On a board of 1098Q Todd Terry moves all in and William Durkee makes the call. Terry flips over AQ for top pair, top kicker. That was the good news, the bad news was that Durkee turns over the J for a queen high straight. To add insult to injury, the Q was dealt on the river. Terry is eliminated in second place, and he will take home $353,875. That makes Durkee the champion of the $2,000 no-limit hold'em event. He takes home the gold bracelet and $566,916.
The heads-up match kicked off and an interesting bit of information was discovered. Todd Terry had made it not only to the final table, but to the final two players in just his first WSOP event. Both players were conservative in the early going of the match. This was peculiar on the part of William Durkee, who held such a commanding chip lead.
Alligator Blood
Check, check, check. After a dozen of hands, neither player had yet to establish himself as the captain of the heads-up match. Very passive poker is being played in this heads-up match.
Price of Poker Goes Up
The blind were then kicked up to $30,000-$60,000 with a $5,000 ante.
A Friendly Game
Action plodded by and then Durkee moved all in on a flop of Q83. Terry put his head in his hands and tanked. He eventually folded and Durkee flashed a queen towards Terry as he collected the pot. While the manners between these two competitors continued to be impeccable the gap in the chip counts continued to widen:
William Durkee: $5,000,000
Todd Terry: $1,000,000
A Breakdown in Security
Terry now had less than 20 big blinds. In an attempt to trap Durkee, Terry checked down a board of J65J8 with J2. He won the small pot when Durkee flipped over K2. Terry failed to protect his top pair on the flop and an opportunity passed him by.
The End is Near
Terry moved all in twice over the next handful of hands and Durkee folded each time.
Michael Banducci was the next to hit the rail in fifth place. He was taken out by William Durkee who vaulted into the chip lead after the hand with $2,600,000. This completed a swing for Durkee over Justin Bonomo, who now resided in second place with $1,600,000.
Terry Doubles through Bonomo
Todd Terry then moved all in preflop and Bonomo made the call. Terry flipped over AJ and Bonomo turned over AK. The board was dealt QQJ43 and Terry doubled up through Bonomo with the jack on the flop.
Bonomo then picked up multiple pots with constant aggression to regain the chip lead:
Next, the two big stacks at the table got mixed up in a large hand. Justin Bonomo shows pocket kings and Durkee is all in for his tournament life. He flips over pocket aces though. The board helps neither player and Bonomo gets one of his legs knocked out. He holds only $485,000 after the hand and Durkee had emerged as the dominant chip leader with $3850,000. Bonomo would make his exit on the very next hand and action was down to three handed, scroll down to catch the hand.
Hunter Frey would fall next in third place, he was sent to the rail by the pocket nines of Todd Terry, scroll down to catch the hand.
William Durkee had a three-to-one chip advantage heading it to the final match-up:
Hunter Frey is all in on an extremely short stack and Todd Terry makes the call. Frey turns over 86 and Terry flips over pocket nines. The board is dealt AA10J7 and Frey is eliminated in third place. He will take home $231,273 in prize money.
Justin Bonomo moves all in on the hand after he was crippled by William Durkee, for $475,000. Durkee calls him down and Bonomo flips over K10, Durkee turns over pocket sevens. The board is dealt QJ754 and Bonomo is eliminated in fourth place. He will take home $156,040 in prize money. Durkee now has an overwhelming chip lead heading into three way action.
Michael Banducci Eliminated in 5th Place ($105,884)
Posted: Fri, Jun 08, 07, 10:20 AM
On a flop of 765 Michael Banducci calls the all in bet of William Durkee, which puts his tournament life on the line. Banducci flips over 65 for two pair, but it is not good enough to top the two pair of Durkee, who flips over 75. The turn and river cards are dealt 9K and Banducci is eliminated in fifth place. He will take home $105,884 in prize money.
During the first hour of play both Ronnie Hofman and Gil George made their exits in ninth and eighth place, respectively. Scroll down to check out their bust out hands. Hunter Frey and William Durkee then doubled up in succession. After this sequence the chip counts stood as follows:
Justin Bonomo: $1,300,000
Hunter Frey: $1,250,000
William Durkee: $950,000
Michael Banducci: $900,000
Todd Terry: $675,000
Stan Weiss: $600,000
Walter Browne: $300,000
Stan Weiss then snapped off a preflop raise with an all in reraise of his own. He had been quiet at the table up to this point and his move was given some respect. A hole cam would later reveal that he held only Q-9.
Walter Browne was the next to go home, and he was quickly followed by Weiss. Weiss was eliminated by Justin Bonomo. Scroll down to look at the bust out hands. The players then went on a fifteen minute break.
The approximate chip counts at that point were as follows:
Justin Bonomo: $2,000,000
William Durkee: $1,800,000
Michael Banducci: $1,000,000
Hunter Frey: $850,000
Todd Terry: $450,000
The players returned from break and the blinds were kicked up to $20,000-$40,000 with a $5,000 ante.
Stan Weiss moves all in preflop with 10-8 off suit and Justin Bonomo makes the call with A8. The board is dealt 76473 and Weiss is eliminated in sixth place. He will take home $78,020 in prize money.
Walter Browne moves all in preflop and Justin Bonomo makes the call. Browne turns over Q3 and Bonomo flips over AJ. The board is dealt 752710 and Browne is eliminated in seventh place. He will take home $58,515 in prize money.
Gil George moves all in and Todd Terry makes the call. A classic rockets vs. cowboys match-up is revealed when the players turn up their cards. George holds the kings and Terry possesses the aces. The board is no help to either player and George is eliminated in eighth place. He will take home $43,190 in prize money.