After a long heads-up battle in which only $2,800 – and the bracelet – was at issue, in the end Marko emerged victorious over Troy Hamilton. Troy played an extremely strong tournament and was consistently among the chip leaders since early in Day 2, and his strong play continued to the final table where he quickly amassed a huge stack.
At the same time as he was building up his stack, though, Marko was building an impressive stack of his own. Still, by the time it got two-handed, Troy had a chip advantage and looked to be in control of the affair.
What happened, though, went off-script. Marko played a relentless and extremely patient game and seemed to drive Troy kind of crazy with his patience, until in the end Marko wore him down and took all of the chips.
1st place: Marko, $20,309 and the championship bracelet
2nd place: Troy Hamilton, $17,665
