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The Subtle Things in Life
Lately, ESPN has been playing a show where I went for bracelet No. 12 on a final table at the World Series of Poker (WSOP). While watching the broadcast, a couple of things came to mind. First, I should have folded the hand that I went broke on. Second, some subtle things happened during a spectacular hand that should have changed the course of the tournament.
With the blinds at $15,000 to $30,000 and a $4,000-per-person ante, Player A opened for $90,000 in early position. Player Beth Shak raised, and proceeded to count out the $90,000 and throw it into the pot. Then she waited about 10 seconds and said “all-in,” and pushed in the rest of her chips. I quickly, and I mean within a quarter of a second after she pushed, announced “all-in!” I had $130,000 or so. A few seconds after I jumped out of my seat moving all-in, Shak started dancing with joy. She even said — to her husband in the stands — “I got it!” The action was back on Player A, who studied for about 25 seconds before he called $280,000 (all of his chips with K-K). Shak flipped up A-A, I flipped up A-A, and Player A flipped up K-K. I have never seen A-A, A-A and K-K all out there in the same hand before. Shak and I went on to split the pot, and Player A was eliminated.
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I Regret Folding… 3-3?
I recently watched the ESPN broadcast of the 2007 World Series of Poker — my attempt to win a 12th bracelet. There were several things that I really regretted doing during the tournament.
First, why did I have to behave that way?
Seriously though, my first regret was that I spent time taking “insurance” from Phil Ivey. Ivey beat me for $109,000 in insurance bets, and I was paid $78,000 for sixth place — giving me a net loss for the tournament. This was supposed to be an opportunity to put an exclamation point on my poker resume, and separate myself (go two ahead in the all-time bracelet race) from Doyle Brunson and Johnny Chan. I should have sat there and focused on the players at the table.
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Let Khan ‘Rain’
Online poker players have a lot to be proud of in 2007. Many of these up-and-coming players — like Hevad “Rain” Khan, Shain “Shaniac” Schleger and Justin Bonomo — came through the poker ranks on the Internet. They then distinguished themselves at the 2007 World Series of Poker (WSOP). While Internet players outnumber established pros by a wide margin, every great poker player to come will rise up from the Web.
Why?
Well, first off, the sheer number of Internet players — there are now more than 100 million players worldwide. Second, the learning curve is faster because of the number of hands played. For example, there are some Internet players — no more than 24 years old — who have played more hands than I have in my 25-year career! This is because you play roughly 25 hands per hour in the real world compared to 400 hands per hour (when playing four or more games at once) online. Third, there is so much information on how to play the game these days, from books and DVDs, to taped final tables where you can see all of the hole cards.
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Winning My First UBT Event
This column is normally devoted to no-limit Hold ’em and the tactics used in various hands, but this week I’d like to give you a Ultimate Blackjack Tour (UBT) final-table hand as well as a World Poker Tour (WPT) final-table hand. The WPT runs on the GSN (Game Show Network) and the UBT runs on CBS right before college football every fall (also airing in Australia, Canada and France).
On Sunday, July 15, I played a “Celebrity” final table on the UBT, along with poker stars Annie Duke, Robert Williamson III, Freddy Deeb and champion blackjack players Ken Einiger, Hollywood Dave and Renee Angelil. Angelil and I were the last two standing for the pretty tricky last hand.
Since I bet first, and had a chip lead of $13,000, I wanted to make sure that I had the “Low,” which means I’d be guaranteed the tournament even if the dealer won the hand (the dealer wins any given blackjack hand around 56 percent of the time). So I bet $22,000, knowing that I could surrender 50 percent of the bet and still beat Angelil if he lost the hand. Angelil bet out $60,000, making sure that he had the “high,” winning the tournament if he won the hand.
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An American Champion
Jerry Yang is living the American (poker) dream. From the rags of his youth, Jerry is now a multimillionaire, thanks to a winning hand at the 2007 Word Series of Poker.
A few months back, Yang, who came to America three decades ago from Laos, entered a $265 buy-in satellite at Pechanga Casino in Southern California, and won first prize — a seat at a 2007 World Series of Poker (WSOP) table. Fast-forward to the final table, and Jerry takes the event and a staggering $8.25 million — the most international final table ever. Players were from the United States, Canada, Russia, England and South Africa.
Unbelievably, the chip leader — 31-year-old Dane, Philip Hilm — heading into the final table, with more than $25 million in chips, was the first player eliminated. It’s easy for me to say this, but I do not believe that Hilm should have finished any worse than fourth place. With the blinds and antes super small in comparison to Hilm’s massive chip stack, there is no way that he should have exited before midnight (the final table started at noon), unless he had a series of bad beats. This was not the case, and Hilm busted himself by 1 p.m. while making a massive blunder that will go down in the annals of poker history as one of the biggest “blow ups” ever.
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Crashing And Getting Knocked Out At WSOP
More than 6,300 people played in the main event of the 2007 World Series of Poker (WSOP). While the number is down from last year’s 8,700, no one this year was forced to play in the main event. And those who did play came to Las Vegas of their own accord. And why not? You get to play in the biggest, most prestigious poker tournament on Earth, if only you have the $10,000 buy-in.
My own adventure began when I was inducted into the “Poker Hall of Fame.” That same weekend, while filming a commercial, I wrecked a NASCAR vehicle in the Rio Hotel’s parking lot. The video of my car accident is at Splashcastmedia.com. Still, it wasn’t a very auspicious start to the main event, which I was knocked out of right before the dinner break. Here’s one hand that really nailed me:
With the blinds at $200-$400, I picked up A-K, and limped in for $400 — with around $17,000 in chips in front of me (we started with $20,000). The guy right behind me (Player A) made it $800 to go and three players called the $800. When the action came back to me, I reraised it $3,000; and then Player A called me, along with — surprisingly — the player in the small blind. There was now $14,000 in the pot going to the flop, and it comes down K-7-7. The player in the small blind checked, I bet $2,000, Player A called, and the small blind folded his hand. The turn was a J, and I hated it. I gazed into Player A’s eyes, and I did not like what I saw.
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