Event 45 - $10,000 Pot-Limit Hold'em Championship - Live Updates

The heads-up battle is over. John Kabbaj has just won his first WSOP bracelet after taking out Kirill Gerasimov.

The final hand included a KK vs. AA showdown. Here’s how it ended:

Gerasimov’s Unlucky Finish (Second Place)

The cards were not kind to Gerasimov in heads-up action.

The tide began to turn for Kabbaj when he was all in with A-4 off suit against Gerasimov’s pocket threes.

Kabbaj knew he had a 50-50 shot, but he was elated when he flopped a boat, avoiding elimination.

The final hand played out in dramatic fashion, with Kabbaj moving all in after a flop of 4♦ 3♠ 7♥.

Gerasimov called with K♥ K♦, but his luck ran out when Kabbaj showed the A♥ A♣.

The turn and river came 4♠ 3♦, and Kabbaj takes the bracelet!

Kabbaj wins the first-place prize of $633,335, while runner up Gerasimov takes home $391,369.

We’re heads up, with Kirill Gerasimov and John Kabbaj just about dead even.

Baldwin Bounced (Third Place)

Eric Baldwin had the chip lead for a short while, but a devastating loss to Kirill Gerasimov just about killed any chance of a bracelet win for Baldwin.

Gerasimov moved all in on a flop of A♥ 9♣ 8♠ and Baldwin called, thinking he was in good shape with A♦ J♦.

Gerasimov held bad news in his hand, however, with the A♣ 9♥.

The board played out Q♥ 8♥, giving Gerasimov the huge win.

Baldwin was eliminated shortly thereafter, as his $400k stack wasn’t able to survive. Baldwin finishes with $259,534 for third place.

A lively atmosphere has enveloped the final table as spectators’ row has woken up and is now cheering every hand.

It’s still a three-handed battle, with Kirill Gerasimov, Eric Baldwin and John Kabbaj playing it out.

Baldwin Makes His Move

Eric Baldwin held the shortest of the three remaining stacks until winning a big pot through Kabbaj.

The flop came 9♠ 6♦ 2♦, and both players put money in on fourth street which came Q♥. Baldwin pushed the rest of his chips in when the river came A♣.

After a long staredown, Kabbaj mucked his hand, putting Baldwin over the 3 million chip mark.

Kabbaj Survives

Shortly after the big loss to Baldwin, Kabbaj moved all in pre-flop and Gerasimov called, showing A♣ 9♦ against Kabbaj’s 9♥ 9♠.

The board played out Q♠ 9♣ 7♠ Q♥ 8♥, giving Kabbaj the win with a full house.

It’s still anybody’s tournament to win. Check out the latest chip counts courtesy of www.worldseriesofpoker.com.

It’s been an action-packed last hour, as four players have hit the rail.

We’re down to three players at the final table for the $10k Pot Limit Hold’em World Championship.

Eugene Todd Is Toast (Seventh Place)

The entourage showed up and made some noise for Eugene Todd, but his quest for a WSOP braclet fell short after Kirill Gerasimov took him out.

The pot began as a three-way hand between Todd, Gerasimov and J.C. Alvarado. Germasimov pushed all in from the small blind and Todd called, while Alvarado mucked.

Todd’s A♠ Q♦ was in trouble from the start against Gerasimov’s Q♥ Q♣. The board didn’t help Todd, who gooes home with $93,085 for seventh place.

Lester Goes Next (Sixth Place)    

Jason Lester followed shortly after Todd in getting eliminated.

Lester moved all in for his last 230,000 chips and Davidi Kitai called. It was Lester’s J♦ T♦ against Kitai’s A♠ 5♠.

The board came 9♠ 3♣ 3♦ Q♥ 7♦, no help to Lester, who goes out in sixth place and earns $110,431.

Alvarado Ousted (Fifth Place)

J.C. Alvarado was the next victim, eliminated by Davidi Kitai.

Alvarado moved all in for his last 1.25 million chips, but his A♥ Q♠ didn’t improve against Kitai’s T♣ T♥.

Alvarado takes fifth place and $138,375. 

Davidi Kitai is done.

We're down to Gerasimov, John Kabbaj and Eric Baldwin for the bracelet.

Check out the chip counts courtesy of www.worldseriesofpoker.com.

Play finally resumes as the players are back from dinner.

Chip leader Eric Baldwin is off to a fast start, winning the first pot back from the break.

The chip stacks are all pretty even though, so it should be interesting to see how the final table plays out.

Here’s a glance at what’s been going on:

Applause Is Encouraged And Allowed

The vibe around the feature table is strangely quiet, even with a decent number of spectators in the stands.

The silence prompted the tournament director to try a wake up call, reminding the audience that “applause is encouraged and allowed.”

It didn’t really help much, as it remained silent until Eugene Todd’s entourage showed up and gave him the golf clap after he won a hand.

Baldwin is still the chip leader, as not much has happened since the players have come back.

The blinds are up to 40,000/80,000, and we’ll play until we crown a champion tonight.

The remaining seven players are still on dinner break. The cards go back in the air at 9 p.m. west coast time.

It’s anyone’s bracelet to win as all players have enough chips to still do damage. Check out the chip counts courtesy of www.worldseriesofpoker.com.

PL.com will keep updating the status of the $10k Pot Limit Hold’em World Championship when action resumes.

The pace has picked up here at the final table of the $10k PLHo tournament at the 2009 World Series of Poker but we've only seen one elimination as a number of short stacks have doubled up over the last hour of play.

Our sole casualty of the last hour is Isaac Haxton, who doubled up the maniacal J.C. Alvarado when his A♥ 8♥ failed to win the 60/40 against El Fuego's Q♠ J♠.

The Team PokerStars Pro pro flopped a jack and turned two pair to double his stack up over the million chip mark, while Haxton saw his own stack diminished to around 500k.

Alvarado would quickly give those chips to Jason Lester, who is seated on his immediate left and who had already doubled up once through Alvarado.

In this latest episode, Alvarado raised from under the gun and Lester re-raised the pot. Action folded back to El Fuego, who put Lester all-in and got a quick call.

Lester turned up A-K and was ahead of Alvarado's A-Q.

The flop came J-10-3 and the turn was a nine, giving Alvarado the open-ended straight draw, but the river bricked out and Lester doubled.

Then Haxton found a spot to put his chips in, making a four-bet stand with K-Q against Davidi Kitai, who called him down with A-Q.

The board failed to bring any help for either player and the ace played, giving Kitai the pot and busting Haxton in eighth place for an $82,668 payday.

Darryll Fish is the first casualty of the $10,000 PLHo final table here at the 2009 World Series of Poker.

The 23-year-old already has seven cashes in this year's WSOP, with this seventh result a ninth-place finish worth $77,136.

Prior to this event, his best cash was a 25th-place finish for $21,026 in the $5,000 NLHE event, but this strong showing trumps even that.

Fish was eliminated in a blind v. blind encounter with the always dangerous J.C. Alvarado, who put the ocean-dweller all-in from the big blind after Fish had raised from the small.

Fish made the call, pinning his tournament life on his A♠ 8♦ and finding himself racing against Alvarado's pocket pair of sevens.

The board came J♥ 9♦ 4♣ Q♥ 2♠ and the sevens held, giving Alvarado the pot and busting Fish from the final table.

Since Fish's elimination, we've seen very little in the way of big confrontations or showdowns as our final eight seem to bide their time waiting for their rivals to go broke. 

The blinds are on the rise, however, so more action should be forthcoming shortly. And if it's not, we'll give you your money back.

The final table is underway in the $10k PLHo event at the 2009 World Series of Poker and our final nine competitors are posted up at the ESPN feature table ready to play down to a WSOP bracelet.

Among those still in contention are 2009 WSOP bracelet winner Eric "basebaldy" Baldwin, 2008 WSOP bracelet winner Davidi Kitai and 2006 WSOP bracelet winner Jason Lester, as well as Team PokerStars Pro pro J.C. Alvarado and 2007 PokerStars Caribbean Adventure runner-up Isaac Haxton.

Oh yeah, PokerStars.

John Kabbaj is also here, as is Eugene Todd bro, who is wearing a matching baseball cap and sweater outfit branded with a logo for a company called "DebtResolvers.com."

Given Todd's East Coast gangster leanings, we envision DebtResolvers.com as involving three guys named Guido, a few aluminum baseball bats, a tire iron and a vice. 

Will make you an offer you can't refuse.

But we don't really want to find out for certain.

Anyways, the field has been back in action for about an hour and so far, all nine players are still alive.

The aforementioned Todd bro doubled through the aforementioned Baldwin in a preflop all-in confrontation when his pocket nines held against Baldwins' K♥ Q♥.

Todd is on 540k.

A little while later, J.C. Alvarado showed the kind of creativity that has made him a household name in houses that are perennially living in the spring of 2007, when El Fuego was on fire and looked poised to take over the poker world.

Alvarado raised from the small blind into Jason Lester's big blind and saw Lester move all-in over the top.

Alvarado made the call, turning up 10-9 offsuit and Lester was well ahead with pocket aces.

The board brought no danger for Lester and he doubled to nearly 600k while El Fuego is down to under 400k.

The final table is set!

The tournament officials are getting the final table ready for play.

The players are taking a break and will be back in a few minutes to battle it out to the end. John Kabbaj will be the chip leader but Isaac Haxton is right on his heels.

Charania Chalked (10th)

Mohsin "chicagocards1" Charania was last to go before the final table. He played for three days and, like many other tournaments got it in on a coin flip.

David Kitai made it 75,000 to go and Charania shoved all in for 85,000. Kitai called with his pocket nines and Charania turned over A♥ J♣. After a board of blanks Charania was headed off.

A few hands before, Charania was crippled when he played a big pot against Jason Lester. It was another flip only Charania had the pair that time. His queens failed to hold up against Lester's A♠ K♠.

To win these tournaments you have to win your flips and today wasn't Charania's day.

Welcome to the third and final day of action in the $10,000 World Championship of PLHo tournament here at the 2009 World Series of Poker.

Play started an hour ago with fourteen survivors still in contention for a $633,335 first prize and after sixty-minutes of action we've lost four of that lot already.

Here's the scoop:

Patterson Caked (14th)

Thomas Patterson entered the day with the short stack and wasted little time in making a move, getting all-in with J♦ T♥ against Billy Kopp's A♦ 5♣.

The flop brought an ace and Patterson couldn't recover, busting out instead in 14th place and earning $43,091 for his efforts.

Barbie'd!

Lennaard Nimoy'd (13th)

Controversial Swedish pro Ken Lennaard was next to go when his re-steal attempt from the small blind failed against button Isaac Haxton, who had raised preflop with A-K.

Lennaard had Q♥ T♥ and was drawing dead by the turn when two aces flopped. Haxton filled up on the river to add insult to injury and Lennaard was gone.

Kamran Man-Rammed (12th)

Michael Kamran raised the pot from the button and Billy Kopp put him all-in from the big blind. Already committed to the pot, Kamran made the call, turning up J♠ 9♠ and finding himself behind Kopp's A♦ 7♦.

Looking for the deuce!

The board brought a seven and three queens and Kopp's boat was more than enough to send Kamran to the rail, where he took a $57,645 payout for his time.

Kopp Robbered (11th)

After Davidi Kitai opened the pot from the hijack, Billy Kopp re-raised from the button and the action folded back to the Belgian Winamax pro.

Kitai thought it through before opting to flat call and the flop came 8♥ 4♦ 3♦.

Kitai checked to Kopp, who bet the pot and saw himself raised all-in. He made the call for his tournament life, turning up A♦ Q♦ for the naked flush draw against Kitai's pocket jacks.

The turn and river ran 4-8, both black, and Kopp was dishonorably discharged in 11th place, for which he'll earn $57,645.

Thus ten-handed, the field is playing out one more elimination before moving to the feature table.