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Spiderman Strikes
OK, so I’m minding my own business one day a few weeks back when CAA’s Uber-agent Nick Styne, who represents Cameron Diaz, Luke Wilson, and many other top stars, emails me to ask about a hand that Tobey McGuire played vs. me. The email reads, “Was it a jackpot hand'” I wonder, “How is it possible that Nick knows details about this hand'”
It turns out that I have finally arrived . . . . Yeah right! You see, I made page six of the New York Post-which I had never even heard of, but it is supposed to be a big deal-where it was written, “A spy told me that Tobey crippled cantankerous poker pro Phil Hellmuth jr. when his four of a kind beat Hellmuth’s full house at the WPT’s (World Poker Tour) Mirage championship no limit Hold’em tournament. Hellmuth responded by throwing a tirade.”
Well… Not exactly. I mean, Tobey did beat my full house with four of a kind: and yes Nick, it was a jackpot hand. [And my wife and I agree that cantankerous is a good word to describe me!] However, as far as throwing a tirade goes, I didn’t mind them writing that I did throw a tirade (given that I have thrown way too many in my poker life), but in this case, I didn’t throw a tirade. Instead I said, “Nice hand Tobey.” You see, I didn’t feel like Tobey did anything wrong, and I happen to like Tobey as well-by all accounts he is a good guy.
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Mansour Quits Stuey Forever!
Back in 1992 at the World Series of Poker (WSOP), World Champions Mansour Matloubi and Stuey Ungar faced off in a series of $50,000 buy-in heads-up freeze outs. Mansour tells me he was at the top of his game at this point in his poker career, having just won the WSOP in 1990. The game they were playing that day was no-limit Hold’em, and the blinds were $200-$400 when the following hand came up. Stuey opened for $1600 in the small blind, and Mansour called with 4-5 off suit. After a flop of 3-3-7 rainbow (no suits), Stuey bet $6,000–he started the hand with $60,000 to Mansour’s $40,000–and Mansour called the $6,000 bet. On fourth-street a K came off and both players checked. On the river a Q came off to make a board of 3-3-7-K-Q, and Mansour, smelling weakness in Stuey, bet his last $32,000 or so. Stuey looked “right through” Mansour, and within ten seconds he said, “You have 4-5 or 5-6, I’m gonna call you with this.” Stuey then flipped up 10-9, and called the $32,000 bet with merely ten-high! Wow, what an unbelievable call! Stuey can’t even beat a jack-high-bluff with his hand, never mind any pair. In fact, Stuey could only beat 4-5, 4-6 or 5-6 in this scenario.
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Russ Says Later, ‘Phil, What’d Ya Do To Me?’
Ever have someone act out of turn and cost you a ton of chips” (Note: I can’t believe I’m going to write this article and make myself look bad, again! Oh man, why did I ask Russ for a Hand of the Week”, and why did he choose this hand…) With fourteen players left in the Casino Europa’s World Poker Tour (WPT) Championship event in Costa Rica (first place was $110,000), and three World Champions left-Scotty, Russ and I-that’s exactly what happened to 1994 World Champion Russ Hamilton, when some “inexperienced player” did exactly that. Er…did I mention that I was the player that did it”
You see, we came back from break to $1,000-$2,000 blinds, and right before the first hand started, Dewey Tomko (in the small blind) said to Russ (in the big blind), “What would you do with pocket jacks right now'” Russ laughed and said, “I don’t know.” The first hand I made it $7,000 to go (I started the hand with $17,000) with A-7 three off of the button. Now R.A. Head moved all-in on the button for about $18,000, and I thought I saw both blinds fold. So I flipped up my ace, to show I had a legitimate raising hand, and I was about to fold, when, much to my horror, I noticed that Russ (in the big blind) hadn’t folded his hand yet! In my defense, I cannot remember doing that for many, many years, but clearly I had acted prematurely, and now the damage was done.
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Chad Blackburn Remembers
My old friend Chad Blackburn, who now works as a poker dealer at Canterbury Park Card Room near Minneapolis, Min, recalls the following four interesting hands from the old days. First, when Chad just began playing poker on the Madison, Wis. “circuit” in about 1992, the following hand came up in the $2-$3 blind pot limit Hold’em game. Chad remembers me coming in at 10:00 PM and blasting (raising and re-raising) every hand before the flop, and then betting the pot size on every flop! I did generally come in at 10:00 PM; the main reason was that I could hang out with my wife and kids; also the game started at 4:00 PM, and by then there were a lot of chips on the table. “Blasting” also sounds right to me, after all the game was relatively tiny compared to the $400-$800 games and the huge buy-in poker tournaments that I was accustomed too. My theory at the time was to play super-fast with nothing (winning many pots on the bluff), and then bust someone when I did finally have a big hand. That is a very volatile way to play pot limit Hold’em, but oftentimes it worked well for me, as the first story demonstrates.
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The Amazing Layne Flack
Layne Flack is a no limit Hold’em (NLH) genius. He looks at the game a bit differently than the rest of us, and his way of playing works beautifully. You don’t believe me” You say he’s too erratic” Yes, he’s a bit too erratic (in my opinion), but so what. We all wish we had the skill to be that erratic, even if only sometimes. Here is a guy that won two World Series of Poker tournaments this year, both in no limit Hold’em. That hasn’t happened since a certain World Champion did it in 1993 (Phil note: don’t act surprised that I mentioned myself, you already knew I had a big ego!).
Mr. Flack just finished second in the Foxwood’s World Poker Tour (WPT) $10,000 buy-in NLH tournament. Also, he has made at least three other WSOP final tables in pot limit or NLH. Did I mention that he spots the field by drinking a couple of six-packs of beers while he plays! Which brings me to the question, does “Drunk Layne” play better no limit Hold’em then “Sober Layne'” Let’s put it this way, I am not scared of anyone in the world at no limit Hold’em, but I have a healthy respect for “Drunk Layne!” When Layne is drinking (it hurts his other games like limit Hold’em, Stud, Omaha 8/b etc…) he is dead on with his reads, and has no fear whatsoever. If he smells weakness, then bam, he moves all-in on you, and you fold shaking your head. It’s hard to beat a guy with great reads and no fear.
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Nor-Easter Blows Through Connecticut
Many of the top poker players in the world arrived on the east coast in late November to a major Nor-Easter storm. What a shock for a California boy like me! Would the Nor-Easter prove to be an omen” With seven players left in Foxwood’s $10,000 buy-in no limit Hold’em World Poker Tour (WPT) event in Conn., it looked like a showdown between two of the year 2002’s hottest players. On the one hand you had Layne Flack, who won two World Series of Poker (WSOP) titles, both in the game du jour, no limit Hold’em; on the other hand, you had Phil Ivey, who won three WSOP titles (a feat only accomplished twice before): and both Phil and Layne had chips in excess of $250,000. With no one else at the table having $100,000 in chips, the tournament was looking like a two-man affair.
At this point we had to lose one more player before the long day-it was now 6:00 AM, with a start time of 4:00 PM-would finally be over. With seven player’s remaining, and only six returning for the WPT TV coverage, someone had to go. Did I mention that Phil Ivey is a Nor-Easter, but Layne Flack is from Montana” Do you see where I’m going with this”
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