A short stacked Steve Sung just picked up a nice pot off Jen Harman getting back on solid ground. On a 7 6 7 flop he bet $120k and Harman called. The 2 turn was checked by both, but Harman fired $150,000 on the 6 river. Sung thought about it for a minute before just calling and showing a six.

"What a bad card," Harman said, throwing her two in the muck. Sung is back up over $600,000 and Harman down to around the same.

A few hands later Harman picked up a small, but tense pot. Harman made it $40k under the gun and Noah Jefferson called. Both players checked the J 3 7 flop bringing us to the Q turn. Harman bet out $135,000 at this point sending Noah deep into thought. After counting out his chips in several stacks as the room fell silent, Jefferson figured his best move was to fold, laying the hand down.

Harman got in some difficulty again a few hands later after Brandon Cantu made a $42,000 bet and Steve Sung called from the button. Harman pondered the decision for a while before cutting out her entire stack, suddenly blurting out "I feel like John Phan," and flat calling.

Noah Jefferson then made the call making it a family pot. Harman checked the 9 7 4 flop in the dark and it checked around. She then fired $80k at the 6 turn, but when Jefferson moved all in and Cantu and Sung folded, she was forced to lay it down as well. At this point Harman looks like she is in a bit of trouble.

Cantu Not Illiterate

Brandon Cantu opens from the button to $30,000 and gets a call from Jen Harman in the big blind. The flop comes down J 9 6 and after a check from Harman, Cantu fires $50,000. After a bit of thought Harman makes the call and the turn brings the 2. Both players check and the river comes the A. Harman quickly bets $100,000 and Cantu goes into the tank.

“All I can beat is a draw”, says Brandon as he tosses four $25k chips into the middle. “Good read,” replies Harman as she watches the chip leader turn over pocket sevens. The sticks are good and another pot is shipped to Brandon Cantu.

Meaningless Observation*

Jen Harman is wearing a shirt that proclaims, "Don't piss me off." Being short of stature though, the bottom half of the shirt is concealed behind the rail of the table, resulting in just the first two words being visible. Right beside the assertion of "Don't piss" is her FullTilt Poker patch. How many times have you been playing online and had just that problem?

*Meaningless observation originally made by Courtney Harrington.

The Shortstack Shuffle

Noah Jefferson bets $30k pre flop and Brandon Cantu makes the call before Steve Sung re-raises making it $105,000. Jefferson asks what Sung has behind (310k) and decides to lay his hand down as does Cantu, giving the short stacked Sung a little more to play with.

Brandon Cantu folded a hand!

"Oh my god," Jen Harman said as Steve Sung began clapping. Before long the raucous crowd at Bay 101 got in to it with a huge round of applause for the first pot the chip leader hasn't played in quite some time.

With $5 million in chips, Cantu is running things and this was the first indication he may slow down to take a breath. Before long, however, he got back to business wading back into numerous pots.

One of those pots began when Sung opened the betting making it $30k to go, Noah Jefferson called as did Cantu. TheQ 9 6 flop was checked around but the 8 turn gave Cantu what he needed to lead out for $75k. Sung made the call and after Noah folded, the K river fell.

Cantu took a moment before making a $150,000 raise.

"King any good?" Sung said, taking a few minutes before sliding the $150k across the table, making the call. Cantu claimed a nine and it was announced by TD Matt Savage that he had A-9. Some how it was good enough as Sung chucked his cards in the muck leaving us all to wonder what he called with.

Although Jefferson and Jen Harman have picked up a few small pots, no one seems to be ready to take a run at Cantu just yet.

Official Counts

Tournament director Matt Savage has just given us the counts. We're not sure but we think Brandon Cantu is in a pretty good spot.

Brandon Cantu	$5,429,000
Jennifer Harman	$876,000
Noah Jefferson	$824,000
Steve Sung	$389,000

Cantu Mortal After All

A few hairline chinks have appeared in Brandon Cantu’s $5,000,000 armor as both Jen Harman and Steve Sung have been able to take a short series of pots from our chip leader. Small as they may be, they certainly have a way of adding up.

Score One for Sung

It's folded to Brandon Cantu in the small blind and he opens with a raise. Steve Sung calls from the big blind and the flop comes down A 5 4. Both players check and the turn is the 9. Cantu checks again and Sung slowly reaches for chips, depositing $40,000 in the middle. Cantu's cards go in the muck and Sung reels in the pot.

Results so Far

For a full rundown of all the players who were able to cash in this event head over to the Results page where that information lives.

Cantu Takes Some Back

Brandon Cantu and Steve Sung see a raised flop of A K J and they both check. The 2 hits the turn and brings another check from each player. The T on the river incites a bit of action as Cantu slides $60,000 across the line. After a short dwell Sung makes the call but tosses his hand in the muck when he sees Brandon's Q-7. The ace-high straight is good for the pot and Cantu adds a couple chips to his mountain.

Blinds Go Up

We've reached another level, increasing the blinds to $5,000/$10,000 with a $1,000 ante. Remember, we'll be playing 90-minute levels until we reach heads-up, at which time we'll be reducing them to 45 minutes. 

In a battle of the big stacks Mike Baker opened a pot with a $30k raise under the gun. On the button, Brandon Cantu made it $75k total and when it got back to Baker he re-raised $125k more.

Not to be outdone, Cantu decided to make it $300k more. Baker pondered the decision for a while before making the call. Baker checked the Q 10 2 and Cantu asked for his chip count before pushing all in.

"All right, let's gamble buddy," Baker said. "I call."

It's A A for Cantu against the unbelievable K 3 flush draw for Baker.

With everyone in the room wondering how Baker is still in this hand with king-three suited, the turn bricks out with the 5. Pacing around the room, Baker looks back to see the 5 fall on the river and he is done, shipping his $1.7 million in chips over to Cantu.

Baker is out fifth cashing $200k while Cantu's massive stack is up near $5 million in chips. With four remaining he's going to be hard to beat.

After losing a few mid sized pots early, John Phan open shoved under the gun for his last $70k. Once it folded around to Noah Jefferson in the big blind he made the easy call with 6 6 and was in the lead against Phan's Q 8.

The K 3 2 flop was no help for Phan and the 6 left him drawing dead giving Jefferson a set. Out sixth, Phan will grab $135,000 for his efforts.

Jennifer Harman is hungry for her first WPT title and has just taken a little bite out of Brandon Cantu's chip lead. The action in the biggest hand of the final table so far began when Cantu made it $30k to go from the cutoff.

Harman looked every bit like she was going to raise before flat calling from the button, as did Mike Baker in the small blind. Noah Jefferson folded his big blind and the flop of 6 4 9 brought a $100k bet from the relentless Cantu sending Harman into the tank. She emerged shoving all in much to the crowd's delight and after Baker let it go it was $348k more to Cantu.

"I really want to get your bounty," he said, making the gutsy call.

A set of sixes for Harman was ahead against Cantu's 10 2 flush draw and the crowd went even crazier. The 10 turn kept the diminutive Harman in the lead and the 9 river ensured she would double up to around $900k. Cantu is still close to $3 million in chips.

The first few hands of the final table have been of the raise and take it variety with very few flops seen. The biggest hand so far played out when John Phan opened the pot making it $24k from the cutoff and Brandon Cantu obliged with a call from the button.

The flop fell 9 8 7 and Phan led out with a $22k bet. Cantu popped him right back making it $75k to continue and Phan made the call. The turn brought the 6 and after a Phan check, Cantu made it $100,000 to see a river card.

Phan looked like he wanted to shove his last $220k in the pot, but flashed a nine instead, deciding discretion might be the better part of valor and throwing both cards in the muck.

Phan's short stack is reaching a dangerous level as Cantu's Bay 101 dominance continues.

A Family Affair (Almost)

Brandon Cantu opens to $30,000, something we can expect to see a lot of this afternoon, and gets calls from Steve Sung in the cut-off, Jen Harman on the button and Michael Baker in the small blind.

Noah Jefferson denies us the pleasure of a family pot, folding his big blind, and the flop comes down Q 8 3. It’s checked to Steve Sung and he bets out $50,000. It’s enough to push the remaining players out of the hand and Sung picks up a nice pot.

 

WPT hottie Layla Kayleigh just made the call and the first cards are flying. Here we go!

The introductions are underway on the WPT set and the lively Bay 101 crowd is ready to rock. This has to be one of the loudest crowds full of poker fans you'll find on the World Poker Tour and it should make for a terrific atmosphere here at the final table.

The cards will be in the air in just a few minutes so stay tuned!