A miraculous final-card win turned a 5 percent chance into a World Series of Poker final-table seat
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By: Charles Curtis | July 18, 2017 12:27 pm
The 2017 World Series of Poker Main Event final table is set, and thanks to one late incredible hand, Bryan Piccioli will be a part of it.
Here’s the hand and the breakdown:
Piccioli had just over 8.7 million chips and pushed all-in with pocket 8s, probably figuring he had to make a move when the chip leader at his table had over 58 million.
Antoine Saout and his 35.4 million called with an Ace-4. Out comes the flop … and it’s not a good one for Piccioli: Ace-Ace-9. Saout now has three aces.
Suddenly, Piccioli’s chances shoot down to 7 percent. Only one of the two remaining 8s in the deck will save him.
Out comes a Queen. Piccioli has a 5 percent chance of winning. If the last card isn’t an 8, he’s packing his bags and falling just short of the final table.
But out comes … an 8. Eventually, he grabbed a seat at the final table.
“When you’re here this long, you need something like that to happen,” Piccioli told the Las Vegas Sun. “I’m lucky to still be here, to still be alive. That’s all you can ask for.”
This is what Piccioli tweeted:
I'm not a big poker player and have read this 4 or 5 times, but how does 3 8s beat 3 Aces?
Jack Sinclair finishes 8th for $1.2m when his shove with K-J is called by Bryan Piccioli's AA.
Day 1 of the Main Event is in the books and Scott Blumstein has taken a huge lead.
Play ends for the night with 7 players, resumes at 5:30pm Friday
Blumstein 178m
Pollak 78m
Piccioli 36m
Hesp 22m
Ott 16m
Salas 16m
Saout 15m
Play ends for the night with 7 players, resumes at 5:30pm Friday
Blumstein 178m
Pollak 78m
Piccioli 36m
Hesp 22m
Ott 16m
Salas 16m
Saout 15m
WSOP 2017 - Main Event - Final Table Day 1 Part 4
[h=1]WSOP 2017 - Main Event - Final Table Day 1 Part 5 [/h]
[h=1]WSOP 2017 - Main Event - Final Table Day 1 Part 6[/h]
[h=1]2017 WSOP: 8th Place Finisher Jack Sinclair [/h]
One hand last night, I thought Saout made some mistakes in bet sizing.
He bet a really small amount on the turn holding a 36 off-suit on a x755 board against the chip leader and gets called.
He then tanks, and makes another really small bet when a jack hit the river. He was the short stack at the time.
The chip leader calls with ace high and takes the pot.
I think he needs to either push or bet more on the river there... He just threw away his money with the bet sizing.
I saw that hand and I agree.
Saout an insanely good player though, so who knows. Maybe if he pushes he gets called anyway and now he's out.
Maybe he had some kind of read that this dude folded to smaller, suspicious looking river bets, but heroed bigger bets.
Who knows.
But yeah in general I agree the sizing there was bad.
I really think he was thinking if I bet big and get called I lose my fold equity in the future and I'm out of the tournament, but I can't win without betting so I have to make it look like a suspiciously small value bet and pray that he folds. But obviously it didn't work.
The hand that stunned me was Sinclair open shoving KJ, Salas on the button folds AQ, and Piccioli has AA in the SB, OTT then folds AJ in the BB. I'm shocked Salas would fold there. Sinclair was the short stack in the Cutoff.
