We're technically a little over halfway to the final table after beginning with 27 players and heading to dinner with just 16 remaining. But let's be honest, with so much riding on each elimination, the action is getting a little slower and a lot more serious. While the players take a much-needed break, catch up on what you might have missed so far today in the Main Event:
1. One fan on today's rail stands out more than the rest, and that is the Bruno Politano supporter who, for reasons we aren't quite sure of yet, is on the rail dressed as Scooby Doo. Perhaps we'll contact the gang to see if they can fire up the Mystery Machine and get on the case. The pup isn't the only enthusiastic Politano fan though. The Brazilian has a large, loud rail who sings and cheers every time Politano rakes in a pot.2. We’ve seen two chip leaders so far this afternoon. Martin Jacobson of Sweden started the day there, Dan Sindelar took over for a while in the early afternoon, then Jacobson moved back out front. Going into dinner, it is Sindelar who is once again the player to beat, while Jacobson has dipped below 20 million, but given that the two are at the same table, expect these counts to continue to flip flop as we play into the evening.
3. He started the day 15th in the counts, but Jorryt van Hoof of the Netherlands is now third in chips after more than tripling his stack so far today, making for the biggest climb up the counts of any player today.
4. Leif Force was attempting to improve upon his 11th place showing in the Main Event back in 2006, but he came up short, instead exiting in 21st place. Even though he couldn't best his previous showing, Force still accomplished something no one else in the final 27 did today, posting his fourth career WSOP Main Event cash.
5. When we began play today, the short stack was sitting on less than a million chips. Now, with just 16 players left, the short stack has just under 5 million. Even though we've only been playing five hours, the chip stacks have quickly consolidated, and a 5 million chip stack, which would have began the day in the middle of the pack, is now the smallest there is. Who does this short stack belong to? That would be to Oskar Kemps, who is the player with the shortest start of day stack still remaining in the field.
6. Coming into today, there were six players who had never cashed in a WSOP event before. Of those, two, Thomas Sarra and Scott Mahin, had never cashed in anything before. Mahin, who hails from a smallltown in South Dakota, exited in 18th place, while Sarra is still alive and sitting on 12.3 million chips heading into the dinner break. Three of the other four are still alive as well. William Pappaconstantinou (Billy Pappas), Felix Stephensen, and Chris Greaves are all looking to collect their first WSOP in November, while Iaron Lightbourne cashed in 22nd place. Nolan Dalla caught up with some of the first-timers to talk about their Main Event experience.
7. All but two of the eliminations so far today have been American players, cutting the number of US players in the field from 17 to just seven. The lone players not from the United States to be eliminated early on Day 7 are Iaron Lightbourne of Great Britain and Andrey Zaichenko of Russia.
8. Scott Palmer came into today as the shortest stack in the field with half as much as his next closest competitor. Even though he was short on chips, he managed to outlast eight players this afternoon, doubling up and picking up chips before eventually exiting in 19th place, just shy of the final two tables.
9. It took just about three and a half hours to trim the field from 27 to the final 18 thanks to a very speedy Level 32 that saw five players fall in the span of just half an hour. The pace is already slowing though, with just two elimination in the span of not quite.
10.Here is a look at the chip counts heading into the dinner break:
1. Dan Sindelar - 25,500,000
2. Bruno Politano - 22,430,000
3. Jorryt van Hoof - 19,150,000
4. Martin Jacobson - 16,800,000
5. Felix Stephensen - 13,430,000
6. William Pappaconstantinou - 13,000,000
7. Thomas Sarra Jr - 12,300,000
8. Maximillian Senft - 12,210,000
9. Andoni Larrabe - 11,020,000
10. William Tonking - 10,200,000
11. Luis Velador - 10,100,000
12. Chris Greaves - 8,500,000
13. Craig McCorkell - 7,375,000
14. Mark Newhouse - 7,035,000
15. Eddy Sabat - 5,200,000
16. Oscar Kemps - 4,600,000