Wednesday on the Pure Poker Tour saw two games play down to the trophies, and for once, neither game ended in a chop. Tony Ma put on a masterclass in Event #10, dominating the endgame while still maintaining his friendly, funny demeanor at the tables.
Across the room, the NLH Deepstack Hyper was playing out in record time. The lightning-fast game started 4 hours after Event #10, but still finished about an hour earlier, with Jeffery Clark grabbing his first trophy from the PPT (with a caveat).
Tony Ma Takes Down Event #10 for $12,280
- Event #10: $560 NLH
- Entries: 76
- Prizes: $36,100
- Winner: Tony Ma ($12,280)
Tony Ma ran pure on the Pure Poker Tour on Wednesday in Event #10, but he was also dialed into the game, making sharp calls and deft laydowns throughout. In one example of the run-good side, he woke up with pocket kings when play was four-way.
Chip leader Zeyu Huang was looking to apply some ICM pressure to Ma’s second stack. With a couple of shorties in the mix, Huang made a move in position to try and steal some chips from Ma and force a fold, but Ma wasn’t about to let kings go at that stage.
He called off for his life, and faded Huang’s ace to score a massive double that gave him a huge lead and put Huang on fumes. Huang laddered over Joe Herlein (4th, $3,610) to finish in 3rd, setting up an epic heads-up battle between Ma and Cameron Stewart.
Both Ma and Stewart have been finding final tables all week, with both players on their 3rd FT of the series in Event #10. They actually shared the 6-handed FT on Tuesday, with Stewart bowing out in 6th, and Ma ending his day in 5th.
They were back at it on Wednesday, and though the order was the same, they both moved up the ladder significantly. Ma had the chip lead through a good portion of heads-up play, but Stewart was playing his short stack masterfully, finding ways to survive whenever he got short.
The heads-up phase actually took almost as long to finish as the rest of the final table combined, with nearly 2 hours spent with Ma and Stewart alone at the table. Stewart found a few doubles to stay alive, and even took the lead at one point, putting Ma at risk, but Ma doubled back to the lead again and never looked back.
The final hand saw both players wake up suited and connected, and only about 50 big blinds in play. Ma had most of them in his stack, and Stewart got about 10 bigs in with nine-seven of clubs. In another example of Ma’s run-good, he woke up with a dominating nine-eight of diamonds, then spiked his eight to take down the game.
It was Ma’s 5th live win, and depending on the exchange rate when the results get uploaded, the $12k prize should push him over $400k in lifetime earnings. Added to his other cashes in this series, $400k+ should be a lock for him.
Final Results from Event #10
| Place | Player | Prize |
|---|---|---|
| 1 |  Tony Ma | $12,280 |
| 2 | Cameron Stewart | $8,305 |
| 3 | Zeyu “Skytrain” Huang | $5,415 |
| 4 | Joe Herlein | $3,610 |
| 5 | Ali Razzaq | $2,380 |
| 6 | Deven Lane | $1,730 |
| 7 | Skyler York | $1,335 |
| 8 | Brian Wells | $1,045 |
Jeff Clarke Sprints Through Deepstack Hyper to His First PPT Trophy
- Event #11: $300 NLH Deepstack Hyper
- Entries: 67
- Prizes: $17,186
- Winner: Jeff Clark ($6,191)
Despite starting four hours later than Event #10, the Deepstack Hyper game still finished about an hour earlier. As a result, I wasn’t able to watch much of the game, but winner Jeff Clarke had the big stack whenever I did glance around at the chips.
It was Clarke’s second win on the PPT, but his first trophy, after a rather unusual chop last fall at the Tournament of Champions here at Yellowhead. He was heads-up in the $230 Turbo (Event #9) against Jody Ashton.
Ashton had flown in from Niagara Falls, ON, and he really wanted to take a trophy back home with him. Clarke agreed to a chop for the win, but let Ashton take the crystal back east with him. So while this is the second time he’s won a game here on the PPT, it’s the first time he gets to take evidence home with him.
Final Results from Event #10
| Place | Player | Prize |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Jeffery Clarke | $6,191 |
| 2 | Shane Hall | $4,295 |
| 3 | Tony Saysana | $2,750 |
| 4 | Stephen Dauphinais | $1,720 |
| 5 | Jessy-Gene Farmer | $1,030 |
| 6 | Maurice Power | $685 |
| 7 | Paul Meyer | $513 |
