Main Event
Day 3 Completed
Main Event
Day 3 Completed
After nearly eight hours of back and forth, exciting, and grueling final table action, we have a winner here at Harrahs Chester. Kenny Nguyen outlasted the field, taking home a first-place prize of $94,901. In addition, Nguyen has earned a seat in the WSOP-C National Championship to be held at Caesars in Las Vegas later this month.
It was anything but an easy path for Kenny, going through many ups and down at the final table. At one point when the blinds and antes were at the 12,000/24,000/4,000 level, Nguyen was down to just more than five big blinds. Fortunately, he found a few double ups though Ari Engel to get back in contention.
First, it was Engel's . Nguyen held and survived as the board improved neither players hand. About an hour later, Nguyen doubled through Engel again. This time, Nguyen was slightly behind with facing Engel's . However, a ten on the flop kept Nguyen alive in the tournament. An hour and a half after that, Nguyen's dodged Engel's to finally give Kenny a seven-figure stack.
That wasn't it for those two, though, as Nguyen found yet another double through Engel. In what Kenny told us was the key hand of his final table, he was on the button at the 25,000/50,000/5,000 level. From the cutoff seat, Ramana Epparla opened to 130,000. Nguyen called on the button, Robert Scott folded his small blind, but Engel squeezed all in from the big blind. After Epparla folded, Nguyen spent a decent amount of time in the tank before calling for his tournament life with . He had Engel's dominated and held up, eliminating Engel shortly thereafter. While Nguyen gave up the chip lead briefly during three-handed play, he rebounded to earn the title.
That concludes PokerNews' coverage of the Main Event here at Harrahs Chester. Congratulations to Kenny Nguyen and be sure to join us as next week we will be in New Orleans for more exciting WSOP-C action. Good night from Chester!
Robert Scott called on the button and Kenny Nguyen shoved from the big blind. Scott snap-called for his tournament life, showing . Nguyen tabled , looking for a little help to bring the tournament to an end.
The flop came down , keeping Scott in the lead. The turn was no help to Nguyen, drawing to just six outs on the river to seal the deal. When the appeared, Nguyen let out a loud, "Yes!", with a huge smile on his face as he notched the victory.
For his runner-up performance, Robert Scott earned $58,639.
From the button, Kenny Nguyen raised to 160,000, and Robert Scott took a flop from the big blind.
It came , and Scott fired out 100,000 chips of his own. Nguyen called, and he called another 200,000 after the turn. The river came the , and Scott slowed down now. When he checked, Nguyen took his cue to fire 250,000 at the pot, and Scott called.
Nguyen tabled for the open-ender-turned-second-pair. It was good. Scott mucked, and he's left with just about a million chips now as Nguyen climbs to 4.3 million.
Player | Chips | Progress |
---|---|---|
Kenny Nguyen |
3,160,000
40,000
|
40,000 |
Robert Scott |
2,220,000
810,000
|
810,000 |
From the small blind, Robert Scott opened to 130,000, and Ramana Epparla shoved all in for about 750,000. His two previous shoves had gotten through, but Scott snap-called this one, and the spectators leaned in as the cards were turned up.
"I don't have much," Scott admitted.
Showdown
Scott:
Epparla:
Epparla was well in front in his bid to double, but there were still five cards to come.
"One ace," Scott pleaded, but the dealer spread a blank flop. The turn was a blank as well, and both men were standing up and pacing nervously as the dealer burned the final card.
"Ace of diamonds, one time!" came a cry from Scott's cheering section.
River:
Sheesh! That'll do it as the oracle in the stands calls the river card. Scott improves to aces up, locking up the pot and the knockout.
Ramana Epparla came into the day with a massive chip lead, but he was worked down to less than one big blind in the early going. Epparla recovered remarkably well, however, running his stack all the way to a third-place finish. That's good for more than $40,000 -- not bad for your first career cash.
Kenny Nguyen has taken the majority of the pots in the last couple orbits, and his chip lead is growing.
Player | Chips | Progress |
---|---|---|
Kenny Nguyen |
3,120,000
420,000
|
420,000 |
Robert Scott |
1,410,000
60,000
|
60,000 |
Ramana Epparla |
850,000
-280,000
|
-280,000 |
From the small blind, Ramana Epparla raised to 155,000, and Kenny Nguyen defended with a call from the big.
The flop came , and Epparla continued out with a bet of 205,000. Nguyen raised all in, and Epparla quickly folded, leaving himself with about 1.13 million chips.
On the button, Robert Scott opened to 135,000, and Kenny Nguyen called from the big blind to go heads up.
The flop brought , and Nguyen checked it over to the raiser. Scott put out a continuation bet worth 200,000, and Nguyen check-raised all in with the covering stack.
"Shit," Scott lamented. After another minute, he surrendered his cards back to the dealer, sliding to 1.1 million. Kenny is now back over the 2-million-chip mark with about 2.1 in front of him.
We're getting to that point where every pot is significant, and the chip lead is changing hands with every pot that goes past the flop.
On the last hand, Robert Scott completed from the small blind, and Ramana Epparla knocked the table for a free flop from the big. It came , and it went check-check to the turn. Scott check-called a bet of 110,000 from Epparla, and that action repeated on the river with another 160,000-chip bet and call.
Scott showed up for three pair, and he'd been counterfeited. Epparla's had a kicker good enough to take the pot, moving him into the lead once again with 2.07 million.