Ian O'Hara and Kunal Patel Chop Coco Poker Open Championship
Ian O'Hara and Kunal Patel came to an agreement to chop the prize pool heads up after outlasting 329 other players Monday night at the Coco Poker Open $2,500 Championship in Florida. Per the terms of their independent chip model (ICM) deal, O'Hara got $212,830 and a $5,250 seat into the Seminole Hard Rock Poker Open, while Patel banked $206,170.
The tournament featured a $1 million guarantee and there was a sizable overlay of more than $250,000 in the prize pool.
Official Final Table Results
| Place | Player | Prize |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Ian O'Hara | $218,080 |
| 2 | Kunal Patel | $206,170 |
| 3 | Glenn Becker | $100,500 |
| 4 | Marsha Wolak | $70,000 |
| 5 | Chad Bradbury | $50,500 |
| 6 | Sean Shah | $40,500 |
| 7 | Matthew Smith | $31,000 |
| 8 | Nash Tran | $22,000 |
| 9 | Ivan Starostin | $16,000 |
| 10 | Jason Dollinger | $12,000 |
A number of heavy hitters were among the 45 players to receive payouts, including Jonathan Jaffe, Spencer Champlin, Hans Winzeler, Ryan Van Sanford and John Dolan.
According to the live updates, the final table began with O'Hara playing second fiddle to only Glenn Becker. But, after Jason Dollinger went out 10th, O'Hara busted Ivan Starostin with A♣9♣ against pocket kings, flopping trip nines to bust the short-stacked player.
Patel, meanwhile, was left with crumbs after losing most of his stack with kings against nines, but he pulled off an unlikely win with 10♥8♥ against Becker's queens, hitting a flush to get back to a decent stack.
Becker did finish off two very short-stacked players, first sending Nash Tran packing with king-ten against king-eight. Then, he picked up kings against the ace-ten of Matthew Smith, who had just had his aces cracked by the sevens of Sean Shah all in preflop when a seven peeled off on the river.
That left six players, with O'Hara well clear of the pack at 68 big blinds, while nobody else was north of 25. O'Hara handed out a couple of doubles before getting back on track by winning with ace-jack against the sevens of Shah to bust him sixth. His next victim was Chad Bradbury, who shoved A♦9♦ over a lead from O'Hara on a 10♠9♦8♠ flop. O'Hara had J♥10♣ and won unimproved.
Former World Series of Poker Ladies Event champ Marsha Wolak chugged along with a short stack for awhile but saw her run end in fourth, with O'Hara taking her last few big blinds with 10♠8♥ against 5♠3♠.
Finally, O'Hara took a break from busting people and it was a pot between Patel and Becker that ended the tournament. With blinds at 40,000/80,000/10,000, the two played a big pot with Patel check-calling 300,000 on a board of 10♦8♥7♦9♠. Patel check-called an all-in bet on the A♦ river, and Becker showed J♦9♦. Patel had a better flush with Q♦8♦; he stacked nearly enough chips to match O'Hara.
At that point, when the clock neared 2 a.m. local time, the players came to their agreement and the tournament was ended.
Image courtesy of Seminole Coconut Creek
