10 THINGS TO KNOW AS THE MAIN EVENT DAY 4 FIELD GOES ON DINNER BREAK
The bubble burst in the blink of an eye with a remarkable five all-in hand that made the ESPN cameras glad they started filming comprehensive coverage today.  Since then, over 250 players have headed to the payout desk, leaving right around 440 players returning from dinner for two more levels of action.  With so much of the field gone in a blink of a an eye, now seems as good a time as any to give you ten things to get you caught up on Day 4 of the Main Event:

1. He may have lasted just one level in the Big One for One Drop this year, but businessman David Einhorn is making quite the run in this year's Main Event.  He is still alive at the dinner break and having poker fans wondering if he can match his impressive run in the 2006 Main Event, where he finished in 18th place.  As Einhorn told us though, for now, he is taking it one level at a time.

2. There are only two members of the November Nine fraternity left in the field, Phil Ivey and Mark Newhouse, but it is worth noting that another player who has final tabled this event since it has been at the Rio is still alive as well. Michael Binger, who took third in the 2006 Main Event, is still hanging on to chips.  Newhouse, who is the only player drawing live at back-to-back Main Event final tables spoke with us about his chances.

3. After just a single hand of hand-for-hand play, there were five all-in calls, three eliminations, and a burst bubble with each of the bubble boys taking home $6,135. Zhen Cai got an added bonus to that payday, as he was the lucky one of the trio to draw the highest card to win a seat into next year’s event, courtesy of WSOP.com. Given that last year’s winner of the seat, Farzad Bonyadi, is still in the field, that certainly has to bode well for the Florida cash game grinder’s chances in the 2015 event.

4. While it is still too early to talk about major WSOP Player of the Year implications, it is worth noting there are still four players in the field who have already won a bracelet this year: In addition to ten-time winner Phil Ivey and two-time winner John Kabbaj, Kevin Eyster and Kory Kilpatrick are both still in action as well.

5. In fields the size of the Main Event, making it through once is a feat. Making it through twice is remarkable. Making it through five consecutive times is unheard of, but that is exactly what bracelet winner Ronnie Bardah did this afternoon. Bardah’s streak dates back to an incredibly deep run in the 2010 Main Event, when he finished in 24th place. Since then, he’s taken 453rd, 540th, and 124th. Bardah’s run in this year’s event resulted in a fifth cash in the form of a 475th place finish.

6. Today we had two sets of brothers still alive in this Main Event, Vinny and Mukul Pahuja, who we caught up with last night, and Thayer and Geoff Rasmussen.  While the Pahujas started today with the bigger stack, it is the Rasmussen's who are both still alive, while Vinny is out in 575th place.  They aren't the only sibling poker players cashing in this event though. There are actually six poker families making the money in this event. Tony Hachem repped for Australia, taking 540th place. Kyle Julius' older brother Ryan finished 584th.  Still alive in the field? The elder Binger brother Michael, one of the De Meulder twins, Matthias, the two Rasmussens, and Mukul Pahuja.

7. Of the eight women left in the field, seven have not had the distinction of being the Last Woman Standing in the Main Event. Maria Ho knows what that distinction feels like though, having claimed the pseudo-accomplishment back in in the 2007 Main Event seven years ago.  The women are faring alirght, despite female participation being slightly down from last year.  Going into dinner, there are two women represented in the group of two dozen or so with seven-figure stacks, Ladies Event runner-up Mikiyo Aoki and Marcia Kuntz.

8. It has been eight years since Jeff Madsen had his massive breakout series at the 2006 WSOP, winning two bracelets in addition to the WSOP Player of the Year title. He is the last WSOP Player of the Year left in the field after the elimination of 2005 Player of the Year Allen Cunningham shortly before the money bubble burst.

9. The 1996 Main Event Champion Huck Seed came into Day 4 as the past champs’ only hope for a payday, but the six-time bracelet winner was one of the earliest exits of the day, leaving the past champs going 0-fer. This is only the ninth time in WSOP’s 45-year history that one of the past winners of the Main Event did not cash. The last time it happened was in 2002, and the only other time this century was in the year 2000. Most of the instances without a winner cashing again transpired during the early years of the game, which was a winner-take-all-format, meaning players would need to repeat as champion in order to cash. However, thanks to Johnny Moss and Doyle Brunson, not every year of the 70s makes this list, just the following: 1972, 1973, 1975, 1976, and 1978. This strange occurrence also took place one other time, 1984.

10. Here is a look at the unofficial top ten chip counts on the dinner break:

1. Michael Finstein - 2,000,000
2. Dan Smith - 1,970,000
3. Mehrdad Yousefzadeh - 1,826,000
4. Andoni Larrabe - 1,780,000
5. Zach Jiganti - 1,600,000
6. Matthew Leecy - 1,527,000
7. Jing Wang - 1,300,000
8. John Gorsuch - 1,300,000
9. Griffin Benger - 1,285,000
10. Mark Herm - 1,275,000