Drover Makes the Break

For the second hand in a row, Kyle Julius was dealt ace-king, and for the second time, he raised to 325,000. This time it was {A-Hearts} {K-Hearts} , and this time, he found action. Mark Drover had 1.78 million chips left, and {Q-Clubs} {J-Clubs} was good enough for a three-bet shove. When it came back to Julius, he snapped, and the cards were on their backs.

But Julius walked away. It was the last hand of the level, and he just went ahead and stepped off stage and headed for the exits. He was about 50 yards away from the table when he turned back around and returned to sweat his all in.

Perhaps it would have been better to let him go. The {J-Diamonds} {10-Diamonds} {3-Hearts} flop shot Drover into the lead with two to come, and his pair of jacks had him perched on the verge of a double up. The turn {2-Hearts} made things awfully interesting, and Julius had a heap of outs to the win. He needed any queen, king, ace, or heart to earn the knockout, and Drover looked like he wanted to throw up as he paced around behind the table with his hands on his head.

It was the safe {9-Clubs} that completed the board, though, and Drover let out a big sigh of relief. He's going to be allowed to stick around through the break with twice as many chips, and Julius has fallen back into second place.