Don't Bust Now
Play has tightened up significantly since the final 10 combined.  Most pots have been taken down preflop, and it is clear that no player wants to bust on the final table bubble.  The normally active Tuan Lam and Hevad Khan have uncharacteristically tightened up as well.  One would think that such aggressive players would use this opportunity to apply maximum pressure.
Poker Stars Online Qualifiers
Tuan Lam                     20,970,000
Hevad "Rain" Khan     10,585,000
www.pokerstars.net

Nguyen and Lam Battle Again
Pokerstars qualifier Tuan Lam raises from the small blind to $480,000 and Scotty Nguyen reraises to $1,48,000.  Lam makes the call, and the flop comes K54.  Lam checks and Nguyen bets out $700,000.  Lam again makes the call and the turn brings the K.  Both players check and the river is the J.  Lam leads for $1,000,000 and Nguyen raises to $3,500,000.  Lam goes deep into the tank, and after almost five minutes makes the call.  Nguyen shows down 43, and Lam rolls over 1010 for a better two pair.  Lam rakes the pot worth $11,460,000.

Scotty Nguyen Crippled
Scotty Nguyen raises to $530,000 from the small blind and is called by Philip Hilm from the big blind.  The flop falls Q 6 5 and Nguyen bets out $600,000.  Hilm makes the call, and the turn brings the K.  Nguyen checks, and Hilm fires out $1,200,000.  Nguyen moves all in, and Hilm insta-calls with 55.  Nguyen is drawing dead when he tables AQ, and the river is the 4.  Hilm has $6,845,000, and doubles over the $12,000,000 mark.  Nguyen is left with just $1,350,000.

Scotty Nguyen Eliminated 11th ($476,926)
Philip Hilm raises under the gun to $480,000 and Scotty Nguyen calls from the big blind.  The flop comes K73, and Nguyen pushes all in for his remaining chips.  Hilm quickly calls and turns over KQ while Nguyen tables 109 for the flush draw.  The suspense is thick in the air, as the next two cards determine the fate of the 1998 World Series of Poker  main event champion.  The turn brings the 2 and Nguyen is down to his final card.  The river is the Q, and the spectators let out a collective gasp and cheer and the Prince its eliminated from the tournament.  He leaves the stage quickly but soon returns to the arena to make an impromptu speech to the crowd.  He thanks the fans, saying without them there would be no Scotty Nguyen.  He said the they give him all the energy he needed to preform and that he would be back next year.  He takes a $476,926 and a whole lot of poker history to the rail. 

Final Ten Set
The final 10 players in the main event are set.  Floors staff has introduced the Lavender $100,000 chips into play and seat five will have the button.   Here are their seating assignments and chip counts:

Seat one -- Raymond Rahme -- $12,875,000
Seat two -- Alex Kravchenko -- $2,810,000
Seat three -- Lee Childs - -$18,050,000
Seat four -- Jerry Yang -- $6,130,000
Seat five -- Lee Watkinson -- $11,715,000
Seat six -- Steven Garfinkle -- $4,925,000
Seat seven -- Tuan Lam -- $20,100,000
Seat eight -- Philip Hilm -- $19,310,000
Seat nine -- Jon Kalmar -- $20,200,000
Seat ten -- Hevad "RainKhan" Khan -- 11,035,000

Break
Players are on a 20 minute break before play starts.
Poker Stars Online Qualifiers
Tuan Lam
Hevad "Rain" Khan
www.pokerstars.com

Ray Henson Eliminated 12th ($476,920)
Henson limps from the small blind and Scotty Nguyen raises to $500,000 from the big blind.  Henson reraises to $1,175,000 and Nguyen makes the call.  The flop comes K66, Henson checks and Nguyen bets $700,000, Henson moves all in and Nguyen calls.  Henson tables 99, and Nguyen KQ.  The next two cards brick and Henson is sent home in 12th place.

Nguyen Wins Huge Pot
Tuan Lam raises from the small blind to $500,000 and Scotty Nguyen makes the call from the big blind.  The flop comes KJ3, Lam checks and Nguyen bets $500,000.  Lam reraises to $1,500,000 and Nguyen makes the call.  The turn comes J, and Lam fires out a $2,000,000 bet.  Nguyen again makes the call, and the river brings the 6.   Lam checks and Nguyen bets out $2,000,000.  Lam thinks then mucks his hand.

Raymond Rahme Takes Huge Pot
It is folded to Philip Hilm in the small blind, he calls and Raymond Rahme checks in the big blind.  The flop comes 633, Hilm bets $120,000 and Rahme makes the call.  The turn is the 2. Hilm checks and Rahme bets out $250,000.  Hilm check-raises to $750,000 and Rahme goes into the tank.  He finally makes the call, and the river brings the 4.  Hilm bets $1,200,000 and Rahme calls almost instantly.  Hilm tables K3 for trip threes, but Rahme roll over 65 for the straight.  He rakes a massive pot, worth over $5,000,000.

Tuan Lam
Tuan Lam, who qualified for the main event online at www.pokerstars.com has some added help on his side, sweating him in the stands is fellow Canadian Anh Van Nguyen.  Nguyen won a Bellagio preliminary event earlier in the year, and attributed some of his success to coaching from J.C. Tran.  Whomever has helped Lam has clearly done an amazing job. 

David Tran Eliminated 14th ($429,114)
Tuan Lam raises in early position and it is folded to David Tran.  He looks down at his cards, them moves all in for $2,605,000. It is folded back to Lam and he goes into the tank.  He thinks for several minutes, then simply says, "Call."  He tables AK, and Tran shows 66.  The flop comes K103, and Lam lets out a rare show of emotion.  The next two cards come 42, and Tran is send from the main event in 14th place for a payday of $429,114.  There are now just 13 players remaining.

William Spadea Eliminated 13th ($429,114)

William Spadea was all in with Big Slick, but he was covered by Jon Kalmer, who held pocket aces. The board rolled out A 8 8 2 5. Spadea was eliminated in 13th place and he took home $429,114 in prize money. Kalmer jumped into the chip lead after the hand.

Make it Rain

Hevad Kahn picked up a large pot off of Kalmer right before the break. He overbet the river, which induced Kalmer to call on a board of K 10 J 4 K. Kahn flipped over K 10 and went into his standard operating procedure victory celebration.

Break
Players are on a 20 minute break, there are 12 remaining.
Notable Chip Counts

Lee Watkinson	9,845,000
Scotty Nguyen	7,495,000

Poker Stars Online Qualifiers
    Tuan Lam                 20300000
    Hevad Khan             12740000
www.pokerstars.com

Huge Three Way Pot

Alex Kravchenko moved all-in from the button and after a moments thought Kenny Tran decided to call the roughly $2,000,000 bet.  Kevin Farry called all-in for around $1,800,000.  With the pot right, the hands were all turned up.  Kravchenko held 10 10, Tran had A Q and Kevin Farry revealed the K Q.  A surprised Hevad Khan exclaimed, "You over called with K-Q!?!"  The play seemed better after the flop bought the J 8 7.  The turn brought the 4, however, and Farry was down to needing a king or heart to survive in this tournament.  The river brought the 4 and Kravchenko's pocket tens held up and roughly tripled his stack.  Farry was eliminated in 17th place and received $381,302.  He left a set of metal relaxation balls at his seat as he left.  Steven Garfinkle yelled after him, "Kevin, you left your balls at the table."  Perhaps the wrong time for a joke, but Farry took it in good spirits and seemed pleased with his finish.

Tran Eliminated in 16th ($381,302)

Kenny Tran raised to $325,000 from the button and John Kalmar called from the big blind.  The flop brought the 10 6 3 and Kalmar checked.  Tran bet $500,000 and Kalmar called.  The turn brought the 9 and Kalmar again checked.  Tran bet $1,300,000 and Kalmar again quickly called. The 2 fell on the river and Kalmar announced that he was all-in.  Both players stood up with a rush of adrenaline, but after a minute resettled.  Tran was staring Kalmar down, and eventually had the clock called on him.  He took off his hat and seemed to have a very tough decision. As the tournament director began to count down from ten Tran still seemed to be calculating what to do.  8-7-6-5... "I call!"  Tran emphatically announced.  Kalmar slammed the A 8 onto the table and let forth some kind of victory yell.  Tran was covered and therefore eliminated in 16th place.  He definantly seemed disappointed, despite putting in an incredible performance at this years WSOP.

Pay Jump

With Tran's elimination the remaining 15 players have all moved up in the payouts.  They are now all guaranteed at least $429,114.

Slezak Eliminated in 15th Place ($429,114)

Bob Slezak moved all-in for roughly $2,000,000. Raymond Rahme called, having Slezak covered, and the rest of the table folded.  Rehme revealed 7 7 and Slezak flipped up 4 4.  The board came down K Q 10 6 Q and Rahme's queens and sevens edged out Slezak's lower two pair and sent him to the rail in 15th place. 
Notable Chip Counts

 Lee    Watkinson            12,995,000

David Tran	6,600,000
Scotty Nguyen	5,200,000

Poker Stars Online Qualifiers
Tuan Lam                          13,500,000   

David Tran	6,600,000
Hevad "Rain" Khan	4,150,000

www.pokerstars.com

Watkinson Wins Race To Overtake Chip Lead

Lee Watkinson was all-in with AK against Steve Garfinkle's 9 9 and after a flop of 8 8 7 things were not looking good.  The J on the turn improved neither player, and Watkinson was down to six theoretical outs for his tournament life.  (In actuality, Hevad Khan later told Watkinson that he folded an ace.)  Fortunately for Watkinson the K fell on the river, giving him the pot or roughly $14,000,000 and the chip lead.   Watkinson seemed ready to play huge stack poker, for he raised the next two pots preflop.

A Hand So Good It Knocked Yang Out of His Chair

Jon Kalmar raised to $600,000 and when action got around to Jerry Yang he quickly stood up from his chair and announced a raise. As he stood he got tangled in the chair, however, and knocked it backwards off of the small stage that the table was situated atop.  Without even announcing how much of a raise he was making Yang had convinced Kalmar, who quickly folded.

The Prince Doubles His Stack

Scotty Nguyen called a $300,000 raise from Philip Hilm and together they saw a flop of 10 5 5.  Nguyen checked and Hilm bet $400,000.  Nguyen called and the 9 fell on the turn. Nguyen quickly checked and Hilm announced that he was all-in.  Nguyen was covered and thought for just a moment before calling.  Hilm revealed K Q for over cards and an inside straight draw, but when Nguyen revealed his 9 9 for nines full the hand was as good as over.  The J on the river made Hilm's straight, but Nguyen's boat took down the pot and doubled him up to approximately $5,000,000.  The crowd cheered and clapped, with one fan even quoting Nguyen's famous line that won him his last bracelet, "You call it's all over, baby." Nguyen smiled big as he scooped the pot.
 
First Elimination of the Final Two Tables

John Armbrust raised to $700,000 from the big blind. Lee Childs had limped from the button, but now reraised to $1,700,000.  Armbrust quickly went all-in for approximately $5,000,000.  Childs seemed unsure about what to do, and took several minutes before he eventually decided to call with the A Q.  Armbrust revealed his dominant A K and the two went to the flop with Armbrust's tournament life on the line.  The flop was a nightmare for Armbrust, bringing the J 7 2.  The pause before the turn must have been agonizing for Armbrust, but not nearly as painful as when the 10 hit the turn.  With that he was drawing dead.  Armbrust took 18th place and $381,302. 

Dinner Break

The remaining 17 players are all on dinner break until 9 p.m.  Make sure to check back for more updates when they retuun here at Cardplayer.com.

Final Two Tables

At the very end of this hour the final two tables where reached.  There is currently a short break in play as the final 18 players are redrawing and being mic'ed.  

The Seating chart is as follows:

Table 1

seat 1- Tuan Lam
seat 2- John Armbrust
seat 3- Ray Henson
seat 4- Scotty Nguyen
seat 5- Bob Slezak
seat 6- Philip Hilm
seat 7- Raymond Rahme
seat 8- David Tran
seat 9- Lee Childs

Table 2

seat 1- Jon Kalmar
seat 2- Lee Watkinson
seat 3- Steven Garfinkle
seat 4- William Spadea
seat 5- Jerry Yang
seat 6- Hevad "Rain" Khan
seat 7- Alex Kravchenko
seat 8- Kenny Tran
seat 9- Kevin Farry


Eliminations

22nd-  Stefan Mattsson ($333,490)
21st- Jason Welch ($333,490)
20th- Mikkel Madsen ($333,490)
19th- Scott Freeman ($333,490)

Jason Welch was on a short stack and moved the last of his chips in with A 3 against the J J of Steve Garfinkle. The board brought the K 5 2 2 10 and Welch was sent to the rail. With Scott Freeman's elimination the remaining players have moved up in the payout schedule and are all guaranteed $381,302.