We have a winner! Cajelais opens for 110k on the button and Tehan moves in. Cajelais calls instantly with J J . The board comes 9 7 8 5 T . Tehan's tens are no match for Cajelais' straight. Joe Tehan is our runner up for $250,290.

Erik Cajelais is our champion! He wins $405,230 and a $25,500 seat in the WPT Championship, as well as the gold bracelet.

Captain Tom Franklin walks up to the table with his chips from the 7:15p $1,080 tournament and says "Deal me in!" The floor politely asks him to leave. Never a dull moment here.

And level 19 of this tournament begins. I'm pretty sure it will end at this level, just a hunch.

While I have time, here are my top ten picks for the main event... in no order. I would write more about each player but I don't have the will to write anymore than necessary right now, lol.

Tim West
Chris McCormack
Joe Tehan
Erik Seidel
Justin Bonomo
JC Tran
Shannon Shorr
Erik Cajelais
Steve Wong
... and Phil Ivey (why wouldn't I pick him??)

Tehan holds about 1.7m to Cajelais' 830k. They are now on break and will return shortly. The ante will be 5k, and the blinds will increase to 20k-40k.

Tehan opens for all the marbles on the button, and Cajelais calls all in from the blind with A 9 for about 375k. Tehan shows A 4 . The flop is K Q 8 . The turn is the 8 . Tehan can win outright with a four or heart, or chop with a king or queen... but the 9 falls on the river and Cajelais doubles up.

Tehan raises to 60k preflop, and Cajelais reraised another 130k. Tehan calls. The flop is 9 8 J . Cajelais leads for 210k. Tehan moves all in and is called. Tehan shows 9 T , and Cajelais has A T . The turn and river brick and Tehan doubles up. Cajelais is down to around 400k.

Tehan still holds a slight lead, but they're damn near even.

This has been the sickest heads up match of the tournament series. Most of them were pretty dull to watch. These two are obviously very experienced heads up players. I've seen just about every trick you can pull heads up made. They have seen the flop probably 90% of the hands dealt.

The chips are near even with Tehan holding a small lead.

Tehan limps on the button and Cajelais raises 65k more from the large blind. Tehan calls. The flop is A 2 6 . Cajelais bets 100k and Tehan calls. The turn is the 5 . Cajelais bets 210k. Tehan moves in, and Cajelais folds.

Tehan raises to 65k preflop. Cajelais calls. The flop is 3 3 9 and they both check. The turn is the 8 . Cajelais bets 90k and Tehan calls. The river is a 4. Cajelais bets all in for 285k. Tehan quickly calls. Cajelais shows K 7 for no pair. Tehan shows... A T. For no pair. What a #$('ing call. Tehan doubles up.

Tehan 325k
Cajelais 2.2m

Tehan calls a 100k bet on the river with the board showing 3 4 7 9 T . Cajelais shows Q 3 , prompting Tehan to whince. He taps the table and mucks.

Tehan 610k
Cajelais roughly 1.9m

Tehan raises to 50k preflop and Cajelais calls. The flop is Q 4 2 . Cajelais checks and Tehan bets. Cajelais pushes all in and Tehan calls with A Q . Cajelais is behind with Q 5 . The turn is the J and the river is the 3 . Tehan doubles up to over 700k.

Tehan has started moving all in a lot now.

Tehan - 360k
Cajelais - The rest of the chips (close to 2.24m)

The blinds are now 15k-30k with a 5k ante.

Cajelais has been controlling the tempo heads up. Tehan has bled off some chips to him. When they take the 1k chips off the table (this is the last hand with them on the table) I will get chip counts again.

Tehan opens for 60k on the button. Cajelais raises another 90k from the large blind and Tehan calls. The flop is K J 3 . Cajelais bets 150k. Tehan calls. The turn is the 6 . Cajelais moves in. Tehan folds, and Cajelais shows black aces.

Tehan has about 700k to Cajelais' 1.8m.

Sung limps from the small blind, and Cajelais raises 80k from the large blind. Sung reraises another 200k and Cajelais calls. The flop is J T 3 . Sung moves all in for over 200k and Cajelais calls with 4 4 . Cajelais shows K Q . The turn is the 5 , river 8 . Steve Sung is our third place finisher, earing $125,145.

Cajelais opens for 60k on the button. Sung calls from the large blind. The flop is K 9 4 . Sung checks, Cajelais bets 90k, Sung calls. The turn is the 2 . Sung checks, Cajelais moves all in. Sung folds.

Tehan opens for 48k and Sung makes it 150k total from the small blind. Tehan calls. The flop is A Q J . Sung moves all in and Tehan calls with Q T . Sung has K J . The turn is the 9 and river K . Tehan wins a straight. Tehan had 378k that he called off on the flop.

Players discussed a chop but declined to make any deal.

I'd like to thank all of our loyal readers for a great week of coverage. Everyone (staff, players, railbirds, readers, etc.) has been extremely kind and have given me many compliments for the coverage. I appreciate the comments and hope you all continue to follow my coverage this year. Thanks again and stay tuned of course for the main event starting Thursday!

Tehan 580k
Sung 1.015m
Cajelais 880k

Cajelais limps on the button, Tehan completes the small blind, and Sung checks. The flop is 6 3 4 . Tehan checks, Sung bets 40k, Cajelais raises another 100k, Tehan folds. Sung moves all in and Cajelais calls all in for 384k total. Cajelais shows T 8 . Sung flopped the second nuts with 2 5 . The turn is the 4 , the river is the 2 , and Cajelais rivers the flush to double up.

Shorr opens for 60k. Tehan moves all in for 363k. Shorr calls all in, covered by 30k. Shorr shows Q Q . Tehan has K Q . The flop is 4 8 7 . The turn is the 3 . The river is a miraculous K . Shannon Shorr is our fourth place finisher, earning $71,520.

Shorr opens for 55k on the button. Tehan calls from the small blind & Sung calls from the large. The flop is A K Q rainbow. Tehan bets 75k and Sung flat calls. The turn is the J putting two diamonds on board. Tehan bets 100k and Sung raises to 200k total. Tehan calls. The river is an offsuit four. Tehan checks, Sung bets 200k, Tehan folds. Sung rakes the pot.

Tehan 700k
Sung 930k
Cajelais 510k
Shorr 390k

Sung raises to 50k. Tehan calls from the large blind. The flop is Q Q 8. Tehan checks, and Sung bets 100k. Tehan calls. The turn is the J . Tehan bets 130k. Sung calls. The river is the T . Tehan checks and Sung moves all in for about 280k. Tehan quickly folds.

Players are now on break. They will return to play 10k-20k blinds with a 4k ante.

Tehan 960k
Sung 630k
Cajelais 460k
Shorr 430k

Bonomo moves in on the turn with the board showing T 9 4 K . Tehan calls. Bonomo shows Q J . Tehan has J 7 . The river is the T , and Justin Bonomo is our fifth place finisher, earning $53,635.

Shorr limps in the small blind and Bonomo checks. Shorr bets 30k on the flop 9 J 9 . Bonomo calls. The turn is the T , and Shorr bets 50k. Bonomo calls. The river is a brick and Shorr bets 26k. Bonomo raises 49k more. Shorr calls and shows Q 8 . Bonomo shows 8 9 offsuit. Shorr rakes the pot with a straight.

Tehan just discovered who Bonomo is. "You're ZeeJustin? Get out of here," Tehan said. "I'm playing totally different now." Everyone kept asking him how many accounts he plays now and if he got his money back. I think Bonomo was a bit distraught from the questions.

Tehan 660k
Sung 500k
Cajelais 540k
Shorr 320k
Bonomo 400k

Tehan opens for 40k. Cherry moves in for about 40k more and Tehan calls with 7 7 . Cherry shows Q J . The board comes 8 4 2 3 A . Zachary Cherry is our sixth place finisher, earning $41,715.

Tehan 700k
Sung 500k
Cajelais 420k
Shorr 250k
Cherry 90k
Bonomo 360k

Seidel moves all in from the cutoff and Sung calls from the large blind with Q T . Seidel shows J 4 . The board comes K J 8 Q 7 . Erik Seidel is our seventh place finisher, earning $29,795.

Barch moves all in and Shorr reraises all in behind him. Barch shows T T and Shorr A Q . The board comes 2 7 2 K Q . Shorr spikes a queen to eliminate Barch. Tex Barch is our eighth place finisher, earning $23,835.

Tehan opens for 30k and Seidel makes it 110k from the small blind. Tehan calls. The flop is Q 9 6 . Seidel bets 130k. Tehan moves in for 115k more and Seidel calls with K K . Tehan shows Q Q for a set of queens. The turn is the J , river 4 . Tehan doubles up.

The blinds will be up next hand to 8k-16k with a 3k ante.

Tehan's slide downhill continues. He started with just under 1 million chips at the final table. After the last pot he opened and was subsequently reraised by Bonomo, he folded and left himself with just over 300k. The one, two and three seats have most of the chips, with lots of them having come from Tehan.

Tehan 400k
Sung 460k
Cajelais 400k
Barch 145k
Shorr 150k
Seidel 450k
Cherry 160k
Bonomo 270k

Bonomo opens for 35k, Cajelais calls and Seidel calls from the large blind. The flop is J T T rainbow. Seidel bets 45k and Bonomo pushes for about 110k total. Seidel thinks for a while and finally mucks.

Action folds to Bonomo in the small blind, who shoves all in for a little under 70k. Tehan calls with T T . Bonomo has Q 4 . The board comes A A J J 9 and Bonomo's queen kicker plays, doubling him up.

Tehan limps, and Cherry checks his option in the blind. The flop is K 8 3 and Cherry shoves for about 65k. Tehan instantly calls with A T. Cherry shows K J. The board bricks off and Cherry doubles up.

The blinds are now 6k-12k with a 2k ante.

Tehan 600k
Sung 590k
Cajelais 335k
Barch 145k
Shorr 230k
Seidel 490k
Cherry 92k
Bonomo 85k

This hand might as well have been right out of Tournament Poker For Adavanved Players by David Sklansky. Tehan opens for 20k from the cutoff and Cajelais calls from the large blind. The flop is A K 9 . Cajelais checks and Tehan bets 24k. Cajelais calls. The turn is the 8 and both check. The river is the J . Cajelais checks and calls Tehan's 35k bet. Tehan shows A 4 and Cajelais mucks.

Tehan's check on the turn looks strange to many, but it's the correct play. He can't call a large raise on the turn, so if his opponent had him beat and was planning on check-raising, he would be priced out of the hand with his nut flush draw. His hand is good but not great (top pair no kicker), so he checks, hoping to catch the flush for free.

Players are now on break.

Thurman moves all in from the button for about 130k. Sung calls from the large blind and shows 5 5 . Thurman has A 5 . The board comes K K 8 3 7 and Mike Thurman is our ninth place finisher, earning $19,070.

Tehan and Sung battle again. I don't know the exact action but over 140k chips go in the pot before Sung moves all in. Tehan considers for a while. He keeps muttering that Sung must have aces or kings. He finally mucks. Tehan came to the final table just under $1m in chips and is now down to just over 500k.

Safieddine checks after investing most of his chips on the flop, with the board showing 8 2 J Q . Seidel bets 67k, all of Safieddine's chips. He thinks for a long while then calls and shows A 2 . Seidel has T T . The river is a blank, and Francois Safieddine is our tenth place finisher, earning $14,300.

Thurman 220k
Tehan 600k
Sung 250k
Cajelais 440k
Barch 120k
Shorr 250k
Safieddine 150k
Seidel 230k
Cherry 100k
Bonomo 85k

Tehan raises to 21k and Cajelais reraises to 76k. Tehan calls. The flop is Q 3 4 . Tehan bets about 65k and Cajelais moves in for around 140k. Tehan folds and Cajelais shows K K .

The senior's event is going on in the same room. They just went on break. Jack McLelland, the tournament director here at the Bellagio, just made the announcement to the seniors. "Okay seniors, take a 15-minute nap... I mean break!"

Thurman 250k
Tehan 1m
Sung 170k
Cajelais 250k
Barch 100k
Shorr 250k
Safieddie 200k
Seidel 250k
Cherry 80k
Bonomo 150k

Next hand blinds will be 4k-8k with a 1k ante.

David Kim is our 11th place finisher earning $14,300.

Final table seating

1 - Mike Thurman
2 - Joe Tehan
3 - Steve Sung
4 - Erik Cajelais
5 - Tex Barch
6 - Shannon Shorr
7 - Francois Safieddine
8 - Erik Seidel
9 - Zachary Cherry
10 - Justin Bonomo

Barch doubles up with his K J against K 3. A jack on the flop sealed the hand.

Bonomo reraises from the small blind and Shannon Shorr moves all in from the large blind for 126k. Bonomo calls with Q Q . Shorr shows A Q . The flop comes ace high, and Bonomo is in bad shape. The turn gives them both a straight draw, but the river is a deuce. Shorr doubles up and Bonomo is down to around 90k.

15th - Jerry Fahim $11,920
14th - John Gale $11,920
13th - Nick Binger $11,920
12th - Chris Grigorian $14,300

A short stack opens for a raise, Bonomo makes it 40k, and Binger moves in for about 75k total. The short stack folds and Bonomo calls with J J. Binger shows Q Q. However, the tables turn for Bonomo this time, as the flop comes A 8 J. The turn is a T, giving Binger a lot of outs--any nine, king, or queen. The river is another ace and Nick Binger is our 13th place finisher, earning $11,920.

I got here right as they started play today, and I didn't get to chart who was seated where because they broke down one table immediately after the first eliminations. So I don't know about half of the players as a result. Chip counts & so forth will be hard to come by. However, when we get down to the final ten, I will know everyone's name and face. So just bare with me until then.

Bonomo opens for 18k. Safieddine calls from the cutoff and the big blind calls. The flop is K 6 8 . Bonomo bets 20k, and Safieddine calls. The big blind folds. The turn is the A . Bonomo checks. Safieddine bets 35k. Bonomo instantly moves all in and Safieddine calls with A 8. Bonomo shows 6 6 for a set of sixes. The river is an improbable eight, giving Safieddine eights full, busting Bonomo's set. Safieddine doubles up.

Brandon Steven gets all of his chips in preflop against Justin Bonomo. Bonomo holds pocket tens and Steven QJ offsuit. The board comes 45654 and Bonomo wins the pot. Brandon Steven is our 16th place finisher, earning $9,535.

With the board showing A T 3 x x, Eliyahu Levy calls all in with AT. His opponent shows 33. Eliyahu is our 17th place finisher, earning $9,535.

Steve Crockett and Ben Lamb were our first eliminations, both going out on the same hand. They tie for 18th place, winning $4,767 each.

Play has just begun. We have had a few eliminations. I will get you that information ASAP.

I didn't get the results from yesterday emailed to me for some reason, but you can read them here.