Big Stax 1500 (Day 3): 1st Place - Beckley ($98,348)

Level 28 (Blinds 40,000/80,000/10,000)
Players Remaining: 2
Chip Average: 8,100,000

Big Stax 1500 Winners
Mike Linster & Joshua Beckley

After a lengthy discussion about the chop, numbers were agreed to between the two:

Joshua Beckley - $98,348
Mike Linster - $88,000

Joshua gets his first ever major tournament score, having one smaller cash of $9,000 on his resume prior.

Linster adds the $88,000 to his impressive career numbers, eclipsing a special number.  Linster now has over $1,000,000 in live tournament cashes.  A group that not many poker players reach.

Big Stax 1500 (Day 3): 2nd Place - Linster ($88,000)

Level 28 (Blinds 40,000/80,000/10,000)
Players Remaining: 2
Chip Average: 8,100,000

Big Stax 1500 Winners
Mike Linster & Joshua Beckley

After a lengthy discussion about the chop, numbers were agreed to between the two:

Joshua Beckley - $98,348
Mike Linster - $88,000

Joshua gets his first ever major tournament score, having one smaller cash of $9,000 on his resume prior.

Linster adds the $88,000 to his impressive career numbers, eclipsing a special number.  Linster now has over $1,000,000 in live tournament cashes.  A group that not many poker players reach.

Big Stax 1500 (Day 3): About To Break

Level 28 (Blinds 40,000/80,000/10,000)
Players Remaining: 2
Chip Average: 8,100,000

After players an entire level, about 1,300,000 have gone back the way of Mike Linster.  Joshua still has him two to one, but the two are talking chop once more.  The ICM numbers are being discussed, as well as the trophy.  Any updates in their discussion will be posted shortly.

Big Stax 1500 (Day 3): A Lot Of The Same

Level 27 (Blinds 30,000/60,000/10,000)
Players Remaining: 2
Chip Average: 8,100,000

We are seeing a lot of small pots, with only a small handful going to showdown. The chips counts have not fluctuated much at all, with Beckley still holding about a two to one advantage over Linster. The talk of chop did come up on more than one occasion, but nothing was agreed upon.

Big Stax 1500 (Day 3): We Could Be In For A Long One

Level 27 (Blinds 30,000/60,000/10,000)
Players Remaining: 2
Chip Average: 8,100,000

This has the potential to be a very long heads up match, as talks of a deal lasted only a few minutes before cards were back in the air.  In this blind level, Joshua Beckley sits with (183) big blinds, while Mike Linster holds (85) bigs.  It would take two bigs hands clashing for things end quickly, or one of the players to just chip away at his opponent over time.  Any big hands will be updated throughout heads up play, with chip counts posted throughout each level.

Big Stax 1500 (Day 3): Cards Back In The Air

Level 27 (Blinds 30,000/60,000/10,000)
Players Remaining: 2
Chip Average: 8,100,000

The cards are back in the air after a (10) minute break, with players now posting blinds of 30,000/60,000/10,000.

Big Stax 1500 (Day 3): Heads Up Chip Counts

Level 26 (Blinds 25,000/50,000/5,000)
Players Remaining: 2
Chip Average: 8,100,000

Here are the heads up chip counts:

Mike Linster - 5,150,000
Joshua Beckley - 11,000,000

There is (10) minutes remaining in this level, with blinds going up to 30,000/60,000/10,000.

Big Stax 1500 (Day 3): 3rd Place - Pandya ($43,040)

Level 26 (Blinds 25,000/50,000/5,000)
Players Remaining: 2
Chip Average: 8,000,000

Ketan Pandya (Piscataway, NJ)

Joshua Beckley's final table run good will not stop, and he opens from the button and then calls Ketan Pandya's three-bet shove for 1,300,000:

Pandya: K♥ 9♥
Beckley: A♥ 10♠

Flop: 6♣ Q♦ 10♥
Turn: J♦
River: K♦

Beckley would hold the lead while Ketan held on to his wife, not looking at the runout at all.  After Pandya turned the straight, Joshua just asked for a king...and his wish would be granted.   "That's so sick," said Linster, as Pandya turned around to see his fate.   The two players are now heads up for the trophy, with updated counts to come.

Big Stax 1500 (Day 3): Three Handed Chip Counts

Level 26 (Blinds 25,000/50,000/5,000)
Players Remaining: 3
Chip Average: 5,400,000

Here are the updated chip counts with three players remaining, and (30) minutes remaining in Level 26:

Mike Linster - 5,900,000
Joshua Beckley - 8,300,000
Ketan Pandya - 1,300,000

Big Stax 1500 (Day 3): 4th Place - Dever ($32,348)

Level 26 (Blinds 25,000/50,000/5,000)
Players Remaining: 3
Chip Average: 5,300,000

Cathy Dever (Ephrata, PA)

Cathy Dever (Ephrata, PA) can only look at one player and say they had a better series than her (Jose Montes).  Dever makes back to back final tables, and betters her Big Stax 500 10th place finish.  She pushed her stack of (18) big blinds across the line on the button, and was called by Mike Linster:

Linster: A♦ J♦
Dever: 6♠ 9♠

Flop: A♣ J♣ 5♠
Turn: 5♦
River: 10♦

The five of spades in the window was about all the sweat Dever would get from the runout, as Mike had her drawing dead on the turn.  The players are now three handed, with Ketan Pandya at an extreme deficit compared to his two opponents.

Big Stax 1500 (Day 3): 5th Place - Small ($23,840)

Level 26 (Blinds 25,000/50,000/5,000)
Players Remaining: 4
Chip Average: 4,000,000

Drew Small (Langhorne, PA)

Drew Small was trying to recover from the earlier pot lost to Linster, but ran into the same wall once more.  After Mike opened the pot to 100,000, Drew took his time before looking at the dealer and announcing all-in.  Action would fold behind and Mike would immediately place chips across the line for the call:

Small: 10♠ 10♦
Linster: K♦ K♠

Flop: 9♦ A♥ 3♦
Turn: 5♦
River: 6♦

The flop would miss Small, and although the turn and river brought diamonds, Linster held the higher of the two.  Drew's lifetime earnings were $5,000 coming into today, and getting into this event via satellite, he has to be ecstatic with his finish (although disappointed as well).

Big Stax 1500 (Day 3): Reminder Of Payouts

Level 26 (Blinds 25,000/50,000/5,000)
Players Remaining: 5
Chip Average: 3,200,000

Here is a reminder of what the final five players are shooting for:

1. $116,738
2. $69,610
3. $43,040
4. $32,348
5. $23,840

Big Stax 1500 (Day 3): 6th Place - Cohen ($19,473)

Level 26 (Blinds 25,000/50,000/5,000)
Players Remaining: 5
Chip Average: 3,300,000

Jesse Cohen (Ardmore, PA)

Jesse Cohen (Ardmore, PA) was the shortest of the remaining players by far, and shoved his remaining (15) bigs across the line after an open from Joshua Beckley.  Beckley would make the call when the action returned:

Beckley: Q♥ Q♠
Cohen: K♠ K♦

Flop: 7♥ A♦ 4♠
Turn: Q♣
River: A♣

"You're running far too well to run into that," Mike Linster said to Beckley when the hands were tabled.  The remaining players all reacted to the queen on the turn, but nobody seemed surprised that Joshua actually spiked the two outer.  Beckley continues to run away with the chip lead, holding over 65% of the chips in play at the moment.

Big Stax 1500 (Day 3): Linster Doubles Through Small

Level 26 (Blinds 25,000/50,000/5,000)
Players Remaining: 6
Chip Average: 2,700,000

The action continues to be fast and furious, and Drew Small three-bet ships enough to put Mike Linster all-in, and Mike makes the call (3,000,000 pot):

Linster: A♦ Q♠        Small: K♣ K♠ 

Flop: J♣ 9♠ 6♠

Turn: A♣

River: 5♦

Small had his eyes covered while the dealer was running out the board, and when he looked up to the tournament supervisor counting the chips, he thought he won the hand.  Small never looked down at the board to see that Linster had spiked an ace on the turn to steal the pot away.

Mike Linster - 3,000,000
Drew Small - 1,400,000

Big Stax 1500 (Day 3): Level Up/Updated Chip Counts

Level 26 (Blinds 25,000/50,000/5,000)
Players Remaining: 6
Chip Average: 2,700,000

Players are on break after that monstrous pot, and they will return to Level 26 and blinds of 25,000/50,000/5,000.  Here are the updated chip counts from break:

1. Cathy Dever - 950,000
2. Jesse Cohen - 700,000
3. Mike Linster - 1,500,000
4. Drew Small - 2,750,000
5. Joshua Beckley - 9,200,000
6. Ketan Pandya - 2,000,000

Big Stax 1500 (Day 3): 7th Place - Csik ($16,060)

Level 26 (Blinds 25,000/50,000/5,000)
Players Remaining: 6
Chip Average: 2,700,000

Chris Csik (Hoboken, NJ)

The hand before the break started would be the last for Chris Csik (Hoboken, NJ).  The players saw a flop (Csik and Beckley) in a raised pot of 5♦ 10♠ 9♣, with Csik leading out for 470,000.  Joshua would answer with a raise to 1,200,000, with Csik sitting stone faced as he thought about his next move.

After some time thinking, Chris would announce himself all-in, and Beckely would look his way and quickly make the call:

Beckley: 9♦ 9♠ (top set)
Csik: A♥ A♦

Turn: 8♣
River: 6♣

Csik would get up for the table with a understandably frustrated look on his face, and have to watch as the dealer and tournament supervisor cut down both stacks.  Beckley held 3,700,000 to the 3,500,000 of Csik, sending him home in 7th place ($16,060).

Big Stax 1500 (Day 3): Pandya Doubles Through Linster

Level 25 (Blinds 20,000/40,000/5,000)
Players Remaining: 7
Chip Average: 2,300,000

Mike Linster opened the pot to 80,000 in early position, with action folding to Ketan Pandya in the big blind.  Pandya stood still for a few moments before announcing himself all-in.  Mike asked for a count (which was 750,000), and made the call after assessing his chip stack:

Linster: 7♦ 7♣      Pandya: A♥ 4♥

Flop: Q♣ Q♦ 3♥

Turn: 10♥

River: K♥

The flop looked pretty bleak for Pandya, but he did have the running hearts possibility.  That's exactly what would happen as the turn and river would bring Pandya the flush, and he would double up to 1,550,000.  Level 25 has just ended, and when the players leave the table, we will bring you updated chip counts.

Big Stax 1500 (Day 3): Cohen Doubles Through Dever

Level 25 (Blinds 20,000/40,000/5,000)
Players Remaining: 7
Chip Average: 2,300,000

After Cathy Dever opened, Jesse Cohen shipped his remaining 465,000.  Action would fold back around to Cathy, and she made the call:

Dever: A♣ Q♥      Cohen: J♥ J♦

Flop: 9♦ 8♥ 5♥

Turn: 6♠

River: 5♦

Cathy would gain a few more outs to a chop on the turn, but the board paired fives and Cohen got the double to just under 1,000,000.  There is less than (10) minutes remaining in this level, and updated chip counts will be posted when players go on break.

Big Stax 1500 (Day 3): Csik Wins Monster Pot

Level 25 (Blinds 20,000/40,000/5,000)
Players Remaining: 7
Chip Average: 2,300,000

Things were getting interested between Chris Csik and Ketan Pandya, as the two were on the river of a board reading K♦ K♠ 9♣ 7♣ 2♥.  Csik would have a river bet of 850,000 sitting out in front of him, with a pot over 1,400,000 in the middle of the table.  Pandya was deep in the tank, cutting out the chips that would make the call, seeing what would be left over if he was to decide to do just that.  After about three minutes, Pandya looked down towards the floor while pushing the call across the line ever so slowly.  Csik tabled K♣ K♥ and the table reacted, which Ketan opening his eyes only to jump out of his chair.  Pandya showed A♠ A♦ before tossing his hand into the muck, with Chris looking over and saying, "I flatted a four-bet pre out of position."

Chris Csik - 4,200,000
Ketan Pandya - 850,000

Big Stax 1500 (Day 3): 8th Place - Black ($12,648)

Level 25 (Blinds 20,000/40,000/5,000)
Players Remaining: 7
Chip Average: 2,300,000

Joe Black (Bronx, NY)

For Joe Black (Bronx, NY), Big Stax deep runs are just turning into second nature.  This was Black's second Big Stax final table, and although he didn't reach the point of chopping like he did in May, he adds this result to a solid 2014.

Joshua Beckley would open for 90,000, with action folding around to Black.  Joe shoved for 690,000 total, and Joshua made the call:

Black: A♠ K♠
Beckley: 7♠ 7♣

Flop: 5♥ 5♠ 6♣
Turn: 7♥
River: 8♣

The river was just a formality, as Joshua had Black drawing dead on the turn after making a full house.  This cash brings Black's total earnings over $180,000.

Big Stax 1500 (Day 3): Updated Chip Counts

Level 25 (Blinds 20,000/40,000/5,000)
Players Remaining: 8
Chip Average: 2,000,000

Since the level ended abruptly last night when players reached the final table, Level 25 started after only (15) minutes of play.  Here are the updated chip counts now (30) minutes into Level 25:

1. Cathy Dever - 1,850,000
2. Jesse Cohen - 550,000
3. Mike Linster - 2,000,000
4. Joe Black - 700,000
5. Chris Csik - 1,900,000
6. Drew Small - 2,900,000
7. Joshua Beckley - 3,500,000
8. Ketan Pandya - 2,400,000

Big Stax 1500 (Day 3): 9th Place - Roman ($9,554)

Level 25 (Blinds 20,000/40,000/5,000)
Players Remaining: 8
Chip Average: 2,000,000

Ulises Roman (Huntington, WV)

After Cathy Dever and Jesse Cohen folded, Ken Silberstein opened for his remaining 60,000.  Ulises Roman would follow by putting in his 75,000, with the five players behind all calling.  The flop would come out 4♠ K♦ 7♣, and action would check to Chris Csik, who put out a bet of 270,000.  The others folded behind and the three hands were tabled:

Csik: K♥ 10♣
Roman: J♣ J♠
Silberstein: A♠ 3♣

Turn: 3♥
River: 10♠

Silberstein would be credited with a tenth place finish, going into the hand with less chips than Ulises ($6,688).  Roman would be out ninth place finisher, earning himself $9,554.

Big Stax 1500 (Day 3): 10th Place - Silberstein ($6,688)

Level 24 (Blinds 15,000/30,000/5,000)
Players Remaining: 8
Chip Average: 2,000,000

Ken Silberstein (Edison, NJ)

After Cathy Dever and Jesse Cohen folded, Ken Silberstein opened for his remaining 60,000.  Ulises Roman would follow by putting in his 75,000, with the five players behind all calling.  The flop would come out 4♠ K♦ 7♣, and action would check to Chris Csik, who put out a bet of 270,000.  The others folded behind and the three hands were tabled:

Csik: K♥ 10♣
Roman: J♣ J♠
Silberstein: A♠ 3♣

Turn: 3♥
River: 10♠

Silberstein would be credited with a tenth place finish, going into the hand with less chips than Ulises ($6,688).  Roman would be out ninth place finisher, earning himself $9,554.

Big Stax 1500 (Day 3): Linster Recovers In Three-Way All-in

Level 24 (Blinds 15,000/30,000/5,000)
Players Remaining: 10
Chip Average: 1,600,000

The following hand after Linster sent the chips Roman's way, Ken Silberstein would open shove for 650,000.  Ulises Roman would re-shove next to act for 690,000, with Mike Linster calling the all-ins, holding less than both players (615,000):

Linster: A♦ A♥      Silberstein: 4♠ 4♦      Roman: A♣ K♣

Flop: 9♥ 8♦ 2♠

Turn: 6♥

River: 5♥

Linster would pick up pocket aces with two players in front of him, and get the clean runout to triple up to 1,900,000.  Both Ulises and Silberstein would be left with less than 100,000 after cutting out the chips to send Mike's way.

Big Stax 1500 (Day 3): Roman Doubles A Few Hands In

Level 24 (Blinds 15,000/30,000/5,000)
Players Remaining: 10
Chip Average: 1,600,000

Ulises Roman shoved the button after action folded to him (with Joe Black absent from the big blind), but Mike Linster woke up with a hand and made the call.  It would be the A♠ K♠ of Linster against the J♥ 3♣ of Roman.  Ulises would flop a pair of jacks, and the runout would stay clean, giving Roman the double to 690,000.  After absorbing the loss, Linster drops down below 500,000 for the first time since the middle stages of Day 2.

Big Stax 1500 (Day 3): It All Comes Down To This

Level 24 (Blinds 15,000/30,000/5,000)
Players Remaining: 10

Players are beginning to arrive and in remove their chips from their bags. The cards will be in the air at 1:00pm, and we will play down to a winner today. There are a lot of story lines surrounding this final table, and it will be great to see them unfold.

Big Stax 1500 (Day 3): Final Table

DAY 3	Table Order
Total Players:	325	Total Remaining:	10
Total Chips:	16,250,000	Avereage Chips:	1,625,000
Name	Last Name	Hometown	Chip Count	Table #	Seat #
CATHERINE	DEVER	EPHRATA PA	1,940,000	57	1
JESSE	COHEN	ARDMORE PA	755,000	57	2
KEN	SILBERSTEIN	EDISON NJ	665,000	57	3
ULISES	ROMAN	HUNTINGTON WV	335,000	57	4
MIKE	LINSTER	ISLAND PARK NY	960,000	57	5
JOE	REDDICK	BRONX NY	930,000	57	6
CHRIS	CSIK	HOBOKEN NJ	1,500,000	57	7
DREW	SMALL	LANGHORNE PA	3,765,000	57	8
JOSHUA	BECKLEY	MARLTON NJ	2,345,000	57	9
KETAN	PANDYA	PISCATAWAY NJ	2,965,000	57	10

Big Stax 1500 (Day 2): 11th Place - Larkin ($6,688)

Level 24 (Blinds 15,000/30,000/5,000)

Total Entries: 323

Players Remaining: 10

Adam Larkin (New York, NY)

Adam Larkin and Drew Small just got the chips in pre, with Larkin ahead when the cards were tabled (850,000 pot):

Larkin: A♠ 8♣

Small: A♣ 6♠

Flop: 8♠ 9♠ 10♣

Turn: 5♥

River: 7♦

Larkin was asking the dealer for an eight, but the way the texture of the board was with that eight, it would give Small four outs instead of three.  The turn stayed clean, but the river seven would give Small the straight and make Larkin the final table bubble boy.  Players are now bagging their chips and will return tomorrow at 1:00pm.

Big Stax 1500 (Day 2): 12th Place - McColgan ($6,688)

Level 24 (Blinds 15,000/30,000/5,000)
Total Entries: 323
Players Remaining: 11

Kevin McColgan (Phildelphia, PA)

Kevin McColgan (Philadelphia, PA) was just eliminated in a really tough spot on the river, and updated his followers on Twitter about it:

Made K high flush on river vs A high flush in 2mill+ pot out 12th
— Kevin McColgan (@Bukowski101) August 18, 2014

The board would read Q♠ A♥ 3♥ J♠ 2♠, and after Kevin raised Ketan Pandya river bet to 400,000, Pandya answered with a three-bet shove.  Kevin had to make sure that Pandya actually said "all-in," and looked over while announcing a call.  Pandya would turn over A♠ 10♠ against Kevin's K♠ 5♠.  Pandya is over 3,000,000 after winning the massive pot.

Big Stax 1500 (Day 2): 13th Place - Brand ($5,733)

Level 24 (Blinds 15,000/30,000/5,000)
Total Entries: 323
Players Remaining: 12

Joe Brand (Fair Lawn, NJ)

Joe Brand (Fair Lawn, NJ) made the most of his fortunate double through Matthew Maccaroni, actually chipping up to close to average.  After three players saw a flop of 6♦ 6♥ 7♠, Brand would ship his remaining 190,000 after checked to, and he was snapped by Drew Small:

Small: Q♣ 7♣ (top pair)
Brand: 4♠ 5♣ (open-ended)

Turn: 9♥
River: 9♣

Brand could not come from behind for a second time, and he would be eliminated only three spots short of the final table.

Big Stax 1500 (Day 2): Black Doubles Through Dever

Level 24 (Blinds 15,000/30,000/5,000)
Total Entries: 323
Players Remaining: 13

Joe Black just doubled through Cathy Dever, as he shipped a flop of 3♦ 5♠ 7♠ and was snapped by Cathy next to act.  The players would table the cards to determine the winner of this 1,600,000 pot:

Dever: A♠ 3♠       Black: 9♣7♣

Turn: 10♦

River: 7♥

Black was able to hold against the over pair and flush outs of Dever, and he is now above the 1,250,000 chip average.

Big Stax 1500 (Day 2): 14th Place - Maccaroni ($5,733)

Level 24 (Blinds 15,000/30,000/5,000)
Total Entries: 323
Players Remaining: 13

Matthew Maccaroni (Hamilton Square, NJ)

Matthew Maccaroni (Hamilton Square, NJ) did an incredible job just to make it to the next pay jump after taking a terrible beat at the hands of Joe Brand.  He was lucky enough to triple up the hand after when he was super short, but he had the best hand the whole time.

Maccaroni couldn't navigate any further though, getting his Q J in with less than (10) bigs against the 5 5 of Joshua Beckley.  Joshua would race well and his hand would hold, sending Matthew home in 14th place ($5,733).

Joshua is still in the chip lead, sitting with 2,800,000 after collecting Maccaroni's chips.

Big Stax 1500 (Day 2): 15th Place - Singer ($5,733)

Level 24 (Blinds 15,000/30,000/5,000)
Total Entries: 323
Players Remaining: 14

Jameson Singer (Brooklyn, NY)

It's a spot that really plays itself out, as Jameson Singer (Brooklyn, NY) shoves his last ten bigs with A♠ K♣ and runs into the Q♠ Q♣ of Ken Silberstein.  Ken's picket queens would hold and Singer would leave the field in 15th place ($5,733).

This score puts Singer's career earnings above the $100,000 mark, an early goal for many tournament players.  Jameson was coming off a run in the $10,000 WSOP Main, where he finished in 414th place and took how just over $29,000.