Hand 113: Jason Bigelow raised to 150,000 and won the blinds and antes.
Hand 114: Dana Castaneda limped from the small blind and Jason Bigelow checked his option. The flop came . Bigelow bet 75,000 and Castaneda called. The dealer then turned the , and both players checked. The completed the board on the river, and Bigelow bet 150,000. Castaneda called, and Bigelow showed for a missed straight draw. Castaneda turned over and won the pot with her pair of tens.
Hand 115: Jason Bigelow limped from the small blind, and Dana Castaneda checked her option. Castaneda bet 125,000 on the flop. Bigelow raised all in, and Castaneda called.
Castaneda:
Bigelow:
Castaneda was ahead with her two pair, sevens and fives, but Bigelow had a flush draw. The on the turn helped neither player, and the river card improved Castaneda to a better two pair. Bigelow missed his flush, and Castaneda won the pot.
Bigelow was eliminated from the tournament in second place, earning $281,991, leaving Dana Castaneda as the sole survivor in the event.
It was a short day for the remaining players in Event #54. Players dropped off the map quick in the early levels after a few moments of stagnant action at the start of the day. At the end of it all, Dana Castaneda was crowned the champion, becoming the first female open event winner other than Vanessa Selbst since 2007. According to Castaneda, the only reason she even played the event was because of her 94th place finish and cash in Event #51: $10,000 Ladies No-Limit Hold'em Championship.
It was Nicco Maag who fell just short of the final table when his couldn't outrun pocket fours. This brought the players to the final table where the first to fall was Kenneth Gregersen. Gregersen got his money all in for a race with Barry Hutter. Hutter hit the river hard to send Gregsen home with ninth place pay. Then, in a stunning turn of events Jason Bigelow eliminated both Joseph Wertz and Jacob Bazeley. Bigelow woke up with aces over a shove, and a reshove and they held through the runout to take him into the chip lead while scoring a double knockout.
Going out in sixth was Barry Hutter, who began the day, and the final table as the chip leader. Hutter had lost a lot of traction and doubled up several players including Dana Castaneda, the eventual winner. In his final hand, Castaneda made a tough call against Hutter with a pair of threes on a board. Hutter held for an airball and Castaneda notched the knock out. She also picked up the chip lead which she would never relinquish. Philippe Clerc was eliminated in fifth place when he moved in with a straight draw against Michael Zucchet's aces. Clerc didn't catch up and that was the end of his tournament.
Jason Bigelow looked as if he might turn the tide of the match in his favor after stringing together several pots in a row, but in the end, he got his money in with a flush draw against Castaneda's two pair. The flush never came and Bigelow was eliminated. Castaneda was able to lock up the victory and the bracelet with that hand. We are sure to see Castaneda again soon as she informed PokerNews.com reporters yesterday that she would be using her winnings to play in Event #62: $10,000 No-Limit Hold'em Main Event.
That does it for us at PokerNews.com. Thanks for staying with us through it all and make sure you stay tuned for updates through the rest of the 2013 World Series of Poker.