Palihapitiya Among the Pros

Shamus

Daniel Negreanu opened for 52,000 from middle position and got no less than five callers. "Wow!" said Negreanu, as Phil Hellmuth in the big blind became the fifth opponent to see the flop with him.

That flop came {9-Spades} {3-Spades} {4-Diamonds} , and when it checked to Negreanu he bet 162,000. Chamath Palihapitiya then raised from a couple of seats over, and when it folded back to Hellmuth he asked how much the raise was for.

A count revealed Palihapitiya had only put 305,000 forward �� not enough for a minimum-raise �� and so he added chips to make it 325,000. Hellmuth called, and Negreanu folded.

Hellmuth and Palihapitiya both checked quickly when the turn brought the {3-Diamonds} and river the {8-Diamonds} . "Ace-nine," said Palihapitiya, showing {A-Clubs} {9-Clubs} . "You got lucky," said Hellmuth, turning over {5-Spades} {2-Spades} for busted straight and flush draws. "I had you beat," he added, referring to their relative chances after the flop.

The pair continued the banter a little, with Palihapitiya noting he'd "misclicked" when he raised, not seeing Negreanu's bet clearly. When Hellmuth continued his dissertation on why he is the better of the two players, Palihapitiya had a quick response.

"I'll see you at the final table," he retorted with a smirk. "Where I will mock you!"

The table chuckled, and Palihapitiya got up to walk over to the next table where he put a couple of hands on Phil Ivey's shoulders. Ben Lamb stood up. "You must be winning if you're walking," he said to Palihapitiya, who proceeded to relate the previous hand to Lamb while still massaging Ivey.