PokerStars Caribbean Adventure - Live Updates

Just one hand after the elimination of David Pham we've seen another massive hand. It began with Hafiz Khan opening to $400,000 from under the gun and Kris Kuykendall re-raising an additional $1.2 million. After a few moments thought Hafiz announced all-in and, priced into the hand, Kuykendall made the call.

We saw it was Khan in the lead with K♠ K♦ up against A♦ J♦. Kris is looking for an ace or some sort of straight or flush but after the board runs 9♥ 9♠ 4♦ 2♥ 5♥ the hand is over and the approximately $7 million pot is shipped to Hafiz Khan. Kris Kuykendall, meanwhile, is left with just $1.5 million.

In the first raised four-way pot we've seen so far, since we went four-handed, Kris Kuykendall took a big pot of almost $2 million away from David Pham. Hafiz Khan was the original raiser and got calls from each of his three opponents. The flop came down J♥ 5♦ 2♥ and it was checked around.

The Q♥ hit the turn and it was checked around again. The 2♠ landed on the river and it was checked to David Pham who bet out $600,000. It was folded back to Kuykendall who made a reluctant call, showing A♣ Q♣ as he did. Pham was mystified why the call took so long and tabled Q♦ 9♦ which he saw was no good.

David Pham has been taking some damage in the last few levels and just shipped another couple of chips over to Hafiz Khan. It started with Khan opening to $225,000 from the button and Pham calling from the small blind.

They both checked the flop of Q♠ J♠ 6♥ and Pham bet $365,000 when the 8♣ hit the turn. Khan made the call and the 4♥ hit the river. Both players checked and Khan showed A-Q for top pair, top kicker. Pham shows A♠ 4♠ for the busted flush draw.

Kris Kuykendall just took down a nice pot with an all-in move on the river. It began with David Pham opening to $180,000 from early position and got calls from Hafiz Khan and Kris Kuykendall in the blinds. The flop came down Q♥ J♥ T♦ and it was checked around.

After the 2♣ hit the turn and Khan checked, Kuykendall fired out $225,000. Pham got out of the way and Khan made the call. The river was the 7♣ and after Khan checked again Kuykendall announced all-in. After a bit of thought Hafiz released the hand and Kris raked the pot.

On his first hand after doubling through Joe Elpayaa, Ricky Fohrenbach re-raises to $500,000 after Bertrand "ElkY" Grospellier opens with a raise from early position. Action folds back to ElkY, who moves all-in and puts Fohrenbach to a decision for his tournament life. After a few moments of rumination, the young American makes the call and stakes his $2 million dreams with pocket jacks against ElkY's A♠ K♠. The board comes K♦ T♦ 4♠ 9♥ 6♠ and ElkY wins the coin flip, busting Fohrenbach in 8th place for a $150,000 haul and building Grospellier's stack to $6.1 million.

College student Richard, from Milford, Connecticut, says he played around 20 Double Shoot Out satellites for the PCA before finally winning a seat in October. "I came second in one, and then won one later the same day." He said he doesn't consider himself a pro but is taking some time off from studying at Boston College to focus on the game.

"This is by far my biggest win to date. I've only ever cashed once in a live tournament before this, and that was for £2,000." Richard has already bought in to EPT Dortmund at the end of January, as well as the Season 4 EPT Grand Final in Monte Carlo.

Craig, a professional sports bettor from Chesterfield in the U.K., has been playing poker for years with friends but only four years online. He played in last season's EPT Grand Final but didn't cash. He also qualified with PokerStars for last summer's WSOP but couldn't go because it clashed with his honeymoon.

He said, "My wife Lindsey is here supporting me. She's been brilliant. I got made redundant from work two years ago and decided to take up sports betting full-time. A lot of girlfriends wouldn't be happy about that but she has been really supportive." Craig has also had tons of support from friends and family back home, some friends even had champagne delivered to him here at Atlantis. His friends now call him "The Apple" after a picture of him eating fruit appeared online on the first day of the PCA.

Joespeh "bigegypt" Elpayaa, 19, from Chicago, has played a few big live events in Europe, including last year's EPT Grand Final and the Irish Open, but this is his first big cash. Online, he has had a lot of success and says he has won several $100k prizes in various events.

Joseph was in the top 1% of those who took the ACT college exams last year but he only attended for a week before deciding to focus on poker. He learned poker in home games with his brother Adam and friends. His preference is cash games but he says, "Being deep in a tournament beats anything else."

ElkY was a famous professional gamer until a friend suggested he try his luck at poker seven years ago. He quickly proved his skills by qualifying for the WSOP two years running. He joined Team PokerStars in 2006. Rarely without his trademark sunglasses, poker has proved a profitable career switch for the young Frenchman.

In EPT Season 3, he cashed three times including his second-place finish in Copenhagen for €309,000. ElkY is a prolific online player and said, "With gaming, I could practice 12 hours a day, but if I lost the game, the value would be zero. However, in poker every hour has some benefit".

David "The Dragon'" Pham enjoyed having odds on his side at an early age, when the 17-year-old was one of only 46, out of 145, people to survive a boat journey fleeing his native Vietnam for the United States. He joined the cleaning business of his cousin Men "The Master" Nguyen, who had registered some success at the Las Vegas poker tables.

He studied the game under his cousin and learned well from the master, as he was soon wiping the floor with his opponents at the table. His breakthrough year was 2000, when his consistent performances saw him named Cardplayer's Player of the Year.

The following year saw him claim his first WSOP bracelet on the $2,000 SHOE event, and he would add his second in a No-Limit Hold'Em shootout event in 2006. He's had five WPT final tables in all and two WSOP bracelets. Pham is considered one of the most aggressive pros in the game and has earned more then $6.5 million in his tournament career.

Christian Harder, a student from Annapolis, Maryland, is playing in his first live big buy-in event. After studying business last semester at Salisbury University, he decided to take this semester off to play poker. He's getting off to a pretty good start after qualifying on PokerStars in a $650 multi-table satellite.

Known as "charder30" online, Harder is no stranger to tournament poker. He spends most of his time playing the biggest buy-in tournaments online with $80k in a $1k event being his biggest win to date. Although the shortest stack at the table, Harder still feels confident going into final table play.

Kris, who turned 25 yesterday, January 9, graduated with a business degree from the University of Cincinatti and coaches wrestling in his spare time. He has only been playing poker for two years and turned pro after six months.

He specialises in online cash games, $2/$4 and $5/$10 No-Limit, and when he won his seat to the PCA, it was the first satellite he had ever played. The PCA is also his first ever live tournament but he says he found the transition from online to live pretty easy. This is his biggest result to date. He added: "I've had an up and down tournament so far. "

It's 10 a.m. Bahamas time and that means it's final table time from the PokerStars European Poker Tour PokerStars Caribbean Adventure at Atlantis Resort on Paradise Island. Eight finalists have survived four days of tough poker action and as a consequence are guaranteed at least $150,000 for their time. Action is slated to begin in about five minutes, but these things are always late, so make yourself a tasty snack and we'll let you know when the game is afoot.

Here are the chip leaders as we play down to the $2 million first prize: