The first tournament of the 2011 World Series of Poker is also the first tournament to call into play the new rule about late nights at the Rio. Scheduled for two days, the $500 Casino Employee tournament saw action called to a stop late last night (about 3AM local time) with four players remaining.

The rule that was implemented this year states that only 10 levels can be played on any single day, so instead of a two-day event, the remaining four players will return to the Rio poker tables at 3PM on Thursday to crown a champion.

Here is a look at the four remaining players’ chip-counts heading into Thursday:

1. Sean Drake — 1,058,000
2. Jason Baker — 727,000
3. Claudio Falcaro — 420,000
4. Christopher Perez — 347,000

Eliminated just before play was called to a halt on Wednesday night/Thursday morning was 2006 Los Angeles Poker Classic runner-up Daniel Quach, who booked a $17,835 payday for his efforts –a pittance compared to the $1,162,550 he earned at the LAPC in 2006. I have no idea why Quach is still working in a casino considering he has also won a side event at the 2006 Five Diamonds tournament series for over $300k, although his results have dropped off considerably since.

Here is a look at the payouts the final four players are fighting over:

1st place — $82,292
2nd place — $50,807
3rd place — $32,753
4th place — $23,994

Tags: 300k, 3pm, Champion, Christopher Perez, Claudio, Daniel Quach, Diamonds, Drake, Final Four, Jason Baker, LAPC, Local Time, Pittance, Poker Tables, Single Day, Third Day, Thursday Morning, Wednesday Night, world series, World Series of Poker

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