Actor Jason Alexander, famous for playing George in the sitcom Seinfeld, was among those still alive in the World Series of Poker main event on day two of the game's biggest tournament.
Nearly 1,500 players took part in Tuesday's session, which was the fifth day of play but officially day 2A because the opening day is staggered to accommodate the nearly 6,500 entries.
While many players simply looked to get through their second sessions without being eliminated, some tried to accumulate large amounts of chips to make a deep run in the no-limit Texas Hold 'em tournament.
Alexander started the day among the chip leaders with nearly 90,000 chips, and said he gained about 20,000 more chips during the first two levels of play, but was back down to about 56,000 by the dinner break.
"I have no illusions about where I'm going to wind up in this thing," Alexander told The Associated Press. "My aggressiveness is counterbalanced by the fact that I just don't want to be stupid. And when you're a C-plus, B-minus player and you've got some chips, you can get stupid."
Alexander said he wants to make it to a third day of play, but not without a healthy amount of chips.
"I'd like to be a little more aggressive and yet I have to be careful how I do that because I have limited skills."
An hour later, Alexander eliminated another opponent with pocket aces, the best starting hand in poker.
"Really scary board," he said after winning the hand despite the possibility of a straight given the community cards.
The early days of the World Series are played in seperate sessions to accommodate the large number of competitors. The seperate groups are expected to meld on Friday when enough players have been eliminated.
Mike Sexton, who has cashed 45 times at the series and won a gold bracelet in 1989 in a stud high-low tournament, said players this early in the tournament should only be hoping to stay in the tournament and not worry about having large chip stacks.
"You can't win the tournament on Day 2 no matter how many chips you get a hold of," said Sexton, who began the day with 11,000 more chips than he started the tournament with. "Just having average chips at the end of Day 1, the end of Day 2, the end of Day 3 is perfect for me. I mean I don't think you really need to be chip leader or anywhere near it to have a fighting chance to win the tournament."
Poker pro Phil Laak was among those eliminated, having at one stage folded pocket kings to a bluff with an ace on the board.
"You've got the vultures circling, maybe they can witness the death," he said.
Greg Raymer, the 2004 main event champion who was seated next to Alexander to begin the day, said setting goals like doubling chips by a certain point or simply surviving until another session can make people play poorly.
"Accomplishing that goal at some point will be the wrong play," Raymer said. "So now all of a sudden you'll be avoiding risks that you should take or you'll be taking risks you shouldn't, because that's the best way to accomplish your goal."
Raymer believed that many players were being aggressive because they were simply satisfied with making it to the second day.
"They don't think they have a legitimate chance of winning or even making the money, but they want to make Day 2 so they can at least tell their friends they made Day 2," Raymer said.
"Heck if it's the US Open golf, being in the top half means something, it means you are an excellent golfer for sure. The top half of any poker tournament doesn't mean anything because you can fold your way there – you can just not show up."
