John Holley Eliminated in 3rd Place ($283,312)

[user253757]

Level 30 : 50,000/100,000, 10,000 ante

Hand #153: John Holley's last hand in this Senior Championship ended with a bang, but it began with a simple check of his big blind option. Dana Ott had limped in on the button, and Kenneth Lind did the same from the small blind.

After tapping the table, Holley saw a flop of , and after Lind checked to him, Holley did the same. Ott seized on this sign of weakness by betting 275,000, which folded Lind quickly, and the action was back on Holley.

He assessed the size of his stack in relation to Ott's, and then reraised to 575,000, putting the pressure back on his opponent. Ott grabbed a stack of chips and moved it forward, saying "I call it" as he did so, and for a brief moment the table thought he had moved all in. After correcting the dealer, Ott's flat call was accepted and the arrived on the turn.

Holley then shipped his stack into the middle, shoving for just over 1.5 million, and he was dismayed to hear Ott snap him off while beating him to the pot.

"Nice hand sir," said Holley, turning over his and suspecting he was in bad shape. When Ott turned over his for the nut straight, Holley discovered that his tournament life had come to an end, and the meaningless on the river changed nothing. The WSOP Circuit veteran exited in 3rd place, and despite coming up short here at the Mothership, he just added a few more buy-ins to his bankroll.