Chad Blackburn Remembers

First, when Chad began playing poker on the Madison, Wisconsin, "circuit" in about 1992, the following hand came up in a $2-$3 blind pot-limit hold'em game. Chad remembers my coming in at 10 p.m. and blasting (raising and reraising) every hand before the flop, and then betting the pot size on every flop! I generally came in at 10 p.m. because I could hang out with my wife and kids before playing. Also, the game started at 4 p.m., and by 10 p.m., lots of chips were on the table. "Blasting" was appealing to me; after all, the game was relatively small compared to the $400-$800 games and the huge buy-in tournaments I was accustomed to playing. My theory at the time was to play superfast with nothing (winning many pots on bluffs), and then bust someone when I finally did have a big hand. That is a very volatile way to play pot-limit hold'em, but it oftentimes worked well for me, as this first hand demonstrates.

In the middle of all the blasting, Chad called $80 before the flop with 3-3, and the flop came down Q-8-2. Because of the fact that I had previously bet a lot of money with nothing, Chad decided to check-raise me his last $360, and a 3 on the turn put a big smile on his face - until I showed him my pocket queens.

The second and third hands involved my playing "monkey poker" (playing hands in the dark in a pot-limit hold'em game) while Chad was dealing the game. Chad remembers that I bet and raised hands in the dark (without looking at my hand) until the flop (when I sometimes looked at my hand and sometimes didn't, but always bet). In this hand, there was a lot of action between Dewey Weum (a great pot-limit player who once finished fourth in the World Series of Poker and won the Four Queens big one a few years back) and me. The flop came down 7-5-4, I bet $120 without looking at my hand, and Dewey called the $120 and raised $360, whereupon I looked at one card and moved him all in for $230 more. I had seen a 6, and knew that I had at least an open-end straight draw. The other card, which I looked at after moving all in, was a 3. I had played the hand in the dark and had flopped a straight with 6-3 offsuit!

After I busted Dewey that hand, he said, "How can you beat a guy who plays like a monkey?" Hence, the term "monkey poker" was born.

Four hands later, after Dewey had rebought for $1,000, another dark hand came up between Dewey and me in which I had about $250 in the pot before I looked at one card. After Dewey bet the flop, I looked at one card, a king, with a board of K-8-8. Everyone knew I had looked at only one card (they had watched me), and when I raised Dewey's $100 bet $180 more on the strength of seeing a king in my hand, he decided to move all in with 9-9. I might have folded, but my other card was a king, for K-K with a board of K-8-8!

Chad's final hand recollection was one that he played against local Madison player Tommy Hun. Chad had borrowed $50 from "Big Al" Emerson, and was down to his final $13 when he called an extra $1 from the small blind with 10-3. The flop was A-10-3, and Chad moved all in, only to see that Tommy had flopped top two pair - aces and tens. The river card was a 3, and Chad ran that money up to $1,800 for the night. Right before the game began that night, Chad needed to be "comped" a free meal at Denny's by houseman Wayne Wolf. The next night, Chad was eating at a four-star Madison restaurant, the Blue Marlin, was drinking Dom Perignon with dinner - and was buying! In fact, that little $13 eventually became $10,000, all because of a miracle river card 3.

I hope you enjoyed this Hand of the Week. Good luck playing your hands this week.