"My name is Takeru Ishida, I just turned twenty, and I'm now living my dream of playing in the World Series of Poker."
Takeru was seated in a large, tan, cushioned chair in the middle of a small room. It was entirely undescript and plain, little but four walls, a ceiling, a floor, and a door. It served well to put the focus on only the subject.
"I, uh, I've been friends with Samuel Abaid since I was five. Of course, he's the son of the legendary Joseph Abaid, and I don't need to tell you who he is. When me and Sam turned seven, he started teaching us about poker along with another one of our friends, Ken Ichijouji. I loved the game, it really fascinated me. And I was learning from a great one, so it all came together really well."
"So, I went to academy when I turned twelve, I went to Skyridge, and everywhere I looked, there was poker. There were cash games running in the cafeteria and the social rooms constantly, people playing through the night. Tournaments every weekend, sit-and-goes after dinner, it was everywhere." Takeru adjusted himself in his seat. "Uh, I went to my father and I asked him if he'd be willing to give me a bankroll." He gave a slightly uneasy smile. "My father has been running a casino since before I was born, but he wasn't...overly enthusiastic about me becoming a serious poker player." He cleared his throat. "Yeah, let's go with that, not overly enthusiastic. But he gave me ten thousand dollars to start me off, and he said that if I lost all of it, I wasn't getting another dime out of him."
"Well, I didn't lose that ten thousand dollars. Played almost every day for six years, cash games and tournaments, as much as I could get away with." He nodded to himself. "I was...one of the best players at Skyridge during my time there, and by my third year there I was playing at the highest stakes available. I made a lot of good friends there playing poker, formed a bit of a bond with a few of them. And those friends that I made, they're all here playing too, which is great."
"When I left academy, I already knew that I'd be throwing myself into the poker circuit when I turned twenty. I made...probably a little shy of two million playing poker at academy, I have to know if I can turn that success into success at the highest level." He laughed. "I thought I would, but...being the chip leader after day one at my first ever official poker tournament, it's really a dream, I didn't see it playing out like this."
"And...yeah, my father doesn't mind me playing poker anymore," he added.
OOO
"Well, you can certainly question Takeru's youth and inexperience at this level, but you certainly can't question his pedigree or his passion."
Takeru patiently waited as the dealer dealt out the cards, face down as always, turning his head to look at the player one seat to his right.
"We're picking up the action here at table number twenty-one, day two of the thousand dollar no limit holdem event, just a few hands in. This table features the aforemented Takeru Ishida, currently our chip leader."
"What I want to know is if he learned anything at academy. Not a lot of time to learn your multiplication tables when you're busy learning how to bet your flush draws, what's our educational system coming to George?!"
George gave a quick laugh. "It says here that Takeru actually left academy having achieved first class in two categories. Math and psychology. The sorts of skills you need to play poker. Must have found some time to study inbetween hands."
"We've got Dan Silverman first to act, and he's taking a look down at...the two black queens!"
Silverman was quick to take five blue chips from his stack and place them out past the yellow line on the table.
"He makes it twenty-five hundred with pocket queens."
"This tournament remains a fairly shallow one. Big blind is sitting at one thousand, so even Takeru the chip leader has less than thirty big blinds. When you get dealt a big hand like this, you have to go for maximum value and hope it holds up."
Takeru was next to act, taking a look down at the queen of hearts and jack of hearts.
"Queen jack suited for Takeru. The raise from the under-the-gun player should be worthy of a lot of respect, not sure if Takeru is going to come in here."
Takeru finally took out five blue chips of his own, tossing them into the middle casually.
"Well, Takeru's in. He's in bad shape here, but his hand does have flush and straight potential, so he has plenty of chances to crack the pocket queens."
"Stapp folds, Diaw folds, Parker folds...looks like everyone's going to fold, leaving us with just two players to the flop."
The dealer gathered all the chips into the center in front of him.
"You can see how the ante builds a massive pot. Every player is now required to put a hundred into every pot, so even with only two players, this pot is already at seven thousand four hundred, and that's significant when the tournament is this shallow. Anyway, Silverman currently has eighty-three percent equity in this hand."
The flop was placed out. Jack of clubs, five of clubs, jack of diamonds.
"Oookay, that's certainly one way Takeru can crack the queens! He flops trip jacks, takes a commanding lead in the hand."
Silverman took only a couple seconds to size up his stack before grabbing three purple chips, leaving him with only five of that particular denomination.
"And Silverman's queens are almost always going to be the best hand on a flop like this, so he's definitely going to bet this. But unfortunately for him, they're definitely not the best hand, and he might end up losing all of his chips here."
He tossed out the quartet of chips.
"Only decision Takeru has now is to either call or raise."
Takeru, after just a moment, matched the three purple chips, flipping them into the middle of the table.
"Takeru's just calling the three thousand chip bet. He could be doing this with all kinds of hands, including a lot of hands that two queens is currently way ahead of, so Silverman probably still thinks he has the best hand."
"Might look like Takeru has two clubs, or pocket tens."
The dealer tapped the table a couple times, then burned and turned to show the six of spades.
"Turn card is no help to Silverman. In fact, there's only one card left in the whole deck that can save him, since Takeru is holding the queen of hearts. He'll need the queen of diamonds on the river."
"But that's a very safe card for Dan, he still thinks he easily has the best hand here, he has to fire again."
Sure enough, Silverman gathered up a collection of chips of various colors, quickly firing them into the pot.
"Silverman bets four thousand three hundred. Pretty small bet. He might be feeling the stress of the sudden realization that he might be playing for all his chips on the river."
"He might be playing for all of them right here. Takeru could raise, maybe even raise all-in, and I think Dan would have to go with it. Either choice for Takeru is fine, though, he can almost definitely get value on the river."
Takeru, staring Silverman down, finally stacked up four purple chips with three black chips, tossing the collection of discs in.
"Call it is! Takeru will try to get the rest of Silverman's chips on the river."
The dealer, having built a significant pot in front of him, burned another card to the muck before placing out the river card. The jack of spades.
"Oh, wow! The last jack in the deck finds it's way to the board, and Takeru has quad jacks!"
"Yeeeeahh, it's all going in. Silverman thinks that was a great card for him, it gives him a full house and it makes it EXTREMELY unlikely that Takeru has a jack in his hand, so the only two hands he's worried about are pocket kings and pocket aces. Can't really put Takeru on those two hands when he only called preflop."
"All-in," Silverman announced in a soft little mumble.
Immediately, Takeru took a last look down at his two cards. "Call." He flipped them up, revealing the case jack in his hand.
"Wow." Silverman turned over his two queens. "Nice hand."
"That's a pretty brutal one, Dan taking it well all things considered. He's out of this tournament short of the money, and Takeru goes from twenty-nine thousand to forty-nine thousand in a flash!"
"Alright." Dan stood up from his chair. "Good luck, everyone."
"Brutal one," Takeru said, reaching over and shaking Silverman's hand.
OOO
"Well, the seat formerly occupied by Dan Silverman has been filled. None other than the legend himself, Barry Lewis! This table just got even more interesting!"
A rather small man with a neatly sculpted beard and large nose, wearing a rather garish, multi-colored shirt, sat down at the table with a few racks of chips.
"Lewis, eight career world series bracelets under his belt, and he's basically a hurricane at the high-roller events. Takeru probably doesn't love Barry sitting right next to him, that chip lead he's got could disappear quickly."
With a fold in front of him, Lewis looked down at his two hole cards.
"And right away, Lewis wakes up with the ace of hearts and the queen of diamonds from early position."
Lewis put out five blue chips, signifying a raise to twenty-five hundred.
"He makes it two-and-a-half thousand, which has been the standard raise so far today. Chip stacks are still pretty short, so players are a little hesitant about making it the full three times the big blind."
Takeru, sizing up the bet, took a look down his his cards.
"Oh boy! Takeru looks down at the king of clubs and the king of spades, big pot might be developing!"
"Takeru has forty-seven thousand behind, Lewis has thirty-six thousand after that bet, so neither player is really looking to get it all-in here before the flop since they have a lot of chips. But you gotta believe Takeru is going to raise here."
Takeru, with a stoic expression, flicked out a quarter-stack of blue chips.
"Well...he just calls, that's surprising."
In short order, action went around the felt, each player needing only seconds to decide to fold their cards over into the muck.
"Everyone else getting out of the way. Takeru just calling there really widens his range, he could have a lot of different hands, most of which ace queen is way ahead of, so the strength of his hand is really disguised."
"He also might have been hoping someone behind him tried to squeeze, then he could raise when it gets back around to him and really peel out some serious value. No such luck, everyone folds."
The flop came out in short order. Two of clubs, two of hearts, two of diamonds.
"Three ducks on the flop! Kind of interesting."
"Well, Takeru's range after just calling Barry's bet was pretty wide, but he's probably never got a two in his hand. So Lewis's equity in this hand right now is just at seventeen percent, but he thinks his ace queen is the best hand most of the time, so I think he's betting."
As predicted, the continuation bet came out from Lewis. Purple chips, four of them.
"He makes it four thousand chips to go. A little more than half the pot. He's expecting Takeru's just going to have to fold almost any hand he could have here, since it's really hard to put Takeru on kings after he just flatted preflop."
"He's not folding. I think raising would be a big mistake here, calling continues to disguise the strength of his hand."
"Yup, Takeru's putting out four purple chips, he's calling. Raising would probably chase Lewis away, and now he's probably going to unload another bet on the turn here."
"Turn card is coming out...oh, the queen of spades!"
The dealer flipped up the face card, putting it out next to the three deuces.
"Terrible card for Barry. Both players now have a full house, both of them deuces full, but Takeru's two kings beat Barry's two queens. And if Barry thought he had the best hand before, he DEFINITELY thinks he has the best hand now."
Barry, hands moving slowly and deliberately, grabbed a half-stack of blue chips and a purple chip. The eleven little discs went out past the yellow line, signifying a bet of six thousand.
"Pretty binary decision tree for Takeru here. If he thinks Barry has a queen in his hand, he should raise, and if he doesn't think Barry has a queen, he should just call."
Takeru went for his stack of purple chips. He took the column of twenty chips, splitting them out into four stacks of five. He took three of the smaller stacks and put them back into one stack, then pushed it forward.
"And Takeru raises to fifteen thousand!"
"Well, moment of truth for Barry Lewis here. He still has twenty-six thousand in chips, so he CAN fold, especially knowing that he's probably going to have to go all-in on the river. But I don't see how he can get away from this. In his mind, he's only losing to pocket kings or pocket aces, and he can't really put Takeru on either of those hands right now."
Barry Lewis swallowed down hard, finally reaching his hands down to gather up various chips. "I'm calling," he said quietly.
"And Barry Lewis certainly can't fold now on the river. He needs a queen, ace, or two on the river to make the best hand."
With the massive amount of chips in the middle, the dealer took a moment to gather it all in after Lewis made the proper chip offering. Finally, the burn card went out, and the river came down, the three of diamonds.
"That won't do it. Lewis has seventeen thousand chips left, the pot's over forty-five thousand, is there any way Lewis makes it out with anything left?"
"Well, Barry checks, so that might help. Now, you know Takeru really wants to get called here, he's sure he has the best hand. He could make a small bet here, in theory, to make it easier for Barry to call. But there's no reason to not just shove here and go for maximum value, in my opinion."
"Ten thousand," Takeru said, pushing a full stack of blue chips across the yellow line.
"Well, he's going for the small bet here. Lewis is getting more than five-and-a-half to one on a call here, AND if he's wrong, he'll still have seven thousand behind."
Barry winced down hard, leaning forward, staring at the community cards, shuffling his chips with his right hand.
"A lot of leveling going on here from Takeru, I think. When you make a bet that's really small in proportion to the size of the pot, it looks like it's just begging to be called, so it makes Takeru's hand look super strong. Of course, even with that, it's so hard to fold when you're getting such a good price."
"Twenty years old?" Barry turned to look over at Takeru. "First official tournament?"
"Yes sir," Takeru replied, twisting his head over to look at him. "I won't bother asking you either of those questions."
"Takeru getting a little chatty here. Most players would just keep quiet in a spot like this, though it's hard to say what it means."
"I just don't think the young ones have the courage to flat preflop with aces and kings." Barry said. He took a stack of blue chips and shoved them forward. "I call."
Quickly, Takeru flipped up his two kings, drawing a quick scowl from Barry.
"Well, so much for that," Barry said, tossing his hand into the muck. "You played that one perfectly...Ishida, is it?"
"Thank you, sir. Means a lot coming from you," Takeru replied, taking in the large pot of chips.
"Takeru showing his elder, as well as one of the all-time greats, his due respect. But he definitely had him on a string on that hand, and he's now up to over eighty thousand in chips!"
"Maintains his stranglehold on the tournament chip lead, and has put one of the best players remaining in the field on vapors! He's showing everyone that day one wasn't just one-off!"
OOO
~Takeru~
"I swear, I woke up this morning planning to play really aggressive," Takeru said, shaking his head as he walked through the pathway between tables, carrying four plastic racks of full of chips, stacked on top of each other. "I was planning to open every pot that got folded to me in late position, I was going to raise nearly everything from the button, the whole nine yards!"
"Yeah, I'm sure, you keep telling yourself that buddy," Daryl said, grinning, taking up stride next to Takeru. "Somewhere between the bed and the table, you clearly changed your mind and transformed into a nit."
"You'd play like a nit too if you kept ringing up monster pots on your good hands!" Takeru stopped, turning to Daryl. "Why play my bad hands when I keep getting paid off on my big hands, right?"
Daryl nodded. "You are getting some pretty hefty value. Did you see Barry Lewis's face when you turned over those kings?"
"I've been watching him since yesterday, he's been running really good," Sammy added.
"Less than three hundred entrants left," Daryl added. "You hold on for another two hours, you're definitely gonna be in the money."
"I think my goals are a little higher right now," Takeru replied, stopping by one set of rails surrounding a table. "Alright, this is my new table, here we go."
Sammy, Daryl, and Hikari all stopped at the railing as Takeru carefully stepped over it, cautious to not spill his chips.
"I'm gonna go grab some food," Daryl said, pointing over to the right at the booths. "You guys want anything?"
Sammy looked over the crowd at the line of booths. "I forgot to eat anything this morning. What excuse do I have, I'm not even playing today!" He grimaced. "Uh, the chicken and beef teriyaki dish they've got, just order it and tell them to bring it over to table eight, I'll be hanging around here." He pointed at Hikari. "You?"
"I'm...I'm good, sir," Hikari replied.
"You should get her a chocolate bar, she'll love it," Sammy suggested. "Come on, Hikari, there's a whole world of sugar you've got to be introduced to."
Hikari gave Sammy a shocked look, turning to look at the taller man with wide eyes.
"What? Your name?" He shrugged. "How would I forget a name like that? Anyway, it's got the same flavor as the ice cream you were eating yesterday, but it's more...focused, more dense."
Hikari's eyes flashed. "They...they can make that?"
Immediately, Takeru burst out laughing, pointing at Hikari. "Oh wow, look at her eyes! Lit up like fireworks when you said that!" He nodded. "Yeah, get her one of those." He turned around, putting his focus on the table in front of him. His grin immediately disappeared at what he saw. "Holy crap!"
Quickly, he went up to the table, circling around to seat number seven, eyes glued to the player in seat eight. "Daniel?!"
"Hm?" Daniel Karns looked up at Takeru. A short, rather unassuming man with a rather unkempt beard.
"Oh, wow," Takeru said, looking away from the table, eyes wide. "I'm sitting next to Daniel Karns at the World Series of Poker, are you serious right now?!"
Daniel nodded. "And I'm sitting next to...uh..." he looked up at Takeru's chip racks. "Aw, crap, I'm sitting next to the Ishida kid, the chip leader? That you?"
"Yes sir," Takeru said, taking his seat on Daniel's immediate right. "Big fan, Mister Karns, you're my idol."
"Well, I might not be after today," Karns said, nevertheless a large smile on his face.
"I very much doubt that." Takeru began stacking his chips on the felt in front of him. "I was eight when you won the five thousand dollar horse event, I remember watching it."
Daniel's eyes widened a bit, nodding. "That was a good one. Kinda miss that event." He pointed down at his chip stack, circling his finger around it. "This one, not going so good."
Takeru leaned forward and looked over. "Like...five thousand six hundred? That's more than enough for you man, you only need a few chips! You can dodge bullets!"
Daniel gave a little laugh. "Been dodging bullets all day already. Miracle I'm not felted yet."
OOO
"I'm not gonna ruin your view of me if I whine a bit about bad luck, am I? I'd hate to do that," Daniel added. "Seriously, I was actually one of the chip leaders when the day started."
"Hey, I get it, Mister Karns. Everyone complains about bad luck sometimes, I've been around poker long enough to know that," Takeru replied, putting out one black chip.
"That's our chip leader, Takeru Ishida, just joining table eight, and geeking out a little bit about getting to play with Daniel Karns."
"Hard to blame Takeru, Karns is one of the biggest names in professional poker right now. But it's been a rough day for him, and he's down below five big blinds. You know he's going to have to double up at least once to make the money, and he's going to need a serious run of pot scooping if he wants to even think about making the final table."
With Takeru ready, the cards began to get passed out to each player.
"Let's be clear, Karns does not care about making the money in this tournament. He made close to two million dollars last year at the World Poker Tour alone, so picking up a couple thousand dollars here would probably feel like working for less than the minimum wage as far as he's concerned. If he doesn't make the final twenty, then this tournament is definitely a failure for him, and at the end of the day, he's here for the bracelet."
In short order, everyone around the table folded, Takeru taking a beat to settle himself before looking down at his two cards. Ace of hearts and ace of spades.
"And...heh, Takeru Ishida takes a seat at the table, and before he even has all of his chips stacked, he gets dealt the best starting hand in Holdem, a pair of aces, from the cutoff."
Takeru, with a moment of thought, grabbed three purple chips and tossed them out in front of him, taking back the black chip.
"He makes it three thousand. The big blind is up to twelve hundred now, so that's two-and-a-half times the big blind, fairly standard. And if Karns wakes up with any kind of a hand here, this might be it for him."
"And Daniel...jack of diamonds, jack of clubs, hoo boy."
Daniel took the entire remainder of his chip stack and began shuffling them, looking over at Takeru, giving him a staredown.
"Pocket jacks on the button for Daniel, so long Mister Karns. He's going all-in, Takeru is calling, and barring a minor miracle with how the board runs out, it'll be lights out for Danny."
"Five thousand six hundred, all-in," Daniel said.
"Takeru counting the seconds for the blinds to fold."
Both the other two players still in the hand tossed their cards over to the dealer, donating their blinds and antes to the pot between Takeru and Daniel.
"I call," Takeru said immediately. Daniel could only wince at the speed that Takeru spoke with.
"You know, I'm actually kind of happy," Daniel said, flipping over his two jacks. "You'd think I'd be annoyed, but you're actually putting me out of my misery, so I'm pretty good with it."
Takeru, without a word, turned over the pocket aces.
"Yup," Daniel said, a tone of resignation in his voice.
"No way Karns could fold pocket jacks with so few chips left in front of him. He did the only thing he could do, and he's a big underdog now."
"Actually..." Daniel stood up, closing his eyes and putting his hands together in front of him. "You know, I actually feel like a jack is coming." He nodded. "I think it's coming! Yeah, the whole day's been a mess, it's all led up to this moment, I'm gonna spike a jack!" He pointed at Takeru. "I mean, this guy can afford it, he wouldn't even be that mad if it happened."
"Oh my God. I just sat down at a poker table with Daniel Karns and felted him after one hand," Takeru said, looking mildly shocked.
"So you're not feeling a jack?" Daniel asked, grinning. "I dunno man, I'm kinda feeling it."
"I was actually looking forward to playing with you for a couple hours," Takeru said, a tinge of regret in his voice.
"Well, you could have folded," Daniel said, voice playful and joking.
"Had Takeru folded his aces preflop, he would almost definitely have faced an accusation of collusion by the tournament officials, probably would have been penalized."
The dealer put out three cards, the three of diamonds, two of hearts, and three of spades.
"Horrible flop for Karns. He's got no backdoor outs, he has no hope of making a flush or a straight, and he's now down to eight percent equity. Has to catch a jack."
"I said I felt it was coming, I didn't say where!" Daniel said, bouncing around as he stood there to Takeru's left.
"Karns remains optimistic, but he's down to two outs with two cards coming."
The dealer, with only a moment of pause, put down the ten of diamonds.
"Alright, I don't feel it coming anymore." Daniel reached down underneath his seat, pulling out a black bag with a shoulder strap. "I changed my mind, it's not coming."
Takeru looked up at Daniel, extending his hand up towards him. "Sorry, man."
"I'd say good luck, but I don't think you need it." Daniel took Takeru's hand and shook it. "Man, if I doubled up here I think I could have at least made the money."
"You won the Super High Roller in Brugal last month, I don't think eight hundred dollars would have done much for you," Takeru countered.
The dealer, burning a card, put out the river. Eight of spades.
"Alright, have fun everyone!" Daniel called out, waving to the table and turning towards the rail.
"Takeru might be a little disappointed that he only got to play with Karns for one hand, but he has to feel great about getting up to just under a hundred thousand chips AND eliminating one of the best players left in the field!"
"Where's Karns go?"
Takeru turned his head to look behind him. Sammy, Hikari, and Daryl were standing there by the railing, Daryl with a box of popcorn in one hand and a candy bar in the other. Daryl was looking around in confusion.
"Bathroom break?" Daryl asked Takeru.
"Uh...I might have just...felted him," Takeru said tenatively, scratching the back of his head.
"Oh, you're shitting me!" Daryl's eyes flew open, as he looked around, as if expecting to see Karns suddenly re-appear and cast Takeru's statement as a joke.
"I saw it happen right in front of me," Sammy said.
"God damn, I leave for five minutes, and you bust out a legend?" Daryl gave a small laugh. "This has got to be the greatest show in the world!"
"Takeru talking with a couple of his friends there. They seem just as shocked as everyone else at Karns's departure."
OOO
"Bob Watson in early position, under the gun plus one, looking down at six five, both spades."
Watson, putting his two cards next to each other in front of him, furrowed his brow in thought.
"Small suited connectors can be a fun hand to play, but from early position, it might be best to just get rid of this one."
Watson took three purple chips and fired them out.
"Watson raises to three thousand."
"Well, raising is probably better than just calling here. Represents a much stronger hand since he's in such early position. He does have forty thousand chips, so he can afford to gamble a little bit, and if he gets re-raised he can just throw the hand away."
A flurry of folds took the action around the table, stopping one seat shy of where Takeru sat.
"Well, he should get at least a call here from Abram Radmanovich, he's got pocket sixes."
Abram blinked down at his cards for a moment, then placed out the required offering of three purple chips.
"Radmanovich calls. He's down to about twenty thousand, so he's got less room to mess around. This would be a phenomenal spot for Takeru to put out a three-bet here, he might get both of these guys to fold. Of course, he can't know that."
Takeru looked down at his two cards, bending his head down low.
"Well, he might not know that, but he's probably going to three-bet here all the same. Ace of spades, king of diamonds for Takeru!"
"Pretty much a mandatory raise here, and it might pick up the pot preflop."
Takeru pulled out a full stack of purple chips, cutting it in half, then pulling one chip off of the right stack and putting it on the left. He pushed the right stack out in front of him.
"Takeru pushes it to nine thousand. The small blind folds immediately."
The player two seats to the left of Takeru looked down to her cards.
"And Carly Landeau, from the big blind, has ace king as well! Ace of hearts, king of clubs."
"Okay, this hand just got a lot less interesting. Carly's probably going to put in a four-bet here, Watson and Radmanovich will fold, and Takeru and Carly are destined to split this pot."
Carly, using her small, thin hands, push forward a full stack of purple, representing a raise to twenty thousand.
"She four-bets to twenty grand, getting Watson to fold immediately. Now, Radmanovich is gonna think about this for a second, but I think he knows he has to let this one go."
Radmanovich, a look of annoyance on his face, played with his chips for a few moments.
"Takeru started this hand with ninety-five thousand, and Carly started it with sixty thousand, so both players have plenty of chips. And we're right near the money bubble, so there's a chance these two proceed cautiously. But there could definitely be an all-in preflop with these two hands, and Radmanovich does NOT want to get involved with that."
Radmanovich slid his cards over to the dealer.
"Abram folds his pocket sixes, leaving only two players in the pot, both holding ace king. A chopped pot is virtually guaranteed, particularly if they get it all in here."
Takeru, considering things for only a few seconds, grabbed a pair of chips from the back of his chip pile. Gold and silver colors alternated along the faces of these chips.
"Those gold and silver chips are worth ten thousand each, Takeru's about to force Carly to make a tough decision for her entire tournament. I can't see Carly folding, but being this close to the money has to at least put the thought in her head."
Takeru bounced out the two chips, along with four purple ones.
"Takeru puts twenty-four thousand in, bouncing the raise size all the way up to thirty-three thousand. Now Carly has forty thousand behind, there's sixty-two thousand in the pot, I think shoving is the best move. You might get Takeru to fold a hand like pocket tens or pocket jacks, and as long as he doesn't have aces or kings you have reasonable equity."
"Huge pot developing, probably about to get bigger."
"I'm all-in," Carly said, voice barely audible from behind her steepled fingers.
"I call," Takeru replied.
"There it is! Carly six-bets all-in, Takeru calls immediately, and after all that, we're almost certainly chopping this pot!"
"Takeru must feel like he has some kind of read on Carly. He didn't even hesitate in calling, almost as if it didn't even occur to him that Carly could have aces or kings."
Carly flipped over her off-suit ace king, immediately followed by Takeru turning up his own very similar hand.
"After all that, we're seriously gonna split this pot?" Carly said. "Don't know why I'm disappointed, when you snap-called I thought you had aces."
"I'll take a chop," Takeru said, nodding. "Chop is good."
"Both players have two percent equity in the hand right now. The other ninety-six percent of the time, this pot gets split."
The dealer, with a veritable mountain of clay chips before him, put out three cards on the board.
"Jack of clubs, seven of spades, king of spades on the flop, and...well, we have ourselves a bit of a sweat. Carly officially can not win this hand under any circumstance, but Takeru is holding the ace of spades, so if he catches running spades, the hand is his."
"Carly prays for a red card on the turn so she can sit back down and breathe again."
The dealer, with a quick burn and turn, revealed the ten of spades.
"Oh, shit," Carly said under her breath, with a bit of a disbelieving laugh in her voice nonetheless, putting her hands up to her mouth.
"It's...it's not actually going to happen, is it?"
"Well, if the river is another spade, Takeru will take an extremely unlikely pot. But it can't possibly happen, it would be WAY too gross of a way to get busted out of a tournament. Right?"
"Come on, you got any red cards in that deck?" Carly groaned. "Please, red, red card."
Takeru said nothing, serenely looking down at the spot where the river card would go.
"Great moment for Takeru. At worst, he's splitting the pot and will chip up over four thousand chips, but if the spade comes in, he'll rocket all the way up to one hundred and seventy-six thousand seven hundred!"
The dealer, after burning the top card. Put down the river. Jack of spades.
"Oh my GOD! That is GROTESQUE!"
Carly's head immediately drooped down low, looking down at the floor.
"Takeru makes the nut flush, and improbably, has eliminated Carly Landeau from the tournament!"
"Well. I've had a lot of tournament eliminations over the years that I don't remember. At least I'll remember this one." She gave a strained smile. "Alright, good luck everyone." She kneeled down by her chair, grabbing a small purse, and walked over to Takeru. Takeru, wordlessly, took her hand and shook it.
"Takeru not saying a word here, knows he basically just won the lottery, nothing much he can say that wouldn't just be twisting the knife for Carly."
As Carly made her way over the rail, a series of soft, yet still quite loud, tones sounded off, almost like a pleasant alarm.
"And the money bubble has burst! With that elimination, there are now two hundred players left in this tournament, and all remaining players will receive a cash prize when they get felted! Carly Landeau is the bubble girl, and she did it in the ugliest way you could imagine."
"That alarm is sweet music to the ears of everyone with chips left in front of them. We've got a few players around the room with only a few thousand chips left, they can loosen up a bit and try to chip up with the knowledge that they're taking home something. Next handful of eliminations will take home one thousand seven hundred and seventy-three dollars. And Carly is gonna try to find somewhere to throw up."
OOO
"Takeru, in the cutoff, with one seventy-five in chips, takes a look at the jack of spades and nine of diamonds."
"Pretty mediocre hand here for Takeru, but nobody's opened the pot yet and he can likely buy the button if he raises, so it's probably good enough. Helps when you have all the chips in the world too."
Takeru flipped out three purple chips and two black chips, taking back the one black chip he had already put out.
"Makes it thirty-two hundred to go."
The button and small blind both immediately threw their hands over to the dealer, leaving just one opponent to consider his options.
"Well, Matthew McDonald is in the big blind with the jack of clubs and the ten of diamonds. He's already got fifteen hundred chips committed to this pot from his blind, I think he'll be calling."
McDonald took back the handful of chips in front of him, putting out three purples and two blacks to match Takeru's wager.
"McDonald just joined this table a few hands ago, clearly nobody told him to not get involved in pots with the BUZZSAW that is Takeru Ishida...although he does have Takeru dominated right now. Plus, McDonald actually does have one hundred and twenty thousand in chips, so he's one guy who can actually put a dent in Takeru's chipstack right now."
"Sixty-nine percent equity for McDonald, nineteen percent for Takeru. Twelve percent of the time they'll chop."
The dealer laid out three cards. Seven of diamonds, jack of hearts, nine of clubs.
"And THIS is why you don't get involved in pots with the buzzsaw. McDonald has flopped top pair, but Takeru has flopped top TWO pair to turn the tables of the hand!"
"Another donation to Takeru's chipstack coming up."
McDonald, with little thought, tapped the felt a few times with his right hand.
"McDonald does check top pair, however, which could limit the damage."
Takeru picked up a stack of purple chips, looking them over closely.
"Takeru's definitely betting here, there's already a possible straight out there, he can't just give a free card and let it be an eight or a ten, both cards that would either kill his action or give McDonald a better hand."
Takeru dropped out four purple chips.
"Four thousand chip raise from Takeru. He's got a lot of chips, and he's not afraid to use them. McDonald isn't going anywhere, he's got top pair and a gutshot to a straight. He might even raise here."
After some consideration, McDonald extended his hand out with four purple chips, dropping them past the yellow line.
"The sick thing is, McDonald probably thinks he's trapping Takeru here. Turn card coming."
"Jack of diamonds on the turn! Takeru now has a full house, jacks full of nines, and McDonald has trip jacks!"
With the turn card out, Matthew McDonald again tapped the felt lightly.
"With two jacks on the board and a jack in his hand, it's really hard for Matt to give Takeru credit for holding a jack. He thinks Takeru is bluffing and is looking to trap him. Takeru can bet pretty much any amount he wants and get called."
Takeru, staring down McDonald on the other side of the table, absentmindedly playing with his chips, finally reached his hand to the back of his stack and pulled a gold and silver chip. He flipped it forward.
"Ten thousand into a pot of fifteen thousand seven hundred. Pretty big bet, and it's definitely getting called."
McDonald milked the time a fair amount, considering his options for several long seconds, before cutting a stack of purple chips in half and pushing it forward.
"McDonald just calls. He's already invested over seventeen thousand into this hand, and unless he spikes a ten on this river, he's gonna lose all that plus more."
The dealer, satisfied with the chip donations of both players, placed down the three of hearts.
"That won't do it for McDonald. How much is he going to lose in this hand?"
McDonald, for a third time, led the action with a tap of the table, putting the action on Takeru.
"Matthew thinks he's being sneaky, doing nothing but checking and calling. Granted, he's definitely disguised the strength of his hand, but the problem is, his hand is second best, disguised or not."
Takeru began putting together his bet, taking out a full stack of purple, then adding two gold and silver ones atop it. Slowly, he pushed the twenty-two chip tower out.
"Wow! Takeru makes a HUGE bet here, thirty thousand, nearly the size of the pot!"
McDonald swallowed down hard, staring at the massive representation of value that Takeru had just wagered.
"Aaand McDonald is starting to sense danger. A bet this big is extremely polarizing, it basically means Takeru either has a full house or he has absolutely nothing. The absolute worst hand Takeru would do this with for value is probably ace jack, so in essence, McDonald can only beat Takeru if he's bluffing."
"And we know he's certainly not. In fact, he's holding the absolute nuts, jacks full of nines."
"I call," McDonald said, gathering up three stacks of purple chips and shoving them forward.
Takeru silently showed his hand, the unbeatable full house. McDonald could only frown as he slipped the chips forward towards the dealer, knowing he wouldn't be seeing those chips again for at least a little while.
"McDonald loses more than a third of his chips, and he didn't really do anything wrong there. Can't fold a hand that strong. Just bad luck. And his bad luck is Takeru's good luck, he's now got over two hundred and twenty thousand!"
OOO
~Hikari~
"I'm not being sarcastic at all, I'm extremely proud of this."
Akira was holding two pieces of paper up in front of his chest. The first was full sized, white with a few decorative lines of light green running around it, bearing a simple paragaph.
"Akira Ueno, congratulations on finishing 186th in the 2021 World Series of Poker $1,000 No Limit Holdem event. The World Series of Poker is made by the players who participate in it, and you have proven yourself to be a great one with your performance. On behalf of Tournament Director Jack Custer, we appreciate your high quality of play and wish to see you again."
The second was much smaller, a small slip, that showed only a string of random letters and numbers, followed by the notation of '$1,773'.
"I'm proud of the fact that I'm here," Sammy said. The two of them were still up on the rail, still watching Takeru running hotter than the sun at his table. Hikari, of course, dutifully stood there, obeying her only order of imparting good luck onto her owner, Daryl standing next to her. "I'm twenty years old and I'm playing in the world series, that's incredible."
"No, I want praise for the fact that I'm proud." Akira pointed over at Takeru's back. "Because with him taking a flamethrower to the entire field right now, it's AMAZING that I'm proud of my performance in this tournament. I deserve serious credit for being proud."
"Hey, if any of us were getting the cards he's getting we'd do well." He turned to look at Takeru's back. "Maybe not THAT well, but...we'd do very well."
"Look at how she's taken to the game," Daryl said, looking over at Hikari. "She can't take her eyes off of Takeru, all day."
Hikari shrunk her head down slightly, looking over at Daryl.
"I'm glad you can appreciate what you're watching," Daryl continued. "It's not often that a poker player runs like this. And when a player does get this hot, it's an absolute thing of beauty to watch."
"So. Profit of just under eight hundred dollars, what you gonna do with it?" Sammy asked Akira.
"That's a good question," Akira replied, leaning up on the rail. "I could get some decals on my jet. That's a practical use of poker winnings, isn't it?"
"Quads." Takeru flipped up his hand.
"Wow." A player across from him threw his hand into the muck. "At least I knew not to bet the river."
"How did YOU not bet the river?" another player chimed in, also putting his cards over into the fold pile. "You checked that?"
Takeru shrugged. "I thought one of you two was going to bet it, I was trapping!"
"Did he seriously get quads again?" Sammy asked, craning his neck up to try to see the table.
"This is the second time today I've gotten quads," Takeru continued, shaking his head in disbelief. "It's unreal, this whole tournament. Especially today, it's been insane."
"Takeru has played a lot of poker in his life, he's seen almost everything. And even he can't believe this, that should tell you something," Daryl said, speaking to Hikari more than anything.
"So is this the scene of the murderers?"
The four turned away from the table to find Miyako coming up, holding her hands behind her back, a cheerful smile on her face.
"The murderers are still happening," Akira said. "He hit quads not thirty seconds ago."
"No wonder I couldn't make a hand the last hour," Miyako grumbled. "Takeru's taking all of them."
"So you're out?"
Miyako cleared her throat. "Welcome to Profit City. Population..."
She pulled two pieces of paper from behind her back, both almost identical to Akira's. The larger one substituted her name in, and also placed '140th' instead of '186th'. The second held a similar string of letters and numbers, capped off with a '$2,128'.
"...me."
"Alright, you go!" Sammy said, reaching her hand out towards Miyako, letting her lightly smack it across the palm.
"Congratulations, ma'am," Hikari said, bowing her head slightly in Miyako's direction. "You must be very proud."
"She's no ma'am," Sammy said jokingly, turning back to look at Takeru.
"Yeah, but I like being called one." Miyako went up to the rail, leaning up against one of the little poles that supported it. "And so, with eleven hundred in profit in my pocket, I thought I'd slip over here and lend moral support to the man on fire."
Daryl scoffed. "He doesn't need it. And I'm totally telling Ken that you came here instead of going to him."
"I went to Ken first," Miyako said dismissively. "He's like, eighth in chips, doing great." He pointed at Takeru. "But this...this is a different level. I saw the chip leaderboard, he's got it crushed. Hell, we might even be watching history."
OOO
"Wow! And after a day of hitting card after card, Takeru might finally be running into danger!"
The flop was put down, jack of diamonds, nine of hearts, jack of clubs, three players still in.
"Three players see this flop, and what a flop! Gregory Ward has pocket sixes, so he missed, but Takeru Ishida is holding king jack for trip jacks. BUT, Claire Racener is holding jack nine, and has flopped a full house!"
"Racener checks her full house, hoping someone bets. The good news for Takeru is that he has two hundred and seventy thousand chips and Racener has ninety thousand, so she can't do TOO much damage to the chip leader, but she can chip away at that stack."
Ward tapped the felt, putting the action onto Takeru, who acted decisively in putting out a silver and gold chip along with a purple one.
"Bets eleven thousand into a pot of nearly twenty-three. This kid has been making more hands today than a mannequin factory, and he's made another one, but this time it's not the best one."
Racener, expression flat and unreadable, matched the bet with the same chips, calling the wager wordlessly.
"She calls, and Ward folds, figuring his sixes can't possibly be good with a better and caller already in. Takeru has fourteen percent equity, he needs a king to take the lead. Also some split pot possibilities."
The dealer placed down a six of spades.
"Well, Ward WOULD have made a full house if he had called, but it would have been a lesser full house than Racener's so he's quite lucky he folded. Anyway, no help to Takeru there, still well behind."
Racener checked, prompting Takeru to immediately move to his chips. "Half-pot," he said quietly, putting chips together.
"Takeru announces a bet of twenty-two thousand four hundred. Can't really be blamed for thinking he has the best hand here, just one of those hands. The kids call it a cooler."
Racener didn't take long to make an identical tower of chips, preparing to call Takeru's large bet, pumping the pot to just shy of ninety grand.
"Well, Takeru can still win this one with a king, and if another nine comes we'll see a split pot. But he might finally be giving back a few chips after running so well."
One more card coming to complete the board, the dealer obliged by burning one before setting out the king of hearts.
"The river's a king! Takeru now has a higher full house than Racener!"
"Oh my God, this Takeru kid spikes more than a lie detector on a politician. There's only one hand in the world that Takeru is losing to, pocket kings, and the way Racener played this hand it's tough to believe she has that."
Racener again checked.
"Racener passes the action to Takeru, she's trying to trap! She's praying that Takeru fires out another bet, and she's certainly going to shove all-in and go for the double up. Unfortunately for her, there will be no double up, and she's the one getting trapped!"
Takeru put together a small tower, three silver and golds on top of five purples.
"Thirty-five thousand goes into the middle from Takeru! If Racener calls and loses, she'd be left with less than sixteen thousand, but I don't think she's even considering a call here."
"I'm all-in," Racener said.
"Call," Takeru immediately followed, turning over his jacks full of kings.
Racener's eyes bulged a bit at the sight, before giving a resigned nod. "Good hand." She stood up.
"There are less than two million chips in play in the entire tournament. Takeru now has three hundred seventy-five thousand of them!"
"Which might not be such a big deal if there weren't still seventy-three players left in the field. Someone should ask him if having that horseshoe stuck up there is uncomfortable."
OOO
~Takeru~
"Read em and weep!" Daisy ran forward towards the railing, holding a slip of paper in front of her out towards Takeru. It was her own congratulatory note from the world series, thanking her for her strong performance that had warranted a fifty-eighth place finish.
"Alright, that a way!" Takeru gave her a thumbs up as she went up to him.
Daisy then showed the other slip, indicating a payout of four thousand seven hundred eighty-seven dollars. "You doubted me, you all doubted me, you all told me to go home and get in the kitchen and pop out babies, look at me NOW!"
Sammy stifled a laugh. "Oh yes, we did all say that."
"We said that like every day for the last eight years," Takeru added, unable to supress a grin.
"W...wait. Why would you...say that to her?" Hikari asked, holding her hand up in the air, almost like she was trying to get called on by a teacher.
Miyako squeezed her eyes shut, giving a small laugh. "This girl is so great. It's seriously so refreshing to have someone around here who doesn't speak sarcasm!"
Daisy clapped her hand on Hikari's shoulder. "They didn't say that to me, I just...always wanted to say something like that." She shrugged.
"...oh," Hikari replied, meekly turning away from the group, clearly embarrassed.
"Don't worry about it," Daisy said casually. "You not getting the joke is proof that you're the only good person here. We're all awful." She turned over to Takeru, beaming. "So...did I catch the leaderboard right? Three hundred and sixty thousand chips?"
"Eh, I lost count somewhere around two-fifty, but...yeah, that's close enough," Takeru said, turning around to look at his seat at the table.
"He's shattered so many dreams today," Yuma joked. "He's an absolute monster. He can't be stopped, can only be contained."
"Hey, I haven't won a serious hand in over an hour," Takeru protested.
"And you still have all the chips in the world!" Sammy shook his head. "I mean, I know you ran over some of the tournaments back in academy, but this...this is the world series!"
"We're down to the final forty-five players, so we're getting down to the final five tables." Takeru turned around to see tournament officials moving about, trying to organize the remaining pieces of the event, getting the five tables ready. "Ultra deluxe table coverage now. I saw Ken's still got eighty grand, maybe we'll get at the same table, that'd be tight."
"Where's Ken anyway? Too good for us now?" Yuma looked around over his shoulder.
"Well, play starts again in like twelve minutes, not a ton of time for a good luck quickie from Miyako," Daryl said. "Probably had to move fast."
"Charming," Daisy said flatly. "Say, TK...I probably shouldn't say anything, but...you know you're going for the record, right?"
"Yes." Takeru turned around towards the table, rolling his arms back, stretching. "So please don't remind me."