Govert Metaal is the champion of the High Roller event in the Playground Poker Fall Classic!

1st place: Govert Metaal, $184,688 and the Championship Belt

Heads up play lasted barely 5 hands as Govert had a huge chip lead, and when Martin was dealt a premium hand the chips got in the middle very quickly.

Martin:

Govert:

The flop was great for Govert but left Martin with a  fighting chance to draw to the flush as well: . The turn was the and the river didn’t finish the job, though, and Martin was eliminated.

2nd place: Martin Jacobson, $124,936

Govert Metaal and Martin Jacobson are now playing heads up for the championship belt in Event 11 – $10,000 + $400 No Limit Hold’em High Roller in the Playground Poker Fall Classic!

Good luck!

Play began three-handed with the players relatively even in stacks, but it picked up relatively quickly.

The end came quickly for Tim. He had gotten a little short-stacked and found an opportunity to shove pre flop. Govert quickly called and their hands were turned over:

Tim:
Govert:

The dealer ran the board: on the flop; on the turn, and on the river. Just like that, the tournament was down to two players.

3rd place: Tim Reilly, $81,480

There are 3 players left with the following stack sizes (listed in seat order):

• Govert Metaal – 550K
• Tim Reilly – 493K
• Martin Jacobson – 610K

The final table of the High Roller event has been an amazing spectacle of great poker and amazing hands, but possibly none more amazing than the hand that eliminated Matt Marafioti in 4th place just moments ago.

First some context. Both Matt and Govert had arrived at the final table slightly short stacked, both had managed to chip up through patient, skilled play, and both had passed the huge bubble to get into the money at all, let alone near the top of the payout list.

On the hand in question, both players got it in preflop with hands they didn’t feel they could fold. For the record it was Govert who finally went all-in and Matt who called. The players turned over (Govert) vs. (Matt). So far it was a pretty typical cooler, the kind of hand poker players see every day (although not always for $65K). That was all about to change.

The flop came down – with the in the window and only after was the visible. The flop earned some “whoas” from the other players. But that was nothing. After an insignificant on the turn, the dealer burned and dealt the river: for rivered quads for Govert that beat Matt’s flopped set of Kings.

Matt – along with everyone – was pretty stunned by the turn of events. But although it was a terrible beat, Matt took it in stride – he shook everyone’s hand and walked to the tournament desk to receive his payout coupon with a smile on his face.

4th place: Matt Marafioti, $65,184

We wrote earlier about Pratyush losing most of his stack to Martin. After one double back to around 100K a hand developed between he (cutoff) and Tim (button) that showed him out the door. In the hand Pratyush raised all in (it was 102K exactly) and although Tim had just doubled him up once, he called this time. The SB and BB both folded and the cards were turned on their backs.

Pratyush:

Tim:

The board cards kept Tim in the lead the whole way: and Pratyush finishes in 5th place for $48,888.

5th place: Pratyush Buddiga, $48,888

Pratyush Buddiga was on the button and open shoved his pocket and Tim (SB) called with . As if the underpaid weren’t bad enough, the flop fell and the on the turn more than sealed the deal. There was a meaningless on the river.

Pratyush dropped to 55K on the hand.

After a long passage of play without any huge moves, Gregory Marcus has been eliminated in 6th place.

The hand was all-in pre flop. Greg held while Martin was playing . The board brought no solace to Greg when it came and Martin’s Kings held.

6th place: Gregory Marcus, $38,024

Matt Marafioti has been making fun of the fact that he’s been super short stacked all day; except that with another double behind him, he’s not short at all any more.

His most recent double came with Matt in the big blind. Greg Marcus min-raised on the button and Matt thought for a while before announcing all in. Greg called and turned over , which was up against Matt’s .

The board was dealt: and suddenly Matt is up over 250K.

After the hand, Matt (who has been leading all discussion about possible deals so far) again offered the field a deal – suggesting that with a stack he has become a lot more dangerous that he had been early in the action today.