Seat 7: Benjamin Spragg, UK (PokerStars Player): 1,440,000
Benjamin Spragg has made a rare foray from the virtual felt on which he makes his living to play in the UKIPT Galway Main Event. He min-cashed in Bristol, attending because it was near his home town of Stroud in Gloucestershire, but has smashed his live cash record here. He also came 3rd in the Poker Triathlon event earlier in the festival. Spragg might be best known to readers of the live updates this week for his fold of middle set. He justified his move and explained his thinking:
“Under the gun opens - at the time I am thinking he is a good, tight player. I call with nines and a guy calls behind who I also think is a good, tight player. The flop comes Q-9-7 and the initial raiser continuation bets and I call. At the moment, I’m pretty happy. Then the guy behind raises and given his tightness, as soon as he raised, my head just went to sevens. Now for the initial raiser, he doesn’t know I have nines, so in his mind there are two sets in the raiser’s perceived range, sevens and nines. Then calm as you like, he slides out 400k at 2k-4k blinds. I’m just thinking, if he sees what I see, then aces or kings here is a ludicrous shove. I could go with it but I was so sure that he wouldn’t do that with kings or aces. I could have had a million, but if I fold I still have over 400k myself at 2k -4k.” Regardless of this headline-grabbing decision, Spragg has remained in the thick of the action, reaching the final with 1,440,000.
*Bio courtesy of FTP.