In a blind vs. blind confrontation, James Hess raised to 90,000 and Gregory Alston called.
The flop brought and Hess check-called a 125,000 bet from Alston. The turn came the and both players checked. However, when the completed the board, Hess quickly led out for 190,000. Alston tanked for a while, but then announced, "Call."
"Jack-high." Hess muttered.
Alston flipped over for a pair of queens and fives and Hess revealed and said, "I wish a spade had come!"
With the action folded around to him on the button, James Jewell raised to 75,000 and Charlie Cohen made the call from the small blind.
The flop fell and Cohen led out for a bet of 110,000. This move prompted Jewell to slide his entire stack of 500,000 or so chips into the middle. Although he was being laid great pot odds, Cohen decided he was in bad shape and mucked his hand.
The win pushes Jewell up to a little more than 700,000 while Cohen took a slight hit.
Richard Harwood raised to 75,000 and Walter Browne thought a bit before re-raising to 190,000 from the small. Undeterred, Harwood announced "Re-raise" and cut out a raise to 300,000 and change before pushing it into the middle. Browne mucked and Harwood scooped the pot.
After four consecutive pots were won by late position raises, James Jewell decided he wanted to get in on the fun. He raised to 75,000 from the cutoff and the action folded to Walter Browne in the big blind. Our chip leader could afford to see a flop and made the call.
Flop:
Browne checked and Jewell immediately pushed his last 430,000 into the pot. Browne jokingly asked "Is that real money you're betting sir?" before sliding his cards into the muck.
Action folded around to Craig Koch, who raised to 100,000 from the button. Brett Tannenbaum announced he was all-in from the big and Koch immediately called.
Showdown
Tannenbaum:
Koch:
The board came , which was no help to Tannenbaum. He will pocket $34,206 for his efforts.
With the action folded around to him on the button, Richard "Dick" Harwood raised to 115,000. Our chip leader Walter Browne asked for a count, and after being informed that Harwood had just over 900,000 behind, Browne decided to make the call.
Flop:
Browne checked to Harwood and "Dick" fired a bet of 175,000 into the middle. This forced a fold from Browne and Harwood chipped up to around 1,100,000.
So far, through the first twelve hands or so, the emerging strategy has been to simply push all-in before the flop. With a few extremely short stacks, and a few monster stacks on the table, most pots have been earned with an all-in declaration.
Chip leader Walter Browne has won a couple of pots this way, as has Brett Tannenbaum, who entered the final table with the smallest stack in play. He pushed all-in twice in a row to collect the blinds and antes, which at that time equaled $66,000 per hand.
While modern poker strategy emphasizes post-flop play, these seniors are resorting to the old school method of putting opponents to the test before the board cards muddle things up.