Six hours after heads-up play began in Event #44 of the World Series of Poker, a $1,500 No Limit Hold’em tournament, Jordan iMsoLucky0Morgan (pictured) and Evan McNiff “were exhausted and decided to call it quits for the day after playing through 10 long levels,” according to coverage on WSOP.com.

—

PocketFives’ WSOP coverage is brought to you by Real Gaming, a regulated online poker site in Nevada. Play Real Gaming, real money poker on any device. Play now for Final Table Freerolls. Skip straight to the final table and win cash daily.

—

“With less than 20 minutes remaining in Level 31, Morgan and McNiff started discussing, and quickly agreed, that they should just finish their battle the following day.” Incredibly, it took just 78 hands for the nine-handed final table to get to heads-up play. However, nearly 200 hands have since taken place without a winner being crowned.

Morgan entered heads-up play with a 4:1 advantage, but the tournament nearly ended with him all-in with A-K against K-K. As luck would have it, he spiked an ace on the river on the 199th hand of final table play to stay alive. The event marked Morgan’s first WSOP final table since 2007. He also won a Circuit ring that year in the Grand Casino Tunica Main Event.

PocketFiver Ray WirdPairFoley (pictured) exited in fourth place from the $1,500 No Limit Hold’em event after shoving from the small blind with K-9 and getting a call from Morgan, who tabled A-4 of diamonds. An ace hit on the flop to give Morgan the lead and no help came on the turn or river. Foley, who won a bracelet in a $1,500 No Limit Hold’em event in 2009, earned $147,000. The Michigan resident is up to nearly $1 million in career WSOP earnings.

Here’s how the chip stacks look entering the final day:

1. Jordan iMsoLucky0Morgan – 4,445,000
2. Evan McNiff – 4,170,000

Also at the Rio, Jason treysfull21Mercier (pictured) leads the $50,000 Poker Player’s Championship, which has 55 players remaining from its starting field of 102. Mercier has 802,000 in chips, slightly ahead of Main Event winner Jonathan Duhamel, who has 783,000. Speaking of Duhamel, if you didn’t hear, the woman charged with masterminding his assault (his ex-girlfriend) recently asked to stay behind bars, but a parole board is letting her go.

Let’s get back to the tournament now. One of the final eliminations of the night on Monday went to Joe Hachem, who was eliminated in a No Limit Hold’em hand after calling all-in on a board of 9-3-A-7. Hachem showed A-Q for top pair, while Brian Stinger885 Hastings flipped over 7-3 for two pair. The river was a 10 and Hachem, who won the Main Event in 2005, was sent packing.

Here are the top 10 chip stacks in the Poker Player’s Championship entering Day 3:

1. Jason treysfull21Mercier – 802,600
2. Jonathan Duhamel – 783,000
3. Shaun shaundeeb Deeb – 724,400
4. David Steicke – 711,100
5. Gary Benson – 534,700
6. Scott Seiver – 529,700
7. Matt Glantz – 522,800
8. David Oppenheim – 425,000
9. Roland Israelashvili – 404,700
10. Eli Elezra – 397,300

Stay tuned to PocketFives for the latest WSOP news, brought to you by Real Gaming, a regulated online poker site in Nevada.

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