Jeremy Maher Finishes Second in Chips; Irving Pimentel Comes Back From the Dead

Another player in contention for the chip lead is Jeremy Maher, on the other side of the room.

In the second-to-last hand of the day at this table, Maher sees a flop of [Qs10c8h] against Bill Kontaratos. Kontaratos checks the big blind, Maher bets 3,300, and Kontaratos tanks for about a minute before he calls. The turn card is the [7h], Kontaratos checks, Maher bets 7,300, and Kontaratos again thinks for a while before he calls.

The river card is the [5c], and both players check. Maher turns over [AdQh] for top pair, top kicker, and Kontaratos mucks. Maher takes the pot to increase his chip stack, still in contention for the chip lead.

In the last hand of the day, Bill Kontaratos limps under the gun for 500, immediately followed by Irving Pimentel and another player. The action is on Maher, who checks his cards and folds. One of the limpers says, "C’mon, we wanted you in the last hand."

There are a handful of players involved in this last hand, and fireworks go off on the turn with the board showing [QhJd2hAc]. Kontaratos and Pimentel both check, the third player bets 9,000, and Kontaratos moves all in. Pimentel was in a seat without a clear view of Kontaratos, and clearly didn’t know that Kontaratos had gone all in — Pimentel said, "Call," and put out 9,000.

When Pimentel was told that Kontaratos was all in with more chips, forcing Pimentel all in, he didn’t seem pleased. It got worse, when the other player also called. Here were the hands:

Bill Kontaratos:  [AsJh] (two pair)
Irving Pimentel:  [10d9c]  (open-ended straight draw)
Third Player:  [2c2s]  (set of deuces)

Pimentel had apparently lost all hope after his mistaken call, because he grabbed his things and started walking away. But when the dealer put out the river card, it was the [Ks].

The entire table reacted loudly at the suckout, but Pimentel just kept walking away until someone yelled, "Dude, get back here. You won the hand!" Pimentel returned, but it didn’t seem to sink in right away. Instead of being eliminated, Pimentel finished the day with 57,525 — an above-average stack.

Jeremy Maher finished the day second in chips (unofficially), falling short of Vincenzo Abate who won the last two hands at his table on the other side of the tournament room.

Jeremy Maher  –  176,875
Irving Pimentel  –  57,525
Bill Kontaratos  –  50,425