Simply, Wow.
On a board showing Harry Ligos led out with a 4,100 bet. His opponent Jacob Flasterstein then raised to 20,000, which sent Ligos into the tank. Ligos asked for a count of Flasterstein's stack, and the dealer counted down a total of 47,300.
Meanwhile, Emad Tahtouh stood up from the table and told us, "This is a sick table. (The) average pot here would be 60k, minimum."
"Easy," Lisa Walsh concurred.
What happened next defines 'sick.'
"I'm all in," declared Ligos.
"OK, let's go," replied Flasterstein, as he proceeded to turn his cards -- -- face up on the table.
"Wait a minute, he never said call," complained Ligos, who at this point is standing; his cards still sitting face down on the table with one hand cupped over them. "This isn't right, get a ruling. Get the floor," Ligos demanded.
Flasterstein's rebuttals were drowned out by Ligos' implications and a crowd quickly formed around the table.
Crown's Director of Poker Operations Jonno Pittock was then called to the scene and the situation was explained to him by both the dealer and one of Crown's floor supervisors. Pittock quickly ruled that because Flasterstein revealed his hand with action still pending (his own), the hand would remain live, but Flasterstein would receive a one-orbit penalty effective immediately following the hand in question. Everyone seemed mollified by the ruling and finally, Ligos revealed his hand: .
Next, the unthinkable happened... The dealer burned and turned the giving Ligos four outs with one card to come, and then, fifth street... the .
Flasterstein was visibly devastated, having gone from being a virtual lock to double up to the latest member of the rail in a little less than five seconds.
Ligos' mood on the other hand went from infuriated to euphoric, having just gone perfect, perfect to eliminate Flasterstein from the tournament. The mini miracle catapulted the Event 1 winner to 120,000 in chips.
"I had nothing to do with this!" quipped Tahtouh after the hand, shaking his head in disbelief.