My traditional “Holiday Poker Game” is held back in Madison, Wisconsin and this year it was a $1,000 buy in $5-$5 blind Pot Limit Hold’em game. It is always one of the highlights of my holiday trip back to Wisconsin! We play with a great group of guys, and it is a great deal of fun to play super deep stack poker. This year we started at around 4:00 pm, and by 2:00 am we had over $50,000 on the table. How often do you have chance to play no limit Hold’em with 2,000 big blinds in your stack? With the stacks so deep, a person can play 40% of the hands and still make money. Playing that many hands and still winning requires guts, heart, the ability to make big bluffs and small bluffs, and slow plays and fast plays, but the right mix can yield a large profit. Of course, the wrong mix can yield a large loss!
At around 2:00 am the following hand came up between www.UB.com pro player “Poker Ho” and I. With the live $10 blind on, Poker Ho and Jon Green limped into the pot, and I called with the Js-6s on the button. The flop came down J-5-2 rainbow, Ho bet out $50, Green called $50, and I decided to “Pot it” (bet the size of the pot). The players in the blind folded for my $260 bet, and then Ho quickly threw $520—a $310 reraise–into the pot. Green folded, and after a moment I called the $310 raise. The turn card was an eight, Ho announced, “I bet the pot,” and I quickly folded. Ho told me later that he had flopped a set of fives.
What happened in this hand? I love Ho’s $50 bet into a $60 pot with three fives. The other option is that he could slow play his super powerful hand and bet $20, or even check on the flop, but then he would most likely give up the chance to win a huge pot. A check here on the flop is the worst possible tactic as it denies one of the three players in the blinds the chance to check-raise the pot on the flop, and thus could cost Ho a lot of action. I mean, if one of the blinds was attempting a check raise with say, J-2, J-5, 5-2, K-J, or something similar and it was then checked around, the player in the blind might fear that his hand was no longer any good on the turn, and may well put less money into the pot on the turn. Also, a six, a four, a three, or an ace could queer Ho’s action as he would now have to fear that his opponent had a straight.
The other reasonable option is a smaller sized bet on the flop. On the positive side of the ledger a small bet, say $20, would still give an opponent in the blinds the chance to check-raise, and it might lure in someone with a pair of deuces, or ace high, or a weaker holding. On the negative side of the ledger a small bet would attract a call from someone with an inside straight draw (6-4, 6-3, A-4, or A-3), and then get a huge pay off from you if they completed their straight. To sum up I like the $50 bet a little more than the $20 bet, and a check is a bad play.
As to my $260 bet on the flop, I think was a good one. I made the pot sized raise thinking that I probably had the best hand, but also to find out where I stood in the hand. I really love Ho’s $310 reraise, especially as he executed it at lightning speed. He acted so quickly that I became a bit confused. I hate my $310 call! I mean I raised it up on the flop to see where I stood—Ho’s reraise told me that I was beat–and then I called anyway! I do not like Ho’s pot sized bet on the turn. Why let me out of the hand when he was so powerful? I know why he made the pot sized bet though. He was making sure that I didn’t call with 4-3 and bust him. I would have folded 4-3, but now he gave me the chance to easily get away from one pair, and also possibly to get away from two pair (had I had it).
Recently I was playing in a monstrous $400-$800 blind no limit Hold’em game. After Antonio “The magician” Esfandiari limped under the gun, another player limped, and I limped in with Ks-2s in the cutoff (one position right of the button). The flop was 7s-6h-5s, the player in the big blind bet out $5,000, the magician called, and I called. The turn card was the 8s, which looked pretty magical to me as I made the second nut flush! The player in the big blind checked, the magician bet $10,000, and I opted to call. The other player folded, and the last card was the 3d. Now the magician bet $30,000, and I decided to just call while I said, “Well, I cannot fold, and I’m not going to raise it up.” The magician showed the As-Qs, and I thought to myself, “So sick, what a cooler!”
Let’s take closer look at this hand. The magician used a play that I use myself sometimes, when he just called with the As-Qs before the flop. The power of this play is that oftentimes you can hit a huge hand, and have your opponent completely buried. Like when it comes Q-10-3, and your opponent has a queen. Of course, by not raising it up pre-flop and winning the $1,200 in blind and antes risk free, you open yourself up to losing the hand, or to even getting buried when it comes Q-10-3, and your opponent has Q-10. The standard play would be to raise it up pre-flop with As-Qs under the gun. My $800 call before the flop was a little bit loose, but it was OK. The magician’s call on the flop was standard, although a more aggressive line would have him raising it up on the flop with his flush draw and two over cards. Still, I favor the call. Why raise it up on the flop, only to have an opponent reraise with trips, or two pair, or a made straight? If your opponent does have one of these hands, then you’re a big underdog to win the pot. My call on the flop was standard. On the turn, I like the magician’s $10,000 bet, and my call was actually a little weak. Most players would have raised it up with a king high flush right then and there. I mean, what are the odds that your opponent has an ace high flush? It is more likely that he has a smaller flush, a straight, or even trips, and you want to try to extract more money out of one of those three hands! I mean, you could lose a lot of action if the last card is a spade, or pairs the board (you may even lose the pot to a paired board!). So the best play here is to raise it up when Antonio bet out on the turn, but in my case I thought that a likely hand that the magician may have been holding was the As-Xs. I mean, the magician did limp into the pot in first position, and he did bet out on both streets after he hit his flush. Also, a raise eliminates the other player, who may well have been drawing dead by now. The magician did have the ace high flush, so my “Weak call” turned out to be a great play! I love the magicians $30,000 bet on the river. There was nothing I could do about the $30,000 call. In fact, I would sooner raise it up, then fold this hand. The magician could have easily have had a queen high flush, a smaller flush, or even a bluff (considering our history together). It was a sick hand, but it could have been worse for me, if the magician checked on the turn or the river. So as it turns out I lost the minimum, but $50,000 sure doesn’t sound like a “Minimum” number to me!!
In the WSOP (World Series of Poker) $10,000 buy in main event this year, we had 6,000 entries, of which 648 made the money. In order to make the money, you had to make it until late in the day on Day Three. In order to make the final table or the “November Nine” (the final nine players who played it out back in November), you had to play eight full days of poker. I want to congratulate the “November Nine” as beating 6,000 players is quite a feat: Phil Ivey, Jeff Shulman, Eric Buchman, Darvin Moon, Joseph Cada, Kevin Schaffel, James Akenhead, Antoine Saout, and Steven Begleiter. By the way, first place paid $8.5 million; and even ninth place paid $1.2 million!
I was still in the hunt late on Day Three–with about 450 players left in the tournament–when the following hand came up. With the blinds at $3,000-$6,000, and a $1,000 a man ante, I peered down at Ac-As. An aggressive player with almost $1 million in chips opened for $22,000. I was sitting three to the left of the button with $135,000 in chips. There was some history here: the same aggressive player that had just opened it for $22,000 had beat me out of around $200,000 in chips only one round earlier, when he opened for $18,000 and I made it $40,000 to go (a minimum-raise) with 9-9. In that hand he held A-J, and the board came J-J-5-7-3. Now, assessing my current situation a few thoughts popped into my head. First, why not make the same min-raise that I made only one round earlier? Second, he raised so much that I didn’t even need to reraise to eliminate the players behind me. Third, I was a short stack and I needed to gamble by just calling with my A-A in order to win the most possible chips.
Thus, I just called. Then I cringed as the player behind me in the cutoff called, the player behind him on the button called, and the player in the big blind called. Three out of four possible players behind me called the relatively big sized raise! I was now ready to fold if certain flops came down. The flop was Jc-10h-5c, and the player in the big blind moved all in for $87,000. The original raiser folded, and I was happy because I thought that I had the best hand. Thus I moved all in for $113,000, and the player behind me folded. The guy on the button started muttering, “I know you have three fives. I can’t beat a set.” By his tone and comments I assumed that he had top two pair, and now I thought that I was in trouble. He finally called the $113,000, flipping up J-10 off suit (by the way, he made a horrible pre-flop call!). The player in the small blind showed 9h-8h, and I was in trouble. Still, I could win with club-club, a five, a running pair, a running K-Q, or an ace. Alas, the turn was a seven, making a straight for the player with 9-8! Now I could only win the $50,000 side pot, and only with a seven, a five, or an ace. Sadly, I missed and went broke.
Although I was certainly unlucky to lose this hand, could I have played it any differently? I mean, a min-raise here would have almost certainly won the hand for me, and may have doubled me up. And there was some great logic for me to make a min-raise—I min-raised the same guy one round earlier, and he beat me a big pot–but I do not regret for a second my smooth call, no matter how many times I run the scenario in my mind. I do, however, regret the fact that I lost so much money the round before with 9-9. I should not have min-raised for $40,000 in that spot, and then lost $160,000 more!
A few years ago I was playing in the Bicycle Club’s Legends of Poker $300 buy-in (with multiple re-buys) no limit hold’em event. Things were going along just fine and I was feeling pretty confident. I had just finished second to Daniel Negreanu in the $1,000 buy-in seven-card stud event and I was starting this day with a big stack of chips. To top it off, I really liked the lineup at my table. I knew what the players were doing. There were even a couple of traditionally wild players who I thought, with patience, I good chance of busting. With the blinds at $50-$100, I made it $300 to go with A-A in first position (I hate limping with aces in early position!). Jack Fox, who I normally think of as a semi-wild player, was really toned down and playing strong poker when he called my $300 bet. (Not that I think Jack’s semi-wild style is bad, it is just a dangerous way to play the game!) After Jack called the $300 raise, one of the truly wild players decided to just call my raise with 7-7 in the small blind. This was totally unexpected and out of character for this player! I had seen him re-raise with pairs all day long. I even planned on busting him while he was making one of these moves! When it was his turn to act, I could see he was contemplating making a re-raise, but for some reason he merely called the $300 bet pre-flop. If he had re-raised me pre-flop, I would have busted him. I felt like that what was supposed to happen! Anyway, the flop came down Q-Q-J and the Wild One checked. Now I quickly checked for two reasons. First I had a bad feeling that Jack had a queen and, second, I wanted to try to trap Jack and the Wild One. So much for the best-laid plans of mice and men! Jack checked behind me and the next card off was a 10, making Jack a full house! Now Wild One and I checked and Jack bet out $900. Wild One folded and I quickly called. I was a little concerned but I had seen Jack bluff a lot in the past few years. The last card was a 2, and I checked again and watched Jack moved all-in for about $1700. Now I said to myself, “Hmmm…what could he have? He could have a busted flush draw, and now he’s trying to bluff me. He could have just overplayed a pair of jacks like J-K or J-A. It’s Jack Fox, and maybe he just has 5d-6d or something similar and he’s just trying to outplay me.” I have seen him do some pretty crazy things! I actually thought that he might have 8d-9d or some crazy straight like that! But I set this hand up for him to bluff me by checking aces to him three times, so I better carry through on my plan and call him down.” So I called and left myself with only $700 in chips.
I played my last $700 really hard, but I couldn’t overcome losing all of those chips with the aces. Right after I called Jack, he said, “What a bad call you made against me on the end!” Well, I certainly don’t mind my call against Jack in this hand, which he played perfectly. He didn’t re-raise me before the flop or bet on the flop (if he bets the flop, then I would have probably raised him and won this pot!) I guess I need to re-examine my opinion on Jack being a semi-wild player! The question I’ve asked myself since though is, “Did I misplay this hand?” Upon further reflection, I believe that the answer is yes, I did misplay this hand. Why didn’t I just bet the flop? There was $1,000 sitting out there and Jack would have folded and maybe Wild One would have moved in on me! Perhaps I would have doubled up instead of going nearly broke! Why check the flop and let a straight card come out there for free? Why risk $2650 after the 10 came off? I think that I was also a little bit unlucky that Wild One didn’t re-raise me before the flop, but perhaps I gave something away about the strength of my hand. There are times that I play hands to trap people and sometimes it pays off, and sometimes it doesn’t. Anyway, Jack Fox went on to win the tournament, and Eric Holum finished second! It must have been a nice ride home for Jack and Eric Holum, who drove down from Reno just for this one event. With about $75,000 in winnings sitting between them in the car, right next to those first and second place trophies, I’m sure they thought the trip was worth it!
Here we go again, one more time I have a ton of chips ($512,000) in the Taj Mahal’s US Poker Open Championship event; this time in year 2003. Major déja vu here, because I had over 50% of the chips in 1997 with three players left, however, I couldn’t close the deal then vs. Ken “Skyhawk” Flaton and Surrindar Sunar.
In fact, in 1997 with $900,000 in chips in play, we had Skyhawk down to $17,000 in chips and all-in with 10-8 vs. my A-2. Skyhawk ended up winning that small pot, and then he came all the way back to win that tournament.
Now, in 2003, I’m at full power (“full power” is the phrase I use to describe my “A game” to the boys), and ready to win this thing. With Toto Leonidas in seat one, Erik Seidel in seat two, and me in seat three, it’s also feeling eerily similar to the $3,000 WSOP no limit Hold’em event in May, where Erik was also in seat two, and I was in seat three. I won that one!
With five players left, Toto opens for $35,000 upfront, and I decide to make it $95,000 more or $130,000 total with my A-K. Toto studies awhile, and then moves all-in for $355,000 more. Immediately, I eliminate A-Q and A-J from the possible hands he could have. I decide that there is no way that Toto would risk fifth place with a weak hand, and therefore I fold my A-K.
I fold it face-up, and now Toto says, “Whew,” and shows me A-Q. I am stunned that he would risk fifth place with one of the worst no limit hands out there. I mutter to myself, “What is this guy doing?” Then I remember some of the really weak hands that he played against me in the past. Toto can be a maniac player (“maniac” means someone who moves in weak a lot—being a maniac isn’t a bad thing to be a lot of times), and I had forgotten that—my mistake.
Even still, I don’t mind this lay down, because I know Toto will give me all of his chips in the next hour or two while making another reckless play. One hour later we are three handed when Toto opens for $55,000 on the button. I look down at Q-Q in the big blind, and decide very quickly to just call. A quick call shows that I’m trying to pretend that I’m strong—I’m selling weakness here.
Perhaps I should have raised him right here right now, and maybe, he moves all-in on me with his Q-J off suit and I bust him—this is the kind of 20-20 hindsight we use when we lose a key pot! In any case, the flop comes down 8h-7s-2h, and I check. Toto bets $70,000, and now I put him on a very weak hand: in my mind, I put him on K-J off suit. So I just call the $70,000.
A lot of players would have just raised Toto here, but I had a sense that Toto was ready to give me all of his chips with nothing, so I just called him. Now the problem card hits, a king comes on fourth street. I check, and now Toto studies for a long time, and bets $200,000. It has happened just like I knew it would, Toto cannot let go of a hand, now I get to bust him—he has Q-J, and I have Q-Q, it’s over for Toto!
Except, I keep thinking of the K-J hand that I put him on in my mind…If he does have a king, then I’m dead. I pride myself on making great reads. I had been making great reads all throughout the three day long tournament, but now I study awhile. I have a sense of dread that I’m supposed to call this hand, but on the other hand, I feel that Toto will give me all of his chips in a better situation soon, if I just wait for it. I fold!
Looking back, I know Toto would bet any pair, including 5-5, 6-6, sevens, eights, 9-9, 10-10, and J-J. I fold face-up, showing the Q-Q, and now Toto shows me Q-J off suit. “OK,” I tell myself, “100% Toto will give me his chips if I just hang in there and remain strong emotionally. Don’t start fretting about a bad lay down, just wait and Toto will move all-in weak one more time.”
30 minutes later, I’m still in there, and lord help them if I get my chips doubled up, because now I have both their plays dialed in, I’m locked, loaded and ready to fire. Now Toto opens on the button for $55,000 and I call him with Q-J off suit in the big blind. The flop is Q-8-7, and I check; Toto shuffles his chips, makes a lot of awkward motions, and finally says, “I’m all-in.”
What? There is only $120,000 in the pot, and he has bet my last $236,000. What the heck is going on here? I know Toto, and I consider all the possibilities: he might have K-Q (this is the only hand I’m worried about): but Toto never bets big with his big hands, he always tries to milk them. Thus, he can’t have a big pair, A-Q or even K-Q; in my mind, he must have A-8.
Toto is starting to look very, very weak as I study him—I think he knows that I have a Q by now, and I think he knows I’m going to call him. He looks like a man that wishes he could take his money back, but now he is committed. Finally, I say, “I call,” and push all of my chips into the middle of the pot. This is the first time all tournament that I am all-in, which is remarkable, and a real source of pride for me.
The crowd cheers wildly as I call, and Toto flips up A-7! Now I smile and think, “Nice call Phil; it looks like Toto will be short on chips if he loses this pot.” Now the cameras are adjusted, the hands announced to the standing room only crowd, and the first card is dealt; it is a 6. OK, the last card is a mere formality now. No way is Toto hitting an A or a 7 here and now—I’m an 8 to 1 favorite at this point.
However, incredibly, the last card is a 7, and the final evidence that I lost the hand, is that Toto is screaming very loudly, “Yes!” And pumping his fists in triumph—I think to myself, “You’re actually proud of that XX##@@ play!” Immediately, I find myself falling backward like someone punched me, and I take four steps back, and literally flop on my backside—on the “payoff stage”–and lie there motionless staring up at nothing, muttering to myself.
Of course, when it hit ESPN in 2004, it did make for very good, dramatic TV! In any case, somehow, someway, I can’t console myself. I walk around, muttering to myself, while they call me to the stage to pay me my $116,000 for third; I’m feeling like I just lost $270,000 (first place was $388,000). I stew, I mutter, I cannot believe Toto got away with it! I’m pissed, I’m sad, I’m inconsolable for awhile. Finally, after making a dramatic jackass of myself, I gather myself and try to recover what little dignity I have left.
Do I deserve to lose to a guy that tried to give me all of his chips three times? What does deserving have to do with it anyway? For that matter, do I deserve to have the ability to make any final table in any tournament on any given day?
I begin to feel guilty that I’m so upset, and acting badly, when deep-down I know I’m blessed as much as anyone. Later that night I finally realize that I am truly blessed, period. It is OK to be bummed out, but I need to control myself much better when I get unlucky in a big hand!
I do like Toto (he’s a really nice guy) and Erik (Erik’s been a great guy for fifteen years), and congrats to them both. Besides, so what if Toto hit a card on me, I should have called him with my Q-Q, and had over one million in chips. If I make that great call, then I believe I would have won. The Q-Q is just another hand I’ll torture myself over for the next ten years…
If you haven’t noticed, we launched a new UltimateBet.com home page a little over a week ago. Our goal of the layout change was to get pertinent information to players faster and more effectively. Of course we want new players to download but aside from adjusting messaging for that, we’ve cut a lot of clutter and extra fluff on the main page that we knew just got in the way. The Bad Beat Jackpot is now feeding into the homepage, so you know when it’s time to jump on the tables.
UltimateBet successfully launched the first ever 7 Deuce Hold’em tables online and everyone is buzzing about it. We’ve added action to the tables that had previously only been available in live games. Watch our own Phil Hellmuth in a famous 7 Deuce hand on High Stakes Poker win the pot and prop bet with 7 Deuce.
Phil plays regularly at the UltimateBet 7 Deuce $25/50 stakes tables where, if you win with 7-2, you get paid $75 from each player at the table on top of pot, which can get massive. Good luck!
I can’t go without mentioning progress on the Aruba Poker Classic either, since we are going to have our 10th Anniversary party down there and expect the number of players to exceed 550. Now that’s a nice prizepool. If you’re staying with us in the Radisson you can have yourself a Mai-Tai, take dip in the ocean then the pool and be in your seat at the poker table all before the flop. We still have tons of ways to qualify without buying in directly, so check out the tourney schedule for details. Our next 25-seat giveaway event will be on August 30th, so don’t miss it.
My favorite drinking establishment in Vienna is the famous Schweitzer Haus, which serves an incredible Budweiser Beer, but nothing like the Bud that we drink over here in the states. When you’re done at the Schweitzer Haus (they close at 11:00 PM), then head on over to Nacht Sicht, where they have three different dancing rooms to choose from. Of course the Poker EM is held in Baden, which is about twenty minutes south of Vienna, in the palatial Casinos Austria.
Now to business: with three qualifying events, where 24 people advance to the main event from each qualifying event, you will find things work a little bit differently in the Poker EM. Each qualifying event starts with a sold out 456 players. It costs $300 to enter, $300 to re-buy and $300 to add on each day.
You are handed your seat assignment ticket, one re-buy ticket and one add on ticket, but here’s the catch: you can only use your add on ticket if you still have chips left at the end of the re-buy period. So, if you go broke before the re-buy period ends, then you are out of the qualifying event right then!
Thus I believe that the best advice I can give anyone is to make the end of the re-buy period, even if you have to throw away ‘rolled up’ aces [(A,A), A], which is the best possible starting hand in Seven Card Stud! After all, to win a pot with A,A-A right before the re-buy period ends is helpful, but to go broke right before the re-buy period ends is absolutely unacceptable. Therefore muck the A, A-A if your short on chips before the add on period ends!
In 2000, I actually ‘anted off’ without even looking at my hole cards – because I was short on chips right before the re-buy period ended – when I ‘qualified’ for the Championship event. Again, make sure at all costs, that you make the end of the re-buy period, so that you can add-on!
The second interesting thing about the Poker EM is that they play down to six tables, and then you play down to the final four players at each of those final six tables, and that group (of 24 players) ‘qualifies’ for the Championship event. Last year, two people from my table ‘qualified’ with only a few chips! So when you make the final six tables with a lot of chips, avoid playing big pots, just make sure that you make the ‘final four’ players at your table to qualify for the Championship event.
When you make it down to the final six tables with a short or medium stack, make sure that you keep a close eye on the amount of chips that your opponents at your table have. You may need to throw away a strong hand because you can see that some of your opponents are extra short on chips. After all, it doesn’t matter how many chips that you end up with, it only matters that you make the final four at your table and move on (everyone starts with the same number of chips in the ‘Championship’).
Throughout the tournament, I like to start with strong hands only, like big pairs or three big flush cards. I have noticed that a lot of people at the Poker EM are recreational players that play a lot of really weak hands. This means that; on one hand you will take some really bad beats, but on the other hand you will win some really big pots.
The antes tend to be bigger then we are used to in the USA (or anywhere in the world for that matter!), so that winning an ante means something. If you have the opportunity to ‘steal’ an ante, then go for it. However, stealing too many antes is hazardous to your tournament health.
One last tip: I had good luck playing my drawing hands very aggressively. If I knew that I had to call a bet from my opponent, then I would just raise and put myself into the lead in case the other guy was drawing as well. I always recommend aggressive play in poker tournaments.
The Poker EM is a really beautiful poker tournament with all of its pageantry and flair. The 72 finalists are introduced to the whole casino one at a time, and the flags for their different countries are held aloft proudly during those introductions. The final table is surrounded by hundreds of people and broadcast live on the Internet in audio and video. The money is brought out on a silver platter in plastic packages. And the Champagne flows freely after the event ends!
The trophy is beautiful, and winning the Poker EM was the highlight of my year in 2000 (especially after finishing ninth in the Poker EM in 1999!).
The Hustler Club’s championship event back in 2002 proved to be quite a ride for me, Levi Rothman and Charlie Shoten. With a starting stack of $10,000 and a fantastic structure (the same one as the WSOP had, except the blinds went up on the hour), we had a ton of time to “move” our chips. This structure required a huge amount of skill, and I believe, barring a terrible beat, any great player who was on top of his game would make it to day two in this event.
Before the tournament began, Charlie paid me the following compliment, “Your articles have allowed me to improve my play in No Limit Hold’em (NLH) so much that I recently won a nice NLH tournament.” I’m used to taking a lot of BS from the other players,’ but one look at Charlie told me he was being sincere so I thanked him and the tournament began.
————————————————————————————————————————————————
Charlie Shoten, CLU (AKA Scotty Warbucks)
I didn’t know I could play NLH.
I just completed playing 20 hours of NLH at the Players Champion
$3,000 buy-in Hustler Casino.
I’ve played limit poker in California the past 12 years and never considered NLH, as I knew that one mistake or one bad judgment call would put you out. I am a very aggressive player, and if I make a bunch of misjudgments in limit ring games I can still have a winning session. In fact, brilliant play can make up for a multitude of questionable plays. Every time I entered a small NLH tournament I didn’t know how much to bet, what type of hands to look for, or hardly any of the main ingredients that add up to being a top pro.
I’ve always enjoyed reading Phil Hellmuth’s best Hand of the Week™ articles in Card Player Magazine as many are about NLH. Specifically, his recent article about laying down a royal flush draw on a flop, while being a 54% or so favorite with 2 cards still to flop hit a cord in my brain. Phil explained that he would have to risk all of his chips and even though he was a favorite he chose to wait for a better scenario, as he felt he could win the tournament and was not prepared to risk it all at this stage in the game.
O’K, a light went on. “Protect” your chips and look for the right situations. Risk
an amount that you can afford without risking elimination.
I have always played poker without intellectual thinking…going by gut and inspiration. There are only 52 cards and the combinations and possibilities are deeply known in my being after 60 years of poker starting as a five year old in family games. My analogy of this is blackjack. If we knew 50 years ago what we know now about blackjack we could beat the game all day long. So, going past the basic odds it comes down to picking your spots and protecting your chips; and doing it from your gut. Inspiration, not analysis; I believe that we are all in communication with each other on an energy basis, and, combination of ESP, body language and verbal language. We know exactly where we stand on each hand. That information is only available to us to the extent we can tune in to our intuition and reveal the best choice instantly for every play.
In conclusion I got hit by the deck and probably will never win another NLH tournament again. It’s even more important to be in the real world.
————————————————————————————————————————————————
When we reached the final three players that day, a deal was proposed that was very fair. Charlie and Levi asked me to make a deal, and I agreed under the condition that I get the best of it. They both said, “no problem.” With a deal on the table where I would lock into $72,000, Charlie into $76,000, Levi into $55,000, and $9,000 left over to play for first place, things looked pretty fair. Levi was giving up only a little bit, and was going to be able to lock up second place but he decided at the last minute, and I mean last minute, that we would continue to play on without the deal. This didn’t bother me too much, as I felt that I would be a big favorite when Levi and I tangoed. I didn’t think that Charlie and I would play a big pot for awhile, as we were staying away from each other. But if a big pot were to come up against Charlie, I felt like I would be in great shape.
At this point, I stupidly bluffed off $60,000 into Charlie–who I knew was excellent at reading people—and left myself with $250,000 when the following hand came up. Levi limped in for $8,000 (the blinds were $4,000-$8,000, and the three of us voted out the antes) on the button, and I looked down at my unluckiest hand ever—A-Q. Rather than mess around with a smaller raise, I went ahead and raised it $30,000 more into that little $24,000 pot to send a message that I was strong. Levi didn’t read the message very well, and as he began to study, I started to root for him to move all-in. I had him on A-10 or so, and I put an old acting move on that I save for the biggest moments in poker. I acted weak. I made my aura appear weak–I made myself look terrified of any action at all.
Levi announced, “I’m all-in,” and I said, “I call” as fast as is humanly possible. He then said, “Uh oh” and flipped up Ad-Jd. I thought, “Please let me win this pot.” I hadn’t played any other key pots all day long. This was the one pot that I was the most vulnerable too losing, as it would leave me with only $30,000 in chips. If I won it, I would bust the guy who didn’t make a good deal, as always seems to be the rule in poker tournaments. And, if I won it, I was going to get at least $90,000 in a heads up deal with Charlie. Instead, the cards came up 2d-3d-5c-6d–at which point they announced that I was drawing dead!
Shortly thereafter I walked away with $34,000, instead of the $93,000 I would have received had I won this pot or the $72,000 from a deal. I was shell-shocked!
Levi had been a bit of a wildcard all day long–at one point he took out Tab with 9d-10d. He plays pretty recklessly, but I like his style. He turned down a fair deal, even though he was stone cold broke! Levi has some potential, and he’ll do well if he can ever learn to slow down a bit. It must also be said that Levi seems like a great guy.
Meanwhile, Charlie played excellent poker throughout the final table, and I believe that he’ll be back again soon in NLH, as his “reading powers” are very strong. I just wish he hadn’t starting reading my articles!
I hope that everyone enjoyed this week’s HOW. Good luck playing your hands this week.
Many years ago my license plate in California was 7poker7 and Phil Ivey had just won his third World Series of Poker (WSOP) poker tourney.My hats off to Phil, he always plays great poker and takes advantage of some really good luck. He is after all at the final table of the 2009 WSOP.Layne “Back to back” Flack was having a great tourney as well, he has won the first two no limit hold’em events that year (back to back!).Johnny Chan took the all-time money lead at the WSOP from me and TJ, and Johnny were having a great years as well.TJ was having a great year, and if his As-Ks would have beat Layne’s 9-9 (they were all-in before the flop for about $350,000 apiece), then he would have the all-time money list lead instead of Johnny (Johnny finished second to Layne, and TJ third in the last no limit event).
In 1993, I won the first two no limit hold’em events, and three WSOP titles that year.Then I went on and took the all-time money lead at the WSOP.Ah, the past…unfortunately the past isn’t all that it is cracked up to be in today’s “what have you done for me lately” society.The WSOP is a tough tournament to digest when you’re a little bit off of your game or the cards refuse to let you win (personally, I’ve been a little bit off of my game for the most part, and a little bad luck at the wrong time has cost me some final tables as well).Five weeks of WSOP futility is enough to drive you stark raving mad!Wait a minute though, I thought to myself, I still have a full week left at the WSOP, and the “Big One” to play in before my year is blown (not to mention the Bellagio’s $10,000 buy-in event).Believe me, I’m ready to turn things around soon I thought.
How do I make seven top fifteens back then in 24 events, and then only one top fifteen in the first twenty two events the next year?How does Chris Ferguson do roughly the same thing (six one year followed by 2 the next year)?How does Men “the Master” Nguyen fan (without even cashing once!) 80 tournaments in a row, and then explode at the Taj Mahal and finish first, second and first in three consecutive days (and make seven final tables)?I believe that there is some bio-rhythm like element in poker that is often over looked by us poker players.Some days I can sit down in a tourney after not playing poker for a month, and just play so well that I am shocked.When this happens, then I know that I will play great poker for the next 40 days or so (experience has shown me that this is the case for me).Other times, I can’t seem to execute my game plan very well.In both cases – stellar play and sub-par play – I keep roughly the same routine as far as exercise, sleep, diet etc…
If my theory is right (and I’m pretty sure it is based on the “streaks” that most great tournament players fall into), then I can only hope that this period of sub-par play is about to end I thought.I had been playing sub-par from April 9th till May 12th that year, isn’t one month enough to suffer from “bad bio-rhythms’?”All I wanted to read was “Phil Hellmuth is the 2002 WSOP match play Champion” and “Phil Hellmuth is the 2002 World Champion of Poker”. My California license plate 7poker7 (the “7” represents seven WSOP wins) at the time but I was hoping to change it to 9poker9 or 8poker8 real soon.I just hoped that my bio-rhythms changed soon enough for me to get the California license plate 9poker9 in 2002!Well now that the WSOP is over for another year, I’m hoping that in 2010 my license will read 12poker12!
Back in March 2003 on the Card Player Cruise through the Caribbean on the Holland Cruise ship Zandam, I played in a $1,000 buy-in no limit Hold’em event with 42 of my shipmates. Coming off of an all-night session of Chinese poker (deuce to seven in the middle) versus Andy Bloch, I decided that I had more equity in the 10:00 AM tournament, than I did playing Andy, even though I’d been up all-night. I was frustrated with losing over 70 points for the night (over $7,000!) and ready, honestly, for bed. Did I really come onboard to play Bloch in Chinese poker? He is the one player in the world that I know to be better than me at the game!
So the tournament began, and with no apparent excuse to be “Phil Hellmuth late,” I invented a good one. I went downstairs to shower, clean up, put on my walkman and hat, and change into fresh clothes. My expectations were low, but I was going to try my hardest to win this thing.
I found myself in a very quiet, tight mode—none of my usual chatting. I folded and folded and folded, and then finally picked up 8-8. R.A. Head opened for $250, and I decided to just call, and not raise it up, in late position. I had $1,850 total at this point. David Plastik moved all-in from the small blind with J-J, and R.A. moved all-in quickly as well, with K-K. I flipped my 8-8 face up and folded. After a board of 8-5-5-3-2, I wondered if I had done the right thing! I would have tripled up if I weren’t so conservative, but I was happy with the way I played the hand nonetheless.
As the players fell, I continued to hang in there. With three tables left, I called under the gun $150 with Q-Q, and now Kenny “Skyhawk” Flaton made it $650. The raise smelled of power to me, so I decided to just call. The flop was J-5-4, and now I checked. Flaton bet out $700, and now I decided that I couldn’t get away from my hand no matter what. I moved all-in and Skyhawk beat me in there and flipped up A-A. Oh well, I didn’t mind going broke here. First, I like Flaton a lot. Second, it was too tough of a lay down too make, especially in a $1,000 buy-in NLH tournament. The turn was a 5, and the river was the miracle Q. The game was on!
When we hit the final table, the lineup was pretty tough including Scotty Nguyen, Erik Seidel, Jeff “Happy” Schulman (who won the next day’s NLH event), Paul Darden, and me. In the end, it came down to me, Scotty, and Paul. With first place paying $16,000, second place $12,000, and third $8,000, no deal was discussed.
With the blinds at $1,000-$2,000 and the antes at $300 a man, the following two hands came up between Scotty and me. The first hand Scotty moved all-in for $7,900, and I began to study from the big blind. There was $5,900 in the pot (S$2,000 + PBB$2,000 + SB$1,000 + $900 antes), and it was going to cost me $5,900 to call with my Jh-4h. I was getting laid 2-to-1 odds, but I knew that Scotty had me beat. Scotty was playing really solid and great poker as usual. I finally decided to call, but I realized within seconds that it was the wrong move. Scotty flipped up Ah-6h, and the flop came down Qh-7s-3h. I flopped a flush draw, but Scotty flopped a bigger one, and his ace-high held up.
Two rounds later, Scotty again moved all-in from the button, and this time it would cost me $10,800 more. This time, I had A-5, and I began to read Scotty for K-Q. Also, I knew that he would play that kind of hand at this point. After careful consideration—I didn’t want to make another bad call—I called and Scotty flipped up Kc-Jc. I wound up winning this pot (I was 3-to-2 favorite), and went on to take a nice chip lead against Paul.
From then on, I could have played better poker, but give credit to Paul for beating me. I need some practice playing one-on-one as I never do it anymore. Hopefully I’ll be getting that practice soon, and lots of it! Congratulations to Paul Darden, for his well-played win!
