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.