After less than an hour of heads-up play Eric Brooks has defeated the awesomely-named Fu Wong. The most important hand saw Brooks make a big call with two-pair to beat Wong, who only showed a couple of kings.

The hand crippled Wong down to the $450,000 and despite grinding it out for several hands Wong finally succumbed to Brooks constant raises.

In the final hand of the tournament Wong got it all-in on fourth street with the board reading:

Brooks: (A)(5)5 3

Wong: (T)(4)A 4

After the players flipped over their cards the board finished:

Brooks: …A 7(Q)

Wong: …2 4(9)

Brooks flush wins him the tournament! The relatively unknown player will be donating the entirety of the $415,856 for first place to charity. Meanwhile Wong will receive $259,910 for finishing second. Congratulations to both players and everyone that played the $10,000 Seven-Card Stud Championship event.

Alexander Kostritsyn, who, along with Alexander Kravchenko forms Russia's Legion of Poker Doom, has been eliminated from the tournament. Kostritsyn was crippled in the giant hand with Eric Brooks and couldn't recover.

In his final hand Kostritsyn got all his chips in on fifth street with the board reading:

Kostritsyn: (K)(4)4 K 3 T(T)

Brooks: (A)(8)7 A 7 T(K)

In the end Brook's two-pair was better than Kostritsyn's two-pair. The good natured Kostritsyn just smiled as he headed for the exit. He will receive $163,372 for coming in third. A disappointing day for the Russian but he can take solace in the fact that he won over $1.5 million by winning the 2008 Aussie Millions.

Cash game killer Minh Ly has been relegated to the rail. The California-based pro ran into the iron first of Alexander Kostritsyn and wasn’t able to survive.

In the hand Ly got it all-in on third street and the boards went:

Kostritsyn: (9)(9)T 3 6 7(8)

Ly: (8)(8)T 3 J Q(7)

Ly will receive $118,816 for coming in fourth but will have to wait for another day to win his first WSOP bracelet.

Kostritsyn takes a Soviet-sized slam

Alexander Kostritsyn momentarily appeared to be running away with this event but Eric Brooks just fought back in a big way.

In the hand Kostritsyn bet heavily on his (X)(X)4 9 5 K(X) while Brooks called all the way with his (X)(X)K Q T Q(X) and finally bet on seventh street. Kostritsyn quickly called and Brooks flipped over K Q 5 for the boat.

After seeing Brooks hand Kostritsyn, in a rare sign of emotion, slammed his hand face up on the table in frustration. Although the cards were quickly shuffled away Kostritsyn mentioned he had three nines and couldn’t fill up.

Action continues at this final table as we've one star fall to earth and a whole lot of chip movement among the remaining four players. Read on for updated counts and some of the relevant action over the last hour.

Seidel Smoked (5th)

PL.com’s pick to take down this event, despite his shortstack coming into the final table, has been eliminated. Erik Seidel was looking to take down his ninth bracelet but will have to wait for his next final table for another chance.

Seidel was able to double up once against Alexander Kostritsyn when he got all-in with two pair, aces and jacks, to Ly’s lower two pair, tens and sevens.

Not long after Seidel got deep in a hand with Minh Ly, getting all his chips in the middle once again. By the time all the cards were out Ly had the best hand with (A 5)A T J 7 Q to Seidel’s (5 5)K Q 4 A(7).

Seidel is out in 5th and will receive $92,825.

The Dreaded Minh-Raise

Minh Ly has just doubled up, giving him a few more chips to fight with in his battle for the bracelet. Ly got all-in against Alexander Kostritsyn with (8 7)8 J 5 6(9) against (7 5)6 5 A T(7).

Ly’s straight is good and he takes a bite out of Kostritsyn’s stack.

The Man with the Golden Chip Count

Here's a look at the updated counts for our final four, courtesy of www.worldseriesodpoker.com.

Alexander Kostritsyn	$1,350,000
Fu Wong	$960,000
Eric Brooks	$600,000
Minh Ly	$350,000

 

Alexander Kostritsyn has taken this tournament by the scruff of the neck, his incredibly aggressive style combined with his ability to hit cards at all the right times has ended up with him now holding onto almost half the chips in play and really putting the squeeze on the other players.

Oppen And Out

Chipleader at the start of the day, David Oppenheim has gone out in 7th place. Having suffered a torrid time early on which decimated his stack, he finally ended up all-in on 5th street with (2 5)9 8 Q Q (x) against Kostritsyn's (6 4#)5 9 5 2(5). Oppenheim saw the trip fives, mucked his hand, tapped the table and left for the rail.

Paluszek Decked

Jim Paluszek has gone out in 6th place when all-in with (Q 7)A against Kostritsyn's (T 8)8. Paluszek failed to make a pair as they went down the streets whilst the Russian hit a ten locking up victory.

Not leaving with the Minh-mum. 

Minh Takes The Max 

Minh Ly has trebled up to put him back into contention for this event. Fu Wong and Alexander Kostrityn created a side pot that the latter won when he pushed Wong out on the river. Kostritsyn shows Q K A Q T Q 5 for trip queens but Minh showed 9 9 2 4 9 4 for a boat to keep him in the event.

 

The story of this final table so far is that the chip leader, David Oppenheim has really been dropping down the table, losing pot after pot which somehow eventually turned him into the short stack having lead the tournament since the start of the day.

Oppen-Low

After being 3-bet on fifth street, Oppenheim called down with a board of A Q 5 6 against Alexander Kostritsyn. The Russian showed K J Q 2 with J Q J# for the full house, leaving the former chip leader in real big trouble.

Centre of the action.

Oppen-Middle 

Soon after, when faced with a double bet on fourth street by Vassilios Lazarou who was showing Q Q, Oppenheim eventually made the call for the rest of his chips with (9 T)T J, whilst Lazarou showed (J 6).

Oppenheim caught 9 Q 9 to make a full house which was good enough when his oppenent could only pick up K A 7 for one pair.

Oppen-High

Oppenheim recovered enough to then knock out Lazarou after betting 5th street to force out Kostritsyn before revealing his rolled up deuces which then held to leave us with seven players left.

The final table for the first ever $10,000 stud event at the WSOP, has just begun with high-stakes player David Oppenheim leading the way. Daniel Negreanu and Phil Ivey both just busted off the final table, but the legendary and often unsung Erik Seidel is still at the final table.

Early hits for the chip leader.

Not Ly-ing Down

Although Oppenheim is the chip leader, he isn't going to just ease his way to the bracelet. Minh Ly took one of the earliest pots from him, showing kings up to scoop.

Russian Kosts Fu

Alexander Kostritsyn, showing a 3 K T 3 board bet the river in the dark. Fu Wong, made the call with a K 7 A 8 showing only to find that the Aussie Millions champion had river a straight with A Q J being flipped over.