“Mr. move all-in”

            I’ll tell you all the truth right here, right now: I’m not sleeping well these days.  I keep having nightmares about poker a guy who raised me or reraised me 14 times on day two of 2003 Foxwood’s World Poker $10,000 Buy-In Championship Event, and won them all.  What happened to the “three strikes and you’re out” rule?

           Of course, I continued my smooth play poker card games and ran my chips up to $840,000 and second place in chips, and I knew that I would get my opponent soon for a big number.  Hoyt Corkins was playing the role of “Mr. Move All-in” this tournament, and he was doing it well.

            If it had stopped there, then I wouldn’t have minded.  After all, I did have all those chips, and I knew that I would nail Hoyt for all or most of his chips soon.  Didn’t the know that I knew what he was doing?  Didn’t he know that I knew that he was making moves on me with weak hands?

            Normally, I would say to someone using that strategy against me, “You keep messing with me and I’ll bust you.”  That had happened so often in the past-I have busted so many players who overplayed their hands against me-but I didn’t want to tip Hoyt off to it.  I would let him run me over and then bam, it would be over for him, and he would leave the poker tournament wondering what the heck had happened to him.

            Protect his chips?  Hoyt apparently didn’t know that you’re supposed to do that.  This was ok with me.  Sooner or later, I was going to catch him, and then Mike matusow would say, “Phil, why do they always give you their chips?! It’s so sick, dude.”

            How about this scenario: Hoyt raises Phil 15,16,17, 18, 19. and 20 times, and wins them all.  Still I didn’t mind, for I knew what was coming, and Hoyt apparently didn’t know or care.  Protect your chips, ha!

            I sat back and watched Hoyt reraise “Mo” Ibrahim with 3-3, making it $180,000 to go, and then watched as the flop came down A-J-9, and Hoyt announced, “I’m all-in.” Mo almost fell off his chair while calling the $300,000-plus bet with his A-K.  “Now it’s over for Hoyt,” I thought.  I was calmly watching the hand end when I thought, “Hoyt then raised the next three pots in a row, and I let him go.  He was down to under $900,000, and I was up at about $1.1 million, when I looked down at a nine in the small blind, and made up the $6,000 to complete the blinds.

            The flop came down 9-6-2 off suit, and I thought poker, “I have looked at only one card, but I have a feeling of strength [I did have at least top pair so far].  Let me bet out, and he’ll raise me as usual with nothing.” So I bet out $25,000, and Hoyt raised it $45,000 more.  Now I looked back at a jack kicker, and I though, “Now is the time for him to give me all of those chips.”  So I just called, to trap him further.  The next card games was a seven card stud, and now I thought, “Let me check one more time and bet big on the last card.”

            The last card was another seven, and now I bet out $80,000, feeling that there was no way for me to lose here.  He could have had a straight draw, or made three sevens, but I didn’t think so.  Hoyt then raised me $80,000, and I quickly called him.  I had set him up this hand, and now I was reaping the rewards.

            He then flipped up J-7 (which made three sevens ), and I shouted, “No!’ I got up from the table in total shock, and wandered over to the TV commentator’s booth.  Did this hand really just happen, did he just raise me drawing dead to 7-7 to make any money?  (How much would he have won if it had come an eight and another straight card?  Not much.)  And what if just one jack had hit the board instead of 7-7, how much would he have given me then bluff ?

            What it, for example, a random card like a queen had hit on the end? I was betting $80,000 unless a straight card came off-and believe you me, he was calling with a pair of sevens.

            He was supposed to go below $700,000, and I was supposed to go above $1.3 million.  “Fine,” I tried to tell myself, “he hit the miracle, but he will still give me all of his chips eventually.”

            A little while later I raised it up with Kh-9h, and Hoyt called me.  This was a first: Hoyt just called me, with Ac-Jc.  The flop was all his, as-Kc-10c, and I checked and he bet $80,000.  I quickly called, and the turn card was the Kd.  I checked, and then Hoyt checked.  I made three kings, but he did have some outs with an ace, 2-8 of clubs, or a queen.  The river was an ace, and I checked again, and then he bet $130,000, and I quickly called.

           I do like the way Hoyt played this hand, though.  On every street, he bet that he had best hand, and he checked when I hit the three kings.  Even still, it was pretty unlucky for me that a king, and then an ace, came up.  Meanwhile, Hoyt had raised me close to 35 hands, and I’d won one stinking pot limit hold'em!

            Then, with the blinds at $15,000-$30,000, I watched Hoyt move all-in at least half of the hands, and Mo and I kept giving it up to him, folding until we could find a way to nail Hoyt once.  Both Mo and I knew what Hoyt was doing, and I limped into the small blind three consecutive times, followed by Hoyt, who said, “I’m all-in.” didn’t he know that I would limp in with any big hand that I had, and call him soon?

            Protecting chips?  Ha! It was so scary to watch someone get away with playing like this for even 30 minutes, much less 7 or 8 hours.  Finally, Hoyt had moved on me 40-plus times, and the blinds had reached $25,000-$50,000.   I took the first $50,000 big blind (3 hours and 1 minute into the thing), and that time mo moved all-in on me.  I smelled weakness as I looked down at A-6, and I asked for a chip count, to get a feel for what I had to do, and to ponder the strength of Mo’s hand.

            Mo had raised $285,000, and I had only $265,000.  If I folded, I would need to make a move within the next two hands.  Or I could take what I believed was the best hand then.  I announced, “I need to call you here, Mo,” and Mo then flipped up 10-J off suit.  Here it was: I was a 3-to-2 favorite to be back in the ball game of cards, a 3-to-2 favorite to receive at least $560,000, rather than $280,000 for third.

            Mo would have had $20,000 left if I had won, but this pot was effectively for third-place prize money.  The flop was K-Q-4, and  I was thinking, “Pair the board.” But the next card off was an ace, and Mo made the straight bad beat, and I headed home with $280,000, while first place took home $1.1 million.

            Even now, I feel good about the way I played, which is rare for me, but I’m having nightmares about what Hoyt got away with.  How did he hit 7-7 or an ace after I hit three kings?  How did he move on me that many times and survive?  Was he that good at reading me?  A lot of the times I raised, I was looking only at an ace or a king.

            I feel that the style he used won’t work very often-although I often  see maniac players accumulate chips that way-and it is rare for it to win a big three-day-long event.  Am I bitter still?  Honestly, yes; when I play at this level, I expect to winning poker.  After all, I don’t play at this very often.

            Why couldn’t I have picked up one hand in al that time I waited for him to implode?  Bitter, yes, but get over it, Philly boy, that’s poker event!