Now I'm Free…Freerollin': The 2004 Bay 101 PPT Event

Dog eat lion
I returned the Taurus to Avis and, after the obligatory argument about the tank being full even though the Taurus gas-gauge needle, which took about 10 minutes to recover from a fill, still read 7/8, hopped the next flight to San Jose, where I rented a lovely white Kia Splenda from Hertz and checked into my room at the Beverly Heritage Hotel. The hotel advertised free Internet but it was only free because it didn't work very well so I just used my Verizon 5220 card which worked fine here in the heart of Silicon Valley. I couldn't find anybody for dinner so I had a nice room-service meal and a little Grey Goose on ice.

The next morning I drove over to Bay 101 and got my video portrait taken in case I appeared on TV for this show. They had no food comps so I grabbed a tuna melt and some iced tea in the casino restaurant with Matt "Jacks Up" Matros, Mark Gregorich, and Andy "The Rock" Bloch. We chowed down on the final bites and they called for us to be seated but none of these had started close to on time so we weren't too worried. I drew table 14, seat eight. John Sutton, a local entry, was on my left in seat nine. In seat one was Jeri Thomas, one of the few women to have a World Series bracelet (Seven-Card Stud, 2000). I was happy and alarmed to see my friend Erick "E-Dog" Lindgren, one of the toughest no-limit players on the planet, in seat two. To his left in seat three was veteran Steve "Zee" Zolotow. In seat four was Card Player writer Allyn Jaffrey-Shulman, Barry's wife. In seat five was Phil "Unabomber" Laak. In seat six was an eccentric, long-haired guy with a thick middle-eastern accent with whom I had played with before but who had never wanted to give me his name. I finally got it out of him: Davood Mehrmand. Finally, on my right was the ubiquitous Men "The Master" Nguyen.

While we waited for the camera crews to mike up the featured table, I told the beautiful Allyn that she was the only human being on earth who could make "Shulman" sound like a waspy name. "Are you with the Newport Jaffrey-Shulmans?" I asked. She smiled and twinkled her eye. "No, the Laguna Beach Jaffrey-Shulmans." Nice place, Laguna Beach.

Finally the cards were in the air. Bay 101 had shuffle machines at all the tables, which I thought should be required for all high-stakes games and tournaments as it both eliminated some possibilities for cheating and allowed for more hands per hour. We started with 10,000 and I played a few small pots, down to 8000 or so, when I got involved in a pot with E-Dog. He made a small raise in early position and I called on the Big Blind with Ace-Seven of Spades. The flop Came Ace-King-Deuce. He milked me with small bets on every street and turned over a set of Deuces to take it down. Half my stack gone, E-Dog raised again in the same position and got calls from Zee, Men on the small blind, and me on the big blind with the same Ace-Seven of Spades. The flop came King-Queen-Four, two Spades. With the nut flush draw and an overcard I was looking to check-raise all in but Men bet out 600. I decided to call that and see what Erick and Zee would do. E-Dog made it 2000. Zee called and Men folded. I put Erick on a big King, Zee on a worse Flush draw, and Men on who knows what. I shoved in the rest of my chips, E-Dog immediately moved in, and Zee, who had less than me, called. When we turned the cards over, not only were we all on Flush draws but Men said he had one too! I of course had the best draw but Erick, unfortunately, did have the King, and with only three Spades and three Aces left in the deck it held up and Zee and I were out of the contest. I finished 141st out of 169.

I tore myself away from the Beverly Heritage and took the next flight out. Next stop: The PartyPoker Million cruise.

It's not really San Diego: The 2005 WSOP Circuit at Harrah's Rincon

Lioness Tales
Because casino gambling came to California through the back door of Indian gaming, none of the Southern California casinos was anywhere near civilization. Harrah's, which now owned the World Series of Poker trademark, decided to hold one of its five circuit events here at Rincon, an Indian casino operated in partnership with Harrah's located in a beautiful valley an hour from San Diego over twisting mountain roads. This casino was only semi-Bizarro; the rooms were gorgeous but under the Indians' compact with California they were not allowed to comp any alcohol. They held the tournaments in a ballroom well-protected from the smoking areas (Indian casinos were about the only place in California you were still allowed to smoke indoors). Shortstack, who had no interest in visiting Commerce, happily flew down for this event and we entered her in her first live tournament, a $230 ladies no-limit Hold 'Em tourney. There were 112 starters and she was able to run over her starting table pretty well. Before we knew it they were down to 27 and Shortstack was still in! She ran into Aces and lost most of her chips but played strong and held out for 12th place, only three from the money. She told me to make sure I wrote about her Lioness tale and wanted to know when her next tournament was.

Second hand redux
There were 208 entrants in this, the second World Series of Poker Circuit tournament. While the juice on the $10,000 entry fee was 5% including 3% for the staff in lieu of tips, Harrah's was offering a $2 million freeroll to the top 20 point earners in each circuit series. Since a top-18 finish in the main event all but guaranteed a ticket to that 100-player ball, mathematically Harrah's was adding about $400,000 to each of these events, making them a decent overlay.

I drew table 17, seat seven to start the dance. Aggressive high-stakes player Minh Ly was on my left in seat eight; Al Adler, a genial local amateur, had seat nine; my buddy Jim "Krazy Kanuck" Worth had seat one; Dennis "Swami" Waterman seat two; Erick "E-Dog" Lindgren, one of the top players in the world, seat three; a player I didn't recognize had seat four; the legendary TJ Cloutier had seat five; and another player unknown to me had seat six on my right. On the second hand of the tournament I limped under the gun for 50 with Nine-Eight of Spades. There were several other limpers and then TJ made it 425 to go on the small blind. I knew he liked to steal blinds early in the tournament so I called with my suited connector and position on him. Everyone else folded and the flop came Queen-Jack-Ten, two Hearts. TJ bet 800. I raised it to 2500 with my ignorant end of the Straight. He immediately moved all in. I decided if he had Ace-King it was going to be a short tournament for me and I called. He turned over pocket Queens, giving him a one-in-three shot of making a Full House to beat me, but my Straight held up and he was done, getting up and calling to his wife, "Joy! I'm out already!" TJ was a consummate professional and took these things with good humor. I called over Mike Paulle of PokerPages and Jen Creason of PokerWire and told her to let everyone know the Lion was the chip leader!

Unfortunately another top player, Alan Goehring, 2003 WPT champion, took TJ's place in seat five. His style was to play a lot of small pots and then occasionally make huge moves with nothing, a draw, or the nuts and you never knew which. I liked having position on him but never picked up much of a hand against him and couldn't capitalize on his looseness. Nam Le, a young rising star, got moved into the empty seat ten. I had 20,625 at the break.

I played a few small pots over the next level and finished up slightly with 21,225. E-Dog was catching nothing and bleeding chips slowly. At the start of the next level, Dennis "Swami" Waterman overplayed his top pair against me when he had Ace-Jack and I flopped a Set of Treys on an Ace-Four-Trey board. We got it all in and I busted him, bringing me up to a nice 30,875. I went to the next break with 29,700. Long-time pro Mickey Appleman took Swami's spot in seat two and when Nam Le busted he was replaced by the very jovial and very dangerous Paul Wolfe. E-Dog finally busted, never catching a break, and I treaded water for the rest of the day. Mickey busted and Allen Kessler took seat two. I finished the day with 28,375, around 30th of the 70 players left.

Flipped out
I got a good night's sleep and drew table 12, seat three to start day two. It was a very unlucky draw. The chip leader, Amir Vahedi, sat on my left in seat four; veteran Thor Hansen had seat five; Tony Licastro had seat six; Billy Gazes had seat seven; Prahlad "Spirit Rock" Friedman had seat eight; David Oppenheim had seat nine; Alan Goehring remained two seats to my right in seat one; and Hoyt Corkins, short stacked, was on my right in seat two. It wasn't the worst table draw ever but it wasn't good.

Alan Goehring raised my big blind with his usual minimum raise and I found pocket Sevens so I made a nice pot-sized reraise. He moved all in. I had him covered and decided to call. He turned over Ace-King of Spades and flopped a Flush. A Pair on the turn gave me four outs but the miracle didn't come and I lost the coin flip, sending me down to around 10,000. Hoyt busted and I got nowhere, going to the break with a sad 7750 in chips.

They broke our table and I moved to table nine, seat six. Prahlad had seat seven; David "Harpo" Levy seat eight; Stan Goldstein seat nine; Chris "Jesus" Ferguson seat ten; retired scientist Harry Demetriou seat three; and Alan Goehring still on my right in seat five. Harry moved all in under the gun and I pushed in over the top with Ace-King of Diamonds. This time I won the coin flip and doubled up to 14,600. I picked up some blinds and antes and was back up to 20,000 at the break.

Then I raised in middle position with King-Queen offsuit. Prahlad, who had been waiting patiently for a hand, moved in his short stack. It folded to me and I called the additional 5500, getting almost three-to-one pot odds and hoping he had pocket Jacks. Instead he turned over Cowboys. I picked up an open-ended Straight draw on the turn but the best hand won and I was back down to 10,500. Randall Skaggs, who took Harry's seat when he busted, had been moving his short stack all in with some frequency and always showing decent hands. I decided to call in the big blind with Presto, pocket Fives. He turned over Ace-Six and spiked an Ace on the flop. We counted down the stacks and coincidentally had the exact same chip count, 10,700. I lost one too many coin flips and I was out of the contest 48th.

Paul Wolfe busted around the same time and we played a little pot-limit Omaha before breaking for dinner. Unused to a flood of big shooters, Rincon had its two best restaurants closed two days a week, including tonight. With my Seven Stars card, however, we were allowed to cut the long line at the tiny Chinese place and along with Russ Boatman and one of the tournament staff had a nice dinner with hot sake. They had only one sake glass so Ross used it while Wolfie drank out of a shot glass and I used a water goblet.

After Dinner Al Adler, who had busted out of my starting table toward the end of day one, took me aside and asked if I had any advice for him. I looked down at his smoldering cigarette and then over at his beautiful wife and two young daughters. I said "Quit smoking."

Next stop: the Professional Poker Tour freeroll in San Jose.

Welcome to the D List: The 2004 WPT Celebrity Invitational

Second hand

I bought in for the WPT Championship at the Bellagio which automatically got me an entry in the WPT Invitational back in beautiful downtown Commerce. There was a snazzy party the night before hosted by UltimateBet and All In magazine at the Spider Club in Hollywood. I crashed and had a couple comped martinis made with moderately priced vodka. I was hoping to see Emily Procter there but she didn't show and since other than poker I didn't watch much TV besides old seasons of West Wing and The Sopranos I didn't recognize anyone else.

 

The day of the event I pulled up to valet parking at the casino, having paid a ridiculous $143/night for the Wyndham Commerce down the street, nonrefundable. My timing was excellent because there was Shana Hiatt posing for photographers in her little red dress on the red carpet they had out for the celebrity players. I waited until she was done and then tried to enter but the red carpet was only for real celebrities and I had to go around back to get a plastic wristband letting the guards know I was OK to mingle. None of the A-list celebrity poker players—Ben Affleck, Tobey Maguire, and Matt Damon leading the list—made it for the event and they went well through the B and C lists into the D list, which I may have qualified for myself having appeared as a guest on Oprah! some years ago.

 

Like last year, they threw a nice cocktail party for us at noon before the event. I had some yummy sushi and chicken satays but stuck with water to keep my brain ticking for the tournament. I still didn't recognize anyone other than poker players. There were 238 players competing for the $200,000 prize pool. Soon it was starting time and I drew table six, seat 10. It was a pretty tough table: "Action" Dan Harrington had seat one; Eric Weiner, with whom I had played at a big Bellagio tournament, had seat four; Joe "The Elegance" Beevers had seat five; and Bellagio tournament director Jack McClelland had seat six. The rest must have been celebrities but I didn't have Shortstack around to identify them. We started with 10,000 in chips and blinds of 50/100. I had the small blind for the second hand and seat two made a small raise under the gun to 200. Seat three, a writer for the Los Angeles Times, called, as did two others. I found pocket Kings and made a hefty pot-sized raise to 1200. Seat two and the writer called. The flop came Jack high and I bet out 3000 into the 4000 pot. The writer called. I figured he had something like Ace-Jack. The turn was harmless so I put in the rest of my chips. He called but I still thought I had the best hand until he turned over pocket Jacks. My miracle didn't come on the river and I was first out.

 

I may have subconsciously realized that in this event the first one out gets not only a $1500 admission to the World Poker Tour Boot Camp but also an interview with Shana Hiatt. Shana was concerned because I busted out before she had time to change out of her little red dress but producer Steve Lipscomb told her to go ahead and do me in the dress.

 

Einstein once explained his theory of relativity by saying that when you were sitting on a hot stove, a minute seemed like an hour, and when you were sitting with a pretty girl, an hour seemed like a minute. I think the interview lasted thirty seconds but it was over almost before it started, leaving only the memory of those big brown eyes softly inviting me into her world. She seemed reluctant to end it and I think there were some definite sparks there so I gave her a quick wink and waved goodbye with my left hand, the one with the wedding ring on it. I didn't begrudge her interest in me but she had to know I was a one-woman lion.

 

I called Shortstack and told her the story, then got ready to pack up for the next stop on this busy California tour: San Diego.

 

Fizzle in the drizzle: The 2005 LA Poker Classic

Bizarro Vegas

Like last year, the City of Commerce was awash in Seattle weather during the annual February Los Angeles Poker Classic tournament series. The rain misted and showered from drizzle to torrents in the normally dry Southern California climate. Poker's popularity had caught up with the hotel space in the area so that rooms in the two acceptable hotels in this normally undesirable part of east LA were running up to $149/night if you could get one. Despite taking about $500 in juice, including staff payments in lieu of tips, from the $10,000 entry fee, the Commerce Casino charged players $1 each for water during the tournament. It was like a Bizarro version of Las Vegas where everything was backwards. In Vegas they build resorts, give you free rooms, ply you with free drinks, and try to get you to gamble. In LA they build the casino in the worst part of town, don't have enough decent hotel rooms, and charge you for water. Well, I just had to step outside, look up, and open my mouth.

 

The casino hotel was sold out but I found a $99 rate at the Wyndham. That was still three times what I had paid last year and when I checked in they tried to tell me I had to give them 24 hours notice to check out or pay one night's penalty. I told them that was not listed on the web site when I made the reservation and if I wanted a long-term lease I would rent an apartment. I crossed out the offending language on the registration card instead of initialing it and left the bewildered front-desk clerk to iron things out with his manager.

 

Wyndham had a great frequent-guest program. I was used to being treated like a king with Platinum or Diamond status in the big hotel chains but all you had to do was sign up for Wyndham's program and you got treated better than a Hyatt Diamond: wine, water and snacks in the room upon arrival, preferred floors and views, and best of all free Internet access. I settled in, got the Internet working, and drove through the rain over to the casino to see what was happening.

 

There was a super satellite starting in a couple hours but I didn't want to stay up so late playing it that I would be tired for the main event so I passed on it. Instead, I played a $1060 single-table satellite but busted in third place and got nothing so I forked over the cash to enter the main event.  When my plane landed I had set Garmin for the nearest Bank of America, picked the youngest and prettiest teller, and handed her a personal check for $10,000. "I'd like to cash this please." After the initial shock and consultation with her manager, she opened her drawer and chided me, "You're using up all my hundreds, you know." But behind the scolding there was a twinkle in her eyes as if they were subconsciously converting those hundred Benjies into the equivalent amount of bling-bling. I turned around as I left to see if she was following me home After I bought in I returned to the Wyndham, played a little on-line poker, and rested up for tomorrow.

 

There were 538 players in the LA Poker Classic Championship, fewer than in several other big events this season but well above last year's 382. I drew table five, seat three. Out of 537 others I got the best player in the world, John "JJ" Juanda, on my left in seat four. The unbluffable Barry Shulman sat to his left in seat five. I didn't recognize anyone else at the table, but with those two on my left my friskiness was limited.

 

I chipped up to 11,350 from the starting 10,000 by the first break after level one but the chips dribbled away to 7800 by dinner. Both JJ and I folded several hands to a guy in seat six who kept chasing draws and hitting them, or at least representing that he hit them. Dinner was the second-worst buffet I'd ever had, the first being at the Hollywood Hotel in Tunica. At least they comped it.

 

After dinner Barry Shulman called big bets from a very tight kid in seat 10 on the flop and river with a weak Ace, catching his kicker on the river and busting the kid's Ace-King. That sent seat 10 on tilt and he threw away the rest of his chips after the flop with unimproved pocket Deuces in a three-way pot where the other players had monsters. That took out seats nine and 10 and seat one busted shortly thereafter. Jimmy "Jimmy Jimmy" Cha, who had busted me once and I him once in big events, took seat 10. JJ splashed in his last chips and lost a race so he was out, replaced in seat four by Raymond Davis. Then I picked up pocket Tens on the button and raised the 200 blind to 1000. Mr. Draw-chaser called on the big blind and the flop came King-Seven-Deuce with two Clubs. I bet 2000 of my remaining 5800 into the 2300 pot and he called. Then the Eight  of Clubs came. We both checked. The river looked harmless but my opponent picked up his huge stack of 500 chips and slammed them on the table. It was 3200 to call to win 9500 and I figured there was a good chance he was bluffing so I called. Nope. He turned over the Ten-Nine of Clubs for the Flush and I was out of the contest in 380^th place. This was the first time I could remember going out because I was calling what I thought was a bluff on the river and although I was wrong at least I went out in an advanced way.

 

I checked out of the Bizarro hotel and went to Vegas.

 

On the Pro Tour: The 2005 Commerce PPT Invitational

Accepted

On the strength of my 12^th-place finish in the first Professional Poker Tour event and several cashes in the World Poker Tour I applied to become a regular member of the PPT and a few days before the Commerce, CA, event got the news that I was accepted onto the tour. Shortstack and I booked an Alaska flight down to Long Beach airport for the two-day midweek event. The poker circuit spent most of February and March in California so rather than spend a few hundred bucks on Neverlost I programmed our Garmin StreetPilot III with all the necessary maps and popped it into the cigarette-lighter outlet in the lovely white Kia Optima we rented from Hertz. Commerce was only about 10 miles form Long Beach over city streets, a bit longer taking a surface road four miles to the 91 to the 605 to the always-congested 5, and still longer taking the 405 to the less-busy 710. As usual in Southern California, all the routes ended up taking about the same time for we let Garmin choose and she decided on the 91. We checked into the Crowne Plaza Hotel and Casino, got lucky room 711, and headed over to Dal Rae for dinner with local friends. The out-of-the-way steakhouse, the jewel of Pico Rivera, was as good as ever and we washed down filets with a bottle of the 2001 Stags Leap Napa Cabernet Sauvignon.

Frisk and re-frisk

The next morning I went down to the tournament room dressed in my Full Tilt Poker bowling shirt with "Quiet Lion" embroidered in script letters over the right breast. Many of my friends were affiliated with Full Tilt and I gave them first shot at sponsoring me for the PPT, which they were happy to do. No logos were allowed on the World Poker Tour but PPT participants were allowed to wear one small logo on the front of their shirts and were free to strike any compensation deal they could with the sponsor. Full Tilt offered to pay me a modest sum should I appear on TV with the logo but I was just happy I could wear my cool shirt.

 

There were 181 starters in today's $500,000 freeroll, making an average player's equity $2769 after 3% was withheld in lieu of tips. I supposed I was somewhat below average skill in this field but hey, it was free, and playing against these top pros was an exhilarating experience for me. I drew table 11, seat eight. It wasn't a bad draw at all: none of the players I truly feared were at the table but two aggressive, frisky players were directly to my left: Juha "Cinderella" Helppi in seat nine and Phil "Unabomber" Laak in seat one. Seat two, the English pro Joseph Gresch, was unknown to me but played conservatively as did veteran Susie Isaacs in seat three. Seat four was the very frisky Freddy Deeb, against whom I'd never played before. Thomas "Gummybear" Keller had seat five. Jeff "Happy" Shulman of Card Player magazine had seat six, and Jesse Jones rounded out the field in seat seven. In the early going Freddy and Jesse check-raised me to death and I laid down hand after hand, getting to a low of 6500 before I got over my nerves, got frisky myself, won a few small pots and got back above water to 11,175 at the first break. Gummybear had no luck and was the first to go at our table, replaced by Stan Goldstein, an excellent player who had never had any luck against me at all, a trend that I hoped would continue. I treaded water and had 10,875 at the dinner break.

 

I found Gavin Griffin and Chris Bigler and we decided to pay for dinner in the sports bar and grill rather than fight the hordes getting the comped food in the poker room. Everyone had been recommending the Galbi Beef, Korean short ribs, so Chris and I ordered them and they were delicious. We got back to the tourney room with two minutes to spare.

 

I let Stan and Juha bluff off some chips to me, played back at Freddy, and won a few small pots, getting up to 16,000 when they broke our table. My new assignment was table five, seat six. An "The Boss" Tran was on my left in seat seven with a short stack. "Tall" Phil Gordon had seat eight. Freddy Deeb followed me into seat nine but then got moved to balance tables. The beautiful Dee Luong Had seat one; Dave "El Blondie" Colclough seat two; Allyn Jaffrey Shulman seat three, Noli Francisco seat four; and Melissa Hayden seat five. Right away Phil limped under the gun. There were several other callers and I woke up with Pocket Aces on the small blind. I made a hefty pot-sized raise and then Phil made a big re-raise. The others folded and I considered what to do. A limp-reraise usually meant Aces but there were only two left and Phil liked to make a lot of moves. I considered just calling and trying to get the rest of his chips on the flop but I thought he might call with Kings or even Ace-King so I decided to move in for my remaining chips, less than a pot-sized re-reraise. He thought for not too long and folded, saying he had Queens. I was up over 20,000.

 

Then, with the blinds 100/200 and a 25 ante, Noli opened for 500. I called behind him with pocket Jacks. There were three other callers and the flop came Nine-Nine-Eight with two Diamonds. Noli led out for 1000. I figured I had the best hand and made it 3500 to go. The others folded and Noli called. The turn was a rag and Noli checked. I could have bet again here but if he had a bigger Pair or a Nine I would rather call a small bet on the river than get check-raised here and lay down, plus I had a free card for my two outs to make a Full House and possibly win a huge pot so I checked behind, risking giving him a free card to beat me with Ace-King or a Diamond to make a Flush. The river looked harmless and I called his 1800 on the river, winning the pot with Jacks up when he turned over Eight-Six of Hearts. I was up to 25,700.

 

The blinds went up to 200/400, still with a 25 ante. I lost a few small pots then and was back down to 15,000 when Phil opened in second position for 1000. I defended my big blind with pocket Deuces and the flop came Ace-Queen-Trey rainbow. Phil bet 1200 into the 2650 pot and I called, thinking I may have the best hand or be able to take the pot away later if he didn't have an Ace. A miracle Deuce came on the Turn and Phil made a "milk me" bet of 1800. There wasn't much to do here but move in so I did and he called quickly with Ace-Queen. He didn't fill up on the river so I doubled though, putting me up to 31,000.

 

Dee and Melissa busted out and were replaced by Susie Isaacs in seat one and Tony Cousineau in seat five. An Tran had been playing tight so I bullied him when it folded around to me on the small blind. But The Boss moved in and I didn't quit have pot odds to call with my Eight-Deuce offsuit so I said he must have a big hand because he knew I would call and laid it down. He showed Five-Deuce suited. I had had him dominated! The very next hand I opened on the button with Ace-Six offsuit and he immediately moved in again. Phil folded and I considered the range of hands he might do that with. I decided I had good enough odds to call his 6000 and busted him when his King-Nine of Clubs didn't improve. I was up to 34,500. Kathy "Pokerkat" Liebert took his seat and I had a nice 32,300 at the break.

 

Kathy and Susie busted out and were replaced by Maureen Feduniak in seat seven and Ralph Perry in seat one. I raised a few pots and saw a few flops but had no success and my stack dwindled to 25,000. Ralph busted out and they moved Noli to balance the tables, later bringing in World Champion Greg "Fossilman" Raymer into seat four and Bobby Hoff in seat one. Tony C busted and was replaced by my Reno nemesis Tony Bloom. Then they pulled up a 10^th chair and put Billy Baxter on my left, saying they had made a mistake and broke a table too early. Bobby Hoff busted out and we were back to nine. Meanwhile I kept losing small pots and was quickly down to 17,000. I backed down in a battle of the blinds with the very tight Tony Bloom and had only 7900 left when Fossilman raised in late position and put on his hypno-glasses. I saw pocket Fours on the button and with the blinds at 500/1000 and a 100 ante, it was good enough for me. I shoved in and showed him the monkeyface but the Champ called with pocket Tens. I didn't hit my 18% chance and I was out of the contest, finishing 44^th.

 

I wished my friends good luck. Andy "The Rock" Bloch was still in, as were John "JJ" Juanda and Daniel Negreanu. I had to learn how they did it.

 

Gold Rush in the South: The 2005 World Poker Open in Tunica

Creeping delay

I had booked a lovely First-Class seat on the nonstop from Philly to Memphis but a creeping delay left me rebooked on a connection through Atlanta in economy on both segments. I called Hertz and told them I'd be four hours late and they held a nice maroon Camry for me with Neverlost. I set the controls for the heart of Tunica and before I knew it I was checking into the Hollywood Hotel and Casino, which gave me a nice corner mini-suite. I drove over to the Gold Strike and found Avi "Two Cokes" Freedman playing pot-limit Omaha with the big boys. It was late so I just returned to Hollywood and got a good night's sleep.

 

Two little too late

I entered the $2000 and $3000 no-limit Hold 'Em events and have very little to say about them except that "Action" Bob Hwang, whom I had met in Atlantic City playing a cash game with "Oregon" Dave Lilie, was on my left in both tourneys. He knocked me out of the $2000 when he reraised my Ace-King all in and his pocket Queens held up. In the $3000 the colorful Jac Arama of "Late Night Poker" fame was at my table. I doubled early when I flopped top set with pocket Tens and busted a fellow who was unlucky enough to have bottom set with Four-Four. After that I got nothing and eventually made a desperation all-in with Ace-Nine, losing to Ace-Jack.

 

Ultra Turbo Super

I entered the $1060 super-satellite the day before the main event. "Super" wasn't enough of a superlative for the folks at the Gold Strike so they called it an "Ultra Super Satellite." With the speed at which the blinds went up they should have called it an Ultra Turbo Super. I survived to the final 10% and won a seat in the big event as well as a little cash. The tourney director paid us each the $160, sticking out his hand in what must have been a gesture of goodwill since he couldn't possibly be expecting a tip on top of the $320 they had already deducted per winner to give to the staff.

 

A good day

The tournament started a half-hour late but they made time for a speeches by the tournament director and last year's winner Barry "Spock" Greenstein, who generously revealed  the secret of his success last year: win every time you're all in. If the speeches weren't enough, they brought in a gospel singer to perform the Star Spangled Banner before we were allowed to play. All of this was probably designed to make us forget the almost 8% juice they charged here, including the Mississippi tax which through a strange confluence of circumstances they feel compelled to take out although State law does not seem to require it. There was an astonishing claim that this was the second biggest tournament in history and the largest outside of Las Vegas but it wasn't even the second-largest tournament in this season of the World Poker Tour, Foxwoods and Aruba both being quite a bit larger than the 512 entrants they got here.

 

I drew table 38, seat four. None of the superstars were at the table although there were two well-known English pros: John Kabbaj on my right in seat three and Willie Tann in seat eight. On my left were Justin Young in seat five, a tough, aggressive player, and David "Gunslinger" Bach, whom I had met on the PokerStars cruise. A grizzly black-hat cowboy named "Sonny," or so it said in diamonds on his bracelet, was in seat eight.  Phi Nguyen, a tournament regular, was in seat nine, and another regular, John Hoang, had seat one. It wasn't an easy table and I neither connected nor stole many pots in the first level. I was down to 7600 from the starting 10,000 at the first break.

 

Sonny had been playing quite aggressively and won a lot of chips without ever showing down a hand. I picked up Ace-Ace and got heads-up with Sonny, who called half-pot bets on the flop and turn on a scary board of King-Queen-rag, two Spades. The worst card in the deck, the Ten of Spades, came on the river and I gave an exasperated check, believing he would bluff at the board in addition to betting his flush. He bet only 3000 into a 7000 pot and I called. All he had was the King so I picked up a big pot and was up to 15,000. I lost a couple more small pots and was down to 12,300 at the next break.

 

David "Harpo" Levy came and sat in seat one. I made several tough laydowns, perhaps being bluffed out of small pots by John Kabbaj's check-raises but perhaps not. I chose to fold a set of Fives on a board of all Spades when Justin raised my initial bet and then Phi moved all in. If I had known Justin would call I could have played the hand, getting better than two-to-one on my money, but if he was on a draw he might not have called and I would have been in trouble. As it turned out, Justin had flopped the flush and won the pot when Phi's dry Ace didn't catch another Spade. If I had played I would have been out since the board didn't pair but it would have been a good bet. I was down to 8975 at the break, then got nothing at all the next level and was back down to 6675 at the dinner break.

 

Andy "The Rock" Bloch, his girlfriend Jen, and I headed over to the superior Sheraton buffet for dinner. There we ran into Mike May, a poised New Yorker and tournament regular who spoke like Ben Stein on speed. We timed it perfectly, getting back a minute and a half before we restarted.

 

I raised in late position with Queen-Ten offsuit and got a quick call from Justin on my left. The flop came Ten high, two Clubs. I bet out and he reraised me all in. I decided he likely didn't have me beat and called. He turned over Ace-Jack offsuit and I doubled up to 13,400. I won some small pots and was up over 20,000. Then the Danish pro Mads Andersen sat down in seat eight. I said hello and asked him if he knew Gus Hansen. He said yes, he's a good friend. Uh huh. I prepared to be bullied and it didn't take long. I raised his big blind with Queen-Jack of Diamonds and he reraised 1700 more. I figured him for a loose aggressive player, decided to play the hand in position and called. The flop came Jack high. He bet out 5000. I still didn't believe him and I raised 7500 more with top pair. He reraised all in. At this point I started to believe him but I only had 6600 more and there was almost 30,000 in the pot. I almost had odds to call even if I knew he had Aces and with the chance that he was still bluffing or on a big draw I called. He did in fact have Aces but I got lucky and hit my Queen on the river, crippling him and bringing me to 34,000. It was the first major suckout I had had in a long time in a big tournament and all of a sudden I was in great shape.

 

Radeen Talebi, a tough player I had seen before, sat down in seat six after Gunslinger, who had lost just about every pot, got knocked out. Mads and Phi lost their short stacks and two relatively inexperienced satellite winners sat in seats eight and nine. I had 34,050 and the next break. Seat eight got eliminated and the aggressive English pro Paul Maxfield took seat eight. I started bullying and was up to 38,500 at the break.

 

Derek Tomko sat in seat two with a short stack and Sonny, who had rocked up after I won the big pot from him, finally got knocked out. An inexperienced-looking player took his seat and didn't play a hand for an hour. Finally, he raised under the gun. Everybody folded to me on the small blind and I called with pocket Sevens, putting him on a big hand and hoping to get lucky. The flop came Queen-Nine-Seven with the Queen and Nine of Diamonds. I checked and he bet 3000. I put him on Aces and raised 4500 more. He just called. I still thought he had Aces but considered that he might have Ace-King of Diamonds or maybe Ace-Queen. The turn was the Four of Clubs and I put the rest of his chips in, about 7500 more and he called. My jaw dropped when he turned over King-Ten of Diamonds! This guy had waited an hour for a hand and then opened under the gun with that! He had a huge draw but didn't hit on the river and I busted him, bringing me to 56,000. I ended the day 22^nd of the 161 remaining with 55,300 chips.

Turbo ultra death

I drew a great table for the start of day two. Only John Kabbaj and Andrew Miller were tough players I recognized at my table. John was on my right and Andrew was across the table with a short stack. George "The Greek" Paravoliasakis was in seat two. The printed sheet had named him as the chip leader with 118,000 but he actually only had 18,000. Unfortunately they broke that table almost immediately. I had lost one small pot and was down to 50,500. They moved me to table 31, seat nine. Mike May was on my right in seat eight. Andrew Miller had seat three and Raj Kattamuri, a good young player from Dallas, was in seat five with a lot of chips. Mike, Raj, and Andrew were dominating the table as I got mostly unplayable hands like Jack-Five offsuit. I laid down Ace-King preflop in response to big action from Andrew and seat four. It was a good laydown as Andrew won the pot with Kings and seat four showed the same hand as me. I would have been drawing to two outs for half the pot.

 

The blinds and antes were going up in turbo ultra mode. We had already lost almost half the remaining field and my lovely stack was now only a bit more than 20 times the big blind. Vellaisamy Senthilkumar, whose nickname is now "SK," sat down in seat six. With less than 33,000 left and the blinds at 800/1600 and a 200 ante I finally got a decent hand, pocket Sevens, and made it 6000 when it folded to me in fourth position. It folded to Raj in the big blind, who studied a minute and then said, "I'm all in." I took a couple minutes to analyze the situation. He had me well covered. The extra-large raise often meant Ace-King, but he was smart enough to know I knew that and move in with a big pair. I decided he probably didn't have Aces. There were 16 ways to make Ace-King, 6 ways to make Kings, maybe a 25% chance he playing one of the other pairs that way, 30 lower than mine and 36 higher. That meant I'd win about nine of the 16 times he had Ace-King, one of the six times he had Kings, 6 of the 7.5 times he had a lower pair and 1.5 of the nine times he had a higher pair for a total of 17.5 wins and 21 losses. There was also a small chance he had something like Ace-Queen or King-Queen, which increased my odds. Since the pot was giving me about three-to-two odds I could call. If I didn't call, I would have been left with 26,000 chips at this aggressive table, not desperate but now a short stack without much bullying leverage. I decided to make the loose call for all my chips. Raj did indeed have pocket Kings and I didn't hit my Seven so I was out of the contest, 89^th of 512.

 

Dinner was at Fairbanks steakhouse at the Hollywood with Andy, Jen, and Steve "Suitcase" Brecher. We had steak and salmon washed down with the 1996 Stag's Leap S.L.V. Cabernet, which drank nicely. I had a very early flight back to Seattle, where Shortstack picked me up in the black T-Bird and whisked me back home to rest up before the next adventure. Next up: Commerce Casino in LA.

 

Jersey in January: The 2005 Atlantic City WSOP Circuit

Low tech

Harrah's bought the World Series of Poker and decided to have it year-round so I booked a flight east to play in the first "WSOP Circuit" event, this one at the partially renovated Harrah's Atlantic City, located next door to the beautiful Borgata. I smiled sweetly at the Hertz agents in Philadelphia until they upgraded me from the Hyundai Accent I booked to a Chevy Cavalier and finally to an Impala. I knew the easy route to Atlantic City by now so I didn't bother with Neverlost and before I knew it I was in Harrah's VIP room whipping out my "Seven Stars Club" card, a super-elite status Harrah's confers only upon those guests with the severest of gambling problems. Nobody rolled out the red carpet like Harrah's and they bowed, scraped, and handed me the keys to an Embassy Suites-like two-room suite. It was roomy but not in the renovated tower but since none of the rooms had high-speed Internet I didn't care too much about the rest. My Verizon cellular modem worked well enough for email but service was too intermittent to play on-line poker for any serious money.

 

I found Avi "Two Cokes" Freedman, WPT Championship finalist Matt Matros, and Jim "Krazy Kanuck" Worth and we had a nice dinner at the steakhouse, cleverly named "The Steak House." They had yummy sashimi and filet mignon and we washed it down with a bottle of 2001 Niebaum-Coppola "Cask" Cabernet Sauvignon.

Lotta supers

The next day they had a series of $200 rebuy super satellites. I skipped the noon one but decided to play the 5 p.m., getting down to the final five tables before being forced to play a mediocre hand on my big blind and busting quietly. But The Steak House was still open and Chad Layne, Krazy Kanuck, his stunning girlfriend Monica and I had a fabulous encore dinner. I ate healthy tonight, sashimi and salmon, this time with vodka cocktails instead of wine. The winners of the on-line satellites at Full Tilt were having dinner there with the celebrity pros affiliated with the site and when I walked by to say hi to Andy "The Rock" Bloch, Chris "Jesus" Ferguson, Paul Wolfe, Erik "Rounders" Seidel, and the others I got asked for my very first poker autograph by one of the satellite winners. The Full Tilt folks had given me a personal avatar on the site because I played in the big events and I got recognized from my on-line cartoon. I signed it Richard "Quiet Lion" Brodie and wished him luck.

Not a bad turnout

They got 249 people to show up for this hastily scheduled $10k event, not a bad turnout for Jersey in January. I drew table 16, which was for some reason labeled 616, seat four. The great TJ Cloutier had seat two and Internet player Bill Phipps was on my right playing his first big live tourney. On my left was Jamie Ligator, a Costa Rican player with a good deal of tournament experience, in seat five; Cyndi Violette in seat seven; and John Spadavecchia, who had already won one tournaments here and made a final table in another, in seat eight.

 

Over the last few weeks I had been practicing my loose-aggressive game and I got real frisky early. I picked up a few pots without getting cards and was up to 11,000 from my starting 10,000 at the first break. By that time the blinds were already 100/200 with a 25 ante but the stacks were still big enough that I defended my blind against John Spadavecchia's early-position raise with Five-Trey of Clubs. The flop came Ace-Trey-Trey and we both checked. The turn was a Ten and I checked again. He made a small bet. I had previously taken two small pots from him by raising his small bets so I did the same here, hoping he had had enough of me. He immediately moved all in and I called. He showed Ace-King so he needed one of the remaining two Aces to beat me and they didn't come so he was out and I was up to 18,000.

 

Dan Heimiller, an aggressive, unpredictable player, took seat eight and immediately tried to make a play on me, reraising me when I raised his flop bet and saying "oops" and mucking when I moved all in. That brought me to 21,000 and I was cruising. TJ Cloutier had been taking some bad beats and when he pushed in his last 2300 in the cutoff it was an easy call for me on the small blind with pocket Nines. He said he was in trouble and turned over Five-Trey offsuit. The flop came Ten-Jack-Queen but then two Fives came for a miracle suckout. TJ was still alive and I was down to 17,700. I lost a small pot and was down to 15,525 at the dinner break.

 

They had a nice buffet set up for the players but Russell Rosenblum, Matt Matros, their friend Adam and I went to the Italian restaurant Florentino's instead. Russell and I split an order of delicious baked clams and I had a yummy rack of lamb. Adam had an osso buco so huge the waitress said as she set it down, 'Here you go, Mr. Flintstone." I broke into song and the waitress and I sang The Flintstones theme until we got a fair amount of bemused looks from the other guests. We didn't drink since we were on duty.

 

After dinner I got nowhere and was down to 13,950 when they broke the table. I moved across the room to table 23, seat two. Joe Cassidy, a tough, aggressive player, was on my right in seat one. Seat four was Allen "Double OJ" Kessler. I asked him if he was drinking Scotch but he said, "It's apple juice." There were no scary opponents at the table other than Cassidy on my right so I was looking to pick up some chips. It happened when I raised in middle position with Ace-King offsuit and Kessler called in position. The flop came King high and I bet out. He called. Another King came on the turn and I checked it. He checked behind me. There were no obvious draws on the board so I figured it was most likely he had a big pair but a King was also a possibility, maybe even the same hand as me. The river was innocuous. I decided to put all the rest of my chips in, about two-thirds of the size of the pot, in hopes he would call with Aces or Queens. He did call and I won the pot. He told me he had Queens. That brought me up to a new high-water mark of 24,500. I had 23,225 at the break.

 

Despite the great table I had no cards to play and was down to 19,000 when they broke the table. They moved me to table 29, seat nine. Finally I got some top pros but they were all on my right. Pete Moore was on my left in seat one; seat five was Russell Rosenblum; seat six, Billy Gazes, seat seven, Erick "E-Dog" Lindgren with a big pile of chips, and seat eight, Chad Brown, host of Ultimate Poker Challenge and the guy who busted me with set-over-set in a previous tournament. I won several blinds and antes but then doubled up Russell when I called his small all-in rereaise with Ace-Eight offsuit. He showed pocket Nines and I didn't improve. I was down to 17,500 at the end of day one, not desperate but about half of average. I had my work cut out for me.

 

Short and sweet

Only a third of the field was left, which meant I should have had three times as many chips as I started with. I didn't so I was looking to double up. I drew a decent table with no huge stacks and no scary players: table 27, seat two. Russell Rosenblum had followed me in seat four and Allen Kessler was back in seat six. Steve "Z" Zolotow had seat seven and the table leader was Alex Balandin in seat eight. I came out aggressive and won a few blinds and antes, bringing me back up over 21,000. Then Alex made a small raise in the cutoff and I defended my big blind with King-Ten offsuit. The flop came King-Queen-Nine, two Clubs. I assumed he would bet at the flop and I decided to check-raise with top pair and a gutshot. He bet 4500 and I waited several seconds before moving all in. He didn't hesitate to call, though, because he had Jack-Ten, giving him the nuts. I needed a Jack for a chop or runner-runner to win the pot. Instead, two more Clubs came. Neither of us had a Club so his Straight held up and I was out of the contest, finishing 73^rd.

 

I immediately checked out of Harrah's and moved next door to the Borgata, where they had high-speed Internet access (no longer free though) and decent pay tables on their video poker. I played a little on line and then got a message from Kanuck, who had his best finish yet in a big tourney but still busted out in time for dinner at Sulian, the great French-Asian restaurant at Borgata. We had a fabulous hot-and-sour soup and Kanuck had a wonderfully spiced kung-pao chicken while I tried the delicious Mongolian lamb. It was all washed down with Grey Goose.

 

My flight to Tunica was tomorrow.