Jack Shea is the Champion of the $560 Deeper Stack No-Limit Hold'em
After 26 levels of play, Jack Shea took down Event #3: $560 Deeper Stack No-Limit Hold’em of the 2019 Seminole Hard Rock May Deep Stack Poker Series. He outlasted 316 competitors to take home a $34,328 payday and the coveted trophy.
The win means a lot to Shea as he is a poker professional, and it is the first victory of his career.
“I’ve chopped one, but I’ve never played one out, so this is number one," he said. "It’s a big relief. But it’s just prep for this summer. Bigger things this summer hopefully.”
Shea had to navigate through a very tough field to end up at the finish line as many great players were part of it. However, one of them proved to be a dominating force today. Runner-Up Jeff Charlton.
Charlton was leading the way most of the final table and everything seemed to be lined up for him until the heads-up portion of play started. Indeed, he was responsible for half of the eliminations at the final table and made some impressive calls.
However, Shea put up a good fight and kept on playing his best game. Eventually, he found a big double against Steve Karp with queens against Karp’s ace-ten in a blind-versus-blind situation. That was the turning point for him. He eliminated Karp soon after and found himself heads up against Charlton. Although Charlton started the heads-up battle with the lead, Shea found a shift in cards and managed to turn things around at a quick pace, eventually claiming the title.
“I ran pure. Very pure," he added. "I started with a two outer and then a one outer and then we just had to make it worth it. Charlton played great. I just hit every hand heads up to take the lead. And then we had just a standard cooler.”
In addition to the first-place prize money, Shea also earned a seat into the $1,650 Deepest Stack No-Limit Hold’em of the May Deep Stack Series, which he already intended to play.
“If this didn’t work out I was going to be in that satellite. It’s a 2-in-1 there.”
Final Table Summary
Matthew Zarcadoolas was the first elimination of the final table when he ran his sixes into Blake Robins’ queens.
Robins was next to hit the rail the though, and was the first victim of Charlton when his jacks were beaten by Charlton’s ace-king in an all in preflop situation.
Johann Tiemann was Charlton's next victim through a similar scenario when he found jacks against Charlton’s ace-king to bust in seventh place.
He was followed by Ricardo Eyzaguirre in sixth place. Eeyzaguirre needed to find a spot to double up and when the moment came, he wasn’t able to do it as his tens were behind Charlton’s kings.
Daniel Couzens was knocked out next in fifth place. Couzens was short and ended up putting all his chips in the middle with king-jack only to run into Charlton’s aces all in preflop.
Rick Kalgstein was just another of Charlton’s victims as he was sent to the rail in fourth place when Charlton rivered a pair of aces against his flopped pair of queens.
Steve Karp was eliminated in third place by Shea when his ace-eight was no good against Shea’s ace-queen in an all-in preflop situation.
Charlton lost most of his chips heads up when he couldn’t improve his straight or flush draw against Shea’s two pair. He then moved all in with king-six against Shea’s ace-king and had to settle for the runner-up title after a dry runout.
Final Table Payouts
| Place | Player | Country | Prize |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Jack Shea | United States | $34,328 |
| 2 | Jeff Charlton | United States | $24,074 |
| 3 | Steve Karp | United States | $15,484 |
| 4 | Rick Kalgstein | United States | $9,820 |
| 5 | Daniel Couzens | United States | $7,576 |
| 6 | Ricardo Eyzaguirre | United States | $6,273 |
| 7 | Johann Tiemann | United States | $5,629 |
| 8 | Blake Robins | United States | $4,329 |
| 9 | Matthew Zarcadoolas | United States | $3,433 |