Day Three at the World Series of Poker

In my last column, I discussed a big bluff that I pulled off with 4-2 on day two of the 2008 World Series of Poker. I started day three with 281,000 in chips, which was well above the average stack size (the average was 96,000). When I sat down at the table, I noticed that Tracy Scala was sitting a couple of players to my left. Scala was the overall winner of the FSN (Fox Sports Net) reality show The Best Damn Poker Show, with Annie Duke and me, and had recently been a thorn in my side! First off, Scala played on Annie Duke's team, not mine, and Duke's team beat my team. Secondly, Scala beat me for $4,000 in June at a putt-putt course. Thirdly, he beat me for $6,000, again in June, when his team beat my team at a real golf course.

Given his recent successes against me, I was not happy to see him sitting to my left on the third day of the main event - especially because I thought that he might play recklessly. In fact, before play began on day three, I thought that Scala was a loose cannon who was capable of hurting himself, and others, with huge out-of-context bluffs. But, I must say that I was incredibly impressed with his play! He played patiently and was almost unbeatable in the 10 hours that we played together that day. He made a few loose bluffs, but they worked perfectly, so I have to give him full credit for making those bluffs at the right time. Also, he threw away his pocket aces to an 8 6 3 board when I thought he was right to fold; and later, Scala was told by his opponent that he (his opponent) did indeed have a set. A few hours later, Scala took out that opponent when he had 8-8 and the flop was K-J-8 (his opponent had A-K, and all the money went in on the flop).

In addition to making a few nice laydowns and winning a huge pot when he was more than a 6-1 favorite, Scala made a tough call with J-J when the board was 10-7-2. In that pot, his opponent had 8-8 and check-raised Scala a large amount on the flop. Scala played incredible poker, while almost never defending his own blinds. Watching him fold his blinds all day long - while accumulating chips in other ways - reminded me that defending blinds is overrated (Erik Seidel and Daniel Negreanu are two pros who do make money defending blinds). Too often, you defend with a weak hand like Q-10 and flop top pair, only to find yourself in trouble - for example, when it comes Q-7-3 and you run into K-Q.

Well, now that I've given credit where credit is due, I want to discuss a key hand that came up that day for me. With the blinds at 1,000-2,000 and a 300 ante, I opened from early position for 7,000 with A-A, and my opponent made it 25,000 to go. I decided that a huge reraise would make me look weak, so I reraised it 80,000 more. After a full minute, my opponent folded. Two rounds later - in early position again - I opened for 7,000 after having looked at only one ace. The same opponent made it 25,000 to go, and I thought that this guy wanted to prove a point or something. He wanted to show me who was boss, make me throw away a hand, or something similar. I looked at my other card, and there was another ace; pocket aces again! I thought to myself, if he's trying to prove a point, I'll let him do it, but I'll make it expensive for him. Thus, I decided that I would make another huge 80,000 reraise, as if to say, "You won't outplay me, kid!" I made it 80,000 more, and tried to look as weak as I could. I was using every false tell that I could to induce my opponent to reraise. After two full minutes, he called, the flop came Q 5 2, and I checked. He bet 80,000, and I decided that I had no other choice but to move all in for my last 350,000 or so. I was praying that he didn't have a set, but that seemed unlikely, unless it was three queens. I announced, "I'm all in," for the first time in three days. After he studied for a few seconds, I knew that I had him beat, and I was honestly split between rooting for a call or a fold from him. If he folded, I would have 560,000 in chips and be one of the chip leaders "risk-free" (he couldn't outdraw me if he folded). If he called me, he probably would have only two outs in the deck. I thought that he may have a bluff, a weird hand like the 7 5, pocket tens, or pocket jacks. If he called me with a pocket pair, I would be a 10-1 favorite to have more than 900,000 in chips. Finally, he folded his hand, and later claimed that he had pocket kings, which I didn't believe. I ended day three with tons of chips (around 560,000, I believe). Next time, I'll discuss my brutal day four at the WSOP.