The player under the gun raised to 1,600, Stuart Taylor three-bet to 3,600 from middle position and the button cold called. The original raiser also made the call.
The 10♦2♦6♠ flop saw the action check to Taylor, who bet out 5,600. The button folded and the player under the gun called.
The 5♥ turn saw a repeat of the action, this time Taylor sized up for 12,000.
The 9♠ river saw the under the gun player check-call one last bet of 20,000 from Taylor. Taylor tabled A♥A♦, scooping this big pot.
Middle position opened the action with a raise to 1,800. Scott Andrews called from the hijack before Samuel Bekerian three-bet to 8,700 from the cutoff. Only Andrews called.
Bekerian continued for 7,500 on A♥J♥3♦ and Andrews made the call.
Action went check-check on the 8♦ turn before Bekerian fired 20,000 on the J♠ river. Andrews quickly called and tabled Q♣J♣ for the winner.
The pot stood at 7,100 with two players navigating a board of Q♠Q♣A♦K♦.
Cliff Pappas, in early position, bet out 2,000 and Cliff Josephy, in the hijack, called.
The 3♦ river saw Pappas bet again, this time for 11,000. Josephy made a frustrated call. Pappas tabled A♠A♣ having flopped a full house, winning him this 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.
Action was picked up on a 2♦7♠J♠ flop with 7,200 in the middle.
Joshua Prager fired 3,500 from the button before the small blind raised to 7,000. Prager proceeded with a call.
The small blind continued for 7,000 on the 6♣ turn. Prager called once more.
The 9♦ river peeled off and the small blind wagered 10,000. Prager quickly called and rolled over 7♦6♥ for the winner. The small blind showed A♠J♥ before mucking.
Was back to starting then top pair < top pair better kicker sb v bb