David Gerassi Becoming a Goliath
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Every so often as tournament reporters, we must rely on tips from players to identify the most interesting storylines taking shape throughout the day.
For one such player, however, he probably wishes he never said a word.
We received a bit of unsolicited advice regarding "one to watch" here on Day 1a, as the tipster informed us that David Gerassi was terrorizing the table with a single T25000 chip. According to our mole, Gerassi had made a habit of raising every pot with a massive overbet, making it 25,000 to go with the blinds still sitting at 1,500-3,000. After being told to "stick around and watch, you won't be disappointed," we did just that, and within two hands it was clear we had been fed reliable information.
First, Gerassi responded to the standard opening raise of 6,000 by making it two huge stacks to play (it looked to be about 100,000, but who's counting?). Knowing that Gerassi was splashing around in nearly every pot, not one but two players decided to risk their tournament lives by calling off their stacks, and when the cards were revealed Gerassi's overplay appeared to be ill-timed.
Showdown:
Gerrasi: 
Player 1: 
Player 2: 
Gerassi was out gunned by an overpair and overcards, but like he knew it was coming all along, the 
peeled right off in the window. The final board rolled out 
, and with that Gerassi had felted two players with his set of fours.
With momentum clearly on his side (as well as a horseshoe and some four-leaf clovers obviously hidden in his pockets), Gerassi kept up the pressure by getting it all in once again before the flop. This time, he was up against none other than our informant, the man who had identified Gerassi as "one to watch" just minutes before.
Gerassi revealed the with a flourish, cackling like the maniac he truly is, and when the tipster tabled the 
he pleaded to the heavens to "hold one time for the kid!"
The poker gods failed to heed his call, however, and like clockwork the flop fell 
to put Gerassi out in front with a pair of queens. The turn (
) and river () kept him in the lead, and with that, Gerassi surged to right around 450,000 chips late on Day 1A.
"Let me tell you something..." he beckoned, the pile of chips in front him remaining unstacked for the moment. "I've taken seven players out. And I've doubled seven players up too!" Gerassi's unpredictable play and gregarious nature lead us to believe that as this $250,000 Guaranteed tournament progresses, he will remain just what our tipster tabbed him as two hands before: the one to watch.
| Player | Chips | Progress |
|---|---|---|
|
475,000 |