2010 World Series of Poker

The day started with 885 players packed into the Pavilion Room with dreams of a World Series of Poker bracelet and hundreds of thousands of dollars in prize money.

Now, only 95 stand.

Jonathan Little tops our chip count with 129,600 chips followed by Christian Harder (116,100 chips), Tex Barch (115,400 chips), Matt Zoorob (106,000 chips) and Nenad Medic (104,400 chips). Little's day was seemingly less turbulent than others while Medic and Harder exploded during Levels 9 and 10.

November Niner James Akenhead was on a roller coaster the whole day, but finished strong with 52,100 chips.

The biggest story of the day though is that the two players that went heads up in this event last year are still alive.

Jason Mercier (25,500 chips) and Steve "pikappraider" Burkholder (32,400 chips) will return for Day 2 to try and make a repeat run at the final table. They are both relatively short, but their track records clearly precede them.

Play resumes tomorrow at 2:30 p.m. PST and we are scheduled to play down to a final table. We hope you join us for Day 2 right here at PokerNews.com!

Action folded to Steve "pikappraider" Burkholder on the button who raised to 2,000. Christian "charder30" Harder was his only caller out of the big blind.

The two checked the flop and Harder led for 3,100 after the turned. Burkholder called.

The river was the and again Harder led - this time for 4,200. Burkholder cut out enough chips to call and riffled them for a bit before finally doing so.

"Aces," Harder said.

Burkholder mucked and Harder took down yet another pot.

Here are five of the best as we approach the final six hands. Tom Rutter is also doing well with 83,000.

Christian Harder has just won a meaty pot, eliminating a player with versus , all in on a flop. Both turn and river were bricks. The former PCA finalist now has 95,000.

Christian "charder30" Harder opened to 2,100 from the cutoff and everyone behind him called.

The flop fell and the player in the small blind led for 4,000. Action folded to Harder who thought momentarily before grabbing a stack of chips and raising to over 10,000. The button folded and the small blind dropped a chip on his chips before going into the tank.

Finally after some deliberation he said, "I re-pot."

Harder shrugged, "I re-pot."

The two were all in and the cards were turned over:

Showdown
Harder:
Opponent:

Harder's flopped full house was way ahead and actually improved after the turned. The dealer wrapped the table before delivering a blank (the ) on the river, sending a huge, 90,000-chip put Harder's way.

His opponent was left with less than 2,000 chips and busted thereafter.

James Akenhead made a standard open from early position, the hijack reraised to 7,000 and the big blind pushed all in. "All in," announced Akenhead sliding his chips across the line.

Despite being encouraged to "gamble", the hijack folded and we reached a showdown, a split pot imminent between and .

"Sevens," requested Akenhead's foe with a wishful smile. "Clubs," countered Akenhead.

In the end, it was the November Niner's demands who were met, the board coming to deliver him both the flush and the pot.

After a roller coaster of a last level or two, Akenhead is now back up above the 50,000 mark.