Prahlad Friedman raised to 250 from middle position and found callers in the cutoff and Kelly Kim in the big blind. All three players proceeded to check the flop, leading to the on the turn. Kim was first to act and led out for 400, which only the cutoff called.

The river brought the and again Kim bet, this time 1,150. The cutoff made the call, but mucked when Kim rolled over for tens with an ace kicker.

Kelly Kim

32,000

2,000

A player in middle position opened with a raise to 300, and Erik Cajelais called from the cutoff. It folded to the big blind who reraised to 1,500, and both of the remaining players called.

The flop came . The big blind pushed out a bet of 2,100, the middle position player folded, and Cajelais called. The turn was the , bringing another bet from Cajelais' opponent, this time for 3,500. Cajelais again thrust a tattooed arm forward, setting out the chips the call.

The river brought the . Again the big blind bet, this time 5,525. Cajelais wasted no time nonchalantly setting his entire stack out in front of him. His opponent -- covered by Cajelais -- didn't react immediately, and as time passed his agony increased. He said something about not being able to beat Cajelais, to which the latter responded "It's hard to beat king-jack."

Finally Cajelais' opponent let go of his hand, and Cajelais immediately flipped his cards over -- ! His opponent was still shaking his head (as were others at the table), as Cajelais ordered his current stack of about 50,000.

We caught up to the action to find Nelly battling it out with an opponent from the under the gun position on a board. After the seven of hearts rolled off the deck the under the gun player put out a bet of 1,250, Nelly then raised and made it 3,400. The under the gun player then moved all in for 13,275 and Nelly called and cards were tabled.

Nelly:
Opponent:

Nelly had top two pair, but was in bad shape as his opponent flopped a set of sixes. In order to steal this pot away from his opponent Nelly would have to spike an ace or a seven on the river. He received no such luck as the landed for the river. Nelly is now below 10,000 in chips.

Nelly

8,100

-25,200

Alex Kravchenko just dropped down to 24,000 after he fired out 1,400 on the turn of an board only for his next door neighbor to raise all in for his 4,975. Kravchenko gave it some real thought and ended up calling with but was already drawing dead against the short stack's .

The river was meaningless and the Russian has lost about 20% of his stack, not a great start but still there is plenty of time.

Alex Kravchenko

24,000

-5,500

Ray Henson is among those who finds himself up early here on Day 1d.

We picked up his latest pot as the dealer spread out a flop. Henson check-called a bet of 1,500 there, and he and his opponent checked through the turn. The filled out the board, and Mr. Opponent tried again with another 2,500 chips. Henson made the call, and the other player coud not have mucked quicker. He had to show to win the pot, and Henson's was the best hand, moving him up to about 41,000.

We've picked up on a couple more players here in the Blue section of the Amazon Room, with Phil "The Unabomber" Laak over on table 291, seat three.

We also noticed in the WSOP featured players list that Dario Alioto's name was on the table table in seat five, however, we can confirm that Alioto played yesterday in Day 1c.

In his place now is James Van Alstyne, so we'll be sure to keep a close eye on the action there throughout the day.

We managed to get to Table 76 right after the dealer put out the turn. The board read and a player on the button fired out a bet of 1,625 into former Main Even Champion Huck Seed. Seed calmly sat and pondered for a few moments before ultimately raising to 6,525. Seed's opponent then stared blankly at the table for a minute or so deciding what his best option was. Eventually Seed's opponent made the call.

With the river Seed wasted little time before putting 12,000 in the middle. Seed's opponent seemed a bit distraught as he slumped over and stared at his lap with his head in his hands. A few more moments passed before the button folded and Seed was awarded the pot

Huck Seed

34,000

4,000

The diligent workers at the WSOP released a "Stat Pack" this morning for the media to incorporate into their updates; as such, we thought it'd be fun to share it with all of you fine readers. We'll be sprinkling these tidbits into the blog throughout the day, so be sure to keep your eyes peeled:

Age Demographics (thru 57 events)

· Average Age of Entrants: 37.33
· Average Age of Cashers: 36.31
· Average Age of Final Tables: 33.61
· Average Age of Winners: 31.10

We came in on the turn with the board reading and a middle position player bet out 1,350. Shannon Elizabeth in late position raised it up to 3,000, the player called, and the two saw the river . The middle position player bet out 5,500 and Elizabeth made the call.

The other player showed for a turned set, and Elizabeth giggled and shook her head as she flashed

She is down to 22,500, but it's ok because she is still gorgeous.

Shannon Elizabeth

22,500

-7,500

David "ODB" Baker has been mixing it up early during Level 1. We caught him in two hands, neither of which went to showdown, which Baker took down with a river bet.

On the first, the board read and an opponent check-called 1,275 from Baker. The hit the river and when it was checked to Baker, he fired 4,150. His opponent folded, giving Baker the pot.

Shortly after that, another opponent called 825 from Baker on a board. When the fell on the river, Baker's bet of 2,650 also forced a fold.

David Baker

32,000

2,000

We came into this hand on a board reading and the big blind checked to Eddy Sabat on the button who bet out 525. The big blind then check-raised it to 2,125 and Sabat called.

The river came the and both players checked. Sabat showed for a flopped straight and took down the pot. He is up just a little, but it's better than being down!

Eddy Sabat

31,500

1,500

We just walked by table 24 where Tommy Vedes is sitting on an enormous leather desk chair that one might find in the office of a big time corporate CEO. We don't know how he got it in here, but he is surely the envy of every uncomfortable poker player stuck in the same rigid chair for today's ten hours of play. When we asked Vedes about the chair, he said, "I got it at Office Max, bro. $200, whatever, it's worth it."

We also aren't sure whether this is technically legal to do, so we'll see if he gets to keep his throne or if he has to sit in the same chair as the rest of us peasants.

We've watched a few more notables wander into the Pavilion White, including 2006 World Series of Poker Main Event Champion Jamie Gold.

On a flop of , an unknown player in the big blind bet 450 and was called by rap sensation and poker aficionado, Nelly. The big blind continued to make bet, of 825 and 2,025 respectively, on the turn and river, both of which Nelly called.

Showdown
Big Blind:
Nelly:

Both players had held queen high until the six on the river filled Nelly up, allowing him to take down the pot.

Nelly

33,300

3,300

The Russians have had a good WSOP this year, most recently when Team PokerStars Pro Max Lykov took down the final $1,000 preliminary event just a few days ago. The first Russian to ever win a bracelet though was his teammate Alex Kravchenko, the latter winning the $1,500 08 event back in 2007.

Kravchenko also made the final table of the main event that year, finishing in fourth place in the event for over $1.8 million dollars. Kravchenko is back again today, though he just lost a small pot, check-calling a 375 bet on a flop before check-folding to an 800 chip bet on the turn.

Alex Kravchenko

29,500

-500

Three-time WSOP bracelet winner Lyle Berman (hijack) and his neighbor (cutoff) had built a pot of about 2,000 when the flop came . Berman checked, his opponent bet 1,025, and Berman called. Both then checked the turn.

The river brought the and a bet of 2,500 from Berman, prompting a fold from his opponent. Berman, who took fifth in the WSOP Main Event in 1989 (won by Phil Hellmuth), has gotten off to a positive start in his quest to match or improve on that finish. He now has 34,000.

With 800 in the pot preflop, Prahlad Friedman and his opponent in the cutoff, Frank Jordan, saw a flop of . Friedman bet 400, Jordan called, and the appeared on the turn. Friedman immediately led out for 1,500, but was quickly raised to 4,000 by Jordan. Friedman opted for a three-bet to 12,500, Jordan four-bet all in for 28,550, and Friedman made the call.

Showdown
Friedman:
Jordan:

Friedman had turned a set, but little did he know that it also gave Jordan the nut straight. Jordan was the player all in and at risk, meaning he needed to avoid the board pairing on the river to stay alive. Lucky for him, and unlucky for Friedman, the blanked.

Friedman was left with just 3,150 after the hand; meanwhile, Jordan got an early boost to 58,500.

Frank Jordan	58,500
Prahlad Friedman	3,150	-26,850

We only walked up to catch the tail end of this pot but it was a pretty big one for the first level of the day. There was already 11,000 or so in the pot when we saw the river card fall on a board. It was heads-up, and a player we don't recognize check-called a bet of 5,000 from Andrew Chen.

At showdown, Chen tabled his for the set, and it was good enough to pull the pot to give him some early breathing room. Mark him down for 41,000 now.

As we walked past table 296, we spotted founder of ChipMeUp, Rayan Nathan, who had just called a middle position player's raise of 250. There were no other takers, so Rayan and his opponent went heads-up to the flop of .

The player led out for 350 and Nathan called before calling his opponent's bet of 850 on the turn of the . However, when the dealer produced the on the river, Nathan folded after his adversary fired out 2,100.

Rayan Nathan

30,200

200

We picked up a little pot on a flop as the player in position bet 200. The big blind check-called, but Brad Booth squeezed in a check-raise to 700. The bettor called, the big blind folded, and it was heads-up to the turn. Booth bet 800 now, and that was called too, and the landed on the river. Booth put out 3,000 this time, and his opponent finally surrendered.

Booth went ahead and showed his early , and that pot pushes him just above his starting stack.