2009 World Series of Poker

Event 1 - Casino Employees No Limit Hold'em
Day: 1
Event Info

2009 World Series of Poker

Final Results
Winner
Winning Hand
66
Prize
$83,778
Event Info
Buy-in
$500
Entries
866
Level Info
Level
19
Blinds
8,000 / 16,000
Ante
2,000

Bubble Boy?

We pick up the action in a four-way pot with a flop of {5-Spades} {J-Clubs} {7-Spades} spread in the middle of the table. Action was on Ramy Zakaria, and he led out into the table with a bet of 5,000. Next door, Osmel Castro stacked out re-raising chips, pushing out what appeared to be 18,000 of them. The other two players quickly ducked out, but Zakaria reached for more checks. He slid out two big multicolor towers, enough to cover Castro, who had just about 10,000 behind his initial raise.

"Man, why you gotta do this to me?" lamented Castro, looking at the clock and seeing that we are just two players from the money. Finally, seeing no other choice, Castro made the call, putting his tournament life on the line just inches from the money.

Showdown
Zakaria: {6-Spades} {8-Spades}
Castro: {A-Clubs} {J-Hearts}

Zakaria was behind, but he was a slight favorite to win the hand with his open-ended straight flush draw! The turn card actually took away two of his outs though, as the {A-Hearts} made Castro aces up. Still needing to dodge a myriad of bad cards, Castro somehow willed the {6-Hearts} off the deck on the river, a safe rag.

With that massive pot, Osmel Castro has vaulted up the scoreboard, going from having one foot out the door to a top five stack in one fell swoop. He's sitting on close to 80,000 now.

Tags: Osmel CastroRamy Zakaria