While PokerStars own Jeff "mrrain" Banghart and Hevad "RaiNKhaN" Khan holding down the first and third chip positions after the dinner break, several other players are emerging as threats as the evening moves on.

Joe Pharo from Scottsdale was one of the last players to leave the Amazon Room for the dinner break, as he was in a big hand with 2001 WSOP Main Event Champion Juan Carlos Mortensen. The relentless Mortensen has never seen a pot he didn't like, or want. Joe had 100k in yellow chips in front of him on a 5s-8h-3h flop, with another 100k in the pot. "He stared at me for two minutes," Joe said afterwards. Finally, Mortensen folded, and Joe flipped over Ac-Qc. "Now it's my turn to bluff," said Joe. As he shook my hands, he said, "My hands are wet. It's hard to bluff that guy." You can say that again.



Andrew Qui is comfortably at 510k as is Ryan Lawrence at 550k. Ryan is one of the growing number of top Canadian players thriving at the WSOP. Marco Mills is another.

"I play poker," said Marco when asked what he did for a living. "And I've played on PokerStars since it opened, six or seven years. I've played seriously for the last couple of years. I like MTT's, but I really love SNG's. The four-man or six-max ones, as well as heads-up."



Marco's girlfriend Ricci Reardin is here for support. "She's my #1 fan. She sits here for all fourteen hours watching and encouraging me. I don't think I could do this without her, or at least I wouldn't want to."

He's had a terrific day. "I've run 231k into 737k, so it's been great. My big hand was at another table. I'd been raising seven out of ten pots. A guy raised, and I popped it again. He moved all-in for 200k, and I called. He had A-Q, and my hand held up." Marco is solidly in the top twenty in chips. The line of busted players at the cashier is long as more and more short stacks leave the Main Event. Marco is more than happy to join RaiNKhaN and Jeff Banghart to gladly mop up behind them.