Unexpected Publicity

When I received an email in December inviting me to participate in the 2013 NBC Heads-Up Championship, I didn’t know what to think. Obviously it was a great honor to be selected, and not one I wanted to turn down, but the $25,000 buy-in made me bristle. As I pondered the potential risks and rewards of playing the event, I remembered that one of my goals for 2012 was to do what I could to promote the legalization and regulation of online poker in the United States. The NBC event seemed like the perfect platform for showing poker in a positive light, and for making the general public more accepting of our game. After a day of thinking it over, I told NBC I would play, crossing my fingers that I’d find a few investors to help defray the cost of entering.

My only problem was that I had to learn how to beat world class competition in a heads-up format. I’m not completely inexperienced at heads-up — I’ve gone three for three heads-up at WSOP final tables, and there was a point in the early 2000s when I played a few hundred matches online and booked a decent win rate — but I am certainly no expert. Not knowing the other 63 participants, but knowing many of them would be extremely strong players, I had to do something to give myself more of a chance. I came up with a plan to watch training videos, to discuss strategy with a few great heads-up players, and to figure out how best to balance my preflop hand ranges the way I do in normal tournaments. If I put enough work into it, I thought I could have an edge even against a very tough field.

The preparation started well, and continued to go smoothly as I gathered lots of information from many sources. It was all going so smoothly that when I got offered the chance to write a piece for cnn.com just one week before the heads-up event, I decided to do it. I’d gotten far enough that I felt comfortable setting aside any training activity for a few days and working on something else. The article’s gimmick was that I’d describe the players in the debt ceiling standoff using poker terminology. I had a lot of fun with this gimmick. The piece appeared online the very morning of my flight to Vegas for the heads-up event.

After landing in unfamiliar surroundings at McCarran (Terminal 3? When did this get here?), and experiencing a restful night’s sleep at Caesars Palace hotel, I woke up to an email inviting me to appear on Fox Business to discuss my CNN article. I emailed back saying I appreciated the offer, but that I was in Las Vegas and almost certainly out of their reach. They immediately replied back and said they could get me to a Vegas satellite station and conduct the interview remotely without any difficulty. I would be on the air in a few hours. It never ceases to amaze me how quickly the networks can get their cameras on pretty much anyone they want. (It also never ceases to amaze me that the networks don’t have their shows all planned out even one day in advance.) Seeing another opportunity to promote poker in the mainstream media, and having serendipitously packed TV-ready attire for the trip, I decided to put off heads-up preparation for a few more hours and go on Fox Business.

I held up OK — possibly better than OK. Granted, most of the feedback I received came from friends, family, or people in the poker community predisposed to enjoy what I had to say, but the consensus is that I did well. When I watched it back, I was mildly disappointed that my eyes were half-closed (they had me on set in near darkness for about twenty minutes waiting for the segment to start). I also would’ve preferred to be better informed about the nuances that distinguish a government shutdown and reaching the debt limit, but overall I was satisfied with the spot. The interview, according to those I spoke to in advance, was supposed to consist entirely of me reiterating the analogies from my CNN article. Instead, after I answered the opening question, the first words out of the interviewer’s mouth were, “I couldn’t disagree more.” Given that I found myself in the midst of an unexpected argument, I think I managed admirably indeed.

As I rode back to the hotel, I remembered that I wasn’t in Vegas to do television. Well, I was in Vegas to do television, but not that television. I played some $10-$20 no-limit hold’em to get my poker brain working again, and then dressed up for the draw party. Once there, I received good news and bad news. The good news was that my match wouldn’t start until 9:45 p.m. the next day, which gave me plenty of time to prepare anew — time I sorely needed since I’d been preempted by so many side projects over the last week. The bad news was that for my first opponent I drew fellow Cardrunners coach Brian Hastings, the reigning heads-up WSOP bracelet holder and one of the best heads-up players in the world.

Over the next 24 hours I did whatever I could to come up with a game plan. I talked strategy, watched training videos (including some Brian had made!), and worked on balancing my preflop ranges as best I could. Among the decisions I made was to four-bet weak suited jacks with deep stacks (this would later become relevant). After a whirlwind few days, I felt ready to do battle. I went into the hair and makeup room confident and calm.

I remained confident and calm at the table when I four-bet Brian from the button with J 2, as per the plan. After he called, there was 11,000 in the pot and I had 17,500 behind (Brian had me covered). The flop came J-T10-3 with two clubs and Brian check-raised me all-in. I had bet the flop planning to call a shove, so that’s what I did. Fortunately, Brian had A-10 and I was way ahead. Unfortunately, he hit an ace on the turn and I was eliminated. Funny how so much can go wrong in a 12-minute match! But I don’t regret any part of the experience, and I was very happy with the way I moved my chips.

I hope the reader has enjoyed this glimpse into an odd week of my poker life, and I hope everyone has a new appreciation for the NBC Heads-Up Championship, on TV this March! ♠

Matt Matros is the author of The Making of a Poker Player, and a three-time WSOP bracelet winner. He is also a featured coach for cardrunners.com.