In the interviews I had read and seen done by Darwin, he swore up and down that the board had not paired. Well, unless ESPN doctored the broadcast, which of course is extremely unlikely, Darwin was wrong.
For the few of you that don't know the details of the hand, I'll give you a recap, right from the broadcast. They are 6 handed, not quite sure on the blinds:
Billy is UTG and raises to 600K with 35dd. Darwin flats another 480K with QJdd. Darwin had 25Million and Billy had 20Million total, and take the flop heads up.
Flop comes K92 all diamonds. Moon checks to Billy who bets 750K. Darwin flats.
Turn is the 2 of hearts pairing the board, clinching the hand for Darwin, but of course, he doesn't know that, given that a boat is now possible. I'm assuming that his recollection is what failed him, and that while the hand is actually played, he should see that....but then again who knows for sure. Darwin checks again.
Billy now comes out firing a little more than 2Million, Lon states he will regret it. Sure enough, Darwin now check raises to 6 million. Again, not knowing the editing, but it appears Billy thinks for a little bit, and then declares ALL IN!!! He sits back in his chair, looking pretty confident.
Darwin takes all of about 10 seconds and calls! Kopp's reaction is pretty much shock and disbelief, putting his hands over his head, turns immediately away from the table, yells something, and walks away knowing he's drawing dead. He does come back and shake Darwin's hand, and is then seen walking the walk of shame.
Darwin comments in a priceless moment right after '"What was he doing raising $ with 35 with a stack like that?" LOL! It's probably how he got his stack!
I don't care who you are, this is a monumental blow up, and it has to sting in the worst way. For Billy, it's going to his Bill Buckner moment. A guaranteed place in the November 9, flushed down the drain (Pun intended).
However, I found interesting 2 other hands that may have setup this meltdown hand by Billy. Again, hard to say because of editing, and I'm too lazy to look up the pokernews updates to see exactly how much time had elapsed.
1st hand was where Billy called an all in by Justin Smith with AK, Justin had QQ. Justin had moved in for quite a bit, and Billy's call from the BB was questionable at best. He makes a comment about being a classic flip....which in my opinion, it's not. Your best case here is 56/44, but it could be worse than that, given a 9 handed table. Unfortunately, as I write this, it's from memory so can't give you the actual counts, I had to defer the DVR to my little Jules who insisted on watching Yo GABBA GABBA!
2nd hand again going from memory, was where Darwin had raised with A9 from I believe the CO. Billy folds 44 in the SB, and the BB calls. Flop comes 642, and you can see the reaction from Kopp, who would have made a set. To further put salt into Kopps aching wound, Moon makes trip 9's on the river, and certainly would have been a big pot for Kopp had he stayed in.
Now Kopp, from what I hear is a pretty accomplished online pro, however, no one is immune from getting rattled at the poker table (From Rounders?)....and I think both of these hands certainly came to play as 'setup's in a negative way for Kopp.
Moon clearly was riding the hot seat, and will be interesting to see how he plays, now that the layoff may very well cool him down. He'll need to play some pretty solid poker, and probably will need to get lucky if he is to win.
Personally, I'm with the masses, and would love nothing more than to see Phil Ivey win it. Even though he's on the short stack, he's got plenty of play left. And if anyone can pull it off, he certainly can. That would be an awesome ending to this years WSOP!
2BA
