I mentioned in a previous article that I played in the first Oklahoma Johnny Hale's Seniors Tournament at the World Series of Poker. Well, I busted out of that tournament with a flush that was beaten by the nut flush. The game was no-limit hold'em. At the time, the blinds were $15-$30 and my chip count was only $300. I was in the big blind with the 4 3. No one raised, so four of us saw the flop (9-8-6 with two diamonds). Everyone checked to a late-position player, who bet $60 into this $120 pot. Normally, I do not like to call with flush draws in no-limit hold'em, but I had only $270 left and made the decision, right or wrong, to call. An early-position player also called, so three of us saw the turn card, the J. We all checked the turn. The river brought the K. That made my flush, so I shoved in my stack of $240. The early-position player raised, and I knew I was in trouble. He had the A 2, for the nut flush. The moral of this story is this: Choose your situations carefully when drawing for straights and flushes in no-limit hold'em.

I recently played in the Tuesday night no-limit hold'em tournament at the Mirage in Las Vegas. This tournament is one of my favorites. The buy-in is $60, and there are unlimited $40 rebuys the first hour, plus a $40 add-on at the break. There are usually 70-plus players in this tournament. First prize is usually $3,000-$3,600, and nine places are paid. That is pretty good prize money for a $60 tournament. In the latter stages of the tournament, the following hand was played out at my table. I was not involved, but I thought it would be an ideal ending for the final table at the World Series of Poker. A player in early position with a rather large stack of chips raised the pot four times the size of the big blind. A player in late position with an even larger stack reraised him. Everyone folded to the early-position player, who shoved in his whole stack. The other player called, and they both turned their hands faceup. The early-position player had kings, and the other player had aces.

A short while before this hand developed, the early-position player had beaten me with his A-Q against my pocket kings. He flopped an ace and a queen. Therefore, I told him not to worry, because he would probably catch his king and suck out on this player, as well. The flop was J-7-6 with two diamonds. As I predicted, the turn was the K, which put three diamonds on the board. The early-position player jumped right out of his seat with excitement, because this gave him three kings. However, the player with aces had a few outs, because he had the A. The tension mounted as the dealer turned over that river card, the 2. The late-position player jumped out of his seat with excitement, because he now had the winner with the nut flush. His A fit rather nicely with the four diamonds on the board. The huge pot made him the chip leader in the tournament.

Here's a funny hand that developed at the Bellagio poker room in Las Vegas. The Bellagio poker room is the largest in Las Vegas, and has the highest-limit games you will find anywhere in the country in public cardrooms. A few months ago, they were playing $30,000-$60,000 hold'em there. This particular hand was not in that game; it was in a $4-$8 hold'em game. Ben, one of the regulars there, was the unfortunate participant in this hand. He was the last to act in a three-way action pot after the following board was completed at the river: 8-8-8-3-5. The first bettor checked and turned over his hand (K-8). Therefore, he had four eights. The second player checked with pocket tens. Ben had not seen the first player turn over his winning four eights, so he bet with his pocket nines. After he bet, he saw the man's hand. The man gladly called Ben's bet, and everyone at the table laughed uproariously. The moral of this story is that you had better pay attention at the poker table, especially if someone graciously turns over his hand to show you the nuts. Good luck at your next tournament.