The winner of the HPT Vicksburg Main Event was announced a few hours ago after a total of 26 levels of play. His name is Larry White and he was awarded the sum of $32,678.
The event was held at Ameristar Casino Hotel in Vicksburg, Mississippi and attracted 73 players. The entire prize pool amounted to $102,120.
Nine players sat at the final table and it started in Level 19 with Ben Thomas from Baton Rouge, Louisiana as the chip leader. He held 335,000 and was closely followed by Jeff Niedelman with 302,000 and Antonio Payne with 285,000.
In fact, Payne was the first to leave the final table. He was defeated by Michael Traylor in Level 20. The player received $3,881 for his ninth place.
Scott Mauer and John Land were the next to go. They were paid $4,391 and $4,902, respectively.
In Level 23, Freddie Ardoin could not hold up against Michael Monaghan and was eliminated in sixth place.
The next elimination came one level later. Monaghan fell victim to Niedelman and was sent home with $7,148 for his fifth place. After this elimination, Niedelman became the first player to acquire more than 1,000,000 in chips.
Level 24 also saw Traylor leaving the final table, after he was defeated by Thomas.
Level 25 started with only three players and Thomas as the chip leader with 922,000. He was followed by Niedelman with 881,000 and White with 388,000.
It took some time before another one was eliminated. Thomas was eventually defeated by Niedalman. The player received $13,378 for his third place.
The heads-up play started 11 minutes before the end of Level 25 with White holding two times more chips than his opponent.
The final hand occurred on Level 26. White had [10h][8c] against Niedelman’s [Qs][10s]. The board ran out [Kd][10c][8c] on the flop. Niedelman moved all in and White called. [7d] appeared on the turn but nothing changed for both players. [8h] ran out on the river which meant a full house for White that secured him with the Main Event’s title.
Niedelman was paid $20,424 for his second place and the winner was awarded $32,678. After this event, White’s live tournament earnings amount to almost $50,000.
