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.