I started in the middle of the room, the perfect line-up for smooth sailing. $15-$30 Holdem and Stud, then $4-$8 Holdem, and on down the line. The third day of the Championship Event was still in progress and the Jim Albrecht Memorial Tournament started at 5 p.m. so the tournament area in the pit was hopping. The Championship Event was down to 13 when I came to work and later, around 11ish, 10 players were still battling it out.

When I hit Table 30, at 1:30 a.m., the Championship Event was down to seven players and had been for quite some time. They were waiting to lose one – then sleep for a few hours and back to prepare for The WPT filming their play.

I finished Table 30 and after a break, headed for the Championship Event. I dealt the final hand of Day Three about 15 minutes into my down.

The Blinds were $40,000-$80,000 and a little bit of flirting with raises went on. Dewey T. raised all-in and was called by Paul P – after a lot of thought. Dewey turned over 8-8 and Paul turned over 6-6. Dewey won the pot, taking a chunk of Paul’s chips.

A few hands later and Gus H. was on the Button. Chad L. raised to $160,000. Gus thought about it for a few seconds (which is customary to his style of play) and went all-in.

Chad looked down at his cards again, did a little Hollywood, and he declared all-in.

Chad turned over A-A and Gus turned over J-J. Chad had Gus by around $131,000. Not to worry, a Jack on the Flop and Chad never helped.

Gus repeated, more than once, “That’s so sick!” as he stacked all those chips. Chad never said a word.
When Chad was in the Big Blind, Paul P. called the Big Blind bet of $80,000 and Dewey T. (in the small blind) called $40,000 more. Chad threw in his last $51,000 and Paul and Dewey called. Paul and Dewey checked it down and Paul won the pot with 9-10, catching a 10 on the River. Chad was out of the game.

The producer for the WPT event sat down and explained the procedure for taping and game play to the remaining six as their chips were tallied and bagged.

I escaped. It was a strange night, games starting, running short, people coming in and out of the room, but consistently it was very busy.