Event #49: $1,500 No-Limit Hold'em
Day 3 Completed
2010 World Series of Poker
Event #49: $1,500 No-Limit Hold'em
Day: 3
Event Info
Final Results
Event Info
Level Info
2010 World Series of Poker
Buy-in
$1,500
Prize Pool
$3,433,050
Entries
2,543
Level
29
Blinds
50,000 / 100,000
Ante
10,000
![[user80015]](/img/avatars/avatar.svg){kind=avatar}
After three intense days of poker, countless bad beats and lucky rivers, a champion in Michael Linn has been crowned in Event #49: $1,500 No-Limit Hold'em!
Another Monday in Las Vegas saw 2,543 players take to the felt for the last $1,500 donkament of the series with a number of veterans, tournament junkies and amateurs alike making up the all-star field.
Unfortunately, for over two thousand of them, they would find themselves on the rail over the course of the day as only 290 players returned for day two action; or the money day!
The bubble burst early as play was fast and action-packed as players such as JP Kelly (208th), Matthew Matros (194th), Allen Kessler (191st), Ari Engel (184th), George Lind (166th) , Shane Schleger (146th), Marc Naalden (134th) and David Pham (80th) were just a few of those that exited shy of a day three berth.
For the twenty-three still in contention for the Event #49 bracelet, Michael Linn held the overnight chip lead with only Mihai Minole snapping at his heels as we arrived at the final table just a few minutes shy of the fifth hour of play.
Throughout the early parts of day three it would be the quiet assassin Taylor Larkin who would steam-roll himself into the chip lead as the final nine was reached.
It would take no longer than twenty minutes until we lost Tyler Cornell before Erle Mankin, Justin Zaki, Alexander Kuzmin and Chadwick Grimes all fell during the course of two levels.
With play now at four-handed, Larkin still retained the lead, but the gap had been bridged by both Mihai Manole and Michael Linn, as Benjamin Smith tried to peddle the short-stack, but would be unsuccessful as he fell next.
Linn then put his foot down and stepped up both his aggression and chip accumulation skills as he surged out to a two-to-one chip lead over his two opponents before dispatching of Manole in third place when he outdrew his deuces.
Heading into heads up play, Linn held over a two-to-one lead against Larkin as an intense near two-hour heads up match would begin. Linn kept his aggression up as he extended his lead to over a four-to-one one before doubling up Larkin twice to keep him in the match.
With a rail that featured friends, family and random onlookers, Linn would eventually dispatch of Larkin as we approached hour twelve when his Ace-Deuce remained in the lead to send Larkin to the rail. As the dubbed silent assassin now culled, Linn's third victim of the final table would be an extremely memorable one.
PokerNews would like to congratulate Michael Linn on an excellently played tournament full of timely aggression, patience and composure along with great awareness to see him crowned the Event #49: $1,500 No-Limit Hold'em Champion, owner of a coveted gold bracelet and $609,493 in prizemoney!
After Taylor Larkin's latest setback, it was inevitable that the chips would be flying in once again, and soon - the only question that remained was: could he survive for a third time?
Unfortunately for Larkin, the answer was no, Michael Linn in front preflop with 
versus 
and staying ahead through the 
board to finally tear the finishing tape after a dogged heads-up battle.
Previous final tables may have witnessed raucous support from drunken youths and rowdy patriots, but today's rail saw both of Larkin's grandparents cheering from the sidelines, whilst Michael Linn boasted family member and poker pro Barry Greenstein.
In the end, it was the latter combo that prevailed, a paltry pair of deuces enough to force Larkin into second for a highly credible $378,905, and Linn into the elite bracelet-winning circle where his uncle currently resides.
Taylor Larkin made it the standard 200,000 from the button and Michael Linn called from the big blind.
The 
board was checked through to the river to see Linn fire out 300,000 and Larkin make the call.
"You gotta Ace?" asked Linn.
"Nup" was the blatant response from Larkin as he cut the chips necessary to call.
Linn tabled his 
to collect the pot and move to just under ten million as Larkin slipped to 1,530,000 in chips.
| Player | Chips | Progress |
|---|---|---|
|
9,000,000
-1,400,000
|
-1,400,000 |
|
||
|
2,400,000
1,400,000
|
1,400,000 |
After a long period of raise-fold, we eventually witnessed only our second all-in showdown of this encounter, and again it was short stack Taylor Larkin who had his nose in front. With Michael Linn raising to what I understand was 200,000 (although they appear to be whispering their raises), Larkin announced all-in and Linn made the call.
Linn: 
Larkin: 
The 
flop improved Larkin's hand, but had Linn still in search of one of six outs, one of which emerged on the 
turn. But just as your blogging team were ordering pints at the bar, a deuce from Belarus () hit the river to double Larkin up.
The final figure sliding across the baize was 1,175,000, meaning Larking is now back up to around 2,400,000.
Taylor Larkin shot a sneaky grin towards Michael Linn and then limped in for 100,000 as Linn checked his option.
The flop fell down 
and Linn fired out 200,000, which was enough to prompt a fold from Larkin as Linn flashed his 
.
There appears to be an understanding at the moment between the two players. One only has to reach for chips for the other to fold, and every raise appears to be an automatic 200,000.
On their last encounter, Taylor Larkin made their standard minimum raise from the button and Michael Linn flat called, a rarity in a heads-up encounter which has, thus far, been played almost entirely preflop.
On the flop, Linn checked, Larkin bet 275,000, and Linn threw away his hand. This gave Larkin around the 1.5 million mark, and Linn 9,900,000.
| Player | Chips | Progress |
|---|---|---|
|
|
9,325,000
-800,000
|
-800,000 |
|
|
||
|
|
2,075,000
800,000
|
800,000 |