Dekel Balas: XxXx/5♥3♦5♦K♣
Nikolay Fal: XxXx/2♦10♥8♥7♥folded sixth street
Dekel Balas completed and received a call from Nikolay Fal.
Balas bet on fourth, fifth and sixth streets. The first two times, Fal made the call but the bet on sixth street proved to be too much for him as he mucked his holding to ship the pot over to Balas while sending his own stack falling down the chip counts.
Earlier this year on an ordinary Monday afternoon, a bespectacled man walked into the Gold & Silver Pawn Shop on Las Vegas Blvd. Tucked under his arm was an uninteresting box that only he knew contained something rather interesting – a pair of gold watches dating back more than 40 years.
These were not your run-of-the-mill wristwear, but rather evidence of a unique and often overlooked time of poker history, a year when the World Series of Poker (WSOP) gold bracelet, now the game’s highest accolade, was replaced in favor of watches.
1982 WSOP watches
The man holding the box was David Sklansky, who in 1978 forever changed poker by advocating a mathematical approach to the game in his groundbreaking book The Theory of Poker. Nicknamed “The Mathematician,” he proved his prowess just four years later when he won two WSOP tournaments in five days.
First, he won the 1982 WSOP Event #7: $800 Mixed Doubles Limit Seven Card Stud, a tournament that paired one man with one woman, alongside Dani Kelly, and followed that up by taking down Event #12: $1,000 Limit 5-Card Draw High. A year later, the Binions reverted back to the beloved bracelets players know today, and Sklansky captured his third piece of WSOP hardware by winning Event #11: $1,000 Limit Omaha.
It was a remarkable accomplishment, and for more than four decades he’s kept safe the evidence of his victories, both of which still worked. So, why was Sklansky carrying his 1982 WSOP gold watches, two of only 15 ever awarded, into a pawn shop? Well, he was looking to sell them of course, but not to just any of the dozens of pawn shops spread across Las Vegas. Oh no, he was walking into arguably the most famous pawn shop in the world, the home to the wildly popular television show Pawn Stars, and he was there to do it with cameras rolling.
Nikolay Ponomarev completed in full for 3♦ and Nikolay Fal called with a K♥, Yuval Bronshtein called with an A♥ and Christian Roberts called with an 8♦.
Nikolay Ponomarev: XxXx/3♦4♠8♥6♦/Xx
Christian Roberts: XxXx/8♦6♣7♦A♦/Xx
Yuval Bronshtein: XxXx/A♥6♥9♠2♠/Xx
Nikolay Fal: XxXx/K♥5♣Q♣(Folded on fifth street)
Bronshtein bet on fourth street and both players called.
On fifth street, Bronshtein checked over to Roberts who bet and only Bronshtein called.
Sixth street saw Bronshtein check once more over to Roberts who bet and Bronshtein called.
Bronshtein checked on seventh street and Roberts bet, prompting a fold from Bronshtein.
Roberts turned over 7♥5♠4♥ for a straight and a seven-six low and it was good to beat Ponomarev's Q♠4♣2♦ which was only an eight low and a pair of fours. Roberts added to his chip lead while Ponomarev exited the tournament.
Christian Roberts completed with a 9♣ and Nikolay Ponomarev raised with a 5♥. Roberts raised again and Ponomarev called.
Nikolay Ponomarev: XxXx/5♥K♠7♣10♦/Xx
Christian Roberts: XxXx/9♣J♥Q♥4♣/Xx
Ponomarev check-called a bet from Roberts on fourth, fifth, and sixth street.
Both players got their seventh street card, Ponomarev checked over to Roberts who bet. Ponomarev looked at his card and he folded while Roberts' chip lead grew.
