Return to Costa Rica

Not long ago, I wrote two columns extolling my first trip to Costa Rica for a poker tournament. Why did I "return" so soon? For the same reason that more than a hundred other United States players (including five former world poker champions) ventured down there to play in Casinos Europa's October tournament. It is such a great deal, who can afford to pass it up? Those who play 50 hours of poker over five or six days get all kinds of comps, and hours spent in the hold'em tournaments (starting at 7 p.m. each night) count. It is my understanding that these tournaments have been so successful that Casinos Europa is planning to have them every three or four months. And they may well be the "classiest" tournaments in the world.

The tournament tables are attended by more than a score of very beautiful young women dressed in tasteful evening gowns who bring the players drinks (free) or food (from the buffet, also free). I happened to chat (you would too) with a few of these girls and found out that most are working as models to finance their career dreams. For example, Tertiana was working her way through school for fashion designers, and Poala was saving for tuition for law school.

I played in four no-limit hold'em tournaments, but was unable to make a final table. I won't bore you with four typical bad-beat stories, since in these tournaments, if a good player doesn't make a final table, it is probably because he held a high pocket pair at the wrong time (twice I bit the dust with pocket kings).

Since there were always well over 200 entrants, 20 players (the final two tables) made the money in each tournament. I finished 21st, 25th, and somewhere in the 30s in the last two tournaments. You definitely need some luck to win.

Here is a situation from the final tournament in which I might have overplayed my cards. What would you have done?

I had $1,300 in tournament chips (having dwindled down from more than $2,000). I had been playing very tight (actually, I hadn't held any tempting marginal cards). The blinds were at $100-$200 about halfway around the table from me. There was about five minutes remaining in the round, and then the blinds would double. I would have to take action soon, but I was not yet desperate.

I picked up pocket tens. If it had been folded around to me, I certainly would have pushed in my stack, since I needed to take action before dwindling further. But, from early position, Huck Seed, a former world champion who is very aggressive, made it $400 to go while having about $3,000 in chips. Then, another good player who had won one of the previous events called the $400 while having several thousand dollars in chips. What would you do with my pocket tens?

I thought that neither player had pocket queens or jacks (they would have bet much more), although they possibly could have been waltzing with pocket aces or kings. I hoped that making a $900 all-in raise would drop at least one of them, so that I could then win a heads-up "coin toss" (a pocket pair vs. two overcards is slightly better than 50-50). If that happened, I would have about $3,300 in chips and would be back in "comfortable" contention.

However, my great plans did not include the chip leader behind me pushing in his big stack – although it folded Seed and the other player. As I tabled my hand, I hoped that he was pushing an A-K. Unfortunately, he had pocket aces, and no miracle saved me.

In retrospect, rather than go for the get-rich-quick scheme, perhaps I should have folded my pocket tens, because the other two players had "gotten there first" (with most marginal hands, it is best to avoid confrontation and to play when you get the vig of everyone folding). I think it was very close.

Undaunted, in the immortal words of Gen. McArthur, "I shall return." I know that I can win one of those tournaments. See you all there next time.