Posted by Andrew Feldman
3:10 p.m. ET: Less than 1 percent of the original 6,494-player field remains. Play is under way here and we'll be playing until 27 players remain, something that tournament director Jack Effel believes will take around five levels. Antonio Esfandiari is at the feature table, and more significantly, he is not wearing any logos. He has just finished Googling every player at his table to see if they have any significant results -- a common move at this point in the tournament. Poker databases have ensured that the remaining players could do their research as they enter Day 7, and with so much at stake, who can blame them?
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Leo Margets is the last woman standing at the 2009 WSOP main event.
All eyes today will continue to be on Phil Ivey, as he attempts to further cement his legacy, and on Dennis Phillips, who continues to show that his third-place finish last year was no fluke. The cameras have been following Prahlad Friedman, Joe Sebok and Tom Schneider as well, and I'm sure their stories will be told in depth when coverage begins later this summer.
Actually, Friedman has just been eliminated, and with that elimination, play has been paused and the current feature table has been broken. Esfandiari is moving a seat over to Seat 2 and he is now joined by Steven Begleiter (a former senior managing director and member of the President's Advisory Council at Bear Stearns), James Akenhead, Ryan Fair, Ivan Tavelli, Hung Pham, Mark Ader, Day 5 chip leader Warren Zackey and Adam York.
The secondary feature table is composed of Card Player's Jeff Shulman, Leo Margets (the last woman standing), Scott Bohlman, Scott Cook, Jonathan Tamayo, Jason Brice, Grayson Ramage and Andrew Lichtenberger. Ivey, Phillips, Sebok and Schneider all are on the outside tables … for some reason.
Small blinds: "Hello, gentlemen," Esfandiari said. "The last table wasn't talking, so they booted them out of here." … Feature table area is standing room only at this point. Esfandiari is quite a draw. … Today is the day when camera crews go table to table to make sure they have enough footage of every player in preparation for the production of the shows. … Players had to fill out profile forms when they got to their seats this morning. … Esfandiari started out aggressive and lost the first two pots at the new table. … Quiet room today. Guess the pressure is getting to some of these guys.
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