Event #10: A$25,000 No-Limit Hold'em High Roller

While the World Series of Poker Asia-Pacific Main Event was playing down to a final table on one side of the room, the AU$25,000 High Roller was doing the same on the other. It took just over 10 levels of play, but eventually the returning 31 players — and five late registrants — of a 68-player field was whittled down to the final six.

All of them are guaranteed a minimum payday of AU$85,027, but every one of them have their eyes firmly fixed on the AU$600,000 reserved for the winner. The man best positioned to capture it is Mike Leah, who leads the final table with 2.576 million.

Leah's stack is more than twice as much as his next closest competitor, David "MissOracle" Yan, who finished sixth at the 2013 Aussie Millions. Others still in contention are 2012 WSOP Main Event runner-up Jesse Sylvia; 2 Months, 2 Million star Brian Roberts; 2010 WSOP Main Event winner Jonathan Duhamel; and then Sam Khouiss. Both Duhamel and Khouiss are making their third final table of the WSOP Asia-Pacific.

The day kicked off with a slew of eliminations including those of Jeff Rossiter, Rory Young, Fabian Quoss, Ali Ghezelbash, and Brandon Shack-Harris, who late registered after busting the Main Event in 17th place for AU$23,441.

The High Roller was Shack-Harris' last opportunity to catch George Danzer in the 2014 WSOP Player of the Year race, but his quest came to an end in Level 12 (1,500/3,000/500) when, on a flop of    , Shack-Harris and Sean Winter got all the money in. Shack-Harris had flopped the best of it with the    for trip queens, and Winter held the   . The turn was the   to keep Shack-Harris in front, but then the   spiked on the river to give Winter a winning full house.

With that ace on the river, Danzer earned the title of 2014 WSOP Player of the Year with 923.5 points to Shack-Harris' 829.2. Danzer earns an entry to the 2015 WSOP Main Event for his accomplishment, but of course everyone knows the title is the real prize.

Here's a look at how the WSOP Player of the Year race between Danzer and Shack-Harris finished up, which included three lead changes here at the WSOP Asia-Pacific:

Before long Shack-Harris was joined on the rail by Eddy Sabat, Tobias Reinkemeier, Jeff Gross, Daniel Neilson, Mike Watson, David Steicke, Mohsin Charania, and Phil Hellmuth.

Hellmuth actually exited as the "bubble boy" in Level 20 (10,000/20,000/3,000) when action folded to Yan and he raised to 40,000. Leah called, as did Hellmuth in the big blind, and three players saw a flop of    . Action checked to Leah and he bet 55,000, which only Hellmuth called with just over 200,000 chips behind.

On the   turn, Hellmuth checked again and Leah moved all in. The "Poker Brat" spent quite some time in the tank, removed his headphones, and double-checked his cards.

"What do you have, Mike?" he asked. About 30 seconds later he pushed his stack forward and the cards were tabled.

Hellmuth:   
Leah:   

Hellmuth had top pair with a flush draw, and he needed to hit his flush as Leah had a set. Only a non-nine heart could save Hellmuth, but it wasn't in the cards as the   blanked on the river sending a devastated 13-time WSOP gold bracelet winner home one spot shy of the money.

Toss in the eliminations of Andrew Hinrichsen (8th - AU$50,021) and Sam Higgs (7th - AU$65,035), and the final table was set.

The High Roller Final Table

The final six players will return to Crown Casino for Day 3 action at 3:30 p.m. local time and play until a winner is crowned. What's more, every hand of the final table will air on a 30-minute delay on ESPN2 beginning at 4 p.m. local time, which is 10 p.m. Vegas time on Thursday night and 1 a.m. ET on Friday morning. Be sure to tune in after Thursday Night Football concludes, and of course you can always follow the live updates right here in our live blog.

It took three hands into the new level to reduce the field to six and reach the official final table for tomorrow.

In the first hand, Jesse Sylvia raised to 50,000 from under the gun and Sam Higgs called out of the big blind only to check-fold the       flop to the continuation bet of Sylvia. One hand later, David Yan raised to 50,000 and won the blinds and antes, reducing Higgs to just over one big blind.

The third hand saw a raise of Mike Leah to 48,000 and Higgs called all in from the button, the two players in the blinds folded.

Higgs:    
Leah:    

The       flop gave Leah the lead. Higgs picked up a few more outs on the   turn but the   river was a blank.

Sam Higgs

0

-107,000

The remaining seven players have been sent off into a 15 minute break.

Jonathan Duhamel moved all in over the top of a raise by Mike Leah and the latter folded. Duhamel joked "I was suited" before raking in the chips.

Shortly after, David Yan limped from the small blind and Leah checked one seat over. Yan bet 26,000 on the       flop and Leah called before doing the same one card later for 65,000 when the   appeared on the turn. Yan then fired his third and final barrel on the   river for 170,000 and that did the trick, as Leah mucked his cards.

It took awhile, but bubble has finally burst.

It happened when action folded to David Yan and he raised to 40,000. Mike Leah called, as did Phil Hellmuth in the big blind, and three players saw a flop of      . Action checked to Leah and he bet 55,000, which only Hellmuth called with just over 200,000 chips behind.

On the   turn, Hellmuth checked again and Leah moved all in. The "Poker Brat" spent quite some time in the tank, removed his headphones, and double checked his cards.

"What do you have, Mike?" he asked. About 30 seconds later he pushed his stack forward and they tabled their cards.

Hellmuth:    
Leah:    

Hellmuth had top pair with a flush draw, and he needed to hit it as Leah had a flush. Only a non-nine heart could save Hellmuth, but it wasn't in the cards as the   blanked on the river sending a devastated "Poker Brat" home as the bubble boy.

Phil Hellmuth

0

-310,000

After a preflop raise by Mike Leah from under the gun, David Yan defended his big blind and check-called a bet of 44,000 on a flop of      . The   on the turn was checked through and Yan then bet 55,000 on the   river. Leah called and mucked when "MissOracle" showed    .

They are the two most active players and the money bubble has slowed down the action considerably.

David Yan

955,000

155,000

David Yan raised to 34,000 from the hijack and Mike Leah called in the cutoff. The       flop got checked through and Yan bet 35,000 on the   turn. Leah didn't go anywhere and called before taking down the pot on the   river with a bet of 50,000 when "MissOracle" check-folded.

Then Jonathan Duhamel opened the action with a raise to 37,000 and Leah asked for his stack size before making the call, Phil Hellmuth called out of the big blind as well. The       flop got checked to Leah and his bet of 50,000 shut down all further action.

One hand later, Andrew Hinrichsen raised to 32,000 and then folded when Sam Higgs moved all in from the cutoff for 156,000.

Mike Leah

1,255,000

150,000

Mike Leah raised to 32,000 and Phil hellmuth called out of the small blind. They both checked through the       flop and Hellmuth then bet 30,000 after the   fell on the turn. Leah called and the dynamic duo saw the   complete the board. Hellmuth made it 38,000 to go with 195,000 behind and Leah rather quickly raised to 103,000.

As soon as the "Poker Brat" noticed the raise, he threw his hands up in the air to vent some frustration. The usual small talk began and after some consideration, Hellmuth made the call. Leah showed     first, but ace high was only second best to the     of Hellmuth.

Mike Leah	1,105,000	-155,000
Phil Hellmuth	490,000	180,000

David Yan raised to 34,000 from the hijack and Sam Higgs responded by moving all in for 100,000 more from the small blind. Yan hit the tank debating what to do, and that inspired Higgs, who indicated he thought he'd get a call, to start chuckling.

"I'll show you if you fold. Does that help?" Higgs offered. "Take the mystery out of it."

Yan must have liked the sound of that as he did folded his hand. True to his word, Higgs showed the   .