| Tyler McKinnon started the day as the short stack and with about 4 rounds in blinds we expected him to get all the beans in early. Tyler did not disappoint when on hand 8 he moved his remaining 19K into the pot pre-flop with 9h 9c after Amir Mamar raised before him to 8K with As Ks. Amir called the all in and when the flop came down Js 8s 5h, Tyler was looking good and bad all at the same time. He managed to dodge an ace and a king but the spades were looming. The turn brought the 7c making Tyler the favorite once again, but when the 2s hit the river, we had our first casualty of the day.
Tyler McKinnon finishes today in 6th place and collects $6,111 for his efforts.
Making an appearance at today's final table was world renowned tournament director Warren Karp. Normally Warren is on the other side of the rail calling the action, but today he was right in the thick of it trying to reserve his spot in the semi-finals. Known for his aggressive moves pre-flop Warren made a bad choice on hand 15 when he pushed all in over the top of Josh Tushnet with 2d 2s. Josh was certainly quite happy to call since he was holding Kd Kh and after the final board read Qs 9d 6h 4d 5c we had our 5th place finisher.
Warren Karp finishes in 5th place and collects $7,130.
After another of hour of play we were still playing 4 handed. On hand number 43 that all came to a crashing halt when Amir Mamar decided that his As Qs was good enough for his last 30K in chips. For reasons quite unknown Joel Caper decided to call another 27K with Ah 3d and for a moment it looked like Amir was going to double up. When the flop came Kd Jh 6d, Amir was looking good. All he needed to dodge was a three or running diamonds. The turn was the 7d giving Joel the running flush draw as another out, but diamonds were not coming. The river was the 3s giving Joel a pair of three and awarding Amir 4th place prize money.
Amir Mamar finishes in 4th place and collects $8,148.
After another hour of three handed play, the blinds increased to 3K/6K with a 500 ante. Joel was the small stack for most of the three handed play and on hand 81 decided that he was going to send in his last $62K with Ad 2s. After getting lucky with ace rag twice previously, it was time for the poker gods to enforce poker justice. Josh called Joel's all in from the big blind with 9c 9s and after the final board read Qh Th 9h 6s 8s we had our 3rd place finisher.
Joel receives $11,204 for 3rd place.
Going into the heads up match Josh held an almost 3-1 chip lead over his opponent Randall Holland. Randall was playing a much more conservative style of play and was picking his spots well. On the flip side Josh was more of a runaway train, happily bluffing out his opponents on several huge pots earlier. There was no bluffing on the final hand of the night though when Randall raised to 20K with the Ac 9c from the small blind. Josh decided that his Ks Qd was good enough for him to move over the top so he did just that. Randall called and we saw a flop. Kh 5c Qs was enough to send Randall out of his chair and once the turn and river came down as 2c 6c we had our next winner.
Randall Holland finishes in 2nd place and collects $20,370 for his efforts.
Josh Tushnet wins today's event and collects $34,629. With the win Josh also moves on to the semi-finals where he has a chance to collect in the $125,000 added money.
This report was brought to you by TV Poker and Rob Huxley.
May the flop be with you. . . Always
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