The chips are flying on Day 2 of the WPTDeepStacks, as less than 200 players remain in contention and every one of them is taking every opportunity to add to their stacks; a hand that just played out between Simon Belzile and Martin Raus shows just how quickly those chips are being put into play.
Raus and Belzile, both seasoned players, tangled in a huge heads up pot that crowned a new table captain. Both players had stacks that were well above the 138K chip average to start the hand. Raus raised the 2.5K big blind to 6K from early position, only to have Belzile, immediately to his left, put out a cold three-bet to 18K. The other players got out of the way, and Raus made the call. The flop fell 
, and Raus checked to the aggressor, who continued his line with a bet of 15K. Raus made the call and checked once again when the 
appeared on the turn. This time, Belzile set the price of poker at 60K, sending Raus into the tank. After considering his action for a few seconds and cutting out calling chips, Raus made eye contact with the dealer and quietly said “all in.” Belzile’s expression revealed that he did not want to, but after investing so many chips already, there was no turning back on this hand. Belzile made the call, and hands were tabled. It was 
for a flopped full house for Raus and 
for Belzile, who was drawing dead. The river brought out the 
, giving Raus four of a kind! So the dealer go to work counting down Raus’s 140K stack. The result crippled Belzile, but he still has chips in front of him.
The action continues in level 14, only a few minutes away from a break in the action. Stay tuned for a leaderboard update.