It seemed like hours ago when Chris Moneymaker sidled up to Joe Hachem's table, joking that he needed to bust quickly because they needed three more players for a satellite out in the poker room. Oh wait... it was. Hachem was short-stacked then, but managed to survive for several levels. Anytime we were about to count him out, he'd manage to double up or chop out a decent pot to keep himself alive.

Things looked grim for the Melbourne native when he got his stack in with A-3 only to run into A-K. However, the board ended up pairing nines and tens to give him a lucky chop. Saved by the river.

Hachem's tournament, though, would come to an end only a few hands later. Moving in with [Kh][Qd], Hachem again ran into [As][Kd]. This time there was no miracle, no lucky chop, no river save, the board running out [9c][2s][2d][Ts][5h] to send the world champion to the rail.

Ace-king again?

One table over, Alexandre Gomes had put his opponent to a huge decision on the river. With the board reading [9d][7s][3d][4d][Ad], Gomes set his opponent all in for 25,700 on the river. Ultimately he made the call, turning over not another diamond for the flush, but [Ac][9c] for top two pair. Gomes could only sigh and muck after his failed bluff, left with only a bit over 20,000 in his stack.

I fold, you win

Over at the table Humberto Brenes had vacated only moments ago, his executioner David Schechter fell to Marcelo Giorgetta in what was perhaps the tournament's largest pot thus far. The board reading [9s][9d][8s][7d] on the turn, the two got their (pretty darn substantial) stacks in the middle, Schechter's [7s][8s] in dire shape against Giorgetta's made straight with [Js][Ts]. The [As] hit the river, eliminating Schechter and sending Giorgetta to the top of the pack with over 105,000 in chips. He's easily the current chip leader, with Luis Jaikel right behind him with 96,000.

Alas, there is now but one Brenes remaining in the field. Short-stacked for some time now, Humberto Brenes moved all in for roughly 12,000 and the action was folded to David Schechter on the button, who went into a lengthy think.

"I have a good hand, Humberto" he said.

"Please call! I need to double up," Brenes replied.

After a few more moments of thought, Schechter slid his chips in the middle, making the call. Brenes turned up [Ac][5c] only to find his hand dominated by Schechter's [As][Js]. No help for Brenes on the [Ad][Ks][Qc][7d][2s] board and he offered his executioner both a handshake and a hug on his way to the rail.

Humberto's elimination leaves Alex as the only surviving Brenes. He's still on about 24,000 in chips.

Also making her exit after surviving for hours on a micro-stack was Dennis Phillips' significant other, Maura Harris. With the action folded to her in the small blind, Harris committed her remaining 3,600 to the pot and the big blind obliged with a call, her [8s][9h] up against [Jh][Ts]. The board didn't improve either player's hand and with Phillips watching from the rail, Harris departed the table with a warm smile and a cordial "good game."

There are 53 players remaining in the field as the remaining moments of Level 9 tick down.

So, Team PokerStars Pro Maria "maridu" Mayrinck busted yesterday during Day 1A, but that doesn't mean she is forgotten. In fact, she's pretty easy to remember, what with her playing a side tournament right in front of us.

Since she wasn't able to stick around for long yesterday, the PokerStars video blog team took an opportunity today to chat her up about her experiences here in Mar del Plata.

In other news, we're down to 52 players in Day 1B with about two and half levels left to play.

Alexandre Gomes didn't exactly get the easiest table draw today. He started the day with Veronica Dabul and Leo Fernandez on his immediate left and though Dabul busted a few hours ago on the baddest of beats, Fernandez is still well in this thing with over 31,000 in chips. The former corporate attorney turned poker pro has been flying slightly under the radar today, but in the post-dinner hours has slapped his foot firmly on the gas.

With his stack approaching the 60,000 mark, Gomes got all in with [Qc][Qd] against his opponent's [Js][Jh]. Though the flop was a safe [Ad][9s][3s], the [8s] on the turn meant he had to avoid a spade on the river. When the [3s] fell, Gomes turned away from the table in disgust, having to ship more than half his stack across the table.

A few moments later, "Allingomes" was once again living up to his screen name. On a flop of [8s][6s][8c], Gomes faced an all in from an opponent who had him covered and decided to go for it, committing his remaining 26,000. Holding [9s][9d] he was in excellent shape against 6-4 offsuit and with no shenanigans on the [Kc] turn and the [Js] river, he doubled right back up to 54,000.

Gomes rakes 'em in

Also departing during this level was our beloved Umbrella Man, Zachary Hall. Though we didn't witness the hand, it was impossible not to notice the absence of his multi-colored weather gear. At present, 59 players remain in the Day 1B field as we enter Level 9.

Greatness is not simply a matter of survival. Greatness comes from prospering while others merely struggle to stay afloat. While your countrymen tiptoe around expandiing sinkholes, you build high rises. It's not necessarily the Art of War, but we're only talking about poker, so it'll do.

That is simply a prelude to introducing our new chip leader, Luis Jaikel. Just a bit ago, Jaikel came out on the good end of a sickly little cooler. His opponent held a king and ten on a board with two kings and a rivered six. Jaikel's pocket sixes looked pretty damned good by the end and he raked a chip leader's pot worth 90,000.

Costa Rica's Jaikel has been around for longer than a lot of these kids have been out of diapers. His first recorded tournament cash came in 1994 at the Queens Poker Classic. Since then, he's finished in the money dozens of times with showings on the EPT, WPT, and LAPT. His last recorded cash was an 11th place finish in San Jose during LAPT's first season.

Not too far away sits a much younger Mark Ioli. Decked out in a Semi-Pro headband, Versace shades, Bose QC2s, and a pair of silver Nike kicks, Ioli knows that merely struggling on to Day 2 isn't going to do him much good if he plans to win. Hence, he's been playing a little fast. About 20 minutes ago, he'd worked his stack up north of 60,000. All things were going his way until he go moved to Table 1.

There sat Andre Akkari. The Team PokerStars Pro has been biding his time today and hadn't found a way to build a huge stack. He was a little below average when Ioli arrived at the table. That's when things started to get interesting.

Almost right off the bat, they got Akkari all-in for around 15,000. The Team Pro held [Ah] [Kc] to Ioli's [Qc] [Qs]. The board ran out [7s] [7c] [8c] [Kd] [4c] and Akkari doubled to more than 30,000.

Over the course of the next few minutes, Akkari went nuts and built his stack to more than 60,000, while Ioli fell all the way back to less than 10,000. Wanna guess what happened next? No. Fine, then we'll tell you. They played the exact same hand as before.

Akkari: [Ad] [Kd]
Iloi: [Qh] [Qd]

This time, Ioli came out on top when the board ran out [8s] [Jd] [4s] [8h] [7d].

Still, Ioli had only worked his way back up to 20,000 after just minutes before being on 60,000.

Akkari, for his part, has done the move-big or go home thing again. When this level began, he was headed toward life support time. Now, he has more than double the chip average.

With three and half levels left to play and 62 players remaining in Day 1B, we're putting our money on Akkari finishing strong. He's built himself a high rise and it's doubtful he lets it slide into a hole.

If there's one thing we've learned about Leo Fernandez today, it's this. The man is a short-stack ninja. Crippled to only 1,100 in chips only moments after cards went in the air when his flopped two pair were outdrawn on the turn, Fernandez didn't allow that early beat to shake him and has been hanging on ever since. As we passed by his table throughout the afternoon, his stack kept inching up. First to 2,000. Then 3,000. Then 5,000. He wasn't playing a ton of hands but the ones he did apparently paid off.

In the post-dinner hour, however, blinds were up to 300/600 with a 75 ante. It was moving day for Fernandez and the media knew it, gathering around his table to make sure they witnessed what might be his final move.

A short-stacked player in middle position open-shoved for his remaining 5,800. A second middle position player (a Phil Galfond doppleganger if we've ever seen one) flat-called the all in. The action folded around to Fernandez in the big blind, who looked down at his cards, sighed, and covered them with the little clay pirate figurine he's been using as a card capper. Resignedly, he tossed his remaining 4,275 into the pot, not looking thrilled he'd have to fade two hands.

Hold!

Fernandez turned up pocket jacks, while his opponents showed [Ah][9s] and [Ac][Kh]. Everyone craned their necks as the dealer ran out the board-- [7d][Qc][8c][3h][Qs]. While the initial raiser holding the A-9 was eliminated and the Galfond look-alike won the small side pot with his A-K, Fernandez made two pair queens and jacks to more than triple up to 15,000.

"Vamo Leo!" cried one railbird as the Argentinian chess master raked in the most chips he's seen all day.

Earlier today, we brought you the story of Zach Hall, the man with the umbrella on his head.

Frankly, simply having an umbrella-headed kid in the house is reason enough to come to these things.

Still, we like having a bit of an explanation for the sartorial decision.

With that, we give you an interview with the Umbrella Man.

Incidentally, players have just returned from dinner and are sitting down to 300/600/75 blinds. Eighty-eight of the initial 151 Day 1B starters remain. We will be playing nearly all of eleven levels (that's five more) before bedding down for the night.

We can't pinpoint exactly what's happened, but the Central Casino's matrix just went loopy. In the past 15 minutes, the word "hot-blooded' as been uttered more than a couple times. After one and half days of play, this room is finally coming unglued.

People are screaming, cursing, and trying to restrain themselves from going over the edge. If you have seasoned ears and a riot shield, it's a lot of fun to watch.

Taking the room's temperature

We won't list every detail of the craziness. Instead, we'll stick to a couple of hands that need no translation.

We walked up on Costa Rican Jose Rosenkrantz in a hand with one-time chip leader Aurel Bogean of Romania. Bogean had just bet 2,000 into a [7s] [Jc] [2c] [7h] board. Rosenkrantz raised to 6,000. Bogean, as he has been known to do, went into the tank. Finally, he called the 4,000 extra.

The river paired the board again, this time with the [2s].

Bogean asked how much Rosenkratz had left. It was a little less than 4,000. Bogean pondered for a moment before picking up four 1,000 denomination chips and tossing them in the middle. Rosenkrantz had quite a bit invested, but seemed a bit troubled. Finally, he pushed the rest of chips in the middle.

"Bluff," Bogean said.

Rosenkrantz didn't turn over his hand.

"Bluff!" Bogean repeated and turned over [Kc] [5c], a busted flush, and sure enough, a bluff.

Rosenkrantz didn't smile, didn't celebrate, didn't even move with any great speed. He simply turned over [3s] [3d].

We're not sure how Romanian's say it, but the aftermath of the hand involved a word that sounded a lot like "fish." Bogean stormed off and didn't reappear for 15 minutes.

Meanwhile, Veronica Dabul is suffering from what our blogger friend BadBlood refers to as a "You can't lose!" moment.

Short-stacked and in need of a double-up, Dabul pushed all-in. Team PokerStars Pro Alex Gomes felt obliged to call in the big blind with [3s] [7h] (to be fair, Dabul was really short). Dabul turned over two black jacks. Then came the flop: [Jd] [Th] [Kc]. Around the table, people congratualted Dabul for her excellent flopping skills and certain double-up.

"Wait!" said one player. "Runner-runner straight draw."

The turn was the [9c]. A sick feeling settled in. It was almost a certainty that the [8h] would fall on the river to give Gomes the straight.

Dabul took it as well as possible. Compared the the insanity going on around her, Dabul was downright poised.

Frankly, we see it as a good thing that dinner begins in a few minutes. Maybe some food will settle everybody down. Otherwise, we're going to need more than a riot shield to make it to Day 2.

The dinner break runs until 8:00pm local time (ET + 1 hour). We'll be back then...if we survive that long.