WPT's Unique Turn: Streamer Ends Up in Cold Pool After Hachem's KK Fold
Day 2 of one of the biggest tournaments in history – the WPT World Championship with a guarantee of $40,000,000 – ended in the famous Wynn Las Vegas casino. After all the starting days, the $10,400 buy-in event had 3,835 entries, and only 480 entrants survived the bubble and will enter Day 3 play in the ITM zone.
One of the highlights of the second day was the fold of 2005 WSOP Main Event champion Joe Hachem. Shortly before the bubble, Hachem found the strength to fold pocket kings preflop and save himself from elimination from the tournament.
In the key hand, Joe Hachem made a three-bet with the K♣️K♥️ against American Ben Bianco, who opened A♠️A♣️ from an early position. After the traditional "drama" and reflection, Ben made a 4-bet push. The desire to get to ITM turned out to be stronger than the desire to double up – Hachem did fold the kings.
👀 👀 👀
— World Poker Tour (@WPT) December 17, 2023
Wow @JosephHachem, just wow. 👏 👏 pic.twitter.com/b4g5Txg7Ot
Popular poker streamer Rayan "Beriuzy" Chamas watched this hand live on the WPT broadcast along with other players. As Hachem pondered the fold, Rayan declared that he would jump into the pool with his clothes on if the kings were folded. The promise had to be fulfilled – Chamas jumped into the cold water pool on the Wynn grounds.
“If Joe Hachem folds Kings im jumping into the pool i don’t care” @beriuzy @WPT pic.twitter.com/XbkeIAdkbt
— Michael Berk (@MichaelPBerk) December 17, 2023
Joe Hachem's fold guaranteed him and 479 other players a minimum prize of $18,700 after the bubble burst. As for the first place, the champion will top up his account by $5,678,000.
The WPT World Championship will return to action on Day 3 today, December 18th.
Julianna Svyrydenko
