6:40pm: Aguiar ousted
Jon Aguiar got the rest of his chips in the middle before the flop with [Kc][Qs] and Nicholas Verkaik made the call with [Ad][Td]. Aguiar didn't feel too good about his chances, telling his opponent "You got it" before the flop came down.

Aguiar's prediction was correct, the board running out [5c][4h][9h][Jc][Jd] to end his tournament. Verkaik, meanwhile, is up to 215,000.

6:37pm: Casement closes in on Reynolds
Will Reynolds opened for 5,200 from UTG, the cutoff called, Anh Van Nguyen called on the button and Jim Casement called in the big blind. Casement checked the [Jd][6d][5h] flop over to Reynolds, who bet 15,500. Everyone folded around to Casement, who raised to 36,000. Reynolds made the call. The turn came the [Js] and Casement checked again. Reynolds settled on a small bet of 18,000 and Casement called. The river was the [Ad] and Casement checked to Reynolds who thought for over a minute before moving all-in. Casement quickly called, tabling [Jh][8s] for trips. Reynolds mucked and was left with only 35,000 while Casement crossed the 300,000 mark.

6:36pm: Kenney bounces Bonomo
Shane Schleger opened the pot for 6,000 and Justin Bonomo called. When play folded over to Bryn Kenney in the big blind, he made it 20,400 to play. Schleger didn't take long before folding. Bonomo put both thumbs behind his 130,000 in chips and pushed them forward. Kenney didn't look necessarily pleased, but announced, "Okay, I call," and flipped over [ac][qd]. Bonomo silently revealed [as][jc]. The board ran out [ad][4c][5s][qh][3c] and Bonomo was gone. Kenney, meanwhile, moved up to 385,000.

6.25pm: Pearson caught by the Gill
Travis Pearson has been raising a lot - something like five hands per orbit, from all positions by the looks of it, which goes some way to explaining his mighty stack.

Just recently he did it twice in succession and although the second time was a routine and successful blind steal, he ran into Carter Gill on the first attempt and lost what could have turned into a huge pot.

Pearson's opening raise, from UTG+1, was to 6,500 and Gill called in the cut off. The flop came [5c][kd][jd] and Gill called Pearson's 10,000 continuation bet. They both checked the [7d] turn, and the [ah] rivered.

Pearson bet 23,000 and Gill took a long time before calling. "Sorry, nit roll," Gill said, turning over [9d][8d] for the turned flush. Pearson tabled [qc][10c] for the rivered straight, and Gill explained that he didn't really want to raise the river lest Pearson shove and put him to an extremely tough decision for his tournament life.

Either way, Gill took it down and now has more than 200,000 for the first time in the tournament.

5:59pm: Lindley thinks it through
With the board reading [7d][8c][Ad][Jh][Ts], Christina Lindley faced a 14,000 bet from the big blind. She tanked for several minutes before her expression suddenly changed and she verbally declared a call.

The big blind turned over jack-ten for the rivered two pair, Lindley sighing with relief as she showed her ace-ten for aces up.

"I really thought you had king-queen of diamonds," she said as she stacked up the pot. She's up to 134,000 in chips.

5:56 pm: Brett Richey busto

Micah Raskin claimed the last of Brett Richey's chips, the money going in on the river with the board reading [6s][Kh][Js][Jd][3d]. Raskin's pocket queens were good and Richey could only show [Ts][8s] for a busted flush draw.

5.55pm: Profiteers
How do you make 300,000 chips in three levels? I don't know, but the men you should ask are Anh Van Nguyen and Travis Pearson, who have each done precisely that today.

Van Nguyen started the day with 65,800 but now has closer to 350,000. Pearson started with 85,500 and now has 385,000. They're in the top five of all counts in the room.

5.45pm: Silent and deadly Lind
For the first couple of levels today, media row - and the players on table 19 - were "treated" to the Minneapolis Jim Meehan show, which meant a lot of shouting, a lot of shoving of a short stack, a few cautions from the tournament staff, and a lot of breaks outside for cigarettes. And then he bust.

The character who has taken his place - in seat one, sandwiched between the dealer and Justin Smith - couldn't be more different. It's Team PokerStars Online's George Lind III who is sat their now, a silent and focused individual if ever there was one, who also has taken his stack in completely the opposite direction to Meehan's.

Lind started today with 79,700 but is now stacking close to 300,000, having most recently eliminated Hafiz Khan. The got it all in pre-flop and although Lind's [as][kh] didn't connect with a dry board, it was still better than Khan, who mucked and walked.

5:38pm: Photo finish
Phil Laak put Mike Lazar to the test, reraising him all-in before the flop. Lazar made the call, his two nines in a race against Laak's [As][Kd]. The jack-high flop and the six on the turn kept Lazar smiling, but a king spiked on the river to send all but 8,000 of Lazar's chips over to Laak.

"Can I get that picture now?" Lazar asked Laak. The Unabomber happily obliged, handing Lazar's camera over to Jennifer Tilly, who snapped the shot.

Lazar busted only a few hands later, but at least he took home an excellent souvenir.

5:35pm: Break time breakdowns
Within ten minutes of coming back from break, we've seen the following people headed back toward the door: Hafiz Khan, Michael Martin, and Chad Brown.

5.30pm: Movers
Players have been flying out the door and the current tournament clock shows 171 people remaining - from a starting field of 701. That's, um, er, 530 lots of $5,000 that has gone up in flames so far.

Here are some folk who might fancy their chances of getting their mitts on a decent payday:

Nicholas Grippo 490,000
Thomas Middleton 365,000
Robert Acton 290,000
Shannon Shorr 197,000
Mike Sowers 205,000
Michael Binger 185,000
Gavin Griffin 260,000
Clint Coffee 225,000
Jason Mercier 180000
Bryn Kenney 230,000
Joe Ebanks 190,000
Adam Junglen 170,000
William Reynolds 185,000

5:15pm: Fischman crippled
Jonathan Gagnon-Villeneuve came in for a raise to 5,000 and Scott Fischman three-bet hi to 12,000. "He'd been three-betting light, so I four-bet him," Gagnon-Villeneuve said. The bet was 26,000. Fischman called and they saw a [3s][4d][qc] flop. Gagnon-Villeneuve made it 24,000 and Fischman shoved. Gagnon-Villeneuve snap-called with a set of threes. "He had ace-five offsuit," Gagnon-Villeneuve serif of Fischman's hand. Fischman missed his four outs and is down to 4,000. Gagnon-Villeneuve, meanwhile, is up near 200,000.

5:15pm: Players take a ten-minute break

5:10pm: The departed
Level 12 saw the departures of several notables, including Mark Seif, Chris Moneymaker "Minneapolis" Jim Meehan and Isaac Haxton.

5pm: Griffin grapples with Grippo
Nicholas Grippo has the kind of stack that his opponents can either regard as too intimidating to mess with, or see as a potential source of income. Gavin Griffin, to his immediate right, is certainly trying to persuade some of that stack into his own possession - and pocket aces help.

It was folded to Griffin on the button and he raised to 4,600. Grippo called from the small blind and the flop came [8c][qd][4s]. Grippo check-called a bet of 6,700 at this point, then check-called 15,800 on the [5c] turn, and then check-called 26,000 on the [8h] river. Griffin showed his [ac][ah] and Grippo mucked.

4:55pm: Mercier moves, shanks Shaniac
When Jason Mercier disappeared from his seat, we got worried we'd missed some obscene elimination. We eventually found him slumped down in a seat and involved in a hand with Shane Schleger. Schleger check-called on every street and for the following amounts.

Flop: [js][6d][[ad] (5,600)
Turn: [7d] (16,400)
River: [kc] (25,200)

When Schleger made his final call, Mercier flipped up [ah][kd] for two pair and the win.

4:45pm: Due some luck, Affleck doubles
Matt Affleck is probably more famous right now for being unlucky than anything else. Having his aces cracked deep in the WSOP (by eventual champion Jonathan Duhamel, no less) and broadcast to the world, Affleck is now being recognized even by foreigners as "the sad one."

So, perhaps due a bit of good fortune, Affleck just got it all-in for 41,500 pre-flop with [ac][tc]. Phil Laak looked him up with [ah][8h]. The flop was clean, but the [ts] came on the turn and Affleck is now working with more than 80,000 again.

4:40pm: Negreanu departs
Daniel Negreanu was very, very short stacked and finally got his last nine or so big blinds in with king-ten. It wasn't good enough to beat an ace-jack and Kid Poker leaves us.

4:18pm: Storytime with Chad Brown
Out in the eastern time zone, the kids are going down for a night of rest (tomorrow is a school day, kids!). Maybe you'd like to put them down with a bedtime story told by Downtown Chad Brown. (Disclaimer: The PokerStars Blog does not endorse letting men with the nickname "Downtown" into your child's bedroom at night. Parental guidance is advised).

4pm: Leaders lead, leaders lose
While Nicholas Grippo and Tom Middleton, the day 1a chip-leaders, continue to make hay on day 2, the man who filled that role on day 1b, Kim Frederiksen, is OUT. It was a horrible day for Fredericksen, who barely won a pot of note. His 237,000 starting stack is now scattered across the room as he seeks a plane back to Denmark.

3.55pm: They call this level 12
After an action-packed opening two levels today, we are left with 221 players. That means 80 have departed already and we're only slightly more than a quarter of the way through the day. (We play seven levels.)

Nicholas Grippo and Tom Middleton, dominant stacks from day 1A, have enjoyed by far the best of it. Grippo is beyond half a million and Middleton is closing in on something like that.

Players have returned from their second break of the day and we'll now play blinds of 1,000-2,000 (200 ante) in level 12.

Entering today as the shortest stack, he made his strategy clear. He wasn't going to sit and wait for somebody to bust out. His was a game of open-pushing, three-bet pushing, and simply pushing the edge of every potential vulnerability he spotted in his opponent. It riled up his fans and inspired them to a four-syllable chant, "Ja-son Sen-ti! Ja-son Sen-ti!"

Even they knew, however, they were rooting for the underdog. One ill-timed push could've ended his day no matter how hard his fans cheered.

And so it came that Senti pushed in his stack again. This time it came in response to Soi Nguyen's open shove for 7.6 million. Senti had Nguyen covered, but losing the hand would have turned his stack into the equivalent of promotional beef jerky--a serviceable snack, but not much of a meal.

It was the November Nine's first called all-in an the theater erupted when they saw the flip. It was [qd][qs] for Senti, [ad][kc] for Nguyen. It was lost on no one that all nine of these players got their ninth-place money last summer. Whoever busted first today was going to get nothing. All it was going to take was an ace or king to send Senti back to Minnesota with no more than he had when he flew out to Las Vegas this week.

The first card out of the dealer's hand was a picture, and the prettiest Senti has seen in a long time. The [qh] gave him his set. His rail exploded. It was over.

But it wasn't, because the flop also held the [tc]. Now Nguyen had four jacks in the deck that could send Senti into a lifetime of what-could-have-been regret.

With the queen and ten, Senti looked at once jubilant and sick to his stomach. His put his hand to his chest and palpitated his pounding heart. His hand moved so quickly and involuntarily that even if he'd fallen into cardiac arrest, he might have saved himself from death.

The turn was the [9s]. Safe. For now.

And then the river. Oh God.

It was another picture. A jack? God, is it a jack? It would be one of those horrible, unwatchable moments that television producers love.

It was the [ks].

Jason Senti knew he needed a little luck, and he got it just when it needed it. Suddenly, the man form Minnesota had a chance. He could actually win this thing. He bounded from his seat, high-fived Annette Obrestad, and shook hands with Scott Montgomery.

And then, as everyone else disappeared from the table for the 20-minute break Senti sat back in his seat doing the only two things that seemed reasonable...relishing the moment and counting more than 17,000,000 in chips.

Again, his fans rose up.

"Ja-son Sen-ti! Ja-son Sen-ti!"

In the grand scheme of this final table, that hand may end up not meaning much. For now, though, it means everything, especially for the man in the one-seat.

***

Here are the chip counts as we return from break

Jason Senti 17,500,000
Joseph Cheong 29,675,000
John Dolan 39,525,000
Jonathan Duhamel 65,525,000
Michael Mizrachi 18,050,000
Matt Jarvis 10,125,000
John Racener 24,175,000
Fillipo Candio 15,050,000

After enduring a rather torrid start to all Star Week, the Pros managed to dust themselves off and regain some ground on the Challengers on Wednesday. The triumvirate of Ivan Demidov, Joe Cada and Johnny Lodden all registered victories to briefly relent the Challengers' surge and cut their advantage to 5.

Leading the charge for the Pros as we entered Day 4 of the series was Magic: The Gathering graduate and Team Argentina Pro, Jose Barbero. Standing in his way was the Brazilian caprioli, off the back of 2 straight victories from Days 1 and 3.

Akin to yesterday's opening match in which Hevad Khan regrettably no-showed, Barbero too was nowhere to be seen as caprioli took his seat and secured the easiest of passages to the winners' enclosure. Raising every hand, it took just 13 minutes of caprioli's time to reduce Barbero's stack to ruins and push the Challengers further in front.

UK hotshot JP Kelly was next up attempting to cut the Challengers down to size. His foe was 'Timmy K', yesterday seen off by WSOP Main Event Runner-Up, Ivan Demidov.
The game choice proved something of a novelty for both players and observers alike: the mysterious Badugi posing a somewhat tricky threat to both parties.

The match ebbed and flowed early on, with neither side willing to give too much away in the somewhat uncharted, Badugi waters. It wasn't until hand 44 that Timmy K was able to steal a march on his adversary and take the 1st real significant chip lead in the match.
JP Kelly brought it in for 100, which Timmy K called. The former opted to discard 2 cards on the 1st draw, while Timmy K drew 1. Again the action went bet, call. On the 2nd draw Kelly called a Timmy K re-raise after discarding 1, with Timmy K likewise drawing a solitary card.

Timmy K's [Js] spiked on the 2nd draw made a final [Td][5c][4h][Js] badugi - enough to earn a 200 river look-up from Kelly, who could only muster the meagre 3-card 6,3,2, holding [7d][2d][3h][6s].

The Challenger was having it all his own way, ramming home his advantage and exploiting Kelly's apparent inexperience within the discipline. Indeed Timmy K sensed something amiss 48 minutes in, questioning Kelly "do you play this game?", to which the UK pro could only ruefully confess "never played before".

On Tuesday we saw Vicky Coren succumb to a lack of practice within her chosen poker variant; PLO. The very same fate yesterday befell Kelly, who was vanquished shortly after; his 3-card: 8,7,A proving no match for Timmy K's 9-low Badugi, holding [4d][5c][Qh][9s].

A combination of factors throughout the first 4 days of play were acting to conspire against the Pros, hampering their cause and pushing the Challengers into a 12-5 lead. Perhaps instigators of their own fall, indeed the Pros' cause was not helped by 2 non-appearances, coupled with a lack of practice within the respective game-choices.
Keen to put an end to the Pros' plight in Match 18 was the more-rounded, wrecking-ball, Lex Veldhuis. The Dutchman's opposite number for the day, the returning 'MOJOEX1'.
Fans fortunate enough to have caught a glimpse of the hyper-aggressive Dutchman's stints in the poker spotlight won't have been left surprised by the nature of his exit, nor of the time taken to consign the match to history.

MOJOEX1 wasted little time in asserting his dominance, amassing a 3:2 lead after just 2 minutes. Perhaps mindful of his foe's knack of raising light, a series of MOJOEX1 pre-flop 3-bets and flop steals served to orchestrate Veldhuis's demise.

On hand 14 RaSZi called after MOJOEX1 had re-popped it to 80, with the flop laid out [Qh][Ac][5h]. The [As] turn dissuaded the Pro, firing out a further 80. Undeterred, the Challenger obliged before both checked the innocuous-looking [8c] river. Veldhuis' reputation perhaps preceding him as MOJOEX1 turned over [6h][Qd] for the victorious Aces and Queens.

The Pro's remaining 330 made its way to the middle just hands later with the lowly [6c][Tc]. MOJOEX1 made it a 100% win-rate on the day for the Challengers after calling with [Jd][9c], and coming out on top on the resulting [Kh][2s][8d][3d][2d] board.
Waiting in the wings for Match 19, the godfather of Dutch poker and upside-down-shade-wearing, Marcel Luske. 72good represented the Challengers' charge for the 3rd time in the series, hoping to avenge his loss to Henrique Pinho on Day 3.

After the cut and thrust clash of RasZi v MOJOEX1 2 hours prior, observes will have revelled in the relative snail-pace, much more tranquil affair of Match 19. Luske opened proceedings by parodying a Mike Sexton catchphrase, declaring "let the hand s be great and the play even better" "lol", which set the cordial tone that would dictate play for much of the 37-minute encounter.

After losing the lead early on without often getting to showdown, Luske was able to wrestle back the momentum 11 minutes in, calling down a 72good 120 river bet with [As][8s] on a [8h][5h][4s][Qd] [7d] board. His single pair of 8s enough to scoop the 840 pot against 72good's [Jc][9h], for a whiffed gutshot.

Any sense of a comeback from the affable Luske was sadly dashed on only the very next hand. The Dutchman raised it up pre-flop to 120, then called the further 60 to see a flop of [Qs][3d][As] - something for everyone as Luske called 72good's bet of 60. Both the turn [7d] and [6h] river played out in similar fashion, before 72good showed down [Kh][Kd] - able to extract maximum value from whatever Luske was guarding and ship the 960 pot his way.

Luske restole the chip lead on the half-hour mark after his [Ah][5d] elicited a river call with the board spread [5h][4d][9s][9d][2s], following some turn bet-calling. 72good's hand no match for Luske's 9s and 5s, setting up the prospect of a maiden Day 4 win for the Pros.

Once again however the Pros' optimism proved misplaced as late on Luske's hard work went undone, making a seemingly reluctant laydown after some turn-tussling once the [Ks] fell, following the [4c][3s][6h] flop. The subsequent [3c] river induced a final 200 bet from 72good; enough to convince Luske his hand was toast and send the 2400 the way of the Canadian.

Luske met his maker moments later, committing his final 115 chips on a board of [9c][Kc][8h][5h] holding [Ts][Qd] for a whole lot of nothing. 72good's [Jh][Ah] was ahead anyway, and flushed Luske away on the [2h] river for the overkill and overall 14-5 lead.
Days 1 and 2 of All Star Week saw the Challengers head into their final match 4/4 victors on the day, and salivating at the thought of a Challenger clean-sweep for the first time in All Star History. However on both occasions the Pros' blushes were spared by the efforts of Chad Brown and Henrique Pinho respectively, who took just the slightest gloss of an impeccable Challenger turnout.

This time round the Pros called on the services of yet another member of the Dutch Team Pro faction, Noah Boeken, to wipe their eggs from the faces and restore some credibility to the tragic-looking 14-5 scoreboard.

Whether Boeken's heart was really in the Match or whether his hand-reading capabilities have plummeted will remain to be seen, as he brought an abrupt end to proceedings after just 120 seconds of play.

The thorn in the Pros' side MOJOEX1 once again spoiled their party, calling Boeken's inexplicable all-in shove overbet on the [Kc][Jd][Th] flop holding [Qd][9d] - translated loosely as the 2nd nuts. Boeken revealed [Jh][Ad] which picked up re-draw outs on the [Ts] turn. The [3h] river was fatal, signalling the Challengers' virgin whitewash to leave the scores an emphatic 15-5 in their favour.

Join us tomorrow to find out whether the Pros can reverse their fortunes for the 2nd half of the week, under the 'Tourney/Special' tab in your lobby.