The play proceeds at a cautious rate. There is a wealth of experience, 6 bracelets and $20,000,000 in tournament winnings between these last four players, and none of them is likely to give his chips away without a fight.

Pro Parity

The four pro players are like poker playing blocks of ice, focused 100% on the play.

Barry Greenstein, watched by his son Joe Sebok from the crowd, is languidly folding, or occasionally raising with the same laid back motions ; the baseball-capped Erick Lindgren is chewing robotically and relentlessly on a piece of gum as he looks to pick up his 2nd bracelet of the series.

Ready To Pounce!

Jeffrey Lisandro is nicknamed The Iceman, so you can probably make an educated guess at his demeanor. He has done well to drag himself back into the chip lead after being short not long ago.

Mike Matusow is the only player to be making any show of emotion, fistpumping and taking a brisk walk whenever he makes a good call or wins a nice pot.

The four pros are like snakes, coiling and circling round each other, waiting for a hole to appear in each other's defences so they can strike.

Given the players' talents in this game though, it seems unlikely there will be many opportunities, and it may take several big hands to bump heads before we see out next elimination.

Iceman Freezing Them Out

As it is at the moment, the players are maintaining parity, Lindgren the shortstack, but he is only one decent pot away from the chip leader, Jeffrey Lisandro.

Here are the current chip counts, courtesy of worldseriesofpoker.com

Down to just four players, the game isn't moving all that much faster. It's clear that all our remaining competitors want the bracelet badly enough that they're completely focused at the table.

The Lisandro Show

With Tom Schneider and his short stack gone from the field, the attention has turned to Jeffrey Lisandro. He was involved in several important hands during the last level, several of which went badly, but he’s still hanging in there.

Just after Schneider’s elimination, Lisandro called Erick Lindgren’s preflop raise to $60,000 from the small blind. Both men took one card, and Lisandro checked after the draw. Lindgren bet $115,000 and Lisandro made an immediate call. Lindgren turned up 9-7-6-4-2, which was good enough to take the pot.

About 20 minutes later, Lisandro made it $60,000 to go from the cutoff and Mike Matusow called on the button. Both men drew one card, and Lisandro fired out $100,000. Matusow reached for his chips, waited, and then moved a stack of $5,000 chips forward.

“Pair,” said Lisandro. That sent Matusow into celebration mode as he turned over K-9-7-3-2, good enough to take down the pot.

Lisandro rides the roller coaster, survives - for now.

Finally, the Iceman decided to get all-in after Lindgren opened for $60,000. Lisandro shipped it for his last $175,000, which Lindgren called, and then stood pat on the draw. E-Dog drew one card, saw that he couldn’t beat Lisandro’s 10-8-7-6-3, and mucked his cards.

After all that, Lisandro sat on $360,000. Following a stretch of pots taken down without a draw, he got involved in one further key pot after he and Mike Matusow called Barry Greenstein’s $60,000 raise before the draw. Lisandro drew one card, Matusow drew one, and Greenstein took two.

Lisandro came out firing after the draw, making a big bet of $200,000. Both his opponents folded and he turned up 7-6-5-4-3 - a straight, which is no good in deuce-to-seven lowball.

“I bluffed them!” said the Iceman with a smile, in a rare show of emotion.

Le Break!

Most of the breaks during WSOP tournaments are used to clear the players out, giving them a chance to stretch or catch a smoke or a bite while the tournament staff goes through color-ups or prize pool calculations. The last break in our game, however, was used to move the final table back to the ESPN set.

It’s a good call on the part of the WSOP management, responding relatively quickly to an issue the way they have today. It’s just too bad they didn’t consider making this decision yesterday, when they could have given all seven of these titans of poker the spotlight - and the respect - that they deserve.

40 Chip Counts to Freedom

Here's a look at the current chip counts, courtesy of WorldSeriesOfPoker.com: