The final 2 of the 2010 WSOP Main Event has been decided. It took just 28 hands to find the first casualty, as Jason Senti sent Soi Nguyen to the rail. Senti held pocket queens and after the flop his trips looked good against Nguyen’s AK. The latter had outs as the river could show a Jack to keep him alive. When it was turned, a King finished the board and the cowboys were not enough to keep Nguyen at the table. He finished in 9th place and took home $811,823.
Excitement ensued as Michael Mizrachi faced off with Matthew Jarvis: before the flop the latter held a pair of 9’s while the Grinder sat with AQ. The flop came down and Mizrachi now had trip Queens. The turn showed a 9 and Jarvis took the lead with a full house. The stage then exploded as an Ace came on the river giving Mizrachi the higher full house sending Jarvis home. The prize money of $1,045,743 will ease the pain, but the young player will be left wandering what might have been.
After earlier knocking out Nguyen, it was Jason Senti who was next to leave his seat. After the flop Senti looked in great shape against Joseph Cheong. He had trip Kings against his opponent’s pocket 10’s. However, as we saw with Mizrachi and Jarvis, the poker gods can be cruel and by the end of the hand Senti had been beaten by a straight and he was left staring at $1,356,720 in winnings and the prospect of nightmares about that hand.
It only took 13 hands before we had our next loser: John Dolan moved his short stack all in with Q5 and he was quickly called by Jonathan Duhamel who sat with pocket 4’s. He could find no help from the five community cards and Dolan went home in 6th place with $1,772,959.
Michael Mizrachi saw his luck run cold after the flop as his pair of queens saw him run into Duhamel’s pocket rockets. All the chips were in before the turn and river and Mizrachi and his many supporters found themselves hoping for a queen that never came. Mizrachi walked away with $2,332,992.
Three hands later, and the lone European found himself out of the tournament. Filipo Candio went all in with his KQ and was quickly called by Joseph Cheong with A3. The flop saw another Ace and the Italian never recovered. As he went home in 4th place he added an impressive $3,092,545 to his bankroll.
Hand 213 proved to be more exciting than any other as it became the largest pot in WSOP history when a massive 180 million chips ended up in the middle. Cheong was the chip leader at this stage and after a five-bet didn’t believe the story Duhamel was selling and pushed all in. Duhamel called, and for good reason, as he held a pair of ladies even before any of the community cards had hit the board. All of a sudden, Cheong’s A7 looked in bad shape and he and his fans knew it. The flop came 932. The turn brought a 6 and Cheong knew that he needed one of the three remaining aces in the deck to get him out of trouble. It didn’t come, and as the majority of the chips went Duhamel’s way, Cheong was left looking at a stack of around 10 million.
6 hands later, and Cheong (Q10) and Duhamel (A2) faced off again. All five cards come down, missing both players, and Cheong left the table with a whimper, as Duhamel’s high card took the pot.
As fans swamped Jonathan Duhamel and John Racener the pair surely took a moment to celebrate their achievement so far. One thing is certain, even with a 6 to 1 chip lead, this year’s tournament has proved that nothing is guaranteed and Duhamel still has a mountain to climb, regardless of the amount of chips he has. In order to go on and win this tournament both competitors are going to have to play the best poker of their lives.
With play resuming at 8pm tonight PST, both Duhamel and Racener will rest and prepare themselves for the biggest fight of their lives. After all, there is the small matter of $8,944,310 to contest and, perhaps more importantly, a bracelet.
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