Event #53: $1,500 Limit Hold’em Shootout

The last four players are on a twenty-minute break.

Brendan Taylor raised and Joe McGowan called from the big blind. The flop came     and it went check, bet, call. The same betting occurred on the   turn and   river.

Taylor showed    and McGowan mucked. McGowan is down to just 170,000.

Don't measure Brian Tate for a box just yet. He three-bet all in after Jon Little opened for a raise. Little called with   , slightly behind Tate's   . Tate promptly paired his ace on a flop of    , giving himself almost no sweat. Little was drawing dead by the   turn.

Tate's up to about 200,000.

Ben Yu opened his button with a raise. The extremely short-stacked Michael Schneider re-raised all in, with Yu making the call. They were racing -- Schneider's    against Yu's   . Schneider started to gather his things after the flop came with a nine but no trey,    . The turn   made things a little bleaker, and Schneider was eliminated with the river  . He'll leave with $23,563 in prize money.

An unlucky turn card really put Brian Tate in a bad spot. He defended his big blind pre-flop after Brendan Taylor raised the button. Tate checked and called a single bet on a flop of    . When the turn came  , Tate checked again. Taylor fired another bet that was check-raised by Tate. Taylor then three-bet, with Tate firing in the fourth bet, enough to put Taylor all in. Taylor quickly called with a set of fours,   , in great shape against Tate's two pair,   . The river blanked out   to ship a double-up to Taylor. Tate now has about 100,000.

With the average stack down to 10 big bets, we expect to see some more eliminations very soon. The two shortest stacks at the moment, Brendan Taylor (300,000) and Mike Schneider (340,000) have five and six big bets each. That's not much room for error or bad luck.

Brendan Taylor opened yet another pot pre-flop, and was re-raised by button Brian Tate. Taylor was the only caller to a highly coordinated board of    . Taylor checked and called a bet. When the turn fell  , Taylor led into Tate, putting Tate to a decision. Tate took about wenty esconds before he called that bet and then one more on the   river. Taylor showed down    for a nine-high straight. It was the winner.

With that pot, Taylor is back up to 375,000.

Brendan Taylor looks quite calm sitting at the table at the moment, but we have to imagine he's mentally berating himself. He mis-played a showdown against Jonathan Little a few moments ago. Taylor opened for a raise from the button, then called Little's small-blind re-raise. Little continued on an all-small flop,    , with Taylor calling. Both players checked the   turn and   river.

At showdown, Little said nothing as he opened   . Taylor looked at Little's hands and, apparently not seeing the board straight, tossed his cards towards the muck, clearly surrendering them. Nobody at the table said a word. The dealer then pushed all five board cards up to show the winning hand, at which point Taylor tried to grab his cards back and open   . The tournament director, standing over the table the whole time, instantly told Taylor that Taylor had surrendered his hand and that his cards were dead the moment he tossed them towards the muck pile. Taylor made only the mutest of protests before conceding the point and giving up his claim to half of the pot.

Joseph McGowan was under the gun at our six-handed table and opened with a raise. Brian Tate there-bet the button, finding a caller in big blind Michael Schneider before McGowan four-bet. Tate and Schneider both called.

McGowan was the aggressor on the flop, the turn and the river of a      . Schneider folded to the flop bet, but Tate called all the way. At showdown McGowan rolled over    for a set of queens. It was the winner.

Brendan Taylor's doing his best to battle back from the short stack. Sitting with the button, he three-bet pre-flop after Joseph McGowan opened for a raise. Brian Tate called the three-bet from the blinds and McGowan called as well for three-way action. A flop of     checked all the way to Taylor. His bet folded out Tate but was called by McGowan. When the turn came   McGowan checked again. Facing another bet from Taylor, McGowan tanked for almost a full minute before folding his hand.