Foutty Takes Out HPT Reno for almost $90,000

If one was to label Stephen Foutty’s time at the Heartland Poker Tour (HPT) Reno Main Event by looking at the movement of his chip counts, the term ‘unstable’ would probably be used. The “go hard or go home” style of play literally paid off for the American, though, as he took out the main event in the Nevada city and the US$89,484 cash prize that came along with it.

Foutty was high on the chip count list of the 57 remaining players who made it Day 2, but his stack took a battering throughout the day, having gotten to lower than 50,000 chips at one point. He boosted it back up almost as quick as he lost it, however, as he once again got himself into a solid position for a strong finish.

By the time he made it to the final table his position was not that strong anymore again, as he had the third smallest stack. But that did not deter Foutty as he went into battle with the other remaining eight players.

Tim Klemin had the shortest stack of the final nine, and he couldn’t turn the things around in his favour as he was the first final table player to be eliminated on the final day of play. It came as his all-in with Ace King was called by James Hays, whose Pocket Queens improved further on the board to win him the hand and put the tournament down to eight.

It was a similar story for Ed Yang, who entered the final table with the second shortest stack. He was eliminated in eighth place by Mike Stockton after both players had a pair of Eights. Stockton had the higher kicker, however, which was enough to win him the hand while knocking Yang out of the event.

While Tony Le did everything he could to boost his short stack at the final table, he was simply unable to match the stellar performances of his rivals and settled for seventh place in the event.

Stan Joblonski and Stockton were the next two players to be sent to the rail in sixth and fifth place respectively. Their eliminations put the event down to its final four players, and none of them had a clear chip lead by the time the dinner break had come.

That soon changed as Zak Gilbert was eliminated in fourth place by James Hays. Hays went all in after the flop with Pocket Twos (he hit nothing on the flop) and was called by Gilbert, who had Ten Nine off suit.

No Ten or Nine came on the turn or river, which meant Hays’s Twos held up, which put the tournament down to three.

Third place went to Zephyr Peling, who fell victim to the eventual winner as he outkicked Peling with his Ace King (Peling had King Five) en route to putting the tournament into heads-up play.

Foutty held a very slight chip lead over Hays when the heads-up play began, but he lost the lead after Hays won a huge hand to double up early on.

Fortunes went back into Foutty’s favour, however, when Foutty himself doubled up after getting a straight on the flop on one hand.

It was all Foutty from there as he eliminated Hays a few hands later after he got a Three of Kind on the aa5 flop holding Ace Jack. The 6 on the turn gave Hays a flush draw as he held the 9 (along with 8 ).

It was not to be, though, as the q came on the river, which meant Hays had to settle for second place while Foutty was crowned the winner of the HPT Reno Main Event.

Photos: http://www.hptpoker.com/