WSOP Miracle - From 1,100 to 97,000 – The Story of Day 3 – Jonathan Diamond

When you wake up in the morning and look at the chip counts from the night before, there's always the macabre glance you can't help but make at the very bottom of the list. You look, and you think to yourself, 'Why not just donk your last few chips off, and get on with your life?'. That question grows all the more important at this years WSOP, when you consider that, because of the day off, players had to wait at least one full day – maybe two – to play day three.

This year the person at the very bottom of the list was a guy named Jonathan Diamond. Diamond had 1,100 chips to start the day, or less than one big blind when play would begin.

Diamond is a recent graduate of Washington University in St. Louis who now lives in Washington D.C. and plays poker online. Diamond doubled through twice in the early moments of play as his three-man crew cheered from the rails. Each hand also brought along a healthy measure of blinds and antes, and when Diamond doubled through a third time a couple of hours later, his death sentence had been reprieved. Diamond found himself with $97,000 when the announcement of the bubble's bursting was made. That announcement came at 5:32 and brought the expected huge roar from the many hundreds of players and fans.

For Diamond, the miracle tale almost ends after another hand, when he's down to the felt for the fourth time on the day. Diamond moved all in with aces and was called by Tyler Pendleton, who turned over the other two aces. The flop brought two clubs and Diamond had the Ace of clubs, giving him a freeroll to yet another double-through, but a heart K on the turn ensured the chop. Diamond keeps his $97,000 and Pendleton holds steady with his own $207,000 in chips, this just after receiving a dealer admonishment for not having his largest denominations to the fore, still a common occurrence with a lot of the online qualifiers.

{img:2697_left}Diamond has three buddies with him (pictured above) who came all the way from their home in Lebanon Hills, PA to sweat their poker playing buddy. Dutifully, they showed up bright and early when play began today, fully expecting to have a nice lunch when their friend lost the inevitable all in. At the dinner break, they are all having a nice dinner, and looking forward to coming back…..tomorrow to sweat Diamond again.