Out of Orbit With Pocket Rockets

I recently played in the championship no-limit hold'em tournament at Commerce Casino's L.A. Poker Classic. Fortunately, I doubled up only 10 minutes into the tournament when I made it $200 to go with pocket queens and everybody folded to the $50 big blind, who raised an additional $500. This concerned me. He is a very solid player who has finished high in the money many times, and I was worried that he might have aces or kings. I decided to call the raise, see the flop, and then decide what to do. Naturally, if an overcard came and he bet, I had already decided to fold.

The flop came Q-rag-rag and he fired a $1,500 bet at me. I decided to flat call and hope that he would make a big move at the pot on the turn. The turn card was a 7, which appeared to help neither of us. Appearances, however, can be deceiving – my opponent held pocket sevens! He moved in his whole stack and I cheerfully called. He had caught the worst card he could catch, and went broke with the hand. I managed to steadily add to my chips the rest of the day, and had a sizable stack going into day No. 2.

Fifty-four players out of a starting field of 133 – only one player short of what the casino needed to make its $1 million guarantee – survived to the second day. Tournament Director Cheri Dokken, however, was very happy with the numbers, because not very many players had entered the tournament by winning satellite seats, and most of the entrants had bought in at the last minute. I managed to continue accumulating chips on the second day of action, when we played down to the 18 money places. Going into the final day, I had around $48,000, which was good enough for 12th place. The third and final day of this $7,500 championship event became a long day's journey into night for me. I became short-stacked several times, but kept coming back. By the time we hit the final table, I was third in chip count with about $143,000, and was not far behind the two chip leaders. We agreed to make the final table 10-handed to avoid playing hand for hand, which slows the action down considerably.

I kept telling both Barry and Jeff Shulman of Card Player that I could write a better story if we all got to the final table, but Jeff fell just short when I won two key pots against him. The key hand came when he raised on the button with A-8 and I called from the small blind with A-K. The flop came with an ace, I checked, and Jeff moved all in. I called in a New York minute, and he got no further help. He had more chips than I had going into the hand, and while I doubled up, he became the short stack. Shortly thereafter, Jeff went all in again, I called and won, and he headed for the rail in 12th place.

Barry, who has been hot as a pistol on the tournament circuit this year, had maintained a fairly large stack the entire way. It's tough playing with him on your left when he has chips, because he is very unpredictable and moves at lots of pots. When we went to the final table, he was average in chips with around $100,000. That's when he played a key pot with the eventual tournament winner, Meng La. Meng opened the pot for a sizeable raise; he had been doing a lot of raising, so it seemed obvious that he didn't always have a big hand. This time he had pocket jacks, which I think is one of the toughest hands to play in no-limit hold'em. Barry came over the top for all of his chips. After taking a lot of time to think, Meng decided to call the all-in raise. Surprisingly, Barry turned over pocket deuces. The jacks held up and Barry finished 10th.

The hours stretched on and it was about 5:30 a.m. when I decided to take a stand. Playing fourhanded, I was the short stack with $97,000 in chips. The blinds were $8,000-$16,000 with a $2,000 ante. Chris Bjorin passed, and I was on the button with A-8 offsuit and decided to move in. Meng folded in the small blind, and Ken Jacobs, in the big blind, called. Holding A-J, Ken had the lead. An 8 came on the flop with two other cards suited in spades. Ken had the A in his hand, but I was now the favorite with my pair of eights. Alas, two running spades came and I was eliminated in fourth place.

Now, I'll admit to a mistake that I hope will serve as a learning experience for you. Earlier at the final table when we also were fourhanded, I misplayed pocket aces heads up against Chris Bjorin. As a result, I lost half of my stack and wound up in a bad chip position. In the hand that I described above, I would not have moved in with that A-8 if I had had more chips. As so often happens, the play of one hand sets the stage for what follows.

Here's how it all came about: Chris raised the pot before the flop with the Ju 3u. I decided to flat call with my pocket aces and trap him after the flop. The flop came Q-Q-rag. I didn't like seeing two queens on the flop, so I decided to check after Chris checked, which was a fatal mistake. When a second diamond hit the board on the turn, Chris checked and I bet only $20,000. He called. Since there was more than $60,000 in the pot, this was my second mistake. The river brought a third diamond. When he led out for $20,000 on the river, I made a crying call, which was another mistake, because it was obvious that he had made a flush. Someone later asked me how much I would have called at the river. I answered that $20,000 was the maximum; Chris had bet just the right amount. Clearly, I should have bet on the flop and then made a much bigger bet on the turn. My poker coach and esteemed writing partner, T.J. Cloutier, advised me that I should have reraised Chris before the flop with the aces, so add one more mistake to the list. T.J. was of immense help as he sweated me the whole day. His sage advice helped me get as far as I did, to fourth place and $60,000 in prize money.

I am writing this column the day before I board the cruise ship Elation to play the PartyPoker.com Million Dollar Tournament during the cruise to Mexico, for which I was fortunate to win my seat on www.PartyPoker.com. Soon after my return, I'll be playing the Shooting Star tournament at Bay 101 in San Jose. Then, just before the start of the World Series of Poker, you can find me at the Horseshoe Casino, where I'll be playing in the World Hearts Championship, directed by Glenn Abney, followed by the World Gin Championship, directed by John and Lilly Hainline. Meanwhile, play your aces right and surely we will meet in the winner's circle one day soon.

Editor's note: Tom McEvoy is the author of Tournament Poker and the co-author with T.J. Cloutier of Championship No-Limit & Pot-Limit Hold'em, both of which are available through Card Player. For more information, visit www.pokerbooks.com.