The 'Baby' Tournament

Gerber would be proud to sponsor this tourney, and its host, as well. It is the Scotty Nguyen Poker Challenge IV, held at the beautiful Cherokee Casino, just a 15-minute drive from the Tulsa airport. They refer to it as a tournament, but a major poker event would be a much more accurate description.

You might think a far-off, out-of-the-way location couldn't draw many notable poker players, but the past two years that I have attended, it's been a who's who of the poker world. Besides Scotty ("Baby") and myself, Mike "Loud Mouth" Matusow, Gavin Smith, Clonie Gowen, T.J. Cloutier, Jerry Yang, Men "The Mattress" Nguyen, John Phan, Amarillo Slim Preston, Bill Edler, Layne Flack, Kathy Liebert, Mike Sexton, Mike "The Grinder" Mizrachi, David Levi, Berry Johnston, Tom Franklin, and Oklahoma Johnny Hale have graced the green felts of the Cherokee tribe.

Most pros show up for the final two big no-limit hold'em events, which are the $5,000 buy-in main event and the $2,000 buy-in event. This year, I arrived a bit earlier for the two tourneys preceding those two: a $500 pot-limit Omaha tourney with rebuys and a $1,000 no-limit hold'em event. There are also various side games of varying limits, a little something for most everyone.

I never had time for any of those games, however. You see, this is as much a social function as a poker tournament. There's some sort of party or dinner every night. On the slow nights, a casino limo or two manned with local guides take all of the players to the local hot spots - and yes, Tulsa, Oklahoma, does have a few good ones, believe it or not.

With all of these colorful characters about, it's hard not to have a good time. One particular night, about 30 of us were at the casino steakhouse (reputed to be the best in the state), and Keith Lehr took out his false eye and threw it in Gavin Smith's ever-present rum and Coke. Gavin took it out and put it on my plate, offering me $1,000 to put it in my mouth. I decided a better course of action would be to douse it heavily with Tabasco, then load it up with salt to kill any germs that may have gotten on it before Keith put it back in his socket.

Gavin told me I was mean, then took the eye and wiped it slightly with a dry napkin before giving it back to Keith without warning him of what his prosthetic eye had been through. I was distracted before I saw if he actually put it right back in without washing it, but he was rubbing his eye the entire next day. (It may have been lucky, though; he finished fourth in the main event and is one of the worst players to ever walk the earth!)

Another goofball at this tournament was my friend David Plastik. Why am I calling my friend a goofball? Well, besides the fact that he is one, he cost me placing in the money in the main event. You see, the night before the tournament, we were all at the casino lounge, listening to a great band.

David keeps complaining that he's short on cash and isn't sure if he wants to play or not. Scotty proposes that he take on investors, and David makes some statement about the fact that he doesn't see anybody lining up. Scotty quickly asks Gavin and me if we want to put up a thousand each and have 20 percent of his action, and we both agree. Still thinking it's too much, Scotty offers to add another grand, leaving only $2,000 for David to put up. David agrees, and we all go off to get some sleep.

I show up a little late, as usual, to see only 149 players signed up. If they get 150, they pay 18 places; any fewer, only nine (go figure). I look around and realize that David isn't in yet, so I tell my table not to worry, that David will make 150. Well, he comes strolling in looking as healthy as a horse (I'm serious, he really looks like a horse!), and says, "Ahh, I don't feel that good; I'm not gonna play," and returns my grand.

I'm sure you can figure out the rest. I finished 16th and would have gotten paid had goofball David just signed up. I mean, why would he travel halfway around the country and not play? As I said … he's a goofball!

Anyway, a special thanks to Scotty and Sal and everyone else at the Cherokee Casino for showing us a great time. I can't wait for the Oklahoma championship!