by Craig Cunningham

Badih Bounahra sits in his third consecutive WSOP Main Event having made the dinner break with 41k. "I made it to Day 3 two years ago then busted on the first day last year," he said. "You just have to play your best all the time as you don't know what will happen."

In Belize, Badih owns a wholesaler and grocery business. He's married with two boys and a girl, but he still finds time to squeeze in play at PokerStars. He won his seat in a double shootout and is ready to better his 2005 run.

Badih is focused during hands then ready to chat it up when no cards are in front of him. He flopped a set of four's that became a full house on the turn, and the 10s in the hand with him told him, "I'll call your bet if you bet the river." He believed him, made a nice 3.5k value bet that was indeed called, then pulled in the chips. A minute after the hand, the 10s introduced himself, and Badih quickly struck up a conversation with his new friend.

Play begins after the dinner break for a total of six levels, with blinds of 200/400 with a 50 ante. With only 1,287 players starting today's Day 1A, they'll play three more levels then finish for the night. Those surviving the evening will be back on Tuesday for Day 2A. Badih is halfway to the first hurdle of bagging chips at the end of the evening, and he'll look to keep the momentum going when he's back from the break.

UPDATE 10:30PM

Badih ran into a buzzsaw of a hand against the 10s, his new friend Mike Giordano. "I picked up kings and got into a big pot with the guy," he said. "I had 12k in the pot, then an ace came on the river. He bet 4k when it came. I knew I was beat, but I had to call with so much money out there." Giardano had A-K and dragged the pot. Badih was down to 23k while Giordano was up to 78k.

These are the kind of hands that are critical after the dinner break of Day 1. Every table has two to five short stacks, with many players clinging to their last 2k or less in chips hoping for a miracle. Badih doesn't need a miracle, but he'll need to regroup now as several players have him covered.