Will The Thrill Loses Some Weight, Gains Some Chips
We just ran into Will "The Thrill" Failla over in the white section who told us about a big hand where he tripled up and about his other activity that's been keeping him busy during the WSOP.
Failla pulled out his phone and showed me a video of him this morning with a full athletic suit on chugging away on an elliptical machine. He explained to us that he and Joe Hachem had a weight loss bet where Failla had to lose 40 pounds in three months. With today being the weigh in, obviously alot of his weight loss time was during the WSOP which doesn't make it easy when you're playing tournaments all day. Something else that doesn't make it easy is that right at the beginning of the series Failla had an accident while working out and tore his calf muscle. He could be seen hobbling around the Rio in athletic gear and using a scooter to get around, often with his leg propped up. He stayed strong however, swam as much as he could and won the bet by four pounds this morning. We don't know how much it was for obviously, but with playing tournaments every day (including a 7th place finish in the $2,500 No-Limit Six-handed) and a torn calf thrown in there, we're sure he's feeling pretty good about it right now.
Back to the poker, Failla said he fell to 17,000 early on and was grinding that stack all day until a recent big hand that has him up to 46,000 where he is now. He raised from middle position with 
and was called by a player in middle position. The flop came down 
and Failla led out and got a call. The turn came 
and again led out and got a call. The river came a 
and Failla said he led out for 5,000 and his opponent re-raised all in. Failla snap called him and his opponent showed for a rivered full house, but Failla's flopped eights full took down the pot and moved him up to 46,000. With only 50 minutes left in the day, unless something big happens, we'll be seeing him tomorrow and will keep our eyes on him for sure.
| Player | Chips | Progress |
|---|---|---|
|
|
46,000
15,000
|
15,000 |