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Was Grey’s Fold Black and White?
While watching “Poker after Dark” on NBC (at 2 a.m. Monday through Saturday) this week, I saw some very interesting plays. Because they show every single hand that was played, you really get to see the caliber of the play. Whereas in regular televised poker tournaments, you only get to see the highlight reel hands. I must say that I saw some pretty weak poker being played by some of the players the first two weeks of this show. Although admittedly, some of the weak poker that was played was my own! One day on the set, Doyle Brunson and I talked about the fact that we play in so many huge poker tournaments these days that the ones without historical meaning (like “Poker after Dark”) are hard to get up for. This serves as a nice excuse for Brunson and me!
Starting with six players, in first position, with the blinds at $400-$800, Daniel Negreanu raised it up to $800 to go with the 4c-3c, and Mike “the mouth” Matusow folded. Comedian, actor and poker player Gabe Kaplan (formerly of “Welcome Back, Kotter”) called the $800 with the 4d-3d, David Grey looked at A-Q on the button, and then decided to fold. Doyle “Texas Dolly” Brunson folded K-4, and L.A. Lakers owner Jerry Buss (a top Hold ’em player himself) called $400 more in the big blind with the 8-7.
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Tantrum Kicks Off ‘Poker After Dark’
“Poker After Dark” features six great poker players, playing in a $20,000 buy-in, winner-take-all poker tournament, which is broken down into five days of play (Monday through Friday at 2 a.m. Saturday, recap and preview episode). I’m compelled to say that I’m embarrassed by my “Poker Brat”-like conduct in the first-ever episode, which featured a classic, seven-minute-long “Phil Hellmuth tirade,” but it did make for some pretty darn good television!
My tablemates for my explosion were World Champion of Poker Huck Seed, three-time World Poker Tour winner Gus Hansen, Annie Duke, Shawn “The Sheik” Sheikhan, and Steve Zolotow. Why did I lose my cool? Simply because I asked my tablemates to “Please be quiet for a moment” — during a key hand — and they continued to talk. If my tablemates did in fact go on talking after I asked for silence, then by TDA (Tournament Directors Association) rules they would be assessed a 20-minute penalty, and be forced to hold their tongues and/or leave the room.
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More Hold ‘Em in Madison
In a recent column, I dissected a hand that I played in the annual Christmas poker game in held in Madison, Wis. This game, held once a year, had a $1,000 buy-in pot limit Hold ’em game with $500 rebuys. The game was held in “Big Jon” Green’s beautiful poker room overlooking Lake Ripley. After a lively game — and a relatively small $1,450 win for me — another game was held in late December. This time we had a $500 buy-in with $500 re-buys, and again we had some top Wisconsin poker players sitting at the table; Dewey Weum, “Concrete Larry” Beilfus, Mark “P0ker H0” Kroon, “Big Jon” Green, and “Timmy Boy” Belstner to name a few.
I had just won a $2,000 pot the hand before (finally!), when I looked down at the Ah-Qh and decided to raise it up the maximum before the flop. Thus, after three others called $5 apiece, I called the $5 bet and raised it up $35 more (making it $40 to go); I had to smile at the craziness of the game as seven of us took the flop. The flop was 10h-7h-4s, four players checked to me, I bet out $100, and a total of four players called the $100 bet. The next card off was the Jd, and now Brian Hetzel bet out $450. Two players folded, I called, and the remaining player folded. The last card was the 4h (10h-7h-4s-Jd-4h) Hetzel checked, and I studied for about 30 seconds before I bet out $850. Hetzel called, I showed him my ace high flush, and then he said, “Nice hand,” and I collected the hefty $3,380 pot.
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The Holiday Game
Recently, in Madison, Wis., we had our annual holiday poker game. It was pot limit Hold ’em with $5-$5 blinds, a $1,000 buy-in, with $500 rebuys. This was a hefty poker event for a game held in Madison! After years of winning during my Madison trips, in 2004 I set the record loss bar at $14,000. Word of my huge loss spread throughout the state, and my poker friends talked about it for a year. In fact, they couldn’t wait for me to come back to town in 2005.
In 2005, I won $8,000 back, and so the stage was set for 2006. When we setup the game, it seemed like every poker player in the state of Wisconsin wanted a seat at that table. I asked for a 2 p.m. start time on Wednesday (Dec. 20), with a midnight break-up time (of course, we knew the game would go well past midnight). The game was held in Jon Green’s basement poker room, overlooking Lake Ripley, and featured Mark Kroon (online poker legend “P0ker H0”), Wayne “Tilly” Tyler, Tim Belstner, Larry Beilfus (“Concrete Larry”), amongst others.
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Poker for Police Officers
I recently emceed the “Playin’ The Hand” Charity Poker Tournament in Phoenix for the Taser Foundation For Fallen Officer, held at the Fort McDowell card room. The Fallen Officers charity gives money to families of police officers who have died — or were seriously injured — in the line of duty. Like many of us, I became a bigger fan than ever of law enforcement and firefighters after 9/11. When Taser called on me to host the event; I knew that I’d do it.
The event was unique in that we had three poker tournaments: the first tournament featured a $200 buy-in with unlimited rebuys; the second was the $1,000 buy-in “VIP tournament”; and the third tournament combined the final three players from the first two tournaments (six total) and gave away a seat to the 2007 World Series of Poker (WSOP). One half of all of the tournament entry fees went to charity, and the other half went to the prize pool. In effect, by playing in this tournament you could do your part in helping to raise money for a worthy charity, and still win $10,000 for first place!
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No ‘Blow-Up’ for Matusow
Mike “The mouth” Matusow is one of the best NLH (no-limit Hold ’em) players in the world. He understands more about the game than almost anyone else. If he could just avoid “The Mike Matusow Blow-Up” (coined by ESPN’s Norman Chad), then he would own many more titles, and many World Series of Poker bracelets in NLH. Matusow’s recurring blow-ups occur when he makes a crazy move — usually for all of his chips — for no good reason. When Matusow blows up, he himself will tell you that he blew up. For the record, Matusow does have two WSOP bracelets, both in a high-low split poker game called Omaha 8/b.
At the first tournament of the 2006 WSOP, Matusow had a decent chance to defend his Tournament of Champions title. We started with 27 players (I finished 22nd or so), and when they made it down to the final three, Matusow had roughly 25 percent of the chips. However, he went on to finish in third place, which made for a great start to his 2006 WSOP. He started out well, but let’s see how he finished (50 days later) in the main event. At the ESPN televised table, with the blinds at $100-$200, amateur Vinny Jadav (from Birmingham, England) opened on the button for $700 with Kd-Jd. Matusow — from the big blind — made it $2,300 to go with 7h-7c. Jadav called, the flop came down 9d-7s-4d, and Matusow bet out $2,100. Jadav then moved all-in for Matusow’s last $6,800. Matusow called, the turn card was the Ah, and the river was the 3d, which completed Jadav’s diamond flush and sent Matusow to the rail.
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