We came extremely close to our first elimination just a few moments ago with Martin Clemmensen all-in and way behind. The hand began with Leon Yanovski opening to $32,000 from middle position and Clemmensen, next to act, moving all-in for his remaining $120,000. It was folded to Joakim Garp in the small blind who placed a chip on his cards and buried his face in his hands. After a few moments he moved all-in over the top and after Leon quickly folded it was time for a showdown.

Pocket kings for Garp were miles ahead of Martin's pocket deuces and after the flop went 9 7 6 Martin was down to just two outs. The crowd here is clearly pulling for Clemmensen, with many Danes and other Skandies among them, and calls for a deuce were coming from every corner of the room. Sure enough, the 2 hit the turn. Clemmensen began shouting in celebration and a cheer went up from the crowd. The river was a blank and Clemmensen is up to about $275,000.

We've come to the end of Level 18 and it is time to take the $100 chips out of play. The next level will see the blinds raised to $5,000/$10,000 with a $1,000 ante.

Mihai Manole just took down a nice one with a pre-flop move from the small blind. Whether he had the goods or not we'll never know. It was folded around to Manole in the small blind and he just called. Joakim Garp, in the big blind, raised to $17,100 and Manole took a moment before announcing re-raise. He added another $40,000 on top. Garp seemed suprised by the move. After a bit of thought Garp released his hand, however, and Manole takes the pot uncontested.

The first orbit of the day saw nothing but the first pre-flop raise taking down the pot but a few minutes ago we were treated to a flop! It began with Mihai Manole opening to $24,000 from under the gun and Brian Jensen making the only call from the big blind. The flop came down T 4 2 and both players checked.

The turn was the A and after a check from Jensen, Manole bet out $25,000. Jensen made the call and the river was the 4. Jensen checked again and Manole asked how much his opponent had behind, but as he did so he made a subtle checking motion with his right hand. The tournament director declared it a check and Jensen showed A-J which was good for the pot.

Denmark's Martin Clemmensen came into this final table last in chips and has already put his stack into play. It was folded to him in the hijack and he open-shoved. The rest of the table got out of the way and he rakes the second pot of the afternoon.

The first pot of this final table has been shipped and it is chip leader Jan Van Der Wal signing the bill of lading. He opened to $24,000 from under the gun plus one and the rest of the table got out of the way.

We've just high-carded for dealer and the button will start on Brian Jensen in seat 8. Shuffle up and deal!

Here is the seating arrangement and start-of-day counts for our final eight players.

Seat 1	Mihai Manole	$453,300
Seat 2	Joakim Garp	$285,800
Seat 3	Christoffer Sonesson	$220,100
Seat 4	Jan Van Der Wal	$548,500
Seat 5	John Chubb	$121,900
Seat 6	Leon Yanovski	$360,500
Seat 7	Martin Clemmensen	$112,900
Seat 8	Brian Jensen	$156,600

 

The clock has almost run out on the Final Countdown to today's festivities. The surviving eight players are all in their seats and the chips are currently being de-bagged and stacked. It looks like we have about 22 minutes left with blinds of $4,000/$8,000, with a $500 ante, before they go up once again. Jan Van Der Wal is the chip leader at the moment but only time will tell who will be taking home this year's title and the first-place cash that goes with it. Stay tuned for a seating chart and chip count which will be up momentarily.