Jack Salter and Mike Leah stand very good chances of being the two players who walk away with the gold on their wrists.
Brit Salter rode a commanding performance on the penultimate day of the $10,000 Main Event to lead the final six heading into the final table on Saturday.
Leah, meanwhile, rode a similarly dominating performance to wield the big stack into the $25,000 High Roller final table scheduled for tomorrow.
Trio of Americans Chase Salter
Play in the Main Event went from 18 players down to six over the course of the day with the big story early on a chase of a different sort - for WSOP Player of the Year.
Brandon Shack-Harris began the day needing to finish second or better to take the POY title from George Danzer. An early bust out in 17th forced Shack-Harris to quickly shift over to the High Roller but another bustout there locked up the title for Danzer.
The remaining players kept their eyes on the big carrot waiting for them in this event - the AUD $850,136 first-place prize.
The EPT Grand Final runner-up earlier in the year, Salter continued his impressive run by bagging up 3,255,000 for a big lead heading into the final. American Scott Davies is second with 2.2m.
Former WSOP Player of the Year Frank Kassela also earned a seat alongside fellow American Kyle Montgomery. The final table and chip counts:
1 Jack Salter 3,255,000 2 Scott Davies 2,210,000 3 Henry Wang 1,700,000 4 Frank Kassela 1,250,000 5 Kyle Montgomery 950,000 6 Ang Italiano 510,000
Tune in Saturday at 3:30 p.m. local time for live, cards-up coverage on ESPN and complementary coverage right here on PokerListings.
Leah Continues Blazing Run, Hellmuth Bubbles
The talk of 2014 has been Dan Colman's legendary tournament run but another well respected pro has also had the year of his life.
Canadian Mike "goleafsgoeh" Leah has knocked off two WSOP circuit rings and his first career seven-figure score among other accomplishments for his best year as a pro.
His success continued in Australia as he'll hold a commanding chip lead heading into the final table of the $25,000 High Roller.
Leah bagged up 2,576,000 for the big advantage over second-place David Yan's 1.2m when play picks up tomorrow.
Jesse Sylvia, Jonathan Duhamel and Brian Roberts all made the final six but combined have less than 1m in chips. The final six and chip counts:
1 Mike Leah 2,576,000 2 David Yan 1,278,000 3 Jesse Sylvia 580,000 4 Jonathan Duhamel 358,000 5 Brian Roberts 207,000 6 Sam Khouiss 106,000
Phil Hellmuth missed the cash and another shot at his 14th bracelet, busting in ninth. Tune in tomorrow for live reports straight from the floor right here on PokerListings.com.
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