Late-Night Controversy Involving Julien Sitbon

Frank Visser

Level 15 : Blinds 2,000/4,000, 4,000 ante

It all started when Julien Sitbon and Simeon Spasov were heads up on a board of 5?9?7?8?. The pot amounted to 35,000 when Julien Sitbon checked from the big blind and Simeon Spasov checked back from middle position. The 6? then put a straight on the board and Sitbon made a bet of 37,000, leaving himself just 2,000 behind.

Spasov then audibly announced "all in," and Sitbon tabled his Q?8?, after which Spasov tabled his 10?10? for the higher straight. However, Sitbon claimed he had not heard the all-in and merely flipped his cards up under the impression that he was just called.

The floor was called over and ruled that Sitbon would have to commit the rest of his chips as well, but Sitbon did not agree and another floorperson came along to aid in the discussion. After a few minutes of talking, it was officially ruled that Sitbon could keep the 2,000 chips he had behind.

The table still had three more hands to go at that point, while the rest of the tournament area cleared out having bagged and tagged. The next hand played in a now mostly empty tournament room, and Spasov opened from under the gun and the rest of the table folded while Sitbon was automatically all-in from the small blind.

Julien Sitbon: 3?3?
Simeon Spasov: A?5?

Sitbon made a set on 4?J?8?Q?3? and increased his stack to 10,000 chips.

The next hand was uneventful, but the final hand on the table saw Michel Molenaar raise to 8,000 from middle position and Sitbon went all in once more from the cutoff. Michele Guerrini was then on the button and rejammed for 113,000 and Molenaar snap called once the action folded back to him, covering both players.

Julien Sitbon: K?Q?
Michele Guerrini: Q?J?
Michel Molenaar: A?Q?

Molenaar had the best hand, but it would become the second best once Guerrini paired his jack on the J?4?4? flop. The K? on the turn demoted Molenaar even further, as he was then in dead last, while Sitbon was in prime position for another triple-up. The 3? river changed nothing and Sitbon ended the night with ten big blinds, while Guerrini basically doubled up and Molenaar was left shaking his head in disbelief.

In between all this, Sitbon was told he would have to adhere to a 5-second shot clock for the rest of his tournament as a consequence of the shenanigans in the first hand. This saga is undeniably to be continued on Day 3...