2010 World Series of Poker

When the whistle blew at 2:30 this afternoon there were 451 players crowded into one corner of the Amazon Room. 12 hours later that number has plummeted to just 38 players, all of whom are taking up just five tables.

The money bubble came quick, popping in less than two levels of play. The action that followed was fast and furious as short stacks wasted little time getting all their money into the middle with a few fortunate players taking advantage of the pace and building huge stacks.

A good many notable players failed to make it through the day. Marco Traniello, Live Boeree, Gualter Salles, Ari Engel, Neil Channing, Antoine Saout, Leo Margets, and David Sands were all eliminated before play concluded for the day.

But that's not to take away from the players who will be back tomorrow to battle their way to the final table. Chip leaders include John Clancy (774,000), Josh Goldstein (511,000) and Mick Carlson (423,000). But it's not going to be easy for our chip leaders. Svetlana Gromenkova, Scott Montgomery, and Ryan D'Angelo are just a few of the players waiting to bite into those big stacks.

Join us tomorrow at 2:30pm local time as we work our way to the final table. It should be a shorter day, allowing those who make the final table to get a proper night's sleep before gearing up to take down the $481,760 first place prize.

Here are the biggest stacks to end the day:

A player acting under the gun raised to 18,000 and when action folded around to Mick Carlson in the big bind, he made the call.

Carlson checked the flop of but then called a 23,000 bet from his opponent. Both players checked the on the turn.

When the river came Carlson bet 48,000 and his opponent called. Carlson showed and his opponent mucked.

With that pot in hand, Carlson has found himself with 415,000 chips.

Brent Roberts came back from the last break with 16 big blinds. He was down to nine when a player in early position open-shipped into his aces. Roberts was happy to call and double up. Next hand, the hijack raised, and Roberts moved all in again. This time he had to hit with against pocket eights. A king on the turn put a quite cheerful Roberts up to 350,000.

Richard Florestan limped, and after the small blind completed, Thomas Fuller raised to 33,000 from the big blind, enough to get rid of the small blind. Florestan called to see the flop. Fuller bet out 40,000, and after a minute in the tank, Florestan said, "Let's go, baby!" He raisesdto 160,000, thinking he put Fuller all in. Thomas called, leaving himself 1,000 behind. The turn was the , and Fuller tossed in his last chip. Florestan showed , having hit his straight on the turn. Fuller's was drawing to a chop. The on the river improved Florestan to a flush. Fuller was sent to the rail while Florestan shouted and fist-pumped himself into a celebratory frenzy. He's up to 495,000 now.

Edin Pasillas and a player with a smaller stack were all in preflop and it was looking like it would be a piece of cake to eliminate his opponent.

Pasillas:
Opponent:

The flop came Pasillas' opponent picked up a straight draw, which he reached with the on the turn. But we weren't done just yet. The river delivered the giving Pasillas a full house and the better hand.

We got there on the river of an board. Josh "ilovepoines" Goldstein had put his opponent all in for a huge pot. As soon as the player made the call to put himself at risk, Goldstein turned up for a rivered full house. His opponent angrily flicked the into the muck as he was eliminated from the tournament. Thanks to the perfect river card, Goldstein is the new chip leader with 595,000.

David Sanchez raised to 19,000 from the hijack which was soon followed by a 50,000 re-raise from the player on the button. Over in the big blind a player called for his last 25,500.

The side pot didn't take long to play out when the flop came and Sanchez quickly announced he was all in and the player on the button folded.

When Sanchez turned up , the player on the button expressed disbelief. It looked good to the player in the big blind, though, as he flipped up .

The turn came down but the river was the giving Sanchez a set and a scoop of both pots.