The Big Event ESPN Bounty Shootout: Walsh Claims Title After 15-Hour Final Table

March 13 2011, Chad Holloway, Donnie Peters

The final table of the $10,000 ESPN Bounty Shootout at the Bicycle Casino in Bell Gardens, California concluded in the early morning hours of Sunday, after more than 13 hours of play, with Pat Walsh outlasting a stacked final table to capture the $171,700 first-place prize. He outlasted a stacked final table that included Victor Ramdin, John Smith, Joe Tehan, Matt Woodward, Ali Eslami, Shane Schleger, Alex Keating and Jonathan Duhamel.

The action was fast and furious right out of the gate, with two monster pots developing within the first 30 minutes. In the first big hand, Ramdin, who won the $5,000 buy-in Big Event Main Event earlier in the week for $500,000, flopped middle set only to run it in to the top set of Smith. That pot doubled Smith to 100,000 and left Ramdin severly crippled. Needless to say, Ramdin was eliminated a short time later with Duhamel collecting his $10,000 bounty.

The second big hand came when Duhamel raised preflop and received calls from both Keating and Schleger. When action reached Smith in the big blind, he reraised to 4,200 and Duhamel responded by making it 11,7000, which pushed Keating and Schleger out of the pot. Smith proceeded to move all in, Duhamel quickly called for a total of 51,625, and the cards were turned up.

Smith:
Duhamel:

Duhamel was looking for an ace, but the flop gave him some straight outs with any ten. The turn brought him one step closer to elimination, but much to his relief the spiked on the river. Duhamel hit his card to double to just over 100,000 while Smith dropped back down to the starting stack.

The next elimination came a couple hours later when a short-stacked Schleger picked up pocket tens but ran into the pocket kings of Keating. He was followed out the door by Woodward who moved all in with and was called by the of Smith. The board ran out and Woodward became the seventh-place finisher for $42,000.

A short time later, Eslami raised to 3,200 under the gun and Duhamel, who had dwindled, reraised all in for 34,600 from the cutoff seat. Tehan proceeded to reraise all in for 67,000 from the small blind and Eslami folded. Tehan tabled the while Duhamel flipped . The flop came down and Tehan picked up top pair and a flush draw. The turn gave Duhamel a pair of eights, but he was still in need of a non-diamond king or eight. The river completed the board with a king, but it was the , giving Tehan a flush and sending Duhamel to the rail in sixth place. His five bounties meant he’d take home $58,000 for his performance.

It took a few more hours but finally Smith succumbed when his was defeated by the of Keating, who at that point held a big chip lead over the rest of the table. Shortly thereafter, Tehan ran into Walsh’s as the board ran out , sending him to the rail in fourth place; consequently, his four bounties translated into a $56,000 payday.

After Tehan’s elimination, what could be considered the hand of the tournament developed when Walsh checked a flop of and Keating bet 7,000. Walsh check-raised to 26,000, Keating moved all in, and Walsh snap-called.

Walsh:
Keating:

The pot was over 350,000 when the hit the turn, giving Keating the flush and putting Walsh on the ropes. However, the river was a miracle card for Walsh when the hit and made him a full house. Just like that, Walsh took a commanding chip lead over the other two players.

Keating was the next to go after he got his money in good preflop with against the of Eslami, but had the board ran out , giving Eslami a rivered flush. Keating’s three bounties earned him $62,000 and guaranteed a five-way tie on top the tournament’s bounty leader, as seen below.

While Walsh entered heads-up play with a big chip lead, Eslami managed to fight back and pull ahead. It was a long, arduous affair. Here's what happened on the last hand.

From the button, Eslami called and Walsh checked in the big blind. The flop came down and Walsh checked. Eslami bet 11,000 and Walsh check-raised all in. Eslami called off his last 80,000 or so.

Eslami:
Walsh:

The turn brought the and the river the . Walsh was able to fade all of Eslami's outs and take the tournament title.

Here is a look at the final table payouts as well as the bounty leaders from the entire tournament:

*Players tied and split $20,000 prize, earning $4,000 each.

While the Bounty Shootout finale concluded our coverage from The Big Event, the PokerNews Live Reporting Team is still capturing all the action from the World Series of Poker Circuit Main Event at Caesars in Atlantic City. You can also follow us on Twitter and like us on Facebook for all the updates in poker’s biggest tournaments.

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