Event 17 (Day 3): 1st Place - Christian Harder ($84,270)

Level 27 (Blinds 12,000/24,000/3,000)
Total Entries: 178
Players Remaining: 1
Chip Average: 5,340,000

Event 17 Winner - Christian Harder

Moments after the 2 remaining players left to take a scheduled 15-minute break, they looked back at the table and realized they had almost identical chip stacks.

After about a 10-second discussion, they agreed to an even chop with Christian taking home the trophy:

Christian Harder - $84,270

Brian Hastings - $84,270

That's a wrap for the Main Event, as well as the series. We hope you've enjoyed our coverage of the 2014 Live! Summer Series of Poker over the past few weeks.

Event 17 (Day 3) 2nd Place - Brian Hastings ($84,270)

Level 27 (Blinds 12,000/24,000/3,000)
Total Entries: 178
Players Remaining: 2
Chip Average: 2,670,000

2nd Place - Brian Hastings

Moments after the 2 remaining players left to take a scheduled 15-minute break, they looked back at the table and realized they had almost identical chip stacks.

After about a 10-second discussion, they agreed to an even chop with Christian taking home the trophy:

Christian Harder - $84,270

Brian Hastings - $84,270

Event 17 (Day 3): Harder Closes Gap

Level 27 (Blinds 12,000/24,000/3,000)
Total Entries: 178
Players Remaining: 2
Chip Average: 2,670,000

Christian Harder pre-flop raised to 55,000 before Brian Hastings 3-bet to 170,000, which Harder called.

The flop came out Q♣ 3♣ 7♠. Hastings bet 225,000, and Harder called again.

After the 6♣ on the turn, Hastings checked and allowed Harder to be the aggressor in the form of a 290,000 chip bet. Hastings folded immediately, ceding a little over 400,000 chips in the hand.

Hastings - 3,240,000
Harder - 2,100,000

Event 17 (Day 3): 3rd Place - Ulises Roman ($39,555)

Level 27 (Blinds 12,000/24,000/3,000)
Total Entries: 178
Players Remaining: 2
Chip Average: 2,670,000

3rd Place - Ulises Roman

Ulises Roman was well behind both Christian Harder and Brian Hastings when he woke up to a pocket pair on the button. He pre-flop raised to 63,000 before Hastings re-raised over the top. Roman announced all-in and Hastings quickly called.

Hastings: A♦ 10♠      Roman: 8♦ 8♣

Flop: 6♥ 4♠ 3♥
Turn: 3♣
River: 10♥

Roman's pair was holding up quite well in the race until Hastings paired his 10x on the river. He takes home $39,555 for the third-place finish.

As Hastings and Harder enter into heads up play, both players have over 2,000,000 chips, but Hastings has the early advantage by about a 1.2 million chip margin.

Event 17 (Day 3): 4th Place - John O'Brien ($27,860)

Level 27 (Blinds 12,000/24,000/3,000)
Total Entries: 178
Players Remaining: 3
Chip Average: 1,780,000

4th Place - John O'Brien

On the first hand of Level 27, the two shortest stacks at the table went head to head.

John O'Brien pushed all-in from the small blind with less than 400,000 chips remaining. Christian Harder thought for approximately 0.004 seconds before calling and flipping over a big blind special.

Harder: A♠ A♦      O'Brien: 10♥ 9♥

Flop: 10♣ 7♣ 2♣
Turn: 8♠
River: 4♦

O'Brien got some life on the flop when the 10 gave him 5 outs, but it wasn't meant to be. He takes home $27,860 for the fourth-place finish.

The three remaining players have these chip stacks:

Brian Hastings: 3.4 million
Christian Harder: 1.2 million
Ulises Roman: 800,000

Event 17 (Day 3): Chip Update

Level 26 (Blinds 10,000/20,000/3,000)
Total Entries: 178
Players Remaining: 4
Chip Average: 1,335,000

40 minutes into Level 26, and still minimal action.

During that time, Harder has lost about 400,000 chips, and Roman has gained them.

Brian Hastings - 3.0 million
Ulises Roman - 1.5 million
Christian Harder - 500,000
John O'Brien - 400,000

Event 17 (Day 3): Plenty of Effort, Minimal Work

Level 26 (Blinds 10,000/20,000/3,000)
Total Entries: 178
Players Remaining: 4
Chip Average: 1,335,000

There have been a few decent pots in the 20 minutes since the players returned from break. But if you'll recall from physics class, if you carry a piano up the stairs and carry it back down the stairs to the same starting point, you've "physically" done no work.

That's where the 4 remaining players are, as their chip counts are all but identical to what they were at break.