Event #57: The Big One for One Drop - $1,000,000 No-Limit Hold'em

The final table has been set, but the tournament remains on the stone bubble!

After a gruelling day with over 13 hours of poker action, nine players remain, led by Rick Salomon who closed out the night with 23,575,000 chips. None of the finalists have been in this situation before and on Tuesday's Day 3 only one will receive the custom bracelet. Only one will leave as champion. Only one player will take home a jaw-dropping $15,306,668.

On the other side of spectrum, one will go home empty-handed.

The day began with 31 players and just as many hopefuls for a big run in this enormous event. Businessman John Morgan was the first to go, followed by Talal Shakerchi and then Jean-Robert Bellande. The mastermind behind the $1,000,000 Big One for One Drop, Guy Laliberté, started the day low on chips and did not manage to recover. Laliberté got his money in good with queens against Isaac Haxton's ace-ten of spades but the board gave the latter a full house.

Daniel Cates, David Sands, and the 2012 World Series of Poker Main Event champion Greg Merson were knocked out shortly after the field lost Laliberté. Then, Sam Trickett, who had the final-table average only a few hours into the Day 1, was not very fortunate on Day 2. Antonio Esfandiari flopped a straight against Trickett, which knocked him down, and Daniel Negreanu took the remainder of his chips. Trickett busted in a big pot on the river when he moved all in holding pocket aces versus Negreanu's rivered trips.

With 14 players remaining, it was the defending champ who held a big chip lead over his opponents. Esfandiari seemed to be running away with it for a while, but he eventually cooled down. Phil Ivey was the next player to go as the 10-time bracelet winner's best wasn't enough. Ivey grinded a small stack for hours and eventually, when he check-raised the nut flush draw all in, ran into Cary Katz's three of a kind.

Phil Galfond busted in 13th place, as he moved all in drawing dead against Negreanu's flopped flush. Meanwhile on the secondary table, it was Salomon who pulled off an enormous bluff to seize control of the table. Christoph Vogelsang had to adapt his game after the big hand and Salomon cruised to the final table.

Gabe Kaplan, a very well known actor and comedian, put up a great fight, but eventually was knocked out in 12th place when his ace-queen did not improve against Salomon's sixes.

Brandon Steven then doubled up Vogelsang to leave himself with almost no chips before being knocked out in 11th place. Then, with the tournament down to the final two five-handed tables, defending champion Esfandiari was the unfortunate 10th-place finisher when he re-shoved for 5.05 million into Tobias Reinkemeier's ace-jack. Esfandiari turned over ace-five and watched the board ruin his chances of a back-to-back title.

With eight players remaining, it was Reinkemeier who held the lead while Paul Newey struggled to stay alive. On the third hand of the bubble, Newey doubled up holding aces against Reinkemeier's queens. Ten hands later, Seiver doubled through Negreanu.

With that, the night came to a close after 30 hands of bubble play.

The final nine will return on Tuesday at 3 p.m. local time as this tournament will reach its epic conclusion. The bubble will break, dreams will be shattered, and someone will walk away with over $15,306,668 — and you won't want to miss any of it!

PokerNews will be right there with you for every hand of this final table, so stay tuned for all of the action.

With the end of Level 19, the tournament staff informed the players that they will be stopping for the night. Immediately, Scott Seiver looked around the table confused by the fact that play would be stopping on the bubble. Seiver asked the rest of the table if they would like to keep playing, and everyone said they would — everyone except Tobias Reinkemeier.

After a little bit of discussion amongst the players, Reinkemeier agreed with them that he would continue to play, but he just wanted a break. This is when the ESPN producer informed the table that the longer they play, the later they would have to push back the start of the final table, which could affect the plans for Day 3.

It was ruled that play would stop on the bubble, and all of the remaining players would return tomorrow. One of them, though, won't be making any money as that player will go empty-handed.

Hand #24: Rick Salomon received a walk in the big blind.

Hand #25: Daniel Colman raised to one million from under the gun, and Daniel Negreanu reraised to 2.5 million from middle position. Colman folded, and Negreanu won the pot.

Hand #26: Negreanu opened with a raise to 1.1 million. Play then folded to Colman in the big blind, and he called to see the flop come down    . Colman checked, and Negreanu bet 1.75 million. Colman called.

The turn was the   and checked by both players to see the   land on the river and pair the board. Colman bet 2.5 million, and Negreanu called rather quickly.

Colman showed the    for two pair, but Negreanu's    for trip tens was the winner.

Hand #14: Daniel Colman raised to one million from middle position. Daniel Negreanu reraised to 2.5 million from the cutoff seat, and action folded back to Colman. He folded, and Negreanu won the pot.

Hand #15: Negreanu raised to 1.1 million from the hijack seat, and action folded to Rick Salomon in the big blind. He reraised to 3.1 million, and Negreanu folded.

Hand #16: From the small blind, Salomon raised to one million, and Christoph Vogelsang called from the big blind to see the flop come down    . Salomon checked, and Vogelsang bet 750,000. Salomon folded, and Vogelsang won the pot.

Hand #17: Tobias Reinkemeier raised to one million from early position, and Rick Salomon called on the button to see the flop come down    . Reinkemeier bet 1.25 million, and Salomon called.

The turn was the  , and Reinkemeier checked. Salomon bet 1.75 million, and Reinkemeier folded.

Hand #18: Salomon raised to one million, and Colman called from the small blind to see the flop come down    . Both players checked, and the turn was the  . Colman led with a bet, and Salomon folded.

Rick Salomon	25,000,000	4,000,000
Daniel Colman	20,300,000	-1,700,000
Tobias Reinkemeier	18,500,000	-2,500,000
Daniel Negreanu	14,500,000	800,000
Christoph Vogelsang	10,600,000	880,000
Cary Katz	10,600,000	-900,000
Scott Seiver	9,600,000	-500,000
Tom Hall	9,370,000	-730,000
Paul Newey	6,400,000	-250,000

Hand 4: Action folded to Tom Hall and he raised to 1.1 million from the hijack seat. Tobias Reinkemeier reraised to 2.6 million from the cutoff seat, and action folded back to Hall. He called, and the flop came down    . Hall checked, and Reinkemeier bet 2.5 million. Hall folded, and Reinkemeier won the pot.

Hand #5: Christoph Vogelsang raised to one million from early position, and everyone folded.

Hand #6: Rick Salomon received a walk in the big blind, or as Mike Sexton would say, "a ground skinner."

Hand #7: Daniel Colman raised to 1.1 million from under the gun and won the pot.

Hand #8: Daniel Negreanu raised to 1.1 million from middle position, and action folded around the table to give him the blinds and antes.

hand #9: On the button, Vogelsang raised to one million. Colman reraised all in from the small blind for effectively 10.9 million. Vogelsang tank-folded, and Colman won the pot.

Hand #10: Cary Katz raised to 1.175 million from middle position, and action folded around the table to give him the pot.

Daniel Colman	22,200,000	2,300,000
Tobias Reinkemeier	21,600,000	2,900,000
Rick Salomon	21,100,000	100,000
Daniel Negreanu	17,800,000	800,000
Cary Katz	11,700,000	100,000
Christoph Vogelsang	9,870,000	-830,000
Tom Hall	9,070,000	-3,630,000
Paul Newey	7,550,000	-600,000
Scott Seiver	4,850,000	-1,100,000

Hand #143: Tom Hall called from the small blind and Cary Katz checked from the big blind. The flop came down     and Hall bet 600,000, which was enough to take down the pot.

Hand #144: Cary Katz limped from the small blind and Daniel Negreanu raised to 1.1 million from the big blind. Katz folded.

Hand #145: Cary Katz raised from the button to 1,025,000 and took down the blinds and antes.

Hand #146: Tom Hall raised to 850,000 and took down the blinds and antes.

Hand #147: Cary Katz raised to 850,000 and Tom Hall called from the big blind. The hand was checked down on a       board and Hall showed   . Katz tabled    and he won this pot.

Hand #148: Daniel Negreanu raised to 800,000 under the gun and Cary Katz called from the big blind. The flop came down     and Katz lead for 1,000,000.

"I don't have the king," Negreanu smiled as he folded his cards and Katz raked in this pot.

Hand #113: Action folded to Scott Seiver on the button, and he limped in. Tobias Reinkemeier checked his option in the big blind, and the flop came down     before both players checked. The turn was the  , and Reinkemeier led with a bet of 750,000. Seiver called, and the river was the  . Reinkemeier bet 1.25 million, and Seiver called.

Reinkemeier showed the    for a full house to beat Seiver's    for a flush.

Daniel Colman	20,000,000	-100,000
Tobias Reinkemeier	17,500,000	2,800,000
Scott Seiver	6,150,000	-2,400,000
Antonio Esfandiari	5,050,000	-50,000
Paul Newey	3,420,000	-250,000

Hand #139: On a flop of    , Cary Katz checked over to Daniel Negreanu who fired 1.1 million. Katz called and the board paired with the   on the turn. Both players checked to the   river. Katz dropped out 400,000, eliciting a chuckle from Negreanu.

"I missed," he said, throwing his hand into the muck.

Katz was awarded the pot.

Hand #140: Action folded to Negreanu and he completed his small blind. Rick Salomon checked and the flop came down    . Negreanu fired 600,000 and Salomon quickly tossed forward a call. The   dropped down on the turn and both players checked to see the   finish the board. Two more checks allowed Salomon to table a winning    for a pair of aces.

Hand #141: Salomon completed his small blind and Christoph Vogelsang checked the big blind. The two checked down an entire board of       and Vogelsang tabled a winning    for ace-high.

Hand #142: Negreanu opened to 800,000 from the cutoff and picked up the blinds and antes.

Hand #134: Rick Salomon raised under the gun to 900,000 and Christoph Vogelsang called from his left. The action folded to Daniel Negreanu, and he three-bet to 2,200,000 from the big blind. Salomon folded and Vogelsang gave it some thought.

"I mis-clicked man, I was trying to make it 3.2 million," Negreanu said.

Vogelsang ultimately called and the flop came down     and Negreanu bet 2.5 million. Vogelsang folded and Negreanu showed   .

"I would've felt so sick if I went bust there. I was just thinking 'fold, fold, fold'" Negreanu said, as he wasn't happy with his preflop three-bet. "I've mis clicked five times already in this tournament, I just keep messing up with these chips."

Hand #135: Rick Salomon received a walk.

Hand #136: Tom Hall raised under the gun and took down the blinds and antes.

Hand #137: Tom Hall received a walk.

Hand #138: Daniel Negreanu raised to 800,000 under the gun and Christoph Vogelsang three-bet to 1,850,000 from he button. Both blinds folded and Negreanu called. The flop came down     and both players checked. The turn was the   and Negreanu bet 1.6 million.

Vogelsang folded and Negreanu said, "I really wanted to get it in there on the flop," as he raked in another pot.

Daniel Negreanu	14,800,000	1,900,000
Christoph Vogelsang	13,400,000	-1,625,000