It took just over a level of heads-up to decide on a winner and in the end, Justin Pennell came back from behind to take down the title and the trophy. The two players made a deal when they got heads up that saw the chip leader at the time, Stefan Maloney, secure $8k while Pennell guaranteed himself $7k.

That left $480 and the trophy to play for, but it was pretty much all Pennell from there out. There were very few showdowns during the opening level o NLH, but Pennell consistently chipped up in small pots that didn't get to the river.

Things kicked off when the first four-card round of heads-up began when both players flopped a flush draw and the money went in on the turn with Pennell holding the best draw and a pair of kings for extra security. The river was a brick for both players, leaving Pennell's pair of kings the best hand.

That left Maloney with less than 100k and while he managed to find one double, the miracle comeback was not in the cards tonight and his day ended shortly after. This looks like his first live win according to Hendon Mob and even with the deal, it will likely come very close to equalling his previous lifetime scores of $5,634 USD.

Stefan Maloney lost a huge hand where money went in on the turn. Both players were on a heart draw with Pennell's best but Pennell also had top pair to go with it. the river was a brick for both and Pennell took a huge lead, leaving Maloney with less than 100k. He doubled up once but couldn't mount the miracle comeback and ended his day in 2nd place.

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The final two players have agreed to a deal that will see big stack Stefan Maloney guaranteed $8k and Justin Pennell guaranteed $7k with $480 and the trophy left over to play for.

Justin Pennell just rivered the nut flush against Anthony Espejo to send him to the rail in 3rd place. That sets up the heads-up battle between Pennell and Stefan Maloney.

The money went in on the flop of with Leonard Siebenga on against the for Stefan Maloney. Maloney's king held as the board completed to send Siebenga to the rail in 4th place.

It was a made for TV hand. After limps pre, the money went in between Anthony Espejo and Justin Pennell on the flop of . Pennell flopped two pair with king-three against the wrap draw for Espejo six-five-four-deuce.

Espejo hit his straight with a turn but Pennell smashed the river for a boat to stay alive.

Stefan Maloney is the chip leader and he's built a bit of a wall for protection. he has about 1.3 million right now which is about half the chips in play.

Anthony Espejo just grabbed a double with an underpair. He shoved the button doe 335k and Justin Pennell called from the small blind. Pennell had queens over fives and he turned the queen for a huge lead, but that also put three diamonds on the board. The fourth came on the river and Espejo's played for the flush and the double.

In the next hand, Pennell shoved under the gun and Espejo called from the big blind. It was a race between for Pennell against pocket sixes for Espejo. This time it was Pennell who hit his spades on the turn to double back. When all was said and done, very little changed chip-wise between the two.

They are down to four shortly after the start of Level 23. I missed the action, but Darcy McDonald took the 5th place cash wirth $2,950.

They are down to 5 left now after Mal Hagan lost his short stack. The money went in on the flop of but Anthony Espejo's pair was ahead of Hagan and Espejo improved on the turn to take it down. This was Hagan's third cash and second final table of the series so far.

Mal Hagan raised to 55k under the gun, leaving just 10k behind. It folded to Leonard Siebenga on the big blind and he raised to but Hagan all in.

Hagan was on a pair of fives with queen-four double-suited against king-ten-five-deuce rainbow for Siebenga. By the time the board was out, Hagan's straight was good for the double.

Anthony Espejo raised to 40k, then hit the tank for a bit when Leonard Siebenga shoved 220k from the small blind. Espejo called after some time, but was in rough shape with sevens against nines. That got even worse for him when Siebenga hit his 9 on the flop and he had to count out the double.

The final six players are now in the poker room to finish the game out.

They are down to 6 players as Level 20 ends and the players head out for a break. Francis Fan busted just before the break when Darcy McDonald flopped a boat against him.

Leonard Siebenga potted to 72k after Francis Fan limped early. Justin Pennell repotted his big blind to put Siebenga all in. Fan got out of the way and Siebenga called.

Leonard Siebenga:
Justin Pennell:

Siebenga was ahead with the aces and held on a board of .

The FT players were just discussing rebuys, and it turns out that all 7 of the players still alive are here on their first bullet. While I'm not certain that the two busts so far, Brady O'hara and David Chau, were on a single bullet as well, that would be where the smart money goes given what I know about those players.

I can't verify that all nine of the final table players got there on one bullet, but the final seven are confirmed one-bulleters and it seems very likely the other two were as well.

It's still NLHE but the two big stacks of Justin Pennell and Francis Fan just went flush over flush. I got to the action on the river of the board showing and big blind Francis Fan tanked for a bit before checking.

Justin Pennell slid out a bet of 70k and Fan quickly called. Pennell showed the nut flush with against for Fan. "That's what I was afraid of," Fan said. "That's why I checked."

"Are we playing PLO?" asked Darcy McDonald with a laugh.

They are down to seven players left now after two quick exits. David Chau busted in 9th place for $900 just before the last round ended, and Brady O'Hara went out with aces shortly after this level began, leaving the room with the exclamation "Aces no good, again!" See below for the pics of the final table, including the first two busts.

They are at the final table now with 9 players left after Debi Loomer bubbled the final nine. She took the final $810 payout and the remaining players are now guaranteed at least $1,360.

Stay tuned for some pics of the final nine.

They are down to 10 now after Ron Kwatra busted in 11th place for $810. There is one more $810 payout for 10th before they hit the final table.

They are down to 11 players left now after Christopher Lawson bagged his second cash in two days with a 12th-place finish here tonight for $810 after pocketing #,##0","3":1},"12":0}">$3,510 for 6th place in the Mystery Bounty yesterday.

They are down to 12 now after Darcy Van Wachem busted his stack immediately after the clock was restarted. He bagged $780 for 13th place.

They are in the money now with Level 18 (PLO) about to start. Ali Razzaq shoved deuces in the bubble hand, and Mal Hagan called off with . Hagan flopped a king and Razzaq couldn't catch up to hit the rail on the money bubble.

They are now on the bubble to the money with 14 players left after Ed Zurawell hit the rail recently. He shoved 20k early and Christopher Lawson (who was on the final table of the Mystery Bounty yesterday) reshoved from his left to isolate.

Ed Zurawell:
Christopher Lawson:

Both players missed the board for the ace-high to hold. After the hand, Stefan Maloney, who said he'd planned to call before Lawson reshoved, told the table he'd have hit a set on the board which would have sent Lawson to the rail as well and burst the bubble in a single hand.

As it is, they are hand-for-hand to the money now with 14 left.

They are down to 15 players left now, two from the money spots after Mohd Rajabi lost his short stack recently.

Stefan Maloney and Justin Pennell are the only two players with more than 300k right now ... see the Chip Counts tab for all the counts.

There are about 5 minutes left before the next break, so my prediction of the bubble bursting seems bad at this point. There are still 16 players left in the game, 3 off the money, after Gerlad Ching recently sent his stack over to Darcy McDonald.

Ed Zurawell shoved a short stack from the middle and Ali Razzaq called from the cutoff.

Ed Zurawell:
Ali Razzaq:

Razzaq was way in front, but Zurawell turned it on a board of to stay alive. Meanwhile, Julius Roque hit the rail around the same time to get them four off the money.

The Final 18 Players in NLH/PLO

They are playing PLO now and the field is down to 19, one off the final two tables and 6 from the money spots. There are a bit more than 5 minutes left in Level 14 with one more combo of NLH/PLO levels until the next break.

Entries for the satellite just closed with 71 total. That puts 10 tickets into the pool with $467 left over for an 11th-place consolation prize. There are 39 players still alive fighting for one of the tickets.

There are now 65 entries in the satellite as they head out for the first break of the day. Entries will close when they return for Level 7 in just under 15 minutes, but 65 entries has now put 10 full tickets into the kitty with $50 left for 11th place.

The satellite game is up to 64 entries with less than 30 minutes left to get in. That means there are 9 tickets in the kitty now, but enough left over for 10th that the next entry will push it to 10 full tickets.

The players will be back at the felt for Level 13 shortly with 22 remaining. That puts them 9 off the 13 paid spots for today's game, and it seems likely the bubble will burst before the next break.

They are down to 25 players left in the Mix game now with about 10 minutes left in Level 12 (PLO), The players will head out for another break following this level, then likely return to burst the bubble before the next break.

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The satellite game is up to 54 entries now with action in Level 4 and a bit more than an hour left to enter the game. That means there are 8 tickets available right now with $380 left over for 9th place.

They are down to 27 players in the NLH/PLO Mix now with Level 11 just ending. That puts them 14 off the money now.

There are now 36 players left in the NLH/PLO mix as Level 11 begins. They are back to the two-card poker now for 30 minutes with one more PLO level to follow before the next break.

They are down to 39 players left in the NLH/PLO mix now with about 5 minutes to play in Level 10. Meanwhile. the sattty playing alongside The Mix now has 7 tickets with pocket change left over for 8th.

The satellite is underway in the Social room now with 44 entries on the board. That should mean there are 6 tickets in the pool now with $880 left over for 7th place.

The numbers are confirmed now at 128 entries. That confirms the prizes at $36,480 with 13 players getting a piece of that money.

The winner is set to pocket a bit more than $9,500 while the 13th place min-cash is worth $780. Full payout details are listed under the Payouts tab.

Entries are now officially closed, but the numbers are still unofficial. Entries ended with 128 on the board and I'll confirm that number shortly when the prizes are out.

If it holds, it looks like 13 players will be sharing in $36,480 in prizes later tonight.

The side game tonight is a satellite to the Main Event. One entry out of every seven will get a Main Event seat at the end of the night. Entry and action in the Social room alongside Event #7.

The players are moments away from the start of the dinner break with 122 entries on the board now. That puts the prizes at $34,770, so one more entry over dinner will push it over $35k.

Level 8 has just begun and this PLO level is the final level of entry. Registrations will still be accepted through the 45-minute dinner break following this level and the field will be set in stone by the start of Level 9.

There are now a bit less than two levels left until the dinner break, and the end of entries following that. The prize pool just kicked over $30k on the back of 108 entries so far. Including the dinner break, there are now about 1 hour and 40 minutes left to buy into this one.

They are back to two cards for this level, with the final level before dinner scheduled as PLO.

The field just hit 100 entries with Level 6 just underway. That puts the prizes at $28,500 and it looks almost certain they'll be playing for more than $30k before all is said and done as entries are still open for a bit more than 2 hours.

They are up to 97 entries for prizes of just over $27.5k now with about 10 minutes to play in Level 5. They'll move back to PLO for the next level, then play one more sequence of NLH/PLO levels before the dinner break.

The players are just coming back from the first break of the day and are ready for the start of Level 5. There are four more levels of play before the dinner break following Level 8, and entries are closed when they finish dinner.

The prize pook just topped $24k with 86 entries on the board now. They are less than 5 minutes away from the first break of the day with just over 3 hours left to enter the game.

Level 4 has just begun and they are back to PLO. This is the final level of play before the first break, but there will be four more levels after the break before the entries shut down for today. The prize pool just capped $23k with 81 entries now on the board.

The field is littered with familiar faces today, including Brady "Hanging Around" O'hara. The four-card specialist is around for practically every Omaha tournament he can fit into his work schedule, and is pretty much always "hanging around" when play gets near the money.

Joining him in the field so far are David Ko, Ryan Zdunik, Ali Razzaq, Jesse Talbot, Justin Pennell (who was deep at the FT of the 8-Max last night), Mo Alemehada, Stefan Maloney, Dylan Descheneaux, Ed Zurawell, Mal Hagan (another player from the 8-Max FT last night), and Glyn Gracias, who is using some of her Survivor winnings from last night in today's game.

The prizes are now up to $21,375 with 75 entries on the board and 65 players still in the action. Level 3 is about halfway finished with two cards, and after one more level of four-card poker they'll take their first break of the day.

There are still just under 3 hours and 45 minutes to buy in today, so there is lots of time for the numbers to grow.

There are just over 5 minutes left in Level 2 before they move back to Hold'em and the field is up to 69 entries. That puts the prizes at $19,665 right now but there are still more than 4 hours to get into this one.

Among the other players I've spotted in the mix today are Ryan Comely, Deven Lane, Haven and Thomas Taylor, Debi Loomer, Josh Wallace, Julius Roque, and Ali Khani.

Level 2 has just kicked off and they are playing PLO for the first time today now. The field is up to 61 entries with 58 still alive and prizes of more than $17k now.

The numbers are moving quickly in the early levels and I can't really keep up right now. By the time I enter some data in the backend and do a post, there are already a few more entries on the board. For now, prizes are pushing $12k with 42 entries, but as I write this, the board is already showing 45 entries lol.

The clock is still paused at the beginning of Level 1 as they wait for a few more players in line to get registered, but the scene is set for the NLH/PLO Mix game today. Players will be starting with two cards in Level 1 and moving to 4 cards in Level 2 and that pattern continues for the rest of the day.

Among the players set to go for the first hand are Krista Meilleur (Tellier), Benny Sarnelli, Andy Truong in for his first event so far this series, David Chau. Nadav Bitton, Dylan Desceneaux, and four-card specialist Norm Bourque. Tat's far from a comprehensive list but it's a start.

Event #7: $340 NLH/PLO Mix ($300+ $40)
Feb 19 - 2 pm
Blinds: 30 Min
Start Stack: 20,000
Late Entry: 8 Levels (7 pm)

Monday marks the first chance for four-card lovers to flex their skills so far in the 2024 PPT season, though the PLO lovers will have to put up with alternating rounds of two-card poker for this one. The NLH/PLO mix alternates between Omaha and hold'em each level with two cards in the odd-numbered levels and four cards in eve levels.

Players sit down with 20k in chips to play 30 minute levels until a winner is decided. They'll have 8 levels to get into the game, so, including breaks, it will be about 7 pm when the reg-desk closes.

Stay tuned here on Monday for the action, though I may not be on the floor for the opening hands. I'll almost certainly be there before the first break, but I do plan to sleep in a bit so the early levels may have no coverage.