July 12th, 2009

Suspicious Minds…

In the 12th hand of “hand for hand” play, we almost found oue bubble. Announced over the sound system, the all-in as A♦ A♣ against A♠ J♥ . Closely announced after the hands, was the fact that the all-in player had the Bullets. The restless crowd then started to chant “Jack! Jack! Jack!”. The aces held up as the board came J♣ 8♥ 5♦ … 7♣ … 7♥ . The railbirds sigh, the media sigh, and the other 648 players sigh. Following the conclusion of the hand, the voice from the sky stated “How does this guy feel? He has 648 players against his Aces!”.

In the 13th hand the Bubble finally fell on Kia Hamadani. All-in for his ante of 500, his 4♣ 3♥ never looked like doing anything against his opponents mighty hand of 9♥ 2♣ . The crowd erupts, everyone congratulates each other, and the media descend back onto the tournament floor. Hamadani does hear some good news though. WSOP commissioner, Jeffrey Pollack, announces that as Kia is the Bubble boy of the WSOP 2009, he will take home with him the knowledge that his WSOP 2010 Main Event buy-in has been paid for already, by the WSOP and the Main Event sponsors. Which then begs the question, was he really the Bubble boy or does that honour actually go to the 650th place finisher who really did leave the tournament with nothing?