$350 Deep Stack No Limit Hold’em (Re-Entry)
Level 29:  40,000/80,000/10,000 Ante

The biggest pot we’ve seen so far — more than 3 million in chips — just played out at Table 7.

Joe Reddick raised from the cutoff to 310,000, David Albertson reraised from the button to 675,000, and Reddick moved all in for 1,520,000. Albertson asked for an exact count and thought a bit before calling with . Reddick turned over , and he needed to improve to stay alive.

The board came , and the pocket tens held up for Albertson to win the pot and eliminate Reddick from the tournament.

David Albertson  –  4,450,000  (56 bb)
Joe Reddick  –  Eliminated in 33rd Place  ($2,946)

A short while later, a player was all in from the button with against the of 2011 EPT Grand Final winner Ivan Freitez. The board came , and Freitez won the pot with his ace to send the player home.

Ivan Freitez  –  3,200,000  (40 bb)

There are currently 28 players remaining, with an average chip stack around 2.15 million (27 big blinds). These players are all guaranteed at least $2,946, and the next pay jump is $3,762 for 27th place.

$350 Deep Stack No Limit Hold’em (Re-Entry)
Level 28: 30,000/60,000/10,000 Ante

At the break, there were 37 players remaining, and the first 24 minutes of the level, the pace had slowed so much that there were no bustouts.

After a flop of , Daniel Visconti moved all in from the big blind for 370,000, and chipleader Fabian Foster thought for a bit before he called with (two overcards). Visconti turned over for a gutshot straight draw, and he’d need to improve to stay alive.

The turn was the , and the river was — the . Visconti had already stood up to leave, but celebrated with a fist pump when he caught his river card to stay alive.

Even with this lost pot, Foster still appears to be the chipleader.

Daniel Visconti  –  1,050,000  (18 bb)
Fabian Foster  –  4,100,000  (68 bb)

A little more than halfway thru the level, James Salmon raised UTG+1 to 125,000, the button moved all in for 355,000, and Salmon thought for a while before calling with . The button turned over , needing to improve to stay alive.

The board came , and Salmon won the pot with his jack to finally bust someone in 37th place. That caused another pay jump as the field was down to the final three tables. Salmon already has experience winning the first event of a big series, as he won Event 1 ($250 NLHE) in the Seminole Hard Rock Poker Showdown this past April.

James Salmon  –  3,770,000  (63 bb)

Within a minute of that elimination, there were two more, and there are now 34 players remaining, with an average chip stack around 1.78 million (30 big blinds). These players are all guaranteed at least $2,946, and the next pay jump is $3,762 for 27th place.

$350 Deep Stack No Limit Hold’em (Re-Entry)
Level 28:  30,000/60,000/10,000 Ante

The final 37 players just returned from a break to begin Level 28, and the average chip stack is about 1.6 million (27 big blinds).

Here’s the official leaderboard from the break, including everyone with at least 2.5 million in chips:

1.  Fabian Foster  –  5,175,000  (86 bb)
2.  Lou Ojeda  –  3,520,000  (59 bb)
3.  Pedro Palacio  –  3,300,000  (55 bb)
4.  Thomas Collazo  –  3,290,000  (55 bb)
5.  David Albertson  –  2,810,000  (47 bb)
6.  Nicholas Nieto  –  2,760,000  (46 bb)
7.  Richard Whitebrook  –  2,640,000  (44 bb)

$350 Deep Stack No Limit Hold’em (Re-Entry)
Level 27: 25,000/50,000/5,000 Ante

With 42 players remaining in Event 1, the average chip stack is about 1.44 million (29 big blinds). These players are all guaranteed at least $2,493, and the next pay jump is $2,946 for 45th place.

Big pots are starting to fly left and right, and every time you turn around there’s another player with at least 2 million in their stack. Here’s a quick look at the chipleaders:

1.  Fabian Foster  –  4,400,000  (88 bb)
2.  Lou Ojeda  –  3,400,000  (68 bb)
3.  Von Ward  –  3,150,000  (63 bb)
4.  David Albertson  –  3,000,000  (60 bb)
5.  Pedro Palacio  –  2,800,000  (56 bb)
6.  Rocco Vito  –  2,675,000  (54 bb)
7.  Thomas Collazo  –  2,600,000  (52 bb)
8.  T.J. Shulman  –  2,600,000  (52 bb)
9.  Sam Panzica  –  2,535,000  (51 bb)
10.  Joe Reddick  –  2,200,000  (44 bb)
11.  Mike Ferneman  –  2,000,000  (40 bb)
12.  Travis Holloway  –  2,000,000  (40 bb)

Thomas Collazo moved back up the leaderboard when he cracked the kings of Hayden Fortini. They got it all in preflop with Fortini’s against Collazo’s . The board came , and Collazo flopped a full house to send Fortini to the rail in about 45th place.

Action is scheduled to continue tonight until a winner is reached or 3:00 am, whichever happens first. The tournament math tells us that the field should at least get down to the final two tables, and possibly the final table.

$350 Deep Stack No Limit Hold’em (Re-Entry)
Level 26:  20,000/40,000/5,000 Ante

The field is down to 60 players, with an average chip stack around 1,000,000 (25 big blinds). These players are all guaranteed at least $1,958, and the next pay jump is $2,176 for 54th place.

Joe Reddick increased his stack with a knockout. He raised from the hijack to 110,000, and the woman on the button called, even though she only had another 70,000 behind. The flop came , and Reddick put her all in. She called with , but Reddick has her in bad shape with his . The turn was the , the river was the , and Reddick eliminated her to increase his stack a little higher.

Joe Reddick  –  2,350,000  (59 bb)

2011 EPT Grand Final winner Ivan Freitez is still among the chipleaders, though he took a hit when he was in the big blind and the small blind moved all in for 245,000 with . Freitez called with , and the board came to give the small blind a queen-high straight on the turn.

Ivan Freitez  –  2,150,000  (54 bb)

There are a lot of big stacks at Table 8, and a new one was just created as Travis Holloway doubled thru Hayden Fortini to reach the two-million mark.

Travis Holloway  –  2,000,000  (50 bb)
Hayden Fortini  –  1,080,000  (27 bb)

Over at Table 24, three players saw a flop of . Mike Chiappetta checked the small blind, the big blind moved all in for exactly 300,000, and the hijack tanked for a long time before he folded. Chiappetta called with for a pair of queens, and he dominated the big blind’s (pair of threes). The player in the hijack was upset because he claimed he folded queen-eight of diamonds and would’ve been in the lead.

But the turn was the , the river was the , and both players made two pair. Chiappetta won the pot with queens and sixes to eliminate the short stack and move up over the million-chip mark.

Mike Chiappetta  –  1,125,000  (28 bb)

Finally, Sam Panzica seems to be making a comeback after being short-stacked at the dinner break. He’s back up to 1.3 million.

Sam Panzica  –  1,300,000  (33 bb)

$350 Deep Stack No Limit Hold’em (Re-Entry)
Level 25:  15,000/30,000/5,000 Ante

After Level 24 came to an end, it was time to race off the orange (1K) chips, and shrink down some of the physically huge chip stacks in the field.

It also gave us another opportunity to get a clear look at the stacks and compose another official leaderboard. Here are all 10 players with at least 1.5 million in chips.

1.  Pedro Palacio  –  2,375,000  (79 bb)
2.  Ivan Freitez (pictured)  –  2,350,000  (78 bb)
3.  Joe Reddick  –  2,025,000  (68 bb)
4.  Hayden Fortini  –  1,850,000  (62 bb)
5.  Thomas Collazo  –  1,845,000  (62 bb)
6.  T.J. Shulman  –  1,800,000  (60 bb)
7.  Von Ward  –  1,790,000  (60 bb)
8.  Mats Oskarsson  –  1,590,000  (53 bb)
9.  James Salmon  –  1,650,000  (55 bb)
10.  Robert Campbell  –  1,505,000  (50 bb)

Recent eliminations include Mengchao Yu and local favorite Chance Kornuth.

With 74 players remaining, the average chip stack is about 820,000 (27 big blinds). The field is in the money, and the players are all guaranteed at least $1,587. The next pay jump is $1,768 for 72nd place.

Action is scheduled to continue tonight until a winner is reached or 3:00 am ET, whichever comes first.

$350 Deep Stack No Limit Hold’em (Re-Entry)
Level 24: 12,000/24,000/4,000 Ante

After Level 23 came to an end, the players took a 40-minute dinner break, which gave us a good opportunity to look for all the big stacks (more than 1.5 million) and get an accurate count for some of the other players further back in the field.

With 99 players remaining, the average chip stack is about 610,000 (25 big blinds). The players are in the money, guaranteed at least $1,360 each. The next pay jump is $1,469 for 90th place.

1.  Pedro Palacio  –  3,156,000  (132 bb)
2.  Ivan Freitez  –  2,069,000  (86 bb)
3.  Thomas Collazo  –  1,964,000  (82 bb)
4.  James Salmon  –  1,515,000  (63 bb)
5.  Joe Reddick  –  1,508,000  (63 bb)

Von Ward  –  1,355,000  (56 bb)
Mats Oskarsson  –  1,350,000  (56 bb)
T.J. Shulman  –  1,244,000  (52 bb)
Travis Holloway  –  1,172,000  (49 bb)
Mike Chiappetta  –  1,029,000  (43 bb)
Haim Shrayer  –  927,000  (39 bb)
Mengchao Yu  –  630,000  (26 bb)
Mike Beasley  –  519,000  (22 bb)
Sam Panzica  –  250,000  (10 bb)
Chance Kornuth  –  236,000  (10 bb)

Action has just gotten back underway in Level 24, with blinds at 12,000-24,000 and a 4,000 ante.

$350 Deep Stack No Limit Hold’em (Re-Entry)
Level 23:  10,000/20,000/3,000 Ante

Table 6 just had the good old four-way all-in situation. Mengchao Yu moved all in under the gun, a player in middle position called all in, the hijack moved all in over the top, and the button called all in.

Here were their cards, in descending order of chip counts:

Hijack:  
Button:  
Mengchao Yu (UTG):  
Middle Position:  

The player in the hijack was sitting pretty a pocket pair and so many aces dead, and he mainly just had to avoid face cards to win a huge pot.

But the board came , and Yu paired his queen on the flop to win the main pot, more than tripling his stack. The hijack had the button covered by about 20,000, which was a painfully small consolation side pot after losing a main pot worth 750,000. Two players busted on the hand.

Mengchao Yu  –  750,000  (38 bb)

While that four-way all-in was going on, the two chipleaders clashed at the next table. We’re thin on details at the moment, but Thomas Collazo bet 400,000 into an already-large pot, Pedro Palacio raised him to 1,000,000, and Collazo folded. That made Palacio the first player with at least 3 million in chips.

Pedro Palacio  –  3,260,000  (163 bb)
Thomas Collazo  –  1,390,000  (70 bb)

David Jackson was one of the final eliminations before the dinner break, after being among the chipleaders not that long ago. Jackson tells us that he lost a big pot with pocket kings, and then took a bad beat in a pot that had him scratching his head.

Jackson raised under the gun to 45,000 with Q-Q, and his opponent moved all in for about 400,000 with A-9. Jackson called, only to see his opponent crack his queens with a flush.

David Jackson  –  Eliminated

The dinner break just started, and we’ll compile an official leaderboard soon.

$350 Deep Stack No Limit Hold’em (Re-Entry)
Level 23:  10,000/20,000/3,000 Ante

The field is down to about 120 players, with an average chip stack around 500,000 (25 big blinds). The players are in the money, all guaranteed at least $1,179, and the next pay jump is $1,269 for 110th place.

Chipleader Pedro Palacio’s table broke, and he was moved to seat 4 at Thomas Collazo’s table (Collazo is in seat 8). Palacio had a good lead on Collazo, until the following hand took place.

Collazo was in the big blind, and saw a flop of against the player on the button, who moved all in on the flop with (pair of queens). Collazo called with (pair of sevens).

The turn was the , giving the button a spade flush draw, but the river was the — Collazo won the pot with two pair, sevens and fives, to eliminate the button and cross the two-million mark in chips.

So now the two chipleaders are at the same table, with more than 2 million each.

Pedro Palacio  –  2,275,000  (113 bb)
Thomas Collazo  –  2,170,000  (108 bb)

They won’t be head-to-head much longer, as their table is coming up in the breaking order soon.

$350 Deep Stack No Limit Hold’em (Re-Entry)
Level 22: 8,000/16,000/2,000 Ante

The field is down to 142 players, with an average stack around 425,000 (26 big blinds). The bustouts are coming quick and steady right now, sending players to the payout desk to collect their winnings.

We recently lost Marsha Wolak in 151st place. She got it all in preflop with 9-9 against another player’s A-J, and she was teased with a set on a board of 9-8-7-10-x, only to see her opponent turn a straight. a WSOP bracelet winner, Wolak will have to wait a while longer before winning her second Seminole Hard Rock trophy. (She won the Seniors Event during the Seminole Hard Rock Poker Showdown this past April.)

The big stacks are getting bigger. Pedro Palacio has increased his lead over the field as he has nearly 2.2 million, and the second biggest stack appears to belong to Thomas Collazo, who has nearly 1.7 million.

Here’s a list of some of the biggest stacks, along with Chance Kornuth, who has been bouncing around the top half of the chip counts since last night — he can go from an average stack to the chip lead and back again rather quickly.

Pedro Palacio  –  2,180,000  (136 bb)
Thomas Collazo  –  1,680,000  (105 bb)
Joe Reddick  –  1,320,000  (82 bb)
Von Ward  –  1,175,000  (73 bb)
TJ Shulman  –  1,125,000  (70 bb)
David Jackson  –  985,000  (61 bb)
Chance Kornuth  –  635,000  (39 bb)

The field will take a 40-minute dinner break after Level 23, which should be around 7:25 pm.