Dan Colpoys Wins Mid-States Poker Tour Golden Gates ($114,156)
Dan Colpoys made his big stack count, going wire-to-wire as the chip leader on Day 3 of Mid-States Poker Tour Golden Gates. Colpoys entered the day with more than one-third of the chips in play with 10 players remaining.
Colpoys will pocket $114,156 for his win after defeating Jonathan McCray in a 90-minute heads-up match. McCray scored just over $63,000 for second.
McCray scored the first knockout of the final table, hanging on with a set of threes against Rosie Paules, who had jammed a flush draw on the flop and turned a straight draw.
A little while later, Kou Vang was priced into putting a beat on Phanora Prom when he opened for a raise to 52,000, and Prom shoved on the button for 142,000. Vang thought for a bit before making the call.
Vang: 
Prom: 
Prom had his opponent dominated, and the flop came 
, giving Vang a pair and Prom an open-ender. A 
turn was a brick, but Vang spiked the 
on the river to make two pair and bust his opponent.
Brad Zotti busted just 13 minutes later when he ran a rivered flush into the quads of McCray.
Jonathan Haidsiak, who had been grinding a short stack for all of the later stages of the tournament, finally met his end when he got caught shoving five-four preflop with his last 10 big blinds by Colpoys.
Six-handed play continued for awhile, and it looked like Kou Vang, who was making his third straight final table appearance in the MSPT, would threaten for the championship when he doubled up in a race against Kris Wagner.
Colorado native William Givens then busted in sixth. He never really got much going at the final table despite being one of the more experienced players ($300,000 in live cashes). Givens lost the majority of his stack on a misread right before he busted.
Vang's quest to break through for an MSPT title this year ended when he cold four-bet all in preflop and was called in two spots. The two active players checked down the 
board.
"Two jacks," Colpoys said, showing 
. Wagner mucked his cards, and Vang raised up the 
and tossed them into the middle face up.
Wagner called off his stack to a three-bet all in from McCray a bit later, only to see he was dominated with 
against . McCray rivered the nut flush to finish off the New Mexican.
Danny Gonzales, who had stayed patient with his short stack throughout the final table, doubled up once before calling off his stack in a blind-versus-blind shove from Colpoys.
Gonzales: 
Colpoys: 
Gonzales was trying for his second double with live cards, but a 
flop gave him nothing. The 
didn't help either, but his sizable rail still seemed to believe the double was coming. They were disappointed when the hit the board, leaving Gonzales out in third.
McCray managed to make some headway a few times against Colpoys heads up, including a big early double when he outdrew Colpoys' KK. However, each time he gained some ground, Colpoys would simply hammer him back down by taking small pot after small pot, until finally Colpoys decided the time was right to play a big one.
He raised to 180,000 on the button, and McCray three-bet to 580,000. Colpoys made it 980,000, and McCray called.
After the 
flop, McCray bet 1.1 million. Colpoys called, and a 
turned.
"All in," McCray said.
"Snap," Colpoys replied, flipping 
for a set.
McCray tabled 
, and he was drawing dead. The meaningless river was the .
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river cinched it for McCray by giving him the nut flush.
hit the board on the turn. A 
as the door card, but the last two cards were quite helpful: 
