Let it never be said that poker is a predictable game. Galen Hall’s victory at the PCA Main Event, if anything proves it. He managed to overcome a 3:1 chip deficit at heads up play against Chris Oliver, making him the new PCA Main Event Champion and the winner of the grand prize worth $2.3 million.

The Final Table

The PCA Main Event drew quite a lot of attention from poker enthusiasts all over, especially since a lot of big names were participating. Sadly, none of the big wigs managed to make it into the final table, but it was still a pretty exciting event. It was an eight-handed table, with Philippe Plouffe as the first casualty, falling against Sam “KingKobeMVP” Stein. Max Weinberg was next, already suffering from a pretty short stack. Next was Boliver “Ramux” Palacios, whose hand failed to form, neither the turn nor the river managing to help him. Mike “SowersUNCC” Sowers was the next one to be eliminated, the last one to not enjoy a 7-figure prize money. He took home $700,000. Sam Stein, on the other hand, was eliminated at fourth place but was also the first to get in the millions. He won a whopping $1,000,000.

Anton Ionel, at third place, won $1,350,00. Anton Ionel fell against Galen Hall, when his K-6 lost against Hall’s K-Q, with a board of Q-9-7-5-3. Just like that, Hall and Oliver were left to battle it out in the heads up portion of the game.

Heads Up Between Hall and Oliver

Oliver was actually the chip leader heading into the final table and he maintained it flawlessly, so everyone was expecting him to win, especially with his 3:1 chip lead going into heads up. Seasoned pros, however, saw that Hall had a huge chance of winning. Hall, not to be deterred, decided to grind it out for two hours, contenting himself with smaller pots. Roughly three hours into their heads up battle, Hall managed to finally take the chip lead. Oliver held A-9, and he moved all in during the pre-flop. Hall, however, had Pocket Kings, which held and gave him the huge pot. Oliver, at that point, had a pretty weak stack. The tables were turned and it was Oliver desperately trying to keep afloat. He had Pocket Queens while Hall had A-8.

The flop turned out to be A-K-8, however, and the turn and river did nothing to help him. In the end, it was Galen Hall who went home with the prestigious title and the grand prize of $2.3 million. Oliver went home with $1.8 million.

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