Thomas Becomes First Table Champion

Joshua Thomas started his heads-up battle against Zachary Lipeles in prime position to make it through to the second day, and his second table, of the shootout. After having knocked out Joshua Matti, he ended up with a six-to-one chip lead, and it only improved from there.

After just ten minutes of heads-up play, Thomas had secured an absolutely towering 23-to-1 chip lead against his opponent, and was given the opportunity to end it all after he shoved into Lipeles' limp, and got snapped off.

Zachary Lipeles: K♥Q♣ All in
Joshua Thomas: K♣3♣

Lipeles revealed that he had sprung the trap on Thomas with two Broadway cards, but soon came to realise that "there's always a sweat", as Thomas flopped a flush draw on A♠10♣8♣. The turn didn't give him a club, but improved him to a pair with the 3♥, leaving Lipeles drawing only to a red queen or Broadway. The 7♦ peeled off on the river, and Thomas began to bag up.

Speaking to PokerNews, Thomas explained that he hasn't played any Sit & Go tournaments since the "PartyPoker Days", and that this was the first time he's ever entered into a shootout event. He's clearly mastered the format, however, as he told about how he maintained the chip lead almost the whole way through, only losing it twice before regaining it shortly after. One of these times was a key pot in his path to victory, in which he three-bet shoved his 6x6x on a dry, low flop. He was looked up by Martin Zamani's AxQx, and held to rake in around 60,000 chips.

Thomas will be looking to conquer yet another table tomorrow, as he returns at 1:00 p.m. for Day 2.