Joseph "bigjoe2003" Michael is not a grizzled veteran of old Las Vegas, but as he sat in the three seat, he was firmly and deservedly in the big leagues. With Huck Seed on his right and Scotty Nguyen on his left, Michael looked as comfortable with the game as any of his opponents. After fouur days of high-stress poker, they all seemed to be buddies. When Michael was all in the first time, it almost seemed as if Scotty was rooting for him. Scotty peeked at Michael's hole cards as a side pot played out. Ultimately, Michael made two pair and scooped the pot.

"I am the best sweater, baby," Scotty said.

We have not failed to mention here that the Supernova Elite bought into the big event with his Frequent Player Points. It's not technically a freeroll, but it's pretty damned close.

After tonight, Michael is now not only a poker pro and business man. He is one of few people who can claim a cash in the the World Series $50,000 HORSE event.

Short-stacked going into the Stud rounds, Michael went on the attack. He doubled, he chopped, he picked up the antes. He, in short, did all he could to get back into serious contention. In the end, though, his two pair was not good enough to beat David Bach's bigger two pair. Michael's hand hit the muck and that was that.

With his brother on the rail cheering him on, Michael finished in 14th place for $142,080.

Congratulations, Joe on a great finish.

Meanwhile, the chip lead once controlled by Team PokerStars Pro has, for the moment, been given up. The last level was kind to neither Barry Greenstein nor Daniel Negreanu. Both have fallen below one million chips. That said, with the levels getting so high, we can expect to see some pretty dramatic swings over the next few hours and both members of Team PokerStars Pro still stand a good chance of making the final table. The 13 remaining players have taken their dinner break and will return in an hour and a half.

While we're waiting, check out this video blog with Daniel Negreanu as he discusses HORSE.