We happened upon the pot with roughly 15,000 in the middle and a flop of .

Minnesota’s Todd Melander (pictured in Seat 1), who is fresh off winning the 2017 MN Magazine Player of the Year, checked from the big blind and Texas’ Maury Solano, who placed third is last summer’s record-breaking MSPT Venetian, bet 7,600 from middle position.

Melander responded by check-raising all in for 36,700 and Solano gave it some thought before making the call.

“Diamonds?” Solano asked.

Melander indicated that he did not and tabled the . Solano shook his head, showed his , and said, “I didn’t think you’d have an ace.”

Melander got it in good, but then the dealer burned and turned the to give Solano the lead with two pair. An unhappy Melander slapped the table and stood up. However, all hope was not lost as he had plenty of outs.

The dealer burned one last time and put out the on the river. Melander made Broadway and stayed alive to fight another hand.

Maury Solano - 100,000 (42 bb)
Todd Melander - 88,000 (37 bb)