Holding in the big blind, William Prieto watched the small blind limp in, and decided that the time had come to move his opponent off of the hand. He made it 17,000 to go, moving two orange 5000T chips and seven yellow 1000T chips into the middle.
The dealer mistakenly announced a raise of 9,000, however, apparently thinking all nine of the chips were yellow. With his raise now neutered by the erroneous announcement, Prieto watched helplessly as his opponent called. The resulting action escaped our notice, but an understandably miffed Prieto was soon exiting the tournament area, steaming over the situation.
Experienced professional Ryan Welch recently showed how to play the B.I.G. stack, pushing his opponent around on the river with a big bet and taking juicy pot without a showdown.
After a flop of , a player on the button responded to Welch's check by tossing a bet of 12,500 into the middle. Welch came along, and both players opted to tap the table when the turn came .
A on the river prompted Welch to fire a barrel, and he shot a bet of 55,500 at his opponent, who quickly folded.
We're unsure of the pre-flop action, but when we arrived at the table a short-stacked Michael Rein was all-in against John Hennigan. Hennigan held , while Rein held a dominating . The board was no help to Johnny World, and he took another small hit, while Rein doubled up. Hennigan's lost about a third of his stack since the last break.
With the field dwindling close to the 200-player mark, moves must be made to keep pace with the accelerating blinds. Alex Robinson knew this to be true, so he shoved all-in from the hijack with , hoping for some fast folds around the table with his last 49,500 at risk.
Alex Bylicki had other ideas, however, and he reshoved for just over 110,000 with . Brendon Rubie woke up with , and seeing his chance to claim two skins in addition the overwhelming chip lead in the tournament, he decided to call.
The three hands were tabled and the dealer fanned a flop of . Robinson caught a piece, and began quietly calling for fives or eights to provide his salvation. The on the turn did not oblige, but the on the river did. Robinson tripled his stack to over 150,000, putting him above the average stack and in position to survive Day 2.
Meanwhile, Bylicki's cowboys ran roughshod over Rubie's ladies, and the Australian was forced to send a hefty portion of his stack across the table.
An early position player shipped all-in for 19,000, and Johnny "World" Hennigan was the only caller. The raiser held and was dominated by Hennigan's . The flop came , but the on the turn gave the raiser the lead and Hennigan was drawing to only three outs on the river. The on the river ended the hand, and Hennigan absorbed a small hit. He now sits with 125,000 in chips.
Vinh Pham started the hand on the button. A player in middle position raised to 8,500. Pham called on the button as did the small blind.
The flop came down and the small blind pushed all in for a little over 20,000. The initial raiser folded and Pham called.
Pham:
Opponent:
It was top pair versus straight draw. Pham didn't have to sweat because the came on the turn. The river blanked and Pham got the knockout. He sits with a healthy 260,000 in chips.
Dan Kelly raised to 8,000 pre-flop, and one opponent called from the big blind. On a flop of , Kelly continued for 10,000 and his opponent called again. Both players checked the turn card. The river is the , and this time Kelly bet 20,000 and his opponent folded. Kelly now has 215,000 in front of him.
In poker, as in life itself, every result is simply the end product of an infinite series of choices. Every action necessarily creates reactions, and as Dr. Ian Malcom of Jurassic Park fame might have said if he played poker, the game is simply unpredictability within a complex system writ large.
Recently, a hand occurred involving four players that perfectly illustrates the concept of Chaos Theory, as each player's choices created ripples that affected one another.
A series of preflop raises and calls ended when Tomas Yi shoved all-in for a sizable amount, and another player called his stack off as well. Paul "Zar-Dog" White was forced to a tough decision with his , but with another player still yet to act behind him, he couldn't abide gambling his tournament life away in such a marginal spot.
By tanking before he mucked, however, Smith's actions suggested he held high cards, and a player who identified himself as "Fatbert Naan" was left to think his had limited outs. Thus, he tossed his cards away, but not before showing them to the table.
Meanwhile, Yi and his lone remaining opponent went to the showdown, and Yi's was far ahead of . With his big slick crushed by both tabled hands, "Fatbert Naan" was relieved to see he made the correct laydown, as was Smith, whose pair of tens were outclassed.
Of course, the flop came and Smith turned to contemplate the possibilities lost in the wake of his choice. A clean turn and river later, Yi claimed the huge pot, eliminating his opponent, and leaving Smith to circle the table incredulously, wondering what could have been.
![[user253757]](/img/avatars/avatar.svg){kind=avatar}
, a player on the button responded to Welch's check by tossing a bet of 12,500 into the middle. Welch came along, and both players opted to tap the table when the turn came 
.
on the river prompted Welch to fire a barrel, and he shot a bet of 55,500 at his opponent, who quickly folded.
, while Rein held a dominating 
, hoping for some fast folds around the table with his last 49,500 at risk.
. Brendon Rubie woke up with 
. Robinson caught a piece, and began quietly calling for fives or eights to provide his salvation. The 
on the turn did not oblige, but the 
on the river did. Robinson tripled his stack to over 150,000, putting him above the average stack and in position to survive Day 2.
and was dominated by Hennigan's 
. The flop came 
, but the 
and the small blind pushed all in for a little over 20,000. The initial raiser folded and Pham called.
, Kelly continued for 10,000 and his opponent called again. Both players checked the 
turn card. The river is the 
