Weisner Endures the Tank

On the turn of a {Q-Spades} {4-Hearts} {2-Diamonds} {Q-Diamonds} board, we picked up the action with a huge pot brewing. Mohamad Kowssarie bet 61,500 there, and Melanie Weisner spent a long, long soak in the tank. She had about 160,000 left, maybe a bit more, and it would be at least eight or ten minutes before she acted.

While she pondered, though, an absurd situation began to unfold around her. We were practically all alone behind the table when we walked up to the turn, but within a few minutes, dozens of spectators, media, and players had completely pressed themselves in around the table, completely encircling it and bantering with each other as they elbowed their way in for a sight line. A couple even stuck their video cameras directly in Weisner's face, and the chatter grew very loud for several minutes. It's really hard to put into words the scene that was unfolding, but it had to be hard to concentrate.

In the eight seat, Luca Falaschi was getting pretty upset at how long it was taking, and he became rather animated as he drew a "let's go" sign with his finger in the air. The amount of distraction around the table was frankly staggering, and there wasn't more than six inches of breathing room behind the players with now maybe 50-60 people all huddled in close.

After a few more minutes of fighting off the distractions, Weisner made the flat-call to see the last card. It was the {8-Hearts} , and the action went check-check.