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  Nick Binger had the sort of final table performance that just about every poker player dreams of. He was unstoppable, of the nine players that started the day, he was personally responsible for sending six of them to the rail. Yes it was an impressive run, the sort that allows writers to break out the really good adjectives like "overpowering", "amazing", and "dominating". When it got down to three-handed play, it all went suddenly wrong and we had to start thinking of other words to use like "bewildered", "stunned", and "choke".



  Nick started out the day second in the chip count and 66,000 chips behind the leader Mats Gavatin. It seemed he decided to start small today by taking out a small stack. Just thirty minutes into the final table he gobbled up David Sorger, and sent him off in 9th place. Sorger started the day at the back of the pack and there would be no come from behind, Cinderella story for him today.



  Michael Chu was victim number two. Even though he was the only player at the table who could rattle a World Series of Poker bracelet at anyone who doubted his credentials, he didn't last long against Binger. After a 2-10-4 flop, Chu check-raised all in. Binger did not look sure at all when he called. It seemed as though he had the feeling he had just stepped into a trap. As it turns out the check-raise seemed to be a semi-bluff. Chu was holding pocket eights while Nick Binger had paired the ten in his hand with the one on the board for a top pair. The turn and river did nothing to save Michael and he was out in 8th place.



  At this point the biggest obstacle standing in Nick's way was the overnight chip leader Mats Gavatin. While it initially seemed as if this confrontation may wait until the heads-up portion of the tournament, Binger decided to have a go at the former chip leader early.



  Gavatin started the fracas by doing something that was the poker equivalent of poking an angry grizzly bear with a stick: he raised 15,000 before the flop. Granted he was holding an Ad-5d, and figured the overcard may give him cover, one never knows what will happen on the flop. A bad flop would give an aggressive opponent who already has a ton of momentum the type of crack he would need to cripple another opponent. The flop wasn't horrible from Gavatin's perspective, his ace was not supported, but there were two diamonds closer to a nut flush. The board read Qd-7d-7c. Unfortunately, it gave Binger a set of sevens. Nick was holding 7s-6s. Binger raised Gavatin all in, and after making the call, Mats was hoping one of the 9 outs left in the deck would show up and save his day.



  The turn was a 4h, and the river was a Qs, giving Nick Binger an unbeatable full house. The former chip leader surrendered his stack to Nick, who was going through the final table like Jack the Ripper at a Mary Kay convention.



  David MacHowsky's pocket threes were squashed by Nick's pocket Aces. The flop upgraded the overcards to a set, and MacHowsky was out in 6th place.



  Four opponents were gone in less than an hour of play, and to this point Nick Binger had not even lost a hand. One of his first losses of the day was a bit of foreshadowing of things to come. He went into a pot against Frank Gary holding an A-K, and lost to Gary's pocket Jacks. The hit was a small one, but almost prophetic.



  Alex Jalali was next on the Nick Binger hit parade. Before the flop, Jalali moved all in, Binger called with his entire stack, and everyone else just got out of the way. Nick had a pair of Jacks to Alex's A-Q. With five cards to drop, this was anyone's hand.



  The flop helped expand Nick's lead. The 6-7-7, gave him a near insurmountable two pair. The turn and river did not even give Jalali the dignity of a single pair, and he was out in 5th place.



  Chris Rentes pushed the last of his stack, about 50,000, into the center of the table in a last ditch effort to save his day. Nick Binger called with his monster stack. Apparently he was starting to get a little cocky, because he was only holding an offsuit 7-2 at the time. Rentes had a 6d-5d, but the board was useless, and 7 gave the victory to Nick. He had just eliminated six players in three hours.



  While euphoric about how his day has gone, and basking in the security of a massive stack, how could he have known that would be the last elimination of his day? Things were just about to go horribly, horribly wrong for the would-be champ. Binger became over aggressive and was raising nearly every pot either twice or nearly three times the big blind. Frank Gary stayed away from the confrontations, but Jonathan Tamayo, attacked the death star of chip stacks, and actually started knocking it down to size.



  Nick Binger should have recognized that Frank Gary was behaving like a lion crouched in the weeds; waiting for the perfect moment to attack. In a rare confrontation between the two men, Gary jumped all over a Binger pre-flop raise. Nick should have realized something was amiss and folded, but he pressed on.



  The flop was a 7-3-6. Gary checked. When Nick bet, Gary calmly called the bet. A Jack hit the board on the turn. Once again, Gary checked, Binger bet again, but this time Frank Gary raised. The river card was an Ace, and Gary bet. Instead of calling, or raising this time, Nick Binger backed down and mucked his hand. The hit during this hand, plus the constant attacks from Tamayo had taken their toll. After folding to Frank Gary, there was a new chip leader and for the first time in five hours his name wasn't Nick.



  At this point Frank Gary had helped Tamayo take the chip lead, but himself was still in third place with 446,000 chips. It took Nick Binger five hands to regain his chip lead, but it was a tenuous one, and not nearly as secure as it had been before play became a three-way affair.



  One hand after becoming the front runner, Binger found himself confronted with aggression from Frank Gary. Past experience should have told him that when Frank bets, the smart play is to fold, but Nick must have flunked history back in his school days.



  After betting and raising, Frank went all in with his stack. Not wanting to get stung again by Gary, but also desperately wanting the chips in the middle of the table, Nick called. This was a very bad idea. His 9c-2c, gave him hope for a flush, but Frank Gary's pocket Kings were way ahead of him. The board gave nothing, and Nick Binger was now in third place with 532,000 chips.



  For the next several hands, the three traded the chip lead on a regular basis, but Nick Binger could never quite get the sort of traction that would help him save his day.



  During the fixed-limit segment, Nick saw salvation in his pocket threes and bet/raised in almost a desperate manner before the flop. He kept throwing money at the pot until the betting was capped.



  The flop was 2-10-7, and Binger pushed his last 69,000 chips to the middle of the table. Tamayo called, and flipped his cards over showing a pair of Queens. The turn and river were far from friendly, and Nick Binger was gone in third place. Ironically the first player punted from the final table by someone other than himself was, well, himself.



  Jonathan Tamayo started the final table 600,000 chips ahead of Frank Gary, but that would change quickly. Gary wiped out that advantage in one hand when he doubled up through his opponent.



  Jonathan had apparently seen the mistake of letting Frank pick his spots to play, so he became the aggressor and was all in before the flop during a hand. Frank Gary called this bet, and put all his chips on the line. Tamayo's Js-10s, did not hold up against Gary's A-8. The flop produced an A-8 of its own, and the two-pair was good enough to change the chip lead and the momentum.



  Even Lady Luck seemed like she was on the Frank Gary payroll. Tamayo flopped a straight on one hand, and Gary got a runner-runner full house. Jonathan rivered a top pair and lost to Frank's two-pair. This is pretty much how heads-up play went between the two.



  With 129,000 chips left Tamayo decided to make a stand, and went all in before the flop on the climactic hand. Gary thought about it, and eventually called with his A-3. Jonathan flipped over his cards to reveal a Q-7. Frank Gary was ahead, but not by much. The flop paired his Ace with a match, and no other card would appear to help Tamayo improve his hand. It was over.



  Frank Gary, an admitted amateur, had come from behind to win an unlikely bracelet. Congratulation Frank!