Hands 96-98: Gray Spikes River to Double Through Liberto
Hand #96: From the cutoff, Chen popped it to 400,000, and Liberto and Bennington called out of the blinds. The flop of caused Liberto and Bennington to check, and Chen took the lead in the hand with a bet of 550,000, which was enought to force the folds.
Hand #97: Liberto raised his button to 420,000 and Chen defended his big blind to bring a flop of on board. Both players checked and we saw the arrive on the turn. Chen led out for 400,000 and Liberto flatted, which brought us to the on the river. After Chen tapped the table, Liberto slid forward towers of chips totaling 2 million, and despite mulling his options for a minute or so, Chen released his hands.
Hand #98: Liberto opened for the standard 420,000 in the cutoff, and Gray responded with a three-bet shove from the big blind, putting his last 2.64 million at risk. Liberto looked him up with , and his premium pocket pair had Gray's in bad shape, The inferior hand improved on the flop, but the turn of brought no further help. It would be an on the river that did the job, giving Gray two pair and a come from behind double up.