| With 260,000 in play today, Ed Winfield came to the final table with almost half of the chips in play. On the first hand of the day William 'JR' Derosa raised to 2400 with 7d 7s. Action was folded around to the chip leader Ed who some how talked himself into folding pocket eights (8h 8d). The next crazy play of the hand came from the short stack James after he decided to flat call the raise with Ts 3s. After the flop hit 2d 8s 4c, James checked and William moved all in. Ed was now kicking himself for playing as tight as he did, since had he called he would have flopped a set and potentially busted the second biggest stack at the table. As it happened, Ed folded and William took the first hand of the day.
On the 11th hand of the day Bob Hume took his Td 9s up against Larry Vezina's Ac Qs. After a queen hit the turn it was all over red rover for Bob and we were now down to 5 players.
Bob Hume finishes in 6th place and collects $3,783.
On hand 30 Max and James went head to head on a huge pot. James raised from the button to 7K with Kh Jd. Max re-rasied from the big blind 20K more holding the Qh Th. After Max's re-raise James decided to send it all in for a further 23,400 more. Max called and we were heading to the flop. The final board came Qd 8d 7s 2s Ah and Max had eliminated James in 5th place.
James Bradley finishes in 5th place and collects $4,414.
After folding the set of eights on the first hand, Ed Winfield never really recovered. On hand 44 Ed looked down at 9h Th from the small blind and raised to 7K. The Canadian Larry Vezina re-raised 12K more with the Kd Ts. Ed called and when the flop landed Js 8s 9s Ed decided to move all in. Larry called and Ed now had to dodge some bullets to stay alive. The 5d on the turn was a nice card for Ed but when the river came 3s Larry completed his flush and Ed Winfield was eliminated. On an interesting note, Ed Winfield was playing just his 3rd tournament. A stellar effort Ed and we hope to see him at a final table again soon.
Ed Winfield finishes in 4th place and collects $5,044.
Now 3 handed, play continued a record breaking 67 hands before our next elimination. After making several big bluffs during the day William 'JR' Derosa moved all in with Ks Tc only to have Larry call with Qh Qs. When the final board read 2c Ac 3h 6s 9c, we were down to 2 players.
William 'JR' Derosa finishes in 3rd place and collects $6,936.
With play now heads up Larry held an almost 2-1 chip lead over Max. Within an hour Larry had grinded Max down to about 20K in chips. With 260K in play Max needed a miracle to win and on hand 152 of the day, that is exactly what he got. Larry moved all in from the small blind with Kc Ks and Max decided to take a shot at it with Ah 8d. When the flop came 6s 2s 6h things were looking bad for the Italian pirate. The turn was the 3c and now only an ace could save Max. Incredibly the river came As and Max was back in it. With that win Max then went on to win the next 5 hands in a row until on the sixth hand Larry was down to his last 12K and raised from the small blind with Qd 2h. Max called blind from the big blind, and it was as if fate had dealt Larry the joker. Max flipped over his cards to find Ad Kh and Larry was in trouble. When the flop came 2d 9d Jd, Larry was hoping to dodge an ace, a king or a diamond to pull the same stunt that Max had just pulled on him. When the turn came 8c Larry was looking better. The river card hit with the 5d and Max had completed the biggest comeback of the series.
Larry Vezina takes home 2nd place honors and $13,241.
Max Pescatori wins the final seat into the semis and collects $22,065.
This report was brought to you by TV Poker and Rob Huxley.
May the flop be with you. . . Always
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