Carlo Nini was down to his last 5,000 chip coin when we walked by his table, so we decided to spend a few moments to watch the end of his tournament. With 51 players left alive, he was due to take home $10,250 for his efforts – a nice score to be sure, although probably not what he wanted, given the massive $500,000 prize waiting for the eventual winner.

But we didn’t see Carlo bust out that hand. Or the next one. Or the next one.

In fact, as Carlo plunked down one of his several remaining time cards to extend his time, hoping that someone on one of the other tables would bust before him and help him come away with a slightly better payout, nobody expected he would last more than a few hands at the most. After all, the chip average was up near 1,000,000 chips. How could he possibly survive?

But survive he did. Carlo won the hand he played against Christine Do, and did it in style.

He called her all-in blind, and when she flipped over a pocket pair of nines, he didn’t expect much. But he flipped over his first card, which was a 10, which was not a bad start. The real surprise came when he flipped over his second card, which was another 10! His surprise pocket pair held, and he moved up from 20,000 to 55,000.

Next he shoved from the button with an , winning against his opponent’s and moving up from 55,000 up to 140,000, as the blinds and ante equal 40,000 per hand at this point. Carlo shoved from the cut-off on the next hand and found no callers, which meant he collected the blinds once again, moving up to 190,000.

Although he skipped the next hand, the hand after that Carlo shoved again. Finding no callers, he collected the blinds once more and moved up to 230,000. This time he showed the table a pocket pair of eights.

Every so often Carlo would steal a glance at the tournament clock, and every time it still showed that there were 51 players remaining. But at least he was safer than he was five hands ago! In just a matter of minutes, Carlo was able to multiply his chip stack by ten, and is still seated at this very moment.

In fact, a quick glance at the tournament clock now (approximately 20 minutes later) tells us that there are only 43 players remaining, with the next player ousted due to collect $11,725. Carlo is a strong player, and so anything is possible. Either way, even if he busts in the next hand, his efforts, luck and skill have earned him $1,500 more than he would have had he lost that fateful hand against Christine.

How high will he finish? Only time will tell!