That’s What We Call a Big Stack
Saturday, June 27, 2009 - Gene Bromberg
It’s a poker axiom that no chip lead is ever safe. Even if heads up play begins with one player constructing a fortress that rings the table to his opponents handful of chips, it ain’t over. In 1982 Jack Straus won the Main Event after literally being down to his last chip. Just a few days ago Matt Graham trailed Vitaly Lunkin 8.25 million to 600,000 and charged back to win. No lead is ever 100% safe.
And the chip lead Brandon Cantu has right now is far from safe. What it is is astonishing. With 30 players to go in the $1,500 PLO8 event, Cantu has 25% of the chips in play. You might expect to see a big chip leader arrive at a final table with a quarter of the chips, but with THIRTY left?
Cantu, by his own admission and from eyewitness accounts, is on a ludicrous rush of cards. Earlier he tweeted that he’d had Aces ten times in 30 hands, and as I was circling the tables I was chatting with a friend from PokerNews who looked shell-shocked and said, “I’ve never seen anything like this before. He’s had Aces like 50 times…and they always hold up. In Omaha.”
I wandered over just as a big hand had developed between Brandon, Ray Bonavida…and Phil Hellmuth. Phil had raised and Bonavida made the call. Cantu raised pot, and that raised Hellmuth’s ire. He stared across at Brandon, very agitated, trying to justify making the call for the last of his chips. “Is this for real, I can’t play any better than this,” Phil said, “I should’ve been out a couple of time.” He and Brandon chirped at each other a bit and then Phil started talking about all the times today he’s had to fold Ace-Deuce (the best draw to a low in PLO8).
Finally Phil laid down his cards, then bolted out of his seat when Brandon tabled Ah-Ac-2c-3s, about as good as starting hand as there is in PLO8. Brandon’s hand held up, he eliminated Bonavida, and Phil stalked away from the table for a quick cool-down. When he returned Cantu was stacking his chips and Phil said, “You don’t even play this game!” Apparently he does, and apparently the Poker Gods are shining down on Brandon Cantu today.
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Tags: 2009 world series of poker, 2009 wsop, Brandon Cantu, Phil Hellmuth, world series of poker, WSOP
