That was the exclamation heard from Speedy Gonzales. As we got to the table, Gonzales' hand was and the board gave him a ten-high straight. We did not catch the opponent's hand, but Gonzales' straight was good enough to win him a 80,000-chip pot.
After the hand he said, "My wife told me I had the nuts!" He then looked at his opponent and said, "I know what got you to call. I held my breath." He then told the players about how that in the movie Maverick, the players were able to read a tell off of Annabelle Bransford that let them know she was bluffing. He claimed that he used this tell to get his opponent to call his all-in bet.
He continued to rub this in when Matt Stout looked at the losing player and said, "You can hit him with a chair if you want." He then looked at me and said, "Be sure to use that."
Players have returned from their break. We will play at least another three full levels tonight. 64 player remain. Again, we will play until we either reach 27 players or until we reach 2 a.m.
Not to say that Allen Kessler is unlucky, but when it comes to tournament bust-outs, Kessler has definitely taken his share of bad beats to get knocked out of events. Today was no exception.
Preflop, Kessler moved all in for 11,000 total. A player in the four seat reraised to 22,000 total to try and isolate Kessler. Everyone else folded and we had our showdown.
Kessler:
Opponent:
Kessler was well ahead until the flop. The flop fell and Kessler was needing one of the remaining aces in the deck. The turn was the and the river the .
Kessler said, "Nice hand" and headed for the exits.
We pick up a growing pot between Captain Tom Franklin and the man to his left, chip leader Mike "GoLeafsGoEh" Leah. In this battle of the blinds, the two men watched the flop come out , and Franklin check-called a bet.
Fourth street brought the . "This is my last check," said Franklin, as he tapped the table. Leah seized the opportunity to bet 7,000. After a moment, Franklin put out a check-raise to 22,000, and Leah wasted little time calling.
The last card off was the . Captain Tom kept the heat on with a bet of 25,000. Leah sighed and sat fidgeting while he contemplated his decision. Finally, and very quietly came an, "I call," from the Canuck.
Showdown:
Franklin:
Leah: MUCK
After finding a pretty decent flop for his suited high cards, Captain Tom has dragged in a rather large pot, moving him up over the century mark with just under 110,000. Leah, meanwhile, has relinquished the chip lead, and he has slipped back to 139,000.
James Hoots was one of the early chip leaders, but around Level 4, he started massively bleeding chips. He was as low as 3,500 before tripling up. He has since been eliminated.
Though the details of the hand are unclear, Bill Edler has just taken the walk of shame to the exit. Hearing the story second hand, it appears that he was all in for his last ~10,000 holding . An opponent across the table looked down at and made the call. Edler evidently failed to get over the hump, and he has been eliminated.
This tournament just got a whole lot less "Stunning."