Congratulations to Brandon Adams, Winner of Poker Masters Event #2: $25,000 No-Limit Hold'em ($400,000)
The tournament began with an impressive group of players at the PokerGO Studio just outside of the Aria Resort and Casino and when the dust had settled it was Brandon Adams taking down Event #2: $25,000 No-Limit Hold'em at the Poker Masters.
The day started off full of action, never really slowing down and the cause of the action was Adams, who rarely took his foot off of the pedal and consistently was putting all of his opponents to the test. He topped a field of 50 players and came into Day 2 fourth on the 2018 Purple Jacket leaderboard race. Taking down the six-man final tabled earned him 300 points, moving him up to first place on the board, as well as a prodigious $400,000 first place prize.
The final table chipleader to start Day 2 was Jared Jaffee, who found himself in a spot that would almost always be a win with his flopped set against Adams and his pair of aces. The board went runner-runner full house for Adams, leaving Jaffee short stacked and giving Adams a commanding chip lead that he used to lean on his opponents.
The Day 2 Chipleader and Adams would end up dueling it out in a heads-up match, with Adams having a seemingly overwhelming chip lead. The battle would end shortly after starting, just two hands into play and Adams would emerge as the victor. Jaffee would pocket a respectable $262,000 for his efforts and earn 210 towards the Purple Jacket.
Poker Masters Event #2 Final Table Results:
| Position | Player | Country | Prize |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1st | Brandon Adams | United States | $400,000 |
| 2nd | Jared Jaffee | United States | $262,000 |
| 3rd | Jake Schindler | United States | $175,000 |
| 4th | Bill Klein | United States | $125,000 |
| 5th | Jason Koon | United States | $100,000 |
| 6th | Daniel Negreanu | Canada | $75,000 |
Final Table Action
It was not very long into the day when Adams started making moves and pushing his stack around, not afraid to bluff when needing to do so. Daniel Negreanu caught on to that fact rather quickly, slow playing a pair of tens preflop to Adams raise. The board was showing all undercards on the turn when Negreanu moved all in and was quickly called by Adams who was holding a pair of ladies. Negreanu could not manage to hit a ten as he was the first to exit the tournament in sixth place.
Jason Koon found himself in two races with Bill Klein, in which he lost both and was left with just crumbs. Koon found a pot shortly after and almost made a comeback, but fell short of doing so when Jaffee took him out of the tournament with his pair of tens. During the next set of blinds, Klein had whittled down to the short stack and moved all in with king-jack over a raise from Jake Schindler, who quickly made the call with his ace-eight. Schindler would take down the pot, eliminating Klein from the tournament with a pair of eights.
A couple levels of three-handed action took place before Schindler would be the next casualty to head to the payout desk. Adams was constantly moving all in and leaning on both Schindler and Jaffee during three-handed action. Schindler decided that he has had enough, taking a stand with queen-ten and Adams would turn over ace-five. Schindler failed to connect with the board as Adams took down the pot with a pair of fives, eliminating Schindler from the tournament.
The heads-up play last just two hands before short stack Jaffee moved all in from the button, being snap-called by Adams. Jaffee's king high was behind Adams who was holding ace high. The turn gave Jaffee a lot of outs to stay alive and double up but he failed to do so as Adams took down the pot with his ace high, eliminating Jaffee in second place.
Adams is no rookie to the Poker Masters, winning Event #4 $ 50,000 No Limit Hold'em last year and placing fourth just yesterday in Event #1: $10,000 No-Limit Hold'em. Today's victory has moved Adams to the top of the 2018 Purple Jacket Rankings and he will surely be looking to add to his lead.
This concludes the PokerNews coverage of Event #2: $25,000 No-Limit Hold'em here at the Poker Masters. Coverage of Event #3: $25,000 Pot-Limit Omaha is currently in progress, and make sure to stay tuned to PokerNews.com for all the 2018 Poker Masters updates.
2018 Poker Masters Purple Jacket Rankings:
| Ranking | Player | Country | Points |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1st | Brandon Adams | United States | 420 |
| 2nd | David Peters | United States | 300 |
| T-3rd | Brian Green | United States | 210 |
| T-3rd | Jared Jaffee | United States | 210 |
| T-5th | Rainer Kempe | Germany | 150 |
| T-5th | Jake Schindler | United States | 150 |
| T-7th | Bill Klein | United States | 120 |
| T-7th | Cary Katz | United States | 120 |
| T-9th | Jason Koon | United States | 90 |
| T-9th | Cord Garcia | United States | 90 |