Hard-to-Call Saul
The flop had come , a player in early position bet 3,600, one player called putting himself all in, and Saul called as well. The turn was the . It checked to Saul who bet the pot -- 22,200 -- and the early position player folded, showing K-9-x-x (the nut straight, but with no redraws) as he did.
Saul turned over for a lesser straight than the folder's (and two pair). "That's exactly why I did that," said Saul, referring to his pot bet. The all-in player turned over J-J-x-x for a set of jacks, and when a queen came on the river Saul's hand improved to queens full, knocking out his opponent and increasing Saul's stack to 43,000.