The World Series math is hard to understand for an outsider. This 2008 event had four day ones. It has two day twos. More people competed in the second half of Day 1 than the first, and consequently, the second Day 2 will be more populated than the first Day 2. Follow?

No? No worries. We will get through this together.

Days 1A and 1B came together today to form the 1,252-player Day 2A. By the end of the night, fewer than 500 of those competitors remained in the Amazon Room. The survivors now have one day off while more than 2,000 Day 2B players battle on Wednesday. Then all of the remaining players will come back for Day 3 on Thursday at 12pm.

Five Team PokerStars Pro players started Day 2A. Three survived. Barry Greenstein worked a short stack to near perfection most of the afternoon, but in the end couldn't last the day. His exit was preceded by Victoria Coren's, the lady having her set of threes cracked followed by running jacks into aces. Having better days were Noah Boeken, Vanessa Rousso, and John Duthie all of whom have chips going into Day 3. (See our chip counts page for the most recent information we have).

Not only is Team PokerStars Pro fighting on to Day 3, but the list of PokerStars qualifiers and sponsored players is getting pretty impressive. EPT Season 2 Grand Final Champion Jeff Williams didn't have a lot of chips to start the day, but ran it up to 100,000 at one point. If not for getting all-in pre-flop with queens against AQ and coming out the loser, Williams would be huge-stacked tonight. Instead, he'll be looking to double up when he returns on Thursday. Sponsored player Alexander Kravchenko will be headed to Day 3, as well.

Alexander Kravchenko -- 52,000

Earlier today, Howard Swains found a pair of Hunters and PokerStars qualifiers who remained near the top of the leader board most of the day (read more HERE). Other big PokerStars name toward the top of the leader board are Ronald Adams, Jeffrey Anderson, Jody Garaventa, and Leo Fernandez.

Here's a look at some more PokerStars qualifiers with big stacks going into Day 3.

Kellen Hunter

Garth Paul

Christian Dragomic

All of this managed to take place within hours of the PokerStars Burlesque Party, the most lavish World Series party in recent memory. Headlined by burlesque star Dita Von Teese, the party drew thousands of people and had a line out the door all night long.

Speaking of the party, the PokerStars Video Blog team worked non-stop today to bring you all of the exclusive video from last night's festivities. If you've not yet had a chance to check out the new PokerStars.tv, now is the time.

On tap to play tomorrow for Team PokerStars Pro are Bill Chen, Chris Moneymaker, ElkY, Hevad Khan, Joe Hachem, Isabelle Mercier, and Victor Ramdin.

Selected chip counts for Day 2A can be found on our 2008 World Series Chip Counts page. When the official list comes out in the morning, it will be posted in the same place.

Beyond the coverage you'll find here, we have additional World Series news on our German, Swedish, and Brazilian blogs.

If you missed our coverage from Day 2A, we've posted the links to all of our stories below.

Another storm brewing
Poker's evolution and revolution
The cream of the crop
Team PokerStars Pro back in action
The powers of Jan Heitmann
Night of the Hunters
The situation on Day 2
PokerStars Burlesque Party Exclusive video
A silent master class
Kravchenko in from the cold

If you would like to take a look back at Day 1, feel free to click on any of the summaries below.

Day 1A
Day 1B
Day 1C
Day 1D

Finally, there was a lot more news in the PokerStars world today. For the rest of that, see the following links.

PokerStars 2X double guaranteed tournaments for Wednesday
PokerStars Barcelona Poker Camp

Photography ©2008, Joe Giron/IMPDI