Play a Tournament With A.J.

A.J. Brock is a poker dealer at Bellagio in Las Vegas. He has been dealing poker there since Bellagio opened in October 1998. Recently, he finished second out of a 50-player field at the weekly no-limit hold'em tournament at Bellagio. This $540 buy-in tournament is held every Friday at 5 p.m., and $70 satellites for it are held each Thursday and Friday. Brock won a satellite, then won $7,500 in the tournament. I would say that was a good return on investment. This was a rather incredible feat, considering it was just Brock's second no-limit hold'em tournament. He and his wife, Holly, are expecting their first child in November, so the $7,500 will come in handy.

Rick Young: First, tell me about the key hands you played in the satellite.

A.J. Brock: Early in the satellite, the blinds were $50-$100. I raised to $300 from early position with pocket aces, and three players called. The flop came J-J-10. I bet $300, a player moved all in with $650, and another player called with his remaining $200. I had $800 remaining and called. The player who moved all in had A-K, and the other player had Q-10. The last two cards changed nothing, so I won a good pot.

With three players left, I had pocket kings in the small blind. The blinds were $100-$200. The button folded, so I just called with the kings. The big blind moved all in, and I happily called with my pocket kings. He had pocket nines. I had $4,000 and he had $3,000. The boardcards changed nothing, so I had $7,000 after this hand. The remaining player had $3,000, and I went on to win the satellite.

RY: Now, tell me about your key hands in the tournament.

AJB: Well, at my first table, I noticed there were some top tournament professionals: "Miami" John Cernuto and Humberto Brenes. I was somewhat intimidated by these guys, but I did not get a chance to play a hand against either one of them. The first key hand I played was A-Q. The blinds were $100-$200, and I was in early position. I made it $500 to go, and one player called me. The flop came A-K-K. I bet $500, he raised $500, and I called. The turn was a queen. I checked, and he went all in. At this point, I had $2,400 and he had a huge stack. I folded, and he showed me just an ace.

RY: I doubt that he had a king, because he probably would have just called on the flop and then hammered you on the turn if he really had it. Tell me about some other key hands.

AJB: Everything started going right for me after that. A few hands later, I went all in with pocket tens, and the same player called me with A-K. My tens held up. A half-hour later, I was the small blind and this same player was the big blind. Everyone passed to us. I raised to $600 with A-Q, and he moved all in with pocket jacks. I called with my remaining $5,000; he had about $25,000. I flopped an ace and doubled up to $10,000.

RY: Good move. What happened next?

AJB: I made a mistake when we got down to the final table with 10 players left. I had $15,000 in chips, which was second best. The blinds were $300-$600. I was the big blind, and had K-J suited. A player in middle position raised to $2,000. Everyone else passed, and I called. The flop was J-9-5 rainbow. I checked, and he checked. The turn was a rag. I bet $3,000, he moved all in for $7,500, and I called. He had pocket fives and had flopped a set. I lost lots of my chips in this pot.

RY: I agree that this was a mistake. The mistake came in calling his original raise with K-J.

AJB: We were down to six players and the blinds were $500-$1,000. I was the big blind with A-K. Everyone passed to the small blind. He raised to $3,000, and had a total of $20,000. I had $7,300, so I just called his raise. The flop was all rags. He bet $2,500, and I moved all in for my remaining $4,300. He called my $1,800 raise. When he called, I thought I had a loser, but he had only K-J. I won this pot and doubled up to about $15,000. A few hands later, I ran into this same player again. The blinds were still $500-$1,000, and he raised to $3,500 from middle position. I was on his immediate left and raised all in with pocket tens. I had $15,000, and he had $18,000. He called with A-9. My tens held up, so I had about $32,000 (second chip position). With four players left, the blinds were $800-$1,600. The under-the-gun player raised to $4,000. He had about $8,000 more left in his stack. I had A-K and $25,000, but the big blind had a huge chip lead over me, so I decided to fold. The big blind reraised all in with pocket jacks, and the other player called with A-J. The flop produced a king, so I would have won this pot. Instead, the pocket jacks won it.

RY: I think you should have reraised with A-K. You would have become the chip leader. What happened after that?

AJB: The chip leader knocked out the third-place finisher a few hands later. He then offered me a deal to take $7,500 for second instead of $6,000, which I gladly accepted. First place was about $11,000, so he took $1,500 less than that. I would like to take this opportunity to say thanks to Mark Gregorich for giving me tips during the tournament breaks.

RY: Congratulations, A.J.! You played extremely well for it being only your second no-limit hold'em tournament. May you have many more tournament wins.

The following Friday, Brock won another satellite for this tournament. However, he did not finish in the money. Brock is a good poker dealer and a good floorperson when he is called upon to perform those duties. And it appears that he is also becoming a good no-limit hold'em tournament player. Good luck at your next tournament.