Around 3:30am Eastern Time, Amir Lehavotwas bucked from the 2013 World Series of Poker Main Event in third place to set up a heads-up battle between Jay Farberand Ryan Riess (pictured, image courtesy Andrew Feldman) for the title. The two held about two-thirds of the chips in play at one point early on six-handed, so it only seemed to be a matter of time until they were heads-up for the bracelet.

On Hand #157 of final table play, Canada’s Marc-Etienne McLaughlin was eliminated in sixth place from the Main Event. McLaughlin 6bet all-in before the flop, the first 6bet we could remember at the final table, and Farber insta-called, turning over the best starting hand in Texas Hold’em, pocket aces. McLaughlin held K-K and the board ran out 8-7-2-J-J. McLaughlin earned $1.6 million for his sixth place finish following the cooler.

Four hands later, the eliminations continued, as JC Tran open-shoved all-in on the short stack with A-7 and Farber looked him up with K-Q. The flop came king-high, giving Farber the early edge, and the Las Vegas VIP host ducked an ace on the river to eliminate Tran in fifth place for $2.1 million. Tran’s wife is about to give birth to the couple’s second child, so we assume he is headed back to Sacramento today. There was reportedly a private jet on standby to whisk Tran’s wife back to California if she went into labor. Tran was the November Nine chip leader.

Winamaxpro Sylvain Loosli (pictured) was the next to go. Also on the short stack, Loosli moved all-in pre-flop and Riess called with A-10. All Loosli could muster was Q-7. Loosli failed to improve during the hand and he was busted in fourth place for $2.7 million. The Frenchman recorded his very first WSOP in the money finish.

On the very next hand, heads-up play was set, as Lehavot 3bet all-in before the flop with pocket sevens and received a taker, as Riess looked him up with 10-10. Neither player improved and Lehavot exited in third place for $3.7 million. He has a dual citizenship from Israel and the United States and recorded his fourth WSOP cash of 2013.

Here’s how Farber and Riess will be stacked entering Tuesday’s conclusion. As you can see, the former has the lead. The blinds will be 500,000-1,000,000-150,000 when play resumes:

Jay Farber – 105,000,000 (105 big blinds)
Ryan Riess – 85,675,000 (85 big blinds)

Riess was at about 55 million in chips just before Loosli’s elimination, so the late run brought him far closes to Farber’s stack. Thus far, Riess has eliminated four players from the WSOP Main Event final table, while Farber has busted the remaining three. Farber heralded on Twitter, “Tomorrow for the belt!” He was fourth in chips when play began on Monday, while Riess was fifth.

On Tuesday, heads-up play will commence at 9:00pm Eastern Time from the Rio in Las Vegas. It’ll be beamed across the United States on ESPN on a 15-minute delay and the broadcast will continue until a champion is crowned. Last year, when three-handed play kicked off Tuesday’s finale, the Main Event was still going strong as of the first airing of “SportsCenter” on Wednesday morning. Stay tuned to PocketFives for the latest!

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