TJ Reid's Last Chance #2: Fist bumps with Hellmuth and a flip for it all

Jeremy Becker was on the wrong side of it against TJ early on in the PGT Last Chance #2 event.

Not too long after, at the 2.5K big-blind level, Becker moved all-in for 31K from the cutoff with . I found in the big blind, made the easy call, and won the flip. Becker was out, and I had nearly double my starting stack. 

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Legends in the Last Chance saloon

An impressive 126 entrants took their shot in the Last Chance #2, building a $1.26M prize pool on a Tuesday afternoon. I not only made it through my first break but also all the way through registration break when they announced the healthy $315K first-place prize for the eventual winner. 

As players piled in during the registration break, tables were shuffled, and I moved to a table with the likes of Phil Hellmuth, Erik Seidel, James Collopy, and more. 

"Welcome, sir," Hellmuth said as he gave me a fist bump. "You did good, kid."

Phil Hellmuth welcomed TJ to the table with a fist bump.

Hayley Hochstetler

Making a deep run in a marquee event like the WSOP Super Main creates an odd social dynamic. You assume most players know about it, and some want to talk about it, while others don't bring it up. Hellmuth graciously congratulated me, welcomed me, and then made sure the rest of the table knew about it. 

"What was it like having the whole poker world cheering you on?" Hellmuth asked. "I must have seen 100 tweets about this kid," he said. "Have you been living under a rock, Seidel?" he asked. 

We can confirm that Erik Seidel has not been living under a rock.

Hayley Hochstetler

I had the whole table covered with 400K at the 6K big-blind level. I gave a little back when Collopy opened from early position to 12K with . I three-bet to 30K with in the cutoff. He moved all in for 95K, and I called and couldn't improve. 

I lost a couple of small pots to Hellmuth as he raised from the button into my big blind twice. He was in a great mood, as his son just made his first WSOPC final table across the street in Vegas. I was hoping to play a big one against the Poker Brat, maybe even get a trademark rant, but the opportunity never came, and our table broke.

Flipped out when it mattered most

With about 40 players left and 18 making the money, I still had a healthy 320K at the 8K level. I joined David Coleman, Masato Yokosawa, and Kristen Foxen, among others. 

Coleman had over 700K and had been running over the table. He opened to 16K from the hijack, and a short-stacked player called in the cutoff, playing about 14 big blinds. I found on the button. I could have jammed my 32 bigs to maximize fold equity, but I thought Coleman was playing loose and aggressive enough that I was happy to stack off against him if he decided to go with his hand. 

I three-bet to 75K. Coleman jammed, and the cutoff threw his hands up and slid his chips in, too. I called it off and said good luck. 

David Coleman won the monster flip to seal TJ's fate but he'll be back on Wednesday for Last Chance #3.

Jess Beck

"Uh-oh," said Coleman, thinking he must have stepped into it. He was relieved to see it was a flip as he held . The cutoff had , so one of my outs was dead. It was a critical pot of about 800K, which was good for one of the biggest stacks in the room. The flop didn't help, though it gave me one additional out. The turn and river sealed my fate, and Coleman scooped the huge pot. 

Back at it tomorrow

I tapped the table, feeling much better about the day. Despite the outcome being the same – losing another $10,100 – I enjoyed the full day of battling with some of the game's best. 

It was finally, for the first time, dark outside when I exited the PokerGO studios.