Kevin Li had full control of the endgame of this one, building a big lead and holding on. When play was four-handed, 4th place finisher Umang 'Ronnie' Dattani joked that it was "a one-man show, guys" referencing Li's big chip lead at the time. That proved true as Li was aggressive in acquiring chips while finding spots to get out of the way as well.

Li was the player to send the final three players to the rail before his victory and he had about 2/3rds of the chips in play when they got heads up and it didn't take long to finish it out as the players ran into a bit of a heads-up cooler. It was ace-nine for runner-up Nima Hesamfar in good shape to double against king-ten for Li, and after the flop of he had an even bigger lead.

He looked on pace to double and extend the game when the bricked, but the river was exactly the card Li wanted to see to send Hesamfar out in 2nd place.

It looks like tonight was a bit of a battle of the newbies. Hesamfar will be getting just his second entry on Hendon Mob for second tonight, but Li also appears to have only a single live cash on his resume prior to this game so it looks to have been a pretty great addition to both of their Hendon profiles. It's worth noting that I was pretty surprised to see only a single small cash when I looked up Li -- after watching his play on the final table, he looked like a seasoned live poker veteran who was very dialed in, and I expected to see a boatload of cashes and big scores.

As one example, he made an excellent call with just a flopped pair of fours against a big bet from the 3rd place finisher tonight. It wasn't quite bottom pair, but just next to it on a board with an overpair to his fours. It was the right call as his opponent had a busted flush draw and was just one example of how dialed into the game he was tonight. So assuming his big results aren't hidden behind a different profile, I'd say the future looks pretty bright for this newcomer to the live game.

Heads up was a pretty quick affair tonight as all the chips were sitting in front of Kevin Li. Nima Hesamfar had a steep hill to climb, and he started it off looking good when the money went in shortly after heads up began with Hesamfar shoving and Li calling off with .

Hesamfar flopped a nine to take a bigger lead, but by the time the full board of was out, Li had rivered the winning ten. This looks to be Hesamfar's second live cash for significantly more than his first, which was less than $1,000.

They are heads up now after the anonymous player hit the rail. They shoved the button with ace-three, but ran into pocket sevens for Kevin Li in the small blind. The sevens held on a board of when they turned a set for the win.

It's been a busy start to Level 27. Kevin Li doubled up both players early, and the anonymous player just doubled through Nima Hasamfar when he shoved the small blind with but ran into ace-queen in the big blind. Both players hit the flop, but the ace beat Hasamfar's king and the rest of the board bricked for both players.

There are just three left in the Mix now after Ronnie Dattani lost a race against Kevin Li. All the money went in preflop with Dattani on against . Dattani turned his king to take the lead, but it gave Li the diamond draw which came in with the river.

It was limped around preflop with Ronnie Dattani open-limping from under the gun and both blinds coming along to a flop of and all players checked to the turn. Johnstone potted the turn for 320k leaving just 70k behind. On the big blind called while Dattani's hand hit the muck.

Johstone shoved his remaining 70k on the river but said "You're good" when the big blind called. They had two pair with and Johnstone headed to the cage for his money.

Level 26 has just begun with four-card hands being dealt out now. The average stack at the moment is 1.1 million which is barely 13 big blinds, so it seems likely this round of PLO will see some players hit the rail, or at least some all-in confrontations.

The anonymous player raised the button to 150k and Kevin Li called from the big blind. Both players checked the flop, and Li check-called for 150k on the turn.

Li checked again on the river and then called the bet of 350k after some time in the tank. The button showed for the busted heart draw while Li showed for just a pair of fours.

They are down to 5 now after Marc-Andre Kudjick-Paquin lost his chips early in the NLH round. The money went in on the flop with Kudjick-Paquin holding top pair with ace-eight against a pair of threes for his opponent with queen-three. The queen turned, however, and the river bricked for Kudjick-Paquin and his pair of aces went down to two-pair, queens and threes.

Ronnie Dattani opened early to 130k and JJ Johnstone called from the big blind. Both players checked the all-spade flop of and Johnstone checked again when the hit the turn.

Dattani fired out 130k, but then mucked after Johnstone check-raised it to 500k.

"I guess you have it," Dattani said, mucking his hand.

"Hard to check-raise there if I don't," Johnstone replied. "I was hoping you'd fight a little harder."

Marc-Andre Kudjick-Paquin was under the gun with a short stack when he potted to 175k, leaving just 80k behind. It folded all the way around to Ronnie Dattani in the big blind and he had a look at Kudjick-Paquin's remaining stack.

"Maybe I just won't do it," he said, still looking at Kudjick-Paquin's stack. He eventually mucked face up and Kudjick-Paquin showed queens with Broadway cards as he collected the pot.

They are down to 6 now in the Mix after Andy Truong got his money in with double-suited aces but couldn't hold, sending his chips across to the anonymous player as he hit the cage for his payout.

Ronnie Dattani raised to 85k early, and JJ Johnstone called from the big blind. The flop came and Johnstone check-raised from 70k to 175k. Dattani counted out the call a few times before sliding it in, but then had a tough decision on the turn when Johnstone led for 250k.

Dattani hit the tank for a bit, confirming that Johnstone had 650k left behind. He eventually found the fold, saying "Good bluff" as he did. Johnstone showed an ace, and Dattani muttered "I had one of those" under his breath as Johnstone stacked the pot.

Nima Hasamfar raised to 85k from the button, and the big blind, who is not being identified tonight, raised it up to 240k. Hasamfar didn't take very long to announce all-in.

The big blind asked for a count and hit the tank for several minutes. The four-bet shove was for 860k, a significant portion of the big blind's remaining stack. After several minutes of thought, he finally let it go and sent the chip-up to Hasamfar.

The players have just returned from a break for the start of Level 23 and the updated stacks to start the level are below.

JJ Johnstone opened to 75k and was called by the button, who wishes to remain anonymous. Johnstone upped it to 120k on the flop and got the call, then fired 200k on the turn. He got the call again to see on the river.

The button player checked out of position, leading Johnstone to fire a bet of 175k. After some time in the tank the button called, then tank-mucked when Johnstone showed for the flopped set of jacks. Andy Truong commented on what a good value bet it was, but Johnstone admitted the main reason he made it was the out-of-turn check.

They are down to 7 players left in the Mix game now after King Wang ended his day in 8th place today.

They are down to 8 remaining now as Craig D'Cruze just hit the rail in 9th place. I missed the action while getting the FT pictures sorted and uploaded.

One player at the final table tonight wishes to remain anonymous, so I haven't posted pictures of them, but the rest of the final ten are below.

They are down to 9 remaining now after Julius Roque bubbled the final table in 11th place and Shariq Khan took 10th shortly after the final table was set.

Here is a look at how the final 11 players stack up and where they are seated.

Thomas Taylor was very short on my last look at the tables, and he just hit the rail in 16th. He was quickly followed by Tony Huang, Nicholas Lee,  Peter Darlington, and Steven Desjardins to bring the remaining field down to 11.

Weston Pring hit the rail in 17th place tonight but he looks to be playing a stack in Day 1a of the 4-Flight as well.

They are down to 17 left on the final two tables in the Mix game now. Among the players to hit the rail to bring it to 17 were Cole Harmon, Colten Yamagishi, and Essam Saadeddine. Prizes to 18th place are under the Payouts tab.

They are down to 21 remaining now in the Mix game and Juss Viet (Do) and Leo Zhang were among the players to bust recently.

They are down to 23 left in the Mix game now. Prizes are updated to 25th place and I'll add 24th shortly.

The final three tables are moving to Chrome for the rest of the evening, and the prizes for the 7 players to cash out so far are listed under the payouts tab.

I just had a quick wander around to add in some stacks from around the room -- see Chip Counts for a full look at who I found, but bear in mind it's not a complete list. Julius Roque is up to around 600k now, looking good to defend his title from May.

Meanwhile, the field is dropping fast with the three-table redraw about to occur with 27 remaining. I'll update the Payouts tab shortly with the early cashers.

Hand-for-hand was just a single hand tonight and they are now in the money with 34 players left. Meanwhile, the defending champion from May, Julius Roque, is up over 500k now.

They are now hand-for-hand with 1:07 remaining in Level 15. The first hand will be played in this level before it switches over to Level 16 PLO play for the next hand.

They are preparing to pause the clock for hand-for-hand play with the field down to 35 after Matt McLeish was the soft bubble in 36th place tonight. They are still waiting for a couple of hands to finish, however.

They are down to 36 players now on the final four tables. That leaves them two eliminations away from the money with 34 paid spots. The earliest cashers from 34th to 24th places will get $1,217 for their efforts today.

With the final 38 players now back from dinner, it actually looks like Julius Roque, who won the $700 version of this game in May, is leading with about 460k in front of him. Umang "Ronnie" Dattani is sitting with about 400k while Marc-Andre Kudjick has 379k and Peter Darlington is playing just under 350k.

Essam Saadeddine and Juss Viet are among the other players still fighting for cash tonight with shorter stacks as well. Fraser Short, who was part of the final five tables earlier tonight is no longer in his seat, however.

They are four off the money with 38 players heading off to the dinner break. I don't have a full handle on the stacks but one of the big ones out there is double-ring winner Peter Darlington. Darlington won hist first two rings here in May this year after taking down the 4-Flight as well as the $400 PLO game. Darlington is often seen here in tournaments featuring four-cards as PLO is one of his favorite, and best, games. He is currently sitting with almost 350k in front of him which looks to be one of the biggest ones in the room.

Another big stack out there is Ronnie Dattani. He picked up a ring here in January after taking down the Monster stack, and he's playing around 400k. There are two other stacks in the 350-400k range, but with the players on dinner, I'm not sure who they belong to at the moment.

They are now five players away from the money spots tonight with 39 players still alive. There are just over 5 minutes left in Level 14 with the dinner break scheduled following this level.

They are down to 42 players left as the start of Level 14 approaches. Among the players still fighting for cash are Jody Lewchuk, Hiro Harada, Andy Truong, Sing Chen, JJ Johnstone, Colten Yamagishi, Fraser Short, Weston Pring, Julius Roque, Matt McLeish, Kurtis Ruhl, Ronnie Dattani, Dallas Larson, Cole Harmon, and Nicholas Lee.

Roque won a smaller version of this game (with a bigger buy-in) back in May when he bested 137 entries for the top prize of $25,556. To make that even more special for him, his son was celebrating his birthday at the same time and was able to take part in the winner's photo.

The official prize pool is now up under the Payouts tab. Below is a look at the top ten payouts later tonight for the players who make the unofficial final table.

There will be 34 players getting paid tonight in Event #2 with the field now down to 44 players left. That means they are 10 players off the money spots for today. The prizes are now posted with the winner set to pocket $26,458. I'll have all the prizes updated in the Payouts tab shortly.

Level 13 has just begun and they are down to 46 left on the board. The prizes are nearly up and I'll get them updated very shortly but it looks like tonight's winner will get a bit more than $26k.

They have just broken a table down to 54 players remaining at the start of Level 12. Players have three more levels of poker before the dinner break following Level 14.

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I was a bit late getting this posted as the video says entries are still open but here's al look at the field about 30 min before entries closed in the NLH/PLO game today.

The board numbers are only dropping when they break a table so there are likely fewer than 63 players left in the game now. There are just over 15 minutes left to play in Level 11.

Registration is now closed for Event #2 and it looks like the final field capped out at 222 entries for prizes of $114,330. Those numbers still need confirmation from the tournament staff, but if they hold is should mean 33 players sharing in the money later tonight.

I'll confirm all the numbers shortly when the prizes are posted.

They are moments away from the final break of entries now with 72 players left in action and 220 total entries for the day so far. That number will likely still increase a bit through the break but prizes are up to $113,300 now.

Level 10 has just begun with four-card hands being dealt out. This is the final level of poker to enter the game, but entries will stay open through the break following this level. The field is now up to 215 entries for prizes just over $110k.

They are closing in on $110k in prizes now with 210 entries on the board and just under an hour left to enter the game. Level 9 has about 10 minutes left, and entries will close following the break after Level 10.

The second break has about 3 minutes left before they come back for Level 9 and the final two levels of entry. The field is over 200 entries now with prizes of $103,515 so far and just over an hour left to enter the game.

Level 7 has just kicked off with 166 entries on the board for total prizes of $85,490. Entries are open for more than two hours yet, so the 200 number for field size is still easily within reach.

Level 5 is just underway after the first break of the day and the field is up to 133 entries now for prizes of more than $68k. They will play four more levels before the next break, then another two levels before the end of entries at the start of Level 11. At this pace, there's a good chance this game easily caps 200 entries.

I was late to the game this morning, and the truth is, I'm still not on the floor, but I've had a chance to have a look at the numbers so far and they are over 100 entries now with prizes nearing $60k. Level 4 has just begun and they'll have their first break of the day following this level while entries remain open for this game until the start of Level 11, which should be about 4:45 pm.

The second event of the series this time is the NLH/PLO mix kicking off at 11 am on Aug 8. Players sit down with 25k in chips for 30-minute levels that will alternate between no-limit hold'em and pot-limit Omaha. The game starts in two-card mode and all odd-numbered levels will play the same while even-numbered levels will be played with four cards.

Players can jump into the action for the first 10 levels of play which should put the final chance to enter at about 4:45 pm. This is a one-day event, so they'll award the ring before the end of the night. I should be on the floor for most of this one as my main focus.