$10,000 Main Event - Live Updates

Greg Merson was widely-considered to be the best player at the final table of the 2012 WSOP Main Event and he certainly played like it today.

Merson showed an incredible amount of poise surviving over 11 hours of three-handed play with Jesse Sylvia and Jake Balsiger.

It was a roller-coaster affair that saw Merson, Sylvia and Balsiger all take turns as the chip leader. It was also the longest Main Event final table ever held in Las Vegas coming in at 399 hands.

Despite the chips being swapped back and forth it always seemed to be Merson’s tournament to lose as every time he fell behind in chips he would grind his way back to the top.

It seemed the final three players were simply too deep for anyone but Merson to walk out on top.

Merson overcame getting unlucky in a couple spots to finally bust Balsiger in third place with king-queen over queen-ten.

Heads-up took far less time as Merson steam-rolled Sylvia in 17 hands. Merson won the final hand with K♦ 5♦ over Sylvia’s Q♠ J♠.

Merson is the new world champion and $8.5 million richer. Amazingly it was his second WSOP bracelet of the summer and he also passed Phil Hellmuth to win WSOP Player of the Year.

Congratulations to Merson for his fantastic performance here at the 2012 WSOP Main Event final table.

Greg Merson has further cemented his status as chip leader over the first 10 hands of heads-up play.

Although we haven’t seen any enormous pots yet, Merson did just take down a significant pot off Sylvia.

Merson opened for 4 million but Sylvia re-popped it to 9.1 million. Merson thought for a minute, grabbed two massive stacks and pushed them into the middle to raise it up to 18.4 million.

Sylvia couldn’t make the call and threw his hand into the muck. Merson scooped the rather large pot.

Here’s how the chip counts look after the hand:

1. Greg Merson: 130,900,000
2. Jesse Sylvia: 67,300,000

It’s official: the 2012 Main Event has broken the official record as the longest final table in the history of the WSOP Main Event in Las Vegas.

The record was set at 364 hands at the final table in 2009 and we’re now up to over 380 hands. Of course if you include the WSOPE Main Event, that one still has the record with 484 hands played.

We may very well break that number too before this night is over, however.

Over the last 30 minutes we’ve seen Jake Balsiger once again get busy with several all-in shoves but Sylvia and Merson weren’t ready to make the call.

Here’s a look the most recent chip counts:

1. Greg Merson – 92,700,000
2. Jesse Sylvia – 84,900,000
3. Jake Balsiger – 20,600,000

Blinds are now 1,000,000/2,000,000 with a 300,000 ante.

Jake Balsiger, who started the 2012 WSOP Main Event final table second-to-last in chips, is suddenly the chip leader.

Balsiger doubled through Jesse Sylvia in a massive 92 million-chip pot.

Sylvia limped his button but Balsiger bet 4.5 million from the small blind. Greg Merson folded the big blind while Sylvia decided to call.

The pair saw a flop of 9♦ 3♣ 3♠ and Balsiger thought for a minute or two before betting 4.5 million. Sylvia raised to 11.2 million and Balsiger opted to move all-in for his 41 million-chip stack.

Sylvia called in short order and flipped over K♦ 9♥ but Balsiger had him crushed with a monster K♠ K♣.

The turn came J♣ and the river finished with the A♦ to send Sylvia spiriling down to 37 million while Balsiger soared to 92 million.

Here are your new chip counts:

1. Jake Balsiger – 92,300,000
2. Greg Merson – 68,800,000
3. Jesse Sylvia – 37,100,000

Jake Balsiger finally slipped below 20 big blinds over the last 30 minutes of play and started to take matters into his hands by moving all-in several times.

He hasn’t had any callers yet as Jesse Sylvia and Greg Merson haven’t found anything they want to go to war with.

Thanks to his all-in shoves Balsiger has moved back up to 46 million and should be safer for a little bit longer.

Meanwhile Merson has cooled off and has once again dipped below 100 million.

We’re now up to 339 hands as this marathon final table continues.

Here’s a look at the latest chip counts:

1. Greg Merson – 90,800,000
2. Jesse Sylvia – 60,750,000
3. Jake Balsiger – 46,650,000

Blinds are 800,000/1,600,000 with a 200,000 ante.

At this point players might want to consider getting it in bad. Jake Balsiger once again appeared to be on his way out of the tournament but the board rescued him.

Jesse Sylvia started the hand with a standard bet from the button and Balsiger, who was down to 18 million chips thanks to losing a couple prior hands, decided to move all-in from the big blind.

Sylvia thought for a minute but then made the call flipping over A♠ T♥. He was ahead of Balsiger’s K♠ J♦ and it looked like we might finally have our first elimination today.

Instead the flop came K♣ 5♠ 2♣ and Balsiger’s supporters went nuts. The K♦ turn sealed the deal and Balsiger doubled up to 35 million. Despite winning the hand, Balsiger is still the shortest stack at the final table.

Here’s a look at the chip counts after the hand:

1. Greg Merson – 106,125,000
2. Jesse Sylvia – 56,450,000
3. Jake Balsiger – 35,400,000

Apparently there’s still a little bit of luck with Jesse Sylvia as he just doubled through Greg Merson in a wild hand.

Sylvia opened the betting with a 2 million bet and Merson raised to 4.8 million. Sylvia responded by 4-Betting to 10.2 million.

Merson thought for a minute but then moved all-in, having Sylvia’s 42 million easily covered. Sylvia snap-called and tabled A♥ K♠ but was in a world of hurt against Merson’s K♦ K♥.

By this point the Sylvia cheering squad was screaming for an ace as the dealer prepared to put the all-important board.

The flop came 5♣ 3♠ 2♦, which all things considered, wasn’t that bad for Sylvia. The turn changed nothing when it came 8♥ and Sylvia’s tournament appeared to be coming to an end.

Instead the river finished with the 4♥, completing Sylvia’s wheel and giving him the massive 85 million chip pot. Sylvia is once again our chip leader thanks to his good fortune.

Here’s an updated look at the chip counts:

1. Jesse Sylvia – 85,500,000
2. Greg Merson – 75,325,000
3. Jake Balsiger – 38,150,000

It seems that Greg Merson has been inspired by that crazy call he made against Jake Balsiger.

Over the last 30 minutes Merson has been dominating and now has over two-thirds of the chips in play with 123 million.

To make matters worse for Sylvia and Balsiger they’ve been giving Merson numerous walks.

Balsiger is starting to fall into danger territory with 27 million but there is still a lot of play at the final table.

Even Sylvia’s massive cheering crowd has been somewhat silenced by Merson’s strong play over the last half hour.

Here’s a look at the latest chip counts as Merson continues to dominate the table:

1. Greg Merson – 123,950,000
2. Jesse Sylvia – 46,700,000
3. Jake Balsiger – 27,325,000

Blinds are 500,000/1,000,000 with a 150,000 ante