Unlike most final tables I covered, play was fairly loose with pots being contested multi-way and more than a single preflop raise needed to take down the hand. One of the chip leaders in Stephen Donlon was the first to exit after seeing his chip stack swing up and down over the three hours he was still in.

We lost two in quick succession before play returned to a somewhat normal state as the High Rollers Final Table began.

As the blinds and antes picked up in the Main Event, we were down to heads up play with Jarred ‘FlopNutsOnYou’ Graham holding a two-to-one chip advantage over Peter Zabow. Play wouldn’t last too much longer after Graham’s middle pair and straight draw improved to trips against Zabow’s top pair after all the money went in on the turn.

With an already impressive $310,000 in tournament earnings that include a High Rollers victory last December, a Six-Handed title in March and a High Stakes runner up finish in May, Graham added another $121,500 to a live record that matches any in the country over the last year.

Over in the High Rollers, a relative unknown in Tolly Sakellariou captured the $58,000 first prize after flushing out opponent George Moussa.

Once both tournaments were wrapped up both James and I hit the open bar for a quiet Corona or two.

Jarred and his entourage were also there enjoying more than their fair share of drinks, and as I finished my third drink I managed to convince them that a visit to the Craps table was needed – regardless of the fact that it was approaching 3am.

In total there were seven of us degens that hit the Craps table with both Jarred and Daniel Neilson struggling to keep the dice on the table while Monica Nguyen went on a few hot rolls to see us all pocket a profit.

However Jarred and Daniel wouldn’t last too long as they were eventually kicked out by the many security guards that were watching us closely. The remainder of us continued rolling away with Monica being the biggest winner of the group, while I managed to pocket $200 profit.

After everyone had dispersed for the evening I caught up with James and Romy as we went for a stroll looking for somewhere to eat – but at 4am we were unable to find anything and decided to just turn it in for the night to get some rest before returning home tomorrow.

I caught a flight from Avalon airport and was at the hotel in two hours. James and I were sharing a room at Star City, and from first inspection, it wasn’t at all shabby.

Once James arrived we met up with our point of contact Scott Colvin before heading out to grab some dinner with one of James’ friends Romy.

We hit a beer garden in the city, and after downing a chicken parma, another one of James’ friends, Sam, arrived and we were straight into the prop bets.

Sam had to finish a 500ml beer mixed with hot chocolate in under 25 seconds to win $100 off James, and after finishing it off comfortably James would be down a $100 . . . but it wouldn’t be too long until he attempted to win it back by trying to eat five cheeseburgers in 35 seconds at a McDonald’s up the road.

After barely finishing one in the allotted time, James emptied his wallet to Sam once again as we called it quits for the night.