The extent of my Texas Holdem knowledge comes from movies and occasionally playing with friends for $5 (£4) buy ins. The highest pot I've ever played for is probably somewhere around $10, making this $27,800,000 (£22,750,000) pot a few thousand times more intense. So, I can only imagine a tiny fraction of the stress it takes to go all in with $5.9 million (£5 million) before the flop is dealt, like this hand between William Kassouf and Griffin Benger during the World Series of Poker this week.
And then there's Kassouf's incessant heckling of Benger. Though Benger has the winning hand (a pair of aces unknown to Kassouf), his opponent keeps harassing him into calling his bet. Eventually Benger breaks under Kassouf's verbal assault and puts him all in. The two throw verbal jabs over the table as the rest of the hand is dealt. Kassouf, who has a pair of kings in his hand, needs only one to beat Benger's aces. Watch the scenario, which is way more stressful than that poker scene in Casino Royale, play out above.
