Dinner Break; Level 17 Concludes with Smith and Finstein Battling For Chip Lead

Level 17 of the 2014 World Series of Poker Main Event has come to a close! The remaining 444 players are now on a 90-minute dinner break.

Michael Finstein became a name to remember during this level, soaring to the top of the chip counts in two key hands. In Finstein's first key encounter, he made a full house of tens full of nines against Rocky McNatt's nines full of kings. This hand crippled McNatt and Finstein was pushed the 1.75 million-chip pot. Soon after, Finstein climbed the chip counts even higher, making another full house - this time eights full of sixes - to send Lisa Tehan to the rail. Finstein had right around two million in chips after the conclusion of that hand and goes into the dinner break with 1.924 million. This puts him second in chips behind Dan Smith, who is the chip leader with 1.976 million. Other big stacks include Mehrdad Yousefzadeh (1.826 million) and Andoni Larrabe (1.78 million).

Mark Herm crossed the million-chip mark in a hand that took roughly ten minutes to complete. Herm was deep in the tank after pressure from Eddie Ochana. Herm spent eight minutes thinking before making a correct call with pocket queens. His queens held through the river, sending Ochana to the river and allowing him to take down a sizable pot.

Several familiar faces were eliminated from play this level including WSOP.com qualifier Cody Gorman, Ryan Julius, Laurence Grondin, Steve Brecher, Larry Ormson, Tony Hachem, Darren Rabinowitz, JJ Liu, Matt Marafiotti,Vinny Pahuja and Phil Galfond. Also hitting the rail was Ronnie Bardah, ending his historic run of a fifth WSOP Main Event cash in a row.

Our very own Sarah Grant recently caught up with Day 1a chip leader Martin Jacobson who is still alive and thriving in the event. Be sure to check it out below.