James Calderaro’s Gift of Gab Get’s Him Paid off
Day 1 Chip leader James Calderaro relayed to PokerNews perhaps the most notable hand of Day 1 of this event. During Level 22, Calderaro was tangoing with two unknown opponents.
At blinds 10,000/25,000 a player from middle position raised to 50,000, a second player from late position then three bet to 100,000. Calderaro looked down at AA on the button and was considering making a small raise to keep his opponents in the hand, but after some deliberation he came to the conclusion that the opponent that had three bet had a strong holding and was committed to the hand.
Calderaro decided to shove all in for roughly 900,000, having both opponents covered.
When the first opponent was deciding how to proceed, Calderaro declared “Ohh, that’s good that you didn’t snap-call me.” Both opponents thought long and hard before ultimately arriving at a call. Although they both had strong holdings, Calderaro believes that his table talk helped him get paid.
When the hands were tabled Calderaro was in the lead, his A♣A♥ was ahead of the K♦K♣ and Q♥Q♣ holdings of his opponents. The board ran out 9♦6♣3♠7♠6♥.
Calderaro’s Aces held up in this massive three-way pot and catapulted him into the Day 1 chip lead.