Scotty Nguyen will not sip a beer at the final table. With his elimination in 10th place ($11,658), and Tom Schneider's busting of Josh Arieh in 9th ($11,685), the final table is set for the $2,500 mixed omaha and stud eight or better event. Tom Schneider is going into the final table with the chip lead, followed by Annie Duke and Chris Ferguson. Chris Bell, David Benyamine and Joseph Bolnick are floating in the middle, while John Phan and Ed Tonellier are both below $100,000 in chips. 

Make sure to check out Cardplayer.com tomorrow at 3 p.m. for final table coverage as these eight players battle for $214,347 and the gold bracelet.

The remaining thirteen players in the $2,500 omaha and stud eight or better mixed event are on an hour long brake, returning to play just before 11 p.m.  Tom Schneider has broken the $200,000 dollar mark as the chip leader, but Chris Ferguson and Chris Bell are close on his heels.  Cyndy Violette was eliminated when her jacks up were drawn out on by Tom Schneider, who rivered set. Cyndy had no low and was sent to the rail in 16th place, receiving  $8,243. Mel Judah was also eliminated in the last hour.  Scotty Nguyen is on the shortstack, and will have to battle back after the break if he wants to sip Michelob at the final table.

The field has narrowed to two tables with 18 players during the Omaha portion of this level. Still remaining in the field are Scotty Nguyen, Annie Duke, Chris Bell, Josh Arieh, David Benyamine, Cyndy Violette, Mel Judah, Chris "Jesus" Ferguson, and John Phan.

Josh Arieh was responsible for eliminating the 19th player, causing the tables to break. In a pot involving two other players, Arieh bet out on the river. While waiting for the action of the other two, Arieh looks at his opponents and says, "Yum yum. I got ya lookin! Yum yum baby." The player in seat two makes the call and Arieh speaks up again. "Yum yum, ship it to the southern boy!" he says. The player in seat three also makes the call and Arieh immediately turns over his cards and says, "Two pair boys! Ship it." As both of Arieh's opponent's muck their cards in defeat, Annie Duke speaks up from the other featued table. "We lost one, we lost one!" she says to the tournament official. Not to be outdone, Arieh chirps before his defeated opponent can even stand up, "Oh yeah, we lost another over here too!"

Hand for hand didn't last that long.

Ernie Scherer was the unfortunate bubble boy, losing to Lonnie Heimowitz's wheel.  Soon after the bubble burst a few top pros made their way to the cashier's cage.  Anthony Reategui and Robert Mizrachi finished in the first tier of payouts, earning $6,017.  However those bust outs still leave a thick field.  Cyndi Violette, Jan Sorenson, Annie Duke, Tom Schneider, David Benyamine, Josh Arieh, Scotty Nguyen, Mel Judah, and Chris Ferguson still haunt the field with Schneider holding a healthy lead on the rest of the field. 

In particular Annie Duke has made a remarkable comeback to sit with an above average chip stack.  Aside from some complaints about the new TV table that is next to the Final Table stage (which has a higher lip then standard felt tables), she has been playing extremely well.  It would be interesting to see both Violette, long considered a stud specialist, and Duke whose bracelet is in Omaha 8-or-better together at this events final table.

But such speculation will have to be delayed til after the players dinner break.

There are now 36 players remaining in the field.  With the top 32 getting paid, tournament officials have now decided to go hand for hand.

On the first hand back from the break Greg Raymer found himself in too deep without a life vest.  Upon making his exit Raymer announced that he was on his way to join the Pot-Limit Omaha event that has just gotten underway.  Bill Gazes also made his own exit soon after that.  Put perhaps the most stunning exit was the most quiet of them all.  After enduring a stretch of bad cards, Mike Matusow slipped out of the Amazon Room, causing the railbirds who weren't paying attention to wonder if he had been moved to another table.

Both Josh Arieh and Cyndy Violette were the big chip movers in this last round.  Violette took a half of a large pot off of Ernie Scherer who started with a low straight draw, and ended up with two inferior pair.  Arieh scooped a pot off of Chris Ferguson and another opponent who missed a low draw.  Both players have over $70,000. 

It is becoming apparent that the eventual final table of this event will be filled with names you have heard before in the world of poker.

Play has stopped at the end of the 20th level, while the players are on a 15 minute break.  Notable bust outs in the last hour have included pros Joe Tehan, Hasan Habib, Chau Giang, and Bradley Berman.  Annie Duke currently clings to a smaller stack, having survived to triple up after being crippled in the previous hand. 

Ernie Scherer has climbed among the chip leaders in recent action.  The levels have now reached a point where most of the pots being contested are two-way and spilts negate most of their action.  The scoops are now creating larger swings in the chipleader board along with John Monette, Bill Gazes, and Jan Sorensen.

Mike Matusow has been uncharacteristically quiet to begin the day.  Its possible that Scotty Nguyen's early scoop of nearly $20,000 pot with trip 5's may have had something to do with it.  Or he may have not gotten enough sleep last night.  He's still in good position, in a field where the pros are beginning to fall.  Paul Darden, "Miami John" Cernuto, Jason Strasser, and Jennifer Harman have all fallen early in today's action, with Harman being eliminated by Greg Raymer. 

Most of the field is playing in a roped off area with the remaining tables of the Event #4 Pot Limit event, but there are two tables directly next to the Final Table stage and VIP area.  On one of those tables, Cyndy Violette has been rolling at her table, much to the chagrin of John Phan.  They have had some issues with their dealer.  After they played at the wrong level ante and bring in for a few levels, they then witnessed a player somehow receiving 8 cards.  The problems continue.

Tom Schneider, Chris Ferguson, Nguyen, Annie Duke, and Violette are among the chip leaders with about 60 players remaining.