Justin ‘Fluffdog’ Filtz overcame unbelievable odds in Event 3 of the WSOP Circuit Chicago to win his second gold ring. At one point during heads up play his opponent held an 18.5 to 1 chip lead which Filtz amazingly overcame to be crowned champion and take home over $50,000 is in prize money.
Going into the final table there was three previous ring winners including Chris McMillian and Matthew Humphrey but from the start is was Filtz and his eventual heads up opponent Brian Zimcosky that held most of the chips and the majority of the cards.
Before starting this $1000 buy-in No Limit Hold’em tournament Filtz had already won one circuit ring and had cashed at the WSOP in Las Vegas three times and now has a total of $286,668 in WSOP winnings.
Although much smaller than event 1 of the first stop of the new WSOP Circuit Season event 3 was still up on number from last year with 223 people entering and a prize pool of $211,110 with the top 27 finishing in the money. For the first three events overall numbers are up 17% from last year with a total of 2,185 players turning up so far.
After day 1 of the tournament finished there was only six tables left of the starting 223 entrants. It took until 10pm on Day 2 to get down to the final and then with the stage set and the remaining competitors all with in touching distance of the top prize play restarted.
The Chip leaders never let go of their advantage and after some good and bad luck, calculated moves and intense pressure on their opponents we were down to heads up with Filtz and Zimcosky left standing toe to toe.
Zimcosky started aggressively and amassed a huge chip lead before Filtz finally began to play. As he clawed his way back from the brink the few people that remained to see the outcome were about to see a comeback of epic proportions. Although not the final hand, the one that proved to be the turning point of the game came when Zimcosky held pocket aces. An all-in and a call left Fluffdog in trouble but as the cards crashed on the table Filtz had hit a straight and won the hand. He never looked back and he shortly after finished off his opponent after just over 5 hours at the final table.
For his second place finish Brian Zimcosky collected $31,962 but will be left wondering how he failed to capitalise on such a huge chip lead as Justin Filtz prepares himself for the final. For his win he also collected free entry to the main event later this month.
