Ballsy Play by Atoui Delivers Him Chip Lead

Kamel Atoui waited until the last possible moment to leave his mark on Day 1b and boy, leaving his mark he did. The biggest hand during the final stretch happened against his left-hand neighbor Krijn Brosky. Atoui opened the action with a raise to 3,500 and a three-bet from Broskij to 8,000, which the Frenchman called.

On the flop. Atoui checked, Broskij bet 6,000, Atoui check-raised to 15,000, and Broskij called.

The turn was the and after check-raising the flop, Atoui now checked. Broskij bet 23,000, but Atoui had a trick up his sleeve as he put in a second check-raise, this time to 59,000. Broskij gave it some thought before calling another check-raise.

The fell on the river and Atoui wasted no time before moving all in, putting Broskij to the test for his remaining 70,000. Broskij thought long and hard before open-folding . Atoui flashed for a complete airball on both the flop and turn to make the jaws drop at his table.

Kamel Atoui & Krijn Broskij — Krijn Broskij facing Kamel Atoui's river shove.

If that wasn't enough, Atoui collected even more in the subsequent hands. First, he took more chips off Brosky on a board. After Broksij had opened from under the gun, Atoui had three-bet from the big blind. Broskij had called before both players checked it to the river, where Atoui picked it up with a bet of 6,000.

In the final hand of the night, Atoui defended the small blind against a 3,500 raise from Alexandre De Zutter. The flop got checked, Atoui bet 7,000 on the turn and 11,000 on the river and De Zutter called it off.