The Third-Time Charm - Part I

Festa al Lago III, a series of 11 no-limit Texas hold'em tournaments, was held at the venue where the wildly popular World Poker Tour (WPT) began, Bellagio Hotel and Casino in Las Vegas. The championship event, the seventh leg of season three's WPT, was given the well-deserved (albeit quite a mouthful) handle of the Doyle Brunson North American No-Limit Hold'em Poker Championship. We'll hear from Doyle, the unofficial grand master of poker, in Part II.

If you have watched and enjoyed the suspenseful Wednesday evening WPT events on the Travel Channel, I must tell you there's nothing like viewing the action in real time from a few yards away. Aside from catching every hand in unedited fashion, you might be seated next to a star player and/or win a WPT tee shirt (hint: brush up on your poker player trivia). When I moved to Las Vegas, a friend gave me some sage advice: "Lee, if you are a sports bettor or horse player in this town, and I know you will be, never buy a tee shirt … you will acquire an endless supply within a year."

Spectators are also treated to some great between-hand comedy and name-player "spotlighting" from Linda Johnson, unparalleled announcer and first lady of poker. During the play of each hand, L.J. turns serious and is adept at capturing the action for the live audience by keeping us apprised of the boardcards, pot sizes, and who did what.

Depending upon the seating capacities at each event and the individual host casino's policies, the WPT offers limited and free-of-charge audience seating on a first-come, first-served basis. If such seating is available at an event, I recommend taking your best shot. Numbered tickets are handed out at the host casino on the day of the taping. The earlier you arrive, the better your chance of getting a low-numbered ticket. During the course of the taping, each audience member is seated if and when the number on his ticket is called. To determine availability of general audience tickets, simply check with the host casino.

First, Some Housecleaning

While my "job" makes it easy for me to obtain a seat at a major event, gone are the days when I could plant myself four feet behind a final table and catch every card. In the late '90s, with few exceptions, there were no video-camera folks (rulers of the domain and badass blockers of the view). So, unless I start playing and reporting from a seat at the final tables (fat chance), I can count on being shut off from a key card once in a while or jotting down K when I get a nanosecond glance at the K. Occasionally, I can't decipher which player bet and which player called. Fortunately, the WPT uses so many cameras that most of their personnel are fixed in place.

In the old days, my mistakes were imperceptible … not that I am opposed to making errors in journalism, since I'm a big Jayson Blair fan and love Dan Rather (insert funny face, folks). In 2004, video cameras record and painfully underscore print-media errors. I'll do my best, but this report may contain a few minor gaffes. There is some good news: I'm a clear favorite to get the pot winners and event winner correct.

I'll describe some interesting and pivotal hands. Since no-limit hold'em is the rage and new players are coming aboard every day, I'll discuss some of the nuances of the game, including chip management based on position and risk/reward. On occasion, I'll attempt to analyze a player's line of thought. Lipstick-camera technology has made this "what did she have?" game within a game a bit more risky, so I expect to eat some crow in about six months when we get to see the actual pocket cards.

Now, Some Action

Day one: Each player begins with $20,000 in chips. Play commences with comfortable blinds of $50-$100 (small blind-big blind). Limits rise every 90 minutes of play, with ante activation at level three (blinds of $100-$200 with each player anteing $25).

Early on, I watch the gregarious Young Phan pull a "Gus" on the real Gus Hansen when "The Youngster" catches deuce, deuce on the turn, river. The devout Dodger fan almost apologetically tables A-2 to take a few thousand in chips from Gus' top pair, top kicker hand. The Dane smiles good-naturedly and looks skyward for a brief moment as he deftly riffles two large stacks of chips. I enjoy watching Gus play. Alas, I will not have that opportunity when we move to day two. Young also becomes a spectator as the day turns to night. Among the 167 players driven to the rail are Johnny Chan, Annie Duke, Layne Flack, Barry Greenstein, Phil Ivey, Howard Lederer, and Chris Moneymaker.

When the chips are counted and bagged (five levels played), our leader is Mathew Keikoan with $176,300, followed by Arthur Azen, Mel Wiener, and the dangerous Farzad "Freddy" Bonyadi. David "The Dragon" Pham lurks in fifth place. The entertaining Paul Wolfe resides in sixth with $94,250.

With $6,240,000 in chips in play and 155 players remaining, the average chip count is $40,258. Karina Jett is well above par with $66,775. I will be keeping a close eye on her (if that's OK with her hubby, Chip). "Texas Dolly" Brunson, long in talent, is a bit short in checks with $24,275. Surviving as our official short stack is Barry Shelvin with $3,525.

Day two: The next 12 hours will test weak lower backs and everyone's concentration, since the plan is to complete level 12 ($3,000-$6,000 blinds with $500 antes). Fortunately, a dinner break is scheduled.

Doyle is freed up for hosting duties midway through level six. He pushes his last chips in with pocket kings and is happy to see Mike Roy table a pair of sevens. Brunson is safe on the flop, but dramatically turned loose when a dastardly 7 hits. Roy's set holds Doyle off on the river.

We also lose our day one leader when Keikoan's big slick goes down to Sammy Farha's favored queens. Perhaps Bonyadi's suited slick hand will fare better. Nope, Lellouche bids a fond adieu to fearsome Freddy after Anthony's Q-Q survives.

Alas, Kenna James hits a flush on the river to deprive us of Karina, who had looked like a winner after making a straight on the turn.

Today's leader board features four big-name stars and Thang "Kido" Pham, a 33-year-old office manager from Garland, Texas, who has just started playing poker tournaments this year:

Alan Goehring – $649,000

Juan Carlos Mortensen – $491,500

Ted Forrest – $391,000

David Pham – $371,500

Thang Pham – $363,000

Proven, well-known threats (with at least $150,000 in chips) lurk in the forms of Wolfe, Farha, Erik Seidel, John Juanda, and Kathy Liebert.

With 29 combatants remaining, Richard Tatalovich, assured of a tidy $8,000 profit, is our short stack with $38,000.

Day three: Oftentimes (even allowing for the high caliber of talent at this event), some things in poker strategy are predictable. For example, when everyone gets into the money, play speeds up considerably. Compound this with another fact – players tend to move chips more readily when playing shorthanded (especially when the blinds become juicy) – and you have a formula for faster action.

We will have many all-in situations today, and I'll be describing numerous "push"-type hands when reporting on day-four play in Part II, but in the space I've allotted for day-three analysis, I'll relate two hands that I hope you find interesting from the perspective of getting inside the heads of four excellent players. We will not see the pocket cards and the hands will end short of the river, but not all thought-provoking no-limit play emanates from two or more players going to the felt at some point in a hand.

Seidel vs. Liebert

Erik Seidel

Kathy Liebert

Playing sixhanded at each table (12 players remain) with the blinds at $8,000-$16,000 (plus $2,000 antes), Erik Seidel raises (what appears to be $50,000) from the button. He is seated to the dealer's immediate right. Kathy Liebert, in the small blind, calls from seat No 1.

The two champions are heads up for a flop of 7 4 2. Seidel decides to bet into Kathy's "invitational" check. He pushes in checks that appear to be approximately the size of the pot. I check my digital voice recorder readings and notice Kathy starts pondering 27 seconds into the hand. She places her right hand on her right cheek. Seidel is a mirror image (left hand on left cheek). Note that these positions partially shield their faces from each other. Three $1,000 chips protect Erik's cards as he riffles a small stack of chips with his right hand. Kathy reaches for her chips, picks up about $80,000 worth, and places them just to the right of her main stacks. After a brief glance at her opponent (immediately after Erik bet), Kathy's focus has been on the pot and the three boardcards.

While she could be milking a monster, I believe Liebert has missed the flop, but is leaning toward raising. Why? Well, Erik is on the button and he is the table chip leader with nearly $900,000 (both are situations that inspire preflop raises with less than premium holdings).

Kathy realizes her defense of the small blind tells Erik that she probably is working with at least a small pocket pair or some kind of playable hand (overcards are probable). He must assume she has not flopped two pair. Why? She wouldn't have defended against that size raise from a chip leader when holding a hand such as 7-4 or 4-2 (especially with a big-blind player behind her who might raise).

Kathy knows Erik is an excellent player who is not opposed to making a strategic laydown (assuming she decides to raise). She knows both are sensitive to their relative chip positions. That fact allows Erik to get frisky with a lead bet, knowing Kathy must be wary. Given a borderline call/fold situation, she will choose to fold her hand.

Finally, Kathy knows that Erik realizes any aggression by her with a marginal hand might wind up costing her at least the amount of the bet and her raise should he move all in. As Daniel Negreanu has often said (paraphrased), with excellent players, this game moves to different levels of "he knows that I know that he knows" thinking.

After one minute and 39 seconds, Kathy mucks. The fact that Erik had her out-chipped was a double-edged sword, one from which Kathy chose to dance away.

Since there's no penalty for guessing, I believe Kathy correctly folded A-8 and Erik had 5-5. I also believe, aside from the possible bluff-raise, Kathy was contemplating calling the harmless-looking flop and then leading out with a seemingly enticing $120,000 "steal bet" on the turn. This can be a very effective strategy.

With less-skilled players and this rag flop, we might have seen check, check on the flop, and perhaps no betting through the river. Advanced players are always eager to take advantage of ­apparently benign flops.

Pham vs. James

David Pham

Kenna James

An hour later, playing ninehanded, David Pham and Kenna James engage in Russian roulette as both take turns leading and firing. Sitting under the gun (first to act), James calls $16,000. Pham, next to act, quickly moves $40,000 forward. Everyone folds to James, who calls and taps the table after a flop of 9 6 6. Pham decides to bet $75,000. James calls quickly.

The J turns and James reaches for chips. He pushes in two pink stacks and lots of blues. Tournament Director Jack McClelland tells us the bet is $150,000. Pham places his hands behind his head. He leans back in his chair and looks toward the ceiling. After 20 seconds, he returns to his normal position, only to find his opponent is gone. Kenna is standing next to me, about three feet to the right of Pham and five feet behind the table. David locates James and returns his focus to the boardcards. After one minute and 46 seconds, just when I'm convinced The Dragon will stomp back to his lair, David motions all in to the dealer, encircles his stacks with both hands, and begins to push.

Now, it's James' turn to enter the think tank. Faced with a decision to fold or call off his last $148,000 into a pot that offers great pot odds, he ponders the board (9 6 6 J. Pham now rises and stands next to me. James turns around briefly and looks at The Dragon. No one speaks.

Seidel shrugs, stands, and shuffles away. Mortensen and three other players have already taken off. Liebert is the last to take a stroll. Only James and our dealer remain seated. With some obvious regret based on leaving himself short-stacked, James folds after one minute and 53 seconds of consideration.

Kenna tells me what he had, thus there will be no guessing and no divulging. I believe Kenna's lead bet on the turn had two purposes. While he was hoping to drive Pham off the hand, James' "exploration bet" also established a comfort zone for making this difficult laydown if Pham moved in.

The fact that Pham did move in is not a clear indication that he had a relatively strong hand. But, when combined with the fact that we must assume David was aware of the pot size and that James would be left with relatively few chips if he folded, we can assume David expected to be called. Thus, David needed a decent hand to make the size raise that he did. James understood this thinking and laid his hand down.

If you found my analysis of one or both of these hands implausible, that's OK, and you may be able to come up with a more accurate analysis. We are operating under the fragility of incomplete information, as we must when playing poker. My objective is not to be 100 percent accurate when dissecting the play of a hand. While crystal-ball perfection would be nice (and very rewarding at the tables), my main objective is to get us to think about why the pros do what they do and then incorporate the best of what they do into our games.

A round later, The Dragon, holding A-Q, burns Kenna's K-10 and sends the big man to the rail.

Minh Nguyen moves his last $244,000 in chips over the top of a Hung La $100,000 opening foray. La's A Q dominates (7-to-3), and holds up against Nguyen's K Q. Minh leaves with $60,000 – knocked out on the TV bubble (seventh place). The time has come for the surviving six to rest and prepare for tomorrow's play, with chip counts as follows:

Editor's note: Lee will return in our next issue with complete coverage of final table play. You can e-mail him with comments, questions, or suggestions for feature articles at [email protected].