(UPDATED AT END)

PokerStars Cash Qualifier Dmitri "Dinodapro" Nobles recently became the 2006 WSOP Main Event's first player to reach a half million in chips.

Dmitri Nobles

In one recent orbit, Nobles raised four consecutive hands. On one, he showed an ace. On the next he showed 23o. On the next he showed 34o. On the fourth, a player moved in on him. Nobels folded 23o face-up.

One player at the table just asked the tournament director, in a pleading tone, "When are you breaking this table?"

After tickling the half-million mark, Nobles called an all-in on a draw and missed, dropping his stack down to $430,000. Within 20 minutes, Nobles busted another player at the table and is now up to $530,000. He currently has a $250,000 lead on second place in Day 2B.

1:29pm--Fifteen minutes later, at the last hand of a level, Dmitri Nobles hit a runner-runner straight to move up over $600,000 in chips.

Nobles has come to believe that Team Blog's C.J. Hoyt is his lucky charm. After hitting that two-outer in the runner-runner hand above, he turned around, saw C.J., and shouted, "I should've KNOWN you were here!"