HAND MATCHUP OF THE DAY

Preflop: Final table, nine handed, with the blinds at 150,000 and 300,000 and a 40,000 ante, Demidov raised to 1,050,000, Schwartz called in the big blind. On the flop, Schwartz checked, Demidov checked. On the turn, Schwartz bet 1,075,000, Demidov raised to 2,675,000, Schwartz called. On the river, Scwartz checked, Demidov bet 4,325,000, Schwartz folded.

The 2008 final table saw a few exceptional laydowns, this being one of them. Schwartz had a strong enough hand to defend with out of the blinds, and flopped the King high flush draw. Demidov enjoyed the Ace high flush draw, and checked behind. The turn, of course, was another Heart. Scwhartz knew that, barring the 6-8 straight flush, only one card in the deck could beat him. Ylon led out, and Demidov put in a non-standard raise with the Ace.  That raise, along with the pairing of the board on the river, slowed Schwartz down, and he was presumably planning on check-calling the river. Demidov put in a bet of just over half of the pot on the river. Something about Demidov's bet size or his manner enabled Schwartz to get off his hand. Ylon's hand had great showdown value given the action and the board, and he could have easily afforded the call without significant disruption to his chip position. No one wants to make a bad fold on a televised table either. Ylon tuned all of that out, and made a great decision.