Twenty-four guys in sweatshirts and baseball hats gathered around three well-used poker tables during a November Rio casino Texas Hold ’em event in the Amazon Room. Few passersby stopped to watch the gamers shuffle their chips in the gloomy darkness. The poker cliché of “playing for homes” or “hefty down payments,” as it is known, would not have been apparent if it weren’t for their exhilarating composure throughout a hand. Since each player had to put up $250,000 to join, the World Series of Poker Super High Roller started its three-day run on this day. However, players just referred to it as “the 250K.”
What He Did
In order to examine the hand Seth Davies had just been given: the six and seven of diamonds, he carefully peeled off the edges of the cards he had just been dealt. His initial stack had grown from 1.5 million to more than a half-billion chips by the following day; he now went ahead with a raised bet in the middle of the hand. An ex-college baseball player with a neatly clipped light brown beard sat upright at the head of the table, keenly monitoring the proceedings as they unfolded around the table. Reraise Dan Smith, a fellow poker player who had two other players call his bet by raising his own stake significantly. In the end, Davies was the only one to call back. This is true for asiabookie also.
How It Went
When the dealer dealt Davies a king, a four, and a five, all of which were clubs, he received a straight draw. Double-checked: Smith (bet nothing). Davies placed a bet. A phone call was made by Smith. Despite Davies’ best efforts, the turn card, the deuce of diamonds, thwarted him. Once again, Smith went through his work with fresh eyes. Davies proceeded to put a second bet. A second time, Smith dialled the phone. As a last card in the deck, Davies was dealt the deuce of clubs, crushed dreams of boosting his hand. It was now more than a million dollars in chips in the pot in the centre of the faded green-felt-covered table.
With no eight or three in his hand, Davies, who had gambled throughout the hand hoping to change his hand into an eight or a three, had gotten nothing. The third time Smith looked at his hands, Davies paused before investing 1.7 million in chips and ending the game. That means Davies will be out of the tournament after losing his $250,000 entry fee in a single wager.
Smith looked at Davies over the brim of his cowboy hat, then contorted his face in annoyance at either Davies or the hand of destiny. At this point, Smith folded and the dealer pushed a pile of colourful chips towards Davies, who then sat down to play. It was more a sense of relief than triumph for Davies as the hand was raised.
Last Words
As soon as the first day of the event had ended and Davies had returned home to his home outside of Las Vegas after a short trip from the Rio, he got an official confirmation at 2:30 a.m that night. A variety of artificial intelligence-based programmes, such as PioSOLVER, have had a significant impact on how poker is played, especially at the highest levels, during the last few years. A computer programme was established in an office next to the garage. Davies put all of the hand data into the software and then started the procedure. Using the method, an optimal strategy was quickly devised. According to the programme, Davies had gotten the most of it right. When the deuce of diamonds was dealt, he should have risked 80% of the pot instead of 50%, but his 1.7 million chip bluff on the river was the perfect decision.
