World Poker Tour Caribbean Adventure - Part II

If you've read a few of my tournament series columns in the past, you know that I often get sidetracked from the actual play of the hands and discuss things that don't really pertain to poker. Well, in this series, I'm simply going to cut to the chase and get to the meat of the hands, since there were so many interesting hands I'd like to share with you.

The first one came early on day two. With the blinds at $150-$300 and an ante of $50, John Myung (the Showdown at the Sands champion) raised it to $800 from late position. I was in the cutoff seat (next to the button) with the A 10 and smooth-called.

The small blind made it $3,000 total, John folded, and it was $2,200 to me. Based on my read of my opponent's play up to that point, I was pretty sure he didn't have to have a monster hand to make this type of raise. I had position, a huge stack, and a pretty decent hand, so I decided to call.

The flop came A-8-4 rainbow. Now, that was either a good flop for me or a very bad flop for me. I wasn't sure just yet. My opponent bet $3,000, a smallish bet into a $7,700 pot. I just called, figuring I'd make my decision on fourth street.

Well, fourth street brought the K, and I just hated that card. If I was up against A-K, I was drawing dead, and if I was up against K-K, I had gotten pretty unlucky. With $13,700 in the pot now, my opponent bet … $3,000 again! I thought that bet was truly bizarre. It could mean true strength or it could be a total bluff; I really wasn't sure which. For $3,000, though, I figured I had to call.

The river brought the 10, giving me aces and tens. Immediately, my opponent moved all in. Oh, no – how bad was this? I asked for a count, and he had a total of $10,400. The pot was $19,700 plus the $10,400 bet, for a total of $30,100. So, I was being laid almost 3-to-1. The problem was, I didn't really think he was bluffing.

I just hated the spot I was in, but because my opponent had played the hand so oddly all the way through, I thought there was a decent chance he was value betting with the worst hand. Maybe he had A-Q, maybe A-8, maybe 6-6! I didn't know. So, reluctantly, I called.

I was shellshocked when he turned over Q-J offsuit! Man, did this guy play that hand strangely, or what? Little did I know that I had him crushed all the way to the river. Oh well, it was no time to sulk and complain. My once healthy stack had just taken a big hit, and it was time to get back to work.

After chopping out a few pots here and there, my next big altercation came with the blinds at $200-$400 with a $75 ante. An early-position player made it $900 from under the gun, which is an extremely small raise. Hoyt Corkins called the raise, as did I with 2-2. Both blinds also called, so five of us took the flop: A A 2. Now, that's a gin flop. However, although I had a full house, I knew that with two aces out there, my hand had to be in jeopardy. I mean, with five players in there, what are the chances that nobody has an ace?

Both blinds checked and the initial raiser bet $2,000. "Here we go," I thought. "I'm getting it all in this hand." Hoyt folded and I immediately raised it $6,000 more to $8,000, fully expecting the initial raiser to move all in on me with his A-K or A-Q. Both blinds folded and it was back on the initial raiser. He thought for quite a while and then just called. Hmm, that's odd, I thought.

The turn card was the 9. My opponent checked and I wasn't about to mess around any longer. I quickly declared, "All in," and moved $20,000 toward the center. My opponent went into the tank. I couldn't believe it, he was really thinking about throwing away three aces?

I started pondering whether I wanted him to call or not. I now knew I had the best hand, but an ace, a 9, or his kicker (whatever that was) on the river would eliminate me from the tournament. The more he thought, the more I felt that maybe he had A-10 or even A-8. What felt like hours went by, and he was still undecided.

Finally, after all of that, he called. The first card in his hand that I saw was a queen. So, I assumed he had an ace to go along with it … but no! He had made the call with Q-Q!

I couldn't believe it. Obviously, he thought I must have been on a monster bluff here. Luckily for me, no ace or queen hit the river and I was back amongst the leaders.

So, after two days of play, I'd built my stack up to $108,300, which was good enough for fourth place overall. It was a slight drop from my position after day one, but I wasn't complaining. After all, none of that really matters much. It's how you finish, not how you get there.

After play concluded for the day, several of us headed to the Vault, the nightclub on the ship, and had a great time. We didn't have to play until 7 p.m. the next day, so I wasn't too worried about exhaustion. I had maybe two drinks and then headed back to the cabin. That night, I slept like a baby, for a change. Oftentimes during these big tournaments, I find it difficult to sleep due to all the adrenaline still flowing in my body. I think perhaps being at sea had a calming effect on me, as I woke up the next morning totally refreshed.

In my next column, I'll discuss a hand against Paul Wolfe, as well as my first matchup against Gus Hansen.