Jason Dennis Wins Big In The Colorado Poker Championship

Jason Dennis is a regular at Bally’s Black Hawk casino in Colorado, formerly the Golden Gates Casino. All 14 of his recorded live tournament cashes are from this venue, so it is fitting that his favorite casino is where Dennis got his hands on a career-best score.

Dennis was one of 307 players who bought into the Bally’s Black Hawk Colorado Poker Championship $1,450 Main Event. Those entrants created a $389,276 prize pool, which the top 31 finishers shared.

Forty-seven players navigated their way through a trio of starting flights into Day 2. Rocco Palumbo sat down as the chip leader with a healthy stack of 554,500. Dennis took his seat with only 96,000 chips, or 24 big blinds at the restart.

The bubble burst during Day 2 with blinds at 4,000/8,000/8,000a. Donna Gadd raised to 23,000 from early position with Ad-Jd. Dwane Collard called in the big blind with Qc-7c, and the flop fell 2c-5d-Qs. Both players checked, and the Qh appeared on the turn. Gadd moved all-in, Collard quickly called, and Gadd was drawing dead. The inconsequential 6d completed the board and burst the bubble.

Dennis The Shortest Stack at the Final Table

Dennis endured a yo-yo day, building stacks only to lose them again. He reached the final table ninth from nine in chips with 138,000. The previously mentioned Collard was the chip leader courtesy of his 2,180,000 stack.

The players had not got used to their new surroundings before Jay Teel busted in ninth. Steve Wilkie limped in for 25,000 from late position, Teel moved all-in for 266,000 from the cutoff, and Collard raised to 500,000 on the button, folding out everyone else. Collard turned over Ad-Kd and faced the Ac-Td. The five community cards ran Kh-7h-9h-7c-7d to bust Teel.

Eighth place went to start-of-the-day leader Palumbo. He called off his stack with Kh-Jh on a 6c-3c-9d-Ks-4s board only to run into Justin Liberto‘s superior Ad-Kc.

Dennis found a double through Wilkie with Qs-Js versus Ad-Kc, and it was now game on. However, WSOP bracelet winner Liberto looked like he could run away with proceedings because he was playing well and running better.

Everyone climbed a payout place when Wilkie’s Ts-Tc held against Josh Saltz‘s Kd-Jh before a huge pot caused a double elimination.

Liberto min-raised to 80,000 with Ad-Qh, Chris Quackenbush three-bet all-in for 500,000 with Js-Jc, only for Jason Remshardt to shove for 633,000 with Ah-Jh. Liberto called. A queen on the river busted both Quackenbush and Remshardt.

Liberto Claims More Tournament Lives

Liberto reduced the player count by one when he eliminated Collard in fourth. He opened to 100,000 with Kc-Qd before calling Collard’s 800,000 jam, which he made with Kd-Js. Collard flopped a jack but the board ran with four clubs, handing the pot to Liberto.

The tournament progressed to heads-up when Liberto busted another foe. Wilkie, all the way from the United Kingdom, raised all-in in the 9h-Jd-Ac-8h turn with Qh-Jh, and Liberto called with As-Ks. Wilkie had a ton of outs but missed them all on the 5c river.

Dennis trailed Liberto by almost three-to-one but refused to give up. He eventually clawed his way level before clinching the chip lead for himself. The pair continued trading blows until a hard stop of 1am came around. Both players, who were almost exactly level in chips, agreed to return the following day to crown the champion instead of making a deal.

A coinflip settled the event. Liberto three-bet all-in over a Dennis raise with 5h-5c, and was called by As-Jc. Dennis took the lead on the Jd-Tc-7c flop, and stayed in front on the 2s turn and 6c river. Liberto netted $57,244 with Dennis securing a career-best $89,534 and the title.