Brian McDaniel Wins Monster Stack to Claim Second Gold Ring
The PokerNews Live Reporting Team is at the Horseshoe Hammond to live report both the $1,700 Main Event and $2,200 High Roller; however, those are just two of more than a dozen gold ring events that will have taken place over the past week. As such, we thought we’d profile some of the preliminary tournaments and those who struck it big.
In Event #6: $400 Monster Stack, 502 runners created a $165,660 prize pool. Among the notables to cash were David To (7th - $4,886), Mike Shanahan (16th - $1,645), poker author Jim McManus (19th - $1,380), Nick Pupillo (33rd - $794), Maurice Hawkins (38th - $660), and Mike Shin (48th - $616).
In the end, Brian McDaniel bested John Colella in heads-up play to win the title for $32,864 and his second gold ring.
“It’s nice to get the monkey off my back,” said McDaniel after his win. “I’ve had a lot of deep runs at final tables but my closet to winning a ring happened two-weeks after I won my first one when I finished second, so this feels great.”
He continued: “I had an absolute heater once we got to the last two tables. I had jacks against tens, I had kings against aces and spiked a king, I cracked kings twice, it was insane."
Taking the chip lead into the final table was different from his last final table appearance just two days prior McDaniel explained, “In the last event I played I had my aces cracked with two tables left so I went into the final table middle stacked and it cuffed my play … Coming into this final table as the chip leader and could play my game with a wide range.”
McDaniel concluded: “This one feels great. I really needed this win/ Michael Esquivel was giving me crap yesterday about my fifth-place finish and how I haven’t been able to close it out, so this win just makes it that much better.”
Final Table Results
| Place | Player | Hometown | Prize |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Brian McDaniel | Chicago, Illinois | $32,864 |
| 2 | John Colella | Oak Park, Illinois | $20,310 |
| 3 | Thomas Morris | Whiteland, Indiana | $14,885 |
| 4 | Michael Alexander | Chicago, Illinois | $11,049 |
| 5 | David Kowal | Saint Charles, Illinois | $8,308 |
| 6 | Charlie Taxman | Highland Park, Illinois | $6,330 |
| 7 | David To | Hoffman Estates, Illinois | $4,886 |
| 8 | Brian Pachciarz | Indianapolis, Indiana | $3,823 |
| 9 | Anastas Mukoski | Crown Point, Indiana | $3,032 |