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Managing Fatigue Reduces Bad Reads, Sloppy Bets, and Losses
I’ll soon be traveling to Las Vegas, where one of the most important tournaments of the year takes place on April 19. The WPT Championship — a $25,000 buy-in tournament — is held at the Bellagio, and it will pay at least $5 million for first place. I can’t wait! In 2006, I made it down to the money, where I suffered a couple of bad beats and wound up finishing in about 50th place. Last year, I had the chip lead for much of days three and four, only to finish in 18th place when I overplayed pocket jacks. Too many times over the past year, I’ve looked back and wished that I had folded my pocket jacks versus Thomas Wahlroos’ pocket aces. Even though the flop was 9-8-5, I should’ve been able to escape. I didn’t, and the bad memory still stings. It comes down to smarts, because if I had folded that hand, I probably would have made it to the final six players, and perhaps I would have won the whole darn thing.
The WPT Championship is the one tournament I want to win as badly as I want to win another bracelet at the World Series of Poker. So, in my opinion, here is the order of importance of modern-day tournaments: the WSOP Main Event; the WPT Championship; the NBC Heads-Up Championship; any WSOP event; the Bicycle Club WPT Championship; the Commerce WPT Championship; the World Poker Open at the Gold Strike in Tunica, Miss.; the Bellagio “Doyle Brunson Five Diamond” WPT Championship; the Bellagio “Festa Al Lago” WPT Championship; the Foxwoods WPT Championship; and any WPT event.
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Hello, Old Friend
In early March, on the heels of the NBC Heads-Up tournament, Calgary hosted the Canadian National Heads-Up Championship. Many of the top poker players were there, including Huck Seed, Joe Hachem, Antonio Esfandiari, Phil Laak, Jennifer Tilly, Mel Judah and Greg Mueller. When it came time for the finals, Seed took on Brad Booth — someone I have called the “best unknown poker player in the world.” Seed, an old friend, has been making a nice comeback of late. Only a few days before Seed made the finals in Calgary, he qualified for the semifinals in the NBC Heads-Up, losing his match to Andy Bloch.
Before his fall from the pinnacle of the poker world, Seed was considered a perennial favorite to win the World Series of Poker in the late 1990s. In player polls of that era, Seed always ranked in the top three in no-limit hold ’em. Yet most of the world doesn’t know Huckleberry Seed. His timing was bad — he hit his funk when poker really hit television.
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At Bay 101, a Bad Play and a Bad Beat
The World Poker Tour came to the Bay Area in early March, and I was fired up! First, the hosting casino — the Bay 101 in San Jose, Calif. — resides in my backyard. And second, I had just final-tabled on the WPT in Los Angeles 10 days earlier, so I was feeling at the peak of my powers. I also had the added bonus of being able to sleep in my own bed. As I drove in to play in the tournament, I received a text message from John Juanda, saying he was betting a lot of money on me to win. I felt like Juanda had made a good bet, because when I begin to catch my stride in tourneys, I usually stay in “form” for a month or two. I knew that I was in form, partly because I had a clear blueprint — in my head — of how to win. The day-one part of that blueprint is this: Make it until the end of the day by playing patiently — and by avoiding big pots.
About an hour into the tournament, I was sitting on my starting chip stack of $20,000 when the following hand came up. With the blinds at $150 to $300, five players limped in, and I called $75 more from the small blind with 9s-6c. The flop was Qc-9c-2d. All five of us checked, and the turn card was the 4c. I bet out $1,100, three players folded and then Alex (a local player and a nice guy) made it $3,600 to go. I studied for a moment, and I thought that Alex probably had a weak hand that included the Ac, which would give him a draw at an ace-high flush. Why did I think Alex was weak? He had played five out of the last seven hands and hadn’t shown any of his hole cards. I assumed that he was loose and reckless.
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All Poker All the Time
On Saturday, Feb. 23, 660 competitors began play in the L.A. Poker Classic at the Commerce Casino in Commerce, Calif. This World Poker Tour event featured a $10,000 buy-in and a $1.6 million first prize.
For me, personally, I was extra motivated to play my best poker for several reasons. First, despite a good track record, I have never won a WPT event, and the new players like to remind me of that little fact. Second, I skipped this event last year and regretted missing it — the tournament is truly a “classic.” Third, I had a terrible result over in London, England, in the Premier League Poker series earlier in February. And finally, after being home with my wife and kids for seven straight weeks, my ego was feeling pretty beat up! After all, when I’m on the road, people swarm me for autographs and pictures (ego rising), and when I’m at home, my kids think I’m lame and my wife expects me to take out the trash (ego falling). I really wanted to play great poker and show the world — and myself — that I could still do it.
On the flip side of the coin, I had some solid backup plans for the week. First, we had the Grammys on Sunday night, then a VIP booth at the Pearl concert (my favorite new band) on Monday at the Viper Club in Los Angeles, and finally, NBC wanted me to shoot ads for the “NBC Heads-Up” poker championships on Tuesday in Las Vegas. Although the “fluff” — attending the Grammys, partying with Pearl and filming the NBC commercials (with jets and helicopters) — would have been a lot of fun, I wanted to win the tournament. My mind-set: all poker, all day, all week, all the time. Just win, baby!
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LA Story: And Then There Were Six
I’m writing this article under a little duress. I began playing in the World Poker Tour’s L.A. Classic — at the Commerce Casino in Commerce, Calif. — on Saturday, Feb. 23. It is now Wednesday, Feb. 27, and I haven’t answered a single e-mail (just looked and it is only 47) or returned a phone call in five days. And now, after a grueling “day five” has just finished — at midnight, mind you — I still have to write this column! Of course, the fact that I am in the final six players, along with chip leader Phil Ivey, makes me smile. I have a good shot at winning the thing, which would be worth $1.6 million (for first). But more importantly, it would be my first WPT victory. I have $2.3 million in chips, and Ivey has $4.3 million in chips. It should be one helluva final table.
Here are a few interesting hands. On day four, with the blinds at $3,000 to $6,000, Shawn Buchanan limped in with 6-6, and I raised it up to $33,000 with 10-8 off suit. I started the hand with $750,000 in chips. The flop was 6-3-3, and Buchanan bet out $15,000. I called. The turn was a 10, and Buchanan bet out $20,000. I called, then the river displayed another 10, and Buchanan bet out $40,000. I raised him $55,000, and he called.
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Good Read, Bad Outcome
For 12 days in early February, I played in the Premier League poker tournament. This one-of-a-kind event features 12 players in six heats, six players per heat, for points. The top four point earners advance to the six-player finals, the middle four point earners play heads-up for the other two seats and the bottom four are “relegated” (a common word in European sports, meaning something like “sent down to the minors”). The players receive nine points for first place, five for second, three for third, two for fourth, one for fifth and zero for sixth place. This year, you needed 18 points to advance to the heads-up portion, and only 21 points to make the top four. With an average of 20 points per heat, hitting 18 is almost too easy, right?
Alas, not for me. I was well on my way to breaking a record, but the wrong kind of record — the lowest points total ever! In the end, I had scored an abysmal eight points. At least I avoided tying the all-time low of seven points. This year, the players were Rolande de Wolfe, Andy Black, Eddy Scharf, Ian Frazer, Juha Helppi, Dave Ulliott, Tony G., Annie Duke, Marcel Luske, Vicky Coren, Alex Kravchenko and me.
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