Event #3: £3,000 No-Limit Hold’em

Tournament Director Jack Effel has just asked three of the final table players to remove their headphones. In the States for the WSOP, you cannot use headphones when you make it to the money of an event. Here in London, the rule applies once you hit the final table.

From middle position, Nicky Katz raised to 21,000. Defending champion JP Kelly made the call from the big blind and the flop came down    . Kelly checked and Katz fired 25,000. Kelly made it 63,000 to go and then Katz moved all in. Kelly made the cheap call for only a little bit more holding the    for a double-gutshot straight draw. Katz held the   .

The turn brought the   and completed an unbeatable straight for Kelly. The river ended things officially with the  .

Katz finished in ninth place and earned over £10,000 for his finish. Kelly moved himself one step closer to glory with that elimination.

Nicky Katz called from the small blind before Paul Pitchford moved all in from the big blind for 76,000. Katz folded and another shove went uncalled.

With a dead small blind due to the elimination of Stephan Nitschke in 10th place last night, Jack Lyman shoved in from under the gun and won the pot.

We're just moments away from the start of the final table for Event #3 here at the 2010 World Series of Poker Europe! Leading the way into the final is Canadian Kaveh Payman with a whopping 434,000 chips, but that's not the story here folks.

British professional and two-time bracelet winner JP Kelly is going to back-to-back glory in his title defense run here at the Casino at the Empire. Kelly is also looking to become the youngest player to three gold bracelets and surpass Phil Ivey's record.

What else? Well, Mehdi Senhaji is looking to become the first Moroccan player to win a gold bracelet. He'd also be the first from the continent after Africa. He sits in second place on the leader board while Kelly is in third.

So who will it be? Be sure to stick right here on PokerNews to find out! The cards will be in the air shortly.

This final table is all about JP Kelly. Why you might ask? Well, Kelly is the defending champion of this event for one. Successfully defending his title would make him the first to do in a gold bracelet event in the game of No-Limit Hold'em since Johnny Chan won the 1987 and 1988 Main Events. Phil Hellmuth won the same Hold'em title in 1992 and 1993 as well. Those are the last two players to become victorious in their title defense in Hold'em variations and Kelly could join that elite group if he wins today.

Last year, Kelly bested a field of 608 players to take home first place in this event. It's his only cash ever in the WSOP Europe, but it was a win worth £136,803. Kelly also became the first British player with a WSOP Europe bracelet and the second player behind Jesper Hougaard to win a WSOP and a WSOP Europe bracelet in the same year. Earlier that year, he won the $1,500 Pot-Limit Hold'em event out in Las Vegas.

As if that's not even history to be chasing, Kelly would become the youngest ever three-time bracelet winner. Right now, oh, only Phil Ivey holds that record. Kelly would smash that record by over a year and he's well aware of it.

Prior to this cash and final table, Kelly had nine WSOP cashes and two final tables. He has quite the record when he makes the final table though; winning the events both times he has been there. If Kelly wins this, he'd be a perfect 3/3 when he makes a WSOP final table.

Outside of the WSOP, Kelly has numerous other accolades. He's cashes in five EPT events with three of those being cashes in the Main Event at each stop. He's also cashed three times down in Australia during the Aussie Millions tournaments series. He cashed once in the Main Event down there in 2009 and then again the following year, including a finish in the money in a side event. On top of that, Kelly's won numerous events around England.

Kelly comes into the day with 242,000 in chips, firmly in third place on the leader board. He has position on the two stacks larger than him and that may serve a great advantage for Kelly. Position can be everything in poker. With the way Kelly is playing right now, it's hard to bet against him as he moves towards gold bracelet number three and a successful defense of his title.

Not much can be said about Mehdi Senhaji, who comes into the final table second on the leader board. We know he's from Casablanca, Morocco and that this is his first WSOP ever. Not bad that he happened to maneuver his way to the final table second in chips. Senhaji has been playing some power poker throughout the event and we really haven't seen him without a big stack. He's made some timely lay downs of big hands and pounced when the time was right - all of which have helped him get here to the final table.

Much like his tablemate JP Kelly, Senhaji will be chasing some history today. If he can pull off the win, he'll become the first-ever WSOP champion and gold bracelet winner from Morocco. Not only that, but he'd be the first player ever to take home a WSOP title from the massive continent of Africa. We'd say that's a lot riding on his shoulders then.

Senhaji made it to this even. The question is now, how much more will he make? Senhaji already dons a pair of gold-trimmed headphones, something a shiny gold bracelet would match up with rather nicely.

The second shortest stack coming into the day, Paul Pitchford will have his work cut out for him if he's to claim his first bracelet today. His cumulative poker tournament earnings total just over $3,000, a number which he hopes to multiply several times over here today. His three previous cashes came in tournaments with buyins of less than £75, but Pitchford has thus far proven that he possesses the skill set needed to handle the jump up to this next tier of tournaments.

His count of 77,000 means he's got to make something happen early on today, but we certainly aren't counting him out just yet.

Scott Shelley is an amateur player from right here in London, and he works for a European online poker site. It is his second year playing at the WSOPE, though he was without a cash in his first go-round in 2009. It wasn't for lack of trying though; Shelley bubbled this event to leave empty-handed.

One year later, he's qualified for this event through a staff satellite. He's parlaying that entry into something special here, turning in an impressive performance that's led him all the way to the final table. He begins play in the middle of the pack with 148,000 chips, and he's already locked up his first WSOP cash this week.