Defending Champ is Down

Chad Holloway

Level 4 : 300/600, 0 ante

Last year in this very event, Benjamin Scholl could do no wrong as he ultimately captured his first gold bracelet and the accompanying $206,760 first-place prize. Five days ago, Scholl's run good continued as he finished runner-up to Tom Schneider in Event #29 $5,000 H.O.R.S.E. for $197,228. Unfortunately Scholl's momentum came to a screeching halt in today's tournament as the defending champ has already been eliminated.

It happened when Scholl, who had dwindled down to 800, raised to 600 from the cutoff. Sean Chen responded with a three-bet to 900 from the small blind, and after the big got out of the way, Scholl called off.

Scholl:
Chen:

Scholl seemed a bit frustrated, and understandably so as he was having the polar-opposite experience than a year ago. With that said, he was drawing to live cards. According to the PokerNews Odds Calculator, Scholl had a 30.98% of surviving the hand, though that dropped to 16.36% on the flop. Scholl was looking for some help on the turn, but instead the left him drawing dead as Chen improved to trips. The meaningless was run out on the river for good measure as Scholl made a beeline for the exit.