The Latin Series of Poker

I recently returned from San Jose, Costa Rica, where I attended the first Latin Series of Poker. There were several events, all no-limit hold'em, spread over a 10-day period. I arrived with Kathy Liebert, T.J. Cloutier, Barbara Enright, Marsha Waggoner, Young Phan, James Worth, David Levi, Kenna James, Tournament Director Warren Karp, and Kato Kaelin. We were hosted by Chuck Kidd. Chuck is the founder of PICclub.com, a new way to legally fund online poker sites in the United States, as well as in other countries. The Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act (UIGEA) has made it increasingly difficult for U.S. players to fund poker accounts, and PICclub is a legal way to do so.

The main event of the Latin Series of Poker was a $3,175 buy-in no-limit hold'em tournament that had a great structure. Warren Karp designed it the way he would prefer playing in it. We started with 12,000 in chips and 25-50 blinds, and one-hour time periods for each level. We played 11 levels the first day with very slow increases, and then finished it up on day 2. The attendance was somewhat disappointing, with 57 entrants in the main event; since we were somewhat isolated outside the city of San Jose, it made it a little more difficult for local players to attend. Also, the buy-in was modest by U.S. standards, but a little high for some of the local talent. All in all, it was still a promising start for this new series of tournaments. The venue was the Hotel Martino in Alajuela, Costa Rica. It was a very pleasant setting, but there were not enough hotel rooms to accommodate all of the players, forcing some of them to stay elsewhere. This problem will be addressed properly for future events.

I played some pretty solid poker and survived the first day with 30,000 in chips, and was in the middle of the pack with 23 survivors going to day 2. I had both some good luck and some bad luck on day 1. I was in the big blind with 7-3 offsuit and got a free flop. It came 10-6-5 rainbow, and was checked around. The turn paired the 5, and it was checked around again. The river was a 4, and I now had the second-nut straight. Unfortunately for me, James Worth, sitting on my left, held 8-7 for the nut straight. The small blind led out, and I flat-called his bet of 225, which was substantially less than the pot size. The blinds were 50-100 at this point, and with several limpers, this was an underbet. Worth then raised 1,000 more, and everyone folded to me. I did not like my hand very much at this point, but finally I decided to call, since both the original bettor and I had not shown much strength. Jim is an aggressive player, and I thought there was some chance that he was just trying to take the pot away from us, or had made trip fives and thought they were good. In hindsight, which is always perfect, there is no way he could have been bluffing here. This is another good example of the trouble you can get into with a big-blind hand in an unraised pot.

On a happier note, I had another hand in the big blind in an unraised pot that had a better result. The blinds were 100-200 with a 25 ante. I held the 8 6. The flop came 10-4-3 with two clubs. The small blind and I checked, the button bet 300, which was a weak bet, and the small blind then made it 800. I think the button was just trying to steal the pot and the small blind was making a resteal. I decided to reraise to 2,200 and take the pot from both of them with my flush draw, knowing that at least I had nine outs if I got called. The button folded, but the small blind called. Now I knew that he at least had a 10, so I had to be careful. An 8 came on the turn, which gave me some help, since it paired me, and I was fortunate that the small blind checked to me, and I could take a free card, which I did. The J hit the river, completing my flush. My opponent, Thomas Joanides from Los Angeles, held J-10 and had made two pair, but fearing a flush, he decided to check. I bet 1,900. He said, "You got that flush, Tom?" Then, he reluctantly paid off the hand. Sometimes you just know that you're beat, but can't help calling anyway. Of course I was lucky to make the flush, but he didn't have to call my reraise on the flop.

Unfortunately, on day 2, my fellow PokerStars Team Pro Humberto Brenes took me out when my A-K failed to beat his pocket fives. Humberto went on to finish second. Kenna James was fifth and Kathy Liebert was sixth.

Well, if your A-K wins the race against a small pair, I hope to see you in the winner's circle soon.

Tom McEvoy is a representative of PokerStars.com. Tom plays under his own name and is happy to chat when he can. You also can watch Tom's advanced poker training videos at ProPlayLive.com/TomMcEvoy.