If weeding out the ten best players here had been a marathon, then the battle among the last ten was a sprint, and one I blame on the break. Three of our number had been forced into the crowd within the first five or six hands. Granted those three had had the least amount of money left, but all the same it was remarkable just how fast it had occurred. As I looked down at my cards I knew that if I were to bet on what I held, then I was going to quickly follow suit; so I did the smart thing and folded. That left everyone but Patrick, Tyson, and myself still vying for the hand.
Now there are some flops that scream to good players “watch out I’m a trap.” When you see the king of hearts and the aces of spades and diamonds you should proceed with caution. It certainly wouldn’t have helped the hand I had folded, a thought which made me smile. But, I could tell that it helped Bella, thought I doubted anyone left in the hand caught onto it. She calmly began the round with a check to Constantine, who was aggressively pushing forward with two hundred thousand dollars. David made a show of deciding whether or not he should call, but I could tell that he was eager thanks to the flop. While Christopher, Mike, and Zachary folded their hands, Thomas raised the stakes to three hundred thousand, and without even cracking a smile, Bella took the stakes up to half a million. With a great deal of complaining Constantine, David, and Thomas eventually called the bet and we all waited for the next card.
It was the jack of hearts. I could see the barest hint of a glimmer in Bella’s eyes, though it was quickly gone. This time she was the one who hemmed and hawed about what she was going to do before eventually pulling a cool million out of her stack and waiting for any takers. I wondered what she held. Though more subdued this time around, the other three each ponied up their million to see the last card. The last card revealed the nine of hearts, a fact that seemed to make Bella’s night. However, this time she just checked to Constantine. He must have loved the card as well because he decided to really up the ante by going all in. This meant that everyone, with the exception of Bella, would have to go all in as well. Each of them pulled that trigger.
When Constantine flipped his hand he revealed the seven and deuce of hearts. I thought I was going to have a heart attack, all he had was a flush. He only just caught it, why oh why had he been betting so aggressively when all he had was a flush draw? Granted he did manage to catch it on the last card, but he should have realized that there were better hands available. David flashed a smirk as he revealed his full house that, for the moment, reigned supreme. But as that old saying goes, “one good turn deserves another.” And when Thomas flipped his cards to reveal the other two aces, David looked absolutely crushed. Unfortunately for him, Bella still needed to show her hand and she just happened to be holding the queen and ten of hearts. She had been a single ace away from getting the best hand in the game, but David has stolen the ace of hearts away from her. She just had to settle for playing a king high straight flush.
This devastated the three fools who had followed her into the hand. As Dempsey’s security escorted them from the table I couldn’t help but think about what I had just seen. In fact, the whole room had gone silent, I was sure that everyone could hear her collect her winnings. Once she had her winnings the dealer went on and the three who played it safe were removed over the next five hands. In the end it really didn’t matter, six people were already gone from the final table. How in the world had that happened? I had witnessed it myself, but I still couldn’t believe it. I had never seen that many players drop from any table that fast. Now I had to deal with the real cream of this crop; Tyson, Patrick, and Bella.
Looking from stack to stack, I wondered who the actual chip leader was. Of the four of us, Bella had been at the bottom, but with what she had just picked up, she had, more or less, leveled the playing field. I would have thought someone up in the arena would have been saying something about what had just happened, but instead silence reigned in the room. The dealer began to deal. He somehow managed to look at us all as he said to Bella, “You’re the small blind ma’am.”
She quickly counted the required chips and tossed them into the center of the table and Tyson wasted no time following suit. Once the blinds were paid the dealer got us started. Unfortunately he wasn’t really helping me with a non-suited two and nine. But Patrick must have gotten some kind of help because he quickly paid the pot. As the chips fell from his hand I slid my pair of cards into the center, while Bella raised the pot two hundred thousand dollars. Tyson quickly followed my example and surrendered his hand, but Patrick decided to call Bella’s raise.
With the flop we saw a pair of nines and a very lonely lady. Instead of pressing, Bella decided to check to Patrick, who was apparently willing to see the next card without paying for it. A two of spades was revealed and again Bella checked the opening bet to Patrick. This time he made a bet of four hundred thousand, which Bella immediately called. What could either of them have with what was in play?
After the dealer revealed the four of diamonds Bella, for the third time, checked the bet to Patrick. His bet was enough to force Bella to go all in if she wanted to see what he had. She took a bit of time examining Patrick and her hand, but she must have thought she had seen something from him because she called the bet with a big smile on her face. A smile that only widened when she revealed her pair of aces. Two pair, with what was out there, wasn’t a bad hand, but when Patrick flipped his cards the smile was wiped away from Bella’s face. One of Patrick’s pocket cards was a nine, he had had trip nines right from the beginning.