Playground Poker

Less than 40 minutes from the end of today’s WPTDeepStacks Day 2, Steve Martin found himself short-stacked and running out of time. As we passed by the table we noticed the All In card on the table, and took a closer look.

Steve was all in for less than 100,000, and he found a dance partner in David Hamel, a new addition to table 27.

David:

Steve:

The board was dealt , and Steve won the (relatively small) pot with his pair of 7’s. Only several more double-ups to go and he’s back in the running.

We were observing table 27 just now and witnessed an all in that absolutely crushed any hopes Christopher Rivard may have had to win this tournament. With a board showing , Timothy Ulmer shoved. Christopher Rivard called, and they both flipped over their cards in anticipation of the river.

Christopher:

Timothy:

Christopher’s Ace-Jack was ahead, making him top pair. But Timothy had an open ended straight draw. When the river was dealt a , Christopher’s stack was decimated, and the entire pot of near 1,000,000 chips flowed straight over to Timothy.

Of course, never say never, Christopher’s night is not over yet. But with what looked like less than 150,000 chips (and an average chips stack of almost 700,000 chips at this point in the night), it will be an uphill battle.

UPDATE: Christopher’s night ended minutes after the original post.

As the blinds continue to rise, so do the sizes of the pots. And when the added pressure of the 30-second clock is incorporated, it can lead to some very high-pressure situations, often leaving players with little or no time to make important decisions.

An example of this occurred just now at table 27, where we started watching a hand that was already in progress. On the board was , and there were two players in the hand: Filip Pettersen and Tony Tran. At stake was a huge pile of chips, impossible to count from our vantage point, but easily 350,000 or more.

Tony had raise 50,000 on the flop, and Filip had shoved over the top all in for another 225,000. Tony had to use his initial 30 seconds, then used up both of his last two 30 second chits, maxing out his time. In the end, the dealers buzzer buzzed and Tony was forced to fold.

However, patience is key in poker, and Tony is no stranger to the game. The winner of the WPT $5,000 No Limit Hold’em Bounty Scramble Main Event in Jacksonville just two weeks ago, Tony is an agile competitor and a force to be reckoned with.

We have just now come back from our fourth break of the evening and are entering the second-to-last level of today’s WPTDeepStacks $1500 + $150 tournament. We took the opportunity to do a brief count during the break, and it appears that Mathyeu Provost has taken the lead.

He sits atop the leaderboard with 1,388,000 chips, just more than his closest two rivals Muhammad Abdel-Rahim and David Quang. A more comprehensive list is below.