From the Roman Colosseum, to the old Wild West rodeos, through PT Barnum's circuses and now poker. When it's time for a show, you need a circular arena, a ring, in which to pitch competitor against competitor.

In the Amazon Room today, the tournament officials have got their gladiatorial battlefield. The six outlying tables have been arranged in a tight circle, ringed by two layers of spectators. At the back are the railbirds -- friends, family or just interested observers -- catching a glimpse of the action months before they see it on ESPN. Closer in are the media, herded into something like a moat, or a pit, where it's sometimes possible to catch sight of the colour of a card or the size of a bet, but only if none of the 612 cameramen and TV producers are in the way.

The Amazon Room, today

This is day seven of the World Series Main Event. Interest has ramped up close to its maximum, but action and access is at its lowest point. Bets now are all huge and flops are few and far between. There's no floating with small suited connectors and peeling off another card for half a percent of your stack. And even if there was, we probably couldn't see it, and neither will we be told. Having previously mingled freely among reporters and spectators, players are now celebrities and have been taken away from us all.

It was ever thus. This is getting very serious indeed. The worst a player can do from this point forward is to walk away with more than $100,000. The best they can do today is to be in the 27 remaining tomorrow, by which point their minimum payday will be more than $350,000.

The eliminations so far have been frequent and regular. Prahlad Friedman busted on the very first hand -- ace-king versus king-queen -- and the PokerStars qualifiers George Saca and Mark Ader have also perished. Ader doubled up James Akenhead, another qualifier, on the feature table, when Akenhead's pocket nines flopped a set to give his opponent's ace-king little chance of catching up. Ader was done soon after.

But Dennis Phillips is still alive, and we will follow him closely. My colleague Brad Willis has also found a PokerStars player from his home state of North Carolina, and is catching up with Nick Maimone as I type, preparing to bring you all the information about him very soon. Stay tuned.

* * * * *

HAND OF THE HOUR

Crowd favorite Joe Sebok came in short and needed an early double. His first real hand, jacks, went down to PokerStars player Nick Maimone's ace-ten. A few minutes later, it was Sebok's button-push with ace-nine to Maimone's ace-queen. Sebok got no help and is out. Maimone, meanwhile, is among the chip leaders.

* * * * *

SNACK OF THE HOUR

Half-eaten banana sticking out of the portabrace pack on an ESPN sound engineer's belt.

* * * * *

OUT OF CONTEXT QUOTE OF THE HOUR I

"Here for 18 hours baby."

* * * * *

OUT OF CONTEXT QUOTE OF THE HOUR II

"This isn't Wimbledon, you know." -- Loud railbird

* * * * *

DEFECTION OF THE HOUR

One of Dennis Phillip's red cap clones getting a picture taken with Barry Greenstein.

* * * * *

ACCESSORY OF THE HOUR

The bullhorn, yet to be set off, which someone has brought into the Amazon Room.

* * * * *

STATISTIC OF THE HOUR

Number of photographs posed by Barry Greenstein in his attempt to walk out of the Amazon Room: 4

* * * * *

JOE GIRON'S PHOTO HOUR

Joe Sebok and his father, Barry Greenstein

One percent.

When the bombs finally fall, the sun melts the buildings, and the undead roam the plains, the population of the planet will be reduced to one percent of its current bursting-at-the-fault-lines population. It will be up to that one percent to repopulate Earth. Don't worry. It's not as dark as it sounds. Rush hour traffic is going to be much lighter, anyway.

As Day 6 of the 2009 World Series of Poker comes to a close, approximately one percent of the starting field remains. These are the survivors, the people who were immune to the bad beats, resistant to the coolers, and strong enough to survive the hell of six days of playing world class poker.

The strategy here is not as it might be when the world blows up. Here, the one percent are going to do everything they can to make sure they are the last people standing. It's every man (and one woman) against the world. They won't rest until only nine are standing sometime Thursday morning.

Tonight, the Amazon Room looks like poker's version of the badlands. A majority of the tables and lights are gone. People wander with no particular aim. A man who looks like Randall Flagg stalks the carpet. Only 64 players remain and they are bent on destroying whatever is left. Among them are PokerStars players determined to be the last king of Vegas.

Tonight, among the top-chipped PokerStars players is a man who is no stranger to this game. In 2008, Team PokerStars Pro Dennis Phillips made it all the way to 3rd place in the Main Event. This year, he's threatening a nearly unheard of back-to-back final table run. He spent the day at the featured table and tonight is, unlike most, still alive and heading into Day 7 with 2,500,000.

Every surviving population must take one moment's respite to honor its fallen and we have more than a few to whom we must pay homage. Dutch Team PokerStars Pros Noah Boeken and Theirry van den Berg started at the same 'double Dutch' table this morning, but neither could finish the day. Van den Berg's flush draw didn't get there and Boeken faced a series of indignities that reduced his stack from 2.4 million to none. The worst was kings cracked by ace-queen all-in pre-flop. Boeken finished in 96th to Van den Berg's 138th.

A pair of World Series of Poker champions--the only two remaining in the field--started the day right next to each other. 2005 champ Joe Hachem and 2009 winner Peter Eastgate were tablemates for better part of the afternoon. Hachem, having defeated more than 20,000 people in his last three WSOP in-the-money finishes had already outdone his 2006 238th place finish. Today, he couldn't make a hand and ended up going out in 103rd place.

Eastgate had the poker world atwitter with the possibility of a back-to-back final tables of his own. It was not to be. Late into the evening, he got all his chips in with ace-jack and made two pair, but the board four-flushed and the 2009 champ was gone in 78th place.

And then there was our own pre-apocalyptic Mad Max, Betrand "ElkY" Grospellier. The Day 3 chip leader and constant threat couldn't work his magic today. His final hand, big slick versus pocket kings, was symbolic of how his last three days had gone--good hands that weren't good enough. We, in sadness, bid goodbye in 122nd place to the man who would be king.

Also falling today, a host of qualifiers and PokerStars players who you can find on our WSOP prizes and winners page.

While the aforementioned Dennis Phillips is the most famous face left among the PokerStars players, there are still many others who could claim the new world for PokerStars. Still breathing tonight are James Akenhead, Grayson Ramage, Manuel Labandeira, Andrew Lichtenberger, George Saca, Jonathan Tamayo, Mark Ader, Adam York, Adam Bilzerian, and Tom Schneider. They are a crew that could take us to the new world.

A final thought before we bed down and lock our doors: while every one of the above people and remaining few dozen left in this event will work to eliminate each other, they can still fit into the traditional apocalypse scenario. See, for every one that dies, we are closer to a champion. Every body that champion composts on the field of battle gives seed to a new generation of players who come back here to do it all again next year.

See? It's all good.

All of that said, you should know that when most of the population dies off, he who speaks every language will rule the world. With that in mind, we suggest you check out our coverage in Swedish, Spanish, German and Dutch.

And, if you figure to die in the end and don't want to spend the time learning to read words that look like hurdy-gurdy, you can watch some TV coverage over at the mind-numbingly good PokerStars.tv.

Here's a look back at what we lived through today. We encourage you to re-visit the links. Those who don't know their history are doomed to repeat it (and spout cliches ad nauseum).

Squeezing tighter
The opening salvo
A champion's run
Comma a woman
Single Dutch
The ballad of ElkY
A round on the feature table
My own private Ylon
One from there, one from here

All photos © Joe Giron/IMPDI Worldwide

"If you need any information about one of the Spanish qualifiers, I have it," said Ivan Marti, the PokerStars blog writer from Spain, who is presently following all Spanish speakers over at PokerStars Blog.es.

This is the drill: while we at the .com wing of PokerStars blog keep a close eye on Team PokerStars Pro and the native English speakers of the qualifiers, our tangle-tongued cousins go in search of the umlauts, cedillas, shhhhhs and little circles on top of Nordic vowels. When one of the players in their crosshairs makes a charge, we hijack their reporting and introduce them to the proud monoglots of the United States of Engerland.

Such is the case now with Manuel Labandeira, who has been hotly pursued by Marti since the very early stages of this tournament. Labandeira was born in Spain but moved to California when he was 18, electing to stay in Long Beach when his family returned to Iberia.

Manuel Labandeira

He is a school-teacher by day but has developed a neat line in winning poker in his spare time, progressing from limit stud, through limit hold 'em, to no limit hold 'em about two years ago. As is so often the case, he then discovered PokerStars and now plies his trade online, qualifying for an LAPT and an EPT event before ante-ing up $630 fee to enter a World Series satellite to land him in Las Vegas this week.

Labandeira reached a high water mark of about 1.5 million chips yesterday, and has slipped closed to half that this evening. But at time of writing, he remains in the thick of this tournament with fewer than 90 players left. He has already improved on his result from 2006, when he cashed in 331st place for $34,000.

Andrew Lichtenberger might sound like the kind of player who should be pursued by the blog's German speakers, but this PokerStars qualifier hails from upstate New York and should actually be being followed by anyone interested in the game of poker from wherever they are in the world.

Andrew Lichtenberger

Known online as RunThisTable, he is currently sitting with more than four million in chips, and what's more has the pedigree to go further. He took second place in a $5,000 shootout event a couple of weeks ago, which was his fourth cash of the Series so far.

Lichetenberger is now on the secondary feature table, where he is sitting alongside Phil Ivey. Stories from there to follow as well, no doubt. It'll be one hell of a table to run.

* * * * *

ELIMINATION OF THE HOUR

Wesley Ismay is out, in perhaps the most spectacular of fashions. "The kid bluffed him with queen high!" shouted Gabe Thaler, railing the Main Event. "He called with ace-king!" In this context, "the kid" was Ismay, the "he" was Antonio Esfandiari, who is now stacking about six million in chips. The full hand played out outside of our immediate view, but Ismay's rueful frown and Esfandiari's mugging for the television cameras certainly fitted Thaler's description of events.

* * * * *

STATISTIC OF THE HOUR I

Number of PokerStars players remaining in field: 17/86

* * * * *

STATISTIC OF THE HOUR II

Number of former World Champions on the rail: One (Robert Varkonyi)
Number of former World Champions still in the Main Event: One (Peter Eastgate)

* * * * *

TOURNAMENT HOUSEKEEPING OF THE HOUR

Players will soon return from a 20-minute break and play the final two-hour level of the day. It's tournament level 25 where blinds are 20,000-40,000 (5,000 ante).

* * * * *

CHIP COLOUR UP OF THE HOUR

The yellow 1,000 chips have been taken out of circulation.

* * * * *

RAILBIRD OF THE HOUR

Barry Greenstein in the bleachers of the feature table, railing his son Joe Sebok.

* * * * *

VIDEO BLOG OF THE HOUR

Daniel Negreanu on his World Series

Watch WSOP 2009: Daniel Negreanu on his WSOP on PokerStars.tv

The night before the 2008 World Series, the two other writers on this blog had the pleasure of meeting a man at the $3/$6 limit hold'em table at the Golden Nugget in downtown Las Vegas. Two weeks later, they were able to say they played low-limit hold'em with the fourth place finisher of the 2008 World Series Main Event. They wrote about it here and it has been an endless source of pride for them ever since. It has also been a thorn in my side. As they go off for beers and deep conversations with Schwartz, I'm left to mutter in the corner, "Someday, I'm going to be friends with Ylon." To date, it's not happened.

This year at the World Series, I was scanning the names of the entrants and PokerStars qualifiers. I happened across the name Wesley Ismay. The name rang a giant, cracked bell in my head. I knew the name, but couldn't figure out why. As the Main Event wore on, that name kept coming up on the results list. Every day, it became a greater source of frustration for me.

Tonight, as Ismay's stack climbed to the 4 million mark and put him among the tournament chip leaders, I did a deep and determined Google search to figure out exactly who Ismay is. Finally, I figured it out.

During last year's World Series, we had a day off and I used my day playing a little $340 tournament down at the Venetian. I spent my limited time at the tables there with a PokerStars Supernova named Wes Ismay. At the time he said, "Hopefully you'll be writing about me."

My curiosity sated, I sat back in my chair and retold the story to my colleagues. I had no sooner finished the tale when writer Howard Swains sprung up in his with a satisfied look and exclaimed, "He is your Ylon!"

Wes Ismay is my Ylon Schwartz.

While I can't claim to have had beers with my man, I can claim to have seen him just moments ago with a giant stack of chips. The tournament directors have introduced the lavender 100,000 chips and Ismay has a stack worth a million to go with his greens and oranges...another 2.5 to 3 million.

Still a PokerStars Supernova, Ismay is making good use of his VIP Club benefits. He's currently sitting directly to Antonia Esfandiari's left with fewer than 100 players left in the field.

Now, if I can just get Ismay to finish higher than Ylon, I'll be able to stick it to my colleagues once and for all.

* * * * *

ELIMINATION OF THE HOUR

The Team PokerStars Pro Noah Boeken is out. After being crippled when his kings were cracked by A-Q, all in pre-flop, he lost his final 400,000 or so when he check-raised all in on a board of [10h][5h][2h], holding [5d][6h]. Hung Pham, who also busted Thierry van den Berg earlier, called with top set and Boeken missed his flush draw.

STATISTIC OF THE HOUR

Players at the table during an all-in: 9
People not playing but at the table during the all-in, including cameramen, boom men, officials, etc: 11

FAMILIAR IF A LITTLE ROWDY CHANT OF THE HOUR

"Aussie, Aussie, Aussie... Oi, oi, oi!"

QUOTE OF THE HOUR

Security guard: "I'll be glad to have next weekend off."

On 27 May this year the Amazon Room became the World Series hub when the first event of the World Series began that day in this room. From here the biggest live tournament series anywhere was co-ordinated, becoming like a command bunker where generals and field marshals co-ordinated mass movements of people; sending them to Brasilia, to Miranda, to Buzios, or bringing them back to the Amazon.

These men and women had power over a staff of hundreds and over playing fields of thousands. But now, as the number of tables in their control rests at less than 12, much of that power is now gone and the room has nearly completed its transformation from an incredible poker coliseum into a conference venue with tea and coffee included.

Gone is the poker kitchen that sold everything from 'Bobbie' sandwiches to beef jerky. Gone are the advertisement boards advertising 'Bobbie' sandwiches and beef jerky. Gone is Poker Palooza, an Amazon sized trade show that also had gladiators fighting. Gone are the stalls outside the Amazon Room selling player portraits and upmarket booze. Gone are the player lounges, and the celebrities they once comforted. Gone are half the light fittings that once hung over the tables, tables that have also gone. Gone are the keys to the door closest to the smoking area.

The Amazon Room has become just a shadow of its former glory, nothing more than the process of reaching the final nine; washed, scrubbed and with its make-up removed this place is revealed as an ordinary looking hall with rented accommodation beige carpeting. As if someone suspected that such changes would take the World Series spirit out of the Rio too soon, the makeshift bar has been left open.

There's a human cost too. A total 6,393 players have disappeared, most of them for free. All but 26 of the hundreds of PokerStars qualifiers who arrived in Las Vegas with a Moneymaker dream are among them as are all but two Team PokerStars Pros. Hundreds of dealers have moved on the card rooms new and old and missing are the 200-people-long lines for the bathrooms. The time has flown by.

In their place are a couple of thousand poker purists watching 101 survivors from the rail, just a cash desk and a crowd between each of them and a trip home. Their playing area will gradually disappear entirely for a little over three months only to re-appear in its finest form just a short walk here. Each of the 99 men and two women intend to be there.

* * * * *

DINNER LOCATION OF THE HOUR

TGI Friday in the Gold Coast - dining establishment favoured by Nichoel Peppe and husband

* * * * *

STATISTIC OF THE HOUR

One hundred players remain in the Main Event.

* * * * *

TEACH YOURSELF SWEDISH OF THE HOUR

When one more player is eliminated, and the number of runners can be written with only two digits, our friends in Sweden will be describing that as "tvåsiffrigt".

* * * * *

TOURNAMENT HOUSEKEEPING OF THE HOUR

Players have returned from the dinner break to play level 24. Blinds and antes are 15,000-30,000 (4,000 ante). Yep, we've reached the time when a big blind represents a player's starting stack.

* * * * *

ONES TO FOLLOW OF THE HOUR

With Thierry van den Berg, ElkY and Joe Hachem all out, our sights turn to Noah Boeken, Peter Eastgate and Dennis Phillips, as well as a populous sea of PokerStars qualifiers.

* * * * *

OF THE HOUR UPDATE OF THE HOUR

We've just lost a player, so we're now down to 99, all in the time it took us to write up all these "OF THE HOURS"

* * * * *

ELIMINATION OF THE HOUR

PokerStars sponsored player Bernhard Perner started the day third in chips. By the time he got back from the dinner break he was down to his final 295,000. He got it all-in pre-flop with ace-king versus ace-jack. And, of course, the board ran out with an ace, two nines, a five, and...a jack. He went out in 100th place.

* * * * *

JOE GIRON PHOTO HOUR

***STOP PRESS***
Moments after all of the below occurred, Joe Hachem was eliminated from the Main Event in 103rd place. Scroll to bottom for details of his exit.
***STOP PRESS***

As we were:

Once the table was set featuring Peter Eastgate, Joe Hachem, Dennis Phillips and JC Tran, few could have doubted that they would be moved to the feature table. Few too could have doubted that a patented "A Round With..." post was on its way and not to disappoint, here it is.

Before we get stuck in, here's a word of caution: there are very few fireworks described herein. This, though, is what makes this "A Round With..." posts all the more valuable. The action below was all filmed for ESPN, and took about 40 minutes to complete, close to the entire duration of a broadcast. And yet my guess is that no more than one hand of the 13 described will make an edit. This really is the poker tournament nitty gritty. You really don't see this stuff on TV.

Without further ado, here's what happened. This is the first round back after the second break of the day. The blinds and antes are 12,000-24,000 (3,000) and the line-up is as follows (note: chip stacks are approximate):

Seat one - Thai Tran - 3 million
Seat two - Billy Kopp - 4 million
Seat three - Dennis Phillips - 1.5 million
Seat four - Daniel Neilson - 1 million
Seat five - JC Tran - 250,000
Seat six - Joe Hachem - 600,000
Seat seven - Peter Eastgate - 900,000
Seat eight - Clayton Newman - 1.2 million
Seat nine - Frank Rusnak - 900,000

Hand one - Button with Eastgate in seat seven
It's folded to JC Tran and he raises to 58,000. That wins the pot.

Hand two - Button with Newman in seat eight
Billy Kopp raises to 65,000 under-the-gun and Joe Hachem is the lone caller. The flop comes [qd][kd][2h] and both players check. The turn is the [7c] and after Kopp checks, Hachem bets 100,000. Kopp folds and shows [8d][8h]. Hachem taps the table and shows two tens.

Hand three - Button with Rusnak in seat nine
It's folded to Clayton Newman, who raises to 64,000. Thai Tran calls in the small blind and two players see the flop. It comes [kc][10c][3h] and both players check. They also check the [ah] turn and the river is [6d]. Tran checks, Newman bets 80,000 and Tran calls. Newman shows [ad][7h] and it's good.

Hand four - Button with Tran in seat one
Peter Eastgate raises to 61,000 from mid-position and Billy Kopp calls from the small blind, as does Dennis Phillips to his left. The flop comes [2s][10h][ac] and Kopps leads 160,000 at it, which gets his two opponents to fold.

Hand five - Button with Kopp in seat two
Clayton Newman raises to 64,000 and wins the pot.

Hand six - Button with Dennis Phillips in seat three
Thai Tran raises to 63,000 from two off the button and Billy Kopp reraises to 230,000 from his left. Tran calls. The flop comes [jh][kd][7s] and Tran bets 330,000, which is good when Kopp folds pocket nines face up.

Hand seven - Button with Daniel Neilson in seat four
It's folded to Thai Tran, who makes it 63,000. That's good.

Hand eight - Button with JC Tran in seat five
Daniel Neilson raises from the cut off to 58,000 and takes the blinds and antes.

Hand nine - Button with Joe Hachem in seat six
Billy Kopp raises to 60,000 and takes the blinds and antes.

Hand ten - Button with Peter Eastgate in seat seven
Daniel Neilson raises to 58,000 and Joe Hachem is the only caller. The flop comes [7s][3c][kh] and Neilson checks. Hachem bets 42,000 and Neilson calls. The turn is the [qc] and both players check.

Joe Hachem

The river is the [qd] and Neilson's bet of 170,000 sends Hachem into the tank for an age. Eventually he lets it go and is shown a bare king from his countryman.

Hand 11 - Button with Clayton Newman in seat eight
A walk for Thai Tran in the big blind.

Hand 12 - Button with Frank Rusnak in seat nine
Peter Eastgate opens this one, with a raise to 62,000. It wins.

Hand 13 - Button with Thai Tran in seat one
JC Tran opens the pot from early position, raising 60,000. Thai Tran, on the button, reraises to 180,000 and this snaps Dennis Phillips into gear. From the small blind, he makes it 280,000 more and both adversaries fold.

Addendum: A few hands after this took place, Dennis Phillips knocked out JC Tran. Not literally, but in a poker sense. You know.

* * * * *

ELIMINATION OF THE HOUR

The 2005 WSOP Champion Joe Hachem was short on chips and to the point he had to push with any two. The two he picked up ending up being [Jc][9c]. He got called by the small blind's [4c][4s]. Hachem, though he didn't flop the pair, he came out of the first three cards as a favorite to win.

Curtains for Joe Hachem

The [Kc][7s][7c] board was enough to give Hachem some hope. From there, it didn't get any better. The [Ah] and [3h] spelled Hachem's end.

* * * * *

NEW CHIP OF THE HOUR

A "Hawaiian Flower" chip, worth 100,000.

* * * * *

FASTEST MAN OF THE HOUR

TJ Cloutier on a mobility scooter, unofficially clocked at about 9 mph.

* * * * *

RECKLESS ACT OF THE HOUR

The guy how just threw himself in front of TJ's scooter to get an autograph.

* * * * *

FACT OF THE HOUR

Current number of picnics taking place on the rail: 1

* * * * *

POSITION OF THE HOUR

The "Fabrice Soullier" position - chair backwards, head forwards and a massage therapist tickling your scalp.

* * * * *

BIZARRE MOMENT OF THE HOUR

The arrival to the feature table of the Travelocity Gnome (a common or garden garden gnome to anyone but the Travelocity marketing people), who sat in an empty chair for a while, then posed next to the championship bracelet for photos.

* * * * *

CONFUSED SECURITY GUARD OF THE HOUR

The one whose job it is to guard the championship bracelet from, well, gnomes.

UNFORTUNATELY APPROPRIATE SOUNDTRACK TO END OF WSOP

"Aqualung" -- playing over Rio PA hallway PA system

In a post-apocalyptic world--the one tired and washed out after the Casino Cough pandemic--there will be a minstrel with a lute who sits by trash can fires and sings a tale of the man known as ElkY.

The epic song will wind through many a victory scored by the Mad Max of the poker world, the warrior who ran roughshod over the Bahamas, who set afire the Bellagio lakes at Festa al Lago, who personally destroyed the world known as WCOOP. This new world bard will sing of platinum blonde hair, reflecting eyes, and a half smile that suggests ElkY either just ate your lunch or your house pet. It will leave Ulysses as a mere chilld in the annals of traveling heroes.

Before the pandemic, we have no way of knowing how this singer's warbling voice will finish the song, but we're sure of this: when the song reaches the 2009 WSOP, it will suffer a depressing decrescendo as it tells of what could have been.

Indeed, we know the story of Betrand "ElkY" Grospellier coming out of the Main Event's Day 3 with the chip lead. His smile was wide. Women from here to the Spearmint Rhino spoke his name in reverent tones. His stark visage was plastered across the top poker magazine. This was ElkY's world and we only lived in it.

If that night could've lasted forever, ElkY would've ruled the world. He could've sat atop a mountain, pointed his fingers to the sky, and made the clouds rain baby rabbits and kittens. Instead, the night lasted a duration the Mayans would have appreciated and ElkY came back from Day 4. From that point forward, the story became a tragedy that might only have been rivaled by doomed king Oedipus (although, to be fair, ElkY's mother never entered the equation).

ElkY merely survived Day 4 and 5 and his stack never grew. He was a hero with a giant heart that wouldn't beat. Indignity after indignity, cooler after cooler, and miss after miss, the story told of tragic failure without an identified tragic flaw.

Of course, this story ends as we described in our last post. ElkY's big slick falling to two kings all-in pre-flop. Having lasted through 6,300 people, ElkY's horse collapsed with 122 people remaining.

Who knows what the traveling minstrel will sing in the fallout-sunset of this doomed world? We know he'll sing of ElkY. We know he will sing sadly and we know he will sing with joy. We can only assume, in the end, ElkY will still rule the world. His reign simply won't begin at the 2009 World Series of Poker.

* * * * *

FOLD OF THE HOUR

Noah Boeken raised pre-flop and got two callers. The flop came A-A-9 and Boeken bet. One player called and then that same player moved all in after Boeken had bet the blank turn. Boeken told our Swedish reporter that he folded ace-queen, and he was shown pocket nines by his opponent. Good fold.

Noah Boeken agonizes over his eventual laydown

SUPERFLUOUS SECURITY MEASURE OF THE HOUR

The chains across the door of the now-deserted poker kitchen.

OVERHEARD CONVERSATION OF THE HOUR

#1: My name is Caspar.
#2: Casper? Like the ghost?
#1: Yes, but I am real.

STATISTIC OF THE HOUR

Number of Rounder marketing girls facing the secondary feature table: 4

Number of Rounder marketing girls watching the secondary feature table: 0

OUT OF CONTEXT QUOTE OF THE HOUR

#1: "We had this discussion and it's 15 all the way..."
#2" "No, it's five a**hole. Five. It's five. It's five..."

RAILBIRD OUTSIDE THE AMAZON ROOM QUOTE OF THE HOUR

"Ready to go watch some people sitting in a circle?"