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The following series of images shows just how difficult a single decision can be when one is facing a bet for their tournament life. This player tanked for a long while before ultimately finding the fold button.
Thomas Hill bet 12,000 on the 
flop, and Mickey Palermo thought for a bit before putting Hill all in for the last of his short stack. Hill called.
"You're probably in pretty good shape," Palermo said. He was right.
Palermo: 
Hill: 
Palermo had a pair and a low draw, but Hill's low draw was better and he had two pair to go with it. A 
and 
completed the board, and Hill scooped the pot to double.
Throughout the first few days of the Borgata Winter Poker Open, one player's striking resemblance to the wily Walter White had us hooked like Heisenberg's infamous Blue Sky.
Although he would only identify himself as "Mr. White" initially, the man in the black-brimmed porkpie hat eventually informed us that his name was Iverson Cotton Snuffer. And while that moniker may not strike fear into the hearts of men like Heisenberg did for five glorious seasons, poker players in West Virginia know Snuffer to be a very bad man indeed.
According to data compiled by the Hendon Mob Database, Snuffer is the 23rd all-time leading money winner in West Virginia, capturing more than $68,000 in just three years of play. As told by Snuffer, however, the amount of money he's taken from the tables in his home state just might fill a few barrels in the desert.
"I've scored way more than that internet says I have," he told us in between rounds. "If you count the smaller daily tournaments I've won around the state, I'd say I've got 'em for more than a couple hundred thousand."
Just like his alter ego from Breaking Bad, everything Snuffer does is for his family, and he made sure to let us know that his "beautiful wife Jamie, children and grandchildren" are his inspiration when competing on the felt.
As Snuffer told us, he was born with a deck of cards in his hand, and with his consistent play here in Atlantic City, we've no doubt that this tall tale is rooted in a grain of truth. Just like Heisenberg.
A short-stacked player raised to 20,000, nearly all of his stack, from late position. Action folded to Joe Villella's big blind, and he put the player at risk.
Villella: 
Short stack: 
The flop came 
, giving Villella top pair, while the short stack's best hope was to spike a ten. A 
turn gave the short stack a pair, but the 
river ended his tournament life.
Villella's stack is nearing 300,000, while others are fighting to get to half of that.
Joseph Astorina got all in from the big blind against an opponent on the button.
"I hate my hand," Astorina said.
Button: 
Astorina: 
His hate surely dissipated quickly, as the board came down 
. Astorina's now at 184,000, while his opponent was left with less than the small blind.
We missed Amanda Musumeci's bustout hand, but according to her former tablemates, the accomplished tournament player ran her 
into 
.
Failing to catch a set or a straight, Musumeci's tournament came to an end in the classic underpair against overpair confrontation.
Thomas Hill was the beneficiary of another double courtesy of Mickey Palermo. They got it all in preflop.
Palermo: 
Hill: 
The flop gave Hill a flush draw, and there was no waiting when the 
turned. A trivial 
completed the board.
Palermo now has 93,000, while Hill is sitting with 79,000.
The bubble has burst in a hand that we didn't catch. The final 18 players are now condensed to two tables.
Robert Renner avoided being the first elimination in the money on a recent hand where he got all in preflop against Mickey Palermo.
Renner: 
Palermo: 
A flop of gave Renner two pair, and a turn and 
river were two babies too late for Palermo.
Palermo's down to 36,000, as he can't seem to win a preflop all in, while Renner is up to 130,000.
After opening the pot for a raise to 3,600 holding 
, Alan Dworetsky watched as Paul Spitzberg moved all in over the top for a sizable reraise.
Undeterred, a third player in the hand decided to do the same, shipping his entire stack forward to complicate matters for Dworetsky.
After a semi-lengthy but understandable tank, the third player in the pot called the clock on Dworetsky, a move which frustrated and flustered the young grinder into eventually releasing his hand.
Showdown:
Spitzberg:
Third Player In:
"What?!" exclaimed Dworetsky, obviously shocked that the all-in move that forced him out of the hand was made with just ten-high. "Why?!"
Furthering the drama, the flop rolled out , giving both players a pair (as well as pairing Dworetsky's folded big slick). The dealer dropped the 
in on the turn, giving the unidentified player two pair and the lead, but the on the river reversed things, giving the pot to Spitzberg. Of course, Dworetsky's hand that went sailing into the muck minutes before would've been the winner, and he was understandably perturbed at the play that pushed him out.
Mickey Palermo just couldn't win a preflop all in. We think he might have been 0-for-4 on the ones we witnessed, and he just lost the only one you can't lose, the one where you have less chips.
Palermo: 
Greg Drobnis:
A 
flop gave Drobnis a flush draw and Palermo top pair. The changed nothing, but the river gave Drobnis trips. He now has 200,000. Fifteen players remain and the blinds are 3,000-6,000.