Jonathan Little Wins WPT Mirage Poker Showdown

After Day 1 of the World Poker Tour’s Mirage Poker Showdown, you could have received very favorable odds if you wanted to bet on Jonathan Little to win the whole thing.  With 144 players remaining, he had the third smallest chip stack, only two and a half orbits worth of chips remaining.  But on Day 2, he made a run, jumping into the top ten by day’s end.  From there, he kept on trucking, making it all the way to the end to be crowned champion of the Mirage Poker Showdown.  The payout wasn’t quite as large as some WPT events, but $1,066,295 will still buy you a few pairs of shoes. 

Little started the television table just shy of $1 million in chips, within striking distance of the three players ahead of him (Phil Ivey, making his seventh WPT television table appearance and gunning for his first win, was the chip leader with almost $1.4 million).  Right off the bat (well, almost), the first elimination was made on the second hand.  Three players saw a flop of Kh-Jh-Tc in a raised pot and the short stack, Amnon Filippi, led out for $135,000.  Cory Carroll, recent winner of the WSOP Circuit event at Caesars Palace, raised to $220,000.  Filippi pushed and Carroll called.  Filippi had flopped the nuts, holding A-Q for broadway, while Carroll had Ah-7h for a flush draw.  Holding the nuts is an enviable position to be in, but Filippi got unlucky when a heart fell on the river, giving Carroll the flush and sending Filippi home in 6^th place. 

And then nothing happened.  And nothing happened.  And nothing happened for almost two hours.  Then, within five hands, two players were knocked out. 

Phil Ivey was the first of the two to go.  On a board of 8c-8s-3c-Jc, Ivey moved all-in and Little called.  Ivey was in the lead with Qc-2c, as the turn made his flush, while Little also had a good hand, just not as good, with A-8 for trips.  Just as the river was unkind to Filippi, so was it unkind to Ivey, as an Ace fell, giving Little a full house. 

Soon thereafter, Little eliminated Richard Kirsch with a dominating A-J versus A-T. 

Over the next hour-plus, there were no eliminations, but plenty of chip movement.  Dicken took a pot worth over a million chips from Carroll, then Carroll doubled through Little.  After that, Little bided his time as the short stack.  He moved all-in a couple times, once getting no callers, and once chopping the pot with Dicken.  About an hour after the last elimination, Little finally got a chance to double-up when he only had around ten big blinds remaining.  Dicken did the honors when his open-ended straight draw failed to complete, boosting Little to over a million chips. 

Two hands later, Little did it again, this time through Carroll.  Both got it in pre-flop, Little with A-J, Carroll with K-Q and neither improved. 

Three hands after that, it was Carroll’s turn to double-up through Dicken.  This one hurt Dicken, as he had just doubled Little, and Dicken was out of the tournament soon thereafter. 

Going into heads-up action, the Carroll and Little were almost dead even in chips, with Carroll holding the slightest of edges. 

In the first half hour, Carroll used sheer aggression to take control of the match, taking an almost 2-to-1 chip lead.  But after another half hour of play, Little forged back ahead, doubling-up in a coin flip, 5-5 versus A-8.  His pair held and he was in the lead. 

Surprisingly, it was over very quickly after that.  Little got out of major trouble twice in the final three hands, both times getting all-in with Carroll pre-flop with a dominated Ace.  The first time, the players chopped, but the second time, on the final hand, Little made trips to take down the title. 

Final Television Table Results 

1. Jonathan Little -- $1,091,295
2. Cory Carroll -- $561,369
3. Darrell Dicken -- $259,369
4. Richard Kirsch -- $172,912
5. Phil Ivey -- $129,684
6. Amnon Filippi -- $100,865