Join PokerStars now!

Nikolaos Alafogiannis is a man that wears his heart on his sleeve, right alongside advertising for a 1963 Chevrolet race.
Martin Jacobson had three-bet Byron Kaverman's button raise from 60,000 up to somewhere in the region of 140,000 when Alafogiannis appeared to find a hand: the giveaway being a rocking back and forth, rapid exhalation and a slam forward of his remaining 362,000 stack into the middle. The surely wasn't going to be many hands that Jacobson could fold, we would have a showdown. Call.
Alafogiannis waited for Jacobson to flip [as][6s] before showing his dominating [ah][qs].
"He's got ace-six," said Alafogiannis to someone on the rail forgetting to say what he had himself, perhaps knowing his rail so well as to assume they'd take that statement as being a good one.


Nikolaos Alafogiannis
The [7h][3s][ks] flop almost levelling the odds, Jacobson now just the smallest of dogs with a 45% chance of taking the pot and eliminating his Canadian opponent. Alafogiannis, already on his feet, started swaying from side to side: "Gotta sweat it," he said. "You gotta sweat it."
Jacobson, as per usual, sat motionless at the table, staring at the board.
The [qh] was a good card for Alafogiannis as it removed three outs for the Swede.
"Any diamond. Any diamond," said Alafogiannis, repeating himself for the second time Captain Kirk-ing it through this most tense of moments. While some aren't strangers to these situations, others such Alafogiannis are. The Canadian has one live cash recorded for $1,177. Even I've got more than that. Although there is another Nick Alafogiannis registered that finished 17th in a C$10,000 event for C$56,868. Either way, this last card was a very big deal for Alafogiannis, now a four-to-one favourite to double up.
A diamond dropped on the river - the [7d] - and Alafogiannis reached across to the rail for a celebratory knuckle-bump. He chips up to around 750,000, Jacobson drops to 1,000,000. Alafogiannis has so far guaranteed himself $52,000 with 21 players remaining.



Play at PokerStars!