With only 27 players remaining, the pressure gets turned up and we will see what these guys are made of.  While most of the pros that have entered have since gone to the rail, two names are still glaring on the leader board.  Antonia Esfandiari (4,470,000) has never really had a truly great run of cards, but he seems to make the most of every hand that he is involved in.  He is grinding away and continues to survive.  His style of play is ideal in this type of tourney and while he may never get that monster stack, do not be surprised to see his name on the final table.

The one person that everyone has to fear at this point is Phil Ivey (11,350,000).  He is currently sitting in 4th place, but that doesn’t really matter.  As he has been having an incredible WSOP, the rest of the field must take notice and beware of any hand that they play with him.  He has a tendency to go early or go deep and deep is obviously the case here. Only one other player managed to get three bracelets this time around and Phil obviously has his heart set on being the second one to hold that honor this year.

While the rest of the players are going after the bracelet and the $8,546,435 that goes with it, Phil Ivey probably stands to make more in side bets were he to take down the Main Event.  Everyone knows he loves to gamble and the circuit that he hangs around in is not scared to throw out a $1,000,000 on anything.  You can rest assured that if Phil makes it to the final table, the gallery will be a star studded field of poker superstars with their hands in their wallets.

The overall leader of the tournament is an unknown player by the name of Darvin Moon (20,160,000).  He has never had a cash in the WSOP and has sure picked a great time to break his cherry.  At this point, all of the players are guaranteed well over $300,000 and once they get it down to two tables, the payouts start to increase significantly.

Unfortunately for Moon, he will have to sit across from Ivey when play resumes.  You can be assured that his eye balls will be popping out of their sockets when he sees that chip stack and make it is sole purpose in life to move it across to his side of the table.  How will Moon handle the pressure of being the big stack with one of the greatest poker players in the world on his table?  Only time will tell, but we should have that answer in about 24 hours.

Heading in to the 1987 World Series of Poker Main Event Chan had already had one bracelet to his name, but the Main Event would be where his career truly started. The Main Event final table in 1987 was littered with poker greats like Howard Lederer, Dan Harrington and Mickey Appleman. At the final table Johnny proved that he was a player to reckon with and beat all those top pros and took home the title. Chan beat Frank Henderson heads up and won $650 000. Once again in 1988 Chan made the final table of the Main Event and once again a lot of names you will recognize were at the table with him, guys like Erik Seidel, TJ Cloutier and Humberto Brenes. Once again Johnny showed  that he was one of the top pros in the world besting Seidel heads up to take home the bracelet and $700 000. The 1989 Main Event, Johnny was now the man to watch with back to back wins and three career bracelets. This is where legends are born, Chan once again was there in the end. He battled his way to once again being heads up for the title, and what happened was two future poker legends would take battle. Phil Hellmuth vs Johnny Chan, maybe poker fans didn’t realize it at the time, but it was legend vs legend. Hellmuth would take home the title, but Chan would still take home more then $300 000.  We will never see another player make three main event final tables in a row, let alone win 2 and finish second once. Johnny had made his name in the poker world, but he wasn’t done there, he would win more bracelets and even make another Main Event final table in 1992.

Chan wouldn’t win his fourth bracelet until 1994 when he won a seven card stud tournament. His fifth came in 1997 when he outlasted Barry Greenstein, Steve Zolotow and Lyle Berman in winning the deuce to seven lowball bracelet. Chan won his sixth bracelet in 2000 and in 2002 he met an old friend in the no limit holdem heads up tournament. That player was Phil Hellmuth and this time Johnny took home the title and his seventh bracelet. His eighth and ninth bracelet both came in 2003 in event 15 and event 24. In 2005 Chan won his then record 10th bracelet in a pot limit holdem tournament. To win that 10th title he had to beat Phil Laak heads up, which earned him over $300 000. Since then Johnny has cashed eight times and most recently finished 4th in an Omaha event in 2008.

Overall Johnny has 10 bracelets and cashed 41 times in his career. Over his 25 year career Johnny has made more then $4 million at the World Series of Poker alone. 25 years and 27 final tables made, Chan is one of the most consistent poker players in poker history. He has had success playing Holdem of all limits and styles, Omaha and seven card games. The first thing that jumps out at me when I look at Johnny’s WSOP record is the amount of great players he has run into over the years. Chan vs Hellmuth will always be debated, who is the best player of there generation. I am not about to pick, but they will forever be linked in World Series of Poker history.

Johnny is more then just the World Series he commonly appears on Poker After Dark on NBC.  He also won Poker Superstars and has career tournament earnings of more then $6.5 million. Johnny has written two books, Play Poker Like Johnny Chan and Million Dollar Holdem. He runs his own online poker site, owns fast food franchises and wants to eventually open his own casino.  Chan is a business man and a great poker player who will strive for success in all his endeavors.

I am sure if you took a poll of professional poker players, it would be close to unanimous that Johnny should be considered one of the best players to ever live. With back to back main event titles and 10 bracelets in total Chan has proven that he belongs in that category. He will forever be linked with Phil Hellmuth, and people will wonder who truly is the best player of there generation. Chan is currently sitting tied for second all time in career World Series of Poker wins with poker legend Doyle Brunson, just one behind Phil Hellmuth’s 11 bracelets. I don’t think Johnny is going anywhere, he loves playing poker and I think he will play as long as physically possible. Chan continues to frequently be on poker programming and is still at the top of his game. In the near future Johnny Chan will win his 11th bracelet and the debate will continue Chan or Hellmuth. In a dream world some day they will play heads up to set the record for most career bracelets, but that becomes less likely the bigger the game gets. Chan has proven he could win against the best pros in the world and that he can win in big field events. Johnny Chan is one of the best poker players to ever live, in any generation.

Now, let’s exit out the doors between the blue and green sections.  When you walk out, you may notice a few more booth or poker displays.  You will then notice two other things.  One is a sign for Registration and one is a sign for Satellites.  You will want to remember the registration room location as you will go there for all registrations for both bracelet events and nightly tournaments.  Nightly tournaments start at 7 pm and cost $330.  These tournaments are setup as normal freezeouts and usually only pay out cash.  This year, players playing in these events earned Player of the Year points towards titles such as Bluff, Card Player, and Pokerpages.  The WSOP Player of Year points can only be earned through qualifying bracelet events.

Now let’s enter the satellite room.  The satellite area is located in the Tropical room.  Much like Brasilia, there are dozens of poker tables in this room as well.  The main difference is that these are all single table satellites of all varying sizes and games.  The predominant game is naturally No-Limit Holdem, but the staff will run satellites for other bracelet events depending on demand and also if there is a bracelet event in a mixed game that day or the next day.  Satellites run from $125 to $1,000.   The only satellites that are not held in the Tropical room are Mega Satellites and satellites to the $50,000 H.O.R.S.E.  Those are held either in Brasilia or the Amazon room.  The locations of those two satellites vary, so you will want to ask when registering.

After leaving the Tropical room, turn left and you will arrive back to the cross section that includes the Total Rewards desk.  Take a right and enter the first door to check out the gift shop.   Unlike the stands you see in the hallway, this shop is exclusively WSOP merchandise.  You will find items in here you will not see in other areas including key chains, mugs, specialized poker sets, and various WSOP clothing.  You can also purchase snacks, food, and beverages in this shop.  For those of you that play at other Harrahs properties and have built up comp money on your Total Rewards card, you can use that card in this shop to purchase items.  I personally had $200 in comps from another property and was able to use it to purchase WSOP merchandise.

Once you leave the gift shop, hang a left and walk all the way to the end of the hall and head outside.  This is the location of the poker kitchen.  Here you can buy burgers, subs, pizza, fruit, and other items.  The food can be a little pricey, but you can usually buy a meal for around $10 to $15.  If you play in a WSOP event, you will get a $10 comp towards the poker kitchen.

At this point you have been around to the major areas at the World Series of Poker.  Of course, if you get lost, you can always ask someone to point you in the right direction.  Another trick is to follow the masses of people walking around.  Eventually you will end up where you want to be.  Now go out and try and win yourself an entry into an event.  Good luck at the tables.