Posted by Andrew Feldman
12:10 a.m. ET: After claiming he's been card-dead all day, Mike Matusow finally put all his chips into the middle with K-Q. Unfortunately for "The Mouth," his opponent held K-K and ended his hopes of another deep main event run. Matusow had four deep runs in the main event this decade and sat on his short stack for about seven hours of play today. His patience is what allows him to get through each day, but Matusow will have to wait until 2010.
Joe Giron/IMPDI
I have no idea if Leif Force is still in the main event, but I did see him at the Rio.
After the dinner break it seemed like there were two groups of players:
1) The food-coma group
2) The rejuvenated
In either case, with the blinds increasing to $400/$800 and a $100 ante, the shorter stacks are starting to realize that they might need to make a move. Most years I'd advocate patience until Day 3, but with the deeper structure and the money not being made until Day 4, the end of this day will need to be used for position. Sure, pick your spots and don't take unnecessary risks, but at the same time, folding the rest of the night isn't an option for the short stacks. There will be another 12 hours (or more) of play for this field to crack the money bubble, so being complacent at this point shouldn't be acceptable for most players.
The post-dinner eliminations included Gavin Smith (losing a race with A-Q versus J-J), Gabe Thaler, Billy Argyros, Jeff Williams, Nikolay Evdakov, Todd Brunson and Michael Gracz. Brad Garrett has doubled up this level, but also doubled a player up to currently sit at $58,000. Greg Mueller is still at the top of the leaderboard as well as Mike Sexton, Juha Helppi and Tom Schneider.
Small blinds: Billy "The Croc" Argyros just paid for a massage before getting eliminated when his overpair was cracked. He turned around and asked how much he owed to the masseuse, then turned to his opponent and said, "We shared a cab over here, then you bust me." … Greg Raymer was having dinner with his family at the All-American Bar and Grill. At the table next to him, Raymond Rahme. … Lon McEachern and Norman Chad are back working the floor. … Joe Sebok's table has broken as the tables in the Orange section are next in line. … There have been 60,875 entrants during the 2009 WSOP which is a new record. … Unnecessary PDA -- a player in the Orange section fully all over his girl on the rail. Pretty sure that will put most players on tilt. … Courtesy of Pauly's Twitter (@taopauly), Pam Brunson is using her father's Ghostbusters card cap. … A player went all-in at table 67, then came all the way over to the press box as the cards were dealt. Then went back to the table, saw he lost, put on his shoes, and left. Well played, sir. … Sammy Farha looks a little tired and is not wearing sunglasses as in years past. … Four all-ins and a call as I wrote this sentence. … You can follow everything ESPN Poker on Twitter at @ESPN_Poker.
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