Problems for Strassmann

Back-to-back hands have decimated bright-eyed Johannes Strassmann's stack. He tangled first with Daniel Zink, calling a raise to 125,000 from the small blind. Zink fired out a bet of 175,000 after Strassmann checked the {6-Clubs}

flop. Strassmann called that bet, then tank-folded to a bet of 425,000 when the turn paired the board {2-Clubs}

.

The next hand, Strassmann was on the button and called a 125,000-chip raise from the under-the-gun player, Peter Traply. Traply was first to act on a flop of {Q-Hearts}

. He bet almost the full pot, 245,000. Strassmann called and got a free card when both players checked the {Q-Diamonds}

turn. That brought the action to the river, which was a blank, the {2-Spades}

. Into a pot of roughly 850,000, Traply bet 665,000 chips.

Strassmann tanked for several minutes, playing with his chip stacks and faking moving them into the middle, perhaps trying to get a read on Traply. Traply was stock still. With a deep breath, Strassmann finally pushed in a call. Traply turned over {5-Clubs}