One of the most feared players in all of poker reached the final table of the $1,500 Pot-Limit Omaha with Rebuys event (#34) of the 2008 World Series of Poker on Friday night. The event attracted 320 players and several PocketFivers landed near the top of the pack, including Tim Tmay420 West (pictured at right), who finished eighth. Cashing in 20th place was Jeff yellowsub Williams. Jamie TheNew Robbins finished in 33rd. In Event #35, Bryan badbeatninja Devonshire finished 11th in the $1,500 Seven Card Stud tournament. The stellar finishes by PocketFivers upped the total take for the 2008 WSOP to well over $10 million, on pace to shatter last year’s $15 million in earnings. PocketFivesLive.com is at the Rio, making the site your destination for WSOP coverage.

Tim Tmay420 West finished eighth to lead PocketFivers in Event #34. Short-stacked, he pushed with Q-Q-7-6 and was called by Dario Alioto, who held 10-9-7-3. Two tens on the flop sealed the deal gave Alioto the lead in the hand and he never looked back. West is no stranger to success in live play. He already logged a fifth place finish at the 2008 WSOP, bringing home $63,450 in Event #11, the $5,000 No Limit Hold’em Shootout tournament. He also cashed in Event #5. West finished third at the World Poker Tour Celebrity Invitational during Season V. His lifetime WPT winnings top $120,000. PocketFivesLive.com Tournament Reporter Jill Harrison reflected on West's tournament: "West is an affable guy; not only does he play great poker, he also keeps his table chuckling with his dry wit and his ever-present railbirds. The Californian has been playing live tournaments for less than two years, but has met great success in that short time. Though West entered the final table as the short stack due to a beat on Day 2 from event winner Layne Flack, his play throughout was solid and aggressive. Late into the day, West made a key double up through Thomas Wahlroos with trips and a better kicker; he was able to defend his stack all the way to the final table."

Jeff yellowsub Williams (pictured at left) finished in 20th place in Event #34, the $1,500 Pot Limit Omaha with Rebuys with rebuys tournament. He cashed for $19,257. Ted Forrest raised over the top of Williams, putting him all in. Williams held A-Q-J-3 with two clubs and two spades. Forrest flipped over K-J-8-A with two hearts. The board ran out 5-7-3-8-J, giving Forrest jacks and eights and giving Williams jacks and threes. Williams took second in Event #5, which was won by PocketFiver Michael “worldsgrtest” Banducci. In that tournament, yellowsub cashed for over $400,000. Online, the 21 year-old won the $100K Pro Bounty Guaranteed on Absolute Poker for $35,100 about one month ago. PocketFivesLive.com Tournament Reporter Adam Johnson commented, “Williams is perhaps the most ballyhooed 21-year-old tournament player entering his first WSOP this summer. Given his exploits online and his deep finishes in big live tournaments thus far, expect Williams to be capturing headlines again in more WSOP events.”

Jamie TheNew Robbins placed 33rd in Event #34. His ship was run aground by Nathan Doudney with 8-9-10-3 (two spades) against Doudney’s Q-A-6-5 (two clubs). However, all was not lost, as he cashed for $16,849. Robbins took home $4,635 from Event #7 and made the final table of Event #19, the $1,500 Pot Limit Omaha tournament, cashing for $28,940. Late last May, he took down a $1,060 buy-in tournament on Full Tilt Poker for $105,750. Counting Circuit Event cashes, Robbins has five in the money finishes in 2008. PocketFivesLive.com Tournament Reporter Jessica Welman commented, “Robbins continued to prove his PLO skills with yet another cash in the Series. He managed to build up a big stack during the rebuy period which helped propel him into Day 2 of play. On the second day, Robbins was short-stacked for quite a while, but managed to find some good spots to pick up chips and rack up another deep run in an Omaha event.”

Bryan badbeatninja Devonshire (pictured at right) finished 11th in the $1,500 Seven Card Stud tournament, Event #35. He cashed for $8,841 after he could not improve against Al Barbieri's two pair. Online, he’s won the $1K Monday on Full Tilt Poker for $47,400 and also taken down the $55,000 Guarantee on Full Tilt Poker for $13,750. He’s had one final table at the World Series each of the past two years, pocketing over $200,000 in the process. PocketFivesLive.com Tournament Reporter Brett Collson commented, “Devo is clearly a devoted student of all forms of poker. He picked up his first cash of the World Series in the stud high event, but has played every event from LHE to PLO to NLHE. He took second in last year's WSOP Limit Omaha Hi/Lo event for a cool $140K.”

The action is heating up from Las Vegas. The Main Event starts two short weeks from now on July 3rd. PocketFivesLive.com will be there covering all the action from the Rio All-Suites Hotel and Casino. Visit PocketFivesLive.com, your home for WSOP coverage.