Recently, the
World Poker Tour went to Tunica, Mississippi, and so did Phil Ivey and I. The $10,000 buy-in tournament was starting at the Gold Strike Hotel and Casino on Sunday, so Ivey and I chartered a jet out of L.A. late Saturday night. I had started that Saturday at Barona Casino in San Diego, playing in an
Ultimate Blackjack Tour tournament. At 6 p.m., while debating whether to fly home or not, I felt compelled to go to Tunica. I'm not sure why I was pulled toward Tunica, but once the tournament began, I knew why I needed to be there. I was on top of my game, finally! I hadn't been on top of my poker game since the
World Series of Poker ended in mid-August.
Day one started a bit roughly for me, as I was tired and sloppy with my chips (I was playing too many hands). The blinds were $100-$200, and I was sitting at around $18,000 (we started with $20,000) when the following hand came up. One player limped in from under the gun, Player A limped in with 9-9, Player B - immediately to my right - made it $800 to go with the A
A
, and I looked down at 10-10. I called, and took a flop with three other players. The flop was K
10
9
, and Player A bet $2,000. Player B made it $7,000 to go, and I moved all in for $17,400 or so. I told Ivey and Daniel Negreanu, who were sitting at the table next to me, "This could be the end of me." I wasn't kidding. I could not beat a straight (Q-J) or three kings, and I could have been at risk of losing to a flush draw. Player A called me quickly; Player B studied a moment, and then folded while showing the table his A
A
. I now told Negreanu and Ivey, "Never mind, my opponent has only one win in the deck." When the next two cards were the 6
and the 4
, I became one of the early chip leaders with almost $45,000.
Now, let's take a closer look at the play of this hand. I do not mind Player A calling $200 with 9-9. However, a raise of some sort would have worked just as well. Player B made a decent-sized raise with his A-A, and his play here was solid. As for my call with 10-10, my play was ideal. If I read Player B as being weak, I could have reraised. If I read Player B as being strong, a call works much better. I read him for having strength, and I was right to merely call. Player A had an easy call with his 9-9. However, if Player A thought that Player B was weak and I was weak, he could have put in a big reraise, trying to win the pot right then and there by forcing both of us to fold our hands. On the flop, I love the $2,000 lead bet by Player A. Too often, players check the flop when they make a strong hand, when oftentimes the best way to win a big pot is to lead out with it. Mike "The Mouth" Matusow is great at leading out when he hits a flop hard, and it enables him to win some big pots here and there. In this case, leading out also makes more sense, as the board shows the possibility of a straight draw and a flush draw. Player B then made it $7,000 to go, and I hate his raise here. Why not simply call? Had he just called, I would have reraised, and Player A would have moved all in, saving Player B $5,000 in chips. But this argument is playing the results. I like a call because the flop was so dangerous. Why put $7,000 out there when the minute anyone calls you or raises you, you have to give up your hand? I like my move all in for $17,400, although an argument could be made for me to just call the $7,000 bet. I mean, why scare everyone out of the pot by moving all in when I have such a strong hand? The argument for moving all in is simple: With so much already in the pot, I wanted to protect my hand from losing. I have no problem with Player A moving all in here: I mean, there is no way that he could fold his three nines. After all, I could have had K-10 (top two pair) or the A
J
(a big drawing hand), and even if I did have Q-J, Player A was less than a 3-1 underdog. Player B actually had an easy fold with his pocket aces, even though he had the A
. In fact, because he had the A
in his hand, he could rule out either of us having the ace-high flush draw, which was the most likely drawing hand. Thus, it was easy to imagine that Player A and I had very strong hands. I finished the day with $64,500 in chips.
Here's a little quiz for you. You can fold pocket aces on the flop:
1. Never! (not a bad rule for rank beginners)
2. When there is a tough board, and a lot of action
3. Always (yeah, right!)
4. Not very often
The correct answers are Nos. 2 and 4.
