Day 1a is complete. As the players bag their chips, here are some approximate counts. I will update the full list as soon as I can get the info.
Xuyen 'Badgirl' Pham 15,000
Thomas Wahlroos 20,000 (down from 60,000!!)
Fredrik Haugen 75,000
Steve Vladar 32,000
Dilba Demirbag 50,000+
Mike Tse 30,000 (after a recent double-through)
He put a player all in with on a flop, only for a slightly shorter stack behind him to overcall with . The on the river sent a pot of over 40K the other way.
He eventually met his end with , which failed to improve against .
After that rather timid period a couple of hours ago, I have seen three bustouts as I entered the card room. We are down to about 60 players with 15 minutes to go; the blinds and antes are really starting to have an impact.
That's what some random German player was screaming, as his all-in for three big blinds from first position won him a double-up. His rivered a flush against . For those of you who may not be as fluent in German as I am, "Ja" means "Yes."
Two slightly bigger stacks to look out for are Thomas Wahlroos, who has gone on a huge rush (up to over 60K), and Andreas Hagen, now on over 70K.
We've seen him successfully complete his Rubik's Cube at least five times. Now he'll have plenty of time to go for the world record, because I've just spotted Mats Iremark leaving the building. No idea what happened as yet.
I'm not sure what Nicky has against his dress sense, but I have just seen Johnny Lodden take down another pot, busting a desperate short stack who pushed with . Lodden calls with and the board reads: