Sticking true to tradition, the $600 Hendon Mob Mid-Major Championship at Thunder Valley Casino and Resort has come to its conclusion after the final eight players have agreed to a true ICM chop for the second year in a row.
12 months after Jagdeep Bal took down the inaugural event, NorCal local Elias Travis is taking home the lion’s share. He was awarded $79,024 for his efforts, along with the coveted Hendon Mob trophy, RGPS ring, and entry into the Dream Seat Invitational.
Hendon Mob Mid-Major Championship Final Table Results
| Place | Player | Prize |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Elias Travis | $79,024* |
| 2 | Ratu Caucau | $59,540* |
| 3 | Francis Nguyen | $46,460* |
| 4 | Wilson Tolon | $37,990* |
| 5 | Yang Li | $34,460* |
| 6 | Kyle Reynolds | $32,620* |
| 7 | Derek Stark | $31,460* |
| 8 | Vy Nguyen | $27,210* |
| 9 | James Allen Turner | $10,800 |
*indicates eight-way deal
Winner’s Reaction
This is Travis’ biggest score of his poker career, and he says he has specific plans for the prize money:
“Yeah, so most of it’s going to medical bills, I’ve been battling cancer for eight and a half years with $200,000 in debt, so a lot of it will go to that but I’ll save a little bit for the bankroll.”
When asked why he agreed to the chop, this is what he had to say:
“The reason I took the chop is because I had all the chips and I got over second-place money. I didn’t want to have to play short-handed and go through all the flip scenarios and possibly not even get second. I mean, hey, all of the shorties (short stacks) wanted it, my number was already $80,000 in my head, plus I got the trophy and the entry into the freeroll, and I get to go home early.”
Day 2 Action
Compared to a standard Day 2, the action seemed to get off to sort of a slow start as not many players were lost in the first hour of play, but it soon picked up. A lot of the credit can be given to Travis himself, as he ended the day with 16 eliminations, and was joking throughout the day that he wished it was a bounty tournament.
Level 22 is when things really started to heat up as many players fell to the wayside, including poker presenter extraordinaire Jeff Platt, The Hendon Mob’s Anthony Charter, and WPT Rolling Thunder Defending Champ Casey Sandretto.
After five hours of play, the final three tables were reached and after the players returned from their dinner break it wasn’t long before they were redrawn again into the final two.
From there it took only an hour and fifteen minutes before Rommel Santos fell to Travis in tenth place when the former’s turned flush cracked his pocket kings to send the players to the final table.
After around thirty minutes of chip trading, it was James Allen Turner who went to the chopping block. He had just doubled up Francis Nguyen the previous hand and was looking to get those chips back when he shipped it with an open-ended straight draw versus Travis with a queen-high flush draw. The board bricked for both players but Travis’ queen-high was good to take the pot, sending Turner out as the only casualty at the final table.
The players were then sent on their scheduled break and when they returned, they asked to run the ICM numbers. All players were very excited with the deal and they agreed unanimously with their payouts. With nearly half of the chips in play, Travis was the standout winner and he was then bestowed with all of the tournament spoils.
Well, that’s it for the coverage of the $600 Hendon Mob Mid-Major Championship, but be sure to keep a lookout in a few days as the $2,500 RGPS Season Finale $1,000,000 GTD kicks off this Friday here at Thunder Valley!