Fun With Arfai

"I've been trying to figure this out all day," said Nader Arfai to Steve Gross a little earlier. He pointed to the felt in front of him where the letters "WSOP" were written and from the perspective of the pair were turned upside down.

He pointed to the first two letters. "I've been wondering… what does 'SM' stand for"?

Gross looked over with a grin. "Are you serious?" he asked, and Arfai laughed to signal he was not.

We've heard Arfai mention both yesterday and today how he'd come out to the WSOP a few different times, but business had always called him away before he'd been able to play an event. This time he did get to play, though, and he's certainly making the most of his first WSOP event so far.

It looked a moment ago like the experience might be about to conclude for Arfai in a hand involving Gross and Lee Goldman, but thankfully for him it did not.

We picked up the action on the turn with the board showing and a relatively small pot in the middle. Gross led from the small blind with a bet of 35,000 and Goldman called from one seat over. Then Arfai set his stack of 134,000 out as an all-in raise, and after Gross folded Goldman called.

Arfai had for an eight-high straight, better than the five-high straight Goldman had with . It was the best way to be all-in before the river for Arfai, as his opponent was drawing dead.