Final Table On The Way

Welcome back to the Crown Casino for the final table of the Event 8: $100,000 Challenge!

Yesterday saw thirty-eight top-line pros take to the felt on the poker-designed TV set here in Studio 3. WSOP bracelet holders Phil Ivey, Howard Lederer, John Juanda, Erick Lindgren and Joe Hachem, alongside youngsters Jonathan Karamalikis, [Removed:505], Andrew Feldman, Justin Smith and Alexander Kostritsyn all took a seat. Throw in yesterday’s Full Tilt Poker $25,000 Shootout Invitational Champion and runner-up in David Oppenheim and James Bord, and the field was well and truly stacked.

Unfortunately - regardless of how great the aforementioned, and many others are - only a few can survive in a game of poker, and after ten hours of play, just eight remained once Winfred Yu hit the rail in ninth.

Seat	Player	Country	Chip Count	BBs	Chip %
1	David Benyamine	France	363,000	45	9.5%
2	Tony Bloom	England	148,000	19	3.9%
3	Chris Ferguson	USA	89,000	11	2.3%
4	Sam Trickett	England	961,000	120	25.1%
5	James Obst	Australia	571,000	71	14.9%
6	Jeffrey Lisandro	Australia	454,000	57	11.9%
7	Erik Seidel	USA	619,000	77	16.2%
8	David Steicke	Hong Kong	622,000	78	16.3%

For nearly every hand yesterday, Sam Trickett would hold the chip lead - at one point surging over the one million mark - to end the day as the chip leader on a table that includes a past winner, multi-WSOP bracelet winners and an online superstar.

With an AUD$1,525,000 first prize on offer, the action is going to be insanely intense as only six of the remaining players will be guaranteed a piece of the AUD$3,800,000 prizepool.

The PokerNews Live Reporting Team will be providing all the live coverage from 2:00 pm EST as we crown the Event 8: $100,000 Challenge Champion!