It took them 4 days of play, but the $50,000 Players Championship event at the 2010 World Series of Poker has finally reached a final table of 8 players.  21 players began the day with hopes of reaching the televised final table, which will convert to a No Limit Hold’em event, and a shot at the 2nd bracelet of the 2010 World Series, as well as the coveted Chip Reese Memorial trophy, and the $1.55 million first place prize.  That’s a lot of hardware.

It also took till day 4 for the ESPN Camera’s to show up, and as play wound towards the money, it would be Kirk Morrison who would find himself on the outside looking in on the players in the money, finishing a flury of bustouts to end his tournament in 17th place as the bubble.  Play continued on as we saw 8 more players leave the tournament area, culminating with Nick Shulman going broke in Stud-8, and completing our final table.  When play, resumes tomorrow, here will be the seat assignments and the chip stacks:

Seat 1: David Baker – 3,095,000

Seat 2: Mikael Thuritz – 2,300,000

Seat 3: Vladimir Schmelev – 1,925,000

Seat 4: John Juanda – 2,620,000

Seat 5: Daniel Alaei – 1,705,000

Seat 6: Michael Mizrachi – 2,620,000

Seat 7: David Oppenheim – 460,000

Seat 8: Robert Mizrachi – 3,125,000

One of the main stories of this event is the final table duo of brothers Michael and Robert Mizrachi, who became the 3rd set of siblings to make the same final table at the World Series or Poker, joining Ross and Barney Boatman, and Annie Duke and Howard Lederer in accomplishing the feat.  Also, 4 time bracelet winner John Juanda looks very strong, and made a wonderful recovery near the final table bubble to pull to 2.6 million in chips.

In event #3, the $1k buy in NLHE event, it took less than one level of play to narrow the 481 players to the 441 and finish in the money, and the frantic pace of bustouts over the first two day 1’s continued after the money bubble burst.  At the end of the day, 41 players bagged up chips, with the leader being Drew Crawford who totaled an even 800,000.  Also in the top 10 is reigning CardPlayer player of the Eric Baldwin, currently sitting 5th in chips with 479,000.  The 41 remaining players will play down to a final table of 9 today, and then end for the day.

In event #4, Chau Giang’s 27th place elimination signaled the end of play for the night, as the $1,500 Omaha Hi-Low Split event is now down to just 3 tables.  5 bracelet winners (Huck Seed, Jeff Madsen, David Bach, Dan Heimiller, and Anthony Reategui) and 1 November Nine’er (Ylon Schwartz) remain in the field of 26, with Sasha Rosewood currently holding onto the chip lead with 399,000 chips.   There were a number of notable players who cashed in the event, including Andy Black (77th), Steve Sung (66th), Todd Brunson (52nd), and 2009 Double Bracelet winner Brock Parker who finished in 35th. 

Event #5 also got underway, as the $1,500 Buy in No Limit Hold’em event saw 2099 Entries take the field, and 223 players survive the day.  Play will resume at 2:30PM tomorrow with the intention of playing down closer to the final table.  Stephen Foutty bagged the most chips at the end of the day with 207,400, and Dwyte Pilgrim is right on his heels with 202,000.  Other notables still in the field include Chris Moorman, Humberto Brenes, and Andrew Lichtenberger.

Finally, 2 events get underway today, as Event #6 the $5,000 No-Limit Hold’em shootout, and Event #7 the 2-7 Triple Draw Lowball (Limit) hits the tables.   It stands to be an incredible day at the 2010 World Series of Poker.  For my updates, follow me on twitter (@coolwhipflea)