A.J. Brock Wins Super High Roller Event In Manilla

A.J. Brock has won the Resorts World Manila Super High Roller event, after overcoming a field of 101 players over three days to lift the trophy, and collect the PHP 6 million (US$136,135) first place prize.
A.J. Brock is employed as a Poker Room Manager at Wynn (Macau), and his duties include training dealers and supervisors to operate an efficient poker room. However, being able to play poker to a high degree is not one of the requirements of his job, and following his remarkable win, Brock commented:
“I am just so overwhelmed. I normally don’t play poker. I have a job, I work in the industry. But this is great. I definitely feel great! What a Christmas present!”
As the final table of the US$4,537 buy-in tournament got underway, A.J. Brock was
lying second in chips behind the table leader Jay Lubas. Minutes later, however, Brock had taken the lead after being dealt pocket sevens and eliminating Archie Mariano holding pocket sixes in 9th place (US$16,499).
A.J. Brock then followed up by sending the aggressive Eduardo Ligon to the rail in 6th ($20,624). The battle of the blinds saw the big blind Ligon going all-in holding As-2c to Brock’s pocket eights, with the board then running out 5-J-10-5-6.
Brock’s run continued after hitting trips with A-2 against Mike Kim (A-10) on a 10-K-2-2 to dispatch his hapless opponent to the rail in 5th place for $24,749.
However, with three players remaining Brock was dealt Ad-Kd and pushed all-in over Lubas’s three-bet only to see his opponent was holding pocket kings. Nevertheless, Brock’s fortune continued to shine  and the board fell 10d-2d-7s-9s-Qs to eliminate Lubas in 3rd place ($32,999), thus heralding in the heads-up phase of the competition.
At this point, Brock had a 5 to 1 chip advantage over the tricky Gang, who would often initiate an all-in strategy without even looking at his hands. Despite doubling-up on a few occasions, Gang’s luck eventually ran out on his 5th play in the dark attempt. Brock with Ks-Js called Gang’s 8-5, a with the board running out 7-4-3-4-9, Gang had to content himself with a runner-up finish worth US$65,998, while A.J. Brock walked away the Resorts World Manila Super High Roller Champion.