BigEgypt off to Big Start
by Jessica on 12.17.09, 6:00 pm
Within fifteen minutes of play starting, Joe “BigEypt” Elpayaa (pictured left) added to his already ample chip stack when he got it all-in against Dave Granath on a J
9
4 flop holding K
J
to Granath’s QT. The top pair of jacks held as the board ran out 7 then T to bust Granath and up Elpayaa’s stack to over 1.1 million. He chipped up even more during the rest of the level and is currently sitting on over 1.2 million, which is the third biggest stack in the room.
Also chipping up is Steve “MrTimCaum” O’Dwyer. We watched O’Dwyer pick up a nice pot when Matthew Waxman raised to 30,000 out of the small blind with the blinds at 5,000/10,000 ante 1,000 and O’Dwyer called form the big. Waxman led out for 35,000 on the 973 flop and O’Dwyer called. Waxman checked after the J came on the turn and O’Dwyer fire dout a bet of 89,000. Waxman called and both players checked after the 8 fell on the river. O’Dwyer showed J7 for a turned two pair and Waxman tossed his hand away, giving O’Dwyer the pot. He was up to 625,000 after the hand.
Faraz “The-Toliet” Jaka doubled up early in the day at the hands of Dan O’Brien. Jaka opened for a raise to 25,000 from the cutoff and O’Brien reraised an additional 40,000 from the button. Jaka thought briefly, moved all-in for 329,000 and O’Brien called. Jaka’s AK had the best of O’Brien’s AQ and the bigger kicker held after the board ran out AK642. O’Brien was left with around 115,000 while Jaka doubled up to 730,000. O’Brien would double up shortly thereafter though, and is back up to over 250,000.
Shortly before the level concluded, Brent “BHanks11” Hanks (pictured right) tangled with Antonio Esfandiari in a hand that Esfandiari would later refer to as, “one of the three biggest laydowns of my life.”
Hanks raised to 26,000 from middle position and Esfandiari called from the cutoff. Hanks led out for 45,000 after the flop came AT2 and Esfandiari called. Hanks checked after the 8 came on the turn and Esfandiari bet out 84,000. Hanks hardly hesitated before moving all-in for an additional 346,000. Esfandiari looked shocked by the move and went into the tank for well over five minutes. After a lengthy bout of deliberation, Esfandiari attempted to elicit some info from his opponent:
“What do you got?”
“345K,” Hanks responded. The table broke out in laughter at Hanks misunderstanding of the question and Esfandiari clarified what he wanted to know:
“No, do you have three tens?”
Hanks remained stoic while Esfandiari debated some more. He asked Hanks if he would show and Hanks quickly responded, “no.” Esfandiari eventually mucked his hand after a couple of pump fake folds and Hanks chipped up to 670,000.
