Grant Hinkle wins Event 2

27-year old Grant Hinkle won the second event of the Series. In a two and a half hour heads-up, he defeated James Akenhead. Chris Ferguson finished third.

Quads secured the Win for Hinkle
In the decisive hand, Hinkle prevailed with against Akenhead's . He won his first bracelet and $831,462.

With a bluff, Hinkle put his opponent all-in pre-flop after a raise and re-raise. Akenhead called immediately and was way ahead. The flop favoured Hinkle, though, with , giving him an almost insurmountable lead. Runner-runner kings or runner-runner-aces would have helped Akenhead, but instead the turn came up with , giving Hinkle quads. The on the river made little difference.

Hinkle started into the finale with about 8 mio. chips compared to Akenhead's 4 mio., but it was far from a clean sweep for the later winner. Both opponents refused to give in and Akenhead was always able to close the gap. But he wasn't able to turn the tables all the way and finally succumbed to Hinkle's quads.

Chris Ferguson Third

Chris Ferguson finished third - the previous day he was at one point down to 20,000 chips before he had a breath-taking comeback.
On the button, Ferguson pushed all-in for 815,000 chips. Akenhead called immediately and Hinkle folded. Ferguson flipped over , Akenhead showed
and was an almost 70% favourite. The flop gave him the ace, the turn and river changed nothing. The crowd said good bye to Ferguson with a standing ovation, for whom it was the 48th WSOP cash in his career.

Monster Pot against Theo Tran secured the Chip Lead for Hinkle

With the elimination of Theo Tran on rank 4, Hinkle was able to secure a huge lead. At this time he already had over 9 mil. of the roughly 12 mil. chips in the game. With a mischievous grin, Chris Ferguson suggested to simply divide the monster pot amongst the three remaining players to make it fairer: »Let's chop it three ways!«

18 Players returned to the Rio

Due to the record number of participants of almost 4,000 players, the officials didn't manage to determine the last nine finalists despite 17 hours of playing time. Thus 18 participants returned to the tables in the Rio and first had to battle it out. From the start of the third tournament day to the decision at the final table, almost 15 hours passed by. Those with extra stamina held a big advantage at this event.

WSOP 2008 Event 2 $1,500 No Limit Hold'em
Rank	Name	Prize money
1	Grant Hinkle	$831,279
2	James Akenhead	$520,219
3	Chris Ferguson	$388,287
4	Theo Tran	$327,148
5	Mike Ngo	$268,154
6	Aaron Coulthard	$211,842
7	Melvin Jones	$158,211
8	David Bach	$117,988
9	Joe Rutledge	$83,128