Giuseppina Sferlazza only managed to accumulate a net total of 1,000 chips over the last two hours, but her early dominance was such that she didn’t need to do much to maintain her overall lead. At 152,500 chips, she’s still more than double the chip average, and well placed to make a deep run.

However, her competitors were not resting on their laurels, they were busy playing catch-up. There are now six players nipping at Giuseppina’s heels, all of whom have more than 100,000 chips. And they’re getting closer all the time. With registration now closed and the blinds up at 1,000/2,000, the number of players can only go down from here.

Once we’re down to nine players, it will be final table time. But that won’t happen for a few more hours. Stay tuned!