Maxx Coleman has won the $775,000 first prize at the 2015 River Poker Series Main Event after beating Joseph Skinner in heads-up action.
The event organizers laid on a $250,000 guaranteed prize pool. 1,164 entrants ensured there was no sweat. Various top pros ran deep, including: Olivier Busquet (13th), Lance Garcia (22nd) and Justin Oliver (37th), but it was Barry Hutter and Jose Montes who would headline the final nine.
Both Hutter and Montes are having the best year of their lives, in terms of live tournament scores. Hutter has now earned close to $800,000 in 2015 alone, including a World Series of Poker (WSOP) bracelet, this summer, and a fifth place finish in the $25,400 NLHE High Roller at the Seminole Hard Rock Poker Open for a combined haul of close to $500k. He is currently ranked #32 in the world according to the Global Poker Index (GPI). It’s the fifth consecutive year that Hutter has earned more live tournament dollar than the last.
This was the third major final table of the year for Montes. He won the previous two for over half a million dollars, but was unable to add to his Heartland Poker Tour (HPT) victory in Black Hawk or his WSOPC victory at Choctaw.
Coleman must have been delighted when Montes (7th) and Hutter (5th) hit the rail. By the time the final three players carved out their deal, Coleman was facing a duo with only 10 live tournament cashes between them, none of ever ending in the five digit region.
After the deal was struck, the action lasted five hands. Coleman eliminated Haller AQ>85s, and then Skinner J4>Q7s, before being awarded a gold bracelet and chunky looking $775,000 first prize. He has now earned over $1.2m in live tournament earnings.
Final Table Positions
1st. Maxx Coleman – $775,000
2nd. Joseph Skinner – $344,934
3rd. Jake Haller – $344,934
4th. Andy Andrejevic – $134,238
5th. Barry Hutter – $108,161
6th. Lonny Hardcastle – $93,022
7th. Jose Montes – $79,049
8th. Douglas Claybrook – $58,576
9th. Numit Agrawal – $44,186
