At the first half of the dinner break (it's staggered in two groups tonight) Freddy Deeb stepped up to Blogger Central with a simple request. The man may be flush with cash and traveling the world to play in poker tournaments. Alas, he had no iPod charger. Fortunately, we did. For the loan, Deeb said, "You can listen to my music if you want."

Naturally curious, I asked, "And what kind of music is that?"

"Lebanese," he said, then quickly added as if it was necessary, "not Japanese."

With Deeb gone, we turned our focus to the half of the field that had to wait to eat. Among them was Team PokerStars Pro Katja Thater who, unfortunately, will get to take dinner break earlier than the rest of her fellow players. The word on the street says Thater flopped top pair with big slick but ran into someone else who had two pair.

Others on the Team are faring better. Bad news for Julian Thew is great news for Andre Akkari. It was Thew's kings versus Akkari's aces that sent Thew to the rail. Tuan Lam has also worked his stack up to nearly 40,000 by the dinner break. A cursory look at the tables makes it appear as though Johnny Lodden has stepped up to the chip lead. Despite losing with aces vs. AK (all-in preflop), he still has nearly 60,000 chips.

For a complete look back at coverage from the first half of play today, check out the following links.

Fortunes by the Sea
Picture perefect on the Cote D'Azure
The party before the poker
The Hunt for the Title Begins
Titans clash
Never too soon for some
Profile: Andre Akkari
Greg Raymer: All clammed up
The Negreanu guarantee?
The Stolzmann Crown
Flashing lights and sparkle on table Isabelle
PokerStars Player Lounge

Finally, just in the Blogger Central, a look at last night's PokerStars Welcome Party. It's about the cloest thing you'll get to being there, without having to directly confront your childhood fear of men in masks. Confused? Just watch.