Continuing on with my saga of the World Poker Tour Invitational and my experience playing in it, I must say that the world of no-limit hold'em is entirely different from my normal time at the tables spent playing limit hold'em. Before this tournament, I had played very little no-limit hold'em, only in tournaments. The funny thing is that I won an event in Costa Rica a few years back in one of my first no-limit hold'em attempts. It just goes to show you that anyone can get hit by the deck for a day!
I would like to share with you some of the interesting hands I played, some of which I think I played very well, and others I think I misplayed horribly. You gotta have heart to play no-limit hold'em, and I am painfully aware of how my lack of it cost me some huge opportunities. Yes, Virginia, you can play too tight. And, a fear of going broke has no place in a no-limit hold'em tourney, especially when you are playing with many world-class players.
I misplayed so many hands that it was often quite funny. At the table where I started, I felt like I was sitting on no-limit death row. Going around the table from seat No, 1, there was Todd Brunson (Doyle's son, and a professional player), Carlos Mortensen (a World Series of Poker champion), Ken "Skyhawk" Flaton (a Taj Mahal champ and numerous title/bracelet holder, as well as my poker mentor for many years), George (a nice man who I know used to be an employee at The Bicycle Casino), Norm MacDonald (of Saturday Night Live), Huck Seed (a WSOP champ), a gentleman who won at the Lucky Chances Gold Rush tournament whose name I forget (I am sorry), me, and Linda Johnson (a WSOP bracelet winner and high-limit player extraordinaire). So, I was definitely amid greatness. I wanted to pay attention and learn something, and that I did.
The first play I saw that I knew was totally out of line occurred during the first limit. Norm went all in for $10,000 from under the gun (with the blinds at $25-$50). Regardless of what he had, he could not make money on this hand, as he would be called only by aces or maybe kings, given the tough lineup at the table. If he had aces, why would he not want to milk the pot and try to make some money? Anyway, as it was so early in the event (maybe 15 minutes had passed), we all assumed that everyone would muck, he would win the blinds (all of $75), and we would proceed. Everyone passed to Carlos, who was on the button. He looked down, and then looked at Norm, and called by pushing his chips to the center. What could he have found in this spot? You guessed it. Carlos indeed had two aces and Norm turned over two queens. It was fun playing with Norm, albeit briefly, and now one of the toughest players around had doubled up so very early on. Norm was very funny at the table. At one point, he asked Linda Johnson what she was writing, as she was taking some notes for future columns that she will write. She told him, and he asked if that was allowed. Good-naturedly, he asked the floorman to bring him a pad and pen. Unfortunately, he wasn't there when the paper arrived!
Several hands later, I picked up pocket treys (3-3), and Huck brought it in for a raise from two to my right. He made it $275 to go, and I mucked the treys. I know how much trouble you can get into by playing small pocket pairs, but I wasn't thinking about how little of my stack of 10 dimes the bet was, and if I could flop a set, I could be in a position to win some chips. If I didn't flop the set, I could muck and wait for another opportunity. Well, of course, a 3 came on the flop, the board paired on the turn, and I would have won a huge pot. I am not classifying this play as an error because of the results, as even had the 3 not arrived on the flop, it was a bad play to muck for such a small bet relative to my stack size. It was a bad play by a novice player who didn't have the heart to gamble. This was lesson No. 1 to be filed away for the future. Unfortunately, I would make the same error several hours later. I guess I didn't quite learn the lesson. I will tell you about that hand in my next column, as it happened much later in the tournament.
The next major hand I played, I think I played very well. The blinds were $100-$200. I held pocket jacks, both black, and opened from middle position for $600. Three times the big blind was the standard opener – well, except for Norm! I was smooth-called by Todd, as well as by both of the blinds. The pot had $2,400 in it. The flop came 9 high with two diamonds. Both of the blinds checked to me, and I bet $2,500. Todd thought for a moment and then raised me. He made it another $5,000 to go! Both of the blinds folded and I was now faced with the decision of calling the additional $5,000, raising and going all in, or mucking. I had about $8,000 left, so this decision was critical.
What could Todd have? Was he trying to make a move at the pot? Did he sense my inexperience and think he could move me off a big hand? Of course he sensed my level of play … what could he have? What could he have that I could beat? He cold-called $600 before the flop; was he trapping me? Did he have an overpair? Did he have two diamonds with the ace? Had he flopped a small set? If he held an overpair, I was dead to a two-outer. If he held two overcards, both diamonds, he had about 15 outs and was a favorite to make a hand that could beat me, even though I may have been in the lead at the time. Was he trying to steal from me? Not only did I want to play longer, but I also put him on a good trapping hand, so I folded. Later, I told "Skyhawk" of my play and he remembered the hand well. Before I told him what I had, I asked him what hands he would have called with in that spot. He said he would have called with jacks or better, so I was right on the cusp of his playable hands in that spot. He certainly didn't think it was an error on my part to muck the jacks, and a call would have been marginal. Perhaps my error was in betting so much on the flop. In retrospect, I perhaps should have bet only $2,000. Anyway, I think I made a good play and it left me with enough chips to play on for a while. Had I won that pot, I would have had lots of ammo, but had I called and lost, I would have gone broke.
There were so many interesting hands that I will tell you about some more next time. I hope that you learned something; I know I did. Class dismissed.
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