Josh Williams Wins WSOPC Horseshoe Hammond For $386k

Josh Williams has won the WSOPC Horseshoe Hammond, after defeating a field of 1,523 players over three days to lift the title, and collect the $385,909 first place prize.
As the $1,675 buy-in tournament reached its last day in Hammond, Indiana, 29 players still remained which was eventually whittled down to a final table of nine when last woman standing Claudia Crawford was eliminated in 10th place for $31,565.
At this stage, Josh Williams held the chip lead and was able to add further to his stack after being dealt A-A to Shiva Dudani’s pocket eights, who subsequently exited in 7th for $62,438. Josh Williams (10-10) followed up by dispatching Brad Albrinck (A-K) to the rail in 6th ($80,179), and then Zal Irani in 5th ($104,371), whose A-10 was no match for Williams pocket queens.
When just three players remained, Josh Williams (Ac-10c) opened for 875k only to be shoved on by Tripp Kirk (A-8) for 8.6 million. Williams eventually made the call and was relieved to see the board roll out 4-A-3-Q-7 to eliminate Tripp Kirk in 3rd ($180,403), thus heralding-in the head-up phase of the competition.
As the battle commenced, Josh Williams  held a 4 to 1 chip lead over Ryan Riess and before long the defining hand was played after Williams was dealt 7-3 to his opponent’s 10-6. Both players limped then checked the Q-7-4 flop, with William’s subsequently check-calling  Riess’ bet on the K turn. After an 8 fell on the river, Williams checked once more only to have Riess move all-in on him.
Mulling over the situation for a while, Williams eventually announced; “This would be the thinnest call of all time, but I think you have jack-ten,” before making the call. Fortunately for him, his instincts were correct and so Ryan Riess finished the runer-up for $239,063, while Josh Williams scored the biggest payday of his poker career.
The final table payouts were as follows:
1: Josh Williams $385,909
2: Ryan Riess    $239,063
3: Tripp Kirk    $180,403
4: Sean Szurko    $137,088
5: Zal Irani    $104,371
6: Brad Albrinck $80,179
7: Shiva Dudani    $62,438
8: Nick Guagenti $49,075
9: Erik Roussakis $39,168