One thing that hasn’t changed with the reopening of PokerRoom is state of the art software.  PokerRoom was famous for having some of the most user friendly software in online poker and that concept was carried over to the new site.  Users can find their preferred game in just a couple of clicks thanks to a straight forward menu system.

Also, the graphics on the new PokerRoom are similar to those of the old PokerRoom.  No cheesy cut and paste avatars here as graphical representations of each player are displayed at a nearly three dimensional table.  PokerRoom has the most realistic feel among the major online poker sites.

Another thing that hasn’t change is the spread of games at the site.  PokerRoom has always been famous for being more than just Texas Hold’em and that tradition continues.  Omaha, Stud, and Draw poker player all can find a game at PokerRoom.  Also, if you play split pot games such as Stud 8 or Omaha 8, you will find a game there as well.

One thing that has changed is the spread of tournaments offered.  This benefits players as now PokerRoom has all the latest online tournaments that had become popular since 2009.  Six-handed games, heads-up games, turbo tournaments, and even deep stacked tournaments are offered.  You can also rest assured that if new variations become popular, they will have them as well.

Making a deposit remains quick and easy at PokerRoom.  Numerous payment processors are available, including credit cards and e-wallets, making funding your account fast and easy.  If you cannot afford to make a deposit, freeroll tournaments are offered to give you a chance to win cash and grow your bankroll.

If you ever have a problem at PokerRoom, support is available.  In addition to standard email support, users will have the benefits of both telephone support and live online chat support.  For those wanting to learn more about the games or discuss strategy, check out the forums at the PokerRoom community.  There you can talk with players, read articles, or even post your hand history for players to analyze for you.

PokerRoom has proven you can never keep a good poker site down.  With a great spread of poker games, top tier support, and user friendly software, players will once again discover why PokerRoom was among the elite in online poker.  Register for your free online poker account today!

Why PokerRoom you ask?  First, PokerRoom is one of the oldest online poker sites in the world.  Established originally in 1999, PokerRoom has regularly set the bar for online excellence.  They were the first company to be approved by eCogra and has regularly been at the forefront of online technology.

Also, PokerRoom is on one of the strongest networks on the internet.  On any given day, there are anywhere from 2,000 to 4,500 cash game players at the tables.  After you factor in the number of players in tournaments, there are as many as 40,000 players on the PokerRoom network on any given day.  That means that whether you log in at 3 p.m. or 4 in the morning, you will have plenty of action at your fingertips.

You also do not need to deposit a dime to play at PokerRoom.  Freeroll tournaments are offered regularly on the site to give players the chance to build a bankroll from literally nothing.  Some of the top online professionals in the world have started their bankrolls from nothing.  You may not become the next Tom Dwan, but you can start a bankroll for free.

No matter what game you play, you will be able to find it on PokerRoom.  Texas Hold’em is clearly the most popular game on the site, but it is not the only game.  If you like to play Omaha, Stud, or even Draw, you will be able to find games at PokerRoom.  In addition, tournament players will find events spread around the clock and at varying bankroll limits.

Some of you may be totally new to the game.  If so, you are still welcome at PokerRoom.  PokerRoom’s website has all the rules listed for all the poker games spread on the site.  Also, the PokerRoom Community has numerous forums that include forums for beginners.  Read articles from players, chat with members about strategy, or even review hands to discover if you made the right call with your 9-8 offsuit.

So whether you are a home game player looking for a new game, a live player looking for a cheaper alternative, or someone looking to take up poker, PokerRoom is for you.  Signing up for an account takes a few brief minutes and you can either play for free or make a deposit with one of numerous options offered.  Register for your account today and make PokerRoom.com your new online poker home.

There is a calm before a storm, and a pause before a frenzy.

Hurricanes are often precedeed by beautiful days because all the moisture has been sucked back into the storm and many people in that past would have no idea what was coming.  Would you believe online poker is about to undego a frenzy?  Would you guess that a poker boom, surpassed only by the Moneymaker effect, is coming? Yes, Texas Hold em online poker is about to get very lucrative again and considering how stagnant things seem don’t be one of the ones surprised.

 Black Friday came and left, ripping a painful gash across the industry.  Online poker in the United States virtually disappeared and some have heralded its demise as everlasting, but the truth is, just as we are now in the gap in between the World Series of Poker Main Event and the November Nine we are only in the pause between online poker eras.  Texas Hold em took hold of the World a few years ago and is poised to do so again. Read the tea leaves: in the latest news it appears the U.S. government is going to pay back U.S. players in the wake of one of the major online site’s collapse.  There is also consolidation going on with industry heavyweights getting their assets ready to sweep into the newly created vacuum that Black Friday created.

The rumors are poker is going to be regulated, taxed and okayed in the next year or so.  The next poker boom is coming. Somebody hit the reset button and it’s going to be 2005 all over again.

If you are new to poker and are thinking about playing you should have signed up for an online poker site yesterday.  How many talk about wanting to have been there to stake Bill Gates when he was founding Microsoft?  Obviously, this poker boom doesn’t represent that kind of money but it is an opportunity.  If you’ve ever wanted to win money playing poker now is the time to learn the game.

When poker is legalized next year, think how far ahead of things you’d be if you started playing this year.  When all the bad American players return to spend their fattening bankrolls on online poker you’ll be skilled enough to relieve them of their dollars.  When all the new American players who were too scared to take up the game start playing you’ll be there to shepherd them through their losses.

Knowledge and skill is a valuable commodity.  It’s been said that the average online poker player today could go back thirty years and dominate the games back then.  Only because the game has evolved and advanced so much.  When the second poker boom hits, you want to have a years worth of practice under your belt.  You’ll want to have an understanding of the game.

The best part of learning how to play now is you can play Free Texas Holdem Poker in a matter of moments.

How to play free poker at bwin

Bwin offers free rolls and a free poker school to teach you all you want to know about the game.  You want to improve with a long term goal of being proficient in a year, you can start out at a level where you don’t even risk anything.  Imagine, making an investment in yourself and postioning yourself to be there when a windfall hits without risking anything at all.  It doesn’t get better than Free Online Poker.

Just sign up on the site and start playing in mere minutes. They allow you to play in your browser or download the software. With free rolls going on all day there are plenty of opportunities to enjoy Free online poker and to jump into the game. In no time you’ll be working you way up the site to the biggest games. Then it’s only a matter of time before the platform, well positioned for the U.S. marketplace, is flooded with new players.

]]> http://www.betandwinpoker.eu/news/free-poker-games-at-bwin.html/feed 0 http://www.betandwinpoker.eu/news/final-table-southern-poker-championship-2011.html http://www.betandwinpoker.eu/news/final-table-southern-poker-championship-2011.html#comments Fri, 04 Feb 2011 06:13:36 +0000 bill http://www.betandwinpoker.eu/?p=1765 The final poker table of the WPT Main Event at the Beau Rivage was a day of tribulations. Shannon Shorr drove much of the action with his chipstack rising and falling like a wall between two warring countries. Meanwhile, Alexander Kuzmin was busy being, Alexander the Great as the Russian youngster took down the title. He came in as the chip-leader and he left as the only man with chips still in play.

It’s possible that once upon a time, Alex Kuzmin wanted nothing more than a good pair of blue jeans, American rock roll music and some pirated copies of Baywatch. That would be playing into stereotypes. So it’s also entirely possible he plays bagpipes, eats rice with chopsticks, and abhors vodka. That’s probably less possible. Anyway, whether or not he used to pine for democracy and American culture, he decided to play poker tournaments and won the whole tournament and got his picture taken with bundles of American cash. What a country!

The chips flowed back and forth from Shorr like the tide (appropriately enough for a man named Shorr who follows the Alabama Crimson Tide), but each time Shorr could nothing to keep them from eroding anew. There was a feeling at the final table, that once Shorr had the chips it was his tournament to lose, but when it appeared Gulf Coast Poker player Shorr was chipped up and about to show his teeth, they slipped through his fingers again.

Alas, it was not to be for one of the better young tournament players in the world. Shorr, previously finished fifth in the WPT Championship event in Las Vegas. Pocket Fives was the hand he held when got eliminated, so he was probably trying to avoid that spot and that number at all costs. He did, but by only one place.

However, in going out fourth Shannon showed the iron will that it takes to win a tournament, willing to gamble when necessary, pushing when he thought it would work, and laying low when it wouldn’t. It looked like he was one of the few players at the final table willing to get knocked out in order to win.

He was willing to risk it all and several times he went from the short stack to a big stack at the final table. The action around him was fast and furious, and he was driving it. When the telecast comes out it should be interesting to see how the WPT will edit it, because for a while almost all the drama involved Shannon and he went out fourth. There were still two more eliminations to come.

One of those was second place, Leif Force who was triumphant even as first loser. There were a lot of subplots on the WPT felt that day, Alexander Kuzmin, Allen Carter trying to do what no player has done before (essentially get enough “run good” in the same place to win two WPT titles there), but not to be dismissed was the heroism of Leif Force.

He grinded a short stack to the final table, he grinded a short-stack at the final table, and he got all the way to just about even with Allen Carter and Alex Kuzmin when action was three handed. He grinded through Johnny Grooms heads-up pun “Leif Forces Kuzmin to fold.”

When Carter’s attempt at WPT history was over, and the Texan was rail-bound Force settle into a match-up with the Russian. The Russian had him dominated in chips but Force seemed not to mind. In fact nothing seemed to get to him. He just stay patient and plodded onward. The Florida native earned a lot of respect for his play.

Shorr, a Birmingham, AL native broke with 593k and Allen Carter, of Texas 530k. Carter won the WPT when it was in Biloxi, at the Beau Rivage two years ago. He knows a thing or two about winning a six handed sng. The guy that won it last year, Hoyt Corkins, the Alabama Cowboy, was in the thick of things with 258k.

Corkins would go into day five sharing a table with Shorr, online pro Martin Zentner of New Orleans, Five minutes of WSOP fame, Leif Force (who was a compelling final table bubble boy early in the poker boom in the Main Event), chipleader Hughes, and Robert Keller of Gulf Shores, AL stacked at 432k.

Chad Brown, the Las Vegas pro, was one of the short stacks left in the event with 88.5k. Brown has taken down a main event at the Beau Rivage so he was very comfortable in the setting. The other short stack, Mark Rose, of Orlando, FL just won a Beau Rivage Main Event himself (bringing the total to four out of nineteen remaining players). Rose, like Brown, has a lot of work to do with only 79.5k. Another player getting a fair amount of attention was BJ McBrayer of Tuscaloosa, AL. McBrayer finished with 251k.

The unlucky bubble boy was David Diaz. Diaz, known as Lefty, sweating through a two hour money bubble. As Hughes and Shorr were adding to their stack, Diaz watched several short stacks double up time and time again. Had to be disheartening when he got it in with AJ suited only to be called by the chipleader, Ryan Hughes’ 109 suited. Hughes flopped two more nines and boated up on the river. Gavin Smith also missed out on the money going out just before the bubble broke.

On Day five the nineteen were pared down to six. Hoyt Corkins was a
surprising early elimination. BJ McBrayer joined Diaz as a bubble boy, going out seventh and missing the TV final table. The chipleaders mostly made it through, but there was some movement in their positions. Alexander Kuzmin became the big stack finish a hair under two million. Allen Carter, outlasted Corkins, and put himself in position to do what nobody else has been able to do.

Carter has a shot to be the only person to ever win a WPT event in a given location twice. His stack a hair under Kuzmin’s (who was a hair under two million) will give him plenty of firepower at the final table. Shannon Shorr and one time chipleader Ryan Hughes were in solid position. Shorr finished the day with 663k, while Hughes had a little more at 840k.

Unfortunately for Hughes, he made it to the final table but he lost a lot of chips getting bled dry as the money increased. Pat Mahoney at 394k finished as the short stack. With the blinds still relatively shallow it is anybody’s game. That includes Leif Force. The scraggy haired son of hippies made it through the day with 674k.

Kuzmin got some of his chips with the Final Table bubble boy elimination of BJ McBrayer. McBrayer did not make the poker news splash he hoped for when he moved all in with A6 offsuit. Kuzmin found suited KQ and nailed a Queen on the flop.

Gorr is now sustantially richer, even though the 68 year old grandfather says he still plans to return to his 9 to 5 job.  If anything, the money has simply given him a security blanket even though he hopes to pass it on to his children one day.  Though, a senior citizen, Gorr managed to outwit and outlast his opponent in a 200 hand marathon heads-up session.

James Keys, an English pro who pocketed 1.03 million (also Australian) for second place, could not get one over the affable local, and Gorr kept the Main Event title in Australia for the third year running. Before he could get to Keys, both players had to get rid of Patrik Antonius and Chris Moorman, two established pros who made the final table.  Moorman is an online player (particularly aSit’n go expert) with a big reputation. Sorel Mizzi just missed the final table, too.  Even if international broadcasters of the Main Event won’t be happy that Gorr beat the more recognizable pros (including Brad Pitt lookalike Antonius), the local tv coverage will be ecstatic. 

Antonius and Moorman drew the most attention but it was short-lasted.  The big Finn came to the 8 handed final table with the fifth biggest stack and then got dealt one of those hands he couldn’t get away from.  His pocket Kings tantalized a double up through Gorr, but the savvy Grandfather had made top two pair when they got it in.  Antonius and his kings were the first to exit.

Moorman wasn’t far behind.  The noted poker author and expert of online games has transitioned well to live multi-table tournaments, but on this day he also couldn’t avoid the run-good of Gorr.  Gorr found trips on a flop, and Moorman moved in with a flush draw.  It should be mentioned it was an 8 high flush draw, but it didn’t matter because the draw came up empty. 

Keys gave Gorr a break from dispatching opponents by taking out Samad Razavi in sixth place.  Then Gorr went back to being a one man firing squad.  Randy Dorfman entered the day as chipleader but he landed in Gorr’s sights and went out fifth.  Jeff Rossiter collected Michael Ryan’s chips to get to three handed and Gorr quickly dispatched of Rossiter to set up heads-up play with Keys. 

The mismatch in chips was startling, Gorr had over 12 million of the nearly 14.5 million chips in play.  Keys had determination.  After four hours and almost 200 hands though the match came to an end.  It would do so in brutal fashion.  Keys raised preflop and Gorr called.  The flop came out rainbow 763 (one club).  Gorr checked and Keys bet.  Gorr called.  A king of clubs on the turn, turned the hand upside down.  Keys bet, Gorr raised, Keys moved all-in and Gorr insta-called.

It was one of those calls, that within a moment went from feeling great to feeling terrible.  The hands told the story.  Gorr had K4 for top pair with a gut-shot.  Keys held 73 of clubs for two pair and a flush draw.  Gorr had outs and one of them fell on the river.  The 4 of spades bounced out.   

Gorr, a grandfather showed the stamina required to outlast the other 720 players that ponyied up 10k (AUD) for the Main Event.  One of them was a more well known local Shane Warne.  The former cricket star, and erstwhile celebrity, got bounced from the tournament after he ran into a cooler.  He took to twitter to say, “Just got knocked out…  Steaming…  My pocket queens ran into pocket acess!!!  No worries….Poker sucks!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!”  We suspect he was half joking but definitely a “cooler” hand for Warne.

The “Biggest story” is the biggest buy-in event ever. The Aussie Millions played host to a 250k buy-in tournament that featured some of the world’s best players and some of the world’s deepest pockets. It’s one thing to know how to play poker when you buy-in for 1k or 10k but try putting 250k of your own money on the line. In the run up to the event there was no way to gauge just how many players it would attract. Sharks like Phil Ivey, Erik Seidel, Chris Ferguson, Tom Dwan, and John Juanda all signed up. Also on board were guys like Tony Bloom, Alexander Kostritsyn, Nikolay Evdakov and Sam Trickett (we’ll get to Sam Trickett) in a moment.

James Bord, James Obst, Roland de Wolfe, Annette Obrestad, Eugene Katchalov, Daniel Cates, Andrew Felman, David Benyamine, Wang Qiang, Paul Phau and Richard Yong also joined the madness. The last three were rich Chinese businessman who have been the target of sharks in the cash game all series. You know the buy-in is steep when Erik Seidel says part of the joy in winning was not losing his buy-in. And yes, that means Erik Seidel took down the tournament and continued his run-good at the Aussie Millions.

Seidel, is now third in life time winnings after adding 2.5 million to his bankroll. He’s also made the famous quote “Poker is just a game to see who can keep Phil Ivey’s money the longest.” Considering he pocketed 250k of Ivey’s and is within hailing distance of him and Negreanu lifetime winnings, Seidel is running pretty good in that definition of poker. Seidel overcame a 5 to 1 chip deficit to beat Sam Trickett. This is Seidel’s third high roller cash in a month. He finished third in the 100k high roller on Monday, and fourth in the 25k PCA high roller event.

David Benyamine cashed in third in the 20 person event, but second place Sam Trickett got more of the attention. Afterall, Trickett was going for an uprecedented double. Trickett won the 100k challenge Seidel finished third in winning 1.5 million for first. Trickett outlasted fellow country man Tony Bloom who won just under 1 million for second. Both promptly fired off 250k in the Super High Roller event, and again Trickett’s return was higher than Bloom’s.

Seidel’s comeback against Trickett was impressive, but the English youth knew it was possible after all he went from one of the late short-stacks in the 100k to the winner in no time. David Steicke is noted for his pedigree in high roller events in Asia and Australia and once again he was in the thick of things in the 100k event. Steicke won 325k for his fourth place finish. David Benyamine pocketed 150k for sixth. Benyamine parlayed that 150k into his 250k buy-in and made money in the Super High Roller event. Steicke, surprisingly balked at the bigger buy-in and sat it out (or maybe he just had a scheduling conflict.

Meanwhile the 10k Main Event was going on, and though it might have felt like peanuts and crumbs to a number of players who plopped down 100k and 250k in a matter of days, there was still a juicy prize pool to attack. On the first day nobody did that better than Erick Lindgren. Lindgren finsiehd the day as the chip leader with 186k. Patrik Antonius, Phil Ivey and Erik Cajelais all finished in the top ten. So too did Chris Moorman and Billy “the Croc” Agryros.

The leaderboard featured only one Gulf Coast local and that’s really stretching it to include Viktor Coelho of Tampa, Florida as a local.  The other nine had these diverse geographic backgrounds:  Michigan, Texas, Arizona, Texas, Russia, Ireland, and three Las Vegas pros. Considering all the satellites and Sit’n go tournaments available to get into the event it’s a surprise there wasn’t more local flavor.

The three Las Vegas pros included; Chad Brown, Lee Markholt and Gavin Smith.  Chad Brown, and his wife Vanessa Ruosso have ties to the tournament at the Beau Rivage and to Florida (where Brown hosts his own tournament), but Brown is an L.A. or Las Vegas guy first.  Brown, finished 10th in chips at 168k.  Brown has previously won a Main Event at the Beau Rivage and is no stranger to running deep in Biloxi tournaments seems poised for another strong finish.

Lee Markholt, is a bit of Cowboy, coming from Big Sky country, and the now Las Vegas pro is riding the bull of tournament poker like a true circuit grinder.  Markholt’s 210k on the day was good enough to put him in fourth in chips.    Gavin Smith is the quintessential happy go lucky tournament pro.  He’ll put a smile on your face as he unburdens you of your chips, and he managed to stay in the top ten after finishing day one second in chips.  Smith’s stack went up another 45k to 190k.  That put him eighth in chips. 

The chip-leader Kevin Elias of McComb, Michigan bascially came from nowhere.  Okay, that is not to say McComb, Michigan is nowhere but to say Elias doesn’t even have a live tournament cash and is sitting in the one spot at the end of the day.  Elias finished with 229k.  Jordan Smith’s pedigree may have a little more luster, but the College Station, TX native has slightly less chips finishing with 217k good for second place.

Ryan Hughes of Phoenix, AZ finished third in chips with 211k.  Dermot Blain of Ireland brought some Irish spring to the top ten finishing sixth in chips at 195k.  Another Texan, Walter White of Bedford, was a step behind the Irishman.  White tallied 191.2k.   The looming Russian of the tournament is Alex Kuzmin of Moscow who has 179k.   It seems every day two or day three chip count now has a Russian with an imposing chip stack who is likely to run deep in an event.  Kuzmin is the Southern Poker Championship’s scary bear.

The second ten featured the locals and area pros.  Many like Hoyt Corkins and Shannon Shorr have gone elsewhere and are established international players, so it may only be a one day hiatus for the locals to take a back seat to the visitors.  Probably something to do with Southern Hospitality there.  Hoyt Corkins, the defending champion, is just a few hundreds short of Chad Brown’s total from making the top 10.

He also makes it four established live pros in the top 11.  Used to be that was a small number, but lately, that’s actually pretty significant.  Behind Corkins is Rusty Moorer of Crestview, FL who has made a killing in tournaments in the Beau.  Rober Keller of Gulf Shores, AL was the day one chip leader and didn’t drop off too much after day two.  Martin Zentner of New Orleans, is an online whiz, who can be very dangerous with chips and being 15th with 158k means he has chips and is dangerous.  Shannon Shorr lurks just behind Zentner in 16th place.  The WPT’s BJ Nemeth has suggested that Shorr might be on track for a final table because of his steady, stellar, confident play.

Fresh off of a trip to the Bahamas, many of the best young players made a stop in Mississippi on their way home. Joe Cheong, a November Niner and Texas Holdemprodigy, was joined by the likes of Andrew Lichtenberger, Randal Flowers, Jason Mercier, Eric Baldwin, John Dolan, Shannon Shorr, Jonathan Little, Todd Terry, and Matt Affleck on the felts of the Beau Rivage.

The not so old guard included Gavin Smith, Scotty Nguyen, Bill Edler, Chad Brown, and Hoyt Corkins. Corkins, nicknamed the Alabama Cowboy, but not wearing his trademark hat, won the tournament last year. In an odd day of table draws, Corkins found himself next to the champion from 2009 Allen Carter. According to the WPT.com Jessica Welman they formed a fast friendship and perhaps have a non-so comedic buddy comedy in their future.

Scotty Nguyen won the event when it was hosted in Tunica. Brown and Edler have won Main Events at the Beau Rivage before and Brown also a secondary event, so it was no surprise they were all back where they ran well in the past. Smith might not have had the success of the others but they all envied him as the day wrapped up considering he was second in chips with 144k.

Meanwhile the kids were picking on each other as the table draws offered other interesting matchups. Dwyte Pilgrim sat down on the right of Matt Brady and watched Brady, a secondary event winner this year, go out in the third level. Joe Cheong and Randal Flowers were also seated next to each other and mixing it up. Cheong in his trademark sunglasses and hoodie was relaxed as he pushed chips into the pot and pushed players around. Flowers, equally laid back, was one of the few to push back. Cheong won that battle elminating Flowers and finishing the day sixth in chips over 100k.

On another table Gulf Coast Poker bloggers Shannon Shorr and Jonathan Little played not so gracious hosts as they shared a table with Jared Jaffee. Little cracked the top ten in chips with 91k. Another local Gabe Costner was just behind him at 91k with less change. Andrew Lichtenberger used his aggressive style to chip up to seventh in chips and finish with 99k.

The third local rounder in the top ten, besides Little and Costner, was BJ McBrayer, a Tuscaloosa native who is on the verge of making waves in the 10k buy-ins. With a strong showing on day one, the waves might just start on his native Gulf Coast. McBrayer finished fifth in chips with 106k. Behind McBrayer were a slew of young guys from the area like Kevin Eyster, Jeremy Gaubert, Martin Zentner, and John Dolan. As impressive as those guys were the older guys from the region faired just as well. Captain Tom Franklin, a world series of poker bracelet winner, chipped up along with his buddy Kenny Milam, former college football referee Rodney Shows, and Bert Ladner of Biloxi.

The chip-leader ended up being Robert Keller. Keller, most likely isn’t an Internet player, and if Gavin Smith is part of the not so old guard, it’s fair to say Keller is in the old guard. Keller bagged up 179k to second place Smith’s 144k. Viktor Coelho managed third on the day with 136k. Dermot Blain finished fourth with 125k.

Sam Stein, seen often playing Omaha poker online was the next to fall. Like Mike Sowers he doubted a big bet from the big stack Oliver (something Hall would later not repeat but we’ll get to that) and called off his stack with A9. Oliver held AQ. The turn paired the board, which gave Stein more hope for a chop with their Aces playing but the river wasn’t as generous.

Aton Ionel worked some short stack magic and survived as the other perish and found himself to be a millionaire. The top three spots all paid one million dollars and Ionel was one of them. The Romanian probably couldn’t believe his good fortune when Stein went out second best versus Oliver. Ionel shipped it with K6 and found himself conventionally dominated by the KQ of Galen Hall.

Hall’s hand held and he knew only the omnious presence of Chris Oliver and his immense stack stood in his way of a PCA Main Event title. Pictured David putting some stones in his pocket to put to use with his sling. The first shot at Goliath, came not in a gutsy call, or puffed up bluff but in a fold.

Hall raised preflop in heads up play with 84 off-suit. Oliver had him almost three to one in chips and what will go down as one of the most discussed hands in history followed suit. Oliver called with A2. The flop was 532. Oliver checked and Hall cbet with his open-ended straight draw. At this point Oliver just had a pair of deuces and a gut-shot but he defended against Hall’s well disguised hand by calling.

The turn gave Oliver trips. He baited the trap and checked again. Hall decided to see the river for free and checked behind. Cue the pulsating drum beat that preceded a river Ace. Hall had hit the wheel and Oliver the full house. The delayed TV feed had the annoucers and the poker fans oohing and ahhing in disbelief. The tournament was surely Oliver’s. Goliath had felled David.

Oliver again treaded softly checking his full house. Hall put two million into the pot and then Oliver hemmed and hawed as he cut and recut his chips. Then he shoved. The wheel of Hall wasn’t strong enough to mandate a snap call. He went into the tank.

He had watched two players not believe Oliver’s big bet was what it was supposed to represent and saw them pay the price. Now in their spot, he found a way to believe that Oliver had him. After some deliberation he mucked his wheel in heads up play. There are some veterans that would tell you, you can’t possibly fold there, but Galen Hall had a chance to win the tournament because he did.

Later Hall doubled up when Oliver tried to make a hero call with 86 and buttom pair on a j109g9 board. Hall held pocket queens. While they went back and forth a little after that Hall seemed to have his second wind. The big hands doing battle would happen again, and this time David’s stone for his sling came in the form of a better hand.

Galen flopped top two with A4 and Oliver bottom two with 42 on an A42 board. Hall doubled up and was within range. On the next hand Hall found pocket Kings and Oliver A9. Again Hall’s hand ended up best. Oliver was reeling and Goliath was suddenly a fallen underdog. Hall had the massive chip-lead.

Oliver found two queens and shoved with Hall finding A8. Hall made two pair on the flop and the third queen never materialized for PCA runner-up Chris Oliver. Galen Hall finished first for 2.3 million while Oliver had to settle for 1.8 million. After he watches the telecast he’ll forever wonder how Hall found a fold in the unlikeliest of spots.