Lost in the Woods

On the last hand before the recent break, we watched Dan O'Brien get schooled by actor James Woods for a decent pot, before teaching Woods a thing or two about the rules of the game.

The exchange between Woods and O'Brien was cordial and professional of course, and it concerned the last action O'Brien took in the hand.

We caught the action with the board reading , and more than 15,000 in the middle already. Woods had led into O'Brien on the river, making it 6,500, and O'Brien was contemplating his decision as the rest of the field departed for break.

"The problem is you're a professional actor..." O'Brien told Woods, after the man who tormented Robert De Niro in the classic Scorsese flick Casino began a bit of table talk. Woods told O'Brien to fold, saying something about not wanting the young pro to make a bad call and lose chips he could easily keep by folding.

The misdirection worked wonders and O'Brien tossed in the crying call - throwing two of the baby blue T5000 chips forward in doing so - only to muck with a grin on his face as Woods tabled with confidence.

"Nice hand..." said O'Brien, knowing now he had been hoodwinked by a man paid very well to pretend. "I didn't see that coming."

"Thanks," offered Woods, before beginning what would become an extended discussion. "But you know, you did put 10,000 in there, and that's really a raise. I don't really care, but... it was more than half my bet, so it really was a raise."

O'Brien then went on to patiently explain why his action did not constitute a raise - correctly noting that if one chip was pulled back the amount left over would not exceed half of Woods' original bet - and Woods accepted his explanation accordingly. A tournament official overheard the discussion though, and with O'Brien already outside gone to enjoy the break, he told Woods and the dealer that the two-chip call should have been ruled a raise after all. Woods appeared quite willing to accept that ruling and earn an additional 6,500 chips without trying, but eventually the Borgata's head honcho in the tournament department Tab Duchateau ended the impending drama by ruling the action to be a call, citing the reasoning O'Brien originally offered as the correct ruling.

O'Brien soon confirmed that Woods had pulled the wool over his eyes, issuing the following tweet: