Cloutier, a poker legend with six WSOP bracelets, two runner-up Main Event finishes and almost $10m in career earnings, surprised some young guns by making the final 16 in Event #28, $1,500 No-Limit Hold'em.
Mueller, Benyamine, Todd Brunson and Marcel Luske meanwhile led a group of poker vets who took control of the $5k HORSE, owning the top 10 with 28 players left.
Steinberg and Hagerling Final Two in $3k Mix-Max
Our marquee coverage event stalled out late last night as Max Steinberg and Isaac Hagerling made it to the final two but will have to return to finish things out today
An epic quarter-final between Hagerling and Yevgeniy Timshenko pushed the agenda back and Hagerling needed until 3:30 am to dispatch Jeremy Ausmus in their semi-final.
Steinberg wrapped up his semi-final against Jason Koon before midnight but had to get lucky with AJ > AQ to do it.
The two finalists will play things out starting at 3 pm; check our WSOP live updates for a full recap of yesterday's action and tune in for the exciting finale!
The winner will earn his first WSOP bracelet and $372,387.
Cloutier Hangs On to Make Final 16 in $1,500
At 73 years old, TJ Cloutier has seen and done pretty much everything there is to do in poker.
With six WSOP bracelets and just shy of $10m in career earnings he's also proven he knows how to work a stack in a poker tournament and he showed it again yesterday.
Hanging around with an average stack for most of the day Cloutier managed to survive all the way to the final 16 in Event #28, $1,500 No-Limit Hold'em.
He bagged up just 335,000 to enter today as one of the short stacks but with his end-game experience could surprise again tomorrow. For a taste of what it's like to play at a table with Cloutier, check out Sam Grafton's take on the TJ Cloutier Experience.
Japan's Masayuki Nagata leads with 1,742,000 and pro Dan "Wretchy" Martin sits in second. The top 10 in chips:
1. Masayuki Nagata 1,742,000 2. Dan Martin 1,050,000 3. Terik Brown 755,000 4. William Cogan 750,000 5. Tommy Townsend 670,000 6. Stephen Bartlett 576,000 7. James Lee 573,000 8. Joseph Cappuccio 571,000 9. Majid Yahyaei 538,000 10. Timothy Stickradt 522,000Mueller, Benyamine and Vets Control $5k HORSE
The No-Limit Hold'em events might be controlled by the young guns these days but poker's old guard still have a pretty tight hold on the Mixed Games.
They proved it again in Event #29 $5k HORSE with poker vets all over the top 10 heading into the final day tomorrow.
Two-time bracelet winner Greg "FBT" Mueller is the chip leader with 430,500. David Benyamine, Tom Schneider, David Bach, Marcel Luske and Todd Brunson all join him in the top 10.
Dan "djk123" Kelly, Brett Richey and Tom Koral are holding on for the younger generation but will have to come back from short stacks to make the final table.
Daniel Negreanu was the stone bubble boy, busting in 32nd. The top 10 in chips:
1. Greg Mueller 430,500 2. David Benyamine 373,500 3. Viatcheslav Ortynsiky 310,000 4. Tom Schneider 292,000 5. Alex Dovzhenko 194,500 6. David Bach 179,000 7. Marcel Luske 175,000 8. Chris Klodnicki 165,500 9. Benjamin Scholl 165,000 10. Todd Brunson 163,500November Niner Saout Leads $1k
One more $1k No-Limit Hold'em event got underway yesterday with 2,108 players cut down to just 216 to end the day.
Former November Niner Antoine Saout leads the survivors with 131,700 - a massive pile of chips given the $3k starting stack.
Other notables moving on to Day 2 include Eddy Sabat, Randy "nanonoko" Lew, Kevin MacPhee and Andrew Lichtenberger. The top 10 in chips:
1. Antoine Saout 131,700 2. Alex Bolotin 103,800 3. Dimitar Yosifov 96,900 4. Chris Dombrowski 93,400 5. Tomas Pleticha 92,300 6. Burke Delange 81,300 7. Tommy Miller 79,000 8. Jessie Bryant 65,000 9. Tony Gargano 61,000 10. Thomas Muehloecker 56,600Visit www.pokerlistings.com