Hard Rock Mega Stack Poker Showdown

I seldom play tournaments outside of the World Series of Poker that don’t have a $10,000 buy-in, but after I failed to make a run in the WSOP main event, I decided to punish myself and play a smaller event as hard as I could. My penance? The Hard Rock Mega Stack Poker Showdown fit into my schedule perfectly. It’s not that I don’t love playing at the Hard Rock, because I do. It’s one of the nicest rooms in Vegas, and I have a lot of buddies who work there, so I’m always treated well.

It’s just hard to focus in a smaller event after the WSOP. This was gonna be especially brutal, as it was scheduled for four days! They didn’t get as many players as expected, so it didn’t last that long, but I didn’t know that. It’s tough to get a lot of players for a tournament immediately after the Series concludes, but the ones they got were as tough as nails.

I didn’t know very many of the players, but most of them were in their early 20s, and you know what that means … Internet kids! As I’m sure you’ve heard me say before, these guys come ready to gamble and always make things active, if not outright fun. There’s no end to their bag of tricks, so let’s just jump right into a hand that will illustrate this.

It was about four or five hours into the event, and I had been pretty card-dead so far. I had lost about a third of my stack to antes and failed attempts to make something happen. I had been playing pretty tight for the last hour or so, and decided it was time to shift up a few gears. I raised and won a few pots that never went past the flop.

I raised again two spots off the button to 1,000 (the blinds were 200-400), and was called by the cutoff. He was an Internet kid, by the looks of him, so I found this play pretty strange. You see, their favorite play is the preflop reraise, especially when the opener raises from late position. I figured he could hold just about anything here, and I expected action.

The flop came down 7-5-4 rainbow, which hit my 6-5 nicely. I bet out a standard 2,000 ( about two-thirds of the pot). My opponent made it 4,600, and as I said, I expected action, so this wasn’t too scary. I wasn’t about to let any kind of free card come off, so I made a big reraise to 10,600, pretty much committing myself to the pot, as I had only a little over 20,000 left.

My opponent didn’t even hesitate, and immediately moved all in. This was scary. I quickly ran through all the hands he could have: an overpair, a set, two pair, a pair and a straight draw, and even a made straight. I decided that the only two hands that could have me crushed were a made straight or top pair with the same straight draw that I had (7-6).

I decided that I was committed after all, and called. I liked it when he asked if I had something like two kings (I never would have gotten all in at this point with a big pair). I loved it when he turned over 4-3! He had a pair and a gutshot, but if he made two pair, I’d make my straight, and I had one of his four straight cards in my hand. He was dead to five outs, and was more than a 4-1 underdog.

I won this one easily, and this put me in good chip position — good enough that I took a chance a few hands later. I limped in from early position with pocket fives. A guy around my age made a pretty big raise behind me, and everyone passed. Since we were heads up and he had made such a big raise, I easily could have passed here, but inasmuch as I had just doubled up, I called with the intention of flopping a set or folding.

The flop brought three babies, but unfortunately, none of them was a 5. I checked, and as I expected, my opponent made a pot-sized bet. I thought about following my game plan and folding, but something told me that he didn’t like this flop at all. I studied a bit more, and sure enough, I got a strong vibe that he had whiffed the flop completely. I considered a raise, but inasmuch as I had stalled so long, I decided to settle on a call.

The turn brought another rag and I checked again, expecting a free card, but again he fired out a pot-sized bet. I went back into the tank and came out with the same feeling: He had air. I thought about just moving in here, but then I figured he would get away from his hand. The only downside to calling was that he might make a pair and beat me, but he had enough chips that I decided it was worth the gamble. I smooth-called.

The river paired the board, which was perfect. If he had me, he still had me, but if I had him (as I thought I did), I still had him. I checked, expecting him to move in, but he bet only about 80 percent of his chips, which kind of scared me. It looked as if he might be hoping for a call, but I decided to stick with my gut, and I called again. He held A-K, no pair, and I was now the chip leader!

After robbing the blinds for another few hours, I had more than a 2-1 chip lead on the guy in second place. Incredibly, I got moved to another table and was out in three hands. Looking back, that would seem impossible, but it happened.

You see, this kid doubled up two hands in a row to overtake my chip lead. Then, this nightmare happened: I raised from up front with pocket kings to 5,000 (I think the blinds were 600-1,200 with a 100 ante). One guy called, and this new chip leader genius made it 25,000 straight. I considered just calling and moving in on the flop, but decided that I wanted to win it right there or commit him with a smaller pair. I moved all in for 200,000 more.

If he had aces, I was going broke regardless, so I shut out that option. If he had queens, jacks, or tens, I wanted to make him marry them right there. I figured that A-K was an easy fold there, but I guess I was wrong. This genius put all of his recently won chips into the pot when it was impossible that he could ever have the best hand. I mean, what did he think I was doing this with — A-Q?

I wouldn’t even do it with pocket queens, as I wouldn’t want a race in this spot. I can’t get over what a stupid call this was. I also can’t get over how I just keep losing these huge pots over and over again. An ace came on the turn, and I was out.

At least I was out in time to play in Montel Williams’ invitational tournament. I came in third and had a great time chatting with Montel. He seems to be a great guy, and I’m glad to add him to my lifelong-buddy list.