The few became fewer today. This beleaguered poker bastion known as the Amazon Room got smaller and smaller and its surviving 79 occupants endured another day of triumph and trauma. The camp was small as players took their seats at high noon and by 11:30pm what remained were just a handful of tables with thousands of wide spectator eyes fixed upon them.
The whole room had taken on a different atmosphere today, with the tables from previous days gone and the area of action reduced table by table towards the main stage. It was quite a day, one of ups and downs for those playing under the PokerStars banner, headed by Team PokerStars Pro Victor Ramdin, with the likes of sponsored player Kara Scott equally popular with the railbirds.
But on days like these surviving the cut depends on chips, cards, courage and that all important bit of luck. For much of this week Kara had the chips, the courage and didn’t need the cards, but that last bit of luck drained away this evening, her magnificent main event performance ended fittingly in front of the cameras and crowds on the feature table, her KQ running into AT on an AK4 flop to mark the end of an effort worth $41,816 for 104th place.
Joining Kara on the rail was the last of the FPP qualifiers Doug Ashmore from Houston, Texas. Doug paid 4,000 FPPs to enter a satellite, finishing as one of the top three players of 426 to win a seat to the World Series. Today he went even better, effectively turning that buy in into $41,816 with a 124th place finish.
It was not all about goodbyes. Team PokerStars Pro Victor Ramdin, who already has a final table to his name this year, continued his pursuit of the ultimate second making a powerful start, bouncing his way up into the millions.
Victor excelled, flying as high as the three million mark before a harsh dose of tournament reality struck, costing him much of his fortune. He ended the day with just under a million, certainly enough for a player of his calibre to return to make his mark on Day 6.
As we find year on year it’s not just the quantity of PokerStars qualifiers that impresses, but also the quality.
Romanian qualifier Cristian Dragomir has enjoyed a somewhat meteoric rise up the chip lists from day one to now. His story is one of the ultimate spin-up, having won $1.87 on a freeroll four years ago which he gradually increased into thousands. In a nice parallel he’s done the same here. At the end of day one he had 55,000, a day later he was up to 193,000. Yesterday that figure was 824,000 and then in the first couple of levels this afternoon he jacked that up to 2.5 million. He returns tomorrow slightly down at 1.8million.
His story could potentially be a big one, not least in his native Romania.
"It's huge," he said. "I just read on the internet that I'm going to be on the news. All my friends back home are rooting for me. It's massive."
Brian Tatum, a steps qualifier from Illinois, is making the most of his first trip to Vegas. He plays at PokerStars like it's his "morning cup of coffee" according to his girlfriend Joanne.
He secured his seat on the final weekend before the main event and is still in with more than a million in chips going into the sixth day. He's being followed closely by all his family back home, and Joanne has also helped us out with some editorial on the site. It's a great story, and we've got a great narrator on board as well.
A mention also for Andrew Brokos who stormed towards the chip lead late today, ending with 4 million to bag and tag. Brandon Cantu, David Rheem, Greg Byard, Larry Wright, Geert Jens, Owen Crowe and Ylon Schwartz are all among those flying the flag for PokerStars heading into Day 6.
