Just two days before the November Nine is decided for 2009, 26-year-old Sydneysider Charlie Elias is the last Aussie hope in this year's WSOP Main Event. The APL qualifier from Sydney has outlasted 99 per cent of the field, and is already assured a life-changing payday of $108,047.

A total of 185 players started day six, with just 64 remaining after five two-hour levels. The average stack is just over three-million, with Elias holding 4.19 million in 13th chip position overall.

Defending champion Peter Eastgate was eliminated late in the day, in the middle of level 25. He ended up as the 78th-place finisher. He busted out with A-J against Billy Kopp’s 8-8. Eastgate initially connected with a pair of aces. But Kopp ended up making a heart flush, which eliminated the Danish poker champion.

It was an impressive run for the Danish poker pro. Eastgate made the deepest run by a defending champion since Greg “Fossilman” Raymer’s remarkable 25th-place finish in the 2005 Main Event.

Eastgate was the final former Main Event champion left standing in this year’s championship. 2005 WSOP champion Joe Hachem, who also started the day in contention, was eliminated in 104th place.

Two females started the day. They were Nichoel Peppe (Long Beach, California) who began in 35th place. Leo Margets (Barcelona, Spain) started in 135th place. However, their positions were reversed as Margets survived. Peppe busted out in 75th place. Margets is now the only female player left in the field of 64. She is currently in 18th place.

Sarne Lightman, who presently lives in San Jose, Costa Rica, ended up as the 112th-place finisher. Lightman, the former PokerStars manager for the Asia-Pacific region, overseas operations of the Latin American Poker Tour, which will be entering its third season later this year.

Darvin Moon is the chip leader after six days of play. He lives in the small eastern Maryland town of Oakland. Moon owns and operates a small logging company with other family members. Most of his days are spent in pine forests scattered throughout the Maryland panhandle. This is Moon’s first WSOP event, and his first trip to Las Vegas.

Five levels have again been scheduled today, with the structure:

Level 26: 25,000/50,000 (ante 5000)
Level 27: 30,000/60,000 (ante 10,000)
Level 28: 40,000/80,000 (ante 10,000)
Level 29: 50,000/100,000 (ante 10,000)
Level 30: 60,000/120,000 (ante 15,000)

Official chip count (after day six)

1 Darvin Moon (Oakland, MD) 9,745,000
2 Billy Kopp (Erlanger, KY) 8,245,000
3 Phil Ivey (Las Vegas, NV) 6,345,000
4 Steven Begleiter (Chappaqua, NY) 6,315,000
5 Ludovic Lacay (Paris, France) 5,965,000
6 Antonio Esfandiari (Las Vegas, NV) 5,610,000
7 Tommy Vedes (Queens, NY) 5,430,000
8 Antoine Saout (Saimr Martin des Champs, France) 5,195,000
9 Ben Lamb (Las Vegas, NV) 4,975,000
10 Nick Maimone (Charlotte, NC) 4,900,000

Australian chip counts (after day six)

Charlie Elias (Sydney) 4,190,000

73 Daniel Neilson (Sydney) $68,979
95 Tian Shou (Sydney) $47,003
105 Joe Hachem (Melbourne) $40,288
146 Joey Lawrence (Sydney) $40,288
148 Mike Comer (Sydney) $40,288
248 Jonathan Wertheim (Sydney) $32,963
256 Chad Awerbuch (Sydney) $32,963
267 Craig Ivey (Adelaide) $32,963
401 Jarrod Holmes $27,469
404 Emma Grace (Gold Coast) $27,469
511 Paren Arzoomanian (Sydney) $23,196

Payout structure

1st $8,546,435
2nd $5,182,601
3rd $3,479,485
4th $2,502,787
5th $1,953,395
6th $1,587,133
7th $1,404,002
8th $1,300,228
9th $1,263,602
10-12th $896,730
13-15th $633,022
16-18th $500,557
19-27th $352,832
28-36th $253,941
37-45th $178,857
46-54th $138,568
55-63rd $108,047
64-72nd $90,344 (current)
73-81st $68,979
82-90th $57,991
91-99th $47,003
100-162nd $40,288
163-225th $36,626
226-288th $32,963
289-360th $29,911
361-432nd $27,469
433-504th $25,027
505-576th $23,196
577-648th $21,365

• Remember, you can keep up to date with the latest happening from the 2009 World Series of Poker by following twitter.com/bluffaussie.

Posted by Sean Callander, 11.55am, 14/7/09