205 players.  Most low buy-in, regional poker tournaments would love to get 205 players to attend, yet at the World Series of Poker Main Event, 205 is not the start of the action but the result of five full days of play, and unlike those other events, where coming in 205th would be little to brag about, at the WSOP it’s a significant accomplishment and one that will be added to the bios of most of the newer players still competing today.  It’s also when in many ways things get tense, not only for the players who are now each guaranteed at least $48,847, but for the media and organizers as well, as fewer and fewer recognizable pros sit amongst the field.

Day 5 of the 2010 WSOP Main Event saw the elimination of many of those notable pros including past Main Event champion Scotty Nguyen, who fought hard throughout the day as over 250 more players fell by the wayside, only to fall himself in the last hours of play. 

Other highly marketable pros that min cashed during Day 5 included friend of PokerRoad Will “The Thrill” Failla, Evelyn Ng, Yevgeniy Timoshenko, Eric Buchman, Lauren Kling, Fabrice Soulier, Shannon Shorr, Karina Jett, Bruce Buffer, Vanessa Selbst, Jason Mercier, Sammy Farha, Brandon Cantu, Kevin MacPhee, Adam Schoenfeld, Cole South, Daniel Mizrachi, Mori Eskandani, Hoyt Corkins, Vitaly Lunkin and WSOP Circuit master Dwyte Pilgrim.

Yes, as Tolkien’s Gandalf would say, “we come to it at last.”  205 players are now within reasonable dreaming of poker’s ultimate final table and a top prize worth nearly $9,000,000, and luckily for those who will promote that final table for the next five and a half months, there are still  a fair number of exciting pros alive as we enter the last days of this tournament’s large scale battle.

One of the biggest legends still in the field is back to back Main Event champion Johnny Chan, who thanks to a large pot late in the day is once again back in the top ten with 2,559,000 in tournament chips.  Chan with two Main Event titles back in the 80’s and 10 WSOP bracelets to his credit, seems eager to prove that he’s still “the Man,” but others including a rising crop of well known internet sensations, are just as eager to get a taste of that fame that Chan has enjoyed for so long.

Some of the other players that will be carefully watched by hopeful promoters during today’s (7/15) Day 6 include Michael "The Grinder" Mizrachi (1,793,000), Robert Mizrachi (224,000), Phil “OMGClayAiken” Galfond (1,025,000), Adam Levy (1,147,000), Juha Helppi (555,000), David Benyamine (353,000), Tony Dunst (327,000), Eric “basebaldy” Baldwin (292,000), Hasan Habib (266,600) and Jean-Robert Bellande, who with 946,000 in chips is more likely to "survive" the day, than he was the CBS reality show that brought him mainstream fame.

Day 6 of the 2010 WSOP Main Event starts today at noon.  For more information or to read live updates powered by PokerNews visit www.wsop.com.