World Poker Tour Celebrity Invitational - Part II

by Linda Johnson | Published: May 12, 2004

Prior to the Invitational, I decided to take notes throughout the tournament and write about my play. In this and subsequent columns, I will write a "Play a Tournament With Me" type of column that will detail the hands I played, my thoughts, my chip count, and so on. My thoughts throughout the tournament will be in italics and parentheses. This is a multipart series that I hope you will enjoy reading.

I wasn't too happy with my starting table assignment as I looked around to see Dewey Tomko, Chip Reese, Wendeen Eolis, and David Chiu. Then, the celebrities arrived: Josh Jackson (Dawson Creek), Toby McGuire (Seabiscuit and Spiderman), Gabe Kaplan (multiple television shows, including Welcome Back Kotter), David Bertolucci (Seabiscuit), and Robert Wuhl (Arliss). The celebrities played lots of pots and weren't afraid to call large amounts or make aggressive bets. I could see that bluffing wasn't going to be a successful strategy, at least not in the early rounds with this particular group. There was a lot of laughing at my table when one of the celebrities seriously asked the player on his left if he wanted to chop the blinds and didn't understand why this wasn't allowed.

About 15 minutes into the tournament, the first celebrity (Kyle Gass) was eliminated. He was presented with a cache of poker books and joked as he told reporters, "I hate all of you!" (Phew, at least I wasn't the first one out.)

We played 30-minute levels, and everyone started with $10,000 in chips, playing $100-$200 blinds. On the fourth hand of the tournament, I raised to $400 with A-3 suited and Chip Reese reraised to $1,400. David Bertolucci called the $1,400 and I folded. (Stupid raise on my part … I could have limped in and tried to connect with the flop since we had so many chips relative to the bet size, and I would have saved the extra $200.) The flop came 9-8-7. Reese checked and called a $2,000 bet. When the turn card was a jack, Reese checked and folded when Bertolucci bet $2,500. Reese showed pocket aces. Fifteen minutes went by before I found a hand to play: 3-3. I gave up on the flop as three overcards appeared. (It was worth seeing the flop for $200 to try to flop a set; with all the action at my table, a set would have given me the chance to double up.) As the end of the round was announced, I won my first hand by raising to $600 with 7-6 suited from the button and getting no callers. (Hurray, I won the blinds uncontested with this position bet.)

Round two began with a $25 ante and $100-$200 blinds. I started the round with $9,100 and ended it 30 minutes later with $8,025, having played nothing except the blinds the entire round. (Why am I so card dead?) Nothing too spectacular happened during this round, except that Chip Reese got eliminated. Always a good sport, Reese smiled as Gabe Kaplan told him that he was the worst player he had ever seen.

Round three increased to a $50 ante with $200-$400 blinds. In the big blind, I picked up 8-3 offsuit in an unraised pot. I bet $600, got raised $1,200, and folded. (I don't like folding to a raise, but I really didn't have much with which to call. Damn, why couldn't the pot have been raised preflop?)

My chip count was not looking too good, as I was down to $6,025 when the round increased to a $75 ante, $300-$600 blinds. In middle position, I got an A-8 offsuit, which looked like a monster compared to the cards I had been getting, but I decided to wait for a better hand. I was anted and blinded down to $4,000 without voluntarily coming into a pot. (Why am I so card dead?) A few hands later, I looked down to see 8-8 under the gun. I raised the pot to $2,200 and got one caller. (This might be my last hand. I sure hope an 8 flops.) The flop came K-7-4 and I went all in for $1,550. I could feel a sigh of relief escape as my opponent folded. (Hurray, I'm back up to $6,900).

Stay tuned for more tournament action in Part III of this series.

Now, let's play poker!