Courtesy World Series of Poker
Thursday, July 9, 2009 | 10:26 p.m.
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- ESPN’s feature table provides as much publicity as profitability (7-8-2009)
- Oldest player exits World Series of Poker (7-7-2009)
- Hundreds of poker players turned away from main event (7-6-2009)
- Bach pulls out marathon HORSE victory (7-1-2009)
- Poker’s HORSE a serious game (6-26-2009)
- Mike Caro: 'Mad genius' of poker (6-19-2009)
- WSOP props odds offer insight into tournament (6-12-2009)
- Behind the scenes, tournament has stable of 850 dealers (6-6-2009)
After six opening rounds of play, the World Series of Poker Main Event field of 6,494 entrants has whittled down to 2,043 players heading into day 3 Friday.
Friday is the first day that all of the remaining competitors will play together and it could also be the day that the field reaches the money threshold. A fortunate 648 players will cash in on a prize pool of more than $61 million.
In order to further narrow the field, Friday will most likely feature five levels with play beginning at noon.
With the average stack size at about 105,000 and blinds at the 600-1,200 level, here are the top chip leaders so far:
1. Amir Lehavot - 610,500
2. Peter DeBaene - 465,000
3. Troy Weber - 453,200
4. Dan Bizzerian - 439,500
5. Gabe Walls - 417,900
6. Mikael Thuritz - 395,400
7. Andrew Gaw - 386,000
8. Eric Cloutier - 383,000
9. Jason Brice - 376,100
10. Ed Perry - 370,000
11. Brandon Demes - 369,800
12. Miika Puumalanien - 361,200
In addition to these big stacks, some of last year's heavy hitters are still in play. Four of 2008's "November Nine" final table will start Day 3 including Peter Eastgate (110,700), Kelly Kim (122,100), Dennis Phillips (190,200) and Darus Suharto (78,400).
Nine former Main Event champions are still alive as well. Aside from Eastgate, they are Joe Hachem(138,900), Greg Raymer (95,900), Carlos Mortensen (57,900), Chris Ferguson (76,000), Dan Harrington (181,400), Jim Bechtel (55,000), Phil Hellmuth (124,900) and Bobby Baldwin (83,300).
Finally, a few notable celebrities will continue their quest for a gold bracelet at the Rio Friday including Jason Alexander (73,700), Lou Diamond Phillips (192,300) and Jordan Farmar (75,500).
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