On Wednesday, Joe Tehan battled his way to a first place finish at the $5,000 buy-in North American Poker Tour Los Angeles Main Event. In an astounding performance, Tehan eliminated all seven of his competitors at the final table, including Michael Binger and PokerStars Pro Jason Mercier, on the way to his $725,000 prize.
“This was a great experience. The turnouts at NAPT events have been getting bigger and bigger,” said Tehan, about the tournament. “I mean, this is a $5,000 tournament with over 700 players. I don’t play much outside of Vegas or LA, so to get a turnout like this in LA was good. I was excited to come down and play and I’m glad I did.”
Jake Toole was Tehan’s first victim at the eight-man final table. Toole made a stand with JJ and was called by Tehan’s A-Q. Tehan flopped an A to knock Toole out in eight place. Shortly after, Tehan got all in with JJ vs Jason Mercier’s A-K in an enormous coinflip and held.
“I ran really, really good today. I won a lot of coin flips. I won all of the hands that were 50-50. It feels great. I’m happy with the way I played,” Tehan told PokerStars about his race-winning.
Next on Tehan’s list was Michael Binger. Binger decided TT was a good enough hand in which to stake his tournament life. Tehan made the call with A-J and, unfortunately for Binger, Tehan’s streak of winning races continued. An A on the turn sent Binger home in 6th place.
After the elimination of Binger, Tehan decided to kick it up a notch. He got involved in a three-way all in with Anh Van Nguyen, who held A-Q, and Ray Henson, who held A-J. Tehan only held K-5 suited, but a K on the turn helped Tehan eliminate both players in one hand.
Shortly after, Al Grimes, who was short-stacked most of the day, was eliminated when his 7-8 suited could not overcome Tehan’s J-9.
Thus began heads-up play between Chris DeMaci and Tehan, who was on an incredible heater. Though DeMaci had started the day as the chip leader, he was now out-chipped over 2:1 by Tehan. The two played small pots for nearly two hours, with Tehan winning the majority and chipping up even more. The final hand came when DeMaci moved all in on a K-5-3 board with K-4. He was quickly called by Tehan, who held K-T. DeMaci never improved and Tehan took down the hand and the tournament.
Here are the results from the NAPT LA Main Event Final Table:
1. Joe Tehan — $725,000
2. Chris DeMaci — $440,000
3. Al Grimes — $250,000
4. Anh Van Nguyen — $195,000
5. Ray Henson — $145,000
6. Michael Binger — $114,000
7. Jason Mercier — $84,857
8. Jake Toole — $60,000