With one hour remaining before the end of play, we are getting close enough to the money for the players to start smelling it. Defending champion Greg Raymer has accumulated nearly $300,000 in chips. The media pool has agreed that he and Russ Hamilton are the only remaining WSOP champions left in the field.

Rough calculations put the average stack between $80K and $90K. Graeme Harrison and Jean Phillippe "Piquette" Piquette continue to dominate. The tournament directors are currently expressing no small amount of amazement at how many players have fallen by the wayside today.

For those interested in chip counts, the chips are moving around a lot and it is impossible to keep track of them all. It will get easier as the field thins. For n update of stacks taken at 9pm this evening, please scroll down to the next post.