Three players put in 6,000 a piece before the flop, including Dane Coates, and the dealer fanned the across the felt.
Coates and another player checked quickly to the preflop aggressor, who obliged with a c-bet of 8,000. Coates calmly made the call, while the other player in the hand got out of the way.
On the turn, Coates and his opponent both tapped the table, and the completed the board on the river.
Rather than check for a third time, however, Coates tossed three of the grey T5000 tournament chips forward, staring his opponent down as he did so.
"What are the odds you don't have jacks here?" queried Coates' nemesis, prodding for information before he ultimately mucked his hand.
Coates scooped the sizable pot, but before he did the was tabled in response, showing his interrogator that his read on the hand was just a bit off base.
Men Nguyen opened to 3,200 under the gun, and Luis Urioste bumped it to 13,900 from middle position. Everyone folded back to Nguyen, who made the call. The flop came , and both players checked. Nguyen checked again when the fell, and Urioste checked behind. Nguyen had finally had enough of checking when the arrived, and he bet 15,000. Urioste called immediately, and Nguyen showed for aces up. Urioste had Nguyen's kicker bested with , and he took the sizable pot down.
A player under the gun shoved for about 8,000, and a player in middle position pushed over the top. Andy Hwang called off his 13,750 on the button.
Hwang:
UTG:
Middle position:
Everyone held a pair, but Hwang's was best. The flop brought two sets, and Hwang was even more firmly in command. The and finished out the board, and Hwang doubled up while simultaneously sending an opponent to the rail.
Here in Atlantic City, New Jersey, storms come and go, but a recent hand showed that even indoors the perfect storm can develop out of the blue.
A player who refused to give his name held , and he found himself all-in for a sizable amount of chips hoping to be racing at best. When his opponent turned over the , however, the player discovered he was actually way ahead in the hand, needing only to dodge aces and hearts to score a huge double.
The final board cooperated, coming to leave the lowly pair of threes in front.
As the stacks were being compared and transferred to the winner's side of the table, another player slowly shook his head and mumbled, telling his tablemates he had laid down in the face of such intense preflop pressure.
"I'm supposed to fold jacks there, so..." he said, more to himself than anyone else. "I couldn't call that."
With just a pair of threes in the hole, the winner had found a way to push the best holding out of the pot, while also finessing a call from a dominated hand.
A short stack with around 10,000 shoved all in from the hijack at the table in the corner of the room, and Ojus Mehta moved all in over the top from the cutoff. The big blind appeared to wake up with a hand, as he counted out 26,775 worth of calling chips. After some thought, he made the call.
"I'm gonna need some help," the hijack predicted. He was right.
Big blind:
Hijack:
Mehta:
The flop came down . The turn left the hijack drawing dead, and opened up an additional out for Mehta.
"This would be sick," a player at the table said.
Sickness ensued as the hit the board, causing the big blind to clap his hands in frustration.
A flop of was spread across the felt as we passed by, with three players standing in anticipation, so we stuck around to sneak a peek.
One player tabled his by positioning each card near the flop, perhaps trying to preordain his flush and gutshot straight draws to be delivered. Another tossed his in front of his stack, visibly displeased that his own open-ended straight draw was now less effective, as he could not spike a club to make his hand.
Emad Alabsi had the best hand at the moment with his for top pair, but he was dodging the deck and looking to fade multiple outs.
Turn:
"Yes!" yelled the player who found his flush. "One time!"
"It's not over yet buddy, one more card..." chimed in another player at the table, reminding the early celebrator that things were not settled until fifth street fell.
River:
"Whoa!" went the collective call, as the table reacted to Alabsi's miraculous full house. "Everybody hit their hand."
In the end, the flush beat the straight, but the boat beat them all, and Alabsi tripled up to over 60,000 midway through Day 1C.
mnuwwarah
Jerry Callahan (Photo Credit: Eddie Malluk/PokerNews)
When Jerry Callahan steps into the Borgata, he's walking into familiar territory. He said he tries to come down for “pretty much every series.”
“The Borgata series are my favorites because of the massive field sizes,” the Long Island, N.Y., native said. “There's a lot of value.”
Indeed, half of his 12 recorded tournament cashes have come at the Borgata. That includes by far his biggest cash, a $16,132 second-place prize in a $200 NLHE event at the 2010 Borgata Poker Open. This year, he's coming in with considerable momentum, having just scored a $9,000 three-way chop at a $340 No-Limit Hold'em event at the Delaware Park Winter Poker Classic.
Callahan, who has been playing poker for 10 years, said being a student limits the amount of time he can spending traveling the circuit.
“It's tough with my school schedule,” he said. “But I try to hit 10 to 12 series per year.”
We'll surely see more of Callahan in the coming days, as he plans on playing at least three more events, ending with the $350 buy-in, $250,000 guaranteed event that begins Sunday. If you don't see him playing a local tournament, you may be able to find him at a cash table, where he said he likes to play $5 blind NLHE, Pot-Limit Omaha, and PLO Eight-or-Better.
![[user253757]](/img/avatars/avatar.svg){kind=avatar}
across the felt.
turn, Coates and his opponent both tapped the table, and the 
completed the board on the river.
was tabled in response, showing his interrogator that his read on the hand was just a bit off base.
, and both players checked. Nguyen checked again when the 
fell, and Urioste checked behind. Nguyen had finally had enough of checking when the 
arrived, and he bet 15,000. Urioste called immediately, and Nguyen showed 
for aces up. Urioste had Nguyen's kicker bested with 
, and he took the sizable pot down.
flop brought two sets, and Hwang was even more firmly in command. The 
and 
, however, the player discovered he was actually way ahead in the hand, needing only to dodge aces and hearts to score a huge double.
to leave the lowly pair of threes in front.
turn left the hijack drawing dead, and opened up an additional out for Mehta.
hit the board, causing the big blind to clap his hands in frustration.
was spread across the felt as we passed by, with three players standing in anticipation, so we stuck around to sneak a peek.
