2008 World Series of Poker

The WSOP has now released official chip counts for first-day action in Event #24, $2,500 Pot-Limit Hold'em/Omaha. 85 of 457 initial entrants remain alive in the event, which should play into the money and down to the final table in today's action. Here are the overnight leaders:

Stephen McKinney 92,500
Henning Granstad 68,500
Kyle Kloeckner 65,000
Jesse McEuen 63,400
David Penly 63,300
Michael Pesek 62,100
Shawn Buchanan 60,900
Mark Davis 57,600
Max Pescatori 56,000
Dustin Sitar 55,600

Action resumes today at 3pm PT from the Amazon Room.

With Round 16 coming to a close, play has ground to a halt for the day.

Going back to the beginning, we saw a field of 457 players register for this event, and we have 85 of them who will return tomorrow to fight it out for a spot in the final nine. All that's left for the players tonight is a little bit of housekeeping. They are just finishing up racing off and coloring up the T25 green chips before they bag and tag their stacks for the overnight hibernation.

As we glance around the room, it appears that Stephen McKinney is our chipleader with 85,000 chips going to Day 2. There are still a number of pros to get through though, as the likes of Howard Lederer, Joe Hachem, Erik Seidel, Allen Cunningham, and Ted Forrest still remain in contention.

Thank you for joining us today from the Brasilia Room here at the Rio. See you tomorrow at 3:00pm PDT!

Sitting under the gun, Joe Hachem opens the action with a pot raise. It folds around to Justin Bonomo in the big blind comes back with a pot-sized re-raise, putting himself all in. Hachem makes the call.

Hachem:
Bonomo:

As the dealer runs the board, Hachem pleads with him, "Can I make a straight or flush please?" The dealer obliges him, spreading out , improving Hachem to a straight on the river.

Standing nearby, Hachem's good mate Jim Sachinidis caught the action. "How blessed are you?" he asks. "Good to be Joe."

Not so good to be Justin Bonomo though. He is headed out just minutes before play ends for the day.

Perhaps it's because of the late hour, or maybe it's the Day 2 bubble creeping in, but the pace of play has slowed considerably in the last hour or so. Around the room, players are resting their heads in their hands, standing up for stretch breaks, rubbing their eyes, and doing whatever else they can to keep focused for the last few minutes of tonight's play.

From late position, Andy Black opens with the betting with a raise for most of his chips. Action folds around to the big blind, where Joe Hachem sits waiting. Hachem re-raises enough to put Black all in, and he can't resist getting in a little jab as well.

"When's the last time I beat you out of a pot?" he asks, possibly hinting at their 2005 Main Event final table together.

Black gives himself some advice: "Oh, bloody stick it in or fold." He does stick it in, pushing the rest of his chips to the middle and turning up . Hachem tables .

The board provides no help for Black. It runs out , and Andy Black is eliminated shortly before the end of the day's play.

Andy Black and another player at his table got it all in before the flop, with Black having him covered by just a few chips.

When the cards were turned up, Black's was well ahead of his opponent's .

The flop was nice and safe: .

The turn and river, however, were much more unkind to the pro. The and that completed the board made his opponent the runner-runner nut flush, coming from behind to snatch a big pot from Black.

After losing that battle, Black is down to his final 2,600 chips, and now he's the one covered by the rest of the table.

Opening up from late position, Ted Forrest put in a pot-sized raise. The player in the big blind re-potted it, putting himself all in and at risk. Forrest made the call, and the hands were turned over:

Forrest:
All-in Player:

The board ran as good as it could for the player at risk. The flop gave him a huge lead. Not as big as the turn though. When it came the , he made a royal flush, which is what some would call "the nuts." The meaningless on the river meant salvation for the all-in player, and assured him of a good story to tell in the years to come.