Action folded around to Dustin Fox in the small blind, who made it 36,000 for Vesty Geoghegan to call. Rather than call, Vesty opted to shove the rest of his chips into the middle and was called almost immediately by Fox; these were their hands:
Fox:
Geoghegan:
Things were looking good for Vesty to double up until the dealer spread the flop, giving Fox a pair of jacks and the lead in the hand. Vesty would need to hit a queen, a ten or running diamonds to stay alive, but was unable to get lucky this time around as the board filled out , .
For his 4th place finish, Geoghegan will take $56,955 back home with him to Ireland. Fox stacked up right around 600,000 in chips after the hand.
Tahoe native Dustin Fox owns the chip lead going into three-handed play. Chris Ferguson and Mark Bonsack are relatively close to each other in chips, each with right around 400,000.
The tournament staff has just sent the players on a 5-minute break while the Bluff Media crew sorts out a technical problem. We'll be back momentarily.
Fireworks just went off inside the Harveys Poker Room as Chris 'Jesus' Ferguson has just eliminated Mark Bonsack from the main event in dramatic fashion; here's how it all went down:
On a flop of , Bonsack passed the first action to Ferguson, who made it 40,000 to go; Bonsack made the call. Another jack fell on the turn and again, Bonsack checked to Ferguson, who fired out an 80,000 bet. Wasting very little time, Bonsack pushed his entire stack across the betting line, moving all in over the top of Ferguson's bet.
Chris, as usual, took his time before making the call and turned over the - an absolute monster hand; Bonsack shook his head and smiled, knowing he'd been caught bluffing, as he revealed the . Not a card in the deck could save Bonsack and he would settle for 3rd place prize money, worth $82,042.
Bonsack's elimination sets up a very intriguing heads-up match, featuring Tahoe native and local favorite Dustin Fox against WSOP Champion and one of poker's living legends, Chris 'Jesus' Ferguson.
Before anyone had a chance to catch their breath after the Bonsack elimination, a bomb went off on the very first hand of heads-up play that saw Chris Ferguson claim the Harveys Lake Tahoe WSOPC Main Event Championship after hitting a set of tens to crack Dustin Fox's pocket aces!
We'll have the details of the hand posted as soon as the dust clears.
In one of the most dramatic finishes the WSOP Circuit has ever seen, Chris Ferguson and Dustin Fox settled their heads-up match on the very first hand of play.
The hand started with Fox first to act from the button. Holding pocket aces, Fox opened for a raise of 36,000. Ferguson, sitting with tens, re-popped it, making it 90,000 to go; Fox just called.
The flop came and Ferguson checked to Fox who led out with a 100,000 bet; Ferguson just called.
The turn brought the and once again, Ferguson checked to Fox who opted to move the rest of his chips into the middle. Holding the second nuts, Ferguson skipped his traditional routine and made the call rather quickly (for Chris, anyway), revealing his set of tens. Fox stood up from the table as he tabled his pocket aces and would need to catch one of the two remaining aces in the deck to win the pot.
Today, however, belonged to the champ, and there would be no miracle river for the hometown hero. As the rolled off on the river, the crowd erupted with applause for Chris 'Jesus' Ferguson, who, with the win, captured a record 3rd WSOPC championship.
Well, there you have it - Chris 'Jesus' Ferguson is the new Harveys Lake Tahoe WSOPC champion. Runner-up Dustin Fox took home $119,333 in prize money for his 2nd place finish and gained superhero status locally for doing his hometown proud.
Ferguson accomplished a number of milestones with his win here today. As the first player ever to win two WSOPC championships, now Chris can say he was the first player to have won three.
Perhaps most impressive is the fact that the $203,649 Chris earned for his victory moved him past the $6 million dollar mark in all-time tournament winnings. Chris' win moved him ahead of both Johnny Chan and Greg Raymer for 17th place on the all-time list.
A true gentleman in every sense of the word, PokerNews would like to congratulate Chris Ferguson on a spectacular tournament and another job well done.
That concludes our coverage of the 2007 Harveys Lake Tahoe WSOPC Main Event Championship; we hope you enjoyed the ride.
PokerNews would like to extend our sincere gratitude to a pair of gentlemen who graciously and selflessly shared bits and pieces of information throughout the tournament, during those busy times in which we couldn't be everywhere at once. Both of these guys exemplify true professionalism and we owe them much thanks. Matt Showell and Martin Derbyshire, our hats go off to you; truly, thanks.
Later this month, the World Series of Poker crew is headed down South for the 2007 Harrah's New Orleans Circuit Championships, starting Monday, November 26th. PokerNews will be on site to capture all of the action as it happens and we hope to see you there.
Until then, from the tournament floor inside Harveys Lake Tahoe, good night and good luck.