Champ Matt Graham (ImageMasters)

After playing for over 17 hours, Matt Graham comes from behind and beats Jean-Robert Bellande, capturing the bracelet and $278,180.


Jean-Robert Bellande is Eliminated in 2nd Place ($173,564)

Play at the final table continues, heads-up, between Jean-Robert Bellande and Matt Graham.

Here are the earlier finishers:

Joe De Niro Eliminated in 3rd Place ($107,845)

Brandon Wong Eliminated in 4th Place ($69,088)

Danny Wong Eliminated in 5th Place ($33,701)

Spencer Lawrence Eliminated in 6th Place ($20,221)

John Kranyak Eliminated in 7th Place ($13,480)

Andrew Prock Eliminated in 8th Place ($10,335)

Michael Kachan Eliminated in 9th Place ($7,526)

Due to the late hour, and the very likely possibility that this final table will go deep into the night, Poker Pages is suspending its coverage of this event for the evening. We will post the official results here as soon as they become available.

We will be covering the Main Event from start to finish and look forward to bringing you all of the action right here at Poker Pages.

'Bobby' Bellande was able to scoop a large pot when the board was four cards to the straight with Bellande holding the top end. His stack looks to be plus 100,000 chips from the starting point of 400,000.

Matt Graham was able to take some chips off of John Kranyak after his AQ hit an A on the flop.

A few hands later Kranyak was able to crack the aces of Michael Kachan when he spiked a 8 on the flop to go along with the 8s in the hole. The board paired on the river filling up his boat.

The lineup for today's final table:
Jean-Robert Bellande
Danny Wong
Spencer Lawrence
Matt Graham
Andrew Prock
Michael Kachan
Brandon Wong
John Kranyak
Joe Deniro

Early action has seen the very animated Jean-Robert Bellande take a few pots and the chip lead. Bellande is pulling double duty as both a final table player, and a 'celebrity commentator' for ESPN. When last out at the table he could be seen ignoring the action at his table while taping a short segment for ESPN.

Matt Graham is the last player to advance to the final table (finally!) besting Duane Graff. After a raise re-raise fest preflop, all of Graff's chips were in the middle. Graff tabled the J-5 and Graham the A-K. An ace came on the flop and Graff's tournament was all but done. No love from the dealer on the turn nor the river, and Duane Graff has been eliminated.

Final table play will recommence around 10:20 p.m. local time at which time the final table participants will restart the action.

All players will start with 300,000 in chips and the blinds will start at 2,000/4,000.

The grind continues along.... We're now down to one heads-up table.

Mikael Norrinder was able to hold on for dear life for quite some time despite his short stack status. Unfortunately for him, he wasn't able to overcome Spencer Lawrence who flopped third pair and called Norrinder's all-n flop bet. Lawrence asked "Do you have a pair?" and Norrinder told him he didn't. Norrinder was down to a King or Jack on the turn or river, but when no help came, he was eliminated. Spencer Lawrence has now advanced to the final table.

Stephen Graff was also eliminated and walked away looking disgusted. Mat Graham is now the chip leader over Duane Graff. They are the last able still left on the floor playing. Graham has a 2:1 chip lead over Duane Graff.

There has been a little more action in the last hour of play. We only have two tables still playing; one is three handed, and the other heads-up.

Andrew Prock was able to eliminate Jelger Wiegersma, and will be playing at the final table.

Table 8 remains as our only three-handed table and action there has continued to be a back and forth battle.

Lorenz Guarin was eliminated from table 8. The remaing two (Spencer Lawrence and Mikael Norinder) have similar stack sizes. Eliminating one of the two left, could take some time.

Brandon Wong has eliminated Eric Rivkin and will advance to the final table.

Mike Kachan also will advance to the final table habing ousted Steve Kim.

We are now entering into the 10th hour of play in this round (Round Two). With two tables to finish, an hour break, and then a final table still yet to play, we're in for a late night.

While the last hour contained fast-paced play and three players winning their tables, this hour has contained grinder-paced action and no bustouts.

Those who have already made the final table must wait until an hour after the last player has advanced for final table action to begin.

Here are the number of players sitting at each table:

Green 10 - 2 players

Mike Kachan vs. Steve Kim
Green 5 - 3 players

Mikael Norinder vs. Lorenz Guarin vs. Spencer Lawrence
Green 9 - 2 players

Jelger Wiegersma vs. Andrew Prock

Green 8 - 3 players

Duane Graff Jr vs. Matt Graham vs. Stefan Rapp

Green 11 - 2 players

Eric Rivkin vs. Brandon Wong

Joe Deniro has just eliminated Sol Mammon and is the first player to win his table to advance to the final table. Deniro was able to call an all-in prelop bet of Mammon and have his 9-5 flop a pair to beat the A-6 of Mammon.

John Kranyak advances to the final table. Kranyak was able to get his Big Slick to stand up to the Q-J of Markus Stranzinger, and he becomes the second final table participant.

Jean-Robert Bellande has Hansu Chu down to his final few chips, but so far has been unable to put him away. Chu goaded Bellande that he isn't the survivor this time! Bellande having a roughly 20:1 chip lead would have to really mess up to lose this one.

Danny Wong advances to the final table. Wong was heads-up against Fred Berger and was able to spike top pair on the flop against Berger's third pair. Berger was unable to improve and Wong advances to our final non-ME final table.

Amazingly the four-handed table with Matt Graham is still four-handed. Watching the action is akin to watching paint dry as the play tends to be very conservative and cautious.

Just a few hands after Chu had given Bellande a hard time about not being the survior at the table, Bellande proved him wrong and felted Chu. In what would be termed 'a cooler' in the poker world, Chu spiked a King on the flop (top pair) and had to assume he was good. Bellande, however, had hit two pair. This left Chu with 1,000 in chips left. Bellande again came from behind to beat Chu as he tabled the 7-4 against the 8-5 of Chu. The turn brought a 7 and Bellande advances on to the final table.

Players were sent on their first twenty minute break of the day. When play was to resume, one of the few tables down to heads-up play, was missing one of its players. Seems Hansu Chu was a little late getting back from break. He was lucky to be against Jean-Robert Bellande who refused to play until Chu returned. Chu was just a minute or two late, and surely was thankful that Bellande did the honorable thing.

Here are the tables and the amount of players still playing at each:

Green 5 - 3 players
Green 10 - 2 players
Green 13 - 2 players
Green 12 - 2 players
Green 9 - 2 players
Green 4 - 3 players
Green 3 - 2 players
Green 8 - 4 players
Green 11 - 2 players

A few eliminations to note:
Mike Wattel
Jannick Wrang

We're getting closer to a final table with many of the tables now in heads-up play. Play is sure to slow here in the next hour as everyone tries to survive.

In contrast to the slow grind pace at which these players started the round, today has seen a lot of fast moving action. On my last pass through the floor, I snapped a picture of several players only to come back on my next round to see they had been felted. Amongst those hitting the trails early today include:

Tino Lechich
Davood Mehrmand
David Bach
Hoyt Corkins
Kenna James
Michelle Ankenman
Jason Smith
Primoz Adamic
Sasha Rosewood
Rick Shepherd
Joel Diaz
Jay Bloom

The majority of the tables are now three or four-handed with one still seating five players. Players have begun to switch seats and stretch out a little more.

The final day of play is underway for Event 53 here at the Rio. Last night, the WSOP staff made the decision to halt play, count and bag chips, and have the 72 remaining players come back to battle it out today. Cards got back in the air at 2 p.n. local time and we've seen a slew of bustouts thus far. Those making an early exit include:

Tony Bloom
Ben Yu
Simen Sagstuen
Jimmy Fricke
Rhett Butler
Jacob Petersen
Coralee Grebe
Eric Arreca
Greg Debora
Claudio Rinaldi
Zvi Stern
Gregory Giannokostas
Ben Fineman
Aliaksandr Dzianisau

Due to the decision by the WSOP to bring the remaining players back to finish it out today, we are likley faced with a long day to crown our last non-ME champ. We'll be here on the floor, bringing you all of the action as the day unfolds.

After an explosive first round, the second round of the Limit Shootout definitely had more emphasis on the limit than the shootout. In four levels of play, the 90 Round 1 winners who began Round 2 have only been narrowed to 75. That means the nine second round tables will have their work cut out for them when they return to determine winners and then begin the nine-handed final table. Kenna James, Hoyt Corkins, David Bach, Terrence Chan, Mike Wattel, and Jimmy Fricke will all be back at 2 p.m. PDT to fight for a spot at the final table.

Official chip counts and seat assignments for the start of Day 2 / Final (sorted by table):