A player deep in the WPT Prime Lodge Championship folded pocket aces preflop, but not by choice.
The $1,100 buy-in tournament, won by Shrikant Pillamarapu for $138,127, took place at The Lodge Card Club in the Austin, Texas area. Players from all over the U.S. traveled to the Lone Star State to compete for a World Poker Tour (WPT) title.
One day before the tournament reached its conclusion, with around 25 players remaining, David Pelosi found himself himself in prime position to earn a much needed double-up. But he instead made a costly mistake.
Why Did He Fold Pocket Aces?
Pelosi, with 520,000 chips and the blinds at 20,000/40,000, still had enough chips to make a run. But he was among the smallest stacks and sought an opportunity to make a move.
It appeared that opportunity had arisen when he picked up A♥A♣ in the hijack. Matthew McDowell, who had A♦J♣ from under the gun, had raised to 80,000. Pelosi, upon facing the raise, tanked for a bit. He counted out enough chips in front of him for a three-bet raise, but the shot clock buzzer went off before he tossed his chips across the betting line.
The dealer, who became aware that his time had expired, explained to the floor manager what had happened.
“I was actually putting my chips out,” Pelosi tried to argue. “I was building my stack to put the chips in and then (the buzzer) went off.”
It was ruled that Pelosi’s hand was dead because he didn’t officially act within the required time. He turned his cards face-up and angrily tossed them toward the dealer.
Pelosi didn’t have any remaining time extension chips before the hand began, so his hand was dead. McDowell weould end up losing a small pot after the player in the big blind flopped two pair and took down the pot on the flop.
Pocket aces would inevitably be the death of Pelosi’s tournament life, and not just for the shot clock violation hand. Not long after, he had AxKx on a AxKx3x flop and was coolered by pocket aces to lose about 90% of his stack. Moments later, he ran AxJx into pocket aces to officially bust from the tournament in 21st place for $7,300.