Jack Binion World Poker Open - Part III

As I mentioned in my last column, this was the first fast-paced tournament I'd played in years. I've become accustomed to playing in the bigger buy-in events with slowly escalating blinds and lots of play. Well, in this event, there simply was little to no post-flop play, since an average-sized stack couldn't really call standard-sized raises and get enough implied odds to make it worthwhile after the flop.



It was move-in poker at it's best, but I was trying to do my best John Juanda impersonation that I could. If you didn't already know this, John is the absolute master when it comes to preflop play. He reads weakness before the flop better than anyone I know, and he has the guts to execute a move with or without a hand.



As we got closer to the final table, though, I finally had my chip count up a little bit to where I could at least try to play my game. I was up to $405,000 with the blinds at $8,000-$16,000 when I looked down at the 9♠ 6♠ in early position. I decided to go after the blinds and made it $45,000 to go.



The player in the big blind was an unpredictable gentleman with a decent stack of chips. I'd already had a few altercations with him, and he came off as being a proud man, a little too proud for my taste. At one point, he told me that I had to respect him because he is a businessman with more than $100 million. My reply? "I do respect you. I respect you just as much as I respect that porter over there cleaning off the table – no more, no less."



He was very offended by the assumption that he was on equal footing with a porter in my eyes. Money doesn't impress me. In fact, I often find people with attitudes like that to have little substance. So, anyway, my read on this guy was that he is overly macho and didn't take kindly to a 140-pound little punk raising his blind. Everyone folded around to Mr. Macho, and he looked me dead in the eyes, trying to intimidate me, apparently.



Now, if I were alone with this guy in a dark alley maybe that would intimidate me. But at the poker table? Oh, please. He finally called my raise and reraised me $50,000 more. Erick "E-DOG" Lindgren and I have a name for that raise. We call it a nuisance raise. It costs you more money to see the flop, since you are already pot-committed.



Since I'd already put $45,000 out there, I had to call $50,000 to win more than $150,000. It's tough to pass up more than 3-to-1 odds in position, so I called with my trash hand. The flop came Q 6 2, giving me middle pair. That was not a horrible flop for me, since I could now beat A-K, but it wasn't exactly a great flop, either.



Mr. Macho checked and I quickly checked behind him, fearing a check-raise. This guy was a tricky player, no question about it, and he certainly would check there with A-A, K-K, or Q-Q. The turn brought the 5♣, and again Mr. Macho checked.



Now, I could easily bet here, but I again thought I'd take the free card and try to hit a 9 or a 6 just in case he was trapping me. The river card was the 4, putting a four-card straight and a possible flush out there. I was actually very happy to see that card, because now, even if he was trapping me with A-A, K-K, or Q-Q, he'd have to check, since that card filled every draw.



Mr. Macho looked at the card, glanced over at me, glanced at his chips, and then finally fired out $140,000. I had no idea what to make of this bet. What in the world could this guy have? He reraised me from out of position, checked the flop and the turn, and was now betting a total scare card on the river.



I started to go over the decision in my head. If I called this bet, I'd be left with just $170,000 in chips. That wouldn't be totally dead, by any means, but it would be a very big blow to my stack. Mr. Macho reraised me from the big blind and then checked the flop to me. Would he do that with the nut-flush draw? No, he wasn't the type. If he had flopped a flush draw, he would have made a big bet on the flop, I'm sure of that.



Could he have a straight, then? No, I doubt he would reraise me like that from the big blind with a 3 in his hand.



Could he be betting A-A or K-K? I wasn't sure, but you would think not. It was possible, but it just didn't feel like A-A or K-K.



Would he bet the river with three queens? Yes, that's a hand he definitely could have. If he flopped three queens, he may play it exactly like that.



Could he possibly be betting a pocket pair higher than sixes but lower than queens? Who knows! Mr. Macho played rather unorthodox poker, so anything was possible.



The more I thought about this hand, the more I felt like I should go with my old motto: Let's try to talk him out of his chips! But this normally talkative macho man wasn't in a talking mood on this hand. Hmm … I wonder what that means?



After adding up all the clues, I went with yet another one of my mottos: He's got either the nuts or nothing. I could beat nothing, but not every nothing. This guy was liable to bet the river with a pair of sevens as a bluff. It worried me that he could be bluffing and still have me beat!



Finally, I decided that this was the hand to make it or break it. I called. Mr. Macho just shrugged and asked, "What you got?" "What do I got? What do you got? I called you!" I replied.



"I have nothing," he said. I have heard this one before, though, and I wasn't about to bite. He either had to show me a hand or muck his hand; I'd been burned before like that. Someone says he has nothing, I turn over a small pair, and he says, "Oh, I can beat that. I figured that when you called, you must have had me beat." That is so annoying.



This one was legit, though. Mr. Macho tapped the table and I slammed my cards down on the table and did a mini fist pump to myself. I was now a real contender.



Later on, I had the pleasure of busting Mr. Macho out. I came to the final table in third chip position, just behind Chau Giang and Scotty Nguyen, with $1,173,000. ♠



You can read Daniel's daily journal at www.fullcontact.com. Part I and Part II of this series can be found at www.CardPlayer.com
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