Alexey "avr0ra" Borovkov Plays the WSOP Online $10,000 HU Championship

The WSOP Online $10,000 Heads-Up Championship had 123 players competing.

Alexey "avr0ra" Borovkov won five matches in a row and reached the semifinals. All five of his opponents were Russian-speaking:

• Nikita Kuznetsov
• Roman Stoika
• Viacheslav Buldygin
• Ivan "Tortik" Govorov
• Alexey Boyko

In the semifinals, Avr0ra lost to Alessio La Francesca, who ultimately became the champion, taking home $352,561. In the final, La Francesca defeated Pavel Pleszow.

Top 10

We've collected the most interesting hands with Alexey's commentary.

Vs Nikita Kuznetsov: Huge Pot with T9 and a Tough Fold

One of the biggest pots of the entire tournament was played in the first match. Avr0ra opened with , received a three-bet from Kuznetsov, and called.

The flop came . Kuznetsov bet a quarter of the pot, Avr0ra called with second pair, and a came on the turn. Nikita checked.

“A good turn. Although it’s a neutral card in terms of ranges, it suits my particular hand. Checking back with this combination is pointless. The question is, should I bet small or big? I should probably bet about half the pot.”

There was a bet of half the pot and a call. The river was an .

“An ace is actually a blank. Nikita has few aces. Aces could have used a different continuation bet size and could have continued betting on the turn. Queen-jack is practically nonexistent in Nikita’s range. He most likely hit ace-queen or ace-jack.”

He donk bets 10%. I think we’re all-in here, no question. Yeah, maybe he has a stronger hand, but trips are very expensive heads-up. In fact, I could have a bluff here. Instead of calling, I could have shoved K-x as a blocker against a set of kings. Let’s see if Nikita thinks I’m bluffing.

Nikita used several time banks and called with ace-king.

“I couldn’t fold ace-king. It’s hard to fold with blockers to the full house. But I have the stronger hand. Lucky. A very lucky turn.”

Twenty minutes later, Avr0ra defended with . On the flop , Kuznetsov bet 2.8 big blinds into a pot of around 4 big blinds. Alexey decided to bluff.

“Nikita’s sizing has increased. Let’s try a raise, put a little pressure on him, and represent a king. We could have king-ten, king-five, ten-five, fives.”

Kuznetsov called. The turn was an , which gave Avr0ra top pair.

“We were representing two pair and we’d keep betting with that. But an ace is actually a bad card now. We’re checking. We’re waiting to see what he does. We want to see a check-check.”

And that's what happened. Then, on the river came a , which completed the flush. Avr0ra checked again and faced an all-in of 31.3 big blinds into a pot of about 19.4 big blinds.

“Nikita went for a flush. I’m leaning toward folding. He could have a flush, and he could be pushing hard enough to fold out a pair plus a flush draw, a hand just like mine. Plus, I think he’d bet the turn more often with hands like jack-nine, or some queen-nine with a suited card.”

A fold followed.

"Call my bluff? No, he didn’t."

After the match, Nikita confirmed that he did indeed have a flush.

Ten minutes later, Avr0ra had the opportunity to end the match in a preflop all-in, but couldn’t hold up against .

“It’s not that easy to beat an MTT player. Again, I can’t complain. I’ve been lucky before. Well, let’s keep playing. Never easy.”

In the final showdown with an effective stack of around 33 big blinds, Avr0ra isolated Kuznetsov’s limp with ace-nine and called the shove.

“Ace-nine, I think it’s a showdown. Let’s wish our opponent luck. We have ace-nine. Okay, threes again. Help me out. Let me beat the threes.”

The flop brought an ace, and the turn and river didn’t change the situation.

“Yeah, phew, we won. Good game. Sorry, Nikita, it worked out. Good luck to you!”

Roman Stoika: Two Bluff Catchers in a Row

One of the main banks of the match with Roman was played with . With effective stacks around 124 BB, Avr0ra opened to 2.5 BB, received a 3-bet of 12.5 BB, and decided not to push any further:

“Just call the three-bet here. I won’t four-bet any suited ace. I’ll call and play postflop.”

The flop came out .

“I made top pair, but we’re not exactly thrilled yet. Top pair is expensive, but we’re not exactly thrilled to be playing for everything we have.”

A continuation bet of 7.5 BB followed, Avr0ra called. On the turn , Roman checked.

“There are a lot of draws on the board. We can bet for thin value and check the river. The problem is that a check-shove might come. That would be bad. Let’s check it.”

River – . There is 40 BB in the pot, Stoika bet the pot.

“It looks suspicious. It’s like a thin value bet. But I always call here anyway. Maybe he’s trying to fold out the jack? Basically, he could value bet any ace here with a pot-sized bet. So I won’t waste time. We call, hoping to see a bluff.”

“Yeah, a bluff. Phew. Nice turn check, that was it!”

Almost immediately, Avr0ra got another opportunity to bluff-catch. Alexey defended a 2.5 big blind raise with and flopped top pair on the board .

“A very strong hand with a 60 big blind stack. You could probably raise for value. Well, calling is fine too.”

A call follows. The turn came . Stoika put 8 big blinds into a pot of 9. Avr0ra didn’t fold.

“Still, I shouldn’t fold. My hand is too strong for heads-up. I have to get to the river.”

The river came , completing a possible flush. Stoika bet 19 big blinds into a 25 big blind pot.

“We can give up the whole stack now. We have a good hand to show down on the river regardless of the sizing. With a suited jack, it looks really good here. What does it represent, anyway? Two pair? Maybe some ace-king with the ace of the same suit. Anyway, I’ll call. My suit blockers on both cards are too good. I’m hoping to see a bluff around the three and the six.”

“Yes, a bluff. I have a good bluff-catcher again. We’re in a comfortable spot!”

After two showdowns, the match ended rather quickly. With pocket sixes and an effective stack of around 30 big blinds, Avr0ra decided to raise-call Roman’s limp.

“Sixes are a hand that can be played for stacks with a 30 big blind stack. If Roman shoves, his range will include weak ace-x hands and weaker pocket pairs.”

Roman shoved with ace-six, and the sixes held.

“GG. We took out our opponent quickly. That was going well. Phew. Round three, guys. If we win the next one, we’re in the money.”

Vyacheslav Buldygin: An Opponent with Clever Sizing

Against Viacheslav, Alexey was dealt a premium hand for the first time in three matches: ace-king offsuit. He opened with 2.5 big blinds and three-bet.

“Ace-king is a very strong hand in heads-up play. We’ve played three matches and there’s practically no hand that strong. So a four-bet call is mandatory here.”

He raises to 28.5 big blinds, and Buldygin calls.

On the flop , Alexey notes that the texture is not the best for his hand but fits Viacheslav’s range quite well.

"I don't think we'll even bet here without diamonds and hearts in hand. We'll check and cash in."

On the turn, a appears.

“Good turn. There are stronger hands out there, but for a four-bet pot, I have a very strong hand. It’s worth going all-in. So we’ll bet. We’ll probably bet the river too. We need to get all the money in.”

Avr0ra bets 18.8 big blinds into a 57 big blind pot and sees a raise to 50 big blinds.

“A raise. I won’t fold. There could be a strong draw here. Most likely we should get it all-in on the turn. We can, of course, call-call until the end. Let’s call, fold on a heart, call on a blank.”

The river is an .

“Now I can’t fold the river.

Buldygin checks.

It’s like I have the best hand. He might shove a set himself. But you know what the problem is? He doesn’t check-call. It’s either a trap or a check-fold. Viacheslav doesn’t check-call with the two pairs I beat. I think I should check the river.”

“He would have check-folded the river. It doesn’t matter that I missed out on value. I was lucky that Slava got run over hard on the river. But on the other hand, he was lucky that he four-bet with king-queen and hit the queen. So the flop was his, the turn was mine, and the river was mine.”

On the next hand, Buldygin, with a stack of just over 32 big blinds, opened with a min-raise. Avr0ra called with .

Flop – . Check-check.

On the turn , Buldygin bet 2.5 BB into a 4 BB pot.

“A pair probably wouldn’t fold here. Even with this sizing, it’s still a call.”

River – . Buldygin bet 5 big blinds into a 9 big blind pot. Avr0ra began working through the sizing logic.

“What does it represent? A six, or something. It’s a strange sizing. Honestly, maybe I should just call. He doesn’t bet an eight like that. What was he representing on the turn back then? The turn sizing represented an eight, and the river seems to represent something incomprehensible. I still don’t like the combination of sizes. I think there might be a bluff in there. If he had bet bigger, I would have folded.”

“No, a thin value bet with the king. I expected the king to bet bigger on the turn. He tricked me on this hand. He sized it too cleverly!”

The game remained even after that. Viacheslav took the lead at one point but then lost several small and medium-sized pots. The next hand saw stacks of 79 big blinds for Buldygin to Avr0ra’s 46 big blinds.

Defending the big blind with , Avr0ra flopped top pair. On , Viacheslav put in a third of the pot.

“We’re in top pair. We can raise a continuation bet with stacks like this, but this time we’ll call.”

The turn came , which gave Avr0ra two pair.

“Maybe he’ll try an overbet bluff? An overbet bluff from Viacheslav Buldygin?”

As if on cue, Buldygin suddenly bet 13 big blinds into a 6.6 big blind pot, almost a double overbet. The decision followed almost immediately.

“We need to shove. He has low-equity bluffs, but he also has strong draws. We don’t mind folding them out, since they don’t bluff the river. All-in is the only option here.”

“It was a bluff. You might say I shouldn’t have shoved, but against a double-pot overbet, you have to shove at that SPR.”

The final hand of the match started with a limp. Alexey checked and on the flop , it went check-check.

Turn – . Avr0ra overbet 4 big blinds into a 2 big blind pot, and Buldygin called.

The river brought the potential flush. There were 10 big blinds in the pot, Buldygin had 17.2 big blinds left.

“All-in. We’re hoping Mr. Buldygin will have a bluff-catcher. We’ve got everything, but our opponent might think we’re always bluffing here.”

“Two pair, a cooler for him. Lucky us, we made it. Phew, we’re in the money.”

After the victory, Avr0ra separately noted the difference in experience.

“He is definitely a better heads-up player than me, and there’s no shame in that. He’s a guy who has been playing heads-up professionally for 15 years and has much, much more experience. He’s played millions of hands heads-up, while I’ve played 100,000 at best. But today, luck was on my side, and I was able to beat him and cash.”

Avr0ra guaranteed himself $23,504. After the match, he opened the chat and discovered that around 3,300 people were watching his stream, even without YouTube.

Ivan "Tortik" Govorov: Slow Play & Small Ball

Ivan played steadily and regularly used his time bank. Avr0ra immediately warned the audience not to be surprised by the long pauses.

“Tortik promised to play slowly, so if he takes his time, don’t be annoyed. That’s his strategy.”

The match started with a big cooler. Ivan opened from the button for 2.5 big blinds, and Avr0ra called with pocket fives. The flop was , followed by a continuation bet of 1.6 BB and a raise to 6.5 BB.

“Top set. We should still raise the 1.6 big blinds. We have straights in our range and we have sets. We both have an equal number of straights, and there’s no range advantage. I don’t think we’ll ever see a three-bet on the flop. He’ll either call or fold.”

Unexpectedly, Ivan moved up to 16 big blinds.

“Wow! What should we do? Call. Let’s hope for a good runout. I didn’t expect such aggression.”

On the turn , Ivan bet less than one tenth of the pot.

“What kind of line is this? What kind of genius is playing against me? Raising seems pointless. You raise and he’ll just shove. A total mess. I don’t know what kind of hand he has. A bluff? Anyway, I’ll call. Maybe he’ll improve to a pair.”

River came . Avr0ra, with a full house, donked half the pot and was raised to 59.5 big blinds.

“What beats me? Quads? I think he rarely three-bets fours. This player might simply never call a shove. I beat king-four. Kings are probably in his range sometimes. Let’s not shove. I think Tortik is a very careful player and might simply never call with a worse hand.”

“The cooler was dealt. He flopped a straight against my set. He probably shouldn’t have raised on the river, although he did have the nut straight.”

Later, Avr0ra opened up to 2.5 BB.

“We raise with ace-queen and call a three-bet. In GTO, that’s almost a four-bet call situation. But I’ll play according to my read that my opponent is playing carefully.”

Tortik three-bet to 13 big blinds, Avr0ra called, and the flop came .

But Tortik didn’t bet. Avr0ra also didn’t see much point in building the pot.

“Against a check, a check-back is a good play. Although betting isn’t a mistake either.”

Turn – .

“The double-paired board is a good card for us. We also have the ace of spades, which blocks suited ace-deuce, almost the only two-pair combo in his range. So if he checks, it makes sense to bet for super-thin value, for protection, and to force a chop on the double-paired board.”

Ivan checked again, and Avr0ra ultimately decided against betting.

“We can check too. The hand has great showdown value. We can check and even get to showdown on some rivers.”

On the river came a .

“Good river. I don’t think he’ll bet right now. I think he’ll check with ace-king and not go for thin value. Will he bluff? That’s the question.”

Ivan bet 11.4 big blinds into a pot of 28 big blinds.

“So what is Tortik representing? Nines, tens, eights, with which he could have bet a third on the turn. It’s not a given that he’ll bet a seven. I’m all for calling. I beat all his bluffs and it’s a decent hand to call with. He hasn’t three-bet before. If he three-bet something like five-four, I think he could play like this: give up until the river and then try a cheap bluff.”

“No, he had it. Unexpected! I didn’t expect to see that hand as a thin value bet, but he outplayed me there. He’s a strong player after all. He didn’t make it through three rounds for nothing.

We lost a big pot. On the plus side, I didn’t four-bet and didn’t lose my whole stack. But unfortunately, we gave back everything we’d won up to that point. Still, calling the river with ace-queen is theoretically okay. If an opponent value-bets ace-king, it seems illogical to fold ace-queen.”

After this hand, the stacks were almost even again.

A much more modest hand also turned out to be interesting. Ivan opened with a min-raise, and Avr0ra defended the big blind with .

Flop – . Tortik put 1.3 BB into a 4 BB pot.

“Let’s check-raise. No, I’ll change my mind. I don’t know what to do in the check-raise branch, but I know what to do in the check-call branch. I’ll check-call. According to Negreanu, I’ll go small ball. Who’s going to outmaneuver who here? I can do that too.”

Turn – . Ivan put 5 BB into a 6.6 BB pot.

“Now we call and calmly go to the river.”

It came , which brought a possible flush.

“A donk bet doesn’t make sense here. It’s better to check-call. He’ll bet thin for value and could be bluffing with this card. In theory, you don’t need to check this hand. But given that he’s been value-betting thin everywhere, this line is better against him.”

“With that hand he would have called a bet. Okay, let’s pretend we didn’t miss value, and he checked the river.”

In the decisive hand, Avr0ra made a min-raise with and Tortik called. The flop was , and our hero made a continuation bet of 1.3 BB.

“We’ll barrel a few streets. Maybe even three. I want to bet the flop and continue on almost any turn.”

Ivan called on the turn . Avr0ra bet 5 BB into a 6.6 BB pot.

“We’ll bluff. But this time we’ll only bluff with spades.”

Ivan didn't fold, but the river came , which completed the straight for Alexey.

“I’ve made it. Does anything other than all-in make sense? All-in is clearly the right play. I’m not blocking two pair, and it might look like a bluff. Let’s go all-in and try to get a call.”

Ivan went into deep thought.

“There’s no instacall. That’s good. I have a lot of bluffs in this line, and it’s very easy to talk yourself into a call here. You sit and think, damn, how often is my opponent bluffing? So I hope Ivan finds a call.”

“Call. GG. Well, I was lucky, and things were going well. Phew, that’s it. We’ve secured $47,000 and a top-eight finish. Just imagine how close we are to the bracelet. Three matches left to win.”

Alexey Boyko: 8 Hours Into the Stream

The next match took about 40 minutes to start. It was five in the morning in Dubai, where Alexey was located, when it started.

In the first non-trivial hand, Avr0ra lost a big pot with . Boyko opened to 2.5 BB, Alexey 3-bet to 11 BB.

“Eight-seven can be three-bet sometimes. Why not? It’s not a shame to fold to a four-bet.”

Boyko called.

Flop – . There are 22 BB in the pot.

“You don’t always have to continuation bet, although overall it’s a good hand for it. Let’s check. Checking here looks suspicious even to him. We could play some kings and queens this way.”

Boyko checked next. The turn came , but a bet didn’t follow again.

“It’s possible to bluff here without equity, or we can save it for the river. Let’s do that.”

The last community card was a .

“A fine river for us. What sizing should we use? Big.”

He puts 16.5 big blinds into a 22 big blind pot.

A couple of minutes later, Avr0ra opened from the button to 2.2 big blinds with and got a call.

Flop – .

“A set. That’s a good hand.”

Avr0ra bet 2.2 big blinds into a 4.4 big blind pot.

“I just pressed half pot by coincidence.”

Boyko called. The turn came a .

“On this turn, we overbet. The question is: one and a half pots or two? Probably one and a half.”

Boyko called again.

River – . There was 35.8 BB in the pot, and Avr0ra had 74.3 BB left.

“It’s a question of sizing. All-in, right? Theoretically, the correct play is all-in. In practice, well, yeah, probably all-in. He’ll have pairs with a straight blocker. Let him bluff, let him guess. Let’s hope he has two pair and Alexey will call.”

“Instacall! I thought there was a straight, but no. They dealt a tough cooler. Lucky to be ahead.”

By the last hand of the match, Boyko had about 11 big blinds left. He shoved with , Avr0ra called with , and the board didn’t change anything.

“GG, Lesha, the cooler was dealt. Sorry. Wow, top four, guys, top four. I’m very happy, I won’t lie. I’m very happy.”

The minimum payout has increased to $117,520.

Day two: five hours of sleep and two matches to win a bracelet

After five straight wins, he still needed to win two heads-up matches to secure the title.

“I slept so-so, honestly. I went to bed really late. The stream ended around 6:30 and by the time I fell asleep it was already almost 8:00 a.m. I woke up at 1:00 p.m. But I’ll manage. I’ll play well.

If I manage to win two more rounds today, I’ll become a WSOP champion. A real one, with a bracelet. They’ll send it to me or give it to me in the Bahamas at an official ceremony. I won’t lie, I really want it.”

Avr0ra wished his semi-final opponent, Alessio La Francesca, good luck, “preferably in the next tournament.”

The match started well for Alexey. He got and opened to 2.5 BB. La Francesca called.

Flop –

After his opponent checked, Avr0ra bet half the pot and saw a check-raise to 12.5 BB.

“He raised, and a big one at that. But with our hand, we’re calling. We have a very strong backdoor draw in addition to top pair, so we’re definitely going to the turn.”

Turn – .

“After his big raise, since he was acting polar, we need to act polar in return. We’ll see what he does.”

La Francesca bet exactly the pot, 30 BB.

“I think we’ll keep calling. We block hands that bluff the river, and we don’t block flush draws. With our hand, we call the turn and make a decision on the river.”

River . Check-check.

“Should I turn this into a bluff? Fold out the king that’s already got there? Probably not.”

La Francesca showed , Aurora won the 90BB pot.

Alexey was the chip leader by the next hand, with an effective stack of 95.6 big blinds. He opened with . La Francesca 3-bet 11 BB, Aurora called.

Flop – . There are 22 BB in the pot.

“Guys, this could be a big pot. With such deep stacks heads-up and no ICM, our hand is worth a lot. We’ll have to go for our stack on many lines.”

La Francesca posted 8.8 BB.

“He was betting smaller before, so it’s worth paying attention to. But maybe he’s sizing down to avoid a raise. Either way, we call.”

Turn – . La Francesca added another 26.5 BB.

“The queen is a neutral card. There are fewer ace-queens now. Overall it’s more of a blank. I’ll call.”

River – .

“Jack-ten has arrived, but we block them. Ten-nine has arrived, but we block those too. We don’t block hands like six-five, five-four, or jack-nine. Does he shove ace-jack for value? Probably.”

There are 92.7 BB in the pot. The opponent pushed all-in with 49.3 BB.

“Well, that’s a call, guys. Yeah, it’s a nasty spot, but it’s a call. He’s double-barreling all his missed draws here, sixty-five, fifty-four, jack-nine. You can think about it for a bit, it’s a very important decision after all. But in theory, with my hand, I should always get to showdown. He has ace-queen, ace-king dominated. His ace-jack, of course, could be a thin value shove. I’d fold things like ace-six, ace-five. Maybe ace-nine. I’ll call with ace-ten, hoping to see a bluff.”

La Francesca showed

“Oh no. They ran out such a board. It’s hard to fold here, guys. Very hard.”

After the hand, Avr0ra was left with 59 big blinds, but managed to get his stack back quickly. La Francesca opened to 2.2 big blinds, Alexey three-bet pocket tens and called the all-in. The opponent showed , on the board .

“MTT skill. Lose postflop, win the coin flip. Basic.”

The next big hand allowed Alexey's observation about sizing to be verified. Avr0ra opened to 2.2 BB with and called the 3-bet.

Flop – .

“Top pair. That hand is worth a lot again. Let’s pay attention to the sizing. Last time it seemed a bit off. Maybe I’ll focus on it more now.”

The opponent put 8 into a 20BB pot.

“Again the same sizing as in that earlier hand. Keep that in mind. Maybe I’ll make a subtle fold this time.”

Turn – . La Francesca bet 14.4 BB into a 36 BB pot.

“Against this size, I’ll call and fold the river. I’m going by the flop sizing. It looks strong, but I still won’t fold top pair.”

River went check-check. La Francesca showed , a missed flush draw.

“So the sizing tell was incorrect. He made the same bet as a bluff and didn’t get caught.”

After 6 minutes, Avr0ra min-raised and saw a 3-bet to 7 BB.

“In theory, ace-ten could almost shove here. But we’re in a match where we haven’t been four-betting much. So I’ll just call, especially with a smaller three-bet. Ace-jack offsuit could have shoved.”

Flop – . The Italian checked.

“Top pair on a monotone board. On the plus side, there won’t be any big sizings here. He should either bet very small or check almost his entire range. We’ll almost never face a check-raise, so I want to bet. I could take a third of the pot, then bet the turn and check the river. A solid all-around line. With the protection of a strong range, I’ll bet my ace-ten.”

Alexey bets 4.6 BB into 14 BB and gets called.

Turn .

“A seven is a blank. Well, what kind of blank is it? There are king-seven, queen-seven, jack-seven combos. It’s not exactly a blank. I can bet-fold or check and call the river. I probably like bet-folding better.

He’ll continue with strong draws and trips against our bet, but we can comfortably fold to that range. We won’t be bluffed often here, and if we are, it’ll be with good equity draws that could easily get there.”

He bets half the pot and gets called. The river is , and the board paired for the second time.

“I might even face a donk-shove bluff right now. That would be bad.”

But instead of pushing, the opponent put 11.6 BB into a 46.5 BB pot.

“By the way, a bluffer would always go all-in here. I don’t believe this is a bluff. Definitely not. If it’s not a bluff, what is it? Something stronger. He can still be playing a flush. The problem is, he’d be shoving his bluffs all-in. He’s not bluffing with a quarter-pot donk.

I don’t think there will be enough bluffs here to justify a call. Let’s fold. I might have called a shove. But a quarter pot, I’ll fold.”

La Francesca did not show the cards.

“If he was bluffing, then well done. He played it well.”

By the next hand, Avr0ra had about 40 big blinds left. La Francesca opened with a min-raise, Alexey three-bet pocket eights to 8 big blinds and got called.

Flop –

There are 16 BB in the pot.

“Not a bad flop for eights. We could play two streets, or three.”

Avr0ra bet 5.3 big blinds. La Francesca called. The turn was a , and the flush came in.

“We can’t go all-in here anymore. Check and make a decision. But we still have a very strong hand. Although, we could go all-in actually. I wouldn’t be surprised if it’s the right play. But from what I read of his range, all-in is bad. Let’s check and see what he does.”

La Francesca bet 6.6 BB into a 26.6 BB pot.

“We could even fold to an all-in here. With a call of this size, we take the river. We have a whole bunch of traps in our range. We might even check-fold some rivers.”

Avr0ra called.

River –

There were 39.8 big blinds in the pot. After Avr0ra checked, La Francesca bet enough to take Alexey's remaining 20.1 big blinds.

“I should really give up. He’s underbluffed almost everything. He’s a pretty strong player, obviously he could be bluffing here. But I’m not going to call. The turn was already a marginal call. On a river like this, I think calling is really bad.”

Avr0ra folded.

“A bluff? Show me. No, he didn’t. Value, most likely.”

Avr0ra approached the final stretch with a short stack. La Francesca limped, Alexey checked with .

Flop –

La Francesca bet 1 BB, half the pot.

“Finally, we’re in a situation where we can raise a continuation bet. It might not get any better. A strong enough hand to get all-in on the flop.”

Aurora raised to 3.5 big blinds, La Francesca called. The turn was an .

“That’s a really bad card. If I bet now, I’d have to bluff the river. I don’t really want to do that. Let’s check.”

Both checked.

River –

There were 9 BB in the pot, Aurora had 16.6 BB left.

“We need to bluff. If we find ourselves in this situation, we have to bluff. We try to represent a trap on the turn. He’ll fold his draws. We put ace-high in a difficult spot.”

“GG. The bluff didn’t work. Maybe I shouldn’t have bluffed. I thought he didn’t have many strong hands when checking back the turn. Maybe I should have bluffed, maybe I shouldn’t have.

I can’t complain. I won five matches in a row and took home $117,000. Could you ask for more? Of course, I wanted to win a bracelet, but it didn’t happen. It’s a shame. It’s frustrating. I’m not very happy with my last bluff. But I made my decision.”

That was the end of the tournament: fourth place and $117,520 in prize money.