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Day 6 of the 2011 WSOP Main Event is currently in the third level for the day.

I wish I could say that I have been watching the action closely, but in all honesty, I was watching the WWE Pay-Per-View Money In The Bank.

CM Punk defeated John Cena for the WWE title and “per the storyline” Punk’s contract expires at Midnight tonight and Cena will be fired for losing to Punk.

Not even Phil Collins' lapping of the field could pull me away from WWE's Money in the Bank Pay-Per-View

Of course, you didn’t come here for WWE coverage. You want to know what’s going on at the WSOP.

I have been keeping tabs and for a while it looked like Phil Collins was going to run away with this thing. For a while he cracked the 10 ,illion chip mark and actually had the rest of the field lapped.

Since that point he has come back to earth and is at present leading Pius Heinz by just 100k in chips.

Our next two players to watch over the next two days going into the November Nine are Ben Lamb and Phil Collins.

Lamb has been near the top of the leaderboard for a good portion of the event, but I wanted to make sure he was going to stay there before I gave a solid recommendation.

Collins’ epic rise since yesterday commands your attention.

Ben Lamb Looks To Put Stranglehold on Player of the Year Race

Lamb has had a breakout year this year at the 2011 WSOP.

He finished runner-up in the $3,000 Pot-Limit Omaha Event and followed that up with winning the $10k Pot-Limit Omaha Championship.

After taking 12th in the 10k Six-Handed NL Hold’em Event, Lamb finished 8th in the $50,000 Poker Player’s Championship.

Lamb was second overall in chips after the four Day 1 flights and took the overall lead heading into Day 4. After slipping a bit on Day 4, he has been near the top of the leaderboard ever since and currently sits with 7.47 million.

With his run in the Main Event, he now sits at the top of the leaderboard for 2011 WSOP Player of the Year.

Should he make the November Nine, or even win the thing, his lead may be too far out of reach for Hellmuth to catch at the WSOP Europe.

The 26 year-old pro from Tulsa, Oklahoma, has over $2.5 million in career earnings.

Online Grinder Looking for First Major Live Score

Phil Collins is a well known online poker grinder. Online he is known as “USCphildo” and he has earned over $2.5 million.

He now looks for his first major live cash. This is his 9th career WSOP cash, but his best finish so far was a 10th-place finish in the $1,500 Pot-Limit Hold’em Event in 2009.

He has $113,484 in live earnings and any placing above 65th will instantly double his lifetime earnings in live events.

Collins began his assault on the chip lead yesterday after taking out Daniel Retallick.

His Ac-Kc dominated Retallick’s Ah-Qc and his hand held to move him up to 3.6 million. He moved over 4 million in chips after he cracked the pocket kings of Anthony Miller with Ac-Qh.

Today, Collins came out the gates quickly and took the early chip lead after knocking out Giuseppa Pastura and he was sitting with 6.2 million.

Over the course of the next couple of hours, he kept piling on the chips and moved over the 10 million chip mark in a huge hand that resulted in the elimination of Lance Steinberg.

Collins dropped a couple of million since then but is the current chip leader with 8.1 million.

Prediction: Ben Lamb Makes the November Nine

This is my first prediction regarding the November Nine.

Ben Lamb is playing a combination of inspired poker and is experiencing the “once in a lifetime” run good that great poker players need to have the year he is having at the Main Event.

I am not saying at present that he is going to win, but I do say that he will make the November Nine. My gut says he will be about a medium stack when they make the November Nine early Wednesday morning.

So there you have it folks. Two players to watch and my first solid prediction on the November Nine.

Tomorrow is when things get serious. There should be around 50 players left and we are playing to the final 27.

Stay tuned as we continue to bring you players to watch and coverage leading up to the November Nine of the 2011 WSOP Main Event.

For daily recaps of all the action at the 2011 World Series of Poker, check our WSOP news section.