| With the five champions at today's final table, we expected some truly great play. Today's players were playing for a winner take all $100,000 and no deals were made prior to the cards getting in the air.
David Zazzi destroyed poker pro Max Pescatori in the semi finals so we were expecting some great play for him in today's final. On the 32nd hand of the day, all players folded to Robert Tyburski in the small blind who raised to 500 holding Qh Qc. Sitting in the big blind was David Zazzi who decided to defend his big blind with Jh 5d and called. When the flop came Js 8d 5s Robert was certainly in big trouble. Robert checked the flop and David fired in a bet of 650. Robert raised to 1600 and David moved all in. Robert called and with David holding slightly more chips than Robert, he needed the board to pair with the eight and not a jack or a five or the obvious queen, otherwise he was heading for the rail. The turn was the 6d giving Robert a few more outs with a possible two pair in sixes and eights now, but when the river landed Kc, his final event appearance had come to an end.
Robert Tyburski finishes in 5th place.
The next big pot of the day featured the current player of the year Michael Mizrachi and the big stack David Zazzi. Action was folded around to Grinder on the button who held Ac Kc. Grinder raised the pot to 1175 and when David looked down to find Qs Qh in the small blind, the two of them were about to go to war. David re-raised the pot to 4800 and Ryan Gentry got out of the way and folded his 4h 4d. When the action got back around to Grinder he literally shoved all of his chips into the middle. David called and we were off to the races. When the flop hit Th 4c Tc Grinder became a slight favorite. The turn brought the blank 8d giving David the lead once again and when the river hit 3s, the Grinder had been eliminated in 4th place. Interesting enough had Ryan called he would have made a full house beating both players and taking a big chip lead.
Michael Mizrachi finishes in 4th place.
Now three handed the action certainly heated up. David Zazzi held a slight chip lead with 23,775 of the 50K in play. Keith Tilston was in second place with 15,450 and Ryan Gentry rounded out the field with the remaining 10,775. On hand number 74 the big stacks went to war. On the button David looked down to find the Ad Qd and raised to 2000. Ryan folded and Keith found Jd Jc in the big blind and re-raised the pot to 7K total. David Zazzi wasted no time and moved all, and when Keith called his remaining 12,625 chips, we were off to the races again. When the flop came 3d Kh 6d, David was in the same position that Grinder was in earlier. Going into the flop David was a slight underdog, but after flopping 4 diamonds he now had the flush draw and two over cards and became a slight favorite. The turn came as the 8c and now the lead had changed again. The river card hit as the 7c and Keith Tilston became the new chip leader.
On the very next hand Keith raised from the button with the Ac Jd to 1800. After missing the last hand and dumping over 14K to Keith, David looked down at Ah 7c and moved his remaining 7950 all in. Ryan got out of the way again and Keith called. When the final board read Qc 8s Ad 4d 2d we were down to the final two.
David Zazzi finishes in 3rd place.
Going into head up play Ryan was facing a 3-1 chip deficit and needed to make some moves. He certainly did just that adopting the all in or nothing philosophy pre-flop. Ryan moved his entire stack into the middle on several occasions with rags and soon Keith was no longer limping in from the small blind. On 112th hand of the day Keith Tilston limped in from the small blind with two cowboys, Kc Kd hoping to set the trap for Ryan. When Ryan looked down and saw Ad Th, the trap was set. Ryan moved all in again, and this time Keith was waiting for him and called. When the final board hit Qh 7s Qs 3s 7d we had the grand champion and winner of the first ever National Poker League's Vegas Open.
Ryan Gentry finishes in 2nd place.
Keith Tilston wins the championship and collects $100,000.
UNTIL NEXT TIME
MAY THE FLOP BE WITH YOU…ALWAYS
THE HUX
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