Level 28 (30,000/60,000/5,000)
Total BPPS Entrants: 272
Players Remaining: 3
Chip Average: 2,800,000

John Germano (Providence, RI)

While Abraham Korotki returned from break as the short stack, he was not involved in the first major hand of Level 28. Big stacks Joe ‘Worm’ Palma and John Germano did though, tangling in a massive pot that has moved Germano near the 4,000,000 chip mark.

The hand was picked up with Germano opening the button to 150,000 and Palma defending his big blind to see the {Kc}{10h}{3c} flop. Palma check-called a bet of 210,000 and then check-called again after the {Qc} fell on the turn, that time for 600,000.

The {8h} completed the board and after Palma checked for a third time, Germano announced himself “all-in”, for just over 1,800,000. It was a massive bet but Palma looked interested, asking for a count and then taking inventory of his own stack. After close to two minutes in the tank, Palma finally broke his silence, saying, “I can’t afford to be wrong.”

He couldn’t, as had just over 2,800,000 in front of him and had he called and been wrong, he would have been left with under a ten big blind stack. Eventually, he folded {Ks}{Jc} face up and then claimed that he “would have called any bet on the turn”.

A fourth club or straight on the river might have made things very interesting, but as it stands, John Germano is now sitting as the chip leader of this BPPS final table, with play still stuck three-handed.