There is No 'C' in Erik

About a month ago, I was waiting for my car at valet parking at Bellagio as Erik Seidel and Daniel Negreanu left in their cars. A few seconds later three ladies came up to me and asked if Erik is the clown in the show "O" at Bellagio. I laughed and told them he is the clown of the poker world. Of course, Erik is quite respected amongst his peers. The problem is that everyone misspells his first name. He has made two World Series of Poker championship final tables and his name was misspelled both times on television. He has a commemorative chip, and that reads Eric, too. He said that it has become such a joke in his family that his mom now spells Erik with a "C." I told him he should stop fighting it and change his name.

Bellagio recently held its mixed games tournament. Before I get into the event, I would like to thank Jack McClelland for implementing the "No Family Rule." Simply put, immediate family members can't play at the same table until the final table. This rule worked well, and should be part of any standardized tournament rules. The event itself was set up in a TOC format. The first two days were a mix of limit hold'em, Omaha eight-or-better, and seven-card stud. When eight players remained, it became no-limit hold'em. I had two goals: The first was to make it to the no-limit stage, and the second was to avoid a disaster in stud. My game plan was to try to start with the best hand throughout, and fold if I didn't hit my hand immediately. This worked well until I played a couple of weak hands against John Esposito, and ended up drawing out on him twice in big pots. I was informed that I may want to play against someone who plays more than one hand every half-hour. This is very good advice that I plan to use in the future.

When we got down to eight players, all of us had about the same amount of chips, which was at least 15 times the size of the big blind. Thus, there was a lot of play ahead, and it would be a battle. It took more than four hours to lose three players. It was the most intense poker session I have ever been a part of. Only five players were getting paid, and nobody wanted to make a mistake. A late-position player moved in with too many chips and Erik called with an A-2. Erik was right, as the guy was bluffing with a K-10 suited. Erik's hand held up and, all of a sudden, he was chip leader. This changed everything at the table. Erik transformed from the clown in "O" to Jim Brown. I am too young to appreciate Jim Brown, but anyone who saw him play football said that he ran over everyone. In fact, he intentionally looked for players to run over. Erik did the same thing. He raised so much without anyone playing back at him that I tried to form a union against him. The problem was that Erik had run over these people so much that they all had joined him on the "Dark Side." Therefore, I was forced to go on a one-man mission to destroy the evil Erik. It backfired, and Erik won the tournament. Good job, Eric!

Be sure to read David Sklansky's column, "The Fundamental Theorem of Investing." It's great!