The Poker Quest Satellite of Champions

A funny thing happened to me on the day before Labor Day: I got to play in the biggest freeroll satellite of my life. Poker Quest Inc. is hosting a tournament next January at the Palms Casino in Las Vegas, and they sponsored this invitational satellite to award one seat in the main event. The January tournament will be televised. Nothing unusual so far, right? Wrong! This tournament is featuring the largest buy-in ever attempted in the history of poker. The field will be limited to a maximum of 100 players, and the buy-in is $250,000. If the tournament sells out, the winner will be awarded an unbelievable $15 million – double what this year's World Series of Poker champion received.



This 10-player satellite almost took place without me, as I was a designated alternate. But when Jason Augustine, CEO of Poker Quest, found himself short one player at the start of the event, he needed to find an alternate on very short notice. When I got the call for "active duty" from my friend Mel Judah, he urged me to get there muy pronto. I jumped in the shower, broke a few speed limit laws, and got there 30 minutes later. They were not going to start without me!



This satellite opportunity was a mixed blessing. Yes, I got to play at the last possible minute, but the lineup was not exactly a bargain. We drew seats, and here are the players who would compete: seat No. 1, Joe Awada, WSOP bracelet winner; seat No. 2, Freddy Deeb, WSOP bracelet winner; seat No. 3, Thor Hansen, WSOP bracelet winner; seat No. 4, René Angélil, who plays in the biggest cash games in the world with Chip Reese and Doyle Brunson; seat No. 5, me, the 1983 WSOP champion; seat No. 6, Men Nguyen, multiple WSOP bracelet winner; seat No. 7, Barry Greenstein, WSOP bracelet winner and the "Robin Hood" of poker; seat No. 8, Kathy Liebert, WSOP bracelet winner and the first female to win a $1 million first prize; seat No. 9, Layne "Back-to-Back" Flack, WSOP bracelet winner; and seat No. 10, Ted Forrest, WSOP bracelet winner. Phew! Anybody who tries to fade this lineup in a cash game is asking to go broke. It's a good thing the satellite was a freeroll.



We started with $25,000 in chips, and the opening blinds were $100-$200 with 30-minute rounds. On the first hand dealt, attempting to shed my conservative image, I raised from early position with the 9 8. I was determined to play with these guys, and figured I would get a little tricky early on and take command. Everybody folded to Freddy Deeb, who called from the small blind. That figured, as Freddy doesn't like to give up his blinds if he has any kind of hand. The flop came J 7 3. I had flopped a flush draw and a gutshot-straight draw. Freddy led out with a pot-sized bet, and I called. The turn card was an offsuit ace. Freddy checked, and I made a pot-sized bet, trying to represent the ace. Freddy called. I was prepared to make an even bigger bet on the river if a rag came off and I missed my hand, but the best-laid plans of mice and men often go astray, so they say. Another jack came on the river, and Freddy came out firing. Since he had been representing a jack and I now had exactly 9-high zilch, I decided that surrendering was a better option than making a risky bluff-raise. After losing a few more small pots – including getting pocket queens cracked when I raised, got called, and an ace hit the board – I found myself in a weakened chip position. "So far, so bad," I thought. But that was about to change.



Nobody went broke in the first level, even though there was a lot of aggressive raising. But when the blinds went up to $200-$400 in the second level, we had our first casualty. René raised from under the gun, making it $1,200 to go. I had pocket jacks, and decided to flat-call rather than take the risk of reraising with everybody yet to act behind me. After I called, it went call, call, call. Then, it was up to Joe Awada, who had the button. He was one of the shorter stacks at the table, too, although he had a few more chips than me. Joe thought for a moment and then announced, "I'm all in." The blinds folded, as did René, and it was up to me. "I think I have the best hand here," I thought, "but I could be in a coin-flip situation. Do I want to gamble?" I knew that I had no chance against this lineup by playing tight, so I decided to go for it and moved all in. Everybody else folded, and Joe turned up pocket tens, which was about the only hand he would have moved in with that I could dominate. My jacks held up, leaving Joe with $300 in chips, which he lost on the next hand. Finally, I was in a good chip position.



Then, the casualties started to mount. Barry Greenstein raised from the button with 10-9 offsuit. Liebert folded in the small blind, and Layne Flack reraised from the big blind. Barry moved all in and Layne called with A-K. Barry knew that Layne was capable of making a big laydown if he thought he was beat, so he gambled. Barry was actually not that big a dog against A-K even if he got called. Layne's A-K held up, and Barry was out. We were down to eight players, where I'll pick up the action in my next column.

Tom McEvoy is a representative of PokerStars.com and the voice of Pro Play. You can find out more about Pro Play at www.mypokerbiz.com.