The players are relatively evenly matched in chips and it seems as though there are few weak links out there. As a result there has been lots of uncontested preflop raising and re-raising and flops are quite rare.

James Akenhead has been one of the most busy recently in this respect, re-popping Chris Ferguson once and winning a pot off Mike Ngo with pocket Tens on a Jack high flop.

The Cowboys Take A Bullet

When Mike Ngo shoved his stack of roughly a million chips into the middle from under the gun, James went over the top with his K K.

Ngo could only table A T and James looked in great shape to take a dominant chip lead.

Pocket cowboys are always vulnerable to an ace-bit hand though and this was proved as a cruel A 6 4 fell, leaving James and his fans reeling, whilst Ngo's supporters whooped and hollered enthusiastically.

The turn Q and river 6 did nothing to change things and this huge 2 million chip pot made a big dent in James' stack and changed the status quo at the table somewhat.

James was left holding his shaking head in his hands and looking somewhat distraught and glum though his previous play and aggression means he still has chips at his disposal.

Make Some Noise Boys!

This has been a strange final table in some respects, dramatic moments scattered in between long periods where little has happened.

Jesus Loves You Crazy Rail Guy!

As a result the audience has been somewhat subdued, quietly applauding occasionally and only really making a lot of noise when a dramatic hand like the one above occurs.

The tournament announcer has tried several times to squeeze more enthusiasm out of the passive rail.

He seemed to get at least a partial reward for his efforts as Ferguson took down a nondescript pot with a raise preflop and one audience member bellowed out "Chris' name erz Jeeesus! How d'ya keeerm-pete with-a that!"

Too hard for Coulthard! (6th)

Grant Hinkle has upped the aggression, winning a series of pots in recent times and cementing himself as the chip leader. It's made it hard for the shortstack Aaron Coulthard to find a spot but when James Akenhead opened for $225,000, Aaron pushed for $875,000.

James has passed to a couple of re-raises already, but holding A K here he was going nowhere and with Aaron tabling the dominated K J, he was in great shape to take down the pot.

The board was dealt out 8 7 2 Q 9.

No bad beat for Akenhead this time, and as he had his opponent covered, this means Aaron Coulthard is OUT, eliminated in 6th spot for $211,841.

Here are the current standings, courtesy of worldseriesofpoker.com.

Grant Hinkle 4,500,000

James Akenhead 2,500,000

Chris Ferguson 1,950,000

Mike Ngo 1,500,000

Theo Tran 1,500,000

With that elimination, the players are on a short break.

The final continues apace and there have been some exciting developments. Read on for details...

Aces Cracked!

Sevens From Heaven

Aaron Coulthard found himself looking pretty short after losing a big pot to Hinkle in the previous hand, passing when Hinkle check raised him on a 4 2 2 6 board.

With only about $500,000 chips remaining Aaron shoved in preflop, finding Tran isolating him by re-raising allin behind.Aaron flipped over two black sevens but was in all sorts of bother against Tran, who had picked up bullets. The crowd ooohed and ahhhed as they awaited the flop eagerly.

One lady in the rail was heard commenting "It not over yet!" and her prophetic abilities proved to be superior to her grammar as a spiky seven fell on the 6 3 7 flop.

A massive roar rippled through the crowd at this development and as the turn and river blanked it meant Tran was hurt and Aaron picked up a vital double up to over a million chips.

Lucky Be The Ladies Tonight

Feelin friskier now, Aaron Coulthard popped it up to $150,000 pre and Mike Ngo called. Melvin Jones saw an opportunity and announced "ALLIN!"

Theo wasted little time in shoving from the cut off for his remaining $750,000 and both Aaron and Mike passed their hands.

Theo Tran showed another big pair in Q Q, whilst Jones had the inferior A J. Would Tran's big pair do a better job of holding up this time?

A board of T 8 2 6 5 answered this question definitively, no ace spiking and Tran moving to 1,500,000 or so, leaving Jones pretty short on $400,000.

Home for Jones (7th)

Melvin Jones wasted little time in searching for that required double up, pushing allin soon after this hand.

Big Pairs Aplenty!

Tran, who seems to have been involved in 75% of the key pots on this final table, isolated his raise by pushing allin.

Hands on their backs, its Q T for Melvin, but Tran has found yet one more big pair in A A.

The board fell Q K 6 to give Jones a chink of light at the possibility of an outdraw but the 8 turn and 5 river consigned his hopes of victory to the waste disposal unit of poker dreams.

Melvin Jones is OUT, eliminated in 7th place for $158,211.