Yesterday there was no update because no actual poker gaming went on. There was a media event designed to push up the anticipation for the moment when the entire remaining field at the Main Event would be gaming at the same time. This is what happened earlier today as the remaining players took their seats on day 3 to participate in what previous years have affectionately referred to as the “dash for the money.” And at the start of the day’s play, many of the biggest names in the field were still around. These included some of the top professionals in the world, guaranteeing that the day would have some interesting happenings for us to check out.

At the start of the day, there were exactly 2,044 players in the field all playing poker in the same day. By the time play got to the dinner break, there were only 1,134 players left. And for the first time at that time, all of the players would be in the same room gaming at the same time. No more milestones are left in terms of player mechanics anymore; from now on it is a race to the money and then onto the final table.

Many professionals were eliminated before the dinner break on day 3. These included Jean-Robert Bellande, Bryan Micon, Roland de Wolfe, Carlos Mortensen and Greg Raymer. The latter two were of course the 2001 and 2004 champions at the World Series of Poker and will not be repeating this year.

There are still some champions in the mix that have a chance at the repeat. 2008 champion Peter Eastgate is one of them, impressing many with his staying power. Joining Peter Eastgate in the quest to repeat are Bobby Baldwin, Dan Harrington, Chris Ferguson and Joe Hachem.

As far as celebrities are concerned, few of them were able to survive through to the third day. You will see Jason Alexander in the field however as one of the few poker-playing celebrities left in the tournament.

Other strong contenders at this stage include Phil Ivey, Josh Arieh and Jeff Lisandro, although all of the players at the moment are chasing a top stack of 625,000 chips held by James Akenhead.