The World Series of Poker Europe presented by Betfair is down to 9 players.  With the eliminations of Thomas Bichon and Keith Hawkins the field was down to 10 and consolidated with all players at the single feature table.  The crowd around the Casino at the Empire watched from every angle.  Spectators crowded around the stage at ground floor level and from 3 separate upstairs vantage points.  Single table play did not last long though.

With the blinds up to 10k / 20k with a 3k ante each pot held 60k in chips before anyone voluntarily put a chip in the pot.  In the hand that ended the night Jason “treysfull21″ Mercier was the first to put in a raise going after the blinds and antes and then Eric “P3achy_keen” Liu (right) moved all in over the top putting Mercier to a decision.  After having the dealer pull in the bets Jason decided he was getting the price to call and tossed out a handful of the white 25k chips to match Liu’s all in bet.  Once the cards were tabled the two wished each other luck.

Liu: QQ
Mercier: KJ

The AKT flop put Mercier in the lead and also gave him a royal flush draw, leaving Liu looking for a non club jack to win the hand and fade elimination.  The 7 and the 3 ended the night and set the final nine, leavin Eric Liu just on the outside, finishing in 10th place for 51,536 GBP.

For the final table of the WSOPE storylines abound.  Mercier had an amazing run today and in any other tourney would be the only considered headline, but with not one but two November Niners making it through to the final table the October Nine headline will have to lead many a poker story to discuss the amazing feat of James Akenhead and Antoine Saout.  Barry Shulman, father of November Niner Jeff Shulman is also at the final table here adding even another wrinkle.  Oh yeah, and don’t forget about ole Daniel Negreanu, just one of the biggest names in poker making back to back WSOPE final tables.  Holy smokes, what a final table.

Official Chip Counts for the Final Nine Coming Soon: These are close…

Jason “treysfull21″ Mercier - 3.2 million
James Akenhead - 1.4 million
Praz Bansi - 1.15 million
Barry Shulman - 1.1 million
Markus Ristola - 780k
Antoine Saout - 700k
Matt Hawrilenko - 675
Chris Bjorin - 520k
Daniel Negreanu - 440k

• October 1, 2009 -- Action: Hawrilenko Out 8th, Saout 7th, Bjorin 6th
• October 1, 2009 -- Next Up November: Akenhead Eliminated 9th
• October 1, 2009 -- Introductions
• September 30, 2009 -- Final Table Chip Counts