Moments of the Week: Ramdin Doubles First Hand in WSOP Main, Strelitz Hits One-Outer

July 02, 2018

Sean Chaffin Contributor

With the $10,000 Main Event underway on Monday and starting flights continuing through Wednesday, no doubt numerous crazy hands, one-outers, and well-played winners will be featured throughout the day – with ESPN cameras roaming the Rio to catch much of it.

Even as the first hand kicked off, there was plenty of action. Our Global Poker Hand of the Week feature actually takes a look at two amazing hands. One came about in the first hand of the day, and the second kept one player alive with a miracle river.

Ramdin Doubles Out of the Gate

Many players probably expect to start out slow in the Main Event. Maybe let the game come to them a bit – play some small ball here and there and hope to slowly build a nice stack. None of that happened for Victor Ramdin. He saw plenty of fireworks right on the very first hand of the first flight of the Main Event.

“I just don’t know what happened. The lady had just sat down at the table. She had just gotten there in time to play.”

With Level 1 blinds of 75/150 and players starting with 50,000 chips, a player from early position raised the action to 400. Ramdin looked down at K♠K♦ and re-raised to 1,500 from the button. The original raiser made the call after everyone else folded.

The flop brought the 10♦4♥3♠. Ramdin’s opponent led with a 4,000 bet. Ramdin just called and the turn card was the K♥. Now with trips, Ramdin was in command.

“Boom, I hit a king on the turn,” he says. “I thought for a moment she was slow playing aces there. Or maybe she had a set, but then I thought that’s not possible.”

His opponent, however, led out with a 13,000 bet. Ramdin raised it to 26,000 and she moved all in for 44,500. Ramdin insta-called and his opponent tabled Q♠J♣ for an open-ended straight draw. The Q♦ on the river didn’t make her straight and Ramdin earned the double up and knockout on the first hand.

“It’s a dream start,” he said after the first break in the day, still somewhat perplexed at how things played out. “I just don’t know what happened. The lady had just sat down at the table. She had just gotten there in time to play.”

Strelitz River Rafts for Quads

About an hour into the first level, Daniel Streliz found himself in need of some major help. With 5x5x, he called the big blind to see a rainbow flop of 9x8x5x. The opener bet 1,000, and Strelitz raised to 3,000.

The player on the small blind then raised to 7,200 and Strelitz podered a big decision. He figured his opponent must have had him beat, but he called and the other players folded. As he awaited the turn card, Strelitz was left with only 28,000 chips at that point.

“I actually almost folded the turn. I didn't think I had the best hand.”

The turn brought a 4x and his opponent bet 12,250, and Strelitz reluctantly made the call.

“I actually almost folded the turn,” he says. “I didn't think I had the best hand.”

The river card brought the last 5x in the deck. The other player shoved all in and showed 9x9x after Strelitz called. He had been right about being beaten after the big raise on the flop, but hit the miracle one-outer on the river for quad fives.

“I wasn't really surprised,” he says of seeing the other player’s hand. “I thought he had a better hand than I did. And so when he shoved I was like, ‘Alright, I really got lucky here and hit my one-outer.’ I tried to keep my poker face. I didn’t go nuts – I didn’t want to be that guy. It’s still Level 1 of the Main Event.”

At the beginning of the hand, Strelitz had about 35,000 chips but is now up to about 100,000. His opponent is also still alive, but took a huge dent in his stack. Strelitz is hoping his luck continues and added: “I’m loving life at 100K.”

Sean Chaffin is a freelance writer in Crandall, Texas. His work appears in numerous websites and publications. Follow him on Twitter @PokerTraditions. He is also the host of the True Gambling Stories podcast, available on iTunes, Google Play, TuneIn Radio, Spotify, Stitcher, PokerNews.com, HoldemRadio.com, and TrueGamblingStories.com.

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