Event #57: $10,000 No-Limit Hold'em MAIN EVENT - World Championship

The day began twelve hours ago with high expectations as more than 2,300 players crowded into the Rio to hear Joe Cada announce, "Shuffle up and deal!" For some, it was all downhill from there while others ended the day atop a chip mountain. Mathiu Sauriol bagged up more chips than any of the other 1,600+ players who made it through the day. He'll return with 168,900, which makes him the third biggest stack in the room to start Day 2a. (Day 1a's chip leader, Corwin Cole, has 228,200.)

Former Main Event Champion Johnny Chan ended the night right behind Sauriol with 163,700. Lauren Kling crushed the later levels, finishing with 149,650. Barny Boatman, Michael Reed, and Robert Mizrachi also accumulated field-leading stacks.

David Williams jetted to an early lead, crossing the 100,000-chip mark shortly after the first break. He lost a little momentum in the middle levels, but ended the day strong with 112,225. Lex Veldhuis, Todd Terry, Jennifer Leigh, Dan Smith, Billy Kopp, and Hoyt Corkins will also return with large stacks. Joe Cada, Patrik Antonius, and Daniel Negreanu finished in the middle of the pack, and Dennis Phillips and James Van Alstyne have their work cut out for them when the come back among the shortest stacks.

Alex Outhred jumped to a the top of the counts in the middle of the day, then crashed and burned just as quickly, not making it to bag-and-tag. Outhred wasn't alone, of course. Nearly 700 of the players who began the day found their Main Event dreams sidelined before the end of the night. Huck Seed, fresh from winning the Tournament of Champions a few days ago, barely stuck around for an hour, and Dario Minieri didn't last much longer. Former Main Event Champions Phil Hellmuth and Jerry Yang won't be repeating, nor will November Niner Steven Begleiter. Ayaz Mahmood, Men Nguyen, and Ryan Welch all picked up WSOP hardware earlier this year, but they won't be capping off successful summers with deep Main Event runs. Tom Dwan, Chad Brown, Bill Gazes, Neil Channing, Chau Giang, and Jeff Madsen won't be back either. Non-poker celebs Scott Ian, Shanna Moakler, and Anthony Rapp also ended their brief start turns in the poker world.

For now, the players who survived the day are off to rest for their return to the Rio on Friday. While they take it easy, the Rio is gearing up for the biggest day of the summer. Day 1d's massive field will join the 4,625 who already played to make this the second largest Main Event on record. Tune in tomorrow to follow all of the Main Event insanity as it happens.

Joe Cada open-raised, and a short-stacked player three-bet to commit most of his stack. Cada went ahead and put him in, and his opponent called his last 6,600 with    . The news was not friendly; Cada turned up     and was poised for the knockout.

The board came          , and that's just fine with Cada. He's eliminated a player, and the defending champ is at about 55,000 near night's end.

Tom Dwan's quest to destroy the poker economy is over for now. Two last hands did him in. First, he opened to 1,025 pre-flop from under the gun and was called in three spots. On a    , Dwan tried a continuation-bet for another 1,025. One player called. From there, the two checked it down to showdown,   and  . Dwan's opponent turned over   , to which Dwan could only stare at the ceiling and muck.

The very next hand Dwan, sitting in the big blind, called a late-position player's raise to 1,100. The rest of Dwan's stack, about 2,000 in total, went into the middle on a flop of    . Dwan turned up    for top two pair, jacks and tens. He was up against   , a six-outer draw. The turn was a blank  , but the river   ended Dwan's tournament by giving his opponent a straight.

Dwan stood up and started to walk away from the table. Then he turned back, ripped the button with a picture of Peter Jetten hugging a koala off of his chest and threw it down on his chair before exiting the floor.

Under the gun, Lee Childs open-shoved his last 5,000 with    . He'd soon find out that he held the third best pair at the table. A middle-position player reraised all in for 14,500 with    , and the big blind called with     to put both players at risk.

The board ran out          , and that's pretty uninteresting. Especially if you're Lee Childs. He's out, as is the middle-position player just a few minutes prior to the end of the day.

We overheard two cheerful, well-lubricated fans shooting the breeze on the rail. They were a bit star struck by some of the players they were seeing, and there was real excitement in their voices.

"Jackie Chan over there has all the chips," one of them said, and both men burst into laughter as they realized the mistake. They elbowed each other and doubled over in hysterics, eventually restraining the laughter long enough for one of them to make an actual joke: "Jackie Chan will kick your ass in real life. Johnny Chan will kick your ass in poker."

The flop fell a coordinated  . When the big blind checked to him, Sean Prendiville bet 1,800. Another player raised to 6,800, and then the big blind check-raised them both to 16,000. No worries for Prendiville. He four-bet shoved for around 66,000. The player behind him called all in, and the big blind tank-folded. Prendiville turned over   for the nut straight, and his opponent wasn't looking too good with   for a lower straight with no flush redraw. The   turn and   river didn't save the all-in player with a chop. Instead, he hit the rail and Prendiville hit the top of the chip counts. He's up to 145,000, making him one of the biggest stacks in the Rio.

David Williams raised it up from under the gun to 1,050 and found himself company as three callers came along to see a flop of    .

Play checked to Williams who fired 3,000. One fold, one call and one more fold. The turn brought a repeat   and action was checked before the   hit the river. Williams checked and his opponent fired 3,500 with Williams looking him up.

Williams' opponent showed    which was good to take it down. Williams slips to 110,000.

Tom Dwan's stack has been a bouncing yo-yo for the last two hours. It's falling to the floor again after a recent spot of trouble with Lee Markholt. Dwan opened pre-flop for 1,050 and was called by Markholt (in position) and the big blind. Dwan continued for 2,275 on a nine-high flop,    . Only Markholt called.

Both players checked the   turn. When the river fell a third club,  , Dwan tried a bet of 4,850. Markholt tanked for more than a minute before finally calling with a pair of nines,   . Dwan showed an airball with    to fall to 6,000 in chips.

A short-stacked player was all-in for his last chips from under the gun with Liz Lieu making the call from the small blind.

Lieu:   

Opponent:   

The board ran out       and Lieu's queens hold up to send one to the exit as she jumps up to 72,000 chips.

Players are back in their seats for the last bit of play tonight. We'll play half of Level 5 -- a total of one hour of play -- before the chips bags are brought out.