Drache Fires and Fires and Fires
Drache: (X) (X) / / (X)
Elezra: (X) (X) / F
Opponent: (X) (X) / / (X)
Last year, the final two players in this event were Eric Drache and Freddie Ellis. Drache lost a heart-breaker to finish in second place, ceding the title to Ellis.
Ellis is cruising along with about 60,000 chips, and now Drache has that many too. Drache completed third street in a recent pot, then led the betting on every single street. He managed to chase Eli Elezra out of the pot on fifth street, but a third player called all the way down. At the river, that player tanked for about a minute, considering whether Drache really had the hand he was representing. In the end he called, and Drache turned up for two pair, kings and tens.
We're a long, long, loooooooong way from a re-match, but two gizzled veterans of Stud are showing that their 1-2 finish last year was no fluke.