Jason Farkas Tames Monster Stack
While PokerNews is here offering live updates from the Main Event, we’d be remiss if we didn’t tell you about the full schedule of side events that have been playing out over the past week at the World Series of Poker Circuit Potawatomi.
In Event #8: $400 NLH Monster Stack, 610 runners created a $201,300 prize pool that was paid out to the top 92 players. Among those to cash but fall short of the official final table were Brian Davis (10th- $1,718), Cody Brinn (11th - $2,857), Byron Zievell (15th - $2,328), Brady Roth (20th - $1,610), Oleh Ferkalyuk (27th - $1,178) and John Sun (28th - $1,029).
In the end, it was Wisconsin native Jason Farkas who collected every chip in play to win his first gold ring along with a $38,039 payday.
The largest starting field was whittled down to just 24 players by the end of Day 1. Farkas made it through with 355,000 but on the very first hand of Day 2, dropped down to just 30,000 after losing with ace-nine against would be second-place finisher, Alec McClintock, holding king-ten.
“This was a long day,” Farkas stated. “I worked a half-day and have only slept three maybe four hours the last two days.”
The sleep deprived Farkas was down to just one big blind but somehow did made it through his chip and a chair moment, running it up to 3,450,000 and took the overall chip lead into the unofficial final table. It was a slow start once players took to their seats, but bodies started dropping one-by-one to six handed play where Farkas was relinquished from his chip lead dropping down to 1,450,000.
It was here where Farkas would go on a heater, eliminating ring winner Steve Buell in sixth-place and then getting a double-up holding ace’s against McClintock holding pocket tens.
Farkas continued to catch hands eliminating Tim Schutt and Mary Gambotz in back-to-back hands holding pocket kings, then pocket jacks.
Three-handed action saw Farkas hold over 12,000,000 of the 18,000,000 chips in play, but he lost his final table chip lead once more to his nemesis McClintock. First after being dominated holding king-jack against McClintock’s king-queen, then Farkas doubled-up McClintock again in a coin flip.
The three-way battled continued as Farkas caught a few more hands to regain his chip lead leaving ring winner James Burns no choice but to get his short-stack in the middle but he couldn’t connect on the runout ending his tournament in third-place.
The heads-up battle lasted all but two hands after McClintock jammed his short stack in the middle getting snap-called by Farkas holding aces. McClintock was in rough shape holding king-nine and couldn’t find any help ending his tournament run in second place.
It was a fitting defeat for Farkas to eliminate the person who left him with a chip and a chair at the beginning of the day.
“This is such a sweet feeling,” Farkas stated after his win. “I’ve been playing poker forever. I made my first trip out to the World Series in 2006, so this win has been a long time coming and I’m honestly just on cloud nine right now.”
Even though Farkas has been playing poker for fourteen years, his tournament success hasn’t started until recently, amassing just under $50,000 in his last four cashes dating back to 2018 and was full of emotion after his win.
“It was really special having my brother Jeremey here with me,” Farkas stated.
“He has always been a big supporter of mine and we talk poker all the time but now with this win I passed him on the family leaderboard for earnings which I have been chasing for a while,” Farkas said with a joking smile.
Final Table Results
| Place | Player | Hometown | Prize |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Jason Farkas | Racine, WI | $38,039 |
| 2 | Alec McClintock | Lake In The Hills, IL | $23,509 |
| 3 | James Burns | Smyrna, TN | $17,286 |
| 4 | Mary Gambotz | Schaumburg, IL | $12,867 |
| 5 | Tim Schutt | Colono, IL | $9,697 |
| 6 | Steve Buell | Green Bay, WI | $7,401 |
| 7 | Robert Peppe | Brooklyn Center, MN | $5,721 |
| 8 | Brian Morey | Little Canada, MN | $4,479 |
| 9 | Geremi Wicinski | Antioch, IL | $3,554 |