El-Shater the Silence

[user46392]

With the increase in blinds, things are getting desperate for the Table Three short stacks. Neil Channing seems happy to wait it out until he finds a hand -- he quietly folded his 8,000 blind to an under-the-gun raise from John Dwyer and hasn't seen a single opportunity since.

The reason that Channing's opportunities are limited is that to his immediate right he has fellow short stack Joseph El-Shater, whose approach to playing a small stack is wildly different. Finding that everyone had folded to him on the button, El-Shater shoved all in and took down the hefty blinds and antes. The next hand, an under-the-gun raise to 20,000 from Andy Bloch didn't deter him, and again he announced, "All in," for a total of 51,000. Bloch then disappeared into the tank. El-Shater seemed amused. Bloch appeared good-naturedly weary. Four or five minutes passed with absolutely nothing happening at all, Bloch smiling vaguely and periodically shrugging at El-Shater. "Sorry, Andy," said Hougaard eventually, "but time." It took a little while for the floor to arrive, by which time Bloch had actually called time on himself as well, and folded a few moments later.

Tags: Andy Bloch Joseph El-Shater