52 Irving History Made With First Chop

With Clutch out of town on vacation, the turnout was smaller than normal. 6 players showed up, including Stu! After pre-gaming by watching Coming to America, the cards were in the air. After watching the blinds go up a couple of times, Stu got in a pot with J-Mac. Upon seeing a flop of Jh, 10s, 7c, Stu pushed the rest of his stack in. J-Mac deliberated for a couple minutes, but then called, showing the Ah7h. As luck would have it, running hearts would come Kamalakin Makinning Stu out in 6th place, and giving J-Mac the chip lead.
A couple of rounds later, Graphics Producer Matt Ketaineck, splashed his GP money around from the cut-off, moving all in. Kenton called from the small blind, having about 300 more chips than Ketaineck. J-Mac deliberated calling both players down, but eventually folded 8-8 face up. It was a tremendous fold as Kenton flipped over 2 black aces and was up against Ketaineck's Ad2d. The board was no help, and Ketaineck was drawing dead after the turn and out in 5th place.
Brett "Quads" Edgerton manuevered through a few hands and gained the chip lead, while the rest of the players saw their stacks dwindle. Edge then min-raised from first position. Willis and Kenton both folded and J-Mac called to see a flop. The flop came down 5c 10h 8h. J-Mac moved all-in and was insta-called by Edge who flipped over KdKh. J-Mac turned over 10c8c. The turn was a 7c, limiting Edge's outs. The river was another 8, giving J-Mac 8's full of 10's in a pot slightly over 800 chips.
Edgerton, now on the shortstack, moved all-in. Willis and Kenton folded and J-Mac nearly folded after peeking and seeing a 3. After doing due diligence and looking at his 2nd hole card, J-Mac called, flipping up pocket 3s. The flop brought nothing, and a 3 on the turn sealed the deal, eliminating Edge in 4th place.
Shortly after, Kenton raised from the button. After J-Mac folded, Willis pushed all in. Kenton called flipping over AQ, Willis showed JJ. This set up the battle of the T-shirts as Kenton and his Johnny Chan shirt were up against Willis, wearing a very solid Tecmo Bowl shirt. The flop came down Ad Kd 8h, leaving Willis needing one of 2 remaining jacks or running straight cards to re-gain the lead. The turn brought the 2d, giving Willis the second nut flush draw, unfortunately for him, Kenton held the Qd and had the nut flush draw in addition to a pair of aces. Only a J could keep Willis alive. The river was the 3 of diamonds, giving both players a flush, but it was not to be for Willis who finished in 3rd place.
This set up heads up play between J-Mac and Kenton, with Kenton holding a 2-1 chip lead at around 11:20 pm Eastern time. J-Mac got short on chips, but then doubled back up when Kenton's open-ended straight draw didn't hit. J-Mac slowly drew even, and then took a chip lead. With 1000 chips remaining, Kenton called J-Mac's all-in with KQo, J-Mac flipped up K-9. The KQ held up, giving Kenton a 2-1 chip lead again. The very next hand, J-Mac moved all in and Kenton called with KJo, J-Mac flipped up Ace baby, which held up, returning a 2-1 chip lead to J-Mac. Kenton's stack dwindled further until he held only 751 chips. At this point Kenton moved all-in and was called by J-Mac, who flipped AJ offsuit. Kenton flipped Big Slick, which held up and gave Kenton a 1502 to 1498 chip lead. At this point, we had played 2 hours and 40 minutes of heads up. The 2 players decided to chop the pot and then played out a best of 3 hands to see who would get the 2 extra standings points. After splitting the first 2 hands, Kenton flopped 2 pair with J5, and after J-Mac's gutshut failed on the river, Kenton was on his way home to write the recap.