In middle position, Jon Brody raised to 130,000, putting himself all in. Gerald Timmons made the call from the button, but Jesse Okonczak moved all in from the big blind. Timmons surrendered the chips he's already donated and ducked out of the way, and Brody was heads up with a chance to triple up.
Showdown
Brody:
Okonczak:
The flop was definitely "rigged" as someone at the table said. The dealer rolled out , giving Okonczak the set giving Brody a world of outs to improve. And improve he would.
Turn:
That flushes Brody's ace-queen, leaving him one card from getting back into contention. He needed to fade a board pair, and the river was clean and safe.
Brody is back to 460,000 with that pot, and he's still got some work to do. Okonczak now has to start making something happen as he's been reduced to 785,000.
We've never had a Circuit ring winner less than 21 years old, but John Riordan has is just 19, so we might be looking at some history here this week in Palm Beach.
In early position, Austin Buchanan mini-raised to 100,000, and Gerald Timmons made the call next door. In the big blind, Jon Brody squeezed in a reraise to 400,000, and Buchanan moved all in for about 900,000 total. That was enough to get Timmons out of the way, but Brody made the call with a similar-size stack, and the cards were turned up:
Buchanan:
Brody:
Buchanan was in bad shape, and the flop was no good at all.
The turn , however, was quite good as far as Buchanan was concerned. Nobody really reacted to the two-outer, but it pulled Buchanan into a big lead with one to come. The river left Brody shaking his head as counted out his debt. After paying off Buchanan's double, he is left with just about 180,000 chips.
Thomas Aprea is still the most active player at the table as he has been since the final began.
On the last hand, Aprea opened to 350,000 (7.5x) under the gun, and the table all folded. Aprea flashed pocket kings, and the blinds and antes push him up over 2.6 million.
From the button, John Riordan made it 100,000 to go, and Thomas Aprea called from the big blind.
Heads up, the two men checked the flop, and the landed on fourth street. That drew a leading bet of 175,000 from Aprea which Riordan called, and the filled out the board. Aprea fired another 300,000, turning up when he was called. That's a straight to the nine, and it's good enough to earn him another nice pot from a frustrated Riordan.
Aprea - 1.98 million
Riordan - 3.43 million
You read that right. Aprea had just more than 10 big blinds at the dinner break, and now a half hour later, he's in second place chasing Riordan.
Under the gun, John Riordan opened to 100,000, his standard min-raise at this level. Next door, Thomas Aprea clicked it back to 200,000, and the table folded back around to Riordan. He responded by announcing an all in, and Aprea called off his last 640,000 chips to put himself at risk. He was a slight underdog to stay alive:
Riordan:
Aprea:
The flop brought a pair for Aprea as it fell to pull him into a big lead with two cards to come. The turn was the and the river the safe , and that's a double up for Aprea. He's back to 1.4 million now, while Riordan still has about three times that much.
From middle position, John Riordan opened with a minimum raise to 100,000, and big blind Austin Buchanan reraised all in for 995,000 total. Riordan gave it a look, but he elected to fold, and Buchanan moves up to 1.165 million again.
The start of our final table has been pushed back a few minutes while the staff photographer sets up a few shots with two of the race dogs from the track, Rooster and Ghost. The players are taking a couple quick shots with the greyhounds, and then we'll be under way in just a few minutes.
![[user66118]](/img/avatars/avatar.svg){kind=avatar}
, giving Okonczak the set giving Brody a world of outs to improve. And improve he would.
was clean and safe.
flop was no good at all.
left Brody shaking his head as counted out his debt. After paying off Buchanan's double, he is left with just about 180,000 chips.
landed on fourth street. That drew a leading bet of 175,000 from Aprea which Riordan called, and the 
filled out the board. Aprea fired another 300,000, turning up 
when he was called. That's a straight to the nine, and it's good enough to earn him another nice pot from a frustrated Riordan.
and the river the safe 
, and that's a double up for Aprea. He's back to 1.4 million now, while Riordan still has about three times that much.