The Professional Poker Tour at The Mirage

I was pretty excited to play in the Professional Poker Tour event at The Mirage recently, as I was hoping to get some redemption after my heartbreaking finish in the 25K WPT Championship event at Bellagio a few weeks prior. I figured the field for this tournament would be extremely tough, and I was proven correct! I recognized virtually everyone at my starting table, which included David Plastik, Jack McClelland, Jason Lester, Paul Phillips, Bob Feduniak, Erick Lindgren, myself, Jesse Jones, and John Esposito in that seating order. In many of the past tournaments in the last few months, I have been seated at the same table with my good buddy Erick Lindgren, but have always been seated to his right. Thus, he seemed to have the upper hand on me whenever we played a pot. Luckily, I was seated to his left here, which made a crucial difference very early on in the tournament.

The first big pot I played occurred when Jack McClelland – one of the most respected and nicest tournament directors in poker – opened for $200 with the blinds at $25-$50. Erick and I were in the small and big blinds, respectively, and we both called Jack's raise. I called with a very weak hand, the Q 5, figuring that we were all very deep (we started with $10,000 in chips) and that perhaps I could hit a big flop and win a big pot for the small price of calling $150 (since I was already in for $50 in the big blind). The flop came down A-8-6 with the A and the 6, and Erick and I both checked to Jack, who bet $350. Erick and I both quickly called, and the turn brought the perfect card for me, the K. I now held the nut flush. Erick checked and I bet $800, figuring that the heart would likely keep Jack from betting, since he got two callers on this uncoordinated flop and it was likely that one of us was calling with a flush draw. Jack thought for a little bit and folded (telling me later that he wisely folded A-J), and Erick thought for a bit and called my $800. I wasn't really sure what to put Erick on at this point, but I figured that as long as a blank came and he checked to me, I would bet big on the river with the nuts and confront him with a tough decision. An irrelevant 4 came off on the river and Erick checked to me again. I bet $1,700, which I considered a pretty big bet; it was around half the size of the pot but more than 20 percent of our remaining stacks. Erick thought for a little bit and, much to my delight, raised me, making it $4,500 even. Without much "Hollywooding," I moved in with the nuts and could tell that Erick hated his hand now. He thought for a little while about saving his last few thousand, but finally called me with the second nuts, the J 9. With this, Erick unfortunately made an early departure from the tournament.

That hand was a very brutal one for Erick, as given the way he played the hand, he busts out only if the K comes. If another heart came on the river or the board paired, I'm sure he would not have gotten all of his chips in. If a smaller heart had come on the turn, we both would have been afraid that the other was holding the king-high flush, and all of the money certainly would not have gone in. Erick told me that when I bet the river, he considered just calling me with the second nuts, which I think would have been very tough given how powerful his hand was. He also thought that he perhaps could have gotten away from it when I went all in, despite getting better than 4-1 on his money. Sorry about the cold deck in this pot, Erick!

The next interesting hand I played took place during the following level when the blinds were $50-$100. Paul Phillips opened from middle position for $300 and I made a loose call from the button with A-10 offsuit. The flop came A-9-7 with two diamonds and he bet $400. I had flopped top pair with a weak kicker, so I wasn't really sure if my hand was good, but I certainly wasn't going to fold for $400. I figured that if I raised him, he would call with only better hands or big draws, so I decided to just call and see the turn and what his action would be. The turn brought an offsuit 8 and Paul checked. I quickly checked behind him, again figuring that I either had him pretty well crushed or would get called or raised only by a hand better than mine if I bet. Since I had a 10 in my hand, I wasn't too afraid of giving a free card on this generally scary A-9-7-8 board, since only another 10 would really scare me (making any jack a straight). The river brought the 4, for the potential flush, and Paul led out for $1,400. I thought his bet was very suspicious-looking, given the action of the hand up to that point. Given the way I played the hand, it looked like I definitely could have been on a flush draw, so I figured he wouldn't be betting the pot with a worse hand than a flush (unless he was bluffing). I decided to call, since I was able to rule out that he could have a set or two pair, or even a bigger ace. I figured he either had to have a flush or was on a complete bluff. Sure enough, when I called, he cracked a little smile and tapped his cards against the felt before shooting them into the muck, and I began dragging in the sizable pot. John Esposito asked to see what I had called with, so I turned over my A-10. Paul was pretty shocked at how weak the hand was, and asked me how I could call given that I could beat only a bluff. Well, Paul, if you're reading this, I hope I have answered your question. And I do agree that I could beat only a bluff, but I figured that you would often bluff in this spot (unless you made the flush), so I made the call.

I went into day two of the tournament with an above average chip count, and doubled up early on to a very sizable stack of $73,000 with about 45 people left. Unfortunately, that would be the last big pot that I would win, and my chips trickled down until Randy Jensen finally busted me when I was short-stacked. I finished a respectable 23rd against this very tough field, but still well out of the money. However, the tournament wasn't all for naught, as I finally got a chance to play with the hilariously funny and charismatic James Woods. He told an incredible joke during one of the breaks. I would love to retell it here, but it just wouldn't be the same coming from me, especially in print. So, if you ever run into Mr. Woods, be sure to ask him to tell you the one about the German dermatologist!

Thomas "Thunder" Keller is a 24-year-old professional poker player and one of poker's young and rising stars. He can often be found playing at Ultimatebet.com under the name gummybear. To learn more about him, go to his website at www.thunderkeller.com.