Chips for Channing
Neil Channing opened with a raise from the cutoff, and the player sitting on the button reraised to 925. The blinds got out, Channing quickly called, and the flop came . Channing checked, the button bet 775, and Channing again called without hesitation.
The turn was the , and Channing tapped the table to check. This time his opponent bet 1,125. Channing didn't act right away this time, spending a bit of time first arranging his chips, including placing a 500 chip on each corner of his downturned cards. He then set out 2,725 to check-raise and his opponent tanked.
"What's that?" asked David Pham from across the table, pointing at the arrangement of chips on Channing's cards. "What? That's my card marker," said Channing in response. "For luck."
Finally Channing's opponent folded and he dragged the pot. Pham tossed two yellow 1,000 chips across the felt to Channing, asking for some change in return. Pretending he hadn't heard the request, Channing looked up blankly. "Is this for me?" he said with a grin. "For luck?" He then delivered the asked-for change.
Whether by luck, skill, or a combination of the two, Channing has built up to 28,000 at present.