On the last hand before dinner break, Mostafa Haidary raised to 225,000 from the button. Iaron Lightbourne was in the big blind and jammed all in. Haidary said "Good luck buddy" and called.
Iaron Lightbourne: Q♣Q♠
Mostafa Haidary: 2♠2♥
But it would not be good luck for Lightbourne as the flop came 9♥J♠2♦ to hit the duck. The turn was the 8♥ and the river the 5♣ to send the Brit on his way as the rest of the players went to dinner.
Players are headed on a 60-minute dinner break. They will return to blinds of 50,000 and 100,000 with a big blind ante at approximately 7:50 p.m. local time.
Earlier this year on an ordinary Monday afternoon, a bespectacled man walked into the Gold & Silver Pawn Shop on Las Vegas Blvd. Tucked under his arm was an uninteresting box that only he knew contained something rather interesting – a pair of gold watches dating back more than 40 years.
These were not your run-of-the-mill wristwear, but rather evidence of a unique and often overlooked time of poker history, a year when the World Series of Poker (WSOP) gold bracelet, now the game’s highest accolade, was replaced in favor of watches.
1982 WSOP watches
The man holding the box was David Sklansky, who in 1978 forever changed poker by advocating a mathematical approach to the game in his groundbreaking book The Theory of Poker. Nicknamed “The Mathematician,” he proved his prowess just four years later when he won two WSOP tournaments in five days.
First, he won the 1982 WSOP Event #7: $800 Mixed Doubles Limit Seven Card Stud, a tournament that paired one man with one woman, alongside Dani Kelly, and followed that up by taking down Event #12: $1,000 Limit 5-Card Draw High. A year later, the Binions reverted back to the beloved bracelets players know today, and Sklansky captured his third piece of WSOP hardware by winning Event #11: $1,000 Limit Omaha.
It was a remarkable accomplishment, and for more than four decades he’s kept safe the evidence of his victories, both of which still worked. So, why was Sklansky carrying his 1982 WSOP gold watches, two of only 15 ever awarded, into a pawn shop? Well, he was looking to sell them of course, but not to just any of the dozens of pawn shops spread across Las Vegas. Oh no, he was walking into arguably the most famous pawn shop in the world, the home to the wildly popular television show Pawn Stars, and he was there to do it with cameras rolling.
Ihar Soika opened to 200,00 from the cutoff, and was called by Bernd Gleissner on the button, and Yang Zhang from the big blind.
The flop came J♦5♥9♠ and it checked to Soika, who bet 240,000. Gleissner then announced all in for 2,010,000, which then Zhang quickly folded, and Sokia went into the take. Visibly stressed by the bet, Sokia went over five minutes with his decison, but eventually found the fold.
Pedro Madeira raised to 250,000 from the small blind and was three bet to 660,000 by Brandon Schwartz from the big blind. He made the call to the flop.
The flop came K♣A♥A♦ and both players were quick to check.
While the turn peeled the 9♥ both players again checked.
The river was the 5♥ and Madeira led out for 1,000,000. Schwartz made the call and revealed A♣10♣ to be bested by Madeira's 8♥7♥.
The flop came down 2♦K♠8♣. Ihar Soika bet 185,000 from the big blind and Yang Zhang called.
The turn was the J♠. Both players checked. The river was the 10♠. Zhang led for 650,000. Soika thought for close to a minute before he laid it down as his stack sank a bit lower.
