Readers of a definite age may recall an American radio personality of the prior generation named Paul Harvey. He had a syndicated radio "column" called "THE REMAINDER OF the tale". He would lead with some more or less story that was mildly interesting, then have a commercial break. After the commercial, he'd get back and provides you the punch line, twist, or some strange or bizarre aspect of the entire deal. Like he'd discuss some guy who did this thing, that thing, achieved this accomplishment, after which Harvey would come again after the industrial and say "Oh by the way, this guy was blind since birth."

One of the thrill things about being on the PCA is running into people who find themselves often capable of provde the "remainder of the tale" about all things poker. For instance, I DISCOVERED myself in a tournament floor chat with Jan Heitmann, a member of Team PokerStars Pro and a stupendously nice guy ("I'm sufficiently famous in Germany that statistically I need to be recognized at the subway about once every four years. It hasn't actually happened yet, but I BELIEVE that's my expectation").

Here's the tale that Jan told us...

Lee Jones and Jan Heitmann

As you can be aware, the finals of the arena Cup of Poker are run annually here on the PCA. Jan was present at (and marginally concerned with) not just essentially the most famous slowroll in World Cup history, however the most famed slowroll in PCA history, and definitely one of the famous slowrolls in poker.

Here's the scenario: on the 2010 World Cup of Poker, Luca Pagano, the team captain for Italy, open-raises in late position with 6-2 offsuit. Now Sascha Cornils, playing for Team Germany, wakes up with pocket aces and, not surprisingly, re-raises. Unfortunately for Canada, their representative, Darus Suharto (a November Nine alum), finds pocket kings within the small blind. After a short lived analysis to ensure he can get everybody's chips in, he shoves all-in.

So far, so good.

Luca, it need to be noted, takes his sweet Mediterranean time to fold his trash, staring both other players down as though seeking to get a read ("Hmmm. Are they beating six-high?"). But he does eventually fold.

This is where things turn interesting.

Cornils, holding aces, snap calls, turns up his hand, and fist-pumps, right?

Well, no. He freezes for a moment, looks confused, after which turns and frantically signals to his teammates (including Hauptmann Heitmann) that he needs a time-out (WCP teams are permitted a definite selection of these).

Jan, of course, officially requests a time-out from tournament director Neil Johnson, and the team goes backstage to confer.

Now, when you haven't heard this story, you can also not believe it. Fortunately, it's permanently recorded on the net here.

As you watch the video, you will see the German team go off-stage and feature an animated discussion. Within the meantime, the television announcers, who can see the cards, are flipping out, crying etiquette foul and so on.

When the German team returns, Conils calls and flips up his aces. The gang goes completely berserk. Canadian Suharto, who obviously felt his kings were golden (given Cornils' hesitancy), actually laughs in confusion and semi-disgust.

Despite the crowd's almost unanimous calling for a king at the flop (or maybe better, the river), the aces get up and Germany doubles through Canada.

Now, for the remainder of story.

Jan, who was within the center of all of the action, explained to me what happened. Cornils was a freeroll qualifier to the arena Cup of Poker. He was an especially inexperienced poker player who managed to win his way onto the team; it seems that luck does play an occasional part within the poker world.

Subsequent to winning his seat, he had studied up to he could about tournament poker. Somewhere in there, he had learned that it would be correct to fold aces preflop. Don't tell me you have not heard the quiz before: "IT IS THE first hand of the WSOP main event, you locate aces at the big blind, and everyone goes all-in before you. Do you call?"

Furthermore, there are occasions when it's clearly mathematically correct to fold aces preflop on or near the bubble of a satellite where finishing (e.g.) 18th is corresponding to finishing 1st.Poor Sascha Corlis finds himself eager about the pot of his life, with TV cameras watching him, a complete crowd watching every move he makes, and his Team Germany teammates holding their breath to look what he does.

Can anybody blame him for using a timeout that costs him (and his team) almost nothing?Now, being a poker player, I'm naturally suspicious (up to I trust Jan Heitmann). But two things strongly incline me to believe the "Confused novice" explanation.

1. Have a look at the re-raise that Corlis puts in over Pagano's original raise. It's almost a min-raise which (as Neil Channing points out at the video) might be worse than either a flat call or a considerable three-bet.

2. Return and watch the video at 1:35. Darus Suharto (the Canadian with the kings) asks for a chip count from Corlis - he desires to make certain that if he shoves, Corlis is just about forced to name along with his whole range. Now watch Corlis count his chips. This isn't the counting process of a veteran poker player. He's literally counting the chips two at a time (thus explaining the extended period it takes for him to get a count).

I'll let Jan Heitmann pick up the tale here:

"So we get backstage and i am thinking that if he has queens we will have to fold, and we'll probably call if he has kings.Now he tells us he has aces and all of us freak out. All of us say 'You totally need to call!' He says, 'Should I delay before calling after I get back?' I say 'No - here's what is going to happen: you will return there, immediately call and switch up your hand within the same breath. Then I'LL buy beer for the Canadian team."

In short, it was a honest novice misunderstanding that happened at just about the worst possible moment. Jan Heitmann did, in fact, buy a few pitchers of beer for the Canadian team, which smoothed over diplomacy and everyone had fun (and a dynamite tale to tell).

So there's yet one more great cause of you to come back to the PCA - where you'll learn...the remainder of the story.

***

Lee Jones first joined PokerStars in 2003 and was interested by the pro poker world for over 25 years.

Lee can also be on the PCA presenting a poker seminar, hosting Q&A sessions with PokerStars Team Pros, and answering any questions that our players and guests have. Follow him on Twitter (@leehjones) to get details about what he's doing at PCA and where you'll meet him.

Read More... [Source: PokerStarsBlog.com :: World Cup of Poker]