Michael Holmes moved all in for 30,500 from the cutoff and WSOP Circuit ring winner Ashley Sleeth called from the button. Both blinds got out of the way and the hands were turned up.
Sleeth:
Holmes:
Holmes was drawing to two live cards and while he paired one on the flop, Sleeth also paired her king. Neither the turn nor river helped Holmes and he wished the table good luck before heading for the exit.
With around 60,000 in the pot and a board reading , Benjamin "Spraggy" Spragg bet 30,000 from the hijack only to have Richard Garza raise all in for 61,000 from the button.
Spraggy made the call and tabled the for flopped trips. Garza started reaching for the pot before showing his cards. The other players informed him he needed to show at which point he tabled the for the rivered full house.
Lost an absurdly big pot with Q9s on 995AJ to JJ. 5 from the mini main cash now and short. It's one thing losing a… https://t.co/bq6c3Edso5
There’s no denying Benjamin Spragg, known to the masses as “Spraggy,” is a good sport. Today, he is going bald for Day 2 of the Run It Up Reno VIII $440 Mini Main Event. It’s not necessarily by choice though, but rather the result of losing a prop bet rooted in a simple, albeit hilarious, fan-created emoji.
“The first time I saw it an online player had it as his picture on PokerStars,” Spraggy told PokerNews. “He got put on my table and it popped up with me looking bald. Everyone on the table thought it was hilarious. They said I should make it an emote. I contacted the guy who made it and I had it as a Twitch emote. People will post that in the chat for whatever reason – Bald Spraggy.”
Enter Jesse Fullen, an employee of Run It Up who asked Spraggy what it’d take for him to come to Run It Up Reno VIII as “Bald Spraggy.”
“I’ll do it if you make me laugh [on stream],” Spraggy said. Fullen, who organizes many of RIU’s social events, was up for the challenge.
“What he said was I’ve got the perfect thing and you’re drawing snap-dead because you’ll never make me laugh on stream. I’ve gone months without laughing on stream,” Fullen said. “I decided to try to level him by finding a really horrible joke and it worked.”
So what was the joke that got the unflinching Spraggy to crack a smile and let slip a laugh?
“A man walks into a zoo. There’s only one animal in the zoo. It’s a dog. It’s a Shitzu.”
“It’s obviously not a funny joke, but the idea of him thinking it would make me laugh, almost as soon as I started reading the first line [in the chat] I started laughing,” Spraggy said.
Real Spraggy and the emote the PokerStars avatar that inspired it all.
Fullen wasn’t going to make Spraggy shave his head for accepting a bad bet and laughing at an even worse joke. However, he still wanted to punish him. The two came to terms that a Reno-based makeup artist would fit Spraggy with a bald cap he’ll have to wear all day.
“This is going to live on. When people talk about RIU Reno this is one of the things they’ll remember,” Fullen said as he watched the makeup artist do her work.
A solemn-looking Spraggy wasn’t so cheerful.
“Burn all evidence of this day and hope it gets wiped from memory,” he said. “But a bet is a bet, I lost the bet, I’m an idiot for making the bet, and here I am because of it.”
Chances are you'll be seeing more of "Bald Spraggy" today as he's expected to make the feature table live stream on RunItUp.TV, or even if he doesn't and busts, don't be surprised to see him tackle commentary duties.
Big Brother Canada winner and Twitch streamer Kevin Martin got his stack of 43,000 all in preflop and was at risk against Andy Pokrivnak, who began the day second in chips and was sporting a Kevin Martin shirt.
Martin:
Pokrivnak:
"Good game, Andy," Martin said as he got up from the table. He need not fear as the board ran out to secure him the double with a turned flush.
flop was just as good as he made trips.
bricked the turn followed by the 
on the river.
river helped Holmes and he wished the table good luck before heading for the exit.
for flopped trips. Garza started reaching for the pot before showing his cards. The other players informed him he needed to show at which point he tabled the 
to secure him the double with a turned flush.
flop gave Boriolo the lead and he held it through both the 
river.
