2006 – 37th Annual WSOP - Event Number 31 – The $2000 Part Three

I started counting my chips and was getting ready to verify. After you get checked by the staff, they give you a bag and you seal your chips up and get a receipt. I called Brad real quick to let him know the good news; funny it was 3:00AM his time and I never even thought twice about calling him. Poker players. I was walking out of the Rio with Jason and I turned to him and said, “I made it, Bro.” He said something that I will never forget. “Yes you did. You wanted it more than they did there is no defense for that.” It was true, I did want it. I crawled all day on the metaphorical broken glass and now it was all extra. Whatever happened, this could never be taken away from me. Before we got on our separate elevators back at the Bellagio, Jason stepped into his elevator, turned around and said to me, “You do remember that I finished 77th when I cashed in the World Series, right?” The doors closed and he was gone. Yea, that would be sweet, to fight through at least 121 more players and finish deeper than Mr. Smart-Ass.

Nine or ten years ago, when I first started to play poker seriously, I would play until breakfast when I was winning, and I still do. I love the night, when I am rolling I play as long a session as I can and pick up when it is time to eat with Lucy in the morning. I could play longer but it makes it nice to meet her and go sleep for 5 or 6 hours; it has become our thing. Back in the day when I got busted and lost all the money I allocated for poker that day, I would have to go to the room earlier than breakfast. I have always been very strict about the money management associated with poker. Lucy quickly learned that if Big Papa should show up at the room too early, things went bad and I had lost all my money. She was so funny in those days. She would always pretend to be asleep when I came home early. We both knew she wasn’t and I was typically so pissed that I was glad to go along with it, so as not to risk taking it out on her accidentally. I was never pissed about the money; it was taken there to lose if necessary. I was very seldom mad at my table mates; they wanted to win and they had rights to that. I was always mad at me. I was frustrated that it seemed that I didn’t know anything about poker and I wanted to become better, and every time I got busted it seemed like I knew less. I would dominate one game and then move up a level in cash and get punched in face. Every time I got knocked down I had a bunch of time to lie in bed next to my baby girl who was pretending to be asleep and think about what I had done wrong. I would analyze those mistakes and try to figure out ways that I could avoid them in the future, and pretty soon I stopped losing so often, then after a couple of years it was the remote exception, and now I haven’t lost all the money I left the room with in 4 or 5 years. The point I am making is, if I can do it, you can do it. However, you must face your mistakes and correct them, spend time thinking about your failures and they will happen less often. Talk to people whose game you respect about the dumb things you did, not about how you made quad kings. Be honest with them and more importantly with yourself and you will get better, I promise. It worked for me and am definitely not the smartest guy in the game. I just want it more than they do.

I got back to the room around 3:00AM and I crawled in bed, knowing that Lucy would consider this a VERY bad sign. I kissed her on the head and said nothing. Five minutes went by and she said, “I am sure you tried your best, honey.” I said, “I did, and I am going back tomorrow for day two! I am in the money!” She told me how much I sucked and slapped me around a little. Then we laughed and talked like kids until 5:00 when she made me settle down and get some sleep. I had a tournament to play in the morning!

We all got together for breakfast in the morning at the Bellagio Café; we love eating there. That’s when it all started, the prop betting. I said to Jason, “So if I go below 100, what do I get?” He thought for 2 seconds and said, “Remember those lame WSOP shirts with ‘spectator’ printed on the back that we made so much fun of?” We really did make fun of them, I mean really, why not just get a shirt that says “mirage buffet spectator”? I told him that I remembered the shirt, but what of it? He said, “If you go below 100 you get nothing, but if you break my record and go below 77, I will wear that shirt on the rail, stand on a chair and cheer you on to victory for the rest of the tournament.” I said, “Even if I make the final table and you end up on ESPN doing that for 8 hours?” He replied, “Especially if you make the final table!” We had a deal.

I got to the Rio at 11:30 to be early for my noon start and walked into the main event area. My mouth dropped open as I saw a tournament already in full swing with a small number of tables in advanced rounds roped off. Holy crap! Did I get the time wrong? If I had been blinding out since 9:00 I was screwed! I panicked. The “Missed your final exam and you don't graduate” kind of panic. I asked one of the directors if this was day two of event #31 and he said, “No this is day three of Event #30 - WSOP No Limit Hold'em Short Handed. Event number 31 is over there,” pointing to the other roped off section. “That starts at noon. If you are here to watch that, you have plenty of time.” Ok, that was a little scary. I walked over to the tournament and the security guard said, “This area is for players only, sir.” Music to my ears! I was in the right place and it was the right time and hey, I was a player!

We started the day at $2000/$4000 with a $1000 ante, and on the second hand something wild happened. Ian raised to $10,000, it was folded to me and I looked down and what did I see but American Airlines: AA. I was 17th in chips with $52,000, so I made it $30,000 to go. It was folded around to Ian and he said, “I suppose you have pocket aces again, because I have wired queens,” as he tossed them face up in the muck. I slid the aces face down to the dealer and took my pot. Two hands later, Ian said, “What did you have, mate?” I replied with “pocket fours.” He said, “So aces then, eh?” and I said, “Yea.” Same hand and same players as the night before.

For the next couple of hours I really went card dead. Jennifer Tilly was at the table next to me and was knocked out in 99th place. As she was starting to walk out, this girl was chasing behind her with a clipboard, trying to get her info to pay her, and Jennifer just ignored this girl. “Miss Tilly, Miss Tilly,” the girl chased after her and she just walked out without collecting her prize or even acknowledging the girl trying to do her job. If you don't need the money, fine, tell the girl to give it to charity; if you are mad and can’t talk now, tell the girl you will come back later. It was obvious to me that Jennifer thought she was better than that girl. I was not impressed, and I was a bigger fan of the girl trying to do her job than of Jennifer Tilly. I did get to talk to Jennifer’s boyfriend Phil “The Unabomber” Laak before the tournament started and he was a really nice guy.

Now we were at $4000/$8000 with $1000 antes. Things were moving pretty fast now, and I was down to around $26,000. I was going to have to find a spot to make a stand while I still had enough chips to make someone at least think about laying down when I move in. When I looked up at the TV with all the tourney info to see how long we have left in this round, I saw we were down to 70 players. I looked around to find Jason on the rail and he was standing on a chair next to Lucy wearing that stupid shirt, backwards with the “Spectator” facing front! He is indeed a man of his word and he was having fun; he is a good friend. It was time; I had picked up queen ten of hearts in late position. I needed to start stealing and get healthy again, and if I got called I got called. Any hand that called me would likely give me live cards to draw at and the hearts provided additional ways home. It was folded to me and I moved in. Like a storybook ending it was Ian that called me. He turned over AK, I didn’t improve and just like that I was out in 56th position. Ian walked around to me and gave me a hug; I wished him luck. Then he said, “I am sure I will see you in more of the upcoming events; you're a pro right?” I was very complemented and I said, “No, I am just the fourth best player in my home game and it was an honor to play with you all! Good luck!” I shook everyone's hand including Dan Harrington, and I would like say he was very nice to me and very professional. Some other professional players could learn from the example he sets. I hope the next WSOP story I write starts like…. “So there I was at the final table with Jason and Brad.” Until then, be nice, it matters.

2006 – 37th Annual WSOP - Event Number 31 – The $2000 Part Two

I sat down and the blind would hit me in two hands. I just needed two cards that would allow me to move my stack in. The good news was that between the antes and the blinds there is $550 in the middle every hand. Mother of Mary I needed a hand! I put in my $25 ante and got my cards: Q2 off suit. Perfect! I mucked. Next hand, 84 off suit. Muck. I am starting to run low on choices, and I was already at the point that an all in from me was giving anyone 3 to 1 odds to call, so I wasn’t going to scare anyone away. I needed a hand! I threw my last $25 chip out for my ante placed my last two black $100 chips out in front of me to satisfy my big blind obligation. I was down to one chip: a lone $500 check; it was almost funny in a way. I watched in amazement as this previously bloodthirsty table that was making every hand $500 pre-flop turned into a little lamb with seven players just limping in for $200 big blind! I never look at my cards until it is my turn to act, as you know, so I was sitting there thinking that if I had ANYTHING I was going to throw in my last $500 chip and we were going for a ride, hoping that if they were all that weak, they might be able to lay down to a guy that hasn’t played a hand in 2 hours. This would be the score I need to get back on this horse, please pocket fives, anything. The small blind called the additional $100 and the dealer looked at me and said, “Option?” You bet your ass, I looked down to see what monster fate had provided me in this perfect scenario and there it was. 72 off suit. Yes boys and girls, the worst starting hand in hold’em. I check; I guess we hope for the best, huh. The flop comes out J82 and well that that hit me, but it was nothing to write home about. The small blind checked and so did I, then another miracle happened. Everyone else at this hostile table checked! Wow! The dealer brought out the turn card and I just couldn’t believe what I saw: the 2 of clubs. I had made trips and the small blind checked. I actually said out loud, “I have been waiting all afternoon for a hand to go all in with and I can’t believe that this is the one I am doing it with but, I’m all in!” With that I tossed my lone $500 chip out in front of me and everyone folded save two players. When they called I thought, “No one would have played a set like that and if there was the case deuce out there, I probably had them out kicked because they would likely have limped that card suited and connected with a three or god forbid an ace.” I didn’t have long to worry, because when the river came I almost feel out of my chair. The seven of diamonds. I had made a full house. It wasn’t the nuts, but I was happy to get it all in with this hand and if someone beat me they beat me. Don’t get me wrong, I would never play poker again if I was beat, but I would accept it. Ace Jack made a pair of jacks to win a small $400 side pot over pocket tens when I announced “I’m full.” The math was 8 players calling $200 pre-flop, 10 players putting in $25 in antes and myself and two others putting in the $500 each for $3350 coming my way. I was so happy I was shaking. I had my voice back; I had a chance.

The thing that happened next was really great and kind of eerie at the same time. I was happily stacking my chips now that I had more than 3 of them, and I was in the small blind. Under The Gun limped and it was folded to the button who was a crazy Russian kid from New York City. I had watched him get involved and show down some pretty crazy hands in the last 2 hours, and he made it $600 to go. I thought, “You want to steal my small blind? Who cares?” I was so happy just to be alive. I looked down and saw wired jacks. Crap, here we go again. I was not folding Jacks to a $500 raise. I could get away from it on the flop if it got crazy. I called, and the big blind and the under the gun limper also called. I thought, “Oh well with four players, you are certainly up against some big hands like AA KK QQ or AK AQ that will turn monstrous with the right flop.” I was doing the right thing with the hand but I was done with it already. When the dealer brought the flop out, I just pulled down my sunglasses and covered my mouth after I quickly said, “Check.” The flop was JJA, all those hands I was afraid they were holding pre-flop were now money cards for me. I could not believe it, Quadzilla! All of that torture all day and now in two hands I was going to make it to safety. The big blind checked with me and UTG made it $2000 to go, when just then the crazy Russian kid pushed all his chips in and actually said, “All in Bitches.” Now, he had like $7500, and at this point I only had $2725 left, but I went in the tank and took at least 3 minutes to call with the rest of my chips in hopes that I could get the other two to come along. The big blind mucked immediately and UTG said, “I only have AK; I was stealing,” and mucked his cards face up. The kid turned to me and said, “What do you have?” Proper protocol would be for him to show me his cards first since I called his all in, but asking him for that would have been bad form in my mind given my holding. I said, “I have ALL the Jacks,” as I flip over my hole cards. Then, I guess out of embarrassment, the kid told the dealer to bring out the turn and the river without exposing his hand. The dealer said, “We need to see both hands in a showdown, sir.” He said, “I don’t have to show my cards if I don’t want to!” The dealer said he did and so did the rest of the table. I told the dealer that I didn’t care, but the dealer called for a decision. Now everyone was getting upset because the kid is wasting everyone’s time and the blinds were going up, and the short stacks were low on patience, and boy did I ever know how they felt. I turned to him and said, “Come on, don’t make it hard on the short stacks, let’s just do this.” I must have gotten to him because before the floor came he flipped over A4 of spades. Two blanks came and it was over. $250 for the antes, four players pre-flop for $600 equals $2400, and the kid and I for $2725 each on the end made me $10,100. It came over the loud speaker, “Dealers finish the hand you are on and we are breaking for dinner. Players, you have one hour.”

I went looking for Jason and when I found him it didn’t look good. I said, “What’s up Killer?” He said, “I just got wiped out. I was up over $5000 and I got it all in with QQ vs 88 and you know how this story ends.” I said, “A #$%^&ing eight comes?” He said, “Of Course. I hate poker sometimes.” Note: Don’t worry, Jason got his revenge at the Wynn Classic later that year by making a final table in a major event, so he and poker are friends again. He said, “How about you? Are you still in it?” I told him my tale and he couldn’t have been happier for me, and that was for real. If he couldn’t win it, he was truly happy that I had my chance. He told me he was going to find some stripper to make him feel better, but I knew he was going back to the Bellagio, so I called Lucy and told her to call his room in half an hour and make sure he got some dinner. She was happy that I was still in it. She had no idea. “Are you having fun honey boy?” It was like John Elway calling his wife at half time during the super bowl after he just scored the go ahead touchdown. “That’s nice Johnny, are you having fun?” Classic; she doesn’t give a rat’s ass about poker and she tries so hard to conceal that from me, because the only thing that she cares about regarding poker is that it makes Big Papa happy and for that she loves poker and I love her for being just who she is. I hope God takes me before her because I just couldn’t stand it here without Mimi.

Time to call Brad, and oh hell yea! It was seven o’clock in Vegas so it was eight in Denver, and guess what? It was our monthly poker club night and Brad was at his house with all the guys. I called and he answered and said, “Great Job Mark, I am so proud of you!” I was like, “What the ..?” He said, “The tournament is all over the internet and we have been following along. The bloggers are posting everything.” I asked him to tell the guys I said hey, and I would continue to do my best. He said, “I never doubted you for a second Bubba!” Man, I can’t tell you how good that phone call felt. I hung up the cell phone and I was alone. When you are on break at the WSOP you are required to leave the tournament area, so I had walked over to an area of about fifty tables that were empty from the days knockouts and not being used for the sit n goes or the second chance tournament yet, so they were just empty, save me in the middle of them. I was alone for the first time in what seemed like ages and I wasn’t hungry. I had called all the people I needed to talk to and there I was. I slipped my on iPod and listened to the song that I had put on repeat and played over 200 times over and over while I ground down the cheese grater. “Me Against The World,” by 2Pac.

Could somebody help me? I'm out here all by myself
See ladies in stores, Baby Capones, livin’ wealthy;
Pictures of my birth on this Earth is what I'm dreamin’
Seein’ Daddy's semen, full of crooked demons, already crazy
and screamin I guess them nightmares as a child
had me scared, but left me prepared for a while;
Is there another route? For a crooked Outlaw
Veteran, a villian, a young thug, who one day shall fall;

Every day there's mo' death, and plus I'm dough-less
I'm seein mo' reasons for me to proceed with thievin’
Scheme on the scheming and leave the peeps grievin’;
Cause ain't no bucks to stack up, my nuts is backed up
I'm bout to act up, go load the Mac up, now watch me klacka;
Tried makin fat cuts, but yo it ain't workin
And Evil's lurking, I can see him smirking
when I gets to pervin’, so what?
Go put some work in, and make my mail, makin sales
Risking 25 with a 'L', but oh well;

[girl]
Me against the world
[2Pac]
With nuttin to lose
It's just me against the world
[girl]
Ooh yeah.. oooh-ooooh
[2Pac]
It's just me against the world baby
[girl]
Me against the world
[2Pac]
I got nuttin to lose
It's just me against the world

I really felt like all day it really had been me against the world. I leaned back in that chair, put my feet up, pulled down my sunglasses and drifted off to sleep for what felt like too long when I felt a nudge. It was the fat guy from my table. He was 30ish and had been a large stake for most of the day, as well as a major pain in my short stacked ass. He was hyper aggressive, raising every pot. I wasn’t surprised to find out that he was a professional player named Mark Davis from Dublin, Ireland. I woke up and looked at my watch; I had been out for 30 minutes. I pulled my plugs and after a couple of minutes I felt great; refreshed and ready. Mark was yakking at me, “You really made a comeback there,” he said. “Yea, I was on death’s door all day it was nerve wracking.” I was trying not to hold a grudge, but he was one of the troop that had been pounding on me for the last five hours. I am sure he didn’t even realize it; he was just playing cards. Five minutes to go time, “Nice talking to you Mark, see you at the table, good luck.” I went to the bathroom and then I needed to get refocused. I still had a long way home.

I showed up back at the table and it was moving day. The Grim Reaper Tournament Director was there passing out cards for us to draw. I chose table three seat seven, and wished my previous tablemates good luck. When I make my way to my new table with my new stack, I am immediately put back. The big stacks at my previous table were like the furry creatures in Monsters, Inc. These towers of chips were like the monsters in Alien 3, complete with acid for blood. After witnessing this new level of aggressive play, I thought that I was back where I started. If I was going to get involved, I would need to have a hand and just play tight and aggressive. In short, I needed to try my best and not make a stupid mistake. I played for about an hour without much going on. I stole a couple of blinds and antes and had a really good idea of what was going on at the table when I got my chance. I was one off the button and it was checked around to me when I saw AK of clubs. The button was a fairly tight professional player, but the small and large blinds were a couple of kids that had been splashing around pretty well with less than premium holdings. The blinds were $200/$400 with a $50 ante and I had around $14,000 in chips. I made it $1200 and the button mucked his cards. The small and large blinds both called. The flop came out J42 with 2 clubs and the small blind checked it. The big blind made it $2000, so I called and so did the small blind. The turn took all the pressure off of me when it brought the 3 of clubs; I had made the nut flush and there was now a small straight out there. I had seen a couple of bust outs at this table come from the kid in the big blind when he had made small straights against opponents holding large cards. Both the small and big blinds checked. I thought for a minute and wondered if one had 2 pair or a set. If so, and the board paired, I would have a tough decision. I made it $4500, and honestly I was happy to end it there. The small blind called and after thinking for a second, the big blind moved all in! He had around $40,000 and I did a little acting and said, “Well I only have around $6000 more so I am going to call; I am all in too.” The small blind went in the tank and after a long time he finally said, “I have top pair, best kicker and a gut shot straight draw, but I am going to lay this down,” and tossed AJ face up into the muck. The kid in the big blind turned over his hand saying, “I have the wheel.” As he turned it over, I flip over my hand and say, “Your drawing dead. I have the nut flush.” He is a really nice kid, but I was amazed he had so many chips when he replied, “I didn’t even see that flush out there!” Including the antes and all the small blind money, I rack in $36,200, and for the first time all day I feel like I can relax.

I got my voice back and started having fun, really playing small ball poker and I was stealing blinds and making speculative plays for small amounts in multi-way pots that would only give me the highest odds of winning if it got messy. I was up and down, hovering around $30,000 for the next few hours. At one point I flopped quad fives and checked it to the end with two players, making the minimum bet on the end and watching them both fold, and thank God I didn’t need the money then. Sometime later, Michael Odeh sat down beside me and started giving me a hard time. I told him to shut up. He told me we were going to settle this outside on the next break and I looked up and said, “Mike, if you walk outside with me you won’t come back inside ever again.” He let me know that he had cancer and asked what I could do to him. I replied, “Mike, I can end your suffering if you don’t stop messing with me. This is the deepest I have ever been in the World Series and I plan on cashing so knock it off.” I also reminded him that I play 15/30 limit with him all the time at the Bellagio and that he told me about his “cancer” five years ago and I was glad he was still around playing and looking so good. He said, “I thought you looked familiar!” I said, “Mike, do you make a habit of asking 225 pound 6 foot tall ex-football players outside to fight during the breaks?” Mike, a 5’7” 135 pound 60 year-old Persian man, responded, “I watched you for 3 minutes when I sat down; I knew you wouldn’t hurt me.” I guess I was far less fierce than I appeared and Mike was an old time rounder. I believed he had the skills to sum someone up in that amount of time. In his business you had better have that skill honed to a razor’s edge. One of the amazing things I watched during the considerable time I sat with him at that WSOP table was his almost Rain Man-like ability to count down a stack of chips. I would ask, “Mike, how much does the one seat have in front of him?” He would shoot back instantaneously $64,000, nut on every time, and I used this skill of his a couple of times that night. Mike was a little hard because of the life he had chosen; being a professional rounder is not an easy job and it leaves marks. I respected Mike and he liked me enough to give me a little mentoring along the way. It was a nice arrangement. He had an odd superstition against $1000 chips. He didn’t want them, so when he won a pot with those yellow $1000 checks in it, I would buy them from him for pink $500s. That is why, in all the pictures of me at the World Series, you never see me with anything but black and yellow checks; Mike had all my pink ones. He was nice to me, but only after I stood my ground. Life is odd that way sometimes with men. I don’t know why, but I have found it to be the norm.

“Hey, Big Man!” I heard it from the roped-off area. I turned around and there was Mr. Galt, fresh, showered and fed. It was nice to have him there, I waved and put up five fingers; we would break in five minutes. I went for a Coke and a slice of pizza with Jason and he let me know that Lucy had taken care of him. They had eaten dinner at the Bellagio Café and he had told her all about the unfairness of poker and somehow it was all ok now and he was ready to cheer me on to victory. I knew she would, she loves Jason.

There was a buzz going on around us. It was midnight and we were down to 225 players; the money was at 197. Would they make it? How many short stacks were there? How much was the first level of payouts? Everyone had all kinds of questions and their minds were racing. I let Jason know the score and when I called Brad to check in, he was at the final table of the tournament back home. He wanted a call when we were in the money. “WHEN we were in the money.” There was no “IF we get to the money” for Brad; he is the most positive guy I know. I was close, and even I was starting to think that there would be no denying me this year, and that felt good. Jason wanted to know if I had bumped into any name brand players. There were a dozen or so TV players left and I was at a table right behind Hasan Habib who is a really likeable pro that is always nice to everyone. The interesting side note on him is that his name has become popular amongst other poker players and gamblers alike. Whenever someone hits the card they need while playing poker or hits a jackpot in a slot machine or anything involving winning in gambling, the person will often exclaim, "HASAN HABIB!!" I told Jason that I hoped he would be moved over to my table at some point. I needed to get going and asked him if he was going to hang around. He asked, “Have you bumped your head tonight?” I thanked him and told him how much it meant for me that he was there.

When I sat down we were at $800/$1600 with a $200 ante, and not much happened for me in the next hour, but at the next level there was an announcement from the tournament director that we were at 207 players and would now be playing round for round. I had never seen this before, but I guess they didn’t want one table slow playing to get into the money, so they marked where the button was and as soon as the button returned to that spot the dealer would stand up and play at the table was stopped until all the tables made that rotation and all the dealers were standing. Then they did this again until we hit the money. This was getting exciting and as long as I didn’t make a major mistake, I was going to make it. I had plenty of chips and even made some moves on a couple of the short stacks that I knew didn’t want to get involved so close to the money. What turn of events! Ten hours earlier I was the one they had been feeding on. I happened to be the round for round button at our table and we had completed our second rotation and were waiting for the other tables to finish when it happened. Someone had hit the bubble and went out in the historic “you played all this time and you get nothing” position of 198th. We were there, and it was around 1:00AM. We all clapped for ourselves and the tournament staff congratulated all of us for “making it.” I turned and found Jason in the crowd on the rail and he was holding both his thumbs up. This was sweet, my first cash, and now my second short term goal of making it to day two was almost certain because the director went on to announce that we were going to play the button around one more time and then that was it for the day.

The blinds had gone up again and it was now $1000/$2000 with a $500 ante, and I was really focusing on not making a mistake so I could come back tomorrow and play fresh. I really had an easy go of it because lucky or unlucky I was card dead; no real playable hands even if I was itching to get involved, which I wasn’t. I was in the big blind and it was folded around to the six seat, Ian Fraser from the United Kingdom, who raised one unit to $4000. Another player folded and Jose Severino from Panama announced that he was raising, and made it $8000. I started chirping, “Oh nice, my last big blind of the night and you guys want to steal it from me”. As I was going on about all that, it was folded to me and I uncapped my cards and looked down. And there they were: TWO black Aces. I paused for 10 seconds and said, in what I am sure sounded like a very serious voice, “I am ALL IN,” and stood up as I moved my now $26,000 in chips in front of my cards. Ian stood up. He couldn’t believe it. I turned to Jason and mouthed, “I’m All In!” I saw Jason take off somewhere, and I turned to Ian who was holding his head. I said, “I did what I had to do and to be honest I don’t want you to call, but I had to do that.” He was more confused than ever, and I looked up in the now empty TV grand stands to see Jason in the top row looking down on this growing drama. He nodded to me like, “Do you have it?” I looked back at him with a nod that said, “Does Rose Kennedy have a black dress?” and we waited for Ian for at least 4 or 5 minutes. Everyone respected that he had a decision to make and gave him time and space. He looked at me one last time and said, “I Call.” I really didn’t want the call as he had me covered by at least double, and I had plenty of experience with Aces not working out in big situations before. “Here we go again,” I thought. Then Jose started acting like he was going to go in the tank and several players, pros mostly, piped up and said, “No way, you should have been thinking about your hand while we waited for him! Put a clock on him!” By now all the action in our corner of the room had stopped and the director and several tournament staff were right there with at least 200 other spectators. They started counting Jose down. 30 seconds, 20 seconds, 10 seconds. Jose mucked two Jacks, face up. I looked at Ian and said, “You know what I have,” and flipped over my Aces. He shook his head and turned over two red queens. I was a 4 to 1 favorite, and I knew I was doomed. The flop came out and it was my worst nightmare realized. All the cards were RED. Jack, Ten, Seven. Ian started cheering for his cards; he had an outside flush and straight draw. I just stepped back in silence. Everyone was screaming including Jason and it was like they were all muffed except my buddy up in the heavens, and I could hear him like he was right next to me, saying “Black Deuce, Black Deuce,” over and over. The turn came a five of clubs and the dealer was kind, ripping off the last card quickly, the 3 of spades. My rockets had held up for close to 60 thousand dollars, and I have no idea where this came from, but I jumped up on my chair and as loud as I could I yelled out the magic words: "HASAN HABIB!" To my surprise, just then the actual Hasan Habib jumped up and ran over to me, giving me a great big hug! And the crowd roared. The dealer shoved a pile of chips as big as a trash can lid at me and I took the last hand of the night, my small blind. For the first time all day I looked at my cards without waiting my turn while my shaking hands started stacking chips. I had made it to day two.

2006 – 37th Annual WSOP - Event Number 31 – The $2000.00 - Part One

Man, where to start? This story has taken me almost a year to write and I think that I have put it off so long because once it is written it truly will be over and I don’t want it to be over EVER. If you are a constant reader, you know how important this was for me and you also know that the victory of cashing was taken from me in the $1500.00 event. This was my last chance. I had left Miss Lucy poolside at the Bellagio with a “Wish me luck sweetie.” She replied, “Just win it Baby Boy.” It’s amazing that when she looks at Big Papa that is the thing that she chooses to call me. I am the luckiest man on the planet because of her, my girls and my friends, and if you are sick of hearing that, please stop reading my stories, because without them to share it all with I wouldn’t play poker. What would be the point?

Speaking of friends, I was headed to the World Series Of Poker with Mr. Jason “Who is John Galt?" Writer. We are close and I really don’t know when it happened, but we are the “you don’t really need to finish most of your sentences” kind of close. I know when it started, and that will be the greatest story ever told, called “The Bravery Of The Lambs: The Dawning” but it is a story for another time. Jason is one of those guys who is very popular and knows a lot of people. He does a lot of charity work and many people think that they are his friend, and he lets them think that. It isn’t that he doesn’t like them; he just doesn’t let them in. Closely guarded privacy is the watch word for Mr. Galt. If Jason only had one phone call, I am sure he would call me and then I would call Brad, because damn, this sounds serious!

Jason and I pulled up in the back parking lot of the Rio about a half hour before jump time and Jennifer Tilly was valet parking her Bentley Continental GT. More on her later; she was less than impressive as a person. It looked like an NFL football game letting out and I thought, “here we go, another army to wade through.” It turned out that over 2000 people signed up for our little card game today.

On the way in I called Brad. He was majorly pissed off. Circumstances had unfolded at one of his companies and kept him from coming down with us. It wasn’t getting any better, and he was going to miss the whole thing. Bradley wished me well, the same as Lucy did, only instead of “Baby Boy” he called me “Bubba” and said, “Just do your best Bubba, if you want to stay longer I would put you in the main event, that is how much confidence and trust I have in you. Just do your thing!” I will never know if what he said was his true feelings or if he was just trying to get me up for what I had to do. Either way I will never forget him for it; I know that his words helped me focus and feel confident. I was having a conversation with him a couple of months ago and he told me that he was still just sick about not being with us, and I told him that he was with me the whole way. With our partnership I felt like whatever I was doing in the tournament was his to own as well, and I am not at all sure that the fact that I was playing for US and not just me alone didn’t take my game to the next level. I was damn sure not going to make any stupid mistakes on Bradley’s dime; I wasn’t going to let either of us down, not this year.

Big hug for Jason and I said, “Flop’em Dead Kid” and he said, “Do the whole village Big Man.” It is kind of funny that we NEVER call any of the Tribe members by our given names and not by design. It just is what it is. I sit down and have 5 minutes to chat with my tablemates. I am friendly, but what I am really doing is gathering the information that I need send them to Valhalla later. The one thing that is true in a poker tournament is that no one is your friend. It is war. People are friendly but what they want is you dead, period. I never forget that even if my fellow Tribe members who I love show me the soft under belly in a tournament, they are dead. No questions asked, no apologies given, made a head stone. The same goes the other way around too, except I am even more cautious when I am in a pot with one of them. I know them too well, they know that I know them and this is where it gets even more dangerous, because these guys are some of the most brilliant minds I know, and the levels of poker theory can get a little mind bending. Your basic player looks at his cards and bets accordingly; the more advanced player looks at his cards and wonders what his opponent has. One more level up, the player thinks “what do I have, what does he have and what does he think I have?” Keep adding levels and add some deception and it can get pretty hairy. So much for my friendly table mates.

Okay players, the first round is 25/25; shuffle up and deal. Here we go. These World Series events don’t really give you much room to splash around. In a $2000.00 buy-in tournament, that is the amount of tournament chips you get: $2000.00. I will point out how this gets dicey as I review how the day started for me. We draw for the button and I end up with my first win, the button. The action is a raise to $125.00 with 3 callers. I look down and see a pair of nines. Basic strategy dictates that you want to play small ball poker early and try and gather chips without allowing you to be at risk unless you have a really big hand. I call the $125.00 with my nines, both the blinds fold. What I am looking to see is another nine for a set. The flop comes down TJ8 rainbow. This is a really a pretty good flop for me as I don’t have anything more than 2 nines but I have flop a straight draw and no flush is present. The pre-flop raiser makes it $200.00. This really doesn’t mean much. He is making what I assume to be a continuation bet because it is proper strategy to do so. AA KK QQ are unlikely holdings due to the fact that a player would protect those hands more aggressively from someone drawing out on them, and JJ is hard to imagine because that hand surely would be checking hoping to induce other players to bet. I put the pre-flop raiser and his subsequent callers on AK AQ AJ AT range of hands. One of the two callers drops out and one calls. I have too many outs to not call here. Two nines are left to give me a set of nines; four sevens and four queens are out there to give me the second nut straight. 10 outs, 38.4% and the pot has 4 x $125 = $500.00 pre-flop plus the $400.00 the boys just put in, so I am getting $1000.00 back for the $200.00 I am putting in or 5 to 1. In a cash game this is a no brainer, but the monster we are dealing with in a tournament is that we are on a limited budget. I call the $200.00 and we see the turn, the Ace of spades. This is not a good card for us. The pre-flop raiser makes it $200.00, which is an odd bet for a pot this size. The next guy makes it $1000.00 straight. We fold, and the initial aggressor goes all in with his dance partner speed calling. The dealer has them flip over their hands before the river and I expect to see AJ/AT for 2 pair, possibly suited with a spade redraw and a set of tens, jacks or eights. The actual holdings are pretty amazing. The first guy shows AK for one pair of Aces and no flush redraw and the speed caller turns over a ten and an eight for 2 pair. The AK jumps up and yells, “how can you call $125.00 with that crap?!” The guy is pretty quick and he says, “how can you go all in with only one pair?” Ah, making friends at the World Series Of Poker. The river is a 2 of hearts and the guy with AK is gathering his stuff and muttering something about donkeys and the guy stacking all the chips says, “What did you say?” I can’t help myself, so I jump in here and say, “He said nice hand, good game.” The table busts up laughing and things go forward, with the dealer tossing a card where the dead player was (Table 46 Seat #5).

We go card dead for the rest of that down, stealing one set of blinds, paying 4 orbits worth a net loss of $150.00, leaving us at $1525.00 going into round two. The blinds are now 25/50 when we pick up a nice holding in bad position. I will mention that this table was rowdy. We knocked out 4 players in an hour and so there were some larger stacks growing and the table standard bet was going up. 25/50 blinds and these guys were settling in on a $225.00 bring in culture. It was kind of scary. From under the gun, we see QQ and I limp for $50.00. The hand gets raised to $150.00, two guys call and the blinds drop out. I call the extra $100.00 and see a flop that I hope doesn’t have an ace or a king in it. The flop comes out T52, the pot is $525.00 and I want to end this thing right here, so I make it $400.00 or roughly 75% of the pot. The first guy calls and the other guy, one of the larger stacks, makes it $1200.00. Calling this raise would put me all in except for like $175.00. I go in the tank for what seems like forever and I am just sick. I think to myself, “Mark, why can’t you do better in these things? You are just going to throw in the last of your chips and get beat here? What then, more machine gun shooting? I felt like such a loser. Snap out of it man! What do they have?! AA KK – You have QQ – JJ TTT 555 222 AT A5 T5 52.” I could think of seven hands that were better than me and a couple of draws that would be worrisome. If I fold here I have $975.00 left. @#$%^! I muck the ladies and the other guy calls the $1200.00, except he only has $1100.00 of it so he is all in. A $100.00 rebate goes back to the big stack and they flip over their cards. The all in shows 55 for a set and the big guy turns over wired jacks. The turn is a king and the river is a seven. I say, “Nice hand kid. That is what I had too.” He says, “Really?” and then thinks for a minute and does a “Hey wait a minute.” When he realizes that would be impossible, and I say, “Queens,” he says, “You folded pocket queens?” I shake my head; I am not nearly as impressed as he is, I am getting pissed.

I wasn’t really in the mood to think about how great a player I was and now I was screwed. The blinds had just gone up to 50/100 and I was down to essentially just one move: wait for a really good hand and move in. The table was moving pretty fast at this point. Every pot was 40 to 50 percent of my stack to see a flop, and I was card dead. I gave up a ton of blind money and when the small blind folded to me once when it was folded around to him I felt like kissing him. Hey, that was $150.00 profit for me! I was truly riding the cheese grater to the bottom, but I was still determined not to make a stupid mistake if I hadn’t already; it had already been a long day. They had called for the break and I had $900.00 in chips. I always count my chips before I go on break; at least that job was easy. One more hand and Halleluiah! My patience pays off, I pick up KK on the button and move in, everyone folds and I pick up two limpers and the blinds: $350.00. I am at $1250.00 when we go on break. I call Brad, get the voicemail and tell him it is a struggle but we are still alive. Jason says he is dealing with some maniacs at his table and he is grinding it out, at around $1700.00. Good luck buddy.

The next several levels are uneventful as I have gotten myself so low that unless I pick up a monster I can’t move. I am determined not to make a stupid mistake. I am watching the other players splash around some with lesser cards than I mucked. Some of those same players are getting knocked out, some are winning with those mediocre holdings, and me, I am getting ground down but refusing to panic. 75/150 goes by; 100/200 comes and goes I am still sitting in the bed I made fooling around with those lesser hands before. I keep rethinking the action of before and I am sure I played it right, but it sure doesn’t feel right now. Stuck and Short. Last hand and we go on break. I have a $500 chip, four $100.00 chips and three $75.00 chips.

I headed out back to the trailers they had installed this year, correcting the “one bathroom” problem from last year. They were not very good about the signage however, which was fine with me. The less people that knew about the new facilities, the better. Jason caught up to me in the bathroom line and wanted to know how I was doing. I said that for someone that plays as bad as I do, I was lucky to still be in it, and laughed. I asked him where he was and he said, “$1200.00, no cards, you?” I told him I was at $700.00, $100/$200 blinds with a $25.00 ante and when we get off break I needed a hand; he felt the same way. I told him I really felt like I hadn’t made any errors and I got away from queens when they were beat with 1/3 of my chips out there. Jason thought that was impressive; I just had a headache. We did our business and Jason asked me if I was going to go through the cafeteria line for a Coke or anything. I said no but I would meet him inside. I wanted to go call Brad while I was still in this thing. I went to the far end of the inside hallway and made the call I didn’t want to make. Almost hoping to get voicemail again, Bradley picked up on the first ring with, “Hey Bubba, how are we doing?” I said the only thing I could think of, the truth. “Brad I am doing the very best I know how and things just aren’t going well at all. We are on break and the next round is 100/200 and I have $700.00 left in chips.” I felt like I wanted to cry; here this guy had really believed in me and it looked like I was going to let us both down, AGAIN. Brad never missed a beat. “Hey man, that’s poker. You go back in there and keep being conservative, whatever happens is what will happen and I am fine with that. Just do your best.” I assured him that I would and hung up the phone.

Brad was a good friend to me, saying what he did that day. I knew that if he lost the money it wouldn’t hurt him and I had made sure before we made this partnership that our friendship would not be affected. No amount of money was worth even the remotest chance of harming a friendship like the one I had with Brad. We went way back. I sold Brad one of the first computers he bought when he started his firm and I had just left corporate America to start my own retail computer business. We were both slugging it out 80 hours a week to make things work back then, now both businesses are multimillion dollar concerns. The only thing that hadn’t changed from the old days was us. We were still just two friends making our way through the world. There were a lot more zeros now, but we were still just two hard working entrepreneurs; we didn’t really know how to be any other way. I was mad now. Damn it I wanted to win! I had worked too hard for this; I wanted to call Brad and tell him how smart he was for having faith in me. I deserved to make that call, and those guys at that table in there were denying me my phone call. I was being tested and I wanted to pass the test.

Jason walked up behind me and said, “I know you said you didn’t want anything but I got you a Diet Coke and a package of aspirin. You said you had a headache right?” Jason, he is a good guy to have on your wing. How I got so lucky in life, I will never know. I gave Mr. Galt a big hug and took my aspirin; we had two minutes left.

03.2007 – How Can I Get Better At Poker?

Simple: Put In the Time

People ask me this question all the time when I’m online, my email from the website, live and my response is always the same. Love the game and always keep your legs moving and keep going forward. I never stop playing poker and when I say playing poker, I mean enjoying the complete hobby of playing the game. When I say complete, I mean that I play poker because of the tremendous opportunity for growth it presents for me, as a person.

The following are 6 steps that I use to expand my poker experience:

One: READ – A lot
I have over fifty poker books in my office and I have read them all. Many of them two times. Read Super Systems 1 and 2 until you can quote from them. My theory is that all poker books are free, if I get just one idea or one concept from a book that will help me win a fifty dollar book, then that book has paid for itself. The truth is that many of those books have made me thousands of dollars each. It is my strong belief that if you are unwilling to read, you are destined to be the sucker in the game.

Two: Watch And Learn
I have instructional DVD materials and I purchased the entire VHS collection of WSOP from Binons. I gleaned what information I could from those tapes and then magic happened. Four or five years ago, Steve Lipscomb launched the World Poker Tour on the Travel Channel and we got to see the hole cards. The art of studying poker had changed forever. We now have a televised poker explosion:

World Series of Poker
ESPN
Lon McEachern and Norman Chad

World Poker Tour
The Travel Channel
Mike Sexton and Vince Van Patten

Celebrity Poker Showdown
Bravo
Dave Foley and Phil Hellmuth

Poker Superstars Invitational Tournament
Fox Sports Net
Chris Rose and Howard "The Professor" Lederer

Ultimate Poker Challenge
syndication
Chad Brown and weekly guest

Poker Royale
GSN
John Ahlers and Robert Williamson III

High Stakes Poker
GSN
A.J. Benza and Gabe Kaplan

Professional Poker Tour
The Travel Channel
Matt Corboy and Mark Seif

National Heads-Up Poker Championship
NBC
Matt Vasgersian and Gabe Kaplan

Poker Dome Challenge
Fox Sports Net
Barry Tompkins and Michael Konik

Poker After Dark
NBC
Shana Hiatt and Oliver Nejad

Pro-Am Poker Equalizer
ESPN
Phil Gordon

I watch most of these shows. I TIVO all of the WSOP, WPT, PPT and High Stakes Poker on GSN, and I watch each of these at least three times, some of them more. Thank God for TIVO or I would be able to claim that I have seen 100,000 party poker commercials. This wonderful device allows me to skip them. I watch the different styles of play and I also learn, what I believe, to be tells on these great players. I have used this information to my advantage in major events, however, that is only a side benefit. The learning and self growth is what I am after, and I get that. It is worthwhile time spent, for the serious poker player, to view these shows.

Three: Practice Your New Found Knowledge Online (Poker Lab)I play regularly on a website called www.pokerschoolonline.com. I have played online, for cash, at all the major sites. I longer do this and not because of the reason you might think. The big problem I have playing for real money online, is that it breeds cheating. It is so easy to imagine a crew together in one room, possibly in China, with masked Ip addresses, appearing to be all over the world, sharing their hole cards. If you play online poker, I believe you are foolish and any money you lose, is the price for being naïve. It is just too easy to do, and to think that it isn’t being done for the money that is involved. I really don’t care about the money part either, my big problem stems from the old adage that “Practice doesn’t make Perfect, Perfect practice makes perfect”. If you are a student of the game as I am, learning how people react to the way you play AK suit in first position, when they all know each other’s cards, really does nothing for my growth as a play in major events, where this is not a factor. (Please do not send me emails about this, if you want to give someone that large of an edge, go ahead. If you are winning, I am truly glad for you. Bring that money with you to the WSOP in June, I will be there like the darkness, waiting.) With all of that said, Mark and Tina Napolitano, founders of PokerPages.com, developed PokerSchool Online to further help players learn the game. www.PokerPages.com is one of my favorite websites to use as a poker/poker player resource.

PokerSchool Online will offer up to $100,000 in student sponsorships to the 2007 World Series of Poker (WSOP). Student Sponsorships will also be available for other major poker tournaments. Scholarships are awarded within the school as well, based on various performance criteria.

When you enroll in Poker School, you will learn how to play the games correctly and learn how to compete and win in tournaments, in the real money world of poker. The games covered are limit, pot limit, and no-limit Texas Hold'em, and Omaha, as well as single-table satellites (24 x 7) and 7 Card Stud and Ring Games.

Your education starts with weekly lessons posted on the site by some very well know instructors. Mike Caro, "The mad genius of Poker", is PokerSchool Online's Dean. Plug into his exclusive weekly audio lessons in the comfort of your own home. You'll find more instructional materials in his classroom. This includes books, tests, tips, strategies and much more! Other instructors include Nolan Dalla (Noted Columnist) and Lou Krieger (author of 'Poker for Dummies') and Mark Napolitano (visionary co-founder of PokerPages.com and himself a former European Poker Champion).

Daily tournaments and games are offered in the Poker School card room using their proprietary PokerPages software, so the student can practice in live game situations. Each student is given an initial bankroll to use to buy into the tournaments. Additional money can be added to your bankroll by completing and passing tests, based on the weekly lessons and by winning one of the online tournaments.

The Poker School lessons are not just for beginners. There are topics covered for advanced players as well. If you have any questions, you can ask the Experts by e-mailing the instructors. You can also discuss topics with other students through the forum or in the chat room. Socialize with the friendliest poker community on the Internet, where all levels of players from beginner to professional meet and help each other to improve.

The biggest advantage of PokerSchool Online is that you can learn, play and practice at your own pace. You are not risking a lot of money that it would cost you to get your education, at the live tables. Unlike some of the play for fun sites you may have visited, I find that the players in the games on the poker school site, are very serious about their play, and most treated their cyber-bankroll as real money.

The cost of PokerSchool Online is nominal. It is just $14.95 per month or $149.95 annually. You get all this for less than $3.00 per week: Lessons from top authorities in the poker industry, books online, audio lessons, hand analyses, tests, reference articles, practice play, league tournaments, and a chance to win entry into major national tournaments. And there is a 14-day, money-back guarantee, so you can try it - risk-free!

I play there and you can play with me whenever you want. My handle is NitroxBoss!

Four: Make Some Friends – Help Them Grow
I have a very close-knit group of friends and write about them. Often, here on poker stories, I refer to them as the “Tribe”. They are my crew and we help each other learn and improve. It is interesting and not surprising to me in the least, that each member of my Tribe is a multimillionaire, down to the last man. None of which, would any member count poker as the source. I say this to point out that these men are highly educated and very successful. They use those proven tools at the poker table, with extremely damaging results. They are among my closest friends and harshest critiques. We have love for each other that only men who have faced the enemy together can know. We are truly looking out for each other and, if I had to say what the most value able thing that poker has given me, I would say without reservation it is the Tribe. I only hope they feel the same about me, because without the Tribe, I could never have come this far. So, I hope in the same way, I have also helped them. The next time you are around a successful pro, ask them about their friends and the impact those friendships have had on their success. I know the answers you are going to get, so if you want to be a successful player at the highest levels, you better find a “tribe”, and if you are very wise, you will surround yourself with people that are among the smartest and most successful people in the world, as I have.

Note: If you do decide to join the pokerschoolonline.com site and end up playing with Johnwgalt, protect your chips. He is Tribe and he is also the number one ranked player on the site.

Five: Test Your Progress – Often
The three main tribal leaders of our group (Bard, Jason and I) formed a club called the www.pokerschoolclub.com and we have a large tournament every month. This club allows us to test what we have learned from studying books and T.V. and our poker discussions, in a live brick and mortar tournament. We consider it the monthly test. We have all the professional tables and chips, and we follow strict WSOP formatting and blinds. We even have an exact replica of the WSOP final table, made by the same company that made the final table for Harrahs. This club is the NUTS. It has grown into a really neat place for people to come and learn about poker, in a friendly and fun environment. Don’t get me wrong, there is action and the competition is fierce! I have to give major credit and thanks to Brad. Without his generosity and dedication, that club would never have become what it is today. Membership in the club is closed as of now, however, if you do get invited to the game and you end up sitting next to Brad, step carefully. He is one of the nicest guys I know, he is also Tribe and he has dealt me the “death blow” more times than I care to remember, and he loves me. You are only a source of chips, on his way home to the final table.

Six: Go To The Dance
Go to a major event once a year. The really cool thing about poker, is that you can be a part of it on a grand scale. When you are in a big event and you have a name brand player at your table, it doesn’t matter if you bust them, or they bust you, it is going to be fun and you are going to come away from it with a life experience. You and your Tribe are going to be closer for attending. It is something to look forward to all year. When you get there, it is electric. Include your family. My girls go every year and none of them play, but they get to stay at the Bellagio, and shop and play by the pool. They have a blast and I love sharing this part of my life with them. The whole Tribe and everyone they bring always gets together for a couple of nice meals, and everyone has a story to tell from bad beats to unreal shopping bargains. The World Series Of Poker is fun for everyone in my family, and one day my girls will all be lined up watching Big Papa win the big one, and from there we are all going to forum mall and I will show those girls how to shop, without looking at price tags.

Epilog:
I started writing this story long time ago, as the Tribe was breaking into the big game in the upper deck at the Bellagio. They play really high in that game with a lot of the players buying in for more than $25,000.00. We wanted to test our metal and boy did that ever happen. Anyway, I never finished the story and after re-reading it, I couldn’t believe how bad I played this hand. I am including it as an example, with embarrassment, to illustrate that if you work on your game, you are forever growing. I know I have. The player I am today, would have lost no more than $20.00 in the following hand. I wish I could find the “past me” and get him in a juicy “no limit” game, with the present me.
Enjoy.

11_05 The Tribe Meets The T.V. Pros

This post really should be titled “After The Kid Left His Coat”. As you remember from that story, the Tribe had decided to swim in the deep end. We watched a blood letting before any of us even shifted in our seats. I get AQ off in late position and make it $60.00. The button and the big blind go along for the ride. The flop is J82 rainbow and I am first to act. This isn’t exactly what I had hoped for, but in the absence of a QQA flop, I figured I would make a move on this pot, and we could all go on to the next hand. I was the pre-flop raiser, so a first to act bet might yield me the pot. I make it $120 or 75% of the pot and they both call. CRAP! The turn is a blank and I make it $260, or about half the pot, and I am done with this hand if I get played back at. They BOTH call. The river is also a blank. Forget it. I check, they both check. The kid in the small blind flips 85 off for a pair of eights, beating the buttons AK, and making the AQ I was so proud of, third prize. I feel like a real boob investing $440 in that mess, but at least I was betting and not calling. $50 more to go, with 85 off-suit. I will need to remember that…..

Needless to say, more bad things happened to the Tribe that day, but we got to play poker with David Williams and Cindy Violet, and we had fun. We were also able to learn a little more about poker and ourselves. Poker is just one big game your whole life. You will be up and down at times. Keep learning and make sure to include your family and friends. In the end, they are the only things of value you get to keep when we move on.

Me? I am already the luckiest guy alive.

2006 – 37th Annual WSOP - Event Number 27 – The $1500.00

Well here we go boys, the $1500.00 NLHE. This is the first of two events that I would be playing in this year and as a player I needed to cash this year. I have won a bunch of smaller tournaments and I have earned my stripes in the cash games. In fact, I know that I could earn a living playing in cash games. I would never do it for two reasons. One, I am a good player and I am a great salesman. I will never be as good a poker player as I am an executive, so if I need money, I do what I do better than anyone else in the world. Two, and most importantly, poker is my passion. It is the unsolvable puzzle. It is the thing that allows me to go into battle and cement the friendships I have, with men that I trust, and they trust me. It is WHY we go to the desert with lights. It is the reason to have a tribe. It is a thing that I love. I would never make something I love a beast of burden, whipping it, to pay my bills. I would have to get away from poker by playing golf to relax and then what would the point be? The reason I talk about this so much is for the younger players. My advice is to go to school, get a good job. THINK for just two seconds before you “go pro”. Don't turn your play into your work, because you will turn your life into a grind. Unless you are that 2% and buddy you are probably not the next Danny N. Sorry. Anytime any of you readers would like to meet real poker pros let me know. I will introduce you to them and they will tell you that what they do is a lot harder than what I do. They don’t have poker to relax with. That pony is pulling the cart already. The point I was making, before I wandered off, is that my game was there and I felt more dangerous at the poker table than I ever have. I have just never had a cash in the World Series Of Poker and frankly that was pissing me off. This would be my year and I was going home with a pelt…period. I also had something else talking to me in the back of my mind. Bradley, a very close friend of mine and fellow tribe member, was backing me this year and frankly, he had faith in me when there was no track record to support that faith. I knew that Bradley was wise to do it, and I wasn’t interested in making any stupid mistakes, that left either of us looking foolish. The screw-up fairy visited Brad just before the 06 series, and he wasn't able to attend that year. The bottom line was, it was time to get it done!

Jason and I walked into the Rio ballroom. Like many years before, alone, but it was much different now. Our metaphorical weapons were no longer new. They were scratched and dented, and boys and girls, this truly wasn't our first rodeo. We arrived early, and I was off to the bathroom for the usual pre-game routine, so I gave Jason a big hug and said “see you at the final table”. He said, “how about I buy you a hot dog at the first break, Big Man”? I smiled.

There were 2,126 players and five minutes to find a chair. Seat three, table 96. I made my way to my sea, and when I show up, I see something I am not crazy about. Greg Miller is in seat one. I am not afraid to sit with anyone, but he is a loose cannon and I really don’t want to have to hug a porcupine for the next four hours. He is a great guy and he is fun to play with. In a past life, he was a professional hockey player. Now he makes his mark as the only touring pro that always wears pajama bottoms at the poker table. Even the final tables, on T.V. Greg is the type of player that plays all 40 events at the WSOP. I play two. He is likely to have the attitude that he wants to get big in chips fast, or get out. He has another event tomorrow, so who cares. This makes him very dangerous. I know he will be playing way to fast, and I can't depend on what he has. It could be Aces or it could be pocket fives. He will play both hands the same.

I am about 20 percent up from random stealing, an hour into things. When I pick up AK Spades in early position, so early, in fact, that it is Greg’s big blind. Perfect! The blinds are 50/100 with no ante and I just call. Everyone folds around to Greg, including the small blind. Just then, he cascades all his chips into the middle, he is all-in. I just knew he was going to be like that. I turned to him and said “next time you need a chip to tip the drink girl just ask”. I tossed my hand into the muck. I hoped that later, he would do that when I held a hand. If I was willing to gamble, I would have mixed it with him, but I was being careful. Disciplined. I grinded my way to the first break. I had doubled up my original stack of $1,500.00 to just over $3,000.00. I felt good.

I met Mr. Galt at the commissary and he was doing well also. He always does. He is one of my very best friends, and I would say this anyway, he is a great poker player. Especially in tournaments. He is very careful when he plays and he has the patience of Jobe. I always expect him to go deep. He is a real student of the game. We laugh and joke about how we didn’t expect the other guy to make it this deep, because, you know you’re “retarded”. I told Jason about the new drink I invented called the “Seven – Deuce”. I always like to drink coffee in a tourney, but they make it so hot, that I normally pour water in it to cool it down. This year, I started cooling my java with sugar-free, Red Bull. All the players were saying how gross it looked, until they tried it. When you see that on ESPN, just remember who invented it. Okay, back to the game. 300 or so, are already dead.

I arrive at the table, to see one of the tournament directors there, with a handful of cards. Moving day and the table was breaking. I hate moving tables. You spend all that time figuring out who is who, and now, a whole new table. They know everything, and you have no information on them. The only plus here, is they know nothing about me. My plan is to get there and start talking it up. Giving the impression that I am a loose player, while I continue to play my tight, aggressive A game. Hopefully, one of those goats will be going down the hole.

I get seated in seat 3. To my right is a British pro. He was wearing support gear for a site in the UK, pokerlads.uk or something like that, and he was running over the table. There were several short stacks making moves, like lemmings diving off a cliff, and pokerlads call two of them in a row. They were all-in, and he put them all out. He held AJ both times. We were at a pivotal time in the tourney. The blinds are $100.00/$200.00 with a $25.00 ante. The reason that this is important, is that you can really gain chips now. Because using position, you can steal the blinds, and when you do, you pick up $550.00 each time. Because of the antes, I was in really good shape. I was in the big blind when the table folded all the way around to the small blind. Pokerlads makes it $1,200.00. Please let me have something! I squeeze my cards and there they are, the weapons of mass destruction. Ace of Hearts and the Ace of Diamonds. I decide that I'm not fooling around. I just move my stake in front of my cards. I'm “All-In”. Like a shot, Pokerlads calls and I say, “you are going to need more than AJ this time”. He flips over two black eights and I say, “you are a ways from home”. Then it happens, and for the sake of brevity and my sanity, I will not go through a blow-by-blow. The board runs out four clubs and Pokerlads rakes the pot, and all my chips with a flush. All I could say is, “you better win this thing after that”. “Good Luck Guys”. Pokerlads says, “Sorry mate, I will buy you a beer after this is over”.

I was off to find Jason, to let him know what happened. I wouldn't have to say anything. When you see a tribe member standing next to your table, and it’s not a break, you know. He was happy and smiling, despite the fact he was down to like $600.00 in chips. He mouthed “AA cracked”. I mouthed back, “me too”. I just stood there steaming. I was PISSED, and I guess it showed. He said, “you ok?” I said “NO”, and I wasn't . I went to the hall. There was a couch, and I had 15 minutes to wait. I knew Jason needed to get it in twice quick, he was short on options. If it worked out, or he got busted, either way, I would know in less than 15 minutes. He walked out in less than 10 minutes. It didn't work out. He said “I got cracked and I was fine, you know, that’s poker. Then I saw you, and now I'm PISSED too”! We both laughed that uncomfortable laugh, like a first date, and you know you don't like each other laugh, and we walked. Through the Rio, out the door, halfway to the Gold Coast next door and said, “Why are we going here?” We turned around and headed back to the cab line. Finally, I say, “I never tilt. I NEVER get like this! I am just blind with it”. It was an odd feeling, and I didn't like it.

We went back to the Bellagio. I was in the room looking out the window, over the strip, and I called Brad. I got his voicemail and I said, “I'm out. I let us down, and I feel like shit about it, but I did my very best. No mistakes”. Then I called Lucy. If anyone could make me feel better, it was her. “Hunny, what is wrong you? You sound awful”. I told her I was out, and I was twisted, and I couldn’t shake it. Just then, like an angel, she says “Babe I am by the pool. You call Jason, and you boys go to that machine gun shooting place we read about.” Thanks sweetie, that might just do it.

Two hours and 2000 rounds later, me with a Thompson sub-machine gun in my hand, and Jason with an Mp5 full auto, we were better. We mouthed something different to each other, “F - Yea”!!! The brass was flying, and we were better. Two friends doing stupid guy stuff, in Vegas. That turney was in the past. We walked out of the firing range, into the gun shop and asked if they could call us a cab. They said they could, but it would be like an hour before one would come this far out. Get this, the guys says the bus stop is out front and it will take you to the strip. Note to self: Take a limo to the gun store next time and have the driver wait!! Friggin public bus!! So, we are sitting on the bus bench and I say, “do you even know how much it costs to ride the bus?” Jason responds with, “No”. We both pull out our rolls and realize we have over 15 grand on us, and the smallest bill we have is a fifty. Guess the driver is getting a big tip today. I called Lucy and she said she would get cab and come get us. “Thanks”, we were already on the bus. “Why didn’t you guys just get a towncar?” Hey, good idea. Sometimes we are just retarded.


I turned to Jason, (after I took his picture on the public bus, with my cell phone) and said “F-ing eights Man”. He said the only thing a true friend could say. “Have you considered taking up checkers?”

The Fat Man In Seat Nine

Sometimes, you are very close to people and you are very different. That is the case with my business partner, Alain. We have truly grown to be brothers throughout the years and his careful, conservative ways have rubbed off on me. I believe I have shown him the carefree “leap before you look” side of life. I also think that we are both better for the mixing. I know I am, for sure. We have made a tradition for years of going to Vegas for little weekend trips and we talk about business, but mostly we eat, gamble, relax and have fun.

I left Alain around 9:30 p.m., after giving Caesar what was his on a roulette table, to go play a little live action and wait for the nightly 11:00 p.m. tournament. I bought in and had a little over an hour to kill before the tournament, so I put my name on 4 NL Holdem lists. I was no better than fifth on any of them. Three minutes later, Nikki, the high brush, called my name, “Nitro, your 2/5 seat is ready”. I handed her five $100.00 bills and sat down. She went for chips. You are asking yourself, four players were seated in the three minutes I was waiting, right? The answer is, of course not. Nikki knew me and she also knew that when she brought me that rack of red chips, two of those would belong to her. When I am in Vegas, I tip everyone and they remember, and as I have said many times, “being nice is just a good policy”.

My chips arrived and I tipped the brush. “Thank you Mark, Good Luck.” She knew my name wasn’t “Nitro”, and she also knew I didn’t need any luck. She was just being nice. It’s her policy. You may be thinking that all I got for my $10.00 was a seat before I should have, and you would be wrong. It is true, I didn’t have to wait in the line, but the more important thing is, I got “THE” seat. You see, as the high brush, Nikki is watching all the games and she knows where the open seats are. But, more importantly, she knows where the fish are swimming. That is how she knew I didn’t need any luck. She had seated me in the softest seat in the Caesars Poker Room.

I was un-racking and watching the play. In the first 15 minutes at the table, you can get a pretty good feeling for who is playing and how. This table would take me about two minutes. I am in seat one, next to me is Grandpa with $225.00 in chips neatly stacked and three drinks,two waters and a coffee. Those chips were not going anywhere. Seat three was a business suit with $75.00 in chips, all held in his hand. I suspect those used be a rack of chips. So, threat level zero. Then next to three were all college guys with between $125.00 - $175.00. Welcome to Vegas fellas. Open seat and someone’s Mom with $400.00. Seat nine was a big fat guy who had a Chicago accent and better than $900.00. Seat 10 was a Persian dealer that said he was waiting to deal the 11:00. he had to have a coat on at the table to cover his uniform. I always give respect to dealers that are playing, not because they are always good, but because they have a tendancy to really move chips. They watch all these hands while working and when they get their own seat, they want to play. If you are in a pot with a dealer, you have a good chance to play for all his/her chips.

The first hand I watched went like this: fold to one of the kids, he makes it $20.00, call, call, the round man makes it $50.00 straight, two of the kids call him and we see a flop. The board is 3KT rainbow check. $20.00 again from a frat boy and the fat man says “raise, make it $70.00 to go” and he turns to the kid that bet and says “I’m just getting us to where we are going to go. If you play this hand, you will be playing for all your money!” The lambs go away and chubby fingers start stacking chips, next hand.

I am in the big blind now, I never look at my cards before it’s my turn, so I am watching and it is an exact repeat of the last hand. Two college kids for $20.00 and Dom DeLouise making it $50.00 total. The dealer in the small folds. I look down and see wired 6s. I think at least one of the boys is going to call, so I am getting implied odds to gamble a little and see a flop, I put in $45.00 more and say “call”. Both boys jump in the bucket and we take it four handed to the flop. We have a game. It’s Q6T rainbow. I have hit my set. I say “check” as fast as I can. 1st kid check, 2nd kid $20.00. Fatso says “$100.00” as his previously, buffalo wing stained paws, set out a stack of red. I think for a couple of minutes and call, we lose both the boys. The dealer says “Heads up”. It was a description, but the bully should have taken it as a warning.

The turn is my money card, the Ace of clubs. I had him on AQ or AT on the flop and if I was right, he has made two big pairs. All his fat was going in the fryer. I decide, for some odd ball reason, to mimic the college kids this guy had been pounding on, so I bet $20.00 into the pot, which is now $427.00. I hoped he wanted to pick on me. He did. Two chubby hands, two stacks of red, “Oh No, not $20.00. We are playing for $200.00, if we are going to see the river!” I say “Oh are you just getting us where are going anyway?” I saw his face, and the fat man had just realized, Big Papa wasn’t a college kid and his rather substantial ankle was caught in the snare.

I continued, “Well I can’t call”. I swear to Doyle, I heard him exhale. I continued again, “I would only have $140.00 left, if I called” it was time to stop the dance. “I know you have an Ace, but I am going to go all in” and I shoved. You would have thought I gave him a cookie, he was so happy. “I call” he said, and flipped over his hand. It was A6, just as I thought, only better. He was drawing to one of the two remaining aces. I didn’t have to turn over my hand in this cash game, like he did. That is only for tournaments. I did want the kids to see their bully get a spanking. I turned over my cards and said “well, looks like we are all out of the sixes”. The turn is a 5 of clubs and the dealer asks him to cut out $140 more. While he is doing that, he says under his breath, “How can you call $50.00 pre flop with sixes?” I responded with “I got lucky on you. I’m sorry, would you like your money back?” The boys at the table couldn’t believe what I was saying and the man in seat nine said “Hell Yeah. I want my money back”. I then said, “Okay, I promise to get it all in with you again, but you have to promise to play a lot better.”

The boys were laughing now. Not only did I spank their bully, but it was clear that he wouldn’t be pushing them around like before. There was a new bull at the table. A bigger one and somehow they knew Big Papa wasn’t there to tease the young ones.

The pot was $960.00 all in red chips, so I had a mess on my hands with stacking the chips as the next hand started. Again, two kids bet and call $20.00, three others call, including my new fat friend. I am in the small blind, still stacking and with that many callers, I just throw in blind. The flop comes 5J7 and I check. One kid makes it $20.00. Mr. Personality makes it $75.00. I am almost done stacking my chips and say “okay for $75.00, I will have to look at my cards”. Somebody’s Mom in the 8 seat says, “you haven’t looked yet?” and the dealer says “no he was stacking”. I look at him and say “Shhhhhhhh” and smile. I open my cards to see POCKET JACKS. I actually say “WOW”! I look at fatso and say, “you ready to get your money back?” He looks down and won’t talk to me. Sweet! I put him on a very big hand. AA or KK, I am going to gut him. The only problem is, I have this kid in-between us and I really don’t want to break him.

I would normally just call here and let the bully seal his own fate, putting in his last 350.00 on the turn. However, if I call, the kid may call and he would have to call his last $50.00, when I chop up Mr. Wonderful. I decide that I am going to shove. If the kid calls all his money to my all-in, he deserves what he gets. The action is on the kid now and he looks down at his cards to recheck them and I say “stop, look at me for just a second”. I say “I have a big hand and to win, you would have to have a hand that you could have remembered”. I then say, pointing to seat nine, “I am going to bust Mr. Ed over there and I would rather not have your last $100.00. Now, with that said, if you want action and know that you will need to get lucky on me to win, you are a big boy and you should do what you think is best. Just know that I am not messing with you.” He was on the horns of a dilemma, and he looked at his cards again. He then looked at me. The fat man who was staring straight down as to not give away his intentions, I suspect, he wanted that boy to call. The kid looked at the dealer, who shrugged his shoulders as if to say, “don’t ask me, I just work here”. Finally, the kid mucked his hand and I heard nothing from the bad man in the corner. The the dealer said, “player all-in”.

The nine seat had just slid three and a half stacks of red over the race track line, and went back to staring down. Just to satisfy my ornery side, I leaned in and asked him “Do you want action?” Nothing. “What, we don’t talk now? After all we have been through?” The whole table was looking at looking him and then looking at me. I said, “you want to tangle, and I am not going to disappoint you. I call!”

The bully in seat nine jumped up, (which to my guess, was the extent of his exercise for the week) and said, “You dumb ass! You talked him out of calling and cost me $125.00. I have the set!” I said, “nice hand… me too!” I waited for that to sink in, knowing that with a flop of 5J7, he couldn’t have a set of jacks. Big Papa had those. He had 5s or 7s. He was in trouble. He flipped over pocket fives, and I said, “that hand is going to be second place, unless God loves you”. I showed him my hand and he actually started calling for a 5! I walked over to the counter and picked up 3 empty racks. As I walked back, the turn and the river were out…Ace, Ten.

The bully walked over to some guy sitting over by the rail, and said, “That guy just sucked out on me, let’s get out of here”. I just couldn’t believe it, but my sense told me that the man on the rail, had put this guy in the game! These two 50 year old men had formed a corporation to take money away from these college kids and someone’s Mom? Unreal. Just then, the kid that was in the hand with us looked at me and silently mouthed to me, “I had pocket queens”. I said, “I knew you had a hand, and I really didn’t want you in that mess.” He said, “Thanks”.

I started to rack up. It was 10:45 and the college guys were like, “Hey, don’t go. It didn’t get fun until you showed up”. I said, “Sorry guys, I have a tournament to play at 11:00, and I need to do my pre-game bathroom stop. Plus, my friend left.”

As I was leaving, I said “I will probably get knocked out quick and I will come back and play with you guys”. The kid that held the queens said, “I think that is the first lie you have told us.”

“Thanks for the game guys.” Big Papa made some friends, some money, and I wouldn’t trade the former for the latter.

“Lobster Quesadilla With A Lake View”

We checked in the night before and I made the reservations through the poker room. Normally, with that and a $20.00 bill for the girl checking us in, secures the one thing that Lucy requests when we go to Vegas: a lake view room above the 15th floor at the Bellagio. When you have a woman that is as wonderful as I have and she asks for something, you get it for her. Normally, it is not a problem like I said, however, this time the hotel was full and several phone calls couldn’t fix it. It was 11:00 p.m. when we checked in, so we took the room in the Spa tower and were told we could get the room we wanted the next morning as soon as a guest vacated one.

I played poker all night (until 7:00 am) and then went to the hotel registration desk to be the first on the list to switch rooms. Not only did the lady there tell me that a room wasn’t ready she also told me that there would be no room that day and to check back tomorrow! This sent me back to the poker room to check with them and see if they could apply a little pressure. I wanted this room for LuAnn! The wonderful lady that normally helps me there, Collette, was out for 10 days vacation and Penny was working. Her reply was “Tough Luck Try Tomorrow”. Thanks for the help, Penny.

I went back out to the poker room and was talking to another employee and told them how disappointed Lucy would be for not being able to watch the fountains from the room that night. I had a spoken to this person last night about this very subject, so they knew how much LuAnn loved the lake view.

Earlier that night, I also had an interaction with this employee regarding an order of Lobster quesadilla. I was hungry and wanted to eat at the table, but I only wanted this one dish. I was told that it was 4:00am and it wasn’t available til 6:00 am. I laughed and said “you know people get it here, and you can have some”. A half hour later I was sharing some of the best food I have ever eaten, with someone that knows a little more about customer service than most.

Anyway, long story short, this wonderful person made one phone call and came over to the game I was in and said, “Your lady’s room will be ready at 11:00 a.m.”. I am relating this story to do two things. While I have protected this person’s identity at their request, (which is why it is written in such an awkward manor), I still wanted to post a very heartfelt “thank you, you make the world a better place”. Number two, please note this story and remember in your travels to be nice to people around you and it might turn a little lobster quesadilla into the answer to an unsolvable problem.


I was sitting a table one night when the subject of lobster quesadilla came up and one of the guys at the table asked if it was good and this kid from New York jumped into the conversation and very passionately said “Chocolate Cake is Good. Sex is Good. Lobster quesadilla is AWESOME!” I don’t know if it is all that, but my recommendation is the next time you are playing high limit at the Bellagio, order the lobster quesadilla and share it with a friend.

“Show Me Some Magic!”

2007 – February – Jason’s Birthday Party

“Show Me Some Magic!”

There we were in Las Vegas for the 40th anniversary of the birth of one of my closest friends, Mr. Jason Writer. I woke up after some much needed rest about 5:00 PM. I had played all night the previous night and tonight we were going to have dinner at FIX and go out to a club for Jason’s birthday. If you know Lucy and I, you are saying “Mark, Night Club?”. Yes, he is THAT good of a friend. I haven’t had a drink in over 8 years, I am allergic to alcohol. I break out in handcuffs, not to mention that Lucy and I both hate crowds. Jason wanted to blow it out a little on his birthday and we wouldn’t miss it, however, LuAnn and I politely made our exit around midnight and left Jason in the care of his two brothers, Gavin and Adam.

I walked my date back to the room and she was in her jammies in 3 seconds flat. Your hero was off to the poker room to slay a dragon! I got involved in an extremely live 2/5 NL game, the max buy in for this game is $500.00 and 4 or 5 players at this table have over $2,500.00 in front of them. They were all gambling and re-buying. I sat down in seat number four. Seat seven held an asian player by the name of Kyle. Kyle was in every pot raising and saying “Raisy Daisy” as the chips went in. For you non-poker types, that is what Sammy Farha says on High Stakes Poker on GSN. I think Kyle watches too much T.V. and should buy a poker book or two. The eighth seat was a guy I would later find out was just an asshole. He was the type of player that is an expert. He was stuck $1,500.00 when I sat down and lost another grand as the night wore on. He continually complained about how the other players were making poor decisions and causing him to lose him money. He was a white man, 50ish, with a red beard. I called him “Pedro” all night until he finally got pissed and said “Why the #$%^& do you keep calling me Pedro!!?? ” His card protector was a little plastic donkey and I told him he was such an ass and that I thought they were brothers. The table roared. He said “did you just call me an ass”? I said, “you should switch your card protector to a little plastic baby if you really want my opinion”. He didn’t. The guy next to me was a very tight player. I would suspect him of being a working pro, but I never asked him. He was losing in chunks, mostly following Kyle into pots with good cards, $50.00 a bet, until the river and when Kyle made it $105.00. It was then that he decided he was beat and cut the losses. Later, he was getting frustrated and calling the bets on the end, and then Kyle would have it. I felt bad for him. He reloaded $200.00 at a time for at least 2K and given the night he was obviously having, I didn’t want to start with “so… this is how you make your living huh?”. I am only mean to the meanies and he was a nice kid and got a pass from Big Papa. I was playing well and I had full control of the table. I knew who was doing what and I would have bet money I could tell you what the other players were holding. When I am in the zone, everyone, except a couple assholes at the table, are having fun. They are losing money but they don’t care because we are laughing and having the time of our lives and playing poker in Vegas. Big Papa showed up and told them jokes and made fun of the bullies…while he took their money. I take their money too, but with me, they get some value and we have fun and laugh as long as I am in the game. I always show them respect and I NEVER make them feel bad about how they play. They hit a four outter on the river and I tell them how I did that to Daniel Negreanu in the 04 World Series Of Poker, “just don’t expect me to be as nice about it as he was” and then we all laugh. I want them to stay, I want them to keep doing that, they are my chips. If it makes the tourist feel like a winner to have my chips in front of him/her for awhile, it’s good for the game. The only way the beginners get to keep the money, is when some EXPERT player starts shouting about how stupid they are and how they are bad at math. Then the nice people get up with the money and they leave the game, with the money (who is stupid now Pedro)? When I start hammering the rocks and the crabby old farts know I am only protecting my lambs, I admit that it is more than a little fun to raise their blood pressure.

It is 4:45 a.m. Jason and Adam walk in, a little drunk and happy to be alive. They pull up a couple of chairs and start telling me about the evening and Adam wants to know if he can sit behind me and look at the cards I am playing. I told him “no problem”. It is a common thing that happens all the time and they call it “sweating”. After about 5 minutes of me folding hands my slightly inebriated sweater leans into me and says “come on Mark, show me some MAGIC!” Adam wanted to see a big pot. He doesn’t play, but both of his brothers do and he hears about all the “Action” that happens at the WSOP from them. He wanted to see a little “blood” hit the felt, so I opened up my game a little and started entering raised pots with some screwy, low-suited, skip connectors, knowing that if I hooked one up, I would be involved with a big starting hand like AA, KK, QQ or the like. At which point, all the money would go in and young Adam would get a front row seat when the train wreak happened. Now, when I say all the money was going in, I need to define “All The Money”. Like I said, I had been playing for four hours and things were really going my way. I bought in the game for a rack of red chips ($5.00) and normally in this game, you play with only reds and some blues ($1.00) for the small blinds and when you’re up, you can make a mountain out of the chips and your opponents know you have chips (Power). However, in this game, I didn’t really want to make such a big thing about what I was taking away from the game, especially since I had such a strong table presence, so every time I was up over three racks of red, I would color up to one stack of green ($25.00) and when I got two stacks of green, I would trade those up for 10 black ($100.00). By doing this, my hope was to make me look less intimidating. Anyway, I had the largest towers at the table well covered, so when Adam got his wish, and the cinder block went down the hole, all the goats tied to it were going in. They were all headed for deep water and no one knew a thing, except my running partner Jason. Jason was sweating behind Adam and by now he was sober. He knew me, and he saw the hole cards that Adam saw, except the cards told Jason something Adam couldn’t read. I was opening the door and letting death come in. Jason knew the dicey game I was playing to give a thrill to Adam. Jason knew now that the game had changed and in this game, sometimes the lambs eat the lion.

In an odd twist, just as I was opening pandora’s box, we got a new dealer in the game. Wanda is a nice, old school dealer, 50ish, and huge Loretta Lynn type, female country singer hair. Wanda started making all kinds of noise about the $25.00 checks. “Why are those $25.00 chips on the table…they don’t play in this game… yak yak yak”. “Well, Wanda you know us poker players. We aren’t real big rule followers” (translation… Shhhhhh your going to wake up my lambs before it’s time). She let it go with a little huff; “PLAYERS” and myself made ship of doom cut through the water, barely leaving a ripple. The tourists were still laughing about all the funny names we were calling each other, the rocks were crumbling and cursing their “lucky” plastic donkey card covers, but one sound was absent…ME. I was no longer leading the band. I was silent and focused knowing that when I made the moveI was going to make, I would HAVE to be right this time about what cards my babies had. There would be no “nice hand” and a story about Danny and the 04 WSOP. If it went bad now, I would be pissed and not for losing a big hand that happens in this game. I would be mad at myself for showboating and making all this firestorm happen, when I was in control, and I could have safely vacuumed all those chips up as we laughed and had fun. This needed to go down correctly because I was allowing them to come in where I normally force them to go away. In poker they call it trapping, the only problem is, the gate swings both ways.

I am under the gun and pick up 58 spades and call the $5.00 blind. Two players call and Krazy Kyle makes it $20.00, like he always does, and three people call and then I call. I’m fishing for sure on this one, the first two callers complete and we take seven people into the flop. Now we have dynamite. The flop comes 647 with 2 diamonds. I have flopped the nuts. Now we just need a match. Come on Kyle, do your job! There is $120.00 in the middle and I check. The guy to my left shocks me, and moves in for the rest of his money. $240.00 - crap! This is not what we wanted. He may scare off the larger stacks. The next guys folds. Kyle starts to think about his hand when Wanda pipes up “Hey, Ski what is up with the $25.00 chips in this game?” Perfect! Ski is one of the poker room managers and a good friend of mine over the years. He is standing behind me now with his hands on my shoulders and says, “She is right Mark, those $25 chips need to be changed”. I said, “Ok Ski, I will, but I am in a pot right now. Can we deal with this in a second?” Ski responds with “Oh, I am sorry, I didn’t notice. Of course, we can wait”. I said, “Plus, these are all going in, so you can sort it all out with whoever wins this pot!” and I shoved it all in.

Kyle jumped out of his chair to call. He would have to commit all of his chips. I could have said something to encourage him to call, but this was a lot of money and fun was fun. Up to now, he was on the hook for $260.00 something. If he was going to lose another $1700.00, I wanted his greed to make him call, not me. While Kyle struggled, I turned around and to ask Adam if this was enough magic for him? His reply was “you guys are NUTS and, yes, this is GREAT!” Just then, I heard something I was not real sure I wanted to hear… “I call!” It was Kyle. As he said it, he flipped over the hand I knew he had, A4 suited diamonds, he was drawing at the nut flush and we were nowhere near safe. I was fine with the whole thing, either way, Adam got his show and I got my money in with the best hand. Two black cards slid off and I turned to Jason and gave him a big hug and said “Happy Birthday Brother”!! He just smiled and I knew he was happy. I was happy, but not for the reason you might think, I had friends that were worth a dump truck worth of those chips and I was in Vegas with John W. Galt.

I tipped Wanda one of those green $25.00 checks; she never said another word about those chips being in the game.