My First Two Days

Hi, this is Hevad "Rain" Khan, member of Team Poker Stars and an avid poker tournament player.

I started yesterday in the 10K buy-in pot limit holdem event with Ralph Perry to my right and Erik Seidel to my left. I chipped up to 25,000 fairly quickly, winning some small pots. Erik Seidel had been very aggressive, playing a lot of pots, splashing around. Every orbit he played two or three pots, whether he limped or raised or called a raise. Ralph Perry had also been aggressive, maybe a little more so than Erik Seidel. The hand went down like this: we're about halfway through the second level and the blinds had just moved up to 150-300. Perry opens in the cutoff to 1050 and I reraise on the button with pocket queens to 3,000 with a 25,000 chip stack. Erik Seidel, with 15,000 in front of him, deliberates for a little bit before making a reraise to 10,000 chips and Ralph Perry deliberates and folds. I decide I have to shove it all in here. He only has a few thousand behind and calls. He's like, "Ha, I'm pretty sure I've seen this situation before." And I'm pretty sure pocket queens are good if he's like smiling and laughing. Maybe he has ace king or jacks, who knows, or maybe he has the same hand, maybe he has pocket queens, and has to call because he's committed. But no, he flips over pocket kings, and that hand brings my stack down to about 9,000.

A couple of hands later I go broke with pocket nines on a queen high board against a player who had been slightly active, enough to justify me calling. He open raised in middle position and I called with 8,000 behind on the small blind. The flop came down queen high with two clubs and I checked the action over to him. He fired 1500. After thinking for about 15 seconds, I decided to shove all in here. He thought for maybe two minutes before he called with pocket jacks and I was eliminated.

The next hand was the $1,500 no limit event. It's a two day event because they were expecting a large field. There was over 3,000 people today. I sat down at a table that unfortunately had two good players at it-pretty unlucky considering how large the field was, but I don't really care that much: it's poker. I had Bill Edler to my right and Tom Schneider about four to my right. That action went like this: Edler opened under the gun plus one to 150. I flat called Ac Kc one to his left. Two other people called. Tom Schneider looks at his hand, makes it 750, than looks away from the table. This is usually an indication of strength. It folds back to Edler, who thinks for maybe 10 seconds, than decides to call. I decide to put in a reraise here, because I think that flat calling a raise from a good player and then reraising would look like I had pocket kings or aces. So I put in a reraise, enough of my stack to commit me, but at the same time it will get my opponent to fold more often than if I move in. Schneider shoves immediately. So I'm sitting there, pretty sure he has kings or aces because of the quickness of his decision. Bill Edler thinks for what looks to be about a minute and a half and then he calls. And then I'm like, okay, I have 1800 of my 2800 stack in here, so I call too. Schneider has pocket queens, Edler has pocket fives, and I have AK. The flop comes the 10 , an ace, and a five which hits Edler for a set of fives. The turn comes ten, and now I'm drawing to a ten or an ace for a better full house, and Tom Schneider's drawing to a queen. The river is a king, giving me top two pair, Bill Edler a full house, fives full of tens, and Tom Schneider two pair, queens and tens. So Edler scoops the pot, I win the side pot-375 chips-and Schneider is eliminated. A few hands later, with maybe eight big blinds, I shove over an open raise with pocket nines and the guy has pocket kings and I'm out.

So those are my two days. You take what comes your way in tournament poker. I don't feel I played well, I don't feel I played bad. I feel like I probably played more confidently than I have in a long time. It's just sometimes you're dealt situations where you have to go broke. You can't try to avoid those situations, you just have to take them as they come. You can't always have things handed to you in a nice, easy portfolio. You have to take what comes your way and you have to stay aggressive.

Card Player's Live Player Database - Hevad Khan

Card Player's Online Player Database - RainKhan

Hevad Khan is a member of Team Pokerstars