Event #4: $365 No-Limit Hold'em Monster Stack

Hammond, Indiana (October 19, 2016) — Erik Anderson is the champion of Event #4 at Horseshoe Hammond, defeating a field of 619 players to win the $365 Monster Stack. The victory is Anderson’s first on the Circuit and, in fact, his first live tournament result of any sort. He collected the top prize of $39,004, his first ring, and 50 points in the race for Casino Champion at this venue.

Anderson is a 31-year-old telecommunications supervisor and a competitive golfer who was born and raised in Chicago. “I’m just a competitive person in general,” he said. “Most of my free time is spent on the golf course. I really just played this on a whim. I saw that the Circuit was in town, and I thought I’d come out and try my luck.” It’s a story that’s told often by local and first-time winners on the Circuit.

The champ said he draws heavily on his tournament golf experience at the poker table, too. “Mental patience,” he said of the primary crossover between the two games. “Golf is very similar to poker. If you have a bad hole or hit a bad shot, a short memory really benefits you. If you have a bad hand or make a bad call, forget about it and move on. That hand is in the past. Golf is exactly the same.”

Anderson did, indeed, have a stretch of bad holes in the middle of this round of poker. Early on Day 2, he got himself short-stacked and all in with deuce-four against pocket tens. Anderson said he was literally starting to walk out the door as the board ran out ace-king-king-jack-jack to give him his money back, with both him and his opponent playing the five cards on board.

That save sparked a furious comeback, and he was soon seated at the final table with the second-largest of the 10 remaining stacks. About six hours later, he eliminated Art Harb in third place, taking a 10:1 chip lead into the heads-up duel against local favorite Yousri Ali. The latter managed to double his short stack a couple times, but he could not fully recover from the deficit. Anderson soon collected the last of the chips, earning his first ring in his first-ever try.

Despite the flash of success, Anderson certainly doesn’t plan on changing his occupation in the foreseeable future. “I don’t think poker would be a good day job for me,” he laughed. “Too stressful, long hours. I don’t know if I could deal with the swings. I’ll stick to my eight-to-five.”

Art Harb has already made two final tables this series, but he's come up just short once again. He was just eliminated in third place, leaving Yousri Ali and Erik Anderson heads-up for the ring. The latter recently doubled through Harb in a monster pot, and he takes a commanding lead into the duel.

Erik Anderson - 11,180,000 (93 bb)
Yousri Ali - 1,200,000 (10 bb)

Blinds are 60,000/120,000 with a 20,000 ante in the current level, putting just over 100 total big blinds in play.

Twenty-seven players have been eliminated so far this afternoon, leaving the final 12 just two eliminations away from the ten-handed final table. They've just been sent on their second break of the day. When they return, blinds will move to 15,000/30,000 with a 5,000 ante, putting the average stack just under 35 big blinds.

Ring winner DJ MacKinnon is still in the mix, sitting slightly below the chip average. Event #1 runner-up Art Harb needs to finish ninth or better to take the lead in the Casino Champion race, and he has his work cut out for him as one of the shortest stacks in the remaining field.

Play will continue tonight until a winner is determined.

The starting field of 619 players has been reduced to just 63, and the remaining Monster Stack field is now in the money. Everyone left is guaranteed to earn at least $607 in this event, turning at least a small profit on their start-of-day investment.

The bubblelasted through the end of Level 20, so a fresh Level 21 brings the field into the payout zone. Blinds are 5,000/10,000 with a 1,000 ante, putting the average stack just below 20 big blinds. Play is scheduled to continue tonight until the end of the current level, just about 40 minutes from now.

Registration is closed for this Monster Stack event, and the numbers are in. This $365 no-limit hold'em event drew a field of 619 entries, generating a prizepool worth $185,700. That money will be shared by the final 63 players, with a min-cash worth $607. A ring and a top prize of $39,004 await the eventual winner.

The full breakdown of the payouts can be found in the "Prizepool" tab above.

The field has just returned from its first break of the day, and the board shows nearly 550 entries so far. Registration for this Monster Stack remains open through the dinner break this evening, so there's still plenty of time to expand.

Players who late register at the last moment will still begin with 12.5 big blinds after dinner.