75 players were alive and kicking when the play began on Thursday in the Crown Casino in Melbourne, Australia, but a few of those players would not be happy to come back to action. With a field of 659 players, 72 of them would get some hard earned cash for their efforts; this meant that three players in action today would go home empty handed for all their work. Although the field was able to get to the bubble quite quickly, it would be a two hour slog before Frank Paul (holding A-J off suit) was eliminated from the tournament by Kenna James’ 8-5 to take the dubious crown of “bubble boy.”

Once Paul vacated the tournament floor, the eliminations came fairly quickly. The plan was to play five levels on Thursday, but those “in the money” players were able to break the field down in a measly three levels. Along the way, several notable names were dropped from the action as the true contenders began to step forward.

James could not sustain his drive from his elimination of Paul, eventually succumbing to Jason Koon in a particularly brutal fashion. After Koon made a raise from the button, James three bet the action out of the small blind. Once the big blind mucked, Koon pushed in his remaining chips and was called immediately by James. It turned out the quick call meant exactly what an experienced player would expect – pocket Aces – as Koon could only turn up a pocket pair of deuces. The flop was unkind to James, however, delivering a third deuce for Koon and, once he was able to fade a flush draw on the turn, Jason Koon dispatched Kenna James in 57th place ($15,000 Australian).

James was joined on the rail by a host of top players who, while taking down some cash, surely were disappointed not to be going any further. Billy Argyros (51st, $20,000), Michael Tureniec (46th, $20,000) and 2012 Aussie Millions $1,000 Rebuy champion Michael Pedley (34th, $30,000) all headed to the cage earlier than they wanted.

Koon himself would be the last victim of a frantic Thursday of play, and the hand would put Turk atop the leaderboard. After several bets, Turk put in enough chips for Koon to be all in and the duo exposed their hands. Koon’s A-K was trailing Turk’s pocket tens pre flop and, right in the window, he saw another King. Koon’s elation was short-lived, however, as the flop fanned out with a ten as well. Once a blank came on the turn to leave him drawing dead, Jason Koon was out of the tournament in 27th place ($35,000).

While Turk was able to surge to the chip lead with the final hand of the night, several other players who have seemingly been atop the leaderboard all tournament kept pace. Although he will have approximately half of the chips that Koon has, O’Shea was able to work his way through the Day Three carnage with more chips than he started the day with. Ivey, for his part, kept a steady pace as well, seemingly unfazed by his six-month absence from the tournament arena.

Two players made significant advancements through the field to put themselves in contention for the 2012 Aussie Millions championship. Minh Nguyen started Day Three action with only 238,000 in chips but, by the end of the night on Thursday, had amassed nearly one million in chips. 2011 World Series of Poker bracelet winner Daniel Idema’s move up the leaderboard was perhaps more impressive, starting the day with 350K in chips and ending Thursday’s action with over one million.

With Day Three action in the books, there is one former champion left in the field, 2006 winner Lee Nelson, who is a part of the Top Ten heading to play on Friday:

1. Matt Turk, 2.675 million
2. Tim O’Shea, 1.376 million
3. Patrick Healy, 1.353 million
4. Bjorn Li, 1.222 million
5. Yann Dion, 1.156 million
6. Phil Ivey, 1.107 million
7. Daniel Idema, 1.033 million
8. Minh Nguyen, 992,000
9. Borge Dypvik, 882,000
10. Lee Nelson, 878,000

The final 26 players will return to the Crown Casino on Friday afternoon (Melbourne time), with the goal of working down to the final table. After action on Saturday, we will learn who will walk off with the $1.6 million first place prize and the prestigious title of 2012 Aussie Millions Main Event champion.

It was clear from the start of the tournament that Ivey came to play and in the first few levels of play he amassed over 180,000 chips. Robert Lam looks to be the chip leader with 198,000.

It seemed that Ivey was involved in almost every big hand that occurred on Day 1c and despite a slight downswing in the later stages of the day he managed to recover and finish with a very strong 184,000 chips, good enough for fourth overall.

Day 1c Draws Big Crowd

Ivey wasn’t the only story on Day 1c of 2012 Aussie Millions as 317 players jammed their way into the poker room.

With the $100k Challenge out of the way it was an intensely pro-heavy field with heavy hitters Daniel Negreanu, Erik Seidel, Jason Mercier, Dan Smith, Tony Hachem, JC Tran, Sam Trickett, Sorel Mizzi, Chris Moorman and Nam Le all hitting the felt.

Day 1c was easily the biggest day of the tournament attendance-wise and when you add the 340 players from Day 1a and Day 1b we’re looking at an overall field in the range of 660 players. That number is down slightly from the 721 players in last year’s Main Event.

The exact prizepool will not be released until tomorrow because registration is technically open through the first level, but there’s good chance first place will once again award close to $2 million.

While Ivey fared exceptionally well on Day 1c there were a number of big name pros who simply never got anything going.

Daniel Negreanu, Erik Seidel and Sorel Mizzi all busted with little fanfare.

Meanwhile Jason Koon, David Steicke, Michael Pedley, Melanie Weisner, Brian Roberts, JC Tran, James Obst and Jason Mercier finished with above average stacks.

Ivey Crushes Warne

Phil Ivey played arguably the most memorable hand of the entire tournament with just 20 minutes left on the clock.

Australian cricketer Shane Warne had the misfortune of flopping a set of aces on a A♥ Q♥ J♥ flop against Ivey who had 8♥ 6♥ for the flush.

All the money went in on the flop and Warne, who had been absolutely flying early on, was crippled to 300 chips and busted on the next hand.

Ivey, on the other hand, moved up to 185,000 chips and finished near the top of the leaderboard.

It was a fast day and over half the field was eradicated with only 149 players booking their ticket into Day 2.

Day 2 of 2012 Aussie Millions should be a good one as it’s the first day where every remaining player will be under the same roof.

Join us for our continuing coverage from the Crown Casino in Sunny Melbourne.

That session brings Berdsen’s 2012 net profit to just over $550,000 on PokerStars, while Galfond’s winnings on his MrSweets28 account so far this year were knocked down to just under $80k.

In total three pots made it into six-figure territory yesterday.

Galfond Redraws for $127,186

Game: $200/$400 Pot-Limit Omaha on PokerStars

Players and Stacks:

The biggest pot of the day was an absolute rollercoaster, with $127k going in on the flop with Galfond as a moderate favorite.

It started with Berdsen opening from the button to $800 with K♣ J♠ 7♥ 5♥ and Galfond three-betting A♦ 8♦ J♥ 7♣ to $2,760 from the big blind, call.

Preflop Winning Percentages: Galfond 58% - Berndsen 38% - Tie 4%

The flop rolled out J♣ 6♦ 4♥, giving Galfond top pair top kicker and a gutshot while Berndsen found top pair and an open-ender with a backdoor heart draw. That’s when the fireworks began.

Galfond check-raised from $4,848 to $21,052 before Berndsen moved all-in. Galfond called off and was looking to make the best hand hold up.

Flop Winning Percentages: Galfond 55% - Berndsen 38% - Tie 7%

The 8♦ on the turn changed that in a big way. Hitting his straight, Berndsen was now 85 percent to win while Galfond’s hopes had shrunk to just 7.5 percent.

Turn Winning Percentages: Galfond 7.5% - Bernsden 85% - Tie 7.5%

But the river turned the tables again, coming the 8♠ and making Galfond’s full house.

Check out the hand in action:

Replay this hand at pokerlistings

Berndsen Hits Wrap for $102,438

The second biggest pot of the day once again saw all the money go in on the flop.

The hand began with Berndsen opening to $800 from the button with Q♥ 9♣ 8♠ 3♠ and Galfond three-betting A♣ A♠ K♠ K♥ to $2,760, call.

Preflop Percentages: Galfond 69% - Berndsen 31%

The flop fell J♦ T♣ 5♣, giving Berndsen the wrap but leaving Galfond’s aces, now with a gutshot, well ahead.

Galfond led out for $4,800 and was raised to $20,878. Galfond shoved and Berndsen quickly called.

Flop Percentages: Galfond 56% - Berndsen 44%

The A♦ gave Galfond a set but didn't change a whole lot. The 9♦ on ther river, however, definitely did. Berndsen's straight was good for the $102,438 behemoth.

Check out the replay:

Replay this hand at pokerlistings

Surprisingly, since they played two six-figure pots and a slew of other monsters, neither Berndsen or D'Auteuil cracked the biggest winners or losers lists on the day.

Berndsen finished just over $9,000 up while D’Auteuil lost roughly the same. Let’s take a closer look at the day’s two biggest pots.

takechip Fades 12 Outs Twice for $101k

Game: $100/$200 No-Limit Hold’em on PokerStars

Players and Stacks:

The biggest pot of the day began with Berdsen12 opening K♣ 4♣ to $500 from the button and takechip three-betting to $1,800 with J♥ J♠ from the big blind.

The flop came T♣ 8♥ 5♣ and takechip c-bet $2,200 into $3,600, looking to squeeze out some value with his overpair.

Berndsen flopped the second nut flush draw with an overcard and semi-bluff raised to $5,800. takechip re-raised to $13,300 and Berndsen clicked it back to $20,800. takechip then made it $45,300, leaving himself just $3,684 behind, and Berndsen shoved all-in.

Berndsen missed on the turn and river and the $101,488 pot was shipped to D’Auteuil.

Check out the replay:

Replay this hand at pokerlistings

Berndsen Sheriffs, Loses $99k

The second biggest pot of the day was also won by Phil D’Auteuil, this time thanks to straight-up value-towning with an overpair on a low board.

Game: $100/$200 No-Limit Hold’em

Players and Stacks:

With a fresh $50k stack takechip three-bet 9♣ 9♥ from the big blind and got a call from Berndsen on the button with T♥ 6♥.

The flop rolled out 6♣ 4♣ 3♣ and takechip led out for $2,300, call. The 8♦ on the turn brought an $11,400 bet from takechip and another call from Berndsen. The 8♥ hit the river and takechip bet $34,360 into $31,200, basically all-in since he had left himself just $40.

Berndsen made the hero call and the just-under-six figure pot was shipped to the French-Canadian.

Here’s the replay:

Replay this hand at pokerlistings

The eight players who came to the felt Friday afternoon were led by Faraz Jaka, who seemed to be atop the leaderboard for much of the event. While Jaka was in the lead, it was a slim one, as only 122,000 chips separated him from the second and third place competitors, Julius and Xuan Liu. Dibella began the action on Friday as the fifth place stack, holding three million chips less than Jaka did.

Over the first level of play, Liu had the most difficult time as she lost almost half of her chips. In a particularly key hand, Liu raised the pot with pocket fours, only to find Julius next to her with pocket Queens. After Julius called her raise, a tricky K-9-7 rainbow flop came, causing Liu to put in a continuation bet. Julius called again and, after both checked the three on the turn, saw an eight on the river. Liu checked the action to Julius, bringing out a 420K bet from Kyle. Xuan decided to take a stab at the pot with a check raise, but Julius didn’t believe her, making the call and taking the pot.

Dibella was making small moves at this point and, by the end of the first level, had pulled into the third place slot. Jaka and Julius were still the pacesetters of the field, while David Bernstein and Mark Drover brought up the rear of the pack.

The first elimination of the tournament was a surprising one, as the player who was eliminated was one of the bigger stacks to start the event. Ruben Visser, after doubling up Drover when his A-J couldn’t catch Drover’s A-Q, would end his tournament on the very next hand. After a raise from Julius (holding A-Q), Visser found pocket sixes on the button and shipped his remaining chips to the center of the felt. Julius made an immediate call and the duo were off to the races.

The race didn’t last long; a Q-2-K flop moved Julius into the lead in the hand, leaving Visser looking for two outs to survive. The turn seven and river eight didn’t bring one of those two outs, knocking Visser (who came to the final table in fourth place) out of the event in eighth place and moving Julius into the lead.

Dibella’s stack continued to grow as play continued, as he was responsible for knocking Bernstein out of the event in seventh place when his pocket Aces held up against Bernstein’s pocket fours. Liu was able to get a bit healthier when she was able to eliminate Anthony Gregg in sixth and, barely an hour and a half into the final table action, the final five players were determined.

Over the span of the next couple of hours, several players took the helm as leader of the tournament. First it was Liu (taking a big pot off of Jaka), then Julius (also defeating Jaka). Jaka, however, kept up his rapid fire pace and took his place atop the leaderboard again when he eliminated Drover in fifth place. In beating Drover, Jaka became the first player over the ten million chip mark.

At this point, Jaka and Julius were neck and neck for the chip lead, with Liu in third and Dibella sitting on the short stack. Dibella, however, would find a key double up against Jaka when he pushed his stack in with pocket fours following a raise from Jaka. Jaka made the call, tabling a dominating pair of Jacks, but the board didn’t cooperate. A four came on the flop and, once no Jack came on the turn or river, Dibella became a contender for the crown and Jaka became the short stack.

By the time the foursome went to the dinner break, Julius had been able to overcome Dibella as well as Jaka. Julius, sitting on more than 14 million chips, held twice the amount of Jaka and almost 2 ½ times the chips of Dibella. Liu, for her part, was in dire straits with just shy of four million in chips.

Following the dinner break, the pace of action picked up. On the first hand back, Liu pushed her chips in with an A-7 of diamonds and found a caller in Jaka, sitting on A-6 off suit. The flop couldn’t have come any worse for Xuan; the 3-A-6 fanned out, giving Jaka two pair and leaving Liu looking for one of the three sevens left in the deck. Although a five came on the turn to give Liu a chance at a gut shot straight as well, a river deuce wasn’t what she was looking for, eliminating Xuan Liu in fourth place.

Jaka held the lead following his knockout of Liu, but it would be the last of his glory for Friday. As three handed play proceeded into the night, Dibella slowly grinded up his chip stack to take over the chip lead, while Julius went for the big double up through Jaka.

After a Julius raise to 700K, Jaka made a three bet to 1.85 million. Julius paused momentarily before making a four bet, bringing a five bet all in from Jaka. Julius immediately made the call, tabling a dominating A-K against Jaka’s K-J, and the flop ended all drama. The 7-A-K flop virtually ended the hand and, once the nine came on the turn, Jaka was drawing dead. The monumental moved Julius into contention, while Jaka was left with only 1.35 million. A few hands later, Julius would finish the job, eliminating Jaka in third place.

Prior to the start of heads up play, Julius and Dibella discussed and completed a deal, giving each player $1.5 million and leaving the remaining $275,000 and the PCA Main Event trophy to play for. Holding a five million chip lead, Dibella took just about an hour to finish the night.

From the start of heads up action, Dibella was never seriously threatened, extending his lead to nearly 5:1 after a half hour of play. On the final hand, Julius made a raise with a 9-6 off suit and Dibella came along with his 6-5 of clubs. An A-Q-3 (two club) flop brought another bet from Julius, which was called just about as quickly by Dibella. After both players checked the eight on the turn, the ten of clubs on the river brought the fireworks. Dibella bet out at this time with his flush, one million chips, and Julius chose an inopportune moment to try to bluff. After Julius’ all in push, Dibella calmly made the call, tabled his hand and was the champion of the PCA Main Event.

1. John Dibella, $1,750,000
2. Kyle Julius, $1,500,000
3. Faraz Jaka, $755,000
4. Xuan Liu, $600,000
5. Mark Drover, $468,000
6. Anthony Gregg, $364,000
7. David Bernstein, $260,000
8. Ruben Visser, $156,400

Although the Main Event has been completed, there is still a bit of unfinished business at the PCA. The $25,000 High Roller event’s final table will play out on Saturday, with former World Champion Jonathan Duhamel in the mix. Duhamel has made four final tables in side events at the PCA, including the Super High Roller, and he heads into today’s final table behind only Jason Koon. Other players in the mix include Nicolas Fierro, Isaac Haxton and Randy “nanonoko” Lew.

To make his ROI even sweeter, Dibella won his seat in the event via a $1,000 satellite.

Runner-up and $1.5 million richer himself, thanks to a deal the two made heads-up, is poker pro Kyle “KJulius10” Julius, who looked poised to win the title several times himself but fell just short.

Tide Turns Three-Handed

Dibella had to get lucky several times throughout the day to survive but if there was a tipping point for the win it was a huge hand three-handed that turned the tide.

With short stack Faraz Jaka opening the betting to 625,000 with sixes, Dibella looked down at sevens and three-bet to 1.8 million.

Julius amazingly woke up with aces and flat-called.

Sniffing something was up, Jaka made a great fold with his sixes and they went to the flop heads-up.

Long story short, Dibella spiked a set, check-called 1.1 million from Julius on the flop and checked-raised a 1.1 million bet to 2.5 on a turn card that gave him a full house.

Julius shoved, Dibella called and the big chip lead was now his.

Jaka Gets Burned with K-J

Jaka, who held the chip lead for a very large portion of the tournament, had his up-and-down day end in third shortly after, earning $755,000.

Jaka's backbreaking hand also came three-handed as he fought for the chip lead with Julius.

With the chip stacks about even at 11 million, the two got into a pre-flop raising war with Jaka five-bet shoving K-J into Julius’ AK.

No help came and that was the beginning of the end for Jaka, knocking him down to under 2 million chips.

Canadians Take Home Over a Million

Canadian Xuan Liu, the first-ever female to make the PCA final table, was one of the favorites coming in but had to settle for fourth place and $600,000

Mark Drover, a Masters student from St John’s, Newfoundland who at one point in the tournament was down to just three big blinds, managed to hang on for fifth and take home $468,000.

Finishing in sixth was Anthony Gregg, whose appearance at the 2012 final table is the first time anyone has made two PCA Main Event final tables. Gregg was the runner-up in 2009.

Gregg took home $364,000 this time to bring his total earnings from those two final tables up over $2 million.

David Bernstein, also from Canada and who won a prize draw to earn his seat in the main event, finished seventh for $260,000.

Dutch pro Ruben Visser was the surprising first to bust, coming in fourth in chips but leaving in 8th.

To catch a full replay of the final table, check out PokerStars.tv or revisit the live updates in the PokerStars blog.

The final eight and their payouts:

1. John Dibella $1.775,000

2. Kyle Julius $1,500,000

3. Faraz Jaka $755,000

4. Xuan Liu $600,000

5. Mark Drover $468,000

6. Anthony Gregg $364,000

7. David Bernstein $260,000

8. Ruben Visser $156,400

Here were the chip counts to start the final table:

David Shallow – 6,155,000
Steve Watts – 1,600,000
Patrik Vestlin – 1,100,000
Charles Chattha – 835,000
Ronan Gilligan – 775,000

While the final table was very short by World Poker Tour standards, coming in at under three hours, it wasn’t a totally smooth ride for Shallow.  Right off the bat, he doubled-up both Patrik Vestlin and Ronan Gilligan, causing his chip stack to fall to 4,276,000.  Gilligan rode the momentum, eliminating Steve Watts in 5th place.  Watts had moved all-in pre-flop with T-T for his remaining 1,130,000 and Gilligan called him with A-K.  The flop was Q-J-7, which was generally good for Watts, but it did give Gilligan a straight possibility if he could hit one of the remaining two Tens to go along with the 6 outs he already had.  No dice on the turn, but the river produced one of those Tens, allowing Gilligan to knock Watt out with a Broadway straight.  That pot took Gilligan up to 2,898,000, which was still a good chunk behind Shallow, but nothing that couldn’t be overcome.  It looked a whole heck of a lot better than the more than 5,000,000 chip deficit he faced about a half-hour earlier.

Just a few minutes later, Gilligan continued his hot streak.  Patrik Vestlin raised pre-flop and Gilligan called from the big blind.  The two saw a flop of 9s-7s-3s and Vestlin made the first bet with As-Qc, giving him the nut flush draw.  Gilligan check-raised to 450,000 with Js-9d – top pair and a flush draw – and Vestlin shoved for 1,750,000.  Gilligan thought a bit about his decision, but decided it was worth the risk and called.  The turn was the Tc; black, but the wrong black.  Another tease presented itself to Vestlin on the river in the form of the 8c and Gilligan’s hand held up.  Vestlin was gone in 4th place and just like that, less than an hour into play, Ronan Gilligan, the shortest stack to start the final table, was the chip leader.  He had 4,852,000, Shallow had 4,259,000, and Chaz Chattha had 1,029,000 chips.

After that, though, it appeared that Gilligan’s confidence may have gotten too high, as he began making some reckless raises and calls with marginal holdings.  Having watched his stack take several hits, he once again made a call of a David Shallow pre-flop raise with just 3-4 in the hole.  Shallow had T-9 and the flop was friendly to both, giving top pair to Shallow and an open-ended straight draw to Gilligan.  Shallow led out on the turn for 215,000, Gilligan raised to 525,000, Shallow moved all-in, and Gilligan called.  Gilligan couldn’t find the outs to complete the straight on either the turn or river and he was eliminated in 3rd place.

Going into heads-up play, David Shallow once again had a large chip lead over Chaz Chattha, 7,280,000 to 2,860,000.

Shallow was very aggressive heads-up, a style for which he is known, but that style came back to bite him less than 20 minutes into the one-on-one match.  Looking at just K-3 suited, he watched Chattha raise pre-flop to 140,000 and decided to three-bet it to 360,000.  Chattha took it up to 600,000, Shallow moved all-in, and Chattha quickly called.  And no wonder.  Holding pocket Queens, Chattha was a big favorite over most hands.  Shallow hit a 3 on the flop, but nothing else materialized and all of a sudden, Chattha had a slight chip lead, 5,180,000 to 4,960,000.

Just after that, Shallow regained a small edge, taking a couple small pots, and that was all he needed when the big hand was dealt.  With Q-Q, Shallow raised pre-flop to 135,000, only to see Chattha re-raise him to 380,000 with 9-9.  Shallow raised him back, making it 825,000 and Chattha moved all-in.  Shallow made the call.  The flop ran out K-K-2, pretty much as bad as it could get for Chattha without a Queen showing up.  The turn 8 and river 3 sewed it up for David Shallow, who won WPT Ireland along with the €222,280 first prize and a $25,000 seat in the season-ending WPT World Championship.

World Poker Tour Ireland – Final Table Results

1.    David Shallow – €222,280 ($289,031)
2.    Charles Chattha – €111,130 ($144,502)
3.    Ronan Gilligan – €74,090 ($96,339)
4.    Patrik Vestlin – €52,600 ($68,396)
5.    Steve Watts – €39,270 ($51,063)

18 men came back to the tables on Friday, looking to get down to at least the final eight handed final table and potentially all the way to the final five (the players who will cash in the tournament). Kicking off the action, Isaac Haxton was in charge, but in pursuit were Viktor ‘Isildur1’ Blom and a player who always seems to be in the mix when a High Roller title is up for grabs, Erik Seidel.

From the start, the leaders did not treat each other kindly. Haxton and Blom squared off in one of the first hands of the day, with Blom raising the pot to 13K and Haxton calling out of the big blind. A 3-2-4 flop brought more action, with ‘Isildur1’ laying out 22K and Haxton simply calling the bet. On the King turn, Blom decided to keep the pressure on, putting up 46K and Haxton just called again. Once a six hit the river, though, both men holstered their guns and checked, with Blom showing only an A-Q and Haxton turning up pocket deuces for the flopped set to take the pot.

The first elimination came about an hour into the action as Chance Kormuth left the event. After having his stack decimated by Daniel Negreanu, Kormuth was able to hang on for a bit, but he would be knocked out by Mike McDonald in eighteenth place. He would soon be followed by Tom Marchese, who met his demise at the hands of Blom.

Two of the shorter stacks left in the tournament, David ‘Doc’ Sands and Yevgeniy Timoshenko, battled it out, with one of the men not surviving the confrontation. After Timoshenko put in a raise and Sands defended his big blind, the J-7-7 brought out the fireworks.

After Sands checked his option, Timoshenko put in a 14K bet, which Sands check raised to 28K. Timoshenko made the three bet to 45K and, after some thought, Sands made his stand with the all-in move. Timoshenko made the call almost simultaneously and showed A-J for Jacks up; it wasn’t quite good enough, however, as Sands showed pocket Aces and, after a blank turn and river, knocked Timoshenko nearly to the felt. On the next hand, Sands would complete the job, knocking out Timoshenko and garnering some much needed chips.

With fifteen players remaining, Haxton was still in the lead, but he faced a new challenger. Scott Seiver used the early action to become a contender for the crown, while Blom maintained the pace to provide some pressure.

Over the span of the next few hours, two gentlemen would change the top of the leaderboard. Negreanu continued his good run after his hand against Kormuth, taking a nice stack of chips off of McDonald to move up to nearly one million in chips. Meanwhile, defending PCA Main Event champion Galen Hall began to make some noise after a particularly fortunate hand.

After a pre-flop raise by Hall, Bertrand ‘ElkY’ Grospellier made a stand for his final chips, which Hall called. He was way behind with his J-8 against ‘ElkY’s’ A-J, but a fortuitous flop and turn of 9-10-10-Q gave him a straight. After no king or eight came on the river, Grospellier was eliminated and Hall was up to nearly 650K in chips.

Negreanu was responsible for the departure of Erik Seidel, who seemed to win every High Roller event in 2011. After a raise from Negreanu, Seidel pushed his stack to the center of the felt with an A-J, finding an all too happy to call Negreanu sitting on pocket Queens. Seidel missed all of his outs to finish in twelfth place and push Negreanu to 1.5 million in chips.

The final table was determined in a stunning two hand fashion. Galen Hall took a big chunk of chips off of Haxton when he hit a baby flush with his 8-5 of hearts, and then the duo would battle it out on the very next hand. After Hall raised to 35K, Haxton popped him to 85K; Hall didn’t back down, instead three betting all in for Haxton’s stack. Haxton made the call, tabling a dominating A-K over Hall’s K-J, but immediately fell behind on the J-10-9 flop. With blanks on the turn and river, Hall jumped into the lead and Haxton was out of the tournament.

As the cards are getting set to fly in the Bahamas, here’s how the leaderboard shapes up:

1. Galen Hall, 1.748 million
2. Jonathan Duhamel, 1.336 million
3. Daniel Negreanu, 1.23 million
4. Viktor Blom, 1.228 million
5. Dan Shak, 1.199 million
6. Scott Seiver, 556,000
7. Mike McDonald, 360,000
8. Humberto Brenes, 343,000

With only five places paying in this Super High Roller event, three of these gentlemen will be walking away from their three days’ work with nothing to show for it. Hall seems to have the inside track, but Duhamel, Negreanu and Blom have been playing excellent poker. It sets up for an exciting final table at the Atlantis as the first champion is crowned for the 2012 tournament poker season.

The Finn led out for $430 from the button, Galfond flatted from the small blind and mTw-DaviN raised to $1,800 from the big blind.

Sahamies opted to re-raise to $5,910 and once again Galfond called. mTw-DaviN had no intention of sitting on his aces, however, and he raised to $23k. Sahamies just called with $27k behind while Galfond called for his last $11k.

The flop came T♥ 7♥ 3♦ and mTw-DaviN immediately shipped his last $15k in the middle and Sahamies, with his monster draw, called, creating a $95,709 pot.

The Q♦ peeled off the deck on the turn and that gave Sahamies even more outs to a straight.

mTw-Davin must have been feeling pretty nervous heading to the river and in the end those concerns were justified as the river fell 8♥ to give Sahamies a straight flush and the biggest pot of the night.

You can see exactly how the action went down in our hand-replayer below.

Be sure to check our online poker stats section for more information. In the meantime here’s a brief rundown of the big winners and losers last night:

Top 5 Winners

1. Ilari FIN: +$94,571 2. 1II|1II|1iI|: +$79,537 3. mTw-DaviN: +$70,849 4. JustForFun82: +$54,996 5. JackRich: +$52,996

Top 5 Losers

1. Isildur1: -$147,485 2. MrSweets28: -$139,299 3. Locoo20: -$60,111 4. Urubu111: -$59,019 5. Try__An__Hit: -$55,040

Of the eight men who came to the felt on Saturday, it was thought that only two – Finger and Nicolas Levi, the second place chip stack – had a realistic shot at the title. With each man well over the five million chip mark, they accounted for almost half of the chips in action. Still, with such competition as Boyaciyan, Ari Engel and Andreas Wiese in contention, it would take some work to take down the latest EPT championship.

Within minutes of the opening bell, the leaderboard changed completely. Although Finger was able to take some chips from Guillem Usero to push his way over the six million mark, it was Boyaciyan who made the largest jump. After Boyaciyan raised to 140K and Levi made the call, the duo saw a K-7-10 flop. This turned out to be the trigger, as Boyaciyan made a continuation bet and Levi raised. Boyaciyan wouldn’t back down, however, three betting the action to 860K. Levi pushed his stack to the center, Boyaciyan responded in kind and the cards were opened up.

After the players revealed their hands, it was easy to see why the action ramped up. Levi had hit bottom two pair with his 10-7, but Boyaciyan trumped him by flopping a set of Kings. After the turn and river brought no surprises, Boyaciyan surged to the lead and Levi dropped to two million in chips.

After Usero dispatched a short stacked Mads Wissing from the proceedings in eighth place, Finger began to mount an assault to get his lead back. He would knock out Wiese in seventh and Engel in sixth to get his chip lead back, but Boyaciyan was unrelenting. His knockout of Denys Drobyna in fifth gave the lead back to Boyaciyan as the play passed the three hour mark.

Finger and Boyaciyan seemed to be the only players who really could mount any attack on Saturday. Finger actually broke the ten million chip mark by taking some chips from Boyaciyan and, when he knocked out Usero, Finger seemed to be in control of the tournament with over 13 million in chips.

Down to three handed play, Finger held nearly twice the chips as his competitors, Boyaciyan and Levi, held together. Levi – who never recovered from the big hand against Boyaciyan – was eliminated by Finger in third place after the chips went in on preflop. Finger held an A-J against Levi’s suited 8-6 and the flop – 8-4-3, all clubs – smiled on the Frenchman. Just as cruelly as it gave, however, the turn took the hand away from Levi with an Ace. Looking for an eight to pull out the hand, the river jack added insult to injury for Nicolas Levi and added to Martin Finger’s stack.

Although he held a 2.5:1 lead heading into heads up action, the battle between Finger and Boyaciyan proved to be a thrilling one. The Dutchman was able to pull nearly even with the German, but Finger never lost the lead over the three hour heads up fight. In the end, the players got the chips to the center preflop for a good, old fashioned race, with Finger’s A-K running against Boyaciyan’s pocket tens. The K-K-6 flop flipped the lead over to Finger, who dodged a ten on the turn and river to take down the championship of the EPT Prague.

1. Martin Finger (Germany), €720,000
2. David Boyaciyan (Holland), €535,000
3. Nicolas Levi (France), €270,000
4. Guillem Usero (Spain), €205,000
5. Denys Drobyna (Ukraine), €160,000
6. Ari Engel (United States), €125,000
7. Andreas Wiese (Germany), €90,000
8. Mads Wissing (Denmark), €66,700

With the completion of this tournament, the EPT and its minions will take a break for the holidays. The next tournament on the schedule is one of the biggest in the world of poker, however. The 2012 PokerStars Caribbean Adventure is back on the EPT schedule and set for action from January 5-15. The EPT will follow that always popular event by heading to Deauville, France, at the end of January and land in Copenhagen, Denmark, in late February.