Event #7: $400 No-Limit Hold'em 6-Handed

Popular local grinder John "Cracker" Reynolds has come from behind during heads-up play against Chris Moneymaker to win Event #7 at Circuit Hard Rock Tulsa, $400 No-Limit Hold'em 6-Handed. The victory was worth $17,335 and gives Reynolds his first career Circuit ring.

Reynolds' comeback win denied 2003 WSOP Main Event champion Moneymaker his own first Circuit win. Moneymaker earned $10,708 for the near miss, while Mark Fink took third for $7,566. Reynolds began the day second in chips at one of the most talent-loaded final tables in recent memory. Besides Moneymaker and four-time ring winner Fink, the final six also included 11-time ring winner Maurice Hawkins, who made his second final of the series and again came close to tying Valentin Vornicu atop the career Circuit victories list.

Hawkins began Day 2 with a narrow lead over Reynolds before faltering and finishing in fourth, while two more prior Circuit ring winners, Ryan Phan and Brett Apter, finished fifth and sixth, respectively. Six-time ring winner Andrew Robinson bubbled the official final table, finishing seventh.

It looked for a while as if it might be Moneymaker who would claim his own first Circuit victory. Moneymaker started the day on the short stack, doubled up early, and with later knockouts of Hawkins and Fink, reached heads-up play against Reynolds with over a 2:1 edge. However, the lead flipped to Reynolds after the two players got the chips all in pre-flop, with Moneymaker starting slightly ahead with    to Reynolds'   . Reynolds caught a king on the flop, the complete board ran out        , and Reynolds, who briefly led earlier in the day, was back on top.

The end came just a few hands later, when Moneymaker called a pre-flop shove by Reynolds for the last of his own chips. Reynolds opened his    first, and Moneymaker said, "Not the eight," then showed his own   . The dominated Moneymaker couldn't find the king or other help, as the board ran out         to seal Reynolds' win.

The 42-year-old "Cracker," as he's known to his friends, described his thoughts in the big double-through against Moneymaker that led to the win. "Once we got to heads-up, I knew he had a commanding, more than two-to-one chip lead. I just wanted to play the way he had been playing at the final table. I chose to play loose and aggressive, fast, because I knew was going to be playing the same. I wasn't going to play tight and let him run over me."

That led to Reynolds getting his K-J all in as just a slight underdog, and when he had to have it, the runout went his way. The nice payday isn't the largest of Reynolds' career, as he finished as the runner-up in a multi-flight Circuit event at Choctaw Durant a couple of years ago for over $58,000. Reynolds, a regular at Circuit stops in the region, will be at the tables for the rest of this series as well.

Play has ended for the night in Event #7. With 22 levels complete five players remain, led by West Palm Beach, Florida's Maurice Hawkins with 973,000 in chips.

Here are the seat assignments and chip counts for the five remaining players who will return at 1 pm on Thursday:

Seat 1: John Reynolds - 877,000
Seat 2: Maurice Hawkins - 973,000
Seat 3: Mark Fink - 307,000
Seat 4: Ryan Phan - 510,000
Seat 5: Chris Moneymaker - 300,000