Day 3: The Final Eleven...?

Yesterday was supposed to be moving day for the Seven-Card Stud World Championship -- Day 2, when the field of 101 would play down to the final eight. That plan went a bit awry when 11 players were still alive at 3am. The late hour triggered an application of Rule 96 from the 2009 World Series of Poker Tournament Rules. Rule 96 states that no Day 2 will be required to play past 3am unless the final table is to be broadcast on television or the internet. Mercifully, that's not the case with seven-card stud.

And so the last 11 players were sent to bed last night without knowing which eight would be seated at the final table. They'll return today on two tables, ready to play all the way down to a champion.

When Rule 96 was invoked to suspend play last night, Eric Drache was the chip leader at 785,000 chips and Tim Phan was the short stack at 53,000 chips. But fortunes can change fast enough in poker; just ask Daniel Negreanu, who took a depleted stack of 9,000 chips four hours into the day yesterday and rode it all the way into the money. Or maybe Ray Dehkharghani, who was down to 3,000 chips at the end of the night and climbed back to 141,000.

Play kicks off at 1pm local time. At some point before the night is over, another bracelet will have an owner. Stick around!