The Final Table - 2005 World Series of Poker Main Event

When I woke up this morning the hot Nevada sun was shining, the nefarious hookers were turning tricks for $20 a shot, the inbred mullet-clad pot-bellied cross-eyed kids were doing cannonballs in the pool, a couple of misfits cooked up a fresh batch of crystal meth, and the cash poor maids were ripping off some unlucky fucker as they riffled through his bankroll that he foolishly left on his end table. Yeah it's just another Friday at the Redneck Riviera. Man, I'm really going to miss that place.

Yesterday was my first day working at Binion's and there were a ton of problems to overcome. The hardest was the connection problems which I experienced for the duration of entire night. The second was dealing with the exclusive treatment that Card Player got and the lack of attention the remainder of the media was given. Sure CP paid a gagillion dollars to get the "best seat in the house" and that meant the powers to be shoved the rest of the media in the corner, pretty far away from the action. Railbirds had better views of the table than the rest of the media... but we adapted as best we could.

Make sure you read my recap of yesterday's action on Fox Sports called Nine Lives.

Yep, don't forget that it's a three man operation here for us... the Poker Prof from Lasvegasvegas.com is back in his bunker in an undisclosed location in the desert where he's writing code and Flipchip is fighting through the crowd snapping photos and I'm in the trenches in media row making prop bets, uploading photos, writing freelance bits (for Fox Sports & Poker Player Newspaper), moderating my comments section and of course... live blogging. I would love to have a team of workers flooding the floor like Poker Wire, CP, Gutshot, and other organizations... but it's just me, Flipchip, and Poker Prof. And from the feedback I'm getting, it seems like we've done just as well if not better than the big boys. So all the problems we've encountered makes it all worth while.

Well this is it. Tonight someone will walk away with the largest cash prize in the history of poker. If an unkown wins, he'll become the next big celebrity du jour. He'll hit rock star status and everyone in the world will be familair with the next Moneymaker or Fossilman.

Perhaps Mike Matusow will avoid any implosions and stay clear of the "Mike Matusow Meltdown" and win the big one. This impending victory could cap his comeback after spending time in prison this year. For more information on that you have to read a report from Flipchip and the Poker Prof about Mike Matusow's prison story, since they know Mike the best. Flipchip is good friends with the Matusow family and told me stories about Mike's early days as a dealer at the Orleans and Sam's Town after he turned 21. He's led an amazing life and without a doubt, is the biggest pro left. Also Dan from Pokerati has a great interview with Mike Matusow.

All of Ireland will be paying attention to see if their native son Andy Black can take home the World Championship. Noel Furlong won in 1999 and it's been several years since Ireland could boast that it was the home country of the current champ. Make sure you listen to the great interview wth Andy Black that the Irish Twins (Mike LuckyBlind and Tom) from Antes Up posted last night. Will the "Luck of the Irish" prevail tonight?

The "Mc" in me is pulling for Andy Black and the rest of me is looking to see Mike Matusow pull it out. Hopefully in 12 hours we'll find out.

Here are the WSOP Main Event final table including seat assignmnets:

Seat 1: Joe Hachem (Melbourne, Australia) $5,420,000
Seat 2: Andrew Black (Dublin, Ireland) $8,140,000
Seat 3: Tex Barch (McKinney, TX) $9,330,000
Seat 4: Daniel Bergsdorf (Umea, Sweden) $5,270,000
Seat 5: Mike Matusow (Las Vegas NV) $7,410,000
Seat 6: Aaron Kanter (Lodi, CA) $10,700,000
Seat 7: Brad Kondracki (Kingston, PA) $1,180,000
Seat 8: Steve Dannenmann (Severn, MD) $5,460,000
Seat 9: Scott Lazur (Studio City, CA) $3,370,000

(Thanks to Flipchip and Otis for the pics!)

****** Live Blogging Updates ******

2:22pm... Before anyone leaves a comment, I suggest you at How to Leave a Comment Part 2 by Tony Pierce. Seriously, please no anonymous commentors tonight. The last few nights have been ugly and I'm hoping that everyone behaves themselves. (Editor's Note: Tony suggested that you read a better post called How to Leave a Comment Part 1.)

2:30pm... I got to have one of the first looks at the "bracelet" and man it looked cool. Flipchip took a few pics. We'll upload those soon.

3:15pm... Connection problems were solved. Let's hope it stands up.

3:51pm... We're nine minutes to game time and we're way behind! I'm expecting a 4:31pm start time. Stay tuned.

4:20pm... Nolan Dalla is laying down the rules to the crowd. Tournament Director Johnny Grooms is introducing all the suits. Yawn.

4:30pm... Here is some background info on our final table players:

Joe "Back Cracker" Hachem was born in Lebanon and lives in Sydney, Australia. He's a chiropractor and has been playing poker for a decade. He's married with four kids. His railbirds are the loudest and wil chant "Aussie, Aussie, Aussie! Oy, oy, oy!" whenever he wins a pot.

Andy "Monk" Black was born in Belfast and resides in Dublin. He has a law degree and took 14th place in a 2005 WSOP event. He's known as "The Monk" and has taken time out to live in a monastery. He's a syudent of Buddhism.

John "Tex" Barch is a beer garden owner from Texas. He has 3 WSOP career cashes and earned a business degree from Montana.

Daniel "Berka" Bergsdorf is a 27 year old from Sweden. He used to be a professional athelete and now drives a truck.

Mike "The Mouth" Matusow won 2 WSOP bracelets (2002 Omaha 8 and 1999 NL) and wasa former poker dealer. He has 18 cashes at the WSOP.

Aaron "AK" Kanter is a 27 year old professional poker player from California. He's engaged and he begins the day as a chipleader.

Brad "BK" Kondraki is a 24 year old UPenn Law Student and graduated from Cornell. He turned down a chance to work for a prestigious firm to play in the WSOP.

Steve "Bloody Mary" Dannemann is a 38 year old CPA and mortage banker from Maryland. He's married with one kid.

Scott "Magicman" Lazur is a production assistant from LA. He has one cash and is also a magician.

4:47pm... Button is in Seat 4. Blinds are $50K/$100K. The antes are $10K. Greg "Fossilman" Raymer said, "Shuffle up and deal!" Cards are in the air.

4:55pm... All in with Mike Matusow's K-K vs. Scott Lazur's A-A. Lazur reraised Dannemann preflop and Mike pushed all in. The Flop was K-Q-6. The crowd went nuts. The turn was 2 hearts which brought three hearts on the board. Lazur had the Ace of hearts. The river was the Jack of hearts. On the second hand, Lazur doubled up. The crowd went wild with screaming and whistling. Mike is devestated depsite the excitement. Live poker is rigged.

5:00pm... It's packed here in media row and I'm already sweating my balls off. Four people are squeezed into spots that three people used yesterday. I'm sitting in between Tom from Antes Up and Mike Paulle. Otis and Jay Greenspan are nearby and the Poker Wire girls are at the end of the table. Andy Bloch is also here in press row. BJ is at the "cool" tale with the Card Player folks. I can see Jen Harman. She's facing me a few feet away. Phil Hellmuth is hogging the mike. There are media types here whom I never saw before. The stands are packed with friends & family of the players. It's STO! Railbirds lined up for 2 and 3 hours before game time just to catch a glimpse of the historic last final table ever at Binion's. The line wrapped around the buffet, down the narrow hall and backed up all the way to the media room. Everyone else is watching at the Buffet or downstairs at the sports book.

5:11pm... All in with Steve Dannemann's A-Q vs. Brad Kondraki's 10-10. The flop was all spades: Q-J-4. The turn was the 2h. The river was the 9 of spades and Brad Kondraki caught a four card river flush to double up. Kondraki has $2.6M now.

5:22pm... Mike Matusow just won a pot. Joe Hachem raised and Matusow came over the top. Hachem folded.

5:25pm... Mike Matusow raised, Steve Dannemann reraised to $1M and Matusow moved all in. Dannemann is thinking... and folded pocket fours face up. Mike has been putting the pressure on the last few hands.

5:27pm... There are too many media people in here. And a lot of folks really shouldn't be here in my opinion. They have badges but aren't realy doing any coverage of the event or notetaking or photos. They add to the cluster fuck. I've seen some of the so-called media types around and I'm still wondering what the hell they are doing here? It sucks that they clog up space, drink up all the free beverages in the press room, and try to sneak their friends in here when there are plenty of other/better media people who got shut out of the press room or at media row. Just my little rant of the day.

5:28pm... Mike Matusow yelled, "I am steaming!" 1973 WSOP Champ Puggy Pearson is in the building.

5:33pm... Mike Matisow raised Andy Black's big blind. On the board of J-5-6-10, Andy Black bet $1M, Matusow raised to $2M, and Andy Black moved all in. Mike counted out his chips and agonzied over the call. He he took a sip off of his water. "Do you want me to call?" Matusow asked. Andy Black shrugged. Mike faked like he was going to push all in and mucked. Andy Black won a $5M pot. The Irish flags are being waved frantically now.

5:36pm... Players are on a ten minute break.

5:37pm... Updated chip count:

Seat 1: Joe Hachem $5.28
Seat 2: Andrew Black $10
Seat 3: Tex Barch $9
Seat 4: Daniel Bergsdorf $4.9
Seat 5: Mike Matusow $2.8
Seat 6: Aaron Kanter $11.1
Seat 7: Brad Kondracki $2.41
Seat 8: Steve Dannenmann $2.9
Seat 9: Scott Lazar $6.7

5:45pm... Puggy Pearson is singing his song.

5:46pm... Bouncin Round the Room: How about this action for a piss break?

Last 3 Pros I Took a Piss Next to:
1. Greg Raymer
2. Phil Hellmuth
3. Mike Matusow

When I walked into the bathroom and waited for an open urinal, Raymer and Hellmuth were talking. Hellmuth pisses with his sunglasses on. Raymer was nice to sign a few autographs after he washed his hands. Then Mike walked in while I pissing and stood next to me. Raymer left and Hellmuth washed his hands and talked to Mike.

Hellmuth: Hang in there Mike. You have chips. Plenty of chips. You got over $2M. Just play smart.

Mike: I told myself I wasn't going to play any big pots today early. And I played three. Fuck

Hellmuth: Tough spot in there. It's hard to lay down Kings preflop like that.

Mike: The guy next to me said he folded two hearts too. Can't believe it. I flopped a set too. Fuck.

And yes, Mike didn't wash his hands as he left.

5:52pm... Cards are in the air. Level 31. Blinds are $20K. Blinds are $60K and $129K.

6:01pm... Aussie Oy! Count: 2

6:03pm... Matusow won a pot with pocket Jacks. Erik Seidel is in the house and got a warm applause from the crowd.

6:07pm... Norman Chad is shooting a few outro clips for ESPN in front of us. He's struggling with one bit in particular. Here's the banter on press row.

Pauly: (shakes heads) Norm Chad. Take 18.

Mike Paulle: (laughing) He's terrible. Shana's no better, but at least she's something nice to look at.

Pauly: Spectacular tits.

Mike Paulle: When she left the WPT, she ruined poker for me.

Pauly: Somebody tell Norm his days are numbered.

6:15pm... Johnny Grooms asked the crowd to applaud for all the media here that have worked until 4 and 5am on several nights. "No one is reading. I'm screaming into the void," Mike Paulle added.

6:18pm... Mike Mutsow bluffed at a pot and took it down with 8s-5s. The flop was K-10-10 and both Steve Dannemann and Andy Black checked. The turn was an Ace and Mike bet out. Everyone folded. "I am now Rocky again!" Mike screamed. Tom mentioned that the sweat is dripping off of his face.

6:27pm... Mike Matusow called an all in bet with 10-10 on a flop of 5s-3s-2c. Steven Dannemann had A-J and caught a Wheel on the turn when the 4 hit. The river was no help and Mike Matusow was busted in 9th place. He won $1M.

6:35pm... Action is delayed while ESPN films Matusow's exit interview. "I though this wa smy year," he said. "I felt I was the best player at the table. I'm pissed that I didn't get a chance to play when it got down to 5 or 6 handed."

6:40pm... Updated chip counts:

Seat 1: Joe Hachem $6.3
Seat 2: Andrew Black $10.55
Seat 3: Tex Barch $9.1
Seat 4: Daniel Bergsdorf $4.59
Seat 5: Aaron Kanter $11.27
Seat 6: Brad Kondracki $1.97
Seat 7: Steve Dannenmann $5.81
Seat 8: Scott Lazar $6.74

6:45pm... The Poker Prof did some quick research. Mike Matusow was a 60% favorite according to Two Dimes.

6:56pm... Having connection problems. The wi'fi wnet out and Blogger was down for a few minutes. Please stand by.

7:04pm... I added a pic of the WSOP World Championsip bracelet that FLip Chip took before. Take a peek.

7:17pm... Updated chip counts:

Seat 1: Joe Hachem $6.8
Seat 2: Andrew Black $10.05
Seat 3: Tex Barch $9.5
Seat 4: Daniel Bergsdorf $4.13
Seat 5: Aaron Kanter $12.2
Seat 6: Brad Kondracki $1.45
Seat 7: Steve Dannenmann $5
Seat 8: Scott Lazar $6

7:23pm... Tom McEvoy sighting. We nicknamed Tom Murphy "O'McGyver" after he helped fix the wifi outage a few minute ago.

7:29pm... Coin flip time. Andy Black had pocket eights and Brad Kondracki flipped over A-Q. The flop was K-9-5 with two spades. Brad's railbirds were pulling for an ace. The turn was the 5. Brad was down to six outs with the audience on the edge of their seat. Brad Kondracki was eliminated in 8th place. He won $1,150,00.

7:37pm... Update chip count:

Seat 1: Joe Hachem $6.56
Seat 2: Andrew Black $13.05 - Chipleader
Seat 3: Tex Barch $10.4
Seat 4: Daniel Bergsdorf $3.26
Seat 5: Aaron Kanter $11.17
Seat 6: Steve Dannenmann $5.37
Seat 7: Scott Lazar $6.47

7:40pm... I forgot to mention that I was mentioned in this cool article called Blogs are good to the last flop. It's featired in the Kansas City Star. Thanks to BG for pointing that out.

7:48pm... One of the dealers who is working tonight was the starting dealer at my table for the WSOP event #22 that I played in. I've seen him a lot at final tables. He's pretty good.

7:50pm... Steve "Bloody Mary" Dannemann won a $4.5M pot preflop! Danneman raised $400K. Lazur called and Joe Hesham raised to $2M. Dannemann moved all in and both players folded.

8:00pm... Andy Black is playing aggressive. He's probably the best player left and he's been putting the pressure on when he can and picking up small pots.

8:08pm... Aaron Kantor won a $3.7M pot. His railbirds a/k.a. Kantor's Klowns were whooping it up pretty loudly. He's gt over $13M.

8:12pm... Andy Black raised prelfop $1M and Aaron Kantor called. On a flop of Jx-7c-5c, Andy Black bet out $500K. Kantor raised to $1.6M. And Andy Black quickly went over the top for $5M more. Kantor rook forever to make a decision. He tried staring Andy Black down and Andy just laughed and stood up. Kantor is taking his time... and he folded. Andy Black won a $4.7M pot.

8:15pm... Players are on a dinner break. Play will resume at 9:45pm.

9:35pm... I'm waiting to be let back into Benny's Bullpen and I'm sitting in the hallway. Jen Harman asked me why I was hanging outside. I told her they wouldn't let anyone inside until 9:45. D'oh! Hold on for updated chip counts.

9:45pm... Updated Chip Counts:

Seat 1: Joe Hachem $2.45
Seat 2: Andrew Black $18.23 (Chip Leader)
Seat 3: Tex Barch $10.48
Seat 4: Daniel Bergsdorf $2.94
Seat 5: Aaron Kanter $10.68
Seat 6: Steve Dannenmann $7.13
Seat 7: Scott Lazar $5.370

9:48pm... I wandered over to Bay City Diner inside of Golden Gate casino. It was packed so I went across the street to The Plaza, and ate Subway again. It didn't smell like cabbage. Subway was empty which was cool. I ordered a Meatball Sandwich. The girl behind the counter was cute. She had dyed punk-red hair with a tongue-ring and eight earingsin her left ear. She looked a lot like actress Rachel Leigh Cook, except a little bit taller.

"Cool hat, man" she said pointing up at my head.

"Of course," I added.

"So how awesome was seeing The Dead live?"

"I dunno, I've only seen them 46 times and they were all at the tail end of their run."

"Cool. I've never seen them," she repsonded which was an obvious guess on my part. She looked like she was barely 19. "I've seen a lot of Moe shows. And Phish too. Lot's oh Phish."

I don't want to brag that I might have picked up a stoner chick who works at Subway. But here we are. That's the highlight of my dinner break, aside from bumping into a dealer from the Rio I befriended. Ironically, he started talking to me because of my "Steal your face" hat. Yeah he's a Deadhead too and was showing his kids the Fremont Experience, which isn't anything to sneeze at.

9:56pm... Level 32. Antes are $20K. Blinds are $80K/$160K. Jen Harman went up to the stage and said, "Shuffle up and deal!" She's so tiny in real life, like a delicate porcelin China doll. From behind, she sometimes looks like a little kid at the poker table because she always sits on her knees on chairs. Anyway, she he's here doing play-by-play for Card Player. BJ is lucky, he gets to sit next to the pros today.

10:02pm... Tex Barch and Daniel Bersdorf were all in preflop. Tex had 10-10 and Daniel flipped over J-J. I said, "It's OK, he'll flop a ten." Sure enough the flop was 10-Q-4 and Tex's railbirds hooted and cheered. The turn and river were no help and Daniel Bergsdorf won $1,300,00 for 7th place.

10:14pm... One of the Irish Twins, Tom, won $100 playing $1-2 NL inside of an hour. The Binion's poker room is swarming with tourists.

10:15pm... Updated Chip Counts:

Seat 1: Joe Hachem $2.1
Seat 2: Andrew Black $18.2 (Chip Leader)
Seat 3: Tex Barch $13.66
Seat 4: Aaron Kanter $10.65
Seat 5: Steve Dannenmann $7.11
Seat 6: Scott Lazar $5.35

10:21pm... Joe Hachem and Scott Lazur battled heads up. They both pushed preflop. Lazur showed Ks-9s while Hachem flipped ober As-Qs. The flop was A-10-4 with two spades and Hachem was in great shape. The turn and river were no help and Hachem doubled up. His railbirds jumped right into their catchy "Aussie, Aussie, Aussie! Oy, oy, oy!" chant while waving the Australia flag.

10:23pm... On the very next hand, Scott Lazur made a tiltish called and pushed all in with Q-10. Andy Black quickly called with pocket Jacks. The flop was 8-5-3 with two spades. The rurn was a rag and the river was a King and Andy Black scooped the pot. Scott Lazur finished in 6th place and won $1,500,00 for his great work. That's how tough the WSOP can be. On two hands you can lose your entire stack and all the work you did for a week gets thrown out the window. Andy Black is the chip leader is on a roll.

10:28pm... We're on a mni-break as Lazur gets interviewed by ESPN. There has been a trend for six weeks here at the WSOP... Action always loosens up in the first hour after the dinner break. I dunno what the long break does to people, but mabye they assess their situations and press a little bit more when they get back or they drink at dinner which loosens them up. At any rate, in the first 30 minutes after break we've lost two players.

10:37pm... Updated Chip Counts:

Seat 1: Joe Hachem $5.1
Seat 2: Andrew Black $21.75 (Chip Leader & pictured above)
Seat 3: Tex Barch $12.56
Seat 4: Aaron Kanter $10.3
Seat 5: Steve Dannenmann $6.55

10:39pm... The Irish Twins Lucky Blind & Tom are pretty pumped. They are excited about their boy Andy Black and just started drinking. Early celebration? Anyway, since I'm McCatholic (12 years of Catholic schools) I'm rooting for Andy Black as well. Let's seem if he can ran over the table. Otis ran over to the bar in the corner (yes, there's a bar in here) and grabbed us two Coronas.

10:52pm... Bouncin Round the Room: John from Poker Wire had the funniest story for me. During the break, he overheard two models talking to each other in the hallway. These are the girls who wear skimpy skirts and tight t-shirts for random magazines and poker magazines. "I was working for Bulldog for a few days..." Hmmm, those are some bright girls that BoDog hired last week!

11:09pm... The Irish guys are pounding beers. Lucky Blind came back and brought me and Otis another round.

11:24pm... Updated Chip Counts:

Seat 1: Joe Hachem $5
Seat 2: Andrew Black $19 (Chip Leader & pictured above)
Seat 3: Tex Barch $14
Seat 4: Aaron Kanter $12.5
Seat 5: Steve Dannenmann $7

11:30pm... We have a new chipleader after Aaron Kanter won a $15M pot off of Andy Black. Kantor flopped a set with pocket Kings and turned a full house. Andy called a huge bet and mucked after Kantor showed his K-K. Kantor has $21M an Andy Black dropped to $10.2M.

11:50pm... Steve Dannemann won a couple of pots in a row.

11:55pm... On a flop of 8-4-4, Tex Barch reraised all in and won a $7M from Aaron Kanter.

12:10am... Shirley send me a text messgae and she wanted to see pics of the Final 5. Here are some photos courtesy of Flip Chip:

The Final 5:


Aaron Kantor (chip leader) and Tex Barch


Steve "Bloody Mary" Dannemann and Andy Black


Joe Hashem -- Hellmuth & Jen doing the play by play
12:41pm... Players just returned from a break. We have reached Level 33 and we're at $30K antes and $100K/$200K blinds. Here's an Updated Chip Count:

Seat 1: Joe Hachem $3.04
Seat 2: Andrew Black $12.37
Seat 3: Tex Barch $12.81
Seat 4: Aaron Kanter $17.74 (chip leader)
Seat 5: Steve Dannenmann $10.32

12:51am... Steve Dannemann had a cheat sheet and the camera zoomed in to see what was on it:

1. Have fun.
2. Nothing to lose.
3. Play Tight.
4. Don't flat call a re-raise

12:56am... Jesus has been lurking around press row. He's doing play by play with Hellmuth now.

1:04am... Insane action on the flop of 9s-6c-5c. Andy bet $1M and Steve Dannemann moved all in. Andy Black thought for a while and called with 10-9. Steve had A-6. The turn was a blank and the river was... an unlucky ace. Steve Dannemann rivered Andy Black and doubled up. Ouch. Dannemann moved into the chip lead.

1:08am... Andy Black is in trouble with a $3.5M short stack. He moved all in. Was it a steam bet? Was he on tilt? Black showed Ad-8d vs. Aaron Kantor's pocket fours. The flop was A-8-J and the crowd erupted. The Irish fans started singing. The turn was a a rag and the river was another rag. Andy Black doubled up against Kantor. The Irsh railbirds are singing out of key. Black has about $7K now.

1:10am... Bouncin Round the Room: I forgot to tell you this... there's a 40% chance that I took a piss with the next world champion. During the break, both Steve Dannemann and Tex Barge were taking leaks next to me. On the last break I ran down stairs and wandered over to Mermaids for a "Coney" dog with cheese and chili.

1:13am... Here are the payouts for the remaining players:

1st $7,500,000
2nd $4,250,000
3rd $2,500,000
4th $2,000,000
5th $1,750,000

1:17am... Andy Black picked up two hands in a row. He's applying some pressure with one of the short stacks.

1:23am... On a flop of K-10-7 with two flush cards, Tex Barge check raised, Aaron Kantor check re-raised Tex's check raise and Tom Hachem folded in LP. Tex thought for a second and reraised. Kantor sat and thought for a long time. He stared at his chips for a few minutes and moved all in. Tex stood up, put his hips on chips, thought for two minutes and called. Tex had K-7 for two pair and Kantor had K-5. Wow. There was about $21M in the pot... the largest pot in the history of the WSOP. The turn was a Queen and it gave Kantor more outs. The river was a Jack and Tex Barge doubled up. Tex is now the new chipleader. What the hell was Kantor thinking with K-5?

1:31am... Updated Chip Count:

Seat 1: Joe Hachem $4.3
Seat 2: Andrew Black $7.6
Seat 3: Tex Barch $22.3 (chip leader)
Seat 4: Aaron Kanter $3.7
Seat 5: Steve Dannenmann $19

1:41am... One hour left in this level. I'm starting to hit the wall. I was hoping that we had a break coming up and now I'll have to wait an hour.

1:44am... Andy Black picked up a pot and his Irish railbirds starting singing "Ole! Ole, ole! Ole, ole! Ole, ole, ole! Ole, ole!" Andy Black has $8.2M.

1:50am.. Tournament Director Johnny Grooms joked, "Binion's is sad to annoucne that there's no more Guinness at the bar." Ouch. Cheap Irish jokes.

1:55am... Head up battle preflop. Joe "Auussie" Hachem has 7-7 and Steve Danneman showed A-J. The flop was 6-9-10. The turn was a 9 and Steve picked up a few more outs. The river was a 3 and the Aussie chant flooded the room when Hachem doubled up. He's got about $5M.

2:02am... CLassic NL confrontation: A-K vs. 10-10. You have to win with AK and beat AK if you want to win a tournament. Andy Black pushed with 10-10 and Steve Dannemanncalled with A-K. The flop was all rags. The turn was a King and that killed Andy's chances. One of the Irish railbirds yelled, "Give him the fuckin' ten!" Andy looked so sad when he lost. He finished in 5th place and won $1,750,000. He looked like he was going to cry and Phil Hellmuth came over to give him some encouraging awards. The crowd gave him the loudest send off so far. "He deserved better than first. He played his heart out, " Irish poker writer Tom Murphy said.

2:12am... Updated Chip Count:

Seat 1: Joe Hachem $5
Seat 2: Tex Barch $20.1
Seat 3: Aaron Kanter $4.8
Seat 4: Steve "Blody Mary" Dannenmann $24

2:27am... Aaron Kanter doubled up against Tex Barch. Kanter moved all in with A-7 and it took Tex a long time to call. He eventually did and flipped over A-Q. The flop: 10-7-7. The ccrowd let out a collective, "Aaaaah!" That was Kantor's miracle flop and he held on to win despite and ace falling on the turn. He doubled up. Kantor has $9M and Tex slipped to $17K.

2:45am... Go read what Mike "Lucky Blind" Lacey wrote on Antes Up about his fellow countryman Andy Black:

Andy Black. The people's poker champion, he suffered some harsh cards in the end and should be happy to walk home with $1.75M and to have made his mark as 'the' poker player of the 2005 WSOP $10,000 Championship event. The fans love him, the press love him. Harrahs don't give a flying fig. Unlike other casinos who sort out any tax issues for European players, Harrahs are with-holding 30 % of Andy's winnings. Surprisingly Andy does not feel like doing any interviews leaving cardplayer in the dust as he goes back to his hotel to recover. Nice one Harrahs.

Antes up would like to thank Andy for his amazing performance during this marathon event. He has been a shining example of how to conduct oneself at a major event. We wish Andy all the best in the future and although it may hurt to get so close he can console himself with the fact that he has been universally acclaimed as the best player at the final table and also the $1.75M won't hurt either.

Touching tribute.

2:52am... Players are on a 15 minute break.

3:01am... I went for a quick walk on my break. I saw Norm Chad in the bathroom.

3:07am... Cards are back in the air. Level 33 has $40K blinds with $120K/$240K. I want to welcome all those European readers who are up are enjoying my coverage of the WSOP while they eat breakfast. Right now we're down to the Final 4 players. The Aussie Joe Hachem is still left. Along with the Beer Garden guy from Texas named Tex Barch and the internet player Aaron Kanter and the buy we call Steve "Bloody Mary" Dannemann.

3:15am... Layne Flack is in the house. The crowd has thinned out a little bit and press row isn't as crowded.... but there's still plenty of people leftover from both the media and the railbirds. It's just not as jam packed as it was eleven hours ago.

3:28am... Another classic match up Qd-7d vs. 99. Joe Hachem had Qd-7s and Aaron Kantor flipped over pocket nines. Hachem flopped a Queen and his railbirds' chatter grew louder, especially after the turn was a rag. On the river when a blank fell, the Aussie railbirds let out their addictive chant. Joe Hachem doubled up.

3:35am... Action has slowed down. We put the over/under at 8am. Yikes. 4_ hours from now? I'm praying for the under.

3:40am... On the first day I covered the WSOP, I was there until 4am. We're reaching that watershed time right now. Fitting...

3:45am... Updated Chip Count:

Seat 1: Joe Hachem $14
Seat 2: Tex Barch $11
Seat 3: Aaron Kanter $4.75
Seat 4: Steve "Blody Mary" Dannenmann $26 (chip leader)

4:00am... No poker content here... my friend Jenna sent me this pretty damn funny Craigslist post called Gaping Axe Wound Seeks Mental Midget.

4:20am... Sorry for the lack of updates. I had some technical issues. I lost wi-fi access and the players took a 5 minute break that lasted 15 minutes. I suspect that they made a deal.

4:30am... Here's the updated chip count:

Seat 1: Joe Hachem $20.5 (chip leader)
Seat 2: Tex Barch $11.3
Seat 3: Aaron Kantor 4.66
Seat 4: Steve Dannemann 19.19

4:48am... Two players moved all in and woke everyone up. Aaron Kanter moved all in with A-9 and Tex Barch called with J-J. Tex's hand held up when he caught a set on the river. Aaron Kanter took 4th place and won $2M for his hard work.

5:05am... ESPN halted production while the did the "money presentation"... a procession of two thugs with shotguns led in the suits with boxes of cash. They dumped it on the table and put the bracelet on top. "Unless you have a shotgun, you need to be away from the money," Johnny Grooms said. It's $23M and that weighs about 800 lbs.

5:15am... Here's the updated chip count:

Seat 1: Joe Hachem $23.2 (chip leader)
Seat 2: Tex Barch $16.6
Seat 3: Steve Dannemann 16.4

5:22am... Tex raised and Dannemann moved all in for his entire $21M stack. Tex folded. Steve Dannemann has about $29M in chips. Tex slipped to $12 and Hachem has $16.7.

6:01am... Damn. I'm having serious connection issues at the worst time. It is three way right now.

6:10am... New Level. Blinds are $150K/$300K with a $50K ante.

6:13am... All three players are all in preflop. Tex Barch had ace high. Tex Barch was eliminated in third place. Steve Dannemann has 7-7 and Joe Hachem had pocket Jacks. He won $2.5M.

6:30am... Here are the heads up chip counts: Joseph Hachem has just about $40M and Steve Dannenmann has $16.3M.

6:35am... I bumped into a fan in the hallway. He said he was from Kansas City and regularly reads my blog. It was Greg Raymer's borther!

6:41am... We have a winner! Joe Hachem came from behind to win the 2005 WSOP main event after he knocked out Steve "Bloody Mary" Dannemann. Hachem flopped a straight with 3-7o. Danneman moved all in with A-3 when an ace spied on the turn. Steve dannemann won $4,500,000 for his stellar work. Joe Hachem won $7.5M.