An Orbit w/ Chip Leader James Obst

James Obst began the day as the chip leader — which he bagged on Day 1a — and he's picked up right where he left off. In fact, Obst has nearly doubled his stack thus far today and still sits atop the counts.

We decided to spend an entire orbit at Table 50, which is not only playing host to Obst, but also Poker Hall of Famer Erik Seidel and Team PokerStars Pro Jason Mercier, that latter of who is on life support with just 10,000 in chips.

Obst, who has $1,132,108 in lifetime tournament earnings, is looking to make a deep run in the tournament and improve upon his 19th-place finish back in 2013, his best-ever finish in this tournament. Here's an entire orbit from Obst's perspective.

Hand #1 (Under the Gun): Obst folded.

Hand #2 (Big Blind): Action folded to the player in the small blind, who limped, and Obst checked his option from the big to see a flop. The small blind led out for 2,000 and Obst quickly folded.

Hand #3 (Small Blind): The player in the cutoff raised to 2,800, the button called, and Obst folded. Seidel called from the big blind and three players took a flop of . Seidel checked and then both he and the player on the button folded when the cutoff continued for 4,700.

Hand #4 (Button): The cutoff opened for 3,000 and Obst folded. Mercier did the same from the big blind after flashing one of his cards. "Another deuce," he explained.

Hand #5 (Cutoff): The player in the hijack raised to 3,000 and won another pot after everyone folded.

Hand #6 (Hijack): Action folds to Obst and he releases. After Seidel does the same, Mercier shoves the button. Both blinds folded. "Not messing around guys," Mercier said and showed the .

Hand #7 (Middle Position): The under-the-gun player raised to 2,700 and Obst three-bet to 8,300. Action folded back to the original raiser, who called, and the two saw a flop of . The under-the-gun player folded and Obst continued for 7,500. That did the trick as his opponent folded.