Waheed Ashraf, last year’s THMC winner, seems disinclined to let dust settle on his chips this time round either. Passing his table, he played a couple of hands back to back, first calling Gerrard Segarra’s cutoff raise to 2,600 on the button (blinds 400/800).
The flop came down Kc Tc Kd. Segarra checked and Ashraf bet 2,000. His opponent, with just under 12,000 chips left, made the call to see the 7h on the turn. Segarra checked again, and Ashraf swiftly set him in. No call.
With a stack of 37,000 now, Ashraf called the next preflop raise – this time to 1,600 from Elliot Hackney under the gun. Hackney led for 2,400 on the 9s 2s 7s flop and Ashraf called. Both players then checked the 6d turn, and when the board paired with the 6c on the river, Hackney bet out again (for 2,600). Ashraf called, seeing his opponent’s Tc Ts, and mucked, tapping the table. Ups and downs – all part of the chase for the title.