Event 44 at the World Series of Poker featured an epic 7-hour heads up that took evenly matched survivors Jordan Morgan (30) and Evan McNiff (28) into an exhausting additional fourth day of action before the winner was decided.
Day 3 of the event – a $1,500buy-in NLHE competition that pulled in 1,914 entrants and offered a prize pool of $2,583,900 – saw a final table formed comprising McNiff and Morgan, along with Jason Johnson, Raymond Foley, Bryan Dillon, Robert Chorlian, Joseph Iarussi, Ryan Spittles and Michael Anselm.
By early evening the heads up stage had been reached following the elimination of Jason Johnson at third for $204,464 and Morgan, who hails from Oklahoma, faced Californian McNiff holding a 4 to 1 chip lead.
It should have been a walkover, but instead the resilience and fighting spirit of McNiff turned it into a six hour marathon that had still not been decided when officials stopped play in the early hours of the following morning, ordering an extra day to reach a resolution.
On Day 4, Morgan and McNiff took their places with almost even chip stacks, but it still took an hour for Morgan to knock his very worthy opponent out for a runner up prize of $295,727 in a classic race result at hand 133.
It was a special day for Morgan, because in addition to his first WSOP bracelet and the main prize of $478,102, he was celebrating his ninth wedding anniversary.
The Oklahoman’s win is the biggest so far in a career that has brought him success in both land and internet poker using the handle iMsoLucky0. His previous best win was in 2005, when he collected $405,072 after taking a second place in the NLHE event at the US Poker Championships in Atlantic City.