All three do, of course, but in these sorts of amounts:
Erik Cajelais - 460,000
Robin Keston - 320,000
Mats Gavatin - 310,000
Stacks are changing to the tune of 50k up or down each time even with a small raise preflop, folded on the flop... so this has become a close one again.
If he kept calling the shortstacks, chances were Erik Cajelais was going to bust one eventually, and Men Nguyen was still short despite having doubled up recently. When Nguyen re-raised him all-in preflop in Hold'em, Cajelais gave him a spin with . Nguyen's looked good - and much better after the flop. The turn gave Cajelais a few more straight outs, one of which popped out in the form of the on the river!
A clearly disappointed Nguyen left the table, and we are now three-handed.
First off Men Nguyen, down to a dwindled 39k got it all in preflop against Robin Keston, who'd raised with and found Nguyen with . Nguyen instantly leaped ahead on the flop: and stayed so over the turn and river. Nguyen now on just over 100k.
Then it was Robin Keston's turn to double through Erik Cajelais with vs. the dominated . It's all action, all the time...
Again, Robin Keston had his tournament on the line just now as he moved all-in on the turn in Hold'em vs. Erik Cajelais. Cajelais had called his 20k on the flop, unlike Men Nguyen, but declined to call Keston's shove when the came out next.
A couple of chips found their way back out of Erik Cajelais' stack in the last few hands - he's taken a shot at seeing a couple of flops, but given up each time before showdown, having called raises preflop. Robin Keston has been the biggest beneficiary, and has increased his stack by over 50k in the last 10 minutes, while dwindling somewhat is Men Nguyen, having just raise-folded to Mats Gavatin. Still, it's anybody's jewellery, and they know it.
After an all-change sort of stack realignment during the first level of the final today, it's Richard Gryko who became the first casualty after tangling with Erik Cajelais yet again. In Hold'em, Gryko raised to 21k preflop, and found Cajelais reraising a further 45k. After some consideration, he called. They saw a flop. Check to Cajelais, who bet 80k. Gryko, however, wasn't prepared to give this one up and moved in, quickly called. He held , in pretty bad shape against Cajelais' , and with no help on the turn and river, Gryko was shaking hands and exiting stage left (no really, we're on a stage here at the Empire, gradually getting surrounded by TV cameras).
Meanwhile Cajelais, who started today with the second-shortest stack, is now springing towards the lead, if not in possession of it.
The pristinely-coiffed Jack Effel has finally received a working microphone and is announcing the final table to a growing crowd of people who are mostly standing with their arms crossed looking like they're judging the finalists.
Just now Richard Gryko took down a Hold'em pot preflop with a reraise over Mats Gavatin (button) from the big blind. As he scooped in the pot, Men Nguyen piped up with a complaint about the announcing: "You don't need to give extra information, 'He raised on the button,' just say, 'He raised.'"
The impression this gave was that Gryko had been positively aided by being reminded of his relative position and added, "Why don't you just announce 'Action.' for every hand?" It looked like Mr. Effel was agreeable to limiting the free information, however, so we're just getting the bet amounts and flop cards from now on.
Erik Cajelais just took down a six-figure pot mainly at the expense of Richard Gryko in Omaha. The two of them saw a flop, with Cajelais check-calling Gryko's 45k bet. Both players slowly checked the turn. On the river - - Cajelais riffled and toyed with 60k in red chips, before shifting them over the line. Gryko pondered a brief while before giving it up.
...With a double through to 110k through Mr. Gavatin. Small blind Mats Gavatin raised big blind Robin Keston to 16k, and then called his all-in, showing to Keston's . The dealer didn't create too much suspense for the short stack, giving him a safe run of ... ... shipping another of the short stacks a new lease of life, and chipping away at former chip monster Gavatin.
For good measure, Keston took 40k off Men Nguyen the very next hand, repopping him preflop and then shoving for 69k on a flop, with no call.