Takayama and Halme Pick Off Falcon

The first hand of the final table saw hometown hero Mike Takayama open the action from early position with a raise to 90,000 and Michael Falcon defended from the big blind to take play heads-up to a flop of .

Both players checked and the came in on the turn and Falcon, first to act, led out for 135,000 and Takayama slid out a quick call to bring in the river.

Falcon fired once more, this time for 225,000 and Takayama instantly threw out a single yellow 5k chip to represent the call and Falcon folded immediately.

The next hand it was Antti Halme who opened the action from the button with a raise to 85,000 and Falcon running over from this other final table in the PokerStars Cup in time to make the call from the small blind.

The flop came down and Falcon checked the action over to the Finn, who c-bet 80,000 and was quickly called.

The turn saw Falcon try and wrest the initiative in the hand and he now led out for 150,000 with Halme making a quick call and the river completed the hand.

Falcon did not take long to lead out with another bet, making it 350,000 to go and Halme sat motionless in his chair with his jacket covering his mouth while he mulled over the decision. Should the Finn call and lose he would drop down to 1.2 million in chips.

Eventually, Halme slid out the call and Falcon turned over for a missed backdoor club draw, meaning Halme’s was enough to take the pot.