A Matte Finish
The final board read when we passed by Jake Toole's table, and the pro was facing an all-in wager of 14,000 made by Scott Matte. With just about the same stack behind, calling would essentially commit Toole for his tournament life, so he took his time to sort things through.
The pot contained about 55,000 at the time, and while Toole tanked long and hard to contemplate his options, we conferred with Elia Ahmadian to discern the previous action.
According to Ahmadian, an under the gun open to 800 by Matte was called by two players, with Toole three-betting to about 3,500. This forced the flatters to fold and when Matte called the ten-high flop fell. The two tapped the table and when the turn dropped in Matte led out for 8,000. Toole popped it to 18,000 and Matte smooth called, bringing the king to the board on the river, which is where we caught the action.
After tanking for a couple of minutes and appearing pained by Matte's big bet, Toole finally released his hand without a word. Matte then told the table he had hit gin on the river with in the hole, and Toole responded by letting Matte and us know that he had laid pocket aces down. Poker is a waiting game and finding bullets is always a big moment, but the young pro correctly deduced that his monster had been scared off, so he made the right play without becoming attached.
Bravo sir.
Player | Chips | Progress |
---|---|---|
Scott Matte | 47,500 | |
Jake Toole |
15,000
-35,000
|
-35,000 |