Action picked up on the river with three players looking at a board of . James Calderaro moved all in for 25,000, about the size of the pot, and he had both of his opponents covered.
Jeremy Bocka thought long and hard about calling off his tournament life. He did, though, have to worry about Qing Lu behind him. He decided to let his cards go.
Qing Lu wasn't folding, though. She tossed in the call. Calderaro showed for the missed flush draw. Lu showed for the over pair and the winning hand.
"I almost called!" said Bocka frustratingly.
"Yeah, but she had you beat," said a tablemate.
"But if I call, she folds," said Bocka, "I wanted to call so badly. If I call, you still call?" Bocka asked Lu.
"Yeah," Lu said she would have called anyway as she stacked chips.
This summer, Golden Nugget Las Vegas will play host to the 14th Annual Grand Poker Series, which features 81 events and offers over $3 million in guaranteed prize money from May 31-July 3. One of those events is the $1,100 buy-in, $1,000,000 Guaranteed PokerNews Cup that will run from June 24-28.
The tournament will feature three starting flights beginning with Day 1a at 11 a.m. PT on Friday, June 24. Days 1b and 1c will take place at the same time on Saturday, June 25, and Sunday, June 26 respectively. The surviving players from each flight will return at Noon on Monday, June 27 to play down to the final table, which will play out at 2 p.m. on Tuesday, June 28. PokerNews will be on-site throughout the duration to offer live updates, videos, social media content, and more.
“We’re very excited to partner with our friends at Golden Nugget this summer to offer the PokerNews Cup in Las Vegas for the first time,” said Head of PokerNewsMark Powell-Bevan. “Not only will players have the opportunity at a seven-figure prize pool for an affordable buy-in, but they’ll also get to experience everything PokerNews has to offer including live updates, giveaways, videos, a live podcast, and more. It’s going to be one of the premier tournaments of the summer.”
“We’re especially excited about taking our partnership with PokerNews to the next level,” said Andy Rich, Golden Nugget Las Vegas Director of Poker Operations. “This is huge news for poker players, and we couldn’t be happier that all the action is right here at Golden Nugget during Grand Poker Series.”
For those looking to get into the PokerNews Cup event cheaper, there will be a $200 buy-in Mega Satellite guaranteeing 10 seats at 11 a.m. on Thursday, June 23.
History of the PokerNews Cup
The first-ever PokerNews Cup took place in 2007 at Australia’s Crown Casino and saw Dory Zayner become the inaugural champion. The following year, Nali Kaselias won the same event while Darren Kramer claimed the title in the 2008 PokerNews Cup South African Poker Open. In 2009, it was Con Tsapkounis winning the third edition of PokerNews Cup Australia while Marc Naalden was victorious in the PokerNews Cup Alpine (Austria).
Patrick Truong raised to 1,200 from middle position and immediately found a caller to his left in Frank Russo. Action made its way to the small blind, Anthony Wirsu, who three-bet to 6,500. Both Truong and Wirsu called and took the hand to the flop three ways.
The flop came . Wirsu continuation-bet for 5,200. Truong decided to call. Russo, though, put all his chips into the middle with a bet of 49,400.
Wirsu thought for some time before letting his cards go. Truong called after only a couple of seconds.
Russo tabled his for bottom pair and a gutshot while Wirsu showed that he slow played and had Russo in rough shape.
"Four, five, or seven," noted Russo. He didn't have to wait long when both the turn and river brought the and .
Things got a little heated after the hand. "Why are you smooth calling there with aces?" asked Russo.
"Why are you even calling with four-seven?" Wirsu stuck up for Truong.
"I didn't call, I raised, I don't even know what you're talking about," escalated Russo.
Truong was gracious with the, "good hand," comment and things calmed down while Russo stacked his chips and left the other two short stacked.
Action started up on the turn with a board reading and about 18,000 in the pot.
Chan Pelton placed a bet of 20,000 and Aden Salazar called with position. The pot was growing and Pelton had less than a pot-sized bet behind.
The river came the and Pelton fairly quickly moved all in. Salazar went deep into the tank and thought for about three minutes. Eventually, Pelton called the clock and Salazar was left with just thirty seconds to make a decision.
While Salazar tanked, Pelton said, "make sure you get his first and last name," to the reporter documenting the hand.
Before his clock ran out, Salazar decided to fold. His opponent happily showed the for missed combo draw on the turn and bluff on the river.
"I thought you were going to send me back to the hotel," said Pelton as he raked the pot with the aggressive play.
Greg Himmelbrand had opened from early position to 1,000. Another player raised to 3,800 from the cutoff and saw a small blind call that bet. Tiago Aguiar found a spot with lots of chips already in the middle to announce, "all in," with a stack of 27,900.
Back to Himmelbrand, the initial raiser, who thought for about 45 seconds and made the call.
Both other players thought for quite some time but must have got the idea that Himmelbrand had a monster. They both folded, and they weren't wrong.
"Aces?" said Aguiar. He was right. Himmelbrand flipped his and Aguiar had .
The board ran out clean for the aces. "Sometimes they play themselves," said Himmelbrand, as he scooped the big pot.