For some, the highlight of the 888Live festival in Rozvadov was the Will Kassouf show. Not just for his grudge match heads-up against Stacy Matuson; it was also his performance in the main event.
Talking the Talk
For two days, Kassouf stole the show and drove a whole bunch of players to the verge of insanity. The top act was probably a hand he played against Thomas “The Talk” Traboulski, where the German player might have taken the triggering a little too far.
Kassouf played Day 1C of the main event in Rozvadov. He had a good run and built his stack throughout the day – it certainly helped that he was able to crack another player’s pocket aces.
While he was at the feature table he got involved in a hand with Traboulski and the "master of speech play" managed to drive his opponent into making what has to be called a very unconventional move.
Traboulski realized a little late that it’s rather –EV if your opponent knows one of your cards.
He Showed One of His Cards!
The audience watching the live stream witnessed a hand that didn’t look like it would be very spectacular. Both players woke up with the same hand so it wa very likely to end in a split pot.
Kassouf 3-bet his A-K from the small blind and the initial raiser, “The Talk,” fatefully began a dialogue. Minutes later he showed Kassouf one of his cards – an ace. Incredibly, he still called the 3-bet afterwards and went to a flop. It came ace high.
No Way Out
The discussion didn’t stop there, of course. And after a while it dawned on Traboulski that he had no way of winning after showing Kassouf half of his hand.
Kassouf had that essential bit of information and Traboulski realized mucking his cards was the only way out. It’s a crazy hand and it proves that Kassouf is indeed the master of speech play. It begins in the video below at 18:40.
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