Lots of small pots right now. Third and fourth street and not much else. More of them are going to Eric Drache than to Freddie Ellis. As a result Drache has taken the chip lead.
Eric Drache apparently hasn't heard about how Freddie Ellis has already been pre-ordained the winner of this event. He took down the first heads-up pot that went to showdown, making trip fives on fifth street and riding it all the way to a winner.
A very frustrated Ville Wahlbeck, down to less than 200,000 in chips, got his stack into the middle with buried kings. Unfortunately for Wahlbeck, Eric Drache had picked up buried aces. Neither player improved from there, making Wahlbeck our third-place finisher. He picks up $152,915 in prize money while the remaining two players -- Drache and Freddie Ellis -- go on a short break to await the arrival of the bracelet.
It doesn't look like it. Two more pots have gone to Freddie Ellis. First he rolled a gutterball jack-high straight (on the river!) against Ville Wahlbeck. Then a few hands later, Wahlbeck had to surrender on the river when Ellis bet a board of (X-X) / / (X) after Wahlbeck checked (X-X) / / (X).
With one pot, Eric Drache has moved from 500,000 in chips to more than 1 million. All three players were in for a bet on third street after Freddie Ellis completed his . Ellis bet the whole way, with Ville Wahlbeck dropping out at fifth street.
Drache called each street. On the river, Ellis bet one last time with (X-X) / / (X). Drache squeezed hard, then raised all in for 85,000 total. Ellis called to see Drache show down hole cards of that matched a board of to create a six-high straight. Ellis flashed kings up and mucked.
If Freddie Ellis doesn't win this tournament, we are going to need to have a serious word with the Stud Poker gods. He can seemingly do no wrong at this final table. After Ville Wahlbeck brought it in with the , Ellis called with the . Both players checked fourth street. Ellis got one bet in that Wahlbeck called on fifth before both checked sixth.
Down the river, the boards were:
Ellis: (X-X) / / (X)
Wahlbeck: (X-X) / / (X)
Ellis went for another bet and was called by Wahlbeck. It was a bad calle for Wahlbeck; Ellis showed for the winning hand, a pair of kings. He now has about 2.8 million of the 4.2 million chips in play.