The Big Game 2011

The $1,500 H.O.R.S.E. event at the 2011 World Series of Poker was held about midway through the Series. I had come close to cashing several times already in this year’s WSOP, but I kept getting to the money bubbles without many chips. I was basically anteing myself to death, never picking up good hands to fight with. This was the first tournament in which I was able to accumulate and hold onto chips for a deep finish.

There were a few reasons I was doing well: I was finally picking up some hands at the right times, I was making some good calls, and this was probably my strongest event. I’ve played H.O.R.S.E. as long as anyone, and these games remain a part of our mix today when I play at Aria. A few things happened in this tournament that people are still talking about today, so I decided to write about them.

The first thing that happened related to the way a dealer pushed me a pot, of all things. Victor Ramdin was sitting on my immediate right. He was firing away, pot after pot — he is, after all, Victor Ramdin. He had stolen my blinds several times, and I was ready to take a stand.

The game was Omaha eight-or-better, and to make a long story short, I won a close pot. He raised, and I three-bet him. I flopped top pair with the No. 2 low draw. Victor flopped a flush and nut-low draw. A deuce came on the end, giving me two pair and the nut low. Victor was understandably upset that he missed both of his draws and got scooped.

Now, I’m not sure how the dealer managed to push the pot this way, but he gave me my bets back, and then, I assume, gave Victor his last bet back. Finally, he pushed Victor’s other bets to me. I pointed out that the pot was one big bet short, and no one could explain it. The dealer said, “Well, I think you only bet 5,000 of fourth street instead of 10,000.” I asked why he didn’t say anything if he saw this, and he just stared off into space.

I then pointed out it was 10,000 short, not 5,000, so that wasn’t the problem. I called for a floor, and for some reason Victor took offense and got extremely upset. The floor said she would check the camera, and I knew that was the end of that — surveillance rarely ever solves any disputes.

Victor just wouldn’t let this go. He kept making stupid remarks to the rail like, “Yeah, it’s not enough that I lose the pot — now I’m gonna lose another 20,000.” Now, I rarely get upset at the poker table, but after his sixth or seventh comment I had built up a pretty good head of steam.

I finally turned to him and told him that he was way out of line, and that I had the right to ask for a decision, regardless of the eventual outcome. He kept insisting that he wasn’t saying anything to me. I countered, “No, but your comments were directed at me.” After a minute, I decided that the situation was going nowhere, so I just dropped it.

A few minutes later, Victor said that I was right, and he was just angry about losing the pot. He apologized and said that he felt really bad, as he thought I was one of the classiest people in poker. We buried the hatchet and moved on. The reason I tell this story is because of what happened a few minutes later.

The game was razz, and there was a big pot brewing. Victor had the lead out and bet the whole way. His board was something like 2-5-8-J. His opponent’s board was something like 2-6-10-K. So, it looked like Victor had the best hand going to the end and that the other guy was drawing. Now, usually the leader will check the end, fearing the other player may have improved, but Victor fired right out.

His opponent let out a loud sigh, so he obviously missed his 6 draw. However, now he got to thinking, why would Victor bet out on the end? Either Victor improved and was making a value-bet that looked like a possible bluff, or it was a bluff.

After some thought, Victor’s opponent called, and Victor called out “8-6.” Victor turned his hand over, and the cards were just in a big lump. The dealer made no effort to read the hand and immediately pushed the pot to Victor.

Another player asked, “Where’s your 8-6? I don’t see it.” Victor spread out his cards and, sure enough, he had a pair of fives, giving him a jack-low, not an 8. By this time, the other player had picked up his hand and was holding it face down, including his up-cards. He now turned up a 10-low, which was the best hand.

I’m not sure who brought this up, but someone said that Victor’s opponent’s hand was dead because he turned it down. Victor agreed that it should be dead, and an argument broke out. The floor was called, and she came over and ruled that the hand was, indeed, dead. I was quiet up until that point, but I decided to point a few things out to her.

First, the dealer pushed the pot without attempting to see the complete the hand, so he may as well have called it out as an 8-low. Second, the dealer is supposed to read the hand and protect the players. Third, Victor miscalled his hand, and had he not done that, there would not have been a problem to begin with. Fourth, it makes no difference if he turned his hand over; all of the players agreed that what was being shown indisputably was his hand and that it never touched the muck.

Victor kept arguing for the hand to be dead, and the tournament director agreed. The others quit arguing after the floor person agreed. I told the floor that I thought she was wrong and that she needed to get a ruling from a superior. So, we stopped the game and waited until a tournament director named Steve got there and did, indeed, reverse her ruling. He ruled that as there was no action behind Victor’s opponent, so it didn’t matter if he turned his hand face down (including his up-cards). Steve awarded the pot to the best hand.

Once it was over, word spread about what had happened. The story got a bit exaggerated, with people saying Victor had three pair and miscalled his hand on purpose to make the other guy fold a better hand. That sort of thing is called “taking a shot” (not to be confused with the good form of “taking a shot” relating to moving up in stakes), and it’s a form of cheating.

Now, I didn’t like the way Victor handled this situation at all. He made a mistake and shouldn’t have and tried to profit from it. Had it been me, I would have refused the pot. However, in Victor’s defense, I don’t believe he miscalled his hand on purpose. I’ve played with him for years, and I’ve never seen or heard of him taking shots in a game. He also definitely did not have three pair, as the story is now being told. (Three pair would be a much harder hand to misread than one pair or two pair.) I believe we should give Victor the benefit of the doubt here.

Now for what happened to me. In seven-card stud eight-or-better, a player with a queen raised, and a player with a king reraised. I looked down at rolled up jacks. As the hand played out, a player named Doctor Steve made aces and kings on fifth street and refused to stop raising into me. The pot reached 350,000 at a time when 200,000 was the average chip stack. I’m sure you know how this ended; he check-raised me on the river, just like I knew he would, and showed me a full house when I called.

“I knew you had me beat, but I couldn’t throw away aces up!” No, Doc, but you didn’t have to raise me five thousand times, either … sigh. I took my last 50,000 and doubled up once before going broke in 19th place. Oh well, this just wasn’t my year for the WSOP. ♠

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.