A Black Day in New Orleans

Here are a few hands from the second heat of my new television show Celebrity Poker Showdown (CPS) on Bravo, which I co-host with comedian Dave Foley. We shot the show in New Orleans, and all of the celebrities donated their prize money ($1 million total) to charities dedicated to the New Orleans area. Show number one showed me that many of the celebrities have learned how to play a solid game of no-limit hold'em. Jason Alexander (Seinfeld) beat out Bryan Cranston (Malcolm in the Middle) for the first-heat win. You could tell that Alexander and Cranston were playing a terrific game of hold'em as they took out Susie Essman (Curb Your Enthusiasm), Jamie Bamber (Battlestar Galactica), and Kevin Sorbo (Hercules). By the way, Foley, who's famous for never picking a winner, actually picked the winner (Alexander) in week one! I had picked Cranston.

The five celebrity guests on show number two were Greg Behrendt (He's Just Not That into You), Andrea Martin (in soon-to-be-released movies Young Triffie's Been Made Away With and Black Christmas), Kim Coles (Living Single), Jorge Garcia (Lost), and Michael Ian Black (director of the upcoming movie The Pleasure of Your Company). We both picked Black, but Foley made me pick someone else, so I chose Coles. By the way, in what made for some pretty good television, Black and Behrendt were having a spirited verbal war throughout the tournament!

In the second hand of the tournament, with the blinds at $100-$200, Black raised to $600 to go with A-K, and Coles called with A-2. The flop was 5 4 4, Black bet $1,000, and Coles made it $2,000 to go. Coles had a straight draw, and made a nice bluff against Black, who folded his A-K to the $1,000 bluff-raise.

In the third hand, Black raised again, making it $600 to go, this time with 8-8. Garcia called with A-Q, and Martin called with Q-J in the big blind. After a flop of K-K-7, Black bet $1,000, Garcia called, and Martin folded. When a 4 came off on the turn, Black checked and Garcia checked. On the river, a 9 came off, Black checked, and Garcia bet $2,000. To me, this bet was pretty weird. If Garcia was bluffing, why bet with a hand that was strong enough to win on its own merits? And if Garcia was betting because he thought he had the best hand, why value-bet A-Q high when your opponent most likely cannot call you unless he has you beat?

Here's the rest of the story: Black went into the tank for more than two minutes, and I announced to the TV viewers that I believed he had an easy call. After all, Garcia seemed pretty weak when he merely called the bet on the flop and checked on the turn. I also commented that if Black did make the call, I thought he would go on to win the table.

In regard to taking so long to call Garcia's bet, Black said, "The audience was screaming, we were on the third hand, the players were kibitzing and doing comedy, and I had just lost the hand before with A-K! No wonder it took me a while to call. In a side game somewhere else, I would have called faster."

I did notice that Black seemed distracted while he was debating whether to call or fold. In any case, he did make the call and went on to post the most dominating performance in all of the six CPS shows I co-hosted (and remember that I saw 100 percent of the holecards).

Black later picked up K-K versus Martin's J-J to bust her; then, on the next hand, Black's Q 7 busted Coles' A A (the look of shock and remorse on Black's face after he had put a bad beat on Coles in this hand was priceless); then, on the very next hand, Black's J-10 busted Garcia's A-8 (the A-8 was a 3-to-2 favorite before the flop). For the first time in CPS history, three players went broke in three consecutive hands. But beyond that lucky streak, Black made several key calls and well-timed bluffs.

A key hand came up when Black was heads up against Greg Behrendt with the blinds at $400-$800. On the button, Behrendt raised the minimum amount to $1,600 to go with K-5, and Black called the $800 raise with the Q 10. The flop was 9 5 3, Black checked, Behrendt bet $1,000 with his pair of fives, and Black check-raised, making it another $4,000 to go. Black was out on a limb, making a stone-cold bluff, and now Behrendt had his chance. All he had to do was move all in, which would have forced Black to fold, and he would have had $16,000 in chips to Black's $34,000, and the game would have been on! It's not as if Behrendt had a huge hand, but he did have second pair with a huge kicker, which could beat a lot of the hands that Black might have had. Behrendt should have moved all in, or at least called, but instead, he folded. A few minutes later, Black won it in style with the A K versus Behrendt's K-Q. (Amazingly, Foley's pick won for the second straight week!)

In the third show, our celebrities will be J-Till (Jennifer Tilly from Bound), Brett Butler (Grace Under Fire), Fred Savage (The Wonder Years), Doug E. Doug (Cosby, Cool Runnings), and Ida Siconolfi (Internet qualifier). Expect more great poker and entertainment from actress and semipro poker player - and World Series of Poker winner - J-Till in my next column.