Motoyoshi Okamura raised under the gun and was called by Amir Nematinia in the big blind. Both players drew two cards, after which Nematinia check-called Okamura's bet.
On the second draw, they each took one and checked thereafter. They then each drew one more card on the final draw, after which Nematinia led out.
Okamura instantly called. Nematinia showed an Ax before Okamura tabled 8x6x5x3x2x for an eight-low to take the pot.
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.
The action was picked up on the second draw, where Kenneth Po took two cards from the small blind and Christopher Adams exchanged one under the gun.
Po then check-called Adams' bet and drew one card before Adams stood pat.
After the final draw, Po checked, Adams bet, and Po raised. Adams took his time to think things through, but ultimately folded his hand as more chips were shipped in Po's direction.
