Hand #40: Antonio Esfandiari Takes a Big Pot Against Kirk Morrison

Antonio Esfandiari raises from the cutoff to 205,000, and Kirk Morrison calls from the big blind. The flop comes [Qc7c6h], Morrison checks, Esfandiari bets 330,000, and Morrison calls. The turn card is the [8h], Morrison checks, Esfandiari bets 650,000, and Morrison says, "That big, huh? C’mon, you’re the one who wanted to yap. What, do you have a big hand?"

Yesterday, Morrison was very talkative, and Esfandiari was really enjoying it. Earlier this evening, when Morrison was quiet, Esfandiari was asking him when he was going to start talking. Morrison seems to think that now is a good time.

Morrison counts out the bet from his own stack to see what he’d have left, and says, "That’ll leave me with just enough chips to bluff the river. Or I might lay it down." Morrison notices that his stacks are a little less than 20 chips high and says, "Well that’s a bad start. I short-stacked myself."

Morrison looks across the table to Rousso and says, "This hand, I needed to be in your seat, Vanessa." She has the button. "Can we tag-team on this?"

Morrison goes back into the tank, and he tells the other players, "This is Kirk, actually doing math right now. Which is a first." After a little more thought, Morrison asks Esfandiari, "If I call, and then bet all in on the river without looking, are you going to call?" Esfandiari remains silent.

After another minute or so in the tank, Morrison says, "Six-hundred-and-fifty. That is a great bet. That is a great bet."

After a total of eight minutes in the tank, Morrison tells Esfandiari, "If I fold this hand, I want your family to scream and yell as loud as possible, so I don’t feel so bad." Morrison folds, and Esfandiari’s friends cheer. But it’s hardly the loudest cheer of the night, so take that for what it’s worth.

Antonio Esfandiari takes the pot.

Seat 1.  Antonio Esfandiari  –  2,835,000
Seat 2.  Vanessa Rousso  –  4,135,000
Seat 4.  John Racener  –  3,835,000
Seat 5.  Kirk Morrison  –  1,770,000
Seat 6.  Andrew Robl  –  5,080,000