Yorky Pud

The final table of the 2010 World Series of Poker Main Event will go down in history as one of the, if not the, most entertaining and drama-packed final table in the history of poker. It literally had everything and should make amazing viewing when it is shown around the world in the coming months.

All eyes were originally on Michael "The Grinder" Mizrachi and his quest to become WSOP Player of the Year and overtake Phil Ivey at the top of the all-time money listings but I will be very surprised if this finale is not remembered as the Joseph Cheong show. Cheong built his stack to over 100,000,000 at one point but quite literally imploded during hand 213 against Jonathan Duhamel who now has over 188 million chips going into heads up!

It took almost 90 minutes and 28 hands for the first elimination to take place and when it dud happen it was Soi Nguyen who was heading to the rail in ninth place knowing he would not be picking up any extra money on top of the $811,823 already awarded. The action folded around to him on the button and finding himself with just 7,600,000 chips he moved all-in with AdKc but was ever so unlucky to run into the pocket queens of Jason Senti. The Qh-3s-Tc gave Senti a set of queens but also gave Nguyen some outs to the nut Broadway straight. The 9s was not one of them and neither was the Ks on the river and with it Nguyen left the stage to rapturous applause.

Hand 43 will go down as one of the most exciting hands in poker history but Matthew Jarvis will beg to differ as it cost him his stack, though he did pick up $1,045,743 in the process. In the hand, Duhamel made it 1,400,000 to play, Mizrachi looked like he was thinking about raising but eventually just called, then Jarvis decided that his pocket nines were good enough to squeeze all-in with for around 14,300,000 chips! Duhamel quickly folded but Mizrachi, probably knowing Jarvos would be shoving wide, made the call with AdQd. He was instantly rewarded as the flop came down Qs-8d-Qc giving him trip queens but that was not the end of the hand. The dealer burned a card and dealt the turn, the 9s, giving Jarvis a full house and the lead in the hand. Jarvis's rail were understandably going wild at this point as their hero looked like he was going to rake in a huge pot but a cruel, cruel ace of spades showed up on the river to give Mizrachi a higher full house and a 42,150,000 stack! You could not make this stuff up!

It's going to be a long day

Thanks in part to the dinner breaks, it took almost five more hours until the table lost another player and when it happened it was Senti who busted out and again in spectacular circumstances. Despite starting with the lowest number of chips, Senti had fought back valiantly but his luck ran out during hand 116. Everyone folded to Senti, who mad it 1,850,000 to play from the cutoff, but Cheong, who had been hoovering chips up all night, was not going to let him steal the pot and three-bet to 4,950,000. Senti was determined to win this pot and moved all-in and was snap-called by Cheong, which is never a good sign. Cheong flipped over a pair of black tens, in front, but only just, of the AdKs of his opponent. The tens looked to have been smashed when the flop came down Kd-Kh-Qc but the Poker Gods were certainly having some fun as they put out the Jd on the turn followed by the 9d on the river to give Cheong a winning straight! A disappointed Senti joined his friends, family and fans on the rail, knowing he had managed to jump up an extra couple of levels in pay and would be picking up $1,356,720.

It simply was not John Dolan's day and despite starting the day with over 46,000,000 in chips, his tournament came to an end just 13 hands after Senti was eliminated. Finding himself short-stacked, Dolan open shoved from the small blinds with the lowly Qd5d and looked very surprised, and rather pleased, to be in a race situation against Duhamel, who had made the call with pocket fours. By the turn the board read Jh-7h-6h-9h and the possibility of a split pot was very real but a black three, of clubs, fell on the river to send Dolan home with $1,772,959 for his efforts.

As play become more and more short handed, the players had to look for ways to extract extra value from their hands, which Duhamel certainly managed to do with his pair of aces. The action folded to him in the small blind and he decided to simply complete the blind despite having been dealt the bullets! Mizrachi tapped the felt to announce there would be no raise and the dealer put out the 5d-4s-Qc flop. Duhamel checked, Mizrachi bet 2,000,000, then in what seemed instantaneous Duhamel check-raised then called Mizrachi's all-in bet! The Grinder turned over Qd8h for top pair but we know Duhamel had him crushed as he was dealt AdAc. The Jd on the turn was not what Mizrachi needed and neither was the Kd on the river, a card that completed the hand and meant Mizrachi's amazing run was over and he will have to settle for fifth place and $2,332,992 in prize money.

Next to go, just three hands later, was the first Italian to ever reach the WSOP Main Event final table, Filippo Candio. King-queen suited is a very powerful hand when playing four-handed Hold'em but it is not as strong a hand with an ace in it, as Candio found out to his peril. He open-shoved from the small blind with KdQd, Cheong made the call with Ac3c, which made an unnecessary wheel by the river on a board reading Ah-7d-2s-5h-4s, to bust Candio in fourth place, from 7,319 entrants, worth a cool $3,092,545.

OMG! What just happened?

Twenty-five hands later and the 2,000 strong crown in the Penn & Teller Arena witnessed the biggest pot in World Series of Poker history take place. Cheong raised preflop to 2,900,000, John Racener got out of the way but Duhamel liked his hand and three-bet to 6,750,000. Usually this would be enough to win the hand but Cheong put in a fourth bet to 14,250,000. Duhamel paused briefly before five-betting to 22,750,000, sending Cheong into the tank in the process. After a couple of minute he came out of the tank with a 90,050,000 all-in bet, a bet that Duhamel quickly called before turning over QcQd. Cheong turned his cards over, first the As and everyone expected another ace to back it up but alas, his second card was the seven of hearts! A final board reading 9h-3d-2c-6s-8s and Cheong had gone from over 100 million chips to less than ten million in under five minutes! Amazing blow up by the online pro.

Despite building his stack to 17,500,000, Cheong was the next player out. Finding QsTc in the hole, Cheong moved all-in and was called by the now massively stacked Duhamel holding As2c. Neither player improved on a Ks-9c-6c-6h-7c board but Duhamel's ace-kicker gave him the best hand and with it Cheong headed to the rail to pick up a very welcome $4,130,049, though surely he must have thought this tournament was his to win. That is poker for you, just one mistake can make or break you.

With Cheong's elimination the tournament was paused for the final time this year and both players will return on Monday 8 November at 2000 Las Vegas time (0400 UK time) and Duhamel will take a monster 188,950,000 to 30,750,000 chips lead to the heads up battle but it is far from a done deal, though it would be an epic comeback if Racener could turn around the 5-to-1 deficit. There are around 14 minutes of level 40 to play, meaning the blinds will be 600,000/1,200,000 with a 200,000 running ante.