The booming success that was the Lone Star Poker Series Inaugural $1,300 Texas State Main Event has come to its conclusion after an epic Day 3 of action which saw 17 players play down to a champion. While one did emerge in Joon Park, that came after a three-handed deal that secured $195K-plus for everyone involved.
The 29-year-old South Korea native attended the University of Texas and now calls the Lone Star State home, residing in Austin. He is normally a pot-limit Omaha cash game player, but this victory certainly puts his name on the map as a serious hold’em tournament player as he bested a field of 1,818 in the highly anticipated event.
Other deal-makers involved were Nick Shkolnik and Gabriel Andrade. The latter got $195,955 while the former actually took the most money in the deal at $257,170. However, there was still $30K left to play for and he’d wind up in third while Park added that sum to his $241,429 upon beating Andrade.
Official Final Table Results
| Place | Player | Hometown | Prize |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Joon Park | Austin, Texas | $271,429* |
| 2 | Gabriel Andrade | Houston, Texas | $195,955* |
| 3 | Nick Shkolnik | Sun Valley, California | $257,170* |
| 4 | Jared Hemingway | Greenville, Texas | $104,375 |
| 5 | Mike Wang | Livingston, New Jersey | $79,875 |
| 6 | Robert Wright | Fallbrook, California | $61,375 |
| 7 | Christopher Doan | Hacienda Heights, California | $45,375 |
| 8 | Kevin Kaylor | Houston, Texas | $34,375 |
| 9 | Shawn Rice | Lubbock, Texas | $26,000 |
* denotes a three-way deal
Final Table Live Stream
In addition to PokerNews‘ live updates, PokerGO has been live-streaming the event on their YouTube channel. Check out the final day below with Jeff Platt and Brent Hanks on commentary.
Action of the Day
Park began Day 3 12th out of 17 players in chips but started to chip up early. A pivotal moment for him came before the final table when he made a huge call for his tournament life that wound up correct as his top-top beat the bluff of Christopher Doan.
By the time the final table of nine was set, Park was in a tightly contested top of the leaderboard with four players between 65 and 85 big blinds.
Action at the final table was wild as there were several chip swings up and down — most notably from Jared Hemingway, who went from chip leader to short stack back to chip leader and back to short stack.
Shawn Rice was the final table’s first victim when he ran into Hemingway’s aces. Kevin Kaylor next hit the rail in eighth place.
Doan, who ended the first two days with the lad, was eliminated in seventh place after getting bad beats on two hands that took the entertaining player from the top of the charts to out the door in the span of a few short moments.
Robert Wright was eliminated in sixth place before the most accomplished tournament player at the table, Mike Wang, was sent away in fifth place.
Play would grind to a halt four-handed as chips were passed around for about two hours before the aforementioned Hemingway would eventually succumb in fourth place.
The three remaining players then discussed a deal. Shkolnik was chip leader with 40 big blinds, Park second with 33 big blinds, and Andrade third in chips with 16 big blinds. The decision was made to give each player their ICM money and take out $30,000 to play for along with the title.
After some all-in flips, Shkolnik busted in third to leave Park versus Andrade for the title which Park won in a matter of moments, using his big stack to finish off the victory.
That wraps it up for the PokerNews’ coverage of the Lone Star Poker Series after what has been a very fun and enjoyable three weeks of poker action in Houston.