When you play poker for days on end, and each day is a slog through hours of grinding out the game, it can get pretty exhausting. If you make it to a final table you usually get pumped up, but then it can get tiring again, causing you to loose focus. Two men who did not have this problem were Jani Sointula and Christian Grundtvig, the final two players at the Aviation Club, where they were playing out the Grand Prix de Paris, part of the World Poker Tour's Season Six.
These two had been playing for hours upon hours, and Christian had the advantage. Not only was he the chip leader, but he kept catching pocket pairs. His third time in a row he looked down to see two cards of the same value looking back at him - and this time there were aces. His pocket rockets were:
... a hand to go to war with. He called, limping in, from the dealer button. His opponent Jani had only:
... and he checked from the big blind, bringing on the flop.
The flop came down:
... giving Jani a dangerous piece of the board. He checked his middle pair and waited to see the man they called "the Stamp" in action. Christian bet out 150k in tourney chips and plaques, and then sat back to see what the man they called "the Hellraiser" would do.
In a heads up action there is a lot of play with absolutely nothing, and Christian had already had two strong hands in a row, so Jani could have easily tried a power move and come over the top. Instead, he sensed something was amiss, and folded his mid pair.
Mike Sexton, commentator, went on about his radar, saying, "Hats off to Jani" for being able to get a vibe on his opponent and hold on to his chips.
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