Jesus Saves Himself a Showdown
Having knocked out Barny Boatman earlier to put him on a very decent stack, he just now got himself involved in a massive hand with British online qualifier Matthew Nieberg.
We caught up with the action on the river, the board reading and around 60,000 in the pot already. Nieberg in the small blind position thought about it for a while before checking; after some time thinking about it, Sanchez bet 44,000 from the button.
"That's why I should bet," sighed Nieberg, "That's looking like a terrible river check from me now."
He dwelled up for what seemed like a million years. "Show me if I fold?" he asked eventually. "Nope," was the very decisive answer from Sanchez. Nieberg sighed and disappeared into the tank again. He counted out the call - no feeling sorry for him, as a call would still leave him on over 200,000! - but continued to tank. Eventually he called the clock on himself. The dealer thought he was joking, but he wasn't.
"I don't see why you'd call twice," he muttered, offering a tantalizing glimpse of how that pre-river action went down. Eventually he folded.
"If you had a straight I was beat," he said as the pot went Sanchez' way, "I had a set." Sanchez declined to reveal what he'd had, but was spotted giggling with a member of the Spanish media a little later. Curious.
Sanchez - 160,000
Nieberg - even without that pot, looking to be our current chip leader on over 250,000