After the third round of play at the World Series of Poker main event, Brock Parker of Silver Spring is No. 7 in the chip count.  I haven't had an opportunity to track down Parker yet, but an Internet search on him indicates that he's a poker regular who has had a number of cash-ins in tournament play.

The field for the No-limit Texas Hold 'em World Championship is now down to 337 players after starting with 6,358 on July 6.  The current leader is from Rome, Italy, with nearly 2.4 million chips.  Silver Spring's Parker has just under 1.1 million.  There are several more rounds left, though, and the final table is scheduled for July 17.  The winner of the tournament gets $8.2 million and the top 15 finishers are guaranteed at least $429,000.

The only other Maryland player who appeared to cash-in at the main event was Andrew Brokos who was listed as from Baltimore but actually went to high school in Catonsville and is currently living in Boston.  Brokos was a late Round Three bust-out at 384th and had a $34,664 payday.  This is his second cash-in in a row at the main event.  Last year, he finished 279th and collected almost $39,000.

Among the big poker names in the top 100 or so are Gus Hansen (1.04 million), Lee Watkinson (737,000) and Huck Seed (544,000).