Blinds: 2,000-4,000

Eliminations: William Palmer

Table Winners: None this hour

Players Left: 14

Big Hands:

Roothlus Takes One On the Chin

After starting the heads up match significantly outchipped, Adam Levy was playing tough, solid poker against a frustrated Greg Mueller. Levy, who was down about 500,000 to 100,000 at the initiation of heads up play, had worked his stack up to about 250,000 when this hand took place: after a flop of 974, Mueller led out with a bet of 24,000 and Levy raised to 75,000. Mueller made the call, which meant that more than a quarter of the total chips were in play. Both players checked when the J hit the board, and then Mueller led out for 90,000 after the 3 hit on the river. Levy called and Mueller showed him the irksome news: A6 for the nut flush on the flop. Remarkably, Levy also had a club in his hand, the Q to go along with a Q. Levy was crippled after the hand, down to about 40,000. Meanwhile, Mueller appears to be in a better mood.

Beebe New Table Leader

Down to three handed with Sinous Jamshidi and Elton Beebe, John Monnette looked to be cruising to the finals with more than half the chips in play. Then Jamshidi opened for a raise. Beebe reraised, and Monnette, on the big blind, pumped it enough to put each of his opponents all in. Jamshidi elected to get out of the way, and Beebe made the call for another 135,000 with QQ. Monnette meekly turned over 1010, and four boarded diamonds--9746---sealed it for Beebe, who is up to more than 350,000 while Monnette is down to less than 200,000.
Kirsch Takes Hit
Philip Tom and Richard Kirsch, down to heads up, got it all in before the flop, and both turned over raggedy aces: A7 for Kirsch, A5 for Tom. "It's probably a chop," said Kirch charitably, after a flop of 844. The 5 spiked on the turn, though, giving Tom a lead that would hold up when the 10 came on the river. Kirsch, who would have eliminated Tom on that hand, is now about even with the man in chips.

All right, after a late start the cards are finally in the air for the Shootout...

Note: Play has ended for the day and will resume with a new round of tournaments tomorrow.  Below is a list of all of today's tournament winners and their new seat assignments.  All of today's winners represent the money group for this event and are guaranteed to receive at least $16,920 in prize money.

Table One:
Seat One: Evan McNiff
Seat Two: John Murphy
Seat Thee: Eugene Katchalov
Seat Four: Thomas Roupe
Seat Five: Joe Sebok
Seat Six: William Palmer

Table Two:
Seat One: Mats Gavatin
Seat Two: Pier Ruscalla
Seat Three: Christopher Howard
Seat Four: Leo Wolpert
Seat Five: Michael Gracz
Seat Six: Jacobo Fernandez

Table Three:
Seat One: Isaac Haxton
Seat Two: Greg Mueller
Seat Three: Burt Boutin
Seat Four: Adam Levy
Seat Five: Paul Roper
Seat Six: Ryan Thurlow

Table Four:
Seat One: Tony G
Seat Two: Robert Firestone
Seat Three: Sinous Jamshidi
Seat Four: Elton Beebe
Seat Five: Alex Jacob
Seat Six: John Monnette

Table Five:
Seat One: John Juanda
Seat Two: Eric Froehlich
Seat Three: Andrey Zaichenko
Seat Four: Gabriel Costner
Seat Five: Timothy West
Seat Six: Erik Seidel

Table Six:
Seat One: Andre Biechel Remy
Seat Two: Gregg Turk
Seat Three: William Blanda
Seat Four: Phillip Tom
Seat Five: Richard Kirsch
Seat Six: Ariel Schneller

Blinds: 300-600 ante 75

Eliminations: Alexander Kravchenko, Marco Traniello, Phil Hellmuth, Chad Brown

Some Notable Matchups:
By now most tables have consolidated to just two or three players, although the blinds are still small enough--300-600, with 100,000 in total chips at each table--to ensure heads up matches that could last well through the evening.

Issaac Haxton vs. Will Purkey
Joe Sebok vs. Quinn Do
Erik Seidel vs. Heltge Kalaznokov
Greg Mueller vs. Johnny Kincaid
John Juands vs. the Doc

Big Hands:

Murphy to the Next Round

John Murphy advanced to the next round when he and his opponent got all the chips in on a board of 753. Murphy held AQ, his opponent 42. The 9 on the turn sealed the deal.

Cooler for Hellmuth

After Juanda and the "Doc" needled a short-stacked Phil Hellmuth for a solid hour about his tight play, Hellmuth finally got his 10,000 in with two black kings--only to find out he was drawing slim against Juanda's AA. "I let them run over me all day, and then I had him set up..." lamented Hellmuth. His kings never improved and he was eliminated from the tournament. Juanda, meanwhile, has a commanding chip lead moving into heads up play.

Costner, Jacob, Tong G Move On

Gabe Costner eliminated Chad Brown when a flop of J108 had both players pushing all in. The short stacked Brown held 53 and Costner K9. Two blanks fell on the turn and river and Brown was eliminated.

Alex Jacob triumphed over Todd Barlow in heads up play to advance to the next round.

Tony G's paired nine held up to best David Steicke. G will continue tomorrow with the rest of the day's winners in the second round.

Big Blinds: 250-500 ante 50

Eliminations: Carlos Mortensen, Gavin Smith, Phil Laak, Bill Chen

Big Hands:

Mortenson, Laak, Smith Out

- Mortensen was eliminated when his ace jack failed to improve against Leo Walpert's ace queen.
- Phil Laak was eliminated when he raised all in on a board of 743. His opponent called, saying, "It's a race." Laak, who held 64, was ahead until the turn, when the 10 made his opponent, with A9, the nuts.
- Gavin Smith was desperately short stacked when he got down to heads up with Zaichenko Audzey; soon he was stacked not at all. After Audzey put him all in from the small blind, Smith elected to call his last five thousand chips with A3, woefully behind Audzey's AQ. The board hit no one, and Audzey advanced.

Ng Battling

Evelyn Ng, once her table's chipleader, has backslid some, mostly thanks to Mats Gavatin, who holds about three fifths of the table's chips. Gavatin and Ng are now heads up.

Roothlus Now Heads Up

Somewhat ironically, Adam Levy is now heads up with the same player who he layed down to last round for all his chips: one Bob Slezak. Slezak has about a three to one chip advantage.

Chen Gone

Bill Chen was eliminated when his ace seven failed to improve against his opponent's ace ten. Phil Hellmuth, seated at the same table, claimed he layed down the winner: his king queen would have paired on the flop.

Hellmuth Still Kicking

After Hellmuth raised to 1,400 and was called by his opponent on the button, both players checked a raggedly flop of 863. The turn brought the Q and Hellmuth bet 1,100. His opponent called. "Sheesh," lamented Hellmuth. "What did he do now?" The river was the 2 and Hellmuth checked this time. His opponent fired 1,500 and Hellmuth almost went ballistic. Eventually he folded, leaving him with about 11,000 in chips. John Juanda is the big stack at the table with about 30,000.

Big Blinds: 250-500 ante 50

Eliminations: Carlos Mortenson, Gavin Smith, Phil Laak, Bill Chen

Tables Left:

Big Hands:

Mortenson, Laak, Smith Out

- Mortenson was eliminated when his ace jack failed to improve against Leo Walpert's ace queen.
- Phil Laak was eliminated when he raised his opponent all in on a board of 743 and his opponent called, saying, "It's a race." Laak, who held 64, was ahead until the turn, when the 10 made his opponent, who held A9, the nuts.
- Gavin Smith was desperately short stacked when he got down to heads up with Zaichenko Audzey, and soon was stacked not at all. After Audzey put him all in from the small blind, Smith elected to call his last five thousand chips with A3, woefully behind Audzey's AQ. The board hit no one, and Audzey advanced.

Ng Battling

Evelyn Ng, once her table's chipleader, has backslid some, mostly thanks to Mats Gavatin, who holds about 3/5 of the table's chips. Gavatin and Ng are now heads up.

Roothlus Now Heads Up

Somewhat ironically, Adam Levy is now heads up with the same player who he layed down to last round for all his chips: one Bob Slezak. Slezak has about a three to one chip advantage.

Chen Gone

Bill Chen was eliminated when his ace seven failed to improve against his opponent's ace ten. Phil Hellmuth, seated at the same table, claimed that he layed down the winner: his king queen would have paired on the flop.

Hellmuth Still Kicking

After Hellmuth raised to 1,400 and was called by the opponent behind, both players checked 863. The turn brought the Q and Hellmuth bet 1,100. His opponent called. "Sheesh," said Hellmuth. "What did he do?" The river was the 2 and Hellmuth checked this time. His opponent bet 1,500 and Hellmuth almost went ballistic. Eventually he folded, leaving up with about 11,000 in chips. John Juanda is the big stack at the table with about 30,000.

Blinds: 200-400 ante 50

Eliminations: Daniel Negreanu, Daniel Alaei, Young Phan

Big Hands:

Phan Out

After Eric Froehlich bet on a board, of K62, Young Phan raised all in for about 5,000 more. Froehlich called with K10, his pair of kings in the lead against Phan's QQ. The turn and river brought no help to Phan, who was eliminated. Froelich remains near the head of his table in chips.

Mueller Throws Fit, Than Eliminates Player

Greg Mueller nearly had a fit after his button opponent open raised all in for 5,925. "Why so much," groaned Mueller. "Will you show me your hand if I fold? You say yes and I fold 100%. I give you my word." When his opponent declined, Mueller decided to fold anyway.
A few hands later, Mueller did call when again the same player moved all in. Mueller was ahead with AQ against his opponent's A4. An ace on the flop and a queen on the turn sent his opponent packing. Three players remain at Mueller's table, including Lee Watkinson.

Negreanu's Rough Day

After having been whittled down to 3,300 after the first two levels, Negreanu elected to play for keeps after Alec Torelli and one other player limped in front of him. Torelli then reraised enough to ensure it would be heads up between them, showing down A9. Negreanu meekly turned over A6. The board nearly wrapped around Negreanu's six--four, seven on the flop, five on the river--giving Torelli the pot and bouncing Negreanu from the tournament.

Sleepy Hippo Waking Up

Ryan "sleepy__hippo" Thurlow looks to be in position to be the first table winner of hte day: down to the final two, Thurlow raised to 3,000 on a board of J62, only to see his opponent to come over the top for 6,000 more. Thurlow called and a 7 came off on the turn. Both players checked. After the A on the river, his opponent led out for 20,000, and Thurlow elected to push all in for about 12,000 more. His opponent called. The river had been kind to Thurlow, whose A6, middle pair and a flush draw on the flop, made aces up on the river.

Gavin Smith Still Alive

After the button opened to 1,200, Smith moved all in for 7,100 total. His opponent folded. Three players remain at the table, and Smith is the shortest of the stacks.

Daniel Alaei Turned Out of the Tournament

Alaei made a good call for his tournament life when he put his money in with K7 on a flop of 975. The original better was caught with his hand in the cookie jar with QJ, but the sweet J on the turn sent Alaei packing.

Roothlus Chastened

With five players left at his table, Adam "Roothlus" Levy raised to 4,200, only to have the opponent to his immediate left come over the top for 30,000, more than enough to put him all in. Levy tanked for several minutes before folding. He still has about 11,000 in chips.

Blinds:

150-300 ante 25

Notable Eliminations: Chad Batista, Chris Ferguson, Phil Ivey, Shane Schleger, Josh Arieh, Amir Vehedi, JC Alvarado, Barry Shulman

Big Hands:

Phil Ivey Gone

After Phil Ivey called a preflop raise, he led out on a flop Qd93 for 2,000. Seat 5 raised to 6,000, and Ivey moved all in for a few thousand more, drawing a call. It was off to the races: Ivey showed Q9 for top two pair, while his opponent revealed 98, drawing live to a diamond flush. The K spiked on the turn, pushing Ivey to the brink, and the 3 on the river provided no help. Ivey, who was mid-massage at the time, graciously paid his masseuse before exiting.

Joe Sebok On Fire

After Seat 5 fired 3,000 on a flop of 86 6, Joe Sebok called. The 7 came off on the turn and Seat 5 went into the tank for long enough that Sebok asked the dealer whether he had checked or not. Seat 5 answered by announcing, "All in"; and Sebok immediately called with 88 for a flopped full house. Seat 5 showed 99, drawing slim, and the river changed nothing. Sebok is healthy early, with over 32,000 in chips.

Berger Wamboozles Murphy

Dmitri Nobles raised from under the gun to 600 and Seat 7 and John Murphy both called. Fred Berger reraised an additional 2450, and Dmitri and seat 7 folded, while John Murphy moved all in. Berger made the call with QQ, well ahead of Murphy's 99. The board offered no help to Murphy, who was eliminated.

Froelich in Business

Eric Froelich was called by one opponent after he moved in on a board of J7226. Froelich showed KJ and his opponent mucked. Froelich is up to 24,000.

Vahedi, Shulman Out

On a flop of 109 4, Amir Vahedi moved his short stack into the middle and was quickly called by one opponent. Vahedi's opponents showed J9, slightly ahead of Q8 for a gutshot and flush draw. The 8 gave Vahedi additional hope, but the 5 on the bounced him from the tournament.

Big Bossman Barry Shulman moved all in preflop and was called by two players, including Evelyn Ng. After both players checked down a board of Q985K, Ng showed A7, and Shulman mucked his hand. Ng is up to about 35,000 in chips.

Of Note:

- Antonio Esfandiari, sighting T.J. Cloutier, asked for a hug; T.J. countered with an offer of a handshake, prompting Esfandiari to reraise with a proposition to kiss Cloutier on the cheek. Cloutier laughed, saying, "No way, Jose," and walked away.

- After Chad Brown congratulated Erick Lindgren for his bracelet win in the Mixed Hold 'Em Event two days ago, Lindgren walked over to Brown's table to thank him, only for Humberto Brenes to inquire what he was being congratulated for. "I did 18 jumping jacks without falling over," Lindgren joked, and the table burst into laughter. Lindgren then began negotiating with tablemate Mike Matusow for the terms of a wager on the NBA finals.

Blinds: 100-200

Eliminations: David Benyamine, Nenad Medic, John Little, John Phan

Seating Chart:
The inaugural $5,000 shootout is loaded with big names, resulting in a veritable bevy of "stacked" tables:
Table 1: Tony Cousineau (1), Blair "Blur5f6" Hinkle (2), Andy Bloch (10)
Table 2: Chad "lilholdem954" Batista (1), Thayer "THAY3R" Rasmussen (3), Dmitri Nobles (4), Steve Sung (5), John Murphy (8), Fred Berger (9)
Table 3: Eugene Katchalov (1), Bertrand "Elky" Grospellier (2), David "Raptor" Benefield
Table 4: Hevad Kahn (2), Jamie "TheCronic420" Rosen (3), Chris "Genius28" Lee (5)
Table 5: Jerrod Hankerman (1), Alex Kravchenko (2), Daniel Shiff (7), Joe Sebok (8), Quinn Do (10)
Table 6: Mike "sirwatts" Watson (1), Phil Laak (2), Barny Boatman (3), Rodeen Talebi (5)
Table 7: Scott Fischman (2), Barry Shulman (3), Eveleyn Ng (5), Greg Alston (7), Alan Smurfit (8)
Table 8: Jonathan "fatalerror" Aguiar (1), Tommy Le (3), Jonathan Little (7), Shawn Buchanan (9), Patrik Antonius (10)
Table 9: Dewey Tomko (2), David Pham (6), Andy Black (7), Shane Schleger (8)
Table 11: Luke "IwearGoggles" Stoudenmaire (1), Mike Gracz (3), Will "TheThrill" Failla (4), Clonie Gowen (6), Vadim Trincher (7), Adam Katz (9)
Table 12: Jeff Shulman (1), Alan "The Usher" Sass (3), Brynn Kenney (6), Jacobo Fernandez (7), John Phan (10)
Table 13: Dario Minieri (2), Sorel "Imper1um" Mizzi (4), Roy Winston (6), Isaac Haxton (7)
Table 14: Johnny Kincaid (1), Lee Markholt (3), Alexander Kostritsyn (4), Greg Mueller (5), Lee Watkinson (8), Mike Sexton (9), Kirk Morrison (10)
Table 15: John "craniac" Kranyak (1), Vivek "psyduck" Rajkumar (2), Jennifer Tilly (4), Burt Bouton (5), Shawn Deeb (6), Harry Demetriou (8), Rafe Furst (9)
Table 16: Phil Ivey (2), Adam "Roothlus" Levy (3), Amit "Amak316" Makhija (8), David "dpeters18" Peters (9), Brian "tsarrast" Rast (10)
Table 17: David Williams (2), David "Chino' Rheem (3), Kathy Liebert (4), Chris Ferguson (7), Chau Giang (9)
Table 18: JC Alvarado (3), Ray Coburn (7)
Table 19: Shawn Keller (2), Glen Chorny (3), Tony G (9)
Table 20: Noah Jefferson (2)
Table 21: Roland De Wolfe (1), Alex Torelli (2), Daniel Negreanu (4), Eric Hershler (5), Jason "JP_OSU" Potter (6)
Table 22: Antonio Esfandiari (2), Chris Moore (3), Terrance Chan (8), Josh Arieh (9)
Table 23: John Roveto Sr (1), Scott "SCTrojans" Freeman (2), Ram Vaswani (7), Justin Bonomo (8), Alex Jacob (9)
Table 24: John Monette (3), Barry Greenstein (6), Matt "hazards21" Gianetti
Table 25: Aaron Been (2), Bill Chen (3), Phil Hellmuth (4), John Juanda (8), Toto Leonidas (10)
Table 26: Scott Montgomery (3), Young Phan (7), John Hennigan (8), Eric Froehlich (9)
Table 27: Mike Wattel (2), Anna Wroblewski (5), Gavin Smith (6), Nam Le (7), Ted Lawson (10)
Table 28: Max Pescatori (2), Chad Brown (3), Scott "gunning4you" Seiver (4), Gabe Costner (5), Humberto Brenes (6), Mike Matusow (9), Gene Todd
Table 29: Beth Shak (1), Cliff "JohnnyBax" Josephy (2), Pat Pizzin (4), Ben Grandy (6), Tim "Tmay420" West (7), Sabyl Cohen
Table 30: Vanessa Selbst (4), Victor Ramdin (8), Erik Seidel (9)
Table 31: Bill Edler (2), Markus Lehmann (3), Mario "Pwnasaurus" Silvestri, Brian "snagglepuss" Powell (5)
Table 32: Andrew "Good2C4" Robl (3), Erick Lindgren (8)
Table 33: William Blands (4), Jordan Morgan (7), Brandon Adams (8), Jean-Robert Bellande (9)
Table 34: Brett Richey (9)
Table 35: Mario Traniello (6), Jerry Yang (7), Mark Seif (10)
Table 36: Ariel "DaEvils" Schneller (8)

Big Hands:

Medic Crippled Early

Nenad Medic pushed an opponent all in with AK, far behind AA. The board was no help to Medic, as it came Q8498. Medic is down to less than 1,000 early.

Tilly Takes Down A Pot

After John Kranyak raised to 450, Vivek Rajkumar reraised to 1,300 on the cutoff, and the button, one Jennifer Tilly, flat called. The action folded around to Kranyak, who also called. After the flop came out Q65. Kranyak and Rajkumar both checked and Tilly bet 2,000. They both folded. Tilly continues her pattern of chipping up early. Let's see if she can hold on to them this time.

Of Note:

- Daniel Negreanu has brought a golf club handle with him to the event today, and has been practicing golf swings between hands and discussing them with Phil Ivey, who's seated one table away.

- Hellmuth has a sheaf of hundreds in view on the table in front of him. After a spectator yelled, "What are you going to do with all that money, Phil?" Hellmuth replied, "I haven't bought in yet, man!"