Hands #131-132: Kaverman Tanks and Folds, Leaving Himself Short

Hand #131 Keven Stammen opened to 400,000. Byron Kaverman called. The flop was . Kaverman checked and Stammen bet 550,000. Kaverman folded and Stammen won the pot.

Hand #132 Byron Kaverman raised to 300,000 and Keven Stammen looked down at his stack of chips and made the call. The dealer put out a flop of . Stammen bet 525,000 and Kaverman raised it to 1.15 million. Stammen made the call.

The turn was the . Stammen studied Kaverman and asked how much he had behind. Kaverman moved the chips closer to the center so Stammen could get a visual and then Stammen moved all in for an effective 2.6 million in chips.

Kaverman sat there quietly, playing with chips in his right hand, a puzzled look on his face. He looked down at the table and shifted uncomfortably in his chair. Stammen looked directly at Kaverman the entire time. A small smile came over Kaverman's face and then he grimaced slightly. He ran his fingers through his short, brown hair, struggling with his decision. He tapped the table with chips in hand, set them back down, and casually waved his hand in the air.

It approached five minutes since Stammen had moved all in and Kaverman had still not determined what course of action he was going to take. A big sigh. Stammen had still not altered anything about his demeanor. He sat there, looking across the table at Kaverman, his hands not playing with any chips, just resting calmly on the felt. Another flick of Kaverman's hands into the air. It looked as if he wanted to call but was having problems bringing himself to do it. The rest of the room was quiet except for the sound of Kaverman slowly playing with the chips in his hand.

Kaverman shook his head. Looked back at his cards. Another big sigh. Talking to himself. Tapping the table some more and yet another peek back at his cards. Maybe willing them to change and when they magically wouldn't he finally decided to lay his hand down. It was a nearly ten minute tank but he lives to play at least one more hand.