Tournament of Champions - Part III

Last time, I talked about the Tournament of Champions (TOC) and mentioned that the chip leaders after both day one and day two were me, Mike "The Mouth" Matusow, and Hoyt "Cowboy" Corkins, in that order. By the way, having the same three players leading for two days is a rare and remarkable occurrence.



For the first 70 minutes of the final table, I played just two hands, winning one of them. Patience was key for me, for this was not a table I could easily run over (these guys wouldn't let me raise lots of pots just to steal the antes and blinds). After all, I had Corkins on my left, along with European star Tony Bloom and a good young Internet player by the name of Brandon Adams at the table, as well. Yet, my stack had shrunk only about $11,000, from $281,000 to $270,000 or so.



During that stretch, I was willing to let the other players battle it out for "table captain" honors (the one who takes charge of the action), and Matusow was happy to lead the charge. He was up, and he was down; he was the short stack, and he was the chip leader. But there I sat, undeterred, taking the brunt of his aggressive verbal abuse. I was like a rock. But when Mike crossed the verbal abuse line – I knew it was coming – I called the floorman and had him warned. One more outburst would cost him a devastating 20-minute penalty – whereby he would be forced to leave the table and have every hand folded, even though his blinds and antes would be posted. I know Matusow has a good heart, and his insults were far too obvious to affect me; I've been through it before too many times. I was there for one reason, to win; I was the Rock of Gibraltar.



Corkins, on the other hand, was silent and very aggressive, and played that way especially when it finally came down to Matusow, Corkins, and me. Yes, he overplayed his hands far too many times, but it never seemed to knock him out. So, let's give him some credit: He was reading very well and playing to his strengths, and he's a great bluffer who constantly puts people to the test. So, I didn't mind. I let him play, and simply waited for him to bluff off all of his chips to Matusow or me.



In one hand, when Matusow was on the ropes with only $120,000 remaining, Corkins moved all in with the 5 4 from the small blind. Matusow called with A-6 in the big blind, and won the pot. This really ticked me off! We had Matusow on the ropes and desperate after seven hours of play, and Corkins doubled him up. Sigh …



For three straight days, I was lucky enough never to be all in. That's the way I try to play, but a good measure of luck also helped me pull this off. I'm not sure that anyone has ever won a major tournament without being all in and called even once, but I had a chance to do exactly that.



Finally, after letting Corkins bluff me out constantly and waiting for a nice situation to come up for me, the moment came. With the blinds at $8,000-$16,000, Corkins raised from the button to $50,000 to go, and I moved him all in with A-Q for his last $180,000 or so. Finally! But he called me instantly and flipped over pocket aces (the board came down K-Q-4-7-6). I sat there stunned; my perfect game plan had come down to a cooler (a hand in which one person holding a fantastic hand loses a bunch of chips to an opponent holding an even better hand). I had given myself the maximum chance to win the event. I could have won it all at 10 p.m., 11 p.m., or midnight, but I never had the right situation come up.

I still had $250,000 in chips – out of $1.1 million – but my stamina and laserlike focus were wearing thin. Not long afterward, I was all in myself with J-J, for the first time in three days of play. Ten minutes later, I was all in again, with the 10 8, and Corkins called me with K-5 offsuit and busted me. It was one of the best performances of my life; after watching these guys move all in and survive multiple times, I was the one out in third place.



No one in this country remembers who finished in third place, and even though I should have been happy to win $350,000, I felt gloomy. It is all about the skins on the wall, and I'm missing the one from the TOC. After one of the best performances of my life, no one will even know it. By the way, Mike eliminated Hoyt an hour later to win the title.



Congrats to Mike for finally breaking through. He earned his nickname ("The Mouth"), but he really does have a heart of gold.

Parts I and II of this series can be found at www.CardPlayer.com.