WSOP Hand of the Day: Vanessa Rousso vs. David Bach

World Series of Poker / Short-Stacked Shamus / 16 July 2011 / Leave a Comment

David Bach (cowboy hat) and Vanessa Rousso (baseball cap) and others at the main feature table on Day 4 (Photo credit: PokerNews / WSOP.com)

Day 4 of the World Series of Poker Main Event saw players make the money early in the day (during Level 16), then came lots of eliminations as big stacks began to appear around the Amazon Room. By day's end more than 40 players had at least a million chips in front of them, with Manoj Viswanathan of Brooklyn, New York the only one with more than 2 million. One player who'll be returning to a million-plus stack today will be David Bach, and it was a hand between him and Vanessa Rousso that serves as Friday's WSOP Hand of the Day.

There were several hands between Rousso and Bach, actually, all played at the main feature table, that proved memorable. Before the dinner break -- which came halfway through Level 17 (blinds 3,000/6,000, ante 500) -- Rousso, donning her characteristic baseball cap, managed to pass the 1 million-mark herself and seemed destined to end the day among the chip leaders. But her fortunes soon took a downward turn, with the cowboy hat-wearing Bach, a.k.a. "The Gunslinger," the one responsible for most of her troubles.

Just before dinner came a hand in which Bach, then down to about 200,000, doubled through Rousso after picking up As-Ah. Rousso had Ac-Ks, saying afterwards she'd nearly folded to Bach's preflop, four-bet shove. But she didn't, and after the board came jack-high she'd given up a chunk to Bach.

Players then returned from dinner to play the second hour of Level 17, and soon arose another, even bigger hand between Bach and Rousso.

As Chris "Homer" Hall reported on PokerNews yesterday, the hand began with an early position raise by Joe Serock to 13,000 (a bit over 2x). Both Rousso (in middle position) and Bach (big blind) called Serock's raise, and the three of them saw the flop come 10h-9s-6c.

Bach checked, and Serock continued with a just-over-half-pot-sized bet of 25,000. Rousso raised the minimum to 50,000, and the action was back on Bach. There was a little over 120,000 in the middle at that point, and Bach announced he was reraising all in for about 450,000 total. Serock skedaddled, and Rousso went deep into the tank to decide whether or not she wanted to part with any more of the 720,000 or so she had behind.

Finally after a couple of minutes Rousso made the call, showing 6d-6h for bottom set. Bach tabled Qh-Jh for an open-ended straight draw and backdoor flush draw. The turn brought the 8h, giving Bach the queen-high straight, and the 2s on the river meant he was the one now with nearly a million chips while Rousso had suddenly fallen to just over 270,000.

Perhaps sensing weakness in the flop bets of Serock and Rousso, Bach's check-raise shove was essentially a squeeze that easily dissuaded Serock and apparently nearly got Rousso to fold her strong hand as well. Meanwhile, Rousso's hesitation before calling signaled her fear that she'd be putting a lot of her stack at risk while behind. While Bach holding a better set was unlikely here given the action, Rousso would be a 2-to-1 dog with her set versus a made straight. As it turned out, she got her money in as about a 72% favorite, but Bach hit his needed card and Rousso couldn't fill up.

Shortly after this hand, Rousso and Bach would play another in which Bach shoved the turn with the board showing 5s-6c-Jc-9s and Rousso called. Rousso held Qc-Js for top pair, but Bach had As-Ad and after the 8s fell on the river Rousso's day was done. Bach, meanwhile, returns today to a stack of 1.142 million.

Follow PokerNews' live reporting today for updates on Day 5 action, and do take a look at either ESPN2 or ESPN3 (if you get either) for live coverage as well.