Three days of battle wasn’t enough for the competitors in the “One Drop High Rollers” event as four men came back on Saturday to determine the champion of the epic tournament.
The four men – chip leader Bill Perkins (14.7 million), Anthony Gregg (13.9 million), Chris Klodnicki (12 million) and Antonio Esfandiari (9.2 million) – were all guaranteed at least $1,433,438 just for coming back on Saturday, but they were all eyeing the top prize of $4.8 million. With the bracelet close enough for them to taste it, the foursome wasted little time in getting down to business.
Only four hands into the day’s action, Esfandiari would move all in over a Klodnicki bet to force Klodnicki to a decision. After some deliberation, Klodnicki would reluctantly make the call and table his A-9 to trail Esfandiari’s pocket eights. With a pot worth 20 million on the table in front of them, Esfandiari saw the flop and turn come K-6-7-6 to keep him in the lead. The river Ace was a crusher, however, flipping the hand in favor of Klodnicki and eliminating the 2012 “Big One For One Drop” champion in fourth place.
Klodnicki moved into the lead after the massive hand, but he was unable to hold it for long. Gregg would get a big double up through Perkins only four hands after Esfandiari’s elimination to take over the top slot, then would finish off Perkins in third place in another stunning hand. Gregg’s A-Q was ahead of Perkins’ A-5, but a five on the flop put Perkins in the lead. A four on the turn kept him there, but the river Queen favored Gregg, who commiserated with Perkins over the unfortunate river card as Perkins left in third place.
Going into heads up play, Gregg held 31.2 million chips to take to battle against Klodnicki’s 18.6 million. Klodnicki would get off to a decent start, pulling to within nine million chips of Gregg only seven hands into heads up play, but Gregg would slowly grind down Klodnicki over the next dozen hands of action. After four days of action, the final hand would prove to be an exciting way to end a classic event.
After Klodnicki limped in from the button, Gregg would check his option to see a 4-3-9 rainbow flop. Gregg checked again post-flop, then raised Klodnicki’s 500K bet to 1.4 million. Klodnicki decided to make his stand here, moving all in, and Gregg called and tabled his 9-2 off suit for the flopped top pair. Klodnicki could only muster a 7-5 off suit for the gutshot straight draw, but his chances improved when a five came on the turn. Looking for a five, six or seven to pull the hand into his favor, Klodnicki instead saw a trey come on the river to eliminate him in second place and crown Anthony Gregg the champion of the One Drop High Rollers.
1. Anthony Gregg (Columbia, MD), $4,830,619
2. Chris Klodnicki (Philadelphia, PA), $2,985,495
3. Bill Perkins (Houston, TX), $1,965,163
4. Antonio Esfandiari (Las Vegas, NV), $1,433,438
5. Richard Fullerton (San Francisco, CA), $1,066,491
6. Martin Jacobson (Stockholm, Sweden), $807,427
7. Brandon Steven (Wichita, KS), $621,180
8. Nick Schulman (New York, NY), $485,029
9. Olivier Busquet (Katonah, NY), $384,122
While Gregg walks off as the champion of the One Drop High Rollers, the true winner of the tournament was the One Drop charity founded by Cirque du Soleil creator and poker player Guy Laliberte. The entry and tournament staff fees, totaling 3% ($553,332), were donated to Laliberte’s cause, which brings clean water to areas that do not have that necessary life liquid. Whether they played for the cause or for the reason most poker players hit the felt (money), the One Drop High Rollers has provided us with a great four days of action and has crowned a worthy champion in Anthony Gregg.
