Parker 'tonkaaaa' Talbot picked up his second win of the PokerStars Stadium Series, taking down the Heat 29-H $5,200 Progressive Knockout event. The Canadian pro scored his second six-figure cash of the series with the win, taking home a $151,916 payday which included $90,000 in bounties.
Talbot outlasted a field of 84 players in the $500,000 guaranteed tournament, including runner-up finisher Thomas 'WushuTM' Muehloecker. Muehloecker earned $77,853 for the second-place showing.
Talbot arrived at the nine-handed final table as the chip leader with a 109-big-blind stack. Daniel 'starswins' Petersen stood as the closest competition with an 83-big-blind stack.
The other seven players at the table all looked up to the chip leaders, and they all held 54 big blinds or less. Muehloecker came into the final nine with 41 big blinds, but survived into the heads-up finale against Talbot.
Talbot rolls at the final table
Talbot began to take command at the final table after winning a three-way all-in hand that resulted in a double knockout.
With the blinds and antes at 15,000/30,000/3,750, Talbot entered the hand with just over 1.8 million chips. Talbot, 'wisopekeño!', and 'Grozzorg', all got their entire stacks in preflop, with Talbot having both opponents well covered.
Talbot turned over pocket queens against the pocket jacks of 'wisopekeño!' and the ace-queen suited of 'Grozzorg'. A queen on the flop gave Talbot top set, putting him well in position to score the double KO.
The set of queens held for Talbot, vaulting him over the 3-million-chip mark and trimming the field down to six players.
Talbot further pushed his chip lead in a hand that ousted Rui 'RuiNF' Ferreira at 20,000/40,000/5,000. 'RuiNF' ended up with the same losing setup as 'wisopekeño!' did at the previous level, with pocket jacks losing to Talbot's pocket queens after both players got the stacks in preflop.
A queen once again appeared on the flop for Talbot, and the set held through the river, to send 'RuiNF' to the rail. Talbot gained more than 3.8 million chips in the aftermath, giving him nearly half of the chips in play with five contenders remaining.
Talbot scored another huge hand later in the level, eliminating Daniel 'starwins' Petersen in four-handed play.
Talbot's pocket kings dominated the pocket jacks of Petersen when the cards turned over, and Talbot hit yet another set with a king coming in on the flop. A jack appeared on the turn to give 'starwins' a slim chance of hitting runner-runner quads, but Talbot dodged that unlikely outcome.
That hand pushed a 2.8 million chip pot to Talbot, and put his stack over 5.6 million.
Other top finishers
Third-place went to 'Us_Alex', who took home a $40,697 payday. Petersen finished fourth after suffering the set-over-set loss against Talbot, earning $37,123. Mike 'SirWatts' Watson finished fifth for $31,718.
The win marked the second of the 2020 Stadium Series for Talbot. Just days earlier, 'tonkaaaa' took down the Weekly Final - High, for $261,489. That payday stands as the biggest of Talbot's career so far.
