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Johnny Chan’s Middle Pair

The following hand came up between Kevin Song and me in the Layne Poker Classic’s $2,500 buy-in no-limit Hold’em poker game Championship event at the Commerce Casino in 1999.  We had started the day with more than 100 players, and first place was $98,000 plus change.  There were about 16 players left, the blinds were $800-$1,600, and the ante was $200 per player.

            So in this hand, a player under the gun moved all-in for $3,400 with 7d-6d.  I looked down at pocket eights on the button and made it $10,000 to go.  Then Kevin, a well-known player, hesitated for a while with pocket sevens in the big blind.  He looked at me … and I looked at him … then he looked at the all-in man, and I tried to read his mind.  I was guessing that he was thinking, “Can I steal some dead money here by moving all-in?” After a minute or so, Kevin said, “I’m all-in.” I wanted to double-check, since he didn’t physically move his chips in, so I asked, “Are you all-in, Kevin?” He said, “Yes, I’m all-in.”  Then I asked him, “How much is it?” we determined that he had about poker $32,000, and I had about $33,000 total.  I pondered for a while thinking, “Jesus Christ, he must have me bad beat.

            As I was thinking, I remembered what had happened three hands before.  I had had a straight draw on fourth  street and had bet it out into him.  He had called me.  On the river, I had given up on the pot and had checked my jack-high low poker nothing to him.  Now Kevin had bet out $2,500 into the $10,000 pot.  I have played a lot with Kevin had bet out $2,500 into the $10,000 pot.  I have played a lot with Kevin song in poker tournaments, and I have never seen him bet out $2,500 before.  So I said to myself, “Yum, yum.” Then I said, “Here, I raise you $10,000 more.”  He didn’t hesitate.  He just “zoop” (threw his hand away).  Then I showed him that I had bluffed him with jack high, and oh boy, you could see the smoke coming out his ears!

            So here we are, now, in the current hand where I have pocket eights.  I started to sort out the possibilities in my mind.  If I folded the hand, then I would have only $23,000 in chips, and it would be a lot of work to make the final three money spots.  If I called and won the pot limit omaha, then I felt that the almost $70,000 I would end up with would make me a big favorite to make the final three.  I thought that Kevin had either a big pair, a small pair, an A-K, or an A-rag.  I figured that out of those four possibilities, I was in good shape in three of them.

            Finally, I just felt that I had Kevin beat.  I thought poker that maybe he was trying to make a play poker card games at me because I had just made one at him.  So I said, “Well, let’s go baby, I move all-in.” When I put my chips in, Kevin couldn’t believe it.  He was the first to show his hand, but he didn’t want to turn his hand over.  Being that it wasn’t the final table-the 2002” must show your hand when you’re all-in rule” hadn’t taken effect yet-he didn’t have to turn his hand over yet.

           So the flop was Q-10-3, then a deuce, and then a ten, for a final board of Q-10-3-2-10.  The first gentlemen said, “I guess I can’t win this pot with seven card stud high.”  Kevin looked at me, but of course I’m in last position and therefore last to show my hand.  I just wanted to see what Kevin had, and finally he said, “Two pair.” I said, “I have two pair.” Then Kevin said, “two small pair.”  When he said two small pair, man, my heart just said, “Wow, how sweet this is.” Then he showed two sevens.  I said, “This is two pair,” as I showed him my two eights.

            After that pot, I remained in the driver’s seat and ended up winning poker the tournament at about 9:00 a.m. By the way, the tournament had started at 2:30 p.m. on Saturday, so it was a long way home to win this event.

            It was particularly sweet for me to win that big pot from Kevin after what he did to me in the Bicycle Club’s Legends of Poker event final event in late August 1998.  First place in the Legends Championship event was over $100,000, and I had a $5,000 “second-place only” and a $10,000 “first-place only” bet against Phil Hellmuth.

            I twice played huge pots with Kevin with three players left, where I had way the best of it, but Kevin won both pots.  Once, we moved all-in before the flop with my A-Q to his A-J, and the flop was Q-3-6, only to have the ten and then the king hit on the next two cards to bust me.  In that event, I wound up finishing in third place wsop 1992.

            I noticed that the card game Player magazine published a picture of Kevin Song with my name written under it in 1999.  That’s how lucky he is: got to use my name for a week wpt 2003!

            Phil’s two cents:  T.J. Cloutier once told me, “Sometimes you need to make a stand with a middle pair like pocket eights.” As usual, Chan’s timing was perfect when he made his stand.  Johnny, I’ll see you at the final table soon!

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