Kassin-o Royale
Christmas has come late for Charles Kassin after a near-full double through right at the end of Level One. The damage done to opponent Rami Taqtaq proved fatal - and we lost one of our first competitors to the nuts on the turn.
A modest pot had grown between the two of them on a board of , but by no means close to the 20k+ in front of Taqtaq. The betting went crazy on the turn (details missing, unfortunately) with the final shove being called immediately by Kassin who showed . Taqtaq showed and watched the river seal his fate and hand a 50k stack to the young American.
The rest of the table looked fairly stunned, and watched enviously as Kassin stacked his leading towers. "Nice start!" said one player.
"It's better to finish good than to start good," replied Kassin, sagely.
Tablemate Annette Obrestad looked amused by the development in the hand as it was briefly discussed in its aftermath.
"I didn't want to make it too obvious but I just figured, screw it," noted Kassin, before letting everyone in on his ultimate goal: "Just win this, and retire from poker."