In an extremely brief battle, Martin Klaser dominated Casey Kastle and won fifteen of their twenty hands heads-up, Kastle had started off a 2:1 underdog but never looked like closing the gap on his young German opponent.

Klaser Takes Kastle, Check-Mate!

Eventually, Klaser's continual raising told and Kastle was down to a short stack. Kastle called a raise with J T 3 2 and then pushed on the J 9 9 flop. Klaser beat him into the pot with A Q Q 3 and Kastle needed to catch a jack or runner runner to win. The turn was the Q and it was all over, so much so that we couldn't even see the river as Klaser began dancing up and down.

Klaser picks up $216,249 having only been 21 for a few months while Casey Kastle wil get $137,985 as a second place consolation.

Michael Fetter has just been knocked out to leave us with just Klaser and Kastle's in a big battle of the surnames beginning with 'K'. Klaser was the one to eliminate Fetter meaning he'll be starting this heads-up with a 2:1 chip lead.

Fetter Felted (Out in 3rd)

Fetter was all-in with A Q T 9 against Klaser's A Q 7 2, the flop came beautiful for Klaser when it came 7 7 6 giving him trips and the nut low. Fetter though had the flush draw and still had hope. The T appeared on the turn and Fetter gained an extra couple of outs, but the river was the Q, housing up Klaser who jumped up and down and generally did a bit of screaming in excitement for getting heads-up.

Another level and yet another player goes out of the tournament, though this time it's the multiple bracelet winner Erik Seidel who has been eliminated from the event and unable to capture a ninth bracelet this time.

Seid-Hell (Out In 4th)

Michael Fetter has been close to the felt for a long time, especially after Casey Kastle three-quartered him with 5-5-3-2 against 4-4-3-2 on an A-8-J-7-7 board, but he's still in this event just.

Erik Seidel though has been knocked out after getting all-in with A T 4 3 against Casey Kastle's A K K 5. The flop came Q 7 4 giving Erik many outs as he could hit any of his other hole cards or any low card to take at least half the pot. But the flop giveth and the turn taketh away as it came down with a K. Now Seidel needed a jack for a scoop or any 2,5,6 or 8 to take half.

It wasn't to be though, the river was the Q, giving Kastle a house with no low possible. Erik Seidel was eliminated in 4th place and takes home $68,304 for his efforts.

Chip Counts Courtesy of www.worldseriesofpoker.com

Well, the dinner break is. Over that is.

The four remaining gladiators have been tucking into their meals with gusto and will now sit down to battle it out refreshed and re-invigorated and ready to rumble.

Who will prevail is anyone's guess, although Siedel will have his work cut out to pick up his ninth bracelet as he is getting pretty short.

Kastle is the man to catch at the moment, but German Martin Klaser is also fairly well chipped up.

Here's the current chip counts, courtesy of worldseriesofpoker.com

The final has been one of those strange ones, where periods of heavy action have been separated by relatively long periods where there's been an absence of action.

That seems to have been the case in the last hour. The crowd are muted, watching on quietly as they survey the remaining players duelling it out. Erik Seidel in particular has cut a very silent figure, not becoming involved in the action much, just seemingly waiting like  snake in the grass for an opportunity to present itself.

There has been one event of note however during this period.

Here it is!

Maren-ated (OUT- 5th)

Jon Maren just had his chips allin. A large percentage of them went in preflop versus Casey Kastle and the rest he fired in on a K 8 Q flop.

Kastle was not ecstatic about calling but was committed as it was only an additional $30,000 or so to do so. So call he did and he must have been delighted that his 6-6-5-2 was actually good versus Jon's mere A-J-2-3 which had whiffed the flop.

Jon had a gutshot straight draw and a backdoor low draw and flush draw. The 2 on thr turn put a big hole in any hopes of pulling a low draw out and a blank Q on the river consigned him to the rail whilst Kastle raked in a very useful pot.

Jon Maren is OUT, eliminated in 5th place, winning $56,019.

Here are the chip counts as the race for the bracelet heats up.

The players have spent much of the last hour on a break, and since then there have been a multitude of chopped pots.

Especially involved has been Chad Burum, who is virtually committed to call every time he is in the big blind and there is a raise. He ninja shortstacked and split his way through a variety of pots.

Eventually, however, his luck ran out!

Glum Burum! (OUT - 6th)

After Martin Klaser raised to $40,000 preflop, Chad Burum took yet another shot to build his stack up, calling with A Q 8 3 and putting the rest of his chips in on the favourable flop of J 5 6 with the 3rd nut flush draw and the 2nd nut low draw.

Unfortunately for him Klaser called and had a pretty nice hand himself, A 2 6 5 for the nut low draw and two pair.

The 7 and 4 completed the hand, and no spade or counterfeit card committed Chad to the rail, eliminated in 6th spot, winning $44,226.

Here are the current chip counts, courtesy of worldseriesofpoker.com.

Casey Kastle continues to dominate at this stage, his chip stack giving him the leverage to apply pressure, which so far he is doing well.

The shortstacks have been battling it out for survival with mixed results.

Joseph Haddad's chips have been in and out of the middle more often than a hokey cokey dancer, but so far his short stack ninja skills have been effective as he dodged elimination long enough to see this!

Wright Off (OUT - 8th)

Larry Wright  is the latest casualty of the fast paced opening. He moved his microstack of $17,000 in against Kastle but was way too short to ever make him fold and once Kastle had made the nut flush with A 4, there was little doubt Wright's number was up. 

Larry Wright is OUT, eliminated in 8th spot, winning $27,027. 

I've Haddad Enough! (OUT - 7th)

As explained Joseph Haddad had dodged the bullet multiple times, but his luck could only hold so long.

His exit hand was unfortunate however.

He got his stack in preflop with  A A 4 2 for a very strong two way hand, whilst the man who gave him action Martin Klaser could only table the weak looking A T 5 3.

He looked primed for a double up, until the dealer laid out a cruel 2 5 4 making Klaser the nuts. Klaser fist pumped in victory to the crowd at what was a very fortunate, but very dominant flopped wheel straight, good for the high and the low.

It wasn't all over yet for Haddad though as any two, four or ace would bring salvation in the form of a split, but there was to be no re-suck and instead we lose our 7th placed competitor.

Joseph Haddad is OUT, eliminated in 7th place, winning $34,389 for his hard work.

As the players head into a short 20 minute hiatus, here are the current chip counts , courtesy of worldseriesofpoker.com. They will return 6 handed.

Pot Limit O8 can be a slow game, but sometimes, in the right atmosphere, it can really be an aggressive supercharged game of cards and today, it seems like the ingredients are there for an all-action no holds barred face off.

We've already witnessed some exciting developments.

Here's the latest.

Chambers Of Horrors (OUT - 9th)

Tom Chambers popped it up to $35,000 preflop and Casey Kastle, who had already picked up a few small pots, made the call from the big blind.

The two players went heads up to the flop, which came A K Q.

Check, check was the exciting action precipated by this.

The turn was the 3 and now things really did kick off!

Now the fireworks really did start, Kastle lighting the fuse by counting out a pot size bet of $75,000, only to see Chambers put his fingers behind his remaining chips and push them over the line!

$138,000 more chips for Kastle to call, which would have left him short with $100,000 if he called and lost.

Eventually after much soul searching and finger gesturing...HE CALLED!

Cards on their backs, Chambers showed down a set of aces in A K A 9 whilst Kastle had the nut low draw, a gutshot wheel draw and a 7 high flush draw in 7 7 4 2.

A potentially crucial $450,000 pot was brewing and the oh so important river was ...the 6!

Kastle had made his low and also a flush to scoop the pot and propel him into the chip lead, meaning Tom Chambers is OUT, eliminated in 9th spot, winning $19,656.

As it stands there are several short stacks on the edge of elimination, and we will likely be facing elimination shortly barring some lucky double ups.

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

Yes it's business time for the players as they strap in and lock down ready to take off in search of braceleted glory.

Brunson, Chan and Hellmuth get all the plaudits for their 31 bracelets between them, but not far behind is the less celebrated but equally accomplished Erik Seidel, who has close to $10,000,000 in winnings and a mighty 8 bracelets.

He'll be gunning for number nine today and is the most well known out of the final table participants, but we will have to wait and see if he can bring that wealth of experience and talent to bear on today's final and continue what many have deemed the year of the pro.

Here are the starting stacks, courtesy of worldseriesofpoker.com, for the players as they vie for the title. The cards are in the air!