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‘Seinfeld’ vs. ‘Malcolm in the Middle’
While shooting “Celebrity Poker Showdown” in New Orleans (shameless plug: Wednesday at 9 p.m. on Bravo for the next five weeks) I found out that some of these celebrities can really play no-limit Hold ’em at a high level. In Week 1, Jason Alexander (George Costanza on “Seinfeld”) and Bryan Cranston (the dad on “Malcolm in the Middle”) really brought some game to their five-player heat, while playing along with Susie Essman (“Curb Your Enthusiasm”), Jamie Bamber (“Battlestar Galactica”), and Kevin Sorbo (“Hercules,” “Andromeda”).
Alexander and Cranston dominated. On air, I picked Cranston to win (Dave Foley, my co-host, picked Alexander), though I acknowledged that Alexander was a terrific player as well. I had given Alexander lessons, along with my books and DVDs, on the TV show “Extra” a few years back; and I picked him to finish high as well.
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What Spurs a Great Poker Time? Tony and Eva
I was attending Game 1 of the Dallas Mavericks/San Antonio Spurs series in San Antonio. Being there with one of the minority owners, Ken Kamp, allowed me access to the owners’ lounge for a snack at halftime. While Ken and I walked back to the lounge, Tim Duncan and Tony Parker of the Spurs came rushing out of the locker room, headed back to the court. As Parker whizzed by, he threw us a quick “Hi.” That was Sunday.
On Friday of that week, Maxim’s most beautiful woman in the world, Eva Longoria, called my agent to invite me to Game 6 in Dallas — and to emcee Parker’s (her longtime boyfriend) birthday party the day afterward. I accepted, and Longoria had my son and me sitting courtside for Game 6. Wow, what a game! (The Spurs won.)
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Seidel vs. Hennigan in the USPC
The Taj Mahal in Atlantic City sure knows how to run a poker tournament. The staff there is friendly and accommodating, and I love playing poker in Atlantic City. Back in November 2002, the $7,500 buy-in no-limit Hold ’em U.S. Poker Championship (USPC) was held there for the sixth time. For three days, the players slugged it out for the right to make the final six players, be on the Travel Channel and win the $212,000 first prize. Unfortunately for me, I was eliminated on Day 1.
However, three of the favorites on my list remained deep into the tournament: Howard Lederer, who finished 11th (Howard had just won the $10,000 buy-in Foxwood’s Championship event the month before); John Juanda, who finished seventh (John finished second in this very event in the last two consecutive years) and thus missed the final day and the TV coverage; and Erik Seidel, who made the final day with the chip lead. The other five finalists were John “World” Hennigan (a great player), Eric Buchman, “Charlie” Bae, Robert “Bo” Toft and Tony Popejoy.
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Keep Making a Stand
In my last column I talked about the importance of making a stand in a no-limit Hold ’em tournament. There are times when you need to say, “I think I have my opponent beat, and now’s the time to make a crucial call or a perfectly timed raise.” I also wrote about a stand I made on Day 3 of the $25,000 buy-in World Poker Tour (WPT) Championship event.
Now let’s fast forward to day four of that event, and another key stand I made. I had just won two big pots in a row, raising my chip stack to $600,000, when I picked up pocket fours, and called the $8,000 bet before the flop. Normally, I would have raised it up with my 4-4, thinking that if I’m going to play a hand, then I’m going to raise it up and give myself a chance to see everyone else fold, allowing me to win the blinds and antes uncontested. By the way, the blinds and antes now added up to $21,000 a hand (big blind of $8,000 plus small blind of $4,000 plus nine $1,000 antes). In this case — because I had raised two pots in a row already — if I did raise it up before the flop, then it was more likely that someone would reraise me, thinking that I was weak, which would force me to fold my 4-4. So I decided merely to call, so that no one would raise me out of the pot.
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Make a Stand
While playing in the $25,000 buy-in World Poker Tour (WPT) Championship event recently, I chose a key occasion to stand firm. Making a stand is important. There are times when you need to say, “I think I have my opponent beat, and now’s the time to make a crucial call, or a perfectly timed raise.”
On Day 3, I started play with a pathetically low $40,000 in chips, at a time when the average stack in the tournament was more than $200,000. Now, one hour into Day 3, I was up to around $100,000, and feeling good about my improved position. With the blinds at $1,500-$3,000, I opened for $9,000 with 7-7. Player A, who was sitting directly to my left, called the $9,000 and raised it up another $20,000. Normally, I would have folded at that point, but I had just raised it up twice with K-J, and went on to win both pots in a showdown. So I thought Player A thought I had another hand like K-J. And after reading him for a bit, I didn’t think he was particularly strong. I thought he had a hand that could beat K-J, but I didn’t give him credit for having an overpair, like pocket queens, so I called the $20,000 raise.
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How to Lose Big!
Oh me, oh my, poor Phil! Here I sit on this plane, leaving Las Vegas, pitying myself. How could James Van Alstyne have played this hand for $75,000 more before the flop? How could I have allowed myself to lose such a huge pot?
How could the seven of spades have come up on the turn? Why in the world had Van Alstyne challenged my aces earlier, or survived when he was a huge underdog, giving away his chips — on Day 2? How could I finish in 50th place? Somehow, this picture doesn’t look right.
Welcome to the poker tournament world, a venue of excitement and glamour, but also a venue of huge frustrations and what-ifs. Every tournament that I play in, way too many things happen that seem like they should not have happened. Like players suddenly going off kilter for no discernible reason, and playing hands they shouldn’t play and then beating me with those hands. Or a sound decision that backfires merely because of bad timing. Or a bad beat for all of my chips!
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