2008 WSOP Main Event Day 5 Recap

Day 5 of the 2008 World Series of Poker Main Event kicked off on time this afternoon with just 181 of the original 6,844 players still in contention. By the time the final hand had been dealt for the evening only 79 would remain in the race to see who can take home more than $9 million and the most prestigious tournament title in all of poker.

Incoming chip leader Jeremy Joseph came in with $2,197,000 and saw that total drop as low as a million before rebounding to end the day with an unofficial count of $3,200,000. Also making a big surge to put her ahead of Joseph and the majority of the field was poker video hostess Tiffany Michelle, who over the course of the day jumped from $909,000 to a whopping $3,800,000.

The biggest mover of the day, though, was Mark Ketteringham. After starting the day's proceedings with $1,600,000, Ketteringham surged to the top of the leaderboard by the end of the evening by finishing with $5,700,000 in chips. Almost one quarter of his gain over the entire day came during a key hand where Ketteringham held pocket nines against Jose Barbero's A-Q; the flop brought Barbero an ace but the river gave Ketteringham a set and the chip lead.

The second Tiffany in history to go deep in the Main Event.

More than a few notable players who began the day failed to make the cut today, including EPT hostess Kara Scott, 2006 WSOP Player of the Year Jeff Madsen, 2008 Aussie Millions champ Alexander Kostritsyn, and 2005 WSOP Player of the Year, five-time WSOP bracelet winner, and 2006 Main Event fourth-place finisher Allen Cunningham. Also on the outs were Hoyt Corkins, Chip Jett, Gus Hansen, Jon Friedberg, Jeremiah Smith, Jeff Kimber, Shawn Sheikhan, "Action" Bob Hwang, Lonnie Heimowitz, and Mark Vos.

It's worth noting that the only former Main Event champion left in the field going into Day 6 is none other than Phil Hellmuth, Jr. The 11-time WSOP bracelet winner spent a good part of the day at the ESPN feature table, including the last portion of the evening. The very end, in fact, saw him incur a one-orbit penalty for the start of Day 6 after berating Romania's Cristian Dragomir for calling a pre-flop raise with 10 4. Unofficial counts at the end of the night had the Poker Brat with $890,000 in chips, up from the $581,000 he had coming in.

Two of the game's biggest stars are still in the hunt.

Also still in the hunt and among the "ESPN favorites" category along with Hellmuth is Mike "The Mouth" Matusow. The Mouth famously made the final table of the Main Event in 2005 but finished in a disappointing ninth place to earn $1,000,000. He's toward the back of the pack with just $1,200,000, but he's also playing some of the best poker of his career and certainly knows how to rise to the occasion.

Please, please, please let Niklas Flisberg get what he wants.

Other survivors among the "known player" set include David "Raptor" Benefield ($2,440,000), Brandon Cantu ($2,400,000), David "Chino" Rheem ($2,300,000), Garrett "GBecks" Beckman ($1,920,000), Niklas Flisberg ($1,660,000), Matt Matros ($1,200,000), Kido Pham ($700,000), Victor Ramdin ($700,000), and Thomas "Thunder" Keller ($400,000).

Day 6 is due to kick off at noon Pacific Time in the Amazon Room, with the plan to play down to 27 players. As always, PokerListings.com will be there pwning the competition with the best WSOP coverage team in town.