It's Budwey or the Highway

Apparently there's a first time for everything.

Budwey Salhab is normally clamoring for attention, pleading with reporters to get his name in the blog here on PokerNews. But mired in a big hand moments ago, he suddenly didn't seem to want it.

It was a board and Salhab's heads-up opponent had pushed enough chips across the line to cover his meager stack. When Salhab notice this reporter watching the action, he seemed distracted and asked if many others find this kind of coverage annoying.

After gathering his thoughts and moving his attention back to the task at hand, Salhab made the call with the .

His opponent had the , and although this story would be much more karmically satisfying had a king come on the river, it didn't. The river bricked, Salhab doubled up, and his demeanor improved immensely, as evidenced by the attached photo.

In the meantime, Veerab Zakarian filled the seat next to Salhab with a fresh starting stack. Zakarian's enduring success in local card rooms has not extended to the festivities here so far. We can't say how many bullets he's fired into this thing, but he's the confirmed league leader by a lot.