The Final Hand

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 {2-Spades}

and Ferguson checked to Fox who led out with a 100,000 bet; Ferguson just called.

The turn brought the {K-Diamonds}

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 {J-Clubs}