Benjamin Cole open-shoved for around 40,000 preflop and the action folded to Ebony Kenney who raised to 75,000. This produced folds from the rest of the table and the two players tabled their hands.
Benjamin Cole: A♥J♦
Ebony Kenney: A♠Q♣
Cole would need a lot of help to stay alive, but the runout of 2♣Q♦K♥7♣6♥ gave Kenney a queen to send him to the rail.
The action was picked up on a heads-up flop of 7♠3♠6♥ when Travis Hendricks led-jammed for 200,000 and the action was then on Roger Franco who had less.
Franco went into the tank for quite a bit before he decided to make the call and put himself at risk.
Franco: J♦J♠
Travis Hendricks: 6♦6♣
"Agh, nice hand," Franco sighed as he stood up, as he was drawing only to a jack to stay alive. Unfortunatley for him, the runout of A♠A♦ could not provide one and he was eliminated from Day 1e.
On a heads-up flop of 7♠5♦4♦, Daniel Moran and Aaron Thomas got it all in, with Moran at risk.
Daniel Moran: 7♦9♦
Aaron Thomas: K♣Q♠
Moran was in the lead with his pair and flush draw, but Thomas still had some outs with his two over cards. Unfortunately for him, he was immediately left drawing dead when the turn hit the 7♣ to give Morans trip sevens. The river was the meaningless A♥ and he was shipped the pot for he double.
Last February. the 2024 Champions Club Winter Poker Open $1,500 Main Event saw Tommy Zhang hoist the trophy after defeating Spencer Champlin in a lengthy heads-up battle. Along with the trophy and the title, Zhang took home $209,730, while Champlin was awarded the runner-up prize of $164,430.
“It honestly feels like I’m in a dream,” Zhang said after the grueling two-hour heads-up battle,” It’s kind of crazy, actually, because the only tournament I won was ten years ago in Macao, and I told myself at the end of last year that I really wanted to win another one before I die, and I just feel like I manifested this.” This was prevalent throughout all of the stages of the tournament, as he was heard saying that he could just feel like he couldn’t lose.
The UK-born Shanghai resident did not even plan on playing in the tournament, but the private equity broker just happened to be close in Missouri City, where he was tending to a property. “Yeah, 99% of the time, I just play cash, but I saw there was a $1 mil tournament going on, so I just decided to flick it in.”
H Borovetz opened to 29,000 from early position and was called by several players to see a flop of 4♥Q♣9♠.
Borovetz continued for 55,000 and the action folded to Son Nguyen on the button who raised to 155,000 but then Borovetz responded by ripping his whole stack of 650,000 into the middle. Nguyen made the call to put himself at risk and they were off to the races.
Son Nguyen: A♦Q♦
H Borovetz: K♥K♠
Borovetz was in good shape with his kings, but Nguyen could still hit an ace or queen for the win. Unfortunately for him, the runout of 5♦10♥ did not do it and he was eliminated.
"Yeah!" Borovetz exclaimed and clapped his hands together as the monster pot was shipped his way to rocket him into the chip lead.
