The more time that goes by, the more it looks like John Phan is going to come in second again. It's no-limit, though, so anything can happen. One thing is for sure: the atmosphere is getting much more tense. The crowd watching this match has grown to over 70 people, and both players appear to want the bracelet pretty badly.

Johnny Quest

Johnny Neckar may be playing against one of the better players in the world, but he certainly doesn’t appear to be intimidated. In fact, he has the demeanor of a veteran himself.

Neckar sits completely still unless he’s grabbing chips for a bet. His arms encircle his now-enormous chip stack, hands resting over the top of his hole cards. When he checks he only moves the fingers on his right hand. He’s almost as mechanical as he can get at the table, and the big blue hoodie he’s wearing helps to conceal his breathing patterns as well.

For his part, Phan is playing very methodically as well, taking an extra long time to make his decisions. He’s wearing his signature sunglasses and a baseball cap tilted downward and to the left, which is where Neckar is sitting in relation.

It Don’t Mean a Thing If It Ain’t Got That Swing

John Phan had been behind for a little while, but he reclaimed the lead on a big hand without showing down his cards. Neckar had raised on the button to $150,000, and Phan called to see the flop come down A 8 8. He immediately led out for $150,000 and his opponent called. The turn came the K; Phan checked, Neckar bet $225,000, and Phan called. When the 10 hit, Phan check-called Neckar’s $600,000 bet and Neckar immediately mucked.

That hand swung the pendulum back in Phan’s favor, giving him a more than 3:1 chip lead.

Big Double for Johnny

Neckar’s methodical approach is giving up very little information to Phan, which might be part of the reason the Razor made a quick call with top pair earlier. The board read Q 6 4, and Phan check-raised Neckar’s $225,000 bet to $450,000. Neckar moved all-in with a quickness, holding A Q, and Phan called with Q 9. The board ran out A 7 and Neckar doubled his stack to $3,100,000. Phan, meanwhile, was down to $1,200,000.

Welcome to the Chip Counts

Two more hands came up before the 10-minute level break that saw Phan bleed a few more chip off, leaving him in desperate straits as we move on up. Here’s the skinny courtesy of WorldSeriesOfPoker.com:

Play is once again underway after an impromptu dinner break, and there’s a growing crowd around the heads-up match between Johnny Neckar and John Phan.

Phan Focused

There’s a big contrast between John Phan heads-up for a bracelet in 2008 and last year.

Last year’s John Phan was raucous at the ESPN final table, downing drinks left and right and getting the crowd fired up. This year he’s not drinking, he’s not paying any attention to the 50-deep crowd of spectators, and he’s in a roped off area with no cameras watching. He is, in a word, focused.

Phan is also wearing his World Poker Open bracelet from 2007, perhaps to remind himself that he’s taken tournaments down in the past and can do it again.

Who's This Kid, Anyway?

Johnny Neckar's biggest live career cash so far was a third-place finish in the Venetian Deep Stack event last summer, good for almost $53,000. He has two other cashes, including a Wynn Classic final table and a 19th place finish in this year's WSOP Mixed Hold'em event. Whatever happens today, this will be the biggest score of his career.

Heads-up Play

Play has been mostly tentative since returning from dinner, with the majority of pots being taken down before the flop. The only pot with real action so far saw Neckar take down a $300,000+ pot on a 10 2 8 4 5 board, firing out a $400,000 river bet that Phan took several minutes to decide was too big for his comfort.

Something Happens and I'm Head Over Chip Counts

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