Edit: Here’s the official chip counts:

In a surprising move, play ended Saturday after just three levels of play in the main event, as the field is now down to about 400 players after three levels of play, which included nearly two hours of hand-for-hand play. Chip counts are unofficial at the moment, but it appears that Frenchman Ludovic Lacay will be the chip leader with 1,608,000 chips. Tom Lutz is listed in 2nd place with 1,600,000 chips. Other notables returning tomorrow with unofficial chip counts: Jordan Morgan (1,489,000), Blair Hinkle (1,399,000), Bertrand Grospellier (1,250,000), Nichoel Peppe (880,000), Kenny Tran (850,000), Tom Schneider (790,000), Lou Diamond Phillips (755,000), Dennis Phillips (630,000), Kara Scott (580,000), Joe Hachem (570,000), Noah Boeken (515,000), Joe Sebok (412,000) and Joe Serock (400,000). The returning players resume at 12 noon tomorrow, guaranteed at least $27,469.

The bubble was reached after 13 hands during hand-for-hand play. Kia Hamadani had about 160,000 in chips when they were about 20 players for the money, unfortunately for him, he took several hits to his stack until he was all in for his 500-chip ante. His last hand was 4-3o, which was crushed by someone making a large bet on a Q-Q-6 board with 9-2o. A nine on the turn and river meant that Hamadani would finish in 649, consoled by the fact that Jack Link’s Beef Jerky gave him a free entry to the 2010 Main Event.

Notables who can sleep in tomorrow: Phil Hellmuth, Patrick Bruel, Kelly Kim, Surinder Sunar, Matt Brady, Mark Gregorich, and Jesper Hougaard.

Official chip counts will be available in the morning, so return to Pokerati to see what’s turns up next.

Day 3 of the Main Event were able to play five full levels yesterday, with 789 players surviving to return at noon Saturday as they crawl their way to the money bubble at 648 players. The only player with a 7-figure chip stack is Bertrand “ElkY” Grospellier with 1,380,500. Other notables who are still hanging around: Blair Hinkle (542,000), Dennis Phillips (510,000), Phil Hellmuth (485,000), Kara Scott (456,500), Mike Sexton (414,000), David Benyamine (381,500), Lou Diamond Phillips (359,500), Kelly Kim (346,000), Joe Sebok (297,500), Joe Hachem (239,500), Tom Schneider (231,000), Bobby Baldwin (193,500) and The Big Randy (190,500). The entire list of survivors is available below:

Five more levels of play are scheduled for today, but a prolonged period of bubble play can play havoc, depending on when they start hand for hand play and how much time is added back after the money is reached. In any case, it’ll be a joyous occasion for most who make the money, while the more established players will be looking to abuse the bubble, and take chips off players looking to get out of Vegas with their $21k+ payday.

Follow all the action over at www.wsop.com here and Pokerati for other stuff going on during Saturday.

Recapping the early part of Tuesday action at the WSOP…

JC’s a Runaway Tran in PLO

JC Tran took down his 2nd career WSOP bracelet in the $2,500 Pot-Limit Omaha event defeating Jeff Kimber in heads-up play to also adds $235,685 to his tournament database. Ross Boatman finished in 4th, John Juanda finished in 9th place.

Wolpert Topples Duthie Heads Up

The $10,000 NL Holdem Heads Up World Championship just conclude with Leo Wolpert taking the final two matches to defeat John Duthie 2-1 and pick up $625,682. Duthie settles for the 2nd place winnings of $386,636. Duthie won the first match in about 90 hands, while Wolpert won the second match in just nine hands. The third match took 191 hands, ending when Wolpert flopped bottom two pair against Duthie’s top pair.

Micon Trying to Schock the World

The $1,500 HORSE now has six players remaining at the final table, as Mitch Schock is the current chip leader with Shannon Shorr, Tad Jurgens, Bryan Micon, Brian Malcolm, and James Van Alstyne round out the final table.

Lennaard, Part 7

Ken Lennaard, a veteran Swedish pro, is the current chip leader with 77 players remaining in the $2,000 NL Holdem event. Notables still in the field include: Michael Binger, Peter Feldman, Andre Akkari, Kelly Kim and Chau Giang.

Go, Ho, Go!

The $10,000 Limit Holdem World Championship is down to 48 players, only 18 get paid as they strive to reach a final table tomorrow. The current chip leader is online high stakes cash-game specialist Matt Hawrilenko with 272,000. Maria Ho is currently 3rd (225,000) with Ralph Perry (180,000), Josh Arieh (170,000), Steve Zolotow (150,000) and Jennifer Harman (142,000) among the notables still in contention. Ville Wahlbeck is still in the field, but towards the bottom of the field with just 54,000 in chips.

Donkament 4: Voyage to the Rio

The 4th $1,500 NL Holdem event started with a field of 2095, with only 669 players remaining. Unfortunately an early chip leader hasn’t been announced yet, but check out the morning update or wsop.com for an update later this evening.

The action picks up, with Craig Marquis and Kelly Kim busting out … Kim had some of the best fans, and for Marquis, it’s all sickness … sick to go out when he did, sick to go out how he did, and as a result, he goes home with nada, or at least nada más. Kim, on the other hand, has an extra $300k … and we can only assume his friends and fans are out celebrating that achievement.

Book 4: WSOP Final Table
Episode 4.4: Bustin’ Outs 2:43

[audio:tao/TOP-4-4.mp3]

PokerStars had the advantage coming to the final table today with six out of the nine players on their team: Dennis Phillips, Ivan Demidov, Peter Eastgate, Ylon Schwartz, Darus Suharto, and David “Chino” Rheem. The only three players on the Full Tilt roster were Scott Montgomery, Craig Marquis, and Kelly Kim. C’mon, math geniuses, calculate ‘dem odds.

With the elimination of Craig Marquis in ninth place, and the sudden eighth place elimination of Kelly Kim in the very next hand, Full Tilt is left to hang all of its WSOP champion hopes on Scott Montgomery.

All of the PokerStars players remain at the table… I’m notoriously bad at prop bets, but I’m thinking – work with me on this one – tomorrow’s champion might be decked out in PS gear.

I’m having some trouble with properly title-ing this stuff … but follow along, as “Book 4” is definitely the event going on here at the Penn and Teller Theater that we are discussing. This time, Pauly and I witness a double-up by Kelly Kim, much to his fans delight, who are suddenly fueled with new hope for a better poker day.

Book 4: WSOP Final Table
Episode 4.3: Double Up! Double Up! 1:20

[audio:tao/TOP-4-3.mp3]

UPDATE: Kelly Kim just busted out in 8th place … $1.28 million. Nice job, nice guy.

As action gets underway, Pauly and I check out the crowds and the difference in expectation between Dennis Phillips’ and Kelly Kims’ fans before debating the name of the whole shebang — November Nine, bleh — while paying homage to Robin Leach and noting that the PBR Rodeo, which is also in town, is going nuts over the chance for a cowboy to win $1 million. Puhlease.

Book 4: WSOP Final Table
Episode 4.2: Root, Root, Root for the Short Stack 3:17

[audio:tao/TOP-4-2.mp3]

So action is about to get underway. Players are unbagging their chips now. A few thoughts on what we are seeing/hearing:

• Dennis Phillips has close to 200 fans — all of them are wearing the same shirt he is, with the same patch logos.
• He and all his friends are die-hard Ford supporters (as per their patchwork), though it is uncertain whether or not Ford paid for such a placement.
• Many of his friends and fans began drinking at 9 am.
• Dennis has a great URL pimped on his shirt — thechipleader.com. (I’m sure Karridy is jealous.)
• Kelly Kim’s fans are chanting out the letters of his name.
• Favorite Dallas transplant dealer Linda Tran will be dealing this final table. She was working with the felt yesterday to get her pitch right — because, after all, she has never dealt multimillion-dollar pots before.
• The Penn & Teller Theater is a pretty cool venue — very vertical. Jen and I are in the orchestra pit … but there’s also a press box way up top that requires taking an elevator to get to.
• Personal opinion: the whole stage set-up should be flipped 180 degrees. The way they have it now, the Milwaukee’s Best Light No Limit Lounge completely blocks the table view for all the fans in lower seating. They still can watch on 20-foot plasmas, but regardless, having the lounge against the back wall instead of blocking the stage would also allow ESPN to show 100s of fans in the background.
• They do have a hot-chick DJ spinning tunes, however, in front of the No-Limit No-View Lounge.
• Ivan Demidov’s fans are all Russianed up — wearing funky hats (they’re called Babushkas, I think?) and hammer-and-sickle garb.
• Ylon Schwartz is super quiet and subdued. He also looks like my old pot dealer, Booger.
• Gamma-O “testosterone booster” passed out those inflatable phallic thingies that people can bang together to make noise.
• Kelly Kim’s crowd is the loudest, now screaming “Double Up!”

Go Craig Marquis! (Even though I think you’re probably too young to pull off the victory. Prove me wrong!)

In a stunning development, one of the WSOP November Nine has cashed in a poker tournament. And it just happened to be Kelly Kim, the shortest stacked player waiting to head back to the Rio in Las Vegas to attempt an immediate double-up at the WSOP final table. But instead of stuntin’ around Los Angeles with his 9th place money, he’s honing his final table skills.

In Event #13 of the Legends of Poker tournament series at the Bicycle Casino in L.A., Kelly was one of the 252 players in the $335 NLHE w/rebuys. And he ended up finishing in 4th place for a $10,650 payday.

In other November Nine news, David “Chino” Rheem did make the trip last week to Uruguay for the LAPT Punta del Este, but he was busted early on Day 1 when his 9-6 ran into a 6-4 and a 4 flopped. (PokerStars reported the action here.) Chino, along with Ivan Demidov and Peter Eastgate, are scheduled to play the WSOP Europe next month, so it will be possible to see some results from them there.

This might be the most thought you’ve given the “November Nine” thus far, that is, if you really take a look at the numbers in this post. And I hope you do and analyze it for me. Thanks.

Bodog has put up the odds for the 2008 WSOP final table, and it’s looking pretty good for my STL player, Dennis Phillips. Never mind that he’s the chip leader, but he’s a 3-1 favorite. Kelly Kim from Southern Cali isn’t looking too good with 25-1 odds, but he’s the short stack. As for the rest of the pack, I’m not sure how the odds were calculated, which makes it a good thing I’m not a sports bettor.

Here are the odds and chip counts as of July 25th:

Dennis Phillips (3-1) – 26,295,000 chips
Scott Montgomery (4-1) – 19,690,000 chips
Ivan Demidov (9-2) – 24,400,000 chips
Peter Eastgate (11-2) – 18,375,000 chips
David “Chino” Rheem (15/2) – 10,230,000 chips
Ylon Schwartz (8-1) – 12,525,000 chips
Darus Suharto (17-2) – 12,520,000 chips
Craig Marquis (10-1) – 10,210,000 chips
Kelly Kim (25-1) – 2,620,000 chips

And just for kicks, here is a picture of them all. You are welcome to copy and use it as your screen saver, or you can Photoshop them all into pretty dresses – your call.