Daniel Colman Sweeps Olivier Busquet, Brandon Adams in KOTH 3
The new iGaming legislation was not the only exciting poker news to come out of Pennsylvania this week, as King of the Hill crowned its third champion on Thursday night at SugarHouse Casino in Philadelphia.
King of the Hill, put on by Poker Night in America and hosted by Doug Polk and Pete Manzinelli, features a $50,000 buy-in heads-up competition between four of the top players and personalities in the game in a two-round winner-take-all format.
While Phil Hellmuth captured the first KOTH title in August, he relinquished the championship title to Olivier Busquet in KOTH II earlier this month. Now, there’s a new champ in town. Dan Colman proved the line-setters at PokerShares right, winning the third edition of KOTH to go with the top prize of $200,000 and the championship belt.
Semi-Finals
In the best-of-three semi-finals round that took place on Wednesday, Brandon Adams beat 2017 WSOP champion Scott Blumstein, and once Colman defeated the reigning champ Busquet in two games, the finals were set.
While Adams is a well-respected cash game player with more than $2.7 million in live tournament earnings, Colman looked to be the favorite in the match with his vast experience playing as a heads-up specialist and over $28.6 million in live tournament cashes. That said, players know it’s anyone’s game as variance in the heads-up format runs high.
The Finals
The first match of the finals was marked by big pots and only lasted thirty minutes. Adams got out to a commanding lead twenty minutes in, but then he lost a big one that swung the advantage three-to-one in Colman’s favor.
It happened at blinds of $500/$1,000 when Colman raised to $3,600 on the button with A♠K♠ and Adams three-bet to $14,200 with 6♦6♥. Colman shoved for $75,900 total and Adams made the call to put Colman at risk. After a safe 7♦3♣9♣ flop for Adams, Colman hit the A♣ on the turn to take the lead in the hand and in the tournament.
The next hand, it was Adams with A♦K♣ on the button and he made it $3,500. Colman called with J♥2♥ and outflopped Adams on 4♥2♠10♦. They both checked and Adams called $5,000 from Colman when the 2♣ on the turn gave Colman trips. The river was the 10♥, improving Colman to twos full of tens, and he moved all in. Adams looked him up, calling for his remaining stack, and Colman took first blood.
Colman Sweeps
The second match was also quick — but this time — no lead for Adams. Colman steadily chipped away at Adams’ stack until the final hand went down with blinds at $300/$600. Colman limped the button with 10♠8♥ and Adams checked his option with 6♦3♦. The 3♥10♠4♦ flop gave both players a pair, Colman again with the best of it.
Adams check-called $1,200 from Colman and the 5♣ turn gave Adams some additional straight outs. Adams checked again, and called Colman’s bet of $3,000. The 5♠ river paired the board and Colman was still ahead with a better two pair. Adams checked again, and when Colman moved all in, Adams thought for a while before calling for his remaining $7,000 and Colman became the new King of the Hill.
Colman was seen on camera telling Adams after the match, “Poker’s easy when you just have a hand every time, every big pot we played.”
Much like Busquet in KOTH II, Colman swept the competition in this one to take down the $200,000 cash prize along with the championship belt, which was presented to him by his close friend Busquet.
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