The final day of play took over 12 hours and heads-up play took over one and a half hours, but finally Zac Fellows has emerged champion of Event #21, $3,000 H.O.R.S.E.!
Fellows came into today with the chip lead and kept his stack at a steady upward pace for most of the day. At one point when he got down, the poker gods came to his rescue and spiked Fellows a jack on seventh street in a round of stud to give him a better full house than his opponent. It seems like it truly was meant to be.
During heads-up play, Fellows dominated the action and had his competitor, James Van Alstyne, on the brink of elimination multiple times. Eventually, the cards held for Fellows and Van Alstyne was eliminated in second place.
With this win, Fellows nearly doubled his lifetime tournament winnings. More importantly, he walked away with his first WSOP gold bracelet and will forever go down in history as a World Series champion! Congratulations to all the winners and especially to the winner Zac Fellows!
Hold'em once again provided the action here today as the final hand was decided once we returned to the world's most popular poker variation.
Zac Fellows raised preflop from the button and James Van Alstyne made the call from the big blind.
The flop came down . Van Alstyne checked and Fellows followed up with a bet. Van Alstyne made the call.
The turn was the and this time Van Alstyne led with a bet. Fellows raised and Van Alstyne deliberated for a few moments before committing his last chips with a raise. Fellows insta-called and the cards were tabled.
Van Alstyne showed but when Fellows flipped for a set, it was all over as Van Alstyne was left drawing dead.
The meaningless river was the and Zac Fellows is crowned champion of Event #21! A great effort by James Van Alstyne, who led throughout this final table and was rarely threatened until heads-up play. He'll be feeling better tomorrow with $192,866 to soften the pain of being so close to the gold.
With all the chips in on fourth street Zac Fellows held the lead and had the bracelet within reach. However James Van Alstyne caught good and found two pair to double up.
James Van Alstyne is once again crippled after a Stud-8 hand following the break. Van Alstyne was the aggressor with but mucked on the river when Zac Fellows revealed () for two pair.
James Van Alstyne led the betting and was all in on fifth street against Zac Fellows.
Van Alstyne: () ()
Fellows: () ()
Van Alstyne made two pair on the river and Fellows couldn't better it as Van Alstyne doubles up once again. He's now back to around 500,000 and has a pulse once again.
After a series of raises, the last chips of James Van Alstyne were in on a flop of .
"You got an eight?" quizzed Van Alstyne.
"Yeh, I got a couple of them," replied Fellows as he tabled for quads and a stranglehold on the pot as Van Alstyne could only table .
The turn was the and the river was the and Van Alstyne grabs a quarter to remain alive, as both players split the low, but again is in deep trouble with just 170,000 chips.