Shooting Star 2011

Marko Trapani, the founder of the Bay 101 Shooting Star tournament and one of the all-around nicest guys in poker, passed away last year. His tournament will live on, though, and this year it was hosted by his two sons, Marko Jr. and Chris. These guys obviously inherited their father’s easy-going manner and charisma. I hope they are around for years to come.

They both participated in the tournament after giving their father a eulogy on the first morning of the event. Chris went on to lead the tournament at the end of the day, and collect the chip-leader prize of $10,000. In a memorable hand, Chris got Erick Lindgren all in, and both of them held pocket kings. Chris was lucky enough to turn a flush and send Edog home on the Bay 101 jet with me and Scotty Nguyen.

Marko’s generosity also lives on. According to his last will and testament, Matt Savage can continue to run the tournament regardless of how badly he screws everything up! I mean, starting a poker tournament at 10 a.m.? Now I know how he got the name Savage. Matt’s wife — Portuguese Maryanne, who is usually around to correct all of Matt’s mistakes — was nowhere to be found.

In case you aren’t familiar with the Shooting Star tournament, every “star” has a $5,000 bounty on his head. This makes for some interesting plays. Now, I didn’t show up for the first few hours of the tournament, as I had gotten little sleep and needed to get some. After I arrived, things seemed to be going fairly well for me, until my first misstep.

A player who had been fairly active raised from middle position, and the button called. I was in the big blind with the K♣ 3♣, so I called, taking advantage of the nearly 4.5-1 odds I was being laid. The flop came K-Q-2 with two spades and a club. I checked, the original bettor bet, and the hitchhiker folded.

Now, I’m obviously not going to fold here, as this could be just a standard continuation-bet, or even a value-bet with a hand such as A-Q. I could raise, but I don’t like that move, as I’m going to be out of position for the entire hand. That leaves calling, which is what I did.

The turn brought the 4♦, killing my backdoor-flush hopes, but it was not too scary a card. I was worried about an ace, queen, jack, 10, or possibly even a 9 coming on the river. Barring any of those cards, I figured that I still held the best hand if it was good to start with. Betting out here may have been a good option, but I decided to check and see what happened.

He fired a bet of about two-thirds of the pot. Now, this is the kind of bet that I would expect if he believed he had the best hand. But I haven’t shown any strength, so he may be thinking that A-Q is good. I called again, and the 5♠ came, making a flush possible.

I studied for about 10 seconds before checking. He studied, and once again bet about two-thirds of the pot. This really should have been the time for me to fold, as I just don’t think he would value-bet a hand worse than mine at this point after I called him twice and the flush got there. I think my second-best choice would have been to raise, as I believe that he would have just taken a free card on the turn if he had the flush draw. Calling was my worst option, and that’s what I did. He showed me A-K and put me on semi-tilt for making the bad call.

A few minutes later, I raised from the hijack seat and got reraised by the big blind, who was the most active player at the table. I felt like my A-10 was probably good, and started to count out a four-bet when I realized that he would probably call any raise, since he had about four times more chips than I did, just to win my bounty. I decided to see what the texture of the flop looked like before I did anything crazy, so I just called.

The flop came K-5-2 rainbow; perfect. If he didn’t have a king, a set, or aces, he couldn’t like this flop. He led out for a little more than half of the pot, and I made a big raise, giving the illusion that I was pot-committed. He quickly shoved, with a big grin on his face. I could tell that he was already spending my $5,000 bounty.

I went ahead and saved my final 6,000 in chips by folding. He moaned about how I could save my last 6,000, saying, “I was going straight to the marijuana dispensary and buy $5,000 worth of pot. I was gonna tell them it was on Todd Brunson!”
Well, I was sorry that I ruined this guy’s party plans, but at least I was still alive — barely. They broke our table and moved us into the main room. This room was brighter, and had nice high ceilings, more space between tables, and more air flowing through it. I suddenly felt new hope. I wasn’t gonna give up without a fight!
And as you’ll see in my next column, I didn’t. ♠

Todd Brunson has been a professional poker player for more than 20 years. While primarily a cash-game player, he still has managed to win 18 major tournaments, for more than $3.5 million. He has won one bracelet and cashed 25 times at the World Series of Poker. You can play with Todd online at DoylesRoom.com or live at his tournament, The Todd Brunson Montana Poker Challenge, in Bigfork, Montana. Check his website, ToddBrunson.com, for details.