Levi Binks

[user66118]

Under the gun, Nicolas Levi opened to 33,000, and both Jo?o Paulo Sim?o and Siyu Sha flatted. Sha was in the small blind.

The three gents took a {5-Clubs} {K-Spades} {9-Spades} flop, and Levi continued out with 51,000 more. Sim?o called very quickly, Sha ducked out of the way, and it was heads-up to the turn. It was the {10-Spades} , and Levi paused for about two minutes. When he finally did reach for chips, he settled on a bet of 93,000. Sim?o wanted to play for more, though, and he slid out a tall tower of yellow chips worth a total of 500,000. Levi quickly made the call for his tournament life.

Showdown
Levi: {A-Spades} {6-Spades}
Sim?o ... ... ... ... ...

On seeing the bad news, Sim?o mucked his cards, but he's not allowed to in this situation. Both all-in hands must be tabled, but Sim?o grabbed his cards back and protested. He insisted that he did not want to show, but the floor came and reaffirmed the rule.

"Can the hand be dead?" Levi asked.

"It touched the muck," Clayton Mozdzen chimed in.

That doesn't actually factor into this scenario, and the EPT rules allow for the retrieval of mucked all-in cards whenever possible. But Sim?o continued to disagree. He eventually realized that his bet may not have covered Levi, so he asked them to count it down. If Levi had more than 500,000, Sim?o would be allowed to muck. It was only 420,000 for Levi, though, so Sim?o finally (and very reluctantly) tabled his {8-Diamonds} {6-Diamonds} .

The river {9-Hearts} was a mere formality, and Sim?o has been parted with a big chunk of his stack. Levi moves up over a million, and he and the Brazilian are almost dead even in chips now.