The heads up has been an interesting affair, close for a while but in recent times, James Schaff has taken a stranglehold over his more experienced opponent and looks like he is in pole position to pick up the bracelet with a sizeable lead at present.

The audience are highly focused on the action, it's a gripping war of attrition, with the player who has the best concentration and the best cards of course likely to come out on top.

This is one of the hands in recent times, with the blinds quite high, that helped Schaff amass this giant lead...

Tommy Hangs Himself

In the stud variant, Hang completed with the T, and Schaff called with the 3.

Hang bet out with the 6 on fourth and Schaff called with the 9.

Fifth Hang bet the 5, Schaaf calling with the 8

On sixth, the tables were turned as Schaaf bet out with the 8, Hang calling with the 7.

Schaaf also bet seventh, Hang called after some deliberation but mucked as he was shown Schaaf's hidden cards, the 3 8 5 making him a house, an enormous hand heads up that propelled him into a dominant chip lead!

Here are the counts, showing how Schaaf has the upper hand at this stage, counts courtesy of worldseriesofpoker.com.

After a gruelling battle out there, we have out last two competitors vying for the title.

Here's the story of those unlucky players who won't be strapping bracelets to their wrists tonight!

Hellmuth Phils his Boots! (Rossi OUT - 4th)

Hellmuth popped it on the button and the incredibly shortstacked Esther Rossi re-raised all-in from the big blind.

Hellmuth called.

Hellmuth had the advantage, his K 8 marginally ahead of Rossi's J 9 and even though the baord ran out with two hearts on the flop, Helmuth faded Rossi's outs, meaning we lose our last female participant in the competition, Esther Rossi OUT, eliminated in 4th spot, winning $68,505.

Bracelet Number Twelve On Ice! (Hellmuth OUT - 3rd)

It would have been number twelve and his first in a non-holdem competition, but that historic moment will have to wait, as Hellmuth has been busted from the competition, unable to work his shortstack into a winning position.

It happened in the Omaha/8 where Hellmuth called his stack off with the nice looking A K T 5 to Hang's raise with Q Q 4 8.

A board of J 7 5 7 8 came to be, Hang's Queens Up good for the pot, and Hellmuth makes a relatively subdued exit to the applause of his many fans on the rail, out in 3rd place, taking home $93,168.

That leaves Tommy Hang and James Schaff heads up for the bracelet.

With the chip count almost exactly even, both players with almost exactly $1,200,000 who will take it down?

We wait with baited breath to find out!

The attractive bracelet is the shining prize for whoever can come out of the woodwork and take this game by the scruff of the neck.

At the moment the players are fighting tooth and nail to beat each other but so far no one has conceded ground.

As it stands though, Hellmuth is looking unlikely to pick up bracelet number twelve, as he is the shortstack and is appearing to be getting more and more frustrated, at one point throwing his sunglasses down in disgust.

The players have been on a break for much of the last hour but this was the hand that led Hellmuth to almost smash his glasses

Chill Phil!

In Razz, Hellmuth completed with an 8 and called Hang's raise with a 3.

On fourth Hang bet his A and Hellmuth called with a T.

Hang bet his 5 on fifth, and this time Hellmuth almost exploded, throwing away his hand, which was a K.

Bad Luck Phil!

The rails continues to grow, intrigued by how this final will play out. They're enjoying the poker brat's antics and for the sake of the final, let's hope he survives!

Here are the chip counts as we head into the final hurdle.

There's the sounds of leathery hooves beating down on the poker table as our field has been reduced to a final 4 players vying for the bracelet.

Here's the news of the unlucky two whose dreams of bracelets have died a death.

No Gold For Silverman (OUT - 6th)

In the Hold'Em section Silverman raised from middle position, onyl to find Jason Dollinger re-raising to isolate from the small blind. He called all-in and the players exposed their cards.

With pocket Threes, Silverman was hoping for a race, but his hopes were dashed by Dolliger showing down pocket Sevens.

A board devoid of threes or sevens transpired and once that river had been dealt, Silverman found himself with the worst hand meaning we lose Sam Silverman, out in 6th spot, winning $42,966.

No Bollinger For Dollinger(OUT - 5th)

Jason Dollinger may have been buoyed by that last hand but his tournament was about to take a turn for the worse in the Stud high portion.

He completed showing the K, only to find Tommy Hang raising with the 9. Dollinger re-raised and Hang called.

After betting the 4 on fourth when Hang picked up the 7 and K on fifth (A for Hang) , he found Hang raising him all-in which must have been a little worrying given his Kings were showing.

He called though, tabling a good hand of Kings and Fours, although it was no match for Dollinger's trip sevens as he had two of them in the hole.

He only had the four outs to win then and after blanking on 6th, the 7th street J that he was finally dealt was no good, meaning Jason Dollinger will have to save the champagne on ice for another time, as he is eliminated, OUT in 5th spot, winning $54,804.

Here are the chip counts, courtesy of worldseriesofpoker.com, showing Hang and Schaaf clear out in front at this moment in time as the race for the bracelet quickens pace.

We have lost our first player after dinner and it's the shortstacked Matt Grapenthien who has fallen.

Here's how the action unfolded!

Matt Finish (OUT - 8th)

Matt limped in, in position, and Tommy Hang completed. Victor Ramdin checks the big blind.

The flop falls A K Q and a series of checks ensues.

The turn is the A and checked to Grapenthien he bets. Hang raises and he calls all-in.

Hang shows K-K-8-2 for a full house and Grapenthien 3-6-J-A for trips and a low draw. The river T gave Grapenthien a straight but it was no good meaning Matt Grapenthien is OUT, eliminated in 8th spot, winning $27,511.

To The Victor The Spoils!

Victo Ramdin was another player fighting for his life and he managed to get a double through in the razz, runninig his 6-8-3 against Schaaf's 5-4-A.

He looked in bad shape as Schaaf caught an 8 on the turn, whilst Ramdin caught a ten.

Amazingly though he caught running cards to make a 9 low whilst Schaaf could only make a ten low once he paired up on the river.

Very necessary double through for Ramdin there and he received much celebratory cheering from the rail as he raked in the pot.

Incidentally the rail is chock full of star faces, Dario Minieri, Joe Hachem, Isabelle Mercier and Bill Chen amongst the well known faces to be sweating this final table.

Victor Vanquished (OUT - 7th)

Victor's luck didn't hold however as he played the Stud completing with nines in the hole for his entire stack. He was looked up by Schaff again and this time, he was less plucky against him, losing out as Schaff made a winning pair of Tens on fifth.

Victor Ramdin is OUT, eliminated in 7th spot, winning $32,992.

The players have just finished their dinner break, and are poised and ready, with full bellies, to renew the fight for the bracelet.

They'll resume with the Omaha/8 section of the game and with Phil Hellmuth still in contention to win his 12th bracelet, he will no doubt provide the crowd with some entertaining antics.

Here are the standings as the final table progresses...

We've made it to the final table after much less time than we thought would've passed en route to getting here. Two unlucky players are on the sidelines while the other eight prepare to slug it out for the bracelet.

Heimowitz Victor'd! (10th)

After our last update we were sure Lonnie Heimowitz wasn't going to be at the table for long with his short stack. Just as we expected, he ended up going out fairly quickly. Victor Ramdin did him in during an Omaha-8 hand, scooping the pot with a rivered flush that sent Heimowitz and his two pair to the rail in 10th place. He earned $22,031 for his finish.

Brogdon Broken! (9th)

When we got down to nine players, the players were consolidated to a single table and the button was rotated around to have one player skip each hand. That gave the short stacks like Edward Brogdon a shot at tightening up a little to pick a good spot, and that's exactly what he did: he got all-in with pocket sevens before the flop against Tommy Hang's 10 6.

Hang flopped a straight draw on a board of 4 3 2 and picked up a flush draw on the Q turn. The river brought Hang home, giving him a flush when the K fell and sending Brogdon home as the final table bubble boy. He earns $22,031 for making it this far.

Go Go Gadget Final Table Seating Assignments

Here's the seating order and chip counts for your final table, courtesy of WorldSeriesOfPoker.com:

We lost a good portion of the last hour to a level break, but we’re back in action with our final 12 players now. Things continue to move slowly now that we’re close to the final table. Nobody here wants to bust out, and it’s obvious from the way they’re all hanging in there.

The Brief, Frightening Reign of Phil

Phil Hellmuth came in as the chip leader today and relinquished the lead early on, but he climbed back atop the pack shortly afterward and has kept a stranglehold on it since then.

That’s not to say the Poker Brat hasn’t dropped a pot or two here and there. Just a few minutes ago he lost with a queen-high flush in Omaha-8 against Esther Rossi’s nut flush, dropping him to $395,000. He’s since swung back, however, holding on to the top spot as we get closer to the final table.

Holland Dutched! (13th)

Mark us one spot nearer to the promised land after the elimination of Randy Holland.

It was Razz that did Holland in. He got all-in on fourth street with 10-5 showing against Sam Silverman’s 10-9 and Phil Hellmuth’s J-8. Hellmuth got out of the way after sixth street, and Holland got to showdown with a 10-5. Unfortunately for him, Silverman had 9-5, just good enough to send Holland packing. He earns $11,070 for his 12th place finish.

Penn Sylvania’d! (12th)

Another Stud hand, another knockout! Phillip Penn, Sr., was all-in by fourth street with K-9 showing against Matt Grapenthien’s 6-6. Grapenthien only improved as the hand went on, eventually hitting a full house to send Penn to the rail in 12th place. He earns $16,551 for his finish.

Diano Dirtied! (11th)

It's hard enough to win in a regular Stud game when your opponent hits quad threes; in Stud-8, it's impossible if you don't have a low hand to claim half the pot. That's the situation Steve Diano found himself in against Esther Rossi just a few moments ago, when she hit quad 3's to send Diano to the cage. He earns $16,551 for his 11th place finish.

Ladies and Gentlemen We Are Floating in Chip Counts

Here are the top 10 chip counts as reported by WorldSeriesOfPoker.com:

We’ve had a few more bustouts and a change in ownership of the chip lead since the last update. Read on for all the gory details.

Art Looted! (16th)

Art Young fell at the hands of Lonnie Heimowitz on the Razz round when Heimowitz made a 10-7. The 16th place finish was worth $8,878.

Sexton Sunk! (15th)

Keith Sexton, like so many others before him, met the end of his tournament on a hand of Razz.

Steve Diano completed with a 3 showing, and Sexton called with a 4. Diano bet his ace on fourth street, and Sexton called with a 7. On fifth street, Sexton called all-in with a jack showing; he was drawing to a 7-4, but Diano had already made 8-5 low. Sexton missed on hte last two streets and found himself on the outside looking in. He takes home $8,878 for 15th place.

Ghaneian Gutted! (14th)

In the Stud round, Arash Ghaneian got all-in on fourth street in a multi-way pot. He mucked his cards after seventh street when Matt Grapenthein showed queens and jacks. Ghaneian finishes in 14th place for $8,878.

Railbirds Extraordinaire

There’s a monster crowd on the rail today watching Phil Hellmuth, but he’s not paying them much mind. A few new railbirds dropped by a few moments ago, though, and got the Brat’s attention.

Hellmuth gave his dad and mom both big hugs as soon as they showed up. “This is great!” he said. “They haven’t sweated me since the 80s. Dad was here in 1989.”

The shift in Hellmuth’s demeanor was immediate, and might just be the extra motivation he needs to pick up his record twelfth bracelet.

Feed Me With Your Chip Counts

Here are the current top 10 chip counts as reported by WorldSeriesOfPoker.com: