"God Save the Queen," and all of her subjects who play poker. These guys are gonna need divine intervention if they hope to stay in money. Sound familiar? Good, then you read my last column. If not, I just got back from London, where the Empire Casino hosted the first
World Series of Poker Europe.
There were three tournaments: H.O.R.S.E., pot-limit Omaha, and no-limit hold'em. The buy-ins were in pounds, which are worth almost exactly double the U.S. dollar, and were as follows: £2,500, £5,000 and £10,000, respectively.
I played in all three events and barely made the money once. I was extremely unlucky and unable to double up in any event, even with the Brits trying their best to give me their money. I was able to save a little face in a televised cash game that was viewed in more than 70 countries (their version of
High Stakes Poker). I'll tell you about some hands and how they were played.
The first was in the H.O.R.S.E. event. I believe it was the third or fourth level and I had my chips up to about 7,500 (we started with 5,000). The game was stud eight-or-better, which obviously is not played much on the east side of "the pond." Every time the dealer turned the first upcard, some English guy called the floorman to report the dealer for flashing cards.
Anyway, I was low in this hand with the 2
. Jan Sorensen, the player who was first to act, raised with an 8 and was reraised
by a 9. Max Pescatori and Ben Grundy each called the double bet with a 7 showing. There was already four-way action with a double bet! This would be a nice time to find something good.
My first downcard is the 4
. Now I'm squeezing the second … nothing across! Sweet, my hand is playable, no matter if it's an ace, trey, or possibly even another deuce. One spot in the middle narrows it down to an ace or a 3. It's a 3, and a diamond at that! In a multiway pot like this, the 3 is actually slightly better than an ace.
I'm looking to gamble, so I reraise right here. Everyone calls, and I hit a very nice-looking 5. Not only is it a 5, but it's the 5
; in other words, gin! Everyone else also hit small, but the beauty of it was that there were still no aces or sixes out. All of my straight cards were as live as Elvis (or at least Lisa Marie)!
Jan, who hit a 4 to go with his 8, bets right out. The 9 senses a storm a brewin' and wisely passes his hand. Max calls with his board of 7-3, as does Ben with his 7-2. I not only have the best low draw, but with an open-end straight draw and all of my cards live, I have an excellent chance to scoop here, so I obviously raise. (If this were no-limit, I would gladly commit my whole stack at this point.)
After all of my opponents call, my trouble starts. Jan and Ben both catch low; Jan a deuce and Ben a 6. Max and I both "break off," hitting "bricks"; Max, a king, and a jack for me. Jan and Ben both took advantage of this situation by putting Max and me "in the middle," meaning they raised the maximum number of times permitted (five bets total). This move is similar to giving someone the cube in backgammon. Even though Max and I fell behind, we still couldn't consider folding, as the pot was so big (we had to take the cube).
Things got even worse for Max and me on sixth street, when he paired his king and I paired my jack. Jan caught a 6 and Ben an 8, and, needless to say, the raising continued. Sixth street wasn't all bad for Max and me, however. Max obviously had kings to go with the rest of his hand, and the jack I hit was a diamond. I now had not only the nut low and an open-end straight to draw to, but also a flush and even trip jacks or possibly two pair. (I'm sure that Max's kings were his first pair.)
After the dealer dragged all of the bets into the pot, which now covered nearly the whole table, he dealt the final card. We often mockingly refer to this as the "skill card," as it all comes down to luck at this point. Well, I missed my straight, missed my low, missed my flush, and missed my trips, but I made two pair.
Max checks his open kings, and Ben fires out. Hmm … now what should I do? I'm pretty confident that Ben has only a low hand, although you can never completely count out the straight possibility. Jan also may be going low, but when he kept raising with a board of 8-4-2 against 7-6-2, I think he may have two small pair. I know that Max had only one pair on sixth street, but he might have improved to trips or two pair, as I did.
I decide to throw caution to the wind and raise here. I may get called by eights up and one pair of kings, as the pot is so big. Another possibility is that I can get Max to fold kings up. It's not likely, as he is pretty much priced in at this point, but everyone knew I had a lot of high potential from the way I played my hand early. Also, I knew that Max had been up for two days, flying in, and was exhausted. He had played a few hands goofily already, and maybe I could make him make one more mistake (sorry, buddy).
One more advantage to this play is how I will be perceived in the future. I want people to remember me making raises in marginal situations. It definitely will help me get action in the future. Much of what great players do is aimed at image.
Anyway, back to the hand. Jan folds, telling me later that he had two pair made on fourth street. Max reluctantly calls, as does Ben. It looks good until Max shakes his head no when I announce two pair. He also improved his big pair on the end, and inasmuch as kings up beats jacks up and I have no low, I get scooped in this monster pot.
I was very surprised to see that Ben's hand was just a 7-6 low. It was a totally sick bet he made on the end into three boards that all appeared to be drawing to a better low than that. But, oh well; I was out a short time later.
I'm just about out of space, so I guess I get to do my first three-part series!
