River Four Revives Houchins
After a couple of folds, John Andress tossed his cards from the cutoff to the dealer as well, acting out of turn ahead of Patrick Houchins. Houchins checked his cards, then announced he was all in. Jerry Van Strydonck, on the button, asked for a count. "551" said Houchins. A quick look at his stacks added up to 550,000, then everyone saw the single orange (1,000) chip Houchins was twirling between his fingers.
After a couple of minutes, Strydonck finally folded. Jeff Rowland folded, too, then Albert Winchester checked his cards in the big blind. "Call," he said instantly.
"Oh no," said Houchins when the cards were tabled. He had 
, but Winchester had woken up with 
. "Nobody was supposed to call that," said Houchins, leaning back as though preparing for defeat.
The flop came 
and the turn 
, causing Houchins to slump a little more.
Then came the river… 
! "Yes!" said Houchins, who then walked several feet from the table to say "BOOM!" It was definitely an occasion for monosyllables.
Houchins returned to the table to stack about 1.15 million -- he's back to an average stack now. Meanwhile that hit leaves a stoic Winchester with about 625,000.