Now Cada has no one else to beat. With a tear in the corner of his eye and his lips pursed to hold back obvious emotion, Cada lifted his new bracelet above his head and accepted his role of ambassador to the poker world.

In 1989, Phil Hellmuth surprised both opponent Johnny Chan and the poker world when at 24 years old he became the youngest-ever WSOP Main Event champion. There were people (chiefly Hellmuth) who thought the record would never be broken. That changed after 24 years when the then 22-year-old Peter Eastgate stepped into the Rio's Penn and Teller Theater and won the 2008 WSOP.

Then came this year's Main Event and the battle between 6,494 people from all over the world. The two-week fight led us to the Penn and Teller Theater where only one player was young enough to break Eastgate's record. Cada is 340 days younger than Eastgate and has proven to be no ordinary kid. By the time the Michigan native was 19 years old, he had enough money to buy his first home--in cash. An online whizkid, Cada went to his first WSOP and cashed in two events before sitting down for the big one. Then he went and made the final table.

Still, when he started November Nine play, Cada was fifth in chips. Making his odds even longer, at one point during the final table Cada held only 1% of the chips in play. It would've been tough to find a bettor anywhere in Vegas who would've put much money down on Cada walking away with the bracelet.

But this is Las Vegas. This is the World Series of Poker. This is a place where the unlikely is expected and the longshots prove reason for hope. This is the place where Joe Cada came back from the brink of an early finish and won the biggest and most coveted prize in the world.

Coming into heads-up play tonight, Cada had a 2.3-1 chip lead on Darvin Moon and a boatload more tournament experience. Moon doesn't play online, doesn't own a credit card, and had never been on a plane before the WSOP. Cada, meanwhile, probably plays more hands a year online than Moon has played in his life. Team PokerStars Pro Barry Greenstein predicted a 28-hand heads-up battle, and there were a lot of smart people willing to take the under.

On the very first hand of play, however, Moon took a nice chunk out of Cada's stack in a pocket queens versus pocket nines battle. Those pocket nines would come back around again, but not before Cada found himself in an unenviable position.

Within a few minutes of play and a couple more big hands, Moon had taken over the chip lead. Suddenly, all the people who were ready to simply give the bracelet to Cada before the event began were shifting in their seats.

Was it possible that the Maryland logger under the New Orleans Saints ball cap would find a way to deny Cada his place in history? Would conventional wisdom be as worthless as it had been through most of the final table play? Cada would have none of that. It took him less than 15 minutes to come back and reclaim the exact same lead he'd had at the start of play. And then, again, he lost most of it back.

Cada had been down in chips before. This was the place he knew. This was like home. And he knew just what to do.

When Cada raised to three million, he got a call from Moon. The flop came out [Tc][5s][9h]. Both players checked to the [td] turn. That's when Cada came in for three million again. He had to be a little surprised to see Moon push all-in, well enough to cover Cada and well enough to put on the rail in second place. This was the place where the younger man simply had to be right. Wrong, and he's gone.

Finally, Cada announced call and turned over [jh][9d] for second pair. He was right.

Moon held [7s][8s] for the open-ended straight draw. Moon had seven outs to the river and none of them came. Suddenly, Cada held the chip lead again. And this time he wouldn't give it up.

Just a few hands later, Cada made it his standard three million and Moon raised to eight million. This time Cada pounced and put it all-in. Moon barely thought at all before waving his hand and saying, "Call." The hands?

Moon: [Jd][Qd]
Cada: [9d][9c]

There were those nines again for Cada. On the first hand of heads-up play, they cost him a huge pot. On the last hand? Well, on the last hand, the board ran out [8c][2c][7s][kh][7c] and made Joe Cada a champion.

When it was over, the young man was gracious. He congratulated Moon, saying his opponent played "absolutely great." He thanked his friends and fans who made up a big percentage of the crowd. "I'd like to think all my fans for coming out and supporting me. A lot of them took off school and work to come here. I really appreciate that."

But in front of the assembled crowd, that was about all Cada could choke out. Unlike a lot of the young ones who came up on the internet, for Cada this was not a ho-hum-ship-it moment. This was real. That was a dream come true before before Cada got old enough to realize that it was an impossible dream. At 21 years old, he was the envy of the poker world, a great deal wealthier, and free to dream even bigger.

When Joe Cada's fans walked into the Rio two days ago, they all wore bright shirts that bore the legend "The Kid." They all now need new shirts, because henceforth, Joe Cada will be called "The Comeback Kid."

He will also answer to "2009 World Series of Poker champion."

It started with the sun high in the blue Nevada sky and was ended this evening by a man named Moon. The players, organisers and media expected to finish in the early hours of Thursday with daylight dawning in Las Vegas. Instead it was wrapped up by 11pm. But the November Nine are now known, named and preparing themselves for 16 weeks of preparation for the final table of the Main Event of the World Series of Poker.

These are the players:

Seat 1: Darvin Moon - 58,930,000
Seat 2: James Akenhead - PokerStars player - 6,800,000
Seat 3: Phil Ivey - 9,765,000
Seat 4: Kevin Schaffel - Pokerstars sponsored player - 12,390,000
Seat 5: Steven Begleiter - 29,885,000
Seat 6: Eric Buchman - 34,800,000
Seat 7: Joe Cada - 13,215,000
Seat 8: Antoine Saout - 9,500,000
Seat 9: Jeff Shulman - 19,580,000

Among them, is the PokerStars sponsored player Kevin Schaffel, who like his competitors will soon become a household name.

PokerStars sponsored player Kevin Schaffel

Schaffel is a 51-year-old father of two, from Ft Lauderdale, Florida. He describes himself as "a bit more than a recreational poker player" and has the results to prove it, having cashed in the previous two World Series Main Events, two WPT events and the 2008 PCA. Formerly the owner of a printing and mailing firm, which he ran for 30 years, he has recently been pondering his future on the golf course and around the poker tables. After what is now guaranteed to be at least a $1.2m payday in November, the pondering has possibly become a good deal more relaxed.

The New November Nine

After a series of groundhog days, when it seemed as though this would never end, we finally reached the money on day four, only to start another four days to bring us to this point. But in a sense this was already the final stretch. Some campaigns began online weeks ago and will not finish until the second week in November. A summer in Vegas that will now be followed by an autumn on the TV and magazine front pages.

Schaffel in action at the end

Jonathan Tamayo

The PokerStars player Jonathan Tamayo was among the first suffering from a short stack and picked his moment to move in behind a raise from James Calderaro. Eric Buchman re-raised to 11 million forcing Calderaro out and Tamayo flipped over his [as][qd] but had clashed with Buchman's [kc][kh]. The [10d][10s][qc] flop wasn't the worst for Tamayo but he needed more. A third king came instead busting Tamayo in 21st place. PokerStars player Andrew Lichtenburger went soon after in 18th place.

Nick Maimone

Nick Maimone set off on a rampage that, had it been bestowed upon him by some higher force at the time of his birth, to be used at the moment of his choice, he couldn't have found a better time. For a short spell Maimone seemed indestructible, first doubling up with queen-ten against queen-jack, then queen-five against pocket jacks, then sevens against tens and a race with queens against ace-king.

Higher providence seemed to be at work for Maimone who had launched himself up to more than 11 million from less than two, until his stack began to dwindle again with 16 left. This time Maimone's all-in was overpowered by the flopped top pair of Eric Buchman, out but rewarded with a hard earned $633,022.

Ben Lamb

Maimone was followed after the dinner break by Ben Lamb in 14th place for $633,022. The PokerStars sponsored player from Las Vegas tangled in his last hand against Jeff Shulman, betting 655,000 pre-flop from the cut off before Shulman raised enough to put Lamb in from the big blind. Lamb called to show [as][js] but Shulman had the upper hand with [ad][ks]. Lamb knew it was over for him by the second card of the flop. Falling [9h][kd][3s] Lamb needed Maimone-style help but by the [7d] turn it was all over.

PokerStars sponsored player Jamie Robbins

By now thoughts of a long night were evaporating. James Calderano soon went in 13th, then one-time chip leader Billy Kopp in 12th after a shock bust out. Just two more eliminations were required when PokerStars player Jamie Robbins moved all-in for 2,350,000 with [kc][qs]. Phil Ivey called with [ah][10h]. Suddenly the Main Event was close to its last table and five faceless cards later, Robbins was gone and the ten remaining shuffled up to the main feature stage.

Minutes later Jordan Smith got his chips in with pocket aces on a flop of [8c][2d][4d]. But he hadn't counted on Darvin Moon making a set of eights. It was over.

The story of the November Nine will be told next. The story of how we got there is now complete.

For a long time Team PokerStars Pros led a charge on records both of the personal kind and those that satisfy the itch of poker historians. Dennis Phillips ran deepest. Last year's third place finisher busted on day seven in 45th place, 33 places ahead of his old rival Peter Eastgate. The reigning champion was on an impossible mission to win back-to-back big ones. It was a thrilling ride, saluted by everyone, but he was flushed out in 78th place.

There were other cashes for the team. Noah Boeken cashed in 96th, former champ Joe Hachem in 104th, Bertrand "ElkY" Grospellier in 122nd, Thierry van den Berg in 122nd and Benjamin Kang in 246th. Actor Lou Diamond Phillips, who was sponsored by PokerStars, also recorded his first cash in 186th. Some 113 of the hundreds of PokerStars players cashed in the main event for a combined payout of $7,091,985. Among the top ten per cent of the field from earlier than today were Grayson Ramage (35th), Adam York (41st), Manuel Labandera (44th), Mark Ader (61st) and George Saca (63rd), just part of a long list.

We had the excitement of a packed Amazon Room, a potential Eastgate or Hachem double, not to mention the Grammy award winning hip-hopper Nelly rocking the Palms PokerStars party and shaking a few worlds with his show at Rain. We once joked how one of PokerStars' celebrity players was looking for a "Summer of George". Instead, once the dust settles, this will be known as yet another glorious summer of poker.

We'd like to thank you for following the all the news and action on the PokerStars Blog, from the start of the Series 57 events ago all the way through to the early hours of the last day. Poker may be in essence a game for the individual at the table, but away from it it's watched by the world - thanks for relying on us.

Of course it's not quite over. The World Series may pack up and leave the Rio but only for three and a half months when it returns to the Penn and Teller Theater for the November Nine finale. You can count on getting to know the finalists between now and then here on the PokerStars Blog.

Until November...

That's all from us here in Las Vegas. It's been quite a ride. The blog rolls out of town tomorrow on its way to destinations new all over the world. Next stop Moscow and the start of season six on the European Poker Tour.

See you there.

By Howard Swains...

We were 64 and we dreamed of being 27. And true to its billing as the city where dreams are made, Las Vegas brought us to our target in record-quick time, with nary a nip nor tuck nor surgeon's scalpel in sight.

The field of the Main Event of the World Series of Poker was trimmed today from 64 hopefuls to the final 27. It took a little less than four levels of play, and as ever the departed will be sorely missed.

Dennis Phillips was arguably the highest-profile casualty of the savagery. A week ago, few would have given the man from St Louis any chance of repeating his spectacular run to last year's final table. But when he departed today, the victim of an ace-king versus ace-king accident (flushed), a bubble of genuine expectation burst. It really had seemed as though Phillips would pull off that miracle back-to-back final tables, and 45th place for $180,000 seemed like a disappointment.

Phillips proved this week, more emphatically even that last year's performance, that he is a man with real talent. There'll be plenty more of him to come -- and not just in the form of the army of clones that trails him across the globe.

We also bade farewell to the PokerStars players Grayson Ramage, Adam York, Manuel Labandeira, Mark Ader and George Saca, as well as the former World Series Player of the Year Tom Schneider.

Each took more than $100,000, some closer to a quarter of a million bucks. That's a good deal of consolation from six days of poker, but it's going to take some time for them to see it that way. Leave them be for now.

Whoop it up, though, for the following: Ben Lamb, Nick Maimone, Jonathan Tamayo, James Akenhead and Andrew Lichtenberger, all of whom have followed the well-trodden path from the PokerStars tables to the deep, deep stages of the World Series Main Event.

Tomorrow, we will follow them all as they attempt to book their spot in the New November Nine. It's the final push to the final table in the Amazon Room tomorrow. Join us again.

All photos © Joe Giron/IMPDI Worldwide

By Brad Willis

When the bombs finally fall, the sun melts the buildings, and the undead roam the plains, the population of the planet will be reduced to one percent of its current bursting-at-the-fault-lines population. It will be up to that one percent to repopulate Earth. Don't worry. It's not as dark as it sounds. Rush hour traffic is going to be much lighter, anyway.

As Day 6 of the 2009 World Series of Poker comes to a close, approximately one percent of the starting field remains. These are the survivors, the people who were immune to the bad beats, resistant to the coolers, and strong enough to survive the hell of six days of playing world class poker.

The strategy here is not as it might be when the world blows up. Here, the one percent are going to do everything they can to make sure they are the last people standing. It's every man (and one woman) against the world. They won't rest until only nine are standing sometime Thursday morning.

Tonight, the Amazon Room looks like poker's version of the badlands. A majority of the tables and lights are gone. People wander with no particular aim. A man who looks like Randall Flagg stalks the carpet. Only 64 players remain and they are bent on destroying whatever is left. Among them are PokerStars players determined to be the last king of Vegas.

Tonight, among the top-chipped PokerStars players is a man who is no stranger to this game. In 2008, Team PokerStars Pro Dennis Phillips made it all the way to 3rd place in the Main Event. This year, he's threatening a nearly unheard of back-to-back final table run. He spent the day at the featured table and tonight is, unlike most, still alive and heading into Day 7 with 2,500,000.

Every surviving population must take one moment's respite to honor its fallen and we have more than a few to whom we must pay homage. Dutch Team PokerStars Pros Noah Boeken and Theirry van den Berg started at the same 'double Dutch' table this morning, but neither could finish the day. Van den Berg's flush draw didn't get there and Boeken faced a series of indignities that reduced his stack from 2.4 million to none. The worst was kings cracked by ace-queen all-in pre-flop. Boeken finished in 96th to Van den Berg's 138th.

A pair of World Series of Poker champions--the only two remaining in the field--started the day right next to each other. 2005 champ Joe Hachem and 2009 winner Peter Eastgate were tablemates for better part of the afternoon. Hachem, having defeated more than 20,000 people in his last three WSOP in-the-money finishes had already outdone his 2006 238th place finish. Today, he couldn't make a hand and ended up going out in 103rd place.

Eastgate had the poker world atwitter with the possibility of a back-to-back final tables of his own. It was not to be. Late into the evening, he got all his chips in with ace-jack and made two pair, but the board four-flushed and the 2009 champ was gone in 78th place.

And then there was our own pre-apocalyptic Mad Max, Betrand "ElkY" Grospellier. The Day 3 chip leader and constant threat couldn't work his magic today. His final hand, big slick versus pocket kings, was symbolic of how his last three days had gone--good hands that weren't good enough. We, in sadness, bid goodbye in 122nd place to the man who would be king.

While the aforementioned Dennis Phillips is the most famous face left among the PokerStars players, there are still many others who could claim the new world for PokerStars. Still breathing tonight are James Akenhead, Grayson Ramage, Manuel Labandeira, Andrew Lichtenberger, George Saca, Jonathan Tamayo, Mark Ader, Adam York, Adam Bilzerian, and Tom Schneider. They are a crew that could take us to the new world.

A final thought before we bed down and lock our doors: while every one of the above people and remaining few dozen left in this event will work to eliminate each other, they can still fit into the traditional apocalypse scenario. See, for every one that dies, we are closer to a champion. Every body that champion composts on the field of battle gives seed to a new generation of players who come back here to do it all again next year.

See? It's all good. See you tomorrow.

All photos © Joe Giron/IMPDI Worldwide

The day was drawing to a close, we'd lost another 200 players, and the sun was setting on another fine day in the desert. Walking the room was hardly an evening stroll but once Jack Effel came on the mike to announce that this would again be the last level of the day, with another early night bestowed upon the players, the tension lifted, for some anyway. Time to see out the last half an hour, pack your things, count your chips and head some place else for Sunday evening.

By then Noah Boeken was well into his stride, winning pots uncontested with a stack in attack formation, 1,370,000 strong, nearly three times as strong as the one he'd started with. His only disappointment came from a long since finished hand he'd lost which pitted his pocket queens against ace-king with predictable results.

"I would have had 2.7 million" he'd said, ruing the hand, despite having performed an equally impressive recovery from what had been a set-back.

But it would get better for the Dutchman who with just minutes to go on the day moved up to 2.3 million when he found aces and an opponent keen on raising. With the chips in he called his opponent's pocket queens. Boeken's good for a day six campaign.

Noah Boeken

On the same table a new face emerged from under a hoodie adorned with the PokerStars badge. Tian Shou from Australia started the day a little over one million and finished it with 2.2 million, putting him among the leaders. And it's a good time to be one of those.

PokerStars player Tian Shou

Elsewhere Nasr El Nasr from Germany, whose tournament record details impressive results in Las Vegas, Europe and Australia, shot up in the chip charts to 1.4 million.

Nasr El Nasr

At the start of the day the name at the top of the chip lists was that of Matt Affleck. The Seattle native and PokerStars player astounded everyone on day four to finish with a wedding cake sized stack of 1,819,000. His day five nearly matched that, increasing his stack late in the day to close on 2.8 million, keeping his position among the leaders.

Matt Affleck

Even before the end of play announcement, the conversation on Peter Eastgate's table was of finishing times. Thierry van den Berg (700,000) remained convinced we'd play on but others were unsure. The others were right but that was just detail to men who don't operate on the standard 24 hour clock. Eastgate on course for the impossible? It's too soon to say. His day had been as varied as his facial expression; up and then down, up and then up some more, finishing on 950,000.

A group of folks who no doubt wanted play to continue were the distinguished red cap brigade that had descended to the rail alongside Dennis Phillips' table. The Team PokerStars Pro, who's attempting to make a second main event final table in consecutive years, suffered since his first level double up. A table change later and he has a little more than 500,000. That's still cause for those clones to cheer.

ElkY and Joe Hachem at the feature table

The feature table completed the walk around. ElkY and Joe Hachem continue to play side by side to the close. The two Team PokerStars Pros provided the draw for what were packed bleachers with a standing room only are at the back which was, well, standing room only. ElkY recovered from earlier bad luck when kings cracked his aces, scuppering his momentum. But he bagged up 973,000 while Hachem, another champ on for an historic double, did the same with 540,000.

Let's not forget those we lost on what could have been the shortest of World Series days in some time. Benjamin Kang turned up with his war face on and despite a crippling early hand he recovered, peaking at nearly 400,000 (paying for some exuberance with a one hand penalty) before crashing out with around 250 players left in the field. Carl Olsen, Kara Scott, Peter Kremenliev, also departed today. As did Lou Diamond Phillips on the last hand of the night. He'd become a mainstay, always there, a fighter and a grinder to the end, he'll be missed for a great main event debut.

Lou Diamond Phillips

All day the all-in call battle cry rang out across the Amazon Room, gaps appeared and the only proof that a player ever existed was a payout receipt stapled to something somewhere. It started fast and ended fast. We'll wait and see how it shaped tomorrow as we play to a final nine, but those returning will be guaranteed $36,626; good for a room tonight and maybe a few drinks. We'll try to get in on that and be back here tomorrow with day six coverage. If three levels weren't enough though you certainly have options, all thanks to our foreign friends and their insistence on writing blogs we can't understand.

All photos © Joe Giron/IMPDI Worldwide

It must be nice to be ElkY. On day four of the Main Event of the World Series of Poker, the Frenchman -- Bertrand Grospellier, to the uninitiated -- arrived three minutes late to the Amazon Room, sat down in the big blind and found pocket threes. Already the dominant overnight chip leader, with 1,400,000, he flopped a set, busted a player and added another quarter million.

But after that, ElkY didn't quite have it all his own way. At the mid-point of level three, he had about 1,200,000 -- at the very point that the tournament officials called a premature end to day four proceedings. The only passage of play that hasn't gone with the Team PokerStars Pro is called off early. It must be nice to be ElkY. The reason for the early finish was the grand hurry-up in eliminations in the post-bubble period.

As soon as a tortuous 90 minutes of hand-for-hand play ended with the elimination of Kia Hamadani, the collective sigh of relief was so forceful that chips flew into the pot as though gusted there by a whirlwind.

We went from 789 to 416 and were sent home early. It must be nice to be us. The other emerging story of the day was the surge up the leaderboard of the PokerStars player Matt Affleck, perhaps better known as Mcmatto on PokerStars. The Seattle man spent the hand for hand spell playing textbook poker, playing most of the 13 hands and taking his stack from 670,000 to a million by the time the bubble burst. Since then it's been small pots, he says, his one huge hand coming when he hit an open-ender to make his Saturday night a happy one, bagging up nearly 1,800,000.

Matt Affleck

With so many massive stacks, and the media now banned from the tournament floor, it's a little difficult to be perfectly clear of precisely how much this folk are sitting behind. But it seems as though Affleck is near to the overall lead and ElkY still has 1,200,000. They are contenders. Also in that bracket are the Team PokerStars Pro duo of Noah Boeken (500,000) and Thierry van den Berg (226,000), who wound up late in the day on the same table and will return tomorrow still in the hunt.

Germany's Benjamin Kang (250,000) is also still in the field and Dennis Phillips continues his attempts to be a two-time November Niner. He remains with 460,000, and hats off too to Lou Diamond Phillips. The actor is also still going strong with 650,000. Two former World Champions, Joe Hachem (490,000) and Peter Eastgate (397,000), were drawn on the secondary feature table today and after entertaining the masses for as long as they were permitted, they are also still around with the chance to complete an extraordinary double.

"It was a good day," said Hachem "I had my ups and downs, I finished with double with what I started with and I'm glad to have an early night."

We're caught between a rock and a hard place on PokerStars Blog regarding those two former champions: it's tempting to string the bunting across every blog post and declare the potential for what would amount to the most amazing achievement of the modern era. But we've jinxed too many players in our time, and 416 is still an awfully big number. It's not as big as a 1,800,000, though.

So let's leave you with Matt Affleck's chip count this evening, and ask you to join us again tomorrow.

All photos © Joe Giron/IMPDI Worldwide

As of tomorrow what you see is what you get. After six days of play - the combination of four day ones and two day twos - the field unites. The tension will switch up a notch, opponents will eye each other more suspiciously and the careless will catch themselves counting down places to the money, a dangerous distraction, as everyone plays together in poker harmony. The winner will be out there somewhere.

The line up for day three was decided tonight. Always destined to be the weightier of the two second days 2,924 players arrived today to fill the Amazon, Brasilia and Miranda rooms to capacity and then spill over into the area outside Buzios restaurant towards the casino as well as into the casino card room itself. It would be a tough day, not least for those dispatched to check up on them.

It wasn't long before players began to bust, tables began to break and the focus gradually shifted back to the Amazon Room. It was there, at a little after 10.30pm, that players allowed themselves some modest jubilation at having survived another day, another four levels in the bag, four levels closer to that ultimate prize. But it came at great cost.

For every survivor so far there have been three losers, subjected immediately to the harshness of the poker caste system that banishes non-playing civilians to the other side of the rail while the chipped up ignore them from on the fun side lest their fate become contagious.

Victor Ramdin - among the first eliminations on day 2b

The high tempo spared none but the well armed. Johnny Lodden, Gavin Griffin, Isabelle Mercier, Ylon Schwartz and Victor Ramdin all fell before the final whistle, as did ShootingStar Florian Langmann and actor Marlon Wayans, with fortunes shifting arbitrarily on the turn of a card.

There was a flip side though which several Team PokerStars Pros bore witness.

Bertrand "ElkY" Grospellier - among the leaders on day 2b

Dennis Phillips finished among the leaders, closing out the day on 230,000. Bertrand "ElkY" Grospellier followed suit, closing out the day on 165,000, Hevad Khan did the same with 135,000 and Benjamin Kang bagged and tagged 145,000. Maria Mayrinck managed to survive, albeit with 25,000, and Humberto Brenes bagging up 33,000 tonight. Noah Boeken's good form continues, ending on 140,000, as did that of Andre Akkari on 72,000.

Former World Champion Joe Hachem

Could there be a double win for a former World Champion? Well Joe Hachem kept that thought alive, a tricky day that awarded him 135,000 to play with on Friday.

Peter Eastgate

Hachem will be joined by Greg Raymer in that category and Peter Eastgate, who pulled off a Houdini style last hour to go from 20,000 to nearly 100,000, doubling up not once but twice, the first time quipping "That's why I'm the champion... I'm lucky" with a large grin. The long shot double win is still on.

Being a championship-winning NBA basketball player, Jordan Farmar had been thwacked by the good fortune stick some time ago, but he satisfied the railbirds, taking his stack from 48,175 to 78,000 at the end of the day. The LA Lakers point guard, playing in PokerStars colours, will return in good scoring position.

NBA star Jordan Farmar

The shape of that third day is not yet known but will be soon enough. Tournament officials, manoeuvring among the bags of chips, will now piece together the forensic evidence of the day, re-write it in list form and have the details with us in the small hours; 5,008 stories, most of them still likely to go untold.

The rest made the walk back to taxi ranks, the bars and hotel rooms for sleep and possible alcoholic relief, thankful perhaps of making it through another arduous day, but conscious that in the grand scheme of things they're not even half way. But the money is close and that, for some anyway, will make or break their Friday night.

Our coverage takes a break now with no play scheduled for Thursday, allowing players to rest and the media to regroup, recharge and recycle some of their best verbs and adjectives.

Don't miss them when play resumes...

"Where is ElkY from?" That was just one of the questions bouncing all over media row tonight as reporters began building out their dossiers on Bertrand "ElkY" Grospellier. The scramble began just after 10:30pm when ElkY got paid off on a flopped set and became the first player in the 2009 WSOP to cross the 1 million mark in chips. The answer the the big question is not as easy to divine.

ElkY, of course, is French, having lived most of his early life in Nancy, a small city in the northwest corner of the country. Then, at age 20, he moved to Korea where he thrived as a pro gamer. But then it was on to London, England, the city he now calls his home. Though good for trivia, ElkY's present home is probably largely irrelevant to the story tonight. Your drivers license address notwithstanding, when you leave Day 3 of the WSOP as the almost certain chip leader with around 1.4 million, you're from Las Vegas, Nevada, home of the World Series of Poker.

More than 2,000 players started Day 3 on Friday afternoon. When ten hours of poker had passed, only 800 remained. By this time tomorrow, anyone remaining will be in the money.

Still alive and fighting for the money is a very respectable number of people flying the PokerStars flag. We've already mentioned the high-flying ElkY, but there are many more, including Team PokerStars Pro Joe Hachem who spent the day on the featured table. He struggled through most of the day, but managed a key double up after the dinner break to put him at 190,000 at day's end.

Two of the biggest names from last year's final table are threatening another deep run. 2008 World Series of Poker champion Peter Eastgate is still alive on a 340,000 stack. Third place finisher Dennis Phillips is also not giving up easy and finished today with around 580,000.

Another Phillips is proving he's as much a poker player as an actor. Lou Diamond Phillips powered through yet another day of poker to finish with 330,000, good for not only a Day 4 berth, but the honor of the last PokerStars celebrity standing. He achieved that distinction after L.A. Lake Jordan Farmar and actor Jason Alexander were eliminated.

Alexander's defeat was particularly nasty. Starting with more than 200,000 in his stack, Alexander bet 25,000 into a 3-4-6 flop and snap-called an all-in from Christian Heich. Alexander held pocket jacks. Heich showed 6-5. The turn was a nine, but the river fell as a six and Alexander's run was through. "It's a cruel game. but i'm happy with my play here," he said. "It's my third consecutive year and this is the deepest I've gone. I got halfway through Day 2 last year, so it's getting better."

Other survivors going into Day 4 include J.C. Alvarado (122,000), Thierry van den Berg (220,000), Noah Boeken (190,000), Hevad Khan (260,000), Maria Mayrinck (130,000), Ben Kang (30,000), James Akenhead (800,000), Peter Kremenliev (630,000), and a host of other PokerStars players. Check in tomorrow morning for a full accounting of the field. Everyone will come back tomorrow and try to catch the man from France, Korea, England, and Las Vegas.

We'll be back for the Day 4 noon start. We hope you'll join us as the players hit the money.

All photos © Joe Giron/IMPDI Worldwide

After four days of disunion and propagation, with players spread through numerous locations nursing mere saplings of chip stacks, today was the day that the scattered woodland took on the shape of a forest. All the disparate day 2a factions came together in the Amazon Room sometime during the third level of play, and some mighty redwoods began to sprout forth above the canopy. In a development entirely characteristic of every major tournament across the world, PokerStars players have come to the fore when it really started to matter. Of the approximate 630 players who will go through to day three on Friday, there are at least four online satellite wizards in or around the top ten percent.

Step forward California's Peter Kremenliev, Georgia's Jeffrey Mathis, Switzerland's Daniel Makowsky and Uruguay's Hernam De Leon, confirming once again the worldwide scope and strength in depth of the PokerStars hordes.

Kremenliev had about 266,000 at the end of the day, Mathis bagged 215,000, Makowsky was sitting behind about 175,000 and De Leon is at about 195,000. Although the precise results from the day won't be known until tournament staff release the counts sometime during the wee hours, and the true shape will only be known after day 2b plays out tomorrow, these guys are all in position A1 heading into into the rest of the week. Behind them, let's say in positions A1(a-d), are the esteemed likes of Raymond Rahme (115,000), Greg Raymer (120,000), Luca Pagano (45,000) and Juan Manuel Pastor (62,000), all of whom will wear the Team PokerStars Pro livery into day three.

Raymer sat on the feature table through the full ten hours. Having grown comfortable over the years of appearing on the small screen, he was joined there, also for the entire day, by another veteran of the gogglebox. Jason Alexander might still be best known for his timeless portrayal of George Costanza in "Seinfeld", but today he clocked up a good two season's worth of television time as a poker star.

Rarely overawed and cracking wise with Raymer throughout, Alexander will also be back for the rerun on Friday, with 65,000 in chips. As veterans ourselves of the World Series rerun, we know that those overnight counts will also reveal a number of other heavyweights who have so far inexplicably flown under the radar. Actually, "inexplicable" is too harsh: the reason is simply that this field remains vast and swings are fast and furious. The tide of momentum that can sweep in favour of one player, can set another all at sea, and as those mentioned above sailed fair today, the likes of Sandra Naujoks, John Duthie, Lex Veldhuis, Alex Kravchenko, Jason Mercier, Katja Thater, Barry Greenstein and Johannes Strassmann crashed into the rocks.

Tomorrow, the waves are certain to be no less choppy, with a massive fleet of Team PokerStars Pros and players again attempting to navigate through it. Eastgate, ElkY, Brown, Schwartz, Brenes, Khan and Hachem are only seven among hundreds. We'll chart them all right here.

All images come © Joe Giron/IMPDI Worldwide,

Cheerio folks. We'll be back tomorrow.

There's a group of people who believe the ancient Mayans predicted the world would end on one particular day (December 21, 2012 to be precise). These believers are preparing for End Times as we speak. As that date is less than two years away, we have an idea. We suggest we play Day 1 of the WSOP every day until then, and then we can all live four times as long. After 96 exhausting hours, we can now put Day 1 of the 2009 WSOP behind us. All 6,494 players who managed to register in time for this event have had their day in the chair. Now it's time to really light this candle and get the WSOP headed toward a bracelet.

Day 1D did not go without controversy. Even the WSOP's able Commissioner -- the event's biggest cheerleader -- called it a "tough and disappointing day." As we reported midway through the afternoon, Day 1D hit its cap before everyone who wanted a seat got one. That resulted several hundred players having to skip the Main Event.

Raj Sawamt of Los Angeles, disappointed that he will not be able to play in the Main Event. Said Sawant, "I want to cry." When it was all said and done, though, nearly 6,500 players had registered to play for more than $60,000,000 in prize money and a first prize of $8,548,435. Some well-known Team PokerStars Pro did not live to see Day 2. Dario Minieri, Anton Allemann, and last year's Main Event runner-up Ivan Demidov all busted out before the end of the day.

Faring much better during Day 1D's five levels were Team PokerStars Pros Chad Brown and Elky who finished with more than 90,000 and 70,000 respectively. Also surviving to Day 2 (chip counts are approximate and were taken with ten minutes left to play): Peter Eastgate (36,000) Jordan Farmer (54,000), Lou Diamond Phillips (40,000), Marlon Wayans (24,000), J.C. Alvarado (70,000), Andre Akkari (97,000), Humberto Brenes (12,500), Noah Boeken (81,000), Johnny Lodden (15,000), Vanessa Rousso (33,500), Victor Ramdin (22,000), Tony Hachem (72,000), Johannes Steindl (52,000), Florian Langmann (54,000), Benjamin Kang (79,000), and Veronica Dabul (9,000)

Like the four-part Day 1, Day 2 will also take longer than the real-world 24 hours. The bifurcated Day 2 begins while the first of two flights tomorrow.

All photos © Joe Giron/IMPDI Worldwide

Walking through the hallway of the Rio as the last level of the day got underway, We've gotta get out of this place by the Animals belted out over the PA system, a poignant escort perhaps to those who had fallen in what has been a busy day 1c. I was all set to make references to midnight crying, or the city bringing you down, when the track suddenly flipped to Paperback Writer by the Beatles which says nothing at all about the state of mind you might be in when, after a long day in the office, your hopes of World Series victory wither and turn to dust. There was something about making a million overnight, but let's leave that for later.

Today was just the third of four day ones, that first of many mandatory hurdles that will ultimately claim the chances of all but one before this tournament is done. The day started as its predecessors had. Each flight had heard the shrill alert of "all-in call" sounded within minutes of the start, but none so quickly as today. When Robert Vincent moved in with his pocket fives, having made a set on the flop, he no doubt counted on a bundle of chips headed his way. Tragically though he didn't count on Andy Doess making a set of tens on the same flop, sending Vincent to the rail in infamy. More would follow him there...

Daniel Negreanu

The prognosis wasn't good for Daniel Negreanu who arrived ready for a Twitterless day on the main televised feature table but suffered bad cards and bad health, busting in the early levels before bolting for bed and sympathy in a more relaxed environment. Health fine, William Thorson and Marcin Horecki were unfortunate followers as lunch came and went. Marcel Luske busted with an hour left to play when his ace-queen failed to outrun his opponent's pocket kings. It was a fate shared by around 25 per cent of the field as the bell went at the close including Tom McEvoy who busted within sight of the finish line.

Marcel Luske

There was a flip side to all that midnight crying and it landed on the many hundreds now permitted to return here on Wednesday for day 2b among whom sit the likely lads and lasses of Team PokerStars Pro.

Joe Hachem

Joe Hachem and Maria Mayrinck, two Team Pros from air mile friendly countries, shared a table all day although different fates, Hachem seemed on a roll and up to 89,000 while Mayrinck closed the day on 30,000 and still chatty.

Maria Mayrinck

Up there alongside Hachem was Hevad Khan, another Pro with a proud Amazon Room track record, who bagged up a good looking 115,000. While Ylon Schwartz at first suffered a dip he rallied to 57,000 and is as comfortable as he always looks. Both Bill Chen on 17,000 and Isabelle Mercier on 50,000 had reasonably incident free days, Mercier having skipped the WSOP until the Main Event. "I just arrived. I'm all fresh! Can you tell?" The same could be said for Dennis Phillips on 60,000 and Darus Suharto on 45,000, among those back for day 2b on Wednesday, along with Gavin Griffin who survived an unlikely showdown late in the day, tweeting the news: "Got lucky when all in for the first time all WSOP with TT v QQ for 70 BB pot."

Gavin Griffin, complete with what appears to be angel wings

Elsewhere PokerStars' Thierry van den Berg finished on 87,000 and EPT Barcelona champion Sebastian Ruthenberg did the same with 25,500, heading back for day two. That day two will be shorter for everyone whether they bust out or not.

If you're quick you might have spotted the subtle difference in levels today. If you're not, or have fourth of July fatigue, allow me to explain... Today's field slogged through five levels as opposed to the four of days 1a and 1b. Inflated numbers and a forecasted sell out tomorrow forced organisers to extend today and tomorrow. That means a shorter day 2b, while the day 2a survivors (from days 1a and 1b) will play five levels to catch up on day 2a. Still with me? Tomorrow tournament officials will break the seal on all available space all the way from here in the Amazon Room, through the Brasilia and Miranda rooms, all the way to the casino floor. Among them will be the balance of Team PokerStars Pros and anyone else you'd expect to be here who hasn't yet taken their turn at the coal face.

All of today's photos come from the trigger finger of © Joe Giron/IMPDI Worldwide.

Join us tomorrow. See you then...

Day 1b at the 2009 World Series Main Event started with some very familiar words. Sure, Doyle Brunson uttered "Shuffle up and deal," but barely had he done so than an even more regular refrain began to ring out: "All in and call on table X!" The eliminations started exceptionally early today, and right in front of media row. Down on table 77, about five yards from where this is being written, the PokerStars player Angelo Ricci got it all in within about ten minutes of play beginning. Ricci's aces stayed good against Angelo Miele's pocket queens, vaulting the Canadian into the definitive early chip lead and sending Miele to the rail.

Ricci built impressively on his speedy start, bagging up more than 50,000 at the end of the day. But it was Miele who really set the tone: players followed him out the door with startling regularity, making their bids for independence on the most appropriate of days.

Many were liberated from their chip stacks by a pair of PokerStars players on table 38 named Craig Hopkins and Vadim Gruzglin. Those two were neighbours at the table and on the leaderboard throughout today's action, each scaling the dizzy heights of 120,000-ish in the penultimate level, and remaining there at day's end.

The humble Englishman Hopkins, who we first encountered when he made the final table of the PCA in January 2008, put his surge down to good fortune: "I had kings and hit the nut flush. I had queens and made queens full," Hopkins said. "Every time I played I seemed to hit two pair," he continued, striking a blow for the vanquished Brits on American Independence Day. Gruzglin was similarly ruthless, and got his monsters to stand up. His aces gave him a double up, then his kings knocked out two others: one shoving with tens, another with ace-king. There were mixed fortunes for Team PokerStars Pro -- although they at least had each other for company for much of the day. The random table draw pitted Luca Pagano against Barry Greenstein on one table and Alex Kravchenko against Greg Raymer on another.

All four of them were still battling at day's close (Pagano with 43,000, Greenstein with 19,000, Raymer with 45,000 and Kravchenko with 55,000), but the players consigned to a solitary fight -- Vicky Coren and Chris Moneymaker -- both fell at the first. Coren's set of queens were no good during level three ("There's no hand I would've played differently. I was just comically, efficiently doomed" she tweeted later), while Moneymaker's Twitter followers got the following: "Well that was fun. Was shortstacked and pushed with 10/10. Got called by A/A. Busted."

We also met the PokerStars players Bryan Kerr and Dion Jones today. Kerr survived his day on the feature table with 32,000, while Jones shimmied up to 31,000 at the end. It's also going to be worth keeping an eye on the Team PokerStars Holland Pro Joep van den Bijgaart, who finished with 64,000, which is 4,000 more than the fearsome PokerStars tournament force Shaun Deeb's 60,000. A grand total of 873 players joined the fray on day 1b, and the precise number remaining, will be made known to us overnight.

Tomorrow is day 1c, the third of four opening days. As ever, all the action will be on PokerStars blog. All of today's photos, including this one of some fireworks, come © Joe Giron/IMPDI Worldwide.

Happy Independence Day, America. We'll be back tomorrow.

Brad Willis reports at the start of the main event...

As far as we know, it is not written in any poker bible that every tournament Day 1 must be a blistering marathon that leaves the players a blubbering mess at the end. That understood, never before at the World Series have we left a Day 1 and thought, "Well, that went fast." Until today.

For an as-yet unexplained reason, the WSOP tournament staff decided to cut a level out of all four Day 1 flights. That meant all 1,116 players came in, played two levels, went to an early dinner, and came back for two more levels. Easy-bodeezy.

As always the Amazon Room was a sea of PokerStars players and Team Pros. Most survived the afternoon and evening. Though a shortened day, there were casualties to report. St. Louis rapper Nelly and former major league pitcher Orel Hershiser drew the cameras and railbirds like flies, but couldn't manage to attract any chips. They were both eliminated shortly after the dinner break. German stars Jan Heitmann and George Danzer hit the rail early, too.

The survivors came through the day in greater number, with some of PokerStars most prolific and successful tourney players still in the mix going to Day 2. Steve Paul-Ambrose (6,900), Lex Veldhuis (75,000), Raymond Rahme (57,000), Katja Thater (37,500), Jason Mercier (38,000), John Duthie (25,000), Johannes Strassmann (20,000), Juan Manuel Pastor (48,000), Sandra Naujoks (16,500) all made it through.

If there is a take away story of the day though, it is this: This very well could be the Summer of George. Friend of PokerStars Jason Alexander went on a massive tear in the last level of the night to move his chip stack to the 75,000.

Day 1 begins again with the B flight Saturday at noon. No word yet on the number of runners, but due to the holiday, we expect another light day before the two big flights on Sunday and Monday.

See you then.

That's all, folks. There are no more preliminary events at the World Series of Poker. If a player hasn't cashed in one yet or still have a seat in one of the two events running today, he is going to have to make his nut in the Main Event.

This is the first day since May that a new WSOP event has not started and most people are taking that day off from the Rio. After several weeks of hard core poker play, everyone is in need of a bit of a break.

The penultimate day finished off with a bit of a splash last night as Chad Brown and Daniel Negreanu racked up a couple more big cashes.

There are still a few PokerStars players left in their seats. Lex Veldhuis, Bill Chen, Grant Levy, and Alexander Kravchenko all made day 2 of the $5,000 Six-Handed No-Limit Hold'em event are still working to get their piece of the $1 million first prize.

Thursday hosts the $5,000 Ante Up For Africa charity tournament. Then, one day later, we're in the thick of it. The Main Event begins on Friday and will run for the next two weeks.

Good luck to PokerStars players who still have a chance at some prelim event money. And to the rest of you, get some rest. It's going to be a big couple of weeks.