July 4th marked Independence Day in the United States, but at the 2008 World Series of Poker, Friday marked the beginning of Day 1-B. The second of four starting flights for the Main Event, Day 1-B played host to several distinguished PocketFivers, each in pursuit of millions of dollars and the title of WSOP Champion. Peter Nordberg Feldman, Blair Rodman, and Matt SamENole Smith were three of over 25 PocketFivers who braved the Amazon Room inside the Rio. At the end of the night, Mike SirWatts Watson (pictured at right) turned in a top 10 chip stack to set the pace. All of the action was covered live on PocketFivesLive.com, your home for WSOP coverage throughout the Main Event. Let’s take a look at the PocketFivers who competed in Day 1-B.

There were 1,158 players in the Amazon Room on Day 1-B. Among them was Scott emptyseat88 Fischman, who was the unfortunate victim of an opponent who turned a flush. Fischman got all in with pocket nines on a board of 9-7-2 with two spades. His opponent showed 8-10 of spades for straight and flush draws. The turn was the three of spades and the board failed to pair on the river, sending Fischman home. He did not record a cash at the 2008 World Series of Poker. PocketFivesLive.com Tournament Reporter Court Harrington commented, “Scott has proven he has the skill set to navigate large tourney fields, but like many players eliminated in the early going, he just ran a big hand into a big draw and came out on the short end of the stick. He will be just one of many great players on the sidelines after Day 1 play.”

When the dinner break rolled around and the All-American Grille became the center of the poker universe for 90 minutes, PocketFiver Mike SirWatts Watson held one of the largest stacks in the room at 74K. He’d finish the night with a healthy 104K stack to lead all PocketFivers (and rank ninth overall). Watts has cashed seven times in WSOP play lifetime, taking home $48,313 in the process. Online, Watson took sixth in the Full Tilt Poker $750K Guarantee a month ago for $23,025. On May 13th, he logged a second place finish in the $100 rebuy on PokerStars for $23,968. Harrington noted, “Watson is solid. Once he gets chips he tends to keep them, not making many mistakes to allow his opponents to gain ground. After building a stack in the first few levels of the WSOP, expect to see him around for the next few days of play as the field dwindles.”

Watson and Jeff YoungSupremacy Hakim set the pace for PocketFivers for most of Friday. Hakim finished with 48.5K chips. Hakim is ranked 49th on PocketFives.com on the strength of wins in the most recent Full Tilt Online Poker Series for $72,600 and the $109 rebuy on PokerStars for $19,230. He’s cashed once in the 2008 WSOP.

Paul comeonfish Lieu (pictured at right) finished Day 1-B with 85K chips. Harrington gave his thoughts on Lieu’s play: “He is an extremely dangerous player. When his table breaks and he finds a new seat, any of the players that happen to know who he is will be very unhappy to see him pulling up a chair.”

Mark sideshowgil Gilbert finished the day with 42K chips. He recently took first in the $50K Guaranteed on PokerStars for $10,062 and in May cashed for second in the $100 rebuy on the same site for $22,102.50.

Steve MrTimCaum O’Dwyer’s tournament ended early when he pushed in with pocket sevens on a flop of K-9-7 rainbow. His opponent turned over pocket aces and O’Dwyer’s tournament future looked promising. However, one of the two remaining aces in the deck hit on the river, eliminating O’Dwyer from the Main Event. O’Dwyer ended up with two cashes this year.

Here is a list of unofficial chip counts at the end of Day 1-B:
Mike SirWatts Watson – 104K
Paul ComeOnPhish Lieu – 85K
Mark sideshowgil Gilbert – 42K
Jeff YoungSupremacy Hakim – 48.5K
Steve gboro780 Gross – 15K
Stuart zpaceman Taylor – 26K
Bobby Gettin Deep Hodson – 30K
Greg okstate345 Cox – 21K
Marco KILL-BILL Liesy – 28K
Brian Wing-n-prayer Reingold – 27K
Stu thedonator Paterson – 18K
Jeff jeffboski Sluzinski – 17K
Shaun Deeb – 16K
Matt SamENole Smith – 8.5K

Some of the PocketFivers eliminated include:
Steve MrTimCaum O'Dwyer
Scott EmptySeat88 Fischman
Blair Rodman
Peter Nordberg Feldman

The top ten overall after Day 1-B read as follows:
Ben Sarnoff – 177,500
Brian Schaedlich – 160,725
Robert Mizrachi – 142,400
Nick Caltabiano – 127,700
Liya Gerasimova – 111,050
Robert Eckstut – 110,275
Alex Balandin – 109,925
Coco Valerice – 106,727
Michael Watson – 104,425
Gilles Smadja – 101,450

Day 1-C of the 2008 WSOP Main Event kicks off at 12:00 Noon PT from Las Vegas. PocketFivesLive.com will be tracking all of your favorite online players in the Amazon Room. Check out our WSOP coverage on PocketFivesLive.com.