After nearly two levels without a bustout at the final table of Event 1 ($350 No-Limit Hold’em), the final nine players took their scheduled break and came back talking about a chop scenario.

Everyone counted their chip stacks and entered the numbers into an online ICM calculator. (ICM calculations are designed to split a prizepool based on a player’s reasonable expected value rather than a straight % based on chip counts.)

The primary holdout was chipleader Derek Buonano, who had a big chip lead, while everyone else had fewer than 25 big blinds. The ICM calculation would award him $81,702, which was about third-place money, and he wasn’t happy with that since he had a big chip lead.

Eventually, a deal was reached for other players to kick in enough money to award Buonano an even $90,000 for first place.

Their finishing places were determined by the agreed-upon payouts:

1st:  Derek Buonano  –  $90,000
2nd:  Steven McKoy  –  $64,001
3rd:  Jaime Campos  –  $58,418
4th:  Zack Goodman  –  $58,323
5th:  John Liu  –  $57,557
6th:  David Diaz  –  $50,047
7th:  Jeff Yeh  –  $42,742
8th:  Kevin Ho  –  $41,000
9th:  Daniel Navarrete  –  $38,787

John Liu, 5th Place ($57,557)

Jeff Yeh, 7th Place ($42,742)