32nd Place: Matt Stout ($3,980)

Matt Stout has been eliminated when his [Ac][Ts] failed to improve against his opponent's [Js][Jc].  The board ran out [5h][Qc][8d][Kc][7c] to send Matt to the cashier's desk for his $3,980 payout.

36th Place: Dan Smith ($3,980)

Players are now in the money

The money bubble has burst, and while we didn't see the hand, Dan O'Brien is the bubble boy.  One table is being broken and the players will fill in the empty seats at the final four tables.

Player are now on break, pink chips are introduced

The final 38 players are now on break while the tournament staff colors up and races off the 100 chips.  For the first time, the pink 5,000 chips will be introduced.

Scott Clements is the chip leader heading into the bubble

With 38 players remaining, the far and away chip leader is none other than Scott Clements.  Scott sits on almost 250,000, three times the average stack.  The top 36 players will be in the money, so play will be hand for hand shortly after the break.

Matt Stout takes a huge hit

Matt Stout was all in with [As][Kh] and his opponent called all in for slightly less with [Kd][Kc].  The [Ac][Jc][Ks] flop was disaster for Matt, and he would need one of the two remaining aces to survive.  The turn [3s] and river [3c] were no help, and Matt shipped over 75,000 to his opponent.

A few hands later, Matt doubled up with [Qs][Td] after he outflipped his opponent's [9s][9c].  He now sits on just over 25,000 at 1,200/2,400 blinds.

Final 5 Tables Reached, photos follow

The clock has struck 10pm here in San Jose, and the 46th place finisher has just been eliminated.  The field has been trimmed to the final 5 tables, which means just 45 players remain.  The top 36 players will be in the money, and there are still some big names in this field!  Here are some pictures from the last hour:

Andrew Lichtenberger, Dominik Nitsche, and Jake Solis

Dan Smith and Matt Stout share a laugh

Tim West, Scott Clements, and Dan O'Brien

Ronit Chamani

Jesse Yaginuma

Dominick Nitsche busts Scott Ball

At 600/1,200, Scott Ball raised under the gun to 2,500. Dominick Nitsche called from the small blind, and Jake Solis in the big blind called as well. All three players checked the [4c][Jd][3c] flop. Dominick bet out 5,000 when the [Ts] hit the turn, and Scott moved all in after Jake folded. Dominick made the call with pocket kings, which was leading Scott's ace-ten. A seven hit the river to send Scott to the rail, while Dominick will increase his stack to approximately 70,000.

Level 12 chip counts

Scott Clements - 120,000
Andrew Lichtenberger - 74,000

James Carroll - 62,000
Dan O'Brien - 56,000
Jesse Yaginuma - 51,000
Dominick Nitsche - 45,000
Matt Stout - 42,000
David Sands - 33,000

Ryan D'Angelo - 28,000

Ronit Chamani - 25,000

Roger Sippl -  20,000

Randy Lew - 14,300
David Paredes - 9,100

Scott Ball - 8,000

James Carroll busts Allen Le with quads

James Carroll and Allen Le were all in against a third player, and Allen was in front with pocket queens.  James held pocket jacks and the third player held pocket tens.  The [Kd]Ah][7s] kept Allen in front, but the [Js] on the turn spelled disaster for Allen.  James had taken the lead with a set of jacks, and now Allen needed one of the two remaining tens to make a straight.  Instead, the case jack hit the river to give James quads and the triple up.  Allen will exit the tournament without cashing.

Dinner break tweets

13.5k at dinner break from 10k starting in Bay 101 2k. 120ish of 300 left. 400/800 next

— Matthew Affleck (@mcmattopoker) March 9, 2015

30.5k dinner @Bay101Casino, coming back 800bb, 110 runners left.

— Andrew Sapiro (@ASAP17) March 9, 2015

On dinner break @Bay101Casino @WPT 2100 buy in... returning with 10 bigs.

— Ivin Arquiza (@amusedlol) March 9, 2015

30.8k gojng to dinner break. 27k avg. 110 left out of 300 starting.

— Nipun Java (@nipunjava) March 9, 2015

Players are now on dinner break

There are approximately 110 players remaining in the $2,100 Shooting Star and they are now on their one hour dinner break.  When play resumes at 6:30pm PST, blinds will be 400/800 with a 100 ante.

Chip counts in level 8

Walking around the room, here are some chip counts during level 8. The average stack is just under 20,000, an just over 150 players remain.

Andrew Lichtenberger - 62,000
Matt Salsberg - 49,000
Dan Smith - 25,000
Brian Brubaker - 24,000
Randy Lew - 23,000
Scott Ball - 23,000
Eugene Katchelov -  20,500
Ryan D'Angelo - 18,500
Matt Stout -  15,000
Dominick Nitsche - 12,700
David Sands - 12,500
Dan O'Brien - 11,500
Matt Affleck - 9,400
Tyler Patterson - 8,500
Joe Serock - 8,200
Will Failla - busted
Joe Keuther - busted

Ryan D'Angelo wins a pot off Joe Keuther

On a [2s][As][6s] flop, Joe Keuther check-called a bet from Ryan D'Angelo. On the [Js] turn, the action was the same.  When the [4s] hit the river and put a flush on board, Joe checked for a third time and Ryan bet.  After a brief tank, Joe made the call and was shown the bad news: Ryan held [Ks][Kh] for the nut flush, and he will take down that pot.

Two thirds of the field remains

As we enter level 6, already one third of the field in the $2,100 Shooting Star has been eliminated.  We are down to the final 200 of 300 entrants, and they are now playing 150/300 blinds with a 50 ante.

More big names

As players are eliminated, more are added to fill in the empty seats. Recently we've seen Joe Serock, Michael Rocco, Oliver Price, and Bobby Suer take their seats.

Notables in the field

While trying to get the live stream up and running, we took a stroll around the room and saw quite a few familiar faces:

Matt Stout, Dan Smith, Dan O'Brien, Matt Salsberg, Will Failla, Matt Affleck, Andrew Lichtenberger, Mike Leah, Tom Dobrilovic, Scott Clements, Mark Dube, Faraz Jaka, David Sands, and Sorel Mizzi.

Many more pros are taking their seats as they finish breakfast.

Shooting Star $2k is Under Way

Cards are in the air for the 2015 Bay 101 Shooting Star $2k. 250 players are seated with alternates standing by. The live stream will begin shortly.