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Sexton’s 2001 TOC
In September 2001, I made it down to the final 27 players in a field of 402 at Mike Sexton’s brainchild, the TOC (Tournament of Champions). After two days of playing one-third Seven Card Stud, one-third Omaha Eight or better and one-third limit Hold’em, day three would now be 100 percent limit Hold’em. World Champion Scotty Nguyen, and poker legends T.J. Cloutier and “Miami” John Cernuto, “Syracuse” Chris Tsiprailidis and I had to be among the favorites at this point in the tournament.
I had just finished a commanding performance over the first two days of play, and day three promised to be the big payday for me. I was going to win the TOC! I was clearly on top of my game, and this time no one was going to stop me from claiming the big prize. I had just finished fifth in the WSOP (World Series of Poker), won a bracelet at the WSOP for another no-limit Hold’em tournament and won a no limit Hold’em event in Vienna in early June. Man, I was rolling big time in no limit Hold’em! Who could possibly stop me from winning this event?
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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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