Stu-out Rutter
"I turned 27,000 into 10,000 without anything really happening," regaled a disappointed Stuart Rutter during the break. "I must have it written on my head or something because every time I opened someone three-bet me."
Rutter's final few chips went in with (he was ultimately pipped by which turned two pair after a flop), but the story that Rutter seemed more inclined to tell was that of his encounter with bracelet winner Willie Tann.
"I raised it up with from under the gun," he continued, "and Willie called in the blind. The flop was , which is pretty good for my hand because if the nine comes I've got a chance to get all his chips."
Despite the flop, Rutter sensed a check-raise and so decided to see a free card, which was the . It went check, check again before a river hit the felt.
"At this point," he continued. "I was pretty sure I was ahead and bet out 1,800, but then he made this terrible speech which was just like the one out of Rounders and raised to 4,800. I only called on the basis that it was such a bad speech, but I ended up out-thinking myself as he had ."
Rutter failed to recover on this occasion, but he'll be returned to play the rest of the Series, and is currently considering the 10K heads-up event. "There's a chance they'll only get 64 runners," he mused, "which perhaps makes it +EV when you consider the opportunity to get a bracelet."