Josh Pollock Outlasts Hard-Hitting Final Table to Win 2013 Wynn Fall Poker Classic
The 2013 Wynn Poker Classic Main Event came to a close Tuesday in Las Vegas. The $1,500 championship tournament attracted a field of 249 players, creating a prize pool of $373,500. The eventual winner was World Series of Poker bracelet winner Josh Pollock, who took down a tough final table that included fellow bracelet winners Eric Froehlich, Jeff Madsen and Trevor Pope, to claim the top prize of $84,050.
| Place | Player | Prize |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Josh Pollock | $84,050 |
| 2 | Steve Nichols | $56,880 |
| 3 | Andrey Rakhmanin | $36,230 |
| 4 | Eric Froehlich | $25,361 |
| 5 | Vien Chau | $18,477 |
| 6 | Jeff Madsen | $14,492 |
| 7 | Michael Haag | $12,499 |
| 8 | Trevor Pope | $10,688 |
| 9 | Thanh Tran | $9,057 |
The final day began with 14 players and Froehlich holding a huge lead with 1,322,000 in chips. His next closest competitor, poker pro Jason Lee, held just 530,000. Pollock was in sixth with 436,000, but his climb up the leader board began quickly after eliminating James Kier in 11th place.
Lee busted on the final table bubble in 10th place when he ran into the set of Vien Chau, who took the chip lead from Froehlich with that elimination. Chau continued his rise by eliminating Thanh Tran in ninth place when his pocket fours held up against 10x9x.
2013 bracelet winner Trevor Pope was the next to go. According to PokerTelegraph.com, Mike Haag raised from middle position, and Chau three-bet from the button. Pope then shoved for his remaining 350,000, and after Haag folded, Chau called and tabled AxQx. He was flipping against Pope's pocket tens, and a queen-high board gave him the best hand against Pope, who exited in eighth place for $10,688.
After Haag ran pocket tens into Pollock's aces to finish in seventh place, Madsen was taken down by Steven Nichols in a blind-versus-blind preflop battle. Nichols raised from the small blind with the A♦K♦ and Madsen shoved for 575,000 from the big blind with an unknown hand. As it turned out, Nichols made the nut flush on the river to take a big chip lead and send Madsen to the rail in sixth place.
Former chip leader Vien Chau exited in fifth place, and then Froehlich and Nichols mixed it up in a huge preflop pot. Froehlich raised to 80,000 from the button, Nichols reraised to 180,000 from the blinds, Froehlich four-bet to 425,000, and Nichols shoved, having his opponent covered. Froehlich called, and the cards were turned face up.
Nichols: JxJx
Froelich: A♣K♣
The board came up empty for the two-time bracelet winner, sending him out the door in fourth place. Nichols suddenly owned more than half the chips in play.
Pollock was the short stack when three-handed action began, but he doubled up twice — once through each opponent — quickly after the dinner break. It then took two more hours for the next elimination to occur. After Pollock doubled up again to cripple Andrey Rakhmanin, he finished off Rakhmanin when his pocket fours held up against Kx4x.
With the blinds climbing quickly, the tournament ended an hour later when Nichols called off his short stack with pocket sixes and was unable to hold up against the Jx10x of Pollock, who received a Wynn trophy to go along with his $84,000 payday.
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