After over 7 hours of play, Michael McKinnon has emerged as the Champion of Event #4 in the October Power Weekend – the $100 + $10 Deepstack Turbo Re-entry. For long periods of play it looked like other results were practically guaranteed – both Gary Lucci and George Iliacopoulos looked to have insurmountable leads – but Michael persevered and managed to come out on top!
The final act in the tournament started with three players remaining, after a deal had been struck and Mario was removed in the first hand following the deal. This set up a stretch of almost two full levels that were played 3-way between George, Michael, and Franco Casarcia. At this point, George had an overwhelming chip lead and it seemed that the players were simply “playing out the string” to borrow a term from the baseball world.
Eventually, Franco’s stack had dwindled to almost nothing and he went all-in on the button holding just 
. Amazingly, he was in the lead – George called with 
! George hit right on the flop of 
, however, and Franco’s best hope was for a fourth club to appear. The 
turn and river were not cards that helped him, and George’s pair of Fours was good.
Heads up play lasted for under 10 hands. After a hand that saw three cards to a wheel on the board, action went crazy and there was an all-in and a call on the river… but upon showdown, we learned that both players had been playing 4-3 off all along and both had made the straight! Chop it up!
A couple of hands later was the definitive hand of the tournament, however. Michael was in the bb so George was first to act – and he kept things simple and just said all-in – only to be surprised by a snap call from Michael.
George: 
Michael: 
Michael’s pocket Aces held on the 
board and he doubled up – and was now the clear leader in the tournament. It didn’t take long to play out after that. About 3 hands later Michael open shoved his big stack from the sb/button and George made the call.
George: 
Michael: 
George had the lead… but not for long. The flop came 
– trips for Michael! There were no miracles on the turn and river, and the tournament was over!
Congratulations!
Event #4 Champion: Michael McKinnon, $1,420
