No one told Galen Hall that Chris Oliver was supposed to win the 2011 PokerStars Caribbean Adventure. No one told Galen Hall that coming back from a huge chip deficit heads-up was going to be impossible. Nobody told Galen Hall that the fates had already determined that he would finish in second place. So, because nobody told Hall he couldn’t win, he did and pocketed $2.3 million for his efforts.
The 24-year-old man from San Francisco came into the day second in chips. His style stood in stark contrast to chip leader Chris Oliver’s wild and crazy approach. It looked as though Hall’s patience and cerebral approach wouldn’t compete with fate, but in the end, he stood as the champion.
Still reeling after his victory, Hall said. “I feel pretty awesome. It still hasn’t set in yet. We played heads up for a really long time, so I haven’t been thinking about the win.”
Oliver brought 42% of chips in play to the final day. He won them in an unconventional fashion that had people shaking their heads. That kind of lead wasn’t unprecedented. In 2007, Isaac Haxton came into the six-handed final table with half the chips in play. He ended up finishing in second place, a testament to the Curse of Isaac Haxton.
If ESPN could’ve scripted the event, the following hand would’ve been the writer’s greatest inspiration. Loosey-goosey Oliver came in for a raise with A♥ 2♣ . Stein called, and Galen Hall re-raised with king-deuce. Mike Sowers seemed to know all three of the guys were full of it and put in another raise with Aâ™ J♣ …this one was all-in. Max Weinberg then woke up with pocket queens and got it in, too. Sowers looked like he might be on his way out the door, but managed to find four spades on the board to cripple Weinberg. A couple of minutes later, he lost his last few chips and went out in 7th place for $300,000.
Levels 29-31 updates
Level 32-33 updates
For a complete look at who made all the money, check out the 2011 PCA prize winners page.
If you’d like coverage in some different languages, see our German, Italian, and Brazilian blogs.
That will do it for our Main Event coverage. Be sure to join us again on Sunday for the $25,000 High Roller and $5,000 Bounty Shootout final tables.
Photography © Neil Stoddart
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