You never want to be standing on the rail of a poker tournament listening to a frowning friend utter these words: "Bang, bang, you're dead."

But such was my lot moments ago, when I chased Dave Hardy away from the tables after his fairy tale ride from oil rig to Rio ended with a taste in his mouth as bitter and sickly as a gallon of crude.

Dave found kings and made a 3,000 raise. His opponent, the Brazilian Jose Vaughan Junior, shoved in over the top for 28,000, and Dave was delighted. When they flipped, he wasn't quite so happy, but also couldn't have been expecting what happened next. Vaughan Junior showed the other two kings. Chop, chop, surely.

Well, er, no. Two diamonds on the flop, another on the turn and yet another on the river. That's where the "Bang, bang, you're dead" line came from. Hardy was sent packing.

"It was great, though," he said, smiling even as he winced. "It definitely won't be the last, that's for sure. Costa Rica next," he said, before heading off into the Rio night, with a thirst -- and good reason -- to sink a few beers tonight.

* * * * *

There's still a long, long way to go into this dark, dark Rio night. But gradually the big, big field is thinning and fewer and fewer tables remain.

As players leave, others profit and we're getting a more distinct idea of the tournament leaders. Some of them have big, big stacks.

Everyone in the press room agrees that this man is our chip leader:

His name is Julien Nuijten and he hails from Amsterdam, Holland. He accounted for Team PokerStars Pro's Humberto Brenes earlier today and has never looked back. Current estimates have him at around 86,000.

Somewhere close behind is this man, who goes by the name of Piragibe Lindolfo Ataide:

Ataide was the player who made the most profit from Gavin Griffin's aggression earlier, taking a bunch from the Team PokerStars Pro when he filled up on the river. We have him near to 62,500.

Also worth a mention is PokerStars qualifier Ole Busborg Jensen from Denmark. I first met Ole at the European Poker Tour event in Deauville on season two, where he went all the way to the top twenty in ruthless silence. He's already up to around 30,000 here and is as unruffed as ever.

Our updated chip counts can be found by clicking HERE

The payouts are HERE