Uggghhh...

I’ve been traveling a lot on business (despite what many believe, I’m still a working stiff) and pleasure (a cruise to Alaska and a family vacation in Hawaii without the family because their plane got cancelled due to the Microsoft/CrowdStrike fiasco). So I haven’t been playing or writing about poker for a while.

But I had some time this week, and a pile of cash in a drawer in my office from my WSOP wins last month, so I entered an inexpensive multi-day tournament at the Venetian in their brand-new poker room (which is actually in the Palazzo, which is why it took me 20 minutes to find it). At least the tournament is inexpensive if you enter it once, but I entered it seven times over four days. These were four different flights of Day 1 (Day 1A, 1B, 1C, and 1D) to try to get into Day 2 today. All I can say is uggghhh… I didn’t make it to Day 2, despite having the largest stack in the tournament at several times on several days. That’s just how fickle poker is. I don’t want to believe it has to do with me playing badly, which is a possibility, but I’ll describe some of my worst beats, and you can decide.

I got dealt A♦A♣ and raised big. Two players called. The flop was 3♥A♥5♣, giving me the nuts—a set of As. I checked. Another player bet big, the second player called, and I happily called. Nothing beat my three aces, so I wanted them to keep betting. The turn card was a 7♣. I still had the nuts. Again, one player bet, the other called, and I happily called. The river card was a 6♦. One player bet very big. Only a 4 with any other card or 89 would beat me, but what are the chances that someone would stay in and bet so much with such weak hands? So I shoved. The other players also shoved. I was already mentally celebrating my big win. The player to my left show pocket 6s. I easily beat his set of 6s. However, the other player turned over K♥4♥. On the flop, he had the nut flush draw. On the turn, he had an inside straight draw. And on the river, he’d gotten his straight. He had risked a lot of chips to get there, but he got there. I busted out.

Earlier that day, Steven Jones sat down at my table. It’s interesting that a guy who came in second in the 2023 WSOP Main Event, and won $6.5 million, still plays in $400-entry tournaments. He busted out in almost exactly the same way. He flopped a set of 8s, but the other player shoved on the river that had given him a low straight.

Toward the end of one day, I had a great run of terrific wins that built my stack up to top in the tournament. That was followed shortly afterward by a great run of terrific losses. As my stack got low, I got pocket 7s and limped under the gun. Everyone folded except for the two blinds, who both called. The flop was 10 10 10. I had flopped a full house! I decided that neither of the other players had a big pair in their hands or they would have raised before the flop. So I shoved to force them out and keep them from possibly getting a bigger full house with one of the next two cards. I was surprised/disappointed when one of the other players called me. I was correct that he didn’t have a pair. He had J 10 to give him the very rare quads. To add salt into the wound, the turn card was another 7. I busted out.

I had started getting good hands and building my stack up until I was the chip leader at the table. Then I got dealt A♠K♣. I raised a lot and one player called with a stack just a little smaller than mine. The flop was K♠9♠6. I had top pair top kicker and the nut flush draw. This was great. I bet big. The other player called. The turn was 4♦, which didn’t help me. I checked and the other player checked. The river was A♦. I now had two big pairs. I bet big. The other player raised to about half my remaining stack. I thought about it. Since I had the A♠, he ought to be very afraid of me having the nut flush. Logically, if he had a good hand, he should have just called me rather than risk that I have the unbeatable A-high flush. This logic made me think he was bluffing, so I called him. He turned over pocket 6s for a set of 6s. I immediately regretted not shoving, representing (falsely) that I had the A-high flush, though he had put so many chips into the center that he might have felt obliged to call my bet anyway.

I wasn’t out of the tournament, but my stack was severely depleted. Then I got 10♠9♠ in the big blind.  One player raised from $2K to $6K but three other players called, and since I had already put $4K into the pot ($2K blind plus $2K ante), I also called with my suited connectors. The flop was K♠9♣K♣. I had two pair, a backdoor straight draw and a backdoor flush draw, meaning I needed two specific cards to complete the flush or the straight. Everyone checked around to me, so I bet $10K. Two players folded but the remaining player, who was the table chip leader and possibly the tournament chip leader with a very big stack, raised to $25K. He might have had a K, or he might have been trying to bully me out of the hand. If he had a K, why bet so much? He would want me to stay in the hand and keep betting. And if he had a K, he was taking a risk that I didn’t have K9 or 99. So it seemed like a bluff. Maybe I should have played more conservatively, but instead I decided to shove. I thought that I was ahead of him, but if not, I could make a better hand on the next two cards. And shoving might convince him that I had a K. He called and turned over K10. Again, pouring salt into the wound, another 9 came on the river giving me a full house—9s full of Ks—but him a better full house—Ks full of 9s. That hand sent me home.

Business is picking up again and I’ll be traveling more this month, but if I have time, I’ll enter more tournaments before I go, and I’ll write them up if they tourn out interesting. Or if I win.

About the author

Bob Zeidman is a high-stakes recreational poker player. He is also the creator of the field of software forensics and the founder of several successful high-tech Silicon Valley firms including Zeidman Consulting and Software Analysis and Forensic Engineering. His latest book is Election Hacks, the true story of how he challenged his own beliefs about voting machine hacking in the 2020 presidential election and made international news and (possibly) $5 million.