Ace-Jack Loses a Big One and Wins a Small One For Valdez

Monika Kostanjevec

Level 13 : Blinds 2,000/3,000, 3,000 ante

Fausto Valdez went to the flop with two players, one of them being the current chip leader in the tournament, Ilija Savevski. The cards were 10?8?J?.

Action got checked to Savevski on the button, who bet 7,000. The out-of-position player folded and Valdez called.

The turn was the 4?. Valdez checked again and Savevski bet again, this time 23,000. Valdez took a moment and called.

The river was the K?, a scare-card bringing in the flush. Valdez took a moment before checking again. This time Savevski decided to check behind. The players turned over their cards. Valdez showed A?Jx and Savevski turned over 4?4? for a turned set.

The pot brought Savevski to the highest stack in the tournament up to this point, and Valdez was left with just over 25 big blinds.

A couple of hands later Valdez was dealt ace-jack again. This time he was able to make it work in his favor, albeit for a smaller pot of about 40,000 chips.