Jon "PearlJammed" Turner Wins 2016 Venetian Main Event

The 2016 Card Player Poker Tour (CCPT) Venetian main event was held at the Venetian Resort Hotel Casino in Las Vegas, and attracted 537 players to create a prize pool worth $2,497,050. Six days of intense action later, and Jon Turner would emerge as the tournament’s ultimate winner, in the process pocketing an impressive $536,858.
That score represents the North Carolina pro’s biggest cash to date, and now pushes his live career earnings to $2,511,747. However, it is online where Turner has really excelled, having notched up an incredible $7,742,674 in winnings, including $5,344,226 on PokerStars under the screen name “PearlJammer”.
The $5,000 Main Event attracted a number of notable pros, and amongst those seeing a return on their buy-ins was Kathy Liebert (52nd), Jeff Madsen (40th), Chance Kornuth (22nd), and Adrian Mateos (14th).
The final table, too, featured such players as 2-times WSOP bracelet winner Dan Heimiller, and 2012 November Niner Jeremy Ausmus. Erick Lindgren also made the final table, and despite at one stage leading the Venetian Main Event when just 62 players remained, Lindgren was eventually eliminated in 8th place for a $62,426 payday.  The 39 year-old poker pro has had his fair share of misfortunes over the past few years, including racking up huge gambling debts, spending a stint in rehab, as well as breaking-up with his wife Erica Schoenberg in March 2014. Following his recent cash, though, Lindgren now takes his career earnings to $10,302,598.
Eventually, Jon Turner would take a 4 to 1 chip lead over Artem Metalidi into the heads-up phase of the competition, and before long the deciding hand was played with a short-stacked Metalidi moving all-in preflop holding pocket queens. Turner made the call with A-9, and after the board ran out K-8-4-J-A, Artem Metalidi collected $329,860 for his runner-up finish, while Jon Turner was crowned the Venetian Main Event champion.
Final Table Results:
1: Jon Turner $536,858
2: Artem Metalidi $329,860
3: Dan Heimiller $237,719
4: Thomas Paul $179,788
5: Matt Parry $134,841
6: Jeremy Ausmus $102,379
7: Ilan Boujenah $79,906
8: Erick Lindgren $62,426
9: Tim Reilly $47,444