Players are now on break. Cards will be back in the air in 20 minutes.

The hand began with Bryan Pellegrino, who opened to 43,000 from the cutoff position. Action folded around to Mike Allis in the small blind, who fell into the tank.

"Give me a minute guys," Allis said.

After a couple minutes Allis opted to shove his remaining 120,000 into the middle. Pellegrino reluctantly called and hands were revealed.

Allis:
Pellegrino:

The rest of the table was a bit shocked to see Allis with such a strong hand given his seemingly difficult decision.

"That was some Hollywood," Negreanu commented.

The hand kept Allis in the lead and he doubled to 250,000.

Mike Allis

250,000

110,000

On the very next hand, action folded to Brant Hale on the button, and he raised pot to 70,000. Tommy Vedes was next in the small blind, and he put in a tower of orange T5,000 chips that amounted to a raise of 150,000. Mike Allis folded his big blind, and it was back to Hale. Hale said "well I didn't look so you have that going for you" as he slid the remainder of his stack into the middle.

Hale:
Vedes:

The flop came down , adding an inside straight draw to Hale's outs. The on the turn eliminated his pair outs, and Hale would need a three and a three only to survive. The river brought the , and Hale hit the rail, while Vedes jumped back up to 620,000.

Tommy Vedes	620,000	240,000
Brant Hale	0	-125,000

Mike Allis went all in for his last 65,000 from under-the-gun. Action folded around to Tommy Vedes in the big blind, who said, "I'm not sure if I should look." He then tossed in a call and hands revealed a race situation.

Allis:
Vedes:

The flop put Vedes in the lead with a pair of eights. A turn changed nothing and left Allis drawing to a five and only a five.

River:

Bingo!

Allis doubled through to 140,000 and chipped Vedes down to 380,000.

Tommy Vedes	380,000	-67,000
Mike Allis	140,000	10,000

Action was folded around to John Eames, who made a pot sized bet to 70,000. It folded around to Nick Jivkov, who wasted little time in announcing "pot". It got back to Eames, and he committed the last of his chips. The cards were flipped, and it was worst case scenerio for Eames.

Eames:
Jivkov:

According to the Pokernews odds calculator , Eames had just a 6% chance of winning the hand. The flop came down , giving Eames a small glimmer of hope if he could catch running diamonds. However, he was drawing dead when the hit the turn. The meaningless river was the , and Jivkov scooped the pot to up his stack to 375,000, while the British rail cleared out of the thunder dome.

Nick Jivkov	375,000	94,000
John Eames	0	-120,000

Brant Hale has been the quietest player at the table so far, both verbally and with his play. He is one of the short stacks, and didn't play a hand until he was all in preflop with of spades. Unfortunately for Hale, he was dominated by the of Bryan Pellegrino. The flop came down , putting outs for a chop, along with a world of turn cards that would make the river very interesting. One of those came on the turn, the , giving Hale flush draw outs as well.

The came on the river, and Daniel Negreanu knew immediately what that meant: "chop it up". Indeed both players played aces and nines with a queen kicker, and Hale got a chop to survive the hand.

Bryan Pellegrino	450,000	-100,000
Brant Hale	125,000	-86,000

Bryan Pellegrino opened for 43,000 from the hijack position and action folded around to Keanu Tabali in the small blind, who re-raised all in for his last 102,000. Pellegrino called and hands were revealed.

Pellegrino:
Tabali:

Tabali was in great shape to double, however, the flop improved Pellegrino's odds as he spiked a pair. The turn brought an uneventful , but a on the river improved Pellegrino to two-pair, which trumped Tabali's tens and sent him to the rail.

Pellegrino is up to 550,000 following the knockout.

Bryan Pellegrino	550,000	110,000
Keanu Tabali	0	-122,000

Tommy Vedes was under the gun, and he raised it to 48,000. It folded to Daniel Negreanu, and he put in a three bet to 118,000 total. Everyone folded back to Vedes, and he made the call. The flop came down , and Vedes checked to Negreanu, who wasted little time in moving his whole stack in, 232,000 in total. Vedes tanked for about 30 seconds before releasing his hand, giving the pot to Negreanu, who's now second in chips.

Daniel Negreanu	490,000	140,000
Tommy Vedes	447,000	-93,000

It has been a rough past hour for John Eames.

In a recent hand, action folded all the way to Eames on the small blind, who raised to 60,000. Daniel Negreanu quickly moved his remaining 170,000 into the middle and Eames called.

Negreanu:
Eames:

The board ran out sweat-free for Negreanu and he doubled through Eames with a superior full house.

Negreanu's stack has risen to 350,000 while Eames is down to his last 120,000.

Daniel Negreanu	350,000	200,000
John Eames	120,000	-180,000

John Eames came in for a raise to 32,000, and action folded all the way around to Keanu Tabali in the big blind. Tabali was on the short stack with 16,000 already in the middle, and he cut the chips out for the call, then stared at his remaining stack. After about 30 seconds, he peeked down at his cards, and said "what am I waiting for I'm all in." Eames quickly made the call, and the cards were flipped up.

Tabali:
Eames:

Tabali explained "I was just seeing if I should just call blind I didn't even look at my hand until the end." Eames seemed less then enthused by the explanation, but didn't make a big fuss over it. The flop came down , keeping Tabali out in front. The turn came the , and Tabali was still in the lead, and still looking to dodge a queen. The river was a pain card, but it was the , giving Tabali the double.

John Eames	300,000	-70,000
Keanu Tabali	122,000	56,000

Action began on Tommy Vedes, who opened to 41,000 from middle position. Directly behind him, Mike Allis announced he was all-in for his remaining 62,000. Everyone else got out of the way and Vedes dutifully slid in calling chips.

Vedes:
Allis:

The flop came , leaving Vedes with an open-ended straight draw - meaning Allis would need to fade a lot of outs on the turn and river. However, they came the respectively, leaving Allis with a pair of queens and the best hand.

Allis is back up to 130,000 while Vedes has slipped to 540,000.

Tommy Vedes	540,000	-60,000
Mike Allis	130,000	44,000

Action started with Keanu Tabali in middle position, and he raised it up to 37,000. Tommy Vedes was next to act, and he quickly called. Everyone else folded, and they went heads up to a flop of . Tabali wasted little time in betting 39,000, and Vedes beat him into the pot. Both players checked the on the turn, and the river came the .

Tabali measured out a bet of 66,000, and dropped it into the middle. Action was to Vedes, and he cut out the chips for a call. He thought for a few moments, then cut out some chips for a raise. Vedes assembled the bet into a big tower, and slid it to the middle, raising 82,000 more. Tabali looked very pained by this, and said "I don't see how I can fold this." Tabali was in the tank for about 3 minutes, before he grabbed the calling chips, saying again "I can't fold", and made the call. Vedes showed for a full house, and Tabali grimaced, tabling for trip kings.

Jonathan Aguiar jokingly said, "Rigged! Who do I call to report this?' as Vedes collected the chips, upping him to 600,000, while tabali drops to the short stack at 66,000.

Tommy Vedes	600,000	298,000
Keanu Tabali	66,000	-243,000

Action began on Bryan Pellegrino, who opened from middle position to 40,000 and change. Action folded around to John Eames on the big blind, who re-raised to 101,000 even. Pellegrino quickly re-raised enough to put Eames all in and Eames called off his stack of 180,000.

Eames:
Pellegrino:

The flop put Eames in dire straights as he was facing elimination. A turn changed nothing, but the landed on the river, giving Eames a set of nines and sending Eames' rail into a chanting frenzy.

Eames is up to 370,000 while Pellegrino has slipped to 600,000.

Bryan Pellegrino	600,000	-190,000
John Eames	370,000	189,000

Action folded to Daniel Negreanu in early position, and he raised it up to 32,000. Everyone else folded except for Tommy Vedes, who defended his big blind. The two players checked on the flop, , and the turn, the , but Vedes fired out a bet of 26,000 when the hit the river. Negreanu made the call, and Vedes showed for a rivered set. Negreanu simply flashed an ace before mucking. After that loss, Negreanu dips down to 150,000, while Vedes is up over 300,000.

Tommy Vedes	302,000	55,000
Daniel Negreanu	150,000	-62,000

Most of the pots thus far have not gone to the flop, with players simply raising it and taking it. Keep in mind that seven of the nine remaining players are under 20 big blinds. We expect that players will pick their spots carefully given such short stacks.

The players have all taken their seats, the intros have been made, and the cards are in the air!

The players left last night before an official seat draw could be done, so here is the lineup for today.

Welcome back to the Rio! We are coming to you live from Event #5: $1,500 Pot Limit Hold'em. Two days ago 639 players took their seats in this event, and now, we are down to just the final 9. And what a final table we have today. Everywhere you look, you have players with big first place titles already under their belt.

Late last year, John Eames won a 2,000 Euro buy in event at EPT Prague, taking home 101,750 Euros(equal to $136,235). He comes into today 8th in chips. Tommy Vedes is bringing the WPT titles to the table. Vedes has won two WPT main events: the $15,000 Main Event at the Fiesta Al Lago at the Bellagio in 2009, and the $10,000 Main Event at the Seminole Hard Rock Showdown in Florida just last month. Vedes took home over $2 million for those two performances. Vedes comes into today 5th in chips.

And then there's PokerStars pro Daniel Negreanu, who is the WSOP bracelet winner of the bunch. Negreanu has four of them, with the last one coming in 2008. He will be looking to end that drought today, as he comes into play 6th in chips.

All these players are looking up at Bryan Pellegrino, who comes into today's play as the big chip leader, thanks to a huge pot that he won at the end of last night. He comes into today just shy of 800,000 in chips, which is 250k more then anyone else at the table.

Play will be underway shortly, and we are going to crown another bracelet winner today! Will one of our notables add to their already impressive poker resumes? Or will it be one of the unknowns who takes their turn in the spotlight. Stay tuned to Pokernews for all of the action!