After the burst of the money bubble yesterday, Day 4 of the 2008 World Series of Poker came and went at some pace. With the fear of not making the money lifted from their soldiers the 474 strong field played fast and loose, attempting to build up a stack at make a run at the final table. After a day which started late and ended early 189 players will come back to compete on Day 5, all guaranteed at least $38,600 in prize money.

Jeremy Joseph held the chip lead after Day 3 and wasn’t about to let it slip away. Despite losing over 1 million chips in one pot near the end of pay he still maintains a slim advantage over second place Nikolay Losecv.

Many onlookers would have been pulling for Johnny Chan to become only the third player to win the main event three times. It was not to be, however, as Chan’s A-7 failed to improve against his opponents 8-8 – Chan eliminated in the second level. Joining him at the rail were: Robert Mizrachi, Dave Colclough, Hasan Habib, Evelyn Ng and Jean-Robert Bellande.

With the pros enjoying so much success at this years series it should come as no surprise to see that there is still a big group of formidable poker players in the draw. Allen Cunningham and Gus Hansen find themselves well in with the chip leaders and returning tomorrow along with them will be Shawn Sheikhan, Alex Outhred, Jeff Madsen, Mike Matusow and Hoyt Corkins.

Chip counts for the top 10 are:

Jeremy Joseph 2,187,000
Nikolay Losev 2,110,000
Cristian Dragomir 2,065,000
Brandon Cantu 1,981,000
Davor Lanini 1,958,000
David Rheem 1,851,000
Andrew Rosskamm 1,764,000
James McManus 1,761,000
Geoffrey Herzog 1,695,000
Albert Kim 1,688,000

Flop Turn River forum regular, Aaron Gordon (Toadstool), will also return for Day 5 with a healthy 493,000 in chips. 13 places behind Phil Hellmuth and 6 ahead of Mike Matusow.