American hotshot and up and coming superstar, Jonathan Little, has fended off an Ivey infested final table to win this year's Mirage Poker Showdown at the Mirage Hotel and Casino in Vegas.
Faced with the tough task of seeing off 308 other money hungry opponents, Jonathan Little battled through five days of play to reach a final table of 6, and one in which he was faced with the seemingly impossible task of toppling chip leader Phil Ivey.
Phil Ivey - $1,395,000
Cory Carroll - $1,235,000
Darrell Dicken - $1,203,000
Jonathan Little - $956,000
Richard Kirsch - $810,000
Amnon Filippi - $571,000
However, no one is invincible in this game, and after Amnon FIlippi expectedly fell in 6th, Phil Ivey exited in gasp-inducing circumstances, his Qc-2c on an 8c-8s-3c-Jc board being cruelly outdrawn by Little's Ad-8d, an Ace hitting the River to give the youngster the full house and Ivey a sharp pain in the gonads.
Soon after, two more players fell; Richard Kirsch at the hands of Little (A-J vs. A-T) and Darren Dicken from Corey Carroll (K-J vs. 5-3, K-2-4 board) leaving an America vs. Canada final.
However, after a surprisingly lengthy 100 minute battle and blinds of 80k/120k, it was Little who would come out on top, the American's A-2 outdrawing Carroll's A-7 on the Flop, a third two on the Turn sealing the deal.
And so, we had our winner, Florida's highly rated pro Jonathan Little, who went home with $1,066,295 worth of bacon.
Recently spotted by the blonde live update in European comps such as the Monte Carlo EPT Grand Final, the often hooded Little has been threatening a 1st place finish for a while, proving himself as more than just an online talent with huge six figure wins at the Caribbean Poker Adventure and the Five Star World Poker Classic, not to mention a swiftly acquired list of smaller cashes.
With this is mind, his victory at the Mirage Poker Showdown is clearly no fluke, and it wouldn't surprise anyone if he went on to take down future WPT events. Congratulations that man from everyone here at blonde.