HomeJust before the final hand of the evening, Robert Birss and Yi Tong Yang faced off in a pot that ran to the end with a board showing 2♦ 9♠ 7♠ A♠ 2♠. Yang placed a fairly big bet in front of him to which Birss reacted with an open show of his hand 7♣ 7♦, (debatable of whether he intended to fold or not), however he had not stated his action and the dealer had not mucked his cards. A player then noticed that Birss had a full house and the Tournament Director Lloyd Fontillas was called to rule on whether the hand was an automatic fold or if it was still live.
Fontillas ruled that the hand was still live and that Birss still had yet to act. Birss called and won the hand against Yang’s K♦ K♠ nut flush. Additionally, Birss received an 8-hand penalty for showing his cards prior to stating his intended action.