Formidable Chinese player Wu raises from middle position with JTo. Stephen Chidwick called with AJo in the small blind.
The flop is not the most interesting:
Is it possible to win this pot against Chidwick? When he checks, Wu bets 56,000. Call.
Turn (210,000):
It got really hard. Chidwick checks, Wu checks next.
River (210,000):
Suddenly a scare card! The value of Stephen's two pair is rapidly declining, but apparently, there is still some value: the Brit thinks for a long time and decides on a large bet – 140,000.
“Five hundred thousand,” Wu announces after a pause.
And Steven gives up.
Multimillionaire vs. Graftekkel, $50,000 High Roller final table. Bill Klein checks, Jan Arends bets 700,000. Klein check-raises.
Arends calls.
Turn (6,500,000):
Klein bets another 1,600,000 without much hesitation. Villain calls.
And on the river that closed two straights, Bill Klein announced all-in, which went uncalled.
Nicholas Rigby came in on the button with a raise with a very creative hand and confidently called Chen's continuation bet. AQo also does not fold – all three saw the turn.
Turn (34,000):
Liu checks. Chen decides that his top pair high kicker is still good and fires a hefty second barrel of 22,000.
Rigby, who has received a bunch of new outs, agrees to a passive conversion in position – call. Liu folds quickly.
On the river, Chen improves to two pair top, but checks because any deuce gives the opponent a straight, and the opponent Nicholas Rigby is famous for his unhealthy love of playing all combinations .
“All-in,” Rigby announces without much excitement in his voice. It's worked before, why worry?
Again we look at the hand of Rigby, who has already reached the fifth day of the main tournament. He leads the turn as none of his opponents showed strength on the flop and gets called by Toby Lewis, who improved his nut flush draw with second pair.
But then Daniel Vampen steps in with an incredibly odd move, a tiny raise to 750,000.
Rigby folds and Lewis calls.
Nut flush comes in! You can not be interested in the opinion of the solver: the machine does not throw this away.
Toby checks.
“Well, why did I do all this?” Vampen thinks, but decides anyway:
– All-in.
“You do understand that I have a flush,” Toby tells his opponent but does not receive any reaction.
– Some kind of nonsense: I only beat one hand – ! he wonders after a few more minutes. A tiny sizing on the turn throws the Brit off balance.
“That would be just an insulting bluff!” Toby sums up and parts with the cards.
And Vampen shows an insulting bluff and reminds us that when looking for tells, one should never forget about the opponent's clothes.
Perhaps, it was this hand that became the main calling card of the 2023 Main.
First day of the main event. Phil Hellmuth raised nines from the small blind and McDaniel called with K3s.
Continuation bet on the flop is quickly called.
Turn (7,200):
“Check,” Hellmuth says quickly.
It is customary to check, and Phil is ready for this. But his opponent is not part of the glorious layer of American amateurs – given the GGPoker logo T-shirt, suggesting selection via the Internet – and checks next.
River (7,200):
Phil block bets the odd 1,000 bet, which is quite in his style. Many of his opponents, who would check bluff, are hesitant to attack the titled trapper's block bet.
But McDaniel calmly puts forward a stack of chips to raise – 5,600, an interesting raise.
After suffering for some time and having studied the opponent's face, Hellmuth shows his cards and surrenders. McDaniel also flips over his missed draw.
“They keep trying to give me their money,” Phil comments. “I thought you were smarter."
Hellmuth again, now on the second day. He raises from first position with eights, Chen comes under him with AJs, and Rigby isn't even on the button! – calls with T7o.
Flop (8,300):
Hellmuth bets 3,000. Chen folds, Rigby with a gutshot decides to float one street.
The turn is a queen. Phil checks and Rigby throws 15,000 into the pot.
"What, bluff again?" Phil asks. – By the way, I'm folding eights!
“Yes, and the second one,” Rigby replies.
The $2,500 event is heads-up, Valentino Konakchiev vs. Andres Korn.
Argentinian Korn c-bets to 500,000. Konakchiev with two pair reraises to 2,000,000. Quick call.
On the turn, the tough Bulgarian bets 4,000,000. Call again.
Not the most pleasant river and Konakchiev blocks bet 3,000,000.
“All in,” Korn replies instantly.
After a little thought, Konakchiev gives up. The Bulgarian loses the battle, but not the war – the bracelet will eventually go to him.
Kabrhel limps from the button, not daring to attack Artur Martirosyan's big blind more aggressively. But suddenly Chance Kornuth raises 5bb from the small blind! Arthur folds, and Kabrhel calls.
Flop Kornuth checks. Kabrhel studies his opponent for a long time and checks after him.
Turn (4,800,000):
Second check from Kornuth. Kabrhel also checks.
River (4,800,000):
– 6.2 million, – the Czech announces in response to the opponent's third check and immediately counts the chips needed for the overbet.
Chance's plan failed!
In the same tournament. Artur c-bets to 235,000. Kabrhel, who defended the big blind with KQo and got absolutely nothing on the flop, check-raises to 800,000 very quickly.
But Artur 3-bets to 1,900,000!
“Three million fifteen thousand,” Martin Kabrhel is not far behind. He begins to put out chips when Arthur's cards fly past him. Victory again remains with the cunning Czech!