| Level: | 23 (15000/30000/30000) |
| Entries: | 1/73 |
| Prizes: | $37,449 |
| Local Time: | 3:00 AM |
It was a pretty stacked money game in the $600 PLO tonight, and Julius Roque was atop the chips the whole way. The game started out very quickly, playing down to the final table just after 10 PM, less than three hours after registration closed.
There were still two more spots to decide before the money when they got to the final table, and just before midnight, the bubble burst with multiple ring and bracelet winner in PLO, Jerry Li, ended just outside the money. It took more than an hour for the first player to cash out, as Roque had a stranglehold on most of the chips, leaving the rest of the table in brutal ICM spots.
Mal Hagan was finally the one to get chipped down and out first, but he survived through 75 minutes of trading short stacks around the table. It took nearly another hour before the next player fell after Colten Yamagishi had his aces cracked by Kurtis Ruhl. In the run-up to Yamagishi’s exit, Ruhl doubled twice to stay alive from fumes, including one that he called verbally preflop.
That hand opened the floodgates, with Fraser Short, Sebastian Crema, and Joseph Leung going out in short order. That left the formerly shortest stack, Ruhl, heads up with the leader from the start, Roque.
Roque had a small lead to start HU off, but Ruhl quickly evened it up. It only took a few hands heads up to decide it. Roque raised to 90k from the button, and then called when Ruhl made it 280k.
The money went in on the 9♥4♦3♣ flop. Ruhl led with a pot bet of 570k, which was most of his stack. Roque hit the tank for several minutes as he asked to see the remainder of Ruhl’s stack. Roque had the lead, and could take it down with a correct call, but he’d be left with a very short stack if he was wrong.
He finally put in the raise to force Ruhl all in, and Ruhl called it off.
Ruhl flopped top pair, but Roque’s pair of queens was still good. The turn changed that, with Ruhl hitting two pair, but when the three paired on the river, Roque was left with all the chips.
Ruhl, who was fresh off his dominating HORSE win on Monday, added $8,613 to his series total, while Roque bagged $11,610 for the win, as well as the trophy mug, from the printing presses of Bill Thomson.
Roque was his customary humble self after the game. “I got lucky,” he said with a smile. And, of course, he’s right, but it was also his 16th live poker win and will push his lifetime earnings near $750k, so it’s safe to say that, along with the luck you always need to win a poker tournament, he has some skills at cards too.
