If a man must fall, if he must take leave of the world he’s adopted, if he must look down on the sword and collapse on its deathly phallus, at the very least fate could do him a solid and let him choose how it happens. She could grant one last courtesy of free will and let the man choose, if he must flame out, to do so in a blaze of glory.
But no…no, that’s not how it happens.
Below you will see Jesus Muriel Gracia, a man who saw no such courtesy, a man who found himself with less than a big blind…on the TV table…on the money bubble.
No, he didn’t get to choose whether he played. He didn’t get to go with a hand that made at least some sense. No, that man was all-in with his big blind before he ever saw his cards.
What did he see?
You will note a distinct lack of joy in Gracia’s face here. Why?
Because those two cards you see in his hand are the 2♦ and 3♠.
He was clearly not going to get a walk. In fact, Sulymka, first to act, limped in under the gun, ensuring a showdown with his A♣ 10♣ .
If you’re Gracia, what do you do here? Do you look? Do you walk away? Do you beseech fate to spare you one last time? Do you pray?
Whether this was an honest prayer or just looked like one, it didn’t work. Sulymka flopped his ten, and Gracia couldn’t manage to go runner-runner.
So, instead of surviving and getting into the first prizes (worth a not-insignificant €8,910), Gracia was forced to think of fate’s discourteous hand as he walked for the door, the bubble boy, a man who knew he would eventually fall and didn’t get the chance to decide how it would happen.
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Brad Willis is the PokerStars Head of Blogging.
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