PCA 2012 Super High Roller - Galen Hall Takes Lead, Isildur1, Negreanu at Final Table

An extraordinarily strong final table formed yesterday at the PCA 2012 Super High Roller tournament, the chipleader Isaac Haxton was eliminated, Daniel Negreanu, Jonathan Duhamel and Viktor Blom are still in for the $1,254,400 first prize. As I reported yesterday [3], Day 1 ended in the Bahamas at the year's first major tournament, the PokerStars Caribbean Adventure's $100,000 Super High Roller tables. Yesterday's objective was to boil the table down to the final 8.

[4]
Viktor Blom

18 players started Day 2 yesterday. The american pro Isaac Haxton sat on the biggest stack of chips, 1.240.000. This, however, quickly changed.

Chance Kornuth was the first to be eliminated, he showed a 6-9 on the 9-8-7-5 board, but Daniel Negreanu had the nut straight with T-J, so the river didn't matter at all. Kornuth still had a few chips, but he lost them a few minutes later, and he was out.

The field thinned in the following few hours, on the 13th blind level (2.000/8.000/16.000) the final table was set. Galen Hall raised on the button to 35,000, the SB Isaac Haxton reraised to 85,000. Hall reraised Haxton all-in with $580,000, Haxton insta-called.

Haxton: A K
Hall: K J

Board: J T 9 5 8

Galen Hall

Hall won with top pair.

Thanks to this hand, Galen Hall emerged as the chipleader of the table, and he will have a slight advantage on the others when the final table is played.

Since the Super High Roller event was attended by, as the name suggests, high rollers, it was clear from the start that a very stong final table is bound to form, which in fact happened. Besides the chipleader Hall, Jonathan Duhamel, Daniel Negreanu, Viktor 'Isildur1' Blom, Dan Shak, Scott Seiver and Humberto Brenes will all sit down at the final table. Even though the final table is set, only 5 places pay, so 3 players will have to be eliminated for them to get in the money.

Chipcount:

Galen Hall - 1.748.000
Jonathan Duhamel - 1.336.000
Daniel Negreanu - 1.230.000
Viktor Blom - 1.228.000
Dan Shak - 1.199.000
Scott Seiver - 556.000
Mike McDonald - 360.000
Humberto Brenes - 343.000

Prizes:

1. $1.254.400
2. $846.700
3. $470.400
4. $313.600
5. $250.900