Grant Hinkle(credit: WSOP Official Web Site)
3,929 players took to the felt for Event #2. The $1,500 NLHE contest will go down in WSOP history as featuring the biggest non-Main Event field (so far). The tournament was also one of, if not, the longest preliminary events perhaps ever. The tourney was supposed to play down to the final table on Day 2, but after 16 hours of play, the field was nowhere close. Players voted to suspend play and returned on Day 3. Six hours into Day 3, the final table was set.
As the final table action got underway, James Akenhead of London, England, was in the chip lead with nearly 2 million clay pieces. Chris “Jesus” Ferguson had battles his way from short stack to middle of the pack. 27 year old Grant Hinkle, a high tech marketer from Missouri, was near the bottom with 680,000 chips remaining.
Hinkle played smart and solid poker, taking calculated risks when he could – and getting the best of it the majority of the time. He also knew when to lay in wait. The young man, who isn’t sure as to whether he’ll leave his day job to make poker his career, took out Mike Ngo in fifth position and emerged from the hand with 4.5 million chips, a commanding lead. He then extinguished young poker professional Theo Tran’s hopes for his first bracelet. Tran’s A
,Q proved to be no match for the aces full of fours in Hinkle’s arsenal. Tran would have to be content with fourth place and $327,148.
Jesus then performed several poker miracles to keep his hopes alive. At one point, he tripled up, much to the pleasure of the crowd. A few hands later, he took some more chips off the Brit Akenhead. However, Akenhead would have the last life. He dispatched Ferguson to the rail with a pair of aces made on the flop.
However, Hinkle retained the chip advantage as heads-up play began. The young married man, who turns 28 in just a few days, held 7,595,000 to Akenhead’s 4,235,000. Akenhead wouldn’t go silently into the night. He took a lot of pots off the less experienced Hinkle pre-flop and drew even. Akenhead eventually claimed the chip lead from his opponent. It appeared as if the bracelet was his.
Of course, those of us who play the game know that poker is a cruel mistress. She can give and take in the blink of an eye. A few hands later, Hinkle had regained the lead and went all-in with a 10,4 in the hole. Akenhead’s Ac,Kh was ahead but only before the flop. The flop came down 10
,4,10
, yielding Hinkle, whose brother Blair has a few majors under his belt, the bracelet-winning full house.
Here are the final results:
1) Grant Hinkle - $831,462
2) James Akenhead - $520,219
3) Chris Ferguson - $388,287
4) Theo Tran - $327,148
5) Mike Ngo - $268,154
6) Aaron Coulthard - $211,841
7) Melvin Jones - $158,211
8) David Bach - $117,987
9) Joe Rutledge - $83,127
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