Rolling, Rolling, Rolling; Oops!

In a sarcastic, upset way, I said, "Nice tournament!" Then, I got ready to leave, as I stared at the board in disbelief.

The tournament was the $5,000 buy-in no-limit hold'em championship event at Bellagio's Festa al Lago tournament. Even though we started with $10,000 in chips, I had merely called the $200 bet before the flop with my J-J. I didn't reraise because I thought my opponent might have an overpair, and I didn't want to lose lots of money with J-J.

The flop came down J-7-5 rainbow. My opponent (the original raiser I had put on an overpair) led out, and I decided that a small raise would be my best move, for two reasons. First, I like to give my opponents a chance to give me all of their chips when I have the nuts, and raising here gives them the option of reraising or moving in (yum-yum). Second, I wanted to get rid of anyone who might have been drawing live. For example, someone may have had a straight draw, and raising here charges them something to draw at it.

So, I called the original raiser's $1,200 bet and raised $1,200. A European player right behind me (Marcel Luske) called the $2,400, and so did the original raiser. With a deuce on the turn (J-7-5-2), the original raiser checked and I bet $4,000. I couldn't bet any less than that, as I didn't want Marcel to draw at a straight. Also, I was hoping that one of them would move in on me. But, Marcel folded and the original raiser called. "OK, great, give me any small card, preferably one that pairs the board," I thought.

The final card was a king, and the original raiser checked again. I decided that I should make a big bet, so that it would look like a bluff. So, I bet $5,000, and the original raiser moved all in on me! It was only about $1,500 more, so I called him immediately, and he showed me K-K – which was now a set of kings. This brings me to the sarcastic "Nice tournament" comment with which I opened this column.

I knew that the chip counts were close, but I thought I was out of the tournament. I was getting ready to leave the building when cool, calm, and collected high-limit player Curtis Bibb asked for a chip count. The dealer acted confused, and Curtis again said, "Count the chips, please." The dealer was still staring out into space when another player chimed in, "Let's go, count them down."

Although I was still standing up, and was openly lamenting my bad luck a lot more than I or any other world champion should (that is, Phil was whining!), I now had some slim hope of still being "alive" in the tournament. When the chips were finally counted, it turned out that I had $350 left. OK, there was still hope. On the next hand, I was dealt J-J again! "Uh-oh," I thought, but I moved all in before the flop. Eventually, the board was 7-4-2-A, and then some huge bets were made.

It looked grim, and indeed, Alan Goehring had flopped a set of fours, but the last card was a jack! OK, now I started to sing, "Guess who's back, back again? Phil is back, tell a friend, guess who's back, guess who's back, guess who's back? La-la-la-la, la-la-la … " This, of course, is a musical reference – albeit badly sung – to a current Eminem rap song. By the way, I would never sing that song or do the "wave" in anyone else's face if he lost a huge pot to me or was eliminated from a tourney (that would be low-class).

Alan and I then discussed a World Poker Tour (WPT) hand from the $25,000 buy-in Tour championship event he had won that the TV commentators/show had somehow overlooked. With three players left, Kirill Gerasimov had opened for $80,000 with A-K on the button, and Alan had called with 6-3 offsuit in the small blind. Phil Ivey then moved all in with A-Q in the big blind, Kirill moved all in, and Alan folded. I thought I had remembered that the flop was K-6-3 – I had seen the show only once – so I asked Alan about it.

Sure enough, Alan confirmed it: If Ivey had just called with A-Q or mucked it, Kirill would have been busted on that hand! Instead, Ivey went broke on that hand. I love the WPT, but I wonder how they missed that scenario.

Anyway, I began to mount a comeback, and before long I had $20,000 in chips. I was "back from the brink," and had moved "from the outhouse to the penthouse." This column is called "Rolling, Rolling, Rolling; Oops," so let's discuss the "oops" part.

I opened a pot for $1,800 with the A 10, and was called by Butch Wade. After a flop of A-Q-9, I checked, and so did Butch. The turn was a queen and I checked again, and so did Butch. The river was a harmless 3, and I bet out $2,000. Butch called and raised $3,000 more. I had a bad feeling, but I felt like I had him all the way. Finally, I called, and it turned out that the 3 wasn't so harmless after all. Pocket threes for Butch, and I was feeling like I had played the hand pretty badly.

All day long I had been betting, and then for some reason I had checked Butch into the winner, and had paid him off, as well. Oh well, I still had about $17,000, and I just needed to stay balanced. Our table broke and I picked up the A 8 on the very first hand at the new table, and was looking at a $1,600 bet from Phil Ivey. It was my first hand, I reasoned, and I didn't know anything about the table flow, but I thought my hand was probably good against a very aggressive Ivey.

Still, I opted to fold, and on the very next hand I picked up 6-6, which I promptly mucked for the $1,800 opening bet. But somehow these laydowns didn't feel right to me, and I felt a bit weird in my own skin. Was I tired, was I playing badly, what the heck was going on here?

Three hands later Fred David made it $1,200 to go and Ivey called. I was in the big blind with K-Q and decided that I needed to call this time, for some inexplicable reason. After all, I do know that Fred plays very tight. The flop came down K-10-7, and I checked. Fred bet $3,000 and Ivey folded. I thought for a while, and called the bet. I checked fourth street "in the dark," and Fred moved me all in in the dark!

A 3 came off the deck, and I began to think of a hand that I had seen Fred play against Stu Ungar at the 1997 World Series of Poker, in which Stuey had called him with A-10 and a board of K-10-4. I knew that Fred was capable of having J-J or Q-Q in this spot. It turned out that he couldn't beat Stuey's A-10 in the hand I was recalling. I guess the memory of that hand messed me up, because I reasoned that Fred would have bluffed my last $4,500 with lots of hands worse than K-Q. I didn't "read" Fred properly. I didn't watch him carefully and try to read him; I just thought about that hand from the past against Stuey.

Finally, I put my chips in the pot, and Freddy showed me A-A! I needed a king or a queen to win. Alas, a blank 6 on the river ended my day. I must say that this is not the hand I usually have when I put my chips in. I am usually a lot more powerful than this. I made a mistake, and it was too bad because I was in the zone. I probably would have had a good chance of making the final table had I just folded the hand on the flop or before the flop. But, oops! Sometimes I don't play as well as I can, and that's life.

I hope you enjoyed this Hand of the Week. Good luck playing your hands this week.Editor's note: Phil can often be found playing $4-$8 limit hold'em online at UltimateBet.com, table "philhellmuth." For more info about him or his new book Play Poker Like the Pros, or for more Hand of the Week columns, go to PhilHellmuth.com.