In the money, and goodbye Mr. Bubble Bush

After a long hand-to-hand session, we've finally reached the final 27 players, and, hence, the money.

Getting to the money was as comedic as it was sad.

With 28 players remaining, Londoner Gary Bush was on a desperately shortstack and was holding on by the skin of any teeth he could find. Once, he doubled up with AQ against Joachim Sanejstra and it gave him new life.

In the interim, others came close to bubbling.

In one case, a player from the U.K. pushed in and a Frenchman labored and labored over whether to call. At one point, he picked up a mock phone and desperately asked "Mama? Mama?" The man needed advice. Finally he folded KT suited and saw his opponent turn over AK.

Clutching his heart like America's Fred Sanford in a heart attack fit, the man again picked up his mock phone and said, "Merci, Mama! Merci!"

Shortly thereafter on another table, the button made an ill-advised blind steal and the big blind pushed all-in. The amount of money in the pot required the button to call. Still, the big blind begged.

With a pint of Beefeater Gin in him, the big blind stood and belted out the chorus to SuperTramp's "Give a Little Bit."

"Give a little bit!," he sang. "Give a little bit of your chips to me!"

The button called and with a smile turned over nine-three. The big blind had AT and took down the hand.

Finally, it came back to Gary Bush. Again in desperation, he pushed in with pocket fives and again Sanejstra called. This time with A7. Bush's hand didn't hold up and he left with no cash.


Bubble Bush

Now we're in the money.

For those watching the young guns, Noah Boeken and Elky have both busted out, as well. Pascal Perrault is still the chip leader, now with 326,000 in chips.

Updates as they are warranted.