Poker Hand Matchup: Sam Trickett vs. Antonio Esfandiari
Sam Trickett	Win Pre-Flop	Win Post-Flop	Win Post-Turn
Starting Stack: 37,400,000	61.95 %	25.25 %	15.91 %
Antonio Esfandiari	Win Pre-Flop	Win Post-Flop	Win Post-Turn
Starting Stack: 106,570,000	37.07 %	74.44 %	84.09 %	Winner!

Posted On: Jul 12, 2012

Outcome

Final table, heads-up, with the blinds at 400,000 and 800,000 and a 100,000 ante, Esfandiari raised to 1,700,000 from the button, Trickett called. On the Flop, Trickett checked, Esfandiari bet 2,025,000, Trickett raised to 5,400,000, Esfandiari reraised to 10,000,000, Trickett reraised to 15,000,000, Esfandiari went all-in, Trickett called.

Analysis

The narrow board got Trickett into trouble in this hand, but so did his inability to find the brakes after Esfandiari made it 10 million. Trickett’s initial check raise had plenty going for it on the flop, as his opponent was likely inclined to follow his preflop raise with a continuation bet and the pair on board made it less likely that Esfandiari caught a piece of the flop. When Esfandiari made it 10,000,000 Trickett got caught up in meta-game considerations, he may have reasoned his opponent might be inclined to put in a reraise on the narrow board as well, also surmising his opponent had missed. But Trickett’s reraise to 15,000,000 would do as much to stall a bluff as a simple call would have, and he could have carried 32 big blinds into the turn instead of pot committing himself to the hand as a 3:1 dog on the flop. Depending on Esfandiari’s action on the turn, he could have seen the river for less or gotten away from his hand had Esfandiari bet big. Esfandiari did quite well to continue to reraise his opponent, charging him the maximum to pursue his flush draw as his opponent relied on the paired board and semibluffs in hopes Esfandiari had missed and was just using his stack and board texture to make a play. Antonio held off the diamonds and won $18,346,673, the largest prize in the history of tournament poker which catapulted him to the top of the all time money list. Trickett earned an incredible $10,112,001 for his runner up finish which should serve as nice consolation.