Not Much to Say
I'm going to be really busy this month with work, so I decided to blow my whole monthly poker budget ($10,000) on one high-stakes tournament. I do actually have a real job, even though Carrie and I joke that I’m “going off to work” when I go to the casino for a poker tournament.
The other players at my table were all professional poker players. I recognized them but didn’t know their names.
I had Q♥J♦ and the flop was 8♥9♥10♠, giving me the nuts (best possible hand): a straight to the queen. I checked, the other player bet, I called. The turn was 6♥. I still had the nut straight, but there’s a possible flush. If the other player had two hearts, it gave him a flush to beat my straight. I checked, the other player bet small, I called. The river was a 2♥. With my Q♥, I had a big flush. He could only beat me if he had K♥ or A♥ for a higher flush or 5♥7♥ or 7♥10♥ for a straight flush These cards seemed unlikely but possible. I checked, he bet big. I can’t fold such a big hand, so I called. He had K♦7♦, giving him a small straight on the turn. I won a big pot. I had been ahead of him the whole time.
Shortly after that, two players went heads up, where one bet big pre-flop and the other two players, including me, folded. The remaining player raised. The first player reraised. The second player reraised again. The first play shoved his entire $100K stack. The second player called. This was only about 20 minutes into the tournament, yet both players were risking the entire tournament. They turned over their cards, and both had pocket As. They chopped the pot (i.e., they tied, and both ended up about where they began).
I won a couple more hands after that first one, with small pots, then started losing hands. I seemed to get dealt high cards (e.g., AJ, AQ, AK) but with low flops. That’s the worst combination because you bet to stay in the hand but have to fold, or bluff, after the flop. You can lose a lot of chips that way, and I did.
There were only 13 players in the entire tournament, and only 4 at my table, so I didn’t have time to post to Facebook. The hands went quickly, and I was in the blinds half the time.
At the first break. I had lost a bit off my starting stack, but not doing badly.
After the break, professional player Alex Foxen joined my table. I had taken a lot of chips away from him a year and a half ago at the WPT Five Diamonds tournament at the Bellagio. He had been good about it and kidded me the rest of the day. I didn’t hurt his position too badly as he ended up winning the entire tournament for over $2 million in prize money.
About an hour later, I was short stacked. I shoved, got a caller, won and doubled up. A few hands later I got short stacked again, shoved, got a caller, and again doubled up. Then I got pocket 10s under the gun. I raised from $3K to $8K. A big stack in the big blind shoved. I called. I thought this was my chance to double up again. He showed AJ. He got a J and knocked me out at about 10 out of 18 entries. Only the top 3 got paid—not me.
I guess that’s all the poker I’ll be playing, or writing about, this month.