Hand #7: Christian Harder raised to 140,000 from under the gun. Rasmus Glæsel moved all in from early position for his remaining 1,275,000 and Harder called.
Harder:
Glæsel:
Glæsel found himself in the midst of a classic race, hoping to hit one of six cards in the deck to stay alive.
The flop came , which was of no help to Glæsel.
The turn was the , and the river was the . Harder's pocket tens held, sending Glæsel to the rail in sixth place.
Hand #1: Rasmus Glæsel opened for 135,000 with . Aleksei Opalikhin, in the hijack, called with . The flop came and Glæsel bet 150,000 with his flopped set. Opalikhin folded right away.
Hand #2: On the button, Michael Gentili found and raised to 130,000. Small blind Christian Harder woke up with and three-bet to 425,000. The big blind folded, and so did Gentili.
Hand #3: Aleksei Opalikhin was first to act and raised to 135,000. Rasmus Glæsel called from the big blind with and check-called 160,000 on . The turn came the and now Glæsel check-folded to Opalikhin's 290,000 bet.
Hand #4: Christian Harder raised to 135,000 from the button, followed by small blind Rasmus Glæsel who three-bet to 325,000 with . Big blind Aleksei Opalikhin found and glanced at his neighbor's stack. The Russian player eventually four-bet to 700,000. Harder folded, and so did Glæsel after some time in the tank.
Hand #5: Rasmus Glæsel raised from the button, making it 130,000. Both blinds folded.
Hand #6: Christian Harder was in early position with and raised to 140,000. Cliff Josephy was in the small blind and moved all in for 1,120,000 with . Harder folded, sending Josephy the pot.
The PokerStars Championship Bahamas Main Event is down to the final six players and will kick off in a couple of hours.
Although the start time is Noon, it is important to note that the live stream will kick in at 1:00PM, meaning the live updates on PokerNews will begin then as well to avoid any spoilers and protect the integrity of the game.
After a long week of poker, Canada's Mike Gentili leads the remaining six players in their quest for the title and first place prize of $480,012. Everyone is guaranteed a six-figure payday of $103,780. Cliff Josephy is coming in as the short stack with Rasmus Glæsel not too far ahead of him. Here is a look at how the players stack up against each other today:
Seat
Player
Country
Chip Count
1
Michael Vela
United States
1,755,000
2
Christian Harder
United States
5,985,000
3
Rasmus Glæsel
Denmark
1,560,000
4
Aleksei Opalikhin
Russia
4,590,000
5
Cliff Josephy
United States
1,240,000
6
Michael Gentili
Canada
6,175,000
Blinds will continue at 30,000/60,000 with a 10,000 ante and the tournament will play down to a winner today.
Stay locked in on PokerNews for all of the coverage today as we crown the first-ever PokerStars Championship Bahamas Main Event winner!
The following players headline the final table today:
New York’s Michael "MVP" Vela has been playing poker for more than a decade. He's earned nearly $2 million in live tournaments, with the vast majority of that coming from his big win in the 2007 WPT World Poker Finals at Foxwoods. On his way to that $1,704,986 payday, Vela outlasted a tough final table that included former WPT champs Nick Schulman and Nenad Medic, as well as a 21-year-old Tom Dwan, a nosebleed superstar in the making at the time. Vela, who's now 50 years old, has been active on the felt since then, but so far hasn't come close to repeating that breakthrough success. He’s doing his part to prove that his skills are still up to par here in The Bahamas, mounting an impressive run to this finale.
Vela's Main Event run:
Christian Harder is 29-year-old professional poker player from Annapolis, Maryland. As is the case for several others at the final table, his live and online results are both impressive, rivaling each other in magnitude. Playing under his screenname “charder30”, Harder has racked up more than $3.2 million in online winnings, and he’s added more than $3.7 million in live tournaments to bring his total career earnings to more than $7 million combined. He’s part of a young and talented Maryland poker community, ranking fourth on the state’s all-time money list behind his close friends Tony Gregg and Greg Merson.
Harder's Main Event run:
Rasmus Glæsel hails from Copenhagen, but has been living in Oslo for 22 years. The 33-year-old former investment banker is a relative unknown on the live scene but has been regularly playing both tournaments and cash games online for several years. Glæsel just recently decided to start traveling around the live circuit, and he chose The Bahamas as his first stop. On his way here, he stopped in Cuba for five days and will return there with a little extra spending money once this PokerStars Championship is complete. "We arrived with a bunch of Norwegian friends,” he said. “There was seven of us playing the Main Event, and four of us cashed.” Rasmus' girlfriend, Ana, is supporting him from the rail.
Russian player Aleksei Opalikhin has made it to the first ever PokerStars Championship Main Event final table despite not even planning to compete in the tournament, initially. The 28-year-old from St. Petersburg used to play billiards on a competitive level, and he considers poker to be a similar discipline — mainly in regards to the psychological demands, such as concentration and patience. Opalikhin decided to travel, and chose The Bahamas as the first stop of his tour of Latin America. He intended to grind some of the smaller-buy-in events here at the Atlantis Resort, but ended up wining a seat to the Main Event in a $650 satellite.
Opalikhin's Main Event run:
More commonly referred to by his online screen name, “JohnnyBax” is a 51-year-old pro who’s perhaps best known for being one of the original heroes of online poker, reaching PocketFives’ worldwide #1 ranking in 2005. His live record received a big boost this past summer, too, when he charged though the massive WSOP Main Event field and punched his ticket to November’s final table. Josephy went on to finish in third place, earning a career-best score of nearly $3.5 million. He has just over $10 million in combined live and online earnings, and he’ll be formidable force to contend with at the final table.
Josephy's Main Event run:
, which was of no help to Glæsel.
, and the river was the 
. Harder's pocket tens held, sending Glæsel to the rail in sixth place.
. Aleksei Opalikhin, in the hijack, called with 
. The flop came 
and Glæsel bet 150,000 with his flopped set. Opalikhin folded right away.
and raised to 130,000. Small blind Christian Harder woke up with 
and three-bet to 425,000. The big blind folded, and so did Gentili.
to 135,000. Rasmus Glæsel called from the big blind with 
and now Glæsel check-folded to Opalikhin's 290,000 bet.
to 135,000 from the button, followed by small blind Rasmus Glæsel who three-bet to 325,000 with 
and glanced at his neighbor's stack. The Russian player eventually four-bet to 700,000. Harder folded, and so did Glæsel after some time in the tank.
from the button, making it 130,000. Both blinds folded.
