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1.Against All Odds 2.World Series Of Poker Hands | Wow, Are You Serious? Here we go, then, coming off a third-place finish at Foxwood's-for $280,000, where first had been $1.1 million-in October 2003. after a week of rest with my mom and sister in Manhattan, I was ready to rock and roll at the Sands’ Million Dollar Deal showdown in Atlantic City. (I was still deeply frustrated with my third place at Foxwood's against Mr.”Move All-in.” On page 87, you can read about poker it.) A mere three minutes later, I moved all-in with ace high low poker, and no one called me. I looked down at $3,700 in chips, and suddenly, out of nowhere, I felt happy for no apparent reason. OK, this can’t be bad, I thought poker. The next thing I knew I was at the TV table with $22,000 in chips and a big smile on my face.
I finished the day with $40,000 in chips, just as I had at Foxwood's the week before. In both cases I had had more chips, but in the Foxwood's case, I “blew up” (titled) late to go from $70,000 to $40,000. in the Sands case, I played brilliantly down the backstretch, but just didn’t catch a break. I picked up A-3 three positions off of the button, and couldn’t decide what to do. Finally, I called the $2,000 big blind bet (the blinds were $1,000-$2,000), and then T.J. Cloutier called in the small blind. The flop was Ks-Jc-7s, and T.J. and the BB (big blind) both checked. I felt there was a good chance that my ace high was good, so I bet out $6,000, and T.J. quickly called me. “Great,” I thought. “I let T.J hit his jack-rag hand for free, and then I bet it.’ The turn card games was the As, for a possible straight or flush with Ks-Jc-7s-As. Now T.J. bet $12,000 right out, and I immediately recalled a bluff that he made against me in 2001 at a World Series event. At that WSOP event, TJ. bluffed me and then showed me the bluff, and he said, “I know you’re a great player. That’s how I knew that I could bluff you. You can’t bluff the bad players.” Somehow I knew (Daniel Negreanu, don’t needle me about that word “knew”!) that T.J. was bluffing. I had been waiting since 2001 to nail him bluffing me. Now what to do: if I move all-in? Why not let him bluff all of his chips on the end? I decided that called was the right move here for me. The last card,3s, wasn’t very pretty: it put four spades on the board. Now any spade would beat me. T.J. went ahead and bet out $20,000, and my gut screamed out, “Call him, he’s bluffing!” But I had only $40,000 left, so I surveyed the situation quickly. I could only beat a pure bluff, and if I was wrong, then I was going to cripple myself. I counted out the $20,000 with my gut screaming louder and louder, “Call!” My gut has made me literally millions of dollars playing poker, and if I was wrong this time, then too bad. Besides, when I feel this strongly, it seems like I’m never wrong. So I called the $20,000, feeling as if I was making a great call limit stud. T.J. then rapped the table and said, “You got it.” I then flipped over my hole cards, feeling as if I had just made an incredible call. It also sent a message to the table: “Phil is on, so don’t –with him today.” The pot limit omaha was about to be pushed as T.J. started folding his cards-he was still muttering under his breath that he knew that I had nothing on the flop. All of a sudden he says, “Wait a minute, I have a flush,” and he rolls over 10s-9c. Now I know T.J., and I know that he would never “slow-roll” me (slow-rolling is the worst possible etiquette in a poker hand). As if for confirmation, his heart rate-which was being monitored by Fox-spiked up only when he saw the 10s in his hand. Stunned by what had just happened to me, I literally fell to the floor on my knees. You see, I had just made a great call against a great player, one that I had been waiting 30 months to make, and I still lost! With $80,000 in the pot, at the height of my game of cards, I asked myself why this weird thing happened to me. I believe that he would have given off signals of strength, not weakness, if he knew he had the flush. If T.J. had seen that he had the fifth spade, I believe I would have folded the hand easily on the end. I believe this, because this is what I do for a living: I read players. A guy bluffs on the end, you read him perfectly, make the big-time call, and then still lose? Is it possible? I have played poker many years, and I’ve never, ever seen someone rap the table and say they were bluffing, and then, out of nowhere, “find” a hand. This had to be a 2,000-to-1 shot, maybe higher, when you consider that it happened against one of the world’s best players.It took me a long time to pull myself together after that hand, but I still had chips, and I still had a chance. I had overcome bigger obstacles than this, I still had a chance. Paul Wolfe studied and studied, and I looked down at 8-8. he then opened for $6,000, and I felt a ton of weakness, so I moved all-in for $11,800 total. Paul had to call the $5,800 with his A-7, as the BB player announced, “I folded A-9 wpt 2003.” “Great,” I thought, “only two aces left in the deck.” After a flop of J-4-2, an ace popped up, and I just couldn’t believe that I was out, in 24th place. The last pot limit hold'em held nearly $30,000, but what the heck had just happened to me? Wasn’t I supposed to have $100,000 in front of me? Wasn’t I supposed to cruise easily into the final nine players-and the Fox TV coverage? Wasn’t I supposed to have a good chance of winning $1 million the next day? From a poker point of view, it seems as if I deserved much better (I did make a great call), but who can judge these things? Perhaps I was lucky I was still in the tournament that late. I recognize this much, though: I am truly blessed on every possible level, and I thank the universe for all of it.
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6.From The Other Side Of Table 7.Poker Hollywood Style |
