\nBy James McManus, Bloomberg View<\/p>\n
\tAs he had early on, Zach Jiganti, an up-and-coming poker savant, dominated his table pretty much from noon to midnight on Day Three and most of Day Four of the World Series of Poker\u2019s Main Event.<\/p>\n
\tIn one hand, he called a raise in the big blind bet from a middle-aged dad type in a baseball cap and goatee sitting four seats to his left. There\u2019d been some friendly conversation leading up to the hand, apparently about the weather in Florida. \u201cThe Dad\u201d lived there; Jiganti had gone to school there. Meanwhile, the Dad, with position on Jiganti, had been raising his blind fairly often.<\/p>\n
\tIt seemed fair to say that a fierce test of wills was the subtext.<\/p>\n
\tThe flop, or the first three cards dealt, came down 4-8-9 with two spades. Jiganti checked. When the Dad bet 22,000 chips, Jiganti check-raised to 81,000, sending the Dad into the think tank. A couple of minutes went by, during which it seemed more and more likely that the Dad had an overpair \u2014 that is, his pair was higher than any of the cards on the board \u2014 but was scared Jiganti had flopped a three of a kind. Or did he have a straight or flush draw?<\/p>\n
\tAnother three minutes went by. Jiganti stared coolly into the middle distance above the pot, looking neither scared of nor eager for a call. Eventually, a player not in the hand tapped the face of his watch to show he was thinking of calling for a clock. Anyone at the table has the right to call a clock on another, though it seldom happens when the stalled player is facing a bet amounting to around half his stack, as the Dad was. If someone does call for one, the dealer summons a floorman, who informs the player he has 60 seconds to act or his hand will be dead.<\/p>\n
\tThe Dad had been given to understand he was on an unofficial clock \u2014 and probably a real one if he didn\u2019t act soon. Yet he still appeared frozen, confused. At long last, he shrugged and turned over his cards, a pair of 10s, saying how much he hated to muck an overpair but that he thought he was beat.<\/p>\n
\tJiganti, who didn\u2019t have to show his hand, either, also chose to do so: an unsuited ace-6. Pure air. Squadoosh. Stone-cold bluff.<\/p>\n
\tA brief, respectful silence ensued.<\/p>\n
\t\u201cYou keep trying to steal my big blind,\u201d Jiganti said evenly, \u201cand it\u2019s just never gonna happen.\u201d Not hostile, not friendly. Just a matter of fact. Who could doubt him?<\/p>\n
\tThe Dad smiled wanly, nodding and tapping the felt. \u201cVery nice bet.<\/p>\n
\tSure, he was smiling, but neither he nor his tablemates were likely to be contesting any pots with Jiganti unless they were holding pairs bigger than 10s, or had flopped a set or huge draw. Now more than ever, he had them where he wanted them: cowed. Jiganti took full advantage, building his stack to 2,364,000 as Day Four ground to a close. He finished second only to Matthew Haugen\u2019s 2,808,000.<\/p>\n
\tOne of the key hands of Day Five came just before the dinner break. Jiganti \u2014 a former tennis star who says he now favors 50-mile runs through the desert \u2014 found himself in a four-bet pot with Bruno Politano, a young Brazilian martial artist whose stack was almost as big as Jiganti\u2019s.<\/p>\n
\tAfter a flop of ace-king-9 with two hearts, Politano came out swinging with a bet of 279,000. Jiganti raised to 657,000. Politano sat back and thought about his options for almost five minutes, finally pushing out a three-bet of 1.2 million. Jiganti\u2019s response was \u201call in,\u201d which Politano insta-called for the rest of his 2,185,000 chips, turning over a pair of kings.<\/p>\n
\tJiganti betrayed no emotion as he flipped up a pair of 9s, the extremely unfortunate victim of set over set. He still had two chances for the fourth 9 to be dealt, but a 5 on the turn and an 8 on the river decimated his stack. The Brazilian raked in the 4,960,000-chip pot, which made him the tournament\u2019s leader.<\/p>\n
\tAs I discussed the hand with a few of my friends, the author and poker pro Peter Alson noted the \u201calpha-maleness of it all.\u201d Referring to Jiganti\u2019s play, he said: \u201cCalling four bets preflop with nine-nine does deserve punishment, so not only don\u2019t I feel bad for Jiganti, I actually kind of feel, So there, that\u2019s what you get for your chutzpah.\u201d Alson mentioned another hand in which Farid Jattin, a Florida pro, had six-bet his opponent preflop \u2014 blind bet, raise, reraise, rereraise, rerereraise, rererereraise. When his opponent eventually folded, Jattin taunted him by showing one card: a deuce.<\/p>\n
\tWhatever the merits of his preflop play, Jiganti was unlucky to be coolered by flopping set under set. That happens only about 1 percent of the time when two players have pocket pairs.<\/p>\n
\tAfter being at or near the top of the leaderboard for the first five days, Jiganti was down to a dozen big blinds. A few hands later, he was out, in 185th place, heading to the cage to collect what must be the least satisfying $44,728 of his life.<\/p>\n
\tThe chips in that pot comprise 43 percent of Politano\u2019s current stack of 11,625,000, good for sixth place. He\u2019s in excellent position to make the final table by tonight.<\/p>\n
\tCashing in for the same amount as Jiganti was David Einhorn, who finished 173rd when his ace-jack failed to improve against an opponent\u2019s ace-queen. The happy poker warrior will be signing over all $44,728 to the Robin Hood Foundation, on top of whatever else he may give, not to mention the charitable donations he inspires other wealthy players to make.<\/p>\n
\tThe 27 remaining players return to action today. By midnight or so, we\u2019ll know which nine of them will return to the Rio casino for the final table in November.<\/p>\n
No replies were posted for this topic.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
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