Playing Poker on the Beach: The UltimateBet.com Poker Classic

OK, Phil, no more sour grapes! You're in the penthouse suite at the Radisson Resort and Casino in beautiful Aruba. Your books, DVDs, and new "365 tips" calendar (jfturner.com) are flying off the shelves. You have a good amount of fortune and fame – nine World Series of Poker (WSOP) titles. Why, then, do you have to lose it, and act like a jerk, after taking a bad beat? Why leap out of your chair, with your arms flailing, and utter, "What the hell is going on here?" And then, worse yet, say to your opponent, "How could you have played that hand so poorly?"



Once more, I'm embarrassed by my own conduct, even more so because this is the UltimateBet.com Poker Classic in Aruba, and I'm an ambassador for UB. I should have said, "Nice hand, sir," and calmly walked away from the table. I should have shown the class that a WSOP champion ought to show. But, I am, after all, the Poker Brat! (Still, I can't say I'm proud of it.)



Here is the hand that eliminated me, and it set me off a bit. With the blinds at $150-$300, I called $300 with the 5 4, and a player behind me, whom I previously had announced was "unbluffable" to the table, raised $800 to $1,100 to go. Everyone else folded, and I thought, "I should fold, too, but if I hit this hand, I will get paid off, because this guy will call me with a weak hand, just as he has been doing all day long."



So, I called, because I believed Unbluffable would pay me off if I hit my hand. The flop came down K 5 5, and I checked with my trip fives. Unbluffable bet $1,500, and it was my turn to act. I thought to myself, "Raise it," for a few reasons. First, if Unbluffable had a king, he would give me all of his chips. Second, if he had a pocket pair, I did not want him to hit his card because I merely called him on the flop. Calling him here would be giving him, in effect, a free card.

So, after seeing that I had $5,125 left, I decided that a $1,500 raise might lure him into the pot. My other option was to move all in, calling his $1,500, and raising $3,625. I thought moving all in might scare him off, since that move would show extreme strength. So, I announced, "Raise it up $1,500 more," and threw $3,000 into the pot. Unbluffable called me, and the Q came off the deck.



I hesitated for a moment, for effect, and bet my last $2,125. Unbluffable immediately said, "I call," without putting any chips into the pot, which I took to be a bad sign. Sure enough, he flipped up pocket queens, which on the flop was an extremely weak hand, but now – after hitting that miracle queen – was an extremely strong hand. I had been more than a 10-1 favorite on the flop! The only way I could lose was if he hit a queen. And even worse, since I had only $2,125 left, and knew he would call that much on the next bet no matter what, I had lost a $13,000 pot as a 10-1 favorite!



That's when I went a bit crazy. I went all the way to Aruba to lose – in this way! OK, Phil, no more sour grapes!