My friend and student, Dr. Paul Fischman of Sarasota, Florida, recently won more than $13,000 in a $120 buy-in no-limit hold'em event at the
Orleans Open. There were 174 entrants and 289 rebuys, for a prize pool of $44,450. In 2005, Paul finished third in the seniors event at the
World Series of Poker - his first-ever
World Series event. He also won a no-limit hold'em event at the Wildhorse Casino in Pendleton, Oregon, in 2004. In spite of the fact that I actively encourage Paul to play more tournaments, in fact, he plays very few. The bottom line is that he can play. Of course, yours truly has been his poker mentor for several years now, so I will take a little of the credit.
This tournament at The Orleans had multiple rebuys plus an add-on. Paul has a simple philosophy about rebuys in these types of tournaments. He avoids them like the plague, but he will do an add-on if it makes sense. It usually makes sense when the add-on can mean a difference of 33 percent or more in your stack size. I always have believed that you need at least 50-to-1 on your money, if you win the event, to justify the total cost of entering a rebuy tournament. You also should know in advance how much you are willing to invest in a particular event. In this case, Paul did take an add-on.
I remember a few instances in past tournaments when players have strayed far afield from my and Paul's philosophy. The late, great Lindy Chambers, an action pot-limit Omaha player from the great state of Louisiana, once rebought so many times in a pot-limit Omaha tournament at the old
Four Queens Classic that he had to finish first to get his money back. Much to everyone's amazement, Lindy proceeded to do just that. Another classic case of excessive rebuys occurred a few years ago at the
World Series of Poker. Daniel Negreanu was in 28 total buy-ins in a $1,000 no-limit hold'em event. He needed to finish high at the last table just to break even. Amazingly enough, he finished third and made a profit. At the time, that was the World Series record for most rebuys. Not to be outdone, the very next year, Daniel set out to break his own record, and did. He was in a total of 48 buy-ins in the same event. This time, lady luck did not smile on him and he finished well short of the money. That record for rebuys may stand for a very long time. It could be that there is a rational explanation for Daniel's action in this regard. He has been known to make some substantial last-longer bets with his poker pals. Could that possibly have influenced his strategy?
When Paul made the final table of this
Orleans Open event, he was surrounded by young tournament players, with one prominent exception - Hans "Tuna" Lund, a former
World Series of Poker main-event runner-up in 1990 and third-place finisher in 1992. After Tuna was eliminated in seventh place, it was amusing for me to watch Paul try to make a deal with the remaining players. Paul, age 62, kept saying, "I'm old and tired! We have been playing forever. Why don't we make a deal and go home to sleep." His youthful opponents, sensing weakness, turned him down at every opportunity and every elimination. Finally, when heads up, he asked again and was turned down by his opponent, Zac Fronterhouse, a good young player who earlier in the month had won a no-limit hold'em event at the first-annual Binion's Poker Classic. Paul asked Zac one last time to make a deal whenever he, Zac, felt like it. Zac just smiled and said, "Deal the cards." Poor Paul was utterly frustrated, exhausted, and rejected again!
After Paul and Zac got heads up, Paul had a pretty good read on his youthful opponent's playing style. Zac had been the chip leader for much of the final table with his relentless, aggressive style. I taught Paul that you have to play your opponent, not just your cards. When faced with this type of opponent, you need to use his aggression to trap him. You don't need to try to out-gamble him, just out-wait him. Zac continued to push at lots of pots, with Paul usually trying to play small-ball poker. Finally, a major pot developed. Paul limped in from the button with pocket sevens. Zac made a standard raise out of the big blind and Paul called. The flop came 9-6-3 of mixed suits. Zac bet and Paul called again. A king came on the turn and Zac moved in. Paul made a tough call and doubled through Zac to take a slight chip lead. The final hand occurred a few minutes later when Paul again limped in from the button with pocket tens. Again, Zac raised and Paul flat-called. The flop came Q-7-5 of different suits. Zac moved in and Paul again made the tough call, looking at the overcard. The tens were good and Paul was the champion. He was forced to take home all of the first-place prize money without a chop of any kind. Once again, age and treachery overcome youth and skill!
If you want to take a crack at Paul in the near future, he will be joining me at the Wildhorse Casino in November for the
Fall Poker Round-Up. I hope to see you there at one of the final tables.
Tom McEvoy is a representative of PokerStars.com. He can be found playing under his own name on PokerStars, and is happy to chat when he can.
