Cousineau On a Roll; Esther Taylor Eliminated

A player in early position raises to 11,000 and Paul Smith reraises to 30,000.  Tony Cousineau, who has a reputation for one of the tightest tournament players on the circuit then moves all in for 54,000.  Esther Taylor is in the big blind and shows Clonie Gowen her pocket jacks before folding.  The original raiser folds and action is back on Smith.  Even though he is getting incredible odds on his money, he is still hesitant to make the call against Cousineau, as he is sure he has him beat pretty soundly.  He goes against his better judgment and makes a call with [AcQd].  To no ones surprise Cousineau turns over a monster pair – [KsKd].

The board comes [Qc9c4s4d10d] and Cousineau more than doubles up to 125,000.

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Just a few hands later, on a board of [10h8c4s] Cousineau has Esther Taylor all in with [JcJd].  However, she is holding [10c8s] for top two pair.  But the river brings disaster for the Day One chip leader as Cousineau spikes a jack on the turn for a set.  The river is a blank and Taylor is eliminated.  Cousineau now has 235,000.