Never Give Up

While I was playing in the Bellagio’s Five-Star World Poker series Classic’s $1,000 buy in pot limit Hold’em tournament in December 2002, the following series of hands unfolded.  (On page 21, in the piece titled “Phil Misreads His Hand, Too,” I recount how, in that same Bellagio event, I made one of the stupidest moves I have ever made in a hold'em poker game! This series of hands shows that you can never give up in a poker tournament.)

            Two off of the button, with the blinds at $100-$200, I opened the pot for $900 of my remaining $900 with K-9.  Max Stearn, holding 10-10, just called in the small blind, because he was afraid to reraise and possibly run into a big hand in the big blind.  I don’t blame max for just calling at this point in the hand; after all, it looked like he was going to get my last $300 in any case. With a flop of A-10-8, Max checked, and then I checked.

  (By the way, if he had bet my last $300 here on the flop, then I would have called fairly quickly because of the pot odds he could have had a small pair here as well.)  The fourth card games made max four tens, and he checked.  At this point, I’m folding my hand for a $300 bet.  And I’m folding no matter what hits on the last card although a king would have tempted me to call.  The last card was a three, and now Max bet my last $300, and I quickly folded.

            With $300 left, I folded my next two hands, and shut my eyes to maintain focus- I was upset that I was going to be eliminated.  But, it I was going down-and with $300 left, it sure looked as if I was going down-then at least I would give myself a chance and go down calmly.  Under the gun, I moved all-in with Ac-10c, and was called by the button and the big blind.  I scooped the $1,000 pot when the board came down A-K-Q-5-7.  Then, in the big blind, I folded Ac-4c for a $400 raise.  (Again, I wanted to give myself the best-possible chance to double up, and A-4 isn’t it!) The next hand, while in the small blind, Kenny “Skyhawk” Flaton-a great player, but an seven card stud greater guy-raised two off of the button with 7-7, and I moved all-in  for $800 total with As-Qs.  When a queen hit the board, I had won the $1,800 pot.

            Next hand, I picked up Q-Q on the button, and raised one player who had called the $200 bet.  Everyone folded, and now I had $2,300.  The very next hand I picked up J-J, and moved all-in when someone else opened with A-Q.  The A-Q called me, and my J-J won the $4,900 pot.  Three hands later I was under the gun again (exactly one round after having the $300 under the gun), this time with A-A.  I opened for $900, and Skyhawk raised me $2,400 more from the small blind monkey poker.  I moved all-in, and Skyhawk quickly called and flipped up Q-Q. My A-A held up, and now I had exactly $10,000!

            I had started the round with $300, and ended it with $10,000! Wow! “OK,” I thought poker, “ I must not lose a big pot, as I often do when I make a big comeback like this.”  But no, I couldn’t help what happened next (although I should have been able to!).  I raised it up with 9-9, and was called by A-A (smooth-calling with A-A can be very dangerous!). 

After a flop of 4-6-8, I bet out and was raised.  I didn’t know my opponent from Adam, and I decided that he probably had A-8, and I moved him all-in.  knowing your opponent can make all the difference in the world in a situation like this-after playing with him the rest of the day, I came to see that I would do well to fold in the same situation the next time.  But alas, he called, and his hand held up, and now I was down to about poker $3,000 again.

            Having been down to $300, $3,000 seemed like a lot of chips to me, and I felt confident that I would run it up again wsop event.  I fought and fought and fought, and by the time we reached the final table, I had the chip lead with over $60,000.  But I’ll put this account on hold for a bit, until after “Wow, are You Serious?” Part Two (“Phil Misreads His Hand, Too!”) details one of the worst plays I have ever made in my life, as well as what happened at this particular final table with Howard Lederer, Jeff Shulman, Dennis Waterman, and Daniel Negreanu wsop stud poker.