The final table has been set at the New Zealand Poker Tour Main Event at the Sky City casino in Auckland, with nine players left to battle it out today for a slice of the $506,250 prizepool.
Australian poker professional Minh Hau Nguyen is favourite to pick up the first prize pay cheque of $132,000, but will have his work cut out against some of Australia and New Zealand's best players.
Nguyen will start the final table with 1,605,500 in chips, nearly one million chips more than Kiwi philosophy student Sam Williams who sits in second with 633,000.
The money bubble lasted for over an hour and half yesterday, before Robert Spano ran his queen, eight of diamonds into Nguyen's ace jack off suit to bust out.
There was more tension than usual for this bubble because it determined the Australia and New Zealand Player of the Year.
