We finally made it!

After every week of exciting poker action here at PokerStars LIVE Macau the Red Dragon final table is here at last.

When things kicked off at 3pm we had 55 players and weren't sure how long the day would last. Approximately eight hours later and that Day 3 field have been whittled right down to a lucky nine.

Leading our final nine is none rather than China's Liang Xu. He had a gentle climb throughout proceedings and received a pleasant boost to his stack when he won a flip holding pocket eights against Kelly Liu's ace-queen to send her home just a couple players wanting an appearance tomorrow.

Leading the charge - Liang Xu

Xu isn't any stranger to winning a tournament in Macau having shipped the ACOP Platinum Series XI back in October for HK$169,300. With HK$190,000 going to ninth place here for this Red Dragon event Xu has already guaranteed himself the largest cash of his career and can be chasing the HK$2,360,000 first-place prize.

Perhaps the tale of the tournament, however, is that of 'Baby' Tom Alner. The one player outside of Asia to ever win the Red Dragon, Alner has again made the overall table of this prestigious event. He returns tomorrow as one in all our short stacks but that hasn't dampened his spirits.

"It's awesome. I'm so hyped to get through the sort of huge field" Alner said about his chance at a two-time victory.

Will Tom Alner become Red Dragon champion again?

Unfortunately for Nan Tu it was a unique story tonight. He left us in 10th place because the final table Bubble Boy. Tu first took an enormous blow to his stack when he ran pocket sixes into the pocket kings of Fan Xie. Following that he peddled a brief stack for some time before finding himself dominated and in danger against Takashi Ogura.

Tu held A♣5♣ and needed help against Ogura's A♦Q♣. He would never find it because the board ran out 6♠8♠K♠2♦8♣ to look the players and railbirds within the tournament erupt in cheer and play come to an in depth for Day 3.

Fan Xie celebrates along with her rail because the final table bubble bursts

So that leaves nine left in search of the celebrated Red Dragon title and the best-looking trophy in poker. Here's where our players are sitting and the way they fare within the chip counts.

MPC24 Red Dragon Final Table DrawSeat 1 - Takashi Ogura (Japan) - 2,710,000Seat 2 - Liang Xu (China) - 3,375,000Seat 3 - Fan Xie (China) - 1,110,000Seat 4 - Ying Lin Chua (Malaysia) - 2,665,000Seat 5 - Chengbei Lei (China) 1,700,000Seat 6 - Yang Zhang (China) - 1,375,000Seat 7 - Tom Alner (UK) - 1,030,000Seat 8 - Yongqiang Huang (China) - 520,000Seat 9 - Wayne Zhang (China) - 1,610,000

So that's a wrap until tomorrow. Play will recommence at 3pm local time and will not conclude until we now have our champion. We are hoping you'll join us for the exciting conclusion of this MPC24 Red Dragon!

Read More... [Source: PokerStarsBlog.com :: Asia Pacific Poker Tour]