calling was not an option. He decided to fold, allowing ClockWyze to win the pot and jump to 346,000 in chips.

12:15am--aakkari brings luck to the lady

A formerly-eliminated fellow Team PokerStars Pro, Andre "aakkari" Akkari, stopped by LadyMaverick's table to bring her luck. And it worked. Just as he showed up, she eliminated opponent LUFCBas, who was all-in preflop with A-Q. LadyMaverick's A-K won the hand, a 188,918 pot, and a spot in the top 25 on the leaderboard.

LadyMaverick: :) weeeeeeeeeeeee
aakkari [observer]: bring u lucky? lolol
LadyMaverick: yep...now u have to stay!!
aakkari [observer]: i can do that

12:07am--PokerNoob999 knows how to knock out opponents

PokerNoob999 may have a name that suggests a beginning poker player, but he knows what to do when dealt pocket aces. He had only 32,175 chips left in his stack when Katja Thater open-raised all in for 23,572 from the cutoff. PokerNoob999 put all of his chips in as well. Nobody else came along, leaving PokerNoob999 and his pocket rockets alone with Thater and her 8c-8s. Neither player connected with the board. That meant that PokerNoob999 won the pot and Thater was out of chips. She has been eliminated from the tournament.

12:01am--ElkY doubles with the devil's hand

Sometimes poker is easy. Bertrand "ElkY" Grospellier was the only person to call an under-the-gun raise to 7,500 from Coltaine. Coltaine moved all in for 69,272 on the Qh-2s-6h, bringing a snap-call from ElkY. Elky had flopped a set of sixes with 6d-6s and was in excellent shape with Jd-Jc. Things were even better when the board bricked out 4s-7c. ElkY now has about 150,000 in chips.

11:58pm--Reraise is the new black

A common evaluation of the online game is that players tend to be much more aggressive than live players. dupie20 and El-Gribbo each have shown the power of that aggression. dupie20 reraised a button raise by Bertrand "Elky" Grospellier from 7,898 to 22,800 in one hand, and El-Gribbo reraised Dogger9 from 6,750 to 45,771 (all in) in another hand. In both cases, the initial aggressor folded his hand.

11:54pm--LadyMaverick loves the railbirds, one in particular

Vanessa "LadyMaverick" Rousso has quite a few fans railing her at Table 251, but one who is particularly favorable to the lady is fiancee Chad Brown. And he was likely smiling moments ago when Rousso took down a 139,750 pot from LUFCBas when her pocket fours turned into a full house.

11:50pm--The Shark swims in the river

Humberto Brenes got a much-needed boost to his stack with a timely river card. He raised preflop to 7,500 and was called by FU_15 from the small blind. Both checked the Jd-7s-Td flop. On the turn 6d, FU_15 fired out for 10,000. Brenes deliberated briefly, then called. Both playe rs checked the river Ad. FU_15 showed Ts-9s for a pair of tens, but he was rivered by The Shark's pair of aces. That pot pushed Brenes to about 94,000 in chips.

11:46pm--luvgamble gambles no more tonight

It looked like it would be a split pot. Tom "luvgamble" Schneider pushed all-in preflop with Ac-Kh, and bl0wback called with Ah-Kc. But if the poker term "flush" means anything, it certainly applied here:

luvgamble will have to wait another year for another WCOOP bracelet to add to his Event #24 2-7 Single Draw win, as his run in the 2008 WCOOP main event is over.

11:40pm--Dogger9 makes the minimum-raise work

Bernard "Dogger9" Lee has about double the average stack, thanks to hands like this. He raised to 6,750 from early position and was called only by gillete in the big blind. The flop was very coordinated, coming down 8h-Jd-Qc. gilette checked to Lee, who bet 9,775, then check-raised to 30,000. Lee didn't bat an eyelash, reraising gillete to 62,500. That reraise put gillete into the tank for about thirty seconds. Ultimately he folded, allowing Lee to collect another pot and increase his stack to about 211,000 in chips.

11:15pm -- Hour five chip counts

Level 13
Blinds: 1,250/2,500 with a 250 ante
Average Chip Stack: 105,657
Players Remaining: 517
First Prize: $1,775,312.50

Top ten:

1. JBlaze20 397,741
2. westmenloAA 370,857
3. jediael 341,299
4. janwillem111 334,371
5. x2then 317403
6. Malmbilen 315664
7. Aboubacar 314225
8. abreid 302241
9. m3tph 299488
10. JSD1000 299394

Team PokerStars Pros remaining:

Vanessa “LadyMaverick” Roussso 92,222 (258th)
Bertrand “ElkY” Grospellier 81,989 (295th)
Katja Thater 41,672 (447th)
Humberto “Humberto B.” Brenes 19,663 (515th)

Team PokerStars pro eliminated this hour:

Luca Pagano (580th)
Alex Kravchenko (595th)
Bill Chen (693rd)
Tuan Lam (698th)
Barry “barryg1” Greenstein (727th)
Lee Nelson (771th)

Other notables:

O.Hershiser 110,821 (200th)

11:12pm--Schneider schnags one

Tom "luvgamble" Schneider raised to 6,000, then RED_BIAN shoved all in for 65,247. It folded back around to Scheider who quickly called with his remaining 33,584.

Schenider showed Kd-Ac, while RED_BIAN had 9s-7s. The board came Qd-8s-Td-2s-8h, and Scheider bounces up to 83,968 as we head into the 15-minute break.

11:05pm--Playing the right tune

The flamboyant pianist is back from the dead and making waves on Table 268. He just snagged a 131,436 chip pot from RuudGullit after the two made their moves at a Ad-Jd-4c flop.

Big slick for liberace (Kc-As) and one pip under for RuddGullit (Ah-Qs). With a turn of Kd, leaving four outs to a broadway straight for RuudGullit he faced the music when the 7h hit the river and was eliminated.
liberace moved up 213,292 in chips after that hand.

11:01pm--Kravchenko krushed

Team PokerStars pro Alex Kravchenko had been holding steady at about 35,000 since that hand we reported a while ago between him and Tom "luvgamble" Schneider. Then came a hand in which the table folded around to him in the small blind and he open-shoved all-in, only to be called by ktrieu in the big blind.

Kravchenko showed As-7h, while ktrieu had 8c-8s. The board came 6d-Tc-5s-8d-Qc, and Kravchenko has been eliminated in 595th place.

10:55pm-- Yes, but do you REALLY mean it?

After re-raising Coltaine’s button raise to 16,000, ElkY had a decision on his hand when Coltaine decided to re-pop for his entire stack to 44,453 which would be about 1/3rd of the Team PokerStars pro’s chips.

ElkY made the correct call:
ElkY: Th-Ad
Coltaine: 8c-Tc

The flop 7s-2d-9h favored Coltaine has he picked up additional outs to a straight. The 2h on the turn was a blank, but the river 8d daggered ElkY from cashing in on making the right call pre-flop.
The 92,706 chip pot doubled up Coltaine as all ElkY could type on in the chat:

ElkY: nh

No venom from the beat, but do you think he was being honest?

10:52pm--janwillem111 powers into chip lead

The table folded around to janwillem111 who -- with a hefty stack of 305,716 when the hand began -- raised to 4,000 from the small blind and stealio1 called from the big blind. The flop came 3c-9c-2d. janwillem111 bet 6,500, and stealio1 promptly raised all-in for 41,785 total. janwillem11 made the call.

janwillem111: Kc-2c
stealio1: 4h-2h

Oof. Not so great for stealio1. The turn was the 6c and the river the 7c, giving janwillem111 a flush and eliminating stealio1 in 614th.

That hand moved janwillem111 into the current chip lead with 353,101.

10.45pm – Massive pot sends RandALLin out

One minute RandALLin was sitting nicely on more than 75,000 the next minute he’s a surprise arrivial on the rail, thanks to being on the wrong end of a150K pot...

10:40pm-- Lam licked on the river, out in 698th

Not a fond farewell for Team PokerStars pro Tuan Lam as he limped in from UTG+2 for 1,500 and sshyshandow called from the button and coolhanddany completed the small blind while debone x mucked him big blind from being disconnected.

Flop of Ts-Th-Ah and Lam checked while sshyshadow lead out for 3,000, coolhanddany folded as Lam min-check-raised to 6,000.

The turn of the 6d had Lam leading out this time for 4,500 leaving only 2,615 behind as it was sshyshandow’s turn for the min-raise to 9,000 and Tuan Lam made the call as sshyshandow got a 1,885 refund.

Tuan Lam: Kd-Tc
sshyshandow: Jd-Ac

Lam flopped trip tens while sshyshandow had top pair jack kicker and only an ace on the river would save him. Which it did and has sent the Team PokerStars pro home in 698th place.

10:36pm--Lady Maverick back on the WCOOP Main Event trail

Last year Team PokerStars pro Vanessa "LadyMaverick" made a deep run in the World Championship of Online Poker Main Event, ultimately coming away with second place money.

She has mostly flown under the radar today, having held steady with a just-below average stack for most of the day until this recent more-than-double-up brought her up to 76,792.

See how the hand played out:

10:31pm--Baron steals HelmetSky's chips

Isaac "westmenloAA" Baron continues stay near the top of the leaderboard. He was just involved in an interesting hand versus HelmetSky, a player who made the final table of the 2007 WCOOP Main Event.

With the blinds 750/1,500 here in Level 11, HelmetSky raised before the flop to 4,200 from UTG+1 and it folded around to Baron who called from the bigblind. The flop came 9d-2h-5c, and both players checked. The turn was the 3c. Baron bet 6,000, and HelmetSky called. The river was the 3c, pairing the board. Baron bet 14,500, and HelmetSky thought a bit before calling.

WestmenloAA

Baron showed 9c-9s for the flopped set and rivered full house, and HelmetSky mucked. Baron is up to 215,988, while HelmetSky still has a nice-sized stack of 106,688.

10:30pm-- Ace on the Flop

Not exactly how Barry Greenstein was envisioning his exit from the WCOOP Main Event this year but he applied the pressure to DeanoSupermo and when Deano pushed back it was a race for the Team PokerStars pro’s tournament life.

Watch the hand play out below (and sorry Deano he is not shipping the book):

10:22pm-- On the Lam

The 2007 WSOP Main Event runner-up, Team PokerStars pro Tuan Lam is looking to claim a bracelet from his near miss last year. He is currently sitting with 26,315 chips out on Table 109 and needs to make something happen before next hour’s dinner break as the average stack now sits at 73,000.

He hasn’t played many WCOOP events, but surely would like to make a splash here tonight with that tidy $1.7 million first prize waiting at the final table.

10:18pm -- Hooks do well for Team PokerStars Pro

A big hand for Katja Thater keeps her chances alive...

10:13pm--Dancing with the Stars

There were a couple of interesting hands involving Team PokerStars pros from right before the last break.

In one, phounderAA raised to 3,599 from UTG and it folded back around to Bill Chen who shoved all in for 36,388 from the big blind. phounderAA folded, then typed "is this personal Bill?" "Heh no," Chen replied. "It never is with me." Chen has 41,437 to start Level 11.

Bill Chen

In the other, the table had folded around to Alex Kravchenko on the button who raised to 3,300, leaving himself about 40K. The SB folded, and Tom "luvgamble" Schneider, sitting on about 21K, made the call.

The flop came Tc-Th-8c. Schneider checked, Kravchenko bet 5,300, and after some delay Schneider called. The turn was the Qc. Schneider quickly pushed all-in for 12,349 and Kravchenko 34,226 to start the next level.

10:10pm -- Hour five chip counts

Level 11
Blinds: 750/1,500 with a 150 ante
Average Chip Stack: 70,212
Players Remaining: 778
First Prize: $1,775,312.50

Top ten:

1. ClockWyze 355,112
2. jacksup 325,802
3. cpfactor 266,614
4. jediael 250,703
5. ahh_snap 239,168
6. tiger76 236,211
7. Menace_star 231,442
8. janwillem111 224,728
9. charder30 222,471
10. Monk532 218,603

Team PokerStars pros eliminated this hour:

Joe Hachem (1012nd)
Hevad “RaiNKhaN” Khan (1103rd)

10:03pm-- Poker: It’s all luck

Now down to approximately 800 players in this year’s Main Event and at Table 77 are two familiar faces to the later stages of WCOOP events. Team PokerStars pro Bertrand “ElkY” Grospellier and #1PEN.

ElkY had a very successful WCOOP, capping off with his runner-up finish in the $25,500 high roller heads-up Event # 19 (check out the PokerStarsBlog live blog of the event here) banking $320,000 in the process.

Bertrand "ElkY" Grospellier

#1PEN had two huge final tables finishing second in Event #3 and third in the $10,300 high roller event good for $337,050.00

Currently ElkY is above average stacked at 94,086, while #1PEN has some catching up to do at 19,540.

9:57pm--Monkey business

Recent chat from Table 292:

ahh_snap [observer]: i have 183k
ahh_snap [observer]: 187k i mean
westmenloAA: u wanna swap 5
ahh_snap [observer]: yup
ahh_snap [observer]: 5 it is
ahh_snap [observer]: gl
westmenloAA: k gl

VuaXi`Tô' [observer]: ahh snap/menlo.what u guys swapping?
Phwap: BANANAS
Phwap: they're banana thieves

VuaXi`Tô' [observer]: any1 want to buy Bananas?

9:54pm--- True to his name

Reraiseallin did just that facing a resurgent Barry Greenstein as Reraiseallin opening the betting in middle position to 2888 with blinds at 600/1200, ante 100. Greenstein re-popped from the small blind to 10800 as Reraiseallin shoved for his remaining 17,987 chips as Greestein covered and called leaving 20,727 behind.

Watch the action play out below:

9:45pm--Opponent cracks up against jacksup

The table folded around to 10OleMiss10 who -- having a bit more than 59,000 when the hand began -- put in a minimum raise to 2,000 from the button. The small blind folded, and jacksup, with more than 282,000 when the hand began, made the call from the BB.

The flop came Ts-Td-Jd. jacksup checked, 10OleMiss10 bet 3,000, jacksup check-raised to 9,500, and 10OleMiss10 re-raised again to 16,000. jacksup called

The turn was the 7c. This time jacksup fired out 42,000, barely enough to put 10OleMiss10 all in. 10OleMiss10 thought awhile, then made the call, turning over Ah-Ad. jacksup showed 9d-8h for the turned straight. The river was the 7c, and 10OleMiss10 was eliminated.

jacksup is back in the chip lead with 343,192.

9:41pm-- You check? I bet.

Team PokerStars pro Barry Greenstein was happy to get a free look at a Td-7h-9s in the big blind as it was folded around to WGC1234 who completed the small blind.

A flop bet of 1586 by WGC1234 was called by Greenstein. The 7c got a rounded bet of 3000 from WGC1234 which again was called. The river 5s caused WGC1234 to check as the PokerStars pro took a stab at the 11,847 chip pot with a 5,000 chip bet.

WGC1234 called to see Greenstein’s top pair with Th-6c and muck shipping the 21,847 chip pot to Greenstein who is sitting a little healthier at 38,998.

9.38pm – THE_D_RY high and dry

Level ten and blinds of 600/1,200. Danny Ryan moves all-in, gets no takers and lives to see another hand on a little more than 15,000. On the next hand though the action is folded to $tinger 88 on the button who raises to 2,800. It’s folded back to Ryan in the big blind who lets the old avatar flash a few times before moving all in for just short of 15,000.

Danny THE_D_RY Ryan

Ryan showed Ah-4h whilst $tinger 88 showed Jh-Kh.

The board came 2h-Kc-Td-9d-Qc, $tinger 88 first made a pair on the flop and then a king-high straight on the river for 33,000 and busting THE_D_RY in the process, Ryan’s WCOOP over for another year,

9:34pm -- In it to win it, Andy is back again

Andy McLEOD’s name has popped up five different times in the money during the 2008 WCOOP, including taking down Event #16 for $98,280.00 while defeating 1,222 other runners.

Andy finds himself in familiar territory in the top 100 with 115,000 chip as the blinds are about to increase to 600/1200, ante 100 in a few minutes.

Check out Andy’s road to his bracelet in the PokerStarsBlog live blog of Event # 16 here.

9:31pm--Hachem down, then out

Team PokerStars pro Joe Hachem had just lost two-thirds of his stack in a big hand against NeverScaredB. After NeverScaredB had pushed all in for 14,721, Hachem reraised to isolate with Ah-4d, only to find himself up against As-8h. NeverScaredB's hand held up, and Hachem was down to just 8,554.

Two hands later, Hachem was all in with pocket eights, but wader was waiting for him with Ah-As. The aces held, and Hachem is out in 1,012th place.

9:25pm-- Not a Queen (of hearts) fan

Team PokerStars Pro Andre “aakkari” Akkari found himself racing off his remaining 14,013 in chips with BrynKenney in the following hand:

Not confirmed if the Brazilian pro is a Freddie Mercury fan however.

9:18pm-- B.I.G. lives on, Khan does not, out in 1103rd

Down to just 7,598, Team PokerStars pro Hevad “RaiNKhaN” Khan tossed his last chips by open shove from middle position and getting a call from BIGLivesOn in the small blind.

BIGLivesOn: Ah-Qd
RaiNKhAN: 8h-9c

Two live cards for Khan, but the board would not provide any excitement as it missed both players: 2s-Ks-Jd-5d-2h

The Biggie fan’s ace-high played, and Khan was eliminated in 1103rd.

9:15pm--Hershiser can't stand the heat

Orel Hershiser ("O. Hershiser") had built up an impressive 96,841-chip stack before the following hand took place.

With the blinds 500/1,000 here in Level 9, Hershiser raised to 3,000 from UTG+1 and Dynamite321 reraised to 9,000 from middle position. It folded back around and Hershiser called. The flop came 8s-Jc-Kh. Both checked. The turn was the Tc. Hershiser checked, Dynamite321 bet 13,000, and Hershisher called.

The river borught the 5s. This time Hershiser bet out 19,000. Dynamite321 then raised all in for 29,293 total. Hershiser decided to let it go, and folded.

Dynamite321 is now up to 94,468, while Hershiser has slipped back to 55,766.

9:07pm-- Going in the wrong direction

Team PokerStars pros Andre “aakkari” Akkari and Hevad “RaiNKhaN” Khan once had sizable stacks now find themselves on the short end as the third break just ended.

Team PokerStars Pro Andre Akkari

With blinds moving up to 500/1000, ante 75, Khan at 9,473 and Akkari at 17,763 will need to make something happen soon to get back to their spots near the top of the leader board during the first hour of the tournament.

9:05pm -- Hour four chip counts

Level 9
Blinds: 500/1,000 with a 75 ante
Average Chip Stack: 47,665
Players Remaining: 1,146
First Prize: $1,775,312.50

Top ten:

1. Menace_star 250,477
2. jacksup 218,011
3. vietcon01 191449
4. janwillem111 175,880
5. sandler1860 170,164
6. westmenloAA 159,725
7. McMang 158,037
8. PrtyPsux 156,662
9. Xaston 150,273
10. AJKHoosier1 149,065

Eliminated since last break:

Gavin Griffin (1,187th)
Alexandre "Allingomes" Gomes (1,230th)
John Duthie (1281st)
Tom McEvoy (1354th)
Vicky Coren (1538th)
Other notables:
O.Hershiser 100,141 (69th)

8.59pm -- Pagano plugging away

Luca Pagano remains carrying the flag of Team PokerStars, raising pre-flop, called by woody414 for a heads-up flop of Kc-8s-Jd. They checked to the turn card 5d. Pagano bet again, 2,400 which woody raised. Pagano called and both checked the river card Js. Pagano showed Ks-Qd for two pair, kings and jacks. Good for 14,450.

8:52 -- Here come the big stacks

Table 148 has broken up, meaning jacksup and Menace_star -- both of the 200,000-plus chip stacks -- have now been unleashed on two other unsuspecting tables. They did tangle briefly a couple of times in the thirty or so hands they played together, but for the most part kept out of each other's way.

Both remain our only 200,000-chip stacks in the tourney, with vietcong01 the nearest competitor with 179,349.

8:48pm-- Familiar face popping up on the leaderboard

Isaac “westmenloAA” Baron had a spot of success when he travelled overseas to the EPT Grand Final in Monte Carlo in April. The PokerStars qualifier turned the tourney package he won online into a fourth place finish good for € 589,000.

Currently he is stacked at 163,000 and in 9th place, looking for yet another big finish in a PokerStars event.

8:44pm--Happenings from the tables

Team PokerStars pro Joe Hachem has chipped back to 43,526, which is almost exactly average chip stack right here at the midpoint of Level 8.

Meanwhile, Tom "luvgamble" Schneider has been sitting on the short stack for some time. He currently has 12,567.

We have 1,243 players still vying for that $1.7 million first prize. Our two chip leaders -- Menace_star (236,927) and jacksup (218,911) are still seated across from one another at Table 148.

Talking of Joe Hachem, the former World Champion gave his thoughts on the game in this Masterclass...

Watch Joe Hachem Masterclass on PokerStars.tv

8:40pm -- Duthie done after an up and down hand

Team PokerStars pro John Duthie found himself shaking his head at the river Jh shove by jhub3000 after he hit a wheel A-5 straight on the turn of the board showing: 3h-2s-Ac-4h

jhub3000’s bet would put Duthie all-in for his remaining 6,892 into the 40,634 chip pot. Watch the hand play out below:

8:37pm--Becker chips up past 60,000

PokerStars Ambassador and former tennis star Boris Becker doubled up to 50,000 early on today, and has mostly been keeping out of harm's way while maintaining that stack. Becker did just now mix it up, however, with bagetak after he raised to 1,990 from middle position and Becker called from the big blind.

The flop came 4d-3s-Ts. Becker checked, bagetak made a c-bet of 3,500, and like a swift return of serve Becker re-raised to 9,600. bagetak folded, and Becker is now up to 61,959.

8:30pm -- Not really that important, I’ll come back later

Team PokerStars pro Hevad “RaiNKhaN” Khan got into a pre-flop raising war with coxquinn that went like this:

ghoose13: folds
vikkyG85: folds
tsdavis111: folds
RaiNKhAN: raises 1200 to 2000
Taktix: folds
coxquinn: raises 4400 to 6400
BIGLivesOn: folds
redgrape: folds
royal$tuga$: folds
RaiNKhAN: raises 10200 to 16600
coxquinn: raises 27800 to 44400
RaiNKhAN: folds
Uncalled bet (27800) returned to coxquinn
coxquinn collected 34400 from pot

The four-bet was all he had to see, and after taking another hit with ATo against a set of kings in another large pot with Taktix, the once mightily stacked Khan is now sitting below average with 21,723.

8:26pm--The other seven are not amused

In a quirk of seat-shuffling, our second player to 200,000 -- Menace_star -- just got moved to jacksup's table!

8:21pm--jacksup surges past 200K

Player jacksup has taken the lead and raced out to 235,454. Check out this hand between him and the impossible-to-type M@d@M@d@D@ne that took jacksup to that level:

8:20pm -- Greenstein muscles out a pot

Slightly below the starting stack and nearly half of the average stack (currently 39,000) Team PokerStars pro Barry Greenstein used a little strength on the flop of this hand to grab some much needed chips.
After calling a 2,250 raise from dwongz in the small blind Greenstein checked his option with the Tc-4h-Ks flop.

dwongz followed through with a 2,750 chip bet, and Greenstein flexed a re-raise to 8,000 which dwongz wanted nothing to do with and folded giving Greenstein the 10,800 chip pot.

8:17pm--Chen tries to get cheeky, loses chips

Team PokerStars pro Bill Chen just lost a chunk of chips after betting out 8,800 into a 11,000-plus chip pot on a board of 6d-9s-7d-2d-2h and getting called by playerscard. Chen was forced to show his bluff -- Th-Jh -- and playerscard took the pot with 5c-7s.

Chen is now down to a little less than 22,000.

Team PokerStars Pro Bill Chen

8:10pm -- As Duthie ponders, rail needs to work out their bluffs

Team PokerStars pro John Duthie was working out a 8,800 chip river bet from TiltHappens on a board of 9d-7c-Ks-6c-8h and a pot totaling $17,597. To call was nearly half his remaining stack, but he elected to fold while the rail saw an opportunity for a cheap entry to next week’s Sunday Million:

Administrator: $3.50 Triple Shootout to Sunday Million [6-max] starts in 5 minutes. To register see T109369994 under the Tourney/Satellite/Cash tab.jhub3000: $3.50 shootout...thanks for the HU stars!

Dealer: John Duthie, it's your turn. You have 15 seconds to act
Dealer: Player John Duthie has requested TIME
jhub3000: $3.50 shootout...thanks for the HU stars!
Little Kraut [observer]: thats about all i got left
Little Kraut [observer]: LOL

And at PokerStars you cannot chat at the table unless you have the buy-in, so we’re guessing Little Kraut has a tad more in his bankroll then he’s letting on.

8:05pm--Coren joins crowd on rail

After struggling for the last few levels, Team PokerStars pro Vicky Coren has been eliminated in 1,538th place. Down to just 6,538, Coren shoved with Qd-Jd, got called by J0hndayt0n who held pocket fives, and couldn't win the race.

She joins about 680 others on the rail. At the moment, 1,504 of our original 2,185 entrants are still playing cards.

7:59pm--Obrestad ousted

Just before the break, Annette "Annette_15" Obrestad got involved in a big hand against Kongsgaard. Obrestad, sitting on a stack of a little more than 24,000, raised to 1,400 from middle position, and it folded around to whywhy99 who called from the small blind. Kongsgaard then raised to 4,475 from the big blind, prompting Obrestad to shove all-in over the top. Kongsgaard snap-called, showing pocket aces. Obrestad turned over pocket tens. The aces held, and Obrestad was down to 3,082.

Kongsgaard would claim the rest of Obrestad's chips on the very next hand, as she pushed with K-Q and he called with A-Q. Another set-up, of sorts, and when the board brought no king, Annette's day was done.

7:56pm-- Hour three chip counts

Level 7
Blinds: 400/800
Average Chip Stack: 35,016
Players Remaining: 1,560
First Prize: $1,775,312.50

1. brendol 146,256
2. Nathan_S1985 130,370
3. Bruno GT 120,363
4. Smurf_Fla 119,910
5. JSD1000 118,994
6. KAG1 118,139
7. Maroonlime 117,445
8. blur5f6 116,823
9. omalos 115,511
10. BISCUTTIN 115,254

Team PokerStars pros in the top 100:

None

Team PokerStars pros eliminated this hour:
Chris "Money800" Moneymaker (1,592nd)
Isabelle "NoMercy" Mercier (1,709th)
Dario Minieri (1,742nd)
Greg "Fossilman" Raymer (1,893rd)

Other notables:

O.Hershiser 72,947 (80th)

7:53pm-- Aces carve up “aakkari”

Team PokerStars pro Andre “aakkari” Akkari raised UTG to 1,800 while Marinersheep called from middle position to see a flop of Ad-3d-Jh.

Akkari lead out for 2,950 which was called, the 3c on the turn had both players checking.

The fireworks went off on the Qs river as Akkari bet 3,500 and was shove-raised by Marinersheep to 10,750 and Akkari made the call to see the bad news. Aces full for Marinersheep as the rivered top two pair for Akkari nearly halved the Team PokerStars pro’s stack to 22,152.

7:50pm -- All over for Moneymaker

Chris Moneymaker is out. All-in with 6-4 he found a four on the flop for some hope, but 1-ronnyr3 put an end to any revival hopes. Ronny held K-9 and also hit the flop, finding a king.

All over.

7:47pm--Tangled in his own rope

Joe Hachem just took a big hit when krmont claimed a 50K pot against the PS pro. The flop had come 2d-3s-Ah, and Hachem had just called krmont's smallish bet. The turn brought the Jh, and Hachem again just check-called krmont's bet of 5,400.

The river brought another jack. Hachem checked again, krmont22 bet 15,600, and Hachem thought a while before calling.

krmont22 showed 8c-Jc for rivered trips, and Hachem mucked, now down to less than 20,000.

JoeHachem: lol
JoeHachem: nh\\
krmont22: should have shoved
krmont22: i would fold
JoeHachem: new my ace was good
krmont22: ofc ive never had a real hand in my entire life
JoeHachem: was letting u hang urself
krmont22: yes
JoeHachem: hung myself instead

7:44pm--Schneider snuffs bluff

After that fast start during the first hour, Tom "luvgamble" Schneider hit a rough patch and had fallen all of the way down to 12,509. He just now had a hairy moment after having called a bet from Coggeboy on a flop of 8d-9d-2d. The turn brought the Qs. Coggeboy checked, Schneider bet 4,200, and Coggeboy check-raised all in for 10,575.

Schneider thought a long while -- to call would leave him only 134 chips.

Finally he called, showing Jh-Th for the straight. Coggeboy didn't have the flush -- he had Ah-9s, his bluff having failed. The river was the Js, and Coggeboy is out.

Schneider is now back to 25,320, almost exactly his starting stack.

7:40pm – Moneymaker grinding to a halt?

The wheels may be falling of Team PokerStars Pro Chris Moneymaker’s drive towards WCOOP glory. He’s now down to less than 5,000 after a hand that saw his opponent 1-ronnyr3 turn over a set of kings to win a pot worth more than 22,000. Moneymaker had called all the way but was unable to beat that.

He was back up a little in the next hand but still has it all to do with less than 6,000.

7:37pm--RonaldKosh quashes Annette

The action folded around to Annette "Annette_15" Obrestad on the button who uncharacteristically limped for 600. matador1981 completed from the small blind, and RonaldKosh checked his option in the BB.

The flop came Kc-3d-4c. The blinds checked and Obrestad 1,200. matador1981 folded, then RonaldKosh reraised to the interesting amount of 3,456.

Obrestad called. The turn was the 6d. This time RonaldKosh bet 5,555 (another interesting figure). Obrestad decided enough with the funny business and shoved all in for 48K-plus. RonaldKosh called with his remaining 15,535, showing 3h-4s for two pair. Obrestad showed 7h-8d. The river was the 6s, and Obrestad had lost half her stack.

She took another hit shortly thereafter, and is now down to 20,304.

7:34pm-- Khan wasn’t wonged, aces hold up for a big pot

Being deep stacked, most preflop 3-bet battles will be picked only with premium hands.

Fortunately for Hevad “RaiNKhaN” Khan he held the biggest pair of all, pocket rockets (Ac-As) versus tobeywong’s pocket queens (Qh-Qs). tobeywong was all-in preflop for 18,525 as Khan left 30,055 behind.

The board ran out Jd-9d-Kh-5h-6s to give the 38,900 chip pot to Khan and eliminated tobeywong from the tournament.

7:29pm-- Recent Sunday Million final tablist j.thaddeus joins Akkari’s table

A third place finish good for $91,419.60, that’s what j.thaddeus received for his deep finish in the 08/10/08 edition of the Sunday Million. Tonight he’ll just need to make the final table to eclipse that score.

Unfortunately he’s a little short stacked at the moment sitting to Team PokerStars pro Andre "aakkari" Akkari's left with 13,470 but the blinds are only 300/600 and plenty of time to wait for some premium cards.

Read about his Sunday Million run from this link.

7:27pm--Hachem holding steady

Team PokerStars pro and 2005 WSOP Main Event champ Joe Hachem has kept quiet here for the first part of today's event. Just now he took a 10K pot to chip up to 46,288. Then came the following hand.

NeverScaredB raised to 1,650 from the cutoff, and Hachem called from the button. exomil also called from the big blind. The flop came Kc-5h-5s. exomil and NeverScaredB both checked, and Hachem bet 1,800. Both of his opponents called.

The turn was the 4h. exomil fired out 4,800 -- less than half the size of the pot. Showing his name isn't meant to be taken literally, NeverScaredB folded. Hachem then dipped into his time bank as he contemplated how to proceed. After sixty-plus seconds, the 2005 WSOP Main Event champ let it go.

Hachem picked up a small one one on the very next hand, though, and still sits with more than 46,000 -- comfortably above the current average stack of 32,322.

7:23pm – Moneymaker busy in level six

Team PokerStars Pro Chris Moneymaker just won a pot with a big bet on the end to take his stack up to nearly 30,000. With blinds at 200/400, Moneymaker raised to 1,000 pre-flop which found one caller in SobraoBoY. They saw a flop of 8s-6c-8h, SobraoBoY checked before a bet, raise and call by Moneymaker before the turn card 8c.

Check-check before the river, a Ts. Again SobraoBoY checked. Moneymaker paused before making a winning bet of 4,000, enough to take the pot of 6,598.

7:19pm--Chips adding up for Chen

snake8484 raised to 1,020, and Team PokerStars pro Bill Chen called from the big blind.

The flop came 3d-6h-5c. Chen checked, snake8484 bet 1,440, and after doing some calcuations in his head, the co-author of The Mathematics of Poker decided to reraise to 4,000. snake8484 made the call.

Both players checked the 9d on the turn as well as the Qh on the river. Chen showed 7c-6c for a pair of sixes, and snake8484 mucked. Chen currently has 36,990.

7:17pm-- Tame table, everyone watching the NFL right now?

Even with the aggressive John Duthie and Scott “BigRiskky” Clements at Table 33, there has not been a pot over 5,700 chips for the past four orbits.

It’s NFL Sunday for those with a rooting interest in American Football, perhaps after the afternoon games are done or the cheerleaders leave the sidelines we’ll see some action.

Duthie is stacked at 26,125 while Clements a bit more with 34,165.

7:11pm--anakinso not feeling terrific

Player terrific28 raised to 1,600, anakinso reraised to 5,000 behind, and terrific28 called. The flop came 5d-4s-Qc. terrific28 checked, anakinso bet 6,500, then terrific28 shoved all in for 41,420. With only 16,780 left, anakinso thought a bit then let it go.

He gave us an indication of his holding afterwards.

anakinso: sigh, i wish i was good enough to flop pairs with AK
anakinso: one day maybe

7:05pm-- Stars a-popping up all over

The new option for displaying your current VIP level here at PokerStars has been more in-use since the WCOOP started. If you’re wondering what we’re talking about, check out Table 33 where Team PokerStars pro John Duthie is proudly displaying his PlatinumStar status.

Check out the “options” drop down in the PokerStars lobby for the menu on how to display your current VIP status.

7:00pm-- Running out of steam?

After starting out with a double up just twenty minutes into the tournament Andre “aakkari” Akkari has not improved much on his stack. He just lost a race after short stacked macduge open-raised from the button for 1,100, the small blind got out of the way as Akkari on the big blind re-raised to 4,000.

macduge answered with a shove for 7,180 total as Akkari made the call leaving 45,495 behind

aakkari: 8s-8c
macduge: As-Ks

Suited slick would hit the flop hard as 2s-2d-Ah fell, the 6h and Jd turn and river gave the 14,560 pot to macduge as Akkari has slipped below the double stack to 45,495.

6.55pm – Weak Tite not living up to name against McEvoy

Level five and Team PokerStars Pro Tom McEvoy just dropped down a few ranks in a pot against Weak Tite. McEvoy had raised from early position to 1,600, called by Tite to see a flop of 7c-4h-6h. The action was checked to McEvoy who bet 4,400 before Tite re-raised to 7,450 in total, putting himself all-in. McEvoy called.

A 7h and Kc on fourth and fifth streets before Tite showed up pocket kings for a full house, kings over sevens. Nothing quite so grand for the Team PokerStars Pro who showed two pair, jacks and sevens.

A pot worth 19,100 shipped to Tite.

6:53pm-- And sometimes it's not the out you were wishing for

Big hand involving redgrape and blintzy out on Table 249, where Hevad “RaiNKhaN” Khan is still sitting at and above average with 48,580 chips.

Watch the battle the big pairs find a hidden out on the river:

6:45pm-- Duthie does it right

Top pair good for the EPT creator and Team PokerStars pro John Duthie for a 14,250 chip pot which got him back over the starting stack to 27,725.

He is seated at Table 33 with two-time WSOP bracelet holder Scott “BigRiskky” Clements who is sitting with 35,965.

6:42pm-- Hour two chips counts; ahoy! capinhabr takes the lead

Level 5
Blinds: 200/400
Average Chip Count: 28,435
Players Remaining: 1,921
First Prize: $1,775,312.50

1. capinhabr 114,756
2. Gbet007 101,036
3. Rekrul 97,128
4. bigegypt 91,850
5. BISCUTTIN 88,304
6. 4ofaKindBud 83,520
7. Bjorg0010 82,692
8. New Shawboy 80,933
9. rmh123 79,628
10. Olia 75,100

Team PokerStars pros in the top 100:

Andre "Aakkari" Akkari 58,975 (56th)

Team PokerStars pros eliminated in the last hour:

Victor Ramdin (1,940th)
Steve "stevejpa" Paul-Ambrose (1,986th)
Chad "ChadBrownPRO" Brown (2,043rd)
Marcin "Goral" Horecki (2,072nd)

Other notables in the top 100:

Tom "luvgamble" Schneider 58,889 (59th)
Boris Becker 57,169 (68th)
Annette_15 56,913 (71st)
Tony Holden 53,355 (100th)

6:37pm--Perusing the leaderboard

Chip leader at the first break, Tom "luvgamble" Schneider has fallen back to the pack here during the second hour. He presently sits with 56,048 (74th place).

Among those who have passed him, Annette "Annette_15" Obrestad is up to 57,713 (58th), Team PokerStars pro Andre "aakkari" Akkari has 57,730 (57th), AKJHoosier has 61,280 (43rd), and Bryan "micon" Micon has 65,714 (29th).

All are looking up at capinhabr, though, the first player to crack 100,000. He currently has 122,056 -- more than 25K ahead of the field at the moment.

6:30pm – Another player bashed by Bertrand

A nice hand for Team PokerStars Pro ElkY who sends a player to the rail in the process. The Team PokerStars Pro is now up to nearly 45,000.

6:27pm--A-A all right for Annette

Annette "Annette_15" Obrestad had chipped up to more than 35,000 when the following hand took place. Obrestad raised to 900 from middle position, and marroca5 called from the small blind. The flop came 9c-7s-4s. marroca5 checked, Obrestad made a c-bet of 1,420, then marroca5 check-raised to 3,875.

Obrestad waited about ten seconds, then shoved all in. marroca5 thought a bit, too, then called with his remaining 9,025.

marroca5 showed pocket queens, and Obrestad aces. Her hand held up, and she's up to 49,563.

6:23pm-- Yep, aces do hold up once in a while

Team PokerStars pro Hevad “RaiNKhaN” Khan just took a little nick to his stack after running into the pocket rockets of vikkyG85 for a 14,850 pot.

vikkyG85 wasn’t done after the hand below as she gathered another 38,150 chip pot four hands later when she caught aces again on a 8h-8s-6d-8d-3c board against alchiani who elected not to show his cards after the big pot slid over to vikkyG85.

vikkyG85 is up to 62,325 chips while RaiNKhaN is at 49,200 and still well above par.

6:19pm--Coren ain't adorin' her cards

Team PokerStars pro Vicky Coren struggled through the first three levels of today's tourney, and she just had another frustrating hand here at the start of Level 4.

scarface_79 had raised to 900 from UTG, Coren called from middle position, and mattster24 also called from the small blind. The flop came all babies -- 4c-2h-2d. mattster24 checked, scarface_79 bet 1,500, Coren called, and mattster24 folded. The turn was the Qh. scarface_79 checked, Coren bet 3,000, and scarface_79 called.

The river was the 8d, making the board 4c-2h-2d-Qh-8d. scarface_79 checked, and Coren thought a moment before checking behind. scarface_79 showed As-Ad, and Coren mucked. She's now slipped to 11,888.

6:17pm – Two big pots for on form ElkY

Team PokerStars pro Bertrand "ElkY" Grospellier has shown great form in the last few weeks and it shows no signs of stopping today.

He just won two big hands to bump him up to nearly 39,000. The first came courtesy of a set of queens over the two pair aces and queens of baloo1962. Good for 12,500.

Then again a few hands later where ElkY and IONA06 tangled on a 2s-6d-Ac flop, a 3h turn before a devilish bet of 6,666 on the 9d river which quashes any ideas of triumph for IONA06. Good for a 9K pot.

6:15pm-- Avatar doesn’t always equal the real thing

As the rail at Andre “aakkari” Akkari’s table inquired about The Cronic240 sitting to his left whether he was pro poker and backgammon player Paul Magriel as seen by his avatar (answer was no):

muchbetter [observer]: thecronic are you paul magriel?
BrynKenney: nah lol
muchbetter [observer]: lol
BrynKenney: i see him in person hes not that good looking
aakkari: lolol
TheCronic420: quack
muchbetter [observer]: i had backgammon lessons with him
aakkari: or double quack?

6:11pm-- The true WORLD Championship of Online Poker

Check out these numbers for the 2008 WCOOP, not including the 2,185 player Main Event field today:

Events played: 32
Total Number of Buy-Ins: 53,573
Number of unique players: 22,520
Total Prize Money: $29,033,000.00
Countries represented: 118
Countries cashed: 78

Total prize money will exceed the $30 million mark today with over 78 nations represented here (and that's just those who made the money).

PokerStars thanks you for making this tournament series a memorable one.

6:03pm – Narrow margin punishes Pagano

A bad hand for EPT Player of the Year and Team PokerStars Pro Luca Pagano in level three. With the Italian on the button imcastleman made it 600 pre-flop which Pagano called. It was just the two of them. The flop, 6c-9c-Th.

Another bet from imcastleman which Pagano called before the turn card 5s. Two checks this time and imcastleman did the same again after the 6h river card. But Pagano shifted up a gear, betting 2,500 which was eventually called.

Pagano flipped over Kd-Qd for sixes with a king. By the narrowest of margins though imcastleman took the 8K pot, showing As-Kc for the same hand with an ace kicker.

6:00pm--HelmetSky looking to return to final table

HelmetSky, who took third-place prize money in last year's WCOOP Main Event, is off to a good start today.

In a recent hand, HelmetSky raised to 550 from UTG, and it folded around to Duhglas who reraised to 1,800 from the big blind. HelmetSky called. The flop came Jd-3s-7s. Duhglas bet 2,550, HelmetSky raised to 7,500, and Duhglas called.

The turn was the Kc. Duhglas checked, and HelmetSky immediately shoved his stack of 27,545 in the middle. Duhglas considered for a bit, then let it go, preserving his 13,575-chip stack.

HelmetSky, meanwhile, has chipped up to 46,245 with that hand.

5:59pm-- Four out of five ain’t bad

Steadily climbing the leaderboard is Team PokerStars pro Hevad “RaiNKhaN” Khan. Khan is playing some power poker out on Table 249 as he’s taken down the last four out of five pots without flipping over his cards.

He is currently stacked at 57,450 chips.

5:55pm--Patience is a virtue

We are halfway through Level 3 -- about an hour and 15 minutes of play thus far -- and have only loast 84 of our original 2,185 entrants. Thus the average chip stack is still not much more than the starting stack of 25,000, and with blinds of 150/300, players can afford to be patient.

Of course, patience is the word for this two-day event. Everyone making the final table will stand to earn more than $100K, with the top two spots paying $1.775 million and $1.311 million, respectively.

But the road to get there is a long one.

5:50pm-- Lenny wants another final table

The all-time leader in WCOOP final tables with five, Lenny is currently out on Table 141 with 33,345 chips looking to bank a minimum $121,267.50 for another final table finish.

As a side note, Team PokerStars pro Bertrand “ElkY” Grospellier is second with four final tables, and Chris “Money800” Moneymaker has three final tables to his credit.

5:45pm-- Who will knock off three of these players?

dorinvandy United States $652,529.95
DuckU United States $580,564.13
stevesbets United States $560,000.00
Calvin32 United States $452,086.50
#1PEN United States $391,713.31

Here are the top 5 cashers from the first 32 events of the 2008 WCOOP series, today however, 1st, 2nd, and 3rd places will take over the top three spots showing just how big today’s Main Event is.

5:40pm--Proceed with caution with your overpairs

Just before the break, Team PokerStars pro Bill Chen and mrkofax had a hand in which both demonstrated the kind of restraint deep-stack tournaments demand. After some preflop back-and-forthing, mrkofax just called Chen's modest bets on the flop and river on a board showing 2d-2h-5d-Jh-9h.

Chen showed pocket kings, and mrkofax pocket queens.

Chen is up to more than 32,000 as we begin Level 3, while mrkofax has 15,700.

5:35pm-- Hour one chip counts; oops! I love to grab people's chips, luvgamble in the lead

Level 3
Blinds: 100/200
Average Chip Stack: 25,669
Players Remaining: 2,128
First Prize: $1,775,312.50

1. luvgamble 69,198
2. Gbet007 63,575
3. McMang 62,765
4. loooser17 62,210
5. Dynamite321 59,875
6. fidallio 59,368
7. sevenyrold 59,250
8. CTZ60 58,725
9. New Shawboy 58,459
10. TonyHolden 57,470

Team PokerStars pro in the top 100:

Andre "aakkari" Akkari 50,950 (23rd)
Hevad "RaiNKhAN" Khan 47,175 (40th)

Team PokerStars pros eliminated this hour:
Ray Rahme (2,145th)
Noah "Exclusive" Boeken (2,156th)

Other notables in the top 100:

luvgamble 69,198 (1st)
TonyHolden 57,470 (10th)
zangbezan24 49,350 (31st)
Kongsgaard 45,515 (49th)

5:27pm--Another act of schneidering

If you look up "schneider" in the dictionary, here is what you will find:

1. (verb) to prevent (an opponent) from scoring a point in a game or match.
2. (noun) an act of schneidering or the fact of being schneidered

Somehow seems appropriate at the moment, as Tom "luvgamble" Schneider continues to gather up the chips over on Table 94.

With pocket jacks and a ten-high board, he just called tjbentham's river bluff to pick up another 13,000-plus pot. As we approach the break, Schneider sits atop the leaderboard with 68,898.

5:24pm -- Rahme raid ends in defeat

It’s an early end to the day for Team PokerStars Pro Ray Rahme who just exited the main event in 2,145th in level two. When johnnykran raised pre-flop to 300 Rahme came out re-raising, only for Dieselek to do the same, making it 4,600 to go. Rahme called.

The flop came Qh-2c-Ts which Rahme checked. Another bet from Dieselek, 3,800, which Rahme re-raised, putting himself all-in for a total of 8,675. Dieselek called, fourth and fifth streets came 9d and Jc. It was time to see the cards.

A pair of queens for Rahme holding Qs-As but pocket kings for Dieselek for a king-high straight. A 27,000 pot for him. The door for Rahme.

5:20pm-- Exclusive exit

Team PokerStars pro Noah “Exclusive” Boeken has been eliminated in 2156th place.

5:15pm--R-E-S-P-E-C-T

After Annette "Annette_15" Obrestad had bet out on a board of Ad-5d-10s-5s, marroca5 thought a moment before letting his hand go. The ensuing chat:

marroca5: AJ, I believe u
Annette_15: wow someone folds top pair to me
marroca5: AJs but no d or s
Annette_15: im honored
Annette_15: gf =)
marroca5: ty

Obrestad has taken it easy here at the start, holding steady at a little more than 26,000 at the moment.

5:12pm--Another set sets up Schneider

Another nice one here for Tom "luvgamble" Schneider in the first hour. Coggeboy had raised to 300 from UTG, and Schneider called. tomba26 then reraised to 1,200, and both Coggeboy and Schneider called.

The flop came 5h-2s-4s. It checked to tomba26 who bet 3,275, and Coggeboy called. Schneider then surprisingly shoved all in with stack of 34,125. tomba26 called and Coggeboy got the heck outta Dodge.

luvgamble: 4c-4d
tomba26: Kc-Kd

Schneider had again flopped a baby set. The turn was the 8h and river the Jd, and tomba26 hit the rail. Schneider now has the early chip lead with 60,750.

5:08pm-- After a flurry of events, the tables have settled down

After the big all-in after the flop pitting straight flush draw versus top set against Jorj95, Andre “aakkari” Akkari’s table has settled into small pot-big stack poker.

Akkari is still sitting on his double stack of 50,000 chips, but not settling down as he’s been active in several pots.

5:06pm -- Tough table over on 167

Team PokerStars Pro Raymond Rahme has taken a knock early on. He lost out when he ran into the aces of Sany Boy in a pot worth more than 16,000. It takes the South African down to 13,000.

Elsewhere Team Pro ElkY finds himself on the same table with recent WCOOP event 25 winner shaundeeb.

Find shaundeeb's Event #25 winner's interview via this handy link.

5:03pm--$10,925,000!!!

Registration is now closed as we begin Level 2. In the end, 2,185 came out for today's event, creating a record $10.925 million prize pool. The top 324 finishers will cash, with first place netting a whopping $1,775,312.50!

5:02pm-- The titans of the table collide

Wow. We’re speechless after Team PokerStars Andre “aakkari” Akkari and Supernova Elite Jorj95 got tangled up after each of them flopped huge for their entire stacks during this hand:

4:58pm--With a $10 mil-plus prize pool, you should bring your bling

Team PokerStars pro Vicky Coren is sitting at SuperNova j0hndayt0n's table. We all know he's a Supernova because he has chosen to display his status on his avatar, the semi-circle of five stars against a red background indicating he's reached Supernova. RugDoctor also has his status displayed -- he's a SilverStar.

Not to be outdone, Coren piped up in the chatbox:

Vicky Coren: there, i've put my stars on, have to compete with the other bling at the table : )
j0hndayt0n: : )

4.53pm – The game is Texas Holden

One could be put down to a lucky hand, but two? TonyHolden, THE Tony Holden, wins another mountainous pot. See for yourself.

4.51pm – Mr blue sky, Holden races into the lead

He goes by the name TonyHolden but regardless of whether or not it’s the poker author and debonair of the same name is less relevant right now (edit - yes it is the famous author of the "Big Deal" and "Bigger Deal") than his sudden rocket-ride opening level to a stack of 40,000. He has only blue sky ahead of him right now.

Raising pre-flop in early position to a modest 100, that somehow kick-started a raising war with roguetrader1 that ultimately built to a 30K sized pot. It was thanks in part to a check, bet, raise, re-raise, re-raise, re-raise, call waltz on a flop of Qd-As-Ks. More so with another bet and call, led by Holden, on the 9d turn. Then again on the 6d river; rouguetrader1 bet 6,000 when Holden checked.

It was showdown time after he called; roguetrader1 showing pocket queens for a set, overshadowed though by the Jc-Tc Holden tabled for an ace-high straight, and more importantly, a 29,575 shaped pot.

4:49pm--My house is bigger than yours

XTraCey has nearly doubled up after taking down this huge pot against jesse311. jesse311 had made aces full of sevens on the turn, but the queen on the river (when most of the chips went in) gave XTraCey the better full house. Take a look:

4:45pm-- Want to become part of online poker history?

Late registration is open until 5pm EST, so plunk down your $5,200, grab your 25,000 chips, and get in the game! We’re currently at 2,172 entries for this historic event.

4:40pm--That's about $500 per minute

In the first ten minutes of action, we've already seen three eliminations, with awilli7333, Shafeeq, and thebirdman84 hitting the rail before anybody's seats have had the chance to get warm.

4:36pm--luvgamble takes big pot early

Event No. 24 winner and 2007 World Series of Poker Player of the Year Tom "luvgamble" Schneider has gotten off to a fast start today after taking a 21K pot in just the sixth hand of the day.

Ivan MC 2007 raised to 150 from middle position, Coggeboy called behind him, and Schneider also called from the small blind.

The flop came single suited -- 9d-3d-2d. Schneider checked, Ivan MC 2007 bet 250, Coggeboy reraised to 650, and Schneider called. Then Ivan MC 2007 repopped it to 3,300 total. Coggeboy got out of the way, and luvgamble called.

The turn was the Qh. Schneider checked, and Ivan MC 2007 fired out 7,000. Schnieder thought a moment, then made the call.

Both checked the Ts on the end. Schneider turned over 3c-3h for the set of treys, and Ivan MC 2007 mucked. Schneider is quickly up to 35,750 here in the early going.

Schneider's victory interview from his Event #24 win can be found following this link.

4:35pm-- Back for more

After finishing second this morning in the WCOOP $10,300 H.O.R.S.E. Event #32, Team PokerStars pro Andre “aakkari” Akkari is starting off on Table 100 with SnG maestro Jorj95 who we’re happy to report is only playing one SnG as opposed to his normal 16 at the moment.

Read Akkari's run to the runner-up finish in Event #32's live blog here.

4:31pm--Largest online tourney ever

With a $10 million guaranteed prize pool, today's Main Event is easily the largest online poker tournament ever, eclipsing last year's WCOOP Main Event in which the total prize pool was just a little less than $7.5 million.

As the cards go in the air at the start of Level 1, we have exactly 2,133 entrants who have put up the $5,000+$200 entry fee.

That means the guarantee has been met, with registration remaining open through Level 1. We'll let you know when registration closes just how many runners have come out for this historic two-day event.

Here are your Team PokerStars pros who are also part of this piece of online poker history today:

Andre “aakkari” Akkari
Alexandre “allingomes” Gomes
Barry “barryg1” Greenstein
Bill Chen
Chad Brown
Dario Minieri
Bertrand “ElkY” Grospellier
Noah “Exclusive” Boeken
Gavin Griffin
Greg “FossilMan” Raymer
Marcin “Goral” Horecki
Humberto “Humberto B.” Brenes
Joe Hachem
John Duthie
Katja Thater
Alex Kravchenko
Vanessa “LadyMaverick” Roussso
Lee Nelson
Luca Pagano
Chris “Money800” Moneymaker
Isabelle “NoMercy” Mercier
Hevad “RaiNKhaN” Khan
Raymond Rahme
Steve “stevejpa” Paul-Ambrose
Tom McEvoy
Tuan Lam
Vicky Coren
Victor Ramdin
William Thorson

The WCOOP Main Event beginis at 2:30pm ET

The two-day $5,200 PokerStars World Championship of Online Poker Main Event begins at 2:30pm ET. Join us here for all the action when it begins.