Poker gems, #232

Mike Eikenberry, in Poker Player newspaper column, April 13, 2009 (Vol. 12, #21), p. 10. He is recounting his top ten poker moments.


5. Bad Beat/Not. In a super satellite for the 1995 WSOP, I found myself down to the final seven players. Only six of us would win a seat and it appeared that I would finish seventh. I went card-dead and almost out of chips. I found myself with half my chips on the big blind. Everyone folded around to former world champion Hamid Dastmalchi on the small blind. He hardly looked at his hand before putting me all-in. Going to the river, the board was a rainbow 9-9-9-A and I was in bad shape with 5-4 suited. I was crushed when a deuce fell on the river and stood up to leave, throwing my hand face up. Amazingly, Hamid reluctantly turned over the only hand that I could beat--a three and a four. A few hands later another player was eliminated and I had my ticket to the show.