Poker Hand Matchup: Wai Leong Chan vs. Jonathan Jaffe
Wai Leong Chan	Win Pre-Flop	Win Post-Flop	Win Post-Turn
Starting Stack: 6,100,000	70.89 %	59.19 %	75.0 %	Winner!
Jonathan Jaffe	Win Pre-Flop	Win Post-Flop	Win Post-Turn
Starting Stack: 10,625,000	27.89 %	39.6 %	25.0 %

Posted On: Dec 03, 2024

Outcome

Preflop, with five players remaining and blinds of 125,000-250,000 with a big blind ante of 250,000, Wai Leong Chan raised to 525,000 from the cutoff. Jonathan Jaffe called from the small blind. On the flop Jaffe checked, and Chan bet 500,000. Jaffe called. On the turn Jaffe checked, and Chan bet 1,300,000. Jaffe called. On the river Jaffe checked. Chan moved all in for 3,775,000, and Jaffe called.

Analysis

Wai Leong Chan got home-run value in this pot, which saw him wrest the chip lead from Jonathan Jaffe. The two went to a flop with a couple of strong starting hands, with Chan raising with A-K from late position and Jaffe just calling out of the small blind with K-Q suited. It was an action flop, with a king and two low diamonds connecting with both players in a major way. Despite that fact, the betting action belied the strength of both player’s holdings. Jaffe just check-called Chan’s continuation bet of two big blinds and the turn brought the 9. Jaffe checked again and Chan bet just over five big blinds with his top pair, top kicker. Jaffe hung around, only to see the river bring a non-diamond ace. He checked a third time and Chan shoved for 3,775,000 into the pot of 5,150,000 with his rivered aces and kings. This development shifted Jaffe’s hand into the bluff-catcher category. Would Chan be shoving for value with a weaker A-X? Or is his range now polarized to two-pair plus and bluffs? Is Jaffe having two key diamonds in his hand a negative when considering a hero call? After a fairly short amount of time in the tank, Jaffe made the call and was shown the bad news. Chan surged into the lead, while Jaffe’s stack took a major hit. After leading for much of the day, Jaffe went on to finish fifth. He earned $1,330,000 for his efforts, the second-largest score of his tournament career.