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First hand, and it looks like there is going to be a minimum of messing about.
The flop read 
and Jim Collopy bet out 30,000. Gus Hansen called from the button and they saw a turn.
The turn was the 
and Collopy now bet out 63,000. Again, Hansen made the call.
They both checked the 
river and proceeded to showdown. Collopy revelaed a 
that hadn't really gone anywhere, and Hansen's 
for a flopped flush draw that had turned into just a pair of deuces took it down.
Gus Hansen: "Hey did we play 40 minute levels in the semi-finals?"
Our own MarcC: "Er, yeah."
Hansen: "Well at least I'm paying attention..."
Now that we've reached a final, the main stage downstairs has been cleared and our final two promoted to the very centre of attention here in the Empire. By the by now that we're at the final, this is best of three. Good luck to both.
Gus Hansen - 1.92 million
Jim Collopy - 1.92 million
Level: 8
Blinds: 8,000/16,000
Ante: 0
Ram Vaswani was short and Jim Collopy decided to put the maximum pressure on by moving all-in from the button. It was the first time he's tried it and Vaswani looked down at his cards and made the call. Showdown:
Collopy: 
Vaswani: 
The board ran 
making Collopy a straight by the turn to end it. The two players shook hands and Collopy is through to face Gus Hansen in the final.
The final is due to start in 30 minutes but we expect it to be a little longer than that.
Level: 7
Blinds: 15,000/30,000
Ante: 0
The players were asked if they wanted a break and the answer was "Yes". They have ten minutes to refresh themselves.
Three hands were played, and Jim Collopy won all of them.
The first two were smallish affairs, but the third turned unexpectedly massive. Jim Collopy raised small from the button and Vaswani called; they both checked the 
flop. Vaswani bet out 60,000 on the 
turn - and Collopy now raised to 153,000. After a few moments, there was a call.
The river was the 
and this time Vaswani checked. A long dwell from Collopy followed - and then a bet that covered Vaswani. The Hendon Mobster folded swiftly, and dropped to 526,000.
The chip lead is literally changing hand by hand at the moment. Ram Vaswani took the lead when he value-betted 
on a 
board. Jim Collopy called but mucked upon seeing his opponent's cards.
The next hand Vaswani was forced off a decent sized pot. He raised from the button to 62,000 and was called to go to a 
flop. He c-bet for 65,000 and called when Collopy bumped it up to 162,000. Collopy's 201,000 bet on the turn was too much for him to handle tho.
Collopy has about a 300,000 chip advantage right now.
The stacks briefly returned to roughly even when Ram Vaswani called a 48,000 button raise from Jim Collopy before check-raising the 
flop. Collopy gave it up and Vaswani was back at almost 900,000.
A hand or two later, though, and Vaswani limped in on the button. Collopy checked his option and then checked again on the 
flop before calling 30,000 from Vaswani. They cagily checked down the turn and river though, and as no-one had a spade, Collopy's 
was good enough to win the pot.
Collopy edged back up ever so slightly.
Gus Hansen, by the by, finally left some time ago - perhaps he could tell that this match was going to take a while.
