Come Together
The World Series of Poker Main Event began one week ago, but Thursday is the first time every player who invested the $10,000 buy-in has been seated in the same room, or even on the same day. The field started with 6,844 players and it took four flights of Day 1, two flights of Day 2, and a one day break in between to finally reduce the field to a manageable number.

Day 3 began with 1,307 players, each of them eyeing the "Players Left" monitors positioned around the room. The magic number is 666, after which every player will see a return on their investment of at least $21,230.

Brian Schaedlich, the overwhelming chip leader at the opening bell, had a rough start to the day, dropping from 801,000 down to 398,000 after losing a massive pot in which his pocket aces were cracked by a flopped set from Jeff Kimber. Kimber is now among the chip leaders with 666,000. Schaedlich, however, bounced back with a big pot right before the dinner break and will be returning to a stack of 565,000.

Jeremiah Smith is the current chip leader of the 2008 Main Event. He has 766,000 and is trailed closely by Alberto Font with 746,000.

Other big stacks emerging in the first half of Day 3 include Sigurd Eskeland, Victor Ramdin, Matt Matros, Adam Levy, Brandon Cantu, Dag Martin Mikkelson and Hoyt Corkins.

Notables who weren't able to survive the afternoon included Chris Moneymaker, Patrik Antonius, Darrel Dicken, Jeff Williams, Scott Clements, Matt Glantz and Noah Boeken.

There are 733 players remaining and at the current rate of bust-outs, the bubble should burst shortly after the players return from dinner. However, with many players clinging to short stacks and hand-for-hand play to account for, it could turn into an arduous process. Regardless of how the bubble play turns out, the Main Event will reach the money some time this evening.

Keep checking WorldSeriesofPoker.com for chip counts and up-to-the-minute updates.