With Liezl Puzon's elimination in 4th place, Dusti Smith, Clarence Boyd and Zachary Barnett settled in for what would become nearly three hours of play while 3-handed and over an hour long heads up match.
Smith had come into the final table with nearly a quarter of the chips in play and she maintained her lead through the many levels that it took to reach the final three players.
After Puzon's 4th place elimination, Smith, Boyd, and Barnett continued playing for an additional level before pausing to look at ICM numbers.texassucks
Chip Counts (at 1:36 am)
Dusti Smith: 2,230,000
Clarence Boyd: 1,118,500
Zachary Barnett: 755,000
Smith had half the chips in play and she wanted more from the prize pool. Barnett was third in chips but not willing to give up any of his ICM value. Play continued.
Chips were moving around, players were potting each other back and forth, and the all in buttons were being used but no eliminations would come.
It was nearly 4:00 am and momentum finally shifted. Everything started going Boyd's way and Barnett was blinding down.
On blinds of 40,000/80,000/80,000, Barnett was down to just 240,000 with 160,000 of that posted as the big blind and big blind ante. Boyd limped in, Smith called, and Barnett went all in with the 80,000 he had behind. Boyd and Smith called.
The flop brought K♦T♣8s. Boyd and Smith both checked. It felt like they were about to check down given the situation. However, Boyd led for pot on the 9♠ turn. Smith folded and Boyd announced a set of nines as he rolled over A♣T♥9♥9♦.
Barnett had gone all in blind so he started to sweat each card. Barnett tabled Q♦8♥6♦4♠ one card at a time. He would need to hit a seven or a jack for his revealed double-gutter. The K♣ river eliminated Barnett and started the heads up match.
Boyd immediately said, "you know I'm gonna win this." Smith quickly replied that she was going to win instead.
Despite the friendly exchange of words, Boyd also asked if Smith wanted to make a deal. Boyd had an overwhelming chip lead but Smith is known to not make deals. She said the only deal she'd consider is an even chop with Boyd paying her an extra dollar to secure her the win and trophy. Play continued.
After countless hands with the blinds increased to 50,000/100,000/100,000, Smith limp-called Boyd's raise to 300,000.
The flop came 7♦5♣2♣. Boyd led for pot of 700,000. Smith had 495,000 behind. Smith took about two minutes before folding. She said she was connected to the board but that she knew Boyd had an over pair. He showed queens with backdoor equity.
The next hand was crucial for Smith since she only had 495,000 and she was posting the big blind and ante. Boyd did her a favor by limping in. Action checked down and she won the hand; 595,000 for Smith now.
In the following hand, Boyd won flush over flush taking 225,000 from Smith. 370,000 for Smith now and she'd have to post 200,000 for the big blind and ante. This was the hand.
Boyd limped and Smith moved all in for her remaining 170,000.
Smith: Q♠Q♣8♥6♥
Boyd: T♣9♦5♠3♥
Board: 5♥3♠3♣8♣8♦
Boyd flopped a boat. Smith found running eights but needed to find a queen instead. Smith was out in 2nd for $8,070 and Boyd took down the tournament for $12,840!
