Najib Bennani limped in from the button, Ben Grundy completed from the small blind, and Rami Boukai knocked the table in the big.
In a friendly three-handed pot, the flop brought . Grundy checked, and Boukai led out with a two-thirds pot bet of 100,000. Bennani called, and Grundy got out of the way.
The turn and river came and respectively, with the two players check-checking on both streets. Bennani tabled , and his set of tens was good enough to win the pot on a scary looking board.
From the button, Rami Boukai peeked at his two cards and quickly folded. In the small blind, Najib Bennani followed suit, giving Ben Grundy a walk in the big blind.
It's not often you're upset to snag some free chips, but Grundy couldn't have been happy to look down at as he slid them across the felt face-up.
"That should steam you now," quipped Boukai, drawing a chuckle from the table. It was good to see the stale mood broken just a bit with that comment, as the players have been all too serious for several hours now.
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Two orbits later, Grundy got yet another walk. "Oh my god," he said, leaning back in his chair. "I'm not even gonna show you this time." A few hands later, he told one of his railbird friends that he had ace-king. He's still chuckling though, with no signs of steaming just yet. Let's see what happens next orbit though.
Najib Bennani folded his button, and Ben Grundy raised to 180,000 from the small blind. After a moment, Rami Boukai reraised it up to 540,000 from the big, sending Grundy into the tank. After some careful consideration, and a few sideways glances across the table, Grundy let his hand go, choosing to save his 525,000 chips for a better spot.
[user66118]
It's getting comical now. On the first orbit of this PLO round, Grundy got another walk in the big blind. He flashed plus another paint card -- it looked like a queen -- as he added one more small blind to his stack.
Najib Bennani opened from the button with a raise to 125,000. In the small blind, Ben Grundy reraised the pot, making it 425,000 to play and leaving himself with just 40,000 funny money behind. Rami Boukai quickly folded his big blind, but Bennani would take his time to think things through. After about a minute-long stare-down, Bennani told Grundy he was putting him all in, and Grundy stuck the rest of his stack into the middle.
Showdown
Bennani:
Grundy:
The flop was pretty safe and sound for the at-risk Grundy, coming . Bennani picked up a lot of outs when the turn card brought the though, and Grundy stood to sweat what would end up being his final card of the night. The spiked the river, drawing a huge cheer from the relatively small Bennani cheerleading squad.
Grundy's dry aces got run down by Bennani's two pair, and the Brit has been eliminated in 3rd place. For his efforts over the past three days, he'll walk away with just less than $100,000. Not too shabby, but judging by the look on his face, not the result he was hoping for tonight.
[user66118]
With Bennani taking out Grundy, the two remaining players will begin heads-up virtually even in chips. It looks like Bennani has just a sliver of an edge with 1,750,000 to Rami Boukai's 1,650,000
Najib Bennani limped in from the button, and Rami Boukai raised to 100,000 from the big blind. Bennani wanted to see a flop, and he made the call.
The dealer spread out in the middle of the table. Boukai checked, and Bennani took the opportunity to fire a bet of 110,000. After just a moment, Rami Boukai put in a check-raise to 450,000, drawing a long, "Hmmmmm," from his opponent. Bennani eventually elected to let his hand go, and Rami Boukai takes the first significant pot of heads-up action.
[user66118]
After a series of small pots, Rami Boukai is really starting to squeeze his opponent. Najib Bennani is down to about 800,000, with Boukai just approaching the 2.5-million-chip mark.
![[user66118]](/img/avatars/avatar.svg){kind=avatar}
. Grundy checked, and Boukai led out with a two-thirds pot bet of 100,000. Bennani called, and Grundy got out of the way.
and 
respectively, with the two players check-checking on both streets. Bennani tabled 
, and his set of tens was good enough to win the pot on a scary looking board.
as he slid them across the felt face-up.
plus another paint card -- it looked like a queen -- as he added one more small blind to his stack.
in the middle of the table. Boukai checked, and Bennani took the opportunity to fire a bet of 110,000. After just a moment, Rami Boukai put in a check-raise to 450,000, drawing a long, "Hmmmmm," from his opponent. Bennani eventually elected to let his hand go, and Rami Boukai takes the first significant pot of heads-up action.