Despite the distraction of the World Cup, the three flights of the Stockton leg in the Yorkshire section of the 25/25 Series saw a total number of 126 entries to creep above the guarantee by one runner and the major beneficiary of the £25,200 prize pool was Lauren Render, who took home £5,450 and the trophy, after beating Luke Blakemore, who also pocketed £5,450, heads-up.
In all 49 players returned for day two at the G Casino, with Craig Dawson the man to catch on 147k and Clare Todd the short stack on under 18k. Close behind Dawson at the start of play were Rafal Karwoski on 133,100, John Clark with 123,100, Xenophon Constantinou on 121,100 and Dave Maudlin with 106,600.
Of those, only Constantinou managed to negotiate his way safely to the final table, taking 437,500 with him to sit second in the pecking order behind chip leader Stuart Costa on 589,500 chips. They were followed by Dale Ackworth (413,000), Blakemore (412,000), Mark Nicholas (342,000), David Morris (283,500), Render (269,000), Ning Li (211,500) and Brian Harland (193,000).
First to exit was Li who ran his queens into Harland's kings on an AH-5S-10S-2C-9C board. But Harland's luck didn't hold and he was the next to leave in eighth place when his shove all-in with A-10 was called by Render with pocket eights, the JS-5H-6H-7S-6S board offering no escape for him.
Harland's exit meant Constantinou picked up an extra £480 from the last-man-standing pot but he followed Harland to the rail soon after when he ran his jacks into Morris' kings.
Ackworth exited in sixth after betting 80k on a 9-3-2 flop and calling with pocket eights when Blakemore moved all-in with A-J. Ackworth was in good shape but a cruel turn brought an ace and the tournament was down to five.
Nicholas left in fifth after shoving all-in with A-8 against Render's A-Q and Costa went out in fourth when his KC-QD came out second best to AD-9S on a KS-3D-AH-2S-5H board.
The remaining players agreed a deal three-handed, with each taking home £5,000 and £900 on top going to the winner, with £50 set aside for the dealers.
Morris missed out a the final showdown when his sevens were busted by Blakemore's AD-9S when an ace arrived on the turn.
After almost 40 minutes of heads-up play, with the chip stacks moving up and down, Render and Blakemore agreed a chop that left them playing on for the trophy and both taking home £5,450.
And with the ink still wet on the contract the match was soon over when Render's QD-JD held up against Blakemore's QC-8C on a QS-5D-3D-JH-10H board, after Blakemore had been crippled soon after the chop when he called an all-in from Render who rivered a flush.
25/25 Series Stockton, 13-15 June
1 Lauren Render £5,450
2 Luke Blakemore £5,450
3 David Morris £5,000
4 Stuart Costa £2,200
5 Mark Nicholas £1,600
6 Dale Ackworth £1,150
7 Xenophon Constantinou £850
8 Brian Harland £750
9 Ning Li £650
