Getting His Money's 'Worth
Erik van den Berg, still wearing the orange bobble hat that we all loved so much at EPT Vilamoura, raised from the button and got looked up by both Jude Ainsworth in the small blind and Fatima Moreira de Melo in the big.
The flop came down and it checked around to van den Berg, who bet 1,000. The action returned to Ainsworth, who now made it 3,500. And then back to de Melo, who reraised to 8,000.
Van den Berg quickly ducked out of the way, but Ainsworth shoved for around 25,000 leaving de Melo with a very serious decision. She thought about it for a long time. She asked Ainsworth a question which we think was, "Do you have a flush draw?"
"Yes. No. Maybe," came the answer.
Eventually she called, and they were on their backs, waiting several minutes for the TV cameras to arrive and record this moment for posterity.
Ainsworth:
De Melo:
Still waiting for the cameras. De Melo: "Ahh, it figures. I hope I don't get my draw. You're in great shape. I'm in shitty shape."
Eventually the cameras arrived, and although the flush draw did not come in, neither did any of de Melo's outs, and Ainsworth's ace-high after the turn and river took the pot.
Ainsworth doubled to 52,000. De Melo was left with just about 11,000.