I see the blog has been updated and I am indeed 15th in chips out of the 79 players who survived. I'm happy with that.
John Phan was at the table next to mine when we started, but then both of our tables broke up and I didn't see much of him after that. Chatted with DevilFish during a bathroom break - he WAS doing really well, but I see he's down to 16k now.
The chip leader, James Van Alstyne - I played with him for a number of hours after I got moved to Table 1. He and Sdouble (Josh Schlien, who they profiled in the blog) were both very solid players. I would honestly rank myself third on that table behind the two of them. I play a bit tighter, which works for me, but their ultra-aggression is awesome.
Anyhoo, I couldn't be more impressed with James' play. I watched him fold to 4 or 5 (maybe 6) BIG check raises and reraises in a row... preflop, and after he'd make continuation bets on the flop. I wasn't impressed with the folds so uch as I was impressed with his attitude. He got fairly low in chips, but kept his cool, stayed patient, and then tore it up later. I even chated with him during our last break... he's been a pro for 15 years (he doesn't look that old). My friend saw him on some Fox Sports poker final table, I think... I don't get that channel.
Anyway, one more thing about him: Inside 20 minutes at the end of the day, he was WORKING his stack... raising nearly every pot to 2500 (I did this myself twice when I actually had the chance to act before him). One hand, Josh reraised to 10k. James thought for a moment, and then pushed in. You should have seen Josh's face. It was the fastest fold I've seen all day (James was the only guy at the table who had him outchipped at the time). Josh said he folded TT...
There were a few other pros I played with today too, but no one really well known. When I make the final table, I hope James is there. I'm looking forward to battling it out with him
