And we have a winner! Both see the flop for the minimum, with Madden on the button. They both check the 3 4 K flop. Quach checks the T on the turn, and Madden bets 60k. Quach makes it 200k total and Madden moves in. Quach calls and shows K Q . Madden has K 5 . Pat Madden is our runner up earning $185,310.

Daniel Quach is our champion! He takes home $300,025. He also wins a $25k WPT seat.

Still little action. Here are the chip counts

Quach 1.16m
Madden 640k

Quach 1.1m
Madden 700k

The blinds are now 15k-30k with a 5k ante. There hasn't been much big action to report. The chips are very close to even. The 1k chips are off the table now so I will be able to get counts very easily.

Quach calls Madden's all in bet on a flop of A J 5 . Quach shows 9 6 and Madden has J T . The turn is a ten and river a jack, and Madden doubles up again.

Quach 1m
Madden 800k

Quach opens for 40k and Madden pushes. Quach calls another 150k roughly with K 5 . Madden has T T . The flop is T 2 2. As Jack McLelland put it, "Pat had a slight lead." Madden doubles up.

Quach 1.4m
Madden 400k

Lester opens for 65k on the button and Quach moves all in. Lester calls with A K . Quach shows K J . The board comes Q J 4 6 Q . Jason Lester is our third place finisher, earning $92,655.

Lester 525k
Quach 855k
Madden 420k

Quach opens for 60k from the button. Lester moves all in from the large blind and Quach instantly calls with... J T . He's way ahead as Lester shows J 7 . The board comes 4 6 8 5 J and Lester doubles up with a straight.

Play has slowed just a bit. A raise preflop is usually enough to take the pot down.

Players have returned from break.

Players are on break. When they return they will be playing 4k ante with 10k-20k blinds.

My internet connection went down briefly but is back up.

Lester 310k
Quach 1.065m
Madden 425k

Sawant opens for 52k on the button and Quach calls from the small blind. The flop is J 5 6 . Quach checks, Sawant pushes and Quach instantly calls with K J . Sawant shows Q 5 . The turn is the 9 and river A . Raj Sawant is our fourth place finisher, earning $52,925.

Lester opens for 50k on the button. Sawan moves all in for 188k total from the small blind. Lester instantly calls with 9 9 and Sawan shows A Q . The board comes A Q J 8 K and Sawan's aces up double his stack.

Lester 450k
Sawan 170k
Quach 800k
Madden 460k

Lester raises, Sawan reraises, and Lester pushes. Sawan makes the call with 9 9 and Lester shows A T . The board comes 4 7 5 J A and Lester spikes an ace on the river to survive. The pot had over 550k in it.

Quach opens for 60k. Schoenberg moves in for about 130k. Quach calls with A K . Schoenberg shows Q Q . A 7 8 comes on the flop, giving Erica a flush draw. The turn and river are spades, and Erica Shoenberg is our fifth place finisher, earning $39,710.

Shulman moves all in and is called by Lester in the small blind for 117k. Shulman has 4k left and shows 5 5 . Lester has K Q . The board comes QJ282 and Lester doubles up.

After ante'ing 3k, Shulman calls allin for 1k in the dark. Sawan completes the small blind and Quach checks. The two active players check the AA3J9 board down to the river, and Quach bets 20k on the river. Sawan folds. Quach shows J 7 and Shulman is finished, showing 6 2 . Jeff Shulman is our sixth place finisher, earning $30,885.

Schoenberg 148k
Lester 140k
Sawan 415k
Quach 500k
Madden 370k
Shulman 100k

Action folds to Sawan who opens for 48k from the small blind. Quach calls from the large blind. They both check the J 9 3 flop. Sawan bets 65k when the A rolls off on the turn. Quach calls. The river is a brick. Sawan bets 100k. Quach makes the call, and Sawan shows T 7 offsuit for total air. Quach shows A Q and rakes the big pot.

The ante is 3k and the blinds are now 8k-16k.

Sawan opens for 40k. Berilgen moves in for 48k more from the small blind. Sawan calls with A 8 and Berilgen has 6 6 . The board comes A 8 7 3 T and Jason Berilgen is our seventh place finisher, earning $22,060.

Schoenberg 170k
Lester 100k
Sawan 500k
Quach 330k
Madden 350k
Berilgen 105k
Shulman 120k

Sawan & Shoten open limp. Shulman completes the small blind, and Schoenberg moves all in from the large blind for 96k more. Sawan folds, and Shoten calls all in for 35k more. Shulman folds. Schoenberg shows A J , and Shoten is behind with Q J . The board comes 6 2 6 T 5 . Charlie Shoten is our eighth place finisher, earning $17,650.

Sawan opens for 40k in mid position and Berilgen calls all in from the small blind for 27k. Sawan has A T and Berilgen Q T . The flop comes K 2 7 . The turn is the A and Berilgen needs a jack to survive. That's what he gets when the J comes, doubling Berilgen up.

Shoten moves all in and Madden calls with K 7 for about 50k. Shoten has K 8 . The board comes A 9 4 9 4 and they chop with two pair, ace kicker.

Berilgen moves all in for about 110 from first position. Shulman calls all in for 61k. Berilgen has K K , and Shulman shows A Q . Berilgen is disgusted when the flop comes A T T . No king appears and Shulman doubles up.

Nehorayan moves all in from early position and Madden reraises all in. Everyone folds. Nehorayan has 9 9 and Madden shows A K . The board comes AA3T6 and Robert Nehorayan is our ninth place finisher, earning $14,120.

While waiting for someone to put their chips in the middle, I have been glancing around the room at the other tables. I was trying to pick out which table was what... like, there's the $5,000 NLHE tables, single tables for the main event, and single tables for the senior's event. It's actually easier than you would think. The tournament tables have different chips than the rest, so those are easy. The single tables are easily distinguisable... whichever one has the most silver hair, is the senior event single tables.

Play has been considerably slow. No real action. I've been snapping photos & watching hands (mostly raise preflop, everyone folds). The photos will hopefully be online by tomorrow or Tuesday. For some reason Fujifilm decided to make their USB cables UNIQUE to their brand. So I had to order a special USB cable just to get the photos off of the camera! Gotta love technology.

Play is about to resume.

Today's $5,000 buy in event, the last open event before the main event (tomorrow is the senior's event & tuesday is super satellite day), drew 251 players for a nice $1.2m prize pool. First is $430k. I'll be here tomorrow at 3pm for the final table action.

Schoenberg 125k
Lester 100k
Sawan 617k
Quach 300k
Nohorayan 130k
Shoten 85k
Madden 170k
Berilgen 175k
Shulman 105k

Berilgen raises from the cutoff and Schoenberg moves all in from the large blind for a little under 50k. Berilgen calls with A 9 . Schoenberg has the lead with A J . The board comes K 7 5 4 8 and Schoenberg doubles up.

Players are now on break. They will return to play with a 2k ante and 6k-12k blinds.

Nehorayan raises to 25k and Shoten is all in for about 45k. Nehorayan calls with T 9 . Shoten has A J . The board comes 622Q6 and Shoten doubles up.

Schoenberg 54k
Lester 150k
Sawan 540k
Quach 340k
Nehorayan 190k
Shoten 50k
Madden 205k
Berilgen 160k
Shulman 105k

Madden opens for 25k and Lester calls on the button. The flop is T 9 x. Madden asks for a count, and Lester tells him he has 80k behind. Madden checks, and Lester moves in. Madden folds after a bit.

Schoenberg 90k
Lester 140k
Sawan 450k
Quach 330k
Nehorayan 200k
Shoten 90k
Madden 350k
Berilgen 160k
Shulman 115k

Madden opens for 25k and Sawan makes it 90k on the button. Madden pushes and Sawan calls with K K . Madden is in bad shape with J J . The flop is T 9 2 . The turn card is the K , giving Madden a gut shot draw. He gets there with the Q on the river, cracking kings with runner runner straight cards. Madden doubles up to over 200k.

Quach opens from late position and Shoten is all in for about 50k. Quach calls with Q 9 . Shoten has a slight lead with pocket aces. He gets a little bit of help on the A 7 7 flop. Shoten doubles up.

Lester opens for 18k and Sawan calls. Quach puts the squeeze on, and moves all in. Everyone folds.

The blinds have increased to 4k-8k with a 1k ante.

Schoenberg 140k
Lester 133k
Sawan 600k
Quach 180k
Nahorayan 210k
Shoten 70k
Madden 90k
Berilgen 185k
Shulman 130k

Seating for the final table... I'll have chip counts in a few minutes.

1 Schoenberg
2 Lester
3 Sawan
4 Quach
5 Nahorayan
6 Shoten
7 Madden
8 Berilgen
9 Shulman

Phan announces "Raise" and tosses in his last 6k in chips (just a call of the large blind). Shulman makes it 20k and Shoten calls from the large blind. They both check to the river with the board showing 9 9 Q T K . Shulman bets 15k on the river and Shoten folds6 7 . Shulman shows A J and Young Phan is our 11th place finisher, earning $10,590.

Berilgen raises from the small blind and Gustafik moves all in for a slight raise. Berilgen calls with Q 9 and Gustafik has A 5. The board comes 4 T J 8 and Gustafik is drawing dead to the river. Bill Gustafik is our tenth place finisher, earning $10,590.

With about 30k in the pot already, Phan moves all in on the river, with the board showing T 4 4 K 3 . Shulman calls all in for 30k with K 4. Phan shows J 8 . Shulman doubles up and Phan is cripled.

Berilgen opens for 18k on the button and Schoenberg moves all in for 90k total. Berilgen calls immediately with T T . Schoenberg has A K . The board comes K 6 J 4 A and Schoenberg doubles up.

Jason Berilgen wanted to say hi to his girlfriend Misty. Hi Misty!

Berilgen just took down a pot a minute ago. He called an 18k preflop raise from Sawant. On the J 7 3 flop, Sawan bet 25k and Berilgen moved all in. Sawan folded after a long pause.

Rob Rightmire is all in with KT against Robert Nehorayan's AQ. An ace on the river was more than enough for Nehorayan. Rob Rightmire is our 12th place finisher, earning $10,590.

John Kincaid is our 13th place finisher, earning $8,825.

Quach opens for 18k and Gustafik moves all in for 28k more. Quach makes the call with J T . Gustafik has A T . The board comes K K Q 5 J and Gustafik doubles up.

JJ Lui is all in under the gun for 50k. Lester calls. Lui shows A 8 and Lester K . The board offers no help and JJ Lui is our 14th place finisher earning $8,825.

Play begins with a 1k ante and 3k-6k blinds.

Today I haven't really researched the final players, but I know a few of them. Today, much like the poker players, all I've done is watch football. There's all four afternoon games on here, and as usual, people are just as interested in their cards as they are the games.

Jason Lester is probably the only household name left, as he was a prominent presence in the 2003 WSOP Main Event that Chris Moneymaker won. He also won a WSOP bracelet this summer. Erika Shoenberg is a former volleyball player originally from Ohio. She's also dating high stakes player David Benyamine, last I read.

Young Phan, JJ Lui & Charlie Shoten have all had WPT appearances. Lui made the final table of the main event in this series last year. Shoten is noteably known for a few mental lapses at the final table at the Borgata a few years ago. Jeff Shulman is the editor of CardPlayer, and also made the 2000 WSOP final table. This is but a glimpse at the resumes of these players, who are all pretty accomplished in their own right.

Daniel Quach is noteable for his second place finish, good for a cool $1.1 million at the LA Poker Classic earlier this year. Chipleader Raj Sawant has a few cashes, but is looking for his first major score here today. Jason Berilgen has a WSOP final table, as well as a win in the daily $1,000 tournament here at Bellagio. Robert Nehorayan has a few wins and over six figures in cashes. This would be his biggest win by far.

Stay tuned for live coverage beginning at 3 pm.

End of Day Event 9 Total Prize $907,920

Prize Money

*First place includes a $25,500 entry in World Poker Tour Finals on April 21, 2007.

Also, here's the results from yesterday's $2,500 No Limit Hold 'Em event:

$2,500 + $120 Buy-in 367 Entries 12/8/06

Final Event 8 Total Prize $889,975

Prize Money

*First place includes a $25,500 entry in World Poker Tour Finals on April 21, 2007.