Wednesday, June 17, 2009 - Joey
Hi there! I have an important question to make. Have you guys noticed the many cool things going on at Ultimate Bet?
Well, it is our 10th year anniversary and what a better way to celebrate all these years of poker and great experiences by turning our site upside-down. We are just living the dream! If you do not know what I am talking about, here it is a little recap:
Our amazing UB 500 promotion ended last Monday and 500 players will be sharing a unique $500,000 prize pool. Awesome! I would like to congratulate you all VIP guys for doing such a good job. This promotion has just confirmed how loyal you are and there is no way we could thank you enough.
More than 100 players have qualified to series by playing at our tables and many of them are already at the Poker City: Las Vegas! We´ve had the opportunity of talking with you guys about it and I can easily tell we are definitely having an empire over there.
Remember we have amazing events prepared for you to get closer to the UB family and certainly our VIP team will have a couple of well-known guys that look forward to sharing with you this unforgettable experience.
You have not arrived, yet? Do not worry about it. Ultimate Bet will be at Las Vegas during the whole series and just to give you a hint, we are giving away 50 seats more to attend the WSOP on June 21st, so, you still have plenty of time and chances to make it.
Also, we will keep all our promotions running . The $200K GTD tournament every Sunday, the biggest Bad Beat Jackpot, a new and improved Tournament Leaderboard and last but definitely not least our Aruba Poker Classic tournament, will be out of this world.
So many things are going on at UB. Many things to do and win…What are you waiting for? All these amazing promos were prepared just for you and there is no way someone else can take them out your hands. I mean, not everyone has that poker level.
As I told you before: “We are just living the dream”. Our poker empire is a reality now and we want you to be part of it.
Tags: Celebrate, las vegas, loyal, Poker Empire, Poker Poker Poker, Series, ub, VIP, WSOP
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Wednesday, May 27, 2009 - Victor
Well, the Play to Party Promotion ended and we now have 10 lucky winners heading to the 2009 Kandyland Party at the Playboy Mansion on June 6th. CONGRATULATIONS!
We ran the “Play to Party” Promotion for a few months and as always…lots of excitement got dealt at the tables week by week… we closely followed the competition and definitely noticed that the traffic was awesome, lots of players joining it to achieve the final prize, a $6000 freaking package full of lust and excitement.
What can I say? We just finished talking with all of them, and they are really looking forward to attend the party, actually at this point some of them can’t even believe what they are about to see in a few days. Well I really envy them LOL, this is just a dream come true!
Limo Pick Up, Luxury Hotel, VIP tour of the Playboy Mansion led by a Playmate, luxury drinks… basically the VIP treatment our players deserve.
Definitely the wildest party of the year… Congratulations to all the winners!
Tags: competition, dream, excitement, kandyland, Luxury, Playboy, VIP
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Saturday, May 23, 2009 - Z06FANATIC
So we recently passed the half way marker during this race cards promotion and things are going well. I’ve been on a major heater over the past month+, giving me about 15k+ in profits from playing since the race cards began. I’ve been working hard and slowly been moving up the ladder – hopefully I can make top 5 when all is said and done, but that is going to require a lot of work. One thing that definitely helped me with this race card was pacing myself – a lot of players who were higher up on the race have since burned out – some played higher buy in games thinking they were winners and reality caught up quick, while others burnt themselves out early on. Pacing is so important in a 2 month race – this game can be mentally draining and turning out 70 hour weeks will take you down quick. I’ll post again when the race comes to an end hopefully with my name near the top!
Tags: loyalty, Poker Strategy, Promotions, race cards, RAI$E, VIP
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Wednesday, May 20, 2009 - Vincent
There is nothing cooler in the world than poker and studying the career you like the most. During the last few days I have been playing a lot and making a bunch of extra bucks from several tourneys I have been playing on some of the Casinos located in San Jose, due to this and since right now there is nothing I wish more than finishing my career, then I sign up some Courses and managed to order some credits since there is a limit on the ones you are allowed to take and I needed to order my schedule so it does not collide with my work’s schedule as a VIP Host.
Thus, after doing all this and processing some documentation and other routine procedures, I was able to get on the first career that I wanted. I said first, since the second one is Digital Animation but I will be taking it most probably the next semester since I still need to see if I keep it steady with only one career and work. I know I will be fine, so next semester I will be doing two careers at once.
So.. Yeah! Last week I was back at College and my classes started so I was really cheerful and excited. Most of the classes where only like the typical prelude where the teachers explained how the objectives of the course are and some other “blah, blah” but it was awesome. And right now I am on my best game since I study a lot in advance in order to be always ahead on what we are supposed to do and practice at classes. Hence, I know I will be the best on anything I will be doing in my future and I will be, no matter what and you guys may see some of my works on the next years. As Mary Lou Retton said:
“As simple as it sounds, we all must try to be the best person we can: by making the best choices, by making the most of the talents we’ve been given.”
And this applies to everything in life, even poker, why? Because everything is a constant learning process that must be developed and exploited. If you want to be good at poker you need experience, studies, talent, practice and many more factors that will let you become the best player ever. Actually, I am very glad that I got back to College since most of my class buddies play lots of poker as well. Consequently, the following weekends will be charged with several frat tourneys after classes and some parties, so I will be enjoying lots while making some easy bucks at the same time.
Take care everyone and hope you enjoy everything to its fullest! You only live once, so you better make the best of it while you can!
Tags: Casino, College, Digital Animation, VIP
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Saturday, April 18, 2009 - Z06FANATIC
So the 4th installment of race cards has came around and entails a 2 month long race rather than the standard month long race. I always look forward to these races as the bonus money is amazing and it really pushes me mentally to go beyond what I have done in the past. It’s going to be crazy racing for 2 months – usually in the one month race after 3 weeks you’re dying for it to end – this time after 4 weeks when you’d be able to relax we’re only going to be half way there.
We shall see who has the mentality to keep going despite the cards not going their way and the grueling hours of sitting in front of the computer. My strategy is to put in the hours but not overdue it – this isn’t a sprint it’s a marathon, so I don’t want to come out of the gate too fast and burn out. Pacing yourself is definitely key to getting top 3 in these things. Anyways I’m off to a good start and looking forward to what the next couple of weeks bring me – good luck to everyone and may the best win
Tags: loyalty, players, Poker Strategy, Promotions, race cards, RAI$E, VIP
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Saturday, April 11, 2009 - C00LHandNuke
As we came back from lunch break for the Final Table on the Best Damn Poker Show 2, we were four handed. If either Patrick or I went broke next, Team Hellmuth would win. The blinds were 3000/6000 with a 1000 ante and the stacks were approximately this:
Jason (Seat 1) = 239k
Shawn (Seat 4) = 157k
Scotty (Seat 5) = 72k
Patrick (Seat 6) = 132k
But Scotty, facing a four-hand penalty, had walked off the show. With Scotty gone, I would have position on Jason for every hand except when he was the button. On the very first hand back, I looked down at two ten’s under the gun and made a standard raise. In the past four days, this was the biggest pocket pair that I had seen since having KK in the small blind on the fifth hand of my first match. These tens couldn’t have come at a better time! Jason went into the tank in the big blind and seemed to be considering a raise – if he did, all the chips were going in. Even though Jason eventually folded, this was perhaps the key hand, my stack jumped to 169K and Jason now had 232K, if he lost an all-in confrontation to me now, he would be shorter than Scotty. I pounded this fact home every chance I got.
The first time it was Jason’s button, he made a standard opening raise to about 20K. I looked down at K8 offsuit in the SB and moved all in! My move was partly based on my read and the knowledge that King high was actually way ahead of Jason’s range. But more than that, I had to send a very clear message that my chips were in play and that Jason wasn’t going to just steam roll me with his big stack. He folded and all was right with the world.
After that hand, the table settled into a nice little pattern . . . nice for me anyway. When Jason would raise and I had position, I would flat call him and take the pot away on the turn. When Jason would raise my small blind, I would come over the top with any above average hand and he would lay down. Meanwhile, Patrick was bleeding chips pretty badly. Three times in the first four orbits he opened the pot only to have Jason take it away with a reraise. As a result, I found myself folding my button whenever Jason folded under the gun just so Patrick could pick up the antes and Scotty’s small blind. Most of this play didn’t make it through the editing for the show, but if you watch the chip counts, you can definitely see the result.
The hands that did make it on air, have to be viewed in that light. One key hand where my play diverted from Annie’s suggested line from the coach’s booth came when Jason completed from the small blind and I saw the flop for free in the big blind with 97 offsuit. The flop came out 347. Jason bet and I just called. The turn was another 7 – gin! Jason checked and I considered checking but opted to put in a bet instead. My reasoning was this: I had floated Jason so many times at this point that I could tell he was getting frustrated. Eventually he was going to have to check-raise me, just to keep me honest. I was hoping that this would be the time. Sure enough, he check-raised me this time when I had the goods. But now I had another interesting decision – smooth call and try to bust him (assuming I was ahead), or reraise right here on the turn. Again, my decision was based more on psychology than anything. I decided to min-reraise him.
The min-reraise is, in my opinion, really the most annoying move in poker. Sometimes it is really strong. Sometimes it is a really weak made hand or draw that just wants to slow down the other player. But in any case, when facing a minimal raise, you have to ask yourself which of the three lines do you take: (1) do you want to look weak and fold (2) do you want to play weak and just bleed off chips with a call only to face a bet on a later street with no good information defining your opponent’s hand or (3) do you put in a fourth raise and say enough of this nonsense. The only problem with the third option is that so many times when I select it, my opponent snap calls my all-in with the nuts! So most of the time, I opt for the fold – and anytime a fold getting 5 to 1 or better on my money with more cards to come, I’m pretty annoyed! So I chose my line in this hand hoping Jason would feel the same way and either make a big mistake right now, or make one later.
What proved to be my last hand on the show came when I raised to 47k from the button with Ace ten offsuit when the blinds were 8/16k. Scotty was gone and Patrick had just doubled through Jason to take a small lead over me with about 230k. Jason had about 150k after posting the big blind. I started the hand with about 204k and made a standard raise when Patrick reraised all-in. Jason got out of the way and it was up to me. Annie and Phil disagreed about whether or not I should call here. Annie thought it was an easy call and Phil thought it was an easy lay down. Guess what? I think they are both right! In fact, on the show I announce that I’m doing both the right thing and the wrong thing by calling. You can see them debate the issue here:
http://www.pokergrades.com/flv/bdps/season2/UB2_ULTIMATE_HAND_SHOW_7.swf
From a team perspective, Annie was clearly correct. If I call, no matter what happens, Team Duke is playing heads up against Jason with a 3 to 1 chip lead (If I win, Patrick has about 2 big blinds). That means I, along with every other member of Team Duke, is about a 3 to 1 favorite to win an Aruba package valued at $8,500.
From a personal perspective, folding here probably gives me a slightly better chance of winning the tournament and collecting the 12k WSOP package in addition to the Aruba package. So Phil’s analysis which focuses on me trying to win is correct too. But I knew one piece of information that Phil didn’t that sealed the deal for me. During one of Annie’s coaching sessions with Patrick, she had told him not to call with weak aces from the blind. In Patrick’s hand that led to Annie playing the coach’s card, he held an Ace nine against Jason’s standard raise. Annie told him to reraise there if he sensed weakness. I knew this had had an impact on Patrick because he had mentioned it again when we were talking privately about thirty minutes before my last hand came up. When you include hands like A9, A8 and A7 in Patrick’s range for a reraise, I think calling with AT is the right play even from an individual perspective.
In any event, I lost the race against Patrick’s 88’s. But Patrick went on to win, so my 3 to 1 shot came through. At the “wrap” party (see how I worked the Hollywood lingo in there) I got to give some of my thoughts to the powers that be about improving the show. Hopefully, some of them will make it into the next season. For instance, I think the second WSOP package should go to the person that all four coaches feel played the best at the final table. I’m sure they can agree on that, right?!!! Okay, maybe, maybe not. On the whole, the show was a great experience for me. I’d like to again thank Annie, Phil, Shawn Rice and Poker H0, as well as everyone else at UB for including me in the event. Also, I’d like to thank all the contestants on the show, many of whom have become my friends since filming.
My plan is to keep blogging on occasion here at the UB site. I’ll cover my ups and downs in the poker world in both live and online tournaments. Hopefully you’ve enjoyed my ramblings enough to check in on me from time to time. In the meantime, if you see me at the tables, please say hi!
Tags: BDPS, bestdamnpokershow, loyalty, players, VIP
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Wednesday, April 8, 2009 - Vincent
During the last few days I have been visiting several Casinos from around here; I lost on one of them due to incredibly horrible bad beats, but I do not complain that is how poker is and afterwards I just stayed cool and then recovered on other ones, so I made a really nice amount of money among most of them. I then started thinking what to do with all this easy earned money, it crossed my mind the idea of getting a new Computer (maybe one of those Quad Core’s ones), or an X-Box 360 Elite, more games for my PS3; however, those things are only stuff that you enjoy at home, so I called a couple of friends and some of them have contacts with people from that work at hotels in Jaco, which is a really cool place to stay at, party and surf, so I decided to go on a trip there on my days off.
After I ended my shift on Tuesday at 10 p.m., I was like all jumpy and excited because it has been a long time since the last time I went to the beach, and of course, I needed a tan! (lol) Anyways, I finished doing some pending stuff at work and after I finished, I called a cap since I needed to get at home like really fast, call my buddies to do all the arrangements about accommodations and traveling arrangements, so when I got home I started packing my stuff really fast, I put on my bags, like shampoo, clothes, shows, and several other stuff that you will never use at the beach, I was like so excited to go there that I forgot to bring my swim trunks, my sandals, my sun blocker and all the important stuff that you must bring to the beach.. And yeah.. It’s been a really long time since the last time I went to beach.. Hehe.. That is why I forgot all that, but in the end I bought them at the beach.
When we arrived I was like, “GOD! How did all these people manage to live here?” the Sun was strong and the heat was intense, so I went to a place and changed my clothes, since I was wearing jeans and a hoodie due to that in San Jose the climate was cold in the morning when I took the bus to Jaco, so by the time I arrived at the beach wearing all that I was like suffocating really bad so the change of clothes sweet me well.
First off, we arrived at Playa Hermosa, took some waves at the Beach and then we traveled to “Esterillos” or something like that, I don’t remember the correct name right now, but it was an awesome beach, my friend and I met this really beautiful, Californian girls that were traveling with their family, they were like 18 and 19, so too young for me, nonetheless, since my friend was 19, he definitely made his move on one of them and I helped him as his wingman and disarmed his father by speaking with him a lot of politics and distracting him while my friend was making out with his “princess” behind a palm tree while he was cooking some really nice steaks on a gas BBQ.. We ate a lot that night!
Later on that night, when I was travelling on the microbus from the Hotel to another one, I remembered that Jaco is the location of a really cool and awesome Casino called “CasinoJazz” and there were some open poker tables in there, so I told the driver to turn around and that we wanted to go there, so after an hour of traveling, we finally arrived there and it was nice! When I entered I was like, slot machines, game tables, etc.. So I ran to the “Cashier” lady and asked them were the poker tables were located. Unfortunately, I lost $100 on those tables since I made quads on the turn and this guy paid with flush draw and on the river he hit a straight flush, so I was like: “OMG! Come on!” So I asked the dealer if they had like a Bad Beat Jackpot or something and he laughed.. Anyways, it was a fun night and some hours after, I recovered back those $100 from the same guy, plus another $75, so I “hit and then ran” (hehe).
When I got home, I realized that poker is something so big, that no matter where you are, you can always take advantage of it and have lots of fun with it, anytime and anywhere.
Have an awesome week everyone and remember always have fun while you play no matter what, good karma while playing attracts luck and success! And it is scientifically proven! :]]
Tags: beach, Casino, Playa Hermosa, Poker Poker Poker, Rai$e VIP Team, VIP
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Wednesday, March 18, 2009 - Fabio
As soon as I knew that I was going to be blogging at UB, I started reviewing my coworkers’ blogs and of course a lot of different blog web pages just to make sure I was going to write about something cool and interesting; however, I ended up realizing that a blog is a unique and personal text that nobody else can create, so that was not going to help me.
So, since I am barely new at VIP, I decided, I just wanted to let you guys know about my experience here! Something honest and simple…
First of all, l would like to introduce myself… My name is Fabio and although I have been working at the UB Customer Support Department for a while now, I became a VIP Host recently. Hopefully, we will get to know each other!
So far, it has been an amazing experiencing. It is just incredible to realize how much I have been learning from each of you.
Just as the VIP Hosts over here, you all are totally different persons. And I do not know if you agree with me, but I think learning from different people, it is just one of the best things you can experience and I have to admit it, I´ve been doing that a lot lately.
Every time we receive a chat, email or call, we know we will be facing new personal and group challenges, but we just try to no get worried about it and instead we always remind each other how lucky we are. As VIP Hosts we get to deal with the most experienced poker players and customers out there. So, we take that opportunity and soak up as much knowledge as possible.
This is just like school. You guys are the teachers that have taught us about the business, poker, personal experiences and many other things that have helped us to growth as customer support representatives, poker players, human beings and of course as one the groups that represents not only the company, but also, our site’s well known and respected VIP players.
YES! We are crazy students that love to work with you. Sitting here in front of my computer, I have heard many of the guys saying that they just learned something new about the game or even better, about poker. Even though this is our job we are always enjoying it and we really appreciate it.
For this and many other reasons that I will be glad to let you know later in some other blogs, I just wanted to ask you something: Please keep reaching us! I’m completely sure that we will have an amazing experience at the tables.
Tags: player's knowledge, raise, teach, VIP
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Wednesday, March 4, 2009 - Mia
This week we have another VIP Host under the microscope: Mark!
Mark, as many of you may not know, is a fairly new addition to the VIP Host Team. It seems like he started just yesterday but he has shown to be one of the best assets of our crew.
Since day one Mark has shown a motivated and active spirit. While most of us when we became VIP Hosts tried to stay away from the phones until we gain a bit more of experience, Mark jumped head first and took a perfect dive. That attitude gained him a place next to some of the most respected hosts working in the Customer Relationships team.
Mark is always happy and willing to help and I take advantage of that to bug him all the time with extra tasks! Since I work during the night I have him call all my Auction customers from which I need info. This happy and relaxed attitude makes Mark one of my favorite hosts around, ‘cause you know you can count on him to carry on with a project.
On a more personal note, you might not know that Mark is studying medicine, so hopefully we’ll have a good doctor soon to take care of us! Cristina says he has a great smile, so even though he is a bit shy at first, he can sweep you off your feet with his sweet smile! And as a shallow detail, Mark always wears white sneakers and he seems to have a fixation about them!
Well, we can add one more VIP Host to the list! You know I’m all ears so let me know any questions you might have about your favorite hosts or who the next one under the microscope should be.
Tags: Customer Service, host, loyalty, players, RAI$E, VIP
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Saturday, February 28, 2009 - C00LHandNuke
Whew! Two days of intense poker and I finally made it. I was going to play for Team Duke at the Championship Table of the Best Damn Poker Show 2. I couldn’t be happier. The line up looked like this:
Seat #1, Jason (Hellmuth) – Jason and I played at the same semifinal table and got down to three-handed together. He was tough and aggressive. But he had a lot of tells. Unfortunately, he overheard our Team Duke meeting where we were reviewing some of the tells that Annie and I had picked up on. Even with the tells, I figured him to be the toughest competition at the table.
Seat #2, Shaundle (Duke) – he had been playing solid and was a veteran of the show. I was glad to have him as my right-hand wing man. I would avoid confrontations with him.
Seat #3, Mike “Shipitmuppet” (Hellmuth) – This was my first table with Mike. But I knew he played tight in the early stages. My plan was to use position against him on the flop and turn and bluff more than usual.
Seat #4, Me (Duke)
Seat #5, Scotty (Hellmuth) – I really didn’t know much about Scotty but in the hours before play started we struck up a conversation. Actually, Scotty talked a lot and I just listened and egged him on. Turns out we had many things in common: lived in St. Louis, worked in construction for several years, warped senses of humor . . . I used the conversation to try and build a rapport with him. At the table I would try to keep him talking and let him give away clues, while at the same time be his “buddy.”
Seat #6, Patrick (Duke) – I’ve now played quite a bit with Patrick and still don’t have a good read on him. But from Annie and Shawn Rice’s comments he is playing solid, great poker. No reason to get involved with him out of position (but because he’s tight, I might “borrow” his blind from time to time . . . “stealing” blinds just sounds so nefarious).
I was pretty pleased with our line-up going into the final table. Annie let the six remaining players from her team have a vote in who would be on the table. After Shaundle and I were selected we had a very close vote for the third spot. It came down between Patrick and Jamie. Patrick had played solid, but Jamie had shown great instincts, even if she was a bit spewy at times. In the end we chose Patrick. But I could tell that Annie really felt like she needed that “dash of crazy, X factor” to really have a shot at winning the thing. She and I talked privately for a few minutes after the roster was set and I told her that I had a crazy gear, she just hadn’t seen it yet. So with that boast in mind, I felt like I really had to come through.
For the last two days, through nearly six hours of poker I had played pretty squeaky tight. I’ve only had four hands shown down. My tight image is a result of not only my strategy, but my cards. Because Phil and Poker H0 have seen my hole cards the entire time, I felt pretty confident that they will tell my competition that I’m tight – so this fits perfectly into my plan to play like a wild man!
For the first three hours of the show (the part that aired last Monday night) I never held a hand. I had one pocket pair, 6’s in the blind, and had to lay it down preflop when Jason raised and Shaundle reraised. I never held any big aces, or for that matter any small aces! Nevertheless, I was playing more than my fair share of hands and maintaining my stack by capitalizing on my tight image. Most of these hands didn’t make the tape, and it’s too bad. You shoulda seen the swill I was raising with.
Shaundle misread Jason and they got it all in preflop with Shaundle’s Q5 in bad shape against Jason’s QQ. David lost to Goliath this time and Shaundle was eliminated. It looked pretty crazy on TV, and it looked really crazy from my seat. Needless to say I was really bummed that Jason doubled up and that Team Duke got zero points. The next elimination was a result of Mike getting it all in preflop with AJ against Patrick’s AQ. I was really surprised to see Mike get it in so weak against probably the tightest player at the table. But Patrick had been flailing around a lot and losing chips by the handful. So I guess Mike was basically shoving as a bluff hoping that Patrick would fold.
The hand that would literally shape the final table came up when I raised on the button with J7 offsuit (I told you I was raising with swill!). Scotty called from the big blind. The flop came J23 with two hearts. Scotty checked and I made the mandatory cbet. I say mandatory because with the flush draw out there I don’t want to give a free card and with top pair, weak kicker, I would really like to just end the hand right now. Scotty called. Thought flash – CRAP!!!! This can go wrong in so many ways. The turn brought another Jack. With just over 55k in the pot, Scotty bet into me on the turn for 21k. I had just a shade more than 71k in my stack. To me, Scotty’s smallish bet looked like a defensive bet where he might be trying to see a cheap river card. I tried to confirm my read by talking to Scotty a bit. Based on all the clues so far, I approximated his range of hands like this: Flush draw (50%), Pocket pair (30%), Bigger Jack or a Full House (20%). Taking this range into account, I decided to ship my last 52k into the 100k+ pot. Scotty would be getting about 3 to 1 on the call. I figured that if Scotty had me beat, he would get all of my chips on the river anyway. But if he had a flush draw with an over or two, he might make a bad call as a bigger than 4 to 1 dog. Also, if he had a reasonable pair like tens or a slow-played over pair, he might make a really bad call as a 20 to 1 dog. I didn’t want to just call Scotty’s bet on the turn because if the heart came on the river, I might get bluffed out of a huge pot and leave myself short-stacked.
When Scotty didn’t snap call, it told me he didn’t have a bigger Jack or a full house. I was relieved. Scotty wasn’t feeling the same way. In the banter style we had developed before the table began and while the play was going on, Scotty called me a “mother fucker” when I raised him all in. I didn’t take it personally, but I knew that he had just crossed a line that will result in a penalty. Even though I now knew I was ahead, I was still paying attention to the clues about Scotty’s hand that he was giving me. Why? Because, it would determine if I wanted to try and induce a call from a pair (If he had the flush draw, I didn’t have real strong feelings one way or another – both a call and a fold would be good for me). As Scotty talked the hand out it was obvious he had a pocket pair and thought I did too. I tried to manipulate a call, but after a while, Scotty folded.
Even though Scotty had folded, the mental games in this hand still weren’t over. Figuring there was a strong chance Scotty held a pocket pair higher than sevens, I decided to flash him the seven from my hand as I mucked. I knew if he had folded eights or better, he would be on instant tilt. But two things went wrong with my plan. First, Scotty only had 66. So showing him the seven probably made him think I had 77 (momentarily) and confirmed his good laydown. Second, Jason, at the other end of the table, asked to see the exposed card and the dealer incorrectly showed BOTH of my hole cards. Now I was the one on tilt! By exposing both hole cards, not only did Scotty now KNOW he had made a good laydown, but my “tight” image just went bye-bye. Talk about a plan backfiring!
But in the words of Ron Popeil, “Wait, there’s more!” When the hand was over, tournament director Matt Savage told Scotty that he would be assessed a one-round penalty for calling me a mother fucker. Scotty lost it. He thought the penalty of sitting out four hands was unfair and stormed out. Savage also announced that we were on lunch break. When we returned from lunch the blinds would be 3000/6000 with a 1000 ante. The stacks were approximately this:
Jason = 239k
Shawn = 157k
Patrick = 132k
Scotty = 72k (59k after the penalty)
When we broke for lunch, the players weren’t allowed to talk to our coaches. Obviously getting unlimited coaching during the match with the benefit of knowing hole cards would be too much. So Patrick, Jason and I ate lunch together. Scotty was nowhere to be seen. As we sat there eating, we heard a rumor that he had left the casino, checked out of the hotel and was last seen headed to the airport. At the time, I couldn’t imagine someone walking away from a $20,000 free roll, but on the off chance that the rumor was true, I started to work on a new strategy for Jason.
The team situation was basically this: Because Shaundle went out first, Team Hellmuth would win the match if either Patrick or I went out in fourth place. With every member of the winning team getting a $8,500 Aruba package, this was real money in our pocket. So in effect, every member of Team Duke was on the money bubble. But the members of Team Hellmuth weren’t. Jason knew this. We talked about it over lunch. And based on his big stack play in a similar situation during the semifinals, I knew that he would abuse the bubble like Ike with Tina. Given Scotty’s stack, he would be blinded off in 23 hands. I simply couldn’t let Jason abuse the bubble for 23 hands. If I did, the stacks at the end would look something like this:
Jason = 455k
Shawn = 85k
Patrick = 60k
The solution was to remind Jason about the individual prize at stake. The highest finishing team member on EACH team would get a $12,000 WSOP Main Event package. All Jason had to do was not go bust in 23 hands and Scotty would in effect hand him $12,000 cash. I pointed this out to Jason and he was quick to note that he could still play a big pot because neither Patrick nor I could bust him. We were both playing the head games. “True,” I said, “but if I grab one extra round before you double me up, you’ll be shorter than Scotty and then you will have to risk ruin before Scotty goes broke or else Scotty will out last you!” At first Jason was skeptical, but we did the math together and he saw how it could happen. With that seed planted, I went for the kill. Knowing Jason was a highly-regarded on line player I asked him what the message boards would say if he lost first place prize money to a guy who was sitting out. Jason tried to play it off, but I thought I was getting to him. Picking up the blinds at least once was crucial to my strategy. And as we prepared to return to the table, I was psyching myself up to be the one abusing the bubble. Tune in to next week show on Fox Sports to see how it works out . . .
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