Alexander Kostritsyn Bluffs, Busts

With another online super-stakes player receiving much of the Day 1 coverage yesterday, after Ben Tollerene's stack went missing during a dinner break, Alexander Kostritsyn just lost all of his chips in equally perplexing fashion.

We caught the action before the flop, with a player opening to 4,000 from the cutoff. Tue Phan called from the button, as did the small blind, but Kostritsyn decided to put the squeeze on with a three-bet to 20,000 from the big blind.

The original raiser got out of the way, but Phan called to see a flop of rain down. Kostritysn then led out for a bet of 14,500, and Phan deliberated for a minute or so before cutting out two stacks and sliding them forward, raising to 34,000. Faced with a strong sign that Phan held a queen, Kostritsyn persevered nonetheless, reraising all-in for his last 90,000 or so chips.

Phan stood while making the call, showing down his for trip queens and an ace kicker. Kostritsyn could only muster the for a bluff that, while courageously bold, had been busted.