My Latest Stops on the Tournament Trail, and a Tribute to Rudy

I have continued to be very active on the tournament trail. My latest stop was at the Bay 101 Shooting Star tournament in San Jose, California. I love it up there. The red carpet is always rolled out for the players, and the entire staff makes all of the locals and visitors alike feel wanted and appreciated. I'd like to extend a special thanks to Chuck Thompson, June Richardson, and Marko Trapani for their outstanding efforts.

The two hold'em events were completely sold out weeks in advance. In the $500 limit hold'em event, I battled my way down to the final 11 players out of a starting field of 150. I was in the money, but needed to make the final table for a chance at the serious cash. Elizabeth Dimaya was at my table and was raising lots of pots. I avoided her for the most part, but then a fatal hand developed. The limits had just gone to $1,500-$3,000 and I had the big blind. Elizabeth was in the small blind and raised once again. She was the clear chip leader at the table, but I also had a respectable stack. I held A-K offsuit and decided to just call instead of reraise. We were already heads up and a reraise would not get her out of the pot, and besides, I had position on her. The flop came A-2-3 of all different suits. Elizabeth came out betting. I decided to flat-call and raise her on fourth street no matter what card came. Fourth street brought a 5, making a straight if Elizabeth had a 4 in her hand. I raised anyway after she bet, and she called. A blank came on the river, she checked, I bet again, and she called. I thought I had won the pot until she turned over pocket fives for a winning set. It would not have mattered in this case if I had raised her on the flop, because with her pocket fives and a gutshot-straight draw, she would have taken a card off anyway, so I was doomed no matter how I played it. I put her on an ace, so I misread her. She was tough to put on a hand and was very aggressive, to boot. I was crippled and had to go all in from the small blind the next hand and was eliminated from the tournament. Elizabeth went on to win the tournament, and my good friend George Marlowe came in second, making his trip to Bay 101 from his home in Marina Del Rey worth his while.

The next day, I played the $1,500 buy-in championship event with a $1,500 bounty on my head. Being a bounty can work both for you and against you. Players want to break you and collect the bounty, so they often go after you with marginal hands. If your hands are stronger than theirs and hold up, you can win extra chips. If your hands get outdrawn, you are eliminated. I was short-stacked right from the start, having lost most of my chips with two hands, pocket jacks and a flopped straight. I lost about $2,200 of my $10,000 in chips when two aces came on the flop and I decided to pay off my opponent's river bet. I made a wrong decision there, but it was an either-or situation: Either he had trip aces or my jacks were good. There were no other overcards, or flush or straight possibilities on the board. A few minutes later, I limped in on the button with 8-7 offsuit in a multiway pot. The flop came J-10-9 of different suits. I made a $300 bet when it was checked around to me, and only the small blind called. A total blank came on the turn, my opponent checked, I bet again, and he flat-called again. The river card was another blank, and when it was checked to me, I decided to bet $1,000. My opponent then raised me $2,000 more, and I decided to call – another mistake. He had Q-8 offsuit in his hand and had flopped a bigger straight. I had lost more than $7,000 in less than 20 minutes. I hung tough for a while, eventually building my stack back up to around $8,000, and then I started to steadily lose a series of small pots. I finally moved my last $3,200 into the pot and got called by a player with K-9 offsuit. He promptly flopped a 9 and I was history. That is where being a bounty worked against me. If I had not been a bounty, the K-9 probably would have folded.

After flying back home to Las Vegas, I decided to prepare for the World Series of Poker by playing something else for a while. I entered the World Series of Hearts tournament at Binion's Horseshoe. There were 48 players in the starting field, and I carefully worked my way down to the final eight and a money finish. Then, I discovered what good hearts players are all about, because I got trounced with a series of bad hands and worse luck. Still, I was happy to get $1,000 in prize money. A special congratulations goes to the winner Agotha Denburg from L.A., who beat poker player Brent Carter in the finals. The day after the hearts tournament, I dived right into the World Series of Gin tournament, and promptly lost most of my first day's matches, although most of the games were close. John and Lilly Hainline did a great job of running the gin tournament, which drew 126 players and paid out a $40,000 first prize.

Now, on a much sadder note, I want to talk a little about my friend Rudy "Dano" Drautz, who passed away recently. Rudy was a professional player, mainly lower stakes, and he lived on the East Coast. He was playing in a $15-$30 seven-card stud game in Miami recently, when he collapsed and passed away at the table. He had just won the previous hand with two pair, sixes and threes. Rudy was a regular participant at both the Gold Coast Open and the Orleans Open, as well as at Foxwoods. He loved the low buy-in events, and one year he beat Howard "Tahoe" Andrew in the finals of a seven-card stud event at the Gold Coast. Rudy was a Vietnam vet, and used to play for cigarettes in a foxhole with his fellow soldiers. On the transport ship home from his service in Vietnam, he cleaned out the entire ship in the poker games on board. Rudy was an unsung poker player who had great results for the games he played. He will be missed by all of his friends. I hope to one day see Rudy at the final table in the sky, and if your hand holds up against a K-9, perhaps we can meet in the winner's circle here on earth.