Headed to the Finals
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The first heat of today's Full Tilt Poker $25,000 Shootout is over. The eight-handed table consisted of Tony G, Annette Obrestad, David Oppenheim, James Akenhead, Carlos Mortensen, Barny Boatman, Gus Hansen, and Mike Matusow. Only two of the eight advance to Friday's final table. Those two are David Oppenheim and Barny Boatman.
Surrounded by television cameras and bright lights in Studio 3 at Crown Casino, things got under way at around 2 p.m. local time here in Melbourne, Australia. Carlos Mortensen was the first casualty, going from chip leader to out the door in a rather quick fashion. That started off the flurry of exits. Gus Hansen was next to go when his 
couldn't improve to best Barny Boatman's nines. Boatman did it again just a few hands later, this time it was James Akenhead who couldn't win a race, his ace-jack falling to Boatman's tens.
The players then took a short break and as soon as they got back, Annette Obrestad found two ladies and was all in preflop against Mike Matusow's 
. Though Matusow flopped the nut flush draw, 
, he didn't get there, and was left with a lowly stack of about 1,200. On the very next hand, Obrestad finished him off in a battle of the blinds.
It wasn't long after that Tony G raised it up from under the gun and David Oppenheim called. The flop came down 
and Oppenheim check-called Tony's bet of 3,000. Oppenheim bet enough to put the G all in on the 
turn and Tony made the call. You can probably guess what happened next. Oppenheim table 
for top two pair and Tony showed 
for a pair. The river didn't help Tony and he was out the door in fourth.
The action slowed considerably after the exit of Tony G. The players were on the bubble, as two of them would advance and one would be sent home with nothing.
After some shoves and no-calls, Annette Obrestad finally met her fate. She moved all in after a David Oppenheim raised from the big blind. He called and tabled jacks to Obrestad's ace-ten. She found no help on the board and was eliminated in third place.
David Oppenheim and Barny Boatman have advanced to Friday's finals. Oppenheim will take a stack of 156,000 with him and Boatman will carry over 44,000. Stay tuned to the live reporting coverage, as the second heat will kick off at 7:00 p.m. local time.