Joe Kuether raised to 13,000 pre-flop, and action folded around to the big blind, who 3-bet to 31,500. Kuether thought for a minute, then 4-bet all-in. His opponent immediately folded, and Kuether wins the pot. He is now up to 190,000.
After getting his last 35,000 or so into the middle with , Jim Burns was called in two spots. He had the of one opponent dominated, but was racing against the held by another.
The flop came ten-high, giving the suited connector a pair and a chance to improve, but blanks on the turn and river sealed the win for Burns.
Earlier, Ryan Welch called an early position raise of 6,000, along with a player in the small blind.
Flop:
When the flop was spread, the small blind player immediately shoved all-in for his last 18,000, forcing the initial raiser to muck his hand. Welch was undeterred, however, and made the call with trying for the knockout. Unfortunately for him, the small blind held for top pair, and the turn and river blanked off.
Even with this loss, Welch is still hovering near the top of our Day 2 chip counts.
Ryan Riess raised under-the-gun to 6,000. Everyone folded except the big blind, who called, and the two players saw a flop of . The big blind led out for 4500 and Riess went into the tank. After about a minute, he asked for a count of his opponent's remaining chips, and after another minute he reluctantly folded his hand. He is now sitting with 110,000.
John Hennigan raised to 7,500 from middle position. Paul Evans re-raised from the button to 17,000. Bryn Kenney was in the big blind and he shipped his entire 170,000 into the pot. Hennigan folded but Evans snap called. The cards were flipped; and it was a flip.
Kenney:
Evans:
Kenney had Evans covered. The flop gave little hope for Kenney and the on the turn sealed the deal with a turned flush for Evans. After the dust settled Kenney was down to 107,000.
In poker, as in life itself, every result is simply the end product of an infinite series of choices. Every action necessarily creates reactions, and as Dr. Ian Malcom of Jurassic Park fame might have said if he played poker, the game is simply unpredictability within a complex system writ large.
Recently, a hand occurred involving four players that perfectly illustrates the concept of Chaos Theory, as each player's choices created ripples that affected one another.
A series of preflop raises and calls ended when Tomas Yi shoved all-in for a sizable amount, and another player called his stack off as well. Paul "Zar-Dog" White was forced to a tough decision with his , but with another player still yet to act behind him, he couldn't abide gambling his tournament life away in such a marginal spot.
By tanking before he mucked, however, Smith's actions suggested he held high cards, and a player who identified himself as "Fatbert Naan" was left to think his had limited outs. Thus, he tossed his cards away, but not before showing them to the table.
Meanwhile, Yi and his lone remaining opponent went to the showdown, and Yi's was far ahead of . With his big slick crushed by both tabled hands, "Fatbert Naan" was relieved to see he made the correct laydown, as was Smith, whose pair of tens were outclassed.
Of course, the flop came and Smith turned to contemplate the possibilities lost in the wake of his choice. A clean turn and river later, Yi claimed the huge pot, eliminating his opponent, and leaving Smith to circle the table incredulously, wondering what could have been.