by Chris Newton

It goes very slowly for a while Maria doubled through at one stage making a pair of Kings on the flop. This brought her up to about 150,000. John still had 450,000 though.

The chips went back and forth for quite a while obviously both players valued the ring greatly.

The first called all-in though saw an end to it. Maria had A T and John just a fraction better with A Q . The flop came down K  4  2 , no help for the dominated Ten. The turn gave some hope for a split when the 3 came. So It was Ten to win or a  5 to split for Maria. The final card dealt in this tournament though was the 4 with John's Queen just playing to win the pot.
Maria Stern , who played a near perfect final table comes 2nd in this event for $18,996.

	Maria Stern

And THE WINNER IS John Cobb collecting a very nice $36,806  for his $300 investment.

	John Cobb - WINNER

	John and Michael Of Harrahs

The three spouses await in wings

	David's Wife , Max Stern and Karla Cobb

They chatted after this and it was common knowledge the money was split and they are to play for the ring.

The first significant hand sees David all-in with A K and John calling with Jack Jack. No Aces, no Kings but the turn brings a Jack. This also gives David a straight draw as a Ten is on the table too. No Queen though and David is down to his last 13,000 and John has a wall of yellow 1,000 chips.

The end comes soon for David when he bets it all with Ace 9, Maria has the dominating A K.Everything is under a 9 on the board and Maria's King kicker takes the pot.
David Hurley who really did play very well today officially gets 3rd and gets 9,498 official dollars

	David Hurley

Now the pace has picked up.

Michael who has been playing good hands today has no hesitation in going all-in with Ace Jack , David who clearly wants to win this event calls with K T .
The flop isJ K 4 - the important King hitting a 2 leaves Michael with 5 outs but the card is the 7 and David picks up about 60,000 in chips and Michael Young will pick up $7,124 for 5th place.

	The Solid Michael Young

Thuy Nguyen hasn't been quiet all day. She has constantly given advise, done laps of her chair -run to the bathroom at one stage in the middle of play. David Hurley showed a well executed bluff when "Cindi" layed down and showed A T, David scooped the pot and showed A 7 in a previous hand.
Maybe it was all that extra energy she had but she called John Cobb's all-in re-raise with Ace  J . John shows the inevitable A A - Cindi jumps up and says she knew she should have folded. One Jack on the flop  helps Thuy but the other two Jacks remain ellusive and Thuy Nguyen is our 4th placed player today collecting $8,311.

	Thuy Nguyen

Shortly later Jason finds 6 6 and bets his last chips. It's an easy call for David sitting over him with Jack Jack. The flop is Q T 5 no good for Jason. The turn card is Ace and no 6 comes on the river , it is the 10 .
Jason Alt who just didn't have any luck today does get $4,749 for coming 7th in this event

	Jason Alt

Three hands later Aaron decided 10 9 will be his all-in hand. John Cobb , the chip leader at the start of the day is in the BB and calls the 15,000 raise with Ace 8 .  All middle cards on the flop,7 7 6 , the critical card comes on the turn an Ace . Aaron has the 8s as his outs now,  he will make a straight if one comes. The river is the 3 however and we have our 6th placed finisher, Aaron Hoyle who will be rewarded with $5,636.

	Aaron Hoyle

Jason gets caught by Maria when he raise to 20,000 and Maria goes all-in with 9 9, Jason makes the call with J 5. Maria doubles when no Jack comes. Jason is down to 11,000 and is the short stack. Lance also loses a hand and on the next hand when he is first to speak he goes all-in for 10,000, Jason to his left calls for his 9,000. Maria clears out the blinds with a 20,000 bet.
its Ace Ten for Lance, Ace Ace for Jason amd 9 9 for Maria.

The Ace on the flop defines the whole hand, Jason Doubles up , Lance gets 2,000 and Maria pays them all.

Lance survives his all-in for 1,000 in the BB and has 10,000 now.

The next hand though he calls with K 4  after Michael raises to 20,000 with 10 8 . The King is good on the flop of 2 5 9 and survives the turn a Jack but a 8 comes on the river and Michael pairs up and eliminates Lance Hewitt in 8th place today collecting $3,662.

	Lance Hewitt

Just one bet, take it, at the moment. David Hurley adds a few chips to his stack with a 19,000 reaise holding A K , no callers.

In the 500 Pot Limit Holdem with re-buys I recognised John Pham, Layne Flack, Mike Laing - I'll have a closer look later, currently they are up the othe end of the room to be near "the cage" for re-buys.

Hand 2 might prove to be a very significant hand for this tournament. David Hurley make the "internet type" play of going all in for about 63,000 extra over the top of Thuy Nguyen's original 4,000 raise. Thuy "Cindi" Nguyen just can't leave it alone probably seeing this as her opportunity to take a big lead. She has 10 10 but David has Ace Ace  and made the huge re-raise beacuse he thought she had a big hand and would call.
Some help for "Cindi"when there are 3 spades to the turn as she has the 10 , but the 5  completes the board and David doubles up.

We go on break after hand 5 and when we come back the Game is 1000 Antes 3000-6000 blinds

The Game is NL Holdem - 500 Ante 2000-4000 blinds.

Amble Mauad only has 3,000 in chips 500 of which he had to ante up, so it is no surprise that when the action comes to him in the first hand played he invests the other 2,500 he has left. The action passes all the way to Michael Young on the BB - he already has 4,000 in for the BB so the call has been automatic.
Amble turns over the 5c 3c and Michael has Ts 2s - boy these guys like gambling. Two forced bets , I guess - LOL. The flop comes 8h 9d 4d , not much for anyone. The turn however puts paid to Amble's chances when it is a Td - the Kc completes the board.
Amble Mauad will pick up $2,375 for his 9th placing in this very large field.

	Amble Mauad About to go All-in

Event 7 - about half way through this Bally's Festival

10 Minutes to go - just waiting for anyone to show up - LOL

I'm here Michael the Tournament Director is here, the Dealers are here BUT NO PLAYERS