We’ve finally had an elimination from the final table of the One Drop event at the 2012 World Series of Poker. The money went in before the flop, with Richard Yong (pictured, center) holding A-2 against Brian tsarrastRast’s K-J. The flop came down a rather uneventful 7-3-5, which ESPN poker commentator Olivier livb112 Busquet called “a pretty good flop for Yong.” Rast and Yong anxiously watched the dealer burn and turn a deuce, which gave Yong a pair, but left Rast drawing to the same six outs.

As luck would have it, a cowboy fell on the river, igniting the crowd into a frenzy as Yong was bumped from the final table of the WSOP One Drop event in eighth place. Yong smiled at Rast and gave his opponent a jubilant thumbs-up. Rast stood up and counted out his newfound chips. Busquet noted, “It’s so painful when it comes on the last card on the river like that. It’s tough to swallow for Richard Yong.

Yong banked $1.2 million. ESPN’s Norman Chad picked up on Yong’s demeanor as well, observing, “Pure joy after being knocked out. He looked pretty relaxed through his three days here. He loved it.” With one turn of the card, the One Drop final table had been trimmed to seven players.

Rast was up to 13 million in chips as a result, which wasn’t a short stack, but Lon McEachern noted that the sum “should give him some breathing room.” Rast and Phil Hellmuth held about the same number of chips, while Antonio Esfandiari led the way with 28% of the chips in play. Sam Trickett was right behind with 26%. Esfandiari had a VPIP of 37% and a PFR of 31%. By contrast, Hellmuth’s VPIP and PFR were both 8%.

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So, once again, who are you rooting for? In a thread on PocketFives, TheSquirrel, who hails from Trickett’s native U.K., wrote, “I’ve been a fan of Esfandiari ever since I saw him play his heart out in the EPT Grand Prix a few years back. Made a brilliant call from some kid who raised about 1000 times the BB with AT or something ridiculous. Esfandiari read it right and called with QQ only to receive a brutal beat. Then, later on, he got his chips in with the best of it once again only to lose.”

Then, when we looked back up at the television, on a rainbow flop of 8-6-4, Bobby Baldwin moved all-in for 3.4 million and Guy Laliberté (pictured), who has been to space, looked him up. When the cards were shown, Laliberté held 5-4 for a pair and a straight draw, while Baldwin had K-9 of spades. Chad called it a “billionaire showdown.” A five on the turn gave Laliberté two pair, but a lucky seven on the river gave Baldwin a straight. That was yet another exciting river in the WSOP One Drop event.

Both players were fairly unemotional during the hand, especially Baldwin, who remained stoic throughout. All Laliberté could do was put his hand on his chin and smile. Let’s not forget that Baldwin’s name graces the most famous high-stakes cash game room in the world, Bobby’s Room at the Bellagio.

At the dinner break, here are the chip stacks:

1. Sam Trickett – 41,900,000
2. Antonio Esfandiari – 38,425,000
3. Phil Hellmuth – 17,875,000
4. Brian Rast – 12,650,000
5. David Einhorn – 11,775,000
6. Guy Lalibert̩ Р11,225,000
7. Bobby Baldwin – 10,150,000

The tournament resumes at 8:00pm ET on ESPN on a 15-minute delay and online at WSOP.com.