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Posts Tagged ‘2007’
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The Mandalay Bay Play
The Mandalay Bay recently hosted a $10,000 buy-in World Poker Tour tournament. Because this event ran right before the start of the World Series of Poker, many of the top players in the world turned out to play. I was thinking, “Why not win a WSOP bracelet, and a WPT title, in the same month?”
Although the tournament began at noon, I showed up close to 4 p.m., which is well beyond my customary late appearance. But I knew that the structure was a slow one, and that it wouldn’t hurt me too much to show up late. One more time, I chose extra sleep over showing up on time.
About an hour after I arrived, with the blinds at $100-$200 and a $25 a man ante, I raised it up to $700 to go with As-6s. I was called by a player right behind me, and then Player A (a loose, aggressive player) in the big blind called as well. The flop came down 6h-4c-3c, Player A checked, I bet out $1,400, and the other player folded. Player A called and the turn card was the Ad. Now I had top two pair. Player A checked, I bet out $2,500, and Player A called. The last card was the 8c, and Player A checked. I reasoned that Player A had a draw, but if it was a flush draw, then why did he check when he hit his flush?
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Crazy Me is Good TV
A few weeks back, while filming the next season of “High Stakes Poker” for the Game Show Network, a weird pot came up between Brian Brandon (a millionaire businessman and “invitee” to the game) and I.
With the blinds at $300-$600, and a $100 a man ante, Brandon opened for $2,400 in early position. In the small blind, I looked down at 9c-9s and pondered my options. It seemed like a call to me for two reasons. First, I like to merely call with medium pocket pairs to disguise the strength of my hand; and second, I like to merely call (versus reraising it) to avoid being re-reraised. However, I couldn’t shake the feeling that I was supposed to reraise this time. My instincts kept telling me that Brandon was very weak. Finally, I went with my gut and raised it up, making it $9,000 to go, and Brandon called me.
The flop was Qs-Jc-7h, I checked, and Brandon bet $16,000. I studied for a moment, with my first though being that I should fold.
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My Best Move of the Year
A few weeks back, I played no-limit Hold ’em on “High Stakes Poker” on the Game Show Network. The game featured Sammy Farha, Daniel Negreanu, Jennifer Harman, Eli Elezra, “Silent Mark,” Bob Safai, Jamie Gold, and I, with appearances by Brandon Adams, and Internet star “omgclayaiken.” The buy-in was $100,000, with $50,000 rebuys, although many players bought in for $300,000 or more. The antes were $100 a man, and the blinds were $300-$600, although the $1,200 “live blind” was posted almost every hand.
A “live blind” is when the player to the left of the big blind voluntarily puts up an amount exactly double the big blind, and then has the option of raising it up when the action gets back to him. Live blinds at least double the size of any game.
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A 43-Bracelet Table
Last week, I played NBC’s “Poker after Dark” (PAD) with T.J. Cloutier, Doyle “Texas Dolly” Brunson, Layne “Back-to-back” Flack, Eric Seidel, and Chris “Jesus” Ferguson. What a lineup!
It featured 43 bracelets — (Doyle and I at 10 apiece, Seidel at seven, Cloutier at six, and Ferguson and Flack at five each) — some serious bling!
First Flack went out, then Ferguson; followed by Seidel; then I put a bad beat on Cloutier. But before we get to that hand, let’s talk about the hand (or two) that I misplayed. With the blinds at $800-$1,600, I opened for $4,500 with Ad-Qd on the button, Cloutier folded and then Doyle raised it up, making it $10,000 more to go. I sort of felt like he had A-J, or A-10 or something weaker; but I just wasn’t sure enough. And, I hate A-Q. I asked Brunson how much he had left, and he said “about $20,000.” I studied a long time, remembering that Brunson hadn’t come over the top of me in a long time. Finally, I decided to fold. As it turns out, Doyle had 8-2 off suit (nice play Dolly!), and if I had reraised him (all in), then I would have won the pot right then and there. Sigh. I didn’t have a strong read, so there’s no use in crying over split milk. However, if I had moved all-in, then Brunson would have been forced to fold, and I would have had a healthy chip lead. Not too mention that Brunson would have been left with only $20,000.
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The Hellmuth Train Wreck
In the $25,000 buy-in Tour Championship event that I played in last week, I feel like near perfect play would carry a player for three days, regardless of the hands you pick up. The structure was that slow and good.
Of course, picking up A-A and getting most of your money in pre-flop against someone who then outdraws you would be a tough way to avoid going broke. But other than a really unlucky situation, I believe that I should last at least three days, at least when I’m on top of my game. After playing perfect poker for three days, I woke up on Day 4 feeling miserably tired. So what? I woke up super tired Day 2 as well and pushed through that all the way to the chip lead. I should have been able to push through this too, but for some reason I struggled.
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Big Loss in Monte Carlo
A few weeks ago, I went to Monte Carlo to play in the European Poker Tour (EPT) Championship event. It was a $10,000 buy-in poker tournament, and we had almost 700 runners play, with a first prize of 1.8 million Euros (more than $2 million). I was excited to be there, and pumped up to play some great poker. But before we get to the tournament, let me admit that I had the biggest loss of my life over there.
While I was walking through the famous lobby of the Hotel de Paris, I ran into Patrick Antonius and Phil Ivey. I am always looking for good energy, and I thought that it might be a good omen that the Hotel de Paris had PH logo hats and PH logo bathrobes. Antonius and Ivey were playing Chinese poker, which is like flipping coins in that there isn’t much skill involved in the game. I sat down and joined them, but requested that we play for “only” $1,000 a point. When I was down 76 points, I asked to play for $2,000 a point. A few hours later, Antonius quit, and we went to Ivey’s suite to order room service (they wouldn’t serve us in the lobby) while we played. Things got ugly, and by 10 a.m. I was forced to quit, down a whopping $536,000.
