Plus ça change...
The field continues to shrink down toward the 300-player mark — still a long ways to go before they get down to 120 and the cash, and even further until a final table and winner are determined.
But the distance of such prospects isn't preventing players from envisioning the many possible futures before them.
"Everything that happens changes everything," opined Casey Kastle not long ago amid a conversation about decisions and actions made in the previous hand. It's a familiar discussion in poker tournaments, where "butterfly effect" theories abound.
"What just happened probably changed who is going to win the tournament," he added. No one responded, all focused on the new cards being dealt. Kastle redoubled his efforts.
"That hand probably changed how many grandchildren you're going to have!"
That did evoke some smiles, though soon the table fell quiet once more, everyone intent on doing what they could to affect what happens next in the best possible way.