by Craig Cunningham

Four men hold down the corners of the ESPN Feature Table, where chipleader Dag Martin Mikkelsen. David Tran (3s), Hevad "RaiNKhaN" Khan (4s), Rep Porter (7s), and Humberto Brenes (9s) anchor the table for PokerStars. With so many solid players, play has gravitated toward position raises, strong re-raises, and few flops.

RaiNKhaN spent much of his free time chatting up Mikkelsen. The term "cash game" was overheard several times, as RaiNKhaN seems intent on recruiting Mikkelsen into games after the Series is over. Some players trade percentages of each other before the WSOP, while other players sell shares of themselves to mitigate risk. RaiNKhaN seems intent on going deep himself and taking shares from the winners later in cash games.

Humberto is known for his trademark phrases and his shark attacks. Most of the time, he is quiet, deliberate, and observant. He had little to say during the first level except to stick his thumb up occasionally to raise up a pot and then take it down. He made three WSOP Final Tables this year, and there is no reason he couldn't return here.

David and Rep are at opposite ends of the table but are closely related in the poker world. David is a pro's pro. He's cashed fifty-one times in and around Los Angeles, as well as extended his tournament play in Foxwoods, Tunica, Reno, and Las Vegas the last few years. With so many tournaments played over the last ten years, he's already guaranteed the biggest payday of his poker career. He played yesterday with Dario Minieri, Julian Gardner, and John Spadavecchia. David has no interest in putting his chips at risk unless it's required, and he knows what it would mean for him to bag chips tonight. Three grown men will have to pull him away from the Amazon Room.

Rep lives outside of Washington and plays regularly at the several popular poker rooms in the Seattle area. He was runner-up to Joe Sebok earlier this year at a $2.5k Limit Hold-Em event in the LA Poker Classic. "It's been a rough table to start," he said at the break. "It's not a great place to win a lot of chips." A lot must be a relative term, as he's up from 1.4m to 2.3m

As twenty-three players left before the first break, these four keep plugging along, hoping to slow down Dag Martin Mikkelsen and grab some chips in the process. Humberto Brenes will have to leave it to his PokerStars teammates after RaiNKhaN took a fatal bite out of the shark.

RaiNKhaN flipped over aces and Humberto showed Ah-Kh after all the money went in. Gus Hansen joined a ton of spectators as they rushed over to watch the flop. 3s-5s-Ks brought a small amount of hope to Humberto, and his chances improved slightly when 4d came on the turn. 10s on the river sent Costa Rican favorite out as RaiNKhaN rushed into the stands to cheer with his friends.