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Heading into Day 4 of the World Series of Poker Europe Main Event on Wednesday, two familiar names are near the top of the leader board. Justin Boosted J Smith and Brian aba20 Townsend sit with the third and sixth largest chip stacks in London, respectively. After three days of play, the tournament field is led by Full Tilt Poker pro John Juanda and PokerStars pro Daniel Negreanu is currently in second place. Day 4 of the Main Event will see play dwindle down to the final nine, who will compete for the £868,800 first place prize. Play will resume at 1:00pm local time. All of the action from the Casino at the Empire can be found on PocketFivesLive.com, your home for WSOP Europe coverage.

Justin Boosted J Smith (pictured) leads the PocketFives contingent in the Main Event on Day 4. He holds 624,500 chips, trailing John Junda’s stack of 657,500. When the cards hit the air, Smith will be seated with Daniel Negreanu, Phillippe Rouas, Ben Sonnert, Perttu Bergius, Talal Shakerchi, Stanislav Alekhin, and Mike Matusow. He’s fresh off a 32nd place finish in the recently-completed PokerStars World Championship of Online Poker High Rollers event, where he cashed for $19,260.

The resident of Orlando, Florida caught the eye of PocketFivesLive.com Tournament Reporter Court Harrington, who has been covering the tournament live from London. Harrington talks about Smith’s play: “This is the first tournament I have followed Justin in and his play has impressed me. The volatility of most players that accumulate big stacks has not been anywhere to be found in Smith's game. Maybe it is just an amazing run of cards, but after three days it seems like the more logical conclusion is that this kid is a solid poker player.”

Brian aba20 Townsend (pictured) is a lead instructor for CardRunners.com and also goes by the name sbrugby online. He holds the sixth largest chip stack in the room at 424,500. He’s been playing poker professionally for two years and lives in Santa Barbara, California. Harrington added, “CardRunners is successful for a reason. People like to learn from the best; in poker Townsend has shown in many areas that he is right up there. With 24 players left, he has to be on a lot of people's short list to make a run at the title.”

Another PocketFiver to be found entering Day 4 is Tim Tmay420 West (pictured), who is on the short stack of the 24 players remaining with 63,500. Although he has one-tenth of the chips of the leader in the Casino at the Empire, his experience will surely pay dividends. West has six World Series of Poker cashes in his career that combine for $202,000. He was also the runner up of a $5,000 buy-in preliminary event at the Five Diamond World Poker Classic in 2006, cashing for $181,000.

Harrington describes West’s ride through the Main Event: “How is he still in? West has been scrapping with the short stack ever since Day 1, yet he is still here 337 players later. There will be more short-stack poker for West to start Day 4, but his survival instincts have kept him around so far. He might be due for a run of cards to catapult him to the top of the chip counts.”

With 24 players remaining, here’s how several PocketFivers stack up:
3rd Place: Justin Boosted J Smith, 624,500
6th Place: Brian aba20 Townsend, 424,500
12th Place: Scott emptyseat88 Fischman, 298,000
17th Place: Peter number1pen Neff, 213,500
24th Place: Tim Tmay420 West, 63,500

Several online poker players who were eliminated on Day 3 included:
Peter breeth Turmezey (31st for £25,340)
Chris Moorman1 Moorman
Jeff ActionJeff Garza

The top ten chip stacks overall entering Day 4 on Wednesday are:
1. John Juanda, 657,500
2. Daniel Negreanu, 653,000
3. Justin Smith, 624,500
4. Phillippe Rouas, 573,000
5. Johnny Lodden, 478,000
6. Brian Townsend, 424,500
7. Ben Sonnert, 346,500
8. Toni Hiltunen, 321,500
9. Soren Kongsgaard, 316,500
10. Ivan Demidov, 316,000

Visit PocketFivesLive.com for the latest WSOPE coverage from London. We’ll see you for Day 4 on Wednesday!