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Why Would a Chip Leader Refuse to Bust Someone: A Poker Masters Table Has the Answer

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Samantha Doyle 1 hour ago

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Clemen Deng’s decision not to eliminate short-stacked Joey Weissman caused tension and a debate over poker strategy during Poker Masters Event #4.
The move allowed Weissman to recover and eventually cash, while Adrian Mateos was eliminated on the bubble.
The incident highlighted how keeping a short stack alive can benefit chip leaders during bubble play.

Joey Weissman had 10,000 chips left. With the blinds already at 15,000/30,000, it could barely be called a tournament stack at all. One more bet from Clemen Deng could have forced those chips into the middle and, if Weissman failed to survive, sent everyone else in Poker Masters Event #4 into the money.

And yet, Deng chose not to make it.

What followed was part poker strategy discussion, part generational disagreement and, eventually, a strange bubble story in which the player everyone expected to be eliminated survived long enough to watch somebody else leave with nothing.

We have the story.

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Deng Had the Chance to Put Weissman All-In

There were 13 players remaining in the $10,500 No-Limit Hold'em event, with payouts beginning at 12th.

Weissman opened from the button to 180,000 withA♦K♦, leaving 10,000 behind. By keeping even that tiny amount out of the pot, Weissman ensured that losing the hand wouldn't automatically send him packing.

Clemen Deng at the $10,500 Poker Masters Event #4

Deng looked down at3♥3♣ in the big blind and had around 1.6 million chips. Instead of raising the extra 10,000 and making Weissman play for his tournament life, he called.

Neither player bet the9♦8♥4♥10♠J♦ board, and Deng's pocket threes won at showdown. Weissman was reduced to one-third of a big blind.

Nick Palma at Poker Masters — Nick Palma at the $10,500 Poker Masters Event #4

That was where the problem began for Krpan.

The Canadian accused Deng of “disrespecting the game,” while Deng replied that keeping Weissman alive was strategic. Nick Palma soon joined the discussion, siding with Deng and explaining why eliminating the shortest stack was not necessarily in the chip leader's interest.

Why Keep the Short Stack Alive?

Had Weissman busted, the remaining 12 players would all have been guaranteed at least $20,000. Because he survived, they weren't and that was what gave Deng his edge.

Every medium and short stack still had to consider whether contesting a pot against the tournament chip leader was worth risking a zero-dollar finish when another player had only 10,000 chips. Deng could open more pots and apply pressure while knowing his opponents would prefer to wait for Weissman to disappear.

John Krpan at Poker Masters — John Krpan (right) at the $10,500 Poker Masters Event #4

It's a particularly brutal but effective play: sometimes knocking out the player with almost no chips is worse for your own position than letting him hang around.

The same logic explains Weissman's decision to keep 10,000 behind in the first place. Even after losing almost his entire stack, he still had another hand to play without being automatically eliminated.

Krpan's criticism in this case didn't have anything to do with what the best strategy was but the fact that declining to eliminate an opponent when the opportunity presented itself went against how the game should be played.

The 10,000-Chip Stack Refuses to Die

From there, Weissman began rebuilding. The handful of chips that survived the Deng pot eventually became around 190,000, moving him away from elimination and leaving the rest of the field once again wondering who would actually finish 13th.

The answer turned out to be Adrian Mateos.

Mateos busted on the stone bubble, missing the money for the third time in four events during this Poker Masters series. Weissman had somehow gone from being one lost pot away from elimination to watching one of the world's most accomplished players leave before him.

Vitalijs Zavorotnijs at Poker Masters — Vitalijs Zavorotnijs at the $10,500 Poker Masters Event #4

Krpan's tournament didn't last much longer after that. He was eliminated in 12th for $20,000 shortly after the bubble burst. Weissman went three places further and collected $24,000 for ninth.

Deng, who was at the centre of all of this, ended up outlasting both of them by some distance. He reached the final five and then the heads-up stage, where he faced Latvia's Vitalijs Zavorotnijs.

He briefly held the lead during their match before a large cooler decided the tournament: both players flopped two pair and improved to full houses on the turn, but Zavorotnijs held the better one. Deng finished second for $144,000, while Zavorotnijs collected $224,000.

Place	Player	Prize
1	Vitalijs Zavorotnijs	$224,000
2	Clemen Deng	$144,000
3	Nick Palma	$104,000
9	Joey Weissman	$24,000
12	John Krpan	$20,000

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