Aaron Kanter just saw his tournament dashed and it was all done with a miracle river card that gave George Reese the winning hand. If anyone remembers back to 2005, the year Greg Raymer was running deep in the WSOP Main Event the year following the one where he won the thing, it was Kanter who delivered a crushing blow to Raymer and left him crippled.
Famous 2005 Hand Involving Kanter and Raymer
With only 25 players remaining, Raymer was trying to do the unthinkable -- win back to back, massive-field WSOP Main Events -- before being dealt a beat so crushing it might have made a lesser man leave the game forever. Dealt , Raymer made a standard opening raise and was called by Aaron Kanter, who held . The flop came down and Raymer made a half-pot continuation bet. Kanter called. The on the turn put two hearts on the board and Raymer bet 330,000 -- again, about half the pot. Kanter raised "600,000 more," according to ESPN's Lon McEachern and Raymer set him in for the 700,000 he had behind. Kanter called with only the flush draw but caught lightning in a bottle when the hit the river. Raymer's stack was decimated and Kanter doubled up. Had Raymer won that hand, he would have taken the chip lead. Instead, he was eliminated a short time later in 25th place.
Fast forward to a few moments ago. On the board of , Kanter checked. The next player bet 4,000 and then Reese raised to 12,000. Damjan Radanov was next up and he reraised to 32,000. Kanter thought for a little bit and then moved all in for 52,500. The next player folded and then Reese called all in for 51,200 total. Radanov had slammed the table with his hand immediately after Kanter shoved and was still visibly upset when he tossed his cards into the muck emphatically. The all-in hands were tabled.
Kanter:
Reese:
As you can see, Kanter already had a made full house and was in prime position to take a huge pot and send Reese to the rail. The dealer burned once more and then delivered the on the river to smack Reese with a higher full house than Kanter. Just like the river saved Kanter in 2005 against Raymer, it took everything but 1,300 chips from Kanter. He was decimated just like Raymer was back in 2005. On the next hand, Kanter was eliminated. Reese exploded to 170,000 in chips after the big hand.
Tony Bracy was all in preflop and called up Leonard Swisher and one other player. After the flop came down , both remaining active players called.
The turn brought the and Swisher check-folded to a bet of 10,000 from the other active player. That player turned over the for a straight and was up against the for Bracy. Bracy needed a heart on the river to win and a four to chop the pot.
The river completed the board with the and Bracy was eliminated from the tournament.
"Oh my god!" we heard Tony Bracy yelling, so we dashed over to see what the fuss was about. Bracy shot out of his chair and said a few more things, lamenting his bad fortunes. We're not sure when the money went in, but Bracy's had flopped the world on a board. A female player was at risk with , her set needing to fill up to keep her alive. The turn was a blank, but the river filled in that boat and drew the loud reaction from Bracy. The dealer counted out the all in and gave Bracy back his ~11,000 in change.
She then yelled for the floor. When the supervisor arrived to the table, the dealer told him that Bracy had used the dreaded F-word and that the lady at the table did not deserve to be talked to that way. Bracy was baffled, and several players at the table came to his defense and said that she'd mis-heard him. A bit of an argument ensued, and big boss Dennis said, "All right guys, let's play poker. Let's try to watch the language."
Junior Merafuentes has been open-shoving his shortening stack about once or twice per orbit to try and stay afloat here. He had 35,100 the last time he shoved, and it would be... well, the last time he'd shove. The player in the small blind called, and Merafuentes exposed his hand. There was action pending, however, as big blind Tony Bracy was contemplating his play. Bracy stood from his chair and talked it out for a while. Merafuentes asked if he'd seen his cards flash, and Bracy insisted he didn't. "I'm such an idiot!" he called himself out. "But you're not the one I'm really worried about." Eventually, Bracy open-mucked his pocket jacks, and he'd soon see it was a good fold.
Showdown
Merafuentes:
Small blind:
The flop drew a chorus of "Oooooh"s from the table, but that's as close as Merafuentes would get. The turn and river filled out a useless board as far as he was concerned, and his day is done.
Details from this hand are scarce as we walked up just as the dealer was pulling in the board cards and washing the deck. It was a big pot, though, so we'll try.
Lee Patitz and an opponent were heads up to a ten-high flop, and both players got stacks into the pot. Each of them started with about 70,000 in front of them, and some heavy flop action resulted in Mr. Opponent shoving all in for about three times the pot. He held queen-ten (top pair, queen kicker), and Patitz called him down with ace-jack (ace-high).
The turn was a blank, but the proverbial ace on the river has whisked one player away and given Patitz a powerful stack of about 155,000.
The gentleman in the cutoff seat opened with a raise, and big blind Tony Bracy moved all in for 25,300. The cutoff insta-called with , but his pair was second-best. Bracy tabled the , poised for a double up.
The at-risk Bracy stood up to sweat his fate, and the dealer was kind to him. The board ran , and that spells a double up. Mark him down for 53,100 now.
Action folded around to Ted Bort in the small blind and he completed. Grant Hillman checked in the big blind and the flop came down . Bort checked and Hillman fired 2,000. Bort meant to call, but accidentally min-raised to 4,000. Hillman jammed all in and Bort called it off with the for a flush draw plus a gutshot. Hillman held for two pair.
The turn brought the and the river the . Bort missed on both of those and was eliminated from the tournament. Hillman moved to about 85,000 in chips.
, Raymer made a standard opening raise and was called by Aaron Kanter, who held 
. The flop came down 
and Raymer made a half-pot continuation bet. Kanter called. The 
on the turn put two hearts on the board and Raymer bet 330,000 -- again, about half the pot. Kanter raised "600,000 more," according to ESPN's Lon McEachern and Raymer set him in for the 700,000 he had behind. Kanter called with only the flush draw but caught lightning in a bottle when the 
hit the river. Raymer's stack was decimated and Kanter doubled up. Had Raymer won that hand, he would have taken the chip lead. Instead, he was eliminated a short time later in 25th place.
, Kanter checked. The next player bet 4,000 and then Reese raised to 12,000. Damjan Radanov was next up and he reraised to 32,000. Kanter thought for a little bit and then moved all in for 52,500. The next player folded and then Reese called all in for 51,200 total. Radanov had slammed the table with his hand immediately after Kanter shoved and was still visibly upset when he tossed his cards into the muck emphatically. The all-in hands were tabled.
on the river to smack Reese with a higher full house than Kanter. Just like the river saved Kanter in 2005 against Raymer, it took everything but 1,300 chips from Kanter. He was decimated just like Raymer was back in 2005. On the next hand, Kanter was eliminated. Reese exploded to 170,000 in chips after the big hand.
and Swisher check-folded to a bet of 10,000 from the other active player. That player turned over the 
for a straight and was up against the ![[user66118]](/img/avatars/avatar.svg){kind=avatar}
, her set needing to fill up to keep her alive. The turn 
was a blank, but the river 
filled in that boat and drew the loud reaction from Bracy. The dealer counted out the all in and gave Bracy back his ~11,000 in change.
and river 
filled out a useless board as far as he was concerned, and his day is done.
. Bort checked and Hillman fired 2,000. Bort meant to call, but accidentally min-raised to 4,000. Hillman jammed all in and Bort called it off with the 
for two pair.
. Bort missed on both of those and was eliminated from the tournament. Hillman moved to about 85,000 in chips.