Take Your Time and Think it Through

As the stakes get higher with eliminations meaning a climb up the pay ladder, the play in most pots has slowed a just a bit, with players using every minute available to them to ponder their options.

Recently, we watched two hands go down that involved lengthy tanks, showing that the players who have survived this long know how to look before they leap.

First, Rogen Chhabra moved all-in for his last 200,000 - effectively 100,000, as the bet covered his opponent's stack - with the final board reading . The pot contained upwards of 80,000 when he made his move, and the bet-sizing left his opponent confused enough to dive into the tank for more than four minutes, talking through the hand as he did so.

"Ace-king?" he asked Chhabra, prodding for a tell. "I put you on ace-king the whole hand."

Chhabra never said a word during the extended interrogation, and his silence appeared to be piquing the other player's curiosity as he continued examining the situation.

"Ace-king of spades... two big spades, could be," he continued, more to himself this time than to Chhabra. "Ahh, I know you're bluffing me but I'll let you take this one."

"One hundred percent you bluff me," he added as an epitaph to the hand.

One table over, Amanda Musumeci played a pot to the turn, and with the board showing by fourth street, her opponent tapped the table for a check. Musumeci fired out a 21,500 bet, but the other player sprung his trap with a check-raise to 75,500.

The pressure back on her, Musumeci tanked for a minute or so, staring hard at both the board and her opponent. After a few moments, however, her hand went sliding into the muck and the pot was awarded to the big bettor.