{"id":258463,"date":"2023-02-07T18:33:54","date_gmt":"2023-02-08T00:33:54","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/?p=258463"},"modified":"2023-02-08T13:58:19","modified_gmt":"2023-02-08T19:58:19","slug":"poker-world-freaks-over-heads-up-tourney-surrender","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/poker-world-freaks-over-heads-up-tourney-surrender\/","title":{"rendered":"Poker World Freaks Over Heads-Up Tourney Surrender"},"content":{"rendered":"

Here\u2019s one you don\u2019t see every day. William Pinkerton \u2013 a heads-up player in a $400 buy-in tournament held last week at the Potomac Winter Poker Open at MGM National Harbor in Maryland \u2013 was down 6-to-1 to Jacob Mitich, with at least 10 big blinds left. That\u2019s when he made a move that has the poker world scratching its collective head.<\/p>\n

\"Jacob
Jacob Mitich poses with the pot that was literally handed to him during a tournament last week at the MGM National Harbor in Maryland. (Image: pokernews.com<\/em>)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Instead of going all-in dark and taking his chances, Pinkerton \u2013 with 3.5 million chips to Mitich\u2019s 19 million \u2013 just threw in the towel and collected $13,582, the pre-set second-place payday. Pinkerton \u2013 reportedly a flight-school student who plays poker just for fun \u2013 didn\u2019t even negotiate for a \u201cchop.” That deal could have netted him a few hundred dollars more.<\/p>\n

\n

According to pokernews.com, <\/em>Pinkerton offered no reason for walking away after besting 273 other players in the no-limit tourney \u2013 other than just being happy with coming in second. Pinkerton\u2019s $13,582 payday was almost $9K less than it would have been had he rallied to victory.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\u201cYeah, I definitely haven\u2019t had that happen before,\u201d Mitich told the website. \u201cIt was extremely odd.\u201d<\/p>\n

Poker Players Freak<\/strong><\/h2>\n

When the news reached the larger poker world, fellow players had themselves an old-fashioned conniption.<\/p>\n

\u201cWtf did I just read, the guy got to heads up and just gave up, didn\u2019t even get a deal?\u201d tweeted @TheAwwbrey.<\/p>\n

Has anyone ever heard of someone just giving up in a tourney heads-up? Ever?” tweeted poker player Gene Engle, who speculated that Pinkerton may have had some reason to avoid the spotlight. “Winner takes photos, talks with staff, interviews, etc. 2nd gets cash quick and leaves. People have many reasons to use aliases. Banned, owe debts, etc.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

“Maybe he had somewhere to be, or a flight to catch?\u201d added @yaboiijimothy. \u201cThere are only a few acceptable reasons why I could see someone giving up when head\u2019s up.”<\/p>\n

Why You Don’t Ever Do This<\/strong><\/h2>\n

Tournament poker players know it\u2019s never over until you lose your final chip. For instance, as pokernews.com<\/em> pointed out, a 2021 heads-up match for $100K in PokerGO<\/em>\u2019s \u201cHigh Stakes Duel\u201d saw Phil Hellmuth pull it out over Daniel Negreanu after being down 96K-4K.<\/p>\n

\n

More importantly, Pinkerton had nothing at all to lose by continuing to play Mitich until the bitter end. Even if he lost all his chips, Pinkerton would still have collected the same second-place payday. (Poker tournaments are unlike home games in that the prizes are all predetermined.)<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

Pinkerton surrendered right after rivering a straight off an A-7 that sent Brett Butz \u2013 all-in with a pair of 9s \u2013 to the cashier\u2019s cage in third place. This left Mitich with the top prize of $22,298, the best live cash of his poker career.<\/p>\n

Mitich has experienced other moments of freakish good luck during his life. He was among a dozen wounded by bullets on Aug. 26, 2018, when David Katz, 24, opened fire after losing a Madden NFL tournament game in Jacksonville, Fla. Two other competitors were killed in the shooting.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Here\u2019s one you don\u2019t see every day. William Pinkerton \u2013 a heads-up player in a $400 buy-in tournament held last week at the Potomac Winter Poker Open at MGM National Harbor in Maryland \u2013 was down 6-to-1 to Jacob Mitich, with at least 10 big blinds left. That\u2019s when he made a move that has […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":78,"featured_media":258465,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[83771,14],"tags":[81907,82849],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nPoker World Freaks Over Heads-Up Tourney Surrender - Casino.org<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Here\u2019s one you don\u2019t see every day. 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