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  A few decades ago the part of lake Eerie that borders the city of Cleveland, Ohio was set on fire. It wasn't that an oil tanker was set ablaze or some foreign body managed to burst into flames while floating in the lake - the lake itself managed to sustain a wild fire all by itself. It was at around this same time that Cleveland (the city that drew its water from the burning lake) had the highest murder rate for any region in the world that wasn't experiencing an armed insurrection or hosting World Cup soccer. The logical question when these two incidents happen at the same time is what the hell were they putting in the water around Cleveland? Well, whatever it was they were apparently serving it in the drinks at the World Series of Poker on this day.



  Tempers were running high. The table where Brandi Hawbaker was plying her trade was especially contentious. Don't let her "girl next door" looks fool you. Today Brandi had the disposition of a wolverine who had eaten way too much cheese and not nearly enough ex-lax.



  An incident started when a player who let his loss to Brandi get to him, made the mistake of calling her an idiot. The other player was in the wrong and the table came to the defense of Ms. Hawbaker. As a parting shot, Brandi took his chips and suggested he place his head somewhere that would require the player to be double or triple jointed.



  The unnamed player continued to verbally spar with Brandi until she got sick of it and put a bounty on his head. She offered to pay anybody at the table $100 for the service of busting this chump. After some haggling (and some of the more greedy players insisting she make the bounty $500) the player was eventually busted, and the bounty went unpaid.



  After things had settled down and all the players came back from their dinner break, Brandi found herself on the losing end of an elimination hand. After being eliminated from the tournament by Teddy "Iceman" Monroe, she graciously told Mr. Monroe to "Go **** yourself", and walked away from the table.



  Brandi Hawbaker was not the only one suffering from an enflamed temper today. David Ritter let the losing get to him as well. As his losses mounted against one of the many nameless players involved in this tournament, his frustration grew. What was really getting to him is the player who kept taking his chips consistently mucked his hands. Each time Ritter folded to an unknown hand, a little piece of him seemed to die inside. At last he couldn't take it, and after the other player mucked, David reached across and flipped the cards over.



  In the world of poker this act is like driving a Hummer through a school zone at 200 MPH. Ritter was given a penalty round. His tantrum continued as he refused to accept the penalty. Ritter's outburst was finally quelled when some rather burly members of the floor staff stood behind him as a reminder that he could either accept the penalty or be taken somewhere private where he would relive some of the more disturbing scenes from the film "Casino".



  Along with the temper tantrums and explosions, there were some high profile eliminations. Jamie Gold's dreams of back-to-back Main Event bracelets were squashed like a grape beneath the feet of Italian wine makers. Phil Hellmuth was also ousted from the tournament. Not only did his elimination draw applause from the entire room, but we could bet we heard Erica Schoenberg singing "Ding Dong the Witch is Dead". Does anybody like this guy?