A Happy Outcome at Camp Hellmuth

With three players left in the Camp Hellmuth finale, which played out onstage in front of 200 people, under the lights, with the hands being shown on a big screen and me announcing them to the audience, Gordon Higgins, from Kansas City, was getting low on chips. But after what he's been through this past year, it didn't bother him at all. You see, Higgins' girlfriend had given him a Camp Hellmuth ticket (camphellmuth.com) as a present, and they planned to turn the two-day camp into a real Vegas vacation by staying two more days after the camp ended. Higgins, however, was being treated for thyroid cancer, and was feeling low on energy.



Higgins said, "I told the little lady going in that I may not feel up to doing much more than the camp-planned

activities."



Her response was classic: "That's OK; I just expect some great poker this weekend!"



And Higgins delivered! When Amy Graves, from Fairfax Station, Virginia, finished in third place, Higgins was looking down the barrel of a 6-1 chip deficit against Allan Kennedy, from Valdosta, Georgia. It would have been easy for him to give up, or do something stupid to try to catch up quickly, but he didn't. He said, "Honestly, after the things I've been through this last year [thyroid cancer and a bad appendix], I wasn't overly stressed out about playing from behind."

Higgins had watched T.J. Cloutier's "21 Tips" presentation, and Antonio Esfandiari's spiel, as well. Interestingly, these two very successful poker players give seminars that don't agree with each other – and that's poker. While Cloutier preaches controlled aggression, Esfandiari preaches all-out aggression, and both styles work well.

The camp featured Joe Navarro, who taught everyone how to read people by using the nonverbal tells that he had developed over 25 years as an FBI interrogator. It was remarkable stuff. I took three pages of notes from Navarro's seminar, and so did Cloutier. Later, T.J. and I joked about the fact that we'd never taken notes in a poker presentation before, much less three pages worth!



Navarro told us that when people hit the flop well, they lean in toward the middle of the table, and when they miss the flop, they lean back away from the table. Another key tip from Navarro was that if your opponent's feet are shaking ("happy feet"), he is very strong.



Higgins stated, "I'm sure I'll just be part of the broken record club here, but … Joe Navarro gave us invaluable information. In fact, during one of the breaks at the final table, no offense to all of my deserving final-table opponents, I went up to Joe and told him, 'Thanks; they're just giving me their money up there.'"



When Higgins and Kennedy were at last even in chips, with the blinds at $10,000-$20,000 and the ante at $4,000 apiece, the following hand came up: Higgins called $10,000 from the button with the 7 5, and Kennedy checked with his 6 3. The flop came down 7 7 6. Kennedy checked his two pair, and Higgins checked his trip sevens. When the turn brought the 10, Kennedy checked again and Higgins bet $50,000. At that point, Kennedy raised, making it $150,000 to go. Higgins, sensing the kill, raised another $100,000 ($250,000 total), and Kennedy moved all in for $450,000. Higgins called instantly, and it was all over.



Higgins had played the hand perfectly, but Kennedy, I think, put too much money into this pot with his meager pair of sixes. After all, he couldn't have beaten even a pair of tens, which would have been a reasonable possibility for Higgins, given that there was a 10 on the board and the betting was heavy. In any case, both of them had played great poker to become the final two, and I hope this was just one victory for Higgins this year: Beating thyroid cancer and conquering his other health issues are the real victories he'll be looking forward to in 2006.