We’re down to three players in the 2014 World Series of Poker Main Event. After 244 hands, play ended at the Rio in Las Vegas during the morning rush hour on the East Coast. Jorryt Van Hoof, Martin Jacobson, and Felix Stephensen (pictured) will fight for a $10 million top prize on Tuesday night starting at 8:30pm ET, with the action airing on a half-hour delay starting at 9:00pm ET on ESPN.

—

PocketFives’ WSOP coverage is brought to you by William Hill Poker, one of the largest skins on the iPoker Network. The poker room offers a generous welcome package including a 200% deposit bonus up to $2,000 and a superb VIP program. Visit William Hill today!

—

Van Hoof had reclaimed the chip lead and play was eight-handed when this author turned in for the night around 1:00am ET. Shortly thereafter, Bruno Politano, who brought 150 screaming fans from Brazil, open-shoved with Q-10 offsuit and found a taker in Stephensen, who called from the big blind. Stephensen showed pocket sevens and the pair held, sending Politano home in eighth place for $947,000.

Coverage on PokerNews detailed about Politano’s exit, “As Stephensen scooped the pot to climb to over 27 million, Politano’s rail continued to chant, cheer, and clap for their countryman as he embraced all the support with a big smile on his face before exiting the stage.”

Dan Sindelar(pictured) was the next to go after 4bet shoving pre-flop with pocket jacks. Van Hoof, who 3bet in the hand, called, showed A-3 of hearts, and flopped top pair and a flush draw to take a commanding lead. The offsuit jack never came for Sindelar, who headed to the rail in seventh place for $1.2 million.

Billy Pappasdoubled up twice in a span of four hands to jump into third place in the Main Event. Then, on the 140th hand of final table play, Spain’s Andoni Larrabe 3bet all-in before the flop and Van Hoof once again called, this time with K-5 of hearts. Larrabe had J-10 of clubs for what amounted to a coin flip, but the board ran out 8-3-K-8-6 to give Van Hoof the pot. Larrabe made $1.6 million for sixth place.

With that pot, Van Hoof had 40% of the chips in play and seemed like a runaway freight train. One shy of hand #200, Stephensen doubled through him with A-8 against J-J. Stephensen hit an ace on the flop to take the lead and no saving jack came on the turn or river.

Nine hands later, Jacobson, who had been quite short earlier in the night, doubled through Pappas with pocket fives against A-J. Jacobson hit a set on the flop to leave Pappas with less than an ante and the latter was eliminated on the next hand to set up four-handed play. Pappas Tweeted after his final pot, “Thanks everyone for the support! Seems like I became kind of a fan favorite. It’s truly an honor!”

Finally, William Tonking (pictured), who had looked impressive once he opened his game up, ran ducks into pocket tens on his final hand. Tonking picked up a flush draw on the flop, but blanked on the turn and river to bust in fourth place for $2.8 million.

Despite the late hour, the action continued through the end of the level, or another 20 hands, setting up Tuesday night’s conclusion. Here are the chip stacks:

Jorryt van Hoof – 89,625,000
Martin Jacobson – 64,750,000
Felix Stephensen – 46,100,000

Former WSOP Main Event champion Greg Merson commented on social media, “All 3 of these guys would make a deserving champ. Excited to welcome one of them to the fraternity.” Jacobson went from the second shortest stack in the room to the second largest three-handed, while Van Hoof and Stephensen were 1-2, respectively, when nine-handed play began.

If you were sleeping, Mark Newhouse finished in ninth place after busting with pocket tens. This is the same position he finished in last year, but will still go down as one of the most impressive feats in the history of poker.

When play resumes, the blinds will be 600,000-1.2 million with an ante of 200,000. Stay tuned to PocketFives for the latest from the 2014 WSOP Main Event.

Want the latest poker headlines and interviews? Follow PocketFives on Twitterand Like PocketFives on Facebook. You can also subscribe to our RSS feed.