888 Hand of the Week: Colossal Confusion
The 2016 World Series of Poker continued in Las Vegas, Nevada this week, with the first crop of bracelet winners emerging, including a million dollar winner in the $565 Colossus II No-Limit Hold'em.
PokerNews was on hand for all the action and will be in Las Vegas for the duration of the World Series. As a part of our coverage, that is brought to you by 888poker, we will be bringing readers a special "888 Hand of the Week" every week throughout the entire 2016 WSOP.
Ben Keeline outlasted the massive 21,613-entry Colossus II field to capture his first WSOP gold bracelet and the $1 million first-place prize that came with it.
In the end, Keeline beat Czech player Jiri Horak heads up to earn the title, and the final hand was a wild one that had at least a few people confused at first, making it our 888 Hand of the Week this time around.
Keeline had a lead of about 59 million to Horak's 48 million with blinds at 1 million/2 million when Horak raised the button, making it 5 million with the A♥9♣.
Keeline woke up with the J♣J♠ in the big blind and pushed all in. Horak snap-called with his tournament life and the Colossus title on the line, essentially needing an ace to stay alive, double up and leave Keeline short.
The 3♠7♥9♠ gave Horak some adittional outs when it paired his nine, however, the 6♠ turn took some of those outs away, as the A♠ would make Keeline a spade flush. This is where the confusion began.
The A♠ did come on the river and Horak's rail exploded. He lept into thier arms and they started celebrating as if he'd won the hand, failing to realize the A♠ had made Keeline a Flush, and the Colossus II champ.
Keeline would later say the suspense was too much, and he couldn't even watch, letting his rail let him know what happened as well. The difference was, they got it right.
Horak returned to the table thinking the match was still on, only to be told by the tournament staff he'd actually lost the hand, and all his chips.
It was a slighlty embarrassing moment, but Horak quickly told his rail the truth, composed himself and congratulated Keeline on his victory, with the $618,000 he earned clearly making his rail's mix up an easy one to stomach.
The WSOP live stream captured the whole story perfectly. Check the video evidence below.
Considering there was a million bucks on the line, and all the strange confusion the river and the rail caused, this hand from the 2016 WSOP Collosus II was an obvious choice for this week's "888 Hand of the Week".
As the 2016 WSOP rolls on, be sure to stay tuned to PokerNews for continued coverage, brought to you by our sponsors, 888poker, including weekly 888 Hand of the Week articles.
Want to stay atop all the latest in the poker world? If so, make sure to get PokerNews updates on your social media outlets. Follow us on Twitter and find us on both Facebook and Google+!
