Strout and Zaki Battle for the Blinds

Action folded around to Stephen Strout in the small blind and he completed. Justin Zaki was in the big blind and raised his option, making it 9,000 to go. Strout called.

The flop dropped and Strout check-called a continuation-bet of 6,000 from Zaki. Strout checked again on the turn and Zaki checked behind, bringing the river . Strout put out a bet of 12,000 fairly quickly, sending Zaki into the tank.

Zaki counted out his 1,000-chips and thought about his decision for about 40 seconds, eventually looking back at his cards and then flicking them forward to the muck.

With the pot, Strout is now over a quarter-million. Also on the ascent once more is Nick Raio, who has chipped up to 381,000. Raio said there were no hands of note, and that he had just been flopping sets and otherwise chipping up without showdown.