Alexis Meyer Takes Home Biggest Prize from Event #9 ($113,367)
The ninth event of The Lodge Championship Series here in Round Rock, Texas has officially ended. A total of 1,116 players battled their way through six Day 1 flights in Event 9: $800 NLH $750,000 Guaranteed and 12% of each flight bagged for Day 2 before the survivors joined together today to decide a winner.
Day 2 started with 135 players with eyes on the $130,000 first place prize money. When short-stacked Collin Ball was eliminated in third place, the final two players began discussing a deal. Eric Afriat took home $100,000. With two-thirds of the chips in play, Alexis Meyer took home the largest portion of the prize pool with $113,367.
Event #9: $800 NLH Final Table Results
| Place | Player | Hometown | Prize |
| 1 | Alexis Meyer | Monterrey, Mexico | $113,367* |
| 2 | Eric Afriat | Miami Beach, FL | $100,000* |
| 3 | Collin Ball | Northlake, TX | $60,518 |
| 4 | James Calderaro | Englewood, FL | $46,221 |
| 5 | Kristen Foxen | Las Vegas, NV | $34,834 |
| 6 | Aden Salazar | Cleveland, TX | $26,482 |
| 7 | Nathan Hays | Kearney, NE | $20,425 |
| 8 | Evan Burrow | Lubbock, TX | $15,886 |
| 9 | Thomas McGaffigan | Austin, TX | $12,860 |
*denotes deal made at final table
Meyer rose impressively to the top of the leaderboard when he was responsible for the final table exits of both Aden Salazar in sixth place and Kristen Foxen in fifth place. Sitting in between Afriat and James Calderaro on the final table, Meyer remained calm and collected as he snagged most of the chips in play.
The final table featured two big personalities in Calderaro and Eric Afriat. Both players were chatting, laughing, and enjoying the moment. They’re also both fans of quick play, and action moved fast and furious when they were involved in the hands.
“Can we get a shot clock for the final table,” Calderaro asked multiple times, showing his fandom for acting quickly.
Collin Ball was the short stack once things got to the final four. He hung in there long enough to ladder up when Calderero was eliminated just before him. His friends were on the rail with him all evening and celebrated with him with every hand he won.
This event looked likely to have a big overlay after the first four Day 1 flights, but huge turnouts from the final two flights surpassed the guaranteed and brought the prize pool to $756,480. That was at least in part two the famous ownership group flexing their social media muscles to let the masses know.
Several notable players fell just short of the final table action. Andrew Ostapchenko was a chip leader for much of the day, but he fell off near the end and ended in 21st place. Michael Rossitto battled hard after coming into the day as one of the chip leaders, but made his exit in 27th. Also falling one spot short of the final table was Michael Wang. He lost a flip with Meyer near the end of the day and exited in 10th place while eventual winner took a big stack to the final table.
The main event will begin Thursday with its first flight starting at 11 a.m. PokerNews will be here for the entirety of the coverage, so join us here for all the action.